testing 1 2 3

It has been about 2 months since bought my Panasonic Lumix TMC-TZ15 camera and I must say, as an amateur photographer I am quite pleased my my still new toy. My first digital camera was also a Lumix and was working for me wonderfully until the LCD screen ceased to work. I have been using it on an almost daily basis and thought that it is about time I try out some low light shots. I have never been a fan of flashing using so whenever I can I would avoid using it. However sometimes there is so little light that I after using the flash I have a picture that's just too bright. After adjusting the shutter speed and using flash with zoom I am slowly getting the hang of photography. I like a bit of hands on and self exploration, failing which I will resort to reading hahaha.

I would like to give thanks to Lisa and John for setting up alfresco dining at their place and taking pains to prop up for me to play around with my camera. We had a pre mooncake festival do last night. The last 4 pictures are some macro shots I took at home.

Pictures I took without flash at min shutter speed of 1

John setting up his fondue. I gave it a try and it was rather bitter tasting to me. Low alcohol intolerance may be it hehehe. I took this picture with zoom and flash.

Ah Lina my ever obliging model :)



Some of the macro shots I took at home.

On underestimation

Never judge a book by its cover, it is often said. But how often do we look beyond the cover to pass judgment? We tend to estimate things of people by first glance, first impression or first contact. After the so called "first" we make up our minds about that thing or person. Often it ends up as an over or under estimation on our part. Like it or not, we do that all the time.

What I would like to write about in this post is on underestimation. Case on point, the popular series known as "Spirits of love" or "意難忘" which pronounced in pinyin is Yi Nan Wang. I came across this show nearly 3 years ago on one of my frequent trip to my " second home" ie Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After supper my aunt suddenly remembered that she had a show to catch, so I stayed with her to see what is the show that she's going to watch after midnight on a weekday.

She was just in time as the show was playing the theme song in introductory credits. I frowned and asked her, "are you watching a Hokkien show?" The reply was, "yes but you have to watch it, it is really gooooooood!" Having nothing better to do I thought I would just indulge. Having come from a Mandarin and English educated background, I must admit that I find the Minan dialect that the Taiwanese speak to be rather, how should I put this, peculiar. In other words, I just wasn't use to it. I initially found the story and scenes to be overly dramatic, but as I watched on, I became addicted to the show. Certain things you'd thought is ridiculous does actually happen in real life. By the time I started watching the show had already moved on to the second generation.

It tells you how the sins of the father is paid by his children, it tells you why you shouldn't lie, it tells you why you shouldn't take a human life etc etc. Things we would learn in bible or moral studies. I don't know how to tell you but there is just an addictive element to it ( and I am sure it is the aim of ALL TV series) and I would find myself making sure that I will be home by 1800 hrs to watch the show or otherwise the rerun at 0000hrs.

My second brother Juu Go Dai Hiko Seijuuro was the first of my 3 siblings to catch on to the series. He was back from the Land of Oz for the summer holidays and was very intrigued by our topic of discussion over dinner. Hiko asked me after dinner who we were talking about and was incredulous to find that we were actually talking about TV characters! So he was introduced to the show. Initially he too find it strange to be watching a Minan show but then soon he'dbe in front of the TV by 1800 asking for my translation and fuming over what the baddies evil deeds. I would update him on the story after he left but after 2 years he kind of gave up.

Then came my little brother Akatsuki no sousui sama. Same initial reaction and in the end, locked in front of TV and reading Malay translation. He's back in Australia now and is too busy with his culinary course to be indulging on updates.

Finally bro number one Kurei came back for his summer break and was inevitably introduced to the show. He being the fiercest all time critic, all I can say is that we would send smses to each other during the airing of some episodes and he is absolutely incensed with one of the loser characters and in total worship of another.

For the benefit of my brothers I have searched for and posted some pictures of some of the main characters I obtained from some of the chinese websites.

Kurei, you have NO idea what I went through to get pictures of the WORM. His pictures were the hardest to find!

意難忘


Scene from opening credits of the show



Wang Sheng Tien, one of the main characters


Wang Shen Tien and his on again, off again wife Fang Li Zhu


My aunt's favourites character (now deceased) Lim Ta Jong


The most pathetic girl in the show, Wang Ting Ting. Her life is just full of crap.



Ting Ting and her crazy arse husband, who eventually committed suicide.


Sheng Tian's son, Wang Tien Zhu and his on again off again wife Chen San Ni (He is the LOSER that Kurei was talking about. These days when Kurei watches him in action he just wants to take a flight to Taiwan and finish him off himself)


From left to right, Brother Chow, Mei Yu and Du Wen Jie aka Michael aka The Worm. Kurei thinks he is the coolest baddie on the show who will go down with guns blazing.




The Worm and the only other woman he loved other than his wife (Lim Jia Jia)


The Mai family. They're cool.

Last but not least, my favourite spiritually reformed baddie of all time, Chua jin Pao. He rocks man!

It is funny how we all got hooked on this show. Well that is because we all thought that Hockkien or Minan shows are not comparable to Hong Kong or Korean series in terms of content and cast. We were proven so wrong. My mom and I watch at least 3-4 Minan shows on weeknights from 1800-0000 hours.

That, ladies and gentlemen is a lesson on underestimation.

Last but not least, a big thank you to my aunt in KL who brought this show to us. Hehehehe.

The name which no one shall speak of

Preface: For some of you reading this post I foresee you laughing in stitches and falling off whatever you are sitting on because you are oh-so-clear about what I am trying to tell you. But let me warn you, if you try to repeat that statement to me at any time hereafter, be prepared to bear my Wrath!"

I wanted to wear my favourite colour to work today but decided to mix it with another colour. I dug out a pair of pink pants with white pin stripes which my aunt bought for me on a trip to China. That would quite a nice ensemble for work today, I thought to myself.

Things were all good until I went to the pantry to get myself a glass of water. As I was filling up my cup, a colleague came up to me and said, "hey, you look like ***** ***** today!", and walked off. ARGH!!!! I was absolutely incensed. Of course he had no idea of my deep and absolute despise, loathing and hatred of that name or its likeness in any manner, size or form. I just could not believe it, I look like the very thing that I deeply and absolutely despise, loath and hate!

I will not make you endure the torture of having to read an explanation of my deep and absolute despise, loathing and hatred for that name which no one shall speak. I think there are enough out there who knows why.

But why did it happen? Retribution?

I had wanted so much to curse for a thousand fleas from the camel's arse to infest the armpits of he who uttered the quoted statement above. However, to be fair, he knew not what he speaketh.

One of the worst days of my life indeed....

You feel pain? Good for you.

It has been 48 hours since my right deltoid got busted and the pain is showing no signs of abating. I have a training session tonight and was anxious to get back into the thick of action. If anything the pain seems to have extended beyond my deltoid, making it painful for me to move my arm upwards. Anyway, I thought I'd go to the dojo anyway since I need to open it. I promised Chiong that I will show him the bokkens and jo that I ordered from Tozando.com before he makes his decision to request my assistance in purchasing some for him during my stay in Tanabe.

I practised the 7 ken suburi with an aikiken to see how my right arm would take it. There is slight pain but bearable. Then my senpai arrived one after the other and we talked about getting bokken and jo from various places. Somehow he feels better knowing that he got his from Japan. See, reputation does count!

Our training tonight was on hamni handachi techniques. AI joined us for training tonight and 2 nights ago and I must say it is different seeing a male aikidoka in a hakama (I won't mention sensei because I am so used to seeing him in a kakama it would be weird if her isn't wearing one!). Somehow there's an aura attached to it. But it is a different aura compared to my sifu from Mount KK hehehe.

I started off being the uke for Rozi after being instructed to execute the locking techniques in hanmi handachi position from shomenuchi. I couldn't attack from either side because my right arm would either feel pain from the grab or from taking the ukemi. I thought I have had it for the night but sensei suggested that I should just practice as the nage. It worked out better as for most parts I didn't feel the pain. We were given lessons on how to be a good uke in making the nage's technique look good, in the context of grading. There were actually alot of fineprint to it and I am glad that we were told of this. MN was a very good uke while Chiong needed a bit more work. It was all good.

Then came the jiyu waza. I was again not fluid as I was more concerned the next out of 6 throws that I have to execute. Sensei then asked us to execute techniques with futare gake. Never leave your back open to your opponent. Somehow the futare gake ( two ukes attacking a nage) was better for all of us because we need not be too strict about the number of throws that we need to execute. Too bad my right arm was giving me problems otherwise my mind would have been more alert rather than being distracted by the pain.

Coming back to the issue of pain, I initially hated the fact that it prevented me from getting on with my training tonight. I also hated the fact that this injury will delay my progress in training. I further hated the fact that I can be everyone's nage but not learning as an uke.

But then when I sat down and thought about it, I should be glad that I feel the pain. For me, the pain is a reminder of things to come. It tells you what might happen if you ignore it. It tells you that you are human, it tells you that you are alive, it tells you that what you feel is real, it tells you to take care of yourself. Apart from the injury to the right deltoid my other injury was my lower back injury which I sustained about 13 years ago during my tennis days. When you are young and fit nothing seems to be able to get you down. You can train for hours and hours and not be tired. You will stay up the whole night and still be able to go through the next day. You can eat as much as you want but still look good. You have all the energy in this world and you seem invinsible. At least that was how I feel then.

Then age catches up on you. You'd run out of breath if when you workout, you feel like a zombie for not having enough sleep, you eat like you ate before and you waistline will keep expanding. Most of all, the little aches and pains will manifest. Headaches? Where on earth did that come from? Chest pains? Since when? Squat too long and can't get up afterwards? huh??? Sounds familiar?

You feel physical pain for a variety of reasons. For me it is mainly because I have overworked my body. I loath to be still or inactive for too long because I always end up falling asleep soon after. I make it a point to fill my life with activities whether indoors or outdoors and most of it require physical exertion. I have been lifting weights for quite some time but stopped as my gym membership expired in March. I didn't renew my membership because...oh don't get me started...hmph. Anyway I digress. So due to my rather active lifestyle and the activities I participate in, it is only a matter of time before I feel pain one way or the other if I am not careful with myself. It happened 13 years ago and it happened again 2 days ago.

As much I would like to go back to my younger days I must accept that fact that my body will never be like how it was. I must know my limits. My mom has always asked me, "why can't you just be like the other girls and take up dancing or singing?" Because I am only 10% woman I was told. Hehehe. I like dancing and singing too, but it is just not my priority for now. While I experience physical pain, my mother experiences emotional pain worrying about my injury. Hence she doesn't know about this injury. (Shhh!)

To sum it up, I only have one body and there are no spare parts ( I am aware of transplants, cloning and stem cell research, but notwithstanding). If you get injured you sit out. I have to take care of myself and I am glad that Pain is there to remind me of it.

Foodies

I have been eating in excess recently, which doesn't really go with with spirit of Ramadhan. I think I have reached the age where I can relate to people saying that they can't eat as much as they could would like to. But then again I'm always in good company so what's overeating once in a while? Hehehe. I like the ambience at Country Patch. It has a very English feel to it and has lots of white.

Chicken pie


Pasta Alfredo


Pasta Aglio - don't quite like the fish sauce


Lisa's breakfast order


Tiramisu


Strawberry cheesecake


Chocolate mudcake

Then there was the sungkai buffet at Villa Mauri. Most of the dishes were decent. I enjoyed the carbonara pasta and of course the fantasia di maria but was quite disappointed with the lamb shoulder as it was served lukewarm and raw in the middle.

Meatballs


Parfalle carbonara with beef rashes


Spaghetti bolognaise


Seafood pasta


Fantasia Di Maria!

The 4th time

The number 4 is of much significance to me. 4 is my favourite number, the number of children my parents have, the number of children I would like to have etc etc. Now number 4 is also the number of times I have ever regurgitated in my life, one of which happened yesterday out sea. Lack of sleep, choppy waters and long surface intervals made it for me. I managed one dive and took some pictures but they ended up just looking green and the flash didn't quite work for me in terms of coverage. I have yet to fully explore the features of my camera so I will wait until then before deciding whether to invest in a strobe.

Daniel seems to have a fondness for the Titanic pose and as my cousin rightly puts it, whoever does the Titanic with Daniel seems to enjoy it very much, especially Mr Friday hahaha.

It was our last dive with Daniel as he is going back to KK for good. We had a BBQ and karaoke session at his place and had a ball of a time. All the best Daniel! Thank goodness for Facebook hehehe.

What I always look forward to on Monday nights is our aikido practice. Everyone was in high spirits and I had my camera with me.

The 3 aikidokeers


MN in deep comtemplation


The moves baby, the moves


All in seiza waiting for sensei to start class


See how much fun we have during practice? hahahaha

For the first time I hurt a part of my body during practice, my right deltoid. I was uke taking ukemi from the nikkyo omote pin and as I landed on the mat I overextended my right arm. Instant sharp pain. I could still carry on with practice but my right arm is in pain whenever I lifted it. I enjoyed tonight's session. We had to do jiyu waza (free techniques) starting of with at least 6 throws from shomenuchi and yokomenuchi. It was funny because Chin and I would be so happy whenever we get to do 6 throws on each's turn. It's still very mechanical as I have to remember each technique by turn. First I do kotegaeshi, then iriminage, then kokyu nage...wait a minute, what are the other 3 again? kaiten nage, shihonage and tenchi nage? Hahaha. It takes practice of course and I like jiyu waza. Fluidity in mind and action and good for musubi I feel.

I better get some rest today because we are going to work our knees at Wednesday's session.