Gotong Royong and Precisa CT100

I've been spending a lot of time cleaning in the past few weeks, both at home and at the office, I don't really know why but I feel like I have to. Some kind of paternal instinct kicking in maybe? We've been cleaning a lot of places that we don't usually cover in our weekly cleaning, like the grill and under the bed (my God! The amount of dirt!).

On another point, I've been testing out the Agfa Precisa CT100 film recently.

Scorching sun is good for...

...doing the laundry

I've been shooting film almost exclusively for quite some time and should have tried this film sooner. It has that greenish-yellowish-bluish tinge to it with the super saturated blues when you cross process it. In other words, its the 'lomo' feel.

It is a very light hungry film, and the effects are best achieved on a bright sunny day. I had a couple of indoor shots with flash but it turned out quite ordinary, save for a slight yellowish hue.

I like it! I think I'll be using this film more often.

Work/Play?

Home cooked meals are usually prepared by the lady of the house, until late last year when the thought of food made her retch. So I had to step up to the plate, literally, and have been the household chef for half a year.

My second office

The last time I did any sort of regular cooking was during uni days in Scotland and even then, we were more like line cooks putting out dishes from a small deli with a very limited menu. Every evening my housemates and I will all take our places in the kitchen/pantry and automatically carry out our roles - there will be a fella to chop the garlic, onions and sausages (we put sausages in a lot of things), peel the potatoes (if necessary), prepare the chicken (toughest job I think, because its always frozen) or cook the rice (hmm...I don't remember ever doing this). For one year, we ate more or less the same thing over and over. I didn't mind.

This dish turned out messier than I expected...

Now that's something my wife finds hard to accept. She yearns for variety in her meals and it shows in her cooking, she has never cooked the same dish in the same way twice if she can help it ... and its a good thing I can eat almost anything. So I felt the need to reciprocate and tingle her taste buds.

Initially it was hard for me. The focus of my cooking was 'I hope it is edible'. Or 'God, let there not be food poisoning'. After a while, I started getting better at organizing the workflow and deciding how I'm going to attack the ingredients and transform it into a nice meal. Only then did I think about other things like trying out new ingredients and giving thought to the presentation.

I didn't expect to say it but I enjoy cooking. I was thinking of handing the portfolio back to my wife after the delivery and all, but I'm thinking otherwise now, maybe we'll take turns. I love planning the meals for the upcoming week, looking for new recipes to try and especially seeing the finished product, whether it succeeds or fails.

I've been thinking about why this is so. Maybe its because I work in the service industry, where you clock in at a certain time and then use a few liters of your saliva throughout the day. Then close, recuperate and repeat the next day. For all the efforts put in, the results are intangible and usually only a figure on a piece of paper at the day's closing report. Also the amount of saliva used is NOT PROPORTIONAL to that final figure.

It's different when doing the things I enjoy - lets say photography.
1) The result is tangible. It can end up as a printed photo in a frame or photobook.
2) The result is proportional to the creative input. It also inspires more intrinsic learning and researching to improve that result.
3) I have complete autonomy over the whole process...this last one being one of the most important.
Sounds very much like cooking then.

That's not to say making money from your saliva is a bad thing, but I do realize that I'm subconsciously seeking a balance. And its not about one being work and the other play, photography and cooking can be either work or play. It's all about the mindset then. Bon Appétit!

Mousehunt

"There are rats on the roof."


"Are you sure? I thought that's the sound of water running through the pipes."


"They're rats."

Entrance to the roof

So says my wife. I think she must have x-ray vision because I wasn't really convinced that they were rats. Since the noises kept her awake at night, something had to be done.

I bought a steel cage, armed it with a bait that no rodent can refuse and set it on the roof. It was a piece of chicken skin (KFC, taken from the thigh, Original Recipe) dipped in some cheese sauce (from the cheezy wedges) and marinated for few hours in a container of leftover gravy (from the mashed potatoes). My mouth's watering as I type this...

There was a loud 'PRRRAAAPP!' slightly after 1am and I immediately knew the trap had sprung. I thought of dealing with it the next morning, but it was making such loud frantic noises trying to escape from the cage that you can hear it from downstairs. I left it outside with its final meal.

Lil' Jimmy

Problem solved? My wife still hears some sounds. Probably Jimmy's siblings. Timmy...or Tammy. I'll have to make another trip to KFC soon.

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...

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.

Happy Hour

The heat wave that we had some time back seems to be replaced by days and days of rain. It was not too long ago that Facebook was filled with countless status updates about how people will die if they do not have rain soon, how their brains could not function in the heat and so on (and even if it did rain there will be multiple updates to say its not the kind of rain that they wanted). I actually loved the heat wave. I was thankful for it because it meant a couple of months doing easy gardening.

Everything in my garden wilted and died...except for the plants that I chose to shower my watery mercy upon. And this was excellent! Suddenly I had lots of time to do other things. However, good things never last. A brief spell of rain and...

Opportunity cost = 2 hrs on the PSP

Its never easy to nurse a plant you want to fruition, but these undesirable shrubs hardly need any encouragement. If I remember my high school biology right, pollens are like plant male sperms. And they need to travel somewhere to fertilize the female component. They normally can't copulate on their own and they need to rely on some trigger to move them about physically. As I did the gardening last weekend it occurred to me "Damn! I'm facilitating plant sex!"

Inter-species copulation

Goodness! I was like a bartender handing out free drinks in a singles (and desperate) only bar! The birds and the bees were probably putting in their fair share as well but I think I was the only one that realized that I had been sucker-punched. Well the bees get a kick out of doing it - they get nectar for their efforts, I get allergies.

There is a way around this problem. The plans include building a concrete wall around the perimeter of the house (reducing the weeds and shrubs from growing through the porous green fencing at the moment) and getting some professional landscaping done (low-maintenance carpet grass). This costs money.

Not wanting to pile on more debts, this is a solution that can only be achieved later rather than sooner. So I'll let the weeds win for now. One day lah...you watch out. When the laborers are doing the concrete wall and the landscapers busy with their work, I'll make sure I blast Semisonic's 'Closing Time' over and over again, especially the part before the chorus 'You don't have to go home but you can't stay here!' If talking and singing to plants make them grow better, this is psychological waterboarding.

Till then, come get your free drinks! Last call is still a long way off.

It's Been A Year

A year has passed since I've gotten married. Sharing your life with someone means a life of compromise, a need to embrace new responsibilities and shed some old habits.

One of those habits that immediately got axed was my unhealthy snacks. Within minutes of officially moving into our home after our wedding, my wife did a stock check of the supplies in the kitchen. She found some packets of instant noodles, (bought by my family members who stayed over at my place for the duration of the wedding in Kota Kinabalu) said 'Don't eat this stuff - its not good for your health' as she placed it into a black plastic bag that was destined for the dustbin.

I wouldn't say I really love to eat instant noodles. It falls under what you call the 'comfort food' category - easy satisfaction and cheap thrills. I do however like to eat my mi goreng in a very specific way.

-----Ted's Mi Goreng Special(TMGS)-----

1) Mi-Goreng - 3 packets

Indomie/Ibumie/ Mi Sedaap all ok- but not Cintan, somehow the taste doesn't go well with the third ingredient in this list.

2) Eggs - 2 of them

When the noodles are almost done, crack two eggs in and just let the egg whites cook quickly. I like to leave the yolks runny, so later when you drain the noodles, you break the yolks and let it run all over the noodles.

3) Cheese - 3 slices

Then you add the cheese slices into the still hot noodles (with the runny yolk) and let it melt thoroughly. Ohhh~ *salivating*

---------------------

That's like what... 1300+ kcals there? I usually like to have the TMGS a few times a week, and mostly as supper after work late at night. This is one of the reasons why I ballooned to 85kg at one point.

Its been a year since I've last had the TMGS, but I can still remember exactly how it tastes like. While shopping for groceries last weekend on our anniversary, I did suggest we get a packet of instant noodles...for old times sake. My wife gave me a look that would have re-frozen all the polar ice caps. *shudders*

Maybe next year la...

Food Chain Haiku

In this game called Life

Nature conveys its bias

Lucky predators!

Power clouds judgements

As moss ravages concrete

How the tables turn!

Manliness +5

Its almost been one year to the day where I moved in to my house and I must say that we've been blessed not to have any major faults with our home. A streak like that is unlikely to go on forever anyway and it became a question of how soon before I had to break out the 'oh-still-very-virgin-toolbox.' I didn't have to wait long.

The master bedroom light refused to switch on yesterday morning as I prepared for work. I have changed light bulbs before, so there was probably nothing much to this one. At least that's what I thought.

As we walked in to the lighting shop where we bought most of our stuff from, my wife suggested testing whether it was really the fluorescent tube that was at fault to which the shopkeeper obliged. Much to my chagrin, it lit perfectly. So the shopkeeper deduced that the transformer (at least that's what I think he said) was at fault and suggested I replace it.

Mr Optimus Prime

When I saw what a transformer was, I was a bit worried. Those two dangly bits you see on the left side means that I have to connect them to the live and the neutral wires, something that I've never done before. I asked for as much advice I could before leaving, but as I reached home, I realised that I forgot to ask if I needed to ensure the current for the entire room needed to be turned off.

Hmm, maybe I should wear rubber gloves? Since that will be good insulation...but I don't have any. Rubber slippers? Zilch. I decided (correctly) to just go ahead and rewire it since the light switch was turned off anyway and that meant no current was flowing through.

The whole thing was a piece of cake really. Heheh. Having stepped out of my comfort zone and succeeding in my mission was a milestone for me.

TED

Total Experience Points Gained : +10

Repair Skills: +5

Manliness Rating : +5

Until it failed to work again this morning...

#$%@

TED

Total Experience Points: -5

Repair Skills: -2

Manliness Rating: -7

Well its back to Mr Handyman after I get off work tonight. I hope I wouldn't have to summon a Mr Fred Fixit from the Night Shift.

Harvest

A couple of months back, it was struggling to survive. And now...

Tadaa! Fresh from the harvest! I was expecting the tomatoes to sport a darker and deeper red than this, but it tastes just fine. As for the chili, it produces so much that we have to give a lot of it away. Just let me know if you want any, the next batch is coming soon. A word of warning though, it is VERY SPICY.

Wire-gra™

My tomato plants were growing up very well on its own until it started doing this.

Before Wire-gra™

Normally a male will be well beyond his fifties before something like this happens. I guess in tomato years, my plant is an old man.

After doing some research and discovering that tomato plants need support, I decided to build something to help it. I also made a mistake when I sowed the seeds, shouldn't have dumped it all in one place. It may look fine now but it will hinder the growth of the plant eventually.

The tricky bit was separating them. The saplings are really fragile and flaccid. Half of them died in the transplantation.

Tomato on Wire-gra™

Ta-daaa! I admit it looks hideous now but I'll do something about it once it grows more substantially.

Kena Tipu -.-"

Two weekends ago at my in-law's place, I noticed on their coffee table a DVD for the movie 2012. Having heard a lot of positive reviews from everyone regarding this blockbuster, my wife and I decided to borrow it.

Now I didn't do much reading up or research on the movie because I was told there was a surprise of some sort. All I knew was that the world was supposed to meet its end soon. So minutes into the movie and encountering some very mediocre CG, we were very accomodating initially (the barber that cut my hair a few days before told me that some of the special effects were quite fake. So..er...this must be the fake parts he was talking about).

Then we started noticing the horrendous acting abilities of the actors. More fake visual effects. Visible studio equipment. I guess the final straw was during a rapture scene.

After some checking, we realized that we'd been duped! Its not the movie we had in mind! Sure, it was still titled 2012 but with an additional 'doomsday' at its back. It seems we were not the only people to have suffered through this movie according to the reviews.

The very offending movie

I guess from now I will check every single movie or read it up before I watch. At least if I had been aware of the director's name this could be avoided in the future.

This feeling of being cheated is worse because it does not involve money. More importantly, that was 1 hour plus of my life totally wasted watching such a terrible movie. My time would have been put to better use had I spent that 1 hour being repeatedly kicked in the nuts by every single member of the New Zealand All Blacks.

Oh it hurts so good

I've learnt my lesson... You know I really wonder which version of the movie my barber watched.

I'm Turning Green

Don't make me angry... you wouldn't like me when I'm angry! I'll feed you with cili padi till your skin melts. Yes I'm really turning green. Or red... Last weekend I decided that I've had enough of looking at weeds/grass only every time I look out of my window.

Honestly I don't know why I got this chili plant. My wife and I aren't chili masochists and we don't eat chilis on a regular basis. I do know that my mom loves them though and she will probably get lots from us in the near future.

We also got ourselves a mini christmas tree... heheh. Small in size but has the potential to be a giant one day. This little fella will provide our garage with shade from the morning sun...oh well, in a few years time.

For those of you who are familiar with where I live, please be informed that there is enough space under that christmas tree for a PS3 or a Wii gaming console should you decide to be generous this coming..oh I don't know, say the night of 24th December? *winks*

And some good news, my two-faced plant is doing very well and even sprouting new flowers! There was a drastic change when we replanted the pot in a more nutrient rich soil and a bigger pot (since it was outgrowing the old one).

Next on the list will be to get a fruit bearing tree... I'm thinking maybe a papaya tree and a durian tree. I was told to look for a hybrid durian tree that doesn't need 10 years to bear fruit and will come with easy plucking abilities... anybody can shed some light on this?

My Two -Faced Plant

I bought a plant some time back in an attempt to make my house look a bit more 'organic.' After a week, I bet the plant was regretting that it ever met me...

Argh... someone please put me out of my misery!

The leaves were drooping, the flowers didn't look like flowers anymore and if you listen closely I think it was trying to commit suicide. A discussion with the Mrs led to us watering it more, changing its soil and moving it to a different location (cause we thought that maybe...just maybe...the conditions were to harsh in that particular spot) but it still looked the same. And no, I was not about to start talking to the plant in a last ditch attempt to show some TLC.

Now normally I don't notice the plant much in the morning as I normally rush to get to work but a while back, I noticed that it seems to be looking better in the morning.

Morning

Night

Hmmmmm....so its just circadian rhythm at work after all. However, the flowers are still non-existent. Any suggestions? Fertilisers?

I declare war

Ted has a House
The House has a Garden
Therefore, Ted has a Garden!

Well in an ideal world maybe...but not in reality. The last time I checked I could not recognize my backyard anymore. Weeds were sprouting everywhere, especially those that came from neighboring plots of land. There are a few options available to settle this problem. 1) Hire someone to cut everything (but this won't solve the weed problem) 2) Spray weedkillers and kill off everything 3) Just tell everyone that, yes, a weed garden is exactly what I was aiming for. Option 3 looks good...

Until it hurts to walk around...

Yea, no joke. It hurts to do the laundry outside and it hurts to just walk around. There are many types of weeds, but the two most annoying ones both come from the Mimosa family - the ones with the leaves that close whenever you touch them. One of it is the normal mimosa plant you see everywhere, but apparently this one brought its mother along.

Above is the pic of the 'Momma-sa'...the leaves are in a different shape from the ones we normally see and they are also sensitive to touch. I've enlarged the area in the red circle below.

It has also grown so tall that it was getting dangerous to walk around - if you know what I mean. If somehow you decide to walk through my backyard without your pants and underwear on, it'll be like trying to shave your pubes with a broken wine bottle.

I guess the only way to get rid of this properly is to uproot it and destroy every thing. May have to consider another type of fence that is not so porous too...

Its gonna be a long war

So anyone free this Sunday for some gardening? Heheh...

Die!!!!!

Its not the first time I had problems with ants actually, but this time they were starting to get on my nerves. Insecticide sprays are quite efficient when I was staying in a single rented room. Just spray any trail of ants you see...and if its not in my room, its not my problem. Heheh...

Not anymore though. If its not the wet kitchen, its the dry kitchen. If its not the dry kitchen its behind the cabinets...and insecticide sprays may take out part of the colony but they will come back with a vengeance. The only way to wipe them all out is to get rid of their leader...the queen ant and after consulting with many people, ant baits are the way to go.

They didn't have a supergeng ant killer..so I bought the OK one

I managed to find these China made ant baits (you can tell its a genuine made in China product by its english instructions) at a morning market at Lido. RM1 for 4 packets. That evening I sprinkled some of the baits at different locations and within minutes it was an instant hit.

Ants dragging the bait back to their HQ (top right hand corner where there is a gap in the cement)

I was expecting ant carcasses when I woke up this morning but seems there were still some ants crawling about. They took all the bait though... Hmm, maybe it takes some time to work?

Memorable Weekend

I've had a lot of things on my plate recently and I've been wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew. Its been quite a while since I've been this stressed out. Fortunately, last weekend saw an end to one of those things. I've finally moved into my new house...heheh.

No words can describe the feeling of how it is when you first move into your new house...though if you really insist, 'tiring' or 'stressful' can be used. Yes, its tiring but I'm happy. I'm currently living out of cardbox boxes at the moment (literally), that is until I can unpack everything. It will take some time. That's why I've only showed the one place that is the least messy to look at...heheh.

I also had one of the best 'moving-in' presents ever...

Liverpool beat Man U 4-1 at Old Trafford!!! Woohooo! I couldn't have asked for more. I did not watch the match as I was still cleaning up the house at that time, but I had a good friend text me goal updates. Ironically this good friend of mine is a die-hard MU fan... and I was wondering for a while if he was trying to pull a fast one on me as he SMSed me the third and fourth goals. Now at least when people ask me, 'Oh, when did you move in to the new house?' I can always reply with 'The day Liverpool beat MU 4-1 at Old Trafford.'

Heheh, I know there are a lot of MU fans reading this blog...and most of my friends are MU fans as well, so I won't say much. Hey at least you guys are still top of the league with 1 game on hand...

Progress : Dry Room

When I went to check up on the progress of my house recently, I saw a lot of elderly people working on the renovation. I was taken aback a bit lar... but they all seem strong and capable. Progress is coming along fine... guess it won't be long till it will be completed judging by the rate they are going.

Mr Uncle working in front of what will be a 'humidity controlled dry room' ...heheh