Perceptions are the truth

I cant decide.



Is it the Camera?
Is it the Lens?



Or is it the man behind the Lens & Camera?

And of course, the obsession with kids continues.



Regards

Frankly...
I think im sick.

I hate dirty things. I can stand a messy room for awhile...but i cant stand the sight of dirt and dust on my table. I cannot stand oily keyboards and mouses. And i cannot understand why people dont bath twice a day (more if PUB dont penalise us so much for using water..)

Thats why...i never ever really got around doing charity work. Frankly...i cannot stand the sight of dirty depressing homes<--- this is a very myopic statement and im most prob exaggerating but im blogging so what you expect? BUT Im really a good person.

As such...im dedicating one post to

http://www.donation.org.sg/

I know we have encounter a few bad hats in the past. Some of them got greedy and started having a jolly good time with our money.

But i believe that most of them are out there working towards a worthy cause! And since im sick and lazy... i figured i would do the least that is expected of me.

Trust me.. Sometimes, Giving feels better than Receiving.
Have you done your part today?

Regards
Charitable mode.

Im sick.
Have been having cough, sorethroat and fever for the past 2 days.

But i cant call in sick because tomorrow is Fried noodles with chicken wings day and i love the chicken wings cooked by the aunties at my workplace.
The chicken wings happens to be free too.

Maybe i will call in sick on friday and have a unofficial long weekend. But then, friday is fried rice with satay day.

Life is filled with dilemmas

Regards
Cheap Skate.

Was reading over the internet.. Some travel website.

Mauritius will enchant you, will uplift your soul, making you feel that you belong to the chosen few. Every visitor enjoys personal attention. Every encounter is an opportunity to discover a friendly face. Behind each smile lies the promise of a unique holiday. The contrast of a multitude of colours and tastes, the island, set in its turquoise sea, is an oasis of peace and tranquillity. Mauritius, a melting pot where past and present are smoothly blended together, offers an essential beauty that will compel to return to its shores time and time again. May your stay with us remain engraved in your memory forever.

Working Hours
Private Sector : Monday to Friday: 8.30 am - 4.15 pm
Saturday : 9am -noon (Some offices)
Public Sector : Monday to Friday: 9 am - 4 pm
Saturday : 9 am - noon (Skeleton service)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh yes, i would definately feel like the chosen few if i start at 9am and work till 4pm each day.

7 hours of office time and if we take into account lunch breaks ( ~1 hour) , Tea breaks (30mins)..
I would only be working 5.5 hours.

Regards
Wanna be the Chosen Few.

Whats worse can shooting with luther?



Shooting in the dark and using 'EXIT' signs as your only source of light to find your equipments.

I haven't exactly ran through the pics yet but i would be surprise if i see anything really decent in there. I swear its the equipment fault. I need a D3. D300 SUCKS

Oh...and i finally got to go to a church wedding with my lousy D300. Im sure nothing good would come out of that either. Hahahaha...

Regards
Lukas

Whats wrong with this pic?

Regards
GOM Reader

And finally... Steve's third story.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Stay Hungry.... and foolish.
Im off to bed. Theres lots of things waiting for me... i wanna change the world.

Regards

After staring death in the face... i realise just how petty i have been.

Life is short.. i need to make up for lost time. I need to spread my love..

Regards
Re-born again.

I wonder if my friends appreciate that im helping them cover their work while they go for their meetings and jollys..

Regards
Desperately seeking time.

Months back, when i was young, impressionable and very naive...i promised a friend that i would help his friends with an event that they would be organising.. for free. Damn.

Oh well, i finally found time to check out what the event was about..

http://sing4harmony.blogspot.com/2009/02/varsity-voices-09-musica-moderna.html

http://www.nus.edu.sg/cfa/facilities/hall.html

This might just turn out to be fun. =)

Regards
Lukas

Heres Part II

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Stay tuned for part III

Was sent out again last evening...

They needed someone to ascertain how bad the haze was. In my opinion... the rain really help cleared up the situation.





Regards

I love to have each and every blog entry written by my own words.. But sometimes, someone else's words would do fine too..

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
--------------------------

Stay tuned for part 2.

Regards

Was out on an early morning recee flight... and sneaked in a pic or 2 of the singapore overhead..



I think the haze is back. This really means that landscape photographers would be cursing and swearing for awhile.

I wonder if this is a good excuse to call in sick for sorethroat and flu.

Regards

Im contemplating to have kids.
They are just too adorable.

My obsession with kids continues...







Regards
Father to be.

In my time, I have made a joke out of other people's misery.
In fact, i've have blogged about some on this blog.

The joke was on me when i lost my car yesterday. By the time i found it...



=(

Regards
Forgetful.

With regard to my previous post in Dec 08
http://punyshrimp.blogspot.com/2008/12/post-no-558.html

Spotted the following yesterday....





Off the top of my head,
The last time someone (some Datuk from Malaysia) drove aginst traffic in Mandai got a free ride in a TP car.
I wanted to confront the boys in blue but decided against it...

They are, afterall...the law.

Regards
Timid Citizen who has lost his balls voice

Celebrity couple Glen Ong, Jamie Yeo call it quits
By Mayo Martin, TODAY Posted: 14 February 2009 0736 hrs

Im speechless... did sex gone bad?
Guess we wouldnt know but...its always sad to see a marriage fall through.

Regards
Class 95 listener.

Temasek's investment portfolio down 31% to S$127b as of 30 Nov 2008
By Timothy Ouyang, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 10 February 2009 1706 hrs

I think im a very good investor. about 6 years ago, when i plunge into the stock gambling investing... my annual returns has been rather steady at about 10% PA. This is much more favourable than the 3% that most singapore town councils are making.

Even in the recent downturn, my only outstanding position was down a total of 20%. This is much more favourable than the 30% that Temasek lost.

And through these years, i seriously thought i suck at stock picking.. THANK YOU TEMASEK! You made me feel really good!

Of course, there is a silver lining amid all these gloom..

Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Lim Hwee Hwa, said: "This is less than the corresponding declines in the MSCI Singapore Index of 44 per cent and the MSCI Asia ex-Japan of 45 per cent both in Singapore dollar terms over the same period."

As you can see, we are all still very positive about the entire issue.

Regards

On a happier note..

Im selling my Nikon SB 800 Flash.
Decided that motion blur blur natural light photos are the in thing and theres no need for me to use flash. Should clients ask why photos turn out to be blur... i would brush them off by telling them that they dont appreciate artistic photos.

I advertise my flash for $450 just now on the forum.... I have 10 offers.

For the record, i brought it at $480 and has been abusing it for 4 months. Im very sure that photographers aint the most business savvy guys around.

Regards
Savvy.

Notw: Naaaa.... screw natural lighting shots. A couple of them is fine but im mainstream. Im getting the SB 900. HAhahaha....

The thing about love is that it comes in different forms and varying amounts.

At the fundamental level, as long as the sex is good there is no major quarrels... couple ought to stay together, grow old and raise lots of kids along the way.

Trouble comes when
1) either party is unable to comprehend the form of love provided by the other party.
2) amount of love varies

I have been in some relationships and seen lots of my friends rough it out in theirs. More often than not... most would end up with happy endings. The few that didn't were a result of irreconcilable differences.
Contrary to urban myths.. there is really just ONE single biggest stumbling blocks when it comes to relationships. Character differences! Everything else, can be sorted out...but character is something that you grow up wtih.
When 2 characters collide, theses usually just one ending in sight (no matter how far off in the future)

And lastly...if despite all the odds, you guys stay together and do indeed get to walk down the aisle.... never ever turn your back on the marriage because of silly squabbles.
Because i have been lucky enough to be able to poke my nose in many couples' face during my time as a young struggling, aspiring photographer and one of the cliche vows that both of you took during that faithful day was

"to hold and love each other no matter what, in sickness and in health.."

Dont ever go back on your vows.. its a sin to do so. Not to mention, you are most prob the selfish one who doesnt give 2 hoots about ther other party's feelings.

Regards
Ex John's LUP SUP KTV Buddy

John is in trouble.. big big trouble.

Regards
His Evil friend.

Before i start Blogging... I have a confession to make.
I brought John (names have been changed to protect the identity of my friends) to LUP SUP BAR last nite. I think hes hooked. Im going to go to hell for introducing him to such a sin. =(

On the flipside... it was his bachelor nite. It was one of those XIN DONG BU RU XING DONG outing. Hahaha...

Oh well..lets blog about something more healthy.

My friend, Toh SIN SIN is back from Promise Land.
And she didnt buy a thing for me. 2 x =(



So being evil me, i decided to outwit her. On the pretext of a reunion, i brought her to Boon Lay Nasi Lemak. The real intent was to make her FAT. hahahaha...



Decided to get WenQiu along so that he can be FAT too.



Boon Lay Nasi Lemak!



Of course, Toh Sin Sin didnt wanna be pictured with sinful Nasi Lemak. I have no idea why..



WenQiu and his chicken wings.


For the record, healthy me has sugar cane drink only. As you can see, i wasnt afraid of the camera.

Im not sure how many kgs did Toh Sin sin gained during the outing but im sure it would be one of the many that we will have.. Hahaha...
I wanna see a 70kg Toh Sin sin.

Regards
Evil x 2

Was reading this on a friend's blog...

"I'm an OPTIMISTIC person

What a day for me.
A lot of people said 牛年 is not good.
But I don't believe it.
I'm going to look at all the good things during 牛年.

This doesn't hurt me!
Because I know it's just another test for me.
Who don't make mistakes in life?
老天之所以会那么整我，是因为他爱我。

We are unable to foresee the consequences.
But we can make decisions to avoid the consequences.
Make the choice and don't regret.
There's no way to decide at that point whether it's a right or wrong choice anyway.

I know I always have the best path in life.
Even though people may think that, aiya it's a waste.
But who knows, maybe what seems nice isn't that nice afterall.
Don't compare, no what ifs.

Even if you can time travel.
Travelling back in time to change something you regret may not be the right choice.
Learnt that from Heroes.
Let it be.


I say again.
I'm an OPTIMISTIC person."

Sometimes, when i get myself into trouble...
Mama would always say "SIA WONG SI MA, YEN ZI FEI FU"..

To put things in perspective..
Sometimes, things would not go according to plans... in fact, it can get pretty rough sometimes. But until the fat lady sings, dont discount yourself and think that all is bad. It might just be a blessing in disguise.
If you should stumble... pick urself up and move on. If you stay down, then it would really game over.

Mama has the most reassuring words sometimes...
And yes, things can only get better.

Incidentally, this friend of mine is actually referring to some trouble he got into while at work..
Now.. the last thing that you want when you get yourself into trouble at work is to have a superior/boss who dont stand by you.
Since the start of the 21st century, job competency ranks highly but is rarely the most important. its now about the softskills.. the people relationships..
I.e
Teacher : His/her job is not purely to impart knowledge else students might as well selfstudy
KTV hostess : Her job is not just to get you off else horny man might as well DIY??
Oh well....

Regards
Looking for silver linings...

Its very late. Im not exactly sleepy but staying up aint going to help things because im brain dead.
Wanted to go for the dark theme again but aint very sure if its going to be everyone's cup of tea.

I figure im still way off the standards exhibited by those websites i highlighted in the earlier post. I really need to work harder.

Regards
Lukas

I was searching the web for for a photographer for my AD when i stumble upon some really outstanding ones...
I thought i'll share it with you guys

http://www.chang-photography.com/Galleries/Pages/Weddings_I.html

http://yepfoto.50webs.com/index2.html

http://zietagalleria.multiply.com/photos

http://askphoto.multiply.com/photos/album/12/Church_Wedding

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adricng/sets/72157612582562266/

http://www.dreamtphotography.com/

http://fl-fhotography.blogspot.com/search/label/Weddings

http://www.xkuisit.com/1.html <--this guy is very very good.

http://www.isaackiat.com/ <-- Saw Jarod inside. Omg..




The Perfect Wedding Photo - the2U.com

This photo, in my opinion, represents the best of all the wedding photos out there based on the following 2 arguements.

1) Both bride and groom are looking away symmetrically.

2) It captures the other photographer in the photo. (must have coordinated for this shot to appear in each other's photo)

On the bright side...
John has initiated an invite to his house...i hope he meant it.

Regards
AD Photographer Searcher.