Dim Sum mornings.

Kept these two pics for sometime now. I especially craved these simple mornings where someone will accompany me to a quiet morning walk in the park (botanical garden, duh!) then proceed to fill up in these dim sum place nearby. Been looking forward to these walks lately, because work has been rather bad. Kinda lost the motivation these few months. Working with a bunch of lazy germans is no joke.

Typical chinese eateries ambient:
noisy, packed, humid, laid-back, somewhat excellent service
(compared to lansi expensive franchise outlets or german restaurants).

Chopsticks and condiments.

Nowadays it seems like my life is kinda moving downward. Not much excitement, not meeting new interesting people, no new things to play with. Sigh. What a life.

Botanical Garden / Floral "Fest" II

Plan to went for an early morning hike up penang hill on saturday, but its drizzling so decided to went for dim sum and then go back again, in the rain, for the floral fest. Might go again next week because photo taking is extremely limited (imagine asking my company to hold the umbrella for me, and imagine photographing in the rain). If it wasn't bored enough for her to wait for me taking my sweet time composing my photos.

I like to go to the garden, it's always so refreshing and there is always something new to capture. And not to mention leaving the office far behind. Some of the plants are really nice. The blue coloured tarp is a real bummer though. Why don't they just put those plants on neutral / natural coloured elements instead. Stupid event planner.

But overall, the floral fest is a disappointment. Not much nice stuff to photograph. The event is badly organized. It is planned to start on saturday, but there were national guards guarding the entire place preventing people from going in on saturday. Reason? To give some room to the judges to judge the plants on display. I do saw many disappointed photogs hanging around the area. Though I'm not one of them. I'm cool. I manage to sneak in and take photos for around an hour before being detected and chased out.

Early morning shots. Somewhere in botanical garden.

Desert Rose(?), my mum can grow a better hybrid than this pot back home....

Fake Flowers on display, anyone care to give me a clue what is the name of this plant?

Bouquet of flowers.

Malnourished plants on display.

Some bonsai are without leaves, wonder how they grow.

Nothing special on this plant :)

Random shot.

Flowers Instead

Managed to get myself sick in the weekend, so did not turn up in the office and have some time to take photos instead :)

As usual, went to Botanical Garden but this time only managed to stay for around 1/2 hours because of impending rain. This time around I bought along my close up filter and flash (nicknamed cobra), and because I have such a powderful light source now I'm able to use small aperture and high magnification ratio for an almost macro-like photography.


There is still a lot to be learnt about flash photography. It is so difficult to get 'just the right amount' of light and using automatic metering is not an option for close ups because the lighting will either be very dull or wash out all the details in your subject.


I should probably spend more time if I have another chance because if you realized, I only photographed 2-3 types of flowers this time. If only work is less hectic and I have few more daylight hours after work, I'd probably grab my gears and go photograph some stuff instead of getting stuck in the rat race.


Quite a lot of my friends had been concerned when they saw my camera gears and the amount of sweat-and-blood cash I must've spent there. I must admit though, with F58 flash, various Cokin filter attachments, and a 'small' zoom lens attached the whole setup can be quite intimidating to someone who is not really into photography. For once, they really thought the setup is quite 'pro' level. If only the same could be said with the quality of my shots :)

Just an abstract photo with no apparent subject.

My boss even went to the extent of 'reminding' me that the money I spent here could've already been used as a downpayment for an apartment. I do pledge myself to not spend more on photography this year. But I still have an assortment of lens which I could make good use of, for my photography style :)
1) 50mm macro prime lens: This one is cheap; RM900 for Sigma or RM1.5k for a Minolta 2nd hand lens.
2) 10-24mm UWA: New from Tamron, UWA can be quite an exciting lens to own, but expect to pay up to RM2k for this lens :(
3) A900: Now, who DOESN'T need one of those? :D



At least I'm not as crazy as some other guy who go out and actually buy an A900 the day it was released. Anyway, I think it's time to pull the plug on photography, at least for now, and to plan for the future of my career. Things have changed drastically these few days and some events had really made me realize I might be unable to continue to work in my company soon.

Hope

Could this be the last thing I say to her?
I do not know.
The words are so simple,
so mellow,
and profound.

All the same

I looked into all the terrible things I've done in the past,
I looked into the future, and asked myself,
"Has anything changed? Has anything really?"
"Or am I just telling myself that?"

Not my pic :)

Penang hill hike

I usually went to Bukit Jambul to hike almost every week, but recently there is malaria outbreak and it don't seem safe anymore to hike there, so I had to find another hiking spot before I die of inactivity.

Went to conquer Penang hill on the weekend. The 5km uphill hike is interesting and the scenery is really nice, but downhill is a torture cos i'm wearing my slippers. To compensate for my ego physical fitness I lug my heavy SLR with flashgun with me so I don't go too fast.



The hike is not for those physically unfit *cough* Juan *cough* or those suffering from any major malfunctions on their body part. Started climbing at around 7am (the sun already rise) and reached the peak at around 840am and we're really suprised cause normally you need 3 hours to reach the peak. I guess we're just too fast :)



Saw this bitch escort dog who kept tailing us from around 3/4 uphill until we reach the peak, and managed to snap her portrait pic :) Strangely, another bitch escort dog escorted us downhill until around 3/4 from the peak too. Hmmmm.......... Something sinister happening there?

I photographed this flower a thousand times already, and this must be the 1,001 time its being photographed. Not much variety is available here =)

I must've fogged up my SLR during the hike uphill from moving too fast, and the lens must've been slightly blurry when I took this pic, which turned up rather nicely, dreamy effect :)

I think I'll definitely go for a second round, third round and a couple of hundred more rounds, the view is fantastic and the climb is not as hard as you might've imagined. And to enjoy a hot cup of coffee in the middle of nowhere, it's a really rewarding experience.

Bokeh

Once in awhile I took some photos that I grew to like very much :) Click to zoom in and admire the intricate details :D Before you ask, it's my hands :) One hand holding camera, one hand on the book.

50mm f1.7 and f58am in wireless mode can really do wonders :)

P/S: If you don't like it.... well, suck it.

Emotionless

Actually I wanted to take some neutral pix, emotionless, but i guess what i took is rather... Make your own interpretations. They are not the best but they kinda fit into a certain theme.

Work had seriously been overwhelming I think it began to affect my sex life. Anyone looking for an expert to lay a hand on systems integration/tests development/anything electronics? Work must be easy with a slight hint of challenge, pay must be >RM4.5k (sorry for lower wages go get a bangla engineer instead) and a steady supply of photographic material near workplace will be a seriously added advantage.

Can we live with faith alone?

Just a few lingering questions in my clouded mind recently.

- Can we survive on faith alone? I used to have faith in something, it let me down. I could be a realist in many things that people around me knows me for, but not many know I used to struggle with my own illusion. I still do. I still harbour some unrealistic hope. Like for example, getting a RM1000 payrise end of this year, when I just got a fat package last month. And comparing my salary to someone 3-4 years my senior and complaining to boss about my meager salary.

- Why we only like what we could not have? Not talking about relationships because I'm shitty in that, I know. Years ago when I'm still surviving with RM400 allowance, I'll have an orgasm when I touch an iPod. Right now I'm earning bucketloads of money, but somehow iPod losses its sex appeal on me. I'm still trying to figure out how to spend my money nowadays. Trying to find something to buy, something to get by.

- Why find someone you hate as your life partner? I seen that in some people. And I still don't understand why. Imagine living with a whining bitch/ dickhead for the rest of your life. Oh, and I forgot about the 50% divorce rate. Point is, why keeping the relationship when it's clearly not working? As a spare tyre? As a lifeboat while trying to find another bigger ship? To achieve the economic of scale? Afraid of being lonely? Ain't a relationship is supposed to make you you?

- Not a question, but I hate whining bitches. And yeah, why do they exist? They have IQ the same level as a plank. Yet, they try to be smart, act cute, do a bunch of very insensitive things, making you feel really bad, and a hundred other stupid things. You can just ignore a dick, chances are he wouldn't cause you much trouble, but when you tried to ignore a whining bitch, she talks behind you, like, really TALK so that you'll notice her and hate her a little bit more.

Ok that's just my personal opinion to the questions I asked myself. Truth is, there are still many nice persons on this earth. I just make it sound so bad because I wanted some attention myself. Hell, yeah, whatever.

A bunch of a hundred other insignificant things.

Sorry for the super long update interval. Sorry for the lack of social meetups lately (not that I'm known for that anyway) Sorry for not being there. Sorry for not dropping by for a comment or smth. Sorry for being ignorant. Sorry for a thousand other things I must apologize for. Sorry for me, being me.

OK as usual I've being swamped with work lately. But I really am :) I must've left my camera there for two weeks without molesting her and she must've felt kinda lonely right now :) Maybe tomorrow I'll go out and take some photos, away from the madness in office, escaping, finding a way out.

The sign that says it all.
There might be hope, after all :)

Fking new pc

Thanks to impulse purchase and the creator of credit cards, finally I get a new pc for myself, after pondering for many many months.

There is no problem with my old rig, I assembled it to last for 10 years during my overclocking heydays. There is only one "small" problem though. The processor core is slightly outdated to handle number crunching that my new hobby (read: photography) requires. Not to mention the amount of RAM is insufficient to handle ram-(in)sensitive applications like photoshop and lightroom. So that left me with two choices, either upgrade the ram to 2gb or more, or to get an entirely new pc. A new 2gb stick of DDR ram will cost me... I had no idea. RM260? Add 5x that amount and I will be able to get an almost complete new pc. (don't blame me, I'm penny wise, pound foolish)

And so I get a new pc, the specs can make a grown man wept, yeah, really.
Processor: e8400 dual core, 3GHz, 6MB cache, 45nm process.
RAM: 2GB DDR2 800MHz.
HDD: 320GB SATA2 with NCQ(?)
M/B: XFX nForce 630i uATX
Casing: InWin (chapalang) uATX casing.

Okay, for those still following pc trend it's nothing to shout about. But suprisingly I am delighted to know that I could build a pc 100000x more powderful than my old pc for 1/4 the price. Take a look at the mainboard.

Look at the connectors;
HDMI, DVI, VGA, SP/DIF, eSATA, 100channel audio,
and they even have keyboard and mouse connector! Impressive!

The casing: You really need to come to my place to see how small it really is.
Or wait til I'm motivated enough to tidy my room and take a pic.

For me, the most important point of the whole setup is noise, because sometimes, I'd like to shut out all the noise of this mortal world and listen to Diana Krall. This casing is designed for proper heat ventilation, and, it delivers. There's only two fans in the whole casing, one for the power supply and one for processor. During operation, the casing barely emits any noise. The only noise coming out is the rotating HDD platters and disk head accessing data. Impressive!

Who wants my old system, now? :D

Autumn in Stuttgart

Ok, my boss sent me to Stuttgart for another short trip which was deemed rather necessary judging on how things had unfolded around here lately. It was a really short trip, but I have been lacking in internet access and email so I'm actually glad to be back.

It was already autumn and the weather is gloomy, as usual. At 2c to 10c 'hottest' plus the windchill I could barely go out of buildings to take these pics.

Lavender, though the greens are fading,
you can still smell the faint lavender you always found in made in China,
melamine laced, cheap soaps.

Nothing is eye catching during the day,
so I walked ( and walked) and walked, wandering aimlessly.
Maybe I could find something interesting in this wilderness.

I saw an old couple walking,
perhaps enjoying the little sunlight that is still available,
preparing for the harsh winter ahead.
They probably should come to Penang.

Two giant statues guarding the super long ( few km's)
walkway leading to a royal park
(Rosenstein park, iinm).

The neverending road, covered with super tall and old trees.

Ah, it's already autumn.

Help!

No dude, the lack of updates on this blog doesn't mean I'm fking lazy. I've been struggling with deadlines. Look at my previous posts, it's all about struggling with deadlines. But I still wanna say it, I've been so swamped with work recently. And I've been taking breaks off my photographic journey so that I could catch up with some office tasks. Hope my increment better compensate me properly for my dedication, else I'd just get my fk outta here.

And yeah, no pictures.


And when the night falls,
I realize there is nothing worth to see,
I am alone with all the things I've done,
On my lips I feel the frown,
Because there is nothing left for me to say.
So I entertained the swirling thoughts of you in my head,
Each and every time it hurts the same,
The pain never really go away,
Every time I try to stand up,
I trip, I fall, I hurt myself again.
I can't seem to stand up again,
The chain, the pain, it's all too much,
They held me to my sins,
Through which I hurt your feelings,
Hearts that were never meant to be broken,
But I hurt you anyway.
To this sin I did condemn,
please forgive me and my mistakes,
Cuz it really hurts when I tried to breathe,
so I hold my breathe,
But here comes death,
I don't want to go,
Before you let me go.
Before you forgive me,
Break me free,
Save me from myself,
Say you'll forgive me.
Hold me tight,
And say that you'll forgive me.
Hold me with all your might,
and save me.

p/s: just some random shot of inspiration.

Of mice and men

I've been working overtime because suddenly I'm being swamped with too many projects lately. The last time I count, I got 5x projects, 3 is currently being executed and two on the queue. I'm picking up multithreading skills ( those who know me knew I'm a single threaded guy all my life) and I do feel like I'm growing up, in a certain sense.

Look at my project desk! Don't get jealous ok?

I'm beginning to delve into project managements and coordination which I kinda sucked at. I had a "personal assistant" during university days, and when I come in my company my boss became my personal secretary, keeping track of project schedules and nudge me if I forgot to do something. The only project management that I know of, is to keep track of my lunchtime. Everything relies on technical expertise ( a 5 month project can be finished in a week if you're good enough) and pure luck, and I've been damn lucky so far.

70% of my work delves around this little devil called glow control unit.

99.9% of the time when people ask me what did I do for a living, I say I test glow control units and they gave me a blank stare. I had to start humming "You know diesel engine? There's no spark plug inside, but how they burn diesel? They need a glow plug to heat the engine and ..." along the line.

These few weeks there ain't many nice pictures to show off, but one day I've managed to sneak in my uber cool SLR to take a few pix of my office. Of course there are the mandatory chick shots and whats-nots, but I don't think they're gonna be very happy to be featured here.

I like this pot of flower leaves that my boss plants, it's beautiful and when I told her it's beautiful, I get promotion and salary get raised as well, so I really like this plant :P


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There must be some cockroaches, sewer rats or even human bodies hidden somewhere inside the plant. In my office no less. Many people from other department are wounded when they enter the office it's not surprising some might die before they manage to exit the office.


This drawing is ~10 years old,
I wonder if my dad did this to my drawing when I'm smaller, sigh ~.~


Random picture.
Sony, Like.No.Others.

And we had a farewell/ good riddance dinner to celebrate the two brave colleagues who finally managed to muster enough courage to quit. It was in Teluk Kumbar seafood ( again) but this time I bring my SLR along and managed to take some pictures. Most of them could not be displayed, unfortunately :)

Sunset at Teluk Kumbar.

Craps. I prefer the crabsticks though.
You need so much effort to get to its meat it's almost funny
so many people still want to eat craps,
albeit the effort needed to pry open the shell.

Yucks. Veges to negate the sins we made that night.

The food came too fast I am unable to take pictures of the rest of the foods, because I am too hungry the hungry horde start attacking the food before I'm able to snap the pix, but I managed to snap the aftermath though :P

And what better way to flush down all the toxic with more toxic some god's nectar?

The bill come up rather cheap though, RM26 per head.

Signing off, more work needed to be done and it's a sunday afternoon.