Seen my crocs?

I'm not afraid of bucking the trend. I got the LOMO LC-A 35mm camera for RM600. The LOMO LC-A is hardly a technological breakthrough. It doesn't autofocus, it doesn't have automatic film advance, it uses rudimentary exposure metering and it definitely is not worth RM600. I still bought it - perhaps for the hype but I cannot deny the excitement I felt when I used it.

When everyone was excited about digital cameras, I was lusting after a 35mm SLR camera from 1979 - the Nikon EM. It was worth every RM200 I spent for a second hand set with a 50mm prime lens. The exposure metering was dodgy, but when it worked, it produced amazingly well exposed photographs. Other than the dodgy exposure meter, I loved using the Nikon EM. I enjoyed manually focusing the lens, adjusting the aperture and manually advancing the film. I was different from the rest, and I was enjoying photography.

Then my 5 year old Windows PC decided to call it quits. Instead of getting another Windows box, I wanted an Apple computer, and the best bang for my buck was the Apple iBook G4. It ran on a 1.33 GHz processor that was plenty fast for my needs, and I wanted mobility, so I got the 12-inch model. The iBook was the cheapest 12-inch notebook I could get at that time. I looked and no other Windows notebook could offer the same specifications as the iBook at the same price. I was ostracised by my Windows-using friends, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed using the Mac OS and found iPhoto to be extremely useful for organising my photographs. I even produced several DVD slideshows from the weddings I attended as a photographer. And to further buck the trend, I added decals to my iBook.

Now, my latest craze - crocs. I would have gotten a pair if it weren't for the exhorbitant price tag. RM140 for a pair of crocs that are entirely made a compound called Proprietary Closed Cell Resin (PCCR) that's very light, moulds to your feel, grippy on most surfaces, odourless and anti-bacterial. A super material? I call it hype, and I'm buying every raving testimonial on the website.

Model for a day... or rather, 15 minutes

One day my sister called me in the office. "Do you want to be a model?" she asked. It took me a few seconds to gather my thoughts and I blurted, "What?" Turns out, the company I work for wants to produce a print advertisement and needed a few people to model for the advertisement. I thought it would be an interesting experience, and so I volunteered.

Today was the photoshoot. There were three men - a photographer, his assistant and a the boss. They were setting up strobe lamps, soft boxes, reflectors, filtered strobes, an Apple Powerbook G4 to view the RAW images from a digital back, and they used Nikon lenses. I was intrigued and enjoyed watching the professionals prepare their gear.

The first photoshoot was a Meeting scene. They needed 2 people and I was chosen along with another girl from HR. The boss made us feel relaxed by asking for our names, and gave general suggestions on how to pose. We weren't directed. Instead, they let us pose naturally... well, as naturally as I could with 3 people in the room staring at us and 6 other people outside the room watching us. I think we did ok. We cracked jokes and mumbled some nonsense to get into the feel that we are in a meeting.

After each pose, we got to have a look at the photographs. I was impressed. The lighting arrangement produced a very distinct vignette effect, and images were tact sharp and the colours very saturated. Our faces were well exposed with no blown highlights. Wow. There were a few shots with either one of us looking a little odd. I hope they got a good shot with both of us not looking too odd.

I don't know when I'll get to see the finished photograph. Will they post process the photos?

I got to be a "super" model for about 15 minutes. It was fun!

Food for the soul

More often than not, sp and I would be busy in our kitchen preparing dinner. I enjoy cooking together and one of the reason is our kitchen. Now, let me explain. The best thing about a small kitchen is that when two people are cooking together, we're going to be brushing against each other and wrapping our arms around each other's waist to grab something off the counter. This little dance that we do in our kitchen makes cooking fun... for me, at least.

It's always a treat for me when sp decides to prepare soup. She's really good at it. She patiently cleans the chicken bones, picks the right amount of Chinese herbs, cleans and chops the vegetables and combine her carefully prepared ingredients in boiling water. A few minutes before the soup is ready, I can already smell the savoury aroma wafting into the livingroom.

Soup really is food for the soul. As a child, my mom prepared soup for me and I remembered those times as being safe and contented. When sp makes soup for me, I'm reminded of those feelings and makes me cherish her even more. May I have seconds?

Make sure you wash behind your ears

Keeping Serenity clean is a constant challenge. A white notebook is hardly practical, aesthetically. With a white notebook, it's too easy to notice grime and lint accumulate from daily use.

So my cleaning regime goes something like this:

Every week or so, I'd give Serenity a thorough wipe-down using wet wipes that I bought from Tesco. I made sure the wet wipes were alcohol free and as chemically inert as possible. My rationale was that if the wet wipes were good enough for babies, they were good enough for Serenity. Just shy of a year old, Serenity is aging well.

There have been reports that the iBook screen could get smudged or scratched from the keyboard when it's closed. So I had to look for a piece of cloth to put between the keyboard and the screen. At first I asked my mom to sew a piece of cloth and that worked very well.

About a week ago, I decided it was time to replace that piece of cloth and I had the perfect replacement in mind. I noticed that Giant Hypermarket sold a microfiber cloth from Sabco. It's advertised for cleaning glass, and that seemed perfect for my needs. The microfiber cloth costs about RM7 and I had my mom cut it to size. It keeps the keyboard and screen lint free and also protects the screen while the iBook lid is closed.


I doubt I'd go through all this trouble if I didn't have an iBook. However the gains outweigh the hassle. There is a comfortable feeling when using Serenity. Maybe it's the Mac user interface combined with a minimalist and elegantly designed hardware that makes the Mac experience so unique.

Grab Bag II

I mentioned about winning a Mac Grab Bag a few weeks ago. It's been almost a month and I haven't received the Mac Grab Bag. Nevermind... the website does say it would take 4-6 weeks for my prize to arrive...

So while thoughts of opening the Grab Bag and discovering what I had actually won percolated in my mind, I was dilligently joining the same competition every week. It's easy, and takes about 10 minutes, maybe less, to identify the sound clips and send the answers.

A week passed... nope, I didn't win. Another week and another week, and I didn't win. No surprises here. But on the fourth week...

I won another Mac Grab Bag!

It boggles my mind - either I'm on a lucky streak, or the general population don't know how to use Google, or the podcast has very few listeners.