Thursday, May 28, 2009

Geavity gear and wishlist




I went to Geavity.com and made myself a gear list and a wishlist.

My Gear List


So far, an entry-level DSLR, an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, an entry-level speedlight, and a remote trigger. In my opinion an ok startup for a complete amateur like me.


My Wishlist


This is if I ever get enough money to upgrade my gear, I'll probably go ahead and get a better speedlight that can double as a master commander for additional slave speedlights, maybe upgrade my camera to a D90 (one small step at a time) and procure some fast lenses for macro, event photography and portraiture.

Now if only someone would dump $25k on my lap...

Monday, May 25, 2009

Needs meme



I found this somewhere and though I wasn't tagged, I decided to do it anyways. Google your name and the word "needs" in quotes ("[Your first name] needs”) and see what comes up. The results will be highlighted in the little paragraph contained below each result. List the first 10, then tag 10 of your friends.  

1. Ihsan needs to confirm this. -confirm what? 
2. Ihsan needs to find the bodies of the missing Barzanis. -who are the Barzanis? 
3. Ihsan needs so many prayers. -thank you. 
4. Ihsan needs your prayer. -thank YOU. 
5. Ihsan needs a new Virtuoso-inspired tagline. -no idea what this is about. 
6. Ihsan needs his sleeeeep. -so truuuuue... 
7. Ihsan needs a chill pill every once in a while. -heard that one a couple of times. 
8. Ihsan needs to think about what he's doing again. -heard this one one too many times. 
9. Ihsan needs one for getting anal over spelling. -what, the chill pill? Oh I left that on the counter. 
10. Ihsan needs all the frags he can get. -I suck at Unreal Tournament.  

Basically if your first name is common then the results might be common too. But if you have a not-so-common first name in the interweb cybernet world then you might get the kind of results I got... maybe even more bizarre and interesting =)

I tag anyone who reads this!


Thursday, May 21, 2009

Illuminator Salvation

It has been hard playing around with the D60 and not being able to capture photos as I wanted due to the lack of an external speedlight.

Therefore, I have acquired the following addition to my shooting lineup:



The Nikon SB-600 Speedlight.

I'm going to go play with it this weekend... Hopefully I'd be able to capture more amazing shots with this fella on top of the D60 =)

I love my hobby, even if it runs my pockets dry.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Catch the sun


Catch the sun, originally uploaded by ihsankhairir.

I captured the sun in my hand so it becomes a sparkling star for you...



Thursday, May 14, 2009

Family fleet flagship



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A 2nd Generation 2000 Toyota Estima 3.0, brought in from Japan just a few weeks ago. Courtesy of my sister Una. =)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Darn it you guys



You know what?

Make a referendum. See if the people of Perak want snap elections or not.

Better yet: Regardless of whoever becomes MB just dissolve the State House to make way for snap elections.

Seriously, we don't need power hungry politicians to keep telling us what we want or what we need. We already KNOW what we want and what we need. Don't insult our intelligence. Snap elections is the way to go. Let the people decide.

I couldn't care less who becomes MB right now as long as snap elections happen. Then we can effectively end this political power struggle. Sheesh.

I'm sick of politicians playing with the interpretation of the law and the constitution for the benefit of THE PARTY. Please please please think about the people. Have a mutual agreement between the two, saying that whoever becomes MB must call for dissolution of the House and also for a fresh state elections so that the people can decide. Then it'll be fair to everybody. Right? Unless you only care about which party is in power. The party should never be the priority. The people should be.

There I said it.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

It's crunch time!




Crunch time crunch time.

ME:

Powerpoint presentation of possibly 40 plus slides need to be prepared by Thursday. Presentation on Sunday evening. Progress: possibly 25% done.

Mental and physical preparation for the possibly nerve-wrecking presentation. Essentially going to be my first presentation in front of the international scientific community. Progress: don't know.

Losing weight before the possible overeating of seafood and murtabak. Progress: actually I don't care anymore.

Saving money for buying stuff to take home. Progress: too late for that. Crossing the straits as a poor man.


HER:

Today's the first day of A-level examinations for her. She's taking Biology, Mathematics and Chemistry for a grand total of twenty-something papers. Exams over in about six agonizing weeks. Please keep her in your prayers!

...

Just a few days before the Xanga meet! I sincerely do hope to be able to make it in time and not be too busy to get to see you guys!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Thank God for Ping Pong


For eleven years I was the only boy in my family. My mom gave birth to five little sisters before my brother came. I remember as a young boy, back when I was about five or six, that I asked my mom if I could have a baby brother so I can play ball with him. For quite some time my childhood memories with my sisters consist mainly of playing house (I was either the father or a waiter) and skipping rope (at which I became good at, with no shame). Not much what most people call boyish stuff like playing soccer or fighting with the neighborhood kids. The most boyish stuff I think I usually did was climb trees and getting lost in the woods near my house, both of which I mostly did by myself.

I have to admit, most of my childhood were more of with the family. Childhood friends were not a big part in my life. The reason being we kept moving house because the family got bigger and bigger. I don't blame anyone for this, in fact I am glad that we have such a big family. At home we never feel alone. Because of this I have little reason to fully socialize myself with the neighborhood kids, and therefore my childhood friends list are in fact almost NIL.

When I was twelve going on thirteen I got sent to a boarding school in Kuala Lumpur. It's an all-boys school so I guess my 'boyhood' problem was practically solved. But it separated me from my baby brother who was a bit more than one year old then. I have little memory of spending time with him (Ayid we call him, my first baby brother) as I was mostly away in school. He's eleven years younger than me. So he more or less grew up mostly in my absence, as I only got to see him once every month, sometimes even less than that, due to the strict rules of the school not letting students go home every weekend.

After I was done with high school it was little time before I whisked away to prep college and then to the U.S. for my tertiary education. With the distance and the time the less and less I could relate to Ayid. He'd grown, taller, darker and thinner (he was quite fair when he was a baby), his voice started to change, became more and more active in sports, et cetera. All in my absence. Once I came home from the U.S., I felt like my brother was a totally different person.

My memories with my father wasn't much either, as either he was away for work or school, or I was away for school. I remember there was one year when I was in school that I didn't see him at all for almost six months (my being at home for two days a month didn't coincide with his being at home). This was back when cellphones were a luxury of the corporate / high society. I missed seeing him and listening to his voice. And with the little time spent with each other, the distance grew. There was little I could relate to my father. This was aggravated even more with me being in the U.S. for 4.5 years. I remember calling home and he picked up the phone, and our conversation was limited to how-are-you-doings before it changed to "wanna talk to your mother?". The physical distance between us resulted in emotional distance. I didn't know what to say to him on the phone. Whatever he knew about me he found out mostly from my blogs or from my mother.

After I returned from the U.S., something that I saw outside the house changed everything.

It was a ping pong table.

My dad loves to play ping pong (or table tennis, for some), and so does Ayid. In fact they had been playing together for some time before I came back. I myself had been learning to play the game with my friends in the U.S., not knowing that my dad and Ayid were playing the same game at home. I guess in some ways, we're still the same inside even with the time and distance apart. By the time I got home, I was already good enough at ping pong to play the game with my dad and Ayid.

And so it has become our fortnightly activity. Whenever we were together at home, it'll be ping pong in the morning and ping pong in the evening. Sometimes even at night. We enjoy taunting and challenging each other as we play the game, and I could feel us bonding together with each game played. I can see how much my father enjoys playing with us and with the many games we've played over these two years so far, I think they made up for most of our lost time.

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Alhamdulillah. Thank God. Thank God for ping pong.

p/s: I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!



Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Spider with liquid oozing out its mouth


This is another shot of the same spider, taken a few moments after the picture in the previous post. It seems like some kind of yellowish liquid is oozing out of the spider's mouth. My instinct say it's venom, but it can also be digestive juices that spiders use to liquefy their prey.

Either way, it seemed to have vomited the liquid out. In fear or in defense? I'm not sure. Or maybe the photographer looked so unappealing even a spider would throw up after looking at him.

Anyone knows what this spider is doing? Spider experts? Peter Parker? Hmmm?





Monday, May 04, 2009

Spider on white paper


Spider on white paper, originally uploaded by ihsankhairir.


Four pairs of eyes. Four pairs of legs.

Do spiders see and/or move four times better than humans?



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