Found my long lost love

Life somewhat feels complete now. Never would I thought I would fall in love again. I can still here the song "Reunited" playing in my head. I have my baby back... My Canon EOS 30 film camera.

I just bought it after I found an ad at mudah.my. I have been scouring the site for this camera for the past year. Finally there was this great bargain. When I met up with the previous owner, I was so surprised that it looked like new. Even the dials had that new "click" sound. Found out that the owner had bought it just before the digital camera boom. He kept it in a dry box all these while. Why I'm being all emo about it?

I first bought my own film SLR back in 1997. The Canon EOS 50e. That is when i started to learn bout photography. From reading and mainly through trial and error. My best buddy trusted me to take his wedding pictures. Then on, I started doing relatives weddings and events. Eventually I went public. So I became a part-time wedding photographer. As I was getting more jobs, it was time to have a second camera. There was always a possiblity your camera might malfunction or something so a back-up was essential. So I upgraded to the Canon EOS 30 at that time it costs RM2,800. I used it as the main camera while the 50e was my back up. It was an amazing camera to me, hence the love affair.

At around this time circa 2003-2004, Digital SLRs became the in-thing. I was getting tired from all the weddings and events...really tiring although i loved the challenge. I couldn't afford the time for it. I still had my day job and all so I decided to retire as a wedding photographer and kept it just as a hobby.

In 2005, my house was broken into and I lost both cameras. I was gutted. I stayed away from photography until 2006 when I finally got into digital photography with the Canon 400D. It is a great camera. The thing about going digital is that after awhile I realised there was no fun to it cos all the work is done in post process with photoshop and all. I thought "Hey, any dimwit with a digital cam can take a picture then adjust it later with photoshop". There's no more skill to it. Any kind of skills involved photo editing software. That was when I started my quest of searching for used film cameras especially the models I had before. I went online and started the search. I bought the 50e last year. However the 30 model was hard to come by. So when I saw the online ad for it last week my eyes lit up. And now...after all these years I am enjoying photography again. And here is my baby....

Life begins at 40.

As a birthday gift to me self, I finally bought a new phone...the Nokia E75. Before I brag about my new toy...let me tell you the journey.

My reason for getting a new phone is that since I spend time out of the office, I only get to access my emails and the net once I'm back at the office, which is usually at the end of the working day. Sometimes my clients can be very demanding when it comes to replying to their emails. eg. " One my security guard was drunk while on duty, can I dismiss him immediately?"

Sooo...it was imperative that I can a phone with email access and of course to get the latest news on our interesting political scene.

My first choice was the Blackberry Storm. Since I am a celcom subscriber, they are having this promotion on the Storm. I fell in love with it when I read the write ups and reviews. My other choices were the Nokia E71 and the E75.

Much to my dissapointment there were a lot of complains about the Storm, one major complain was its battery life....it only last half a day. WTF right. And it's not completely touch screen. Its more of a click screen. Yes, you have to actually press the screen not just touch it.

So I zeroed in on the E71 as I heard and read a lot of good reviews about it. I had to see it for myself, touch it...feel it. It is a great phone but I do feel that the QWERTY key pad were a bit tiny for me. Then I switch my sights to the E75... I love it, especially the slide out, QWERTY key pad... damn cool and sleek. The best feature is the push email. I can have a direct link to my google account and as soon as an email comes in it will appear on the screen. Just wat I need. So E75 it is...

I'll sweep you off your feet

Patut la

KUALA LUMPUR - A 37-year-old Malaysian man who made headlines three years ago when he married a 106-year-old woman has been arrested on drugs charges, state media said Wednesday.

Now we know why he married her....he was on drugs!

Mind your language

It has been awhile since I last wrote or commented on Government’s policies. This time I cannot hold my tongue.

Today, the government has decided to scrap the teaching of Maths and Science in English. It would be reverted to Bahasa Malaysia. I have issues with this decision as I am all for the teaching of Maths and Science in English. I have more issues with the so-called reasons behind the decision. I cannot help but think it was a political decision rather than for the benefit of the glorious country of Bolehland.

Firstly, this is what Muhyidin said;

"The government made the decision after studying closely research on PPSMI that shows that PPSMI could not be implemented as expected,"

He further said;

“studies showed that PPSMI was never implemented as originally hoped. Instead, teachers were using both English and Bahasa Melayu to teach Science and Mathematics, and the gap between urban and rural schools in the two subjects grew wider after PPSMI was implemented.

So the reason why it could not be further implemented was due to the teachers. He said

“Only 19.2% of secondary teachers and 9.96% of primary teachers were sufficiently proficient in English,”

This is a lame excuse. A simple solution is to strengthen the English proficiency among those teachers.

Secondly, Muhyidin denied that the policy had failed. He said;

"I wouldn't say it was a complete failure, but it did not achieve what it was supposed to achieve,"

When you say it did not achieve its target that means it failed la. I cannot understand why after only 6 years the govt can come to a conclusion that “it did not achieve what it was suppose to achieve”.

These things take time. It is still in its infancy. It would have been proper to evaluate the policy after 10 years or so. Primary schools starts when a child reaches 7 years old, by the time he finishes Form 5 it would be 10 years. This is premature ejaculation Mr. Minister.

Thirdly, Muhyidin said that the teaching of Maths and Science would be reverted to Bahasa Malaysia in stages starting in 2012. That is 3 years from now! You just said that it didn’t achieve what it was supposed to achieve and yet you see it fit to continue it for the next 3 years. It doesn’t make sense la. The next 3 years could have been spent educating teachers to be more proficient in English rather prolonging its death. To me, this might be a political ploy. Come 2012, they might just continue the policy as the whole brouhaha would have died down.

Finally, Muhyidin also said that he had briefed former PM, Tun Mahathir for 3 hours on the decision, which he claims, Tun had accepted. As soon as I read this, I had the instinct to check out chedet.com. Tun again made known his stand on the issue and said his views were not accepted.

On this issue I have to agree with the old man. This is a step backward for the education of our children.

Farewell MJ.

When I first heard the news of Michael Jackson's death, my instant reaction was "What?". I wasn't too distraught about it. Yes, I love his music, I grew up with his music and videos, from "Off the wall" to "Dangerous" albums, from being black to white, but I viewed Michael as freak. I guess some geniuses are.

My views of him changed last nite as I teared right after his daughter's impromtu short speech. His friends and family speak of him as their friend and brother, the ordinary man child that he is. I realise that he is human after all. I realised how much he was loved by his family. Only they would know the real Michael Jackson.

I feel thankful for being alive in the same era as MJ. His music was a gift and a message to mankind.

I was choosing one song that I liked best. It was too tough of a decision to make. I love all his songs. Instead, I chose the most appropriate song...Heal the World.

MJ is gone but his music lives in us.

Farrah Fawcett

1947-2009

Goodbye Farrah "Jill Munroe" Fawcett. You were my first dreamgirl.

Why...why!

Just when I thought I had found the ideal phone for me aka Nokia E75, comes this black beauty... Blackberry Storm. OMG, this phone is so me!

Not this time

Barca was simply in their element and Man United failed to play to their true strength. I am not that dissapointed they lost.  What I couldnt explain and understand was the way they simply fizzled after a good start.  The game looked over the moment Eto scored the first goal with their first attack of the game.  There was just no zest to United's game after that.  

Barca on the other hand was simply better team on the night. What impressed me most was their midfield.  Xavi and Iniesta was simply awesome. I have always admired Iniesta, he reminds me of a young Scholesy. Had United been in their element it would have been a cracker of a game. 

Anyway, It has been a long season...and 3 cups out of 5 aint that bad. 

Now, what am i gonna do on Saturday and Sunday nights... 

Guess who I saw..

I'm sure all of you have heard and read the stories on Manohara Pinot, the Indonesian-American model who married the Kelantan prince. To those who have not heard the story, briefly Manohara was a model and got married to the son of Sultan Kelantan. She was 16 years old when she got married about a year ago. There were allegations recently by her family that she was abused by her husband. It made headlines in Indonesia.

Well, last week me and the family were in Redang Island. On our first day, while lepaking at the cofee house we saw this group of people walking up from the beach to the hotel. I immediately recognised one of them. It was her, Manohara. She was with her husband and an entourage of body guards and dayangs. They sat next to our table. I was tempted to sneak in a snap of photo but was quite intimidated with all the body guards around, with walkie talkies. They were making quite a ruckus, laughing out loud and playing cards.

I must say that Manohara no longer looks like a model, she has put on weight but still pretty though. I noticed when she got up to go to the ladies she was followed by a dayang and a bodyguard. She looked kinda happy though but as my wife puts it, I cant imagine her having to socialise with just the dayangs and body guards.

I was here last week

Redang Island

This too!

Nokia E75

I want...

Canon Powershot G10

Earth Hour 28.03.09

It was lights off for me and my family last night. Me and the wife reflected how living under candle lights is a norm in some parts of the world, even in Malaysia. We take our lives for granted. In helping to save the world we spared our thoughts to the unfortunate and silently counted our blessings. 

1 year old already...

You are 1 year old now. It has been a real journey since the day you were born. You will one day hear the story of how you came into the world, how you came unexpectedly and caught us by surprise and how you made it “easy” for mummy during birth. When I first held you in my arms I knew you are truly a gift from God.

 

You would also hear how we were inspired to choose your name from a Moroccan footballer.

For the past year, you have been a good baby. Of course you had given us some sleepless nights. I remember when you had fever for the first time. We stayed up all night monitoring your temperature and towelling you to get the fever down. There were times when you just didn’t want to fall sleep. We would rock you, sing to you and even dance with you.

 

The most amazing thing was to see your smile, especially come bath time. You just love the water and bubbles. It was hard to get you out of the tub sometimes, as you would be clinging to the sides.

 

You are smart boy. The first time we noticed how smart you are was when you rocked your body to the tune of Sadness by Enigma. You were probably around 5-6 months old. Since then we noticed your interest in music. Keep this up and maybe you would fulfil daddy’s unfulfilled dreams of being a rock star.  Then we noticed how cunning you are. You knew you were not allowed to go near the TV wires. So what do you do…you threw your fav ball near the wires, crawled up to it and pulled the wires. When I said “What you doing?” you picked the ball up and showed it to me with those innocent eyes and said “Boh”. That's how you say ball.

 

The thing we would never forget this past year was when you fell off the bed. You gave us a heart attack. You fell from the bed face first, luckily and thank God a pillow broke your fall. Since then, you had the normal knocks and bumps, which I seriously think you enjoy getting.

 

You have a whole life ahead of you. There will be many many things that you would have to go through. There will be happy times and there will sad times. From the first time you scrape your knees to the first time a girl breaks your heart. Just know that Mummy and Daddy will always be there for you. 

Innocence

me boy..

I just have to put up this picture of my son..i love this pic..probably the best pic of him i've taken so far..

Its the Year of the Ox

My programe has been moving along at slow pace... hence the lack of postings. 

I have discovered that I consume and average of 1600 calories per day. For me to effectively loose weight I should cut the calory intake to half...that leaves 800 cal per day, and of course exercise, which i have not been doing except the normal house chores.

My weight is now 74.7... i have finally broken that 75kg mark, which seemed impossible to break thru.