Perspectives

OK...random thoughts up ahead...trying to write to keep rust from building up.

So I was thinking...and realized that most of us today kind of take it for granted that our eventual goal would be to live as long as we can. It doesn't matter what we do with it, the important thing is that we get to live longer. With this expectation, some of us try really hard to have a healthy lifestyle (eat organic or "go green", take up yoga, etc.), buy various types of insurance (think life and medical), invest in retirement funds and so on - all with the thought of preparing for old age (be it for their family or otherwise).

Then there are others who take life as it comes by without much thoughts whether it's going to end the next day or the next decade - who wants to worry about things like this when it's really not in our control, right? That would be too negative a thought to ponder upon. You might even ask why in the world I'm writing these sort of things on my blog. Like I said, random thoughts :)

As I was chatting with a few friends over dinner on Friday night, we broach the subject from a different angle by asking the question "How long do we think we get to live?" It was a asked in a lighthearted way, mind you. Although it did kind of put things into a different perspective for me. Is living till we are in our 70s or 80s really that important?

Having lived three decades of my life already, if I can reach sixty, i.e. another thirty years of life - wouldn't that already be a great gift? I could be living another "lifetime" or so to speak. Of course, I haven't achieved much in life yet, and certainly no legacy to leave behind, but I have by and large, enjoyed the last three decades.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, "Hey, I got another 30 years to work on!" (Or so I hope I would have that long to live) - so instead of taking life for granted, perhaps I should assume I only have another thirty years to go and really set out to achieve something within that time (let's worry about the retirement fund later). Because I might not live past sixty to begin with. There is a saying that we should live everyday as if it's our last. Well, it's easier said than done - so perhaps I'll think that the next thirty will be my last.

This is if I don't have a family and then the only reason for hanging around is to provide for them and to ensure everyone is doing alright. Perhaps it's a little bit of a selfish thought right now and I'm sure the above perspective will change again when other considerations comes into play i the future. But for now, I just found it interesting to look at all this from a different light.

Perhaps?

I think it's been such a long that I sat down at the Starbucks in Borders with a laptop and had the urge to start blogging. To be honest, I haven't been to Borders in a while, much less bring a laptop to its coffee shop. *Well, that's what it is essentially, isn't it?*

It's nice and quiet here now - it's dinner time after all. And I think I missed doing this. Just don't know why I stopped. I read less these days too. Perhaps there is just too much on my mind. Perhaps I have just lost interest on stuff. Perhaps...perhaps...perhaps...hm...isn't that a song?

Anyway, I think perhaps a change will do me some good. I believe a stagnant life is worse than no life.

Yes...there isn't much point to this post apart from waiting for time to past before catching Haywire...as well as taking some time to scrape off the layer of rust around this brain of mine...hope my writing gets better again. After all, I don't have magic dusts to help me with nor do I grow magic mushroom ;)

Off to the movies. Oh...Happy Valentine's Day to those who are celebrating :)

Twenty Eleven Plus One

Another year has come to past and the river of time has not slowed its pace. Many things have occurred in 2011, but many too seems like it was just yesterday. At the end of 2010, I said that I was looking forward to 2011, thinking that life will be better, much better. What a surprised it turned out to be.

Let's just say that the journey wasn't as smooth as the one I have hoped for. And I'm now back at the same position as I was last year, saying the same thing again, just that it's now for twenty-eleven-plus-one. I'm hoping that this will be a much better year.

2011 hasn't been so great after all. Too much unnecessary personal stuff, got myself into situations where I had no control over, and lost of interest with work. Confident was low and everything looked bleak. I'm just glad that it's over and it's time to gear up again.

I'm sounding melancholic. But as I sit here, thinking and typing, I do recall some brighter sides to the year. And in a way, these memories helps to remind me that there are always a more positive side to life and that how a year goes by really depends on how we make the best of it. The rest of the stuff, you just have to deal with it as they come along - as they always do.

Here are some good things to note for the year:

• Visited New York (more like Lower Manhattan) - short holiday after a business trip to the US. Missed the Chinese New Year's eve dinner though, but it couldn't be helped. Memorable for the 60+ hours getting back from New York to Penang.
• First time watching a live baseball match in the US during the summer, which was part of a team outing and the match was between the Cubs and Marlins. The Cubs won that match :)
• Have a new work partner, after the last one decided to graze in greener pastures. Yes, I'm talking about you good friend - make sure you let me know when there is an opening :P
• Went to Phuket with a bunch of friends, had lots of laughter and fun, especially when we had TGO around. It was simply good quality time with some really good friends. Spent a lot of time soul-searching too, which kind of led to some of the decisions I have made for 2012.
• Ran two half marathons in the span of two weeks - One was the Penang Bridge International Marathon and the other was the Standard Chartered Marathon in Singapore. Completed both below 3 hours - pretty good considering my usually poor cardio level.
• Work was good and not-so-good. Good - being rewarded for work done on projects and also non-project related stuff (always nice to know that you have not been forgotten). The not-so-good part was due to delays in projects, which in turn allowed me to have too much time at hand - made me think too much. I slowed down a lot during the last half of the year and the brain has started to exhibit a layer of rust. 

It could have been a much better year, considering the many opportunities that presented themselves. But we can't have everything, can we? ;)

2011 is still a very memorable year for me, despite the bittersweet-ness of it all.

Reminder to self, yet again: What's done is done. Just do better in 2012.

Happy New Year 2012 everyone!

This March

It's Sunday night and I'm sitting here at half-time, watching the pundits debate over the controversial penalty given to Liverpool against Sunderland for a foul that was made outside the box. I guess this is payback against the beach ball incident last season?

It's more than 2 weeks since the last post and it's partly because March has turned out to be a pretty busy month. I find that I get more than a bit lazy to write when I get occupied with work. Perhaps I just didn't want to put much effort into thinking, but rather prefer to browse the web, read a book or just listen to music. Hanging out with friends is definitely another way I like to take my mind off work stuff.

Speaking of hanging out with friends, we managed to catch two good movies recently. The Adjustment Bureau was a good watch - kind of got me to thinking about the not-so-new question about whether life has been predetermined by some supreme being or whether free will helps shape destiny. Which one do you believe in? If life has been predetermined, I wonder why we spent so much time thinking about what we want to do in life and where we would end up - in the end it wouldn't matter, would it?

Then there was Rango - an animation about a pet chameleon out playing hero ala the Wild Wild West in the Mojave Desert. There was good character build up overall, and plenty of witty comedy moments. The four singing owls (think the Three Amigos) was a nice touch - certainly adds to the laughter. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 89% and my view is that Rango is definitely worth watching at the cinema.

Another favorite past time of mine is reading and today I managed to complete Never Let Me Go (finally), a science fiction by Kazuo Ishiguro. To be honest, the book was a slow read for me, despite getting more interesting halfway through. The setting is in England and the story starts off with Kathy, the protagonist, recounting her life at Hailsham with two of her best friends, Tommy and Ruth. Not to give any spoilers away, but a third through the book I realized that the kids at Hailsham were practically reared to become organ donors when they reach adulthood - which was the only interesting part I found about the story.

Probably I was in the mood for something faster paced, which means that I should have spent 2 hours watching the movie (yes, there is a movie made based on this book and was released last year) instead of spending a month reading the written version. Apparently Time magazine named it the best novel of 2005...and I probably would not understand why.

Anyway, I'm now going to jump back to Fantasy for a bit and start on Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. It's the fourth book in the series and if you notice the title, the story this time is about revenge. I believe it should be a good read - at least I'm sure there would be more action than the previous one :)

Oh...and Liverpool won that game by two goals to nil - YNWA! :)

Trip To The Big Apple (Part 2)

TIMES SQUARE! :)

Times Square is a major commercial intersection at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets.

Filled with colorful billboards! Loads of people milling about, tourist and locals alike :)

Planet Hollywood along 7th Avenue

The Paramount Building at 1501 Broadway once housed 

the Paramount Theatre

Disney's The Lion King - The Broadway Musical. We initially had a thought about going to see one of the musicals, but I guess time didn't permit, too bad.

Also Mamma Mia!

And there you go, the night spent taking pictures at Times Square. Oh...and we had a nice dinner at an Irish Pub/Restaurant called Perfect Pint - I had what they called the Leprechaun Lamb Stew, washed down with a pint of Guiness ;)

Slightly different from the typical Irish Stew (one of my favorites),
but this was every bit as delicious! 

Trip To The Big Apple (Part 1)

So that's it for Chinese New Year this year. A bit strange cause I hardly noticed any difference before and after. Except the two rounds of card playing (what my friends call AGM - try figure out what that means) in between, I guess it's just like any other day. Yes, including the work and all.

Anyway, that's probably just me (second time I've used that this week). I do wish that my friends have had a great celebration, or at least had a very good break from the daily routine to spend time with family and friends :)

I did say in my last post that I was going to blog more about the trip after I sorted out the pictures. I think I'll do the trip in bits so as not to bore you too much with my long-winded writing. As for the pictures, they are uploaded to my Facebook photo album and there will some I'm uploading with this post.

The trip itself felt as if it happened a year ago - although it was only 2 weeks ago that I arrived back in Penang. Despite the very long travel time involved, it was certainly worth the effort, and money to check out The Big Apple - had to pay extra RM1K to get out of New York after our flight got canceled.

If anyone is traveling to NYC any time soon and would like to stay in Manhattan - you can check out Hotel 31 - Thank you Irene for helping me with searching for the flights and accomodation! :) It's clean and cost wise, it's reasonable. And I do recommend that you stay in Manhattan if you are planning to stay only a few days and want to do those usual touristy stuff - it's just more convenient to get around. You can either walk to most places or take the subway, which cost around USD2.50 for a one way trip (goes pretty far I believe, so long as you stay on the same subway line).

The first night CS and I got there, the first thing we did of course was to drop our bags and just went wandering around, snapping pictures and I guess getting used to the cold - it was between -5°C and 0°C, and at that time we just came from Florida which was more like 8°C - 10°C.

New York Public Library at night

Fountain at Bryant Park

The next day we started with checking out Madison Square Garden, then routed back to Fifth Avenue and just made it towards Central Park. Along the way Fifth Avenue, one can visit places like the New York Public Library (which we skipped on the first day cause there was some filming going at the entrance and they didn't allow visitors to enter), the Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trump Tower and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).

Madison Square Garden,
where famous matches were played/
fought. And like one friend commented
on FB, reminds him of MTV

Outside Rockefeller Center
One should go up the tower and
take in the view of Manhattan from
the top - it's really something!

Central Park was a pleasant surprised - although I have seen it covered in snow in movies like Home Alone 2 and Batman 2, it's quite an experience viewing it in person. Makes me wonder what it would be like in the autumn. The feel would be so different. Golden, brown leaves would cover most of the park instead and I'm thinking that scene would be very beautiful during sunset.

Central Park - All in white :)

Central Park - By the pond

And as the day got darker, we managed to get ourselves to the American Museum of Natural History - remember the movie, A Night at the Museum? Anyway, now that I look at the map again, it had been a long walk from where we started the day from - 31st (hotel) to 79th Street (museum), not to mention the many places we stopped by in between. I guess it made sense that after the museum visit we decided to take the subway back down to mid town  - conveniently there was a subway station on the 79th Street. We were tired and wanted to check out Times Square during the night still. Talk about maximizing time huh? ;)

Inside The American Museum of
Natural History

James A. Farley Post Office - huge!

Anyway, that's a stop for this round - not quite finished Day 1 yet, but this post is getting a bit too long. Will blog more the next time.

Have a great weekend!

48 Hours and Counting

After hours on the plane, with multiple transits, I'm have now arrived back in Hong Kong. That's 48 hours traveling straight from New York. With the final leg back to Penang in another few hours or so. Tiring.

After a night of snow pelt

It all started with the weather getting very bad (snow storms and all) in the US, particularly in the North East. And then our flight out of New York got canceled. I guess it was fortunate that we found out early enough (about the cancellation) that we were still able to get tickets out of New York - else we will probably get stuck there for another few days. The unfortunate part was that we had to pay a bomb for the tickets - last minute and all and had to rush to the airport to buy them.

So in 48 hours, we made it from New York to Atlanta (Georgia), and then to Plantation (Florida), and then to Dallas (Texas), and then to Los Angeles (California), and then finally making the long flight to Hong Kong. By the way, Texas was also hit by the snowstorm a couple of days before and the temperature was still around -8°C when we arrived at the airport - fortunately the planes were not grounded.

It was certainly an experience - though you would probably have guessed that it is not one I would want to repeat anytime soon if I can help it ;)
Particularly when during the journey, I developed a sore throat and have a nose bleed. The throat seems to be fine now after some hours of rest along the way, but it seems that the nose has became a bit worst - hoping it's just being "heaty".

Will be blogging about the trip as soon as I get around sorting the pictures out. Here is one I took in Schaumburg, Illinois. Apparently it's about 20 inches of snow there after the last round of snowing - glad I'm not around to weather it out :)



To friends who are celebrating, here's to wishing you a Happy New Year! May the year of the Rabbit brings you lots of joyous and happy moments!

Weight.Lifted

The word epiphany came to mind - but I don't think I will be shouting Eureka any time soon. Reading this, you will probably be wondering what in the world I'm talking about. You can choose to ignore me now.

You know how certain things happen so fast that the significance only dawns on you after your brain gives it a few days' worth of churning? Well, I kind of had that moment this afternoon. And when that certain realization hit me, I felt as if a great weight has been lifted.

But that is all I'm able to put into words right now. Merely jotting this down as a record.

Switching topics, I was looking out the balcony just now and I just realized how brightly lit the pool area is. Maybe it looks nicer cause I'm in a good mood? Anyway, I thought I snap a picture and share it. Call it a "mou liu" moment :P

P/S: To my "team mates" who might be reading this, catch you guys at lunch tomorrow :D

Of Beer and Witches

So how was the first week of the new year for everyone?
For me, it's been pretty productive, work wise - although it's probably due to the need to meet deadlines more than any sudden burst of energy.

Friday's dinner with the gang was a good one. We tried out Weissbräu (click the link for a review by Gourmet Garden), the newly open German Bistro and Bar at Straits Quay. I had the Hungarian Beef Goulash, though I ordered it mainly because they didn't have the Braised Pork Shank that night. The food was OK, but I would say I enjoyed the Erdinger Dunkel better ;)
We had some good laughs that night and it was certainly a good way to end the week with.

By the way, unless you are a  a movie titled Season of the Witch. Unless you are a Nicholas Cage fan, you can probably skip this. Let's just say that the show doesn't have much to do with witches. And there was just no plot to the story.

OK...maybe now that I have lowered your expectations, you might actually enjoy it a little if you are to go watch it. Let me know if it worked :P

I'm glad that tomorrow is still Sunday and I can have another day to rest at home, probably trying to finish that book I started three weeks back - was juggling a couple of things lately, but no excuse I guess. All I want to do now is to get back into a comfortable routine and make sure that I get the "work life balance" thingy correct (clichéd terms, yes I know). And apparently my astrology forecast tells me that I should focus on career this year (got this link from Ling) - maybe I should take the advice. But then again, I thought that's what I've been doing for the past two years...more of the same then?

To LFC fans, tomorrow is going to be a big day. With Woy leaving the club, I'm hoping King Kenny can work some miracles (keeping my fingers crossed), although it's going to be a bit tough. But...You'll Never Walk Alone, right? ;)
As for Woy, sorry mate, your poor tactis and face rubbing antics kind of consigned your fate to walk out from Anfield alone.

Till the next posting, adios!

And Now It's Twenty Eleven

Yeah, so I'm reviving this blog of mine. I apologize to friends and readers for going on a super pro-longed hiatus without leaving a note - and didn't reply your comments either. Terribly bad of me.

Anyway, we are beginning the year 2011 and I guess it's a good time as any to start blogging again :) Was still having second thoughts about it last month and it's all thanks to Jacylenne for giving me that final push to start writing on this blog again.

2010 has been one eventful year for me - there were good ones and as usual with life, came with the bad ones as well.

On the working front, although there are risks involved, I decided a few months back to take up a new and different role - plenty to learn about and in a way need to start over in certain areas. But I believe I made the right choice - just need to make it work.

On the other hand, I made some decisions in life that I hope will not come back to haunt me. But life will and has to go on. "After a hurricane comes a rainbow" so say a song I heard on the radio recently.

2010 marks the big upgrade to version 3.x. Makes me think back to 10 years ago, when the bunch of us were happily partying away (ahem...I mean studying) at university, without much worry over...well, almost everything else.

Looking back to what I have achieved today, I guess I could have done better. But we can't have everything, can we? ;) I got the promotion that I wanted, moved into a new apartment, made some really good friends over the years (and managed to keep in touch with them regularly), and had lots and lots of cherished "moments". Not much to complain about I guess.

I learnt that the pain of losing someone you love cannot be explained nor understood. And with reaching the 3.x mark and looking back at 2010, there were so many moments that I would have loved to have shared with you, mum. Makes me miss you all the more.

2011 started as well as I could have hoped for. I'm back in hometown and typing this while watching my nephew and niece play with their toys...has a relaxing and nice feeling to it.

Met up with an old friend yesterday and was told that I'm the first on his list of friends to catch up with in 2011. Or could it be that I'm the last on his list from 2010 that got spilled over to 2011? ;)
(If you are reading this, you should have guessed that I was going to bring this up right? haha...)

Also, I was at a wedding dinner of another old friend from university and had loads of fun, particularly during the after party, which lasted till 2am! Gave me a massive hang-over this morning though haha...

I'm certainly looking forward to 2011 and what it has to offer. I'll certainly be writing again, hopefully in a more consistent manner. First thing would probably be to do some "face-lifting" to this blog. I'm still thinking about what the theme should be for the header and the background. Hopefully a thoughtful blogger and friend can give me some inspirations? ;)

Here's to wishing everyone a wonderful New Year and a fantastic 2011!

Happy 51st Birthday Malaysia!

I guess there is nothing prouder for a country than to achieve its independence. And saying that, nothing makes its rakyat prouder than to celebrate the great day with their fellow Malaysians and perhaps join in when they call out "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!"

To think that it's already been a year since the government was talking about the country's achievements for the last 50 years (and of course, taking the credits for everything that comes to mind) and what "they had in mind for Malaysia" for the next 50 years.

It's 50 + 1 and a lot has happened. The boat has been rocked and the pot has been stirred (forgive me for the cliched expressions). And yet, the ministers, their deputies, their secretaries and their supporters are still resting on their laurels, applying outdated methods in their everyday activities. Be it from dealing with modern media, mouthing racist comments during speeches, or being in denial over the people's voices - nothing has changed. A year's time was a waste on them.

But I'm hoping that the rest of Malaysia and its people are feeling that they are destined to do more. Wait...I meant, WE are destined to do more. From pushing for political reforms, to helping the country grow economically and realizing the Malaysia Inc. vision, to nurturing our young with values and making them leaders of tomorrow, to breaking away from old practices of racism, sexism and religious superiority, and finally to ensuring the sick, the poor and the elderly are taken cared of in a system that is wholesome and sustainable.

I have heard it many times before from different people - be it local and foreign visitors - saying that Malaysia is a great place to live in. It amazes people that a country with such diversity - in terms of culture, religious practices, beliefs and historical background - could live in harmony with one another. It amazes me too. Despite the underlying tension that surfaces once in a while - especially when some idiots pull out their ceremonial dagger during an important event - things has been pretty alright amongst us common Malaysians, has it not?

If we take politics and power aside - what is truly important to us all? Independence was a hard thing to achieve back then. After we achieved it, what was next? Was it political superiority? Money? Or supremacy over others who are different? What is it that pulls us all together as Malaysians today and not as distinctive races?

I apologize for the rhetoric questions. I used to write a lot about how we could change Malaysia for the better and how we should continue to work hard into getting our next generation there. I have also been to the so-called greener side and have been back. And I'm still saying that we can achieve our dream, which is to have a place where everyone is truly a Malaysian with their rights protected as equal with no discrimination and injustice. Everyone should have a vision of how their country should be. And so this is mine.

The Two Towers?

Malaysian style

Penang International Dragon Boat Festival 2008

The weather the last few days and most of the week was pretty hot in Penang. A good thing too - cause if not, then I would have missed watching the Dragon Boat race, which was held at the Teluk Bahang Dam.

To be exact, this was the 6th Club Crew World Championships & 8th ADBF Asian Dragon Boat Championships - and some 500+ teams competed in the four day championship. I went on the third day, a Saturday, since weekends are the only time I can take time off during the day ;p

Some of my friends and I headed off from Bayan Baru area to the dam around 11am - we started pretty late cause most of us were just too lazy to get up on a Saturday morning. Can't blame us, right?

OK, anyway, by the time we reached, the sun was already blazing hot. But thanks to strong winds, temperature wise it wasn't too bad - getting a little bit darker isn't a problem for guys ;p

As it was already the third day, the competition was in full swing and I didn't want to wait till I walk all the way across the dam to snap pictures. So I simply "zoomed across" and quickly snapped some early pics. Given, that at full stretch, the pics weren't superb, but it was good enough for me see what was going on. The above pics show competitors waiting at the starting line

There was a huge crowd, which was both spectators and competitors. Plenty of colours too and they stood out from far across the dam! We saw a bunch of pink...

Blue...red...orange...making it a colourful crowd indeed!

Here is a shot on the boats paddling furiously on the start.

At the end of the race. Everyone looked tired. Well, these were not the eventual winners, so I guess it explains the not-so-energetic look ;p

More pictures from after a race.

And here is a shot of a guy going closer than anyone of us just to get a good angle of the race :)

While walking around the stalls, Cat had the opportunity to take some pictures with the Iranian ladies! Not sure if they were competitors or was just there to support their fellow countrymen.

And they did win one of the events :D Not sure which one though cause I didn't really follow - was there to just snap and snap and snap pictures ;p

From Down Under :)

From Canada!

Not sure if they were local ;p

And lastly, here is a shot of a team getting warmed up for the next event. We were heading off then - stomach getting hungry and the sun was getting too hot for comfort.

While we were there only for a short while, it was a great experience for me, considering that was the first time I went to any boat race ;p

Penang Bon Odori Festival 2008 - Part 2

It was a nice experience at the Bon Odori festival and the fact that it didn't rain like the previous years allowed everyone there to enjoy the performances without much problem.

The following is two videos I captured of some dances - the second one, I was trying out the HD feature on the H50.

Most of these were taken at zoom, so the quality is not as good as it should have been...or rather is was kind o expected

This group performed twice - the second time after the audience requested an encore :)

And then lastly, these are some pictures taken during the second round of the Bon dance. By then, some of those in the crowd was already happily joining in by dancing around the stage :D


After that, it was going to be a repeat of the earlier half's performances and so we decided that we should head back. And also because I was getting hungry and wanted to grab a bite - we ended up at Kayu Nasi Kandar in Bayan Baru ;p

Anyway, I'm hoping to take be able to take more and better pictures with the new toy I just acquired. It's been a while since I have been able to blog two entries in a row - heavier workload and all.

Penang Bon Odori Festival 2008 - Part 1

After working for more than two years in Penang, this would be my first time going to a Bon Odori festival ;p

Well, for the last two years it was raining and I really didn't want to crowd with so many people while getting all wet. Fortunate for me, the weather today was great - the afternoon was not too hot and there was plenty of wind, which made the whole climate pleasant :)

In Malaysia, Bon Odori is held anually, mainly in Selangor and Penang. It held at a smaller scale and those held in Japan and is more to introduce Japanese culture to Malaysia rather than focusing on the Buddhism aspect of the festival.

My friends and I arrived at Esplanade at around 6pm+ and people was starting to gather quickly.

There was a speech going on at that time...kind of peaked my interest since the speaker was doing it in English.

Well, silly me - I thought - when I found out who it was. Of course they would have invited the Chief Minister to officiate the festival ;p

Lots of people, mostly buying food. Others probably just wondering about looking for interesting things to see. There weren't that much of a variety in terms of Japanese food - but I guess it would suffice if you wanted just to snack while waiting for the Bon dance to begin.

Did I mention that there were lots of people?

If you don't like Japanese, no problemo. Just go for one of the local varieties. I even saw some Taiwanese specials - which made me wonder what they were doing there at a Japanese festival ;p

After getting some tako yaki, ramen, yakisoba and some drinks, we headed off to watch the performances going on in full swing at the field. The following are some pictures of the drum and dance performances. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking from here on ;)

This group was concluding their drum performance

Full of enthusiasm!

Next was a group of Japanese ladies performing some dances - don't ask me what dance cause I didn;t manage to catch it when the MC (emcee) announced it ;p - though it was a slow dance.


They later came out to offer a bow to the audience, who was very appreciative of their performance. I believe this lady is the head of the group that performed.

Right...I think this has been quite a long entry already. I was trying out some HD pictures and videos with my new camera, so will upload those tomorrow. And seeing that it's almost 2am now, it's probably a good idea that I hit the sack now and continue later.

A New Toy!

Yup...I bought myself an early present on Saturday. Cost me a bomb...though I'm not gonna say how much ;p

Well, the old one was one of the first few models - from this company - and I got it while I was still working in London. Cost me bomb then too...but I guess it was well worth the money since it's lasted for more than 4 years of hard use. And it's still functioning fine - albeit I'm starting to see a few bugs creeping up now and then.

So, what's this new toy I'm talking about? Couldn't afford a DSLR (well, more like I didn't want to maintain sets of lenses and I'm not really into photography) so I got myself a toy called the H50.

It's of the prosumer range and comes with a 15x superzoom, at 9.1M pixel. I have thought of buying those slim and small type of point-and-shoot cameras - so that I can carry it conveniently around. But some of the good ones cost nearly as much as the H50 and don't have as many features.

I'm liking the H50 so far - it's lighter than it looks, comes with a tilting LCD screen, takes good pics, and it includes features like the Smile shutter and Night shot modes.

Anyway, not going to say too much about the specs - I just wanted to write something about this new toy ;p Hopefully I would be blogging more stuff accompanied by good pics in the future :)

You can read good reviews on the net and check out the pros and cons of this new camera in the Cyber-shot family. I was comparing it with the Nikon P80...but I'm kind of bias to Sony since I have a few gadgets that are of Sony's make already.

The New...

Retiring the older one...(look at the scars this one has had...)