Marina’s Bloggariffic

Ted says : Sometimes things never go the way you like it. We all fail. But its not failing that hurts. What hurts is that you didnt do your best.

Have the discipline to do little things you dont like and you can spend your life doing the big things that you do like.

—

Err .. thank you for that Ted. I’ll try to remember that.

Anyway, I’ve got a new toy a work and I’m a little excited about it. The new stock of digital cameras arrived and I asked Gavin, who was keeping most of them for one to play with.

Previously, I’ve been complaining about how the school has been using backdated cameras.

The Sony Mavica

I dont know anyone who uses this anymore. Its so old school. It deserves a museum on its own. In a world full of SD-Cards, CF-Cards and Memory sticks, the sony mavica camera uses a floppy disk! And 1.3 megapixels. Amazing.

And now, behold, the beautiful Canon Digital Ixus 750

Sexiliciously sleek and slim with an alluring champange gold body. And so small. Its much smaller than my palm even. I’m amazed that at a resolution of 7.1 megapixel, the body was so small.

It took a while for me to get used to a point and click camera after my regular use of my regular EOS 350 DSLR, also by Canon. But I’m quite surprised that the Ixus still has a few features that I never thought a point an click would have like ISO settings, and White balance and I saw some nifty features like the photo stitch, which I really liked. (Panoramic pictures! Awesome!)

The Ixus isnt as good as my EOS 350. The startup time isnt as fast, and each shot takes a split second to do (instead of multi-burst) The colour sometimes isnt so true to the real thing too. But its like comparing apples to oranges. The Ixus is most definitely useful for travelling around and those situations when you just dont want to carry a huge camera around.

Beautiful camera. I like it alot.

Colour may not be true

Sharp images using macro view

Focus on an object and blur the background like a slr :)

May not be good for quick moving subjects

But overall, is an awesome camera - so now Imma gonna kidnap this camera for a while ;)

May I present you : The first Nimmo and friends comic strip
(I just hope it wont be the last one … O I’m such a lazy procrastinator)

ARRRRRR!!!

Friday was a total total stressful night for me on my stint on a photography shoot. I had a call from Haney in the morning, asking me if I was free to do a photoshoot for a company event. And I thought to myself, why not? This would be a great experience for me to add up to. Thus I said yes.

But the event started at 6 and I knock off work at 5 and even though she picked me up, we couldnt reach there in time.

It was the time when there is a lot of traffic from people knocking off work
We were going to town
And it was friday

Poor Haney looked stressed out. Moreover, there were plentiful of people calling her up, “where are you? where are you?” making her even more nervous.

When we reached there, there were alot of people queing up already for their glamour shot. I didnt expected so many people. And I fumbled with the equiptment. Even then, Haney forgotten to bring the clips to hang the backdrop and I didnt have a flash trigger. And after the pictures session, people kept pestering, “where are our pictures? Is it ready? I want my pictures!”

I smiled and said, just a minute, we’re still printing.

It was such a mess. And I’m not happy with the quality of the pictures

But we managed to do the best we can because it wasnt professional to be angry and nervous. And I asked Haney, “How on earth are you able to stay so cool after all these”

My heart went 300km/h after the whole ordeal.

But I take it as a learning experience and I think of what are the different things I should do to enbetter the next time.

O well.

Anyways, got to get ready to go to Hema’s ROM now. And I still dont know what to wear. lol!

I’ll update later :)

Well, neither do I

My goodness, I cant believe that we’ve reached December already. It didnt seem too long ago that we just celebrated the new year. How did time pass by so quickly - a blink of an eye?

My classmates and GP teacher from night class on our final class for the year

During these times, I tend to reflect back on the different things and actions that has been said and done. Sometimes I feel that I am quite selfish and egocentric and only think of myself. That I am quite emotional and take things to heart quite easily.

So, I’m going to do a resolution to try to be less judgemental of other people. Why wait till the new year?

—

CK asked me, why I havent been updating as frequently as I used to. To be honest, I did type in some entries, these past days but in the end, I couldnt bear to hit the “publish” button. As much as I’d like to express about things that affect me deeply, there is also limits as to what I’d like to share and what I’d like to keep private.

I mean, to what extent would people whom read your blog, take it the wrong way, and use it to pass judgement on you? And to what extent would people use it as evidence to use it against you?

I had to think twice.

Nevertheless, I hope everything goes well, for everyone and for everything goes smoothly.

—

And enough of the cryptic message. Lets move on :P

I think I’m getting addicted to the bling virus. The bling virus is where you feel feverish and sick until you see and buy something shiny (preferably gold, or silver or diamond or other gems)

Juli took me to Lee Hwa Jewellery to look at the Purple Gold pendant that she fancied.

Pretty purple gold with diamonds

It was interesting to me, the shiny purple was actually gold instead of a gem created by an alloy of different metals and gold. Juli looked completely immersed at the purple jewellery.

The salesman proceeded his pitch and we stayed to look around and listen to his explanation for about 2 hours. Admittedly, the purple gold jewellery was very pretty. But I wouldnt get it for myself since it was firstly a tad bit pricey for myself (about SG$900 and above) and secondly I dont really wear jewellery that frequently. Even the diamond pendant that mum bought for my 22nd birthday, I dont usually wear anymore. I used to be passionate about pendants - I swore eternal love and devotion to them. I promised to love and cherish them in good times and bad times.

It is now nicely hung, decorating my bedpost.

In the end, Juli left the shop to go to Soo Kee Jewellery to get for herself a cheaper purple gem pendant. “Its not worth getting the purple gold now, its quite pricey” She reasoned. And I agree.

And then I promptly went to buy myself a tiara.

Royalty suits me well, dont you think?

And today, I finally caved in to get a ring for myself. I saw the most beautiful ring while walking around with Clement in IMM He was searching for a gift for a friend of his and decided to get her a pendant and ring set. While he was choosing the designs, I tried one out and fell hopelessly in love with one of the ring.

I didnt want to to extravagant and blow my budget. But I couldnt stop thinking about the ring. How pretty it was. The final straw came when I had a dream scene of trying to buy the ring but got to the shop too late and couldnt buy it. (I kid you not!)

So I spent a while today at the mall, and got this

You like my bling?

And that would be my extravagance for the month. Now I’ll go and skip buying lunch and say that I’m on a diet.

Its not exactly the same one that I saw at IMM but this is still pretty. I like it very much. And I will cherish and love it forever, till bad credit, do us part.

—

Work makes me happy, angry, sad and amazed all at the same time!

I’m still busy at work! I’m amazed that I still have plentiful of things to do even if its supposed to be the holidays.

Lets see:

1. Cataloging 6 boxes full of CD’s for the multimedia library
2. Creating an animation to prettify the student’s research
3. Poster for the publicizing of the jobs software.
4. Other miscellaneous things

*blinks eyes*

At least I’ve got a new friend at work to accompany me :)

Say hello to err .. erm … Ted! Yeah thats it! Ted! One of the staff workers was just about to throw Ted away when she felt sorry for it and plonked him on my desk. Of course, immediately I fell in love with Ted and cuddled with it.

He’s so fuzzy and soft.

And also great to strangle and to throw around when I’m stressed or angry. Its perfect.

Anyway, think I’ll end my post for the moment. Till the next time. :)

P.S

Oh! Shout outs to all the cool people whom visited marina’s bloggariffic!

How on earth did you stumble here? *curious*

To all my Hindu friends :)

Hari Raya is just a few more days to go!

—

Visited Geylang today. Heard that it woould be the last year that Geylang would be around before it gets demolished for an upgrade.

As a kid, my parents brought me here quite frequently every time during the fasting month and I remember the warm, if a little stuffy alleys of geylang serai, full of people selling clothes, food and other cultural needs.

I’ve always enjoyed walking through these mazes of shops that leads round and around and exploring which little corner that I can stumble to. Sometimes it will lead me to a delicious snack corner full of delicious traditional cakes and sometimes it will lead me to a clothes stall, full of baju kurongs. It was always exciting for me to walk around.

Am a little sad to see these alleys go. We’ll never experience the old style geylang anymore from next year onwards. Am going to miss it.

Stall selling colourful scarves and headgear

Lovely kebayas for sale for about S$50

During the fasting month there are many boxes like these - donations are used for the poor and needy

Crowded with other nostalgic people, like me

Man cooking ayam percik (Original one, on a stick tastes better!)

Man selling off lemang (bamboo filled with rice, slowly cooked over an open fire)

I’ve no idea what he’s cooking. But it looks so cool

Selling kuih raya (cakes and snacks)

Kebabs! Mmmm …

Seafood! Mmmm …


Man cooking Dengdeng (what a cute name) a type of thinly stripped bbq’ed marinated meat

Display of kuih raya

Putu bambu (coconut snack with sugar inside) I like!

It was easier for me to take pictures here as compared to Chinatown Most were happy to have their pictures taken. I chatted with some of the shopkeepers and he told me. “One day, maybe in 10 or 15 years from now, those pictures will be valuable”

To me, the pictures are valuable. But the good memories, is the most valuable of all. I will miss Geylang.

—

I dont know who screamed louder. The mouse or me. It was a dark night. We’ve just completed our night class and I was just walking back to the train station with Brandon, my classmate, and I felt something soft underneath my shoes. I quickly glanced down and to my horror, saw a mouse! And I screamed! And the mouse screamed!And Brandon looked stunned, at all the screaming.

I just jumped up! And at the release of the pressure of my foot, the mouse ran away … I saw the mouse scurrying in a zig zag pattern … probably terrified out of its wits.

Man, I wouldnt ever have that kind of experience. Poor mouse. And my poor shoes.
—

Anyway, there were beautiful sunflowers in bloom at my workplace yesterday. I loved looking at the bright yellow colours of the petals. Sooo pretty. It just brightens every ones day.

Dont you feel a little tranquil now? :)
—

I just collected the pictures that Juli has chosen for her portfolio. But I wasnt too happy with the quality of the prints. Firstly the pictures looked too dark. (Why do digital prints usually darker than the same image being viewed from the monitor?) But apart from that, there were a few things that I didnt notice while seeing them from the screen.

In one of the pictures, there were some blemishes on them which I swear wasnt there when viewed on the monitor. And on the same picture, she had a moustache! I was so annoyed that I told the lady at the printing counter.

“Eh? Why the picture like this?”

“Bah!”

I think I’ll go search around for a better printer. Its no excuse to say that its because its digital, it will be darker. They can lighten it by just a push of a button. Its not difficult really.

Bah. Whatever. (Goes back to looking at the sunflowers)

Ti presento la mia socia d’affari

After months of preparation, honing our skills, we are now all up and ready for our venture :) I think what spurred it up was the fact that Diyanna, one of the girls whom modelled for my photoshoot recommended me to one of her friends.

I quickly thought about it. Juli and I already made our pact to do a makeover venture for a long while now. Initially, we were both apprehensive because both of us were more of a hobbyist rather than a professional. But now that Juli’s already a certified Makeup Artist by Cosmoprof and I’ve completed my photography course from Coverlooks. So there shouldnt be anything stopping us. We should start our dream as soonest we can.

Actually, how the idea for a makeover venture started casually over dinner after Hema, Juli and I purchased our tickets for our Thailand trip vacation and I dont remember what was said, but we all decided that we wanted to do something together.

I dont want to do something thats always related to school!

Lets do something we like to do

Well I like photography, and you do great makeup.

Hahaha .. Maybe we could do makeovers for people.

Yeah and we’ll call our business “HeJuMa Makeovers”

Ewwww!!!

I first noticed how good Juli was with makeup when she did a makeover for a mutual friend. One fine day, she offered to do a makeover for me while we were going out for a day in town. She dabbed a little here, and there. Put a little colour here and there and when she’s done, I looked in the mirror and I really liked what I saw. Every stroke she did complemented my face. And it looked so natural and nice. There are some people who slap on their makeup too thickly and some people who’s makeup just doesnt look right. Juli’s style is perfect.

The beautiful Juli on the phone

The fact that she has an impeccable taste in style and fashion makes it all the more sense that she’d be a perfect makeup artist.

On a whim, I thought of Geri to be our PR. I noticed how she interacts with people, as well as her experiences in the sector. She was very good at promoting something that she is really confident in.

I remember how confident she was while showing me some courses for Mindworks: A design school that she was working with for some while. All her promises about the institution was true. Nothing hidden and I thought that was a great quality.

I have full confidence of our combined abilities. I know we’ll do great.

—

So now we’re open for business! Come on and contact us, you know you want to ;) Click here for a sample of the makeovers that has been done