the lomo experience

Well, I finally sent two rolls of film to the shop Thursday night. Two rolls all taken with that cool looking cybersampler. Yups! The roll with the incriminating photos from Rach's farewell with people snogging people. Yeap! All there ...

AND all not there.

Nothing came out!

I'm so disappointed! Pictures of the gathering! That fab gathering! All gone. Nada. Zip! Argh!!!

This sucks! The girl at the shop said maybe the camera was low on battery. The cybersampler's all mechanical! Batteries not required. Maybe it needed more light. This one could be true but I used the 800 tester film that came with the camera. Wouldn't 800 films be able to work in that restaurant? Or the Shangri-La ballroom where I clicked like made to get pictures of people dancing during the competition?!

Darn it! I think I'm really going to have to test it out to know how to work this camera. It sounded easy enough. Just load, wind, click, wind, click, wind until you can wind no more and the rewind it. How hard can that be?!

Sheesh! I'm going to try it in daylight tomorrow. There are still some films left in this third roll in that camera. Hopefully something turns out!

the body dost protest

Ah ... the time has come, that the body says, "Stop. No more. A break or else I'll break."

So, for the past two days, it has been nothing but sleep, sleep and more sleep.

This must be the longest time it has taken me to recover from any sort of sickness; chicken pox non-withstanding of course but even that didn't make me feel as useless as this. And what is this pray tell? I don't even know. I know that mid-ways during choir rehearsal, I started sneezing violant non-stop sneezes which made my eyes waters and made me look terribly sick cause some people mentioned that I didn't look well.

I probably caught a chill then. Didn't feel that great the next day but thought that it might pass after awhile so I went to work as usual. Luckily cause soon as I dropped my bags in my cubicle, my phone rang. The bosses were once again frantically trying to update the projects application that they hardly use except when meeting the Big Boss for update and once again, needed some last minute training on how to do that. So, off I went to train them, my eyes all swollen and the entire time on the verge of sneezing an yet unable to. I hate it when that happens. Just let it rip! Instead it teases me with wanting to and yet don't.

Finally, after making sure all the managers are updating everything properly, I tried getting to work. Alas, my brains refuses to work and my was feeling every inch of everything. I gave up trying to work and applied for emergency leave. Went home and slept the rest of the day. Still didn't feel any better by then. Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow came ... head was still pounding and the throat hurts. So, I finally relented and went to the doctor's. Met two other colleague there ...hmmm ... Feng Shui in the office must be pretty bad huh to have so many sickos at the same time?

Doc says I have a slight fever (I thought I didn't have a fever) and my throat was pretty inflamed (I thought it felt better than the day before!) - tells you how much I know about myself being sick huh?

Well, feeling much better today but still on MC. Haven't slept as much as I did yesterday and the day before so that must mean that I'm getting better?

Guess I'm going back to work tomorrow.

ack! omg!

*cripes* What's happened?! This is not the virus that everyone's been getting (Blaster virus). Do go to microsoft for your patches if you haven't already done so.

So, what was it?

Well, I am one of the millions of subscriber of TechTV's incredibly regular spamming ... I did subscribe to be spammed so I guess you can't really call it spamming can you? Anyway, from the Screen Saver's most current newsletter [release: 3590], the blurb for Dark Tip caught my eye. Sarah wrote ...

Kevin's going to show you how to get your PC to automatically check for missing security patches and service packs. He's my little Dark Tipper, but he's still working for a better tomorrow!

Sounds great doesn't it? No more occasionaly popping into Mr. Gates' site to see if there are more problems with his brilliant creations. All bugs will come to you. Erm ... you'll be informed of the bugs found without having to move your lazy assed fingers away from all your online games - I can't name any cause I don't play them. Only things I play with comes with the Windows CD - and therefore not losing any precious ladder placing due to inattention.

Right ... blah, blah, blah and still haven't gotten to the problem.

The problem is ... finally she speaks! ... after I've installed the application, IE refused to serve me pages. I've also gone deaf cause I can't seem to hear anything coming out of my kazaa ... all those newly downloaded mp3 gone to waste!

I search here. I searched there. The audio seems to have dissappeared.
All IE settings looks to be unchanged and yet. Nothing works.

I desperately called Jayce to double check my settings. Jayce didn't pick up. Must be in the middle of a movie with his girlfriend or in the middle of something else ;)

Next called Ah Seng. His batteries went flat after I spoke two sentences. He called me back and I proceeded with the inspection, in the middle of which he asked me to call him back - hee hee, sorry for running up yer bill mate! Most things seems in order although his LAN connection settings seems a little odd. I distinctly remember the TMNet guy setting it differently. Mainly cause I only have two DNS addresses. None of which I was to set at the LAN connection settings only on the Streamyx's TCP/IP settings.

But I changed it anyway to no effect.

Courteously, I thanked him.

Looking through window's help I found an interesting link. Hmmm ... restore system. That might work. *ting* {lightbulb}

Please select point of restore ...
option Window's blaster patch
*click*
Windows will restart Sure! No probs!

When it restarted, *clang*. A miracle has happened. I can hear! I can hear again! Tis a miracle!

Timidly, I connect to Streamyx. That was never the problem cause even before that, I could get in. Just no google in IE.
Opened IE.
Typed in google.com
Et voila! Good as new! Hurrah!

I can surf! I can hear! I can blog!

I think in the process, I got a friend to think that it was the patch that caused the problem. She kinda logged out before I got to tell her that it wasn't. She's also been recently told about this little blog of mine ... so, if you're reading this Irene, go download the patch! It wasn't the patch!

friday five - holiday destination

1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?
England. Was there last December for a triple celebration - birthday, Christmas and New Years. Oh yes! To visit the aunts as well.

2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?
A bunch of teenage girls trying to matchmake me with an asian guy sitting across me while I was in the train in London. I think he was kinda young though. Could have been a student. Cute though.

3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?
The question should be where wouldn't I go. I'd go everywhere if time and money permits.

4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?
Plain or train is fine with me. I don't like the car much. Too cooped up. I like big spaces. Put me in the car too long and I'll feel sickly.

5. What's the next place on your list to visit?
Europe? OR ... Brazil or New Orleans during the Mardi Gras.

the old lady

The door bell rang. It was late that night. Very late. In fact, it was just past midnite. Who could it be? Everyone in the family is already in bed sleeping. Even Aunt K is sleeping soundly as I sat there watching the fillers in between Buffy and Angel. I was the only person still awake.

Who could possibly have the bad manners to come visiting unannounced at this godforsaken hour?

I opened the door. There was someone standing at the gate. "Someone or something!", thought my overactive imagination. The 'someone' was just a shadowy figure; lights from the porch did not travel enough to light the gates for a clear view.

After much neck craning and eye squinting, to no effect, I decided to go out and check who might be out there. All the time worried that I'm doing that; going out into the night alone, with no one else in sight on the road. Quite different from walking alone at 2am on well lit and populated places after clubbing hours. I know I am at home and everything but it just seemed a little scary.

It was a lady. An old chinese lady with short curly hair. She was holding a plastic bag in one hand and the other was scratching her forehead in a gesture much like when you're confused or worried.

She's lost. She spoke in cantonese. She said, "Oh no! I think I took the wrong turn."

I asked her who she was looking for. She mumbled a name. A name which I did not quite catch but didn't sound like anyone of the people I know that lived around my place. Not surprising as I don't know a lot of people living on my street. Only my immediate neighbours and those two to three doors on the left and the right. Anyone beyond that I do not have an inkling if they were chinese, malay or indian or if they were a family or not.

I told the lady, "No. Nobody like that lives here."

She walked off as I was saying that. Walked towards the other houses as I walked back into the house.

I was tempted to offer to take in my car and drive her around to look for the house she was looking for or maybe send her to the police station so that they could help her but I didn't. I didn't because I keep hearing the horror stories of kidnappings. How the get some innoccent lookin lady to ask for help and then when you get out to try and help, they snatch you.

She didn't seem like she might be though. I suppose that they would have to look that way. Believeable or else the trick won't work, right?

But then, she really didn't seem that way. She just looked like a little lost old lady. Someone's lost grandma. Someone's grandma can't find her way home. What if that was my grandma and nobody will help her because they were afraid?

I watch her walk all the way to the end of the road, stopping in front of a few houses wondering if they were the house she was looking for. I watched her through my locked grilled front door. Hoping that everytime she stopped, that was the house she's suppose to go to. But it never was. She walked all the way to the end of the road and turned back. She passed my way as she headed for the other side of the road. I stood there watching.

Just stood there and watched. All the while thinking whether I should go out there and maybe walk with her and try to find where ever she was looking for. Help her.

But I didn't. I didn't even wait till she got to the other end of the road.

I walked back to my chair. Went back to my tv. Sat there watching while my aunt slept, while my parents slept, while the lady keeps on walking, keep on searching and nobody in my family knew that it happened. Nobody knows what an unhelpful person I have been cause I was scared. Or is that my excuse?

Was fear my excuse for not wanting to help? I'm hoping that it's not.

That was two days ago. I hope the poor old lady's found the house she was looking for. Maybe she found someone less afraid to help her. That would be good. I hope she's safe.