KL Walk & the rest of the week..

Another week to remember by. Had my first spontaneous KL Walk, which just started as an urge to go to the High Court & Railway Station to take some photos. Was suppose to buy a new lens, but somehow didn’t have the urge to do so. Will probably only get a new lens once I decided to shoot people pictures, who or who wants to be my model volunteer?

It was a good experience. I truly enjoyed it. I initially had thoughts that I would be bored going around taking pictures, but lucky for a friend that tagged along, time passed so quickly we even forgot to eat. Kawan… Thanks for reminding me to minum Kopi, and thanks for tagging along for the shoot :)

This are the six(6) shots I like the most and the rest can be found on my facebook

 

 

“This is the one I truly enjoyed. The sun breaking through the tattered window lighting up the memories of the past. Where a great court once ruled, and noble men (and women) once pass, it’s now a rubble waiting for it’s destiny..”

So building photography is something I enjoyed doing, and my little mind wonders what’s next? Creative arts? Model shoots? Seems every photographer have pictures of models, but can I do something same but “not just another”?… Oh well, only time can tell, or maybe there’s a volunteer that is offering his / her services… *BIG hint Again*

And so the rest of my day was pretty pack with activities as well.. dalam kesimpulanya..

Monday - Saw GI Joe day.. watched DVD at home, coz haven’t fully recover from the Terry Fox Run (the previous Sunday)

Tuesday – Was Futsal day… played and played and didn’t really feel tired. Weird, but it was a good feeling. Went for yum cha after the game..

Wednesday – Was Judgement day!! (more like I Judge day!) 1st time I was asked to judge for a simple Lady Gaga dance competition. Was sooo much fun!.. was asked back to judge again this week. Yay!!

Thursday – Was matchmaking day. Tried to match my pal-friend, and my other pal-friend’s friend. Started out horribly, but ended up pretty ok. Now their destiny lies in each other’s hands…

Friday – Was chill day. Had dinner at home because my god-parents were in town, then went out to hang around in Plaza Kelana Jaya. If you’ve not been there, it’s a relatively nice, casual atmosphere (and if you’re lucky… live band), beside a lake..

Saturday – Was KL Walk day.. as explained above :). This was then followed by dinner in Tropicana City Mall, and then clubbing at Bamboo 9. My another pal-friend, had this friend who kept staring at me like want to eat me like that… but who cares… I dance with freedom :)

Sunday – Was BKT day..After that it was, shopping day and photo editing day. Just spend some time buying stuff in Pyramid and having dinner with my family, oh, at at 1am, moved into my new place.. Also did up a nice photo montage present.. :)

Are you a SCID?

My friend forwarded me an online personality test, and due to my short time-out at work, I was able to key in a few objective answers and the computer will miraculously tell me about me, YES ME! The one I tried to understand my whole life, but they;the computer did it in just 5 minutes. Magical.

Usually I only believe this stuff as much as I believe that the there are aliens in area 51, that the end of the world is coming in 2012, that someday we”ll all have superpowers and my work destiny is to sit and hope and make tons of millions of dollars just by clicking on some links…

Most of this stuff are always made up of a combination of thing that is TRUE and FALSE towards you (most of the time it’s 50/50), but because we are human beings and we like to think that people know what we think, we always believe the TRUE more then the false, hence I call this theory “The Believe of Horoscope”.

So I then decided to proceed with the SCID Personality Test, and the result is… *drum roll please*

<Click to Enlarge>

So, I sat down once again, to see whether “The Believe of Horoscope” is true for the SCID Personality test, and I would say that this is slightly different, although some of the facts seems true, but somehow, I would like myself to be in the other categories for some items. So, it’s not entirely FALSE either…, so in conclusion, I’m an ["I"], category, and my comments would be as follow :

• Value to a Team : I think I’m more towards category “D” – Taking Initiaitve
• Major Strength : Maybe an S or a C
• Major Weakness : Bingo!
• Motivated By : Okla.. acceptable
• Time Management : “I” for my passions and activities but more “D” when it comes to boring presentations! Ha!
• Communication : Best amongst the other options
• Emotional Response : Hahah.. sounds like making love man.. “High and lows, excitable”… haha
• Decision Making : Bulleyes.. Risk is my English name..
• Behaviour : Attacks are always the best form of defence
• Would Improve Effectiveness By : Pausing? How to improve if pausing??

So there you go… Some would apply to me, some are close to being applied to me and some are just something else that I want. Although I know that this might not be 100% accurate, I love doing them still. I always wanted to know the results, and what my life holds for me for whichever test I take. Thanks for a friend who shared the link with me, I enjoyed doing it,  and every good thing deserves to be re-shared : http://www.gregwiens.com/scid/ .

Enjoy? So are you a S/C/I/D?

The week that was..

Another week passed by so fast. Every day draws people closer to what people believe to be end of the world in 2012… a If it is, and even if it isn’t; does it all matter? Week has been hectic and fun and usual. Fun seems to be my daily word nowadays.. how’s work? Busy.. but fun.. how was your weekend. Casual but fun. How was sports? Tiring but fun.. Lolz.. Maybe it helps tune my mind so that it automatically blocks out any bad vibes that tries to interfere…

So how was the week? Started off normal, with my dance on Monday, had Fun! :P and then Futsal on Tuesday, which I then re-injured by arm and also had a cramp on my leg… ooohh, just the feeling of getting old. Nothing to it. Wednesday was Rakuzen (Jap food) day, Thursday was was… damnit, was so close to having the whole week mapped out on my brain. Noooooo… it’s a sign. Ok. Move on. Friday was dinner, followed by coffee bean, followed by a beer night and I stayed up till 4am! WowWww, let me repeat that to myself..4am!! Ehh… it’s not the first time I stayed up so late la (most of the time I’ll be stuck in the office)… but it’s been a long time since I stayed up so late in a club, most of the time I go back around 2-3am. And with every late night comes some new revelation of knowledge. I just found out it’s not that I can’t take beer, it’s just that some beer (ok.. so far only 1 beer brand) has less effect on me, and allowed me to extend my usualy 0.5 pathetic bottle cosumption to 1.5 beginner level, before my head beats to the sound of a thundering army… Wohooo, I feel accomplished,,, but that still doesn’t mean I enjoy beer…

Saturday woke up really early though, at 8am, not sure why, but that 1 beer brand made sleeping so much easier.. Went to watch “MJ – This is It” movie, and I must say I enjoyed it. It’s like watching the full concert minus the special effect (remember the immitation X-Men with the green background?), at so much more fraction of cost of the real thing! Value for value.. totally worth it. I mean cmon, give the guy credit, you can really see him pour emotion in his work and he’s a true artist! What more to relive the songs, and watching THE MAN at his helm is credible.. This was then followed up by some sleep & meeting up a friend for dinner, followed by Octoberfest, another trial of another beer brand, and called it a night at 12am.

Sunday was Terry Fox Run at 7am waking up, casual, no rules, just sweat it out and contribute to charity. Run however way you want, wherever you want, and however short you want. I did the 5km… What more to ask for leh? Had a great Yut Kee lunch after that.. always heard people talking about, but even after 1 year working around that are last time, I didn’t even step in!! How could I NOT.. I really didn’t do the Pork angels justice.. sorry sorry. Rest of the Sunday was rest, catching up on So You Think You Can Dance Season 6, dinner and snacks shopping.

A bit sicking now after the recent activity. Time for more naps… and Phew.. I think I need to blog more about my weeks, it forces me to remember what my week was, and suprisingly, it’s all still clear except ermm… Thurday.. damn, what did I do Thursday? Damn you Thursday..arrgghh. Anybody care to share some activity with me this week? That’s all folks, A new week begins, to the future weeks and the week that was…

Who dares follow me to Rainbow Waterfalls??

It’s been a long long time since I actually spent the whole Saturday at home, doing absoluately nothing but playing computer games and catching up with some long downloaded, stashed somewhere TV series. Really not sure why everyone is talking about True Blood, except that it’s like watching some soft porn movie. Breezed through a few episodes, but I think I’d had enough, heck, I’d even stop downloading Season 2 of it. Isn’t there anything else better to watch nowadays??

It’s been a busy last week, and I’m actually happy doing absolutely nothing! Last week was fun. Attended the Beyonce Dance Mob audition, and made the cut (You win a place to dance b4 the concert starts & a free ticket with it…) ! Was happy, but at the same time feels like prune amongst the grapes. Everyone there was like between 16-24 years old, and was rocking away! It was fun during the audition though… and I was so close to doing one of those stuff you’d only see in YouTube, but unfortunately the concert has been cancelled. Still have my hopes high for it being re-initiated again.. For all you people that is unsure what is dance mob is, KLCC was the first organized :

Went for Skytrek the last weekend for the Extreme Challenge. Another fun activity, relieving those commando moments and the “Olympic Run” feeling on the flying fox. Too bad the activity wasn’t SLR-able, as it’s not worth the trade of having see your camera drop 22 metres from the air in 2 seconds… but still happy that my trusty old Canon Ixus digital camera did the job.. Really recommended as part of the nearest, funnest thing to do in the city…

So what’s next?

They say there’s a place, long lost in time, tuck deep within the jungles of Pahang. Where tell tales of stories of ancient mystery runs deep, for whoever see’s the rainbow, finds the treasure. A place where cascading waterfalls, crashes from the peak, and during a certain time of the day, the colors of heaven opens up for all to see. I shall not speak more of this place, but Yes, paradise does exist… for my next outing.. Who dares follow me to Rainbow Waterfalls??

Talk Talk Updates…

I talk to a lot of people, and often people ask me questions which aren’t part of my daily conversation of “how are you, how have you been, how’s work, how was your holidays”. It’s a question where you your brain pauses and stop for a moment and ponder what to answer my fellow “question contributors”.

And in no particular order, below is part of my weekly conversation topics..

Is it possible for someone to make a business out of refurbishing and reselling the houses?
Errmmm… you can most definitely make money out of anything, even selling thrash to the rubbish man. Ok on a serious note, I really don’t know whether it’s popular here, but that’s how Bill Ransick (Apprentice Season 1 winner), started his journey as an entrepreneur (before he became The Apprentice) and in overseas, it’s possible to buy 2nd hand property, refurbished them and resell them for a decent profit. In Malaysia, I really have no idea, and yeah, if I had the money, why wouldn’t I just buy new properties and sell them? Errr… dunno wor.. passion I guess :)

What kind of charity would I want to do, once I’ve reached my career goal?
I would know when the time comes? I mean currently I do my small charity in life, donating $$$ to the temple, charity homes, but I mean there should be more then that right? Hmmm… does teaching other want to be entrepreneur be considered as charity? Or mabye, gosh, I don’t know… I’ve been working all my working years, and always looking to reach my career goal that I don’t know what kind of charity I want to do! Probably giving a chance to youths to get more from life?? (Does it count as charity?)

Then what what would you want to do say if you’ve all the $$$ the world?
Easy la… travel, update my blog, take photos and be merry..

That’s all folks… oh yah.. and advice to a friend..  “a negative mind always reads a positive statement in a negative way“. “Good Luck!”

You’re only as happy as your weakest priority..

Comparison’s is in our blood. We live not by sucking on human’s blood, but by subconciosuly feeding of a comparison to the thing’s that you have vs the thing’s that you want to have / people have. It’s a never ending cycle. We are happy one day, and sad the very next day. We say we aren’t but we are, we always try to look positive, but the devil that sits on top of your shoulder sometimes wins.

So I’ve come to a theory on why and what we would always compare on. Remember the game that we all used to play? Where we had to choose the priorities in our life and we had to rate this from 1 (most)-5 (least) ? Love, Career, Family, Friends, Money? I have a realization that this might not be the priorities in life, but more of the happiness of each of that sector in our life. It’s the list of which we based our comparison on.

We are always effected mostly by the items which we are unhappy the most vs the items that people have the highest happiness rating for, and we always envy them for having it. Even if 4 out of 5 items in our life is as happy as what we want it to be, the final item will alway be compared upon. So you want to know what do you want to improve in life in order of priority? You alread know don’t you? *smiles* Aren’t we all just so human?? 

So no matter how happy you are, you are only as happy as your weakest priority! Stay positive! Life’s short, you’re only as weak as what you think you are, so the solution, think happy thought and be thankful for the thing’s you can be happy about :)

It’s not me, it’s just my thoughts rambling the night away…

Nostalgia, a feeling of deja vu, a feeling of you being where you are but your minds seems to be stuck at where you’ve been. You know that the grass is always greener on the other side, but at the same time you still want to take a peek. Life until this point has been what you’ve created from it. It’s what you want, but at the same time you still want to know if the course of timeline would change if there are certain events in life you’ve tweaked. I need a time machine. But wait, why would I want one when I’ve reached a place where I wanted to be ?? Maybe I want to know if I could be in the same place without going through certain events ?? Is life like a computer game. In a computer game, the ending is always the same no matter which route you take! You save, load and restart the parts you want to retake… cool right? :)  Reality seems to mimic the movies more, you’ve all seen it ; altering the passage of time WILL always put you in a different situation. So if I was given a choice to change the past at the expense of changing the future, would I do it? NO, I wouldn’t want to do it. So if i wouldn’t want to do it, does this mean life is as perfect as I want it to be right now? Maybe, maybe not, and you’re never going to know. Damn.. living is tough! Hehhe…

The feeling of knowing that you are happy, but at the same time sad about things that have occured, but unable to change anything that has happened. You’re happy, yet you’re sad, and confused all at the same time.  The less thinking the better, which also leads me to another pondering. During long “downtimes” (like during massages, jogging, facial) when you’re awake, but yet at the same time have nothing to do.. do you actually think of things? Or does your mind wander to another happy place / world? Or is it just blanked out? 

Guess it’s late.. Darkness plays tricks of you. Funny. What am i saying? Guess it’s all the same.. well, It’s not me, it’s just my thoughts rambling the night away…

p/s : by the way, i’m not sure why i always have an urge to end my blog as what the topic title is. Maybe it’s easier to put a topic to my thoughts, or maybe it’s what people will have a thought off when reading my post, or maybe I just defied the urge :) :) *peace out*

The Trip We Almost Had…

In life, there’s always two (2) choices to every situation. Complain about the problems that you face everyday, or head it face on, *smile*, and get over it and be positive. Sometimes life really nudges you a little to see if you’re still listening to it and sometimes it wants some attention from you and then it throws in a little challenge to just claim it’s superiority.

Yes, I had quite a spell of “bad luck” over the last one week, but you know what? There’s really no point grumbling / complaining about the situation, but just embrace it with open out, stay positive and make the best of it. In summary, I am thankful it’s all over now (the unluckyness), the stream of incidents began last week, where it all started in Bamboo9, where I knock over a table and spilled beer and broke some glasses (thanks to my kawan-kawan who covered it for me.. still owe you gals “something”), paid my Hari Raya contribution to the police, and had my plug point fused right in front of me! Sounds like a movie ain’t it?

Subsequent to that, I had to cancel my Taiwan trip due to some problems. Ok. This post is really not to complain, but really how we problems in life always arises, but we should always stay positive and make the best out of every situation. Yes, the trip was cancelled. Was it sad? Yes it was, but should I continue to sulk / grumble over it for the next few days? No, I figured out that there is definately many other options available to take and being positive is definately one of them. Sometimes you just go to accept fate, and maybe it’s the trip that I was never meant to go? Maybe something more drastic might happen there? What have I lost? I’m still in good health, and the only thing that is lost is something so repalceable which is money & time. Taiwan will always be there for my visit… and if you’re not meant to be there, you’re not mean to be there…

So to make the best of a bad situation, I spent the rest of my Raya doing a lot of different things, and it was still fun nevertheless. It itself is an experience to remember and treasure.

Went jogging at Kiara -> I really learned how to jog properly with correct pacing and breathing technique. Thanks to a friend who thought me how to do so..

 

Went for dinner @ Max Kitchen -> Food was very good, had the tasting menu which allows you to sample small portions of little appetizers. Environment was so-so.

 

Went to Thistle (Port Dickson) for a night -> Not as resort feel as Avillion, and a more family oriented setting, but the night bar beside the beach is well recommended! Still managed to catch some nice pictures :) -> Will upload soon. Thanks to a friend for recommending the place..

 

Went to have tea in Carcosa Seri Negara – Very Victorian / British environment, high-tea was delicious and I didn’t know it was so easy to access. Nice environment and feel to the whole place…

 

Went to watch Tsunami @ Hyundae – Good movie and a touching one. Played with a lot of relationship-emotions. Oh, GSC @ Tropicana Mall is so so. Screen to big (3rd row from the back and I already found the screen “in your face”), seat to hard (maybe coz still new).

 

Went shopping for stuff for my new place- Decided on the couch, contemprorary carpet, office chair, and sound system… really like my couch from XZQT :)

It was a fun Hari Raya nevertheless. Life is really too short to be complaining. Think happy thoughts and make the best of every situation you are in. So, maybe it was a Taiwan trip that we almost had, but it could have easily been the trip that HAD us, and I wouldn’t want to think otherwise… :)

Updates on me..

Haven’t updated much about my personal life lately.

Captain’s Log. 11.29am, August 29.

Life is good, it’s better when you’re positive about it. There’s so much chaos around, but being happy with whatever comes, gives you a different perception on the outlook of the world.  Thinking and staying positive is a motivation to strive further and better.

I’ve been busy lately with work (of course), but more importantly, I’ve been picking up more exercise habits. I dance 3-4 times a week. It’s cool to learn the different styles of chereographers, and at the same time, meeting people who have the same passion revolve around yourself. I wished I would have started dancing earlier, but I’m sure I can continue dancing alot more into the future. Albeit not competition level or performance level, but that’s faith and faith says you dance for being that; keeps your mind, body and soul happy. I jog and I futsal, some compliments to the main course of aerobatic dances routines.

Photography is a an emotion projected to a piece of subject being captured. I realised that your pictures of your subject, sometimes tell the mood that the photographer’s in. It’s not all random matter. The shots are a depiction of the photographer’s soul, and sometimes you’ll need to see the shot, before the shot actually happens. Visualisation is as important what you want in your final result. I’m happy lately… I’ve been recognized a few times for good photography… thanks for your support!!! I really appreciate it!! Without you I can never keep my passion burning…

Work is work. You refine your skills so that skills refines around you. I don’t like to talk much about work, so I’m going to leave it here. It’s doing well, and I hope my wish comes true before I hit 30! It’s still a long way, but in a business world, it’s an express journey.

Health wise is good, but this sinusitis is killing me. It’s getting better by the day, lucky so also for the weather. It hasn’t stop me from being me. It’s been 2 months with this flow of mucus. The tap is finally plugging up. Hope it clears soon…

Captain’s Log Terminate. 11.53am. August 29.

What I Learned About Creating a HDR

HDR = High Dynamic Range imaging effect… “generally achieved by combining multiple photographs with different exposure bracketing, and then merging them into an HDR image”

But what I really learned is that even beginner photographer can create these photo-magazine-pop-up-in-your-face-pictures. And forget about what they teach you on the website, this photographs can be created by breaking the “law” of HDR.

1. You do NOT need to have a tripod. Just have a steady hand and focus on the same spot for your 3 shots. Even if all the pictures are not aligned, Photoshop can take care of it.
2. Basic SLR can take HDR shots. Mine is a Canon EOS 1000d, with standard kit lens. Just need to know how to adjust the AEB bracketing and put to continuous shooting. Message me if you need help.
3. It doesn’t matter what mode you shoot in. AV, P, M, TV as long the result is sharp and clear.
4. You do not need 5 shots. I did mine in 3 shots [-1, 0, +1]  and it is also OK.
5. It’s really one of the easy editing techniques as it doesn’t really require many steps in Photoshop. http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html
6. Be creative when adjusting your shots in Photoshop.. be more adventurous in your curves :)
7. Shots that as they say in chinese, “got clouds, got water”, got mountain or buildings and non-movement is good!
8. Experiment, experiment, experiment!

In conclusion, I’m happy for the result that I got for my first 3 HDR shots. The funny thing is, the shot which I liked best, is actually not liked by most people. ** Click to Enlarge the Pictures **

HDR #1 : Autumm

HDR #2 : Dark Winter (The one I like most)

HDR #3 : Spring