Reality about Work

There will be things that you pick up from your journey.
One of it is the reality.

Before I started working, I dreamt of earning a lot of money, saving enough to buy external flash, lenses, car, or house.
Now that I'm working, I am consciously telling myself that I need to spend stingily only to have enough. Of course, I'm still making my saving to buy external flash. If all go well, I should be getting one end of next month.

Reality is plan doesn't go according to my wish, because I was naive.
To you who are going to work, or still studying, before you dream those dreams, remember:
1. There's a thing call EPF and SOCSO.
2. There's a thing call commitment- parents, church, insurance, property, etc.
3. There's a thing call travelling expenses.
4. There's a thing call saving.

So minus all those things, how much would you have left every month?

I thank God that I can travel by bus.
I thank God that I can eat from the cafeteria which only cost RM4 per meal.
I thank God that I don't have a car yet.

Liverpool WOn!

Heartbreaking result for the Man Utd fans. HOwever, it's either win, lose or draw, so nothing much to hooha about, except that Liverpool finally showed some standard in the premier league game. Oddly Vidic got sent off, again.
Torres came back from injury with a goal.
Ngog who replaced Torres also bagged one goal thanks to the few defenders left in the final minutes.
Mascherano sent off at second yellow.
Michael Owen got booed by Liverpool fans, which I think it's unnecessary.
Interesting result.

Geeking at some stuff

Why using Sony Alpha is so interesting for me is because of the people that I get to know through the Alphanatics forum.
Few are pro, most are enthusiasts. Many people have different opinion and different liking. However, the Alpha system makes us excited again this time.


One of the objective for a TT session is to get poisoned by all the different lenses and cameras.

Taken with a CZ 135mm at f1.8. This lens belongs to Albert aka Albnok.
Expensive stuff that cost almost 5k. But the speed, quality and size makes this a good lens to use for portrait.
Soft at f1.8. But with a bit of sharpening in post processing will do.


Shot at f1.8 too. high pass applied in photoshop.
This guy just sat in front of me across the table, approx 1.3m away.

Another lens worth taking a look- the Minolta 17-35mm f2.8-4.
Initially, I thought why would people buy a Minolta 17-35mm when the kit lens covers that range already. But once I tried it, I liked it.
The image is very sharp even at 17mm f2.8.





A photo of Albert checking on the Tamron 17-50 f2.8.

A 100% crop of the picture above.

This lens is good. and it's rare.


7 x 7 rubiks cube! One side solved by Weixuan.
I solved the 5x5 with help from Albert.

Then we waited until 10pm for our friend to come:


Eddy is checking out the new launched model:

Can you see the number? A550!
high res 3" LCD with fastest 7fps at speed priority mode.
The grip feels like the A200. with more and fun functions like the face and smile detection, 5 level DRO setting.


Kysham is using a toothpick to measure the height of the flash compare to the A700.

That concludes our TT that night, we went home about 11.30pm.

TT- cameras, Teh Tarik, and photographers.

What kind of service?

I am not satisfied with the service provided by RapidKL for the route U84, from Mid Valley to Sungai Way!
I waited two hours since 9.30pm until 11.30pm for the bus and none came!
Until I took a cab which cost me RM25 to go back, burn!

I got a feeling

That night was a good night!
Black Eyed Peas were great. Thanks to free tickets I had the privilege to watch their show.

So went in there and watched a few local and overseas artists performed. This one is a hip hop group with a girl vocal. Well don't know their name anyway.










In conclusion, I need a fast lens that has focal length at least 100mm....
I also want an external flash.
a battery grip...
and the list goes on.

Lunch at Kim Gary, Sunway Pyramid

One of the nearer fnb outlets in Pyramid. Today was my second time there for this week although the pictures I'm gonna show were from Monday. Most of their set lunch comes with a drink, a soup and main course. I usually order Tea, or Cham.




I always like their Borsch Soup, yum.


On Monday I had this black pepper beef with spaghetti. I had a tomato pork chop with spaghetti this afternoon. Conclusion I can make is Kim Gary's spaghetti tak boleh makan. No where near a good spaghetti standard.


Andrew had this, don't remember what this call.


Kim Gary also very famous with their maggi mee. Premium priced.


Hungry yet?

Golden moment

Some pictures I took just now outside my office while waiting for Lordson to pick me up for swimming. This is how in photography I get a golden lighting setup.

This is a two way lighting which is commonly used in lighting photography, but of course, the direction is from the front to back instead of back to front.

Anyhow I still like the tone created by the lighting. And it's golden colour.


Interestingly how the Minolta 28mm doesn't have as much flare when a yellow light directly shine on it. But it would be very bad if natural sunlight is in front of me, the rich magenta will cast a tint in the images.


This is another conventional way of setting up a lighting, one directional lighting setup. Which will cast a bit of shadow, or a lot depending on the angle you put the light. This setup will have a more 3D effect on the final output.


I love this statue outside Menara, I saw them polishing it this afternoon. Classy.


And a random shot of my favourite subject- flower. All because it's still and pretty with the golden lighting, which I think is a golden moment.

I like Taroballs! - Snowflakes

If you haven't know, this place is becoming too famous that you won't get a seat anymore.
A small shop located opposite Asia Cafe, same row as Starbucks. Their bestseller is named Bestseller.

The desserts come in a lot of different combination where you can either mix and match your choice, or simply go for the bestseller. However, it's a bit confusing at first to really decide which series to mix because you usually don't get all the things you like in one series, so the favourite of course is the bestseller. haha. Have I convinced you enough to try the Bestseller?



Anyway, after you placed your order and paid at the counter you will be given a UFO plate, a beeping UFO indeed.


This beeping UFO is an indicator to you when you should go and collect your dessert at the counter. Their style is like starbucks, where you pay, then collect your drinks at the next counter. But this one more canggih, you can go back to your table and chit chat until ....


The UFO blinks and beeps.

When I took these pictures, this was already my third or forth time there. So I tried another series instead of bestseller.
I ordered a Taroball series, mix with nuts, pearl and red beans.


I must say, Taroball is their special! I bet most people are there for the taroballs.

Even the future doctor says "nice".


Happy Mooncake Festival.
Happy Lantern Festival.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.