my precious peach :)

When life makes you want to say "I have no time" or just simply throw away your books/projects/assignments and book the next plane out of the city, text your girlfriends :) They probably won't throw all their commitments aside to help you with your work, but you'll almost be guaranteed to get a few laughs/encouragements/hugs and along with it serotonin to help make your day/week more bearable.

The last few weeks have been a whole new level for me. Never have I had to juggle with so many tasks and workload- 3 papers may not seem like a whole lot of work, but gosh it does take out so much time and energy from me. Of course, the 2nd semester of honours year (last semester ever of uni! so far, anyway) is as expected, CHALLENGING yet rewarding by the time I receive that piece of certificate in my hands, with a big fat "1st class honours" printed on it.

But no matter how frustrating research can be somedays, I make time to relax. Be it agreeing to go for lunch/coffee session, watch 1 or 2 episodes of Grey's Anatomy, play the keyboard, etc. Or maybe even just taking photos using my lovely new phone teehee!

Btw, thanks again to Chyi and her friend who bought it from Singapore.

Presenting... Sony Ericsson c901 in precious peach!!! *loves

Oh yes before you ask, I am a huge fan of Sony Ericsson, ever since my first SE back in 2006: k750i. My previous w850i has suffered a traumatic accident, you'd be surprised to know that it is functional now, though the keypads are a little... hard to use haha due to the stickiness of the liquid it fell into. Anyway... some photos of my new phone and the photos taken using the flashy 5.0Mp camera function.

NOT the official theme, not pretty nonetheless right?

the "c" in c901 stands for cybershot BTW
The keypad is a joy to use. Love the silver deco lining

sliding the cover at the back to reveal the camera lens
with xenon flash MMMM (instead of the usual led flash)
xenon flash is far more powerful. with autofocus function, great macro shots (example below), smile shutter function, etc the whole shebang that comes with new cameraphone models

camera function in action.
5Mp resolution is waaaaaay too much for just general usage (same resolution if I were to use my Canon camera!), so I usually just use 3Mp- it is good enough. Transferring photos is easy too! using bluetooth function to transfer to my laptop takes only a few seconds

just the right size: from the left my ipod nano, SE c901, SE w850i
oooh and I've bought a cute phone pouch from Etsy :)

Some random photos taken using c901...

mocha @ Eureka

Photos below taken on the Take 2 (reorientation) when there was a carnival-themed event happening around uni

swing-around thingy which looked so unsafe haha!
outside the Richardson building. if one of those harnesses would to come loose, people would swing right into the Richardson building :P

another unstable-looking structure: the ferris wheel
the queue was sooooooo long. well, all the rides were free though

busker/singer with an european accent
*cough* becky swooning over his lyrics *cough* HAHA!

the bouncy castle

Yay I can finally go to the farmers market tomorrow morning! Been so busy the last few Saturdays (group meetings, experiments blabla) that I actually missed going to the market and enjoy my lamb kebabs/dumplings/fresh soy milk/french crepe HEHEHE. At night, I have a date with 2 sexy ladies at the International Cultural Nite :P then hopefully make it to the "Heart of Worship" event at Union Hall next Wednesday. Saying 'hopefully' as starting this semester, I have back-to-back presentations on every Wednesday and Thursday; meaning 1 class presentation every single week :( The actual presentation doesn't scare me anymore, but it's the amount of research and actual preparation of each presentation and the group meetings which tire me out.

Have a good weekend ahead, wherever you may be :) Big apologies to those I haven't been keeping in touch with, as much as I had wanted to. You'll be happy to know that you're always on my mind (gosh sounds like that cheesy love song), next to my bacteria :P hehehe

will you be mine?

Urm sorry if I'm boring you with my love for photography (and suddenly, in video). Just bear with me while I express my lurrrrrve. I'm so in love that I've started thinking of what to name my non-existent Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

For me, choosing my first DSLR is THE big decision, just like choosing your first car, the perfect spot to propose (gotta be dramatic!), which uni to go to, (for chyi) which 1st super luxury bag to buy HAHA ok you get my point. It is a big deal. Which is why I'm 100% sure that 5Dm2 is the perfect one for me.

But no, I won't get it now. The price is still skyhigh. The cheapest on trademe is $6200, cheapest on ebay Australia is about $5800 (after conversion), body only is sold out on Amazon! Yeah I just got my current camera last September, but well HEHE 1 year is not too bad, right? (trying to convince myself here)

Anyway.

This guy here is a genius. He makes awesome videos using 5Dm2.

Sofia's People: Canon 5dmk2 24p from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

People in Msia, can help me scope the prices for this baby? ;) I'll be so grateful if you do. Chiah you laksa when I do get back someday hehe. Might get parents to buy this when they come over for graduation end of the year *fingers crossed they will allow*

want vs. need

For the same reason I'm not keen on being one of them in the photo above, I'm taking a degree most people don't even know what it's about (and will often ask "so what will you work as?" or silly questions like "oh, so that's a combination of biology and technology...?") as opposed of doing a course in journalism- which I admit if circumstances were different I wouldn't mind pursuing.

But still, that doesn't stop many of us from loving photography- who doesn't?

From the ah lians on facebook and friendster who bombard their photo albums with 100 photos of themselves (just in slightly different angles) taken using terribly bad phone-camera quality, to professional wedding photographers charging about $1000/hour for their services; we can't imagine a world without cameras *horrified gasp* Imagine: what would facebook be without any photos?

Anyway, my point is: I'm perfectly happy with my current baby- Canon Powershot SX 110 IS which I bought last September. But the greedy side of me has been researching (besides constant studying :P) on current on-the-market DSLRs.

...and then I found it: Canon EOS 5D Mark II

beautiful, eh?

See the comprehensive review here.

It's fairly new (released August 2008 I think?), hence the insanely high price of close to NZD7000 for body and kit (on trademe, anyway). I know, I know: 7000 is even enough to get a good car here. But hey, a little motivation leading up to graduation wouldn't hurt, right? =P

Glowy

If you're bored, or just want something to distract you for 10 minutes or so, have a look at the TIME's compilation of the Best Inventions of the Year. Cool stuff.

I'm still browsing, but so far one of my favourites has to be this: the glo Pillow.

Most people hate their alarm clock. That's why Eoin McNally and Ian Walton created the glo Pillow. Embedded with a grid of LEDs, it uses nothing but light to wake you up. About 40 min. before reveille, the programmable foam pillow starts glowing, gradually becoming brighter, to simulate a natural sunrise. This helps set your circadian rhythm and ease you into the day.

Impressive, very impressive. Though it might seem weird lying your head on LEDs, having light instead of sound waking me up sounds tempting.

Thinknext.com

I stumbled on this cool website which features new, cool, and sometimes useful recommendations of products. Worth checking out.

I found a few items I wouldn't mind owning myself. heh.

1. A piggy bank which counts how much money you put in it. Finally, a pig that talks!
2. A USB microscope (yeap, MICROscope) which zooms in up to 200X (pretty good since the standard light microscope zooms up to 1000X). Very handy to check the type of bacteria in your food.
   
3. A handheld tripod which allows vain people to take pictures of themselves without the need of using timers. Very useful, though not for me.
4. A washable keyboard and mice. Wow, no need to be afraid of accidentally spilling coffee on keyboards anymore! What next- edible keyboards?
5. One of favs- Clocky! the alarm clock which runs away from you (so you'll have to chase it to turn it off or press the snooze button). So cute!
6. A bike you can fold up in 3 seconds. And it comes with a bag which you can put it into. Sounds practical.
7. And finally, my dream speakers (for now). It's small, powerful, sleek, and round. What more can a girl ask for?! Introducing Cabasse's Eole microspheres. Only 4" in diametre and yet these cute speakers are more powerful than my Altec Lansing ones. *drooling* Now if only I can find these being sold here in NZ... or even Msia. heh.

See what I mean? No sane person can resist not falling in love with that design, ok.

Way cooler than the Harman Kardon invisible sticks (soundsticks) I think.

I want, I want!!!

Anyway, if you're bored or just want to check out this website, click here. Highly recommended.

My new toy

I just came back from a dinner function, the Mayor was there too. Heh. More about that tomorrow if I feel like blogging.

Anyway, as you all know, I received a brand new Ipod Nano 3rd generation for my birthday. I think it's still not released officially in NZ yet, so had to be imported from overseas.

Finally on Thursday, it arrived!

4G memory; silver.

Mirror mirror on the wall, can you read the engraving at the back? :P

It's incredibly thin (6.5mm), I'm so afraid if I'll drop it.

The size when compared to my *new* phone.

Dad didn't know how to use some features, so he decided to send it to me. I'm planning to sell my current one, not sure how much yet.

Samsung phones have cool features (see above) and cute sounds when the keys are pressed. Disadvantages are short battery life, no 3G (which I don't use at all), and erm in case no one noticed yet: the external features are designed for guys. meh.