I Broke My Yonex MP-99
July 20, 2008 | Filed Under Announcement, Rough Times | 2 Comments
I broke my Yones MusclePower 99 a couple of nights ago 
Broken MP99
It hasn’t even been a year and I’ve already broken it. That’s AUD160 gone in a single night. That’s almost ten hours of work. Good thing I have a couple of spares, albeit not as good.
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Bummer
July 18, 2008 | Filed Under Gibberish, Observation, Pets, Photography, Thoughts, Work | 1 Comment
Elvis is laughing at me
There are more and more work colleagues in my Facebook profile, and I actually went on to add a few more a while ago. Looks like I’ll have to cut down on my workplace ramblings from now onwards or start a new censoring method just like Malaysia’s censorship (ie. heavy) before the people I bitch about gets me I get into trouble at work.
Heck, even one of the managers have a Facebook account! What has come to the world today?
Have a great weekend guys.
p.s. NO, I did not add the manager.
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Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary
July 16, 2008 | Filed Under B&W, Night, Photography, Places | 3 Comments
I drove myself aimlessly and ended up at Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary for an impromptu photoshoot tonight. It has been quite a while since the last time I had gone out for a photoshoot, and even though I haven’t been feeling well today, I just could not resist to go out and take some shots around Perth.
The Moon
I was driving along in my 1990 Supra around 8pm, aimlessly, turning around corners and changing my mind twice because the two locations in my mind were a little too far from home (I haven’t got the money for fuel). But I still ended up driving about 15km away from home to this place called Kenwick, a suburb nearby mine.
Pardon the blur, I was driving
I drove past the Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary sign, and decided to make a U-turn since I couldn’t seem to find the right spot for my mini-photoshoot. So I drove into the parking area. It was pitch black. The road was muddy. The carpark was small.
I was terrified. I started off shooting in my car for the first 5 minutes, using my 55-200mm VR tele lens, but the results were unappealing due to the underexposure. Even at ISO of 1600, the shots were still (very) underexposed. So I changed to the wide-angle 18-55mm VR, hoping to use the wide aperture and slower shutter speed, but still to no avail. I decided to bump up my ISO to Hi1, which is equivalent of 3200 in my Nikon D60.
Any photographer will know that by using ISO from 800 onwards means you are compensating the exposure with lower image quality, but that was the only choice I had because I still haven’t managed to get myself a tripod, and I failed using the top of my car as support, too.
Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary 1
Tonight was the first time I had encountered such a tricky lighting situation - there were two spotlights that lights up on the tombs every 30 seconds or so, and both lights would be lit for a mere 10 seconds or so before fading off and repeating the process again. So in every 1 minute, I would have only two chances of getting the right shots.
Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary 2
I didn’t quite get the shots that I had intended to take, but I managed to test out the Hi1 ISO of my D60, which is quite satisfactory for the fact that it is only an entry level camera. The shots can’t speak for its level of spookiness and the darkness of the area, but I would still love to go back and have a proper shoot again with a tripod. Perhaps next time I wouldn’t be scared to walk near the tombs for closer shots.
Supra Camwhore
Oh, I was only there for about 30 minutes because I had a sudden urge to go to the toilet, but didn’t want to smear the soil of the cemetary with ammonia, so I sped home after that few shots.
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ChanRaymond dot net Running on WordPress 2.6
July 15, 2008 | Filed Under Announcement, Rough Times, Thoughts | 4 Comments
ChanRaymond dot net is currently running on WordPress 2.6. Upgraded today using the automatic upgrade plugin and there wasn’t any hassle at all. Remember I had a problem with TinyMCE? I was hoping that by this upgrade to 2.6, I’ll be able to fix the problem. However, it turned out that the problem was at the permissions in cPanel, so I managed to fixed it myself today.
Here’s a screenshot:
My TinyMCE
Today is my day off from work, so excuse me while I spend the rest of my day with L, resting. I’m feeling a little under the weather today - flames in my throat, sorethroat, headache. And it’s been raining all day long too. By the way, WordPress 2.6 is pretty awesome!
Upgrade your WordPress today!
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Ins and Outs
July 13, 2008 | Filed Under Observation, Rough Times, Thoughts, Work | 3 Comments
It’s been a while since my last wordy post. I’m physically and emotionally exhausted (from work, specifically) as I type this, but somehow I just needed the ranting space. Of course, being a blogger, the natural abode to rant is the blog - and so this rant is of existence.
Work has been taking up most of my social and personal life. My weeks have been filled with painfully long hours, pain-in-the-ass customers, unforgiving managers, and hi-bye colleagues. Money has been flowing in and out, with obviously more outs than ins.
Of course, being on a long holiday, the natural thing to do would be to work and work more, with the thought that by working more, the outs will be hopefully reduced and more ins will be allowed that will hopefully allow me to save up for a trip next year, or perhaps even for emergency use when the need arises.
Of course, if things had been going as planned, this blog entry wouldn’t be of existence.
With reference to the pain-in-the-ass customers, sometimes, I wish I could shove my fist into the customers’ face who deserve the fist. Examples:
- The type of customers that stands at the (salad/dessert) bar, that puts their hands on their hips whilst waiting for their food with the face that says, punch me, and when the food is finally placed in front of their face, a simple word of gratitude is not uttered from their foul mouth, but more whining instead.
- The type of customers that are at least twice your age but has a mentality of someone below 12. This can be seen from angry customers who seem to be constantly shouting at you, who requires extra loving care and attention, the type of tender loving care from Raymond Chan himself - a fist to his/her face.
- And more
Unfortunately, I am still needing this job to make sure I have adequate ins to compensate for the outs that I cannot seem to control, no matter how hard I try. So you have a great weekend while I slave away to earn my ins that will eventually be outs on the same day it goes in.
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Do I Look Like a Girl?
July 10, 2008 | Filed Under Photography, Portrait, Questions, Self Gratification, Work | 5 Comments
I was working today and as usual, I was topping up some of the desserts in the salad bar. Whilst trying to make room for myself amongst the crowd over at the desserts section, the mom directed her daughter, “Darling, make way for the LADY so she can go through.”
What’s wrong with the world today?
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Help - HOYA 52mm Circular Polariser Filter
July 10, 2008 | Filed Under Accessories/Equipment, Confessional, Photography, Questions | 4 Comments
I’m a noob. I just received my HOYA 52mm Circular Polariser, but I don’t know why the front element (or rim) comes off when I pull it gently. Rotating the front element/rim doesn’t make it come off unless I pull it off gently. Is it normal or should I return it to the seller? Help!
The (circular) polariser that I got off eBay which is sold for almost 3 times the price locally.
The back. No instructions or a hint of the CPL’s front element/rim being able to be removed without unscrewing the back element/rim.
This is how it looks like.
And this is where I just don’t get it. Is this normal?
I believe it wouldn’t affect my shots, but if this is not supposed to be removable, I reckon I should return it. Pardon my ignorance. I have already tried looking for answers online but to no avail, and I’m working tomorrow so I don’t have the time to even test the filter out. I didn’t even edit the pictures, and I really just want to sleep now
EDIT: Thanks to Jason and Lilian, I’ve already contacted the seller and I will be sending the filter back for an exchange tomorrow.
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