Back to Black

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?

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

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

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

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

, 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

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

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..

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

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:

1. I don't think I'm wierd (does that count??)
2. I go mental (slightly -ask my colleagues, they'll know) after 6pm at the office (but then again, who doesn't?? right??.... right??)
3. I am sooooo into photography and I have named my dSLR and I almost....almost take it everywhere I go.. :D
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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)

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...