Sunday, February 22, 2004
This year's night cycling will probably be the last for me. Lasted through the whole of Friday night till Saturday morning and we cycled from NUS all the way to East Coast Park. Although the journey was not long, neither was it very difficult, it was quite a feat for me personally considering the fact that I had to strap the 2+ kg Lowepro bag on my back throughout the whole journey. And why did I had to do that? Because I had to protect the EOS 300D inside. =p
This year's night cycling was just slightly different from last year's route. With the inclusion of visits to Orchard Road and Chinatown, this year's night cycling was a bit more interesting, compared to last year's stop-and-eat, eat-and-go kind of thing.
It was also a very memorable night cycling this year because our block guys had the chance to do ponding again--it has been so long since we've moved to the new hall premises--and this time it was in public! Certainly something that is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You don't get to do ponding at all nowadays, much less in a public place! Even the only Year 1 girl that was with us was not spared. Unfortunately I think she got a bit too traumatized over the incident, so much so that she broke down into tears after that. In my view, she should feel privileged to be the only girl in her batch that has been ponded. Even if other girls wanted to be ponded, they have no chance because...er, because there is no pond in the hall to pond them in the first place.
In the end we guys had to put up some silly antic to cheer her up. Well, not all people can see how "blessed" they were... =/
This year's night cycling was just slightly different from last year's route. With the inclusion of visits to Orchard Road and Chinatown, this year's night cycling was a bit more interesting, compared to last year's stop-and-eat, eat-and-go kind of thing.
It was also a very memorable night cycling this year because our block guys had the chance to do ponding again--it has been so long since we've moved to the new hall premises--and this time it was in public! Certainly something that is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You don't get to do ponding at all nowadays, much less in a public place! Even the only Year 1 girl that was with us was not spared. Unfortunately I think she got a bit too traumatized over the incident, so much so that she broke down into tears after that. In my view, she should feel privileged to be the only girl in her batch that has been ponded. Even if other girls wanted to be ponded, they have no chance because...er, because there is no pond in the hall to pond them in the first place.
In the end we guys had to put up some silly antic to cheer her up. Well, not all people can see how "blessed" they were... =/
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Another day wasted like water down the toilet bowl.
10.30am-12pm: Woke up, moping around, doing up a bit of CS4264 website.
12pm-2pm: CS4264 lecture. Spent three-quarters of the time not listening to the lecturer.
2pm-3.30pm: CS4264 project lecture + lunch.
3.30pm-4.30pm: Picked up my lens from Sigma Marketing.
4.30pm-5pm: Stoning in Queensway SC McDonald's. Catching up on today's Computer Times.
5pm-6.15pm: Before dinner nap.
6.15pm-7pm: Dinner. Crapping with the block people. Too many lame jokes on my part.
7pm-9.30pm: Went with some block comm people to buy block supper food.
9.30pm-10.30pm: A Capella practice...
Oh my goodness.
At the end of every day I panic with the thought of the looming FYP deadline.
Thank God that I didn't had to pay for the lens rechipping, although by right I should be charged. The reception lady was very pleasant to talk to and was very nice. She could have reminded the technician about the charges but decided not to. Haha...how nice of her. :)
10.30am-12pm: Woke up, moping around, doing up a bit of CS4264 website.
12pm-2pm: CS4264 lecture. Spent three-quarters of the time not listening to the lecturer.
2pm-3.30pm: CS4264 project lecture + lunch.
3.30pm-4.30pm: Picked up my lens from Sigma Marketing.
4.30pm-5pm: Stoning in Queensway SC McDonald's. Catching up on today's Computer Times.
5pm-6.15pm: Before dinner nap.
6.15pm-7pm: Dinner. Crapping with the block people. Too many lame jokes on my part.
7pm-9.30pm: Went with some block comm people to buy block supper food.
9.30pm-10.30pm: A Capella practice...
Oh my goodness.
At the end of every day I panic with the thought of the looming FYP deadline.
Thank God that I didn't had to pay for the lens rechipping, although by right I should be charged. The reception lady was very pleasant to talk to and was very nice. She could have reminded the technician about the charges but decided not to. Haha...how nice of her. :)
Monday, February 16, 2004
Had lunch with Ansley then hurried down to Sigma Marketing to send my 70-300mm lens for rechipping. When I passed the lens to the lady at the reception counter, she told me that they will call me sometime on Wednesday to quote me on the rechipping cost for the lens.
Obviously I was a bit surprised at that statement as I always thought that rechipping was free. After some clarification, she said that rechipping for lenses are free only if they are within the one year warranty period. Well, I bought the lens last December, or at most early January this year--it was barely a few months after the purchase that I discovered that the lens needed rechipping. So, after a few more questions, she requested for my purchase receipt, which I promptly presented to her.
She made a copy of the reciept and then told me that the lens had passed the warranty period. She said I bought the lens in 2002. On closer inspection of the receipt, little did I know that it was dated "01-01-2002"! I was like, what the heck?! MS Color sold me an old lens that they had to clear, at a price I deemed not very reasonable, and now they gave me a wrongly dated receipt! If because of their sloppiness (and partly my own) I had to pay the price, I'll rather not rechip it if it's going to cost more than $30...I could have gotten the updated APO version of the lens for another $50!
Moral of the story: always check the date of the purchase receipt, even if it means making a big fuss out of it.
Obviously I was a bit surprised at that statement as I always thought that rechipping was free. After some clarification, she said that rechipping for lenses are free only if they are within the one year warranty period. Well, I bought the lens last December, or at most early January this year--it was barely a few months after the purchase that I discovered that the lens needed rechipping. So, after a few more questions, she requested for my purchase receipt, which I promptly presented to her.
She made a copy of the reciept and then told me that the lens had passed the warranty period. She said I bought the lens in 2002. On closer inspection of the receipt, little did I know that it was dated "01-01-2002"! I was like, what the heck?! MS Color sold me an old lens that they had to clear, at a price I deemed not very reasonable, and now they gave me a wrongly dated receipt! If because of their sloppiness (and partly my own) I had to pay the price, I'll rather not rechip it if it's going to cost more than $30...I could have gotten the updated APO version of the lens for another $50!
Moral of the story: always check the date of the purchase receipt, even if it means making a big fuss out of it.
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Yesterday was a busy day for me. I climbed up early in the morning to get ready for the long day ahead--going for the ice skating photo shoot Sehsuan was talking about through the ClubSNAP Sports Shooters (CSSS) Yahoogroup in the first half of the day, then rushing down to cover the hall production at night.
Going for the ice skating shoot was quite a bit of mistake for me. Knowing how the situation was roughly like from reading Sehsuan's blog, I somewhat knew it's not going to be easy getting permission to shoot. So, arriving at the skating rink, I sheepishly slid pass the wheel-gate into the competitor's area, hoping to get some shots before being chased out by the authorities sooner or later.
On hindsight, I should have "ignored" Sehsuan at the rink. He spotted me and called me over, then he offered me his 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens (!) and his monopod for the shoot. Knowing that he was doing this out of pure goodwill (he wasn't allowed to shoot at all--it's a complicated story), I accepted his offer. One thing led to another, then before I knew it I was using his whole camera system (less the memory card) for the shoot.
The moment I held his camera, one of the organising authorities (Laura) came trotting over and started "interrogating" us, with a bit of accusatory tone embedded in her speech. I suspected she was eyeing us all the while, because I haven't even chalked up 10 shots on Sehsuan's camera before she came on us. I was totally shocked with her choice of words and her arguments, and how she denied us a chance to explain our situation. I was totally unprepared for such a confrontation, and it was Sehsuan that handled the situation. She took down my name and contact number and then left after giving us an ultimatum; we had no choice but to pack up the camera or else face being chased out of the skating rink.
So we spent the rest of the day in the skating rink with Sehsuan filling me up with what has led up to this ugly situation, how he got into doing photography for ice skating, and bits and pieces of other things. Although I wasn't able to fulfill my primary objective for the visit, I must say I did enjoy Sehsuan's company; otherwise I would have just packed up and left with a bitter taste in my mouth. It was a shame that I wasn't allowed to shoot the skaters, although I did have a couple of usable shots stored up in my CF card. :)
After the visit to the rink I trotted down to Alliance Francaise for the hall production. It was quite a smooth project, having recced the place and watched some parts of the performance the day before. I tried to secure myself a strategic position for the shoot but after some haggling with the committee, I was relegated to the last row of the theatre. Not too bad a position, but I would have preferred to be along the aisle. I felt pretty confident shooting the play after the recent experience covering "Whizz" about a month ago, so I was pretty trigger-happy on the EOS 300D. Ended the day helping the crew load up the sets back to hall and then going out with Leonard, Shen Jau, Derrick, Yvonne (law) and Julian to catch a movie...which didn't materialise in the end. We ended up having supper at the McDonald's outside Shaw Centre.
What a way to spend Valentine's Day...
Going for the ice skating shoot was quite a bit of mistake for me. Knowing how the situation was roughly like from reading Sehsuan's blog, I somewhat knew it's not going to be easy getting permission to shoot. So, arriving at the skating rink, I sheepishly slid pass the wheel-gate into the competitor's area, hoping to get some shots before being chased out by the authorities sooner or later.
On hindsight, I should have "ignored" Sehsuan at the rink. He spotted me and called me over, then he offered me his 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens (!) and his monopod for the shoot. Knowing that he was doing this out of pure goodwill (he wasn't allowed to shoot at all--it's a complicated story), I accepted his offer. One thing led to another, then before I knew it I was using his whole camera system (less the memory card) for the shoot.
The moment I held his camera, one of the organising authorities (Laura) came trotting over and started "interrogating" us, with a bit of accusatory tone embedded in her speech. I suspected she was eyeing us all the while, because I haven't even chalked up 10 shots on Sehsuan's camera before she came on us. I was totally shocked with her choice of words and her arguments, and how she denied us a chance to explain our situation. I was totally unprepared for such a confrontation, and it was Sehsuan that handled the situation. She took down my name and contact number and then left after giving us an ultimatum; we had no choice but to pack up the camera or else face being chased out of the skating rink.
So we spent the rest of the day in the skating rink with Sehsuan filling me up with what has led up to this ugly situation, how he got into doing photography for ice skating, and bits and pieces of other things. Although I wasn't able to fulfill my primary objective for the visit, I must say I did enjoy Sehsuan's company; otherwise I would have just packed up and left with a bitter taste in my mouth. It was a shame that I wasn't allowed to shoot the skaters, although I did have a couple of usable shots stored up in my CF card. :)
After the visit to the rink I trotted down to Alliance Francaise for the hall production. It was quite a smooth project, having recced the place and watched some parts of the performance the day before. I tried to secure myself a strategic position for the shoot but after some haggling with the committee, I was relegated to the last row of the theatre. Not too bad a position, but I would have preferred to be along the aisle. I felt pretty confident shooting the play after the recent experience covering "Whizz" about a month ago, so I was pretty trigger-happy on the EOS 300D. Ended the day helping the crew load up the sets back to hall and then going out with Leonard, Shen Jau, Derrick, Yvonne (law) and Julian to catch a movie...which didn't materialise in the end. We ended up having supper at the McDonald's outside Shaw Centre.
What a way to spend Valentine's Day...
Friday, February 13, 2004
Had a hands-on session with the EOS 300D camera this morning. Tested out with my Tamron and Canon lenses; they worked perfectly fine. For the first time I could compare side-by-side the sharpness of these lenses at the same settings and see for myself the effect of chromatic aberrations--it was extremely obvious when the lens is stopped wide open.
Then came along the test with the Sigma 70-300mm lens, and that was where the problems started. At wide open the lens was fine, then when it had to be stopped down--even if it's just one stop from wide open--the 300D gave an "Err 99" signal. Apparently the lens was not compatible with DSLRs (although it worked fine on my EOS 300 SLR), and I had to send it for re-chipping to update the lens' firmware. But I've got no time to send it down to the Sigma workshop, and I need the lens tomorrow to cover the hall production!
Panic, panic! Then I picked up my handphone and sent two SMSes to my dear friend, Kenneth. He has the updated version of the same lens (okie, not exactly the same model, but he had the newer version from Sigma) that worked on DSLRs. Within the next 2 hours, I got the lens from him. What a great chum!
Boy, sometimes I think I take him for granted. After knowing him for 3+ years, I find that he's a very nice and hardworking guy. A lot of time he was the one who bailed me out in both academic and non-academic stuff and I thank God for his presence in my life. And he is one smart guy, 'cos he and his team won some local Microsoft software engineering competition and he's going to Brazil to represent Singapore for the competition in the coming months ahead. Despite having to juggle so many things on his hands, he still takes time off to pursue the finer things in life.
How interesting God can bless me even through non-Christians. May God bless his soul!
Then came along the test with the Sigma 70-300mm lens, and that was where the problems started. At wide open the lens was fine, then when it had to be stopped down--even if it's just one stop from wide open--the 300D gave an "Err 99" signal. Apparently the lens was not compatible with DSLRs (although it worked fine on my EOS 300 SLR), and I had to send it for re-chipping to update the lens' firmware. But I've got no time to send it down to the Sigma workshop, and I need the lens tomorrow to cover the hall production!
Panic, panic! Then I picked up my handphone and sent two SMSes to my dear friend, Kenneth. He has the updated version of the same lens (okie, not exactly the same model, but he had the newer version from Sigma) that worked on DSLRs. Within the next 2 hours, I got the lens from him. What a great chum!
Boy, sometimes I think I take him for granted. After knowing him for 3+ years, I find that he's a very nice and hardworking guy. A lot of time he was the one who bailed me out in both academic and non-academic stuff and I thank God for his presence in my life. And he is one smart guy, 'cos he and his team won some local Microsoft software engineering competition and he's going to Brazil to represent Singapore for the competition in the coming months ahead. Despite having to juggle so many things on his hands, he still takes time off to pursue the finer things in life.
How interesting God can bless me even through non-Christians. May God bless his soul!
Thursday, February 12, 2004
It's time for a revamp of my current website, but I never really got around spending time, sitting down and doing it. Even if I have the time, I probably have to spend it doing up my module project instead.
Kicked off the day returning to Ghim Moh Secondary School to continue with the Groupwork activity. It's really heartwarming to see my kids greeting me even after so many months of separation--they remember me as a friend! I'm really proud to see them promoted to Secondary 3, especially the boys when I see them wearing long pants instead of shorts. It's really a sign that they are growing up to be mature young men and women.
Starting today till Saturday will be the Hall Production, and being part of this super-duper big committee (the scale of Rag comm) I will have to help out one way or another. Tonight's a no-no because I've got cell group meeting. Because of cell group I already have to push away the Club SMS meeting also happening in the same period of time, not to mention the Production.
Apparently nights are not meant to be a free and easy time for me, as verified through the 3+ years I've stayed in hall. Nights are taken up for hall activities, or else church/ministry, or else other commitments. It's been quite a while that I have lounged in front of a TV during the prime time slot. Not that I'm complaining, but it seems my time is always beyond my control.
Back to the Production...
For Friday I will have to go down as early as 4.30pm to "prepare the place". Being an usherer I really see no point getting there so early when the show starts at 7.30pm. So what am I going to "prepare" for the 3 hours in between?
On Saturday, unfortunately, I have to miss my church's youth service to cover the Gala night. One consolation is that I will be covering the event with the hall's new Canon EOS 300D DSLR! Finally, a chance to use a DSLR full time. What's more, I get to hold on to the camera for the entire weekend!
For Sunday I was invited by Sehsuan to take a look at the National Figure Skating championships @ Fuji Ice Palace. Should be interesting to watch...
Kicked off the day returning to Ghim Moh Secondary School to continue with the Groupwork activity. It's really heartwarming to see my kids greeting me even after so many months of separation--they remember me as a friend! I'm really proud to see them promoted to Secondary 3, especially the boys when I see them wearing long pants instead of shorts. It's really a sign that they are growing up to be mature young men and women.
Starting today till Saturday will be the Hall Production, and being part of this super-duper big committee (the scale of Rag comm) I will have to help out one way or another. Tonight's a no-no because I've got cell group meeting. Because of cell group I already have to push away the Club SMS meeting also happening in the same period of time, not to mention the Production.
Apparently nights are not meant to be a free and easy time for me, as verified through the 3+ years I've stayed in hall. Nights are taken up for hall activities, or else church/ministry, or else other commitments. It's been quite a while that I have lounged in front of a TV during the prime time slot. Not that I'm complaining, but it seems my time is always beyond my control.
Back to the Production...
For Friday I will have to go down as early as 4.30pm to "prepare the place". Being an usherer I really see no point getting there so early when the show starts at 7.30pm. So what am I going to "prepare" for the 3 hours in between?
On Saturday, unfortunately, I have to miss my church's youth service to cover the Gala night. One consolation is that I will be covering the event with the hall's new Canon EOS 300D DSLR! Finally, a chance to use a DSLR full time. What's more, I get to hold on to the camera for the entire weekend!
For Sunday I was invited by Sehsuan to take a look at the National Figure Skating championships @ Fuji Ice Palace. Should be interesting to watch...
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Woke up at bit eariler than I expected. Even the block auntie was asking me, "Melvin, today up so early ah?" Looks like I must kick the habit of sleeping in the wee hours...
Anyway, was joking with Kenneth today when we handed up a report for a certain module. The lecturer was sick (God bless her) so she wasn't there to receive our reports, but instead we were to slip it under the door. So what's the joke?
She's the kind of lecturer that doesn't like to commit to student's questions or requests. One quirk about her is that she doesn't set page limits on reports so students have very little idea what is she expects in terms of scope for a certain assignment. So we have people writing 3-page reports, while there are others who hand in a binded book (you know how certain students like to spoil the market).
So, back to the joke, as we were slipping the report under her office door, there was another group trying to slip a "book" under the door...guess what, (of course) it didn't go through the tiny little gap under the door! So now we know that when she doesn't set page limits on assignments, we can use the door gap as a gauge! LOL...
Anyway, was joking with Kenneth today when we handed up a report for a certain module. The lecturer was sick (God bless her) so she wasn't there to receive our reports, but instead we were to slip it under the door. So what's the joke?
She's the kind of lecturer that doesn't like to commit to student's questions or requests. One quirk about her is that she doesn't set page limits on reports so students have very little idea what is she expects in terms of scope for a certain assignment. So we have people writing 3-page reports, while there are others who hand in a binded book (you know how certain students like to spoil the market).
So, back to the joke, as we were slipping the report under her office door, there was another group trying to slip a "book" under the door...guess what, (of course) it didn't go through the tiny little gap under the door! So now we know that when she doesn't set page limits on assignments, we can use the door gap as a gauge! LOL...
I've always been pretty wary about blogs, thinking that they must be the most stupid things ever invented. Why would anyone want strangers around the world to know what you are thinking? Who cares about what you think (perhaps less God)?
It's like stripping yourself in front of thousands, perhaps millions, of people. So naked. So vulnerable.
But, in the end, I started a blog. Because I realised I'm an exhibitionist?
Probably not. But perhaps a blog is a way to really let people know what I feel about certain issues. I realised that reading other people's blog does give some kind of excitement. Without even seeing that person in real life, it seems I know his inner thoughts and how he views life.
Interesting, yeah? I'm going to see how long this blogging thing will last in me.
It's like stripping yourself in front of thousands, perhaps millions, of people. So naked. So vulnerable.
But, in the end, I started a blog. Because I realised I'm an exhibitionist?
Probably not. But perhaps a blog is a way to really let people know what I feel about certain issues. I realised that reading other people's blog does give some kind of excitement. Without even seeing that person in real life, it seems I know his inner thoughts and how he views life.
Interesting, yeah? I'm going to see how long this blogging thing will last in me.
Right, this is the very first blog entry in my whole entire life.
Finally got the courage to let the whole world know about my life?
Finally got the courage to let the whole world know about my life?
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