makumaro.net

Learning

Not terribly fond of myself at the moment. Heh, or rather my circumstances.

Been studying for my upcoming exam, on foreign exchange. This is probably the 5th time or so I’ve come across options, those finance ones with the put/call buy/sell etc etc. My first encounter with them was in second year doing Business Finance. I was never terribly comfortable with them, as they were usually the last things that were thought in a subject. Every subsequent time I came across them, I barely understood them and with such a fragile foundation on the topic, I am just totally puzzled when I come across these questions in an exam.

Not anymore I suppose. I’ve probably grown tired of these options understanding me and not me understanding them. For this upcoming subject, I’ve actually sat down and gone through every single exercise when a topic is covered. Very much like how I used to do exercises in primary school. I never quite understood a lot of the math involved, but the sheer volume of practice ensured that you could do the questions (at least until exam time when they twisted the question a bit and nothing seemed to make sense anymore, there I go again with the fragile foundations). I’m thinking back towards my maths background from highschool, and all that shifting equations around has helped quite a bit in me working out the formulae involved in calculating prices/rates etc.

Just want to get the exam done and over with quickly. Heh. Hoping I can sit through the exam and come out in one piece.

* * *

Haven’t picked up my camera for the past week. Just living off the images I took in Sydney and posting two a day when I have time. July is a landmark month in terms of uploads, never have I posted so many pictures before. Breaking free from the previous mode of posting pictures with just basic post-processing. Now I’m thinking more of the visual impact of things, and how different colours will affect the mood of the picture.

Learning photography is like learning about options. It makes sense the first time you read about it. When you try to apply it in practice, the results don’t seem to come out as expected. You never really get it the first time, but every subsequent time you look at it, it starts to make a little more sense. I’d like to reach a point where no matter how the situation is, your basic knowledge and sound concepts about the theories lead you to the appropriate decisions on what to put in practice.

It is tiring, all this thinking. Heh, when studying used to be a full time job on its own, it felt ok to learn things. Now it’s like opportunity cost, time spent learning something during your weekends when you could be unwinding/relaxing. This forex stuff is interesting, however, slapping a pass/fail/distinction on it loses some of its appeal. Heh, just need some rest.

* * *

Not a terribly exciting picture, but visually pleasing enough. Would just like to post some pictures that look pretty nice, but don’t quite make it to the photography section. Heh.

Gourmet Pasta

Wanted to post this last night, but was so enthusiastic about my dinner I finished it before I remembered that I was supposed to take a picture of it.

This is how it occurred. On holiday in Sydney, one evening while waiting for dinner to happen, I was sitting in front of the tele and was watching this English and Italian guy (middle aged blokes who seem content on life and look the part) getting drunk at night and cooking meals during the day. It was supposed to be a cookshow of sorts I guess. They prepared a number of things, including s Corizo sausage sandwich, which had too many ingredients that I just looked on in eagerness. What I did remember though, was a pasta recipe by the Italian (of course).

It’s a simple pasta with exotic ingredients and here is how it was made. Well, my variation of it anyway, I memorised the basics of it. Now this is probably the one and only recipe I recall from scratch having seen it once.

You prepare a few cloves of garlic, capers, olives, canned tuna, anchovies and tomatoes (skinned and the semi dried ones).

So here’s the very efficient process I have worked out. Put a pot of water on boil and start chopping up your garlic and capers. Set them aside and your pot of water should be boiling by now. Chuck the pasta in and heat up your saucepan (or whatever you use to cook). Throw in the garlic. Let it brown a bit, and put the anchovies in. You mash those up into a paste, then you pour the capers and olives in. Stir it up a bit, then you add in the tuna. Mix that up a bit before adding in the skinned tomatoes (I used canned ones, as the fresh ones have a sour taste to it, unless you want to add sugar) and semi dried tomatoes. Season with paprika, pepper and parsley. Add a dash of oregano (not sure if you need this, as the previous ingredients give the dish an identity of its own already). Mix everything up.

By now, the pasta should be ready. Drain it, and mix it into the pasta. I saw this on tele, and the Italian guy flipped the pasta along with the sauce to mix it up (something I’ll force myself to learn, even if I have to spill food all over the place). Serve hot.

Here’s how it looks like.

Being the Chinaman that I am, I eat pasta with chopsticks!

Haphazard

Wonder what life would be like being a little more haphazard in the way we do things.

It’s probably my upbringing, or my family style, where being sure of things is always good. Like having a plan, and always emphasising on the cons that are the main reasons why you don’t do certain things.

Had dinner with colleagues last night, as a farewell to one of them who was leaving today. Her reason was to pursue a life being a nutritionist/personal trainer. She’s an accountant by training, but she just decided one fine day that this wasn’t her thing and decided to just let go and move on. She’s going to drive up to Brisbane and stop by any place she fancies to just chill. She already has a part time job as a receptionist and is currently scouting for accommodation.

* * *

Life is so orderly now. Have a job, place to stay, things to do. Maybe I’m easily contented. Well, that is the only reason why people stop doing the things they do and change. I realise that about myself, being easily contented. I keep wanting to learn about new things about computers and photography, but that’s more of a curiousity bug. People like me don’t really like to get out of their comfort zones too much, so leaving my job and uprooting to a new state can seem rather unnerving. Heh. I admire this quality in people and since I’m not one to start doing things like that, can only compensate for it by making my existing life more productive and meaningful.

While staying in Sydney, saw a quote on attitude on Vyanne’s friend’s door. Something you read before going out each day. Don’t remember the exact one, but this one catches the idea.

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” Scott Hamilton

Just need to start working out the details bit by bit and have an active thought to change.

* * *

Shared beer with my colleague last night. Had the last two on that list, Chimay and Duvel. Chimay doesn’t taste strong for a 9% bottle of beer. Duvel tastes a little more like Hoegaarden and also at 8.5%. Those numbers are rather staggering for a beer as standard drinks hover around 3.5 to 4%. A bottle is 750ml, hence the need to share. Both are rather smooth to taste, but this is expected from Belgian beers, where the best beers are brewed by monks in an underground cavern of sorts (or so I heard). Heh.