Day 100

hohoho ... today marks the 100th day in New Zealand! time really flies.....but quite slow .... it's just 3 months but i just felt like it has been like half a year.

well .... just writing this post to congratulate myself for the 100 day survival! hahaha ....

sky tower is so beautiful today. 1st time i see it so colourful.

btw, im thinking of having a haircut soon. wanted to try a really short haircut as i have been in long hairstyle since 17. well, dear readers, you may give your opinions on it before i really go to the saloon. here are some of my previous hairstyles for your reference. kindly drop a comment which one is better. thx.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Day 96-99

Day 99 - school ... work ... sleep. my colleague resigned today. from tomorrow onwards i have to work from 12pm till nite until boss finds a new staff.

Day 98 - school ... work 2.30pm - 5.30pm. went to Manukau city for rehersal. the Manukau band was awesome.we could hear them playing from the car park when we arrived. they are so professional and BIG band. i was sitted in between a GIANT(triple of myself) Samuan & a tall mat salleh for trumpet 1. i let the Samuan play the solo part as it was too high for me (3rd octave C). he just blowed it as easy as ABC. i determined to eat & grow like him ... so that i can play high notes too. what do you guys think? hahaha ......
Seiko san cooked us some Japanese curry & a giant rice ball that comes with a lovely thank you note. actually we should be the one thanking her as she always drive us to meetings & practices, cooked for us, even gave me a winter jacket.
all pix taken by Nigel
traffic jam
SGI NZ centre; while waiting for others to come

Sam, me & MasaoNigel, u focused the wrong areathe curry i mentioned

Day 97 - school ... work ... sleep

Day 96 - in the morning, i went to my colleague's apartment. he was offering me a very good rent. actually i really love the room but the problem is im gonna stay with 2 'straight guys', my boss doesn't like him, always asking me to be careful of him, bla ... bla .. bla. actually i don't care about their disagreements or arguments but to weight my decision, i rather take care of my rice bowl ... meaning i better avoid him. one more reason is that i want to find an apartment that i can share with Ashley(from SGI-Korea).

He drove me to kaikan as i was running late to catch up with Masao's car. today's practice was at Tako san's school again. im satisfied with my playing today, i managed to hit the 3rd octave B! really pushed my air till a bit pening. but it feels good!

Day 91-95

Day 95 - band practice from 10am - 1pm. went back and had mamak mee goreng 'ta pao'ed from work yesterday. when i was about to have my sleep, boss called me and see whether im interested to work for few hours. she needed someone to help her clean the restaurant as she is renovating some area. well, i agreed. slept for 1 hour, received her call and off i go. had 8 course meal with boss for dinner. so delicious. actually taukeh & taukeh soh very sayang me, always bring me here & there to makan.

Day 94 - after class, me & another male classmate had a photo shoot for the college's brochure. 1st time being model. hahaha .... it was funny and fun. im gonna be featured in the brochures for photography course year 2010. whole South East Asia is gonna see my face! OMG! can't wait to see the outcome.

Day 93 - study ..... work ..... sleep

Day 92 - study ..... work ..... sleep

Day 91 - study ..... work ..... sleep

shot by Tiffany for her assignment while im shooting for my assignment. ada gaya ka?

Day 87-90

Day 90 - got new assignment!!!! its a 1-month project. have to shoot DOCUMENTARY photos. tough ......! as the full timer couldn't make it, i had to work 12pm - 11pm. super tired. tomorrow will be the same too.

Day 89 - today had practice at Takuya san's new workplace(Japanese Preparatory School). the band sounded quite good today. maybe its because there were no carpet .... so the acoustic sounds different? im happy that i managed to hit my higher B a few times. really blow my lungs out. it rained when we were walking back to our cars. we were all wet! back home at 5pm & went to work at 6pm till 11.30pm. tired.

Day 88 - rental payment day. today band practice start from 10am - 4pm. had sandwich for lunch. get to eat some brownies brought by one of the members. this is the only day i get to get good sleep. so, i slept from 5pm - 9.30pm. dinner, i had hainanese chicken rice 'ta pao'ed from work place on friday. did laundry & online till 3am.

Day 85-86

Day 86 - Tiffany gave me a mini heater to warm my room.honto ni arigatou! not much customers so finished work early.10.30pm balik kampung! yeah!

Day 85 - me & Coco went to Tiffany's house to shoot candle light portrait. have lunch together & they dropped me home. took 1/2 hour nap & went to work till 11pm. slept at 3am because of assignment. so tired.

Tiffany gave me two big packages of chocolates

my final selection to be printed in A4 sizetime to play abit

chef Tiffanychef Coco

our lunchkah liu (add dish)

Day 82-84

Day 84 - had fire drill today at school. working from 4pm-11pm. weather forecast shows 7 degree. wearing 5 layers but still COLD! i need to get some wool apparel as all that i brought were cotton and they are not enough to make me warm.  

Day 83 - did not work. went out with classmates to do assignment. street light & outdoor mixed light. it was raining heavily and made the temperature went even lower. my classmate gave me a wool jacket. it was so cold at night, freezing especially my hands and legs.

Day 82 - the band's photos were developed. turned out nice. Tako san brought in his friend to join us play. she's a pro saxophonist 'ahjumma'~mid aged lady in korean. went back to have a hot shower before going to work. shop closed early to celebrate M Day. lady boss specially cooked 3 dishes to go with rice. DELICIOUS!!! i had two plates of rice. wahahaahaaha ..... after work, immediately called my cousin to congratulate him, its his wedding. also wished mom Happy Mother's Day.

Day 76-81

wwooo ..... finally im updating my blog.

nothing much happened. just study,work & shooting for assignment. weather is getting colder,temperature as low as 8 degree. i finally took out my winter jacket from my luggage. its freaking COLD!

day 79: got a call while having my class break, asking me whether i can work immediately after class because one of the staff did not turn up. of course i agreed. i straight away went back to classroom, grab my bag and cabut(don't worry, lecturer has finished her lecture already). ended up working 11 hours[11.45am - 10.45pm]. so tired. continued by shooting my model (Nigel) for my 'environmental portrait-using available light' assignment till 1.30am. after that online and do some paper work on those photos till 4am.

day 80: no class today, lecturer on sick leave. got my salary, my 1st ever salary in NZD. so siok! just in time to pay my rental. boss sent me home because of rain.

day 81: i skipped practice because of work again. there was a private function & they needed people to help, so i worked from 12.30pm to 9.30pm. then, went dinner with boss and his friends who helped up. it was North Beijing cuisine. super delicious. i was eating non stop because im so so hungry already. 'paiseh ciak ka ki' in hokkien ~ if you are shy, then you have to 'eat yourself'~ boss sent me home again. reached home nearly 11pm, took shower and went to shoot Nigel & Naomi(his sis) for about 30 min.

thanx Nigel & Naomi!

Day 74-75

ever since i was inspired by Sensei's photo exhibition "Dialogue with Nature" and started to get interested in photography, i have a dream of taking kosen rufu photo:

1. of Sensei

2. for Sensei

3. for Seiko shimbun (SGI newspaper)

4. any SGI publication

in M'sia i did not have the chance to do so BUT out of expectation, here in NZ, i have such a great mission & opportunity. Seiko san will introduce me the photographer of Auckland. i might have chance to shoot together with him for SGI Auckland activities. *fingers crossed*

yesterday, i was assigned to take photos of the band members to be sent to Sensei. great? btw, our faces(group photo) will appear in S.Shimbun as we attended World Peace Chanting @ 5.3 Celebration.

my fav shot

today, i received a sms by a YWD leader requesting me to bring my camera to meeting 2moro. they want to have a group photo to be sent to Sensei in Japan! awesome, right? i feel so so happy & honoured to do so.

for dinner, i had hokkien char yesterday & char koay teow for today! i 'ta pao' the dinner as it was already 11pm. its very big portion, so i kept 3/4 for 2mr's lunch & dinner. when i was about to eat the CKT, my Vietnam flatmate gave me an awesome piece of tiramisu that her boyfriend made. oohhh... i feel like in heaven. * sorry no photo, the hungry ghost is on leave*

Day 71-73

in the class, we learned that there are 2 ways of controlling your exposure with fill-in flash.

1: fixed aperture, just change your shutter speed

2: fixed shutter speed, just change your aperture

you will see that your subject will change in terms of exposure but your background's exposure remains the same & vice versa. remember to change it 1 stop at the time to see the effect. try it guys!

Tiffany trying out Terry's(Sabahan) D300. shot at ISO1600 .... no noise!siok!she beh tahan wana buy di.

my classmates, during the exposure practiceself potrait using the dustbin's reflexion [me, Tiffany(mid) & Terry(with cap)]

yesterday was day 1 of my new PT job,3-11pm. i like the job very much:the boss is nice,menu is in English, i know the food well(m'sian food wat), get to eat free after working & the pay is higher than that dimsum job.

today, i skipped dimsum and went to practice.

1) i hate being absent for practice as the performance is just 3 weeks away. last minute i have to change from trumpet 2 to trumpet 1 for one of songs. have to relearn all the fingurings.

2) i might be called for work on sunday(indeed the boss called). don't wana tired my arm muscles and screw up my performance at the new job.

3) it is too cold, windy and raining to walk 30min to work. moreover i have to change to a longer route,try to avoid crossing the hospital area because of the pig flu.