Bus Number 11

What a week it has been! So much has happened that the end result was me being relegated to doing something that I've not done since my university days.

I was involved in a car crash about a week ago. It was raining heavily and as I approached a traffic light that was turning yellow, I instinctively stepped on the gas not realizing that the car in front of me was already stationary.

This is the first time I've been involved in a major accident and I hope it will be the last as well. It will take up to 3 weeks (I hope they keep to their word) to get the car up and running again, but till then, my mobility has been seriously reduced. Its a good thing that I stay relatively near to my workplace - it takes around 20-25 minutes walk. Public transport is less of a convenience than walking and definitely not an option.

Good Ol' Bus Number 11

What gets me most is the timing of the accident. My mom is coming to visit me later this weekend and without a way to get around ... well I guess we can do some work on the garden!

Monochromatic Dreams

I don't think you can ever shoot with film in its full glory until you've tried shooting black and white. And I don't mean shooting in color and then converting to monochrome. I've picked up a few rolls Ilford XP2 Super 400 and immediately got hooked like flies to turd.

All pics shot with Canon EOS 5 with 50mm

Haven't touched this in quite a while

Since I was using a Canon, I also tried using my flashgun for some off camera lighting. What's scary about this is that the EOS 5 does not support E-TTL. So I have to park the flash in manual mode and guess the output. Also this is not digital... so if I get the exposure wrong, I'll only know in a couple of days time.

Fortunately it turned out alright. After I finished this shoot, I realized that I could've shot with the exact settings on my DSLR first, then apply the same settings to the film camera... but hey, where's the fun in that right?

Prison (Holiday) Break!

Normally when someone mentions to you 'prison' or 'jail' what comes to your mind? A dark, dirty and undesirable place that no one in their right mind will ever want to go is what came to mine (we have stories from the oh so feh-mes Kamunting). Rightly so! These places serve as a deterrent.

Apparently some folks in Norway thought otherwise. So they built Halden - the World's most humane high-security prison.

Unbelievably, they've spent around $1 million on paintings, photography and light installations! Rooms are fitted with en-suite bathrooms with ceramic tiles, mini-fridges and flat screen tvs. And according to them, 'Officials say sleeker televisions afford inmates less space to hide drugs and other contraband.' Rrrrright...

This looks better than some of the hotels I've stayed in

The windows have no bars - though anyone trying to escape is probably stupid

This is the scariest picture so far - a dental chair! *gasps* The sound of drills...

And if you do get bored of your stay, you can choose to do some workout, rock-climbing or take up a course (where they'll refer to you as a student and never an inmate). They go to great lengths to do this because they reason that criminals will have to rejoin society sooner or later and they try to make this phase of transition as similar as they can to the real world experience. While this is a very noble idea with lots of merits, it will never work in Malaysia. There will be a sudden surge in crimes as people jostle for places in these so called prisons (yours truly included).

So Not Haute!

I have this black singlet that I have been wearing as a pajamas for about a year or so.

Recently within the space of 2 weeks, I've spotted 5 different individuals that wear the exact same garment (with the Red Edwin words at the back) - 2 at the gym and 3 at my work place. I have such a generic taste in clothing? Or maybe Edwin was having a huge sale. Yea that must be it.

There is a logical explanation to all this. Lets say you're in a department store. Out of the whole floor selling men's clothing, the store will designate a small area to selling underwear (This Edwin garment was bought in the underwear section of a department store by the way...I bet those 5 other guys bought them at more or less the same place too). So thats like what? 10% of all the clothing on that floor? This is not including the independent/chain retail clothing outlets that are also in the mall. So on the whole, lets say Mid Valley, I can safely say that 5-10% of all the clothing sold there are undergarments.

So lets say all the PJ residents shop exclusively at Mid Valley and so the 2 million or so residents get their fresh supply of underwear from more or less the same place. Therefore - if you were to randomly approach people and start pulling down their pants...

TOFWPATA being 'The Other Fella With Pants Around The Ankles'...

Do you see what I'm saying here? Normally I should not be bothered by this, but 5 different people in 2 weeks is a bit too much. I can't sleep well at night knowing that I'm wearing the same thing as the balding uncle with a huge potbelly. Maybe its time to shop at a more exclusive place. Victoria's Secret maybe...and I don't care that they don't cater to men.

Out With The Old

I have always believed that plants were immortal. That given the right conditions and absence of disease, they will live forever. A few months back, someone expressed amazement at the fact that our tomato plant has survived for so long. Since the seeds were the type you can get commercially for under RM2, it is believed that they have a limited life span.

Initially I found it hard to believe. Then suddenly one by one the branches started drying up for no apparent reason. Adding more organic soil or fertilizers did not help at all. Eventually it was no more. So I guess there may be some truth to it (either that or I messed up somewhere... its easier to blame plant genetics in this case).

Immortal or not, there's one thing that I'm pretty sure is finite - real estate. So the tomato is gone and another plant has been groomed to take its place.

I don't exactly know what plant this is yet. My wife brought back some seeds one day and we just planted it. It is definitely a fruit bearing plant, that much I am sure. Oh we'll find out in a couple of years...

Film is Forever

Call it fate. I don't really know how else to describe it. Its like the stars magically align themselves in pushing me to a certain direction. I've been toying with the idea of getting a lomo camera for some time, but never really acted upon that desire. The idea of sending film to the photo lab to develop and print never really appealed to me. The last time I shot with a film camera (my dad's Minolta SLR) was when I climbed Mount Kinabalu in 2007. I never got around to finishing that roll of film and even if I did... sending it to process was a hassle for me. My nearest photo lab doesn't deal with film anymore so I have to drive further to find one that is willing to develop.

Recently this idiot (sorry but there's no other way of calling him...believe me, I've tried to think of some) started posting on my facebook wall about scanning film with the DSLR in addition to sending me messages on MSN asking me to google the topic. I did. There were some interesting techniques and the results they got weren't too shabby.

In addition to that, another friend visited me in Kota Kinabalu a few days ago after he climbed Mount Kinabalu. That reminded me of my roll of film still sitting in my camera. I knew I had to finish it off quickly so I can try the above technique.

I downloaded a flashlight app for the iPhone recently - didn't know it will come in handy this soon. What I did was unroll the film, place it over the screen with the flashlight on and the took a picture with the DSLR.

After that, it was just the routine photoshop work.

It may not look great, but suddenly having a lomo camera made sense. Heheh.

This is from the Blackbird, Fly camera. Still getting to grips with using it, but will do a full review on it soon.

3G-Sutra

Ever since I've gotten my hands on the iPhone, it has allowed me to access the web in many locations that I wouldn't normally be able to. And I mean it. I do not have to be stuck at a desk but I can take advantage of the gadget's size and bring it with me during my morning routine on the throne.

However the more I use it, the more I realize that the internet speeds differ at different locations of the house. Naturally, since this uses the phone provider's 3G services, it is akin to getting better phone reception at certain places. Surfing on Safari is a joy because of its almost instantaneous loading times... but if the 3G services are not living up to their billing it can be equally as frustrating as using dial-up.

This led me to do a test to find out the best spot for internet surfing. I had a stopwatch and used Safari to load 3 pages one after another at different locations - Facebook, Soccernet and my blog.

The first most obvious location was the couch on the living room. It took just under 2 minutes to fully load those 3 pages. Not too bad actually. I then moved a few steps away to the dining area and got half that time.

The toilet got a similar time to the living room but the bedroom was the worst with 3min and 20s. There is one thing I observed when I did this test - that in all those areas, 3G services were very intermittent. If it kicked in, the page loaded very fast - and if it didn't then tough luck. When I did the toilet times again I found that it varies quite substantially.

There is one place in the house which excels at this test and posts consistent times of under 1 minute every single time. It is also a place in which there is uninterrupted 3G coverage. I must say I discovered it by accident...

The best spot! - On the railing at the top of the staircase

I don't really know how it started, but it must have been a time when I was waiting for the page to load while I was shuttling between rooms or the toilet and just left it on the railing. Whatever it was, I definitely struck gold!

Well, I've stopped looking for better locations now because it seems that even if the results can beat the 50+ seconds benchmark it would mean having to sacrifice my comfort. What if I get a 30+ second result for this test under the fridge? Or beside the water tank in the roof? Nah... I don't want to find out and then go through settling for second best.