How was your weekend?

Wonderful? Then good for you.

Terrible? Nevermind. I hope this post will lighten up your day.

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I was camwhoring in front of the mirror with my Nikon D40 one day, when I found out a new way to camwhore with my dSLR. HAHA

Bi bi bi bi bi (Yeah! I know I’m being childish)

More photos at the bottom. Click at the photos below to view full size.

(As these photos were taken in front of a mirror, so all photos were flipped horizontally to make these photos look nice. I also did some touch up to the red part on the flash to make it look more ‘Ultraman-listic’ )

So how? Does it make your day better?
I hope it does.

Signing off. Chaoz.

Life sucks.

Just when I thought I would be able to update my blog regularly during my holiday, there are always something that will happened, something that will prevent me blogging. During my previous holiday, I had to rushed my holiday assignments. This time, something was wrong with my keyboard. Without a keyboard, I couldn’t start my PC. 4 days later, when I got my ‘new’ keyboard (which my dad brought back from his office), but the telephone line was temporarily cut off. WTF!!! Why am I so ‘LUCKY’? My dad had forgotten to pay the telephone bill, which results in both the telephone and internet services being cut off. So bad luck can.

Finally, the internet service was up and running again. But this time, the ‘new’ keyboard that I got from my dad wasn’t in good condition. All the keys are so bloody hard to press, which made my typing process an unpleasant one. ARGH!!! Just to type this post took me about 45 minutes, because I couldn’t press that keys properly, which results in many typo error.

All I can hope now is that nothing else will happen again that will prevent me from blogging.

Please.

” Achieved 2 goals from my 2008 Wish List :
1) Sign up for photography skill enhancement class. (RAGE Photography Workshop)
2) Appeared in newspaper. (RAGE Photography Workshop report in The Star [link] )
To check out my other goals in my 2008 Wish List, click here [link]. “”

~ these are some of my favourite photos from the workshop, so to see all photos, kindly jump over to the album in my photo gallery at http://gallery.chewygummy.net/thumbnails.php?album=7 ~

Menara Star at PJ Section 16.

Two Saturdays ago, I participated in RAGE Photography Workshop which took place in Menara Star. I stumbled upon a notice about the workshop in The Star paper one day and I registered myself for the workshop immediately as only 30 seats are available (in the end only 25 participants turned up for the workshop). *achieved my goal of taking part in photography enhancement workshop/class [2008 Wish List]*

I know I smile like an a**hole.

When I arrived at the venue, I got to know 3 new friends on the spot, Senthil, Su Zhen and Bryan, (4 actually, but she rarely joined in our conversation, and I had also forgotten her name) and the four of us turned out to be the noisiest during the whole workshop. HAHA I also met 3 other new friends, Vivian, Joshua and Chen Lam, all bloggers. And guess what? I happened to have visited Vivian’s and Joshua’s blog just 1 week before the workshop. Such a small world isn’t it?

(from left) Bryan Ooi, Tan Su Zhen and Senthil. That’s me at the back.

I got a very bad start for the workshop. And I mean VERY VERY BAD start. When Senthil wanted to have a look at my Nikon D40, I tried to turn it on only to find out that there’s no battery in it. OMG!!! WTH!!! I searched my dSLR bag thoroughly but I just couldn’t find any trace of it. Then only I remembered I had left it with the charger on the table next to my bed. I was charging it the night before, and forgot to take it when I rushed to Menara Star. How stupid can I possibly be? Attending a photography workshop with a battery-less dSLR (there’s another time where I brought my camera to a party only to realised I had left my memory card in the card reader put on my computer desk at home - seems like I haven’t learn my lesson yet).

Thank God that there’s still a good news from that bad and terrible news. Luckily I had brought my Olympus P&S along with me. The camera which was supposed to be used as my video camera, had to ’shoulder’ the burden of taking over the big task of my Nikon D40. My poor Olympus. At least it didn’t disappoint the owner. Phew! (although it is still very bad in low light condition)

The workshop speaker/facilitator of the day was Glenn Guan, a photographer of The Star newspaper. During the workshop, he explained about everything that a digital camera nowadays have, introducing us to the different functions in our cameras, like the different shooting modes, ISO, white balance, etc. He also told us some simple rules on how to compose pictures. Although all these are already quite familiar for me, I still learnt something new, like setting custom white balance, tips on shooting beautiful silhouette photos and how to do panning.

Glenn, equipped with his Canon EOS-1D Mark III, showing how to set custom white balance.

Glenn then showed a slideshow of his photography work and explained to us how we could also take photos of those qualities. It was quite an eye opening moment for me when I saw his work as the photos amazed me a lot. I particularly like a shot that he took during Celine Dion’s concert in KL [link] and another one during Sepang F12008 practice day [link].

Slideshow of Glenn’s work.

After that we were brought to Lembah Kiara Recreational Park in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, not far from Menara Star to test our photography skills. Given about 45 minutes, we roamed around the park, shooting anything that came into our sight. There aren’t many people in the park at that time (who would wanna go to a park about 12pm when it was so freaking hot) so a Malay family that was so ‘LUCKY’ to be there became our subject. The 3 kids in the family ‘modeled’ for us and we just snapped like nobody’s business.

(left) Senthil and (right) Glenn in action at the park.

Equipped with only my poor little Olympus P&S, I didn’t take many photos (no more mood to take because I couldn’t use my beloved Nikon (so sad can!). But, I still got some quality shots from the photos taken which I am quite satisfied.

(left) Randomly shot this, which turned out to be a decent shot (after some cropping); (right) Under the trees… there is… NOTHING… but shadows (lame).

(left) One of my favourite shots of the day, a slihouette shot of a lamp post; (right) Got no comment, I just like it.

The only decent close-up shot I got (my Olympus is also bad in close-up/macro).

(left) Another silhouette shot, a very ‘hairy’ plant; (right) Coconut trees + Blue sky = Beautiful nature shot.

An event is never perfect without group photos. So here you go. 2 group photos that we took in the park (click to view full size photos).

Jumping in the park (I know I’m being kinda Lack-Of-Attention, but at least I made the jumping shot a better one).

Participants of RAGE Photography Workshop 2008 - 2 person missing (there’s a few group shots with me on top of that monkey bar, but Glenn didn’t send it to me )

When we got back to Menara Star, we had our lunch. The food was quite nice. When we were eating, Nasa, a reporter for RAGE, came to harassed interviewed me, Bryan, Senthil and Su Zhen (we were the only people being interviewed :D)

Being harassed interviewed by Nasa

That was the first time I got interviewed by a reporter, and I was excited because I knew my name was going to appear in newspaper. When I read about the report on the photography workshop in the newspaper the next Wednesday (under Youth2 section), I was devastated. Out of the four person interviewed, only my part was axed from the article. WTH!!! Another time, so sad can! (but at least my face did appear in the newspaper, if not my name) Besides that, Nasa, the reporter, also changed many statements that Su Zhen, Senthil and Bryan said, especially Senthil’s one. The stuffs he told when being interviewed and those that came out in the newspaper was totally different! It’s like those words were being stuffed into his mouth.

Anyway, you can read the report here [link]. You can see my face in the first photo, at the far right. (this fulfilled my wish of appearing in newspaper [2008 wish list] )

This photo was used as the first photo in the report (I’m at the far right, the bottom one)

Finally, to end this post.

Glenn and I, trying to ’strangle’ each other.

Playing with Glenn’s Canon EOS-1D Mark III and his telephoto lens.

Other posts about the workshop:
- Glenn Guan
- The Star
- Senthil
- Joshua

Don’t forget to view all the photos of the photography workshop at my photo gallery [link].

I’m back !!!
After missing for so many days, I’m back with my brand new image.

That day my dad got 2 free hairdo/facial treatment vouchers at APT courtesy of Digi Telecommunication. I took one while my sister took the other. So to APT I went, to have my free hairdo. I had my hair washed, cut and treated with all sorts of creams and gels (my first ever hair treatment). That package itself costs about RM 150++ (if I’m not mistaken), and I get to do it for free. How nice is it.

My New Hairstyle (took this in front of a mirror, then flipped it)

Another day, I accidentally broke my specs. It’s kinda funny of how I actually broke it. I was reading some magazines one night. I felt sleepy, so I was kinda lazy to put those mags on the table. Instead, I put those mags on my bed (near to the side of bed) and I put my specs on top of those mags. The next morning when I woke up, I was looking for my specs all around. Then I saw those mags on the floor. It must have dropped from the bed, maybe I might have pushed them down while I was sleeping. I picked up those mags and to my horror, I found my specs underneath those mags, crushed to pieces. ARGH!!! (there’s 3 magazines, and each one is about 2-3cm thick, so it was no surprise to why my specs was crushed to pieces)

The good news from the bad news was, I got to changed my specs finally. LOL I had used my old specs since I started college in 2006. 2 years++, not bad. My previous spectacles all lasted less than 6 months.

My new spectacles

This cost me RM 200 and I had to dig out money from my bank account to pay. (about RM 400 actually, but the shop I went is my ‘family optical shop’, so my mom used her ultimate bargaining skill to cut the price to half LOL)

Anyway, just to inform everyone, I’m having holidays right now. So do look forward to my upcoming updates on outdated events.

My new blog is dead just after 3 posts? WTF!!!
I’m sure many are very disappointed with me.
Not updating regularly does made me an example of a bad blogger, right?

I can’t help it. Now is the end of this term, so as usual, projects are pouring in, although this time it is not as many as previous few terms. To say I’m very busy with projects, it’s not 100% true, because although most of my time is occupied with projects and assignments, I still have time for other stuffs. So, instead of doing other stuffs, I rather use the time to rest and relax. I have been staring at the computer screen for 5-6 hours a day, every single day for 2 consecutive weeks (still counting). So, when I do have time after doing work, I would take some naps or go out to do some exercises. If I do continue to use the spare time to blog, my mom will start nagging me. Bla bla bla this and bla bla bla that. I myself also don’t want my spectacles to be thicker. LOL

So for the coming 10 days, I will continue to take a short break from blogging. When I come back, do look forward to my updates on many outdated events. HAHA

* I don’t feel like doing any work today, so I did this post.