My Quarantine Diary — Day 11
Today is a good day.
I had my Covid swab test done in the morning, fulfilling work schedule, watched two documentaries recommended by Quantic during meal time, and attended the documentary club zoom session at night.
So first thing, here is my swab test experience..
Because of last night’s disturb from my belly, I was quite nervous this morning while waiting for the swab test. At 10 o’clock, I was called by the hotel to be ready. Wearing my my mask, stepping out of my room for the first time in 11 days, seeing a real person (a PPE equipped hotel staff) for the first time, got to talk to a real person for the first time. Together with another fellow quarantiner, I went to the first floor. I saw an almost empty space, with a few testing officers preparing for the area.
Surprisingly, I am the very first one in the hotel to get the test this morning.
After verified my identity at the first desk, I was directed to go to the testing area. It is at an outdoor yard outside of the lobby. Before I thought I might be able to breathe in some fresh air for the first time in 11 days, I was told to take down the mask and the test is coming.
I would not describe it as relaxed or pleasant. Rather, I was not so successful for the first time. The testing officer is a strong mid-aged man. Now i think of it, perhaps I would not be so resistant if it were a lady. Anyway, I tried to follow the tips using my mouth to breathe, but when that long stick goes to my right nostril, within a second I felt that uncomfortableness coming from everywhere. My eyes got wet. It is not pain, it just makes me feel uncomfortable. Out of instinct, I am pushing the testing officer’s arm away from me. So the stick was there for 3 seconds, which was considered not long enough. As a result, we have to do it again. This time I could hear the officer is counting, 1,2,3,4,5..okay. The other nostril, one more time, 1,2,3,4,5..okay, you are done.
Wooh.. What a relief.. I wasn’t able to breathe any fresh air and was told to go back. It was just about 3 minutes, but now I saw a long queue in the lobby with people waiting to do the test. How lucky I am! Or maybe not so lucky as I missed the great chance to get to talk to my fellow quarantiners? Anyway I then took the lift and went back to my room. In total it was about less than 20 minutes of “out time”. Although I mentioned my test part is not so smooth, but I would say the overall experience is efficient, well-ordered, organized and much appreciated, especially for the hard work by the hotel, the testing team, and all the staff.
The Documentary <Print the Legend>
Now let’s talk about the documentary I watched and subsequently joined to discuss during the Quantic alumni zoom session at night. It is called <Print the Legend>. Quoted from Wikipedia:
“a 2014 documentary film and Netflix Original focused on the 3D printing revolution. It delves into the growth of the 3D printing industry, with focus on startup companies MakerBot and Formlabs, established companies Stratasys, PrintForm and 3D Systems, and figures of controversy in the industry such as Cody Wilson.”
This is a documentary not just about technology, but also about people, about society, and about humanity. One of my fellow Quantic alumni gave the comment that it was a rather negative pic that reminded him of the tough days in startups. I argued back, however, that it is because of this negativizes that I actually liked it. Unlike the other documentaries that showcase the brightness and success of tech unicorns and superstar founders, this doc depicted the unknown toughness, the struggles, the failures, and the sacrifice that public was not made aware of. I like one of the conversations in the doc, where one pioneer member of Makerbot shared during the CES conference at Vegas. He said that often founders will share how much sacrifice they have endured before they are able to stand at the stage. Only after you go through the days in startup, you got to realize those sacrifice are not just 24/7 hard work or little time for yourself, it was more than that. It is about you struggle between your ideal dream and reality; about part ways forever from your best friend in life; about losing part of yourself to achieve a societal goal. Eventually you would ask: is this worth what it’s taking out of me?
So we spent quite some time discussing about growth. Do all the startups experience slowness and inefficiency while growing up? Is it unavoidable that co-founders will eventually develop different visions and directions along the way? Why would someone change their dream half-way? Is it better to grow slowly with a small bonded team or grow exponentially to gain its funding and support from the public? All these questions we could debate way beyond that 45 minutes.
Lastly, I like to use my favorite quote in that documentary to end:
“Legend, is always the carefully curated, distilled, version of truth. And whose truth, is debatable.”
P.S, I also watched another documentary, also recommended by Quantic, called <Jiro Dreams of Sushi>, maybe for the next time.
P.S.S, I recently got quite a few people asking me about my experience with Quantic MBA, will take a time to share my experience in one of my future journal. Record here for reference.
Night.
