Rantings of a BloggingBean v2: March 2007

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Ribena PWNED

Click on me to find out why I contain 4X the Vitamin C of oranges!

For 55 years Ribena has claimed that the blackcurrants used contain 4 times the Vitamin C of oranges...

Earlier today, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) admitted to 15 representative charges covering offences between 2002 and 2006.

It agreed that its carton-d ready to drink Ribena, which it claimed had 7mg of vitamin C per 100ml, in fact had no detectable vitamin C content.

I feel so cheated. To think that I actually thought that I was drinking something healthy with my Vodka =( Anyway, if you're lazy to click on the link above, here's my summary:

Two 14-year old girls test Vitamin C levels of their favourite juices

Low level of Vitamin C found in Ribena

Girls write a letter to GSK

GSK does not respond

Girls phone GSK

GSK doesn't entertain them much and hangs up

Girls report their findings to the Commerce Commission

Commerce Commission takes GSK to court, with a liability of 15 charges, each carrying a maximum fine of $200,000

Girls visit GSK and were thanked for 'bringing this to their awareness'

Moral of the story? Never fuck around with little girls, especially the smart ones.

Labels: Anecdotes / Metaphors

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 10:26 AM

Monday, March 26, 2007

Cool Pretty, Pretty Cool Shit

Adobe Photoshop CS3
Seems like its price was leaked from Amazon. It will be officially launched tomorrow in the US (not sure when it will be launched locally though). And it is... COSTLY. I don't know which version of CS2 I'm using, but there are several versions of CS3:

Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Production Premium - USD$1199 (S$1818)
Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium - USD$1599 (S$2425)
Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Web Premium - USD$1599 (S$2425)
Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Master Collection - USD$2499 (S$3789)

Yes, wow. Anyway I spotted a new nano toy. I never found the FM function in a mp3player useful, but it's cool 'cos it's iPod-related.

It's cool 'cos it comes in the corresponding nano colours. And as always, iPod toys don't come cheap. S$45 actually. Not available in Singapore yet though. I haven't gotten my pay, but I've already bought my SLIK tripod. Gonna get my fragrance tomorrow evening, and my digital camera accessories soon too.

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 11:11 PM

50-50

How often do such things happen? Sure feels frequent to someone like me.

Labels: Irrelevant / Random

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 11:58 AM

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Economics

I'm not quite good with my finances, as my output usually equals or exceeds my income. If I was a good saver to begin with, I'd probably be unable to enjoy what I have right now, so never mind that.

Things to buy with my pay:
2 Sony NP-FT1 batteries
A 2GB Sony Magicgate Pro Duo
A SLIK Sprint Pro tripod
A 100/160GB Seagate Barracuda External HDD
A few new tops
A bottle of fragrance
A belt

Hmm how much would that come up to?

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 6:24 PM

Bean's Bananana Smoothie

Had a sudden craving for a banana smoothie, so I went shopping for ingredients. It took less than 10 minutes to prepare it, and it was pretty alright for a first attempt.

Ingredients used

Segregate the orange, and slice the banana

Milk: 250ml, Yogurt: 125ml, Salt: 1 pinch

Will it blend?

Yes it blends!
There you go. Bean's home-made Bananana smoothie!

Labels: Bean's Concoctions

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 12:37 AM

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Under The Weather

Been rather busy with nothing but work lately. Most of my time is spent outside and I'm hardly home, literally. My day starts at 7, and ends at 6. By the time I get home, have dinner and a bath, it's almost 9. That means a maximum of 3 hours for recreational activities before retiring for the night. Sometimes I do freelance Photoshopping projects out of office, so that eats into my time too.

To save time on travelling, I stay over at Sis' place sometimes. Life is hardly 'bout entertainment these days. The only enjoyment that I have is hanging out with Yao Wei and Mel, playing DotA, or going on photo shoots during the weekends. I usually feel fatigued at the end of the day, and today is just like any other. It doesn't help when I'm feeling under the weather on a Friday.

It started with a blocked nose, then a runny nose and now a fever >.< Looks like I won't be going anywhere this weekend. Here are some pics taken over the week:

Service apartments at Orchard Road

Macro shot on an ant

Tanjong Pagar Train Station
Sis cooked Carbonara for me during one of my stay-overs this week. It was good. It wasn't too creamy, but a little more egg would have been better. So while she was preparing it, I didn't have much to do so I hung around and disturbed her with my photo taking.

Removing the egg white

Bacon!

Big juicy Portobello mushrooms

Parsley sliced n' diced

End result
I was watching a movie during the cooking so I missed out on the cooking procedures. It gets boring sometimes. And my friends all know that I do bo liao things when I'm bored.

Like this

Labels: Musings

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 12:46 AM

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Ice Ice Baby

Hi again! Who would have known that it would be so soon to my "Until next time". Well this is going to be a short post. Earlier in the afternoon I had difficulty doing macros on ants. Ants are after all, busy creatures that seldom keep still. Somehow I got the idea of doing macros on ice cubes.

Here are some of the macros that I did 20 minutes ago without any digital enhancing done. I shot it in a totally dark room with a candle flame at the back. It was a rather impromptu shoot but I'm quite satisfied with my amateurish shots.

Scarred

Bubbles

Behind the Ice

Frosty
No 2 ice cubes have the same pattern of air bubbles and cracks, which is pretty interesting. Maybe next time I'll try macros on coloured ice cubes. 'Til then!

Labels: Picto Pronto

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 10:00 PM

Photoshop Sharing/Learning Session

Woke up early this morning to join the CS gathering at Yew Tee. During the morning I did feel like returning to bed, but I didn't want to waste my morning sleeping when I could be learning many new things. It's a good thing that I joined the enriching session.

Today's session was mainly on Photoshop techniques to enhance portrait shots. We learnt a 'lil about Lightroom as well, which is a very helpful post-imaging software. I'll need to play around with it more to familiarise myself with it.

I made some notes so I'll recap on them which will help in case I forget steps. Our chief lecturer for the day was Xiao Chong (did I get his name right?). His portfolio looks fantastic and I'm really impressed with his works. Check out his classy website at SplutterPhotography.

The techniques were written by me with an expectation that the reader has at least a basic grasp of Photoshop usage. It's no newbie guide and doesn't come with a FAQ with the common terminologies or options, but if you require help feel free to buzz me on MSN.

Techniques learnt:

Enhancing skin tones of people
- Layer
> New Adjustment Layer
>> Selective Colour
>>> Colour: Red
>>>> Ok
>>>>> Decrease Cyan by 20-30% or as desired

Effect: A more reddish tone to human skin.

Darkened edge
- Using Lasso tool, create an ellipse around the face (alternatively you can use the Elliptical Marquee tool)

- Invert the selection

- Layer
> New Adjustment Layer
>> Curves
>>> Ok

- Manipulate the RGB curve to darken the selected marquee area

Effect: A darkened edge with feathering surrounding an ellipse on the portrait

Local Contrast Enhancement
- Filter
> Sharpen
>> Unsharp Mask (set amount to minimal, radius to maximum)

Effect: Hassle-free method used to sharpen without using an unsharp mask

General DI Part 1 (Blurring Layer Mask)
- Duplicate Layer

- Filter (on duplicated layer)
> Blur
>> Gaussian Blur (of approximately 4.0 px)

- Layer
> Layer Mask
>> Reveal All

- Click on mask

- Use black paint* to remove the mask around the eyes, eyebrows, and lips area (brush hardness of approximately 80 - 100)

- Reduce opacity of the Layer Mask (by approximately 30%)

* Note: Press X to toggle between background and foreground colours (black & white for brush)

General DI Part 2 (Whitening of eye and teeth)
- Using Lasso tool, select the white parts (eye or teeth)
> Set feather to approximately 3 px and check anti-alias

- Layer
> New Adjustment Layer
>> Curves
>>> Ok

- Manipulate the S curve to adjust the colours without making it look too exaggerated

General DI Part 3 (Sharpening)
- Flatten the layers

- Filter
> Sharpen
>> Unsharp Mask (set amount between 100 - 150%, radius between 1.0 - 1.5 px)

- Image
> Mode
>> Lab Color

(Note that the Alpha channels have been changed from RGB, Red, Green and Blue channels to Lab, Lightness, Alpha and Beta channels)

- Duplicate Lightness channel

- Filter (on duplicated layer)
> Stylise
>> Fine Edges

- Image
> Adjustments
>> Levels (adjust the levels to make the edges more obvious)

- Filter
> Blur
>> Gaussian Blur (of approximately 7.5 px)

- Control click on the mask

- Invert selection

- Return to Layers

- Duplicate Layer

- Filter (on duplicated layer)
> Sharpen
>> Unsharp Mask (set amount around 200, radius around 2.0 px)

- Flatten

Aside from these Photoshop techniques, I learnt about a few navigational hotkeys and some conditions to look out for when deciding on shooting a B&W picture. I also found out what the macro function is used for. Linus commented that the Sony T-series is reknown for it's 1-cm distance macro shots, which I didn't know about.

Ctrl + = Zoom in
Ctrl - = Zoom out
Holding space while dragging the picture will allow panning across the image

Today's session is no short of being enriching, I learnt a lot of new stuffs and I'm certainly glad that I joined them. I wasted no time in practicing some macro shots on Bailey as soon as I got home.

Wrong WB used resulted in a yellowish tint

Why do you think Bailey sits so still? Food bribery!

Macro on Bailey's nose

Close-up on his teeth
I felt so tired halfway through typing this post that I fell asleep the moment I jumped into bed. Gotta end here, it's dinner time. Until next time!

Labels: Foto Weekenders

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 8:05 PM

Perhaps Someday, Maybe Somehow...

Many days and nights have passed
Often I find myself wondering
How would you feel?
Alone on a deserted road

As the fatigue eats into your very bones
You find youself weary and weak
Into the distance you look
A haven you see! in a bus stop

Uncertainty creeps in as you approach
But fear keeps you off the dim-lited road
Hours you spend curled up under the shelter
Pondering if any buses ever pass by

Into the dead of the deafening silence
You hear a noise from the distance
Your eyes light up and you find consolation
As a bus pulls close to the stop

Will you jump on board with relief
Or will you wait out in the cold,
Awaiting another with an affinity
And risk spending the night alone?

The prospect does bring a crippling fear
But I'd choose to go through the test
And chance being in the rain and wind
Than hitching a ride on the wrong bus

As many asked the same
"Why are you on foot?", and
Sick I've been answering the same
"I'm waiting for the right bus"

Perhaps someday you'll be there
When I need to fall into your arms
Maybe somehow I'll see your face
As I walk among the busy crowd

Perhaps someday, maybe somehow...

- Rawbean

I don't know what this unpolished work is - part narrative, part poem.

Perhaps alternative trash? You decide.

Labels: Quotes / Poems

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 1:21 AM

Saturday, March 17, 2007

March (School?) Holidays

Hello there.

Been having fun lately?

That's nice to hear.

Me? Been busy lately.

Let's start with...

Monday
Caught the movie on the war between the Persian and Spartan armies with Mel and Yao Wei, titled 300. It's kinda appalling to learn that they shot most of the movie indoors. If you noticed the fake-looking scenery, it's because they're wallpapers really. Seems like it's a pretty low-budget movie, considering that most of the shooting was done in the studio without any big names acting in the movie.

After the movie, we spent hours sitting at our usual spot near the MRT station, talking 'bout all the issues that concerned us of late. Relaxing evening that was.

Tuesday
Went to Informa plc* with Yao Wei for a casual interview for a temp position. My sis' working there and that's how I got the introduction. Along the way to the office, we could feel a certain aura among the office workers in the morning - it's called the sianess aura.

Hung around till the afternoon before heading to Essential Venture's office to collect my looooong awaited pay and commission. Got nothing but near-negative things to comment 'bout this issue, hence I shall say nothing instead.

Wednesday
Started work with Kenneth from DMD. Kenneth's working for a short stint, while Yao Wei and I will be working for at least a month or so with Informa plc*. Started 1 day earlier than Yao Wei to help out with some administrative work. Spent most of the day making overseas calls to key exhibitors.

Yao Wei and I are assisting my sister with an international event known as CityScape. We might be attending the event itself as well as the cocktail party at Forbidden City. I'm feeling mighty excited at the prospect of being there!

Costly Yogurt
Bought this tempting yogurt from the sandwich shop. Costly it was, but it tasted pretty good and contained a fair chunk of vitamin goodness. I liked the serviettes from this joint. It carries a message saying that all the unsold stuff is donated to a charity home to prevent food wastage. It's not fanciful, but I just like it.

the serviette

Thursday
Noticed unique road markings on the way to work with the guys during the morning. Spotted some road markings that we've never seen before. The most notable one would be a traffic light crossing that is diagonal. It allows people to cross from any direction. Sounds confusing? It looks confusing too.

Friday
It's the most awaited day of the week for all office workers, and probably everyone as well. Nothing note-worthy happened during the day. Went to Sis' place after work and played DOA4 with Donald. It was my first time playing that on the XBox360, but with some fighting game experience, I managed to win after a few rounds of warming up.

Sis took us to dinner at the Si Chuan Dou Fu Restaurant, which is located on the 60th floor of the UOB Building. No kidding. One of the main attractions is their tea server. What attractions could a tea server provide?

Si Chuan Tea Server
This is how they serve tea.

Tea Servers
Mastering this art requires years of martial arts, dance and gymnastics training before one can perfect the amalgamation of elegance and skillfulness...

As quoted from their website. Wow they actually have to train for years just to serve tea (in a kettle with a metre long spout). The tea pourer there is still a trainee then, 'cos little drops were spilled when he served us tea. They say that the masters can serve the tea without spilling even a single drop.

I left my T10 in the car, so I had to make do with my K618i, which obviously didn't produce very vibrant pictures. Here's some of the food from the 7-course meal that we had:

Three Delicacies Combination

Braised Shark's Fin Soup with Crabmeat

Steamed Silver Cod Fish with Bean Crumbs in Soya Sauce

Stir-Fried Prawns with Minced Garlic & Red Chilli

Super fragrant White Chrysanthemum Tea
I enjoyed eating the food so much that I had mild indigestion =S I'd be seeing Sis pretty much for the next few months, so I guess that makes up for the lost time we spent apart during the years that she was studying in Australia. I'd probably be staying over at her place for some time. I'll miss my bed.

Upcoming:
Saturday - Will be promoting LG phones
Sunday - Photoshop/Lightroom session with the ClubSNAP forumnites
Monday - Sony Digital Workshop Course after work in the evening

So you see, I've been keeping myself pretty busy. This beats idling at home scratching my balegs.

*Informa plc is a United Kingdom based publisher and conference organizer, with offices in more than 40 countries and more than 7,000 employees. It operates more than 10,000 conferences annually, and publishes newsletters, academic journals, commercial databases, and academic and business books.

Labels: Nightlife / Streeting

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 1:27 AM

Friday, March 16, 2007

LG Prada Phone Unboxed

Looks pretty cool eh. At 400 pounds (approx S$1200), it definitely stands out. No idea when it'll be launched in Singapore though.

Updates on my busy life up next.

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 10:04 AM

Monday, March 12, 2007

Zoo?manji

Few days back, 'lil Glenys asked me to join her for some church-organised activity at zee zoo, called Zoomanji. At first I was apprehensive - it is after all, a church organised activity. After some consideration I decided to go since it was another 'something else to do' kinda thing. Prior to going, my impression of the zoo is that it smells of poo. After returning from the trip, I still think it smells of poo.

Didn't really have much time to take pictures of the animals and surroundings due to planned activities. Spent most of the time there running around from station to station to complete our quests. In general, it was kinda fun, lah. There ain't many things that I'd say is very/extremely fun. So here are the few selected pics of the day:

Buskers at zee zoo

Trees by the river

One of my favs, the albino tiger

~~'Lil Glenys and Dirisa~~Dirisa & 'lil Glenys

Skyy
Few hours back, I was feeling terribly bored sitting in front of my PC. I abhor even saying that I'm bored, 'cos I feel that boredom is a result of my choice. There are many things that I could do to kill boredom, but I chose to sit around, ending up feeling bored. That's also why I don't appreciate people telling me that they're bored blah blah.

When Bean feels bored and lazy, Bean drinks.

And when Bean drinks, Bean feels intoxicated and bored.

Labels: Nightlife / Streeting

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 2:51 AM

Friday, March 09, 2007

Bean In Love? *doki doki*

Pardon the pun, but have you ever ~~bea~~been in love?

Why do I ask? Ano ne... 'Cos I think I'm in love! My heart goes doki doki whenever I see her. Haven't had this feeling since... :$

I can't help but smile whenever she cooks a lunch box for me. Though sometimes it doesn't taste good (sometimes it kills), I really appreciate her effort and thought. How many girls nowadays actually would cook a meal for their loved ones.

She sends me text messages whenever she's free, and I always look forward to see her name in my inbox. It feels so warm and remembered when my mobile rings once every once in awhile. Though we don't spend much time together due to her other commitments, I feel blessed enough.

She waits for me after my school or work sometimes. Though I may hide it, I actually feel glad to see her after a long day of work. My worries go away whenever I see her. It just feels so comfortable being with her. She's a dream come true. I feel... Happy.

Though she exists only in my heart and nowhere else, I'll keep her in there! Ah, yet another of my self-delusions. Pink hair, green eyes - where in the world would I ever find someone like that? Well at least now I know for sure, all my fussy standards are just crap. The one I'm waiting for is someone with a heart of gold. Never mind the things that we may not have, what's important is that we have each other. Ideally that's all that matters, isn't it?

I remember our date on Valentine's. You were wearing a white tank top and a silver necklace. At Park Mall we stood, as you leaned on me, we watched the rain. Do you, remember?

Labels: Musings

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 6:19 PM

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Dude, What's Your Approach?

Ah, often I wonder why I work my ass off during holidays and weekends while my friends are out (or in) having fun and relaxing. For the obvious reason - it's always the dough that keeps me going. And so now the bigger question comes into play - Why am I always broke even though I work while they don't, and why are they getting new consoles and gadgets when they ain't working!?

The answer my friends - rich parents who love'em and splurge money on'em. "Mummyyyy! I want a PS3, I want it soooo bad, and I want it NOW!". Let's see, an XBOX360 for Xmas, and a PS3 for post-CNY. I just don't get it - how some people have it that easy. Perhaps not that many of you experience it, so to say it's so coincidental that I have many friends who are pampered and blessed, but still whine bout the finer hiccups in life.

Now back to the first part of the question - Why am I always broke even though I don't have any commitments? Gee, I seriously don't know maan. Is it the frequent food frenzy that I go on? Or is it the strict no-bus journey outings? Or maybe even the frequent expenditure on alcohol? Or *gasp* ALL? I think that most of my closer friends would know why I can't save up. Yes, yes, screw my resolutions - what happened to them anyway?

SO I'm probably gonna stay home all day like what the others usually do - play my games like a nerd, be a good boy and help with the chores, and maybe, just MAYBE, I'll beg my folks to get me a new console (which I totally don't need), or a new car (which I have 0 desire for). Or I could skip all of that, go out to work like a man and buy myself a Marine Pack for my digital camera. What would you do?

Labels: Resolutions

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 1:26 PM

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

The True World Map - An Australian Propaganda

An afternoon chat with Wing Yi, who's over at Carnegie Mellon University in Oz doing a 2-year Masters course:

B e a n said: (04:00 PM)
How are things over at down under?

天羽 Feather <.....> said: (04:00 PM)
? over at down under?

B e a n said:
Down Under = Australia

天羽 Feather <.....> says (04:01 PM):
--! you hold the world map upside down, australia is at the top

B e a n says (04:02 PM):
lol but down under is a slang la

天羽 Feather <.....> says (04:02 PM):
^^ Australia says no... I saw a map on sale called "The True World Map", where Australia is at the top

B e a n says (04:02 PM):
-_-
diao ok ok

I give up.

Labels: Jokes / Humor

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 4:12 PM

It Ends Tonight

Why am I losing sleep over you tonight?

I dislike being deceived by others.

But you never did.

Now that's the problem.

'Cos I'm trying to convince myself that you did.

And so I end up trying to deceive myself.

Just so that I could kill the image of you in my head.

But it isn't working.

Labels: Irrelevant / Random

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 3:59 AM

Monday, March 05, 2007

Pig o' 7

Spent the whole afternoon post-processing my images, which dates back to 2005. All these photography related stuffs are probably bringing out the artistic side of me. How'd I know? 'Cos even my drawing is improving!

Haaa!
Cleared out some of the junk yesterday, which included empty bottles. Decided to challenge Dad to a photo taking contest. Based on the same objects, here are the shots that we took.

Dad's shot

My entry
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I can't decide on which picture is better, but I like mine better nonetheless. It was Saturday and that meant Bailey's bath time as usual. Here's a picture of him having his mandatory snack after his bath.

Grarrl
Took some pictures yesterday when I was out. Mom returned from her union trip, and I went to pick her up from the Tanah Merah ferry terminal. That means more pictures, no doubt.

Before the rain

Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal
Back home, I actually volunteered to help Mum with cleaning the fish. She bought 4 garoupas back, and we had one for dinner. For those who have been over at my place before, they all know that my balcony has an unobstructed view, which can be pretty scenic at times.

The late-afternoon sun

And the fish in our tummies
Yesterday was the 15th and the last day of the Chinese New Year. Went to the Yacht Club 'cos Mom said that there'd probably be fireworks across the straits. Well there were, but since it was quite far away, I couldn't get any good shots of it. Heard that there's gonna be another fireworks display (this time in Singapore) sometime soon. Ain't no fireworks, but I got a few shots that ain't too bad.

Floodlights

Moon on the ~~sly~~shy side
I think that my composition has improved slightly, after the pointers that I got from the veterans during the CanonGraphers' outing. The forumnites at ClubSNAP are very friendly and helpful. Some of them have even volunteered to coach me in post-processing and photoshop techniques for digital imaging. Kinda enjoy being in this community.

After using the T10 for a few days now, I think that its main flaw is the short battery life. It lasts no more than 3 hours or less than 120 shots. I'm gonna have to get another battery, as well as the marine pack for underwater shooting.

NP-FT1

MPK-THC
Goodness, the marine pack's gonna set me back by around $200. Looks like I'm gonna be broke even before getting my next paycheck. I'm gonna have to live on passion instead of food come next month. Anyone out there kind enough to feed me? =P

Labels: Picto Pronto

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 4:59 PM

Sunday, March 04, 2007

CanonGraphers Outing 001/2007 - Sun Sand Sea

As predicted, almost everyone who went for the shooting session were using big-ass SLRs. I said 'almost' 'cos Jeremy and I were the only ones using tiny PnS cameras. But true to what a veteran said, it's not the equipment but the technique that matters. So to say, I've still got lots to learn.

I took close to a hundred shots, but after loading them to my PC, only 45 of'em were kept. The discarded ones had either extremely poor composition or were under-exposed. Well some of the ones that I kept weren't up to scratch too, but if I deleted'em all, I'd probably be left with only a handful. That says a lot 'bout my photography skills huh.

Here are some of the better ones among today's shots:

Changi Beach Club

Kelong Walk

Meow

Looks kinda like my 3D model Flareon

Kelong Walk again

Washed-up Coral

Jeremy on the rocks

Changi Sailing Club?

Against the tides
Shot of the day:

A full moon
Group photo:

Picture by +evenstar of CS (ClubSNAP)

I ain't got no DSLR camera with filters, so I got to brush up on my Photoshop skills if I want to produce fantastic pictures. Most of the pictures above were not photoshoped, except for Meow and Against the tides (which I only desaturated). How much can Photoshop/filters help in photography?

Picture by Klose of CS

This much.

Labels: Picto Pronto

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 2:43 AM

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Shiny Things

My very own Sony Cybershot T10!
I'm $539 poorer this month, and there's still no news on my last paycheck. Seriously, the agency that I'm working for is screwed in more ways than one. Things just keep getting worse for them, and I'm concerned - Dude, where's ma pay!

Ah life has been busy busy busy these days. Since I returned from Bintan there hasn't been one day when I lazed at home doing nothing. Spent the whole of yesterday doing maintenance work on the drum kit that Tedo left me. It looks pretty good now, just that it still lacks of crashes.

~~Ted's~~My new old n00b kit
Plenty o' room in my balcony for the kit, but that means compromising on a spot for drinking parties. Mum suggested moving it into my room, but no way maan I enjoy my spacious personal private space.

Okay time check, it's now 2:26. Gotta leave in an hour and a half for a forum outing. I'm going to Changi Boardwalk for a photography session with my little PnS (Point and Shoot) T10 =D

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 2:28 PM

He's Leavin', on a Jet Plane~

Serious boolshit
Been blogging for 4 years now and their dumb bots actually detect this as a spam blog. Was pretty irritated over this, but I had enough things to occupy myself with over the past 2 days so it didn't bother me too much.

Tedo has flown to Oz to join Wing Yi at CMU earlier this evening. He should have reached his destination by now. He's one friend that I'm definitely gonna miss. Well, 2 years ain't that long, ain't it?

Got new toys to show, but I'll leave them for another day since I don't have pictures and you know the rule, NPNT! For now, the spotlight's on Bailey.

Another lazy shot

Simply love him

After his walk

Labels: Animals / Pets

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 4:36 AM

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Bean Shops for a Digicam

Been looking for an ultracompact digital camera for the past few days. After doing some research and scouring around Sim Lim, I narrowed down to 3 models:

Casio EX-S770

Nikon Coolpix S8

Sony Cybershot T10

Based on my findings, I've finally decided upon the Sony T10. Initially I thought that the T10 was overrated, but after reading numerous reviews that put the T10 above others, I decided for myself that there must be some truth in them. Though it's slightly costlier and it uses the Sony-proprietary Memory Stick Pro Duo, its image quality is above the two other models in the above-mentioned.

Size-wise it's fairly small, just a tad thicker than the S770. Its digital magnification can go up to 6X, which is one of the highest among the ultracompacts. Shutter speed is also among the faster models. Other than design, the next winning factor is probably its better image quality, being able to take pictures at higher ISO levels with lesser noise. In theory, I conclude that the T10 is a better buy over the other two. In reality, well we just got to wait and see.

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 8:18 AM