小黄人大热潮 Minion Craze ...

Malaysians are crazy about Minions;
they queue up 2 hours at "McD" just to get one,
I bought some Play-Doh for my little girl
and ask her to make one herself
...

Mao 毛澤東 ...

As a Chinese immigrant, the Concept of "Mao" is foreign to me 
and we do not have too much readings of Chinese History 
from the History books in our school 
...
Back then when I was in standard 6 in primary school, 
I remember vividly in 1976 when 
we hear the news about the death of Mao over the radio,

I could see trails of tears from my grandfathers face, 

and he locked himself in his room for several days 

...

Along Hollywood Road 香港荷李活道

Hong Kong Central 香港中環 

Remembering Steve Jobs 让我们记住他, 史蒂夫·乔布斯 ...

In my opinion, 

Apple has not been the same 

without Steve 
Steve Jobs
(Feb 24, 1955 - Oct 5, 2011)
 ...

Liquor and my childhood 酒和我的童年 ...

It is true,
there remind me of growing up 
with my father 
coming home drunk every night
...
I really don't like them  
but when I see them, funny thing 
it is a bad reminder and at the same time
also a good reminder to not indulge in them in my life 
...
Well, I had one beer yesterday evening 
after lecture before driving home
...

Nikon D90 with 50mm f1.8, ISO 800 1/80 @ f4 -1/3EV
Istana Hotel 吉隆坡帝苑酒店

Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur

Sun dried tomatoes in Oil 油浸番茄干 ...

I finished my lecture early one Friday 
and casually walked into a Turkish 
Product exhibition at the 
KL Convention Center
...
I had an opportunity to try some of these
sun dried tomatoes soaked in olive oil, 
the Turkish promoter really gave 

me a good run down about it
...
Low in calories, a good source of dietary fibre,
vitamin A (I think), minerals, 
and good taste, 
what more can one ask for
...

Eyes on Turkey Exhibition
March 1-3, 2012, KLCC

Switching gears in life 在生活中的交换齿轮 ...

Life is like switching between the 
many gears in a vehicle
...
sometimes it is smooth sailing with a high gear,
sometimes on a bumpy and winding road;
we need to slow down to a lower gear,
and other times we need the reverse gear 
to take a step or two back a little 
before we move forward again
...

Car Service Shop at USJ 5

Advice 意见 ...

Approaching the 4th week of recovery from the
Cataract Surgery
...
Here are a few pieces of personal advice from
those who are recovering from such an operation
...
Avoid Scratching your eyes for the first 7-days
Wear the eye-piece provided when you go to bed
This is to avoid scratching your eyes when you are asleep.
And to avoid scratching your eyes
(1) Do not go to the City or any place dusty.
(2) No Cooking.
(3) No House Work.
(4) No Smoking. (I think)
(5) No Gardening. 
(6) Avoid using shampoo on your hair
(7) Avoid washing your eyes with water
(8) Do not force your eyes to read too much
(9) Always wear sun glasses when you need to go out


Avoid Strenuous Exercise for 1-month
(10) Do not lift heavy things (no gym workout)
(11) Walking early morning in the Park is OK
(12) Slow jogging maybe 3rd week
(13) No running after 1-month

Rest
(14) Lots of rest.

Food
(15) If you are eyes are allergic to some food or drinks, avoid that (I think)
(16) The Chinese avoid shrimp, duck (you may not need to)
(17) Otherwise, follow the doctors orders

Eye-Drops
(18) Follows doctors orders on eye-drops
...

Besides the 'technical' aspects of recovery
the PSYCHOLOGICAL aspects of recovering
is very important, 
family and good friends
are also the key to a good recovery
...

Everyone has an interest 每个人都有个兴趣 ...

my little daughter has a sudden interest in everything
that is "Angry Bird",
fluffy toys, drawings, pictures, computer games
...

my son is now interested in reading comic books
other then his long vested interest in computer games
basketball, the WII games, and anything mobile 
...

my wife has a long vested interest in small decorative items
which she collected over the years
...

while I remain interested in
Chinese Painting, Calligraphy, and Sketching
and of course
Photography
...

Couting the minutes 计数分钟 ...

I have always somehow "acknowledged" that 
the house chores done by my wife at home
are difficult
until
I sat down for a week at home
while recovering from the Cataract Surgery
watching her do her routines 
everyday from morning till night
...
I concluded that my work teaching 8 hours
is nothing compared to hers at home 
...
I have now promised her to help her more
at home with the house chores
...

... at home ...

Unable to duplicate 无法复制 ...

Nikon D90, using 18-105mm lens 

 ISO 250, F5 to 7 for the 3 shots with SB600, +2/3 ...

It was a hot Sunday at home last weekend, 

daughter and wife were on some cartoon on TV and my son with his computer game ...

I was never really into still shots at home, I thought I would tried 

it with an apple with some lights coming from the kitchen window ...

As usual, I started without the SB600 flash, I had to resort to ISO above 1000 

as the sunlight was not really that strong and our kitchen was

actually quite dark from the inside ...

Having got frustrated with the ISO and shutter, I stick the SB600 

on the D90 and played with the settings for some shots ...

When I saw the uploaded shots above as there are SOC from 

the D90 without processing, I went back to wet the apple for 

more shots as I thought it would be even more interesting with
some waterdrops on the surface of the apple,
......................

I was not able to duplicate the light and shadow 

I got earlier anymore ...

Irony, 

I was not able to duplicate my own shots, 

that shows how amateur and much little understand 

I have on photography ...

Cats in our Kitchen 我们家厨房的猫 ...

I am beginning to like Flash Photography ...

Magic Rubic's Cube 魔术方块 二步曲 ...

Rubik's Cube Cheats in 2 Easy Steps ...

.

Kuan Kung 关公 ...

Kuan Kung 

关公 ...

Kuan Kung (关公) or Kuan Yu (关羽) (died 219) is a character that appears

in the Three Kingdom (三国) 

serving under the War Lord Liu Bei (刘备) ...

He played a significant role in the civil war that led to the collapse of the 

Han Dynasty (汉朝) and the establishment of Shu Han of the 

Three Kingdoms (三国) , of which Liu Bei (刘备) was the first emperor ...

It is said that Kuan Yu (关羽) was 9 feet tall with a beard of 2 feet long, there are some
statues with its face painted red ...

A very well known historical figure in East Asia, Guan Yu's (关羽) life story is
largely fictionalized in the historical novel of the Romance of the Three Kingdorm ( (三国演义),
which has been passed down to generations where it is even one of the important
literatures read in senior high schools. 

His deeds and moral qualities have been lionized. Guan Yu (关羽) is respected 

as an epitome of loyalty (忠诚) and righteousness (正义) , 

Today Guan Yu (关羽) is more well known to be as Guan Kong (关公)

or even Emperor Guan (關帝) 

as it is worship as the God of War ...

You can find its status in some temples where people would worship 

or even in Chinese Police Stations or Businesses as 

it serve as a belief of protector of

politicians and business leaders alike ...

Tea 茶 ...

Tea 

茶 ...

普洱茶 [pǔěr chá] ...

[pǔěr chá] (普洱茶), known as black tea in Chinese (not the black English tea, 

which I think is known as red tea in Chinese), is another member of the 

Ten famous Tea (十大名茶) ...

According to the story, Zhu Ge Liang (诸葛亮) from the Three Kingdoms period (三国时期),

pursuaded the Yunnan (云南) people to plant tea to improve their livelihoods. 

The tea is very popular in Cantonese dim sum (粤式点心) restaurants, 

[pǔěr chá] (普洱茶) and seems recently, has had a spell of popularity outside of China 

due to Victoria Beckham (维多利亚贝克汉姆) referring to it as 

“the miracle skinny tea“ (奇迹瘦身茶)...

茶砖 [chá zhuān] ...

Literally Tea bricks or [chá zhuān] (茶砖), are blocks of 

whole or finely ground green tea, black tea, or post-fermented tea leaves

 that have been packed in molds and then which are pressed into block form. 

Not so common today, but I like to keep a few of these at home ...

香片 [xiāng piàn] ...

But it is not that tea called 香片 [xiāng piàn] which is my favorite anyway, 

it is the tea cup which I use everyday at work ...

As I understand, it is made from Yixing clay (宜兴), 

is a type of clay from the region near the city of 

Yixing in Jiangsu province (江苏), China ...

One year of Photography 一年的摄影 ...

Looking back at one year of photography ...

回头看这一年的摄影 ...

It has been exactly a year since I picked up DSLR photography ...
There are still so much to learn despite only a few variables in a camera compare
to what my profession has to offer ...

我拿起数码相机摄影, 已经整整一年了...

尽管摄影只是几个变量, 已经非常具有挑战性 ...

Since the beginning of 2010, I have been planning to take some classes on photography
but still  never got around doing it ...

I may not have taken great photographs
You have taught me much through your photos ...
and I have enjoyed every moment with you ...

自2010年开始，我已计划去摄影班学习摄影但没有做到 ...

我的摄影技巧可能仍然初级,
你们都教了我很多

和我很高兴与你们的每一刻... 

and sometimes I regretted never taking it up earlier ...
that much time have lost without a camera,
There are so many challenges and projects in my mind for the next year ...
Looking forward for another year of exciting photography
together ...

有时我后悔没有后悔提早学摄影...

我想已经失去了那么多时间, 

今年, 在我的脑海项有这么多的挑战和实验 ...

期待和展望今年继续拍摄, 有另一个令人兴奋的摄影年...

I think you would have the same aspirations ...
as we are looking forward for another year of enjoyment with our cameras
and to share them together ...

我想你也会有同样的愿望...

我们期待着有另一年与我们的相机和一起分享我们的创作 ...

Without you, it will be a lonely journey ...

没有你，这将是一个孤独的旅程... 

Let us enjoy another year of photography together ...

让我们一起享受摄影新的另一年...

Happy New Year 2011
新年快乐 2011

Stamp Collection or Photography 集邮或摄影 ...

Before I started photography, I did ponder about taking up Stamp Collection or even "philately" (which is the study of stamps and postal history) as a hobby to grow old with ... 

The Hong Kong Disney stamps I collected in 2001 currently fetches a good price in the Hong Kong Stamp market ...

One of my favorite stamp series are Cartoon Characters, the one from Hong Kong and Singapore are my favorite ...

This is also a collectible series of Chinese Zodiac

 from Australia, it took me some effort to get this full set ....

A normal postage stamp but the set like this is a collectible's item ....

On of the Stamps collection I look for every year from Hong Kong is the annual publishing of the stamp for the Chinese New Year ....

Someone told me that I could always do both Stamp Collection and Photography ....  

so, actually I am still collecting stamps as a small part of my hobby ....

Choices 选择 ...

The Choices I have to make every day .....

Between my Blood Pressure Pills and my love for Coffee  ...

Between my photography friends in the web or my students in the class room ...

Between Healthy food and Not So Healthy food at all ...

Between my Camera and my Pen ...

Between Enjoying the Happy Hours or Just a Glass of Milk before heading home from work ...

For the love of cooking 做饭是一种爱的艺术 ...

Bringing my family to visit our Mother-in-law's means good food awaiting for us. 

She happily prepares our favorite dishes. This time around, one of the central ingredient of the dish must be onions; as she prepares lots of them.

And those onions plus other spices which I don't know goes mixing together in a blender. The pungent aroma really gives a good kick in the nose when the cover of the blender opens to reveal the mixture.

... and the sacrifice ..... 

All those spices comes from this humble "non-refrigerated" storage cabinet. I still remember these cabinets in our home 40+ years ago when refrigerator are only reserved for the wealthy. 

... if you like curry, you will like this one ....
All shots taken at Mother-in-law's kitchen 岳母的厨房 ...