TITANIUM

I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone

2010-10-25T22:02:00.001+08:00

Finally, finally, after a long wait, bosses ding-dongings and such, I am released from the Project and back to the Head Office. Its been a week now and I am slowly enjoying the newfound freedom and life which I had been missing in the past 4 years that I was in the Project. But I ain’t complaining, it wasnt that bad working at site. I like the time flexibility (though we still have to clock in from 8am-5pm daily except Sun), the ‘family’ environment with other teammates, the rowdy talks with the guys, the freedom to not have to wear formal to work, freedom to surf the net, and best of all, the whole experience of seeing and being at the place where all the action takes place. Yeah, it was good, but with that came a hell lot of stress, anger, frustrations, and emotional breakdowns when things dont go the way it should and my department gets screwed for it. Sigh. But again, I aint complaining.

In HQ there are a set of pros and cons too. Really, its the same everywhere, it all depends what you weigh as more important or lesser of all evils in the world.

For me, the most tak best part is…I cant talk loud and there really isnt much common topics with my new colleagues! They all speak Mandarin and some Canto ALL the time. I speak none of those. Their common topic is travelling and family, while my interest lies in real estate, investments, and photography! So totally tak ngam! But they are nice people, so I just ‘um’, ‘yes’, ‘ok’ when a response is required of me. Haih.

With Free Time Comes More Activities

I dont have to work on Saturdays anymore! This is good, there is so much that I can do on an extra off day like a Saturday! I have been working 6 full days for the past 4 years, so having Saturdays off is like letting a kid loose in a candy store. There’s just so much that I want to do!

1. I can shoot more! Yeah. Coz most photo outings are organized on Saturdays, which I extremely geram because I had to work.

2. I can take up cycling. Speaking of which, I am seriously considering buying a Dahon folding bike for my leisure as well as for my future travels. I used to cycle a lot when I was in school. It would be great to get on the wheels again =)

3. I am starting a new mini project this Saturday onwards. But no details yet coz I don't want anyone to curi my idea ok ;p

Of course the hubby will be the happiest person because he doesn't have to spend the whole of Saturday home-bound by himself.

Rediscovering A New Zest Of Life?

Ah, I am already quite excited about the new found time for myself. Of course there’s always the husband to factor in, but all in all, I do hope that it will not be that big of a factor that I have to compromise on my needs and wants.

Travelling seems more viable now. The new job would require me to travel quite a bit (I hope at least 2 weeks in a month?), all paid by the company. I have always envied those who can travel for work. My previous job sucks in the sense that I was stuck in the same project for 4 years and did not travel much as I dont have enough leave to spend (Remember, Saturdays were working days, so I have to apply for leave even if its just to do some personal stuff on Saturday). I want to see more of the world, and capture the essense of life outside my comfort zone.

Actually all these can be done with one thing – Time. Too much of my time has been spent working my ass off, and so little for the things that I love. It’s time for a change. And I gladly take up the challenge, even with some major adjustments that I have to make.

Eh, this entry sounds very the formal and mature. Promise you, the next will not be in this tone. Solemn topics call for solemn writing style.

Cest la vie!

The Serenity of The Kitchen

2010-09-16T18:07:00.001+08:00

Kitchen, the heart of a family. The Chinese say that a family that eats together, stays together. And so, we should always honor the kitchen. No sofa in the lounge, never mind. Without the plasma TV, still can survive. But every kitchen must have a stove. From the heat of the stove, comes warm, wholesome meal that bring every family member together.

So, in a lazy afternoon, not knowing what to do, I stared at the serenity of my kitchen, all calm and clean, with the cooking tools hanging beautifully on the rail, I thought, why not shoot the kitchen. After all, I am supposed to go out, in the beauty of the morning, to shoot something but alas, didnt quite make it.

The stove, where a lot of goodness was created.

Pots, pans and a whole lot of ladles.

The spice bar. Some are still in the fridge, yet to find a container for them.

Onions. Its almost a staple ingredient in Asian cooking.

Toasted belacan. I love the fragrant that comes from cooked belacan. Its wonderful, flavorful and compliments many local dishes. Definitely one of my favourite ingredients.

[Linora] – Abandoned. Mysterious. Portraits.

2010-08-28T21:39:00.001+08:00

I, for one, am not so much of a ‘portrait’ photographer. Portraiture itself, to me, is a very deep and wide topic, and branches off to many, many types, understanding and views on what makes a good portrait and what is nothing but merely sexual exploitations. As a serious hobbyist, I take every shot with conscience and very, very seriously. Including portraitures. After much debates, discussions and exchanging of thoughts (aloud and silently), I kinda know what is my cup of tea and what is not.

Which over time, I hope to develop my very own signature shots.

Now the shoot. Linora is a friend of mine who is best known as the TV host of Bola@Mamak at Astro Supersports, the featured personality in the recent World Cup predictor, so-starred alongside Daphne Iking in ‘Belukar’ as well as acted in several local plays and theatres. So when Shawn suggested we do a model shooutout, Lin came to my mind.

We initially wanted to do something within the theme of ‘Vintage’ at an abandoned warehouse in Glenmarie. But in the end, tak jadi as there were too many photographers, all wanting to have equal amount of time and poses from the model. But still, we had a good time and I am glad that the pictures turned out pretty alright.

Food Is Love

2010-08-04T23:53:00.001+08:00

These days I cook at home a lot. Cooking for 2 persons is not easy, because we usually end up either tak cukup, or too much that we had to bring forward to the next day. But it is fun and I enjoy whipping different dishes whenever I can.

Roasted vegetables. Ingredients are pretty basic - chopped pumpkins, capsicums and carrots, dressed with Worchestershire sauce, palm oil (coz I didn't have olive oil), garlic and some thyme. Oven roasted for about 30 mins or so. It turned up very well, better than I expected. And healthy too.

Tomyam Pasta. A very easy and delicious pan-asian recipe. I made 2 versions of it. The first was, open a can of chilli tuna, add tomyam paste to the chilli tuna and cooked Spiralli, and bake in the oven for 15 mins. Viola, its done.

The pic above is of the second version. This one was pan-fried with beef, lots of tomyam paste, some chillies, onions, and spices. And also, its fast, easy and tasty. I love it. It’s like Bolognaise but tomyam instead of the usual tomato based sauce. Yum.

Having a husband who is Indian, I have no choice but to learn to cook Indian food. Rasam, an Indian soup is good for the stomach, and I made a bitterguord dish with chapati. It was a healthy meal, and everything turned out great. Perhaps, except the chapati la. I just can’t seem to get the right dough consistency and as a result, couldnt roll it into that nice, flat and round shaped chapati that we get in the shops. But nevertheless, the taste was just as nice and we both enjoyed our home cooked indian dish very much.

That’s all for now. I will cook more, for sure, but as for now, its 11.51pm and I need to sleep. Cooking is fun and I will post up more entries on my culinary adventures!

Sometimes The Gambar Tak Jadi

2010-07-12T20:15:00.001+08:00

Sometimes I shoot crappy stuff. Or rather, most of the time I shoot crappy stuff. Today, I am posting up some of those tak berapa jadi ones so that my film, effort, time and chemicals were not used up in vain on pics that will probably live in the archives of my hard disk.

Also because I am tired, shoulders stiff and at 8.00pm, I am still working my a** on this new tender. I need some form of break, apart from Facebook which is flooded with World cup and sotong Paul comments.

Since these pics are so darn crappy and utterly meaningless and useless, I will not blow it big, and will not spend time editing or adding my watermark also.

Seashells, hermit crabs and homecoming.

Lost bouy by the beach.

World Cup Big Screen

Buggy Come Home.

This is a classic example of ‘watch ur background’.

Monitor Not Calibrated? Yours Or Mine?

2010-07-05T11:24:00.002+08:00

The last time I calibrated my monitor was 2 years ago. At least it was calibrated before. But lately, I find that the monitor is starting to play tricks on me, so much so that I'd rather trust my instincts that my naked eyes.

And again, recently, a friend just right smack told me that my Black and White are ugly because all look so black. Eh, but in my laptop monitor, they look fine. Bright with enough contrast and details at the right place. But then, I cant blame her because in my office CRT monitor, the images are too dark too. FYI, the CRT is totally for office use and never was calibrated before.

So the best judge in this situation is to get that Spyder thing that could restore my confidence in photo editing and photography as a whole. Then I can tell those who think that my photos are 'not bright enough', or not 'colourful enough' that its THEIR monitors that are lousy.

Yes, photography is really an expensive hobby is u r serious into it.

Silent Moment

2010-07-02T08:59:00.004+08:00

..to a fellow comrade whose passing came so sudden late last night.

My condolence to his family members. We will always remember him as the crazy phychotic guy who used to greet us with a loud 'hi' every morning. And also, for being part of our drinking gang.

RIP.

Vintage Garden Wedding in Black & White

2010-07-01T21:21:00.002+08:00

Adeline & John Mark are good friends to us. We (Josh & I) know them separately for quite a while now, but somehow, through some twist of fate (highly suspicious was the work of the Great Matchmaker), they got together and were recently married to each other in a beautiful, vintage-themed garden wedding.

Well garden weddings have its pros and cons, but theirs was a wonderful one – the weather was perfect, the turnout was great and overall, it was an enjoyable affair.

Not to mention the free flow of wine. Ah.

Photographic data:

Nikon FE2 + 28mm f3.5 (I think the sensor was dusty, need some servicing soon lah)

HC110, 20degrees, 5 mins

Ilford stopper 1 min

Ilford rapid fixer, 5b min

Canon 8800F

Happily Ever After. The end of the wedding, the beginning of the marriage. May God bless them both with many blessings and little Anthoa-s. =)

The Games at Kuantan

2010-07-01T00:56:00.001+08:00

One thing that I love about my employer is, there are many staff activities that all staff can participate. Like the Regional Games that happens once in 2 years. It’s like the inter-Group Olympics and everybody anticipates the arrival of the Games.

This time around, the Games was held in Kuantan and hosted by our Port division. Like the previous installation at Sandakan, I was one of the official (but unpaid) photographer for the event. But unlike in Sandakan, I now have more mean gears AND a zoom lens that goes till 200mm with VR. Very useful for sports. And also, a flashgun.

Here are a small selection of photos from the Games that I like. Mostly shot at F8 ISO 400 (except the indoor games at F5.6 ISO 1600 + flash i thk was 1/16)

1. Golf

I personally love this sand bunker shot. Just secukup rasa of man, sand, ball and the club, and on time to freeze the sand.

Some artistic try of golf without man.

2. Volleyball

Volleyball is (and has always been) by far, the most watched and happening game in the Games. Scores of supporters from various divisions would flock by the courts and cheer for their teams.

I love this shot though the camera did not focus on where I intended it to be. But nevertheless, still an achievement for me.

Barricade blockers.

Speedy Spiker. I was shooting at 1/250 and this guy was faster than my shutter speed?? Foosh. DOnt know what these Sabahans eat. Seriously, they are mighty strong. Beats us all Peninsula people.

Supporters. Not sponsored by Carlsberg tho.

3. Pool

Shooting anything indoors is damn difficult. Low lights, my camera is not capable of reaching that high ISO without decent amount of noise.

Portrait of a snooker player. After several tries with many angles, it finally clicked on me that all the while I had been doing it wrong. It is not impossible to get a professional looking portrait of the player provided you know where to place the camera. Ah, another acheivement for me.

Intensity. Snooker is a bit like golf, needs concentration and strategising.

4. Netball

Honestly, I very the benci netball. I can’t play and I am bad with team games. Maybe I am not brutal enough to whack and snatch and fight for balls. Sigh.

Since I hate netball, not much caption to write here, except that I shot this while dispensing my duty as a photographer.

5. Touch Rugby

Ooh la la. Me likey watch rugby, live or on TV. Though in the Games, we only had touch rugby, but still it was an interesting game to watch. Even though I was not on duty to shoot rugby, but nevertheless I still took some because it is just such as waste not to have any pictures of this beautiful game!

Lucky the camera focus was spot on the right person, this time.

So thats all for now about the Games. I have over a thousand shots of the Games, but due to space, I only put up these few that I really like. The rest, hmm, I guess there’s no where you can see it lah. Unless you have my company portal =)

Malas-ness Kicked In

2010-06-24T10:39:00.002+08:00

Ah, how fast June flies. I remember ranting about how exciting June would be and now, its already towards the end.

I hope there will be the much anticipated, much rumoured bonus at the end of the month. *cross fingers*

Work has been hectic. Like mad. I'm brain-jammed now, that's why I'm blogging during office hours. The project ain't gonna end any soon, I must accept that fact now. But nevermind, the battle continues and I will survive.

A new job wont harm, though *grins*

Been away from home and office almost every weekend. The kitchen is in a mess. The husband isnt very good in housekeeping.

Was in Kuantan last weekend for the company Regional Games. It's the most anticipated event that happens once in 2 years. Time flies, the last one in Sandakan was still fresh in my mind. This time around, I was again, the official photographer. But this time around, I have much better gears (in Sandakan, I was only using the K100D Pentax with kit lens and no flash) and have improved a lot since the days of the Pentax. I'll post some tonight, in a separate entry.

Test drove a Triton and a Pajero. I like high and mighty cars. Fear me, O puny cars on the road! Haha. Will write about it when I have the time.

Pudu Prison is gone forever. I can never shoot it anymore. I feel sad for it and for myself. Ashamed too, for not having the time to really walk down the prison walls to shoot this heritage building. I always have the passion for old buildings, but this one, is such a waste. And regretful for me.

I better do the Pekeliling Flats soon before they are gone as well. Any photo kakis around to go with me?

Football fever has hit home. I hope Germany beats England in the next game. I shall remain silent on why I seem to be against England but just to say, its for the ego and some materials that might be gone forever if England reaches to the Finals.

That's all. Ngam-ngam 5 mins to update the blog. Spewing everything out is good. Like pissing a great waterfall after holding for 5 hours. Aaahh.

Countdown to The World Cup

2010-06-07T22:55:00.001+08:00

While millions of football fans await impatiently for the world’s biggest game, I for one, am joining the crowd to welcome the World Cup, scheduled to commence this weekend. I am still very much a noob in anything football, and I am still supporting Germany solely because they have the best looking players around and their theme color gels with me. Also, because I have the real Goleo softtoy in my car. Hehe.

But this time around, I have something more in mind than to watch the games with my new LCD tv.

I am going to start a new photography project on the World Cup. I already have a picture to kickstart the season, and have more ideas in mind. Cross fingers and wish me all the best in nailing those shots!

Watch this space (and my facebook) for updates!

It's Almost June!

2010-05-26T16:58:00.002+08:00

Time flies sooooo fast. It's almost June now! 6 months has passed and another 6 months to go before the year ends.

I dont know if its just me, but, don't you feel that time passes even faster as you age? I mean, when I was schooling, one year took forever to end before I graduated from school, into Form 6, then 3 years in Uni and finally, FINALLY free from the tortures of exams and misery of memorising facts just to pass the papers. But now that I am no longer a student (in the formal education per se) and part of the faithful tax-paying workforce, time moves so fast. I've been working for 4 years already although I felt like I am still quite fresh from uni.

And I have completed my compulsory service to the company.

Perhaps, because everyday is a routine, the brain is fused to 'count' time on a weekly basis. So instead of looking at 365 days, I look at 52x2 (Sat & Sun) = 104 days only. Mon-Fri = 1 block so tak kira. Maybe the brain has aged and is incapable of separating short spare time in the form of 'after-office hours' from the normal hours at work. Maybe.

Looking at my schedule for the coming months, I am packed and every weekend is booked for some event or another. Its not a bad thing la, after all, this brings colour to my life. Thinking back, I shouldn't be complaining coz I know there are people out there who live by themselves, away from family, don't have many close friends and whose lives just revolve around work and nothing else. Quite a sad state actually. Thank God I am put in that kind of position. I'll be crazy.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, well, i also forgot. Happy Wesak Day to all Buddhists and happy holiday to all those who are benefitting from the Wesak Day holiday. For me and those kesian people who have to work, erm, happy working (though I don't think it will be such).

Whoa, Pac Man!

2010-05-22T09:52:00.004+08:00

I was pleasantly surprised to find Pac Man at Google's front page. It's so cute and reminds me of the days when I used to play Pac Man in the school computer lab. Those were the days before the 3.5 inch floppy discs came into picture and waaaay before the thumb drive even existed.

Ooh, and the syiok thing is, you can actually play Pac Man on the Google Page. How sweet! =)

Happy 30th Anniversary Pac Man! If it wasnt for Google, I wouldnt have realised it has been thiiiisss old, man.

Belukar - Filem Lokal

2010-05-17T17:56:00.003+08:00

Foosh, I never watch THREE movies in a week in my entire life! I must have been crazy to spend so much on movies in a week!

Wed- IP Man 2..Oh, I was on MC and it was movie day. So forgiven ;p
Thur - Robin Hood. It's the opening la...Moreover I have not watched any English movie in the cinema for a very long time. So forgiven ;p
Sun - Belukar...erm...A friend acted in it la...how can I not support her, kan? So forgiven also lor.. ;p

Alright, honestly, if it wasnt because a friend acted in it (no, not Daphne Iking), and it was her debut, I probably wouldn't spend RM 11 on a Saturday night (and subsequent RM 7 for parking at BTS) to watch a local movie. Not that I dont support local stuff la, I didnt even borther watching the award-winning-critically acclaimed Sepet, what more any other local movies. Eh, I memang teruk OK. But if its free, I dont mind la. Cicak Man was blardy entertaining and stupidly funny. Pontianak Harum was so scary I think it can be setaraf with Indon horror films (remember the 80s puntianal movie with Nur Kumalasari? Damn scary wei) and definitely better than those lame Singaporean movies.

So anyway, Belukar is NOT really a Malay movie (like Remp-It, and those Saiful Apek stuff), it is more of a Malaysian movie. The setting was in Sabah, starring non Malays, but has a good blend of Malaysian-ness to it. Like speaking in Bahasa Malaysia and lots of locally composed Malay songs. Nice. I'm not an expert in cinematography or whatever graphy la, but coming from some photography background, I'd say, it is very Indie and Lomo-ish. Blue and green tint with some 'rusty' effect to it. Nice. Very artsy. A good change from the usual 'sharp and clear' frames.

The storyline, however, was not so nice. Too messy to my liking. Like reading those stupid story books that end a scene at one page, and to continue, you must go to 18 pages later. Then flip back to 5 pages before. Than to page 25. Then back to page 2. Itu macam. Very the konfius. In the end, I also dont know what was happening. I like straightforwarded movies. Like Robin Hood. There's a flow. And its easy to understand. My brain just dont want to think when it comes to entertainment. However, on rare occasions, the brain could work, but for this one, it just went "whatever la"..

So that was my opinion on the movie. Otherwise its is a "watchable" movie. Would I pay RM 11? NO! RM10? Nope. RM7, yeah, maybe. But for the sake of supporting a friend, RM 11 is OK la. At least I'm not paying for some lawak bodoh movie, kan?

No Thomas This Year

2010-05-17T12:21:00.002+08:00

First, I dont normally watch sports, more so games like badminton. But it was the Thomas Cup, and was aired LIVE from our very own Bukit Jalil Stadium! How can I not watch it? Besides the husband is all fired up to watch the games so I pun tumpang la.

Msia, of course, was not expected (though we all hoped) to win the Cup. They all played well and good, but really, still not up to the level of the opponents, particularly China. Though many may hate Lin Dan, but seriously, putting personal vendetta aside, I think he is a blardy damn good player. He's like the Roger Federer of Badminton (during the reign of Roger, before the emergence of three-quarter-pants Nadal). No, "good" doesnt do him justice. "Great" is the word. And he is very confident with himself. Perhaps that's why he IS the best.

Now our team consists of some pretty familiar faces. Of course we have so many No 1 titles but why do we still lose? I dont have an answer. But I think we need new players. We must be really desparate to still put Wong Choong Han to play as 2nd singles. Apa ni. He was good lah, but he should be retiring by now. How can a 35year old man pitch against a 21 year old opponent? Msia must start training new people or we will eventually be phased out totally from future Thomas Cups because of no participant. Even our Dato Lee pun dah 29 years old.

Anyway, me no expert to comment on the technicalities of the game. But at least, racism has not contaminated the spirit of the game, and this is a very plausible thing. Many things in our country *you know and I know* always have some elements of *quota* but I am glad, badminton is not one of those. And none of the players played as "Chinese", "Malay" or whatever races, they fought as one..Malaysians. This, I truely appreciate.

OK la, let's not harbor past disappointments. I hope that our team can make it to the Finals next time around. Perhaps I would forget to watch even!

Robin Hood

2010-05-14T16:07:00.006+08:00

*Image again, curi-ed from some website

I've a confession here. First, I NEVER read the story book. Or even if I did, I cannot recall how the story goes. But doesnt matter, because this movie is like the prequel to ALL Robin Hood movies that we have seen so far. Its like Batman Begins. So this is Robin Hood Begins.

I am not going to eloborate more on the story, lest I spilled some beans and spoil your appetite to watch the movie. But what's a movie review without some spoilers la, rite? ;p

So Robin Hood was an archer with the English military (don't think that is the right term but since I'm no historian, what the heck la) and through some twist of fate he and his friends managed to escape death, entangled with the royal and government affairs, became allies with the King of England, then subsequently stole the king's thunder and was outlawed by the King.

See, short and sweet, no spoilers huh? Hehe.

I think this is a good movie to watch, if you are into war, medieval, history (like me) and Russel Crowe (not really a fan). Somehow, this movie has some uncanny resemblence to...Gladiator? Geez. Underdog became hero and later outclassed by some king. Same same, no? But not to be confused, one is English, the other Roman.

So my verdict is a 7/10. Not bad a movie lah, seriously.

Ip Man 2

2010-05-12T20:17:00.002+08:00

Having some free time for myself, which is very, very rare, I decided to make full use of the day instead of staying home, sleeping the whole day, and mourning the pain of my lower back. So I went to watch a movie. Woohoo. And its a Wednesday so its cheaper! Double Woohoo.

*Image curi-ed from GSC website. Sorry for low-res.

And I chose to watch Ip Man 2. I kept calling the movie I.P. Man that the ticket counter girl also wondered what I was talking about. Its Ip Man (pronounced eep mun, not ai pi man ok), haha.

The movie was overall good lah, about Ip Man (Donnie Yen) who just moved to Hong Kong after the Japanese occupation and wanted to start a martial arts school. Then the usual story line lah, the Brits’ top boxer wanted to challenge the Chinese, and eventually Ip Man defeated the guy in public and saved the face of the Chinese. Actually this story line is the same for all Kung Fu masters’ movies, I think Wong Fei Hong and the other guy, Fok something something also had a movie which went exactly the same and ended, also almost exactly the same.

But, I’m not quick to shun this movie. I hardly watch chinese flicks, only those with the following elements:

1. Historical, especially war related. Because I love old buildings and learning the lifestyle and environment of people in the past. Damn, I think I watched Ip Man because it revolves around a real person living in a real time, some time ago.

2. Nilai-nilai murni especially those that brings out the semangat nationalisme di kalangan bangsa cina. Though I dont consider China my home country (coz I am fourth generation Malaysian, both sides), but still, watching their fighting spirit and will to survive just melts me. Somehow la. But then again, too much of good values can bore me, which in the case of Ip Man, is just right. Aww..

3. Realistic. I hate those colourful bombs, moving segments of mountains and laser emitting old bitches striking trees and piercing boulders. A bit of flying here and there and fast punches are OK la.

So if all three elements come together, its a ‘watchable’ movie for me. So, if you like to learn more about post war China (and HK for that matter), do watch this movie. Would I pay RM 10 for it? Yeah, why not. RM11? Erm. But RM 7 on a Wednesday? Yesssss! Give a miss to all the other ‘phek yau’ (gangster) movies, put on some intellectual mind and watch this movie. Its Ip Man 2.

Masjid Jamek & KL Walkabout

2010-05-12T11:08:00.001+08:00

The B&W gang roamed the streets of KL again! This time, I brought my newly acquired FE2 but still was using the HP5 film simply because it was the cheapest of all rolls that I have and I am more confident developing it by myself.

After hours of trying to get the film into the spool, an almost broken film picker, and finally resolved by whacking the reel, forgetting the scissors and bermacam-macam lagi mishaps, I finally managed to develop this roll. Phew. Turned out better than I expected actually. Thought I had blown it all!

Nikon FE2, Ilford HP5, HC110 6 min @ 27deg, Ilford Rapid Stopper 1 min, Ilford Fixer 5min. All agitation done every 30sec.

No PP done except for the two pic that have a black border.

Arrival…

Last call…

The sun is always shining..

KTM Admin office viewed from The Station Heritage Hotel. Classic Moorish architecture.

Dilapidation

Tembikar (Pottery) at Dayabumi Complex.

Arrival of the long awaited bus..

The pillars of Masjid Jamek (the mosque, not the LRT station)

Pillars of Wisdom. Shadows on the floor.

Overall, I enjoyed myself and made a few good friends! Photography is always wonderful because not only it gives me satisfaction and pleasure to trigger the shutter button, it also opens me to a new world of meeting likeminded people.

I cant wait for the next outing to I-city. Yes, that place has been shot to death, BUT, this time, we’re doing Black & White! How’s that for a change? ;p

Laid Back Life at Batu Dam

2010-05-05T11:14:00.002+08:00

Batu Dam is situated somewhere along the way up to Ulu Yam/KKB/Batang Kali and the sleepy areas that fall under the Hulu Selangor constituency.

Its a nice place to rest the troubled mind and calm the distressed soul.

Camera: Nikon FE2

Film : Ilford HP5

HC110 (Dilution 1:64, 6 mins, 27degC)

Ilfordstopper : 1:10

Ilfordfixer: 1:4

The dam

Anglers cutting off the hook from the fish. Apparently, the hook got too deep into this particular fish that the guy had to ply out the hook from the poor thing's throat.

Ikan Toman abundant in the lake. After speaking with one of the guys there, I found that this is a predatory fish that people dont normally eat and has a very strong will to survive, even outside water.

More B&W pics to follow suit. Stay tuned!

Bertumbuh Kulat

2010-04-24T10:40:00.004+08:00

..already la this blog!

Been very busy in the past few months, hardly have time for myself, more so for the blog! Thank God for the dry box or else the kulat will grow in my cameras as well!

Here's a little random update and thoughts in my mind about everything and anything.

1. Life. I just got married. No, please dont give me that 'ah, how's married life..', 'now u r married adi la...' etc etc kinda shit. Although its a happy thing but I just want my personal life to stay personal and I am not obliged to answer questions like this unless you are my bestest buddies ok?

Im moving into my own place soon. Erm, should be today but I am still in the office because I dont have enough annual leave to take anymore. I have 2 weddings to attend in the next two months, and two outstation trips to make which will make me poorer by many hundreds in the form on cut salary (unpaid leave) and angpow. But I am not complaining, just that I wish things could be better.
Update: By the time I posted this entry, I have already moved in. Yaey! Its a nice cozy place but we still want to do personalise some stuff in the house. Like painting a feature wall and the bathroom ceiling orange. Ah.

Speaking about moving, I am excited to be living in the new neighbourhood. Goodbye evil PJ jams. Goodbye toll. Haha. Hubby and I will have a good time venturing out the new area for food and provisions. And also, for entertainment at KL's most happening area. =)
Update: Jalan Kuching jam is EVIL. but then at least its only one jam and its toll free. Hah.

2. Photography. Had not touched my cameras, both D and non-D SLR for a long time. No time to shoot due to the above reasons. But May is going to be exciting, I will start shooting again. Looking forward to the film outing early May. With life slowly settling down to normalcy, I foresee more time for shoots. Looking forward to that, really.

3. Work. The project is still not finished but I hope it will be done by end June this year. More and more issues to settle before the big guys get transferred away and accounts to close before I move on with another assignment. Will be going back to head office after this project to do a different jobscope. Excited? Yes and no. Yes coz its different and offers me opportunity to travel for work, No because its still office based most of the time, and I have to say hi again to that terrible PJ jam. Shit. And not to mention the prospects of evil bitching and back biting that office ladies normally do. Urgh. But on the more positive side, I get to work 5 days a week, pweet! *more time for shooting and doing things that I like*

4. Handphone. Been using the same old phone since 2007 and lately I have been toying with the idea of upgrading to a more canggih phone with WiFi and touch screen. Bt I dont like touch screen because I cant sms while driving (although its illegal but I do it anyway). I dont need to check my mails on the go, I just want WiFi for facebook and blogging purposes, which is quite unnecessary actually. So, should I change or not?

After talking so much, I think I should just stick to the same phone until death do us part.

5. Selayang Market. Went there with mum last Sunday. Things were cheap- we bought capsicums at RM3.00/kg (appx 6-7 biji), carrots at RM2.50/kg and cabbage for RM 1.50/kg. Cheap, but the downsides are, the place is really super wet and dirty that its better to wear Phua Chu Kang boots there, and, most of the sellers prefer to sell in bulk. Would I go back there again? Yeah, sure. Wanna take pics of the colourful veges too =)

6. E-Filing. Its the Income Tax month again. Or to be precised, the final week to file in the taxes. I think one of the best things that the Govt ever did for us was to introduce E-filing. It is so so so so easy! Just key in the right figures and click 'Submit'. And ta-daaah, you'll get the bottom figure. Me likey! Now me waiting for IRB to send me my 'overpayment' checque, muahahhaha =)

7. Celcom Broadband. I made the right choice la to subcribe to Celcom. It was good, fast and has a wide coverage! Even the ulu place like Taman Rakyat (my hometown, not like ulu la, but the place is a bit towards the outskirts of Taiping) also can get connection! Kudos to Celcom la, really the widest coverage. But the speed there is a bit slow, but nonetheless, better than tarak line, kan?

Even at my new condo, the connection was fast! So guys out there who are living at CV condo, I highly recommend Celcom broadband! (ps: Im not working or affiliated with Celcom at all)

Itu sahaja for the time being. Till the next update (hopefully with pictures), Ta!

Busy, Exciting, Not, Busy, Not, Exciting. I Dont Know

2010-03-31T15:44:00.002+08:00

This month is crazy. April is also crazy. Too many things happening, all supposedly good stuff. But I am too busy and having too many thoughts in my mind that I kinda dont have enough voltage to run all the appliances at the same time. Fused. Bzzz.

In a few more days I will be married. Ya I know I never mentioned a bit about it in this blog. Well its because i am having mixed feelings about it. Bitter sweet, I dont know its more bitter or sweet. At times I cry thinking about it. At times I feel blessed that at least on long term I am taken care of. I get sick and a little pissed when people keep harping about my wedding because I am just not the kind of person who likes to be paparazzied. Bah.

At the same time I will be moving out into the new condo. Pretty excited about that, coz its much nearer to work and I can wake up later and still get to work on time. Having a place of my own means I can furnish it as I want and keep stock of all the food that I like. But the bad side is, well, I have to clean the place because WIFE means washing, ironing, f*cking and entertainment.

I wish the first week of April can be fast forwarded and life can resume to normal.

Not to mention that there's the stupid quality audit that is coming just in the middle of April. Told my boss the department just dont have time to prepare for it so sepakat that we are going to ignore the audit altogether and get all the NCRs so that the bigger boss will know that he is being unreasonable to ask us for so much. Lucky my boss is more senior that the 'bigger boss' or else I dont know how to juggle current work, audit AND personal life.

But there are exciting things to look forward to this April. Mostly photoshoots. Yeah, I cant wait to get back on my feet to shoot! I got a used FE2 recently, and started to build my arsenal of films, chemicals and other stuff. It's gonna be exciting! I will blog about my new film fever soon, when things have settled a little. And the finances, too, so I can buy a scanner. Haha.

My sister has requested to shoot her casual pre-wedding shoot and the tentative place is PD, on tentatively end of April. I am so looking forward for it! I have been wanting to do couple shoots, but just couldnt find any volunteers. Its gonna be fun! I am looking at the works of Jessica Claire and hope to be inspired by her works. I hope the then-hubby will be able to assist as my flashgun holder. Haha.

Hm, what else. May will come soon. Sister's wedding. I will be coordinating the dinner. And editing the prewedding shoots. And I want to do a B&W shoot for her wedding day too. Hm. Exciting, yes. But that means I am going to be super busy. Ah. Aint complaining if it involves photography. Yaey!

OK la, Ive already stolen 5 mins out of my 8 official hours at work to write this. Till the next post, if I dont update frequently, you know why la. ;p

Another Emo Emo Talk

2010-03-29T14:30:00.003+08:00

Give me a pillow. I'm, again, in the emo state and very, very confused and a little depressed.

Dont ask me why and please, dont even attempt to pujuk me. I'm ok and take my word for it. If you persist, I might just get mad.

I just need to speak out, vent out and the only place I can do so is here in my blog because its mine and I dont have to care what others think. Except that this is the WWW means whatever I write is publisized for the world to see. Not good either. So I'm sparing the details but sharing the feeling.

I am feeling like a lost driver in that Berkeley roundabout in Klang (I think that's the name). I'm taking 12 o'clock, but secretly I wish I could go 6 o'clock. I drag the gears and move forward. Its not that 12 o'clock isnt good, its just somehow, I left my heart somewhere along the lines at 6 o'clock and I want to pick it back and start the journey anew. But the roundabout is so blardy damn jam and I'm running out of time so I cant turn back. No, too many negative implications to the cars surrounding me that I absolutely cannot, cannot do this. I must move on, even if the heart is far behind. Perhaps over time, I will realise that I never really dropped it, it was merely in the car boot. Or perhaps I will run out of power, and die a slow death. I dont know, only time will tell.

Can't really work now; the brains just wouldn't operate, the heart, is just feeling sick. Sometimes I wish I was simpler. Or things could go MY way. But alas, no. Life is much more complicated than our imagination and wanting to be carefreee is wishful thinking.

I dont know what else to say, because I am just lost. Perhaps I should consider migrating to somewhere else. Some may say running away does not solve the problem, yes, but at least it alleviates the pain. Out of sight, out of mind.

I need to shoot like crazy. Life can be depressing. Let me out with the camera.

Asian Charlie’s Angels

2010-03-14T20:43:00.001+08:00

is called..Chai Lai Angels. Haahahhahahaha.

Bet its porn loaded with super auta actions.

Share A Good News

2010-03-02T17:22:00.002+08:00

...when the mind is not in a good state. Or while ber-emo. Hormonal or not.

Yes, I got promoted. It's official now. I'm officially a senior executive. Means slightly higher pay and a lot more work and responsibility.

But still, this is good news and I should appreciate it by sharing the news with all my dear readers who are my friends. Though there has been ups and many downs, but in the end, at least, I feel appreciated now. I will strive to work better.

Thanks for the recommendation, Uncle T.

Love Will Keep Us Together

2010-02-27T23:27:00.001+08:00

I am feeling all emo and blue. Perhaps its the PMS. Just at random, I thought of a close friend who is mending a broken heart. Loved ever so dearly, but due to circumstances, they could not be together. Fate has a weird way and sometimes, we can never understand why things happen the way it did.

I feel for you, my friend. Time will heal and the sweet memories will fill that tiny wound to make your heart whole again.

This song is for you. Let love keep us together. Coz I really love you. The Captain & Tenille.

My First Black And White Film

2010-02-19T23:49:00.001+08:00

My first roll of film, the Ilford HP5 ISO (or ASA) 400, shot with a loaned Olympus mju something (will check the model when I get back to KL). I am now officially in love with B&W film photography and can foresee doing this for the rest of my life. It’s the ultimate stress therapy and the satisfaction that I got from the whole process from shooting to developing to scanning the images just blows my mind. Its delirious. Aahh.

1. Buildings

Right. I am still not that creative when it comes to shooting buildings. Cis. I love old, abandoned buildings with much character and history, and somehow high rise buildings from the 70s and 80s are just not my cup of tea. But never mind, I shoot also anyway. I must learn.

Tower in a tower. Damn, I am bad at captions.

Looks like Wayne Tower but shorter.

2. Sze Ya Temple

Alright, I have to admit that temples are good places for average photographers to get decently impressive pics. Provided you meter properly la. Plenty of highlights, shadows, light falls, smoke and exotic items to capture. I am rather impressed with the HP5. The tonal range of the film is amazing (for my standard), way better than any digital DSLR can do. Seriously.

The Prayer. Since I suffered the smoke, I must have at least 1 pic of smoke from the joss stick or whatever that was burning.

Light fall. I waited for the centre court to be less crowded and took the shot when the opportunity came. I love the pillars framing the center altar and the onion lantern balancing the ‘heavy’ ground.

This Indian man works at this counter that folds some yellow colored burning items. Sorry, I dont know what that’s called. After shooting only I realised there was a littel gal sleeping in front and I have ‘chopped’ her head. Not a good scene. Freaky actually.

3. Street Signs

Ive always thought street signs are romantic stuff. They change after a while when more dignitaries emerge (and dies), replacing the old names with possibly, a new facade as well. Like, I dont see any Mat Salleh names anymore. I’m sure there was, but now has been erased. So I took two road signs that I happen to pass and notice. Btw, I am nt a racist la, just ternampak these and thought it would be fun to shoot.

Tan Siew Sin Road.

Broken but not Forgotten.

There is No Way, But This Way. Its such a strong way, let’s make it our way! Sorry, suddenly thought of a song by Bryan Adams. Can’t Stop This Thing We Started. I still love BA. Best singer for me.

5. Artistic/Creative

OK la, this also I have to give in. I am naturally not that artistic person. But I wouldnt say I am all that char la. I’m still good, still learning to be good, at least.

Shoot. I saw this grafitti and one of our photographers chimping just beside the grafitti. So I quickly snapped this photo. I love the er, reflection of the two subjects, one a sketch, unreal photographer in action, and the other, a real, living photographer taking photographs.

Broken Glass.

Face/Off

Sultan Perak

Used and Abandoned.

Bicycle Parking.

Alright, if you noticed the lack of captions in the last few photographs, it is because I have ran out of creative juices (not that I have much to begin with). Anyway, to sum it all up, I had fun. Photography is just wonderful. You should try it.

Welcoming The New Home For The Family

2010-01-31T15:53:00.001+08:00

The old home was in dire straits, unmaintained and too crowded for all the kids to live in. It was alright in the beginning, but like any DIY home, after a while, it turned into a shack. So I decided that time is right to move them to a better place.

They all love it and there’s enough space for future expansions and the rest of the PnS gang! Oh, and the Minimo could move in too, what a joy!

Sometimes I Just Don’t Want To Think

2010-01-24T09:40:00.001+08:00

Taken with the Minimo. Sometimes, toy cameras can be a therapeutic tool to use when the brain just refused to think.

Don't Nag Me

2010-01-18T13:44:00.004+08:00

* This is a whining and ranting post. Please exit if are like me, malas hear other people's disgruntlement*

I dont like to be nagged. Yes, I know I am quite stubborn, I am fickle, I am quite wild and seems out of control. And age is not at my side because I am relatively younger than *you* (yes, I am venting out about someone and its not related to anyone of u who are reading this, in case u r wondering who I am talking about). You may think that I dont know what I am doing but the truth is, I know and I am more exposed to the outside world than you are, who have been goody and sheltered all your life. Dont advice me on things that you think I should do, because I dont need another piece of your wisdom. I know your intention is good, but really, its not what I want. I dont want to be controlled based on your values.

Maybe I'm young and brash. True on that. But I am young only once, single only until a few more months, probably becoming a mum in a few more years time. Let me have some spice in my life so that when my kids grow older, I can tell them that their mum was a rocker when she was young (and not let daddy have all the glory of telling how hot he was, etc). And if they become rockers too, I can be cool enough to accept that.

So please, stop nagging me, asking me about me, and judge me based on what I do. I am sick of all these 'controls' and the moral standards that you think I should live up to.

I hope you are not offended by what I say. I know you dont know about this blog, so I am safe knowing that you will not know about this. I just dont want to hurt you by telling this to you, but I cannot keep it inside anymore.

*end of post*

Some Random Shots

2009-12-28T23:35:00.001+08:00

..while awaiting for proper, written entries here.

I’m sorry dear readers who have been faithfully visiting this blog but have been disappointed more often than not.

Many happenings in my life, and the people around me, so much so that I hardly even have time for myself, what more for the blog.

So anyway, please look see look see the random shots I took in the past couple of months. No meaning, no title, no objective. Just click and snap what I see. So technically, or artistically, the shots may not be at best.

The Rail. Dont Jump. Life Is Precious.

Ceiling and Christmas.

Tropical Float.

Ancient Glory, Forgotten Today.

On The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

The Day Will Come, When My Stump Shall Again Emerge and Glory Be Restored.

On The White Line, The Leaf Stands.

On a separate note, I tried some CLS (creative lighting system) with 1 Nikon SB600 and my built-in flash as the commander. Since I couldn’t find a model, my handphone pun boleh la.

Cant remember the setting la. I placed the SB600 as slave somewhere at the back of the handphone, around 10 feet away. Front lighting by the built in flash, probably at 1/16.

Same model, different setting, different angle.

CLS is fun! I shall experiment more with human models when I can find one!

They Took All The Trees and Put Them In The Tree Museum

2009-10-18T22:43:00.001+08:00

..and charge the people a dollar and a half to see ‘em, no no no, Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you’ve got till its gone, They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

That was part of the lyrics of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, a song originally sang by I Dont Know Who but was popularised to suit present crowd by the Counting Crows.

Anyway, I’m not going to talk about the Counting Crows or the big yellow taxi or any tree museum. Yes, the title is not related to this entry, just that the song popped into my head as I was posting this.

ANYWAY. I took a short holiday back home and while I was left stranded outside for a good hour because mum was out and I didnt have the keys to my house, I took a drive to the lake gardens, and made a detour to Maxwell Hill. It was 11.30am, and as the sky was so blue, I couldn't resist taking pictures of the sky. Hey, it’s not everyday that Taiping has blue skies, most of the time the sky is cloudy and overcast or rainy.

So here are pictures of some trees by the small river near Maxwell Hill. Nothing great, just thought of sharing the beauty of Taiping trees on a sunny day.

Please save the trees by not wasting paper. Terima kasih.

My First Wedding Assignment

2009-10-09T00:24:00.001+08:00

CK did not have a professional photographer for her wedding day, so I offered to be her official photographer for the ‘chee mui’ session and church ceremony. Since I am no pro, and she’s a good friend, I did it for free. I had fun, but I must say that it is not easy being a wedding photographer. Everything has to be right at the crucial moment. My experience can be summarised as below:

1. Must shoo away the relatives who are blocking the OP, that is me. Be brutal also never mind. But I am, by nature a gentle and shy person (ahem!) so I failed in this part.

2. OK, since I did not acheive Item (1), I did a more subtle way, that is slot in IN FRONT of them and buat tak tau they are there. Alternatively, I changed to a zoom lens and put the lens through their shoulder. Hah.

3. Dont try to gatal change lenses so many times if u r not a pro. Really, I couldnt focus on the ring exchange ceremony because I was using a tele lens and it couldnt focus because I was too near! Sad but never mind, lucky I smart, took photos of the both rings at the fingertips of the priests with some nice bokeh at the back. Can tipu kut. ;p

4. Must wear comfortable because the OP is required to climb pews, run fast from front to back and font again, stand for long hours, squat and macam-macam again. Especially in front the crowd, cannot afford to have the underwear line peeping through the jeans.

5. Need lots of stamina for reasons stated above and also, sacrifice of fun times hanging out with my other friends who came because I have to be there for the couple to photograph the relatives and friends.

Ah, that was wedding photography for me. A little about the couple:

The story of how CK and her hubby Kenny got together is something that I would say ‘drop from the sky’. CK has been good friends with Ken’s sister for 3 years, and they never knew each other existed. Until the sister invited CK over for her convocation dinner and that was where they met. Slowly they got to know each other better, got connected and finally, after 2 or 3 years of courtship, they tied the knot on 18 July 2009. Such a wonderful couple, and I am really blessed to see CK, being provided with all her needs, including a good life partner, simply because she is faithful to God in every aspect. She’s an inspiring woman to me.

Yes, do drop me some comments la on the photography aspect. More pictures to come, but these are my favourites so far.

28.7% Body Fat???

2009-09-29T23:18:00.001+08:00

Dei, how come la?? I have ideal weight, ideal BMI but high fat percentage. At least, if its at border line, its not so bad la. This is beyond the range. Want to get markah kesian also cannot. Sigh.

I shall work out all the fats and we shall see the results again, in 2 months time. In the meantime, if you guys want to check out your body BMI, blood pressure and fat index, do head down to 1Utama Old Wing (near Jusco); there is a vending machine that does all this for a minimal cost of RM2. Yes, we now have that in Malaysia. Canggih, kan? Hehe.

Searching For That Elusive Curry Puff

2009-09-06T18:16:00.001+08:00

I have heard, for a very long time, that the Genting Casino has more than just the roulette tables, poker, the pre-programmed jackpots and old uncles and aunties gambling by the thousands.

Kononnya, the curry puff there, is damn nice. And so I went there, in search of that curry puff, to bust/confirm the myth of the legendary Casino Curry Puff, let’s call it CCP, OK?

The first casino that I went, was the one at First World. That was the smaller of the two casinos at Genting. I headed to the cafe. Tarak curry puff pun. Never mind, I thought, there must be more makan places in the casino. Yes, there were two other refreshments corner, but none serve curry puff.

The curry puff is being elusive. Hmm.

So I left that first world casino to the bigger one at Genting Hotel (I think so). Damn it was quite far. It’s bigger, meaner and has a proper name to it, called Casino de Genting. Walau, like in The Godfather pulak, got Italian name. Kekeke.

After a long walk and having to endure the crowd and ciggies smoke, I found a small refreshment corner. As I approached the counter, I had the feeling that the CCP is there. It has to be. I could sense its aura.

And true enough, I was right. It was there, waiting for me!

I took a bite.

It tasted…. biasa only. Not bad, but nothing great either.

So the legendary CCP is just a hoax to get non-gambler-foodies to come over to the casino. Geez. But at RM 1.50+ only, it is a good buy and is considered one of the cheapest food item one could find in Genting.

My heart is now at peace knowing that I have tasted the famous CCP. Hahahahaha.

Merdeka and 1Malaysia

2009-08-31T18:55:00.001+08:00

In a week’s time, we will be celebrating another yet another year of freedom from the British rule. In many ways, I wouldnt say that having being ruled by the British was a bad thing, of course there were a few bad eggs here and there, but generally, I think we must not forget that it was them who brought trade, education and public facilities to the country and in peace, we asked and they gave us our independence. So it is wrong to hate the British masters for what they did to us, but rather we should look back and recognize that it was part of our nation’s history and heritage, for better or worst. And we should also appreciate the works of our dear Tunku for negotiating independence from the Brits. God’s timing is always good, and He has carved the path for our nation into where it is now. Yes, despite the few rumours of murder and scandals. It is not our calling to judge, only to vote and pray for the nation.

Anyway, our new Prime Minister, who has been in office for a few months already, has coined a new theme for the country, called 1Malaysia, or Satu Malaysia. If this 1Malaysia is the idea that I have about being one nation, then I think I will like this new theme very much. As for the implementation, it is a different question altogether but let’s give our PM the benefit of doubt and let him run the course before judging on the effectiveness of this 1Malaysia thing.

I would like to see our countrymen living as one, no Malay, no Chinese, no Indian, no dan lain-lain. When we tell others who we are, we don’t refer to ourselves as Chinese, or Malay, but rather, we are Malaysian. I want to see the day that Malays no longer feel intimidated of the Chinese for their growing wealth, the Chinese no longer feel suspicious that the Malays are going to Islamize their children and their culture will be lost, and the Indian no longer feel marginalised and left out in the social and economic world. I want my future children to play field football and climb trees with Ali, Ah Chong, Arul and Alan, and not only stick to their own race.

Also, I would want our people to be matured enough to decide for themselves on sensitive issues and not be swayed blindly and easily by the flaming words of the Government, or the Opposition. Politics can be dirty, but we should not get entranced in supporting one side so much that we trash the good of the other side. Focus should be on the deed, not the doer. I would want to see both parties stop their petty arguments on ‘look what I found in your dirty closet’, ‘it was them who did it’,’come jump over to my party’ etc etc, and start to work together for the benefit of the people. Mat Rempits are still ruling the streets. Snatch thefts and daylight robbers are still roaming housing estates, still not enough street lights and there are still, many people living in poverty. So much to do, yet nobody is doing it. What is justice, fighting on the streets for so-called ‘freedom’, or freeing your fellow neighbors from the fears of criminals?

Lastly, I want to see Malaysia being a fair country where everybody wants to live here and feel safe raising their kids in this land. I have too many friends who have migrated overseas because other countries are more ‘condusive’ to live and have better prospects for their children. While I am tempted to follow suit, I felt that my heart is not ready to leave the country. This is home. And I want fellow Malaysians to feel like home too. I hope with 1Malaysia, things will change for the better.

Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan. Hidup Malaysia and God bless our country!

Thinking Things Over

2009-08-31T18:38:00.001+08:00

For the longest time ever, I took 2.5 days off to unwind and recalibrate my mind and soul. Things that came to light recently, which I shall maintain shush about it, and some other stuff need some shaking off from weight of my brain. I am tired. So I went home, back to the mountains, the rain and the cozy weather of Taiping. Oh, and the local food too.

And I had time to write and rethink of what I want in life and to prepare myself mentally, for the things that are to come in the near future. I need to flush the unforgiveness in my heart so I can open up to accept the wrongdoings as a past and not harbor any hatred towards another person. It is important to me, to be at peace with people, even though I may be the person who was wronged.

The clouds must go. If it stays, you’ll never know how high you can go, what lies behind the mountain. The rain has passed, the clouds are clearing, and so, I must move on.

God, give me the strength and wisdom to carry on. And yes, walk with me.

The New Hotel In Town

2009-08-31T18:28:00.001+08:00

There’s a spanking new hotel at the lake gardens which is setting the sleepy town abuzz. It’s called Flemington Hotel, and I’d say, though it is yet another 3 star hotel in Taiping, the decor and concept is way better than any other hotels in town and even, Ipoh *ahem*.

Oh, and they have a skybar too, which is beside the pool. The idea of having an open air rooftop bar is plausible, but unfortunately, the lake gardens are not lighted at night, so nothing can be seen from there. But still, I like the open concept. And the flat screen TVs too. Good for football nights with beer. =)

The lobby lounge.

The lobby lounge from another perspective.

The skybar. OK, I confess, I forgot to set the ISO to the minimum, and went straight on shooting with slow shutter at ISO 640 and the image suffered some severe noise problem. But thank goodness NeatImage came to the rescue, albeit a faint effort and some loss of sharpness in some areas.

The pool.

The pool view from the skybar.

The poolside.

I did not take other parts of the hotel due to time and other constraints. Perhaps another time. Maybe I can saja-saja book a night there and have a feel of the room and service of the hotel. Keke.

Why I Love My New Handbag

2009-08-31T18:15:00.001+08:00

The D80 attached with the 50mm fits beautifully into it! And not to mention, I can still fit my purse, my keys, handphone, compact powder, lipbalm, nasal decongestant, comb, sunnies, tissues, and whole lot of other ladies’ stuff. Stealth is my new name =)

With the new discovery, I am seriously thinking of getting a used D40 to replace my Panasonic Lumix, which is aging, ailing and starting to show signs of flares and focus inaccuracy. Next bonus, maybe? Hehe.

I Miss The Good Old Days

2009-08-21T19:17:00.001+08:00

Suddenly, I feel emo and sentimental after listening to too much of ‘Better’ by Boyzone and ‘Over You’ by Daughtry. And a little uninspired to write.

And I remembered during one of the boring and dreggy staff meetings, I drew a picture of my late grandparents house at Kampung Sultan, Kampar. Beautiful wooden link houses with zink roof and cast iron grilles at the window. Back then, balik kampung would mean going over to their place, which I really looked forward to as a kid. The place has since been taken back by the Government and redeveloped, and kong kong and popo also had left us. Though things have change, the fond memories I had at the house at Kampung Sultan, including the noisy Indian neighbour who blasts Tamil songs during Chinese New Year, the little tadpoles that I used to play with in the water tank (JBA water source was slow, so kong kong and neighbours would harness the water from the mountain for cleaning purposes), the open air kitchen, the faraway toilet with no lights at night, and of course, my late popo’s stir fry prawns, will never leave my memory. If only I took up photography from young, I would have been able to preserve some images to show my children’s children how a kampung looks like.

Do you have a kampung to remember?

G.I Joe – No Spoilers (I Hope!!)

2009-08-18T23:28:00.001+08:00

Only few words to describe how the movie was:

1. Boring. Damn, what was it about again? The main actor wasnt good looking, so are the chics. The only guys I remember now are the Imhotep guy whose name failed to register in my mind after so many installations of The Mummy, and a Wayan brother, whose first name also, did not stick to my memory at all. Yes, the lineup was boring, the storyline was nothing great and the ending to it…also nothing of substance.

2. Nonsensical. The weapons are way too futuristic to the point that it defies every aspect of logic. I didnt get what the whole war was all about, and I cant even figure what era was this whole thing supposed to set in. Also, what has the 1600 introduction got to do with the movie? Sure it explains the ancestry of this James McCullen (you’ll know who he is when you watch, he’s the villain) but I really dont see the relevance of showing this part at all.

3. Overboard. Having some salt in our food is good, but adding too much of it makes the food awful. That was exactly how I felt about this movie. The weapons were ugly, which is still an understatement btw. Fugly was more like it, big, heavy, overly powerful and same colour. The space ship-cum-plane looks like a bastard son of a father cicak and mother dugong, the underwater base camp reminds me of Futurama and the super suit looks like something from ‘Hancock’ (movie by Will Smith). The fighting scenes were just pure kicking, punching and shooting, until I also dont know what was going on and why the fights went on for eternity. Blah.

So overall, this is my review on the movie. Please, I am not complaining, just writing what I feel about it. You may disagree with me but this is what I feel. My verdict is a one and a half star out of five; though I did not enjoy the movie, but at least, it is better than watching one of those sucky Korean/Singapore horror flicks, or Hong Kong slapstick movies.

Bwt, just in case you are wondering what G.I Joe stands for, well, it is Government Issue Joe (yeah, sounds lame, I know). And yes, they have ancestries from Hasbro and Marvel comics as well (like Transformers). Go watch it, if you have nothing else to watch now. Otherwise, just save that hard earned RM11 and get yourself a good meal instead.

In The (Steel) of the Day

2009-08-07T11:42:00.001+08:00

Beam Launching 21 June 2009

2009-08-06T23:28:00.001+08:00

For the benefits of those who do not have any inkling of what ‘beam launching’ is all about, I shall take the liberty to explain, in my own words, what is it and what’s so great about it.

Beam launching is, as the name suggests, is the launching of a section of a beam, or a whole beam, depending on the size and requirement. In my case, it was the whole beam, weighing a massive 9.8tonnes (slightly lighter than Optimus Prime, hehe), and being hoisted all the way up to where it should sit permanently at Level 24, using two tower cranes. The coordination of the cranes were crucial, and many a times, one crane moved faster than the other, causing the beam to tilt dangerously. But thank God, there was no untoward incident. This beam was made of structural steel, and is part of the structure for our skybridge.

OK, back to the event. So I was quickly assumed as the official photographer simply because I have a DSLR, with a long lens that looks damn pro (actually it was only the Nikon 55-200 which I bought for RM600? hehe), and with the SB600 and the Bagman bag. Pressure, you know, but the good thing about being the ‘most professional looking photog with style’ is, people actually make way for me to shoot! Haha.

One of our Bangladeshi signalman. Signalmen are the ‘eyes and ears’ of the tower crane operators. The communicate with each other with walkie talkie.

Workers fixing the slings to the beams.

The arrival….at Level 24. The background is Jalan Ampang.

Pulling into position. The beam is still suspended, just in case any of you are wondering.

Watching…and waiting.

Bolt to place..

Techies discussing tech side of the beam.

Screw it with care. Ha.

Another angle of the bolt.

After bolt, lagi must weld. I took approximately 20 numbers of welding pictures, but only few turned out well. Some were a little too dramatic to most people’s liking. Hence, I will edit them another time.

Maskman.

Working on the suspended beam. Takutnyer!

Sitting, waiting. On the beam, that is. At Level 24 with NOTHING below. But these guys are experts, they are used to work at height.

Yup, these are my selected few images on that day. I have another album, and lots more still in RAW, but due to time constraint, I will leave them at where they are.

So kesimpulannya, there is no kesimpulan to this series, but a record of what occured on that day. Working in the construction line may be tiring and stressful, but the site is a goldmine for photography, and I am still learning how to make eye-catching images at my workplace. In the meantime, please do comment, and drop by my fotopic gallery at http://titaniumpictures.fotopic.net. Goodnight.

Ian Wright Taught Me Something On TV Today

2009-07-29T21:28:00.001+08:00

A quote from Ian Wright about modelling

“ You must feel confident that you are good looking and that your looks is worth taking pictures of’

Something like that. I couldnt agree more. Perhaps that’s why I am always behind the viewfinder rather than the view to be found. Because deep down, I dont think I am that good looking, and I dont think that my looks would worth a keeper’s shot. No, this is not a depressing moment entry, so no need to pujuk me and all that. Of course I am good looking, but just not thaaaat good looking to be posing like a model lar.

So why am I writing this? Because, in case I fall in love with ‘shoot leng lui over the weekend’ type of photography, or the higher end ‘fashion shoot that makes money’, I will remember a tip that would bring out the best in the model – to drill in her that her looks is worth every of my shutter count.

Packing For Tomorrow

2009-07-18T00:34:00.001+08:00

1. Camera – Checked

2. Main lens – 18-70mm, clean, attached properly to camera – Checked

3. Secondary lens – 55-200mm, clean – Checked

4. Memory cards available – 4G main and all the rest as spares – Checked

6. Battery charged –Checked. Spare battery also charged – Checked

7. Battery grip attached to camera – Checked.

8. SB600 – batteries and spares charged – Checked

9. Diffusers – Phottix omnibounce and DIY bouncecard – Checked

10. Cleaning kit – Checked

11. Spare cameras – Panasonic Lumix and Olympus – Checked.

12. Road direction to CK’s house – Checked

That’s all? I hope. Now, I need to pray that the photos will turn out fine tomorrow for CK’s wedding. And yes, I’m the unofficial official photographer for the day. I’m no pro, just doing a favor for a friend. Cross fingers and hope for the best!

Nite. I need to sleep. Gonna be a long day tomorrow.

So Much Happened

2009-07-07T22:56:00.001+08:00

..but so little to say.

Been a little pensive lately, and in a great dilemma too. While I really, really do appreciate the open door, and to a certain degree, would love to jump into the bandwagon, I find that I almost can’t leave behind all I have here. The comfort zone. Maybe I don’t trust God enough, which I shouldn’t because He had given me more signs than enough to tell me that the clouds have moved and it is time to pack the tent. And in retrospect, I cannot find a time when God left me to wade through the rain all by myself. Thank you, dear Lord, for taking care of me. To leave or not, its Your will, not mine.

Another Day At Sekinchan

2009-06-21T23:29:00.001+08:00

During the first trip to Sekinchan with Pet, I mentioned that the weather was overcast and it was drizzling. Also, the paddy fields were still green, and not many farmers were around. This time around, I went to Sekinchan, again, but this time with KLguy and DrWho, and it was harvesting time on certain parts. So green fields have turned yellowish and machines were seen everywhere. Gone were the days when humans manually harvested the fields for rice.

Btw, what is paddy known in English? Is paddy the right word? So the Chinese and Viets refer to paddy as paddy? Sounds kinds funny because its so Malay. Padi. Paddy. Hmm.

Anyway, since I already took so many field and paddy plant shots, I thought I might as well concentrate on other subjects.

This is one random shot taken with the camera placed on the ground, without me looking through the viewfinder. I love the colours. Pink jambu air and red earth. Green trees surrounding it.

Lagi-lagi pokok padi. This one has dew on it.

Pakcik and son fishing at the small stream. Pakcik was a very friendly man, told us about himself. He grew up at the paddy fields and now owns a few plots at Sekinchan. And he loves fishing.

After spending some time shooting at the Malay fields (Disclaimer: I’m no racist, this is merely for referral of the location only), we went to the nearby fishing village for a meal of seafood. KLguy did some homework on what and were to eat prior to our trip and we ended up eating Shark Meat. It tastes sometime between fish and chicken. So here’s the picture.

Other dishes were pretty standard and we were very hungry, so no pictures.

After lunch, we ventured into the fisherman’s wharf.

Old wooden buildings. I love wood.

Fishing net.

Mudskipper aplenty. They always look sad, somehow.

Pulley on the boat.

Bigger pulley on the boat.

A fisherman resting in the boat on a hot afternoon.

Steel chains. I like metals too.

After the visit to the wharf, we went to another paddy fields, the Chinese fields. It was harvesting already and we could see machines and man on scattered locations on the field.

The bicycle.

Rotting wood plank.

The abandoned helmet.

Hayball. Yes, Malaysia pun ada.

Kosovo. No la, harvested and burnt field. Open burning was rampant here, but what choice do they have? The fields are massive. And burnt plants make the soil fertile for the next season.

Harvesting in the evening.

Closeup on the er, chopper? Dont know what that’s called la.

On the way back to PJ, we saw many fruit stalls and I was attracted to the myriad of fruits neatly displayed on the makeshift shelf. So I took a few shots.

Red and Yellow.

Green jagung

Yam.

So that sums up the day trip to Sekinchan. I’d say it was a fun and fruitful day!

How Much Have I Changed In 10 Years

2009-06-21T22:18:00.001+08:00

This is an interesting questionnaire in Facebook. So I thought, why not blog about it. Here are Questions and my answers in italic.

Ten years ago, did you live in a different home?

I was still living in Taiping, Perak. Am living in PJ, Selangor now.

Ten years ago, did you live in a different city?

I was in Taiping, Perak. Now PJ, Selangor.

Did you live in a different state?

Was in Perak, now Selangor… (Stupid repetitive question)

Did you have different best friends?

Yea, the old friends are all over the country, I’m closer to my KL friends nowadays.

Did you have a different marital status?

I was single then, but engaged now.

What was your financial situation ten years ago?

10 years ago, mum and dad footed the bills, now have to pay everything myself. What to do, wasnt earning yet then.

Did you have a completely different hair color?

Hm, I dyed my hair to mahogany once, I think it was 3 years ago, and then it was black again till today. Maybe I have more grey hair now. That’s the only difference la.

Did you have completely different career aspirations?

Oh yea, I remembered that I was so determined to be a doctor since I was a child because I wanted to be like Dr Lim (my favourite doctor), but realised that I was more into Physics than Biology after streaming into science, and since then I went into a state of uncertainty of what I should pursue in life. I wanted to be an engineer, architect and God (and my Kad 001) knows what else. I ended up as a quantity surveyor instead. But now, after several years of practise, I think I would like to try out something else, perhaps in a different field. So the answer to this question is, yes, I have different career aspirations.

Did you have a different celebrity crush?

Damn, I think I only liked Jet Li and those cutesy boy bands. Haha. But now, I like hot men, like Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. =) All the cute boys can pack their bags and disappear. Forever. Hah.

You had a different significant other:

I was single la, tarak boyfriend also that time. From all girls’ school and no tuition, how to meet boys? Some more I was very tomboyish, who would want me la? But now, I have a boyfriend, or rather, a fiancé so, that counts as having a different significant other as opposed to no significant other.

You had completely different political views:

Yes, I was pro Govt then. I’m disillusioned now.

Are you having more piercings or tattoos?

No la. But that time dont have ear piercings yet, now I have.

Do you weigh more than 10 years ago?

I was approximately 50kg, am still 50kg. But looking at my old photos, I have slimmed down quite a bit. The baby fats mysteriously disappeared after SPM, and I have been thin since. I still can wear my 10 year old t-shirts! But dont know why the weight is still the same.

Did you have much different drinking habits?

Those days: Alcohol is evil! Away with sin!

Nowadays: Bring me that Stout! Yeehaa =)

You had a completely different circle of friends?

Yes, but I still keep in touch with the old ones, occasionally. You see, they live near me, and dont hang out at night, so it’s difficult to meet up with them.

You didn't have a computer

That time where got computer yet. Got also, very expensive. These days ‘puters are so cheap, every student has one. I have a laptop now.

You didn't have a cell phone

Those days only the rich have cell phones. I survived with house phone and public phones. Those colourful phonecards, weren’t they beautiful? The good old days when I used to collect those cards….=) But now, I cant survive without my handphone!

Did you have completely different taste in music?

Oh yea, Backstreet Boys, N Sync and a whole load of other boybands used to rock! Haha! But now, I’d prefer Bryan Adams and U2, anytime. Eric Claption also OK. Andrea Bocelli too. Micheal Buble. Mariah Carey’s old songs were alright too. And I like those 80s and 90s stuff too.

Did you have a different education level?

10 years ago : Form 4

Now : Graduated with a degree.

Did you live with different people than you do now?

Erm, I used to live with my parents and sister. Now I live with my sister only. Mum comes by every month. Pa gone home already. Does that count as living with different people?

So Facebook came out with a conclusion for me:-

Tina took the quiz How Much Have You Changed in 10 Years? and the result is You've Changed 66% in 10 Years

Compared to who you were ten years ago, you've changed a great deal.
In fact, you're probably in a completely different phase of your life - and very happy about it!

Oh yes, a change is always good and welcomed. =)

Miscelleneous

2009-06-20T22:31:00.001+08:00

1. Yes, I know I have beeen doing the Chipsmore thing again. I’ve been extremely busy with work and family with mum visiting us in the past couple of weeks and I had to accompany her after work so she wouldn't feel neglected, and then with Joshua back from the rigs I must spend some time with him, and thus, I am left with very, very little time for myself to juggle between editing my photos, shooting, AND reading that T. Harv Eker’s Secret of the Millionaire Mind. Aaaahhh. I sometimes wished that I am a school teacher or a rich tai tai so at least I get my quality 10 hours to do the things that I want.

Alright, enough of my rants. =) So it’s a Saturday night, and I am alone. Sounds sad but really, I actually enjoy it because I get to do what I want. Yaey!

2. Watching TV. The idiot box is really no idiot. It’s your best friend on a lonely weekend night. I saw ‘Project NS’ on 8TV last night, for those who do not know what is it, well, its a reality TV show about life at the National Service camp with local celebrities like Suki (that One In A Million girl), Daniel Daneilla (an actress?) and another guy called Alif? I cant remember because tak femes sangat, keke. Although much had been said about our National Service, mostly negative news, but from the show, I dont think that the whole NS thing is that bad after all. The kids there do lots of stuff, like helping at a kindie and primary school, playing with little children while teaching them about love for our country, and then a lot of other team activities among themselves. It’s like an extended military cadet camp. Seems tiring but fun. I’d think that they would cherish the experience they had in NS.

Yes, I would recommend watching this show to all of you, especially those who are ever suspicious about NS. It will open your eyes to see what NS life is like. 8TV, Friday night, 9.30pm.

3. I am thinking of going vegetarian for the next couple of weeks. I need to detox. My digestion system is not at its best so I reckon, I should be eating more fibres and grains than meat and oil. I think I would spare the details about how bad the indigestion is, but really, I must do something to rectify this problem before it is too late.

That means, salad or vege rice for lunch, and vege soup for dinner. Can I make it? Hmm…

4. Tomorrow is an exciting day. It is D day for beam launching at my site. Not very often we get to see skybridge being installed, and we have two for this project. So I’m going to site tomorrow to catch this memorable event. Of course, i got niat tersembunyi la, I want to take pictures! Cross my fingers and hope I’ll get some good shots! ;p

5. Since I made 4 short paragraphs, I might as well add on another one. Well, this is about a thought that I had a few days ago. We all must think positive about ourselves, even if it might appear as perasan to others. I find that very often, we (or is it just me?) tend to think lowly about ourselves because we want to be humble and dont want others to think we are boasting. I think this is wrong. We should think highly about ourselves, but we should not manifest it so much by keep mentioning it to others to the point of irritation. That means, we can think about it in our minds, but we should speak humbly to others. This is not hypocrisy, but diplomacy. Example, let’s just use me la, so no one gets offended. I think I have beautiful and unique small eyes. I love my eyes. And I think my eyes are far more attractive than those goldfish eyes. I sound perasan, right? Yes I am and no sin in that. But when I tell others, I dont say I have beautiful eyes, I would just tell them I have small eyes and I love my eyes so people wont misconstrue my statement as boasting.

So girls and boys, please think good about yourself, shamelessly. It is good to boost your confidence!

OK la, I have completed 5 short paragraphs for this entry. Goodnight to all, and yes, please drop by this blog. It’s not dead. Will be up with a few stuff lining in my draft. Like the recent trip to Sekinchan with my photo kakis, some tests on my latest DIY bounce card and snoot, AND the beam launching thingy. Hopefully, it time permits, I shall upload the Sekinchan story and pics by early next week.

Angels & Demons – No Spoilers

2009-06-11T23:22:00.001+08:00

So I did not watch The Da Vinci Code. Neither did I read any of Dan Brown’s books although I have both books at home. But I watched Angels & Demons, of all movies that were released lately, simply because other movies do not interest me that much (including Terminator, because I dont want to have an overdose of robots and sci-fi stuff before the release of Transformers II) and I was curious, what’s the hoo-ha about all these Dan Brown’s anti-Christ stories that some even chose to believe the books rather than the age-old Bible. But I am not here to debate on that, but to write a bit about the movie.

I had this deja-vu feeling that I have seen this race-against-time thingy…it was…was in National Treasure! Yes, the movie reminded me of NT because first, the clues were so damn easy Professor Langdon got it almost immediately, and second, they time seems to stretch longer than reality is. Like, in 1 hour, the Prof and the scientist could get from 1 church after a catastrophe to the Vatican library, which requires entry permission from the acting Pope (the Camalengo), then walked a few stories below, into the library, get the book, read it, translated it, then suddenly the electricity was shut and they needed to find their way out from the low-pressure room, almost pengsan due to the lack of Oxygen, then miraculously escaped, got into the car, and got to the right destination just before the next murder took place. Yes,all in slightly less than an hour. My mind tells me that this is NOT logic. I cant even walk to my lunch place, order my food, sit down, finish my meal, walk back to my office and have time to visit the loo in 1 hour!

But then again, this is just a movie and as long as it holds the audiences, the movie is fine. Nevermind if it defies logic. It should be, so it wont lose its entertainment value ;p

So verdict is…OK la, can watch but not a must watch. Oh, and btw, it’s the only time you get to see a really cute Catholic priest (played by the Obi Kenobi guy, forgot his name), hehe. Too bad he had to die at the end. Opps, sorry, terbocor the ending. Yah, just go watch it la. =)

What’s Behind The Wall – Part 1

2009-05-29T23:38:00.001+08:00

Construction sites are interesting places for me. Most people appreciate the end product, but never knew how the structure is like during construction. Kinda like babies – they’re cute and adorable when they were born, but before that, during foetus-y (foetus stage lah, dont know what its called), the developing human inside the womb is nothing but adorable. Yeah, lame analogy but you get what I mean, right?

Anyway, since I work at a construction site and have heavy loading insurance plus CIDB green card, I have unlimited access to anywhere at site. Which is good because I know that the site can be a very interesting place to photograph, if you open your eyes big big and lookout for opportunities for good shots. Since I’m love abstracts, architecture and buildings, I thought I’d do a series on walls.

Looks like something from Picassa.

Door To The Soul – I was walking around site with some of the supervisors when I spotted this timber door frame leaning against the wall. The texture on the wall and the shadow that befall the frame somehow gave me the feeling of serenity, like a door to the heart and soul.

Yer, jiwangnyer! Kekeke

Splatters of cement mortar.

Some walls also have sketches and scribblings. You see, most of the workers are from foreign lands, like Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and India. And they have been away from their families for many, many years. So its only natural that they scribble on the wall to express their feelings.

Indian Lady – When I saw this, I knew I had to take this photo. My deductions are:

1. An Indian worker misses his wife

2. A worker likes my site clerk, who’s a Malaysian Indian lady.

3. This is a shrine of Aishwarya Rai. Damn I hope this is not one! Haha

Pigs On The Loose – Aren’t they cute? I wondered why they drew pigs.

So that’s the end of my first series of What’s Behind The Wall. Kita sambung another time when I visit another block tomorrow.

Don’t We All Love Good News?

2009-05-28T17:44:00.001+08:00

It’s good to hear some ‘rain’ coming on the way after a season of drought. And I am not talking about a small drizzle, more of like a typical Taiping afternoon rain – neither heavy nor light. But enough to get drenched la.

This news is certainly a great booster to all drying, delusional spririts wondering about the dessert with hopes that the land will be fertile once again.

So the land, isn't that bad as many perceived, after all.

*ps: I’m talking figuratively.

Sometimes I Wish You Were Here

2009-05-25T23:04:00.001+08:00

When I need some sound advice, you are not here.

When I need to consult you on the right step to take, you are not here.

Because whatever I do, where do I go, it all concerns you and is directly linked to you.

I know you are away for work, and I understand that you have to do this for a better future for us. I do appreciate that, sincerely.

But on days like today all I really need is your presence, to hear you and to talk to you. Even if I know what to do. Coz letting go, is the hardest thing to do, and I need your support, consolation and encouragement to take that very step to let go.

I really wish you were here tonight.

American Idol/Yet Another Proton Problem/Weddings

2009-05-21T23:30:00.001+08:00

1. American Idol.

Frankly speaking, I have not been following AI since the season when Taylor Hicks won (cant remember which). I even missed the Finals for the season where Jordin Sparks won. For last season’s AI, I managed to catch the Finals Result show though, and I enjoyed the performances by various celebrities, most notably by Bryan Adams with the other male contestants of AI. Bryan’s still the man!

Anyway, since its THE Finale, I must, hop in the bandwagon and write something about it too.

So it was yet another guy vs guy finale. Or rather, guy vs gay. Hah. Kris vs Adam. Which do you like? I’d say, Kris is for me. First, I like his peaceful image, clean shave, plays the acoustic guitar and piano, and sings songs that I like. Adam, on the other hand, has this goth, grunge, Twilight-Green Day bastardized image with weird sense of music and style. But I must say this, between the two, I think Adam has better vocals, though I still vouch for Kris as the more ‘complete’ artiste because he can play instruments too. Maybe I am biased lah, first, because Adam is too damn gothic for my liking, (Fish those ugly dugly suckly vampire eyeliners and black robotic outfit) and second, I have soft spot for men who can play the guitar. I know, I’m weak =(. I have had my eyes on him since the first time I saw him perform, probably in the Top 8 or something like that, and I somehow knew that he would make it to the top. Like how I felt when I first saw Carrie Underwood during her audition a few years ago. Also, when I saw Taylor Hicks in his audition the year after Carrie. Hm, I have good foresight and jugment, kekekkekeke. *perasan again*

Anyway, I am so happy that Kris Allen won, and I hope he wont be one of those AI winners who went under the radar after winning. Macam Taylor Hicks. What on earth happened to him la?

2. Proton Again.

This is yet another Proton bashing entry. Last night, or rather, in the wee hours in the morning, my proton car alarm went off. Had to unlock the car so that the alarm shuts, because it was too dangerous for me to walk out to the car alone to check what triggered the alarm. This morning, when I got to the car, I found that one of the rear doors was not fastened. It was not only unlocked, it was loosely closed, like someone actually opened it and just push it slightly to close it, probably out of panic from the alarm system. And I knew that that door had always been unable to lock properly. It cant be my fault, alright, it is my fault that I didnt fork out money to fix a problem that SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! Look, it is outrightly NOT my problem because I seldom open that door. I wish the car is not as problematic as it is, but as long as I’m still paying for it, I’ll have to live with the shortcomings that were packaged with the car.

But then again, I should be thankful that at least, I have a car. Much better than not having one, especially for a kutu like me.

** Actually I have more to write, but had to truncate them because I am sleepy now. To be continued…hopefully can upload some pics la. Goodnight.

Sekinchan – Life at The Paddy Fields

2009-05-11T08:19:00.001+08:00

We eat rice everyday but do we know where rice comes from?

Pet and I went on a trip to discover what life in the surburbs is like. Sekinchan is a small town 25km north from the much famed Kuala Selangor, and is known as the rice bowl of Selangor. Ironically, just across the Main Road which is federal road No. 5, is the fishing village called Bagan Sekinchan. Ironic because, paddy fields require fresh water, while the fishing village is near the sea (salt water). God does marvelous things doesn't He?

Anyway, the experience at the paddy fields was an amazing one – it started with a Chinese kampung and ended at a Malay kampung. The apeks there are extremely friendly – everybody turned to look at us in awe – wondering what brought these two ladies to their humble village. Or perhaps it was my DSLR and tripod that gave them the “whoa- someone from the press is here’ look. Haha. And yeah, we enjoyed ourselves, getting close to nature and seeing new things.

The only gripe I had was the weather. While it was good for walking, it wasnt conducive for photography. The sky was heavily overcast. While all the days were hot and sunny, this was the day that the sky chose to rain. Though it wasnt heavy, it did affect the images that I take because the lighting was flat and I couldnt acheive what I had in mind. But nevertheless, I still took some shots and am pretty happy with them, although I knew I could have done so much better. Perhaps the next round I would. =)

Sawah padi terbentang luas…

Lilies in the midst of paddy.

A plant used for extraction (menuai) I supposed?

Cracks on the clay. Actually oh, I found many mussel shells on the clay which made me wonder, where did the mussels come from? They cant be flooded from the sea, can it? Or someone had a seafood party by the sawah padi?

Tali air. Sorry, I’m a product of KBSM, so dont know what’s that in English.

Romanticizing the cart. Waiting for the reaping season.

Panorama at the fields. 2 frames combined to one. I’m beginning to love this! Hehe…

I really hope to come back to Sekinchan again someday when the weather is more sunny and the skies more blue. Hopefully things will work out the next time around. =)

Curi Ayam (Stealing Chicken)

2009-04-23T16:03:00.001+08:00

Taking a short breather from work, now that the office is empty. Yup, I’m all by myself now, which is a luxury I hardly get. I still have a lot of work, reports to be done, subcontractors to feed, and problems to solve, but once in a while, we all need short breaks from work, do we? Even a 10 mins net surfing session is suffice.

Am listening to Simply Red’s ‘Stars’ on my mp3 player. I think its a wonderful song – gives me the warm feeling in my heart, even at work.

Cheers, break is over. Thanks for reading my small 2 min rant. Have a nice day (or what’s left of the day) at work!

Degenerated Discs

2009-04-22T22:45:00.001+08:00

I’ve not been writing much personal stuff here of late and I am sure some of you are wondering what have I been up to. Thank you, my friends for keep coming back to read this blog. And to those who are new, welcome and I hope you will return back for the second time, third and so on.

Well, as per the title of this entry, I have been diagnosed with degenerated disc at my lower back (cant remember which lumbar) which explains the severe backache I have been suffering for the past couple of months. There isnt anything I could do to recover because whatever hydraulics in that particular disc have all leaked out and I am left with a hollow disc. I wouldnt have borthered much if it wasnt the lower back which pricks my nerves like crazy whenever I sit for a long stretch, bend myself forward or backward, and getting up from the bed or anywhere low. According to the orthopedic, this condition is actually quite common, and the doctor had adviced me to go swimming to strengthen my back to at least, alleviate the pain and prevent further degeneration on other discs.

Anyway, all’s not grim. I have been meaning to learn swimming but never had the opportunity, commitment and a proper instructor to teach me. So now that I have such medical condition, my instructor must teach me no matter how teruk a swimmer I am. And I have a stronger will to learn now.

OK lah, I wish I could write more but my back is really getting me and I got to stand up. Perhaps, I need a new chair. Please pray for me (for the back problem, not the chair ;p)

A Little Photoshop Could Do Some Wonders

2009-04-20T08:23:00.001+08:00

Photoshop is one of the most useful software man has ever created after Microsoft. It makes women thinner, takes years off an old man, and turns sweaty models into porcelain. Of course it has other uses like changing George Bush from ‘saggy old man’ into ‘Ms Jolie’s body’ and bring together Osama and Bush in Paris Hilton’s party. But the latter two are examples of extreme photo-manipulation, which does not interest me at all because my love is on photography, not graphics, and Photoshop is a tool to enhance a shot and to bring the right kind of feel to the image.

Anyway, dont want to loh soh so much about Photoshop.

I was supposed to be doing my office homework (yes, I brought back work for the weekend, sad right? Ish.) but I ended up experimenting with my friend’s picture which I curi-curi plucked from her blog, the Makeup Island (sorry, Bev, didnt ask u first; if you are reading this, I hope you dont mind). She is a makeup artist by profession and had done some makeup on herself beautifully. The self taken portraits on the blog just didnt do her any justice, IMO. So I got itchy and decided to photoshop one of the pictures to enhance her look. Please note that I did not manipulate the image, just adjusted the curves and saturation, spot heal some moles, clear some stray hair on the face, smoothen her face a little and a little dodge and burn here and there. It may not be perfect, but I think its better than the original, no?

On your left is the original, and the right is the photoshopped. Which one do you like better? I’d like to know. Bang me if you dont like it. Pat me if you do. Tell me what you think =)

**Coming right next under the Photography category:-

- Photos taken at my latest strobist session. Still at RAW, yet to edit.

Bukit Bintang and Some CLS (Creative Lighting System)

2009-04-16T08:09:00.001+08:00

Last weekend, the three of us, KLguy, Dr Who and I went around Bukit Bintang for a night street shoot cum strobist session. For the ignorant, strobist is photography with off-camera flash, usually connected to the DSLR hotshoe via wires, and can be fired at any desired intensity and timing, depending on how the strobes (flashguns in our case) are set. In Nikon, we call it CLS or Creative Lighting System.

Here are some of my selected shots:-

1. Kelab De Vegas. Taken with 3 exposures, bracketed. And combined in Photoshop to create some kind of HDR (High Dynamic Range) image. Click here to learn more about HDR.

2. Light Trails at Jalan in front Times Square. Suddenly I realised that I dont know the name of the road! But the trails could have been better had I had more skills in taking them. Sigh. Or maybe the background colours are too distracting? Light trails are ‘lines’ created by moving lights (in this case, the red lines created by the cars that pass by).

3. Reflections on the puddle. This was taken at the lorong behind Sungai Wang Plaza. There were some stalls selling keropok lekor, jagung, satay and some drinks.

4. Punksters Inc. These kids were sporting enough to pose for us! And since they all have this grunge-punk-rockster style, I decided to give the photo a touch of Lomo-ish green tint and vignetting (darkened black corners) to enhance the image. Jadi or not? Hehe…

Actually I still have a lot more to learn in Photoshop.

5. The effects of using two strobes. This is one of our (not mine alone, KLguy set the strobes, DrWho posed and I merely snapped because the flashguns were Nikons) shots taken with two flashguns set at manual, one located on DrWho’s right and another, behind him.

*Due to no model release, the eyes of the model (Dr Who) has to be pixelated*

So that’s it for now. I have more than a hundred shots actually, but only 5 is worthy to be posted. My QAQC is strict OK, hehe.

And yes, I kinda like flash photography now! =)

Shot Rant

2009-04-13T10:46:00.001+08:00

Need to b*tch a bit about the new dude in my office.

I noticed he’s got this weird habit of suddenly smiling by himself when he works. Like, when studying drawings, or even when he hears our general conversations with other people which does not concern him. I find that irritating OK. Dont know what’s in his head that makes him smile tak tentu pasal.

The most annoying thing for me is, whenever I use Eye-Mo, he will smile on his own. EVERY time without fail. I am not perasan or coincidental, being a scientific person, I TESTED his responses several times by dropping Eye-Mo when he is not smiling. The end result is, by the time I finish wetting both eyes, he would be smiling already. I dont understand. What’s so funny about dripping Eye-Mo? It’s normal ok. This smiling tak tentu pasal is getting super annoying I might just burst out and ask him why he’s like that. Ish.

Ah, after ranting, I feel more relieved. Thank you berry berry muchi for reading this.

Where I Was, At Tanjung Tuan

2009-04-10T11:03:00.001+08:00

I was asked to help out as a photographer for the Raptor Watch Lighthouse Race and I purposely chose to be stationed at the lighthouse so that while waiting for the runner to arrive, I could curi-curi take pictures of the breathtaking view of the clear blue skies with beautiful white clouds and the calm emerald sea.

Entrance to the lighthouse was actually by permit only. Many, many avid birders with their super super super telephoto lenses that looks and feels expensive were in the compound of the lighthouse, because they have the permit.

For me, I dont need permit. I sembang-sembang dengan Pak Guard kat lighhouse tu, told him kita tiga orang saja, AJK utk lighthouse race, boleh lah, bang…. and he allowed me in =)

It was worthwhile as I dont get to go upclose to a lighthouse often and also, I met some very friendly photographers and we sembang-sembang about our gears.

And the aerial view of the seaside was magnificent on that day.

More to come, only these pictures are ready because I submitted these to the company portal.

I so crave for another landscape photography outing now.

Chinatown Revisited

2009-03-23T08:42:00.001+08:00

A couple of weeks back, I followed two photogs around Chinatown for a small photowalk. It was a very interesting walk for me, one, because I have always have the passion and love for old buildings and relics of the past era and I am always excited to shoot them before they are bulldozed to make way for new developments, and second, because I get to learn from the sifu of KL city, who goes by the nick of KLguy and knows all the selok belok of any part of KL including all the lorong-lorong belakang and attractions most people are unaware of.

Anyway, without much talk, here are my humble pics. May not be that great la, but since I am still a novice, give chance la, k?

1. Doors, Windows, Buildings, Street Series

Doors and windows are always mysterious, and often, are the defining elements of a building. I am often intrigued by the design of the windows and doors, and wonder to myself, who used to live behind those old windows and doors, and what lurks inside the building now that the doors and windows are no longer in used. I always believe that behind every man, every building, every thing, there’s a story of its inception, the glory days and the downfall.

The window above reminds me of the old rumah tumpangan in my hometown. Probably this building was built around the same era too. This one is no longer occupied, and the downstairs portion has been demolished.

This is one of the windows of an abandoned building somewhere in the corner near the Pasar Seni Balai Polis. Again, this is not a special design window, most Malay rumah papan of the same era carry the same design too.

This is the building of that window. Take a guess what was it before it was abandoned?

Ps: I suspect was a post office coz I saw a sign that says “Kaunter Setem”

Sorry for overblown highlights at the wall below the window. But actually, I think its still alright la, no? I think stained glass is not a Chinese/Asian thing, it was western culture I believe, no? But the iron grilles are definitely local design because my late grandparents house use to have those rusty iron grilles too.

Blue louvred-panel windows on a backlane row of buildings. These days, people dont paint blue anymore. Especially THAT shade of blue. And its either louvres, or panels, no two ways about it.

Those doors are NOT backdoors, they are actually the MAIN entrance to the individual units in the row. First, because the door opens to the living/main area, and secondly, they have backdoors at the kitchen that leads to another smaller lorong which is the real backlane.

I wonder, were these buildings exist during the reign of the Kapitan Yap Ah Loy and how glorious were they during they heydays. I imagined miners hanging out for opium and wine after a hard day’s work. The poor goes to the moneylender’s lair and default payers get their hands chopped. Gangsters rule and prostitution was rampant. I imagined….

I call this, The Door and The Alter. Very, very old school alter.

We were fortunate to get to enter one of the old shophouse at that backlane-that-is-actualy-a-front-lane. It was classic and I really, really loved the setting and interior of the house. It was a hangout place for some very friendly old folks who enjoyed what I enjoy too – Guinness Stout! Haha.

“I met a man who wasnt there…” Freaky tagline, aint it? I love the way the light falls on the rotting wooden staircase, and the walls with its paint peeling off. I love the nostalgic-ness of the building. Um um.

Bamboo door at another backlane.

Man, we walked through so many backlanes, yet, KLguy said we only covered 20% of the area! My, I’m curious to know what treasures we can find at the other 80%!

“Mes Yow Loo”. Wonder who was she (I have the feeling this place used to be a massage parlour in the 20s. Mes probably is masseur? What say u?

The colours of modernity. This part of Chinatown has a large population of Indians (ironically!).

2. The Temples @ Chinatown

I must admit, that I am not a big fan of temples and I cant stand the smell of incense and the smoke that pierces my nose like a pin poking my nostrils. And the idols there are freaky to me, because I was never a Buddhist and am not used to been surrounded by so many foreign gods. But nevertheless, I went, for photography sake and to capture the beauty of man-made architecture. Which was a good thing actually, because one of my favourite shot was captured in the temple.

And I didnt backslide from my faith and God after the visit.

This window was so susah to take because of the very wide dynamic range between the dark temple interior and the very bright sky outside the window. Nevertheless, I managed to capture both details. Ah.

Oh ya, this temple is one of the oldest temples around – and was pioneered by the very very big shot Kapitan Yap some 140 years ago. Though the exterior has been renovated quite extensively to the point that its ancentral identity is almost lost, but nevertheless, if you look hard enough, remnants of the past are still very much present for those with discerning eyes *chewah, macam expert*

Just for fun, curiosity and for the record lah. No 4 from the right, I suspect is THE famed Kapitan Yap Ah Loy (damn, everytime I say Kapitan, the first thing in my mind is…Kapitan Curry! Haha). Because he’s the oldest (1830s) and secondly, he was still in his Manchurian outfit and the ah chai hat.

Airwells, skylight, whatever you want to call it. I’m still learning to capture smoke. This spot is very the famous among photogs because at certain time of the day, sunlight will shine through the airwells and ‘befall’ upon the devotees like a light of enlightenment descending from heaven.

I somehow imagined it to be like how the sun shone on Jesus after He was baptised and a voice from heaven saying “Behold My Son, Whom I am proud of”. Or smthg like that. Minus the Chinese temple setting. Keke.

Kit lens also can do bokeh. I think this was at f4.4. Every self-respecting photographer MUST have a shot like this with some hebat-hebat bokeh.

This is my favouritest of the favouritests pictures for the day. The burning spiral.

Let me pause to admire the image for 3 minutes k.

1, 2, 3…

Cant help lah but to make fun of this picture. Hehe.

This one also. Big guy looking at small guy, probably communicating some secret mission for the day ;p

3. Jalan-jalan Street Shoot

I must make another confession here. While I always wanted to do street shoot, I am not a good street-shooter because 1) I am too technical to the point that I take a long time to frame, adjust the setting, chimp and re-shoot. Paiseh want to make my subjects pose, re-pose and thinking what lousy photog this girl muse be. Haih. But lucky got the other two guys, or else nobody will layan me leh.

Old Chinese Unker frying big currypuffs.

Mamak guy selling tose.

Yindian Unkel wateringg flowess…

Steam, steam…..

“Where all the good people go? I’ve been changing channels I dont see them on the TV shows..” – From Jack Johnson’s ‘Good People’

Peeped through an open window and saw….Yee Mee hanging in a row!

Vege grinder machine. Never seen before leh? I also lah, first time seeing such a thing. I thought people use pastel and mortar, or blender these days.

So that’s all for now. Do comment and wait up for my next entry. Goodnite.

Because I Just Cant Stand the Orange And Green Colours on the Black Background Anymore

2009-03-19T21:55:00.001+08:00

At least, this is more plain. More titanium-ish. More me. Simple, straighforward, and best of all, I have a bigger space to write and post pics, unlike most of the other fancy templates that I downloaded before.

The previous template colors were an assault to the eyes and I can take it no more.

Hence, this new template. Of course, I downloaded from a website, since I am not too well versed with HTMLs and I dont have the time to edit, test and re-edit element by element. So hopefully, this template wont konk at me again like the last one that I downloaded.

So my dear readers, since Titanium is back to business, do drop by ya. Ciao for now.

7 Seater

2009-03-03T00:00:00.001+08:00

Lately, I have been thinking about upgrading my car to a 7-seater. Of course the ideal would be the Nissan X-trail 2.0 (A) (Got higher spec but this is sufficient), or even the Honda CRV, but looking at my financial situation, I think the most I can do is the Toyota Avanza. RM 62,000 for 1.3 manual transmission. My Proton is tearing apart (not because I did not take care of it, but as we all know, Protons generally dont last) and I dont want to spend a fortune just to fix something that is ‘born’ inferior. There’s the new Proton Exora, though it is a 7 seater , I will NOT consider it under any circumstances. And this is my personal advice to you all, dear friends. If you can stretch another hundred or so, just get the MyVi.

So readers, any recommendation? Cheap and good 7 seater. In Malaysia yer, not Abu Dhabi.

*Ps: I saw in the news today that Naza is bringing in Maserati to Malaysia. More choices for the extreme rich to speed around on Friday nights along the Federal Highway. Lambos are yesteday now.

Ermm

2009-02-24T23:18:00.001+08:00

Coming Soon, 2010.

Thank You For The Birthday Wishes

2009-02-22T23:38:00.002+08:00

To all my friends who called, SMS and Facebook messaged me before and on my birthday, I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to all of you. Some even as far as from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, thank you for spending that dont-know-how-many-Dirhams for the SMSes. I wish all of you the very best for the years ahead.

To those who celebrated and planning to celebrate my birthday, thank you for the effort and time.

I truly appreciate all of you.

I am officially 26 now. My sister must have thought that I am 25 when she bought the cake ;p But I guess we all start losing count after 21, don't we? =)

I Am Fickle

2009-02-20T16:09:00.001+08:00

“Eli Wong was framed la, she’s single and was sleeping semi-naked at home! How can anybody infringe her privacy and publicize pictures of her doing absolutely nothing wrong but sleeping without much clothes?”

Ya lah, betul tu. I also pity Eli Wong. She did nothing wrong and she indeed has all the rights to sleep naked at home. And that bloody ex-bf of hers, probably was a pig for a certain rival party. If sleeping naked alone at home is a sin, then we all shouldn't bathe naked at home too, no?

“ Eh, do you know that Eli Wong used to have many boyfriends and is highly sexual”

Yes ah?? Eh, like that then I would say, although it is not wrong to be single and sexual (not wrong from the legal aspect, not religious), but in Malaysia, as a politician, she should stop all her rendezvous and adopt all the nilai-nilai murni masyarakat Malaysia yang sopan dan berbudi pekerti. Like it, hate it, double standard, hypocrite or not, this is reality and Malaysians generally cannot accept leaders who do not uphold good Asian values. Though I still pity her for the humiliation she has to face, but if she really is that promiscuous, then I think its just a matter of time before the ‘can of worms’ is being discovered and exposed to the public. Because public figures just cant afford to sin. They just cant. Tak boleh.

“ Guys, have you checked out Eli Wong’s Flickr? Her works are good, the way she frames her shots, and plays with lightings, very journalistic. She’s got talent and good eyes!”

U mean she’s a photographer? Wah like that, all sins can be forgiven. Respect, respect. I support you now, Eli! What lousy photographer that Hilmy guy was, got glaring noise and exposure problem. He should at least, try to PP the noise before presenting it to the culprits. Doh!

“Eli Wong uses Nikon..”

Foosh…respect scale terus increase to boiling point. 100 degrees Celsius. No need to say anything, she immediately became my favorite politician.

Do check put her Flickr here

Aches Here And There

2009-02-13T13:51:00.001+08:00

I dont know lah. Recently I have been waking up to numerous aches and pains all over my body. The backache has been a pain in the arse (well, almost literally), and then there’s the mysterious bruise on the knee which somehow, doesnt hurt. And just a few weeks ago, I sprained my neck towards the left, then recovered after my car went into a deep pothole at 110kph, and the very next day, I sprained to the right pulak. This time, it took a while to recover. The pothole method didnt work. Then, the backache. That darn Yoko-Yoko… didnt help. Sigh.

Am I aging? Or tak cukup vitamin? Or my environment is bad? Is it the bed and pillow? Or my sleeping habits? I feel like an old woman with osteoporosis now. Anybody has any remedy to offer (besides Yoko-Yoko)? I cant get in and out of the car without that pricking sensation. And on and off the bed too. =(

Local Drama Bersiri– From PR to BN

2009-02-05T17:27:00.001+08:00

Our politics is getting more and more exciting lah ever since the General Elections last year. Suddenly all the rotting skeletons in the closet see the light of day and accusations after accusations being hurled from the left camp to the right and vice versa. Then we see some aspiring PM guy wanting to take over the Government but subsequently failed due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’. And then there’s the soppy drama of the PeeM who finally decided to step down because the whole world is against him or that sort. Of which he wisely chose his current Dee to take over his reign. But the Dee isnt a very popular guy for reasons everybody knows. And so Part 1 of the drama sort of ended here.

Then tiba-tiba, some ‘very like minded’ MDs from PKR decided that they had enough of suffering and wanted to jumped ship. With them, the rule of the entire state of Perak switched hands from the other side to another side. Sigh. I wonder what’s reeling next. Our politics is like a tug of war match, one side pull, the other also pull, and nobody really cares about the rakyat like us. Gajah berperang, pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah.

But still, somehow lah, our beloved but dying country still manages to survive on its own. I guess we have a great autopilot system. No war, no killings, only some street protests which occasionally ended in a bit of brawl. So the situation here is considered OK lah. Do you really think so? Of course not OK la, the thought that our politicians are not interested in OUR welfare is a scary and we are no worse than the kanak-kanak terbiar in Jejak Kasih.

Under Construction

2009-02-04T22:51:00.001+08:00

This blog is currently undergoing some facade works, pending approval from the Architect (which is me). Therefore, kindly ignore the stray screws, safety nets and the ugly looking green paint at the header. This may take a while as the owner (which is me, again) is ~~demanding and stingy therefore will DIY herself~~ refine the design.

While works are still ongoing, business continues as usual. So stay tuned!

WTFish with blogger/photobucket

2009-02-03T11:01:00.001+08:00

If you have visited my blog yesterday, you would have noticed some ah long painted my blog with alerts that I have exceeded the alloted bandwidth and must upgrade to Photobucket Pro Version. I was like WTFish?

I didnt put many pictures. And the template was uploaded from a website that didnt mention of the involvement of Photobucket or that it will eat into my kimasiap FOC account. So I cepat-cepat replace the template with this one from blogger to resolve the problem. So this stupid ugly looking template is staying until I sort out the problem (eg look for a better, less ‘heavy’, FOC template). Or should I get a paid server for myself? But to spend some 100 bucks for a blog that doesnt make money isnt very wise, is it?

So my dear readers, please bear with the ugly site for the time being. The backdrop may be not so nice but I will still keep updating the blog. Yes, with pictures too.

Aunties Pun Ada Peer Pressure

2009-01-30T15:58:00.001+08:00

A The conversation between older women with daughters of marriage age.

Aunty A : Eh, you know Ah Lian’s daughter got married last year

Aunty B : Yes ah? How much is the dowry ah?

Aunty A : I heard ah, her daughter’s husband gave RM1,000.00 only! So kiam-siap! If me, I wont marry off my daughter to him!

Aunty B : Eeyer, like that wan ah? But this Ah Lian memang like that wan, so stingy. Like mother, like son. Everything also cincai. You know Ah Peng’s daughter last month got married and the son-in-law gave her RM 10,000.00 dowry! And dinner, jewelleries all pau ka liao, she no need to pay a single sen!

Aunty A : Last time my first son in law gave me RM 12,000.00 for dowry. And he so nice, some more book hotel rooms for our relatives.

Aunty B : Whoa, like that I must ask for at least RM8,000.00 for dowry. My eldest daughter is a university graduate, I raised her till big, sure must ask for more. Cant give my daughter for free.

So youngsters, if you think peer pressure is only for the adolescent, hehe, you’re wrong. Coz aunties also need to outperform each other or else no face lah. Afterwards the whole morning market or tai chi gang knows that aunty’s daughter got married to a poor man.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-24T11:56:00.001+08:00

To all my dear readers, Gong Xi Fa Chai. Selamat Tahun Baru Cina.

If you are driving home, do drive safely and DONT cut in the emergency lane. I was told that the cops are on the move and have been actively summoning drivers who drive on the emergency lane. ~~But then again, it takes only RM50 to settle on the spot.~~ It’s RM270 btw.

And to all my kawan-kawan who did not return home for CNY, erm, do enjoy your holidays wherever you are while I indulge myself with CNY foodstuff (like bakwa, hehehe). I promise you, I wont blog about it so that you guys will not feel homesick k. Kekeke. But that depends on what photographs I managed to produce tonight ;p

Anyway, I dont want to talk so much, its about time for lunch and I wanna cabut adi. So…yah, forget about work, forget about war and now, it’s time to celebrate!

Cheers!

Bryan Adams

2009-01-20T14:17:00.004+08:00

Singer. Professional Photographer. Truly admire his works. Still going strong after 30 years.
Do check out his photography here:

http://www.bryanadams.com/index.php?target=photography

The Other Side of Gaza

2009-01-17T11:34:00.001+08:00

This was sent to me via email a couple of days ago and I thought it would be of interest to those who are seeking to hear from both sides of the wall. Like I have mentioned in an earlier post (just a few entries before this, so don't be lazy to scroll down k) that I believe in hearing from both sides of the coin instead of making very biased judgments based on what is reported in our already biased media. When injustice is being done to our brother, we will go all out to ensure justice takes place. But if a stranger or enemy is being mistreated, do we extend the same empathy and action, or just close one eye because its none of our business? It takes two to tango, and it takes two to create a war. I hope we as Malaysians will learn not to be emotional but to be rational when reading the papers about the Israel-Palentine war.

Anyway, I dont want to waste your time any longer with my long winded thoughts, so here’s the story from Israel’s side. (With occasional notes from me in green)

“Written by Joel Rosenberg, founder of Joshua Fund, a relief organization. (Note: I googled Joel Rosenberg and found that he is a real person and he writes about terrorism, war and stuff like that. You may checkout his webpage at www.joelrosenberg.com/)

(SOUTHERN ISRAEL, Wednesday, January 7, 2009) — Forgive me for not writing for the past few days. I flew to Israel on Sunday and arrived Monday morning, joining several colleagues in southern Israel to assess the situation and help direct The Joshua Fund's relief efforts. It's been an intense 48 hours, and it's currently 5:54am Wednesday morning Israel time. Allow me, therefore, to make a few brief observations, and I will write more later.

First and foremost, the situation is very intense here. Hamas has fired more than 500 rockets at innocent Israeli civilians over the past ten days or so. They are coming in at 40 to 50 rockets a day. More than 500,000 Israelis live within range of these instruments of terror, and many are traumatized by the fear of injury and death, not only for them but for their children as well.
Six Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting so far. Israelis throughout the country are mourning their loss, name by name, family by family. That said, Israelis are also overwhelmingly relieved that their government is finally taking strong action against Hamas after some 2 1/2 years of doing virtually nothing.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians who live on the Gaza Strip are being held hostage by Hamas. Hundreds are dead and thousands have been injured because of Hamas' evil reign of terror that finally provoked an Israeli response. The latest example came Tuesday when Hamas fighters fired mortars at Israeli forces from a U.N. school. This forced Israel to bomb the school to suppress the attacks. In the end, some 42 Palestinians — including the terrorists — died, and more than 50 were injured.
Where is the world outrage against Hamas? The Palestinian people desperately want and need to be liberated from Hamas, and would privately welcome Israeli success against the terror leaders. (This, I have heard from a someone close who has been to Israel himself and spoken to the locals, though not to people under Hamas confinement)
Rather than mounting pressure on Hamas to stop the rockets, international pressure is steadily and aggressively mounting on the Israeli government to agree to a temporary ceasefire before the Hamas leadership and terror infrastructure in Gaza are crushed. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday, teaming up to push for a ceasefire resolution they hope will end the fighting immediately. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice immediately said the U.S. supports the Mubarak-Sarkozy plan .
Hamas is increasingly desperate for a ceasefire. Its top leaders are being killed. Scores of its best trained fighters are being killed. Its arms depots and government buildings are being bombed to smithereens. So are its vital smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border. Reports the Jerusalem Post : " Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip said on Monday that the general feeling was that Hamas does not exist any longer as a governing body. 'All their government institutions have been destroyed,' said a Gaza City reporter. 'The Hamas leaders are now behaving like al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden and [his deputy] Ayman Zawahiri. Their only public appearances are through recorded messages aired on Arab TV stations.'"
Preciously for this reason, now is no time to let up on Hamas. Israel should absolutely refuse to agree to the Mubarak-Sarkozy plan. As currently drafted, the agreement does not even suggest — much less mandate — the creation of an international force to prevent Hamas from re-arming. Even if it did, why should Israelis believe such an international force would be effective? The U.N. force in southern Lebanon is doing absolutely nothing to prevent Hezbollah from re-arming. To the contrary, it is now believed that Hezbollah has more than 30,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel, far more than ever before.
The Israeli public has been duped by such international nonsense before, and thankfully they want no part of it. A new poll here by Channel 2 news finds that 81% of Israelis believe their government has done the right thing by sending ground forces into Gaza to stop the rockets and crush Hamas, and a stunning 60% of Israelis oppose talking to Hamas to obtain a cease-fire .
That's certainly the sense I have after talking to Israelis here — they want victory and they define victory as the destruction of the Hamas military and political leadership and the liberation of southern Israel from the constant threat of Hamas rocket, missile and mortar fire. Anything less than the accomplishment of these goals, they tell me, would make the situation worse because it would effectively be a victory for Hamas a defeat for Israel. Israelis don't want to see a single soldier of theirs die, but they believe now is the time to intensify the attack on Hamas, not let up.
Regardless of how the public feels, however, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government may very well accept a temporary and premature ceasefire. They accepted a premature ceasefire in Lebanon in 2006, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak signalled from the earliest hours of this conflict he wanted a quick ceasefire. The next few days will be critical to see what kind of resolve the Olmert government has this time around.
In the meantime, I can report that The Joshua Fund continues working with Jewish and Christian allies on the ground here to care for Israelis caught in the crossfire. Two days ago, we were able to help evacuate a bus filled with more than 40 Israelis from the southern border town of Sderot. We have moved them out of the war zone, up to a more secure location in the North of Israel, and are paying for their lodging and meals while they are there. We are working around the clock on the logistics to move more Israeli families out of harm's way. We are also helping several organizations prepare to deliver more food and relief supplies to elderly Israeli shut-ins in Sderot. I will have more to report on these efforts soon. If you would like to make an secure, on-line emergency contribution to The Joshua Fund to help us help care for Israelis in the war zone, please click here.
We are also actively seeking ways to provide humanitarian aid first to followers of Jesus Christ in Gaza, and then through the Christians to Muslim Palestinians living in fear and terror of the Hamas-triggered war. Thus far, however, it is not yet clear how to help. We are in direct contact with key Arab Christian leaders. But there are reports that Hamas fighters are stealing aid that non-Christian relief agencies have sent in . And the violence is so intense right now it is not safe for aid workers to take in new relief supplies. (That’s the spirit – help everyone in need, not just your kind)

Wah banyak panjang. But its a good read, apart from reading the lopsided newspaper. Now we can weigh and rationalise what the situation is like over there and decide if we should continue to condemn Isreal and glorify Hamas, or we should empathize with both and hope for the best for both parties.

Hmm…Short Notes

2009-01-14T15:16:00.001+08:00

1. Property Investment – Is it a good time now or should I wait further?

I received an email about a new apartment which is about to be launched for sale soon. But being a company project, sales is open to staff first, so I thought, hmm, why not? It’s relatively cheap, around RM 143K onwards, located in Cheras near amenities, major highways and roads, and close to UCSI. That’s a bonus coz there will always be supply of tenants so long as the college doesn't relocate. Of course renting to students means I have to be prepared to refurbish the place after several years (as students have the reputation for destroying the house). But at that price, I think its a good buy.

But the thing that I feel kinda uncomfortable is, the outlook of the apartment which looks somewhat low cost. But then again, for the price + built by a reputable contractor & developer + pretty good location, how bad can it be?

What say u?

2. Who Said Oranges Are Dry?

Geez, I always wonder how come some people can eat oranges in the office while working? I was told that oranges are ‘dry’, therefore it is possible to snack on the fruit during office hours. But I disagree.

Oranges are juicy. And they squirt sticky juice when peeled. I hate to get my fingers all sticky and dirty especially if I need them for something else other than eating oranges. Maybe I am a messy eater. I have never been good at keeping my hands dry while eating juicy stuff.

IMHO, keropoks are the still the best snack to satisfy my hunger pangs. Cheap, cheerful, crispy and convenient. =)

3. We Are Forced To Be Generous

By giving away ALL the mandarin oranges given to us by our subcontractors. And who gets our oranges? Head Office people like the fighting oxen (pun not intended, this happens to be the year of the ox) from finance, and others deemed ~~impotent~~ ‘important’ to the project. Well, I guess we still need to give some ‘protection’ money to safeguard our interest and to ensure that those people will always lookout for us. After all, they control the money, and we, need the money.

So we the project team will have to settle for less oranges this year.

4. What I Have Been Listening To Lately

1. You Can Do Magic – America. This is an 80s hit which I almost forgotten of its existence until lately when I heard it again in LiteFM. This band is not so famous lah, so for those who have not heard America’s songs, well, they sounded a little like Johnny Hates Jazz. Itupun if you have heard of the band la.

2. Imagination – Just An Illusion – This is one song that till now, I still, STILL dont know who was the singer. But damn the song is catchy and never fails to give me that chilly ‘ooo…is this real?’ feel. Like I have been mysteriously transported into a revolving purple-colored tunnel ala James Bond’s famous us ‘in the gun barrel’ opening montage. The fantasy-ous feel. Me likey.

3. Cry Baby Cry – Carlos Santana ft Joss Stone & Sean Paul – I never liked rap and black R&B but this one, is just one notch up from the rest. I think its the Santana riff la. And Joss Stone. Actually I was never a fan of Joss Stone- I always thought her songs are weird. Tak sangka she can do club hits too. This song makes me want to dance (though i am but a kayu dancer).

4. I Thought I’ve Seen Everything – Bryan Adams – Bryan is THE MAN! Always love his voice, love his songs, love his music. Cukup rock and cukup kaw! He always sounds energetic and he plays darn good guitars too! I think he can live up to his ‘18 Till I Die’ lah, already 50 but still looking good and strong. FIY, Bryan’s alter ego is a professional fashion and portrait photographer so that’s ten brownie points for him. Me likey men like that – can sing, can play guitar, body also fit, lagi is a photographer….*drool drool* kekekeke

5. This Entry Takes Two Days To Write

Not two solid days, but inspirations from two consecutive days, at different times of the day. Ah.

Good Morning

2009-01-13T09:21:00.001+08:00

Been feeling a little lazy to wake up these days. There is always a battle going on in my head everytime the alarm goes off at 5.00am. To wake up and hit the gym, or to continue with my slumber for another hour or so. And the two sides of the mind will continue fighting until I eventually get up 45 mins later coz I cant sleep in peace anyway. The good side prevails over evil. Ah.

Working out in the morning is a good habit everyone should adhere to. My Dato CEO goes jogging every morning before work. The ex-Deputy CEO used to hit the gym before work. So I pun terinspired to follow their footsteps. Makes me feel like I’m part of the league, hehehe. Perasan betol.

Anyway, all I want to say is, I must, MUSTI discipline myself to exercise and eat right everyday and this entry serves as a reminder and motivation for me to go on waking up early and hit the roads before the crazy morning rush begins. Ah, that is also one of the preps of waking up early. I can drive on the LDP, Mahameru and Tun Razak at 120kph. Muahahaha.

Seafood And Beer

2009-01-11T21:55:00.001+08:00

I like both. Shelled seafood is such a compatible match with cold beer. Coupled with good company and a beautiful weekend, life feels like heaven. OK, maybe not exactly heaven la, but this is the kind of hangout I like. What? Sounds like apek? Haha.

But the seafood and beer that I am talking about now, was not savored together this time. The seafood dinner was a family outing, thus no beer, while the beer was bought in Brussels, the new beer cafe at Jaya One. Much have been talked and blogged about that place, so I am not going to copycat what other have said. Im different ok.

1. Seafood at Subang Airport- dont remember the restaurant name but there’s a big lobster at the entrance.

Hmm.. Belakang masuk, kekekkekekek

This creature that looks like something that is used during belakang masuk sessions is called Geoduck. The first time I saw it was in one of Ahmad’s forwarded email a few years ago. Then I saw it again in Andrew Zimmern’s Bizzarre Food. I think this creature tak laku, coz it looks weird and we Chinese dont know how it should be eaten.

O MIghty Crab!

So that’s all about seafood. Or sea animals. You thought I’m going to show u pictures of kamheong crabs and chilli prawns? Haha. Again I said, I’m different =)

Btw, just a note, we didnt eat either of those sea animals that I feature here…

2. Beer at Brussels.

Before you proceed, if any of you Christian brothers and sisters who are stumbled by me, please stop reading now. But before you leave, please take some time to read what I got to say about drinking beer.

For me, drinking beer is not a mean to sin, or to lepaskan sadness and sorrow. Drinking and appreciating beer is an art. You sip, feel the texture, and slowly swallow it down. I drink with control and with conscious. Because in art, you have to take time to appreciate. And I don't drink everyday or even every week OK.

Chewah, macamlah I’m some kind of connoisseur, hehe.

Anyway, the Happy Hours at Brussels is only happy for the draught. Which has a few options, like Stella Artois, Leffe, Carlsberg Extra Cold, Beamer Stout and Hoegaarden. Since there were two of us, we ordered 4 mugs of different beers.

Round One: Hoegaarden and Stella Artois.

Hoegaarden is smooth and is easier to down between the two. But it’s too mild and too sweet to my liking and it feel unsubstantial like drinking juice only. Still, if I need a mild thirstquencher, I’d consider the hoegaarden.

The Stella Artois, on the other hand, has a rougher texture, somewhat like Tiger Beer. But its not a bitter as Tiger and tastes a little more bearable than the conventional beers, although it still tastes conventional to me. Probably on the higher side of the scale.

My verdict for Round One : I’d say the Stella Artois. But really, the Hoegarden is not bad too, just too mild for me.

Round Two: Beamish Irish Stout and Leffe Brune

Beamish: It’s smooth and tastes pleasantly bitter like any other stouts that I have tasted before. The foam is super creamy and the consistency is just right. Not too watery or too thick. Just right.

Leffe Brune: I have tasted both Leffe Brune and Blond before, but that was a long time ago I cant remember how they tasted like. But this time around, the Leffe Brune was a little too fizzy for me. But the taste is OK, somewhat like coke minus sugar plus kilkenny or what la. Pleasant still to me.

So my verdict for Round Two is, I prefer the Beamish than Leffe’s.

My overall Choice of The Day is…..

BEAMISH IRISH STOUT

Blogging with Windows Live Writer

2009-01-11T20:57:00.001+08:00

Ah. I finally managed to download the new Windows Live Writer after hearing so much about it. But it still feels weird to draft my entry with Live View, meaning I get to see live how my blog will actually look like after posting. And I think it looks boring, hahaha. Maybe its time to change the template la.

So what is good with this Live Writer? Well, first of all, you get to write/edit your entry with live view and greater flexibility (bigger screen, yeah), no need to suffer with that small limited screen in blogger’s page. Secondly, you can insert your pictures like how you could in Microsoft Word and Excel, can drag and drop, lagi can enlarge. Wa sukak! Now I don't have to complaint about how the stupid blogger will by default, shrink my pictures and affect my image quality!

In fact, this whole proggramme has an uncanny resemblance with Microsoft Words. Seriously. If I spell wrongly, the jiggery red line will appear below the word. If I right click, There is a list of suggestions for me to pick to replace the wrong word. Nah, show you the print screen.

Now I can say goodbye to unintentional typos! Hehe….

And then, I can still categorize my entries based on the list that I have in blogger..

Whoa! Just need to click only. Cekap!!! If I want I can even tag my entry with Tehnorati, LiveJournal, Flickr dan macam-macam lagi. Should I?

Actually there are more functions that seems interesting but not very useful to me at the moment like Photo Album (I might use this though), table (good for comparison, I might use this too), Map (hmm..), Video (I am not a video person) and Plug-In (lagi la don't know what to do with it.). In fact, I think there are MORE functions which I have yet to explore and fully utilize.

So my verdict is a 9/10 on first day. No more typos, better control over images and the layout and everything is so simple like Microsoft Word. Total bliss to blog now. Me likey this proggramme very the muchi. =D

In The News

2009-01-10T09:06:00.005+08:00

1. Isreal-Palentine Saga

I have to admit here that I am NOT that knowledgable in issues like this, therefore am not qialified enough to comment much about the happenings between the two ruling regime in that little strip of land at Gaza.

Here in Malaysia, there have been many words of condamnation to Israel, hate emails and messages flying around and even politicians instigating the rakyat (including young schoolchildren) to hate Israel as 'Israel kills innocent Palestinians, poor Palestinians are saudara kita, so we must stop our musuh jahat from killing our saudara'. Wah, suddenly feel our country very 'yee hei', brother in pain, we protest so that they will pain no longer. Somehow or rather, I feel (note my choice of word) that most (not all) protester groups in Malaysia are not fighting against war, they fighting against opposers of their brothers in religion. Of course it is not wrong to speak out on behalf of the weaker brother, in fact it is the right thing to do. But, let's put it this way, if the cruelty was done on the neighbour who is of, say the Christian faith, would they, put a foot down and speak the same? Maybe, maybe not. I dont know coz in this country, the good or the sufferings of any religion other than the official one seldom gets highligted. Religions have been politicised and so are the news that we get every morning.

I do not condone killings of the innocent, but I believe in justice. Justice means we should also HEAR the other side of the story. What I see reported in the news is only the sob stories of the Palestinians, but have we given any opportunity to the Israelites to explain the reason why they did what they did? Its like hearing a schoolboy crying for being bullied in school, immediately felt injustified by the brutal act of the bully and immediately confront and label the bully as the bad guy without knowing that probably the so-called bully beat the schoolboy because the boy stole his book in class? The bully is not right la to retaliate in such a way, but the schoolboy is also wrong for reporting only the side of the coin that favors him. I am not trying to accuse Palestinians for starting the fight (like I said before, I am not that knowledgable in this matter), the gist of my idea is, no one is all bad or all good. I dont believe Israel is 100% bad, or Palestine is 100% good. It's a grey area, and taking sides is childplay. True justice is to hear from both sides, study and investigate the history and statements and decide on our own, what is right and what is not.

So my kata dua sen is, we must be wise not to simply join protests, learn to discern facts from exagerated fictions, love instead of hate even your enemies, do not generalise and pray for world peace. After all, the two nations are our saudara, from the same father (Abraham) and Father (God).

To Do In 2009

2009-01-07T18:09:00.000+08:00

Since our friend Ah Chong made a list of what he wants to do in 2009, I also feel inspired to list down some things I should do this year. Though its already the 7th today, nevertheless I shall still write what I want and should do in the next 348 days.

1. Take leave on my birthday. This I have not done ever since I started working in my project.

2. Try everything possible and make up my mind on the path to take after Independence Day in 2010.

3. Think, act and BE positive! Always remember that God made me wonderfully and beautifully. (This, I always forget everytime I am emotionally bruised)

4. Dress up better and spend a little biiiit more on girly stuff like new cloths, makeup, skincare products, etc...

5. I have sensitive skin, therefore I shall try not to scratch whenever some bugs bite me, or anytime I feel itchy. Instead, I shall use the best invention of all time..... MOPIKO!!

Damn Mopikos are so expensive these days- RM 5.90 for 10g!

6. Spend more time with my camera, take more photos, be more rajin to process my pictures and post up here! In other words, I must improve my skills both in taking and processing photos. Hopefully I can start making money from it the following year, who knows kan?

7. Trust God more. Doubt Him less. The past year had been very spiritually turbulent for me, I had been down a lot, been asking God why things happened the way it did, where have I gone wrong, why He didnt react the way I wanted and why did He take me out of this emotional abuse I face everyday. I dont think I have been smiling a lot last year.

But this year, I want to change my paradigm on life and I realised that, there is no better start than to look to God for a change. I can work, but in the end, God decides what's best for me. I have to learn to surrender. After all, He's my maker and how can the creation knows better than the creator, right? This is common logic also.

8. Read more! Last year I wanted to read a book every month which of course, I ended up with only a quarter of a book for the year! Actually, until now I still havent finish the book! FIY, it was Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey, which, to me, was a good book. Seriously. So this year, since I cannot commit to thick reading matters, I shall read magazines instead. My target : 2 magazines per month, one on photography and another yet to be decided.

And also, finish up that book that I began last year...

9. Make more friends, meet new people, hang out more with my old friends.

10. Live a healthy lifestyle. Hit the gym in the morning again (mental note: must wake up early, must dicipline myself!!!) and eat less at night.

Actually the list is longer but those are personal stuff I wont share to the whole world...So this 10 would be something more general that I should do this year. Please, wish me the best and remember me in your prayers.

I Was Thiiiiiissss Close

2009-01-06T22:30:00.002+08:00

...to getting my first summon in two years.

I dont usually talk on the phone without loudspeaker function (coz I am too stingy to get a handsfree kit) but today, I was just too confident that the police will not be around so I just picked up the call like normal, put it to my ear and chatted away. Wasnt much of a chat la, baru say a few words and then I realised that the cops were just behind me. Damn.

What to do in situation like this?

The usual practise in Malaysia is either:
1. You man up and take the ticket, or
2. You offer to settle 'undertable', or
3. You beg and plea for the officer to 'kasi chan laaa'

So what do you think I did? Let's check out the options one by one..

1. Pay the summon- Dei, its RM200! I might as well buy the handsfree kit! Or the many other items in my 'non-priority' list.

2. Bribe - Jesus wouldnt do that.

3. Kasi chan - This is the only viable option, rite? So I change my mode from 'fierce and daring female driver' to 'the dumb and innocent girl' and talked my way out of the situation. After several 'bang, kasi la chan sama saya, saya cuma cakap beberapa saat saja, saya promise takkan buat lagi', he pun let me go lah.

I wont say that I bluffed my way out, I am grateful to the cops for letting me go. I think I will not repeat the same mistake for a long time. And certainly, I will get a handsfree kit soon.

Questions

2009-01-02T13:30:00.002+08:00

1. Telemarketing- To trust or not to trust?

Recently, a friendly and persistant lady called me to enquire if I am interested to subscribe to AIG's Home Guard Plan. I was interested but then since the entire deal had to be carried out SOLELY through phone and I dont even have a proper number to call back in case anything bad happens, I decided to pull out from the whole idea of getting that policy.

Thinking back, I think I made a wise move. It could be a scam, you know how real scams can be these days. If I wanted the policy, I might as well just call up AIG and surely hoardes of salesperson will eagerly sell me the policy with freebies to offer.

So what do you guys think about telemarketers and telemarketing as a sales strategy?

I'd say, it's not the most effective method to promote any product or services these days.

***************

2. Halal Food In KL.

An old friend of mine dropped by KL city for 2 days en route from Genting to Spore. And along with her is her Indonesian friend who is Muslim. So I, again, am being given the task to look for good and cheap halal food in town.

Halal is seldom a concern to me when I go for meals so I kinda took for granted which restaurant is halal and which is not. So this is issue nombor satu.

Another thing to consider is price. For me, its OK lah to spend a bit more once in a while, say RM 30 or so for a decent meal with a friend whom I rarely meet. But my other kakis would rather not spend that much for food. So again, this is another problem.

Most of the group wont want mamak or malay food. So to be safe, I'd say fusion food is best. So halal, cheap and cheerful mamak is out.

For me, I'd restrict the locality to somewhere in Bukit Bintang. Near for all of us. If only my friends live in PJ, I'd gladly take them to Murni.

So here I am, at 6.20pm, an hour from the dinner and still fairly unsure where to take them out for dinner. I've suggested Pavillion, of which I think fits the bill (figuratively and literally) but somehow I still feel tak puas having to settle for something conventional in a mall....

I should start keeping a log of halal fusion food lah...

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T22:57:00.003+08:00

One of the preps living at the convergence of two effluent and happening areas is the crowd-free and clear view of new Year's Eve Fireworks.

Armed with a borrowed tripod, full charged DSLR, the infrared remote and a black card, I was all set to capture fireworks for the very first time.

Practical lessons learnt tht night:
1. Set the lens and camera to manual focus. Else, the camera will be hunting for focus point and you lose time and precious photographic opportunities.
2. I used a 50mm lens on a 1.5 crop body. Big mistake. Should have used something wider coz the fireworks aint very far away from me.
3. F22 is toooo small. Should have stopped down to F16 or so instead. The background were dark though the fireworks were OK.
4. Essential: Standby at least 15 minutes earlier than YOUR clock. I set my alarm at 11.50pm only to hear that the people were already counting down 22, 21, 20.... Luckily, I already had my tripod set and orientated at 9.30pm. But still, the last 22 seconds didnt give me much time for readjustments and for composition...I was like huru-hara frantically trying to catch the fireworks.
5. Exposure time and the black card thingy- I must learn to control and estimate better.

All in all it was OK, not too good but here are my best shots. They look good in full scale photoshop but whn uploaded here, the color macam not so bright anymore. Will figure out what's wrong another time.

This is the only full scale fireworks yang jadi. The rest are either too small, or overexposed. Frankly speaking, this is not my favourite shot because only can see one colour.

This one is almost there...I like the green and red. But unfortunately the top part was chopped and the stupid building and tower crane sorta spoil the composition.

Hopefully my next attempt will be better.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Goodbye 2008 Warning: Extremely Long Post

2008-12-31T21:54:00.003+08:00

It's precisely 10.00pm now and in a coupla hours, the year 2008 will end.

The countdown will begin soon.
The revellers will cheer.
The fireworks will be displayed in fullness of glory.
The cars on the road will go beserk.

And I am at home waiting to catch the fireworks from both Curve and 1U. With my camera of course. Did my research, practised a few long exposures, cleaned my lens, fixed the tripod, checked the batteries and I will be ready when the time comes. Cross my fingers and hope I will get at least ONE sharp picture.

Anyway, that's about the activity for the night.

So what does 2009 await and how has 2008 faired? Well, looking back, I think the year had not been too kind to me. Though I would say I had good times travelling to Sandakan, being part of some major events committee, bought my first DSLR and ventured into photography, I still would say, I wish the bigger part of the year had been great too. Unfortunately that bigger part consisted of work, work and work.

I wanted to serve at Crossroads Community Centre but I cant commit because I work full day every Saturday.
I wished I had more time with mum everytime she comes by but I cant because I work until 7 something every freaking day and reach home only around 8-ish, of which she would have finished dinner and already started watching TV.
I wish I could travel to places every weekend to improve my photography. But I cant since the only weekend I get is Sunday and Sunday mornings are consecrated for God. By the time church and lunch is over, it would have been 2 or 3 pm and all I want to do is sleep till evening comes.
I wish I could travel for work, see. learn, feel and do different stuff rather than being stuck at one sucky place ALL THE TIME and repeat the same mundane work EVERY SINGLE DAY.

In all honesty, I have began to resent my work. I. Need. A. Change. Work is eating up my life and the relationships I have with people around me. And I dont give two damns about my amortised value with the company now. Perhaps its a case of burnt out. Or lost of passion. Either way, I really need some fresh air before I suffocate and die a slow and painful death.

Suddenly teringat pulak a song that descibes my situation very well.
"So where is the passion when you need it the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost..."- Daniel Powter's Bad Day

So now that 2009 is peeping close behind the door, I have many, many wishes for the year ahead. God must help me. I have no other choice but to depend on Him. I dont ask for gold and riches, but something that I have been longing to do in my heart while I am still young and single. I wont disclose what is it here but I'll let this be something between God and I. We'll see. I hope that this time of next year, the atmosphere of my year review entry will be significantly different...

But just for the fun of it, since I am already in the Fifth Gear in writing this entry, I'd like to share some mimpi siang that I have been secretly harboring everyday. It's about my dream life.

If money isnt an issue, I would like to travel to say, Israel (please dont stone me O Government of Malaysia. And I am still too young to live in ISA) for a soul searching trip. Live a simple life. Take photographs everyday for myself and for others. Taste the sweetness of fruits and honey. Smell the scent of the flowers and fresh grasses. Relearn the beauty of life.

OK lah, already talk so much here. Time to prepare myself for tonight's shoot. Another 1 hour to go....So before I log off, here's wishing all of you, my dear friends

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MAY 2009 BE BETTER THAN 2008! Amen!

Emperor Shih Huang Ti Says

2008-12-23T23:30:00.001+08:00

*in a deep voice*

Merry Christmas

*grunts*

A Date From AD

2008-12-21T15:41:00.002+08:00

Marriage of a date, chocolate and almond = bliss.

Thanks EC for the items. This is the last piece in the fridge =D

More Minimo

2008-12-21T14:59:00.002+08:00

Taken with the Minimo at Jaya One.

Actually, the images are much duller. But not bad, only took a few seconds to adjust the curves and viola! the colours are much richer, saturated and contrasty. Not bad for a RM150 AAA-run keychain camera.

It Rained

2008-12-09T08:31:00.002+08:00

There wasnt a minute that it wasnt raining in the past two days. Which was a holiday weekend. Which I had made some plans but couldnt materialised because it was raining and the sky was overcast all the time.

But the most men-geram-kan thing is...this morning's weather was super fine, the sun was beautiful, the sky was blue..but its a working day. Cis!

My Babies Are Home!

2008-12-07T01:04:00.003+08:00

Nope, I'm still single with no kids.

1. My D80 is discharged with minor internal problems only. PC adjusted (whatever that means, I am by no means knowledgable about stuff like this) and firmware updated (that I know, at least). Just played with it for a while and saw some very interesting features being uploaded with that new firmware.

Will experiment it tomorrow =))

2. Lenny is back and so is my Lumix! Yaey! So I will still be able to take that candid self portrait again! The DSLR is good but when it comes to candid narcissistic shots, the Lumix does a better job simply because its light, simple to use and...memang meant for it.

3. Ok lah, not to forget my Minimo. Tried it out today at Jaya One with overcast skies and the results were...err...let's just say they need some enhancement in the digital darkroom. But its excusable because its supposed to be a digital Lomo.

And since I am forced to take leave on Raya Haji, what better things to do than to drive down to Port Dickson and capture some beautiful seaside sunrise sunset shot? I have not tried taking these shots seriously and I hope it will not rain and the sky will be blue.

Targets:

1. Shoot landscape of sea, sun, sand
2. Try panorama shot. Few frames, later stiched in photoshop.
3. Try HDR something (not pseudo HDR)

Dont la rain or even overcast.....

Muahaha

2008-11-28T08:00:00.002+08:00

Desa Kuda Lari

Lomography has never been something I am particularly passionate about. But what the heck la, since the Minimo Digital Lomo keychain camera is so cheap (for a camera), I dont mind indulging in easy snapshots and justifying them as being 'artistic'. Why? Simply because its a lomo and lomos are supposed to look like that, if not more distorted.

Will put in more snapshots later. And also a picture of that Minimo thing that I just bought.

I am happy to be snapping again!

Back To Basics

2008-11-27T11:36:00.002+08:00

Backlane at Bukit Nanas. Shot with my simple Panasonic Lumix FX01.

Im stripped bare with no canggih manggih DSLR and only a partially broken PnS to survive.

But its not necessarily a bad thing.

Sometimes, when we are left with much to be desired, even the simple things in life can work wonders. Same application for photography. Sometimes we photograpraze (photography crazy) are so engrossed with getting the right settings, exposures etc that we forget that its all about the moment and the beauty of the subject we wish to shoot.

Just some thoughts. Wanted to put in my xanga site but the stupid streamyx took ages to load, might as put it here before I lose every ounch of inspiration. And patience.

2-3 Weeks

2008-11-26T15:40:00.005+08:00

Is the time needed for Nikon Service Centre to produce a diagnostic results for my D80.

My heart dropped when I heard it on the phone.

Bleeds at the prospect of NOT having any photographic tool for the weekend. And the next couple of weeks.

Sooooo tempted to starve myself this December and buy a used D40 just to satisfy my lust for photography. Which is roughly RM1K now.

But to think back, I dont use my D80 that often, other than when I go for shoots, or when I go travelling. On normal days, I hardly even touch it. But the burning desire to take photographs is constantly on my mind; if I were a guy, and NOT working on regular hours, I would set myself on a photographic quest alone at 4.30am, capturing the beautiful sunrise by the beach or in the forest. Or I would go to Port Klang on a Saturday night to shoot the passing ships and waves.

That's the dream life, which unfortunately, I cant live up to due to safety and other social stigma. Sigh. But I sure will if I have the opportunity.

Anyway, back to my camera and the agony...So here I am back on the streets with a search for a replacement killer...with a low price tag, somewhere below Rm500.. With that kind of budget and a fussy eye, my options are few. I'm even thinking of getting a Minimo, that cute little keychain sized Lomo camera. So cute, small and cheap, I can buy it NOW. But, Lomography isnt my kind of photography and I dont know if I will use it for long or not. But but but.....its cheap. And cheap is good.

We'll see how la. Damn itchy hands adi, I NEED A CAMERA NOW!

*ps: btw I uploaded a pic in my xanga site. Hehe

*latest update: I found the charger for the slightly defected Oly mju 700! Yaey! Though the anti shake is not working, cant focus in certain modes, and have some other malfunctions, but the heck la, at least I can shoot!

Masuk Hospital

2008-11-18T19:07:00.002+08:00

I saw a green dot at the LCD screen at the body. Snapped a few more pictures. The dot was still there. Changed the lenses and memory card. Still there. Zoom in the image and pan to the left, right, top, bottom....the green dot followed suit.

Feeling a little suspicious that the problem could be more than just a dead pixel at the LCD, I had no choice but the send in my baby for a diagnosis and further medication after a full checkup has been done.

I hope its nothing major. The medical report will be out only in 10 days....Sigh. I love my D80 and I feel so helpless without it by my side. Even more so because my small Lumix has accompanied my friend to Amsterdam and it'll be there for 3 weeks.

So I'm officially camera-less. =( Feeling disorientated and lost already.

Thank You

2008-11-17T08:55:00.003+08:00

I was looking through some costing work in a long lost Floppy Disk given by my ex-colleague and friend Alan who is happily working in Dubai now. It's been 2 years and I had not touched that floppy disc until recently when I had a need for that piece of knowledge that has been hiding in my drawer well away from my sight and the rats.

Of course the information was still very useful to me. But I found something else in the disk.

Dont worry Alan, it's not some pornography pics. =)

It's a poem that you got from somewhere. It is a good one, very relevant to what I am facing now, and reading it gave me peace in my heart. So I'd like to share with all of you these wonderful words of wisdom.

When the door of happiness closes, another opens;
But often times we look so long at the
Closed door that we don't see the one,
Which has been opened for us

Dream what you want to dream;
Go where you want to go;
Be what you want to be,
Because you have only one life
And one chance to do all the things
You want to do.

The brightest future will always
Be based on a forgotten past;
You can't go forward in life until
You let go of your past failures and heartaches.

And this last part, I often forget.

If God brings you to it,
He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.

Just what I need as I face the quarter-life crisis and wondering what is my next move in life.

Thank you Alan for this cetak rompak poems. =) Also for that balistic game, which I could play when I am bored at home..

Comtemplating...

2008-11-10T08:26:00.003+08:00

The prospects of life. Should I or should I not...?

Image by the late Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Thinking of taking the leap into uncertainty. At least, I wont suffocate to death. But am I willing to make that sacrifice? And to take the risk to walk on a frozen lake?

Not Good

2008-11-05T23:25:00.003+08:00

The past few days had been lousy for me.

1. Had to turn down an extremely tempting offer because I am a sucker for relationships and I cant let go of any commitments here. I thought to myself, life better be good here for me. I am sad and painful, but since I have decided to stay, I might as well live with it and not regret in the future. After all, life is more than dollar and cents, although having the extra moolah would be good...hmmm.

2. Been sick yesterday and today. I suspected food poisoning because I didnt have gastric pain and I vomited everything I had for lunch and dinner. I knew it was bad coz vegetables started coming out from my nose and the orange juice that I took couldnt even make it safe into my digestive system. It was extremely gross and painful to my throat and nostrils because solids are not supposed to emerge from the air inlet. But the doctor didnt diagnose me with any stomach problem, in fact he didnt event check my stomach! But nevermind, I still got an MC and it was good considering I was nauseaus all day long and my site office doesnt have a toilet close enough for sudden pukes.

3. I missed the Cobra Rugby 10s last week. Been waiting for it for so long, got myself 7 tickets and in the end, wasted all SEVEN VIP tickets due to unforeseen circumstances. Dang, my heart aches when I think of it, but what to do, there are more important obligations than sitting at the stadium watching men roughing out in the field. I hope next year I will be able to watch it with like-minded people ie rugby/sports fans OR/AND sports photographers.

4. I'm getting tired of doing the never-ending 'external project'. Although it pays pretty well for the type of job that I am supposed to do, but it's taking too much of my 'hobby time'. I miss my camera and cant wait to go out for my next photo shoot. The only consolation I get from doing this job is, $$. Times are hard ya.

Hm..tomorrow will be a new day and I hope the dark clouds will move away. Go.

Darn, I slept too much in the afternoon, I cant sleep now. Perhaps I can try to count sheep. Or read a book about er....banking? Or dream about Daniel Craig? Haha.

Goodnite guys.

Hmm...

2008-10-29T10:01:00.003+08:00

It's that time of the year again. Sigh. Appraisals. Honestly, I never liked appraisals- its the time when everybody in the office have to praise themselves and justify why he/she is an extremely useful and excellent worker to the company. It's not a choice, its's a MUST. For survival. And the most sakit thing is, your boss may not see you the way you see yourself, thus giving you lower marks in your appraisal without considering weather what the eyes perceive is the truth or not.

Ah. Forget about those things la. Whatever it is, I still have to put on another layer of Maybelline foundation and boast about myself kau kau. Like an old saying, aim for the moon, even if you fail, you'll fall on stars.

********************************

My gripe everyday is the lack of time. So much to do, so little time. Got to finish my home mega project, at the same time, I have loads of pictures to edit. And then, I have some sewing to be done. I also must spend time with my mum. Then there's the annual Rugby 10s this weekend. Next weekend got to meet up with some old friends to discuss our trip back to attend a mutual friend's wedding. And for the wedding, I have to shop for a dress lagi because it's Taiping, and Taiping people dont wear the dresses that I wear in KL. Yada yada yada. Dont know what to do lah now. And on top of that, there's another thing I extremely NEED to do. SLEEEEEEEEP. Panda eyes are popping now and I can see little pimples trying to make its way out of my thin skin. Got to do something before the kids around me start calling me auntie. =(

Doctors out there, please give me an MC.

***********************************

Got to ciao now. Mentally tired, balik rumah also still have to work. Ta.

Beauty

2008-10-07T18:47:00.002+08:00

Beauty is a feeling.

I find no other instant theraphy for work boredom than appreciating beautiful shots of nature and listening to Andrea Brocelli's Solamente Una Vez. While I dont speak Spanish or Italian or whatever language that is, I do find this song particularly, soothing.

Getting more jiwang these days. =)

And yes, lots of work can lead to boredom, especially if you have been working on the same report in the past couple of days. Thank God this one is finished. One, two, three, four, five, SIX more reports to go before starting another task, more if not equally daunting.

It's 7 now, and yaey, I'm going off soon!

Back

2008-10-06T08:53:00.002+08:00

From a week long holiday. Well, almost.

With a week's load of work on my table.

Sambung cerita later, k? Ada gambar, ada macam-macam. Macam biasa, gambar kat titaniumpictures, cerita merapu kat sini iye.

And, before Syawal ends, Selamat Hari Raya to all Muslim readers. Dont forget that biskut Cornflakes and lemang dengan serunding. I do take beef =)

Love Songs

2008-09-18T22:49:00.002+08:00

Love songs are so easy to like; pleasant to the ears and makes the heart feel all warm and fuzzy.

Love Daniel Powter's latest song, 'Next Plane Home'. If you have seen the video, you'd probably agree with me that this song is indeed very heartwarming and sweet.

Also, I had been listening to some oldies from the likes of Neil Sedaka and Cliff Richard. I have always had a soft spot for oldies, even those dated back to the 50s. I guess I'm a sucker for romantic songs. Songs from the 50s in particular, have so much depth and sincerity in the words, unlike songs from the recent years which almost never fails to include elements of sexual desires and physical appeal. What blasphemy!

Anyway, I love Cliff Richard's 'Constantly'; so beautiful and romantically heartwarming. And Neil Sedaka's 'Laughter in the Rain'. Very relaxing and destressing.

Ah.