.omedettou gozaimasu!

at J.A.T.'s graduation.

dear fellow MMDes,

congratulations for having received your hard-earned certificates! thanks for making studio 7 and 8 such a great place to hang out.

for those of us who still have a couple of semesters to go, hang in there! i've only got 1 more semester of postgrads to go so i'm going to have to cherish this, because i don't think i'll be a student ever again.

good luck in whatever y'all do in future, and keep in touch!

cheers,

_pdra.

.lesson re-learned

the little dutch lady.

my friends and I organized a little day trip to Silvan for the annual Tesselaar Tulip Festival last weekend. it was a good trip – good weather, good food, good everything.

there were so many kids around and every single one of them were having a great time, laughing and running around. one of us said, "this is such a happy place!" – and it really felt like one.

before leaving the farm, we spotted a group of people taking photos of this cute little girl in Dutch traditional costume. her grandma and mom (?) were around and they were so nice about us taking photos of her!

-------

well, this photo reminded me of the fact of how little kids are easily satisfied with simple requests, such as a couple of helium-filled balloons.. as humans, the older we get, the more greedy we get, and hence, the more we demand.. and take what we already have for granted.

this little girl have, and always will remind me to appreciate what I already have...

and perhaps we adults should learn from the young ones sometime, just like how they are learning from us as they grow. :)

what are your thoughts?

.canine

Her name is Kayu. :)

.友達。

Tomodachi. My travel buddies in Melbourne.

.i waited and waited...

Fall 2010 – Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden.

And you have finally arrived!!!!! :)

I missed you, Autumn. Where have you been all these while? And most importantly, how are you???

Summer had been pretty nasty to me.. :( And I've been thinking of you all these time...

I actually thought you weren't coming to visit this year, because we are already approaching the winter months.. But here you are!!! You came!!!!!!!! :D

Could you stay a little longer? How about negotiating with Winter for a bit and see how things go?

Please stay, because you are, and will always be, my favorite season of the year.

.dear mom,

greetings from 3000+ miles away.

I know that we don't get along as well as we should... And I actually feel bad about being much closer to dad than to you.. But no matter how harsh your words are to me when we argue, etc., you'll always be the best mom in the whole wide world - the one and only person (along with dad) who loves me unconditionally and is willing to sacrifice anything just to raise me up.

I hope I'll be able to go out for dinner with you and the family on Mother's Day soon, in the next couple of years, because the last time I did was six years ago, in 2004, when I was still a junior (11th grader) in high school.

We may not always agree with one another, and I probably will continue rebelling by doing the opposite of what you want me to do anyway.. But.. still.. I'm glad to have you as my mother. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

.happy belated easter!

an easter surprise.

I was about to leave the house to get some last minute ingredients for dinner when I saw this on my doorknob - A chocolate egg and an Easter note from a nice (mysterious) neighbor.

Yup, it's really nice of him/her to share these with all 7 (excluding their own) units on this floor! I'm sure this gesture has made everyone's day a good one just as it did with mine. :)

Neighbors like this person are really rare these days... At least in my apartment building... And I really, really appreciate the gesture. Perhaps I should borrow this idea end of this year and hang some candy canes on everyone's doors. : 3

So umm, to the neighbor on this floor who gave every unit an easter egg - Happy Easter and thanks for the gift! I hope you're enjoying the holiday!

And to everyone who's reading this, Happy belated Easter to you too, and hope you've received some chocolate bunnies or eggs!

That reminds me, I should go stock up on those chocolates!

.earth hour 2010

Melbourne CBD between 8.30pm – 9.30pm (GMT+11)

This is my 3rd consecutive year participating in the Earth Hour 2010. It's not that hard really, all I need to do is turn off the lights for an hour.. I wish we could do this every month or something!

I was just finishing up dinner during Earth Hour. Decided to take some photos in the middle of it.. I think I took over 20 shots but only 4 turned out upload-worthy. Oh well.

And after dinner, I dig around for some candles and match sticks. After lighting them up, I treated myself a slice of cheese cake, and watched the candles while I gobble up the cake.

I hope your Earth Hour was just as good as mine. :)

.love is..

being loved.

...when someone patiently assures you at least a million times a day that everything is going to be fine. after months of tears and whining, it has finally arrived.. and i am glad it came so soon.

.double joy

dual celebration.

Here's a fact for those of you who don't already know – Lunar New Year and St. Valentines Day happened to be on the same day this year. Yup, 14/02/2010.

For Chinese families, Lunar New Year is one of the biggest celebration of the year.. It's definitely a lot more important than Christmas, at least for my family, since we don't really do anything on 25th December every year.

It is mandatory for everyone to get together on Lunar New Year eve for a reunion dinner – no excuses.

My dad likes to have an open house party every year on the first day of Lunar New Year.. So instead of us going out to visit friends/relatives, people would come over instead.. And one of the chores my sister and I were given is to prepare the red envelopes – RM10 in each one.

red envelope preparation.

As for Valentines Day, it doesn't really effect SF and myself since we don't really do Vday stuff (I wouldn't mind if we do though).. And for the others, I guess they would have to celebrate sometime before or after Lunar New Year.

Sooo.. Happy Lunar New Year everyone, and for those of you who managed to celebrate Vday, hope you guys had a great time!

Feel free to check out more Lunar New Year photos over the next couple of weeks on my Flickr!

.merry belated xmas

.inside and outside

Past and Present.

On the outside, I am a cheerful, fun-loving chick whom most people enjoy hanging out with...

But...

My world on the inside is currently filled with the total darkness - it is filled with despair, pain and uncertainty.
Part of me just refuses to accept the truth, and the other part of me is aware that this will do him, and most importantly, us, good.
But I am going to go with the latter - I will force the other part to see this positively.. And I have to!

I know I will definitely release all these tears that are building up when the time comes.. So let's just see it as tears of joy - that we're moving into a new chapter of the relationship.

.off

Going back.

This should have been updated like, 10 days ago.. But I was too excited about my brother's wedding to do anything online.

I guess I don't have any more excuses not to update since we are all settled down. It's great to have a new family member in this house – sis-in-law. Once again, welcome to the family! :D

And so you ask.. What have I been doing over the past 1.5 week here? Well, let's see.. I've been catching up on food, resting, catching up on TV shows, talking to my family members. My dad missed me loads and he kept saying "Haven't seen you in so long [9 months]!"

I'll be back in Melbourne next Wednesday..For another 2 months, before coming back home again for the Lunar New Year.

Hmmm...... *silent*

Will update again real soon!

.hs for life

The symbol of love.

Congratulations bro! And welcome to the family, sister-in-law!

.9/11

911

9/11 - Never forget.

And I've only got about 4 months of cherishing-our-time-together to do. Sigh..

.the one about waking up early

Doomsday.

I was talking to my dad on the phone the other night and told him all about my schedule for the semester when he asked.

Dad: So what time are your classes normally?
Me: Hmmm sometimes morning, sometimes afternoon.
Dad: Morning? How early??
Me: Like, early. I have to get up 7.30am on Tuesdays.
Dad: (knowing that I don't normally get up before 11am) SO EARLY??? You can get up that early??? *there was a tinge of humor in his voice - I could tell he was grinning*
Me: Haha of course I can, no choice right?

LOLLLL!!!

Anyways, yes, I have been waking up early twice every week. It's not easy to be honest, but knowing that this is the very final time I am a student, I'd have to cherish every moment of the chapter.. And I won't be skipping classes for reasons like "Oh-I'm-so-tired-today" or "I-need-to-finish-up-assignment-for-this-other-unit" like I did back in the undergraduate days...

Hmm.. Does it mean that I've matured a little bit over the past six months? :P

I can never wake up early on most days because it's hard for me to fall asleep before 2.30am every night. I'm nocturnal, I am more motivated to work on stuff during the early hours of the morning when the streets* are quiet and that everyone's off to slumberland. I don't know why, but that's just me... Although I do envy a friend who works better in the morning than any other time of the day.

Waking up early means I get to see the sun rise from my east-facing apartment unit. I guess that means I'll be taking loads of morning photos so don't be surprised to see a bunch of them on Flickr in the next couple of months! ;)

--end.

*I live in the CBD area in Melbourne where traffic is everywhere.

.how i started photography

The Sony.

Having started graduate school nearly a fortnight ago gives me the opportunity to take my camera out on a daily basis. I have been making the effort to take my heavy duty DSLR camera out on days when I would catch the train, just so I could start snapping away with the camera when something catches my attention.

Majority of you may not know how I started photography so I thought I'd blog while I'm at it.

It was March 2006 when I decided to go on to Canon Australia's website to look at DSLR cameras. I don't remember what made me interested in a DSLR all of a sudden. I knew nothing about DSLR's back then and the first model I was on the website was the 30D and then I said, "Okay, I might get this one."

Everything I bought depended on portability and size (lighter/smaller the better). SF and I finally dropped JB Hi-Fi along Elizabeth Street two months later. That was the first time I saw the 30D in real life and I immediately thought that it's a little too big for me. A couple of friends recommended the 350D and Nikon D40 so I thought I'd have a look at them too. I decided to go for the 350D because.. uhh.. because it's smaller than the 30D. *sheepish*

Since the 350D doesn't come with the body kit lens (I have no idea why) I had to buy a lens separately. So next day, SF and I went in to Camera House to have a look at lenses. Again, I had no idea what 18-55mm or 70-200mm or 35mm meant.. But I knew I wanted an all-rounder lens, something that I can use for pretty much any occasion... And so it goes on and on, and I left the shop with an ultra-wide lens – the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM.. The very lens that has been giving me all these amazing HDR results over the past year.

As a noob who knew nothing about photography, I didn't enjoy the Sigma 10-20mm very much... I actually swopped the lens for a body kit (18-55mm) with my brother in January 2007*!

And finally, in May 2007, I got myself a Flickr Pro account. I have been on Flickr since April 2005, when I thought I'd sign up for fun and post up photos of random daily stuff, like food and things. That was when I started taking photography seriously.

In November 2008, I bought my first prime lens, the very affordable and light-weight EF 50mm f/1.8 II. I love that lens and I probably should have bought that for a first lens rather than the 10-20mm.

I took the 10-20mm back to Melbourne with me in February 2008 and started enjoying it heaps – It's a lens that must be taken along for road trips!

In April 2008, I bought my first and only "L" lens – the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. It makes a good all-rounder lens and I have been using it for everything since. Today, I am using it primarily with the full-frame 5D Mark II. For my next "L" lens, I would like an EF 16-35mm, an ultra-wide suitable for the 5D.

I must have taken well over 10,000 photos in 2008 alone and posted 1,900+ on Flickr that year. I am hoping to post well over 2000 shots by end of this year and so far, I've only posted approximately 800 photos in the year 2009 set.

I do have to admit that I am not putting in as much effort with photography as I did last year, due to other commitments, so I guess the only way to continue photography is for me to take the camera everywhere I go and make the effort to take at least 5 photos a day.

--

I shall take the prime lens and 350D with me to uni tomorrow and see what I can come up with. :)

.i'm not a huge fan of pink stuff...

Pocky.

But there are exceptions. :) I like Pocky - especially the strawberry flavored ones. And I am sure you do too, or will if you haven't already tried one.

So for those of you who haven't, what are you waiting for? Go get some!!! It's easily available in most Asian countries.. As for the others, I'm sure you can find them in major oriental supermarkets.

Mmmm.. x)


Today's July 14th and it also happens to be one of my cousins birthday.. So.. Happy Birthday Yuki!!!

.happy easter

Happy Easter Y'all!

I don't know if I'm too late... But Happy Easter everyone!

I'm so going to buy remaining Easter bunnies and eggs from Coles/Safeway/Big W!!! Easter egg sale --- here I come!!!

.childhood memories

Childhood.

I remember my parents taking me down to playgrounds during the weekend as a kid... And I also remember going to the playground with cousin Yuki and Irene (4 and 5 years younger than me respectively) on Saturday evenings during our weekly visit to 祖母's (grandma's) place.

And my favorite would always be the swing. I could go as high as I want to and relieve some of the frustrations with it. It never fails to make me feel better.. :)

I'd love to go on the swing now but I think I am a little too old for it.. LOL. I'm actually wanting to take photos of kids on swings but since parents these days are a little paranoid when it comes to their children I think I should refrain it. :P

So tell me, what's your favorite childhood memory? No word limits!