Its Christmas for me (today)

My Kata bag and battery pack arrived today. I got my replacement monopod strap too.

Oh, the bag’s much nicer than expected. Its compact but big enough to fit a 70-200mm lens (attached to body). Will post up photos when i can.

All in all, its better than i expected. Why Kata and not Lowepro?

I had a Lowepro years back. A micro trekker 200. Small little box of a bag that could fit a whole lot of things. But well, too boxy.

I haven’t gone back to try out the bag yet but i think it should fit mygear without any difficulties. I just need to figure out how to organise it in. Oh…. I feel in love with the Domke Fx3 bag because its got extra rings behind for the backpack. Yes, I am a sucker for Domke bags and i do miss my old Domke bag very much.   I think it is its stinkiness, its faded cotton and it’s mushy body that i miss.

 

Anyway, I love receiving packages and I think i’ll like this Kata bag very much. Next is to get my flash and test the baby on the field.

Yay!

Maskull Lasserre

Have been looking at the works of Maskull Lasserre online @ http://maskulllasserre.com/

Really facinating and really cool!!!

I’d love to be able to do such pieces of art. Really WOW!

REVIEW MEE Electronics CC51 in-ear headphones

I needed a longer length earphones and picked up this nice one from MEE Electronics. The model’s CC51. Its a white ceramic coated earbuds that comes with 4 different sized earbuds and a travel case. Gold plated jacks.

I’ve tested it with the ipod. I must say, it does block out some of the outside noise and its not even a noise-cancelling earphone. How does it compare to the stock earphones from Apple?  Sound-wise, its sharp but not as pitchy sharp as Apple’s. Base is tempered, mid’s quite okay actually. Vocal is quite warm. Instrumental songs comes out warm too. It retails for usd79.99. I got it at usd19.99 at one of MEE’s promotions.
Good for my audiobook and at least i don’t need to raise the volume (and eventually go deaf).

nanoblock : These building blocks are very expensive!

I saw them at a bookshop selling for myr59-60+ thereabout. I think it is very expensive for decorative tiny stuff that can’t do much. Would i buy them? No, not at all unless I need another paperweight. But they are cute. Like miniature lego blocks, really tiny (as the name implies).

The toy bus my bro bought for me from his London trip is now a paperweight and something for my guests to play with so I guess its kinda useful afterall. At least it doesn’t just sit on a shelve collecting dust.

No much value for this short term “pleasure’.

Chilling out in my new (perfect) jeans

Here’s the thing, I’ve not worn a blue denim jeans for at least 5 years(?). It is a really long time not to wear blue denim. The quest for finding The Perfect Jeans was never-ending and i squeezed myself into almost all the brands i could find.

I still remember about this trip to Levi’s. I picked out a few pairs, trudged off to try, and got sorely disappointed. I couldn’t fit into any one of them jeans! Either it was too tight and the buttons couldn’t hook, or the jeans was too tight until my thighs could barely squeeze in then i realise i can’t zip the blooming jeans. When i do find something that could occupy my ample derriere, everything else doesn’t fit. When i find something that can fit my waist, the thigh area is too baggy. Even a trip to Mossimo Dutti also came to nought. Don’t ask me to try Padini. Those clothes are for washboard thin people with no buttocks. There’s really nothing more depressing that trying on pants that can’t even be zipped up. Wait, don’t say zipped up, the blardy zip didn’t even budge!

So what do i do? I went online to find THE jeans.

Managed to pick out a nice DK jeans and it was so perfect that i didn’t even need to alter the length of the jeans. Yeah, petite cut for height-challenged folks like me. Pity the fabric’s not as soft as my old DK jeans (that one had a really nice blue hue that you can’t  find around these days). Oddly, i didn’t know that it was stretchable too but i’m not complaining lah cos it will be very food friendly (read: buffet) .  It is a boot cut jeans with a lovely darkish blue colour that doesn’t look too casual. I am so happy with it (partly because it actually cost less than a locally bought Levi’s and Padini pants). Ah, the wonders of online shopping. This is really cheap and good.

IMHO what makes The Perfect Jeans:

1. You didn’t even have to try it at the shop and it fits to a “T”.
2. Its a nice blue, not too dark until it looks black, not too light that it seems too casual. You can wear it from day to night and jazz it up if needed.
3. The length is just nice, no need to alter.
4. The back pockets are neat without any patterns and ornaments to make your butt look bigger than it already is.
5. Its slightly strechable for comfort. Its comfortable without making it hard for you to sit down. I’ve had jeans so tight that sitting down was something i never looked forward to.
6. The threads are not too thick (like how some ah bengs like it) and not too colourful so its easy to match with your top.
7. You don’t look fat, short or have any muffin tops. Click here to see a muffin top.

 

Orchid Park – Johor Bahru, Malaysia

If you haven’t visited it yet, you should – at least within this 3 months when the orchids are in full bloom (or between January to April). Not many people know about this place but i think its nicer than the one in KL. More orchids and they have really beautiful and unique orchids too. Some have lovely fragrances whilst others really beautiful flowers.

Tickets are sold at a reasonable price of RM2 per entry.

Its located between Jalan Tasek Utara and Jalan Yahya Awal Johor Bahru and is about 1.5 KM from the city center. There are other stuff there like small lakes etc. Not in perfect maintenance but passable. The local folks likes going there for wedding shots. But the place is currently under massive renovations to expand the area – i checked out the renovations plans and it looks quite promising.

And if you are into macrophotography like I am, its a nice place to be in. Just watch out for the HUGE resident iguana and other stuff like small centipedes, snakes etc (which is all part of nature anyway).

Oh yes, bring along your mosquito repellant!!

Review: Oxgen (bottled water)

Dad bought this for me from one pharmacy in Lucky Garden (there wasn’t any other bottled water there) – dad didn’t have much of a choice back then.  So this is pretty much an accidental review. If i recalled, it was very expensive – twice the price of the regular bottled water. This one is supposed to come with oxygen.

Review

Smell: Smells like water

Look: Looks like water

Taste: Tastes like water.

Source: Piped water from our good old water supplier, Syabas.

Oxygen: Isn’t water made up of hydrogen and oxygen in the first place (see, i still remember bits from my Chemistry lessons in Secondary school). No fizz like San Pellegrino.

Verdict: Blardy waste of money. Water is water anyway it goes (but that excludes those reverse osmosis ones which i find too metalic for my liking and too void of minerals). This Oxgen bottled water is just like any other mineral water. Nothing special at all. Might as well drink from the tap.

Starbucks 2011 Planner – Malaysia

I got myself the 2011 Starbucks Diary. This is the third year I have been using a Starbucks diary. How do you get one?

You drink enough coffee/etc to enable you to get 12 stamps chopped on the Starbucks card and voila…. you get your “Free” diary. ** Only orders of a Grande and up gets one stamp.

The quality is much better than the previous year but I much prefer the 2009 and 2010 layout. The 2011 layout didn’t have the days/dates in place so I had to draw my own (I like my own space to write in). I added my own tabs on each month by using colourful stickers/page markers. I took some photos of the diary – front, inside and back.

The year 2011 one has the rubberband ala Moleskin, just like its 2009 predecessor. I like the rubberband but wished it was as colourful as the 2009 though.

Vendor of the year > Micro-D (M) S/B

Would like to commend Micro-D (Kuala Lumpur) for superb service. I ordered some stuff for my Fujitsu and the items came with a little extra. Really felt like Christmas again.

Kudos!!!

My remedy

Since i was so unwell last night and wholeday so I decided to take action.

The nose kept running. I felt tired after tossing and turning the whole night. There’s a bit of the chill on this terribly hot weather – 34 °.

In short, I felt like shit.

My remedy: a sachet of Panadol cold & flu drink. Its lemony. Quite pleasant to drink and works quite fast. Thanks Carrot!

Hope it will carry me through the night. The coffee didn’t work!