• circus of my life •

i'm just sick and tired. kthxbai!

woke up this morning with a mixed feel of sadness, frustration, crushed and disappointed from yesterday's news.. but having to know that things do happen (or do not happen) for reasons set by the Almighty Allah, i accepted the reality and hoping that someday my prayer will be answered.

but it is a sad day tho'... :(

at 12 o'clock just now, prices for petrol and diesel in Malaysia increased by RM0.05 or 5 cents. the increase is quite OK compared to the previous increase and fluctuation that Malaysians experienced for the past 2-3 years. the Government of Malaysia (GoM) decided to reduce the subsidy and try not to put too much burden on petrol/diesel consumers. i believe GoM is doing the right thing by cutting this subsidy. for a nation to grow, a nation need to be competitive inside out. i'm strongly against on those who condemned this move by GoM. i personally think that this group of people is bunch of cheapskates and lazy bums.

through out my working experiences, i traveled to few countries. from my personal opinion, the price for petrol and diesel is Malaysia is cheap, but not the cheapest. even in the so-called great Singapore is far more expensive. but again, that tiny Singapore has no resources so it does make sense.

"but we are petroleum producer nation, why we are paying more than other petroleum producer nation?"

brotherrrr... if you have something that you can sell for higher price, would you rather sell it and use the money to generate more money or consume it to suit your thirst for free (or relatively cheap) stuffs? i don't have any experience of managing a nation but i believe it still based on the basic concept of doing business. if we don't generate money, how can a company grow? for example, you developed a good product that is marketable but you keep it to yourself, will that be a wise move? let me tell you... IT IS STUPID!

but the issue is not about selling our resources to other nation at other price. it is about some cheapskate Malaysians want to pay so little for something so precious. they are comfortable driving their big cars that consume petrol/diesel like nobody business. they love driving their cars to groceries stores that are 100m away. they love driving their glorious car alone and get stuck in many hours of traffic jam. well, your time is over and it is time to wake up. if you think you can't afford for your car's petrol, then don't drive your car. trade for better fuel consumption cars. trade your comfort with the smell of someone's armpit in a bus. trade your ego by sharing your ride to work. that's the way to get around the situation. you can expect the whole world to evolve around you. you need to evolve yourself around the world.

ok, enough blabber. i broke too many hearts already. time to sign off. ta-ta!

whatever it is, make sure you don't forget your root even if it was not a good one. a tree will not grow without its root. a problem will not happen without a root cause. everything related to 'root'. so be wise in life because life is short, too short. 

it has been a year since i let go all my drop-dead-serious photography stuffs. looking back all the fun that i had with photography when i was in Penang, the urge to get back into photography is mounting. however the same reason why i let it go still remains as of today.

oh... belom tutup kedai lagi. just that i have so many other things to do than updating this little blog of mine. will try to update with stuffs (i hope). :D

This cute kid in diaper danced to Single Ladies MV. This is hilarious! 

#1: I can run AutoCAD 2008 on Windows XP via Parallels Desktop 4 on Mac OSX. I can enjoy the best of Mac and the least worst of Windows at the same time. r0x0r!

This was taken along Jelutong Expressway, Penang. I did a pseudo-HDR which is generating 3 different exposures from a single RAW file. A real HDR should be done using exposure bracketing technique (well, at least that is what I think it should be). This HDR was created using Photomatix and with further enhancements using Photoshop. I personally prefer less dramatic HDR. It gives more realism in the photo. Well, I do lack in "Imagination Department".

HDR is currently the new pink in post-processing. Some people even applied HDR to portraits; some were extremely nice, some were extremely awful. However, don't strict yourself like I have limit myself from not pushing the boundaries. Explore and be bold! Creativities have no borders.

If you are not familiar with HDR technique and want to know more, don't hesitate to email me at candidciku[at]gmail.com.

I've heard about this profile for a while now and haven't give it a try until a few weeks back. I'm very impressed with the D2X Camera Profile. It boosted the color, tone and the clarity of my photos.

The original photo is on the left and the photo that was using D2X Camera Profile Mode 3 is on the right. I didn't do any changes to the RAW except for changing the Camera Profile from ACR4.4 to D2X Mode 3. You can view larger photo here. For more information, please go to Adobe Labs.