shots of ordinary items in life.
A bit challenging.
flora macro experiment
This is an attempt to "create something out of nothing",
shots of ordinary items in life.
A bit challenging.
shots of ordinary items in life.
A bit challenging.
now i see
Yes. I admit that I made a huge fuss over something as small as a pinhead.
In fact I was so puzzled, why in the world I got that upset.
With the assistance of my friends, I’ve realized that my upset was not really about the incident where my photos were commented.
That incident is only a trigger of something in the past-
A past which I now see that I haven’t given up!
I was so clingy to THAT similar past, because maybe it was quite a huge trauma to me.
In that past event, I wanted to share some of my opinions, I got disagreements, and everything went ugly after that.
I thought I’ve already moved on, but I didn’t. I was so stubborn to hold on to that past.
Sadly, the predictable future would be of me being ticked off by anything so small as someone saying “I don’t agree with you” in any public sites.
I will snap off whenever there is a different idea, just because it is said to me in public, since I make it mean “I feel humiliated and you make me feel like I am a failure”.
The cost of it is that I would always feel miserable.
I’m done with all this.
I’m forgiving that past, totally putting it away already.
Because it happened back then, and not now.
I’m creating my future to be free, and unstoppable.
And by that, magically my upset with that graphic designer disappeared.
In fact I was so puzzled, why in the world I got that upset.
With the assistance of my friends, I’ve realized that my upset was not really about the incident where my photos were commented.
That incident is only a trigger of something in the past-
A past which I now see that I haven’t given up!
I was so clingy to THAT similar past, because maybe it was quite a huge trauma to me.
In that past event, I wanted to share some of my opinions, I got disagreements, and everything went ugly after that.
I thought I’ve already moved on, but I didn’t. I was so stubborn to hold on to that past.
Sadly, the predictable future would be of me being ticked off by anything so small as someone saying “I don’t agree with you” in any public sites.
I will snap off whenever there is a different idea, just because it is said to me in public, since I make it mean “I feel humiliated and you make me feel like I am a failure”.
The cost of it is that I would always feel miserable.
I’m done with all this.
I’m forgiving that past, totally putting it away already.
Because it happened back then, and not now.
I’m creating my future to be free, and unstoppable.
And by that, magically my upset with that graphic designer disappeared.
what's left in a glass of ice lemon tea
Being happy is a responsibility.
We're not given being happy.
Life is given the way it is.
Today, I am happy.
Tomorrow, I will never know.
If you are given sour lemons,
then squeeze it and make ice lemon tea!
Enjoy the drink and what's left is the lemon,
but as you see it in your glass, you don't mind about it anymore.
*photo taken at Red Box Pavillion*
We're not given being happy.
Life is given the way it is.
Today, I am happy.
Tomorrow, I will never know.
If you are given sour lemons,
then squeeze it and make ice lemon tea!
Enjoy the drink and what's left is the lemon,
but as you see it in your glass, you don't mind about it anymore.
*photo taken at Red Box Pavillion*
ticked off?
Quote-
Human beings are ‘upset waiting to happen’.
What does it mean by that?
We can just be upset by anything in the future.
Something will happen, and we will get frustrated.
Something else will happen, and we will get devastated.
It’s just a normal thing in life.
Only when we know that we are upset, accept that we are upset,
And learn how to give up that upset, the quicker the better,
Then we are powerful in our lives.
This week I see that a few people are dwelling in their upsets, including me.
As for my case, I got overwhelmed by something so insignificant.
But I got upset anyway.
Cut the story short, a graphic designer of my company commented in public on my camera shots-
“Boring.”
“Pointless.”
“You’re lucky that your automatic camera grabs the right exposure. No subject. No composition.”
“Congratulations! You’ve just killed the flower, butterfly, grass and the tree.”
I was really angry.
I felt humiliated.
I huffed and puffed in one whole week.
I lost my taste in taking any photos.
I lost my appetite.
My lips became dry and started to bleed.
Stress is a sure way to affect your health.
And I took the criticism badly, I created stress for myself, and I became sick.
I was really angry, after all I never had a good impression on this guy’s attitude before this, and his photos were not to my liking either.
Today, I’ve given up the upset and I'm enjoying my weekend.
It took a few people to convince me to give up.
A professional photographer said to me,
“It's nice to get critiques on your photos but when someone is so negative. You should ignore them.
The photos are great. Your skills appear to be very good. I wouldn't be able to improve the photos. But with all photos, once your skills are good, you should work on having your photos tell a story. This is much harder to do, and again doesn't depend on your camera but the person behind the camera.”
And few friends said,
“Your pictures are already good even when you had a cheaper camera.
You are entertaining a person’s negative comment when actually you don’t have to.”
So I’m giving it up.
Some people like you.
Some people dislike you.
Some people hate you.
Some people tried to tell you, but you took it the wrong way.
So let’s not be too significant about it, and have fun.
Below is a shot I took just before I leave the office for the weekend-
Human beings are ‘upset waiting to happen’.
What does it mean by that?
We can just be upset by anything in the future.
Something will happen, and we will get frustrated.
Something else will happen, and we will get devastated.
It’s just a normal thing in life.
Only when we know that we are upset, accept that we are upset,
And learn how to give up that upset, the quicker the better,
Then we are powerful in our lives.
This week I see that a few people are dwelling in their upsets, including me.
As for my case, I got overwhelmed by something so insignificant.
But I got upset anyway.
Cut the story short, a graphic designer of my company commented in public on my camera shots-
“Boring.”
“Pointless.”
“You’re lucky that your automatic camera grabs the right exposure. No subject. No composition.”
“Congratulations! You’ve just killed the flower, butterfly, grass and the tree.”
I was really angry.
I felt humiliated.
I huffed and puffed in one whole week.
I lost my taste in taking any photos.
I lost my appetite.
My lips became dry and started to bleed.
Stress is a sure way to affect your health.
And I took the criticism badly, I created stress for myself, and I became sick.
I was really angry, after all I never had a good impression on this guy’s attitude before this, and his photos were not to my liking either.
Today, I’ve given up the upset and I'm enjoying my weekend.
It took a few people to convince me to give up.
A professional photographer said to me,
“It's nice to get critiques on your photos but when someone is so negative. You should ignore them.
The photos are great. Your skills appear to be very good. I wouldn't be able to improve the photos. But with all photos, once your skills are good, you should work on having your photos tell a story. This is much harder to do, and again doesn't depend on your camera but the person behind the camera.”
And few friends said,
“Your pictures are already good even when you had a cheaper camera.
You are entertaining a person’s negative comment when actually you don’t have to.”
So I’m giving it up.
Some people like you.
Some people dislike you.
Some people hate you.
Some people tried to tell you, but you took it the wrong way.
So let’s not be too significant about it, and have fun.
Below is a shot I took just before I leave the office for the weekend-
too beautiful
I had a bad day today.
Just in my own drama, that's all.
This clip below finally made me cry.
Japanese. They can do wonders.
Just in my own drama, that's all.
This clip below finally made me cry.
Japanese. They can do wonders.
a peaceful syawal indeed.
This year’s celebration was special to me.
I was looking forward to go down south to my grandparents’ house on my father’s side.
I was excited to wear my new yellow traditional suit.
It was quite a torture to shop at the last minute along the extremely packed Masjid India street, and had to pay a lot for it-
But the baju Melayu was made by some kind of really nice material, soft and smooth, and I never wore yellow before. Turned out that it suits me. Experiment was a success.
So. raya came and everyone was in their best baju Melayu and baju kurung.
In the morning when the whole family- grandma, grandpa, mom, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins gathered at the hall- that was the best.
I saw my brothers, who had almost three years of dispute with my mom,
They knelt down and seek forgiveness from their mother.
And then they hugged and my brothers cried. For at least fifteen minutes.
The family tie is officially reunited again.
The relatives took it with humor, so as to bring up the cheerful raya morning,
And mom was also cool about it. She lovingly and jokingly scolded my brothers for what they have done.
Only when I looked closely on the photos that I took, I saw that mom shed a tear or two.
She’s a strong woman as what she’s always is.
To be honest, in my family, we were not being brought up by our parents to do the forgiveness ceremony, but magically during this raya, we did.
Too bad I didn’t take longer leave this year for Idulfitr.
I had so much fun, I felt sad leaving Muar to go back to Damansara.
I was looking forward to go down south to my grandparents’ house on my father’s side.
I was excited to wear my new yellow traditional suit.
It was quite a torture to shop at the last minute along the extremely packed Masjid India street, and had to pay a lot for it-
But the baju Melayu was made by some kind of really nice material, soft and smooth, and I never wore yellow before. Turned out that it suits me. Experiment was a success.
So. raya came and everyone was in their best baju Melayu and baju kurung.
In the morning when the whole family- grandma, grandpa, mom, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins gathered at the hall- that was the best.
I saw my brothers, who had almost three years of dispute with my mom,
They knelt down and seek forgiveness from their mother.
And then they hugged and my brothers cried. For at least fifteen minutes.
The family tie is officially reunited again.
The relatives took it with humor, so as to bring up the cheerful raya morning,
And mom was also cool about it. She lovingly and jokingly scolded my brothers for what they have done.
Only when I looked closely on the photos that I took, I saw that mom shed a tear or two.
She’s a strong woman as what she’s always is.
To be honest, in my family, we were not being brought up by our parents to do the forgiveness ceremony, but magically during this raya, we did.
Too bad I didn’t take longer leave this year for Idulfitr.
I had so much fun, I felt sad leaving Muar to go back to Damansara.
raya activities - 2009
This year’s raya I had so much fun with my siblings and my cousins.
And with the aunts and grandparents too.
I took some nice photos in Muar this raya.
It's a nice half wooden half brick house, surrounded with greenery.
All families have cats, and these cats were brought along with us.
There were total of twelve cats that we spoil in the house this raya.
We ate cookies, rendang, serunding, steam fish, curry, laksa, keropok.
Most of us had laptops and we watched chick flick, horror movies, cartoons. The TV had a good rest instead.
We chat, joked, screamed at each other.
At night, sleeping felt so cosy-
the air was clean and cooling, and it was so quiet.
Once a while we checked our Facebook and harvest the crop in Farmville.
Then we went back and repeated all of the above.
On the second raya we visited my grandparents' brothers and sisters,
And on the third day we went to go and walk by the beach- at Tanjong Emas.
We ate ice cream, took photos, enjoyed the scenery and the wind.
And by the tanjong we saw an eye candy.
Hm hm hm.
Enjoy.
And with the aunts and grandparents too.
I took some nice photos in Muar this raya.
It's a nice half wooden half brick house, surrounded with greenery.
All families have cats, and these cats were brought along with us.
There were total of twelve cats that we spoil in the house this raya.
We ate cookies, rendang, serunding, steam fish, curry, laksa, keropok.
Most of us had laptops and we watched chick flick, horror movies, cartoons. The TV had a good rest instead.
We chat, joked, screamed at each other.
At night, sleeping felt so cosy-
the air was clean and cooling, and it was so quiet.
Once a while we checked our Facebook and harvest the crop in Farmville.
Then we went back and repeated all of the above.
On the second raya we visited my grandparents' brothers and sisters,
And on the third day we went to go and walk by the beach- at Tanjong Emas.
We ate ice cream, took photos, enjoyed the scenery and the wind.
And by the tanjong we saw an eye candy.
Hm hm hm.
Enjoy.
this year they sound sentimental and melodious again
It has been a few years that I honestly felt irritated hearing those raya songs playing on air during the last two weeks of the fasting month.
I secretly looked at it as something so overrated.
Raya songs never did give me the warm fuzzy feeling at all.
Being a person who has his family so close, living only a city apart, I do not experience the homesick and the longing to come back to my hometown from a place far away.
However this year, raya songs seem like beautiful evergreen songs to me. I even listened carefully to the arrangement, how the instrumentation being written nicely, hence the ability of those songs to stick with us for a long time to come.
This year, as it approaches to the end, was a very good education period for me, for the lesson called “life”.
I started off with a huge challenge that only a few experienced it before, and was all out to try and fix everything. Until eventually, only I realized that some things do not need for me to jump in and try to repair. What’s needed is a sincere heart and a willingness to give it up (that wasn’t easy- I’ve learned that giving up needs to be done again and again in our lives), and let God do the miracle.
Things are getting better now.
This excitement to meet my cool cousins,
and to look forward for unknown new things laid there for myself,
and also a new leaf between me and my old friends-
All of these are reflected- in those raya songs.
Selamat menyambut hari lebaran.
Selamat menyambut hari kejayaan.
And for my old mates whom I know for almost 15 years-
who believed in me and gave me a second chance-
you guys know who you are, I thank you.
The coffee session was great.
I secretly looked at it as something so overrated.
Raya songs never did give me the warm fuzzy feeling at all.
Being a person who has his family so close, living only a city apart, I do not experience the homesick and the longing to come back to my hometown from a place far away.
However this year, raya songs seem like beautiful evergreen songs to me. I even listened carefully to the arrangement, how the instrumentation being written nicely, hence the ability of those songs to stick with us for a long time to come.
This year, as it approaches to the end, was a very good education period for me, for the lesson called “life”.
I started off with a huge challenge that only a few experienced it before, and was all out to try and fix everything. Until eventually, only I realized that some things do not need for me to jump in and try to repair. What’s needed is a sincere heart and a willingness to give it up (that wasn’t easy- I’ve learned that giving up needs to be done again and again in our lives), and let God do the miracle.
Things are getting better now.
This excitement to meet my cool cousins,
and to look forward for unknown new things laid there for myself,
and also a new leaf between me and my old friends-
All of these are reflected- in those raya songs.
Selamat menyambut hari lebaran.
Selamat menyambut hari kejayaan.
And for my old mates whom I know for almost 15 years-
who believed in me and gave me a second chance-
you guys know who you are, I thank you.
The coffee session was great.
man-made nature
I stopped my bike at the side of the road for a while, at the old un-used bike lane.
This is a view that not everyone noticed that it's there.
Swans.
Water tunnels.
This is a view that not everyone noticed that it's there.
Swans.
Water tunnels.
my mind wanders as i do housekeeping
I was doing some adjustment on my blogspot. I decided to add labels on my posts, so that people can view certain type of posts that they’re interested of.
For example, I know that some visitors are not interested in reading anything, but they want to see pictures. So if you’re one, you go to the right hand side, just click at the link “1000 words” under Read by Category.
When I started the labeling, I had to look back to the list of the old posts- some were worth being labeled, some were nice memories, some reminded me of the pain in the past.
There were also posts where I declared that I’ve wanted to do some actions, but didn’t really happen. For instance, I wanted to have carrots in my daily diet- but nowadays the only vege that I have in my fridge is for my iguana.
These reminders of the promises for myself that I didn’t fulfill- it wasn’t like a slap on my face, but more like a subtle yet annoying poke on my forehead.
But then again, we are all human beings
who occasionally fail to fulfill a few things-
New year resolutions.
Diet plans.
That plan to master water color painting.
Eat vitamin C everyday.
Life is short. We ought to live it up feeling happy.
As for the things that we said we wanna do-
Like a friend said, how diligent we are to do something shows how bad do we want it.
However, it ain't really matter if we don't do them-
We’re not going to die.
Life will still go back to its usual business.
But.
If we do the things we say we are going to do,
We’ll get pleasant results.
And of course, life will go to the next level.
It's up to us.
For example, I know that some visitors are not interested in reading anything, but they want to see pictures. So if you’re one, you go to the right hand side, just click at the link “1000 words” under Read by Category.
When I started the labeling, I had to look back to the list of the old posts- some were worth being labeled, some were nice memories, some reminded me of the pain in the past.
There were also posts where I declared that I’ve wanted to do some actions, but didn’t really happen. For instance, I wanted to have carrots in my daily diet- but nowadays the only vege that I have in my fridge is for my iguana.
These reminders of the promises for myself that I didn’t fulfill- it wasn’t like a slap on my face, but more like a subtle yet annoying poke on my forehead.
But then again, we are all human beings
who occasionally fail to fulfill a few things-
New year resolutions.
Diet plans.
That plan to master water color painting.
Eat vitamin C everyday.
Life is short. We ought to live it up feeling happy.
As for the things that we said we wanna do-
Like a friend said, how diligent we are to do something shows how bad do we want it.
However, it ain't really matter if we don't do them-
We’re not going to die.
Life will still go back to its usual business.
But.
If we do the things we say we are going to do,
We’ll get pleasant results.
And of course, life will go to the next level.
It's up to us.
laboratory
Followed a friend and visited the laboratory
where he does his masters research.
Tried my shots again.
where he does his masters research.
Tried my shots again.
beginner photos
These are the photos that I managed to take today.
They really look between normal and amateur.
Phew! It DOES take a lot of creativity to take even one shot.
I wonder how did those professional photographers took their award winning images.
(No, I won't post them here, they will make my shots look disastrous)
Some of their photos are so good, it touches you inside.
Well, that's what most good art would do, be it music, theatre, painting, and photography.
They really look between normal and amateur.
Phew! It DOES take a lot of creativity to take even one shot.
I wonder how did those professional photographers took their award winning images.
(No, I won't post them here, they will make my shots look disastrous)
Some of their photos are so good, it touches you inside.
Well, that's what most good art would do, be it music, theatre, painting, and photography.
being healthy
I’ve created a few possibilities in my life-
a) The possibility of being a world class trumpet player. ( I have no idea how to get to that level of achievement, but the idea of being on a world class stage, facing the audience with all the light coming directly towards us- that is such an awesome inspiration).
b) The possibility of an outstanding IT executive. (Currently having few breakdowns that I will have to deal with).
c) And I’ve also created the possibility of health!
After having a medical checkup and received excellent results (body age is 18), I decided to give myself a birthday gift. I registered myself at the nearest fitness gym in my neighborhood. I had to give up thinking of the huge chunk of money I had to pay for the registration, after all, thinking of it now, it was way five months ago.
So far I’ve been doing well, albeit that currently I am having annoying back pain. I speculate that it’s due to my wrong posture while lifting up the barbell from its rack.
I asked other gym-goers, and actually this is something common!
I just need to be careful every time I’m dealing with free weights.
Tips to you if you go to the gym-
ALWAYS stand/sit up straight, chest in front and spine locked,
at ANY work out that you do. Even when you do your legs.
Because after all, sitting up straight is a good posture to practice.
My closest aim now is to get that nice washboard abs. Hopefully during this fasting month, I’ll get results.
Inside the possibility of health, I’m also starting to visit the dentist, regularly. I am fortunate to be working in this very cool dental clinic, few years back.
It’s actually one of the best in the city. Best service, great quality, reasonable fees. Celebrities actually come here. I’ve recommended it to the rest of my friends.
It even has a website!
Just click here.
I used to have problems chewing hard crunchy snacks, and I really suffered.
After my first visit to the clinic when I got my cavities treated and filled, I can eat whatever I want! And the recent visit was to do scaling and polishing. Now my teeth is beautiful and white.
Bit by bit, I managed to push my life up to the next level.
The point is, if you create a possibility that inspires you, take actions in living up to the possibility. Of course there would be upsets and breakdowns- just welcome them and deal with them one at a time.
a) The possibility of being a world class trumpet player. ( I have no idea how to get to that level of achievement, but the idea of being on a world class stage, facing the audience with all the light coming directly towards us- that is such an awesome inspiration).
b) The possibility of an outstanding IT executive. (Currently having few breakdowns that I will have to deal with).
c) And I’ve also created the possibility of health!
After having a medical checkup and received excellent results (body age is 18), I decided to give myself a birthday gift. I registered myself at the nearest fitness gym in my neighborhood. I had to give up thinking of the huge chunk of money I had to pay for the registration, after all, thinking of it now, it was way five months ago.
So far I’ve been doing well, albeit that currently I am having annoying back pain. I speculate that it’s due to my wrong posture while lifting up the barbell from its rack.
I asked other gym-goers, and actually this is something common!
I just need to be careful every time I’m dealing with free weights.
Tips to you if you go to the gym-
ALWAYS stand/sit up straight, chest in front and spine locked,
at ANY work out that you do. Even when you do your legs.
Because after all, sitting up straight is a good posture to practice.
My closest aim now is to get that nice washboard abs. Hopefully during this fasting month, I’ll get results.
Inside the possibility of health, I’m also starting to visit the dentist, regularly. I am fortunate to be working in this very cool dental clinic, few years back.
It’s actually one of the best in the city. Best service, great quality, reasonable fees. Celebrities actually come here. I’ve recommended it to the rest of my friends.
It even has a website!
Just click here.
I used to have problems chewing hard crunchy snacks, and I really suffered.
After my first visit to the clinic when I got my cavities treated and filled, I can eat whatever I want! And the recent visit was to do scaling and polishing. Now my teeth is beautiful and white.
Bit by bit, I managed to push my life up to the next level.
The point is, if you create a possibility that inspires you, take actions in living up to the possibility. Of course there would be upsets and breakdowns- just welcome them and deal with them one at a time.
goodbye and hello
A lot have changed these two years.
Some come, some go.
As I leave the area, I touched her for the last time.
Goodbye, you have been so dedicated to me.
We traveled together almost everyday for the past eight years.
You were my travel companion.
We even go further to Melacca once.
I left the place while listening to the solemnity of Waltz Lesson, sung by Alex Choo.
My, I am so melancholic!
Goodbye my first bike.
I started off my new bike.
The engine hummed so pleasantly, as soft as an electric water boiler.
As I ride this new babe slowly on the street, a few other riders actually turned their heads to look at my fiery red 135LC.
The front light is so bright, at least three times than my first bike.
The handle feels strong, heavy and steady.
The strong engine, has a coolant system,
and it's the same engine they have on FZ150.
FZ150, has a bigger body that won't suit petite riders like me.
I have this nice feeling being a biker again.
On another relevant note, it's difficult to find a laminate center for you to laminate your bike road tax nowadays. The scarcity of photo processing shops nowadays caused laminating service seem to cease to exist.
I found this nice shop though, at Ikano Power Center.
Just go towards the escalator near the photo shop and Justlife organic shop,
and go down one level. You'll find it there.
Some come, some go.
As I leave the area, I touched her for the last time.
Goodbye, you have been so dedicated to me.
We traveled together almost everyday for the past eight years.
You were my travel companion.
We even go further to Melacca once.
I left the place while listening to the solemnity of Waltz Lesson, sung by Alex Choo.
My, I am so melancholic!
Goodbye my first bike.
I started off my new bike.
The engine hummed so pleasantly, as soft as an electric water boiler.
As I ride this new babe slowly on the street, a few other riders actually turned their heads to look at my fiery red 135LC.
The front light is so bright, at least three times than my first bike.
The handle feels strong, heavy and steady.
The strong engine, has a coolant system,
and it's the same engine they have on FZ150.
FZ150, has a bigger body that won't suit petite riders like me.
I have this nice feeling being a biker again.
On another relevant note, it's difficult to find a laminate center for you to laminate your bike road tax nowadays. The scarcity of photo processing shops nowadays caused laminating service seem to cease to exist.
I found this nice shop though, at Ikano Power Center.
Just go towards the escalator near the photo shop and Justlife organic shop,
and go down one level. You'll find it there.
random shots
Random shots that I've taken with my camera.
Ministry of Finance (horizontal)
Tomcat (the adult male cat at my mom's house)
Playful kitten
Ministry of Finance (vertical)
Cubicles (my office)
Screw you! (computer screws)
Long journey (railway near Serdang)
Ministry of Finance (horizontal)
Tomcat (the adult male cat at my mom's house)
Playful kitten
Ministry of Finance (vertical)
Cubicles (my office)
Screw you! (computer screws)
Long journey (railway near Serdang)
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