exploring photography

look, an accidental M, which i can use as my signature.

i've been exploring photography, which i've always loved, and i'm quite excited about film shooting too. have done just a little filming in the past. thoroughly enjoyed it and i must say that my work wasn't all bad. but i've never really had the chance to indulge in this as a hobby, because serious photography can be such an expensive hobby! however i get to indulge and have a little fun with photography thanks to our bulky but trusty canon powershot camera.

i brought powershot to my trip and at first i felt quite embarassed about using a bulky camera since everyone else seems to be having cute little tiny ones. but i found out whenever i did flip it out, people would comment and say that i have a nice camera. oh. then i wasn't embarassed anymore. in fact, now i'm quite proud of it. i still need to learn to just follow my heart instead of being conscious and held back by what people may think of me. don't we all?

so anyway, i had lots of fun exploring photography in melbourne, and haven't stop since. i've started putting my shots on flickr. so if interested, check them out at www.flickr.com/photos/mzshots/

someone help me, pleeease...

ah, solitude finally arrived. husband left for england this morning, the kids are with mum-in-law, and i'm spending a quiet day at home, all alone. and i love it. not that i don't enjoy being with my family, but i am one who absolutely believes in and needs her solitude. at least once a week. my first sign of deprivation of this is grumpiness.

so i'm sitting here doing this, with the jazz channel on, playing the song "better than" being sung by natalie cole, and i'm reminded of this song being sung by Yvette Johannsen while i was at the Bennett's Lane Jazz Club in melbourne. and now the tune's changed to a jazzy reggae number. hmm, it's a good day.

i was asked by a 13 year old girl the other day, if i was who she thought i was from church. she was very surprised that i actually blog, because just last year, i didn't know what an ipod was! yes, i'm a self-professed digital idiot. but i can learn, if i want to. and i have so far, with this blogging thing. but i'm quite stuck when it comes to this - CAN SOMEONE COME TO MY HOUSE AND TEACH ME HOW TO ATTACH OR LINK THOSE THINGYS LIKE CHATTERBOX AND SITE CLOCK AND SITE METERS TO MY BLOG. I'M SO FRUSTRATED TRYING! yes, i know you need to subscribe and then they give you your html code and you "just cut and paste" it to your layout page thingy blah blah blah. which i have tried and somehow failed for so many times. so! can someone come and do it for me or at least show me how to do it successfully before i get bored of my own blog. i'll feed you homebaked cake and let you watch varekai....anyone?

meanwhile, i'm going to take a nap.

it's bono's birthday!

it's may the 10th and it's bono's birthday! it's paul david hewson's 47th birthday, and i thank God for him. i thank God for his wonderful music of course, he's the coolest 40-something rocker in the world. and i thank God for the work he's doing in advocating social justice for the poor, marginalised and dying in the world. at least he's not just a superstar rolling in his gold and crying for more love for himself.

funny, in the book 'bono on bono', when asked by mitchka assayas whether he is a preacher (because of his vocation), he said "no, because i don't practice" (relating preaching to christian preaching, and indicating that you need to be a practicing christian before you can preach, which is the correct order). it is a humble but not very accurate statement. because while some parts of his rockstar lifestyle may not be approving to the "practicing" christian, i would say that his belief and actions for social justice for all brotherhood is more christian practice and being Jesus than some established preachers may live out in their lives off pulpit. so is practicing and preaching closer than we think? we may expect preachers to practice, and exempt ourselves from practicing because we don't preach. yet isn't practicing more important than preaching? aren't we preaching when we're practicing? so what's the big fuss with stage personalities in the church, or anywhere else for that matter. it's just very unnecessary separation of the brotherhood of man. we're just all the same - skin, flesh, body parts, different looks, different abilities, same human being. our blood's the same, our poo's the same!

is somebody going, "so why are you idol worshipping bono?" haha...no i don't worship the air he breathes, i just appreciate the part he contributes to in the brotherhood of man. and u2's music is great!!! need i say more?

yes i do. shame on the radio dj on mix who said this morning "and now let's move on to something more interesting, lindsay lohan..." right after the dj before her just announced that it's bono's birthday. lindsay lohan more interesting than bono/u2? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???! CAN YOU BE MORE SHALLOW???

what's going on!

how come i lost the paragraphs in my previous posting when i drafted it with several paragraphs. and i keep editing it and putting the para's back but it still disappears when i publish it! is there a glitch i'm not noticing?

romanza!

i'm finally back with something new since i came home! been busy with the family. have also finally started painting. will post them at some point. they're not a beauty but, after all, i'm a baby at painting. and the good news for me is that art is very subjective. one man's art may be another man's junk. and i enjoy painting because it makes me happy, so there!

and now that i'm feeling reborn and happy, it's also amazing how i now notice the colorful and beautiful things around my own house as when previously i didn't notice them even tho they've been around for yonks! the beautiful green of my plants, my stunning bettas aka siamese fighting fish with their blue, purple and red finnage. photos of my fishies will come later. and photos of my own home-cooking and baking, specifically a nigella lawson chocolate fudge cake which everyone loved, especially my daughter, who loved her homebaked birthday cake.

yesterday, i went with a couple of friends to my first local classical concert, titled Romanza. as the name implies, it showcased a collection of love songs from various italian and chinese operas. there was a selection of compositions by rossini, puccini, verdi, mozart and others i don't remember. of course, i don't who the chinese composers were, since i can't read the chinese synopsis. there were songs from the opera Ernani, Figaro, Don Quixote, the Barber of Seville, and Othello

i enjoyed the concert! and i must say that i am very impressed with our local artists. it was a small and intimate concert, featuring 2 soloists and 1 accompanist. the highlight was ms cecilia yap, malaysia's top soprano, and my very own vocal trainer, mr cha seng tiang, malaysia's top baritone. they were great and very skilled. they made beautiful classical singing look so effortless, when i'm finding out in class that it's training in every sense of the word!

i loved cecilia yap's singing. a fantastic power machine but superbly controlled and emotionally expressive. when she hit the high notes her head tone was marvellous. i could hear the ringing in my ears, a good sort of ringing. i think that's resonance. her singing was very pleasant to the ears. which to me is of utmost importance cos unskilled classical singers can be a real ear sore. as for mr cha, of course he is excellent, he's my teacher!

so...i'm gonna pay more attention to our local artists. we may be surprised at some treasures we may have after all. here's to malaysian artists.