Posted on

Linux is facinating cool

I’ve gone to the dark side … No, not really. But I’m quite geeked up with the new Ubuntu Linux software that I just received this evening.

I was quite surprised when I opened the mailbox to see this:

Then I realised that I signed up for an Ubuntu Linux CD some weeks ago.

I’ve always been facinated by different operating systems – having played around with the Mac OS and then with the Linspire linux OS (which I really liked)

So when I stumbled upon the Ubuntu website, I immediately signed up for a free copy (shipping is free even! Can you believe it?)

Oooh the cover looks pretty spiffy:

There are two cd’s in each cover, one for complete installation and the other one is a live demo – nothing is intalled permanently in the computer, but all the features are there, but since it runs on the cd, it’ll be much slower.

I used the ‘live cd’ to see what are the different features that they had in the software. Installation was smooth and easy. No wierd messages asking me to key in some dos commands like the knoppix linux cd.

And after a few minutes, I saw the ubuntu linux desktop and from what I see, it wasnt difficult to use at all!

Its similar to XP even, with application programs bunched up to one group and the control panel bunched up in another group. It was really easy to use. I was extremely amazed.


One of the different games in Ubuntu

But what was more amazing is the different programs in the cd – they were all free as it is an open source program. And it was definitely comparable to commercial programs that there are out there. Can you imagine programs that would normally cost about $200 being distributed for free?


Linux instant messenger (works with Msn, Yahoo, Aim, Icq and a few others more)

Chatting on instant messengers was a breeze with different IM’s being integrated into one – I didnt have any problems whatsoever talking to friends on the typical os



Linux version of Powerpoint and Word using Open office


It doesnt feel strange to surf in linux as it uses firefox which made it very familliar. It supports many internet based applications such as flash player


Linux version of photoshop

Mmm … very nice. Very nice indeed. Now the only question is – To install or not to install.

Very very tempted

Link to Ubuntu Website

Posted on

Pointless post

Based on a true story

Hey Marina, there’s a health display going on in the auditorium! Why dont you drop on by later?

Sure Mrs Leong, sounds interesting! I’ll go take a look

—

Instructor : Each finger represents your system. The thumb is connected to your brain, your ring finger is connected to your intestines, your middle to your kidneys, your ring to your kidneys and your pinkie to your intestines

Instructor: Now put your hands on top of the metal tablet and my assistants will help you use them.

Instructor: You should feel a little pulse, stimulating your vessels

Sarah: Ouch!

Me: Eh, I dont feel anything.

Assistant fiddles and adjusts.

Me: No, I still dont feel anything

Sophia: You must be an alien

Me: Yes, I must be

Assistant: Oh, the battery is flat. Let me change to another tablet (turns it on)

I feel electric jolts and goes into spasms

Me: Ohh … my … goodnessssss .. arrghh!!!

Instructor: Oh my goodness, you are very unhealthy! Look at how your fingers curls up

Me: Ouch! Owwwww!

Instructor: See your thumb, arching in, you have a mental disturbance. You are stressed out.

Me: Oww oww oww!

Instructor: I’ll see you in the mental health hospital very soon.

Me : Wow, you’re a really nice person arent you?

Instructor: (Fiddles with the controls and my arms goes into a magnified twitching with the strong feeling of electrial currents) Now look at how your entire hands move up. You’re very unhealthy! Your skin will turn yellow and not become radiant anymore.

Me: Bwaahh! First you call me crazy and now you say I’m ugly!

—

Anyway, my wrists feel like they’ve taken a beating for the next hour or two and it hurts to move them. The instructors says that its an effect that its like excercising for an hour and thats good for the body. But I wont be going anywhere near that machine!

Posted on

Badmi-Chingay


A lovely morning spent playing badminton. I didnt know that that the community center was opened for public just like that. (normally, you’d have to be a member and pay fees) but since mum said that the organization that she was in, booked the hall, I thought I’d drop by.

And oh my gosh. I was totally out of it! Its been at least 2 years since I’ve played badminton so my skills were extremely depreciated. I couldnt even serve the ball. It keeps falling and I cant aim properly. Argh! Need more practise.

Anyway, the chingay parade yesterday was quite nice. It was super crowded! People everywhere. To the left of me, to the right of me. It wasnt pleasant being in the crush like that (especially when there were some very interesting bodily smells abound)

And it was hard to see anything either. Everybody were standing up. I craned my neck. They craned their neck some more. I tried to tip toe and they stood upright even more.

Ahh .. times like these makes me wish I were taller.

Anyhow, here’s a video montage of the parade 🙂 Not a super quality as everyone were taller than me and I had to lift the vid-camera up high over my head and after a while my arms got sore 😛

No point even trying to take a picture hehehe. What do you think?

Posted on

Chingay parade in Jurong

Got home yesterday, and dropped off the bus and pretty lights already hung over, criss crossing the trees, seats set up, and the sound machine box ready and booming away!

I think I’ll drop by later and take a look at the parade 🙂

—

Cart and I explored Simone in Secondlife today. What do you think?

Posted on

Vday rambles

How shall I word this?

So much things to say, but I’m unsure of how to express it. So I’ll try to say, the best that I can.

Its valentines day today. A day to celebrate love. A special day with your loved one. I see couples walking hand in hand. The girl will be carrying roses, chocolates, soft toys, balloons or other various trinkets that her partner would present her.

I cant help but to feel a little wistful watching these couples. And I get a little envious. It isnt about the roses, the chocolates or balloons. I dont care about those much.

What these couples have, is the chance to meet up face to face and spend to time together. Holding hands together. Looking into each other’s eyes. Laughing together. Just sharing moments together.

I have a loved one, but he is thousands of kilometers away. I cant hold his hands. I cant see his smiles or hear his laughter. I cant look into his eyes or stroke his hair.

I miss him …

Long distance relationships is never easy. It starts out passionately, like an ignited matchstick. But like matchsticks, most of them dont last very long. Because in long distance relationships, it takes an immense amount of patience and strength which most people just dont have.

I really hope for that to never happen. I think that we’ve got something really good between the two of us. Beautiful memories spent together. But this distance, this intermission can really drive me crazy.

Sometimes I think about the different ways that this relationship will not work. Differences in culture, the sheer distance, our diverge interests. And that makes me think to myself, why carry on this relationship, when its chances of working out does not look good. Maybe we should just save ourselves from grief and just say goodbye.

But if we say goodbye, that would mean to throw away all our hopes away. And if we say goodbye, we will have regret of what to be. Is it worth giving up?

A wise friend said,”i prefer taking risks than feeling buried alive in a pointless existence”

All I have now is hope of the wonderful things to look forward to.

And I look forward to spending days together with you. I love you. You are my sun and the king of my heart. I feel so deep for you.

Will you still have me in years to come? Will you still love me?

Please love me … I fear that I might forget …

Posted on

I not stupid, hor!

Quick post

Got me a free movie ticket (yay!) and we watched I not stupid 2 at the Jurong East Entertainment complex.

Touching movie, a tad bit contrived and unrealistic in many of the scenes but overall, it was a good show. Guaranteed to be a tear jerker.

I especially liked the conversation between the little boy and his dad, when the little boy was found out stealing some money. I also liked the open dialogue interview with people during the intermission.

Good movie.

It was so good that I fell down the cinema stairs while rushing to go to the toilet at the end of the show. Beautiful purple bruises on my thigh …

Posted on

Macro shot meet with PhotoI at Alexandra Hospital

I left the house screaming at about 7.45 am this morning. I was supposed to be at the Canon DMH Building in Bugis by 8.30 and it took about an hour train journey from home to there. I quickly took one gulp of ovaltine and one bite on the fried egg sandwich and quickly fled out of the house.

I was hurrying to attend the “Nature’s little gems” workshop which was organized by PhotovideoI. I’ve been a member for this group for quite a while and have been to one of their activity last year.

I reached the destination at about 8.40 and thankfully, I wasn’t so late. In fact, there were a number people who were still queueing up to register for the workshop. I quickly made friends with the man in front of me. Ram was his name and he tells me that he was interested in photography for about a year and enjoyed nature photography the best. He showed me some of his magnificent pictures of different animals and I was impressed by the hummingbird picture that he took. It takes a lot of patience to snap a picture like that.

Soon-after, the editor of photoi, John Cosgrove announced that we were about to departure and are welcome to borrow the cameras and lenses. Ram quickly borrowed the Canon 5D camera.

Image hosting by Photobucket

The Canon EOS 5D camera was way superior to my Canon EOS 350D. At the super high res of 12.8 mega-pixel and a super fast multi-burst image capability, which means that you can take many shots back to back in just a click, it was superb. I especially liked that fact that the body now has an adjustable dial that changes the ISO and aperture immediately. Something that I didn’t like about my camera. I had to fiddle with alot of buttons to change it. Not good when you want to take shots in an instant.

And then Ram took out his super sweet Canon lens. I think its the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens and attached it to the 5D and quickly handed it to me.

Ram: Take that picture of those sparrows there.

Me: Where?

Ram: There! (points to the fence about 5 meters away)

I quickly aimed and shot a picture of the sparrows. And oh my gosh. The image quality was breathtaking. It’s amazing what the right equipment can do to your pictures.  wish I had the picture, Ram deleted it at the end of the workshop to save space on his CF card 😛

Me : Oh my gosh. I love your lens. I won’t be able to sleep tonight. I’ll just think about the lens, all the time. How much is it?

Ram : I paid $2,600 for this.

Me : Ah? *Gulps* That’s like two months pay for me

Ram : Its a good investment for beautiful pictures.

Me : Yes, but I don’t have an engineer’s pay 😛

Ram : I guess you just have to starve yourself then

Me : I guess I do 😛

We reached Alexandra Hospital Nature Trail a few minutes later and we began our shot. I was close to being intimidated! There were so many professional equipment all around that even with my robust camera, I felt so small. Many had their own telephoto lens and were happily snapping far shots of moving butterflies and other creatures.

I couldn’t do a macro shot with my lens without going to the subject really closely. Forget about the butterflies. Do really you think they would want to pose willingly and sit quietly when I ask it to?

So I shot the to the best of my abilities, mostly of things that didn’t move too much.

What do you think of them? I got lucky with the butterfly shot as it landed quite close to me. I stood still and waited and moved slowly to snap a picture without scaring it away. Very cool. My first butterfly shot!

We also found some interesting creatures like this HUGE caterpillar and HUGE spider which I wouldn’t have noticed if I just walked there on my own. These animals really blended well with the environment.

I had the good chance to try out a telephoto 100 lens that allowed wonderful macro shots. Unfortunately it weighed about 2 kilograms. I wasn’t able to hold it for a very long time without my arm straining. After a few seconds, focusing on the caterpillar, the lens drooped little by little.

“That’s why we carry tripods”, chuckled a man beside me, looking at my antics.

We wrapped up the photo-shoot at about 11 and printed our best work and we compared our photo with the others. There were so many beautiful shots from different angles. I really enjoyed looking at them.

John took a look at the picture that I printed out and said that it was good. (shocking) He also said that different people have a different story to tell and if a picture makes you stop to look at it then, its a battle won.

So, does my pictures make you stop? 😉

*Next month’s photo-shoot would be “Food Shots” – Come and join me! I’d love to go for the next one 🙂