Postcard Perfect

This was one of the pix my friend, Direktionless, took during our travelling days to NZ. Taken with an analogue SLR camera, colour tone was clear with just the right amount of lighting.

I don't own an SLR, only a point & shoot, but for a beginner like me, should be good enough.

Now this one below I took during my Pangkor trip, with the hot afternoon sunlight on my right. I can't remember what setting I used after trying out this & that, but it turned out ok in the end.


I need to learn up how to take good night shots, sharp focus with all the right light tones...

Pix on Blog

Finally, I find the time to experiment uploading photos into my blog.

Been wanting to do this since I started writing, but never had the time to try it out.

This is one of the sunset pix I took in Pangkor in April this year when I took my mom on a 3D2N holiday in Pangkor Beach Island Resort (formerly Pan Pacific Beach Resort). I was experimenting with the many functions of my Canon Powershot A620, and with photography angles during this sunset period. Not bed, eh? Photography...something I intend to learn up.

I try to take my mom for a holiday somewhere at least once a year. It's her golden years. She deserves the best in return for the all her sacrifices to raise my brother and me all those years.

In 2002, I took her to Melbourne; in 2003, we went to Penang, 2004 to Cameron Highlands, last year Beijing, and this year Pangkor.

There is just one more thing on my mom's list of things to see before she can proclaim that she's seen all she wants to see...snow. She wants to step on real snow.

My uncle in Melbourne has invited me to come over and visit him again. I am planning to bring my mom to Mount Buller this time. Not sure when exactly my financials would allow me to materialise this plan, but soon I hope.

Hmmm...just tried three times to add in another pix, but cannot seem to figure out how. It keeps getting attached right next to the sunset one above...how to I paste it somewhere else? Can't even "cut & paste" it...

Ah, shucks! 1 pix wud do for now. Can someone tell me how attach more than 1 pix in places where I want them to be?

Ahoy there! Pirates or Foe?

Last weekend, I paid an unexpected visit to the cinema in Melaka. In fact, I paid an unexpected visit to Melaka!

It was last Tuesday when an old friend, CK, contacted me to ask if I was going to be in Melaka last weekend. He was going down to Melaka with some friends for a day trip just to "makan-makan" before he makes his way to Melbourne next month where he's being transferred to.

Coincidentally, I had earlier bought tickets to fly back last weekend, as I was hoping to make a trip back to Melaka with another girl friend. She couldn't make it at the last minute, so I was thrilled when CK offered me a ride back.

Once we arrived in Melaka, they dropped me off at my home and went on with their "makan-makan" journey. In the afternoon, I joined them for a movie in the good ol' GSC cinema, the only cinema left standing in Melaka. The old theatres were either burnt down or went bankrupt during the VCD/DVD era.

The first Pirates movie was great, where I thought Depp gave one of his best performances. He played Jack Sparrow really well, he was hilarious!

And Bloom? I thought his character, Will, was overshadowed by the entertaining Jack.

In this second effort to capture the hearts of movie lovers, it was no different. Jack still overshadowed Will in more than one scene.

Talented actors aside, the plot was not as catchy as the first one was. The octopus scenes were too draggy, and some "hellefares" characters in the first episode tried to make a comeback without much success. Several times, just when I thought a scene was about to be over, then I was dragged back into it.

But, ooh, I loved the little romantic "twist" this second movie offered with Elizabeth Swann. Two men, whose similarities was as close as the next galaxy was to earth, were both attracted to Elizabeth. Unknowingly, even to herself, Elizabeth was also attracted to them both...until the compass showed her the direction of the thing she wanted most... and pointed to Jack! Ooh, and the Kiss of Betrayal, which only she and Jack knew...but which Will merely saw, without realising the betrayal element within.

It was disappointing that the movie ended so abruptly, without a convenient point like the first one had. By the time the third sequel follows, we would all have forgotten the details of this story.

Nonetheless, Depp was still entertaining as Jack. He has progressed from a stiff young actor in 21 Jump Street eons ago, to a talented actor who could successfully portray unusual and diverse roles seemingly effortlessly.

I will be waiting anxiously for the third sequel to be released. Perhaps I might have to jog my memory by watching the Dead Man's Chest all over again on DVD when the third sequel is released.

My memory space is getting smaller by the day. Wouldn't it be great if I could just store my memory on a thumb drive, and plug-in when I needed that memory? Just like the octopus who could keep his heart locked up in a little chest...

Onboarding Experience

It's been exactly 2 months since I reported for duty for my new job in Miri. I can finally take some time off to share my bitter-sweet onboarding experience.

This whole week, I am attending a course on introduction to the oil & gas industry for non-technical staff. So I am away from office, and have no access to my emails until today, when TM sent their contractor to fix up my streamyx connection. But alas, a quick check of my mailbox today showed that I have failed to act within the deadline on 3 emails that came in late Friday nite and Saturday morning. I guess I will have to deal with the consequences when I return to work next week. I hope I will not be hanged for it as it involved the budgets for approval by our Partners. [wish me luck!]

My boss assigned me a "Buddy" from my first day at work. It's a system in place where an existing staff is assigned to you to help you get around and get settled in in everything from your IT logins, to your stationaries right up to eating places and recommended housing areas to rent a house. Yes, Jeffrey was a great Buddy, and he still is a great buddy today...a good friend you can turn to in times of need.

Apart from Jeffrey, my other colleagues have also been real pals in helping me to fit in workwise and social-wise. They are genuine in their friendship, and I enjoy their company as much as they enjoy mine. They are a bunch of people who are comfortable to be themselves at all times, thus making me feel at ease. This is also true of my current boss, who, apart from being a loud and forceful leader (very chinaman-like actually), he is also a truly caring boss who "protects" his staff in everything.

Why, just the other day, when my shippers wrongly billed my company a whopping RM16k for 2 containers of shipment for my personal effects of 14-cubic meters and a car of RM8k each, my boss came to my rescue unexpectedly. My HR counterpart had suggested that the RM8k differential portion would be deducted from my July and August salary (I am only entitled for 1 container, you see), and this had made me jump out of my chair with furious rage as I did not even see the alleged "approved quotation". My boss had calmly assured me that I would not have to pay for any differential amount, and asked me to reply to the HR email and to cc him. He personally spoke to the HR "big man" and sorted it out for me the next day. ...I assume it IS sorted by now, since HR did not get back to me asking me to pay such and such sum.

My 3-months quarter review is up soon, but looks like I have not achieved much since I joined. I am still trying to decipher the PSC concept (production sharing contracts), the process of certain areas, the focal points I am supposed to refer to, and my role in the whole process.

I have almost finished settling in into my newly rented house, except for my books and clothes which are still packed in my luggage and stacked up on the study table. I will do that when I have the mood...I guess :)

Infrastructure in my house has finally completed with Astro being the last to be installed this evening. Aah, bliss in my own haven of escapade. My friends and my boss have been bugging me to have a house-warming since last month. I have verbally agreed, but I am extremely lazy to actually put it into action. Well, maybe in 2 weeks time, since I'll be too busy getting some stuff and planning some outings with my friends this weekend, and I wont be around next weekend.

In a nutshell, the whole onboarding process has been both bitter and sweet for me. This is my first time relocating to a far away place from home to work...but it is my first step for bigger things to come. I hope in 2 years' time, I will have another onboarding story to tell...a much more exciting one in a truly foreign land.