Reflections

TX2: Tiger Trex Photo Essay

2010-04-21T00:58:00.002+08:00

For the year 2010, the year of the tiger, WWF will be running this tiger conservation campaign. With the aim of doubling the number of tigers by 2022, hence the concept of TX2.

I was involved with the roadshows being set up in colleges to promote the campaign and its Tiger Trex campaign. So I was asked to put up an example of a photo essay.

A photo essay is a simple set/compilation of photos where every single photograph will contribute in telling a main story. Which means the photographs will not stand up as individual ones but rather being a part of the story.

This is what i came up with and this is the story i'm telling about the tigers in the wild now:

“Fu”

"Being two different words in the Cantonese dialect which are ‘Lou Fu’ (Tiger) and ‘Fu’ (Bitter), this compilation portrays the fate and journey of the tigers in their path towards extinction"

FGS : Dong Zen Temple

2010-04-20T22:55:00.004+08:00

Its Day One of CNY (it still feel weird blogging bout CNY now). And once again, me and my family got bored and decided to head to Jenjarom to visit the much hyped Dong Zen temple during the CNY period.

I didnt like the journey to there, it was long as I think I drove bout an hour from my place? But nevertheless, it was rather spectacular and stunning. Loads and load and loads of lantern and lighting displays.

My favourite was the temple where the whole place was brightly lit with paintings at the side of the walls. Of course they made it compulsory for anyone who goes in to wear a ridiculous shower cap on their shoes for cleanliness purposes.

Food court prices are killer, but we didn't have our dinner there. We prefer non-vegetarian bak kut teh :D

#Disclaimer#
I know how much a website with loads of pictures suck big time, cause needed to wait for the loading and choke up the bandwidth.
So below are 2 flash slideshows which will do the job. And i think i will do this for the remaining photos (in huge amount) that i'll be posting in the future

This is a very good slideshow display, but just need to be patient to wait for the picture to load (depending on your connection)

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

This one is really cool, you definitely have to try out the full screen mode. TRY IT. Of course the setback will be havin the pics in low resolutions, means the pics will appear to be a bit blurred out (not my fault, my pics are fine :P)

FotoViewr - Create your 3D photo gallery

Day Zero of CNY 2010

2010-04-19T02:59:00.005+08:00

Its funny when I'm actually blogging bout CNY in mid April now. I guess its only for show and tell purposes through photos :)

CNY eve, had family reunion dinner at home every year, ever since grandma aint around anymore in dad's hometown. So my parents were feeling rather bored and tv programme are still crappy with 'special' CNY festival shows.

Pre-CNY in Petaling Street

2010-04-18T15:19:00.003+08:00

Picking up where i left out in blogging, this was one of my audio slide assignment for StarOnline Tv.
Me and Lisan were assigned to cover Petaling Street, discovering the major change in traffic and visitors.

I was there twice, once during the morning and another time during evening and night. Definitely there are less people getting there for their CNY supplies. The night was as busy as usual with all the foreigners (a.k.a guai lou) visiting the place as a major tourist attraction.

Comic Fiesta 2009

2010-01-01T14:45:00.005+08:00

(This post contains a LOT of pictures, please be patient)

Probably my very first attendance to a comic/cosplaying convention. The one in youth 09 ain't counted k. I can say that this was very impressive, regarding the range and amount of cosplayer. Of course there's always the good and bad ones when it comes to cosplaying, you'll be the judge as I didnt realised i took pics over 50 different cosplayers during my 1 half hour there.

Btw, those of you who have no idea what this 'cosplaying' is, its basically dressing up as any anime, manga or video game characters. Kinda like Halloween in Japan without the candies and trick o' treating.

To be honest, I could barely recognise any characters knowing that I only watched and read a handful of anime and mangas in my entire life. At least i still know some Bleach, Hitman Reborn and Star Wars cosplayers *grin*

Anyway, knock yourself out with these pics!

One of the prettiest cosplayer around :D

I'm pretty speechless bout this one

One of the cutest cosplayer i've seen there :)

Very impressive costume

Another one of the prettiest cosplayer

Broga Hill-ing

2009-12-26T22:35:00.001+08:00

(A LOVEly cloud!)

It was quite a spontaneous morning hike with Meng Hui, since she wanted to go hiking and i'm still hunting for sunrise pictures. Thanks to the trusty GPS, finding the place was quite a breeze. But basically its just going along the Kajang highway and turn in upon seeing the Semenyih exit. After that would be going straight and make a left turn at one of the traffic light in the town area. Just head towards Nottingham (not the one in another continent) and till you reach a more isolated road.

Honestly the entire stretch of road beside palm oil plantation is pretty scary, especially in the wee morning. Just go along till you can spot the rabbit farm on your right and you shall turn left into a dirt road and park there inside the plantation. Yes, that's another spooky spot as well. Torch lights are mandatory.

The hike up was alright, easier than what i did in Sungai Lembing which was around 45 mins as well. Just that it will be quite easy to slip since half of the part are quite steep and the ground dirt are rather loose. Not to forget there's couple of paths, btu i believe most of it will lead you to the top. Just make sure you remember which path you took.

My strategy was just keep on taking the right. Lol. Quite a lot of split roads. But of course it will be dumb to take a right turn which leads downhill instead.

Unfortunately no clear sunrise, still rather cloudy on the horizon. But the breeze was wonderful :)

Below is the known as the first check-point. Best spot for sunrise watching

Kuching Town

2009-12-08T20:00:00.002+08:00

Its another outstation work trip and this time its all the way to East Malaysia! And i'm proud to say that I've been to every state in Malaysia *grin* In a nutshell, Kuching seemed to be a small and simple town. Not too much of a busy and occupied environment. Maybe KL's rush hour traffic jam is just bad for mentality.

Took me a few tries to get this shot right. Ever noticed those gift shops where they don't allow photographing? Yeah, I did that anyway, since I have no intention of stealing their 'interior' or souvenier designs. Its the same damn friggin keychain in every shop. Anyway, just hang the camera around your neck and rest both of your palms on top of it. Now just pretend you're looking closely at an item while you use you index finger to autofocus and press the shutter release. Of course you must turn off your AF-assist light.

(Yeah, 2nd pic and i'm already showing you a random crack on the wall/pillar)

This is Waterfront...because its in front of the river. Nvm that, but seriously thats the name of the place.

He's practically there the entire day. I thought he have a day time job when I first saw him playin at night. You know, IT technician by day, street rockstar by night

A 50 cents boat ride across the river(the one beside Waterfront). Same rate as crossing to Taman Negara at Pahang. DIfference is that this ride seemed more worth while

Postcard shot

Nearby shop/hut after crossing the river

Tadaa...Fort Magherita. Brooke's holiday house

The 'insert inspirational quote here' shot

Memorial for his wife...i think. She better not be burried under, since we're just walking everywhere over it

And I end it with a letterbox 16:9 movie style pic of...clouds!

Taman Tasik Titiwangsa

2009-11-20T03:42:00.003+08:00

Its the post-Eye On Malaysia period. Means no pretty ferris wheel wih funky lights at night. Its another outing with Esther. Suppose to be shooting at Sentul Park, but security wouldn't let us stroll around and take pics. Lousy YTL development areas. Not like anyone will ever wanna copy their 'designs'.

So yeah, we detoured and ended up at titiwangsa lake.

Its BORING. Just like any other park...only boring-er. Its so boring that it deserve a grammatically wrong word. Hence, explains all my shots. I would like to call it abstract and artistic shots. You dunno what i'm shooting...i dunno what i'm shooting, but of course you're not suppose to know the latter.

I'm kinda pleased with the reflection of the lake (a very dirty 1 indeed, can barely find any suitable angle to it). After some cross-processing and blends, there came the dreamy effect :)

In case you're wondering if this signifies any religious sysmbol. Yes

...and by saying yes will make you think i'm such an insightful 'artist'. haha. Actually its one of the markings from the ground where the Eye On Malaysia was built on.

Here are the the few 'dreamy' shots :)

Twisties Bingit! In Penang

2009-11-16T01:31:00.006+08:00

As you all might probably know I work with this corporate training company called D' Jungle People. And DJP is involved for this Twisties event called Bingit! Don't ask me why its called as Bingit. It will be better as Rockit.

Anyway, its like a rockband search thingy with the usual American Idol style. Competition will take place every Saturday at different venues. Starting with The Curve, New World Park Penang, somewhere in JB, somewhere in Kuching and final 2 weeks in 1 Utama. So 1 band will be eliminated each week as they are touring around Malaysia (although i don't really consider 4 states as the whole Malaysia). Decision made by judges, I have no idea who are they. (Don't give me that stare k, as I admit that i'm not much of a local rock band fan)

As said, DJP's job in this event will be crowd engaging and getting the audience to be hyped up. So basically we'll be playing instruments (stuffs like sticks, shakers, washboards, drums) and getting the people around to play with us as well.

Apart from that, we'll be conducting 3 main games on the stage during the intervals of the competition to keep the hype and crowd going. Awesome prizes if you ask me.

Anyway I didnt take that many pics during the event as all of us were wearing the 'crew' tshirt, so we're not suppose to stand in the middle of the crowd as 8tv is recording the entire thing

For this week's performances, there are some English mainstream rock songs being played like Linkin Park's One Step Closer, Red Hot's Can't Stop and Gavin Degraw's I Don't Wanna Be

And the crazy people I'm working with during the event :)

Exam Rants

2009-11-06T03:41:00.002+08:00

As you all may notice my 'lack of updating', although it's not really known to 'my' culture.

I will keep on stressing this till i leave my formal academic education phase of my life, exams are meant to make your life miserable. May or may not apply to private or overseas' examination, but as general assumption to Malaysia's way of exam, it is THAT bad.

Anyhow, this is not meant to be an angry post, just some of my twisted and bored thoughts. Ever sat down in the examination hall, looking at the clock and thoughts kept on flowing in? Yeah, especially during times where you have no clue what to answer for those forsaken questions. These are the times where your day dreaming and thoughts flow in faster than ever.

Probably these are some of the things that usually go thru my mind:
1. I'll just take a nice bath and lie down on the bed once i get home (I'm pretty sure everyone lined up their itinerary for the next 2 hours after gettin out from that hall)
2. Which pathway will I take to get to the toilet later?
3. Should I finish my paper and exit the hall earlier before the time is up?
4. How much do they(the assistants for the examination) get paid to just collect and give out question and answer sheets?
5. Oh look, someone actually finished his/her paper way earlier! I wonder if he/she is really that good or just gave up?
6. Once again, should i leave earlier? (Peer pressure kicking in)
7. How nice if this is the very final paper for this semester.
8. The chick who is leaving is kinda cute (Totally subjective, don't take it so serious)
9. It will be kinda of a bummer if suddenly i ran out of ink or battery for my calculator.
10. Crap, I still need to finish this question(s)...but look at the time, still an hour left??

Okay, too much information there.

I'm pretty sure everyone did essay exams before and there came the instruction where it says:
"JAWAB HANYA 3 SOALAN"

Immediately you feel like there's a brink of hope, knowing that you have the 'choice' of avoiding tough questions. The hope lasted till the point where you start flipping and discover that there's only 4 questions looking right at ya. And just to add in to your frustration, you only have the confidence and ability to answer 2 of it.

At this point I realised that they should have just instructed:
"PILIH SATU SOALAN YANG ANDA TIDAK INGIN MENJAWAB"
At least that will give me a different perspective and mental preparation.

The 2nd thing that bothers me was, why aren't we allowed to leave 15 minutes before examination ends? Sure, I understand bout the first 30 minutes or so. To make sure you at least make some effort to write down your name/ID correctly and seemed like you are takin the exam seriously.

But why the 15 minutes before ending? Afraid of causing some irregularities or congestion? It seems fine to me as long everyone stops writing and hand it in when the time stops.
Usually I'm already done when they announced the 15 minutes 'confinement'. I wouldnt wanna give myself the adrenaline boost. Since there's is nothin more exciting than knowing you are running out of time.

Talking bout adrenaline rush, nothing is worst than the time is up while you're still writing down your answers. Answers which are really gonna earn you some points! Nothing will shake more than your hand holding that pen.

2nd top exam adrenaline rush...when you're done writing your 'overtime' answers and discovered that you still have to tie the answer sheets/booklets together with that small, tiny piece of thread. I call it a thread, since its not long enough to be a string. Just to add to the rush, you are one of the last few who have stand up from your seat...and there comes the invigilators/assistants standing beside you to make sure you tie those booklets faster with your huge hands.

Anyway good luck for those who still will be taking exams. I know msot of us from the public uni will finish by next week. Have fun!

P/s: I always wish my mates have fun instead of good luck. It makes more sense as well. Since basically you either know the answer...or not. No lady luck gonna help you with that. So if you have no idea what to do, just enjoy the ride ;)

Pulau Redang Chapter 2

2009-10-22T16:01:00.003+08:00

Once again I've returned to this island. By referring to the previous post, its a field trip for one of my elective subjects in UKM.
Its' a pity that the weather wasn't tht pleasant. Since it's near the closing of the season for east coast beaches and island. Hence, its been drizzling for 2 mornings and there goes my sunrise =\

But heck, i still got a shot of that.

As for the snorkeling part, barely any fishes. It's time to blame the extra crowded Marine Park. But seriously, from our group itself we have like 110 ppl. Plus another few hundred more. More floating life-jackets than decent fishes.
But to be fair, when i went around May, it was beautiful and crystal clear. So it could be the rain causing all the murkiness.

I've you're wondering how and where. Its taken when i'm on the boat. Its been cropped pretty extreme. But the details' rather amazing.

Africa shot. I dunno, but it just gave me tht feel :D

Portraiture At Pulau Redang

2009-10-22T15:36:00.004+08:00

Bout' few weeks ago, we (from the class of Economics Tourism) had a field trip to the famed Pulau Redang. Yeah, 'field' trip. We just enrolled the class to go for trips. Yeah, aren't you glad that I am THAT honest. haha. Lets just hope the final examination will be as easy as playing at the east cost island.

Anyway, some of shots are taken on the boat (or speedboat...although its pretty huge and slow). And remaining were shot on the cliff nearby Laguna Redang Resort (fyi, we didn't stay there). The spot is rather secluded and not that 'user-friendly'. You might just slip and be one with the sea there. But great landscape and view :)

Portraiture With Chai Chee

2009-10-06T22:55:00.003+08:00

Another overdued post, probably taken before raya holidays.
Anyway i'll just simplified the details as I forgotten alot of the technical and experience details (as usual)

Location: Putrajaya Botanical Gardens
Model: Chai Chee - A coursemate of mine.
Gears: D60, Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, SB600 on hotshoe with stofen diffuser
Technical: On manual mode most of the time, flash on manual; mostly around 1/16th of power as fill flash.
Weather: Pretty harsh sunlight depsite being around 9.30am
Misc: Was feeling pretty hot and hungry that time :P

Fac Nite 09

2009-08-26T00:55:00.002+08:00

I have nothin much to blog bout, so i guess i'll just talk a lil bout fac nite.

Faculty nite is somethin like a course nite in UKM and in an underground manner. My first complain will be, why the heck its called fac nite when it doesn't even consist of the entire faculty but only our economics department?? Trust me, its the same thing for other courses/facs.

Which reminds me, there's another term used in UKM:
'stayin comm' or 'stayin com'
It means staying in hostel/kolej. Com?? Its not even close to any abbreviation i can think of. Community hostel is the closest i can get, but doesn't make much sense. Probably someone derive the word from kamsis...'stayin kam' and it evolved became stayin com.

Kinda like tiger show. A colleague of mine mentioned that is a misconception where its actually called 'thai girl show'. I bet some of u didnt know tht :D

Enough of rambling. Back to fac nite 09. No photos uploaded here or to my flickr since i sent everything to facebook. Anyway the crappy old olympus compact cam died after 50 shots...talk bout battery life. DSLR is too heavy to lug around.

The nite was pretty alrite, except the fact tht the PA system kinda screwed up during the dancing session. Poor juniors, cant party much.
I dunno whatelse i shud say, all my opinions are rather harsh and critical sometimes. lol. better not piss anyone off.

So yeah, we 3rd year fellas (the old farts) went to poppy as an after party event. 33 ppl, 6 cars. Can u even imagine that happening? Its like a friggin sch trip. lol.
Its a decent club, its very hot and crowded since its partially open-aired and friday nite is a party nite.

Its a crazy nite. Most of them went wild...whether on the dance floor, on the booze or on their own coursemates. Oops, did i mentioned somethin? At some point it was rather embarrassing as there were ppl staring at us for all the screaming, ice throwing and whatnot.

I wonder who gulped most of the booze, as 5 3/4 out of the 6 bacardi was emptied when i came back from the dance floor. Thanks for leaving some for us (literally)

So yeah, they were making fun attacks on me coz of me dancing with another coursemate. Bastards, lol. This how u repay me after organising a clubbing outing? How bout the others who were groping each other as well? Haha. Wackiness.

First Outdoor Portraiture

2009-08-07T22:47:00.003+08:00

Thanks to Michelle Chan! As mentioned in my facebook album, she's a friend whom i knew back in form 6 although she transferred to another school. So yeah, very first guinea pig :D

Was alternating between my tamron 17-50 and nikkor 55-200. Taken at Desa Park City, quite an empty urbanized park. Sunlight was pretty harsh that time although it was around 10.30am. Still need some time to understand fill light by using the speedlight.

Rest In Peace

2009-08-07T15:14:00.003+08:00

My friend from primary school has passed away earlier this week due to a shocking accident from the Adidas King Of The Road 09 at Shah Alam stadium.
I would not elaborate further with the details as everything seemed very vague, even from the press itself.

Gary Leon Robert was a nice, friendly and joyful guy. Great with sports, great with studies and great with people. Like others said, he was an all-rounder with a bright future ahead.

It was a shocking news and event for me for the entire week. Even till now, the event itself flashes thru my head every once and then.

My condolences to his family. He will be missed dearly and always be in our memories.

Goodbye my friend

M.Y.T.C @ Kinarut, Sabah

2009-08-07T14:22:00.002+08:00

Supposely to title it as 'Communication Programme In Monfort Youth Training Centre' then i realised i shoudln't (nope, its not because the titile is too long). Simply as i didn't snap any pics during the programme itself. Was too busy helping out with it.

So yeah, only tht very evening was the only time we get to chill for a while at Jesus Hut. Don't ask, just accept the name of that hut.

Anyway, it was a very successful workshop as we're able to make an impact to the boys (not physically), might not be all of them, but even half is as good.

This programme was led by commandant/head chef Ju-eng, chief cymbals Debbie, tai ka cheh "tepi-lah" Phui Yee, laughing gas Sonia, park ranger Adrian and the most-used 'kelefeh' O.K.U Miux.

Details and programme outline are strictly kept confidential and only known to facilitators,observers and participants. This is mainly because I can't recall much as the 3 days programme seemed so packed and hyped up.

Bukit Panorama @ Sungai Lembing

2009-08-06T23:19:00.003+08:00

Its been quite long since my hike with hwa hwa and su, so i cant remember much of the details. But yeah, it was an early morning drive (very very early if you have to know). Probably bout 2.30-3am we left PJ, stopped by at mcD (breakfast not even available during tht hour yet) and a straight drive to sungai lembing.

Apart from the long, dark and sleepy drive, it wasnt that bad driving at such hour. The road is clear, not much worry on speedtraps (it was a weekday) and its easier to drive on highways using both roads (same flow of course).

The hike up panorama hill took us bout 45 mins. I heard old folks used to hike up every morning as exercise, i guess they can really race us up. Yeah, we kinda sucked big time when it comes to stamina.

Pity that it was rather cloudy and drizzle a little. So no sunrise for us, did i mention that our initial idea was to watch the sunrise?

Anyway, we came down, had breakfast and explore the small lil town. We came across this ruins/remaining of what we believed to be an old factory. Kinda like those Tomb Raider settings.

Oh yeah, we went to have a look at the mining area as well, where sg lembing was once famed for. Ever played any RPG games where u need to get in for a dungeon raid? Yeah, thats how the entrance looks like.

KL Butterfly Park

2009-07-12T23:06:00.006+08:00

One expression sums everything up....OMFG.
And i thought shooting the birds in Bird Park was tough enough. Until i come across these bunch of flying 8 legged creatures.

As usual with my photoshooting partner Esther, we arrived quite early, bout 9.30am. Barely any butterflies around. Then bout 45 mins later, the amount just doubled up. Not bad, these are trully Malaysian butterflies, slow and never early for anything.

Anyway, the tough part will be getting a close-up shot of them as the barely stay still! So actually 1/3 of my shots are flowers, fishes, some other insects and even monkeys (oh so pathetic).

Btw, all these are shot using my new Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens with heliopan UV filter :) The outcome is amazing. Of course still need more than that to freeze the butterflies while they are moving around.

Gopeng Town

2009-06-22T22:08:00.004+08:00

Due to work programmes, I was at Gopeng for 7 days (plus and minus). Part of the programme was located at the dead town of Gopeng. Except for Tuesdays where the day market will be around the round about.

Probably another hip, new and happening place (no, its not a trance club) will be the museum. The owner of this shoplot/house usually will be away and don't really stay there anymore, so they sorta loan the place to be a museum which is filled with old school stuffs, specifically the jap era.

If you happen to be at that area, do check the place out. Everyone in the town seems to know where and what is it whenever you mention bout 'history' or 'places to visit'. Btw, cheap food around too.

As an added fun fact, there's a huge storage area for pirated discs somewhere in Gopeng. It was busted not long ago. Of course I read this off the newspaper, not that I accidentally discovered it.

Stuffs inside the museum:

Perhentian + Redang + Lang Tengah + Kota Bharu

2009-06-09T23:23:00.003+08:00

It's a great trip, despite all the minor AND major flaws through out the whole package itself. Since it's a delayed post (due to huge huge amount of pics needed to be edited), I'm just gonna summarise it.

1. I thought I'm not gonna make it alive during the speedboat ride from Kuala Besut jetty to Perhentian

2. It's pretty cool that the beach is bout 20-30 feet away from our chalet

3. The twin sharing rooms are terrible, one of the worst ever. Even camping is more comfortable.

4. The corals are amazing, highly recommended. Variety of fish...just on average level (sounded as tho i'm visiting manhattan fish market)

5. Friggin cut my left toes on the corals i highly praised bout. It was also an attempt to say 'fuck' loudly underwater with my snorkelling mask.

6. Water is kinda murky on the second day of snorkelling, reminds me alot of our house aquarium 6 years back.

7. There's a reason why the price tag on the redang package is higher than perhentian package

8. I snapped over 600+ pics, mostly are burst shots which leaves us to 200+ unique pics. Only 20+ are my photography interest shots, the remaining ones are pics of my frens syok sendiri. lol.

9. Food are very inconsistent in the my resort, it can be very tasty or just plain bland from meals to meals.

10. And finally...the friggin bus broke down on the way back! Making our 8 hours ride back extended to 16! If i were to fly to L.A., i should be almost there by then. Apparently the CPU in the super high tech double decker bus was screwed, hence, the bus couldnt change its gear. Leaving us, to be 'cruising' on first gear WITHIN Raub itself. When people joke bout how walking is faster than the vehicle itself, its really true in this case

Anyway, here are the 'photography' shot I'm happy with. The rest of the snapshots are in my facebook album :)

Portraiture Workshop

2009-05-19T23:53:00.004+08:00

Yes, its a very delayed post. Judging by the fact that this workshop was in April.
2 days workshop, First day, outdoor session at Putrajaya Botanical Garden. Second day, indoor session at Zamrud's (the 'sifu') house, he set up the studio lightings in his house at Sg Long.

The model for both days was Nurul (yes, its the same person in both outfit). She's the model for Petronas F1...or something like that.

I know you all just wanna check out the chic, so i'll just be a kind guy and proceed with the pics.

A Month Too Busy

2009-04-23T17:45:00.003+08:00

I do feel bad for abandoning my blog for quite a long time. Especially with nice peeps visiting from the youthmedia (I just felt like flattering others suddenly). Hence, I took some photography approach to the stuffs around my house and post somethin up :)

Anyway exams does suck the life out of someone.
6 papers spread out from 20th April till 6th May.

On the second paper, I felt like i was been raped so hard by the questions. In a nicer way, I would describe it like the world's economy for 2008/2009. All time low in 11 years. In my case, it was the worst ever in my entire 4 semesters.

I thank those who still visits my blog. I promised there will be loads of photos coming up after this weekend or after my next Tuesday paper as i will be attending a photography portrait workshop this weekend :) Yeaps, you will definitely see model pictures (note that there's actually only ONE model) =\

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Time

2009-03-26T02:39:00.002+08:00

The clock ticks and you're left there wondering.
If today going to be any different from tomorrow.
Do you need the difference if yesterday was just another today.

Left it to run, left it to tock.
Leave it all as a mere thought.
After all, it's going to set on you sooner or later.

Taman Tasik Permaisuri

2009-03-26T01:52:00.004+08:00

...AGAIN. Since its a nearby park and it's pretty decent, so it's no surprise i'm there for a 3rd or 4th time for photoshoot. Anyway this time around, I'm helping my coursemate Miki to finish up her photography assignment. It was a good outing :) Managed to get her required 10 shots and as usual i 'syok sendiri' and snapped away.

Get Ready...

2009-03-23T00:51:00.002+08:00

...for Green Day's upcoming album in May 2009!

Yeah, i don't get paid or even getting half an mp3 for promoting this. But still, I've been a loyal fan of theirs since 2000-2001. I call it the peak of punk rock music era. Everything went downhill from 2004 onwards, I call it the dark ages if you know what i mean.

Nevertheless, the short clip was a nice trip down memory lane. I certainly remembered all the major hits there, as Green Day songs were the most frequently-played ones during my first 3 years starting out in guitar playing.

When I come around was the very very first song I learned to play :) Still remember it till now.

P/s: David Archuleta is coming to KL for concert

Clearing the dust in here

2009-03-13T00:50:00.000+08:00

I'm extremely sorry for not updating my blog. it's been an awfully busy month for me, or at least a few weeks ago. I didn't even celebrate my birthday with any cakes, lol. That should give you an impression how busy I am.
Although it seems that i'm extremely active in Facebook (particularly on Wed morning from 8-11am), that if because i got bored during one of my classes in computer lab :D

As a short recap, i've been facing with nonstop tutorials, assignments, mid sems (its still ongoin for one more paper).

So below are another 3-4 delayed posts, I'm aware that most of you all (including me) love to look at photos more than fonts and write-ups, so I know what to do.

:)
Have a great weekend ahead!

Happy Birthday To Me!

2009-03-13T00:45:00.001+08:00

As I mentioned in some other posts, Its been one of my busiest time period of the semester. No cakes, no parties, no celebration. Just 5 tutorials and an assignment in hand and due by that week itself.

But I really appreciate all the wishes that came in even since from midnite itself or earlier :)

THANKS EVERYONE!
You all made me remind myself that it's still my birthday on tht very day XD

And here's the list of everyone who have wished me either thru SMS, phone call, MSN, Facebook, Friendster or just shouting it to my face. haha. Its in no particular oder. Good luck in finding your name below :D I'm sorry if i left anyone out. it is quite a list after all. Or probably you're not very good at finding your own name eh? Don't worry, i'll buy u a 'Where's Wally?' book for your birthday.

KELENE SIN YEE WAI KIT JASMINE CHEIN YEE ADELYN PEI CHEN SUE WEI SOOK KUAN CELESTE PEARLY SAM COON MEI MIKI KOK GUAN SZE SZE CHUN HWA POH LEE EZA SOON TECK VON LI YEE BIN ESTHER KHOR GARY LEON ROBERT SUK KIANG XIAO FANG YING HUEY YI QIAN JAMIE LIEW MAY YEE NICOLE YONG HUI KIM FEI HAZEL LIM JOO LING KOK HOE ALAN MEI KAY KAH MEI SIN YEE KAREN LIEW KOK HONG LIE HUNG KING SERN MELISSA TAN GAN FONG KIAN SHEK LI XIN YI PANG FIONA HARTINI SIEW YAN E-VON EVE-LYN ABG CHAN AIMEE-BA MAY-HUEN TAMMY QUI ZHENG EVON SILAS LEE WEN KER PING MIKI OOI JESSIE TANG JOSEPHINE ZHI XIN WEI KANG NICOLE TAN SHIU CHENG KIT YENG YI VERN WEI CHUN LEE SAN DANNY CHAN ENG TANG DELWYN DIYANA CHUN HOR NICKLAUS POH LEE WILLIAM CHENG SHU YI JEZAMINE AMANDA TEOH SZETOO JASTIN FONG DEBRA SU-YEN ANAND SWEET YEE CHOON JIN YOKE YAN LAWRENCE LIEW LISAN STEPHANIE HENG SAMMY PONG LOSHINI ALVIN CHAI LI PING SHEILA OH POH YIEN WEN CHING HERCULRIC LAWRENCE TAN SI MIIN WONG PUI SAN MEI CHIN AQEL JOY SAGA ALEXANDER PON CHRISTINA SOH HWA MING SU YEN MICHELLE TAM VENEON SIEW JEREMY LEONG SNG MING SHEENA JOANNE CHANG RAJAH KANA MICHAEL LIM EMILY CHIN XIAO PUI LING MELISSA KONG ANN LI ALVIN CHOONG HAZEL MAY EILEEN LEE ALINA DOMINIC PEI-SHYEN FAMILY MEMBERS

And special thanks to these people who gave me presents!!

The sweater and white card - Fiona Kong
The glow-in-the-dark keychain - Pei Chen
The cartoon card and blue teddy keychain - Chein Yee
The bedsheet - That's what i sleep on for the past 7 years

I love the presents! :)

And now for the awards time!!!

Most Consistent Wisher
Sin Yeeeeeeeeee - She wished me before, during and after 12.00am of 16th of February

Insisted The Wish Came In Earlier ( But It's Not)
Siew Yan - Wished me at 12.20am and claimed to be the first one on time XD

Using Company's Resources To Wish
Sook Kuan - Called me using her company's phone. And I was wondering who is it calling with a private number

Best Present To all my lecturers - At least 1 tutorial/assignment for each subject

Early Birds
You know who u are :) ... (i mixed up my list actually)

People Who Shares The Same Birth Day As Me
Dominic Hua - My secondary school prefect senior and best head prefect to date
Pn Julie - My wacky form math 6 teacher
Christina Soh - Brats junior from the 2008 Ipoh/Taiping workshop
Siu Li - UKM Econs coursemate
John McEnroe, Lau Ching Wan, China Emperor YingZong - Not that many famous people born on this date, dang!

Port Dickson

2009-03-13T00:44:00.000+08:00

It's another trip to a nearby Cuti-Cuti Malaysia location. As usual, Port Dickson is pretty dead. So ain't much pics, just a bunch of random shots :D

Go figure :D

Thien Hou Temple

2009-03-13T00:18:00.004+08:00

It was 2 weeks before Chinese New Year I suppose, knwoing that they put up the lanterns and I'm sure it will be a nice scene to photograph. Who knows that they will only turn it on during Chinese New Year itself...damn. But after all I'm pretty glad that it wasn't turn on as I'm sure it will cause all my pics nearby the lanterns to be overexposed. Without me knowing, there were fireworks display while i was photography the roof. I have no idea what is it for, but heck I can take some fireworks pic (this is quite rare for me).

Malacca Day Trip

2009-03-12T15:50:00.004+08:00

Commonly know as the Makan-Makan + Cari San-San Trip. Organised by Hwa Hwa. Consisting of late chicken rice ball lunch, tourist spots like A'Famosa, Jonker,Jonker Nite Market, satay celup, Menara Taming Sari,Satay Kajang and ghost story telling in the car.

There's quite a lot of group and personal shots, so i'm just gonna post some photos of interest here. The rest can be found in my flickr album, the malaka day trip set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/miux/sets/72157613648130682/

The ones found guilty to flood the already-crowded tourist spots in Malacca:

Su Yuen, Sam, me, Hwa Hwa

Michelle, Pearly, Celeste, Santi

I thought it was a speck of dirt on my lens, turned out its just a small bird flying by

Pushing the limit of the Nikon D60, taken with ISO 1600 in a revolving tower. With some noise reduction in photoshop

And lastly, my portraiture effort on Pearly's pic

**\*/**

2009-01-26T14:50:00.003+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Wishing everyone for a joyful celebration of this festive season.

Remember to drive safely(speed trap), gamble safely(friend's trap) and eat safely(peanut trap).
I've never seen the word 'Ox' so often in my entire life. Not to forget the creativity using Ox in forwarded SMS.

Have fun!

:)

2009-01-24T21:28:00.003+08:00

It's the happiest news I've heard throughout the week when Jeanette told me she's probably gettin married by next year :)

I've known Nette from Brats Lumut workshop '03 as well as the 2003 year end trip. She's been a dear fren as well as a 'tai ka cheh' to me and the rest of the brats. So i couldn't be happier for her.

Recently, she entered this online bridal contest by submitting her wedding and dressing ideas. So for those who are reading this, either you do know her or not, it will be great if you could just vote for her entry. Its as simple as clicking the green Vote button below. Based on judges decision as well as number of votings, she'll be having the chance to win a 5000 USD sponsor for her wedding :)

Thanks and do spread this around as I really wish she will win this.

David’s Bridal “Dress Your Wedding” Contest

Sponsored by Visit David's Bridal

Bird + Orchid + Hibiscus Park

2009-01-20T21:30:00.005+08:00

...or farm. I can't quite recall what they named it.
Anyway I went photoshoot with Esther again. We were overly ambitious to shoot every single park that's available there. But unfortunately, the bird park alone took us like 2 hours. So the deer and butterfly park will have to wait.

It's definitely ain't easy to shoot birds(with a DSLR) when most of the feather fellas were inside a cage. Wanna test how good/smart your lens can auto-focus? Go to a bird park.

It's not too bad inside, still having quite a number of species running/flying/hanging freely in the entire park. Don't ask me bout names, I can only identify the common ones.
The ostrich area apparently wasn't barricaded properly. Yeah, they have 7 foot fences at the front, but at the back, its just like a 4-5 foot cliff with small plants growing along the line. Can just easily jump inside(both visitors and the birds!). Talk about one of the most aggressive avian in there.

As for the hibiscus and orchid park, I barely took any shots. Probably Esther have better pics. Of all the days, we chose the day where there wasn't a single cloud up the sky. It was around 1.30pm and I thought I'm gonna die of heatstroke while trying to snap macro shots, squatted down.

Anyway, most flowers there looks dried up and dead, in comparison 'ikan kering' look much better. Not to forget a group of Jap youth came visiting the hibiscus park when we're there. Probably a group of 50 youths with a few tour guides. Poor fellas.

"Bring them to Mid Valley...bring them to Mid Valley", as I was exclaiming to myself.

P/s: I don't think I have any hibiscus nor orchid pics. lol

This looks bloody creepy. Trust me, I was viewing it at 200% zoomed-in

...and this looks rather silly

Biggest Full Moon of the Year

2009-01-12T23:31:00.003+08:00

You heard it right, according to the news, this month's full moon gonna be the biggest as the moon is closest to earth due to the position in the orbit.

I might suck in science, but I definitely know that the moon didn't physically grow bigger...and I hope no one gets the wrong idea as well.

Anyway, that's the best I can zoom in with the 55-200mm lens. Over-exposure is quite hard to control as its seriously darn bright for a moon.

Youth 09

2009-01-12T02:55:00.002+08:00

See the pic above? That's probably the nicest section/side in the entire PWTC. Probably its all bittersweet bout the whole event itself.

Good news:
It's really huge, hip, happening as a 3 days event

Bad news:
The programmes, exhibitions and lineups screwed up big time. Noob rock bands screaming hell, out of place clothing bazaar and showcase of horrible pimped local cars...just to name a few.

Basically me and Sin Yee hung out mainly at the cosplay area, cause you don't get to see (or photograph) often. Our last ray of hope was gone when the cosplay competition turned to be as bad as the rest of the rotten apples in the hall. I rather have them walking around than doing nonsense up the stage.

Honestly, the host humoured me more than the cosplayer themselves. Despite the fact that he only knows Naturo and not any other anime.

Before the series of pics, I have to apologise for the terrible noise level in half of the series. Was using ISO 800 and the stage shots were zoomed in till 200mm (lens known for its softness at the far end)

A Week In Uni

2009-01-07T22:14:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year!!!

...still not too late rite? Still kinda new to me :P

Here's a brief outline of my first week in UKM. (Classes actually started on the 30th but heck, as I was still in holiday mood)

Classes are on Mondays and Tuesdays (11am-2pm, 2pm-5pm) and Wednesdays (8am-11am, 2pm-5pm). Total of 6 classes, 18 credit hours.
Might have a potential tutorial class on Thursdays or Fridays, but no one wants that.
Still lazy and in slacking mood
One lecturer was grumpy, old and love asking tough questions
One lecturer was long sighted, kept on reading from her huge old book of notes, like a speeding bullet and non of us understood our very own notes that we copied down.
Had an elective class with approx 8-10 of my coursemates, 10 hours later, everyone decided to switch to an easier subject and left me alone in that class. I've already taken that 'easier' class.
Realised its hard to waste time in UKM when your next class is starting in 3 hours.
My faculty's nasi lemak sucked big time.
First year students seemed to start dressing up way better (and prettier too,this is what I call a better environment). Apparently I'm still wearing tshirt and jeans to class.
And last but not least, and also the best...my 'time management' class lecturer came late. She's a nice lecturer, but I still find that kinda funny

I'm Gonna Splurge!

2008-12-29T00:40:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Sorry, it has been some delay in that. Anyone I appreciated the gifts I got :) Thanks yo!

Just to sum up my holiday, it has been one of the most mundane 1 ever. Very unfortunate bout that. In no particular order of events:

Work (both at office and programme)
At home (online, sleep, 'nurturing' my soul...yeah rite, lol)
Photo outing (notice its singular and not plural)
Probably like 3 movie outings
Yi Vern's birthday dinner
Michelle's choir performance
Online (I did it so often, it deserved to be mentioned twice)
Office xmas party (its sure a fun 1 :) )
BRATs Alternative (we old farts just love torturing the kids at brats camps)

What I failed to do:

Going to Bukit Tinggi (oh gawd, please don't mention this place ever again to me, failed too many times)
Trip to Bangkok
To Putrajaya Botanical Park/Garden for photoshoot
Celebrating Xmas countdown and Xmas (due to a few unforeseen stuffs)
Gettin a tattoo (I'm just kiddin on this one)
Have a less 'exciting' exam results
Another trip to somewhere (potentially would be Bukit Larut, Malacca, PD or Penang)

As hard as I'm trying to relate back to the title of this post, I'm gonna splurge because I have worked for quite some time and I do have a very expensive hobby *hint* You do know where am I going with my pay chequeS right? ;) Since I've considered to save quite a sum by not going for any holiday trips.

*drums rollling*

...

..

.

1. Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR lens
2. Nikon SB-600 Speedlight
3. Lowepro Off Trail (camera not included)
4. Miscellaneous (Optional and pending)

a) Batteries with charger for the flashgun (It's not this type as this will cost a bomb)
b) Diffuser for the flash unit
c.) SD card, 4GB or 8GB (I have the tendency to shoot everything in RAW format and in huge quantity)

P/s: Should have just taken up planting or stamps collecting as a hobby

Shutter Asia & PhotoMalaysia KL Outing

2008-12-22T23:37:00.003+08:00

It's very random of me, but for the first time ever, I went to photo shoot with a bunch of forum people I've never knew/met in my entire life.
Turned out it wasn't that bad at all.

We met up at 8am in this mamak shop inside the KTM station at central of KL. Those mamaks must be wondering why the heck there are suddenly 30-40 people coming to their shop.

Yeaps, there are alot of people there. No kiddin. One of the interesting fact was that, probably I'm the youngest there 0.0
People of all ages (starting from my age of course), mostly around late 20's and mid 30's. Pros, amateurs, hobbyist, you name it.

Gotta admit that my battery acted weirdly. It went to 1 bar from full bars after taking a few shots. But heck, it lasted me until the very end of the outing which is bout 1pm or so.

This is my very first single raw file HDR attempt. It's too technical for me to explain what is High Dynamic Range. So feel free to google that up :D

Yeaps, somehow the organiser able to get a model for that day. So consider this as my first portrait attempt. Still kinda soft, haven't get used to the 50mm manual focus yet

The day my favourite childhood cartoon got killed

2008-12-15T01:15:00.002+08:00

Product Shots

2008-12-14T00:10:00.005+08:00

Due to certain reasons that I wasn't able to go for outdoor photo shooting. In case you're wondering, my outdoor photo shoot only revolve around nature, buildings, surroundings and probably some people. Never had any models to being with.

Stucked at home, I decided to just shoot some ordinary objects.

Nopes, this doesn't belong to me.

Originally for my photography assignment, but lecturer might want a poster instead of an advertisement.

Carved penguin bought by sis from Bali

Soulstudio.com is one of my sis' New Age website/project

Photography Assignment

2008-11-20T02:39:00.003+08:00

I've totally forgotten bout this poster assignment for my photography subject in UKM. Thanks to Esther for reminding me bout it :)

It was from my previous Pangkor photos set. Yeaps, I'm very pleased with this pic for many reasons. One of it is that it was worth waiting for that winged guy to look up instead of muching nonstop with its beak down.

AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

2008-11-12T18:59:00.007+08:00

Title says it all. Its my very first lens purchase!

Bought it for RM360 at J-One which I booked and waited for a week or so. Can't really blame anyone since its selling like hotcakes. Cheapest Nikon lens and rated as one of the few sharpest lens.

I can't really tell how sharp it is until I bring it out for field test.

Both taken at max aperture of 1.8. Looks pretty sharp to me.
Btw, there's barely anything nice to be photographed in my room. Even the lil koala fella are kinda covered with dust.

But the depth of field/bokeh is amazing :D

-Enabling Electronic Rangefinder in D60 for Manual Focus-
This took me quite a while to figure it out k. This is a feature in D60's cam where the electronic rangefinder will take over the exposure bar and tells you how far/near you are focused.

1. Setup menu > CSM/Setup menu> Choose 'Full'
2. Custom Settings Menu > Go to no. 19 and just choose yes for 'Rangefinder'.

Thats it!
So now on ur viewfinder, you will still see the indicator bar somethin like <........0........>
When its focused, it will be shown as <.......| 0 | .......>, not the exact 'illustration' but you'll get the drift of it.

Awana Kijal

2008-11-09T19:35:00.004+08:00

I think I should really stop taking sunrise/sun set pics. Lol. Its gettin a little boring for both of you and me :P
It's a sunrise btw, for those of you who have no idea whether the sun rise from the east or west.

I was back again at Awana Kijal Resort, Terengganu. What can I say, I'm really running out of ideas on shooting an empty beach.
1/4 of the time I was aiming to get a shot for my new desktop wallapaper. So pardon me if you noticed some similiar compositions

Prison Break

2008-10-31T23:45:00.003+08:00

...and i've officially started watching season 4!

Nothin to say actually, since I've just only done with episode 2. From the trailer, I'm sure you can pretty much tell that its like a Ocean Eleven movie running over 20 episodes+

On second thought, the trailer doesn't show it that way. But I am telling you now anyway.

Surprising (or not so)

2008-10-30T23:29:00.005+08:00

I was working my ass for this econometrics assignment of mine. For those of you who have no idea what the heck is that, its still a field/study/specialisation under economics.

In a laymen term: A study and/or solution of a particular problem/issue through the perspective of mathematical, statistical and economics.

I didn't google that up, so don't take that as an official definition. I could be wrong. I'm just quoting and translating back by memory from what my lecturer has said.

ANYWAY, we're suppose to come up with this 'mini thesis' assignment which is freely based on any topics of our choice. It's quite simple...decide on a problem/issue, get the data, process and interpret the results, transfer everything into a thesis form.

I was working my way from middle to front and then to the back. So my issue was decided based on the data I found. The issue I was working on was that road accidents are affected by the factor of the number of commercial vehicles (lorry, trailer) and the amount of summons issued by our cops during Ops Sikap.

To prove that I'm not lying, here's the output I got from the data.

Parameter Estimates

Parameter Standard
Variable DF Estimate Error t Value Pr > |t|

Intercept 1 5.01346 1.77470 2.82 0.2166
LX1 1 -0.15874 0.16041 -0.99 0.5033
LX2 1 0.72740 0.13309 5.47 0.1152

Do u see the -1.5874? That means its a negative relation among 2 variables.
So the 0.7274 is showing a positive relation. Simple enough rite?

Here goes:
In a laymen lingo, it means the more summons issued by the cops, the higher the amount of road accidents gets!! Lol. This is really interesting. Probably everyone speeds off right after the road block knowing there wont be another speed trap bout 200km ahead.

Anyway this research is lacking in alot of areas like lack of data (data from 2005-2008), accuracy of the given data, should be using the number of summons throughout the whole year (but I cant get it) etc etc.
Afterall the given varibles are not significant in explaining the model/equation. It means the data doesn't make much of an effect towards the number of accidents. But then again, it means that Ops Sikap doesn't make a significance change either! Ha!

So eventually I changed to a more boring topic which is about Malaysia economics. Very bland and textbook-like.

Moral of the story: Ops Sikap doesn't make a difference (besides financially)

Cherating

2008-10-19T15:39:00.002+08:00

The beach ain't that good compared to Pangkor. That explains the amount of pics I have this time :P My one and only major major major complain bout sunrise pics would be needed to wake up way early(it is for me k) in the morning. It's not that fun when you found out that you're the only one on the beach, clouds covering the horizon (damn!), its 6 in the morning and everyone else is still asleep!

Oh well, at least still manage to get a few wallpaper shots. Like I said, I was the only one there...so there's definitely close to not having any subjects in my pics at all.

Yes, the beams from the clouds are real. I wouldn't even dare to make up such thing with Photoshop

The Unforeseen

2008-10-13T01:28:00.003+08:00

It was dinner time when I reached home, after being away for 3 days programme to Pangkor for work.
No doubt I was tired; physically drained out and probably mentally as well...with all the constant sms' regarding of uni assignments.

My mum came out and I noticed my dad hanging this average sized piece of red cloth over the top of our main gate upon the entrance to the living room. I thought it was for decorative or religious purposes.

She told me that grandma passed away.

It is for religious purpose after all, as my family came back from the 2 days of funeral process and that red-cloth-hanging was necessary.
It happened the very same day I left for Pangkor. Probably my family was like 2 hours late for saying goodbye as they were already on the way there. No one could really tell when time's up.
I didn't know bout it as mum didn't want me to get worried or distracted while I'm working.

To be honest, I couldn't feel the sadness...due to the scarce relationship bond we had with grandma. Being in town, Chinese New Year was the only occasion which brought us back together and redefine the meaning of 'family' again.

I felt more for my dad as he was more emotionally affected.

As one of the many grandsons, I received a gold ring as well. Probably it's a tradition and she already prepared it years and years ago when she was able.

I'm sorry for not being able to say goodbye to you even after you're gone.
But I'm certainly glad that you went off peacefully without much pain and suffering. 99 years of age is certainly something you should be proud of.

All this while, I believe the age cycle will just reverse as people are getting older. Like little kids, all that remain in our older folks will be just memories...without any worries. They might not remember our names,who we are, or even themselves, but all that matters is that they are living in a carefree world and hold on to the sweet memories to the final moment.

The very least I could do is to dedicate this photo to you. It's one of my best piece and it's probably taken around the same time you took off.

Goodbye grandma, we'll miss you and Chinese New Year will never be the same again without you. Have a great journey k?

Pangkor Island

2008-10-13T00:36:00.018+08:00

About 6 hours ago since I came back from Pulau Pangkor for a programme. I can't detailed out much on the place itself although I would have said that the Pangkor Island Beach Resort is an ideal getaway location (not in a fugitive way).

It's not so much on the whole Pangkor but more on the resort itself which made it perfect as a holiday destination. Forget shopping for sotongs or keychains, it's a place for relaxation.

and this shall be my desktop wallpaper for the week/month :)

Photography Assignment

2008-10-09T03:12:00.006+08:00

Yes, I major in Economics. But that doesn't stop me from taking fun electives like this one :)

Requirements for the 60% course assignment:

1 Shot of yourself (in this case, myself) - I'll just use my facebook pic

20 selected pics (supposely as your best 20 pics) - I only have 20 'good' shots, non i considered it to be the 'best'

A slideshow - Right belowwwww

A printed 12R pic of anything - I'll post it later on

A printed 12R of the same pic (refer right above) and be photoshopped/scribbled/cut/doodled/stepped/anything into an advertisement piece.

So here's the slideshow which I've done from the photoshoot in Taman Tasik Perdana.

It's a little corny and lame. But heck, as long i'm showcasing my pics in a nice moving order right?

P/s: I would like to thank Evelyn Loh for suggestion of the jiwang song. Actually she would like me to thank her in this post for NOT suggesting the song but sending me the song instead.

Official Re-Opening

2008-10-04T16:27:00.003+08:00

It's been too long since I last procrastinated to change the look of my blog.
I always wanted to settle for something simpler yet more functional.

I would like to thank the creation of cyberspace, the 2 weeks Raya holiday given by UKM, the dude who created this template, me, myself and I.

*cuts ribbon*

As a note, please IGNORE the 5 posts before this. I know it's a little messy and unorganised the moment you look at the past posts. But its all for the sake of creating and functioning the menu bar/link bar (yes! finally I know what is it called!) on top. You know, just below the header pic. Yes, I took that pic in case you're wondering. Even if you're not, I'm still gonna tell you. It's not that fun to squat beside a pond for 15 minutes.

So officially all posts will begin from this point onwards.
Thanks and enjoy your visit...reading...whatsoever :)

Taman Tasik Perdana

2008-10-04T15:53:00.001+08:00

It's the famous Lake Gardens or Taman Tasik Perdana. Not that famous actually, cause I was kinda blur when Esther told me bout it. Anyway, yeah...i went photo shooting with her as it was part of our interest, our boredom during Raya and my desperation to get my photo assignment done :D

Photography

2008-10-03T17:42:00.039+08:00

~~Travel & Places~~

~~Events~~

| Youth 09 | - 3 Days YouthMalaysia event at PWTC (10/01/09)

| Portraiture Workshop | - 2 Days Indoor + Outdoor Session with Nurul as model (25/04/2009)

| Comic Fiesta 2009 | - Loads of cosplayers and ongoing activities during this comic convention in Sunway Pyramid (21/12/09)

~~Portraiture~~

~~Product Shots~~

| Set 1 | - Teddy bear, watch, carved penguin, angel (13/12/08)

~~Miscellaneous~~

| Photography Assignment | - The poster I've submitted for my UKM's photography subject individual assignment

| Full Moon | - Biggest full moon of the year 2009 (12/01/09)

Sungai Lembing

2008-10-03T17:20:00.004+08:00

Sungai Lembing's almost-dead town and its magnificent waterfall.
Lost and trekked for 2 hours. But its still the best one I've ever seen.

About Me

2008-10-03T15:17:00.006+08:00

Miux, 22
K. Lumpur, Malaysia
UKM Economics Undergrad

A.K.A's:
miux, miuks, milky, mucus, mui kee, miukee mouse

Likes:
Cyberspace
Music - Guitar - Alternative Genre
Photography
Graphics & Designs

Dislikes:
Pop-up Ads
Traffic Congestions
Hypocrites
Political & Religious Views

Links

2008-10-03T14:36:00.014+08:00

|Friends|
Jamie Liew
Kimberly Low
Melissa Neo
Melissa Ng
Pearly Perli
Wei Chun

|Form 6|
Esther Khor
E-von, Hooi
Jiaqi
Michelle Chan
Pui San, Wong
Sammy Pong
Sin Yeeeeeeeee

|BRATs|
Aimee -ba
Alex
Amanda C.
Caryn
Chein Yee, Jami e
CK, Sara
Diyana
Esther Lian
Fern
Jasmine
Jean Ee eeeee
Jessica Kan
Jirwan
Joshua Foong
Joye
Kelene
Lisan
Mei Kay, misswongmk
Melissa Kong....bah
Michelle Tam
Nette
Niki Cheong
Quan Yie
Rekha
Sandheep
Sheena
Shi-Yuan
Stephanie Heng
Sue Yen
Sze Too
Szu Mei
Tammy
Tiffany
Yun-ni Yanni
Zhen Yu
Zhi Wei

| BBBS |
Edwin Ong
Hwa Ming, Jason
Su Yuen
Tony

| UKM |
Lee San
Pei Chen
Shi Wei
Sze Sze ZzZzZz

Affiliates

2008-10-03T14:30:00.007+08:00

Email

2008-09-29T22:50:00.004+08:00

FW:Please spend 2 min for this girl

I'm 11 years old.
My mommy worked on the 20th floor in the World Trade Tower .
On Sept. 11 2001 my daddy drove my mom to work.
She was running late so she left her purse in the car.

My daddy saw it so he parked the car and went to give her the purse.
That day after school my daddy didn't come to pick me up.

Instead a police man came and took me to foster care.
Finally I found out why my daddy never came...
I really loved him....
They never found his body.
My mom is in the the Hospital since then.
She is losing lots of blood.
She needs to go through surgery.
But since my daddy is gone and no one is working.

We have no money...
And her surgery cost lots of money..
So the Red Cross said that..
for every time this email is fwd we
Will get 10 cent for my mom's surgery.
So please have a heart and fwd this to everyone you know I really miss my daddy and now I don't want to lose my mommy too...

R.I.P. Daddy..(James Thomas)

Pleasefoward this e-mail to as many ppl you know, each person you send it to,the red cross will donate 10 cents for m om's operation!!! !!!!
Hey friends please forward this mail to as many ppl...
If you love ur mother...
Bcoz...
She is waiting for her mother......
It would hardly takefew minutes....

Dear 11 years old girl, I do love my mother very much. Because of that, I've spent 15 mins instead to help you.
Since 10 cents is too little for each forward (and probably the most i can forward to are 40 people due to email restriction), I have found a better solution.

Do you know Bill Gates? Great man indeed, he's giving out 200+ bucks for each person we forward to. So here's my great deed to you, I'll forward you the email. So all the best to your mom's operation which lasted since 9/11.

To all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages, But this is from my good friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is an attorney.

If she says that this will work - It will work. After all, What have you got to lose? SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I'm an attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.

Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it ( If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.

I thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and withindays, I receive a check for $24,800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can affoard this, Bill gates is the man.

It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10,000.00. We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When i went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game. She showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped "Paid in full"

Like i said before, I know the law, and this is for real.

Oh yeah, you will get bad luck for 7 years if you don't forward this email to 7 people.
See ya!

Should I Submit This?

2008-09-17T16:31:00.003+08:00

A week ago, Phui Yee posted a note on facebook bout this contest from Proton

Proton will be releasing their very first and new MPV, not sure when, but it has become an official news. So the contest is simple enough, name the new proton.
The winner will get one of those oversized milo tin (just a prediction) and have ur witty suggestion as the official name for the MPV

There are some 'hints' which i assume they wanted us to associate the name with.

It is comfortable:
It means more leg rooms, more space to carry your luggage and most of all it is a car for the entire family to travel in.

It is affordable:
Malaysians love value-for-money and Proton MPV is giving Malaysians just that!

So this is what I can think of:

I am gonna be in trouble for clicking SUBMIT right?

Anyway, have fun joining this contest :)
-Contest page-

LOL-able

2008-09-07T00:49:00.004+08:00

There's this 'gal' (no idea, just assuming from the nick and email) added me on msn. This is the conversation.

Miux says:
Hie

cuteser says:
?????

Miux says:
do i know u?

cuteser says:
(a bunch of boxes and I suppose its chinese since i didnt have the language package installed)

Miux says:
i can't read chinese

cuteser says:
sorry,i cannot read english

Miux says:
ookkkkaaayyyy

Hahaha, this is classic. I never see that coming. It could be a mockery, but its certainly funnier to assume she meant what she said.
Its like telling other people online that you don't know how to use a com.

Probably she really can't read english at at all! She could be throwing random words from a dictionary and hopefully it make sense. Should have replied her with a bunch of random chinese words as well.

cuteser...I suppose thats a non-english nickname. It could be german for all i know.

Starship Troopers 3 : Marauder

2008-09-06T17:18:00.004+08:00

I was browsing around to see if there are any good movies, i thought i give this a shot.

Recall to the first movie, bout 10 years ago or so, it was a pretty awesome movie. I liked it alot as a kid. A bunch of modern soldiers went around killing bugs which appears in millions. Everything doesn't look that real if you watch it again this time around, but heck...its 10 years ago!

I'm not gonna lie to you, THIS MOVIE IS DARN HORRIBLE!

I didn't watch the second part of it as it simply looks terrible on HBO, Starworld or Cinemax? I'm not sure which channel but it better be on cinemax, coz it suck! I can't even bear 5 mins of it.

How could they be relating this to the original movie? Its probably another movie trilogy where everyone remembered the first one as epic and the rest of it as a peice of crap in the recycle bin. No...make it a trash bin, you wouldn't even want it in as a recycled item!

First of all, this movie looks promising thru the trailer and poster. People would be expecting alot of mindless bug fighting. But NOOOOO....they need to put in some corny love-political-religion twist into the plot.

First half of the movie, its friggin filled with puns and corny punchlines.
Look at the poster, ITS A GOOD DAY TO FRY???
Thats like some Scary Movie tagline! You know where they got this tagline from? From the very beginning of the scene where this mr technician-nobody was exclaiming how the electrical fences are frying the bugs.

The characters and role-play in this movie is definitely gonna laugh ur ass off. They were trying so hard to potray a signature personality and ended up being completely awkward and it just doesnt blend in!

Its like, why the hell you're acting like a superior general in command whose trying to be friendly where everyone just gives you the 'oh-its-just-another-insurance-agent look'. Even my discipline teachers can do a better job in that role.

Don't even get me started on the effects. The very first battle scene with the bugs, there were ppl running in chaos as they were attacked. Fair enough, seems like an anticipating moment.
Until they started shooting at the bugs.

Ok...there were bullet sounds, bugs dying, soldiers screaming. Wait, ARE THEY JUST POINTING THEIR GUN AT THE BUGS THE BUGS JUST DIED FROM BULLET SOUNDS???

Omg, i cant believe it, you cant even spot a single spark from the guns from the first battle scenes. Its like bugs just decided to explode when being pointed with the rifle. How awesome.
Can't they be more obvious on not making much effort?

Yes, they can. Remember how the potray the commercial like scenes during the first movie to line up some story line along the movie? That was pretty creative at that time.
NOW GET OVER IT.

I can't believe that they actually still reusing the same concept. It just doesn't work anymore, not anymore.

If you've seen sci-fi movies these days and you watch this crap, you would be thinking "This is quite a good movie, when was it released? 2001?"

"No, it was released past 2 months"

"Okay, i take that back. It looks like a pile of shit"

I think they just recycled stuffs ever since the first movie. Barely any new bugs in this besides the SCORPIO. Hell with it, tht fella only made its appearance for less than a minute and only his tail and claws be seen. Same old ugly battle suit and bigger, more plastic looking guns. Even Halo looks cooler.

Ok, here's the thing, everyone loves the naked shower scene in the first movie, so i assume the producers would slip in some nude scenes in the next 2 movies.

First movie
Second movie, I love how they labeled it as the success of starship troopers. lol.
And the third one
Lol, did somethin happened to Skinner and someone needed to replace his place to fight for mankind?

Lets look at the positive side of this movie k?
I'm not sure how the naked scenes would affect ya, but its certainly wont be much of a turn on compared to the huge pile of nonsense going on in the whole movie.

The settings are pretty good in planet OM-1. At least they weren't recycling another past scene.

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Okay, thats bout it.

Bottomline:
I had hell lot more fun of playing the game than to watch 10 mins of this movie. Go get the game k, its so much fun playin that then to watch 1 half hour of pure crap.

This is a far cry if compared to the movie.
Thats it and I hope you like this angry-ranting review :D

An Econs Lesson

2008-09-06T02:50:00.005+08:00

I had my mikro 2 mid sem exam today, I need to say that it wasn't that pleasant. Anyway, as I was revising, i came across this case study (sort of) and i thought it would be interesting to share it with you ppl.

Case: Price of oil

Ok, stop picturing your car, petronas station, number 2.70 or our PM.

There are lots of hoo-hahs going on between who to blame: the government or the supply of worldwide petrol. Theorotically, its both.
Lets start with the supply of oil.

###

Everything in this world are bought and sold based on the current price and interest rate (maybe except selling your soul, since I doubt there will be any inflation in hell). The interest rate would be the key to this issue. So actually the future price of a product/service would be the disruption of the trading flow.

How? Future prices are affected by interest rate.

Let say you're selling little hamsters for 2 bucks each. Based on speculation that next week's interest rate would increase to 10% (from none). So your tiny little friend there would worth 2.20 instead. Its calculated with this formula if you're wondering;

Future price = (1+R) * Current price

R= Interest rate (Divide it by 100, eg. 10% would be 0.1)

So, if you're the trader of hamsters (where you're not the only seller and others are selling the same price as you), would you sell your hamsters today or you keep it till next week where you can earn more?
Same goes for the oil.

Basically oil traders/producers are left with two choices to maximize their revenue.
1.) Rely on market price and interest rate
2.) Keeping the revenue in the bank with a high rate

Its either making more money or letting the money grow in the bank, that simple. Unless the banks are having high interest rates, then most probably they are keeping and limiting the supply of oil. By lowering the supply, the prices of oil will increase based on the supply-demand theory.

If you're a little confused, refresh your mind bout Malaysia's past food crisis issues. Sugar and cooking oil.
Because there are speculations that there will be shortage of those stuffs, it has caused fear to Malaysians (so gullible) and hence, everyone rushes to the nearest Tesco or Giant and fill up enough supply of oil at home where they could fry enough french fries for the next 3 months.
Supply went down and demand went up. It has pushes the price of cooking oil sky high (of course these are market price controlled items, it cant get up that far).
Worse than that was, traders are keeping those cooking oil at the back of their storage room and only selling a handful. They were waiting for the price to go up further so they could sell it at a more expensive price. Such crooks aren't they? Getting a profit while we are busy stockpilling gazillion cooking oils which we don't need.

Ok, I'm sure now you understand how the situation works. Back to the oil.

The oil producers would be working their asses off to find new sources and building more rigs if they can generate more money in the bank than making revenue from future prices speculations.

###

As for the government part, its rather trivial. Let say they have a sum of money (actually they do, what the heck i'm talking bout), its all depending on how much its allocated to each sector and area. The reason our oil prices went up its because of the world supply of oil PLUS they decided to subsidize more to the citizens instead of the oil...and probably towards a whole lot of other stuffs like giving Lee Chong Wei 300 grand.

And politics played a huge role in this as well. Trust me or not, these decisions are made by human being and does not form naturally out of the economy system. Sad to say, they are the ones who decide how much our oil price going to be. Of course they will nag that the oil subsidies are gettin sky high, but nevertheless, still do-able rite? Its all boiled down to how they allocate the money. We're not some less developed countries where we are dying in each and every sector. For god's sake, Malaysia is being categorised as Upper Middle Income Country! Probably we will be having better budgets if they didn't send that angkasawan's ass up to the moon and buying 2 fighter jets from Russia. They must be laughing their ass off at us.

###

That's the rough theory on prices, future prices and interest rate affecting each other. Of course there are always other factors in role as well such as inflation, political relations, substitute products etc etc.

I could be wrong (or right) on this matter. But nevertheless, thats the interpretation and facts extracted from a uni level reference. If its wrong, blame them and leave me alone :P

I hope this edu post bores you, cause it sure did to me :D
I thought i might be able to make use of my education for once

Faculty Night 2008 Pictures

2008-08-28T02:53:00.003+08:00

Here are the pics.
All 666 of them (gasp, evil number! oh well...) , courtesy to everyone who contributed to the pics whom I have no idea. I just grabbed the 1.3gb file from Sze Sze :P

Enjoy!

Awesome-ness!!!

2008-08-28T01:41:00.002+08:00

IT DRAINED MY DECISION DRY!

IT DRAINED MY ONLINE RESEARCHING DRY!

IT DRAINED MY ANTICIPATION DRY!

IT DRAINED MY WALLET DRY!

IT 'ALMOST' DRAINED MY LOAN DRY!

OF COURSE IT DIDNT DRAINED ME DRY (that would have sounded wrong)

AND OF COURSE I'M NOT TALKING BOUT HAVING A GIRLFRIEND (don't give me that look, half of the above might come true with a gf k)

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.

now i present to you

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MY NEW NIKON D60!!!

Sorry for the awful quality and blur in this pic. It was taken with an old Olympus point and shoot cam

Its a kit lens set with its 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR. 10.1 megapixels, 2.5 inch LCD bla bla bla, you can always get the full specs online. I'm not really a technical type of guy either.

Brought it from YL Camera in Pudu Plaza. Honestly, I didnt like the Pudu Plaza area at all. Congested, messy, shabby. But guess what, its been a good bargain after all. Been quite some bargaining.

RM2300 - The whole kit lens set (everything within the box) + 2gb Nikon SD card + tama polarizer lens filter + screen protector + bag + Manfrotto ballhead tripod.
So the 2000 bucks is the cost for the cam and 300 for the legs (thats what they call tripod in chinese)

Seriously, why does everyone thinks that the tripod was unnecessary? Can you imagine how many gazillion night shots you can take because of not having that 'leg'? Its funny cause everyone gave me that 'you dumbshit paid 300 bucks for a tripod' kind of look. Laugh all you want, this tripod is awesome. Ideal height, steady as hell, ball-headed (sounded wrong as well, but it means having the flexibility of rotating within a single knob). Downside was being a lil heavy. Just as a precaution, my sis have...had a Keep tripod. Yes, the brand name is Keep, Made In Malaysia. She kept it in her cupboard for most of the time. As she dug it out for me, to my surprise the tripod decapitated by itself. So yeah, Malaysia boleh!

I'm certainly not trusting a free gift tripod to hang on to my 2k cam.

It was quite sad that they are not willing to give me a 4gb SD card instead. Since it was said that Nikon gave them the SD card to be included in each DSLR purchase. Can't really doubt that either, since there are no SD card provided in the kit itself.

The bag, it was darn awful. Looks like some doctor's suitcase. If i'm travelling long distane with a telephoto and macro lens, then it would be perfect. But i'm certainly not gonna go around shooting with that. I only have 1 lens and its attached to the cam 99% of the time! Make it 100%, I can't find a reason to take it off.

Basically the quality is well defined. The noise level is fine anything from ISO 100 - 400. Catchy LCD feature with its graphical display as well as rotating screen. And yeah, auto LCD dim whenever the viewfinder is being look thru.

Somethin unnecessary bout this cam would be the pic to movie sorta compilation feature. Its a built in function where you're able to put pics together so it would form a video. Can you imagine how many friggin pictures it would require to just make a 10 secs video?? Anyway I haven't try that out and didn't plan to. A camera shud remain its function as a cam. Let the editing take place in a com.

Can't say i'm fully satisfied with the lens since the aperture is f/3.5-5.6. But the kit came bundled with a VR lens, what more can you expect. Since it's not THAT fast for a lens, probably the Vibration Reduction will come in handy with a slower shutter.

Here's a sample pic of a stray kitten which came wondering into my house last week.
Unedited. f/3.5, shutter 1/10, manual mode, exposure compensation +1
Kinda hard to control the exposure as i didnt use the program mode.

All in all, its a very decent entry-level DSLR. With all the basic functions and good quality output, i would say its too good to miss out if you're planning to get a DSLR. Of course my procrastination hung on to me for half a year :D

Clearing the dust again

2008-08-14T00:06:00.005+08:00

So its actually more than 2 months since i've blogged rite? Thats shit ass long. Even the blogger interface looks a lil different.
Anyhow, its time to sum up some stuffs, as i barely remember nor have the effort to detailed everything within that timeframe. Not like you all gonna read it anyway :P

Here goes, uni has been(and still) being harsh to me. The timetable was quite okay actually, except tht i couldnt cramp to 3 days. Photography is the only elective subjects which i actually like for the very first time in ukm. So...its worth going back for tht particular 2 hours Thursday class!

Oh yeah, did i mention that i'm not stayin in hostel anymore?
1) I'm going to come back VERY often, so why bother stayin in the first place (yes, i'm very online deprive)
2) My roommate couldnt get a place/room in the current hostel and he couldnt get housemates (since its nearing holidays and mostly everyone found a house and housemates)

I gave him the room instead...sorta. Its under my name, but he's stayin and paid me back. So its all cool.

Silly me, no wonder the interface looks different, i was on the HTML mode all these while!
It does show how long since I last blogged :P

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I feel ashamed

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Of course i'm not! Who am i kiddin with?

Moving on.
Its the ultra dreaded prom a.k.a Faculty Night.
Let me get a moment of being 'full of myself'.

I am the Prom King for last year's Faculty Night.
*thank you for your applause* :P
Reality kicks in. Prom Kings and Queens get loads of recognition, prizes and whatnot rite?
We don't get shit. Okay, maybe quite some recognition, a passed down abascus and handmade stick/scepter (I'm not sure what is it called)...a crown and another septer like for my fren Pei Chen who got the Queen title.

And the best prize of all......

...

....

WE GET TO ORGANISE THE FOLLOWING YEAR'S FACULTY NIGHT!!! OMG OMG OMG

Seriously, WTF???

Actually I didnt bag in do get the title at all. Who the hell would choose a banana guy to lead an underground chinese society??? Its like asking Nelson Mandela to take over North Korea.
I even made up lame and nonsensical statements while answering questions and introducing myself.

Its quite impossible to list down all the major problems occured to my rear end while tryin to organise this Fuc Night.
Hmm, must be a typo.

One of the most disturbing one would be my direct senior got pissed at me and the rest of my kolej pals. The reason would be 1) Our dear 1st year juniors named out the wrong Kajai Miss (he was the Mr, take it as hostel's nominees k? To save the trouble of explaning. So technically I was the Kajai Mr for 2007 as well)
It was during our mini inter-orientation session to meet the juniors and seniors together. More like a session where seniors throwing stupid questions to 1st years.
2)I didnt directly inform him bout the inter-orientation and FucN details. (damn those typos)
Instead i asked the 3rd year King to inform all the 3rd year. Anyway it was quite a last minute finalisation for the orientation and FucN due to confirmation and bookings.

He got very angered and upset bout it. Gawd knows why. I don't see a big deal bout it. He was unwilling to acknowledge me when i msged him and he turned around as any one of us said hello to him. What nonsense. I guess he couldn't hold up and decided to sms me. I'm not too sure, but i was kinda laughing when i knew he gave up on pretending not to know who am i and msg me. hehe.

Do u know there's like pages in sms? Like if it gets too long, it will consider as 2 pages and so? I swear to gawd, its the longest sms i've ever received in my entire life. When i received his msg, i thought of forwarding it to my fren to 'amuse' her a lil. On my phone, it says 'Msg too long'.

Weird, that has happened b4. So i started to delete quarter of the msg then only i'm aware that his sms is at least 13-14 pages...AT LEAST!
Its like a few friggin paragraphs in there. Don't ask me, i barely understand quarter of it, due to 'obvious' reasons.

Anyway i was on my way to KLCC for PC fair, its a long lrt journey and i'm bored. So i decided to reply tht shit ass long sms. hehe. To cut the long story short, i think he's okay with us now.

So how was Fac nite? Overall its a success that everything needed to be done has been done. The major hiccups would be my reception ajks came 15 before the planned starting time. So we have at least 70 ppl waiting aimlessly not knowing where to sit and stuffs. Then the 3rd were an hour late. Gosh.

Anyhow I had fun, we had fun(i think?) Probably we 2nd year were more like syok sendiri :D
I've just collected over 1gb worth of pics from a bunch of fellas. So knock yourself out with it, its all resized, to keep my sanity and patience together from uploading 1/4th of a dvd size. Probably i'll post it in a different entry cause its just way too many of it. Even uploading took me a 2 hours +
Don't look at me like that, I'm just another disappointed 1mb Streamyx user.

And yeah, i dunno whatsup with this year's guys. All seemed to be so interested to be dressing up as gals and run around with fake boobs. Its as confusing as watching The Happening

Again, I apologise for the dreaded delay in updating :(