Time to start singing Auld Lang Syne....

Yup... It's coming to the end of the year... The very last day in fact... Time flies...

I guess it's the time of the year where everyone is reflecting on the past year and making new resolutions for 2006. Me? Well, let's just say I have been traveling so much that I have hardly the time to sit down and reflect... It has been a hectic year, and more hectic year end than I ever had... Perhaps because of that, and my, of late, grumpiness, I have just been informed that I will not be traveling for the next 2 weeks! Heh... Must have been my facial expression when I heard I had to travel again this week up to KL (for the upteen time) and the exhausted, moodiness coupled with the easily raised temper lately that they decided to send someone fresh up there... Although that leads to a question of was I doing something to sabotage my working life??? Anyway... I need a break, really! So this is my break! (Not much of a break I know... But better than having to travel, travel, travel... ) Hmmm... That reminds me... Need to create a list of work needs to be completed for my colleague when he is there...

Darn... I just remembered... I need to do my EMS which is like a appraisal of myself before my boss is back from his holidays... That should be enough for reflections I supposed...

Whatever... It's late... Time to ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

P.S. - Thinking of going to Esplanade to take fireworks on NY eve.... But.... But... The crowd.... Haiz... Tehsis is keen on it, I think... Let's see what happens.... I really would like to try again for fireworks...

Welcome to the World of IR Photography.... NOT!!!

For the last trip that I took, I brought along the Hoya IR filter which I just recently acquired. Because of that, I thought... Good, since the sun is usually bright and blue skies and nice green lanscapes that you would think you will see in Australia, so I thought it would be a good idea to try out IR photography. For those who do not know what IR means - it's Infrared. If you visit some photography sites, you will find some very nice photos done using that method....

Sad to say... I had briefly read the instructions about, say, 3 months ago, and thought, well, it sounds easy... Fine, so I started taking quite a couple of shots.... Then when I came back, started to do some post-processing.... Well, that's where I realised that I had not followed the instructions carefully... I missed 1 step in the list of instructions..... I forgot to do a custom white balance setting based on the first shot (of either clear bright sky or green field).... Because of that, all my pics came up in this reddish shots which looked very much like nuclear holocaust.... Feeling so embarrassed for not re-reading the instructions again before starting....

Oh well.... Anyway, here's the shots that I had taken....

Melbourne...

*Nuclear Holocaus! Red!!*

Flight from Melbourne to Brisbane

Brisbane

Was visiting a friend's home when her cat appears....

Starting of the "haywired" IR shots - with some post processing, of course...







Was on my way back from customer site in Gold Coast when I saw this road sign....
Tanah Merah in Queensland???

Oops....

This is rather embarrassing as I downloaded my Mel-Bris trip photos where I just realised that there were some other photos in there as well which should have been downloaded at least a month ago and shown, but well... It's still in there!!!

So, I finally managed to download it, chose a couple of the shots and here's it... The small gathering we had for 'lil mz snooze before she becomes mrs tehpeng....

*Hope I don't get killed for showing this!!!*

All I Want For Christmas....

All I Want For Christmas is You
(From "Love Actually" Soundtrack,
Written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff)

I don't want a lot for Christmas
There's just one thing I need
I don't care about presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true...
All I want for Christmas
Is you...

I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don't care about presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I don't need to hang my stocking
There upon the fireplace
Santa Claus won't make me happy
With a toy on Christmas day
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you...
You

I won't ask for much this Christmas
I won't even wish for snow
I'm just gonna keep on waiting
Underneath the mistletoe
I won't make a list and send it
To the North Pole for Saint Nick
I won't even stay awake to
Hear those magic reindeer click
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you...
You

All the lights are shining
So brightly everywhere
And the sound of children's
Laughter fills the air
And everyone is singing
I hear those sleigh bells ringing
Santa won't you bring me the one I really need
Won't you please bring my baby to me

I don't want a lot for Christmas
This is all I'm asking for
I just want to see baby
Standing right outside my door
I just want him for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
Baby all I want for Christmas is
You
And you and you and you and you

All I want for Christmas is you

It was during a short shopping trip immediately after lunch time when I heard this sound played over the sound system in the shopping mall, and for the life of me I cannot remember where I was. Not surprising since I had just landed in the early morning from my Australia (work) trip, I had only like 2 hours of light sleep on the plane and another 4 hours of sleep (it was meant to be 6 hours but because I forgot to switch back the time zone on my phone, my alarm rang 2 hours earlier than I expected.... Blame it on the lack of rest!!!!). My first thought was - All I want for Christmas is to be home!!! - which I promptly sms Tehsis on this.

For the first time in my life, as far as I can recall, all I wanted for Christmas was to be home. Now, when I was young, Christmas was a time where I would receive presents for no other particular reason except that it's Christmas. As time goes by and I grew up, Christmas became another day of holiday which does not have much meaning as a student, it's holiday period, so there isn't much sense to it. However, it became a precious holiday when we started to work and we don't have much time of our own, especially if you have only 14 days of annual leave. Of course, Christmas is also a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and because He is born and died for our sins on the cross more than 2000 years ago, for those that believe in Him as our personal Saviour and Lord are saved, etc.... So from early years till now, Christmas was not really something that we would, in many ways, "treasure".

Perhaps because I was a rather homey person since young, that when I started working (and with more liberty!!!) I was going out more often than not, especially after having the car - felt that I had spent enough time at home when young - and then more recently, my work took me out of country to different places. Even when I was studying overseas, I had not been particularly hit by the fact that I was not home for Christmas - perhaps for that year, I was invited by my friends to spend Christmas at their home that the homely feeling of Christmas was still there.....

I guess the work trips that I have been having for the past 2 months where I am only home for weekend and then this Australia trip where I spent 1 and half weeks there, which prompted this feeling... I think I have been telling almost every of my Australian colleagues about wanting to be home for Christmas. Perhaps the novelty of travelling and, most importantly, the recent non-stop travelling that I have been doing that somehow I had miss home. Missed being home for home-cooked meals, the companionship with my mum, the easy evenings where I don't have to VPN into office network just to download emails and catch up with it (which reminds me to order my DVDs or I might not see it at all) or even the nightly web surfing from my PC in my room (although it's really messy in the room and on my table....) and I guess, missing the familiar feel of home, no matter how messy it is... As all you have is hotel rooms one after the other and sometimes, like the Marriott Putrajaya where I had been staying all these while, it's has become like a second home, the surroundings are very familiar (and they are so familiar with you and having your file on hand, you don't even have to give them your credit card number to guarantee your room!!!)

Somehow I really don't know how people could travel 9 mths out of a year and does not feel anything about it. Don't they miss being home? Don't they find the need to keep adapting to the different hotel rooms and environment a bit tiring? Don't they miss some of the food which they cannot find when they travel?

Don't know about you but I am now seeking out food which I cannot find overseas and no matter how oily or unhealthy it is, I am having it.... Perhaps when you aged, you find that you are begining to be more fussy about stuff and more resistance to changes and need of adaptation, etc, etc, etc....

Just to end this note... I have officially travelled 50,000 miles this year for I have qualified for Gold status in my frequent flyer program!!!

Perhaps that's why I'm wirting this.... I have travelled too much for the first time in my life!!!!

P.S. - Am flying again this coming Tuesday and I just got a call from the company's credit card company.... I have just pass my credit limit!!!! Hmmm... So how am I going to fund my this coming trip?!?!? Cause even if I was to put in my T&L, my boss is only coming back in January!!! ARGH!!!! Got to talk to my boss about the limit - there is no way I can be travelling like what I am doing and yet not having a higher limit.... Also, I got to seriously consider the access card - I should be getting it so that I don't have to queue with the rest, especially when I travel back during the airport peak period!!!

Hotel Rooms and more

I cannot believe this, but it's true... I am back in another hotel room, and have been doing so for the past 3 weeks. But there is more... I am going to be in another hotel room next week, and this time, I cannot even be home for the weekend as I have to travel for 1 and half weeks! I guess the funny part about this is that for the past few weeks and more, I have been staying at the same hotel that, hey, I just have to call and they will reserve the room for me without even having to ask for a credit card number for room guaranteed for late check-ins!

Of course, the other is... Well, this hotel is in right smack middle of nowhere! It's in a new town area where there is only 1 shopping centre - and by the way that's where my colleagues will head for lunch almost daily that I have to request for other places, just to make sure I do get some "nice" lunch, instead of the usual food court that the shopping centre has. This also means I can forget about going there for dinner. There isn't much place to go for dinner there!!! The only thing that keeps me from fainting is that there is a A&W there! Yup, A&W was the first fastfood that I ever had when I was very young, and if we were good, we would have a lunch/dinner treat at the A&W which was then the 'hip' place and it was overlooking the huge canal along Bukit Timah road (Yup, that's how old I am!!! If you remember that place, you should be around my age as well) Now, Mac has taken over and sadly, A&W has gone.

Oh, and this place is at least 40 mins drive from the capital during off peak hours and at least 1 and half hours during peak hours... Yup, traffic jam!!! If I want to head over there, I will need to book the shuttle and be back at the hotel before 6.45pm as that's the only time you get to have a "free" shuttle to the town - and you have to be at the same location at 10.45pm so get the ride back... Of course you can always take a cab back, but that would set you back at least 40 local dollars. You would of course try to get on this shuttle as well, after staying here for weeks, you tend to have tasted most of the food from the restuarants in the hotel, and sometimes, you just want to get out and try something else!

The last trip I was persuaded to stay over in the town (which means I have at least 30 mins less sleep or less surfing time per night). It was a refreshing change but it also means I had to adapted to a different hotel room from the usual one that I am used to... The funny part was, it was raining rather heavily that week and I had a couple of T-Cons (telephone conference, for those who do not know what it means), so I was basically having meals at the hotel as well!!! The other part was that, it was so expensive as compared to this hotel. I mean, 1 tepanyaki set in that hotel is at least 130 local dollars and that's the cheapest set you can find!!! I am not sure if it was a waste that I did not get a chance to roam around the town, but I have to say, it would have been... The only saving grace for that trip was the broadband access is free!!! I guess that helps, for a person like me - sometimes I am not sure why am I so hooked on the net...

Oh well... Time to pack in the camera for the next trip... And hopefully I get to see my friends while I am there, even for just 1 - 2 hours... Oh, that reminds me that I have to call them while I am over there... Make arrangements to meet up... Hmmm... Who else can I call??? I am going back to the place that was my home for my Uni days... So much has changed, and yet, it still looks rather familiar... I guess that's the only thing I can look forward to for that trip... And some opportunity to take some shots... Hmmm... It is at times like this you wish you had a P&S digital cam to bring instead of the D70.

Talking about that... I have not managed to find a suitable bag to use to carry it as well as my laptop for such trips... Haiz... More to add to the long 'to-do' list... Still not sure if I should just go ahead and get myself the Lowepro CompuTrekker Plus. I was hoping for a backpack that does not scream "SLR Camera bag" that is not so expensive and yet durable... Oh well... Carry on searching...

On closing... I am just so glad that I will be home for Christmas.... Never had this feeling ever since I started working, but boy, these weeks of travel and hotel rooms really make me felt that nothing is better than to be on your own bed, in your own home...

P.S. - Then there will be another round of travel again after Christmas... Argh... When will this project ends!??!?