lomo shots

The Lomo shots are back. Think on average about half of each roll came back; the other half was probably spoiled or overexposed or whatever. Suffice to say, we’re pretty pleased and Stella was really excited about it.  I shall let the pictures do the talking, since I think that’s what is great about lomo shots. They somehow feel quiet and pensive, as though you caught a snippet of another reality. Caught Before Sunrise today as well, and it was also one of those quiet and pensive shows. Very well done. I’ll be looking out for After Sunset soon.

the simple life

It has finally dawned upon me that while time moves like a light train waiting for no one, I enjoy the simple life much more.

For the past few months, I think I’ve truly been at peace, taking my own pace to do whatever I like, and whenever I like. I enjoy just sitting around at home, watching my TV shows all day with the girlfriend. I also enjoy my hobbies very much, most of which do not need more than the company of 2 or 3 people. Painting, is by large a very solitary hobby, and while the number of games I’ve played don’t exactly match the number of models I paint, I think I’ve finally found something that I’ll be sticking to for the rest of my life. I don’t claim to paint well, maybe decently. But what’s more important is that it allows me to put the whole world away for a couple of hours, and actually concentrate on something. As Stella would probably say, it suits my escapist nature. The same goes for my roleplaying games.

Occasionally, Stella and I will head out for a meal, go shopping, and just walk around town. We’ve grabbed lots of books/graphic novels over the last few holidays, and that, also, is another past-time that I forgot about during my undergrad days, and am beginning to rediscover once again. It’s all these things that make me happy.

So where is all this mindless ramble leading to? Just back to the title actually, where basically I enjoy the simple life. Maybe it’s a product of getting older – all the social commitments and hooha of yesteryear are rapidly fading (or have already faded) as time goes by. It’s just too tiring to keep up. Of course, this also means that I’ve more or less stopped meeting friends that much, and unless invited, I seldom go out of my way to ask people out for a coffee or a chat anymore. Thing is, I’m not fazed by the possibility of losing friends either, so I guess that all works out. At the end of the day, one probably don’t have time for everyone around you.

As the graduation date draws near, I’m constantly worried by the thought of: what if my love for the simple life gets in the way of performance in the future? It’s an extremely disturbing and worrying thought. I need productive work to keep me alive. It is part of my very being. I’m a person that stands by the principle that one can put 100% in work, and still put 100% in other commitments (of course it might mean that I’ll have to sleep less). But what if that love for the simple life causes me to work below 100% productivity? It’ll probably burn a hole through my soul. Pardon the theatrics, but I mean every word.

I don’t know how to end this post. So I guess that’s all I have to say for now.

the end is nigh..

In hindsight, the holidays has been a good one. I got to do what I wanted to do, and I had a relatively good break as well. What worries me constantly is my compulsion to put work aside and just laze around. I HAVE work to do, and I will have responsibilities that cannot be ignored in future. Maybe I need to learn to prioritize better, that or have better discipline to get down to work when I need to.

I have barely 15 days to write one and a half chapters.

Yeah, I saw that comin’

Was telling Stella that the ‘Buy a mac and get an ipod Touch’ thing was what I feared when I purchased my Macbook a couple of months back. And she told me that we saw that coming. So yeah, we saw that comin’.

In other news, Snow Leopard sounds like a wonderful upgrade to the current Leopard OSX. For just 50 bucks, that’s really a steal. Install it and save 6gb? that’s something I’ve never heard about before.

Maybe we can track zombies next time with this

Real time tracking of the swine flu using Google Maps.

This is morbidly amusing. I hope it doesn’t hit SEA. I still want my holiday.

cooking papa

Been really interested in cooking food lately, and it’s been slowly pervading various aspects of my life. Woke up pretty early to get some steaks, potatoes and an assortment of other stuff  and came home to make it into something edible. Somehow or another, cooking relaxes me, and gives me this autonomy over creating something from scratch – raw to cooked, tasteless to delicious(or so I hope). Of course, nothing beats having the gf taste it and to have her compliments. After all, she’s going to have to eat my food for a very very long time to come. haha.

I just wished I took some pictures for memory though. Oh well. Always another time.

Note to self : never cook without a shirt on – oil splatters hurt like fuck.

yes very punny

and just a reactionary post following the previous post. I think I’m getting more and more punny the older I get. I can’t help it somehow. the words just roll out.

what are weekends for if you can’t get anything done

I realise that during the weekends, my work productivity tends to reach new lows. Either I’m playing too much games and reading too many gaming sites for hours, or I end up watching too much tv with the family. The latter is not too bad, as I get to spend some time with my parents. But I’m starting to spot some sort of pattern with spending too much time at home and the quality of work I actually get done. Perhaps it’s my own fault for making my room too ’stay-in friendly’. I have boardgames, miniatures to paint, tv shows to watch, games to play. I almost forgot to mention that I actually have work to do. This becomes a great distraction more often than not, and I end up getting out a lot less, exercising a lot less, and interacting with anything except things in my room a lot less. It really doesn’t help that at a time like this, I don’t really have the time or mood to meet up with friends either, so it becomes a spiral of inactivity. It’s almost ridiculous – aren’t we supposed to have more and more things to do as we grow older since we are supposed to a) have more money b) have more friends c) have more freedom from parents d) have more time away from school? The good thing is that I still have school, and that gets me out a bit, and makes me think a little more. Tuition too helps, and so does the little meals and outings I get with the girlfriend (although we’ve been out a lot less beceause of night classes). I’m a person who has to be kept busy, and busy with different kinds of things at the same time such that I get different kinds of interactions, and mental stimulation from different sources, if not sooner or later I’ll get really bored and irritable.

One of those weekends. Hey at least I’m thinking.

Litany

I’m pushing the deadlines. Stacks of books on my table. Papers strewn all over. PSP untouched. Games unplayed. Models unpainted. I feel like a grad student. Somehow doesn’t feel too bad.

Learn to swim…where?

There’s something very wrong about seeing a Learn to Swim placard placed right next to a huge drain with no sign of a pool nearby.