Food and fun fair

Am at a convent school for girls somewhere in sallim road. My sister is teaching in this school. They are having a fun fake to raise funds and I think this is one heck of a party...
Jason mraz is playing on the loudspeakers now. The noise would put Hong Kong lady's market to shame.. I love the atmosphere. Fantastic...

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Ikea

Now
At ikea now. Finally manage to leave the house. Even if there is still pain in my foot. Have just parked the car. Su and Adam went inside looking for picture frames. For sota, a forum Su is organizing.

Thor
Subscribed to HBO today. Was about to leave home when su switched to the channel and it was showing Thor. Seems like a good idea to ditch ikea and do Thor. But then, I would not be leaving the house.

Radio
I am beginning to like ikea. They piped good music to the car park and the quality is not bad. Drank an alkaline drink just now and I think it must have been good for me. I feel better.

Slim

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Criminal

Criminal mindsss
We, as in Su and I have been watching episodes of criminal minds almost every night. We started all the way from season 1 and now we are at season 2 disk 5. Disk 6 should be here today and after I ripped it, I will enjoy watching it together with Su.

Market
Puji went to the market by herself today. She went to the wet market at punggol plaza. I half expect her to screw up but I sincerely hope she does not. Anyway, I did not go because of the pain I am feeling right now in my left leg.

Dad
Waiting for dad to come over with more medicines. They are cheaper in honor.

Sad news.
Reported in the news that some key personnel of city harvest church was arrested for misusing the church funds. I am not a Christian but this is ridiculous. Honestly, I don't know what churches uses the contribution from their congregation for but surely not to unwittingly finance the singing career of the pastor's wife.

Just my thoughts.


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Soccer match

WIN
Ever since I turned to Apple for my computer needs, I knew that windows is crap! one of my friends would believe it and some who do use Apple would not even bother to look at the difference! I mean seriously, why do I have to pay more just so that I could have my laptop back up itself to a router which is connected wirelessly? Its not that it can't be done, its just that I could only have it done if I upgrade my WIN home premium to a WIN professional. That will be another $85 bucks! Hey, Apple allows me to that and so much more and we all know how reliable windows is don't we? But I digress, as I am writing this post on a Samsung notebook running on windows. Sigh. Why? Because I have to keep this notebook online as it back up itself into my external hard disk.

WIN Phone
My nokia lumia 900, running on windows 7.5 on the other hand is a gem. That is until you read that microsoft is releasing windows 8 about 2 months after nokia released the lumia 900 with a tag line "the real windows phone". The thing is, you cannot upgrade the win 7 phone to the new OS. What the...?

Apple
I wish sometimes that Apple is like windows. I mean they have just released a new mac book pro with retina display. I can afford it but my logical side keep asking me as to why would I need another notebook since the first mac book pro that I bought some 5 years ago is serving me very well? No doubt that I had to change the battery twice but it still works! Hooray for Apple.

Slim

Games

Dad and Adam playing command and conquer against each other. Adam is winning.

Its quite rare to have dad stays beyond 3pm. I never tell him, but I really appreciate his presence. I wish that there are more father son activity i can do with him..

At least playing computer games with his grandson seems to make both him and Adam happy.

I might drop by his place tonight. That is if Su is feeling better.

Su has caught the flu bug. She has been on medical leave for the last two days.. Caught the bug during our trip to the gynae.. I hope idris is fine.

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Testing

Trying to see if I can post using my phone..
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Tomorrow

Today is the 4th of June. My 40th birthday has come and gone 3 days ago and tomorrow will be a day that I should not forget. For tomorrow will be the day when my wife will undergo a 7th week ultrasound scan. This will tell us if we are still pregnant. I hope we are. Friends around us are wishing us well. I am praying us to be well for no matter what the findings will be, I know life goes on. I am well prepared. I know that because I am not that attached to having it. I don't want to break, I need to be strong. I keep telling myself that but I won't know what will happen tomorrow. The appointment time is at 0900. Bismillah.

Adam is spending his time at SOTA today. He wants to study there. I hope he does.

Watched Hall Pass just now. A funny movie.

Suppose to accompany MIL to JB immigration to have her passport MACs approved. I don't know what time that that will be and how long. I hope if it does happens, it won't cause us to oversleep tomorrow.

Signing out now.

While waiting for the doctor

While waiting for the doctor, a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I pretended to be Spiderman. I wanted to find out what and how he sees behind the mask. I need my spectacles on though.
Nex 7 with Konica Hexanon 40mm 1.8

I was at KK with Su. At the moment the picture the picture was taken, we were waiting just outside the operating theatre. Of course I was fooling around and both Su and I know why I did this. I was waiting in trepidation. I was afraid. This was our second time.

We or Su were about to be implanted with one of our frozen embryo. Originally it was supposed to be two, but just before the insertion, they said that only one was good to go. That was why. We had 5 embryos placed to be brocyalist, I think. This is when the forzen embryos are given time to mature outside the mother's womb for a few more days, in our case 4.

The procedure took about 10 minutes and as usual, we were making a fool of ourselves. Our coping mechanism one could say.

We knew the risk. This was our second time. We hope that it will turn out better. I prayed to Allah. If at all it does succeed I pray that he will provide guidance his creation. If it does not, may he or she and the others be placed in the highest and purest form in heaven. Amin.

We have 7 more embryos more in cryogenic stage.

Slim.

Punggol Marina

Driving

I drove to Punggol Marina today. I went there after I sent Su to school. My feet were hurting but I was adamant to do something about. Hence my code for the year "do something about it". Have not been successful the past few weeks to continue my "take photo in the morning routing".

Punggol Marina

Spent about an hour there. Wondered if I took some keepers home with me. The light was  flat and, admittedly, there are only so much you can "look see". The sun was not up yet, well it out but not up so even though the day was clear, the light was flat. I thought that it was a wasted trip. Anyway took some pictures, almost 4GB of them and there were keepers. Uploaded some into my flickr account.

Lens

I know I had promised Su that I would not buy a new lens but I did. I bought the Contax 28mm 2.8 for $465. I think I need to sell something. 

Will be reading today. Have my cup of coffee in front of me and my books. Will be reading Frankestine. Thats a thick book.

Slim.

Masai

Went to Masai last weekend. Stayed over from Friday midnight to Sunday morning. We went to Desaru from there via Pasir Gudang, managed to catch a soccer game at Pasir Gudang Stadium, ate a lot and had lots of fun drives in Dad's new Toyota Hilux. I managed to cause a slight indentation on my sister's car as I was reversing the Hilux. What a bummer. Had the best durians there and also lost of food.

There were several first in all that happened of course. It was our first away game, it was our first driving a Malaysian plated car, and it was our first drive into Pasir Gudang. It was our first more than 1 night stay at Dad's.

Adam made a toy.

Adam made a toy., a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
He joined a toy making class held in school.

This is the toy that he made with his grandmother. It is supposed to be a flapping bird but I think it is unfinished. Good job though.

Slim

Pasir Ris Park

Went to Pasir Ris Park yesterday. Went there with Su, Adam, Irsyad and Wan. It was a good walk for me except that my leg started to give way on the walk back. Irsyad was taught how plants and animals adapt to a different environment. Don't know whether he will remember what was taught. Adam was more interested though. Love the way, he took pictures using his iPhone. Also loved the way he recounts what he saw during the field trip.

Both he and Su want to set up an aquarium. Again. I hope this works.

Car in the workshop, engine overheating. Hope it will be a simple matter.

Slim

Me and Spong Bob

Me and Spong Bob, a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Did not go shooting today. Have to read.

Carl Zeiss 45/2 G mount and Nex 5

I really have to read. Its this new module which focusses on Shakespeare on film. How adaptations are made and why. Focusing on technique and style. Includes lighting, costumes, camera angles/staging, sound, editing and so forth.

Will commence soon.

Slim

Men at Work

Men at Work, a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
At Changi Boardwalk.

Taken using KM 7D and SMC Takumar 28/3.5

It was 11.30 am. I was just getting ready to study when my newly bought SMC Tak called out to me. I could not resist but I did not know where to go.

I took out my KM, fixed the Tak on it and drove to Changi. I wanted to take some pictures of the Aloha Chalets but there were occupants in it. Out of the blue, I parked the car and decided to walk.

I went onto the board walk and reached the Kelong Walk. It was here that I saw a group of men resting in the shady hut. As I approached thinking that it must have been one of the worst mistakes in going there, one by one the men went into the water.

I walked quicker and begin to snapped away. Some even posed for me. As far as I can infer, there were Malaysians, Singaporeans, Indonesians and a Bangladeshi, all trying to put up Kelong poles.

I saw a sign that says NEA was erecting those poles and that the whole area was supposed to be closed off. Well, nobody reads signs anyways.

I snapped about a 100 more shots, but I could only see a few keepers. More pictures in my Flickr account.

Anyway, the moments I witnessed showed how much fun a person can have in their work. There was laughter and togetherness while the men was working. At least, I now have an inkling as to how those kelongs were built.

Slim.

Adam studying.

Adam studying., a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
KM 7D with SMC Takumar 55/1.8

This boy continues to amaze me. He is growing up so well. I took this while he is completing some assignments that I set for him. His maths test is coming soon and he way too over confident in doing his.

Wished he would slow down. Heck, I wished everything would slow down.

Slim

I am doing them.

For the past week, I have not gone shooting as much as I like. Probably due to my painful sole. But today, I did and I am very happy. Now, however, I need to study. I got class later.

Ultraman

Ultraman, a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

This is Ultraman.

Beautiful, no matter what or where.

Beautiful, no matter what or where., a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Was looking at post cards when I noticed this Japanese lady strayed from her group and went to a shop selling modern Islamic clothes. She lingered for quite a while and that when I snapped a couple of pictures. I did not stay to find out if she did buy any.

I am really enjoying taking pictures again. I just went to East Coast today and took some pictures. Spent about an hour and came back home sweaty. Met a Malay fisherman reparing his net while still in his boat. Turned out that he knew my late uncle and my father as they stayed in Siglap together. Started fishing on his own in 1974 and still do. Referred to himself as Ultraman as he used to be wearing masks to keep out the sun and that is how he is known to the rest of the fishermen. Wow, I feel like I am recording a slice of people's life. Amazing, that is how I am feeling now.

Slim

Friendlies

Friendlies, a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Prior to going for this morning shoot, I search the web as to how to do street photography. I cam across this site www.dannyst.com/ and it said to go over the fear of asking people's permission to take their pictures.
This couple was the first that I asked and because of them, i overcome my fear of talking to strangers! They were having breakfast, and I went to them, signalled with my hands that I wanted to take their pictures and they said yes. Not only do they said yes, they posed for me! Ha ha ha! This made me so happy! The pictures still turned out crappy by hey! It was a happy crappy picture!

Super TAK 35mm f3.5 @5.6

Green

Green, a photo by Nor Salman on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Took this to see how the lens work. And it works great. Super Tak 35/3.5

I have been waiting for this lens for a long time. And when it came I was so surprised. Its so small! Its aperture ring is so thin that I could hardly grasps it with my forefinger and thumb.

I can't wait to try out the lens. I went to Changi Carpark number 7 and just before I hit the 40th frame, the camera black out. The batteries dead. I must remind myself to bring spares.

I love the size of this lens! I so am loving it that I just ordered the 28mm 3.5. That one is a bit expensive as it comes with the original hood.

Pic wise, I really can't say. I must say that when its focussed, it fantatstic. I still have yet to get the hand of manual focus,

The picture is heavily cropped. But this is the last time I am going to crop using photoshop. Iphoto is much easier. Anyways, as you can see, its very sharp. The reviews which I read says that this is much sharper than the 35/2. There was no sharpening done on the picture by the way.

Looking forward to tomorrow's morning photoshoot.

Slim