makumaro.net

Another Paper to Sit For

Vyanne made wanton mee over the weekend. Heh, been having it for lunches and dinners but I didn’t manage to take a picture until tonight. She made the charsiew and wantons, mixing the sauce that goes with the noodles. Overall, a very satisfying dish to have. I try to style the food as best I can but it’s always between trying to get a good picture and wanting to just chow down on dinner.

Used the 50mm 1.2 to good effect here. Tried a few aperture settings and think you get the right balance of sharpness and out of focus rendering at f/2.8.

* * *

I have to eat my words again, as I said I wasn’t going to do the CPA exam. Part of me wants to push ahead and be a wedding photographer, but then again, I still need the fallback of being able to do another professional job if that doesn’t quite work out. I’m okay with studying for accounting papers, and after crash and burning for my CFA exam, I feel that now that I’m working and more settled into my role, I can concentrate better on studying. Prior to this I was jobless and that made one restless, and me being the kind that needs quick resolution to things, couldn’t quite sit down properly to study.

The reason I decided to do it now is because the first stage of enrolment will conclude next week, and it would be an extra $100 to do it. The notes don’t arrive until early August, so I’m thinking of just taking one subject first. Having spent time doing the CFA syllabus has given me a little more sense on how to prepare for such exams. The paper isn’t until the end of October, so roughly two and the half months for me to read and master the subject. Don’t think I want to take shortcuts now and I’ll try my best to pass the exams on the first try.

* * *

Been hooked on Plants vs Zombies, a simple tower defense kind of game where you plant flowers, vegetables that shoot projectiles or do damage to an invading horde of zombies. It’s a simple game with a simple premise, but the many mini games included mean I can finish a round in 15 to 20 minutes. Any game that doesn’t require more than half an hour of my attention at a time will keep me entertained for plenty of hours. Heh, the key here is that I don’t mind spending large chunks of time on the same game, I’d just like to be able to break those chunks into manageable periods.

Instant Resolution

Had coffee over at this new cafe near my place and it’s one of those places that put the emphasis on the coffee and everything else is added on. Coffee was decent but I wonder it’s hard for places to maintain their quality of coffee. As the place gets more popular, the coffee does seem to get watered down a bit.

As for the picture, I’m quite comfortable with using the 50mm 1.2 these days. It has that nice sharpness on what it’s focusing on yet renders the out of focus parts so creamily smooth.

* * *

A little conflicted with things these few days. I just want an instant resolution for things that I do, and I’m not a big fan of results and decisions where I cannot influence the outcome too much. Heh, just simply put there are some things on the back of my mind these days. I need focus and motivation to resolve the things that should be the most important as soon as I can.

Will be a short blurb tonight. Need to turn in soon. Work on Monday beckons.

Just Time to Think

Just need to get away from the food pictures for a bit. So not posting anything today, as I don’t have very many other pictures to share at the moment. I do find that my focus on what I’d like to do shifts from time to time. For a week or two I decide I’d like to cook more stuff, and then a week later I decide I’d like to brush up my photography skills a bit. It’s not that I’ve lost interest, but that’s just how I learn things, I need to step back, and process all the ideas I’ve had in the past few days. I’m at the point of doing things where I have a grasp of some basics and I don’t hold back on trying something new, and picking up on mistakes immediately to know how to do it better next time.

* * *

Needed to do a personal character check the other day. I responded to something in my usual snobbish manner. Not that it’s intentional, but I have to keep reminding myself that things I take for granted don’t necessarily come easy to people. So I have toned down my snobbery a bit (it resurfaces very rarely but still catches me off guard sometimes), and have been a little more helpful to people of late. I feel a better person for it.

* * *

I’m just trying to clear my desk to make doing work a little more conducive. There are constantly items piled on my desk and I should deal with it more assertively.

I’m okay with work at the moment, but it doesn’t excite me as much as say, doing a photo shoot, or designing a website for someone. One thing I’ve learned over the past year working at the hospital is how to interact with people. At my previous firm, I kept in character since the start of my job and for 2 years, I don’t think I expressed myself very well. So I started with a clean slate as you can be anyone you want when no one knows you. Heh, I’ve become a lot more sociable, and I’m genuinely wanting to become a nicer person to be around and work with.

* * *

Life for me is always about finding positives in whatever I do. I do complain about things a lot of times, but it’s more to grumbling about it and then just accepting it as it is and finding ways to get around it. I don’t want to stand still and be too comfortable with where I am or who I am, just so that I can continue to grow mentally.

Ready for a fresh reboot starting July.