So here I am back on my laptop with a unintentionally diluted cup of milo that I made. Definitely going to make another cup of milo, but does anyone have preferences to the blends of milo? Whether you prefer the Australian (more chocolatey) or the Asian (sweeter) blend of milo? I sure do prefer the Australian version! This week seemed to pass extremely fast due to the test that I had on Wednesday. When all you are focused on is the exam, everything else before seems to dull down and everything after is seen as a "cool off" period for my hard work. Well in the case of this exam, not-so-hard work; It feels like the closer you are to graduation, the slacker you get! and hence if you asked me what happened this week, i'll probably reply you "I don't know!"

This week was yet another week to test out my Sony Alpha 7 photographing and.. I don't think it quite worked out?? It felt a tad fumbly as I was not used to the interface, like it somehow felt different than using a DSLR, but I'll get used to it! And in the process, I did learn tricks here and there and ways to improve too. Of which I think deserves to be combined with my little review on the previous post into an extra post just on the camera itself -- an in depth review.

My goal for this week's photoventure to the colourful HDB blocks at the Rochor area... wasn't quite successful! The colourful HDB blocks are one of the oldest housing estates in Singapore and the different coloured blocks offers a nice break from the conventional, commodified colours and looks of HDB blocks in Singapore. Oh yes! for those who don't live in Singapore, HDB = Housing Development Board. Basically they are government regulated housings. Apart from the new ones in the Punggol district. They tend to be very blandly coloured and designed but they serve a great purpose in providing kind-of, can't-fully-agree-with, affordable roofs over our heads while packing a cocktail of Singaporeans of different races into a plot of land, thus saving the nation tons of precious land.




I found it difficult to capture the "oldness" of the area that is slated for demolition and will definitely go back again for a second try! Hopefully it will be better! There wasn't that many shots that I knew that if I took it from a certain angle, standing at a certain location, it will look good and I will be able to capture the essence in the photograph. It's like when you set up for that shot, you have the confidence that it will look good, but not for this instance! I was really trying to get the shot but time and time again, something just felt like it was missing. I wanted to capture the old architecture in my photographs, or the old appliances, furniture that they had and so I tried shots like the one below but it just looked "normal".




Upon observing the crazy number of birds there, I gave the sports mode setting a try! boy did i take tons of crappy shots just for that one photograph that places the birds' wings in a not-so-awkward position or turn up blurry.



On the overall, I took about 1.5 hours to take the photographs around this small and quiet estate. When I looked up, people were still brushing teeth getting out of bed which was definitely what I wanted to do that day!!! You know to sleep in on a Saturday and let your body clock wake you up or let the sun's rays do it's magical job of gently warming you up or jabbing its rays into your eyeballs. I did bring my film camera too, so I am expecting nice shots from there! I felt so much more comfortable when using the film camera. Pretty sure that all i need is to get used to the new digital camera of mine. Suddenly I have that playback function and I gotta admit that since getting the camera, I've been spamming that button a whole lot more! I've been meddling with film photography and there is no playback button. You should have seen my face when I realized there was no such feature. But there is beauty in the lack of such a function. I have learnt to love the lack of this feature and the importance of getting that one shot right, instead of spamming the shutter and praying that one shot turns out good. Film cameras have taught me so much as they are so manual that I realized how dependent we are on that teeny weeny overworked microprocessor in our new age digital cameras. Then again, digital has its great benefits! Such as seamlessly importing my photos into my laptop or handphone almost immediately, thus showing you these photos while my film camera sits on the shelf, waiting for that roll of film to be fully used up and sent for a bath.

A big big congradulations to all of my seniors graduating!!




It's been such an enjoyable university experience with these people around, Felicia, Nimerta, Joshua (who also is my cell group leader in church), Jia Min who also happens to be in my church and Justin! Justin has got to be probably the nicest guy I have ever met in my life. I don't know why, but iI just had to mention that. But with our school modules being heavily involved with projects, these people put the fun in work! That it becomes a joy to work with them and in that process, form new and wonderful bonds! Everyone has a very different experience of school life as we have so many different interactions, surely there will be tons of overlap and shared experiences but coming to school and saying hi and catching up allows me to tell others that yes I am enjoying my university life and I am thankful for the friends that I have met along the way.

It's a pity that the economy is doing so badly now and everyone is having a tough time finding decent paying jobs.




I just started reading this book! Narrative essays written by George Orwell throughout his lifetime, who is more famous for his works, Animal Farm and 1984. This book covers all of his essays as he writes his famous works in between these essays and also him going through different periods of his life, hence you can really feel the change in his writing! For me, I am enjoying the read thus far :)

Anyway, this week saw me using my new camera pretty extensively,  testing out the functions and familiarizing myself with the camera so that as mentioned in my previous post, for the camera to become something more of second nature to me. One week in of shooting and I must say, I am REALLY impressed with the camera and the lens! The colours are very accurate and the image quality is so good... Apart from taking photographs, the videoing with this is really comfortable too! So now, what is the latest camera that is added to my army?




The Sony Alpha 7 Mark II. The mirrorless camera is definitely the camera that I will recommend to anyone out there who is looking to buy a DSLR quality camera. This camera shoots in full frame, has 5 axis image stabilization which is made even crazier when paired with a lens that also has image stabilization. Now that is two layers of stabilization for you! But mine is a manual lens hence no stabilization in this. Shooting with this camera at first did come off a bit weird and it fumbled quite a bit in my Canon hands but soon, my fingers began growing accustomed to the alpha 7. One important add-on that helps me so much in ergonomics is the largely debatable extension grip. The one you see attached to the bottom of the camera. There are double batteries in it but it also makes the camera considerably bigger (good and bad) while adding a substantial amount of weight, bringing this obese alpha 7 on par to its Canon and Nikon DSLR counterparts.  If not, the mirrorless alpha 7 is really light, which should strike a chord with females who complain that the DSLR is just way too chunky. However the loss in "chunkiness" also translated to a smaller grip which annoyed me, thus the extension. Also, if you are afraid that you cannot use the whole library of Nikon and Canon lenses available, you can just buy the lens adapter!

I only have good reviews of the Sony Alpha 7 Mk II, donut get the previous version!!! The non MK II, just like any other space gun or Iron man suit proves to be much inferior. It's pretty much like Sony decided to design a revolutionary camera, it works out really well but there are quite a bit of hiccups? and then the MK II hit the stores and voila! Here is one happy Sony customer typing this out. One "downside" however is that the screen is not touchscreen as compared to their Canon and Nikon DSLRs and the screen is not reversible! So you cannot check for selfies. Then again this camera is meant to be a "pro" camera with the person always being behind the camera and not trying to stretch his arm out for a selfie. Sony didn't give a reason for the lack of this feature.

For my camera, the setup above is as such:
Sony Alpha 7 Mk II
Kenko mount adapter for the lens
Carl Zeiss ZM lens f2,8/28mm and ZM lens f2/35mm
Sony Alpha 7 extension grip
B+W XS-Pro Digital UV filter

Soon to add on:
CustomSLR Prodot Shutter button
CustomSLR Glide one strap

Then again, there is an even better camera body, the Sony Alpha 7R but that is $4000sgd, twice the price of the mk II. Verdict, I'll just go with the Mk II, especially when my camera has to rough it out with me.
Looking at the graduation photos, I really have no idea when was the last time I took a photo with me inside! Usually, I am the one behind the camera. So... here are more shots with me behind the camera!

Here is the video of my Bali trip!! One thing that I realized from this trip was how shaky my hands were when I walked and videoed and also how little video footages i had of our activities to show you guys! Well the reason is that 1. While we were having fun, i wasn't recording! that includes the clubbing experiences which were SO FUN and 2. the other times were the days when we were just "nuaing" around or slacking around not doing anything. That's our definition of a holiday, to just relax. Surely we do have a "to-do list" but it was more of a "things we can do if we have time and energy to" of which... left us with just a wee bit of activities.

But still bali was super fun because of syaz and ally! us trio were having such a chill time there. In fact, we planned to hike up Mt Batur but that didnt happen too because we felt too worn out from snorkeling. Other days were spent laying unglamourously on the sofa, constantly pushing the cushion back into place as we slouched like mad. Some people have things to accomplish or a tight schedule to follow when traveling but not for us! This video was quite fun to make and challenging too! As I had to kind of create new content from the very limited footage of mine. It's been quite a while ever since i've created a video of such sorts too! I did like 3 videos just a month back but those were for school and relatively simple to do -- not much editing required.

I think travel videos are really fun! And there's so many different ways that you can showcase to others on how your trip went, whether you want to do a compiled video of your trip or a day to day thing. but i realized that it is pretty challenging to talk into the camera! challenging because it feels really weird having a camera pointed in your face and talking to a camera lens and also that self consciousness does come out pretty strongly at times. So you do end up looking kinda unnatural in front of the camera. This video was a really good learning experience for me too! and I am really looking forward to producing another of such video in future although I dont know when that chance will arise. hopefully another travel video at the end of the year if my family decides to go on a trip together! or unless my friends have some whacky overseas idea :)

well i guess having a really slack holiday of slothing around definitely does increase the difficulty in making a travel video interesting. To end this off, I hope that you enjoy watching the video!



I've done so many videos before, but every video always has its challenges and learning points. And one of the learning points that i took away from this is that how can i video while still being IN the holiday. Not just being in the frame, but being able to fully enjoy myself while having the camera roll and having those angles and perspectives there. There are so many different ways to video a particular event but it's boils down to how you want to showcase it i feel? Apart from framing the video, sometimes you need to "go ahead" to place the camera down to get that shot or set up the tripod, or you forget to on the microphone (which happened to me so many times) and speaking into the camera at times to give some form of direction. There are really so many things that you can consider before getting that video clip plus it was hella difficult to swim/snorkel while holding my gopro monopod in one hand! Definitely another area to improve in. It's always hard to video people i feel as almost everyone tend to feel camera-conscious.

Learning from this, I hope that as I become more proficient in video recording, until i am able to use the camera like it is second nature to me.

OKAY im finally back from Bali!! It's been such a wonderful trip with my two awesome friends Alicia and Syaz. The most apt way i can describe this trip is that it was a really good reset button or a good refresh button for the upcoming school work that we have to face once again bleah. Speaking of which, the moment we touched down, one day later i had Nutrition exam. *rolls eyes* the worst thing is that it's one of those modules that we have to take and is galaxies apart from what we are specialized in.

Bali trip was amazing!!! an super slack time of slacking around. That's what defines my holiday, one that is spent doing fun activities and relaxing most of the time. although i could really have a bit more sleep during the hols. Every night was drinks and clubbing and the clubbing there is so much more fun than in Singapore! One thing that really intrigued me was how many caucasians there were in Bali. Even for Singaporeans, we probably only saw about three groups over the span of 5 days?



Apart from Nusa Penida (I only managed to get the name right after coming back to SG). Bali really isnt scenic. Kuta beach was really crowded, flooded with people wielding selfie sticks that it wasn't enjoyable. Instead, we spent most of the time in the mall opposite shopping! Bought a new pair of slippers and shoes! WURF. Nusa Penida is one of three islands that has all these really fun water sports and activities, in fact, i really want to go back there and snorkel again! Partly also to improve and be more confident as I still very much prefer to not use that breathing tube. I get a much much better experience from bringing my own swimming goggles and just let me swim without those flippers. Here is one of the film shots that i took of the streets of bali! there really isn't anything THAT scenic or whatsoever unless you travel out.


The city centre, Seminyak however had really good food at Boss Man and we had a really nice massage there too!

The highlights of our Bali trip, as least for me, was learning how to ride a scooter. Which... was really fun! and scary at the same time because of the traffic condition. I'll do up a video and upload it in due time, hopefully over the course of this week and i'll post the video here! So....you can pretty much expect a video to be posted in the next post! :) It should show how crowded the roads can get.



Snorkeling there was really fun too!! Getting to see the fishes up close was so amazing, although after the first dive, i got lazy and grabbed a life vest and just floated and see the fishes and corals from sea level heh. The first jump into the sea was really scary as the waves were really harsh and it was really deep to begin with. Turns out it was the deepest that we had, the others were much more shallow. But the waves were bad enough for us to turn back to the boats. The guides recalled everyone back to their own boats too, did only catch a small glimpse of the manta rays in the sea as they swam away! I have underwater videos too so....hang on while I put everything into a video for you guys to watch! It'll be cool :D Although i must say i forgot to change the settings for the GoPro and it was recording at 24fps which... is so painful to watch as I'll usually record in 60fps. 60fps gives a more fluid video recording, which is really needed for activities like snorkeling.


^not using breathing tube.

Bali was fun because our hostel was really fun! I was so dead tired out from my Psy333 exam just before flying that I found it difficult to be that sociable me. Netflix helped me a lot in getting back that self and we went clubbing together with the hostel people after making friends during pre drinks! We stayed at a Hostel but it is really nothing like such as the pictures would show! its more like a capsule hotel which was really nice because they have communal areas and pretty much everyone uses it, so i get to hear the stories of other people!



And of course, Bali would not have been fun if it is not for the company I was with, Alicia and Syaz that really made the trip so enjoyable and full of laughter and stupid moments!!!! THE BEST PART OF BALI are you girls :)


Just yesterday, I BOUGHT A NEW CAMERAAAAA not gonna say what it is yet, because i want to spend this week testing it out first before giving my take on the camera, what is so good about it and what's so bad. Although so far i havent really found much "bad" stuff about it. Really awesome stuff. Loving the new camera! :D

KICKSTART
When I saw the new modules available in my school, one thing really stood out and it was HATHA YOGA. I thought that only such fun modules were available in the US and now it's available in Singapore?! not to mention, its on mondays, 8.30am and the first thought that came to mind was WHAT A GREAT WAY TO START YOUR WEEK RIGHT. As much as I think Yoga would be fun and beneficial, especially because I can't stretch for nuts, the only reason holding me back is also the reason why I think I should start doing yoga: I can't stretch.

While typing this out, the kid on my left is holding his calculator like he is holding his smartphone and doing work. His mum just asked "I want to check what work are you doing", before leaving him to shop. On my right side, two ladies are chatting and doing work together and being all smiles. So I wonder what is the difference between these two. Freedom, autonomy, responsibility. I questioned myself way too many times, why am i studying? As I did not see the purpose of doing so, in the sense that I did not know whether what I would be studying would be of use to me in future. But then again, during my younger ages, I did not know exactly what I wanted as I was still self exploring. I am going to graduate at the end of the year and it feels all too soon that I'll soon say hi to the workforce! And judging by how sloth-y I am, HAHA maybe this isn't going to work out afterall. Just kidding it will work out definitely!

This week has been an exceptionally busy week, with ton of assignments and tests and I've begun to lose track as to what exactly do I need to do. Calling in to my usher leader to tell him that I am too tired to serve so early in the morning today was a red light to me that maybe I should rest more and repay that sleep debt of mine. Judging from my eyebags, I am going to go bankrupt soon with this lack of sleep! But lately, I've been wondering how crazy it is to create a kickstarter campaign for my lego thumbdrives but the other down-to-earth half of me thinks that it's an absolutely crazy idea, as what if it succeeds, how am i going to fulfill the orders. Doubts like if this fails, how it would dampen my hopes on this. and finally the question that continues to remain unanswered: Do i turn this passion of mine into a business. Well at least currently now, I am not doing this for profits so prices are still kept pretty low.


The problem comes when people see thumbdrive -> price. When they don't see thumbdrive -> handicraft effort -> price. Which is kind of disappointing with regards to the appreciation of handicrafts in Singapore. But really with the flooding in of cheap thumbdrives from China, it really sets people's expectations there. There is always a constant pressing need for me to wonder how can i innovate, how can i bring something new to the table, while worrying about the thought that people love my handicraft, but are unwilling to pay for it. Another contending idea is "Why not raise prices?" I've heard so many of my friends say that too. Occasionally, someone from the public would ask me that too. Really appreciate those of you for putting such a high value on my handicrafts!! But that got me thinking how luxury goods are priced and the mentality of, If it is expensive, therefore it must be good.

The only reason why I am not raising prices is so that everyone can enjoy my handicrafts at the lowest of prices. At least the lowest that I can deal with as making every piece requires quite a bit of time and effort. So the kickstarter idea is still...nope. Great deal of inertia to deal with. Plus I want to focus more on my piano practice also. The problem comes when you are so tired out, you can't exactly gym because it will be so ineffective. Neither can you practice piano because you are not giving in your 100% which then comes to the conclusion that sometimes in life, you need to cut things here and there so that you can still produce good quality work. What is the point of doing everything but doing it all in a slipshod manner?


Route In -- Plastic bag in one hand, briefcase in another, graying hair, slouched over.