makumaro.net

For the Better

Just seems to be the month where I’m posting only glassware photos. Was at Greco’s on Chapel St celebrating my cousins’ graduations from university. Was craving chicken parmigiana the whole day and finally managed to sink my teeth into some that night. Simple fare but tasty when you are hungry and just want to eat.

Heh, it’s been 5 years since I’ve graduated and I vaguely remember the excitement way back then. Much has changed since then, but it’s for the better.

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Not very fond of Decembers. It’s the month when we just eat and eat and eat. Heh, was over at cousin’s place this afternoon, had Hainanese Chicken Rice with lots of other things. Relatives are here so we’ve been constantly catching up, and it’s usually over a meal here and there. There’s also the Christmas parties happening here and there. Had my department Christmas lunch on Friday, and this year felt a little underwhelming as half the staff had already gone on holidays. Preparing for a barbeque tomorrow, so there’s more food going in.

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I’m pushing myself towards change these days. Recall starting out this website and trying various blogging software. Ended up with WordPress as it was the most user friendly back then, for designing and developing a website upon. It’s become pretty bloated of late, and my blogging habits have not changed much since 2004, so I don’t need many of the new added features to the software. Chyrp has finally been updated to version 2.0 status (tried version 1.0 a while ago and while it worked, I didn’t want to spend the time building a site from scratch) and I’d like to simplify my blog a bit. It’s time to rethink ideas that were set in stone since 2004.

I am also contemplating changing my hosting to something cheaper, where I only need to pay for domain registration, and none of the hosting/bandwidth costs. It costs me about AUD$60 annually to maintain this site, but I can get that figure down to $20, as this isn’t a very traffic intensive site, so I can get away with sharing the hosting somewhere else. I’ve also not been very satisfied with the hosting as there has been times when the site’s availability was splotchy (had access troubles from Friday night to just a couple of hours ago).

It’s only taken me 3 or 4 years to decide I’d want to do this. I was never one to rock the boat too much, but these days I feel that things are not static and if you face an obstacle, it is not the end of the world. You just need to find a way to remove the obstacle to reach the goal you have in mind.

So time to start rocking!

Moving Along

More glassware photos. You wouldn’t think that this shot was at ISO3200 and 1/5000s (heh, left it at the uber high ISO during my friend’s wedding dinner due to the poor indoor lighting). Luckily I checked the settings after the shot and realised how wrong the shutter speed looked.

Brought cousin to Yering Station at the Yarra Valley for lunch before visiting a cherry farm to feast on and pick cherries.

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It’s been hectic. Mom was here a couple of weeks ago. Cousin from New Zealand was here for a week and just left this morning. Have some other relatives here for my cousins’ graduations, and there’s Christmas parties lined up for the next two weeks.

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Had a double shot piccolo latte with Jerome at Seven Seeds near my place. It was an interesting experience, with the coffee smelling like fermented fruit and leaving a fruity aftertaste. For a concentrated shot of coffee in a 90ml glass, it was not sour/bitter but tasted just nice. Jerome thinks it might be a double shot ristretto, where the espresso shot is cut short so you don’t get the full 60ml of liquid normally associated with a double shot.

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Been swimming a little more these days and feel pretty comfortable in the water these days. When I first started, I’d reach one end of the pool and just idle for a minute to catch my breath. Now I can hold my breath longer and zip up and down the swimming lane with little effort. Going for a run is definitely more taxing on the body, but at least I exercise my entire body while swimming.

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Heh, haven’t been sleeping enough of late. Guess I’m going to turn in early.

Something About Everything

A row of glasses at the French Brasserie in the city where my friends celebrated their wedding day. Getting the knack of manual focusing again.

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My CPA application that I put in a few days ago has been received. Just waiting for the membership to go through, then maybe I can sign up for some subjects for next year. Hoping to finish the program in 2 years. Heh, it’s a bit depressing being an accountant at times. You look at the big picture of an organisation’s financial health, and you plan your budgets around cashflow, expenses and revenue. It’s not as simple as cutting costs here, pumping money there. Hospitals are complex organisations, and a lot of times it’s just a balancing act to present the numbers to give an analysis on the best course of action.

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Put another lens on eBay. Heh, my trusty Nikon D70 that I used for 3 years will be going up for auction shortly as well. It’s been a good camera and while it still takes decent shots, I’ve been spoiled by the handling of my D300. Haven’t been experimenting much of late, and the most recent photos were taken at a friend’s marriage ceremony. Able to think on the fly on what I need to be doing to get the kind of shots I want. Just need to put a little more effort in getting into the frame of mind to push myself to absolutely do everything to get the shot I want (still a little half hearted at times). Also realised that I should ban all forms of UV filters on my lenses. While they offer protection for the front element, they offer very little else. It’s annoying to have when shooting against bright light sources as you will see ghosting of the lights.

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The past few weeks I feel like I’ve only been consuming, be it just enjoying movies, listening to music or just eating. These days, it’s so easy to just consume that you take things for granted on how they got there. Just plenty of random thoughts these days. Feeling the usual jolly self, just maybe avoiding the larger things in life.