Back to riding

I used to ride bikes a lot when I was younger. I spent four years as an undergraduate cycling to and from campus with a road bike. I was maintaining my riding habit until about ten years ago – when my bike was stolen. Last week, I was reading reviews on a few websites about bikes and riding. Finally I have decided to get one cross country bike on Friday just to sweat around every now and then.

My first ride was on Saturday morning after my Subuh prayer after a night of bike preparation. I was planning on a short trip just to test the balance but ended up with more than 10km terrain of a few hills and rough surface around the vicinity of my house. I felt good to be free again with my Nikon FM on my back.

A long day at work today and a few chores after that left me with little time in the evening. I managed to clock eight kilometers on rough surface before sweating home in time for a good shower before I headed for the Surau. I am happy with the ride so far and looking forward to clocking longer miles during the weekend.

19mm view

All shots | Nikon FM2 | 19mm/3.8 | Scanned negative | film

Last week I took an extra four days break after Hari Raya just to laze around not doing anything important. A week break from rain rendered beautiful sky all around. It gave me perfect opportunity to try out my new 19mm optics. I hope the coming long weekend will be bright and sunny again.

Sun looking like moon

Homeward Bound, a photo by ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm on Flickr.
Nikon FM | 50mm | negative scanned

As I pulled in the parking lot at my workplace today, the sun was so round looking pretty much like moon. By the time I have my camera ready for a shot, the cloud covered that ball of fire and the ride out stays gloomy till now. My lappy took super long time to boot and I have to make a cold restart to get it working again. It is now official that today is my off day. I think I am a great warm human being and I am entitled to have an off day and it is good to feel that I am human. Bad days make me more aware of how fragile strength is. For today, nothing motivates me to go change the world. To do the things that I love, seem laborious. To do the things that I hate, feels worse than they usually would.

Good people out there

Pennywort, a photo by ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm on Flickr.

Nikon F3 | 55mm | negative scanned

I think we are being surrounded by good people who would really care about us because there are a lot of good people out there - we just have to let them inside our heart.

Recently as I was driving out with my family to town, my wife heard strange sound from the rear wheel of our vehicle. I pulled to the side and realized that we had flat tire. Being a handyman, I started taking out tools and spare and went on with the routine procedure. Once I pulled out the flat, I realized that one side of the car was on the soft ground and there is no way that I can replace the fully inflated tire even with my jack at full stretch.

I called the mobile repairman and waited by the roadside. An Indian uncle stopped by and asked if everything was alright with us. I thanked him for the concern and he moved along. Moments later, the repairman arrived and his pickup truck is equipped with pressure tank and repair kit. The puncture was repaired and I have no need to use the spare. He charged me just RM10 as he said we live in the same Taman. I drove straight to a Tire shop to get the wheel balanced and the worker there courteously tidied up my spare for easier air refill later on. He even took out the tire from the wheel to clean up the debris inside the punctured area. For all the job done, he charged me RM6. My wife did not believe when I told her the two good men just caused minimal damage to my wallet. In a stressful situation like that, I am more than willing to fork out 50 or even 100 as long as I can get the job done.

Everybody seemed to be concerned about how much they can get. Most people don’t even have much time for other issues. The first thought that pops into their head whenever an issue is raised is “how will this affect me and who is going to gain more than me” - which in this case is not true.

Thank you to all the good people out there and all those good deeds will not go away unappreciated, I'm sure.

Speak up

Do I need to speak up?
64, wi-fi and 3G maybe. Maybe I can raise enough money by skipping Raya celebration and wash dishes for three months.
Sweet dream netters!

How do I feel today?

Badge owner

MisX FusChia | Dina Azhar | Fatnin | Farah Adiba | Fatin Fakhira | BiOH |
Great viper | Cendulpulut | Nur Izzati | Biha | Mirahihi | nur.hannan
Arahida | Wafi | Murni | Anis Farzana | Alexandra

The Tender Air

The Tender Air, a photo by ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm on Flickr.
Nikon F3 | 24mm | negative scanned

one moment
a single photo
no words
capturing a moment
a simple, special, extraordinary moment
a moment I want to pause, savor and remember
the moment that I am home again.

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Isolated ideas

Nikon F3 | 50mm | negative scanned

I’ll be facing one bigger task tomorrow before Hari Raya comes along. A whole day looking through piles of documents and endless interviews prior to closing the day is not something that I am thrilled about. Talking to people about ideas and ideals can really be interesting though. Some would just lost along the way and trying hard to tie up the initial ideal situation. When isolated, ideas and ideals seem so clear and so defined. Standing up for those ideals seems like an effortless and righteous task. After all, in a perfect world, in a controlled environment, every idea is either black and white, sinister or pure in nature and is contained within very clear boundaries, with its respective villains and heroes. When it comes to looking at these ideas and ideals in their larger context, in the often changing socio-cultural conditions, the boundaries between right and wrong are no longer so clearly defined. And as these previously-clear-cut lines become more and more muddled the more one begins to question their initial idea in the first place. I hope the person I am meeting tomorrow will be on the right track.

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LETs get RICH and build our house on a mountain making everybody look like ants :-)

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Zuiko addiction

I have to confess my addiction to Zuiko glasses and finally came the latest addition to my collection. It's a Pen EE - half frame camera with funny viewfinder orientation. Not to mention how handsome is the camera and I like the natural diptych delivered by my lab scanner. I had the first test roll developed and the camera delivered what it should be doing. I shot about 40 frames through the windscreen along the 15km journey from Jitra to Alor Setar with my wife on the driving seat. It was a test roll anyway :-)

Pen EE | 28mm | negative scanned

Not bad for a camera that was introduced in 1959.


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Pieces in the universe

Nikon F3 | 50mm | Scanned negative

"There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle." Deepak Chopra

Almost every morning I will be walking to my office underneath big trees and looking at all the leaves on the ground, and sometimes flowers, marveling at how so much come from almost nothing. A bit of water, a bit of soil, a bit of sun, and something exists where nothing did before. I wish I can let them finish out their natural cycle of replenishing the soil from which they came but the yard workers will rake and burn them soon enough. I am always blessed with a camera in hand so that I can still imprint these beauties in my memories.

Looking at those leaves, I was reminded of written words, and how they come from almost nothing. We never run out of words. We use the same words over and over again, combining them infinitely into ideas, stories, songs, and lullabies. It definitely has to be a beautiful picture!

LETs get RICH and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance.

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Riding our ego

Nikon FM2 | 50mm | negative scanned

In today’s world, most of us are working for our ego. As long as we keep doing this, the burden will be heavy for us. Even if we are working 24/7, our ego will say that we are one lazy lot. Ego is a test for human kind. Overriding our ego puts us on high station. Fasting is a way of taking away our ego – to make it weak and die. Don’t be heedless, because then we will be imprisoned by our dirty ego, like a lion in a cage. For every moment that we are heedless, some damage or punishment comes to us. Even a short moment may become a curse on us.

Our physical being cannot reach to the vastness of the world. But our spiritual being - that is something else.

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My intimacy with human - Sorry!

Nikon F3 | 135mm | Scanned negative

Many live their life in fear and warp their actions and behavior on this fear that others will disapprove or belittle them. I have learned that I will always make people uneasy with actions/words that came out from me. I can’t make everyone happy so I realized and thus I created Pictures for No One. I can take criticism and I’m comfortable with that. No one is obligated to enjoy, agree with, or applaud my pictures,writings or actions as they’re entitled to their own opinions. I am accepting that I can’t control what other people think about me and how people feel about my pictures and actions but what I can control though, is what I think about these things myself.

I’ve accepted what makes me happiest and feel confident that I could do this for as long as I want and never get tired of it. I’m very proud of myself for realizing my dream and making changes in my life so that I could pursue it. The truth is, my dream never evolved with an expectation to act that everyone likes. I recognized how I can’t accomplish that, because I understand that nobody can make everyone happy - all the time.

When I put yourself out there for the world to see, there will undoubtedly be people who will disagree with me. I have learned to let go of the idea that I can make everyone happy, and focus on making myself happy. That is something I can control. It’s up to everybody else to decide whether or not they want to be happy along with me.

Then again, I don’t go around hurting people’s feelings – and that’s the reason why I am such a quiet person in life. Sorry if I hurt anyone out there lately – believe me, it was never intended.

LETs get RICH and spoon like no one else:-)

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Song of my childhood

Olympus OM-1 | 50mm | Scanned negative

It's Tuesday - and probably the only time in my life I've been this ecstatic about a Tuesday. For starters I am happy last week is over. The heat, night insects, internet failure and deadlines had me pulling my hair out all week - mostly because I love my job - I also need my job for several reasons but most recently because it is the only thing that still makes me feel like a grown up. This week brings a lot of anticipation with it as well. New tasks are in line, my victims will be making their appearances from tomorrow - which brings me to the fact that there are still spots available.

In a demanding environment such as the one we are working in we tend to focus on winning - we must achieve our goals, deliver on time, and make money. But what about the pleasure of playing? What about the simple satisfaction of doing our work and doing it well? What about the fun of creating something new, wonderful, suitable? Please, don't forget your inner child. Let's play at work, let's have fun and goals will come.

Today comes with a big surprise as well. I was announced as the winner of the contest “Colors of Ramadhan”. RM50 cash and goodies from the Holy Land can only make me very excited. I have never done this but it was really exciting how contest brings people out of the woodwork. I learned there is an entire social media niche out there that enters contests.

Thank you brother EQBALZACK for making my day and Selamat Hari Raya to you and your loved ones. May this Ramadhan leave us with much better blessings from our previous ones and all the best to you too. Keep up the good work !

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