Besides the AngPow that dad gave me earlier in the morning, I've receive 2 more presents after I came home.

Despite sending me SMS, Pringles greetings, and IMs all day, Shiau Fei sent me a parcel with a bluish Birthday card as well as a nice key chain from Singapore. Thanks Fei, appreciate it a lot.

This morning, I've received an anonymous SMS that makes me ponder all day.

Smser: "Happy Birthday! How are you doing? U put ur birthday alarm in my hp really works leh. Haha"
Me: "Thanks. But who is this?"
Smser: "Seems like u take a lot of ppl's hp to put alarm on ur birthday woe."

I'm like...SHIT. Who's this? Melissa? DianNi? SueYee?...
Smser: "No la. The one who torture ur ty bear la. Know?"

How could I EVER forget that??? Goh Yi Chen - The TY Bear torturer! :)) Finally found out who this person is! Finally~!~

Received late greetings from Josh, ChangWah, SueYee and....It's Jack again. He Smsed me a good news. The photo that I've taken for him a couple of weeks back actually won a contest! It's not some "Pariah" contest, but it's Jobstreet's "I love my job". Congrates to the body builder-cum-model Jack Chuang.


Jack helping up one of his clients

This win sends me a message, "Son, if you dare to go out and try...the prize is your's".

Next contest: FlyFM's RM10,000 cash prize. Question is...."29% of households don't have what?" Come on guys...help me up!

Labels: Myself, Photography

Toastmasters
This activity has been taken a lot of my time off the first month of January. Here's the stuffs that I've been doing for TI this month.
08th Jan - Club Table Topic master cum Grammarian
15th Jan - Vistana Contest: Toastmaster of the Evening
17th Jan - International Speech Contestant (1st Runner Up)
19th Jan - Division S Judge Workshop (Co-Organizing Chair)
28th Jan - Club Exco Meeting (need to look for members seriously)
29th Jan - Success Club Meeting (evaluator for Assignment #3); VTMC Meeting (Table Topics Speaker)
30th Jan - Timer (To achieve my CL assignment goal)

The good thing is that, Toastmasters has gave me the platform to practice. So much so that my department presentation was an eye opener.

Yesterday I presented a paper about the project I've been doing, and everyone seated is very interested. I did not get the best scores of the day, but I can see that the director graded me better as compared to my presentation when I first join the company.

Company Event
I've been voluntarily helping up in some photography assignments since I join the company. Hopefully they'll show some appreciation by compensating on my equipment depreciation.

12th Jan - Golf Championship, Kulim Golf Club.
22nd Jan - Thaipusam, Waterfall Road.

Toastmasters will be having their Annual Convention in Penang this year (PG2008). And the organizers have asked me to coordinate the video/photography for the whole event. This shows that people start to acknowledge my photography skills. This is a good opportunity to expand my hobby into a full fledge career.

Financial
Since getting out from school, I have been saving enough to spend on the things that I enjoy - photography, travel, electronics...etc. So dad signed me up for an exam by FMUTM (Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers). After hours of bed time reading (yes...I read technical papers to sleep), I managed to finish the exam in a blink of an eye. Turns out the paper is the easiest paper I've sat for the past 10 years!!!

Now, I'm waiting for my agent code, and will start to educate people about savings/ investing/ financial planning. 2 of the 3 is correct, need to sit for more exams to be a licensed financial planner.

I bought a RM1.50 log book to track my daily expenses and see where I've spend excess. Hopefully with the extra money I save, I can bring Irene for a week-long cruise to never-ever-land. So far the most expensive thing I've spent on this month is a RM150 Hoya Pro1 UV filter for my RM700 lens. Will justify the expenditure once I get my hands on this<1685>.

Technology
This month is a blessing for all techno-freaks. CES2008, MacWorld2008 and PMA2008 has announced a lot of wallet drilling gadgets. Here are some of the things I'm crave for includes the Panasonic 150" Plasma TV, MacBook Air, AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR.

And DPReview has launched a lens review section. They have 4 lenses tested (no Nikkors though) Looking forward to get the 16-85VR vs 18-200VR lens performance review before putting my money in. For now, 16-85VR is more suitable for the kinda photography I do.

Miscellaneous
February will be a month of celebrations (CNY, Valentines...). I've already building up my to-do lists...and hopefully it'll be a compactly exciting month. My target is to make a list of things I spend and start a sub-blog about frugality/personal finance. Lets see how things go.

Labels: Myself

It's been a very packed month of January. And here is why:-

1. Irene has been down on cough-soreT-flu since X'mas. (Get better now)
2. Toastmasters are flooding January with a lot of Club Contests. Helping up
3. Doing charity photography for the company's Golf Competition
4. Preparing my International Speech for the 17th of the Month. (my 1st time)
5. Bun came visiting from JB. Bring her around Penang island. (Photo & Stories later)
6. Toastmasters Leadership Institute 2...but thankfully not photographer this round

Besides that, I've something that have been getting me worried. But that's all cleared by now. There's no way to express it properly in a public domain. Will figure out something after I've cleared January's burden off my shoulders.

CNY is coming, but I ain't that much excited at all. There's too much worry I have now. Getting back to my work.

Side note:
Now everyone can blog. Even my distant new-born relative have a blog. Check it out.
http://looyixuan.blogspot.com/

Labels: Myself

Hello readers,

I haven't been updating much as I have tonnes of stuffs/ new interests coming in.

Good news is that my Nikon D70s has already came back from servicing. Costs me RM480 for both my camera and flash, but that's maintenance cost required for this hobby of mine. Once received, I've helped my company photograph the Annual Dinner F.O.C. I think that it's not beneficial to me, but yet, it's a good opportunity for me to test out my camera after not using a camera for > 1 month.

In my Toastmasters progress, I've already completed 8 assignments. The time taken to prepare each assignment is shorter, but quality of the delivery is not being neglected in any way. I am thinking of publishing all my assignments for the benefit of other Toastmasters who are looking for a topic. Will find one fine day to work on that.

What else? Ok, I also found out that I never have enough money. Flipped through some books on Personal Finance which changed my life. As I started to draw out my cashflow, I noticed that there ain't no savings for rainny days or marriage. You can say that I can be described as "Kais pagi makan pagi". Since then, I've added PFblogs into my GoogleReader. Some of those articles are really informative, especially by this guy Ramit Sethi. Depends on what you are looking for, generally these sites are has articles which suits everyone's needs.

Technical wise, I've suceed in getting my hp 6515b laptop installed with Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10). I've made it earlier, just need to press "Alt+F1" to prompt the username input. Now the system is updated. Pending installation of Broadcom drivers, SCIM input, and misc other applications to make my laptop an ultimate FOSS power house.

Dad has some trouble working around with Vista, but with Ubuntu...he shouldn't have any problem working around it. You muz see how tech wise my parents are. Mom is searching for travel plans for March 2008 already over the web. My sister also prefer Ubuntu if not for the slight compatibility issue on Feisty earlier. Will install 7.10 for her once I've got mine running smoothly.

This weekend I will most probably be busy with International Dance Competition @ PISA and right after that, will visit Gurney Drive to cover the Loy Khartong festival. Sunday will be Little Penang if nothing else come up.

You must be wondering what I'm doing in the office while I've been doing all these stuffs on my "free time". Well, not everyone talks about their work. Kennysia has been travelling the world, but he insists that he has a 9-5 job. How I wish I'll be able to get paid trips like his. Stay tuned for more updates.

Labels: Myself, Photography, Ubuntu

I'm back in Penang for less than a week (4 days to be exact). So far, it has been a very very packed week for me. Not like I'm forced to do most of those things, yet...who would want to loose out 10 days of their "virtual life"???

What have I actually being doing instead of reporting about my Germany-Swiss-Austria trip??? Once I got back to my room, I login my GoogleReader checking if there's anything I missed out in DPReview, then it's the engadget, gizmodo and other photography blogs I regular. Turns out there's 1000+ posts I've to go through. Only managed to slim it down below the 100th mark last night. Yet from all the things I've read...I can only say GNOME 2.20(http://www.gnome.org/start/2.20/notes/en/) released and some of David Ziser (http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/)'s flash photography. I also noticed that Nikon D3 gets more attention than the Canon's EOS 1Ds MarkIII but their EOS 40D gets quite some reportage though.

(Trivia) Reading trend: From your 54 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 2,323 items, starred 12 items, shared 10 items, and emailed 0 items.

Then, it's US's season premiers for Smallville, PrisonBreak, Heroes, DesperateHousewives, FlashGordon, BionicWoman and the likes of it. In Japan I get my regular does of hentai (not!) Naruto and Bleach. I'm not tied in my chair to finish all these episodes, but it has been a norm for me, just like the habits others have for getting a new phone every 6 months, taking a bath for not shorter than 30 minutes, or having to put purfume before leaving the house.

At work, there's more things waiting for me to follow up. My manager just breifed me about the list of things our group need to confirm by the end of the month. Need to come up with a few purchase orders, some reports and naturally dozen of junk mail to trash. Luckily I was not in charge of production, so the pressure is a lot lesser comparatively. Finish giving out souvenirs, can't bring back much for them as things are expensive and ppl I know at work is -- plenty.

Personal mails are not that hard to clear though, only took me 2 days to clear up Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. On the other hand, magazine subscription that came through snail mail will be piling up on the side of my bed. Hopefully I can go through a few of them tonight as the past few evenings are taken either by my other obligations.

Fortunately, I still have some time to spend with my younger sister who is back in Penang for her industrial training in LamWahEe hospital. Told my parents a bit about my trip, and spend my regular wednesday evening with Irene. The JetLag is making my head feeling heavy, and adding to the lack of sleep, it's not helping at all. Irene says that it's becuz of the lack of beers after drinking frequently for the past week, possibly the lack of coffee in our blood vessels as well.

Looking forward to the weekends...since my Saturday event assignment is canceled, I'll try to clear up my luggages, change my bed cover and finish a magazine or two. Hopefully I'll be posting up the photos I've taken, and also do a little write up on the trip. Stay tuned for more updates.

Labels: Entertainment, Family, Myself, Tech, Work

When driving Irene back home, I asked if she remembers how I celebrated her birthday in 2004. She’s stunned, “first year we had dinner at Eden's "The Ship", next year we go ..., and in 2004…2004…2004…” It’s only 3 years ago, but we are still sitting there trying hard to recall that incident.

Thankfully there is the digital age… I used to write down all my SMSes into a logbook, and even that doesn’t have a record. Then, I went online to Google for help, fortunately the event was recorded on my blog [Link]. I laughed out so loud I sprained my muscles. Back then The DaVinci code was the top selling novel, and I made her run all over the university just to find her birthday present. She was happy back then, but both of us can’t remember the incident if not for the record in my “digital diary”.

Moral of the story: Have to continue writing my blog. Else, all the things I've been working so hard to do will be forgotten in time.

Labels: Myself, Relationship

After a 2 hour badminton session with my colleagues, Choobee came over to my place initially to work on some photos. As we reached home, I saw a huge pile of red soil blocking the side entrance. Mom told me that my dad has came up with yet another project. He dug out all the grass and plan to lift up the ground a little. Ever since I’m a kid, I never like to do gardening. Dad is the problem as he always laughs at me for not having enough strength, speed and endurance. So, I decided not to help him up but this time it’s different.

Before I can refuse to help, Choobee says she wanted to help. I thought I heard wrongly the first time, but she actually put down her stuffs and help up with gardening. According to her, she was never encouraged to touch the soil at home as her mom is doing all the work. And since she didn’t do well in her singing contest, she releases her temper on to the ground (talking about good anger management).

Of course I can’t let her work there alone, she drag me along to help move the sand after she fill up the trolley. While working, I started mumbling and complaining so much that dad, mom and Choobee started laughing at me non stop. I don’t like gardening, what’s so funny about that? Dad says I’ll understand when I get older, but I don’t think I ever will.

Looking at the way she work on the sand, I started to get worried. What if one day I went looking for Kookai again? I’ll certainly come back a dead meat. With the strength she has in her, she can easily slice me into pieces, dug a hole and bury me in a blink of an eye. No need any refrigerators, no need to dump on the sea or what not. Scary…better not think about that.

At night both of us have to get yokoyoko all over our body as our muscles are so painful. It’s funny to see 2 people massaging each other and pouring yokoyoko at each other’s body as others are playing with honey, chocolates or whipped cream. I can still feel the pain on my muscles thinking of that incident. *Ouch*

Labels: Myself, Relationship

Being extremely busy with events lately, there ain't much time for me to read blogs, what more blogging about things I came across. But, this is a very costly expenditure that I have to brag talk about. Credit cards...

Dad have given both me and my younger sister supplimentary card for like 5 years already. It ease our spending quite a lot as we are able to spent some extra money which are not in our pocket. Yet, despite the "luxury", we do not turn wasteful over night. Dad never received any shocking credit card bills in the mailbox (we did not tear the bills away, promise~!). Yet all these while, I'm still not able to do one thing - shopping online.

There are so many gadgets and accesories that you can only see online. The local market is not big enough for retailers to import to justify their risks. There are places like eBay, Amazon and hundreds of websites which I am able to access the products with my own credit card account. And since there are so many victims of online fraud, I still hold back the idea of getting my own card when I can finally qualify for one. But as the desire for stuffs grows faster than the Malaysian market, I finally gave up on tolerating with the gap and get myself a card.

Once I get my card, 1st thing I did was to purchase a Linkin Park Underground membership (still haven't get my stuffs till now). Disapointed as I am, I didn't give up...I continue buying something cheap from eBay. Found a 1st edition hardcopy of Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code", registered PayPal and the book is shipped to me in less than 3 weeks. (lovely). This grew back my confidence towards online shopping. As Richx introduced me to the hp OLS end of last month, I checked on the site everyday, browsing various brands to finally decide on one which fits into my budget.

It's not an easy task I tell u. Since the beginning of the sales (2nd July), I have sleepless nights, turning my computer off and on again middle of the night, filling in the forms, and being hesitant to press "SEND". After 4 days of running up and down computer shops to look around for a suitable unit, I finally braved myself to click on the SEND button. 3 weeks I waited, and here the computer finally came. This morning I received a call from the delivery man, and they agreed to send it to my company instead of my house address as it's more accessible. Opening up the box, I can see a nice new PC, but need to take some time to set it up. Now it's time to enjoy the fruits of my patience... will let u know more about the laptop later.

Labels: Myself, Tech

Exactly 1 year ago this day, I step into the doors of a factory in Bayan Lepas. And this is how I celebrate my 1 year anniversary: Running errants all over the factory. And it's not like I have anything great to brag about work.

So, time passes, things happens...but after all that, just feel like I've wasted another year of my life. I was in Gurney Plaza with Irene y'day, and I see there's so many people loitering around the shopping complex like there's nothing better to do. Not just teenagers, people of all ages are walking around with no particular purpose in their brain. Despite a Father's Day weekend, no one could be bothered. They prefer to "hang out" in their favourite arcade or whatever they have in mind.

Everytime I feel like being them, I start feeling guilty. How I wish I can put all my worries away for a while, and start seriously enjoying myself for once. Dream on... dream. Happy anniversary to me

Labels: Myself

I'm so totally happy receiving this cheque. It's been months since I won the "wake up your brain" session in FlyFM. Let me explain how the game goes. Every morning, they will come up with a brain teaser, which will usually be related with factual trivia no one is suppose to be able to find out googling. Everyday they will pick up two lucky callers, which will attempt to answer. If they fail, the money will snowball to the following day with an additional RM100 tops on it.

Despite failing to get through for the larger snowballs, I managed to answer the easy question with Irene's help. "What is the fruit with it's seeds on the outside". Answer is an obvious "Strawberry".

How many of you actually won something over the air? It's not that difficult, as long as you find the time where people are either not yet wake up, or are in a middle of lunch. Give it a try, it's an experience not to be missed

Labels: Entertainment, Myself

I still remember the first time I knew about the 31% discount on ice-cream years back. Then, I read the word pint as "pin(t)" and not "pine" as it's suppose to be read. Pint is used as an adjective to describe ice-creams and blood. Don't ask me what these two have in common. As Irene reminded me to get her ice-creams, I tot wut-da-heck....anything to make her happy.

I was working late today, and by the time I reached B31R, it's already 19-pass-9. There are no parking available, and I was so worried that the shop will close early as it is a working day tomorrow. To my surprise the house is so packed with customers that I can't even see the workers. Some say people goes mad once in a blue moon. As tonight we witness the blue moon, people are flocking into Baskin 31 Robbins in Sungai Dua, Penang to get 31% off their freshly packed ice cream/ sorbet.

Forgetting the "house rules", I wander around for a whole 20 minutes before I found the place to get my number. From choosing my flavor, getting a ticket, waiting for my turn, made my order, and paying at a malfunction cash register takes a whole other hour. Now you see how much Malaysians are willing to endure for a mere RM20.

Driving to Ayer Itam takes at least 30 minutes. The traffic is insane!!! Blame it all on the school holidays and the working parents taking leaves to bring their children out. By the time I reached Irene's place, the paper bag is so wet that it's torned into halves. After a good kiss goodbye, rush back to my place. Kanasai those police... when there is no moon they dun wan come out, now got moon they grew like cactus from my chair. ( ie. pain in my ass)

Before I reached home, I took a check on the ice cream. My seats are so sticky and wet that I rush straight to the laundry once I reach home. I wonder how many traffic rules I broke along the way back.

So folks...that's what you have to pay for in order to "SAVE 31%" on ice-creams on the 31st of the month. Only at B31R.

Labels: Myself

It's already been 1 year since graduation, I've heard some friends still having fun at home, others switch jobs for the n-th time. In my case, I managed to get a job in Renesas Semiconductor, Penang. Initially, I'm doing a test engineer for 6 months...testing and debugging test systems. Right after confirmation, they moved me to do improvement projects like cost reduction, space efficiency, and reduce TAT.

In terms of personal improvement, I've participated in Toastmasters, where they taught me how to speak in public, help up in event organization and also get to know about Parlimentary Procedure.

Travels wise, visited Pangkor/Lumut with J&J, Singapore and go back to my "ancestor" town - Fujian. Not much time for travelling due to work. Missed out JapanGT, but not KLIMS.
Talking about hobbies, you must be asking now..."Is this guy still interested in photography?" Answer: Yes. Proof: 250GB HDD, Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8, Epson P-2000 (graduation present), and thousands of photos waiting for me to process. Besides, I've bought a Canon MV120 video camera.

And since photography has been an expensive hobby, I've tried to save up by putting time in smth "free". Linux - starting with Mr Kamal (exboss) showing it to me on the tester system, downloading RedHat's FedoraCore6, then later installing Ubuntu. Now, I'm thinking of how to make a profit out of this freeware. If you have any idea, do share with me as I'm really low in $$$.

That's all for me folks~! Do keep in touch.

Labels: Myself

I wasn't around for the wesak day celebration last year. There ain't much I've missed, but I really love to be around faithful prayers - makes me look very relegious (which I'm not, ...really, ..that). Anyway, I skipped the eve celebration because we were preoccupied with some other events.

This morning, picked up my grandma and her maid as early as 8am to avoid traffic. It's the first time I sat in mom's new MyVI. It's really spacious and I kinda love it despite not being allowed to step on the paddles. When we reach PorTay Primary - where dad used to study, the place still looks the same. Young school children welcomes us while teachers make sure they don't kill themselves. What makes me jelous is that these children no longer play football, hide and seek, or the likes of it. They are playing the latest java games loaded in their friends new handphone, or PSP~!!! I for one will not give my kids these "luxuries" as I can't even afford myself.

Then we went visiting the sleeping buddha and the other burmist temple on some famous street. Took a number of street photos which makes me realize how different it feels as compared with photos I've taken so far - still, lifeless subjects. Thanks to the devoters, everyone are offered free food and drinks... Took a few photos of grandma's maid so that she can send it back home.

Erm, what did I say to buddha? I thanked HIM for giving me a good education, offer me a reasonable job and wish that I can learn how to do business and at the same time share the knowledge I've learnt with the society. I've start by getting a current account from HSBC, and over the next few months, I'll learn how to use and profit from it. I'll keep u posted about my progress.

Labels: Myself

I’ve been MIA for quite a long time. Reason? Toastmasters, Cheng Beng and a whole week in China.

Thanks dad for buying me a ticket to Fujian for my 25th Birthday. No, I’m not shy to announce my age, neither am I ashamed that I don’t pay for my own tickets. I’m fortunate enough to be born into a good family, why should I shy away myself from that?

For the trip, I’ve written a documentary for my own reference. For those of you who are interested in pages of text, please proceed with the following links. Pictures comming up shortly.

Labels: Myself

Penang Hokkien Association organized this trip because we received an invitation from the Xiamen Overseas Chinese Office. (华侨办公室—侨办). The objectives of the trips (which I managed to find out only later) is to visit XiaMen, understands it, and see if there’s any opportunities for us to invest over there. Our group represents the “Young Entrepreneur” from Penang, but there are at least 40% of our delegates over the age of 55. I just fit into the equation to bring down the average age of the group :P

The plane we took was nothing to brag about – small, poor in-house entertainment, bad food and shakes terribly when facing turbulence. Transit GuangZhou’s airport and have an hour of delay due to airport traffic and the rain. Like the saying goes: 清明时节雨分分。。。But thankfully, we managed to arrive in one piece. The pilots are well prepared for such challenges – and hence we need to pay them that much.

Xiamen is not a village where people still live on trees and use banana leaves to wrap themselves. The city has already developed into a metropolitan with freeways, outer ring road, and speedy railways. Xiamen and the surrounding countryside is famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese and Taiwanese as well as one of China's earliest special economic zones in the 1980s. It covers an area of 1,565 km² with a local population of 2.01 million. [wiki]

Since we are invited by the local government, food and lodging are all taken care of by the offices. They checked us into XiangLu Grand [厦门翔鹭国际大酒店] which was built for the 2007 Beijing Olympics game (me thinks). Since it has not being operating for over 12 months, it’s not being rated yet. But in my opinion, it’s as good as the 5 star hotel I stayed in when I was in Hong Kong. There’s HDTV, WIFI, and the toiletry set is completed with body lotion. At every corner of the hotel there are waiter/waitresses standing on guard giving us the sweetest greeting.

The first night, we have our dinner with the director of Xiamen Chinese Overseas Office (let’s just call them XCO2). The round table fits all 30 of us, the largest table I’ve sat in, with seats reserved with my name on. The food is great, and the hospitality is unbeatable. In China, every meal we are served with over 12 dishes. In Penang, a normal wedding dinner only serves a maximum of 8. That’s not all, red wine is free flow and the host went from table to table to thank us for coming. (Even though she’s the one who’s giving the treat).

Labels: Myself, Travel

What I want for this years birthday? I have a list of expensive gifts: D200, 17-55 f2.8 DX, and a whole list of photo books which I will not mention here. But there's a simple gesture for those readers who wants to greet me personally on my birthday. I'll be at the Penang Bayan Lepas International airport from 6am till 8am for an authograph session with my fans.

After that, I will be boarding my personal jet to XiaMen where the delegates from various government agencies are eagering to show me around their industrial area. The "working trip" will be until end of the week, so if you want me, meet me now before I get onboard.

It'll be great to meet those of you who are in Penang, especially since 2nd of April is announced a holiday by the government in conjunction with the celebration of Yang Dipertua Sepuluh Kongsi, Dr Ir NeohSH. No fun, night night.

Labels: Myself

Impossible? Never...

When I was small, I learnt got my first cycling injury when my left eye almost got cut through barb wires when I fell down. Despite that, I continue enjoying cycling.

During secondary school, I cycle up Air Itam Dam, which takes a regular 15 minutes, but the fastest I reached the peak is about 25. In Uni, I cycle around Bukit Beruang where I study, and occasionally to town for the fun of it.

As cycling has been a part of me since young. I have always dreamt of cycling to work. I've purchased a new basi"CAR" few weeks before Chinese New Year. When it took it back home, there is a strong protest from my mom claiming that the road is very dangerous. As rebelious as I am, I kept that dream in my shirt pocket, and only took it out for regular exercise.

After months without exercise, I find it tiring cycling just a few km out to meeet my friends J&J. Then, the ride to Sunshine Square is rather an ease. Later, I took my bike for a 30km cycle from Bayan Lepas to Air Itam.

A new month and a new dream. Without ever testing the route time, I cycle to work 15 minutes before work starts. Patiently and enjoying the morning breeze along the way, I managed to arrive without having a sweat. Nice...I think I'll give it a try for a month, if things goes on smoothly, I might consider selling off my car to fund my other hobbies.

So many things to buy, so little money in my pocket. Aih~ life's like that.

Labels: Myself

How frequent do you visit a page again after pressing CTRL+D (Add to Favourites) which has became a habitual task once you happen to see smth interesting and tell yourself, "I'll come back to it again when I'm free".

SELDOM!!! People just dump it there and totally forgot about it. Doesn't even bother to archieve Favourites when they bring their computer to format, or change platforms (eg. XP -> Vista).

Irene was dancing along with some loud music in the middle of town, so I spend some time reading thru my favourites. 78% of those links are already 404 - Not Found. While the other 16% are links i never bother to look thru anymore. There are even sites that store other things as compared to their intentional purpose.

How frequent do web developers maintain their site, changing links, and makes users confuse. I was playing with some Universe depository on Ubuntu, which makes it really tough for me to download or follow instructions properly. The links doesn't work anymore, neither are the stuffs there. Hitting around the bushes ain't smth I do out of bed, so don't try to bring me on a rollercoaster ride!!!

The community (Ubuntu and others alike) should be discipline enough to redirect other users to a new link. Make it look seemless if possible, as for Jasmine, please don't switch blog hosts too frequent, it's hard for me to keep track mkay?

Labels: Myself, Tech

Last picture taken before sending my D70s to Nikon Service Center. The internet connection is still very slow. Malaysians are really lack behind in technology. Wake up Malaysia!

Labels: Myself

Happy New Year everyone. Do hope all my readers did spend your New Year's eve happily. As for me, it's a 5 hour drive down south to Melaka. Thanks to Irene, I get to read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" while she's cruising along the North-South Expressway. Right after reaching, we had our Yong Tau Foo at the regular shop we used to dine at. But seems like this conventional business has changed hands, and the meals tastes different.

After lunch, we burn some time in Pahlawan Square, which surprisingly looks very high class for the suburbs. I was down in signus again, and yet i can't find any Sirus in the "high tech" shopping mall. Irene get to meet her x-classmate for a while before we move on to visit the shops. The only thing we bought are the local delicacies from "san shu kong".

After that we walked to Jonker for dinner in a place called Harpers Restaurent. We went into a corner shop overlooking the Melacca Straits.(Address: 2, Jalan Hang Jebat) The nicest tables are booked up, but they are kind enough to give us the table (as long as we leave before 8.30pm). No problem though, as we have other plans for the evening.

On the other table, this group of english are laughing away while enjoying beer. The start talking about us when I bring out my camera and happily snapping away. One of them came over and asked me how much the camera costs, and how nice pictures it can take. After exchanging some greetings, we went back to our seats. Irene reminds me that those people might be the top managements coming to launch the Giant Supermarket tomorrow in Melacca. Then only did i notice all of them are in their Giant uniforms and regret some of the courtesy a gentleman should have. If not for that, he would have consider me to help him grow his money. Aih` fate...opportunities...

Jonker is still the same place we know, just that they sell more varieties now. Found some "Voodoo Dolls" just like those I bought from Ray, but their handywork ain't as good as those I bought, the price is also much cheaper. We try not to add any "expenses" into our balance sheet by window shopping. It started raining when we were on our way back to the car, met Choo Chee Wee having dinner at one of the stalls, have a small chat with him but ran off after he shows no sign of interest in continuing the conversation.

Our countdown is in Xuan Cafe with Josh and Joleen. The singers are still that good, never regret visiting that place instead of crowding ourselves in Pure Bar or whatever bar for that matter of fact. The same jokes still works for these people, 6 months apart never make any difference to our friendships. Received greetings from YeeJen as well as a senior from work. Dad greeted us from Harpin through SMS, they never forget me eventhough I'm never able to make it there with them.

Slept over at my previous house, but these young people really need a lesson on hygenie and cleanliness, the grass grows for at least a meter, while the floors has never been swept since I moved out. Their toilet stains has been dark and ugly while some never tidy their bed. Thanks to Soon Yet for giving us the room for the night, had a great rest after an exhausting day. Happy New Year everyone.

Labels: Friends, Myself

Like I've mentioned previous post, my parents went to Harpin for holiday, so I'll be all by myself after work. Called Irene up, but she has to attend a dancing class. Instead of heading home and thinking of what to cook for dinner, I drove myself to Queensbay Mall before the traffic condition gets worse.

I like shopping alone as I will have all the time for myself. Concentrating on things that only I will be interested in. First I visited Padini Concept Store trying to see if there's anything which suits me. Found a nice shirt, but my body doesn't fit it well. Then I wonder around Jusco, where I managed to find a few items I liked. There's one cupboard which I might be going back to get tomorrow after full consideration. I'm now desperately in need of a place to fit all my books and magazines as they starts piling up.

Harvey Norman has opened a branch over there. They stock hp printers which I happen to learn how much the company spent on it's ink technology. The price is a bit on the high side for me now, but as my Epson Stylus C67 gets too costly, I might be getting myself a unit of hp printer.

I was rather hungry and tired by the time I finished 2 floors from end to end. But as I walked into Borders Bookstore, all these thoughts have vanished. Information continues to flow through my soul, purifying it and neutrilized all the stomach juices that makes it growls. First I browse through the Fiction section, but I went to a total halt when I saw the large collection of Photography Books, Manuals, and Guides. Sat there for like an hour before I force myself to leave before I starve to dead. But as I reached the Computer section, there I go again...looking through titles by titles, and flipping through pages of the books I'm researching on. Found a few titles that I would love read - Excel with VBA; Linux Hacks; and Photoshop CS2 down and dirty.

After Borders, I adjourned to Super Tanker for my dinner. By the time I reached there, it was already 9pm. After having RM6.90 worth of LokLok (cooked satay), went back home and get my car washed before calling it a day. All in all, I don't mind shopping alone as I can have all the time I want to see all the things I wanted. But when I intend to place a purchase, I would prefer to have 2nd opinion from Irene or a friend with me.

Labels: Myself

Labels: Myself

Before I begin my unforgivable demand, I'll like to thank MBA,(Competent Communicator)CC John Yeoh for giving me an egg tart in conjunction to the Christmas celebration. Thanks also to Manager K for giving me a notebook for the similar occasion.

So let me start with my X'mas wishlist. Don't worry, I'm not asking for a Nikon D200 or a Hoya/Pentax K10D. So Santa, here's what I would love to get for being a good baby man.
1) Beginning Gimp:From Novice To Professional [Paperback/eBook]
Author: Peck,Akkana
Publisher: Apress
2) Wedding Photography with Adobe Photoshop
by Rick Ferro, Deborah Ferro - 2003 - 128 pages
3) Integrated Design and Manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering
Author: Miscellaneous. [Actually any mechanical reference book will do good]
4) Travel books filled with astonishing photographs (this will be for my gal)
5) And the last thing, a book shelf large enough to organize all the books I have. (I'm making do with the book sholder Ming Zheng's gave me for the time being)

If any readers are kind enough to supply me with such books, I'll be more than willing to provide you with a weekend of photography services (wedding, party, portraits, editing...).

Labels: Myself

Apologies dear readers,

I haven't get the time to update my blog for quite some time. Maybe some of these photographs might get u interested back. Anyway, I was down on fever since night as I was taking pictures of this nice looking picture under the hot sun. After go back I forgot to rehydrate myself which causes the heat. Taken an MC for the following day, which I spent most of it sleeping and drinking loads of water.


Red Dragonfly, Balik Pulau, Penang

It's another of those weekends where I have the time to spend with my family, and girlfriend of course. Mom took back this brochure about a housing plan in Balik Pulau (Botanica.ct) which i find quite nice. Well, the most important criteria for me when looking for a house is one without a fencing.


Construction Site, Botanica.CT, Balik Pulau, Penang

The place wasn't that hard to find, and the place is quite well preserved. The place is a reserved land from the mass development of Penang, and I actually spotted a waterfall on the construction site. I left my tripods at home and hence, this photo you can't see the silky smooth water flowing. Anyway, it's laksa time after that. No pictures though...


WaterfallRiver Stream, Botanica.CT, Balik Pulau, Penang

Labels: Myself

Have been taking a lot of "Buffet Trainings" with my group of friends when I was an undergraduate. We used to spend a lot of time visiting Steamboat buffets, as well as US Pizza during the weekends when they were having promotions. As far as I can remember, I can finish 6 pieces of pizza, 8 garlic bread sticks, a whole jug of ice lemon tea and finished the whole meal with 8 cups of ice cream.

After all these years ( make it sounds like i'm very old :P ) my tummy have getting weaker. Might be lack of training that I blame it on.

My collegues invited me to a Sushi buffet at a local dining outlet called Tao Restaurant in E-Gate. They serve unlimited Sushi at the price of RM48++. They did ask me to join their Futsal and Smoking sessions which I denied. But as I have been a fan of buffet, I happily asked them to include me into the list.

The traffic was terrible that night. We went there after work (8pm) and by the time I get a parking lot, it's almost nine. Met PK and her bf eating at Subway, have a little chat with them before I join the guys.

I was so hungry when I sat down that I swallow a whole 8 person's share of sashimi at one shot. Koay claims that I ate sushi like slurping down a bowl of noodles (whatever that means). Then I have a lot of seafood rolls (BIG MISTAKE!!!)...These rolls are very filling as they are made of mostly rice. After having some tempura and scallops, my stomach is already reaching the limit. The guys offered me more and more food, which I can't resist. By the end of the day, I'm so full that I need to ask for some oilment from Cheah. I don't even dare to open my mouth and chat as I'm so "mesmerized" with the food floating at my throat. Even by the smell of food, I start to have burps and hickups.

After bidding them farewell, drove out to face a crazy traffic jam. After turning into RECSAM's corner, I can't control and puked out on my floormat. Thank god I wasn't drinking...parked my car safely in front of RECSAM before throwing out on the drain. The first thing i saw coming out was the last thing i put in. F.I.F.O. it seems...the whitish ice-cream is all over the place. Since I don't bring any tissue paper or handkerchiefs I rub it on the only fabric I have on me - the uniform I'm wearing... :))

It's so much fun, puking out after finishing such a gigantic meal. Right after you puke, you'll find a kinda relieve you find in drinking liquor. The only difference is... police don't issue summons to people for being over-weight or over-ate. My parents don't even complain when I told them about the incident. So guys...go out and enjoy buffet, and puke it out as I did.

Labels: Myself

We have to wake up 5am in the morning to prepare ourselves. The convocation starts at 0800, but we started our journey at 0600 from Damansara Utama. Thanks a lot to my aunty who is kind enough to offer us a place to overnight, and I'm also very thankful that my gf can bear with the hard paquee floor as there is no extra matresses.

Reached cyberjaya relatively early as we managed to find a nice carpark near to the campus. Meet up with some of my friends and start taking photos. I'm really thankful that I've taught my girlfriend to handle my camera well, and she has an eye to make photographs instead of just snap shots.

The convocation hall was specially built and officially used for this particular purpose - MY CONVOCATION~!!! Haha...it might sound like a coincidence, but I find god is treating me really well for the past 24 years. I believe that with all the deeds I've done, and the prayers I've made, God really talk to me, and guide me along the correct path.

As we parade into the hall, our parents are already seated. I didn't bring my camera in as it'll look very awkward on stage. Thanks to Qi and Irene to babysit for me while I'm in the hall. I looked all over for my parents, can't find them anywhere. That time I was feeling worried, joy and nervous all in one. It's the first time both of them witness me on stage, and it might be the last if I don't perform in my latter years. Tears were rolling on my eyes as I was trying hard to make a call through. There was such a relieve when the I hear my mom's voice over the phone when it finally gone through...I almost cried.

Josh, one of my best friend in uni is beside me. He always has been. If it's not for him to make those jokes, I would've wet my robe with salty liquid. Very happy to be sitting with all of those friends that have accompanied me for at least 4 years. We have strived through projects, coorperate during assignments and supportive when each other is down with some relationship problems. These friends will have my full support when I'm in need.

As the chancellor and the other VVIPs parade in, I have a very close look on each and everyone of them. 90% of the faces are new to me, these are the people who recognises MMU's degree, or people who are so high up that a peasant like me will never be summoned to their castle. Tun Dr Mahathir attended this year as well, he doesn't look 20 years younger than his actual age. He has those "sloping" hair cut we used to have during secondary school. From what I know, he went to the same barber back in the days when he's still a doctor.

The ceremony lasts for 4 full hours. My dad sent me an sms asking me, " is there a mixed up?" as he didn't see me up on stage as the graduates of Faculty of Engineering went on stage to collect their scroll. Haha...really pity them, since they are not aware that we have 2 engineering faculties in MMU - FOE in Cyberjaya and FET in Melacca.

Finally when I'm on stage, I seemed to get nervous. Not that I tripped on stage or what, but I can sense that the photos might look fake when being developed. Shoked my hands with Tun Chancellor Siti Hasmah, and she gave me a solid "Congratulations" and I return her a confident smile to show that I won't be letting her or MMU down when I'm out in the society. Then I shooked hands with my Dean, Dr Peter before going down the other way.

As I am back to my seat, my friends were asking if anyone shook hands with Dr Peter. CCW thought that he was just there to "lead the way" and hence ignored him. What a pity dear Peter... We've been friends, me and Dr Peter since the days I am the Deputy President of ENGSOC. After the ceremony, bump into him at the garden tea ceremony. I was not surprise to see him holding a D2X mounted with a Nikkor 28-70mm f2.8 lens. 3 years ago he was already holding a Fuji S2Pro, it's a wise choice for a Dean without any family commitments.

Personally I'll really like to do as he did. Driving a Kancil but yet have a whole cabinet full of AF-S lens with large apertures. Let's get back to the ceremony before I lead you to my boring photography hobby.

Prof Chuah sponsored the Garden Tea Party for everyone. He was the Top 3 student in University Malaya's entire history. He's very generous in charitible events and very supportive in student activities as well. I love the way he manages the school, but yet...both FOE and FET deans has nothing to complain about.

Managed to have a brief handshake with Dr TMLim when the VVIPs were marching out of the hall. He is also a good teacher and most importantly great friend. Eventhough he's never taught me before, but he's my academic advisor. I always visit his office for non-academic issues, which is how he manages to get me to work in Seagate as an intern last time. We also have nice chats about photography, novels and all other stuffs we have in common.

Took a few photos with all my friends outside the Convocation Hall. Missed some of my dearest friends like Marimo, Corn and Wan Ying. But yet I did met up with people I die to see since Alpha years - Lincoln, Shiau Fei, Jia Jiun, OngSM, and WeiXuan among others. As my parents doesn't buy me flowers, Josh is kind enough to give me a large bouquet of 24 flowers to photograph with my friends. Mint mui and Alex's flowers are also very much appreciated. Thanks also to ShiauFei's butterfly which I don't have any idea what it represents.

Lastly, I'll like to talk about the gem that I treasure most. If you can see from the picture, the doll might be new to most of you. You won't find it in Penang, at least not the originals. This KUMAKUMA is a gift she ask the help of her friend to get back from KL. This tortoise is a representation of me...being slow and steady, but eventually can get to graduate with an honours. Gifts like this are very meaningful to me, I love gifts which have meaningful, not certainly expensive.

The best gift would be the photos that she took for me. Thanks a lot Irene...for all the pictures you took, the heavy baby that you need to carry up and around the highlands, leave that you need to sacrifice and also the patience you have on the childish side of me. I love you *Muacks*

As we all need to work the following Monday. I have to rush back, missing the chance to talk with some of my friends, really really sorry about that. Grandma treat us to a seafood dinner at Bukit Kawan. By the time we reached home, it's already 9pm. After unloading all the things we bought in Ikea, I'm already so tired I head for bed straight away.

---

Fact: The wife of a "Datuk" is called "Datin"
Question: What do you call the wife of a "Tun" ???

Labels: Myself

Bukit Tinggi here we come!!! Yes, it's the 3rd time I'm up there. FYI, I'm not even close to being tired/bored going up there as compared with Genting Highlands nearby.

My parents suggested to go there as they haven't been there for quite some years now. For me, it's a great place to take some memorable photos as compared with the dull architectures in MMU, Melaka. Irene on the other hand, have the chance to play with the camera all day. It's the first time that I let her have full control of the camera without much complains, and she actually controls the camera well after warm up. Yup! taking pictures needs warm up as well...even for me.

Spent quite a lot of time at Colmar (French Castle) where we had a light breakfast in their bakery. After that visit the Japanese Tea House for more pictures. Last stop is the Rabbit's Farm where I taught my younger sister (who is in BioTech btw...) how to hold a rabbit. There's some problem with these bio students...whenever she touched an animal, she'll think about it's internal organs. How...%^&*( is that???

Dad's always in a hurry, but luckily I did get home with around 120 shots before filtering. Will try to post up some this weekend (no promises). And we're shopping at Damansara Utama for the rest of the day.

Dad's very ambitious and is very excited when he went into IKEA, he stoped by and sat on every single chair in the shop before proceeding to the canteen. We spent too much time there and end up didn't have time to visit Ikano and the Curve. Felt very sorry that I can't bring them to the Manhattan's Fishmarket to feast. Dad love varieties and that's the one place I know with the most variety of food.

Better sleep well, havta wake up at 5am for tomorrow's convo...

Labels: Myself

The last ceremony I've to go throught before officially known as a graduate. I've made it mom, dad, qi and all my friends who cared. Not that I'm the son of "a fishmonger and a housewife", but at least I managed to get through all those tough papers and get laid (on a job).

My parents and Irene took a day off so that we can drive down to Cyberjaya on Friday to collect my robe. Enough complains about the robe thingy, as we adjourned to PJ to meet my younger sister. On they way, went to look for Nikon's Service Center as I need to get my camera cleaned before the convocation. Tried to mess around with the camera which ends up with more problem. Finally managed to find the PKNS building in the new PJ town center. Dad's a bit furious about god-knows-what, but that's something unavoidable in my family.

Meet up with my grand-aunt and my sis who is living together, and went to the photo studio to take some shots. The shop is only using a D70, and yet, I paid for the lightings, backdrop and also the printings. He's quite good at it, at least from the way he controls the lightings... too bad he doesn't have much customers in an isolated shophouse. Will post up the photos once my dad collect for me.

Slept over at my dad's sister's place. Nothing much to mentioned there though...

Labels: Myself