3.55am, KLIA

3.55am is the arrival time of a flight from Vienna to KLIA. This time, it is extraordinarily special because my girl is onboard this flight. She doesn't know that I'll be at the airport to receive her (coz I told her otherwise). All she knows is that her parents would be there! I'm going to 'SO' surprise her! Hopefully she doesn't read my mind too well. Well, sometimes she knows I have something up my sleeves but she couldn't usually guess what. Let's hope this trend stays on for a while... haha!

Anyway, my good friends, Raja, Chee How and Nicole would be tagging along as well! There's also gonna be another bunch of AIESEC people who would be coming to be part of the reception team! This is gonna be so cool!

I have been waiting for this day and finally, it is here! I'm so excited!

The King and Blog

Woohoo! Finally, King has finally blogged! King is a special friend of mine. We've been through so much together in the university years - we worked together during our AIESEC term, travel abroad together, sleep on the same bed (don't think otherwise leh.. hehe) - producing mind-boggling snoring symphonies, mamak till 5am and wake up groggy the next day, syiok sendiri together, square dance together, "buaya" hot chicks together and basically just about everything else a King and I would do! =D

Please read his blog at http://mythought.blogs.friendster.com/


Beware, he's the King of all "Buaya"s (Crocodile)

35 more hours!

Gosh, I am so excited! Another 35 more hours to go before my girl comes home! I can't really think of anything at this moment or should I say, she's the only person I can think about right now! =D It's been 2 1/2 long months and 18th of June is the day I have been waiting for... It's coming!!!!!


Aww... so sweet... that's my girl when she was younger!

My First Meme...

If you have no idea what a Meme is, fret not! I didn't know what it is either until Minishorts passed the Meme baton to me.

Before I go Meme'ing, here's a short conversation between Minishorts and myself that will pretty much explain what a meme is all about:

minishorts :: don't read says: u owe me a meme
minishorts :: don't read says: not yet completed
Dzeisen: dzeisen.blogspot.com says: eh... i read your blog la... but i'm confused... what is a meme?
minishorts :: don't read says: that means
Dzeisen: dzeisen.blogspot.com says: everyone is meme'ing... what is that?
minishorts :: don't read says: blog culture
minishorts :: don't read says: its something that is passed one
minishorts :: don't read says: like a baton i pass to you, you take it, and then you pass it on, in the same manner

So, here you go!

Total volume of music files on my computer:
1.52GB only... my previous hard disk that crashed had about 20GB of songs... =( So, I have to start recollecting all the music files again.

The last CD I bought or downloaded:
The last CD I bought, well, that was some 4 years ago. I bought "The Best of Olivia Newton John" from Hong Kong and it was stolen from my car along with my car CD player.

Song playing right now:
I'm not really playing any song right now (working) but I were to, I'd have played "I don't wanna miss a thing" by Aerosmith. Yeah, it's an old song but at this moment while my girl is away, this is the only thing I want to listen to. Maybe not the only song... I'd also listen to Akon's "Mr Lonely" as well. Oh dear, this is getting too sentimental.

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
1) Mr Lonely - Akon
2) Angels Brought Me Here - Guy Sebastian
3) Perhaps Love - John Denver
4) Secret Garden - Bruce Springsteen
5) This Song - Elton John

I hereby pass the baton to:
No one... I'm not in the scene long enough to know anyone to pass the baton to but hey, if you want me to pass a baton on to you, just leave me a message! How about that? =D Cool?! Haha...

International Friends: Paula from Poland!

I have so many friends from the countries that I visited during my AIESEC years... So, I thought that perhaps I should blog a little about them. The first person that came to mind was Paula Sidorska from Poland. She was among the very few people in Poland whom I keep in touch with after my 2 months traineeship there.


Guess who Paula is? =D She is the girl in.... Pink! The person beside her is Monika. She is also from Brzeg Dolny and yes, I do know her as well... ;D

Paula is from a town called Brzeg Dolny. It's about 31km northeast of Wroclaw (pronounced Wrots-laf) I was in Brzeg Dolny for about a week and during that week, I was fortunate enough to have classes in her school. I really had a great time there. Well, getting back to her, she is really sincere about our friendship and will constantly drop me a message on MSN. She will tell me all about her boy and I will tell her about my girl and it's always interesting to have a conversation with her. She'll tell me all the crazy party stories and guys that, well, erm-hem, tries to tackle her. See the photo and you'll know why! =D

So, let's go down memory lane. Below is a photo, dated 26th March 2003, with me and a group of students in a bar. Paula is the girl right beside me. They are so engrossed with something... wht is it? :D

Everyone is looking at my Sony Clie NX70v PDA. It is a Palm PDA with a swivel LCD screen and a camera. For everyone, that is an amazing piece of technology.


Here is another picture taken with Paula in front of the school together with my trainee friends, Slyvia (Hong Kong) and Marjana (Slovenia)

I have promised her that I will record a video of Kuala Lumpur, my hometown, me and my girl and send it to her in a CD so that she can have a glimpse into my life. Paula, if you are reading this, I just want to let you know that I have not forgotten. My girl is not back yet and when she is, I'll start my project! I promise!

The camera is just a tool...

The eye that helps me capture the moments...

I have came across forums and I see people often debate about who makes better cameras, better lenses and offers better support. Well, to be fair, this often centers around Nikon and Canon (typically). In fact, people also tend to compare dSLRs and Point and Shoot (P&S) cameras. You know, I have seen people with big 'O' lenses with high end digital SLRs taking crappy photos.

My point is really simple. The camera is merely a tool. More often than not, it's the person who is holding it that counts. Different cameras caters for different needs. Some people prefer the Canon to a Nikon (and vice versa), for the button layout or the image resolution or even the brand name. Some people prefer a P&S Camera because it records video and it takes pretty decent pictures as well.

It doesn't matter what camera you use, as long as the end result is exactly what you are looking for. Being a better photographer is more important than having a tool that will supposedly make you one. Good photographers do not depend solely on their tools. They will climb mountains, swim across oceans, hang upside down, sky dive and everything you can imagine just to get that shot. The camera captures exactly how a photographer sees it - nothing more, nothing less. Give a pro photographer any camera and he or she will still produce excellent results. So, you don't have to feel small if you carry a P&S or a SLR with kit lenses or even a film camera. As long as you are happy with the results, you are doing fine!

Lugging around a SLR is no easy task. People tend to give you the "oooo... photographer" stare and pointing a big gun around can be quite intimidating to some people. That's why I want to get a P&S myself for events where a SLR would be too ackward to be carried around.

If you see me around carrying this "gun", rest assured, just like everyone else, I'm still learning to get better shots. If you are carrying a Canon or a Sony or a Minolta or just about any other brand, I'd like to see the pictures that you shoot. Perhaps I can learn a trick or 2 from you. Let's not even get into the talk of "My camera's brand can do this and I'm sure yours can't!" Are we cool? =D

My girl is Flower Crazy!

While I was asleep, Clemens, my good friend from Vienna who is hosting my girl, sent me some messages on MSN. It basically sums up the title of this post! =D

clemens says: hi men
clemens says: you have sent me a crazy girl
clemens says: she is only looking for flowers
clemens says: luckily we have some in vienna
clemens says: so she seems to be happy


She is so in love with flowers... just put her in a garden anywhere and she can be there for hours...

Photog Entry: Portrait Capture

My main interests in photography is portrait photography. Here are among some of my early works on portrait.

D70: 50mm, f/2.0, 1/60s

During an ASUS Product Launch

D70: 46mm, f/4.5, 1/20s

My good friend, Whitsney... she is now in Denver

D70: 50mm, f/4.5, 1/10s

Crazy and cool guy - Selvan! Da most handsome and macho guy...


D70: 50mm, f/2.0, 1/90s

My girl prior to her departure to Romania

F717: 20mm, f/2.2, 1/125s

My cousin's wedding... the girl is my cousin in law =D I was the official photographer then! Woohoo!

D70: 56mm, f/4.5, 1/20s

My friend Diana making sure everything's on schedule!

D70: Missing EXIF Info

Sunny during a performance at AIESEC Awards Day

F717: 41mm, f/2.4, 1/500s

My girl trying out the Echo Wall in Beijing

I love my D70!

I love my D70! See how sleek it looks? It is such a pleasure to use... giving me total control of how I want my pictures to be. For a lot of people, switching from auto to manual may be intimidating but for me, it's exactly the opposite. Now, I would never want to go back to Auto mode or any other modes that gives the camera the right to think and decide for me. Yeah, sure, it has its limitations like any other gadgets or devices. However, I'm still happy because it serves my needs just right. I just need to get bigger and better lenses! =D

She's coming back!

Guess who's coming back?! Yeah, it's another 4 more days before my girl comes home. She SMSed me a few hours ago telling me that she has boarded the train that will take her to Vienna from Prague. Vienna would be her last destination before flying back to Malaysia.


This is Junior, my little Christmas gift. The girl hugging it, that's God's gift =D

Weekend at Genting

Last Sunday was definitely a crazy weekend. You see, my friends and I have, much much earlier planned to pay a visit to "Mr Lim" in Genting. However, I thought since no one make any confirmation and Raja (the mastermind) was sick the day before, the plan was to be cancelled. Shockingly, I received a call from Vivien at about 7am on Sunday morning. That's 7am!! Anyway, she asked me if the plan was still on and I told her maybe it's not on anymore but she told me she has already geared up and all ready to go!! I was like "WHAT?!" And then Chee How called me up and said that he's also ready to go... Alamak! I thought I was still dream sleeping. So, I called up Raja to confirm since he was the mastermind of this whole idea. He was like "I am now on my way to your house!" Okay, so, I pressed the "Panick" button!

I couldn't believe it! We're really going up to Genting! I was so sleepy and I feel like sleeping more... but Raja is coming over soon to pick me up! So, I took a quick and cold shower (brrrr...) and by the time I came out, Raja was already outside the house waiting. Shucks! Arrgggghhhh!!! Everything felt so last minute... I hate to rush... it makes me feel out of control...


Anyway, it all went well - at least for now. We are now on the way up to Genting. As soon I was about to step in to the cable car, I received a call... from Whitsney! She called from the States! As you can see here in the picture, Big Chee How is speaking to her...


This is supposedly the longest and fastest cable car in South East Asia... hmm... interesting. If only the rest of the infrastructures up in Genting is of similar prestige.


As you can see, we did make it up to Genting... finally, at 11am. We have to be down to catch the bus at 8pm. So, basically, we don't have much time to waste. Let's get down to business and play hard!

Or should I say, pray hard!

Pray hard that the rain doesn't come! Just when I thought I was in control again, the rain came! Can you believe it? We payed for the Theme Park's full day outdoor pass and because of the rain, we would not be able to play!! =( Carmen asked the staff there if the pass could be exchanged for use in the indoor park but tough luck! Anyway, so, we decided to stay indoors for a while and hope that the rain would stop soon.

This is how the indoor theme park looks like.

So... the rain didn't exactly quite stop yet after an hour. Well, we had to linger around in the indoor area. There's nothing much we can do. I went around snapping some photos while my friends decides what to do next.

The outdoors in an indoor theme park...

Raja and Vivien decided to try rock climbing while waiting for the rain to stop. Mind you, it's RM4 per climb! And you can easily guess how much food costs up there!

Vivien is on the way to the top!


This is Carmen! She is queuing up patiently just to get the passes for our outdoor theme park. We already had the tickets but we need to exchange the tickets for a hand strap. After half an hour of queuing up, she was told that this is not the counter for the hand strap!!! Buggers!

We were all tired of waiting. We wanted to play badly. So, we headed to the outdoor theme park anyway. We used the indoor skyway to get us there. The person in charge there told us that there are 4 games in the outdoor theme park that we are allowed to play when it rains! I was like "Only 4?!!!" So, we all went to play... I wouldn't even call it playing. It was more like joining the small kids to have fun!

Vivien and me in err... a Pirate Boat?

No, this is not Dinosaurland you see in Disneyland or Warner Brother Studios or whatsoever. It's a pathetic and slow ride for small kids. We are on this ride because we didn't have to queue long... =D Adult rides are all packed... with err... adults?

Vivien, Raja and Carmen...


This is what Chee How does when he has nothing to play in Genting Highlands... Mr Lim, please take note ya...

And so, it was time to go back... and it's only 6pm! =( We didn't get to sit many rides... but it was okay. We had a good time there... (trying to stay positive)...

Okay, we were all so tired... from walking around and queuing up, we couldn't come out with a better pose. So, there!

Okay... maybe there's one last pose.

Bye bye Genting... see you again in a long... long... long time. Perhaps until you have decided to upgrade your 20 year old rides, make the place less complicated and oh, provide free food and drinks to justify the over priced entrance fee.