~My St0rY~

A day at Teluk Intan and Bidor

2012-01-29T10:25:00.001+08:00

Teluk Intan (Teluk Anson) & Bidor are towns located at Perak. There's nothing very interesting here but I happen to have the opportunity to visit this place whilst visiting relatives. Having said that, the Chee Cheong Fun is a must try if you happen to go to Teluk Intan, and if you have time, drop by the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan (which I didn't visit so it would not covered in this post). =/

Just some random shots around the Teluk Intan town:

Abandoned house

The Sony TX10 can surprisingly resolve details ONLY when shooting very close ups, like this shot. Another thing which i learned today.

After that I then headed to Bidor for some food...

Seems like this place is rather popular with the non stop stream of food seekers.

Full house!

Fish ballssssssss

The main attraction of the shop- Duck drumstick noodles!!

This tastes exactly like herbal chicken soup, except that it's duck. The soup is rather pleasant tasting but otherwise the noodles and the duck are rather average.

Chinese New Year 2012 @ Pontian with TX10

2012-01-27T00:34:00.000+08:00

For this new year I decided to leave my a300 and just bring my Sony TX10 instead. For the past 3 years I've always been bringing a DSLR back and it's starting to get a bit boring ._. Nevertheless I still find opportunities everywhere to take a photo, and the TX10's features doesn't disappoint me.

Though i must reiterate that the contrast of this camera is bad! And it is quite stupid of not stopping down the aperture although I am in landscape mode, resulting in shots looking a bit tad soft. However with the right editing software like Photoshop, a simple photo can be turned into a brilliant one. Though the sharpness of the pictures are still quite behind those of an APS-C/ full frame sized sensor cameras.

Oh before that, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!!!! My wishes for this year is as usual, whichscore well in my studies which i have miserably failed to do so for the past one year =/ Also hoping to have good health all year long.

Alright time for pictures!

Failed attempt at fireworks. Shooting without a tripod. Only in fireworks mode does the camera steps down the aperture to achieve a slower shutter speed.

Chinese New Year deco at Fatt Si Gong Temple (法师公庙). Shots taken with Handheld twilight. The picture is pretty clean here but again the camera does not know how to opt for a slightly lower shutter speed and opt for a smaller aperture to increase the sharpness.

Mandatory Yee Sang shot. Colours are so so only.

Macro attempts. The bokeh produced from a tiny sensor really sucks. The over priced Nikon J1 will perform no better.

Flower from relatives house.

爱玉冰！

Details from the dessert and flower are pretty ok under good lightings.

That's all for the 'normal looking' shots and it's time for other more interesting stuff! For the following series, the shots were either taken in HDR mode or landscape mode. Like i mentioned above, i had to increase the contrast by 80-100 in photoshop to make the photos 'pop' out.

Some of the photos are also taken with Panorama mode which is really fun! Surprisingly the camera retains colour and contrast better in this mode.

HDR mode!

The lonely bird

Another panorama with very dramatic clouds! But this also means that there is no full sun =/

Boats and stilt houses. You don't really get to see these often in today's modern times anymore. I wonder how long can these lasts. 10 years...?

And last but not least..

I will miss the cool breeze from the sea for sure. =/ Back to reality soon.

Of Kissaten and Share Tea... with TX10

2012-01-22T01:23:00.002+08:00

Here's another series taken with my TX10! =P

I had the opportunity to try this restaurant Kissaten which is located at Jaya One. Basically it's similiar to Pasta Zanmai and the pricing is not too expensive.

The menu

I ordered a Chicken Teriyaki burger which costs RM12.90 before tax. Tastes pretty good, though the chicken is a bit hard. Just a bit.

The colours and contrast of the camera was quite bad so i really had to boost the contrast and saturation to bring out the colours.

Testing the super macro ability again. Bokeh isn't great at all.

The distortion of this camera's lens is also pretty bad at it's widest end. The Tamron 17-50 f2.8 on my Sony a300 is no better too. Hopefully the a77 will have a correction profile for this lens soon. =/

Original Bubble Milk Red tea. Seems like the craze in Malaysia nowadays. I wonder why. And people still complain they lack of money despite splurging on this unhealthy drink regularly. @@

Also another interesting feature on the TX10 which is HDR+backlight correction...

Without HDR

With HDR

As you can see the photo with HDR retains much more details in the highlights (notice the wall above the car is completely washed out without HDR applied).

That's all for today.

Chinese New Year in one more day!!! Woooot~~

SNSD (소녀시대) The Boys Album

2012-01-19T23:23:00.000+08:00

It's about time I laid my hands on this album!! :P If it weren't for my super duper kind friend (Shu Wen!) who brought this album back alllllll the way from Korea, I wouldn't have bought it. The CD is quite readily available here in Malaysia but at the price tag of above RM60-70, it's way out of my tolerance level. This CD only costs half as much in Korea and when my dear old friend offered to buy it for me I snapped it up in no time. =P So once again, thank youuu sooo muchhh and it was great meeting and talking to you after all these years.

And no, I am not THAT into K-Pop and Girl's Generation that I will splurge all my savings into getting latest albums and stuff. I am still quite careful with how i spend my money lol =X especially with unnecessary stuffs like these.

Basically I really like this whole album! All the songs can listen one. XD My favourites would be The Boys, My J and Mr. Taxi. There are other catchy songs like Top Secret, Say Yes, Trick, Oscar which are quite good as well. The more lovey dovey songs such as How Great is your love and Sunflower are also very nice. In a nut shell the whole album is niceeeee! XD

Alright enough of the spazzing. Here are the photos of the album. Just some snapshots. There are other blogs out there which will show you every angle and every centimetre of what's in the box so I am not going to do that. XP

The CD which comes with a hugeeeee poster

Hyoyeon photo card. I wished it was Tiffany though =/

More TX10 shots..

2012-01-18T22:53:00.000+08:00

.. Well actually only two LOL.

The contrast and colours basically sucks on this camera despite having a Zeiss lens. I must edit the contrast and saturation everytime after a shoot otherwise the picture will be dull looking. But after some minor editting the picture is good enough for web and maybe small printing.

Yee Sang

At ISO800 the tiny sensor surprisingly retains detail pretty well and noise is almost none existent compared to the a300.

Handheld Twilight mode actually works pretty well! Although when zoomed in the picture looks pretty soft because i am shooting at high iso and wide open and super low shutter speed. but it's also very good for web reproduction.

1/8 seconds (holding the camera with one hand only LOL)
iso 1600
f3.5

Looking forward to try the camera at my upcoming Langkawi trip...

Chinese New Year Cookies

2012-01-18T00:16:00.000+08:00

Another first for me. This is my first time doing food photography for professional use lol. Since I still suck at using flash and strobes I decided to play safe by using natural lighting instead. Thankfully the weather was good and I was able to stick to low ISO and a reasonable shutter speed and a small aperture to keep the cookies in focus!

Enjoy the pictures and try not to drool too much =P

Can't wait for Chinese New Year! :D

Happy New Year 2012!!!!

2012-01-01T10:32:00.000+08:00

Finally 2012 has arrived and I would like wish everybody, myself included =P, ALL THE BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR with good HEALTH and WEALTH!!! Hopefully all the resolutions that you've made will be realised.

Some fireworks shot from the Curve area, didn't get many good shots though. :(

Hopefully my wishes will come true too this year.

Recap of Year 2011

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000+08:00

Since everybody is doing a recap of their 2011 lives I guess i should probably do the same for myself too. Let me see, where shall I start.....

Alright, 2011 can be said as the new phase of my life. I am finally a university student and my life starts all over again since I entered another university where none of my A-levels classmates joined. Everything was foreign to me. Nobody knows my past background and character, which certainly made life a lot more easier. Past mistakes in relationships were certainly not repeated this time around. One of the things that I am most grateful about entering Monash are the people that I meet, especially my course mates. Each and every one of them are brilliant individuals which can act as my role models. I also found a group of close friends which I will truly cherish, and i hope to maintain that kind of friendship for many years to come.

My journey with photography has also gone a longer way this year with more events under my belt, especially the ones related to my Pharmacy society. I've also recently covered a wedding as the official photographer and this really marks an important mile stone in my story of photography. In this year I've also learned a lot more about my camera, and the settings, compared to 2-3 years ago in which I can really see the difference in the quality of photos produced. A huge thanks to the people at the LYN Sony Alpha thread for all the guidance and poison sessions. You guys have been really great!

I've also picked up dancing! Latin dance to be exact, and it's certainly a wonderful and enjoyable experience. I hope to continue dancing for many years to come and hopefully it won't affect my studies, especially with the preparation of concert. =/

My travelling seems quite limited this, having only been to Penang island. Although it was a few days trip but it's certainly a fruitful one. It really helps if you have a personal driver to drive you around the island. =P The most memorable place would be Straits Quay with its amazing Westernised architecture and a breath taking sea view to match this fine piece of art.

Last but not least, is regarding my studies. I am certainly not proud of what i have achieved this year and i know i could do much better. I should learn to be more disciplined and be more focused instead of wasting time of liking someone who's taken.

I know 2012 will be a better year but I should put in the effort to make it more too. All the best to me!

p/s: How did i forget. I've also learned a new language: Korean! 안녕하세요~~~ Hopefully there will be more chance to utilise this language in the near future otherwise it will go down the drain @@

First Wedding Portfolio

2011-12-27T12:36:00.001+08:00

After being a helper or 'assistant' photographer for the last few weddings that I've attended, I've finally got the chance to be the official photographer for once. Hopefully there are many more chances in the future as i try to establish myself as a wedding photographer :)

Comments and criticisms are most welcomed!

The wedding ring

The dress

The heels

Car deco

Will you marry me?

Putting on the ring

Some casual photoshooting:

Appetizers

Salad Prawns

Cheeeeeeeeers!!!

A big congratulations to the newly-weds as well! :)

Merry Christmas!!!!

2011-12-26T20:30:00.000+08:00

Yes i know it's a bit belated =P

Some Christmas shots from PJ Hilton hotel:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Candy House!

Happy Winter Solstice! 冬至节快乐！

2011-12-22T13:12:00.001+08:00

Another year has passed and the Winter Solstice festival has come again! It's only during this time that we have the chance to eat Tang Yuan (汤圆）which represents an increase in age.

Wishing all my readers good health & wealth for the year ahead and Merry Christmas to people who celebrates it too!

The dough

Tang Yuan- Before

Tang Yuan- After!

Pikom PC Fair 2011 & Kill the bill Assembly

2011-12-04T00:10:00.006+08:00

It's the time of the year again and the PIKOM PC fair is back again at KLCC.

This time round, i also went to the KLCC park in support of a friend in an assembly to object the Peaceful Assembly Bill which was passed by parliament recently. Quite a number of people showed up.

Walking towards the park

The sea of people that gathered.

Even Lim Kit Siang was there. Saw him talking to some foreigner about Malaysia's current issues.

Friend teaching the public Yoga moves.

Bend it this way!

After that it's time to proceed to the exhibition halls to shoot the pretty ladies! =P My main objective this time was to practice to get the white balance right on the first time while using flash and the flash gel. The different lightings in each of the halls proved to be a worthy challenge and i know i still got a lot of practice to do to nail the WB properly. =/

Some guy playing a FPS game with FOUR monitors!

Girls aside, I also enquired about the new ultrabook! It's a Macbook Air lookalike notebook with Intel's latest SSD 3 and icore5/7 processors but at half the price! very tempting and sexy. Forgotten to took pictures of them though :(

Moving on to the chicks~

Garmin show girl

Headphones girls

Can't remember the brand this girl is working for =X

SummerAsh challenging the public to a game of Counter Strike!

Hui Jing! I only see her at PC fairs. ACCA grad now. Awesome!

Hui jing and friend

Santarina distributing candies

Kingston girl. White balance and lighting epic fail :(

Last but not least, Shook yee :)

In addition to that, I also helped my friend who's working there to like a few Facebook pages and I got a notebook in return with her autograph lol. :D

After the shooting, I had the chance to meet up with fellow Sony Alpha users and test their lenses! The 85mm Zeiss is reaaally appealing and i did not expected it to be that light.

Shot with the Zeiss 85mm @ f1.4

Till the next time~

Heavy Rain

2011-11-29T14:48:00.002+08:00

It's really pouring really heavily this afternoon! With scary lightning strikes and thunder as well. So i decided to do a shot to play around with my Sony TX10's water resistant capability. Nothing fancy here.

Camera	Sony DSLR-A300
Exposure	0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture	f/2.8
Focal Length	50 mm
ISO Speed	100
Exposure Bias	0 EV

I could have gotten closer but my a300 isn't exactly weather sealed and my lens and body are already splashed quite a bit by the rain by the time i'm done taking this shot. =/

MUPhas Annual Dinner 2011

2011-11-24T21:15:00.004+08:00

The first Monash University Pharmacy Society's Annual Dinner was successfully held yesterday at Kelab Golf Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam.

I arrived at 11am to prepare for the rehearsals while taking some photographs for the preparations of the event.

The Royal Ballroom

PA system

The table setting

Setting up of the table

Backdrop of the stage

Flowers and candles

Itinerary for the night!

Menu for the night

The final hall set up

The main backdrop where all the photo taking took place

And finally, it was time! At about 6pm, the guests were starting to appear for the event. Everybody just looked amazingly gorgeous and handsome. Some were sporting enough to completely stick with the theme, which was the 'Grecian Odyssey', and dressed up like the Greeks.

People in charge of registration

Arrival of students :D

Arrival of lecturers! Only 2 came though =/

This is SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Year 2 ladies

The organising chairman and our Head of Pharmacy

Photo of Prof Kenneth with the students

At about 8pm, the night officially begins!!

The emcees for the night!

Prof Ken is invited out to give his opening speech.

Prof. with his inspiring speech about how he had adapted life to Malaysia, and encourages the committee members to organise this dinner every year, and he will try get to more fundings for MUPhaS. :D

Next up, the President giving his speech! :D

After the formalities, food is finally served and the performances have begun!

Cold platter

Shark fin's soup which i think is fake lol.

The first performance was a really energetic dance by 20 cents!

Solo dance by Joshua!

Solo K-Pop dance by Weng Khong

Lovely song by Devi

With Mun Li as the keyboard player.

Group singing

Solo flute performance! Nice rendition of "Colours of the Wind".

The air band!

Josh strumming his air guitar!

20 cent's 2nd dance of the night

Then, it's time to pick the Best Dressed Male and Female! Up to 6 people were shortlisted.

The 6 finalist! One pair from each year.

The couples were then required to do a catwalk and do a tiny performance.

Soo and Madeline

Joshua and Devi

Vincent and Adeline

And the winner goes to.................

Joshua and Devi!

Subsequently there were also lucky draws...

Grand prize winner!

There is another ultraman dance performance but i don't have the pictures as I am involved in the dance as wel. =/

Last but not least, and one of the main events of the night was to take pictures with our lovely friends! Since i am the official photographer so i didn't have a lot of pictures of myself =/ Oh well..

Year 2 ladies

Year 1 friends camwhoring

Pretty ladies in a line

The air band!

year 2 group photo!

With Sin Nah

With Soo!

With Min Jia

With Madeline

With Adeline

With Esther

With Jamie

The event then ended at around 11pm and the dance floor was open. Sadly nobody bothered to dance at all D:

Next year's dinner will certainly be a better one!

Beginners guide to wedding dinner shoot

2011-11-20T10:42:00.006+08:00

First and foremost I am no professional wedding photographer, nor do i make a living out of shooting weddings. And no, i certainly do not have any credentials to prove on paper or any professional qualifications whatsoever. Just writing this article to share my experience of late. Enjoy and hope this article is useful. =P

A Beginners Guide to Wedding dinner shooting and how not to screw up

Have you ever been in an awkward situation where you are suddenly thrown into the responsibility of having to shoot a wedding dinner, or an important function in a restaurant(for that matter) when you are totally unprepared (batteries uncharged, camera body unavailable, no flash gun) when your relative or someone close to you asks you to take charge, since you are known to have the big guns. Or when you totally have no experience in shooting dinners but just because you have a DSLR you are tasked with this big responsibility. Well fear not, this guide should be able to help you, i hope.

Well, that happened to me and i was totally caught off guard. I was told that i had to cover my relative's wedding dinner just one hour before the event and all i have was my Sony a300 without charged batteries and my flash gun is dead. So I had no choice but to use my dad's Canon 450D + 18-55mm lens as well as a 270EX flash.

Photo from dpreview.com

Now although my gear was reaaaally basic, it still pretty much does the job. But for these type of events, you MUST at least have a DSLR (a m43 or NEX could also do a good job but you really don't give people an impression that you are serious). Having a flash gun that can bounce would of course make your life much easier.

There are some things you can hope for before you make your way to the wedding venue.

1. Your 'clients' aren't exactly fussy.

2. There's a lot of light available (you know there are some weddings who love to use bloody dim lightings).

3. The colours of the lights are consistent, and not too overly tungsten.

4. The ceilings are low, so that your tiny flash gun can bounce (if you have one).

5. No fast actions (that includes dancing, magic shows etc.)

Hoping won't hurt so try to hope more. =P

Alright enough of the introductions and let's get to the basics of how things should be done, at least how I manage it.

Let's assume that the dinner is quite a straight forward one, and lighting remains relatively constant.

1. Settings

This is one of the most important things to do if you do not want to spend hours behind the computer fixing stuff. I usually shoot in Manual mode, set the shutter speed to 1/60 (so that it's fast enough to avoid hand shake, freeze minimal motion and get enough light in) and step down the aperture a bit to f4-f5.6 (depending on whether i am shooting a single subject or a group shot). If you don't have a flash gun, you could use a lower shutter speed at 1/30 and hope your subjects don't really move and REMEMBER to enable Image Stabilisation or Super Steady Shot. Try to use at least ISO800, or you can push it to ISO1600 since newer cameras nowadays can produce very clean shots at ISO1600. If you don't understand what these terms are, just use these settings and you shouldn't go wrong by much, and hope for the best.

2. Composition

I won't go much into these as there are thousands of reviews out there on how to take proper compositions. My general advise is, try to keep your subjects in your centre, don't cut off their bodies awkwardly. Decide whether you want to take half body shots or full body shots or 75% body shots and work from there.

3. Group shots

Now this is one of the most important aspect in wedding dinners, where everybody, especially the bridge and bridegroom and their parents, group around and you are the one responsible for the shot.

So what can you do with your entry level gear in this situation? First of all, try to use a smaller aperture f5-f5.6 so that everybody will appear sharp. For more info, google 'depth of field' and 'aperture' and start reading. =3

Secondly, use flash! If possible, use a bounce flash if you have flash gun, otherwise, USE THE POP UP FLASH! It's there for a REASON. I have lost count the number of times people that don't use the pop up flash. They claim the flash sucks as it makes the subject overly bright and the scene dark. Well, that's because you don't understand the relationship between your camera settings and the flash. Try to use the settings above in point 1 and you might just see the difference. However this only applies to group shots, as the pop up flash may cast dark shadows if you use it too near to your subjects. :D

Last but not least, try to remove distracting objects from your shot if possible, like the chair at the bottom left in the picture below. It will certainly make a difference in your shot.

4. The moment

Now this is the tricky part. To get the moment, or the momentS throughout the wedding. Well a simple tip is to be observant and time your shots. Usually moments that you shouldn't be missing out is when the bridegroom and the bride goes around toasting to guests, or the cutting cake ceremony (if there's one) etc. You get the idea. Experienced photographers will know what and when to expect all these moments and are always prepared. But since you are not paid to shoot ( I assume), and the food is rather tempting, keeping up with the moments could be quite challenging.

5. Limitations

Of course there is a reason why pros often go for expensive gears and lenses with big big apertures.

Shots like that could have a better effect if the background was blurred away, just leaving the subjects in the frame.

And if there are fast moving actions throughout the dinner, your entry level camera and tiny flash gun certainly can't keep up with the pace. Understand what your camera can and cannot do, and your life will certainly be a little bit easier for the night.

6. POST PROCESS

One of the most important aspects of photography as well. I guess the title is self explanatory. After the dinner, try to fix your shots in photoshop or Lightroom and do some minor editting here and there, especially with the brightness and contrast can certainly boost your shots. If you know how to add vignetting effects then it's all the better.

Alright that's all from me for now. Hopefully this article was helpful to prepare you should get thrown into such a situation in the future. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself on that eventful day and don't forget to enjoy the dinner and food as well! :D

Reaction of benzaldehyde with phenylhydrazine

2011-11-18T22:30:00.004+08:00

Oh wow, it's really been a long time since i blogged about anything. Anyway, I just finally finished my final exams for my 2nd semester! Hopefully i did well :(

So for this time i will be blogging about a simple experiment i did last time. Might be useful for chemistry students and pharmacy students alike. Sorry for the boring stuff. XD

Long story short, benzaldehyde was reacted with phenylhydrazine to form a phenylhydrazone ( a yellow colored product). The product is then dried on a watch glass over a beaker of boiling water. This method is not suitable if the melting point of the product is lower than the boiling point of water or if the product is hygroscopic. :D

Anyway, some pictures of the experiment as usual:

First prepare a conical flask.

Add in the reactants and shake it hard! The yellow product will soon form.

Filter the product with a vacuum pump and dry it with the method above.

Your final product!! looks like cotton candy to me.

That's all for today! :D

All shots were taken with Sony TX10.

KBU Jerman Jazz Night

2011-09-29T11:29:00.005+08:00

On the 27th of September 2011, I attended a German Jazz concert by a band called Max.Bab which is kindly organised by KBU International College. According to the leaflet they gave out, this band has performed over 400 concerts and is now doing their world tour, which starts in South East Asia. Before they came to Malaysia, they were at Indonesia and they should be in Singapore(or maybe left) as i type this blog post.

Admission was free of charge and all i have to do was to get myself there and enjoy the music.

This was my first Jazz concert and i must say i thoroughly enjoyed it! Since the whole idea was to enjoy the music, i left my a300 at home and brought my TX10 instead. =P

All shots below were done using Handheld Twilight Mode to reduce the noise of the images. Enjoy some of the pics that i took. X)

The leaflet that the ushers were handing out to the guests.

The stage

The people that turned up that night. Quite a number i must say.

The band! Comprise of a pianist, saxophonist, drummer and a bassist!

Last picture of the night!

Thank you KBU once again for the event! :D

The fragility of life. 生命的脆弱。

2011-09-20T00:03:00.003+08:00

Life is fragile. You never know when you will die. It could be in 50 years, 10 years, next year, next month, next week or now.

Try to appreciate life a little bit more and live to the fullest that you can.

Complain less and do more good. Spread a little more love around.

Have a nice day. =)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 2011~!!

2011-09-12T23:42:00.002+08:00

又是一年的中秋节了！！祝大家在这月圆之日快快乐乐健健康康！！ :D

Monash In the Evening

2011-09-05T23:22:00.002+08:00

Not one of my best shots, but whatever la. In the mood for picturesssss XP

Hoping for the days ahead to be more peaceful....

Sony TX10 Mini Review 2

2011-09-04T13:30:00.003+08:00

More geeking!

Alright I managed to further test my TX10's capabilities. This time i tested it's high ISO performance as well as its various scene functions. All shots below are at shot at least with ISO800, with the exception of the peanut shot, which was at iso 640.

This was shot with the Handheld Twilight mode.ISO3200. Although details are lost but at least the moment is still there! Basically the camera continually takes a number of shots and combined all the pictures together to reduce image noise.

100% crop. I wonder what is this....

Super macro mode again! Gosh this is addictive. XD

Another shot. Pulled some levels and adjusted the brightness. Still a pretty clean picture!

The AWB of this camera, like any other cameras, can't really figure out the correct temperature especially under heavy tungsten lighting.

However, after custom setting the WB in the Gourmet mode, all is good. Colour separation is pretty good as well! You can see that the capsicum have different shades of green!

Hot plate Beancurd

Tomyam soup.

All is not that perfect with this camera actually. The camera doesn't really know how to bump the ISO to get a higher shutter speed. It will always opt for low ISO, and a low shutter speed to get a appropriate exposure. Thankfully, there's the program mode to set ISO manually. If only I could set ISO in other scene modes this would be one really great compact! If I can't set aperture or shutter speed, it will be the best(for this price range of course). =P

Sony TX10 Mini Review

2011-09-02T17:34:00.003+08:00

Image from Dandy Gadget

Finaaaaally i've gotten my hands on a Sony TX10!! I've been longing for this camera for quite some time now as a mini back up to my Sony a300. This camera really is a gem in its class. Very well built and have lots of customizable settings and functions. Information about the camera's specs are easily available on the net.

Below are some of the test shots of my rather short time with the camera. Overall, the IQ produces is quite acceptable. The pictures lack contract and saturation but it's still fixable in Photoshop. However, the sharpness of the picture is still very far behind a DSLR/DSLT for that matter. The camera isn't very bright either, with maximum aperture at f3.5 at the widest end and begins to close down to f4.6 at the tele end. Since aperture cannot be set on this camera, therefore pictures are always shot wide open, which is one of the draw backs of a camera at thing price range.

However I am quite impressed with the high ISO performance which is maxed at ISO 3200. The camera performs much much better compared to my a300 though it loses quite a lot of details in the final picture.

Another draw back of the camera is the responsiveness of the touch screen. Having used an ipod Touch 4 for quite some time, the TX10's touch screen feels very laggy and not smooth, even more so when you want to zoom in the pictures that you took. The responsiveness of the touch screen is also very far behind the ipod touch. Maybe Sony can learn a thing or two about touch screens from Apple. =P

Otherwise, not much complaints there. Haven't really tested the camera in underwater conditions and in real low light conditions. Will post up more pictures soon! :D

Chicken rice.

Super macro mode! Can focus up till 1cm close! Amazing! The shadow caused by the camera is the limiting factor here.

Torn poster

Hari Raya decorations at Sunway Pyramid

Leading lines

More lines

Wild berry ice cream! A bit of hand shake. =/

Testing the 'bokeh' produced.

That's all for now :D Will gonna have lots of fun with this camera. And editting as well. @_@

Outing with Apple

2011-08-22T16:01:00.002+08:00

I just realised I haven't posted photos of my latest photo shoot, which was done 2 months ago. Lol.

Anyway, it's just a simple and spontaneous photo shoot I did with my friend who has zero experience in this. Not bad for a first timer although she's really shy.

The shot was done at a play ground nearby my house. Not much emphasis on any theme though.

The sun light wasn't very kind that morning. D:

Comments and critics most welcomed, especially on lighting part. Thanks!

Arsenal Malaysia Tour 2011

2011-08-13T21:06:00.003+08:00

I've always been an Arsenal fan since 2003. When i heard they are coming to Malaysia i couldn't be more happy! After a quick decision with my friend I decided to and watch them at the Stadium. But being a poor student, i only could afford the cheapest ticket, which is priced at RM58.

13th July 2011 was the faithful day. My ticket was free-seating. So to get the best seats my ticket can get me, i went to the stadium at around 3pm and reached there around 4pm.

But upon reaching there i was told the gates only opened at 6.30. Zzzzzzz.

So i took the LRT and went to IMU to walk around and burn time. Had taufu fa and chicken rice there.

So around 6pm i went back...and it was filled with people..

To my delight i managed to get to the seat that i wanted, but to my disappointment it's still not having a good view of the pitch. =/

Malaysian National coach having a walkaround before the match

The spectators

View of the stadium

Another angle

Theo walcott coming out to enjoy the atmosphere.

Malaysian players warming up

Gunnersaurus was there too!

...and finally.. Arsenal players doing their warm up!

Goalkeeper training

As the time gets closer to kickoff the stadium is starting to fill up.

Group photo session

Arsenal players getting ready!

For the rest of the pics, sorry for the poor quality as i cropped quite a lot. My camera's high ISO performance isn't very good either. =/

Kick off!

Arsenal won a penalty!

Ramsey preparing for the kick.

Ramsey shoots!!

and scoressssssss~~~

Ryo Miyachi being challenged. Very promising player for Arsenal.

Malaysian player injured.

Final score! Malaysia 0 - 4 Arsenal

Ecstatic Malaysian fan

Players exchanging handshakes.

And it's time to go back... =(

It's quite sad that Fabregas was not there. Though on a positive note, all the other big players like Van Persie, Nasri and Arshavin were on the pitch. Hopefully Arsenal FC will come to Malaysia again in the near future!!

Let's win the EPL this yearrrrrrrr~~

Recap of Pharmacy Semester 1

2011-08-08T20:26:00.003+08:00

Two weeks had already passed into this new semester in a blink of an eye. Time to do some recap about my Pharmacy course for the first semester.

Although i had done enough research prior to the start of the course, but the reality was hard enough to hit me.First, let's talk about the units that I took during the first semester: Physiology, Organic Chemistry, Physicochemical Basis Of Pharmacy and Pharmacy, Health and Society(PHS in short). Basically, for Monash's system, all the units are quite integrated, meaning there are several 'subjects' in a unit.

Physiology was rather straight forward, learning all the stuff about the human body as well as touching on a bit of biochemistry(Kreb's cycle etc.) and membranes stuff. I took this subject quite lightly and screwed up in the exam. =( Sigh. Last minute memorising just won't work at uni level.

Physico was a tough nut though. Basically this whole unit is all about calculations and the concepts behind it. From ionic equilibrium to thermodynamics to phase equilibrium and even electrochemistry. Not forgetting to mention, integration and logarithms!!! @_@ Surprisingly some of my friends in other uni did not have to go through all these. Well, in the first year, to say the least. I dread calculations, a lot, but somehow managed to score the highest for this paper. @_@

Moving on is organic chemistry, which is subject i dread the most, and still dreading. This was one of the reasons i opt NOT to take up pharmacy last time. It's almost the same as A-levels chemistry but it is more deep, especially in the conformations and stereochemistry part. Somehow until today i still can't appreciate the relevance of this unit but time will tell. Needless to say i screwed up too. D: Anyway, all hope is not loss, just that more practice and hardwork is required.

Last but not least, PHS, which is a relatively new subject. In this unit, we talk about communication, pharmacy laws and codes of conduct, Medicine Management Pathway (most of it based on the Australian system though), pharmaceutical calculations, very basic pharmacokinetics and routes of administration etc. The unit coordinators also threw in statistics and probability which made the unit really challenging. And i thought i've seen the last of statistics during my AS times. Sigh. Adding on to that, I had to memorise 22 commonly prescribed drugs (including their drug class, adverse effects and other relevant points) as well as part of the exams.

That pretty sums my first semester's syllabus i guess. Why am i writing this article at this hour is because i have to do a 2000 word psychology assignment which is due in 4 weeks time, and it's about time i brush up my writing skills.

Kthxbai. =D

Penang Trip 2011- Khoo Kong Si

2011-07-25T00:04:00.003+08:00

Finally, my Penang trip series has come to an end!! My last destination was a visit to the Khoo Kong Si mansion which is also located in the vicinity of the Nyonya mansion.

I was quite blur when i entered this place as I really do not know what is this place all about. It's best if you come here with a local who knows history or with a tour guide.

Anyway, entrance fees is also RM10 and the place is very well maintained.

From what I know, this place depicts the history of when the Chinese from Hokkien, China first stepped foot into Malaya as well as other countries like Medan(indonesia), Taiwan etc. That's why people from these places can speak hokkien i guess?

To enter the place you have go through this path as it is located in the middle of everywhere.

Front view of the place.

I visited the bottom floor first.

A scene from the olden days...

Anna and the king was apparently filmed here.

Some interior shots. TLDR. ><

ahh...so this place is all about the parentage of the Khoo clan or those chinese with the surname Khoo.

As mentioned above, this map showed how the Chinese from Hokkien province in China travelled to various parts of Asia.

Entrace to the upper floor

Very very nice carvings.

And lastly, they even have a few rooms to honours those geniuses from the Khoo family. Hope to emulate few of them too. =/

And uni life starts again tomorrow.... hope to buck up this new semester....

Penang Trip 2011- Rumah Peranakan @ Nyonya House

2011-07-22T21:00:00.004+08:00

My next destination was this famous Rumah Peranakan, also known as Nyonya mansion, which is also located in George Town. The first owners of these house were known as Nyonyas, which is a mix of Chinese and Malay.

All their belongings and stuffs have been maintained in pristine condition and many dramas relating to Nyonya stories have also been shot here. RM10 per entry though. Overall it was really an eye opener to experience all the Nyonya culture and heritage under one roof.

This house is easy to spot as it is really really big.

The few dramas that had been shot here. The more famous ones are Little Nyonya.

Exterior of the mansion

Some shots of the interiors, very grand!!!

Mirror inside a mirror inside a mirror inside a..........

The owners of the mansion, many many years ago.

Dining hall i presume.

Antique piano.

Common hall

Very nicely designed window panes.

Olden day's form of entertainment.

Nyonya basket!

Time to head up the next floor!

2nd floor view.

Even the basin was so meticulously designed.

Some of the jewelries and accessories the Nyonya's used:

Ear rings

Wrist bands

View at the balcony.

Another staircase.

The light.

More collections.

Time to venture into another corner of the mansion...

This mansion is hugeeeee..

Very grand dining area

Some kitchen utensils

A grand piano!!

Now time for a trip to the kitchen...

I wonder how big was this family...

The stove

That's all from here. A must visit place apart from all the usual tourist spots in Penang.

Penang Trip 2011- Interesting Architectures

2011-07-17T23:41:00.002+08:00

Before proceeding to my next destination, I decided to do a little street photography and take pictures of some interesting buildings around Georgetown area.

First stop was at St.George's church.

Side view

So stingy one. Take photo here will make the place less spiritual i guess? =/

Front view of the church.

A shade..?

Can't remember what building is this..it's right opposite the church...

Next stop was Penang Municipal Council Building. Very British design. Quite similiar to the one at Ipoh.

Wide angle view

Low angle view

...and some other shots! =D

kthxbai.

Penang Trip 2011- Fort Cannalis

2011-07-13T11:38:00.002+08:00

My next stop was Fort Cannalis! Nothing very interesting here except cannon's everywhere.

RM2 per entry.

Welcome! This fort was built by the British to protect their shore apparently (Fort Cannalis is facing the sea directly).

Tourists spotted!!

One of the tour guide explaining to the tourist about this mythical cannon. Apparently nobody could move the cannon until one guy and read some verse from the Quran and manage to magically lift the cannon into place. The tourists looked obviously baffled.

A bunker for the soldier's own protection i guess..?

Interior of the bunker

Not exactly cosy..

Penang Trip 2011- Penang Hill a.k.a Bukit Bendera

2011-07-11T13:43:00.003+08:00

Apart from Kek Lok Si, this was the another must go place for my Penang trip this time. I still remember i had the chance to sit the old tram up the hill 10 years ago during my primary school days before it was replaced by the current modern train. Time really flies.

Before I embarked on the hill, I had to fill my stomach first. =P

Finally some local food! Haha.

Fried Kueh Kak. I still prefer the Johor style which is sweeter and without bean sprout.

Penang Chee Cheong Fun

Fried Kueh Tiow. Not bad!

After a hearty meal, it's time to conquer Penang Hill!!

Parking is a problem at this moment of time. There's a multi storey parking nearby which I hope would solve the problem soon.

Since 1923!!

Ticket buying. For students it's very worth it. Just show your IC and Student card and you pay only RM4. For normal citizens it's RM8. Please please remember to bring your IC otherwise the tickets are at cut throat prices!

The waiting lounge

Inside the train

View of train from outside.

The new train is blazingly fast!! I hope i am not exaggerating but it feels like travelling at 80km/h. It only takes about 7 minutes to reach the top.

Camwhore!

The first thing that greeted me at the hill was this cool rush of cold wind blowing against my face. It's really soothing and comfortable! A really good escape from the scorching heat 600 metres below.

Tourist taking pictures.

A new tattoo for the girl

Very creatively folded grasshoppers.

Constructions works can be seen here and there.

So, what is there to see at Penang hill besides the scenery and enjoy the cool breeze?

Up the stairs...

Arsenal!!!! =P

Well, there's an Indian temple and a mosque(not shown here)...

...Or you can do a picnic?

Or, you can visit this mini bird park as well. RM5 per entry.

Caught a butterfly!

Interior shots of the 'park'

Blue parrot.

Lots of trees as well.

Erm...colorful birds? o_O

Pidgeons! This shot is not possible if not for a f2.8 lens. Was shooting through the cage. Manage to blur away the railings. If got f1.4 even better. =P

Long road ahead.

Since Penang Hill can be reached from the Penang Botanical gardens, so i decided to give it a try...but gave up after reaching the corner... XP

Apparently there were different classes during the old times.

And it's time to bid goodbye and go back to the reality of the hot weather. D:

Penang Trip 2011- Juru Autocity

2011-07-04T22:58:00.003+08:00

For my dinner, my kind uncle brought me to this so called Penang Hokkaido for seafood.

The scenery is quite nice as you can see the Penang Port and Penang Island in the background. Not good for food though cause of the strong sea breeze, your food gets lukewarm quite fast, unless you opt to sit deeper inside.

A shot of a next door restaurant.

After dinner I headed to Autocity, located at Juru.

Seems like a very nice place to hang out with the flea markets around..

Reminds me of Taiwan's Shih Lin market. =/

Abandoned store

After taking pictures surrounding the flea market i then went to hunt for more desserts! =P

... which led me here!

Ice baby! (doing free advert for them =/ )

Basically this shop serves some really nice sherbets!

Mixed sherbet. RM12.90. Another shop i hope to go back in the future.

Mango sherbet with toppings.

Group photo.

And i ended the night with a trip back to Straits Quay AGAIN! XD

This time for some casual drinking.

Many pretty girls. *melts*

Drink of the night. Lowenbrau. A bit bitter in my opinion.

A night shot of Straits Quay to end the post.

Penang Trip 2011- Straits Quay Part 2

2011-07-03T23:32:00.004+08:00

And so I am back again at Straits Quay! XD

After resting awhile I came here this time for the desserts!!

Charlie Brown Cafe!

The interiors

The windows

The ceiling

The cake- White chocolate cheese. Cost about RM9++ man! Not exactly cheap. Taste wise it's not bad.

I headed to the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre next. Surprisingly, the people there offered to do a tour for us about the place F.O.C! Very interesting place.

...and so begins our tour..

The founders of the pewter business

The first few products to be made.

A very fine pot

Scrap pewter

Different pewter of different densities

Working table

After a brief tour the employee there even demonstrated to us how to make pewter stuff!

First, melt the pewter...

Then pour it into a mould...

Open the mould..

TADAAA. Your end product.

More similiar samples.

Furthermore, you can even design your own pewter products! Well, specifically a bowl... but with your own personal engraving..

End of the day you will get your bowl and a cert! Rm60 per person though.

They still make F1 trophies. Impressive.

Feeling hungry after the tour i went for more desserts! XD

Presenting Fruuze! A cheaper alternative compared to Tutti Frutti. Hopefully this shop will still be there the next time i go Penang.

For rm9.80 you can pick either 3 flavors of yogurt and 2 toppings!

Green tea yoghurt with chocolate rice and strawberry topping

Original yoghurt with almond chips and strawberry topping

Quite nice i must say. Definitely more worth it than Tutti Frutti. =P

Penang Trip 2011- Penang Botanical Gardens

2011-07-02T16:15:00.002+08:00

At first i wanted to go the Bukit Bendera but apparently the Agung was there for a visit so they sealed off the place. So I changed my plan and headed for the Penang Botanical Garden's instead at 12 noon! It was not a very good idea...... @_@

Outside of the park

This place opens really early.

A loooongg road ahead

For first timers I suggest you guys take the tram to fully explore the place. It's only RM2 per person, or is it RM4...? I explored the place by foot and i regretted it. It doesn't help when the sun is shining so brightly and you are wearing jeans. @_@

My first stop at the garden was at this Orchid garden where there were no visible orchid flowers to be found. ._.

Welcome to Jurassic park.

The road not taken. =S

Only one lily to be seen. Ironic.

Some flower house with more greenery.

Butterfly on a love shaped flower assembly.

Some gigantic tree

Don't know what's so special about these cactus until they had to be locked up in a cage. Fortunately i could take a picture. Cropped some parts of the vignetting.

Wrestling monkies

After that really beh tahan the heat and went to Gurney plaza to have lunch. :D

Penang Trip 2011- Kek Lok Si

2011-07-01T17:29:00.003+08:00

The next morning i headed to Ayer Itam market for my breakfast and then went up Kek Lok Si temple. It's been 10 years since i came to this temple. Really brought back some memories.

The sky was very blue that morning and it really helped in my pictures. My cousin drove me up to the base of the temple so i didn't have to climb all the steps. XD

View of the pagoda from way below.

One of the shrine halls

Some few variant shots of the temple surroundings:

A slightly creative shot with the sun shining through the leaves.

The words read 'Kek Lok Si'. I am guessing this building is the fundamental of what Kek Lok Si is today.

"Zhi Hui Men" - Doors of Wisdom

After i rode the train up to the Bodhisattva statue. This Kuan Yin statue is said to be the largest statue in South East Asia. Sadly some parts of it is still under construction and is quite an eye sore. RM2 per way.

Going up~

We came out from this building.

View of Penang island atop the hill.

The statue.

Magnificent indeed.

Prayed for some good luck charm. XD

There's also a tiny pond nearby...

Visitors enjoying the view.

I headed to the other side of the temple which comprises of another shrine hall and the pagoda. It's RM2 per entry IINM.

More pictures from the pagoda area:

The Pagoda

有求必应！！！

I like to take pictures of ceilings when i visit a new place. I find them very interesting and not many people really pay attention to them. Some buildings have really unique ceiling designs, like this one. =D

Oh, behind this pagoda there's this mini flower garden which has quite a number of beautiful flowers as well. Not quite satisfied with my shots though. =/

Lilies.

More lilies.

The pagoda was tall, but not tall enough compared to the one at Genting.

It's still quite a drop though...

View from atop:

That's all for this series. Penang Botanical gardens next!

Penang Trip 2011- Hard Rock Hotel

2011-06-28T22:50:00.004+08:00

After having a rest I then headed to the infamous Hard Rock Hotel! The roads leading toward the hotel are rather curvy and it made me car sick. @_@

I arrived at around 6pm so the lighting was still pretty bad and harsh.

Main entrance

Hard Rock cafe emblem against the clouds.

Wise words.

Lights that change colors!

The Beatles!

Not really a rock and roll fan..so dunno who are they.. =P

Low angle view of the pool.

Another angle. Quite impressive. The lower ground rooms face the pool directly so visitors can jump in right away.

The pool

While waiting for the sun to set, I chilled out in this restaurant. XD

One of the most expensive cocktails i've seen. O_O

Pink Stardust. A mix of strawberries, raspberries milk shake. Very nice!

Tourist chilling out.

More view of the hotel:

Foot prints.

Pretty tourist. XP

AND FINALLY THE SUN SETS!

Girl looking at a boat.

Random shot of cat digging a hole to defecate. :D

Night falls...

View of hotel at night. Much more beautiful..

After that we headed to the Shangrilla Rasa Sayang hotel for more sight seeing. Over here it's much more quiet and secluded compared to Hard Rock which is much more happening!

The lobby

Last but not least, we headed back to town for some dinner!

Budget hotel

Dinner of the night: Loh Mee

...and the famous Penang Rojak!!!

Penang Trip 2011- Straits Quay Part 1

2011-06-27T20:23:00.002+08:00

Sorry for the long hiatus people. I have decided to postpone my dance performance pictures and post my latest travel pictures about Penang instead. =P

I have chosen Aeroline again for my trip this time round and they didn't disappoint me. Was quite surprised to see that they have in-bus entertainment now (though this only applies to the newer buses =/). My journey took about 6 hours, no thanks to rain and jam, from One Utama shopping mall to Queensbay Mall.

Interior of the bus.

My cousin then picked me up and we headed first to Straits Quay for some food and sight seeing. Straits Quay is located nearby Tanjung Pinang for your information. It's built on reclaimed land

My first Penang food of the day. Dry Chicken Curry Noodles at Pappa Rich. LOL. Not bad i must say.

After the food i went to take more pictures around the area.

Exteriors of the mall:

Colorful windmills.

Interior of the mall:

Last but not least the area around the port:

Last but not least, the view of the big blue sea and sky.

Monash Dance Club Performance- Jive Guys

2011-06-14T22:21:00.002+08:00

Next up is the Jive performance from the guys!! Very energetic and fun dance. XD Love their expressions.

Monash Dance Club Performance- Jive Solo & Cha-cha Social

2011-06-13T22:47:00.003+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates!! Just finished my finals!! Hopefully can get all HD but may turn out to all C. =(

Anyway, continue my dance pics!

Energetic Jive Solo dance!!

Cha-cha social!

Bend your body!

Finals!!!!!!

2011-06-06T18:11:00.000+08:00

So sorry for the lack of updates! Been busy preparing for my finals which starts TOMORROW!! *screams*

All the best to me and my colleagues.

Flowers, For You.

2011-05-09T00:32:00.001+08:00

Taking a break from dance pictures. =P

Flowers for you. =) and Happy Mother's Day once again.

Monash Dance Club Performance- Jive, Salsa & Paso Doble

2011-05-08T12:59:00.003+08:00

Continued from here:

Girl's lining up for the performance.

Jive~

Shake it!

Salsa social, 1 guys 2 girls *envy*

Moving on to Paso Doble!

Fierce! D:

Looking like a swan here.

Very strong energy!

Stay tuned!

Monash Dance Club Performance- Rhumba Solo

2011-05-07T01:29:00.003+08:00

Since there are over 100 pictures I will do this batch by batch. I only managed to take pictures of the dances after my performance, sigh. =/

Oh well first off we have Rhumba solo!

Dancers walking in.

Bend your waist!

Deep gaze.

I love this shot. The expression of the dancers(look sooo in love) and the guys behind are epic!

Hold the pose!

Lift me up high!

Ending pose.

Jive and Samba social dance up next!

Charity concert by Monash Dance Fusion Club: Dance A La Carte

2011-05-03T23:12:00.003+08:00

Preview ^^

I can see the light! Shot taken with Sony a580 at iso 1600! So clean man!

Post mortem after the rehearsal.

Anybody interested? I will be performing for 2 minutes! =P

Facebook event link! Click here!

Molecular Models & Stereochemistry

2011-04-24T13:32:00.002+08:00

One of the most boring lab ever. @_@ But quite an eye opener, however. In this lesson, we were to assemble a few models of a compound to study how their molecular structure looks like. Assembling all the balls and joints together can be quite a pain, very hard to stick and remove.

The box

All the 'toys' in it.

Methane, CH4

Ethane!

Eclipsed conformation of ethane

Staggered conformation of ethane

Butane(extended chain)

Butane(bent chain) - very unstable

Isobutane

Cyclohexane

Cyclohexane- Chair conformation i think. o_O

Mickey Mouse...?

Toluene

Orthoxylene (1,2-dimethylbenzene)

Pacaxylene (1,4-dimethylbenzene)

Ethene. It's quite obvious here that the double bonds are not freely rotatable.

Trans-2-butene

Cis-2-butene

Lactic acid

Lactic acid showing enatiomerism.

R-enantiomer and S-enantiomer

Aspirin!

Kthxbai~

A Night at KL Tower

2011-04-17T11:00:00.004+08:00

It's been about...5 years since i last been here? Nothing much has changed though. The place, the revolving restaurant....

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to come here again to celebrate my dad and cousin's birthday. We had our dinner at the Seri Angkasa revolving restaurant. It costs about RM100++ per person? Overall the food there was so-so, the desserts were terrible but the ambiance and scenery was really nice, though I personally still feel that Namsan Tower at Seoul is more romantic. =P

Shot of the KL tower and the moon from below.

To get to the restaurant, we had to board a high speed elevator which brings us 400 meters up in less than 20 seconds.

Interesting decoration of the ceiling near the elevator.

Ticket

The interior of the restaurant

Basically there were only THREE stations for food. One is serving the appetizer, one for the main course, one for dessert. That's all you get. =/

Appetizer. Cheese with plum(Left), Salmon(right), Leek soup(Behind)

Salmon, sushi and some other stuff. I must say the salmon is good.

Spaghetti with 3 different sauces. Nothing special here.

Satay! The satay itself is normal but the peanut sauce is delicious!! Had another refill for the sauce. =P One of the few good tasting dishes around here.

Peppermint ice cream with toppings.

Bokeh view of KL city.

The Petronas Twin Towers from another angle.

A Pink KL tower! =D

Mingle-mingle night by MUPhas

2011-04-13T20:44:00.004+08:00

This is a longggg back dated post. =D

On the 11th of March 2011, the Monash Pharmacy Society (MUPhas) organised a welcome night, named Mingle-mingle to welcome all the new batch of Pharmacy students to Monash University. =D

Arrival of guests

Arrival of food. XD

Arrival of decorations. SMileeee~

Setting up of PA system

MUpHass~

Arrival of lecturers.

Emcees starting off the show.

Head of School delivering his welcome message.

Foreword by the president.

Ice breaking games.

Let's limbooo~~

Squash the balloons game!

Roar~

The luckiest guy of the night. =/

Prize giving ceremony to the winners!

Last but not least, the funky chicken dance!

Left..left..left right left~~

Ooooppss~

Bond 007~

A group photo to end the night! Camera mounted on 15 chairs stacked together. =D

Of Membranes & Red Blood Cells

2011-04-06T22:17:00.005+08:00

Today my experiment of the day is to extract red blood cells(by pricking ourselves with a needle) and then immerse them into 3 different type of solutions(isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic) and observe what will happen to the cells. =D

Overall it was quite fun seeing your blood projected on the big screen and helping friends to prick their fingers muahhahahahhaa. =X

The basket to dispose our stuff. =3

Step 1:

Prepare the needle.

Prepare the solutions.

A: Hypotonic

B: Isotonic

C: Hypertonic

Step 2: Sterilise your finger with alcohol swab.

Step 3: Prick your finger

Before

After

Step 4: Squeeze the blood out and drip it on to a slide

Picture taken by Mei Yi

Put a cover slide over the specimen.

More blood. XD

And more~~~

Step 5: Observe under microscope!

My blood is on the screen!

Even bigger screen~

RBC in hypotonic solution. Can see clearly the cells have haemolysed.

RBC in isotonic solution. All the cells nice nice. =D

RBC in hypertonic solution. All cells crenated. =D

That's all for now. =)

Sony Alpha Convention 2011-Smile Hunt

2011-03-26T00:31:00.002+08:00

Last post regarding the Sony Alpha Convention. The 'Smile Hunt' is one of the contest that was held during the convention. Each participant had to get someone to hold the smile badge while he/she takes that someone's photo. The person who got the most 'smiles' will win a Sony T99 compact! I didn't win though, not that semangat. D:

Some of the smiles:

Shook Yee!

Guo Wei

Geysha? lol

erm..Thai girl? =X

Albert!

William acting cute. XD

Hui Jing

ERm.....

^^v

Sony staff

Registration counter lady =D

Some random visitor

Another staff.

=))))

Eva~

Sonia! Last but not least.

This ends my Sony Alpha Convention 2011 series. =D

Sony Alpha Convention 2011-Ladies!

2011-03-21T21:28:00.003+08:00

Time for more interesting pictures instead after the boring stuff~!! This post is dedicated to all the pretty ladies at the Convention. =D

Where ever there's pretty girls...there's always photographers standing by~

Ladies from Indonesia, China & Japan

Ladies from China, India and Japan...?

Indian...? @_@

Lovely eyes

Another group shot of the ladies ;)

The rest of the shots below are taken AFTER my camera had been calibrated. MUAHAHHAA. SHARP SIAL.

Trying to tame the 50mm f1.4. @_@ Can see that the hair is sharp but the face is soft =X

In peace.

天女下凡

Last but not least, the shots taken with the Zeiss 135mm f1.8 borrowed from Albert! Very impressive lens indeed. Sadly it's not SSM. =/

Damsel in deep thoughts!

Pretty lady testing out the NEX-5!

These 2 ladies as photogenic as ever! Once they see a camera pointing at their direction they will automatically smile. =D

More here:

Sony Alpha Convention 2011-Gears
Sony Alpha Convention 2011-Exhibition & Talks

Sony Alpha Convention 2011-Exhibition & Talks

2011-03-19T23:21:00.002+08:00

Okay more boring posts! XD

Let's start all over again shall we. I arrived at KLCC at about 10am..and what greeted me kinda caught me by surprise as i didn't attend the Sony Alpha 2008 convention. I was more like expecting a full day talk thingy, didn't realise they have an exhibition as well.

Some interior shots of the hall:

Breakfast for the day! Salmon sandwiches~! =D

Participants were also given a 'passport' for us to collect chops when we visit different 'countries' throughout the exhibition hall. After that we can qualify for a lucky draw. Didn't get to win though D:

Singapore and Indonesia~

The first talk i attended for the day was Steve Chong's talk on the Light and mist of Yuan Yang .

Steve explaining how he had to wait until the 2nd day before the mist cleared at Yuan Yang(somewhere at China) before he took the shot of the sun ray shining through the clouds.

Next up was Darren Chang's talk about Automotive photography! Very inspiring. Hope to do some of my own car shots soon.

My 3rd session of the day was with Grant Corban about the business of wedding photography!

A very experienced wedding photog!

Grant was saying that we should only use the best gears we can afford if we were to shoot a wedding! Not forgetting that we should also dress up professionally and many other stuffs.

Crunching indeed. I think i can earn more being a small time wedding photog. Hmmmmmmm.

Grant's talk was very..how to say...business minded? Wedding photography to him is very very serious business, everything must be shot in RAW, no compromises on lightings..etc etc...

Which is totally opposite with another wedding photography talk i attended later that day with Mun Keat. Mun Keat is different in a way is that, he works alone, only with a assistant if he can afford the luxury, shoots JPEG and goes for the more simplistic approach.

Mun Keat stating a point.

Oh let's not forget Bernice... photo journalism at it's best.

There was this photo challenge and smile hunt(will blog about this in the next post) to spice things up too. Sony has been quite generous with the prizes!

For this creative photo challenge, participants had to rearrange those objects into something creative and submit their shots.

Participants submitting their shots while some attempting to take a few pics.

My shot which won the consolation prize! =D

Dance performance

I also had the chance to get iER to calibrate my back focusing a300 and he did wonders!! A big thanks to him. Now my shots are as sharp as ever!! Wohoo~

iER calibrating the cameras.

Test shot after the calibration. Sharpppppppppppp. *drools* Now i more daring to shoot wide open liao. WOHOO. More test shots will be posted in the next post~

There was a caricature session going on too~

Artist deep in thoughts.

Sonia having a go.

A studio set up which we never got to use.

Last but not least, the closing ceremony of the Sony Alpha Convention 2011!

The main behind this event- George Wong, giving his closing speech!

George picking the lucky draw winner. The guy's expression behind him is priceless.

Biggest winner of the night! Sony a55 weii! *envyyyyy*

Ok that was a reaaaaaaally long post. Stay tuned for more. ;)

Sony Alpha Convention 2011-Gears

2011-03-14T20:20:00.003+08:00

Okla start with boring post first. As usual, only in events like these that me and other enthusiast have the chance without feeling embarrassed to test every single lens and accessory out there offered by Sony. XD This time i managed to land my hands on the infamous Sony 300mm F/2.8 SSM G!!!

At RM24, 999, it is one of the most expensive lens in the Sony line up. With this amount of money i can easily buy a new Perodua Kelisa with change left. And unless you do sports photography for a living, nobody will buy this lens for fun unless you are really loaded.

Weighing at 2.325kg, it is lighter than Canon's(2.550kg) and Nikon's 300mm f2.8(2.9kg). Although it is possible to handhold it with your right hand, most of the time you will be supporting the lens with your left hand. Having said that, i only can tahan for about 20-30 seconds. =P I still need a monopod if i were to use this lens in the long run.

Anyway, i am not here to do a review about the lens. Was trying it out on other people's body. Don't have any sample images ='( But at least i can tell people that i've had held a Kelisa in my hands before! XD

Big gun!

This is how a car feels in your hand! XD After removing the huge hood you can see that it is quite short after all.

After that i spotted the Lensbaby booth with an RM408 price tag. Almost tempted to buy but after trying it out everything evaporated. Through the videos it seems quite easy to focus but after testing it out with my own hands it was not that easy after all ._. Had to press and twist quite hard to get a decent focus.

Some test shots:

With the lensbaby i can sort of do a tilt shift effect but the focusing is really a pain. @_@

Of course how can i forgot the NEX and VG-10. ;)

NEX VG-10 video recorder

White colored NEX. Sexy~

Brown NEX. Very sexy too. :D

Sony Alpha Convention 2011 Sneakpeak

2011-03-14T00:09:00.003+08:00

First and foremost a big thank you to Sony Malaysia for organising this wonderful conference! Thank you for the great free workshops, delicious free food and not forgetting my consolation prize for the shoot out event. XD

Due to time constraints i only managed to attend it today though. =/

Some sneak peak shots:

Entrance to the Convention

The workshops i participated in =D

Sook Yee says smileee~~ participating in the Smile Hunt challenge.

Innocent looking eyes by Sonia.

The shot which won me a Memory Stick T-shirt and some recognition. =D

To be continued~~

Lab Lab Lab V1

2011-03-12T12:07:00.002+08:00

Some shots of my recent lab sessions =D Will be having a lot of them in the future. hehe. I guess nobody brings DSLRs to lab classes, raised a lot of eye brows. XD

Today we were supposed to prepare a standard solution of borax and HCl..

The reagents.

Standard solution of the borax

Titrate of HCl and Sodium tetraborate

Future pharmacist in the making =P

Snowflakes

2011-03-09T20:44:00.003+08:00

Since almost everybody who has a blog(especially the female bloggers) has blogged about it i guess i should too. I have tried it once(the Lemongrass jelly or whatever its name was), it didn't really taste nice. The ice was even more coarse than the ice-kacang ice i ate by the side of the road.

So the other day I went with a friend to try again. And I've concluded that it really is super over rated but girls seem to love it so much! I wonder why. o.O I'd rather have Sea Coconut Dess

Anyway some pictures:

'Best seller' right..........

Japanese combo

A quiet day @ Monash

2011-03-04T20:25:00.001+08:00

One week has just passed by in a breeze.....

Speaking of stress levels, i certainly can feel the heat but it's still nothing compared to working. =O

My first picture of Monash University and more to come~

Birthday Noodles (寿面) @ Penang Hokkien Mee

2011-02-27T14:19:00.003+08:00

Weeeeeeee, finally going to officially start my Pharmacy course tomorrow. Really had a great time at Genting View with my other coursemates for the Transition Camp. Hopefully i will have a great time in this 4 year course, and doing well of course. ;)

Anyway today I would like to blog about one of my favourite food cooked by my grandma, which is technically the Penang Hokkien Mee but she has used it and modified it slightly to resemble the yearly birthday noodles.

Overall there are a few materials, the noodles(using spaghetti for health reasons), sauce(pork shreds and mushroom sauce), egg slices(dyed to red for birthday purposes, otherwise without coloring works fine), prawns, taugeh and lastly spring onions and fried garlic for additional flavouring.

Firstly, prepare to most important ingredient: the sauce and let it stew on slow fire. Don't ask me for the recipe though ._.

In the mean time, beat the eggs and fry it and dye it red and cut it into slices.

Before

After

Then, cook the taugeh under boiling water for awhile.

Before

After(yes i know the white balance is off D: )

With no particular order:

Cut the spring onions

Fry the garlic.

Filter out the oil.

Absorbing the leftover oil.

Fry the prawns. Pan fried will do.

Soak the spaghetti into the hot water.

Letting the spaghetti to dry?

Group photo of the ingredients =P

Lastly, put the spaghetti onto a big, big tray and pour all the ingredients on top of it and serve!

Tadaaaaaa~~~!

Nom nom nom nom~

21st Birthday

2011-02-22T00:04:00.002+08:00

Happy 21st birthday to meeee~

Time really flies. In a blink of an eye and i am now officially an adult under Chinese customs(under Malaysian law is 18 IIRC).

A big thanks to everybody around me, near or far, without you people I won't be here today. =D

I was also very fortunate to had celebrated my birthday 3 times! Once during Chinese New Year with my cousins and relatives from my father's side, and then with my friends and god-grandparents and lastly with relatives from my mum's side. All in all 3 birthday cakes~!! Many thanks and appreciation. I don't know how or when can i repay all of you but i will try my best to. 感恩。

Some pictures from my birthday celebration 3 days ago with some friends (and relatives, won't post their pics here). Thank you so much for coming and the presents! Those who could make it: Chai Yee(ex-PBSM), Yee Thong(ex-PBSM), Kai Lun, Yoong Hsiang(ex-PBSM), Yew Fai(ex-PBSM), Yee Seong(UCSI mate), Wang Jin(UCSI mate), Wygene(long history), Chen Joyce(ex-classmate), Jo Ey(ex-classmate), Billy(LYN), Alex(LYN), Jung(LYN), Amanda(LYN) and last but not least, Adeline Ling Ling. =P

Credits also to Alex who became the official photographer for the night. Thanks a lot!

p/s: First time in this blog got so many pictures which consist my face =X

Birthday cake~

Food for the night! Didn't manage to enjoy though. Busy entertaining friends. =X

My cute little cousin

Full body shot XD

Group photo while cutting the cake.

Another group picture.

Group picture with ex-PBSM members. =D

With Wygene, Joyce & Jo Ey

Another one..

2 pretty ex classmates.

Knew him since standard 2. Same class during standard 6 as well. Shared the same transporter to secondary school for 5 years. And now he's my senior in Monash. Funny how fate works.

Yammmmmm sengggggggg~~

Cheerrsssss~~

Friends whom i found on the net. =D

2 of my closest friends at UCSI during my A-levels. Thank you guys a lot for the company and lending me your pc to Dota. =P

Singing their hearts out.

Candid shot of Adeline by Alex

Cannot lose also. =P

Chai Yee and Yee Thong dueting.

Two pros

Some other single person shots:

With Billy~

With Jung

With Amanda~

Last but not least with Adeline

Once again! Thank you everybody!! Going to move into my next phase of life soon~~~

Sony Alpha Convention 2011 incoming!

2011-02-16T23:20:00.005+08:00

YESS! I AM going to the Sony Alpha Convention 2011 after all!! =D :hyper:

What is that you may ask? Its basically a conference organised by Sony Malaysia Alpha Imaging Division specially for MySony members. Workshops on different topics are arranged and many prestigious speakers are invited to give talks during the workshop. And best of all, it's FREE! (though we can only pick 6 slots. Not complaining though!)

Anyway, these are the workshops that i've registered:

Mar 12, 2011 1845-1945 The art of portraiture

Mar 13, 2011 1000-1100 Light and mist of Yuan Yang

Mar 13, 2011 1300-1400 Wedding photography It's all about passion

Mar 13, 2011 1430-1530 Understanding documentary photography

Mar 13, 2011 1600-1700 Intrinsic institutional photography

Mar 13, 2011 1730-1830 The art of Wedding Photography

Can't wait for the convention and can't wait for my course to start! =D

Chinese New Year Performance 2011

2011-02-14T23:49:00.002+08:00

Last Sunday afternoon i attended a Chinese New Year song singing performance at Thean Hou Temple, Kuala Lumpur. Some of the pictures that i took, enjoy:

Lanterns @ Thean Hou Temple from another perspective.

Can't think of any suitable captions for the below photos though. =/

I want.......

....nobody nobody but qiu~

Another enthusiastic performance. The strings of the pom-pom kept dropping out. LOL.

Sweet~

~~~~~~

Shot of the group stage.

...and there's this little kid happily dancing along to the music as well. =D

Chinese New Year Collections

2011-02-10T23:13:00.004+08:00

Some of the pictures i took during the Chinese New Year. =D A very rojak post though. Bear with it. XD

Chinese New Year decoration at One Utama.

Playing around with wireless flash. =D After spending rm842 on repairs i finally can do it now. @@

福！

Sunset at hometown, Pontian Besar. =D Well, not a typical sunset shot though.

One of the fishing boats. Not many left. Most of the people here are not interested to continue the fishing business anymore.

Welcome to big big house. =D

Alone in the big open sea. A very dull looking shot though. =/

As my 21st birthday is approaching soon, i had the honour to do a small celebration with my relatives. And yes, i was not spared from the alcohol madness. Forced to drink all these, most without dilution. The korean wine (高粱酒) is the most strongest of them all(the clear liquid). 50% alcohol. @_@ Tastes like thinner but burns like tequila.

Fireworks which is released at the temple nearby my kampung house. First time shooting fireworks at such close proximity. Kinda scary to be honest. You will always be worried whether will any stray flare will hit you or not.@@ The explosions are loud, also. Good experience. Not the best of my fireworks shot though. =(

Ok time for some food pics:

YeeSang(LouSang)- Before

YeeSang(LouSang)- After

Soup

Sambal prawns!! Yummy!

Food for prayers

Pat Guo

Rice

And lastly,

Every cloud has its silver lining. ;D

Happy Rabbit New Year.

Hatyai Trip 2010 Day 3- Bye Bye Hat Yai ='(

2011-02-07T14:15:00.003+08:00

Every trip has got to come to an end, eventually =(

After we were done with our Zebra appliances shopping, we took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel and checked out and proceeded to Hat Yai International Airport.

Bye bye room. =/

Entrance to the airport. Heavy screening is first conducted here.

Overall the airport is quite small, no duty free shops and only 1 or 2 restaurants with a mediocre cafeteria on the 2nd floor.

Similiar restaurant to Old town. Had my lunch here.

Trying out the ice cream stall next door. =D

Very uniquely squeezed(is this the correct term?o.o) sundae ice cream cone.

Orange milk juice.

Departure hall. Very small. =/

That's all for the Hat Yai trip series. Hope to get back there for moooooooooore shopping! XD

Happy Chinese New Year 2011!

2011-02-07T10:57:00.003+08:00

Wishing all my dear readers and everybody around me a very Happy Bunny Chinese New Year!!! Hopefully this year will be another great year!

Will be starting my BPharm degree at Monash Sunway soon in 2 weeks time! After one year of waiting. Must do well in this course no matter what. Aiming to get enough marks to go Australia for one semester and get first class honours so i don't need pay PTPTN loan. Woohooo all the best to me. XD

Hatyai Trip 2010 Day 3- Shopping at 'Big Market'

2011-02-01T12:02:00.003+08:00

Since the first day the tour guide has recommended us to go to this place, called the Big Market or 大巴沙. We certainly did not want to miss this chance and went to visit this place on our last day at Hat Yai.

A snapshot of the 'market'.

Basically that area are rows and rows of shops selling goods like shirts and food AT A CHEAP PRICE! =D Due to time limitations, we only managed to finish one row as most of the time were spent of buying Zebra appliances. XD

Before that we had our breakfast at a local hawker centre. We finally found a shop selling 'kau mang gai (chicken rice), which is also deemed one of the must try dish at Hat Yai.

Steamed Chicken. Very tender and juicy. Better than most of the stalls in Malaysia la. =D

The rice that came with it was very, very fragrant as well. Thai rice ftw!

We also tried this Yong Tau Fu. Not bad too.

Not to be missed-Thailand coffee!! Very 'gao'~~ comparable to Ipoh Old town White Coffee.

After the hearty breakfast then we proceeded to the Authorised Zebra Dealer shop. Bought lotssssss of cookery back home. :D

Frying pans, pots, knifes, containers, you name it you got! Since this is an authorised reseller you can be assured that you won't get conned (as there are many other shops selling Zebra products as well.)

A camwhore pic. =P

Hatyai Trip 2010 Day 2 - Dinner at Songkhla & CNY Shopping at Hat Yai

2011-01-30T10:23:00.003+08:00

Finally after all that travelling and climbing up and down, its time for dinner~~~

This time our tour guide brought us to a authentic Thai restaurant which is situated opposite the Price Songkhla University.

Convention hall of the university

Restaurant for the night

Overall the food was really good, with all the authentic Thai food (tom yam, green curry, kong poh fried chicken, pork knuckles, etc... ) All of these are included in our tour package! Very cheap! Oh by the way, my tour guide is called Ben. If you would like to get his service, please email him at jasper_88@live.com, a very satisfied customer here! =D

Back to topic, since i was really hungry I only managed to take this picture:

Pork knuckles!

After all the makan, it was time to go back to Hat Yai. Since the night was still young, we requested the driver to drop us off at the largest shopping mall at Hat Yai.

Passing by a shop which sells really sexy clothing.

The biggest shopping mall in Hat Yai, kononnya:

Nothing to be compared to our One-U or Pavillion, but the price is cheeaaaaaaapppp..if you buy the Thailand brands. I settled all my Chinese New Year shopping here. XD Bought few shirts and 2 long pants of really good quality with less than RM250!! Here one pants with jeans quality also 100 plus liao. =/

Took this tuk tuk back to our hotel after our shopping. =D

Some shots from the back of the tuk tuk:

Hatyai Trip 2010 Day 2 - Coconut Ice Cream

2011-01-26T18:31:00.004+08:00

One thing you must not miss in Hat Yai, Thailand: the infamous Coconut Ice Cream!! Typing this post is making me missing this ice cream soooo much right now. ='(

What is a coconut ice cream, you may ask? Well its literally ice cream inside a coconut husk!

So how is a coconut ice cream prepared?

First, choose a coconut and cut it into a bowl shape.

Then, cut the coconut into half and pour away the juice somewhere else. Scrape out the coconut meat and add 3 scoops of ice cream, along with other toppings.

From left: kacang, atachi, sweet corn and pulut!

Add the toppings one by one over the ice cream~

Lastly, add some milk.

And tadaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Feeling hungry? =P

Hatyai Trip 2010 Day 2 - Lunch & Walkaround Songkhla Beach (Part 3)

2011-01-23T23:22:00.003+08:00

More pictures from the beach! =D

Visitors queuing up to take photos with the mermaid. Lol.

On second thought, it was a really hot day that day. o.o|||

but its still a great day to take pics~

The deep green sea?

Waves crashing in.

Lonely bird passing by.=/

Hatyai Trip 2010 Day 2 - Lunch & Walkaround Songkhla Beach (Part 2)

2011-01-21T09:20:00.002+08:00

More shots from the beach!

Wanna fly a kite?

Visitors flying kite. Not so visible though. The clouds on that day was beautiful.

The beach and the big blue sky....well not that blue actually..Hard to get a good sky colour at 2pm in the afternoon. =(

Crashing waves.

Pigeons enjoying their day here too.

and the famous Golden Mermaid....

Hatyai Trip 2010 Day 2 - Lunch & Walkaround Songkhla Beach (Part 1)

2011-01-17T22:19:00.002+08:00

So after all the hard work climbing up and down to take pictures under the scorching sun at the temples, its time for makannnn~! This time our tour guide brought us to Songkhla for some seafood lunch. Songkhla is about 30-40 minutes drive from Hat Yai.

Samila Beach

errr...?

A very long pathway. Very nice to walk during the evening with sun setting in............

My restaurant

Bird nest again! Rm20. Bought this at the leather shop before i came to Songkhla. They even gave this really good quality plastic container for the customers. Before they add the bird nest into the container, they even had the professionalism to soak it in hot water to kill the germs.

Some of the pictures of the food taken:

Tomato fish? Not nice.=/

Fried rice. Not bad la.

Other than that i also tried the Thailand coconut! Very hard to find, surprisingly. Very sweet and refreshing. A must try if you happen to spot it.

~*My St0rY*~