Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Project 365 - Day ##

Caution

Yeah I have no idea what day I'm on now. But I will continue to post when I feel like it, haha.

This is a shirt a martial arts teacher from yoga gave me. He says it's a good luck t-shirt, he's cheering me on in my job hunt. I might need to take up some karate lessons from him just so the shirt's not lying when I wear it...

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Transformers - Dark of the Moon

The youngest brother wanted to watch Transformers very badly and since Waige already watched it with his girlfriend it was my duty as a big sister to take him.

Being the kid that he is, he loved it. I didn't so much. This movie is a great example that quality will always be sacrificed if you have too much quantity. There was action...LOADS of it, but none that were especially intricate in the CG execution. And speaking of CG, LOADS of that as well. What else is there a lot of? Screaming. Every human being in that movie was running and screaming, standing and screaming, flailing their arms and screaming, sliding and screaming, (insert random action here) and screaming. I think you get the picture...

I gotta hand it to Michael Bay. He's got this thing figured out. Take a classic anime, turn it into a cash cow. Acquire more budget for the sequels and you can pay actors millions for not doing what they're supposed to do. BRILLIANT!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Project 365 - Day 45

Hair Cut

I finally went out and got a haircut. As much as I want to leave it long, I have very little hair so it's not very sustainable, or so says the stylist. I'll take her word for it I guess. I should make an effort to take care of my hair. The first comment I always hear from people when I walk into a salon is: "My, what dry ends you have! When was the last time you got a haircut???"

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Up and coming

I will have more than enough posts that will be here.

I just came back from Prague and Barcelona. Not to mention enough stuff from my EuroTrip last year. Just wait.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Project 365 - Day 30

Day 30

I know, I know. I'm totally dropping the ball here. I'm kinda experiencing a dry spell...I don't really feel like standing in front of the camera these days. Not sure why.

I've decided to cut my hair today. The summer heat is getting to me and having long hair doesn't help. So here's a pic that documents what I looked like before the hair cut.

Doesn't my skin look smooth? Oh Adjustment Brush, how I love thee.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Item 14: 24 Hour Pub Crawl with ze Germans

The pub crawl! I didn't attend all the way. We're in front of the Princess Louise around Holbourn. I was only between 5 to 9. It went from 10am one day to 10am the next. They did bowling, karoake, and pub to kingdom come. Then a football game at another pub. Here are these two random Germans that had joined us in on the pub crawl. The guy on the left got SOO wasted. We were smoking outside and he brought his cigarette indoors. The barmaid flipped out. He tried to go in again. I physically pushed him and told him he couldn't go in. Then he asked me why he should listen him because I'm fucking Chinese.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Item 13: Robert - Rated XXX

Look at that. This was so retarded. I was playing football (REAL football, not that american bs). I was supposed to go swap my position with a sub. I ran into the latch on the door on the way out and gave myself that bruise. It was bleeding too. I had trouble walking for three days after this incident. It actually still hurts. I go running and I ran 4.5 miles two weeks ago and 5 miles last week. I didn't do it in that good of speed, but I didn't stop at all the entire run. I had cramps during the run and powered through them. Despite the smoking and the hip ... I can still run pretty decently. My hip "bubbles" every once in a while after I do something like that. It just goes into these spasms. I should probably get it checked out.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Item 12: Three Kings

Here there be Brothers. There's Salman, Q, and I from left-to-right respectively. Born in Saudi, Sichuan and Wales respectively too. Global world now man. I miss these guys. We still Skype and E-mail often. However, it's not the same as being idiots around each other. Had some great times. I miss you guys.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Item 10: Eurovision Drinks


My hair is supposed to be red. Instead it turned orange so it matches my shirt quite well. Anyways, here with my good friends Orkun and Andre. We're outside having a smoke while they're judging a load of countries I've never heard about. This goes until 8am and we end up at Nihalf's place playing Tekken while five people are dogpiling his bed in the other room.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Item 9: 2 Bros with Different Mos

Ah, Salman. What would University have been without you? He's visited London twice since I've been here, and that's within a year. I've only visited him once in SF. So he's one up on me for that.

Also he's visited me a lot more than any of my other "friends"!!

Yeah, we're at Brixton right now at the O2 Academy checking out the Pryda concert. It's was quite an experience.

Project 365 - Day 19

Day 19

This is the wedding favour I got from the wedding I attended on June 4th. The couple were once co-workers of mine at The World's Biggest Bookstore, now they're good friends. Very happy I was there to share that special moment with them.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Project 365 - Day 18

Day 18

I went to the beach and jumped. I should've dressed better for the part...

Friday, June 3, 2011

Project 365 - Day 17

After managing to clean up the floor a bit the sun was shining brightly through my opened window. Since there was light readily available I thought I'd experiment with light. This was the shot that best fit what I had in mind.

Day 17

Item 8: Slovenian Love

Here's a picture of me mate Phil and the girls from Slovenia. I totally miss these girls. They were couchsurfing at our place and they did the Dee Dee thing from Dexter's Lab whenever they got back. "watcha doing". Totally in love with them. You also have Phil's looking all cool and shit with his leather jacket.

Anyways we just came back from the west end. This is the bus ride home and they're all pretty much all saying goodbye to London now. This is their long bus ride home.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Project 365 - Day 16

Aside from feeling narcissistic, taking pictures of myself taught me many things about myself and about general photo taking.

One of the things that I've learn is that no matter what I'm doing (thinking, concentrating, etc) if I furrow my brow and stare at something my face looks confused! There were many a time in the workplace where I'm staring at my screen thinking hard about something and a coworker would come by and ask why I'm confused. I understand now!

Day 16

Even though I've been enlightened, I'm not going to do anything about it! :P

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Item 7: Anime Expo!

I love the Expo. Not exactly the event itself, but the spirit. It's the one time and place where people can embrace their love in full swing and not be ridiculed! I saw some really cool costumes. The GoW3 booth was a bit packed. The line-up took a while just to get in. Even though we booked in advance. I played a few Nintendo DS 3D games. None were too impressive. Wii stuff was kinda crap. I got to see Simon's Cat. I also wanted to purchase a lot of gear but then realized that I don't have that liberty. In neither space nor money.

I have a picture of a companion with PedoBear. I'm not going to post that in public space though. :P

Project 365 - Day 15

I like taking pictures where I don't have to worry about my face. So much more relaxing...

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Project 365 - Day 14


This is what happens when I attempt to clean my room. I get frustrated and I don't really know where to start. At least you can see the floor, it's a big improvement from two weeks ago. I think I deserve a pat on the back!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Item 6: Last Zurich Picture for Now

Looks at these handsome fellows. Last day in Zurich if I'm correct. I'm sure I'm not. I can't even remember taking this picture. It was good having the blokes visit Zurich while I was working there. I say goodbye to them a day before I go to the airport myself.

Project 365 - Day 13


Just wanted to be plain silly today. Not sure if I achieved this...my eyes are not as crossed as I thought they were.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Project 365 - Day 12


And after the pretty pose, I decided to jump. I missed those days of jumping on the bed, but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. I don't get as much air time as I used to. I can think of a few explanations for this:
  1. I'm not as light as I used to be
  2. They just don't make mattresses as bouncy as they used to
  3. My muscles are deteriorating and so I can't exert as much force aka. aging!
  4. A combination of all the above

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Project 365 - Day 11


Look at my pretty pose! Okay, I know, it's nothing special and my legs look shorter than they actually are. I thought standing on my bed would make them look longer. CLEARLY I was mistaken!

Not smiling in photos seem to make me look better. Maybe that's why models don't smile much...

Friday, May 27, 2011

Item 5: Chess

Here we are in Zurich. That's Roman and Phil. We aren't actually playing chess. They've just briefly taken over a game two others were playing :P

Project 365 - Day 10


Presenting the Coke Can! I've been drinking this a lot lately, just because it's in the fridge. Proximity, how I hate you.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Project 365 - Day 9


This is the most dynamic picture I've taken. The process was quite fun. Just standing there and twirling around. I took around 100 photos, it's hard to capture a good looking, "in-motion" picture when you're doing it alone. The purple scarf is a good prop, I'll try and incorporate it a bit more.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Item 4: Christmas

This is when my flight got cancelled. I went to take a walk through Canary Wharf. This is where I live and where I walk. There is a fountain that is completely packed with suits on weekdays. It looks nice at Christmas ... if you notice ... there is no snow and London is still befuddled in how to handle it.

Project 365 - Day 8


Today's photo features the Galileo Thermometer I bought last year. I haven't found a place to put the thing yet so it's just been hidden away in its box in a corner. The glass bulbs with the colourful liquid makes it look very pretty. Since Galileo is pretty old I thought using a preset to make the photo look "aged" was quite appropriate. In my head I thought only my eye would be reflected but clearly I didn't pay much attention in high school physics during the reflection chapter. Nonetheless, I think it turned out alright.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Project 365 - Day 7


Very normal shot today. I usually like to take pictures of my cousin Logan but thought I'd take a picture WITH her today. So I had her help me set up the tripod and this was the result.


The munchkin is very talented, this is the result of her second shot. I think she should start a 365 of her own! She kept coming up to me saying "one more time" after I took the remote from her.

Project 365 - Day 6 (The Eye)


The Eye. My right eye to be exact. I think I might try to take pictures of each feature on my face and build a collage. I'll probably come out looking like a monster...LOL.

Inspiration for this came from my 2 year old cousin who has a lot of potential for photography. I see great things in her future. She picked it up very quickly, she was pointing and pressing while saying "cheese" in a matter of seconds.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Item 3: Swiss Deux, Monkey Bar!

I'm at the Monkey Bar in Switzerland. Why did I choose this photo? It's one of the few bars that I went to that let you smoke indoors. I heart this place. There's also a gigantic electric humidor and you select a cigar. I had to get a recommendation from a friend about what cigar to have. He had some absinthe if I can remember. Anyways, a post-work cigar was awesome.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Project 365 - Day 5

I often put my feet up against the wall to help the blood flow. Something I learned from my yoga classes. So I decided to put on my silliest pair of socks today and take a picture.

Those socks seemed like a good idea at the time I bought them. It has individual sockets for each toe. It feels horrible!

Project 365 - Day 4

There were two birthday gatherings today so I got home very late (4AM). As I was walking back to my house from my car I looked at all the lamp posts on my street and I had an idea to take this picture. This was the only shot I took today. Long exposure of me walking down my deserted street at 4AM. The long exposure captured all the motion as I walked away from the camera. It turned out the way I expected, except for the lights. Those turned out better than I thought. I want to capture the same scene for all the seasons.

I used some spot healing in Lightroom for post-processing today. There was a plastic cup lying on the ground so I had to take it out because it was grabbing all the attention.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Item 2: Swiss Hotel

That's me before heading off to work in Zurich Switzerland. I was living in Zurich between 03-January-2011 till 28-February-2011. So about a good two months. That's the apartment that I was staying in. It was an incredibly swanky apartment. There is an ensuite bathroom and then one of those bathrooms with just a sink and toilet. What's behind me is my dining table. Behind that is the living space with the sofa. The key that's attached to the door is a special key. It's like magnetic or something. It sounds really nice, but this was one of the lower points of my life. I take this photo before I head off to work and put in my resignation letter to Infusion Development.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Project 365 - Day 3

Today's photo features the bracelet I bought in Vancouver. The artist who created this piece also created the sculptures for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His name is Joseph Chiang and the ladybug is his signature which is a symbol for good luck.

It's quite a boring image, I know. My fingers look fat...

Anyways, I used the cropping tool for this picture today. I'm hoping I'll be able to take something a bit more "Vogue" in the near future.

It's only been 3 days and I'm already getting tired of how boring my pictures are... Do you feel the same?

Item 1: Banksy Exhibit


Here we are at the Banksy Exhibit. I say Banksy Exhibit but it's just random graffiti from so many people. It's sponsored by Asahi beer and there was so much free beer! There were a few interesting pieces. I took a few other photos. These most likely aren't originals and are probably prints.

The two people in there are my friends Dil and Taylor. We go through the entire art gallery talking about each painting. It was fun just arguing and reinterpreting each piece.

This was inbetween two activities yesterday. The first one was drinks at the Princess Louise. The last one was finding where they were shooting a scene for the Dark Knight Returns. In any case, fun!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Project 365 - Day 2


Yes I know. I'm late in posting this but better late than never. I actually took this picture when I woke up this morning, I just didn't get around to playing with it until now.

This was the shot I wanted to take yesterday before I realized that the battery bled dry. This is what usually happens in the mornings, I usually go back to sleep after doing this...

I decided on black and white because my blinds are orange and it gave the coloured version this weird orange tinge. I am not powerful enough to give it that morning glow in Photoshop yet so black and white is my short cut out of this one.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Project 365 - Day 1


Today's the start of my self portrait project. 365 photos in 365 days. Because I don't know all the techniques and such, I've decided on a very simple snapshot. Plain and simple, no post-processing.

I've discovered that I don't like looking at pictures of myself at all, looks weird, feels weird, and I can only focus on all the bad things.

After looking at a total of 71 photos today of nothing but my face, here's what I learned about myself.

  1. I think my eyes are my best features, I actually like them
  2. My face is not symmetrical, my right side looks better! Something I need to keep in mind for future photos

Sunday, March 6, 2011

TSO (Lobut Drops the Ball)


As promised, here is a picture of the nice little TSO packaged that arrived at the same time as your postcard.

You need to come back to Toronto right now so I have someone to get a culture fix with!

I'm seriously considering going by myself at this point...

(I'm still waiting to see a picture of that kilo of chocolate.)

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Weddings - Singles Dropping Like Flies


My friend got married a couple of weekends ago. Weddings are popping up one after another now. This translates to more money spent on clothes that I'll probably only wear once. It also translates to more people asking when I'll get married.

Did I tell you about the time that my cousin in China tried to set me up with someone because she's worried I'll never get married? I literally had culture shock in my own living room. Who does that these days???

Can you guess who the bride is?