Wednesday, December 9, 2009
From the coin box .. 1
Following are coins given by Shah and ASH over the years...They are self-explanatory..
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A comedy of real life !
Something amusing happened this afternoon. Apparently somebody who boasts of being an expert had nothing else better to do than to go 'lobbying' on his own personal crusade and I happened to be the lucky one to be 'granted' the 'honour' of being this person's target. However, I told the people in the discussion that I would not lower my dignity, nor lent respect to this idiocy by reacting . Why should I ? I have got better things to do and after all everything that was brought up smacks of personal attack from a simple mind.
I would rather be with my good friends, do my blogging and photography outside my teaching hours. Its healthier, cleaner and more beneficial.
I would rather continue to improve my computer skills ( especially when we are in an IT Technology based institution), learn the new and various technologies and use it in my profession. Time has changed. Everything has changed. As educationist we must realized that even the learning process has changed. I guess I do not want to be a dinosaur with jaded idea and trying to convince the learners to continually use words that they would probably never use throughout their working life---either as a an IT personnel or a business person or as managers !
So I told the people concerned, come what may--- I refuse to stoop that low to this person's level and be dragged into this comedy. .. My life has been and is too good to be wasted away on trivial petty dot..dot..dot. . Thanks but - no thanks.
I would rather be with my good friends, do my blogging and photography outside my teaching hours. Its healthier, cleaner and more beneficial.
I would rather continue to improve my computer skills ( especially when we are in an IT Technology based institution), learn the new and various technologies and use it in my profession. Time has changed. Everything has changed. As educationist we must realized that even the learning process has changed. I guess I do not want to be a dinosaur with jaded idea and trying to convince the learners to continually use words that they would probably never use throughout their working life---either as a an IT personnel or a business person or as managers !
So I told the people concerned, come what may--- I refuse to stoop that low to this person's level and be dragged into this comedy. .. My life has been and is too good to be wasted away on trivial petty dot..dot..dot. . Thanks but - no thanks.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Christmas Photohunt - Time Square 2
More shots from last visit.
GOTCHA ! Well of course the last photo is nott from Time Square. Its a photo I took from ASH's front garden sometime ago ! How I miss that scene !!!
Christmas Photohunt - KLCC
Yesterday, I got up early , hoping to visit the PC Fair. So by 10, I was already in KLCC. However, looking at the crowd streaming to the fair venue, I told myself that I'm not going to spend my Sunday morning jostling with the crowd --- not for any reason !
So, instead, I moved about in KLCC looking and shooting the decor !
So, instead, I moved about in KLCC looking and shooting the decor !
Saturday, December 5, 2009
My Christmas Photohunt - Bangsar Village. A Choir.
Call it what you like, but on my way back from the Mid-Valley, I was driving along Bangsar Road towards Kuala Lumpur and approaching the junction of Jalan Maarof . At that very moment, I received an sms from Leas saying that herChoir group will be performing at the Bangsar Village at 3.00pm.
What a stroke of luck ! I was just some 50 meters from the junction leading to the Village. ! I cannot believe the coincidence ! Anyway within 15 minutes or so, I was already leaving the car park and entering the Mall. A quick search and an sms told me that they were at the Yamaha shop....and soon I could hear voices singing "......merry Christmas and a happy new year ! " .......
Throughout I still could not believe I would be listening to the Choir group that I have heard so much of from her . Anyway, soon they went a floor down and were ready for their performance. With my eyes through my view-finder and my ears to the songs, it was an enjoyable session to see Leas and her group ( oh ! ...and Alex of CDDS too), and the familiar songs. My comments---it was too short and too quick ! Like the Caucasian next to me said, " Is that it ?"
Still---I enjoyed it---thanks for the invite Leas !!
What a stroke of luck ! I was just some 50 meters from the junction leading to the Village. ! I cannot believe the coincidence ! Anyway within 15 minutes or so, I was already leaving the car park and entering the Mall. A quick search and an sms told me that they were at the Yamaha shop....and soon I could hear voices singing "......merry Christmas and a happy new year ! " .......
Throughout I still could not believe I would be listening to the Choir group that I have heard so much of from her . Anyway, soon they went a floor down and were ready for their performance. With my eyes through my view-finder and my ears to the songs, it was an enjoyable session to see Leas and her group ( oh ! ...and Alex of CDDS too), and the familiar songs. My comments---it was too short and too quick ! Like the Caucasian next to me said, " Is that it ?"
Still---I enjoyed it---thanks for the invite Leas !!
.
My Christmas Photohunt - Mid-Valley and The Gardens
Sunnysideup logbook - Saturday, 5th. December 2009. The night before was a horrible one. A nightmare woke me up at about 3.00am. I could not sleep again. So, to my computer and caught up with my mails and also did some writings. This kept me busy ( with a mug of Earl Grey tea) until 5.00 am. Managed to grab some shut-eye and up again at about 6.00am. This time switched on the TV and watched a drama called "A Time To Remember', with one eye shut.
Anyway , I already planned to do some shooting . So by 10.30am, I was already at the Gardens.. The decor was simple but well spread throughout the length of the shopping centre. However, in the Centre Court, the put a few tall trees together and while walking, I realised that at a certain angle , it looked like a forest.
The Gardens
The Mid-Valley
Then a walk to the MidValley area and as usual the Centre Court was well decorated. Everuthing seemed to be focussed here while the rest of the Mall was quite normal, other than the decor from individual shops ! It was pretty well done. As usual, they always seeme to have a main theme. Later, there was a cat-walk session but I didn't bother to do any shooting. From the 2nd floor, I saw the crowd of photographers with flashing ( pardon the pun) their super-expensive lenses. I had enough of that from the last Nikon show a month or so ago. The photos were taken with a wide-angle lens as I wanted a general view rather than focused on the specifics.
Anyway , I already planned to do some shooting . So by 10.30am, I was already at the Gardens.. The decor was simple but well spread throughout the length of the shopping centre. However, in the Centre Court, the put a few tall trees together and while walking, I realised that at a certain angle , it looked like a forest.
The Gardens
The Centre piece at The Gardens
View of the well-decorated Mall
I like this shot !
Then a walk to the MidValley area and as usual the Centre Court was well decorated. Everuthing seemed to be focussed here while the rest of the Mall was quite normal, other than the decor from individual shops ! It was pretty well done. As usual, they always seeme to have a main theme. Later, there was a cat-walk session but I didn't bother to do any shooting. From the 2nd floor, I saw the crowd of photographers with flashing ( pardon the pun) their super-expensive lenses. I had enough of that from the last Nikon show a month or so ago. The photos were taken with a wide-angle lens as I wanted a general view rather than focused on the specifics.
The 'Castle' entrance.
A general View
Another point of view.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Lost in a flood !
Some years back, I was staying at Jalan Gurney.There is something about this place because my life went through the extreme on both ends.
Career-wise, it was a humble peak for me. Being in the top management of a college which happened to be owned by one of the biggest developers exposed me to a new and high level corporate working life. The corporate culture that was prevalent then , exposed me to a new field away from Education . Linking and implementing private Education as a big corporate venture was another notch in my learning curve. Planning and projection became my way of thinking. Hard life ---but truly rewarding -- financially and experience-wise and enjoying the perks- to me anyway ! That is Jalan Gurney !
Now the down-side ! I had my severe heart-attack --- probably through stress but most likely from my life-style. I was smoking then. A loyal and true one and half packet man per day. My entertainment allowance saw me through good food too often. An international hotel was in the stable of the mother-company, and we were granted the privilege of using the facilities of the hotel. A golf club was also in the list and too much good food and giving up my exercises paid its toll !
15th. May 1995, Sunday, 2.00pm after lunch -- I suffered a massive heart attack ! You don't know pain untill you go through an attack . (To my two friends , when we were talking about pain--- I forgot to mention this when we talked about the pain that you had to go through !).
Anyway ! one day, when the family was visiting me in hospital, the heavy rain brought with it one of the worst floods in the history of Jalan Gurney ......and there was no one to salvage our belongings. We lost all our wooden furniture. I lost all my books, my university notes, magazines, photo-albums and electrical appliances.
It was devastating. Its like having a continuous stream of misfortune !
But---I was grateful ! I survived a life-threatening situation , given a new lease of life and managed to change my life-style. I have never smoked a cigarette since and the smell of smokes turned me off because I always associate it to pain that I went through.
In fact when I reported back to work, I forbid smoking within the college compound.. Of course smokers, and there were many, weren't too happy with me then. I spent a lot of time in the office of the boss of the College who happened to be a heavy smoker, and I told him that I wished to resign from the position as I could not bear the smell of smoke from his cigarettes. This was rejected and we came to a compromise. He fitted a powerful extractor fan just above his seat. I tested by sitting in front of his table --- and it worked. I stayed.
Next, my university lecture notes and books which I had kept . They were all gone and beyond salvage.
My saddest point is over the loss of all my photo albums. With tears in my eyes, I tried to unstuck all the photos. They all became marshy and gooey . Finally with a pair of scissors, I cut what ever I can salvage, paste them on an A4 paper and kept them and later scanned them and saved whatever I can.
I am posting photos of my son when he was young as an example of the photos lost !
Career-wise, it was a humble peak for me. Being in the top management of a college which happened to be owned by one of the biggest developers exposed me to a new and high level corporate working life. The corporate culture that was prevalent then , exposed me to a new field away from Education . Linking and implementing private Education as a big corporate venture was another notch in my learning curve. Planning and projection became my way of thinking. Hard life ---but truly rewarding -- financially and experience-wise and enjoying the perks- to me anyway ! That is Jalan Gurney !
Now the down-side ! I had my severe heart-attack --- probably through stress but most likely from my life-style. I was smoking then. A loyal and true one and half packet man per day. My entertainment allowance saw me through good food too often. An international hotel was in the stable of the mother-company, and we were granted the privilege of using the facilities of the hotel. A golf club was also in the list and too much good food and giving up my exercises paid its toll !
15th. May 1995, Sunday, 2.00pm after lunch -- I suffered a massive heart attack ! You don't know pain untill you go through an attack . (To my two friends , when we were talking about pain--- I forgot to mention this when we talked about the pain that you had to go through !).
Anyway ! one day, when the family was visiting me in hospital, the heavy rain brought with it one of the worst floods in the history of Jalan Gurney ......and there was no one to salvage our belongings. We lost all our wooden furniture. I lost all my books, my university notes, magazines, photo-albums and electrical appliances.
It was devastating. Its like having a continuous stream of misfortune !
But---I was grateful ! I survived a life-threatening situation , given a new lease of life and managed to change my life-style. I have never smoked a cigarette since and the smell of smokes turned me off because I always associate it to pain that I went through.
In fact when I reported back to work, I forbid smoking within the college compound.. Of course smokers, and there were many, weren't too happy with me then. I spent a lot of time in the office of the boss of the College who happened to be a heavy smoker, and I told him that I wished to resign from the position as I could not bear the smell of smoke from his cigarettes. This was rejected and we came to a compromise. He fitted a powerful extractor fan just above his seat. I tested by sitting in front of his table --- and it worked. I stayed.
Next, my university lecture notes and books which I had kept . They were all gone and beyond salvage.
My saddest point is over the loss of all my photo albums. With tears in my eyes, I tried to unstuck all the photos. They all became marshy and gooey . Finally with a pair of scissors, I cut what ever I can salvage, paste them on an A4 paper and kept them and later scanned them and saved whatever I can.
I am posting photos of my son when he was young as an example of the photos lost !
Me and shah ( 5 years old then)
Post Birthday...
Looking back -- its not a 'blue' birthday a as I thought it would be as in my previous posting of that song.
Had a good day I had !
In fact, I've written a posting from 12.00 am on the eve onwards about all that happened, but decided against posting it. .
So thanks to all for your kind wishes and a special one to Leas and Sheila -- for everything ! Here's for you guys !
My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I,
Got out of bed at all,
The morning rain clouds up my window,
And I can't see at all,
And even if I could it'd all be grey,
But your picture on my wall,
It reminds me that it's not so bad,
It's not so bad.
I drank too much last night, got bills to pay,
My head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today,
I'm late for work again,
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply,
That I might not last the day,
And then you call me and it's not so bad,
It's not so bad.
And I want to thank you,
For giving me the best day of my life,
And oh, just to be with you,
Is having the best day of my life.
Pushed the door, I'm home at last,
And I'm soaking through and through,
Then you handed me a towel,
And all I see is you,
And even if my house falls down now,
I wouldn't have a clue,
Because you're near me.
And I want to thank you,
For giving me the best day of my life,
And oh, just to be with you,
Is having the best day of my life.
And I want to thank you,
For giving me the best day of my life,
And oh, just to be with you,
Is having the best day of my life.
Had a good day I had !
In fact, I've written a posting from 12.00 am on the eve onwards about all that happened, but decided against posting it. .
So thanks to all for your kind wishes and a special one to Leas and Sheila -- for everything ! Here's for you guys !
My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I,
Got out of bed at all,
The morning rain clouds up my window,
And I can't see at all,
And even if I could it'd all be grey,
But your picture on my wall,
It reminds me that it's not so bad,
It's not so bad.
I drank too much last night, got bills to pay,
My head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today,
I'm late for work again,
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply,
That I might not last the day,
And then you call me and it's not so bad,
It's not so bad.
And I want to thank you,
For giving me the best day of my life,
And oh, just to be with you,
Is having the best day of my life.
Pushed the door, I'm home at last,
And I'm soaking through and through,
Then you handed me a towel,
And all I see is you,
And even if my house falls down now,
I wouldn't have a clue,
Because you're near me.
And I want to thank you,
For giving me the best day of my life,
And oh, just to be with you,
Is having the best day of my life.
And I want to thank you,
For giving me the best day of my life,
And oh, just to be with you,
Is having the best day of my life.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Group Assignment v Individual Assignment
So - its the time of the semester again when everybody's busy with presentations to do. I have almost 100 presentations to listen to, and because of the circumstances, I had no choice but to limit each presentation to 7 minutes with an extension (if, this is totally unavoidable) of another 3 minutes making it 10 minutes per presentation.
Okay---with simple Mathematics , this gives me a minumum of about 700 minutes (11.7 hours) or a maximum of 1000 minutes ( 16.7 hours) of presentation. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
So, my dear presenters--- if you think it is bad enough for you - you should try walking in my shoe .....and you will know what I mean.
You may well ask --- why not have group assignments as that would cut down the numbers drastically !
Well - when Level 5 was first taught to CCSS Class 1 - 9 , this was a group project , with 3 - 4 students to a group. However, this had a detrimental effect on the the majority of the students. These are :-
It is also easier for me to tell off a student should he fall behind schedule. There is no one else to blame but himself --- or he gets all the credit and reward for the hard work put in.
Of course, the down side would be the presentation sessions and the time consumed ( for me ) --- but I guess the positive far out-weighs the negative !!!
So future students of ENG 511---it WILL be an individual assignment for my subject !
Okay---with simple Mathematics , this gives me a minumum of about 700 minutes (11.7 hours) or a maximum of 1000 minutes ( 16.7 hours) of presentation. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
So, my dear presenters--- if you think it is bad enough for you - you should try walking in my shoe .....and you will know what I mean.
You may well ask --- why not have group assignments as that would cut down the numbers drastically !
Well - when Level 5 was first taught to CCSS Class 1 - 9 , this was a group project , with 3 - 4 students to a group. However, this had a detrimental effect on the the majority of the students. These are :-
1) Scheduled could not be met as cooperation ( or the lack of it) was taking its effect when members could not work as planned
2) The blame game became a normal practice when members start blaming each other
3) Serious students were badly affected as the others were just dragging the progress of the project
4) Motivation and morale were at the lowest when frustration and dissatisfaction crept in
5) Heavy reliance on the same students to do all the work became rampant
6) The system was actually killing the motivation of the better students
7) I get too many students coming to see me to complain about their group members
8) Actual presentation became a sort of ' rehearsed role-play' and individual flair, creativity and initiative became the victimSo, the following semester, I stopped the group assignment approach and switched to individual project. This way, you will 'reap what you sow' ! Students are at a liberty of working productively at any time of the day --- even if its the early hour of the morning if they could not sleep ! And immediatel all the above problems stopped.
It is also easier for me to tell off a student should he fall behind schedule. There is no one else to blame but himself --- or he gets all the credit and reward for the hard work put in.
Of course, the down side would be the presentation sessions and the time consumed ( for me ) --- but I guess the positive far out-weighs the negative !!!
So future students of ENG 511---it WILL be an individual assignment for my subject !
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Time Square and Christmas !
We had to go to Low Yat Plaza on errands . Anyway, we decided to take a walk to Time Square as I wanted to photograph the Christmas decoration of which I had had a first glimpse from the second floor on last Sunday.
I wanted to be on the ground floor this time, and indeed we were not disappointed. The decoration was well done and the illusion created certainl has its effect. I guess the photos are worth a thousand words !
I wanted to be on the ground floor this time, and indeed we were not disappointed. The decoration was well done and the illusion created certainl has its effect. I guess the photos are worth a thousand words !
TAMA wide angle and macro lens & SONY 75 - 300 m tele.
Thanks ASH and Iain ! Last Sunday, before I send them to KLIA for their trip back to UK, they surprised me - again ! Handed me an early 'xmas present' - enough cash to upgrade my photography facilities. I was thinking of a Carl Zeis lens but the cost was just too much ! So I sold off my Sigma 70-200mm tele , went to test a few others and decided to get the Sony 75-300mm tele. The performance was much much much better than the old Sigma. With the extra left overs, I got the TAMA converters as I'm beginning to get interested in still-life photography as well.
Anyway, below are my first session with the TAMA and the samples from the SONY will come later.
Thanks again ASH and Iain !
Anyway, below are my first session with the TAMA and the samples from the SONY will come later.
Thanks again ASH and Iain !
From the above.....
comes this .
...and from this...
.to this...
.inscription on the back of a medallion.
These photos are all taken from a hand-held camera and next batch would be taken from a tri-pod.
Hopefully I would be able to produce something from the Sony tele soon as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)