The Antipodal Point

Back to Black

2009-02-12T14:27:00.001+08:00

Black Horse, originally uploaded by alreza.

Havent posted anything for quite awhile lately. Been enjoying life too much to get stuck in front of the pc blogging about it hahaha... anyway recently (well not recently...throughout the past few months..when was the last post again? =X) got myself a few assets. Well, maybe liabilities depending on how one looks at them, but will talk about it starting with the most recent.

Traded in my 5 year old wira for a brand new ride. No its not something very expensive, just a basic car that can get me from point A to point B. Its suppose to be more fuel economical as well as compared to my old ride but that is something that i am still waiting to see.

One thing that i do see clearly is my recent taste for color. Everything seems black nowadays, not sure why but that seems to be the tendency. Even right now am blogging with something black, but thats the subject of a future (black) post.

The Deviant, I am?

2008-09-04T08:10:00.002+08:00

Why do people feel the need to categorize and classify things? More specifically why do they need to label something as not normal when it does not conform to their own views of normality? Don't we all have the right to be individuals? Once a certain uniqueness about a person is taken away, and he/she behaves and conforms to the manner of everyone else then would that not be classified as a mob? (assuming my definitions of a mob are correct ;) )

I have heard that Frank Tannenbaum and Howard S. Becker created and developed labelling theory in the sociology of deviance. It was explained: "Labelling theory suggests that deviance is caused by the deviant person being negatively labelled, internalizing the label, and acting according to the label. As time goes on, the "deviant" takes on traits that define what a real deviant is supposed to do and takes on the role of such a label by committing deviations that conform to the label."

So shall I conform, or shall i be my own unique individual...

At the antipodes

2008-08-19T09:13:00.003+08:00

I am at the antipodes again and it seems to be the most common thing in my life. Wanting to do something, to be something but always doing and being at the opposite point of that. When there are no 2 points to consider perhaps the antipodes would not matter because there is and can only be a singularity..

Chronicles of BVD (Black Voodoo Devil): A Stony Creek Romp

2008-07-14T16:52:00.008+08:00

This short short (very short) passage chronicles Bladoovil (short for Black Voodoo Devil 'cuz i just feel lazy to type out Black Voodoo Devil and can't think of a better name, well of course unless the 'royal highness' gives it one anyway :))

Bladoovil was happily exploring the suburb of Stony Creek when suddenly a giant appeared that wanted to capture Bladoovil's soul using a tool called 'the camera'.

Now of course Bladoovil did not want his soul to be captured (reality check: some people do not like to be photographed for this sole superstitious belief that their soul can be captured), and so he quickly tried to loose the giant amongst a field of golden flowers with nothing but his trusty three-pronged fork and his signature red underwear.

As Bladoovil was trying to find his way through this endless field of golden flowers, an acorn suddenly snuck up from behind him (in truth the acorn just fell from the big giant tree and happen to land behind Bladoovil just as he was passing by).

Having the fright of his life from what appeared to be an assassination attempt from an acorn (of all things), Bladoovil reacted in self defense and leaped to the air to perform his special move with his two-pronged 'fork': the poke-of-death!

Well, we all know the fate of the acorn after that fatal move... now as for the giant, Bladoovil managed to elude him... for now.....

to be continued..... (perhaps)

Daemons: The Golden Compass

2007-11-01T09:36:00.000+08:00

A new fantasy movie is coming out that is based on a book called 'The Golden Compass'. The movie uses the concept that humans have souls outside their body and is represented as a Daemon. That really puts a twist to the phrase 'our internal demons'. Anyway, just out of fun and curiosity I 'explored' my Daemon.. does this fit my personality?

Candlelight Vigil for Burma @ KLCC

2007-10-08T17:11:00.001+08:00

, originally uploaded by alreza.

There was a mass gathering at the KLCC grounds last Friday the 5th of October in support of Burma's plight. A bunch of us from the KL flickr community as well as some workmates went there to show our support as well. Though there were cops, it was a peaceful ..shall we say... "demonstration".

Steph and Dave's Wedding Registration

2007-09-14T07:42:00.000+08:00

Stephanie and David recently had their wedding registration in Putrajaya. The couple will head for London soon as Steph is now posted there. Will be missing them alot but at least whenever I head down to the UK (for maybe a photo excursion perhaps), I have somewhere to bunk in ;) . Hope you guys don't mind ya Steph and Dave? And I hope you don't mind too that I may steal your husband for the said excursion :P

Trippin' in Langkawi

2007-08-02T08:39:00.000+08:00

Went for a short break to Langkawi with friends old and new recently and it was a major BLAST! Cenang beach is really a happening place to be and there were many Europeans and water sports activities on this beach.

The highlight of the trip was a banana boat romp and it was great amongst close friends. I think we broke the record so far for falling 4 times in 1 session! Aside from the fact that we had two so-called 'non-swimmers' it was great fun. The evening was also blessed by the most beautiful golden sunset but alas I left my ~Dawn~ in the resort. Later that same night, a friend introduced us to a wonderful Japanese Restaurant at Pantai Tengah called 'Unkaizen Restaurant'.

It was certainly a trip to remember..

Time to change..

2007-07-09T09:50:00.000+08:00

The title is a caption from an add of the live-action film 'Transformers'. And man did it ROX-ED..sorry for the bad English there.. Went to see it the other night unintentionally though as was supposed to book for a Wed group outing but there were no longer available seats. They had opened up another hall just in time for me to buy tickets and they were no regrets watching it...right then and there... Of all the sci-fi/fantasy flicks that came out recently (Spiderman 3 and F4 II: Rise of the Silver Surfer), this is one that blew me out of the waters. I do not mind watching it in the cinemas again..'twas that good for me. Oh and Megan Fox is uber hot... a definite Mega-Fox (Megatron, eat your heart out!).

Tagged: Six Wierd Things About Moi

2007-04-02T11:13:00.000+08:00

Been tagged by Steph awhile back on her post, so I guess I should take up on it to be sporting. Haha.. Well, here goes:

I don't think I'm wierd (does that count??)
I go mental (slightly -ask my colleagues, they'll know) after 6pm at the office (but then again, who doesn't?? right??.... right??)
I am sooooo into photography and I have named my dSLR and I almost....almost take it everywhere I go.. :D
Oh and along the lines of #4 above, something non-camera related that cost a 3 digit number would really make me question its purchase but something camera related that costs 4 digit or more would not.
I do not eat egg yolk however the egg is cooked and even dishes with garnishes for eg. porridge I will separate the 'extra' bits and eat the rice plainly first.
Somebody needs to help me with this last one ... :D

Hmmm... can't really think of anyone to tag because the rest that I know that have not been tagged and have a blog are highly unlikely to follow through. So, if anybody wants me to tag them, lemme know .. :)

Gong Xi Fa Chai

2007-02-27T18:08:00.000+08:00

A happy belated Chinese New Year to all. Been busy with work and my passion (no they're no related). Minor news is that I bought myself presents this month in the form of 2 National Geography books. And I joined smugmug (thanks to fox for the introduction - and that sets me back US$34)! Those interested in reading more can visit my other site here.

Guess who?: Episode 1

2007-01-14T21:46:00.000+08:00

For those who recognise, this is the first part of a 'Guess Who?' post. The only clue: its a guy......ok seriously... he's a colleague..

Innocence of Youth

2007-01-09T14:34:00.000+08:00

Received news of late that the daughter of my babysitter when I was small has been confirmed to have bone cancer. Apparently this was noticed by the sound of 'cracking' in the knees. My parents told me that doctors also confirmed another crack in the wrist. I do not know yet what stage is it at or the type of cancer as bone cancer can be of 2 forms: primary, cancer that begins in the bone (which is rare) or secondary bone cancer, the one that spreads from another part of the body to the bone.

I was informed that the 2 most common cases of bone cancer is Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma, the latter being mostly found in adolescents and young adults. She is still very young at 10 years of age and the prospect of her possibly 'leaving' us (and especially her parents who care for her very much) early is saddening to know. These are the people who helped me and my parents when our family just 'started'. Doctors say that there is not much to hope for but looking through the web I did see references that there are treatments that are possible, depending on the type and stage of the cancer. I just hope that hope is a possibility. They say sometimes you should not take away hope from some people, for it may be all that they have left. But I also do understand that the reality of the situation should be made aware.

New Hopes

2007-01-09T08:34:00.000+08:00

Finally manage to survive the transition into the new year without much hassle. Its been rather hectic at work and outside work with many mini-photography projects towards the end of last year. In fact, I still owe a few people some photographs to which I will be providing..soon. Real sorry for the delay.

Singapore trip went well and had a great time touring anything accessible with the MRT and anything else that uses the Easy Link card. Must really thank Sam and her family for their hospitality. The place was great and the location was easily accesible via public transport and close by to the city, just a few minutes walk to the entrance of NUS. Looks like I might be visiting again, real soon! (I still owe Sam her pen back). The main reason for the trip was a visit to Cathay Photo for some err.. equipment. Lets just say that the savings I made purchasing here compared to back home was more than the cost of the return bus tickets. Speaking of bus, the trip back was NOT fun at all with major jams near Ayer Keroh and the air-conditioning belt breaking down mid-way! I may not take Airebus again..

Had two weddings to attend in December as mentioned in previous post: one in Johor and another in Malacca. Was great travelling with friends, almost like an excursion. Other than that it was just more, and more photog outings during the weekends and a Christmas Eve steambot gathering amongst friends. New Year's eve was very low key for me..just home with the family seeing as to dad's birthday is on the 1st of Jan.

Other milestones (for me) included the purchase of an external 200Gb Maxtor drive to which I must thank nottyboy for his asssitance in the selection process. Needed this as I realise my old laptop's drive has less than 1Gb left and this was made worst and running resource intensive programs like Photoshop and DPP. Hopefully this drive can last me a while to satisfy my photog needs.

Stressful moments include the almost 'death' of my laptop. Luckily for me, opened it the next morning and got a message saying,

'Your machine has recovered from a serious error'

Serious error indeed. Teaches me to make sure all important things are backed up on the new drive. Case in point: a friend's wedding pics which I still need to give.

Approaching the Year End

2006-11-30T20:35:00.000+08:00

Its been really hectic the past few weeks, not just with work. Now speaking of work, sometimes I feel that we are biting more than we can chew.

Nuff said.

I've also been making myself busy shooting (pictures) almost every weekend now. Two weeks ago was a portrait shooting event organised by my fellow shutter-bug and sifu fox which is detailed in my other blog here (or the link to the left), while last weekend was mainly location scouting at KLCC for good views (also posted in the other blog).

This weekend there is a colleague's wedding event at Labis, Johor. Hopefully I can wake up early for a tentative 6am-ish start from KL to reach there by 9am when the ceremony starts. Hope there are no speed traps too ...heh.

And the weekend after that, there is ANOTHER wedding event...in Malacca. Phew.... thats quite a bit for me. This is followed by my leave to Singapore to welcome a friend from Holland and to visit other friends there.

With all these shooting, I'm running out of space on my 20Gb laptop reeaal fast. Sigh, I need to get myself a big external hard drive......

Climate Change

2006-11-23T08:23:00.000+08:00

Has anyone noticed the quite dramatic change in our weather patterns and climate recently? It all started mainly after the recent short spell of haze we had. Two thursdays ago I noticed what initially I thought was haze (and news over the radio blindfully announced that the haze has returned again), but it wasn't. It was more like mist ... maybe even low clouds..but the latter is almost impossible on low lands.

It happened again this morning on the way to work along the NKVE. The mist was really thick that one would almost be forgiven thinking it was low clouds. This most probably have been caused by the dramatic rainfall we have been having everyday for the past few weeks, maybe even month. But one thing I can say about the daily heavy evening rain is that it produces beautiful sunrise in the mornings. Great for someone like me to take landscapes. :)

Unwinding the Curve

2006-11-20T20:28:00.000+08:00

Felt really great to just unwind after a really tight week with a bunch of us from work. Everyone was feeling really drained and so needed re-fueling with the usual...and me with...err....coke..haha..

It was really quite packed for my first friday night here as mostly we hang around at work.....sounds sad but our office is in Mid Valley so...

Felt guilty leaving my colleagues at midnight but have an early morning shoot with another bunch the next day...sigh...

Bukit Tabur (test run)

2006-11-20T19:43:00.000+08:00

Meant to post this awhile back but just could not get my ass to it. Anyway, went to Bukit Tabur with a fellow friend two weekends ago. This place located in Taman Melawati near Zoo Negara provides breathtaking view of KL city on one side and a lake/damn..sorry..dam on the other.

Apparently this hill is quite frequented by early rises as their regular workout routine. Though I would not recommend this track to those who don't like to place their delicate hands on sharp rocks as this is a journey with which there will be plenty of.....touching rocks that is.

Well one thing I can say from this little trip is that you have to respect nature. Learnt that when we realized the route down a year or so ago no longer is the route down..phew..almost panicked when the sky turned dark to welcome the potential rain. Anyway, tragedy avoided we were safely down by 1am plus thanks to good decision making skills and some good samaritans we found along the way. And after all that (and looking at the pics), I welcome a trip back to ..... take more pics!!

Rainy Nights

2006-11-14T19:48:00.000+08:00

Its been raining heavily in the evenings for the past few days maybe even weeks. Driving home in the rain (and the jam..) last night got me thinking: I've been so busy lately and so is everyone around me that it seems that all those close to me are just drifting away.

And I think I'm getting used to that....

And thats the scary bit...

Revisiting Nature (in the frontyard)

2006-10-19T18:46:00.000+08:00

Wanted to just pay tribute to my parents efforts at maintaining the garden mostly without my help. Did a lot of work on the garden at inception but just could not find the time nor the inclination of late. I must say though that through their care the garden has really matured well. Seen here are my best shots using my new .....err...companion. Above is a bougainvillea and below is the red ginger.

P/S: The 50mm lens does a nice 'bokeh' for the shot on top. FYI, bokeh (from the japanese word boke reffering to 'blur' is a term used in photography to describe, how shall we say, the subjective aesthetic qualities of out-of-focus areas in an image or in short foreground and background blur. How well its coined...

Tiger shooting

2006-10-10T13:47:00.000+08:00

Went on this project of shooting tigres with fellow owners of DSLR now that I have obtained the 400D (ok ok.. its a bit of a deviation from the original plan of a 350D). It was quite hazy the day we went shooting at ZOO Negara but we went on ahead without heed.
A note though that I had to borrow a friend's 28-135mm lens as my kit lens did not have the focal range that was needed. So thanks James. Much appreciated.

Click on any of the pictures to be taken to the Zoo Negara photoset.

Road Culture

2006-09-18T17:45:00.000+08:00

What's up with the friggin' psychology of drivers in Malaysia. I mean wherever you go people keep changing lanes without freakin' using the bloody signal! I've experienced this for quite a while now but its just damn bloody annoying. Someone told me that this whole thing is a reverse psychology for those drivers whom when you do give a signal, they would step the pedal to the metal...ok ok...maybe thats a tad over-exaggerating but they do accelerate and stop you from changing lanes. Anyway, back to the first point. Whats really annoying about people not giving signals is when they change lanes suddenly and there is not much room between you and the front car which results in you having to break like crazy. Jeez, are we that much in a hurry that we forget common courtesy? Heck, didn't we even learn that (using signals when changing lanes) when we were taking our driving exams? C'mon people, I don't think its too much of an effort to flick your finger and hit the signal indicator knob. Else you would be on the receiving end of the middle finger...or worst yet, you might lose your rear bumper!

Photography resource 2

2006-08-24T22:05:00.000+08:00

Anybody interested in taking a photography workshop with National Geographic? You can find out more here. These guys are still into film SLR and by the looks of it you probably need to be a veteran photographer to join one of these workshops, besides being costly for me ( my choice workshop to Venice would set me back by about US$4,000+ and that does not include a return airfare home). So I think I will stick with experimenting through trial and error for now (by understanding and applying the fundamentals of course).

Speaking of fundamentals, came across another site on photography by Sean McHugh. Quite a technical site and very resourceful on the fundamentals of photography. You can see his tutorials here. His gallery of images taken around Cambridge is quite spectacular too (he uses these compositions to illustrate certain techniques. You can view his gallery here. Well, now there is quite bundle of information that I have garnered, all I need now is the actual camera (and the accessories) to put all these theories to practice...........

Just in:

Another reason to wait for me is the news of Canon's 350D successor: the 400D. Slated to be released in September in Europe and America, I hope it hits our(my) shores around then too. This supposedly the first in Canon's line to introduce the EOS self cleaning system. You can check it out at Canon's site, dpreview or CNETasia. Or just google it!

Scenic Spot Setting 1

2006-08-15T19:26:00.000+08:00

Came across this link whilst looking for photography workshops in Malaysia. This site belongs to a 'at-least-I-think-he-is' Malaysian photographer. It's an album set taken around the locale of Bukit Tabur, Selangor. I have not even gotten my SLR and I have already found a place to do some shooting. This would be a great day trip spot for shooting. For those interested the link is here.

Photography resource

2006-08-14T18:10:00.000+08:00

In relation to my last post, I would like to share here a link I stumbled across whilst doing my research on photography. I was looking for basic techniques and any information on photography and came across Dan Heller's site. Quite resourceful (at least for a beginner like me) and plenty of interesting compositions. A decision I have recently made upon this is to start off with a mid range lens preferably with a focal range from at least 28mm up to maybe 100mm or lesser (i just hope this is NOT sending my wallet into space! Coz' I know my dream startup lens,Canon's EF-S 17-85mm f/4.0-5.6 IS, would require me to save for another whole year.. so for now I guess I should stick with the 'kit' lens) .... and so my quest goes on.

To D or Not to D, that is the question....

2006-08-07T13:26:00.000+08:00

Been thinking about diving into the realm of serious photography after many years of just yearning for it and deciding on a vehicle to start on my journey. Canon and Nikon were recommended by my peers based on their wide customer base and hence wide availability of accessories as well as their reliability. Tentatively decided to begin my journey with Canon's 350D (it recieved an editor's choice and readers choice award on CNET Asia) ..

A friend said this cost around RM2800 but after checking out some stores it was slightly over RM3k. Sigh...hopefully due Christmas when I am planning to get it the price would be reduced (here's to hoping)... or someone could get it for me as a Christmas present. Now that would be great!! If so, might as well the Canon 1D MkII.... :). Thanks ahead...

Life's Lessons in Four Seasons

2006-08-04T16:47:00.000+08:00

Came across this in my emails a couple of months back. Normally I don't do forward mails, but this deserves a special mention. And instead of forwarding to a select few ( and be labelled a spammer..haha), I'll share it here. There were beautiful images than came along with it but the images were corrupted. Anyway, here it is:

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look
at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral:

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches
and better times are sure to come some time or later

Double Nights of Live Music

2006-07-31T16:03:00.000+08:00

It had been a great relaxing weekend with colleagues and friends after the being involved in such an arduous team building event. The weekend started with spending time in the company of colleagues at Feeling Cafe in Serdang. This was my first experience of live chinese music with a duet. Not bad for college students...

The second night was more of a good friend's fiancé's birthday get together. Normally these people would party with rave music or R&B but this time they decided a change of pace was needed and we went to Double Take's Summer Jazz Series II at Flo in Equatorial.

Bar flo

Bar Flo interior

Double Take comprises of Mia Palencia, a very talented singer-songwriter who also appeared recently in M!The Opera, and Roger Wang, a very skilled fingerstyle guitarist. The performance was quite spectacular for me as they could perform a whole range of songs with just Mia's voice and Roger's guitar though mostly it was more of a Bossa Nova ambience to it. There was also Mia's own "extended" version of 'A girl form Ipanema' though for her it was 'A girl from (insert name of a place that it too long for me to remember)'.

World Cup Finale 2006

2006-07-11T08:51:00.000+08:00

What a way to end the World Cup. I'm happy for Italy...seriously I am, but part of me wishes that France would have been the one to take away the world cup. One thing for certain in this prestigous event held every 4 years is uncertainty. There were a lot of upsets: Argentina, Germany and Brazil to name a few..but they were surprises too. I mean the Zidane's headbutt for example that made Italy's win seem like a sideshow. I don't condone it but the press everywhere is suddenly making him look like the devil. I am sure provocation was the cause... maybe he had been provoked throughout the game by that Italian defender, who knows? But whatever it is, I think we need to find out the reason behind things before we come to a conclusion. In any case, Zidane (Zizou) did get the Golden Shoe award which was decided by the media. Though I did not watch the final match due to fatigue from a week's work, I found out later that both Zizou and my personal fav, Theirry Henry, was not around for the penalty shootout decider. That was a pity because it is my feeling that with these two around, the scores would be a little ....... different.

ammended:

Just got some 'enlightenment' from wikipedia regarding the events of the world cup final. You can read it here. If this is true (wikipedia cites various sources), then the Italians really have no honour in their win.

Houzan's Cosmos GT Queen

2006-07-05T18:14:00.000+08:00

Of all the GT queens that I saw at the recent Japan GT 2006 event at Sepang, I would say the ladies from Team Houzan's Cosmos/Excite tops my list and specifically Saly (seen here with Yuumi Andou). Though alot of people have been telling me she doesn't look Japanese. Well she she certainly looks Japanese (and different) in her blog ..

Oh, and for those interested in more pics of GT Queens, please visit my friend's site: fox and yong...

Zonda!!

2006-06-27T19:59:00.000+08:00

Came across this baby at a stable behind the paddock of Sepang Circuit during the Japan GT 2006. This is the Zonda c12 from the Italian supercar maker Pagani and this particular one belongs to the Chairman of the Sepang Circuit. The road tax alone for this beast in Malaysia can cost you an arm and a leg (even more than the annual income for some of us). The latest 2005 incarnation of this 7.3L mid-engine V12 monster, the C12 F, can reach top speed of over 375km/h. Too bad there is no autobahn in Malaysia to test this out. At least the chairman has Sepang though being a technical course, the longest stretch in the circuit probably isn't enough to push this baby to its limits

Japan GT!!

2006-06-25T23:00:00.000+08:00

Was given free passes to the Japan GT in Sepang from my neighbour who is involved in the JPM Integra Cup held during the same time. Think of it as the side show for Japan GT. Anyway, the day started at 9ish when we arrived and hung around the tent belonging to JP Chin. This guy organizes club races and this particular one involves 25 Integras with the same spec and engine with the only difference being the personalized tuning for the drivers...

First stop was the rooftop of the paddock to see the Asian Formula Renault race and the Japan GT practice run. Actually before that, managed to do the pit walk prior to the official one. This was good as you could really get up close with the GT beasts without the crowd, only downside was that the pit girls were not around yet. So we went to the back lane of the paddock and did managed to get more than a few glimpses of these ladies..

Soon after around noon was the start of the Integra Cup with drivers who come from rich backgrounds, on of them was the Ftech (laptop business) owner. The overall winner was this guy named Firhat Mokzhani..I think.. am not much of a fan of the local racing scene as you can see..

By the time the actual Japan GT started it was 4pm. Met up with some local girls in the industry and after half of the 54 laps spent at the grandstand, I decided the sun and sound was tooo hot for me and headed back to the airconditioned area of the paddock facing the pits where it wasn't so deafening. By the time everything was over, it was already way past 6pm.

All in all, although it was a very tiring day going back and fourth but I think it with all that I managed to see and experience, it was all worth the it...

The winning Arta NSX Honda Racing Team car..though am personally a fan of the Nismo Fairlady Z.

Please visit www.flickr.com/photos/azerila for more photos.

Unwind

2006-06-17T15:55:00.000+08:00

Some of us have been feeling really stressed out of late and we chose to de-stress at a regular joint just across the office, All Star, for pool and the 'usual'. Check these colleagues of mine out...Gaya, Mutu.....Keunggulan?? Hmmm.... not so sure about the last statement.

(PS: That motto used to be/or still is held by Dunhill)

The return

2006-06-17T14:03:00.000+08:00

Was in Penang recently for work and stayed along Gurney drive. The beach here is totally gone as the land has been reclaimed for development. I was born in the gurney area...and now..such a waste..sigh.There are many tall buildings now facing the sea with myself being 'consigned' to the 34th floor at Gurney Hotel with a room all to myself. Since some meetings on the last day were cancelled, only my colleagues went for a single meeting at Sungai Petani (an hour away) leaving me doing support work for HQ at coffee bean the whole day. Oh well, its better than travelling back and forth...

Discover Tenggol (or TO discover)

2006-06-15T13:44:00.000+08:00

Came across an article in the recent edition of Men's Health magazine on Pulau Tenggol. Looks extremely beautiful. This island off the coast of Terengganu, Malaysia apparently is one of the best kept secrets amongst local divers..untill now. Have not been diving myself for a couple of years now, and so will definitely need a refresher course before heading there. Hmmm...now I just need to look for some 'leg' (kaki). Will post again once I have been there...nothing beats seeing it with your own eyes...

The antipodal point revisited

2006-05-31T19:00:00.000+08:00

Listening to Bon Jovi's 'Welcome to Wherever You Are' the other day on the way home from work really got me thinking. This is such a great song and very motivational especially this bit in the lyrics:

'When you want to give up and your heart's about to break
Remember that you're perfect; God makes no mistakes'

I won't put up the rest of the lyrics here. Just google if interested but very inspirational words nonetheless.

Memoirs bequeathed in Taman Negara

2006-05-30T20:46:00.000+08:00

I would have written here a comprehensive recollection of the trip me and 11 other colleagues and friends had on our trip to Taman Negara, replete with accolades on how great the the forest was and how much fun we had taking part in all the activities but .... I would consider it to be a mute point considering they have already done it for me. And more importantly because it is here that I have truly departed with my dearly beloved. Without her, I will no longer be able to take spontaneous pictures...sob. Goodbye dear k750i. I will miss you truly along with all the memories that you have captured for me since the day I had you. Anyway, as consololation NYPD, mimi and fox have already covered this well in their blogs. Enjoy.. (you need to understand chinese for the latter two)

In Search of Sunrise

2006-05-03T19:29:00.000+08:00

Location: Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, Thailand

I know, the title is a direct rip-off of Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise series but it just fits the bill perfectly. I was listening to the easy melodic progressive trance tunes on the first CD on the way to Samui and it was there.. the feeling of the beach and sunrise.

As soon as we got there, we headed for dinner at a Seafood restaurant whilst waiting for our Japanese friend whose flight got delayed when transiting in Bangkok. Next, we headed for a Red Moon Rave which was at Lamai Beach if I'm not mistaken. The next day was an early start (9ish is pretty early for us as most of us slept at 2/3am) with breakfast and chilling by the beach. We took a 3pm ferry to Koh Phangan, a smaller island north of Samui. The picture above shows some new chalets being contructed near the cliffs by the sea. Our plan here was to go to the full moon party on Haad Rin beach but alas there was no full moon, so we just hung around Haad Rin with all the other Europeans. One peculiar thing was that because they had paid toilets, ocassionally a row of Europeans (of both sexes) by the water front just 'letting it go'...or perhaps the phrase here should be 'letting it flow'.

Speaking of the restrooms, I am simply amazed at how clean the public toilets here are. They're so very well maintained and clean that it makes the toilets in Zouk, KL look like a war zone (ok I MAY be exagerrating ..slightly). In any case, we retired late again..or should I say early and again we could wake up for a very early relaxation at the pool which was facing the sea. After almost half a day (yes, thats right..close to 8 hours) we headed for the pier to take a speed boat (pronounced 'Saa-pit bot' in Thai dialect ... and no, thats NOT the Sa-pit boat there on the right) back to Samui. After a dip in the sea and the infinity-pool, we clubbed at a popular local outdoor place called the 'Green Mango' with its wooden huts located in Chaweng. As they close by 2am, we proceeded to another outdoor club called 'Solo' a few streets down and stayed here right till 6pm. They had an area where they played nice house and progressive trance music. There also was and R&B area. By the time we took the cab back it was almost dawn and we could almost see sunrise.

The next day, after a 4 hour sleep we decided to AGAIN relax by the sea and pool followed by some last minute shopping in Chaweng. Things here are really cheap and Samui or Thailand in general is THE place for good immitation goods. Our plane was delayed that evening and we ended up arriving back in KL a little past midnight. All in all, although it was tiring I think we all had an excellent Thai experience.. (no, there's no 'other' meaning there....)..

The cute little Samui international airport terminal

BioChicago2006

2006-04-19T14:21:00.000+08:00

View of Chicago from the pier

First ever trip to the US and I got Chicago. Mighty huge place. Would explain the reason why we got lost most of the time. They say Chicago is a better place to visit than Detroit though San Francisco is much better. Both of these latter places are much smaller though compared to Chicago city area. Everything went smoothly in terms of flight and immigrations despite me having a name with a BIN. The hickup occured on the day of arrival when I nearly lost my marbles due to a nearly missing passport. Thank god a kind and gentle soul saved me when she returned my jacket with the passport inside (got a scolding too..."You left your passport outside!!"). Thanks miss... (i assume she was a miss).

Anyway, we were there to attend an industrial event, Bio2006, which was held at the McCormick Place (seen here - looks empty but wait till you get in). This building too is huge one - 2.2million sq ft of exhibit space, apparently the biggest in the nation. Whats up with that..big city, big convention centres, big cars, big meals...ok I'll stop there. And going back to the building, they're in the midst of completing a whole new McCormick west side!! All 470,00 sq feet of it! Man, if you have to go from the west to the east I think you're legs will dislodge.

The event itself went very smoothly. Our company booth was located in the Malaysian pavillion which was designed to resemble the DNA's double-helical structure though you can't really see that from the picture. It was rather amusing that whenever the minister for MOSTI was around, that was the time you see the pavillion swarming with delegates and the press. Speaking of the press, our marketing guy who is supposed to be a hit with the ladies got snubbed by a female reporter for TV3. We all felt the rejection..lol.

After the 3 day event, we only took 1 day extra to be in Chicago. There are many things to see in Chicago like the Aquarium and the lookout point atop the Sears Tower but upon my colleagues request we ended up going to the Field Museum of Natural History. Though it sounds dreary, it was quite a good place to visit. In the mainhall stood Sue, supposedly the world's largest and most complete T-Rex. After the museum we took a stroll along Michigan Avenue where all the outlets were. This ended up with dinner at a Thai restauraunt in Bloomingdale's where the Thai ladies were very friendly. Ahem! Anyway, as a whole it was a good trip even though it was for work purposes. People in Chicago are friendly and very helpful bunch. There's lots more to tell but I can only afford an abridged version (I can hear sighs of relief).

View of the Chicago city line through a window in the Field Museum

Friends of mine, please visit www.flickr.com/photos/azerila for more pictures.

The excursion

2006-04-19T13:18:00.000+08:00

Tis' a very belated posting on the events of early April 2006. And this is mainly a post to share pictures of the excursion me and my colleagues had to Bukit Cahaya, SA, Malaysia. Being on April fool, the pranks started early with Aunty PD but being the cautious person that I am, the prank failed. Better luck next time ya!

To the left is a view of the main house at the Malay Kampung. We all rented bicylcles to navigate through the whole area. I don't know about the other lot, but it was really quite tough going up roads with almost a 45 degree gradient. Felt it in my thighs right through the next day! This is much better than going on those stationary bikes at the gym, at least there's a view here. Well, there are 'views' at the gym too but that another story altogether now.... This whole excursion ended up taking us more than half a day but it was a great day indeed amongst friends..heck I see them everyday at work that they almost feel like family now. Anyway, pictures speak a thousand words so I'll leave the pics below to tell the story.....

Disclaimer: These photos are taken with the SE (not SM's relative ya..) k750i. Please visit here to view better pics taken by my colleague who's a much better photographer and more fully equiped (if you can read Chinese, it would help)

New Years Eve '05/06

2006-01-02T21:02:00.000+08:00

Its funny that I mentioned earlier that I could not miss the Ferry Corsten event at Zouk for the whole world and I was really psyched about the whole week prior but come that night...sigh...I blew it off.. Probably was feelin really tired and so were my friends. Wierd thing is I was planning on an uneventful new year's eve but ended up going out with some close freinds. Talk about sponteneity....ok ok..actually it wasn't as the event was planned during a Christmas Eve gathering at a friends place. And what a New Years Eve it was..just like what a friend said.."New hopes, new dreams.."...hmmmm and Dave Seaman is coming down to Zouk next weekend...hopefully won't be tired to go fer that...

A long awaited FFVII sequel

2005-12-29T23:26:00.000+08:00

Bought a certain portable device with the help of my fellow blogger recently and have been spending quite some time these past weeks just trying to find media to fill up the devices 30Gb of space...sigh, only managed 3Gb so far..a long way to go. Of most recent was the animation Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Its amazing how Square-Enix can produce such a masterpiece ...at least for me. It was available here a couple of months back but I can't help but to watch it again and again... yes I am a freak...a Final Fantasy Freak.
Tetsuya Nomura and Takashi Nozue really did a superb job as directors and the Final Fantasy series music composer, Nobuo Uematsu, has never failed to produce excellent scores to accompany the movies theme. In my opinion, though the previous movie from Square, FF The Spirits Within was superb graphically, it was a tad weak on storyline as it was too dragging. But this current offering surpassed not only The Spirits Within in every aspect but it also outdoes what I thought Advent Children would turn out to be and I'm sure die-hard fans couldn't agree more. Though the movie is excellent, I would not recommend it for those who have not played the original game Final Fantasy VII as they could not appreciate the movie as much as one who has played through the original game. Seen above is Tifa Lockheart, the female lead and a fav of mine, and below her kicking some ass..literally.
P/S: Images like these make me sometimes think of trying out CG programming....sigh..too late..
Need to know more?? Visit the official site.

Semantics of Hypocrisy

2005-12-08T05:15:00.000+08:00

I am tired of people accusing others of hypocrisy. I see it everywhere I go and it makes me wonder to people actually semantically digest and comprehend its meaning before simply using it as a form of accusation?? I wonder indeed..Below is a direct quote from Websters dictionary for the term ‘hypocrite’

*
WEBSTER'S NEW UNIVERSAL UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY
*

hypocrite:

a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

***********************************************************************

There is a lot of articles out there in the web, and from what is understood and what I would like to think, a hypocrite is someone who publicly applies (or tries to) a certain standard he has set upon himself but fails to meet this standard AND DENIES or HIDES the fact that he has. Many people sadly throw accusations based solely on a person’s FAILURE to apply that certain standard to which he has set for himself, however my feeling is that all the above constituents need to come into play before the accusation is made. However, the semantics of hypocrisy can be argued days on end as what has been defined above is termed as an honest hypocrite in other views. But let us ponder on the following:

'L'hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend a la vertu..'(Hypocrisy is an homage that vice renders to virtue)
~François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Maximes, 1678

I mean even in debates, if one side lays this accusation the other really becomes defensive about it. People get hurt by such accusations. Its because we all have our egos that we treat it is as a major malevolance.

'Because hypocrisy stinks in the nostrils one is likely to rate it as a more powerful agent for destruction than it is.'
~Rebecca West, The Strange Necessity, 1928

In any case, peace out people. I leave you with a quote from an article titled 'The Self and Lazy Charge of Hypocrisy' by Thomas M. Siphos:

“Hypocrasy is not nice. But it is not genocide, murder, or rape. Nor even turnstile jumping. On a scale of evils, it's a petty offense. Most everyone commits hypocrisy at one time or another, just as most everyone speeds on a highway. Speeding endangers more lives, yet hypocrisy upsets more people. Go figure”

Cognitive Dissonance

2005-12-07T13:21:00.000+08:00

[Adaptation of my other blog..heh..]

We humans are a complex lot. And the majority of us are only using slightly less than 10% of our brain, and these are the smartest amongst us. Which makes me wonder at the human capacity to rationalize things, form opinions and make decisions. These factors influence our daily lives. As perfect as we want to be, we are still human and hence are not immune to flaws. This leads me to a state where some of us seem to fall into: cognitive dissonance.

In reference to the wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), cognitive dissonance is a condition first proposed by the psychologist Leon Festinger in 1956, relating to his hypothesis of cognitive consistency.It is basically a state of opposition between cognitions. For the purpose of cognitive consistency theory, cognitions are defined as being an attitude, emotion, belief or value, or even a mixture of these. In brief, the theory of cognitive dissonance holds that contradicting cognitions serve as a driving force that compels the human mind to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to modify existing beliefs, so as to minimize the amount of dissonance (conflict) between cognitions.

The main criticism of the cognitive consistency hypothesis is that it is impossible to verify or falsify by experiment. Even so, experiments have been attempted to quantify this hypothetical drive. Opponents of this hypothesis contend that relations between cognitions can be irrelevant or not present, and cite the apparent ability of many human beings to reconcile mutually exclusive or contradictory beliefs with no apparent stress.

Conflicting cognitions: cognitive dissonance
Once two cognitions are held and there is a conflict between them, one falls into a state of cognitive dissonance, an imbalance between cognitions and a psychological state which needs to seek consonance between the two cognitions.

Festinger further proposes that cognitive dissonance is a "negative drive state", a similar psychological tension to hunger and thirst and that people will seek to resolve this tension.
Reduction of cognitive dissonance, Festinger believed, is good because one feels better, and because one can come closer to consonance by eliminating contradictions. On the other hand some of the ways of reduction of cognitive dissonance involve a distortion of the truth, which may cause wrong decisions. The harder way of changing favourable cognitions may in the longer run be better.
When confronted with two belief cognitions that contradict each other, Festinger suggests the dissonance can be resolved by finding and adding a third piece of information relevant to the two beliefs.
[Adapted from en.wikipedia.org]

Why am I explaining all this I wonder? Just hoping that people in general would stop making pre-judgements about other people based solely on their own personal experience. It leads us to make procrustean judgements about other people.In case you are wondering, being procrustean involves imposing stern and inflexible conformity to a preconceived theory or system, in this case based on one's own personal experience.This term originated from the mythical legend of Procrustes who was reputed to tie his victims to an iron bed and then stretch them or cut off their legs to make them fit the bed.

In anycase, I just wish people would try to get to know and understand each other before making false accusations and judgements about each other. We each deserve a clean slate. Sometimes whatever we do that is in the best of intentions are always interpreted as our worst because of peoples procrustean tendencies.

I shall not bore whoever that reads this far into this blog any longer. We shall await my other views on hypocrisy in the next post. Till then wait it anticipation....muahaha...NOT!!

Ferry Corsten, KL: The Second Coming

2005-11-14T16:00:00.000+08:00

It has been a long time since I have been clubbing. Don't see the need to. Last Sat, John Digweed was down in Zouk KL. Heard from a friend that the set was wicked but even that was not enough of a motivation for me to get my ass down to KL. Plus was really feelin' tired. But on Friday the 23rd of December the trance-meister, Ferry Corsten will be down again (he was here in May 2004). Some might recognize him as System F from a couple of years back. I missed his session last year and will make it a point to be there this year. Check out his other tour dates for those interested. And his new track 'Fire' is already out while the LP 'Star Traveller' will be released 21st November this year (not that it will be readily avalailable here in KL and not that I have a readily available turntable ...sigh)

P/S: Just found a wicked track on itunes, Carte Blanche by Veracocha (actually its old as I heard it back in 2000) but whats interesting to some is that Veracocha is an alias of a collaboration between Ferry and Vincent de Moor. The other good result of a collaboration was with DJ Tiesto back at the turn of the Century: Gouryella - Walhalla.

The need to achieve

2005-11-14T13:29:00.000+08:00

Hmmmm... Any volunteers for expendable labor?? Anyone?? Sigh..guess I'm back to the drawing board...

Post Eid

2005-11-07T13:02:00.000+08:00

First day at work after Eid Mubarak break and can’t really say I had enough of a break. Such a hot day at that, the centralised air-conditioning system is apparently not “working” …yet. There are only 3 persons who handle building-maintenance and working on 12 buildings in this so-called technology park…..and they’re still on holiday!! Bastages man…So now after trying to ‘warm-up’ my brain from inactivity during the hols, I think it went straight to being ‘overheated’…

Anyway, just wanted to wish all the muslims out there a happy belated Eid Mubarak. Hope it was eventful and meaningful. This year for me it had been a low-key affair: no going all out eating after a month’s worth of fasting, not really visiting every single person I know .. just the grandparents up north. Guess this year it was more spiritual for me. Just thank god that I’m still alive and well-off compared to the millions and trillions and gazillions of poor souls out there .. despite the fact that 1/3 of my life is gone and I have yet to achieve something significant (to me).

On a side note Seb Fontaine came down to KL last Sat. A friend called me to go but I was too busy (visiting and entertaining at the kampung) and too tired to (flight back arrived hours before the event). Maybe I am getting old for all this. Used to go raving heaps when I was in Uni..or maybe it does not interest me that much anymore..oh well…

“The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his own way”

- Josh Billings

The Imminent Festivities

2005-11-01T05:50:00.000+08:00

Sigh... Monday blues indeed...
I was really looking forward to being on leave the whole of this week but alas last minute call for a meeting meant I had to cancel the leave less it will be wasted to just come to the office for a couple of hours. Everywhere else, all my friends, had one week COMPULSORY leave. All for the festivities of Deepavali and Eid Mubarak. Just had the meeting and it was nothing much..what an unproductive day. Network even shut-down in protest..we must be really overworking the servers. Either that or the whole of TMNET's Streamyx along with their servers are on holiday.

So here I am on a Monday lunch hour with so much free time to spare. Feelin really lazy to be productive on a day I am supposed to be on leave. In any case, just kinda hate it when people complain about things (myself included). I mean people complain about the workload that they currently have but not realize that almost everyone else is on the same boat if not worst. I once heard someone giving an advice: if you think you are poor, there is a whole world that are poorer than you and if you think you are rich, there is a whole world that are richer than you..same goes with work, life, love, your fat cat.... ok ok, no relation to that last point.

Oh well...was forwarded this mail couple of months back (no doubt pretty old and has been circulated for quite a bit) and thought of including the contents in this post as something to ponder about..

Cup or Water?

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer.
The Lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.

When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke: "If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"If we ONLY concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy the water in it."

Cherating Retreat

2005-10-21T23:26:00.000+08:00

We had a company retreat to cherating last month. Well, woiuld not actually call it a retreat per say as it was a team-building event. Yeah, right.. team-building indeed. In anycase we all had a memorable trip.

One thing most of us did there was to take lots of pictures. The one here was that of an east coast sunrise. We all had problems getting a good picture as all 2 mornings that we were there was cloudy. Nonetheless, the pictures taken here was relatively decent in my opinion considering it was taken with a Sony Erricson k750i mobile phone. Though better pictures were taken with a colleague's camera: the Canon EOS digital rebel.

Antipodal point

2005-10-19T13:18:00.000+08:00

Have you ever been in a position in life where you are at the 'antipodes' (what I like to call it) of where you want to be? An antipodal point by definition is a point that is on the opposite side of a celestial body (eg. earth, venus..whatever) from a given particular point. Sometimes it feels that way for me, and thing is that whenever you try and head for that antipodal point.. it shifts relative to where you are..like a dog chasing its tail...quite pointless really.

Some words of wisdom that I read somewhere before I end this blog..
"To know others is wisdom, to know self is enlightenment; mastering others requires force, mastering self requires strength" - Anonymous Martial Arts proverb

Till I rant again...

Photography resource 2

1990-08-24T18:41:00.000+08:00

Anybody interested in attending photography workshops with National Geographic? You can see their packages here. Mind you, it seems that you have to be almost a veteran to join. Plus they cost quite a fair amount (My choice of a workshop locale of Venice would set me back by about US$4,800+ ... oh and btw that does NOT include return airfare costs...sigh.). I think I'll stick to trial and error experimentation for now (with some basic fundamental understanding, of course).

Speaking of the fundamentals, I chanced upon....well, technically its not by chance as Google uses an algorithm...Anyway, I found a very informative site on photography fundamentals, techniques and tutorials by Sean McHugh. You can find the technical bits here. There is also a gallery of his work taken around Cambridge. Quite spectacular to say the least. Most of the images are taken during the lighting hours of twilight or moonlight making the settings around Cambridge seem magical, almost like scenes from a Harry Potter movie. Anyway, you can view the galleries here.

The Antipodal Point

Back to Black

The Deviant, I am?

At the antipodes

Chronicles of BVD (Black Voodoo Devil): A Stony Creek Romp

Daemons: The Golden Compass

Candlelight Vigil for Burma @ KLCC

Steph and Dave's Wedding Registration

Trippin' in Langkawi

Time to change..

Tagged: Six Wierd Things About Moi

Gong Xi Fa Chai

Guess who?: Episode 1

Innocence of Youth

New Hopes

Approaching the Year End

Climate Change

Unwinding the Curve

Bukit Tabur (test run)

Rainy Nights

Revisiting Nature (in the frontyard)

Tiger shooting

Road Culture

Photography resource 2

Scenic Spot Setting 1

Photography resource

To D or Not to D, that is the question....

Life's Lessons in Four Seasons

Double Nights of Live Music

World Cup Finale 2006

Houzan's Cosmos GT Queen

Zonda!!

Japan GT!!

Unwind

The return

Discover Tenggol (or TO discover)

The antipodal point revisited

Memoirs bequeathed in Taman Negara

In Search of Sunrise

BioChicago2006

The excursion

New Years Eve '05/06

A long awaited FFVII sequel

Semantics of Hypocrisy

***********************************************************************WEBSTER'S NEW UNIVERSAL UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY***********************************************************************

hypocrite:

***********************************************************************

Cognitive Dissonance

Ferry Corsten, KL: The Second Coming

The need to achieve

Post Eid

The Imminent Festivities

Cherating Retreat

Antipodal point

Photography resource 2

*
WEBSTER'S NEW UNIVERSAL UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY
*