Death

Yesterday my long time neighbor died. I used to play to their house when I was still in primary school.. that was more than 20 years ago. From what I heard, her death was caused by illness. What saddened me is that she died alone.. not one of her children was present. Where one can find filial piety in this day and age?

I also remember a few years ago, a man who lived nearby also died. He worked as a tyre inflator on the streets. He died at night on a rickshaw. What makes me remember that night is that just the day before, I was going to give the poor guy extra food that I got from my friend's birthday party.

Well.. such is life.. rest in peace, neighbor

Batman

At night, when I lie down in bed, trying to sleep, my mind will be full of creative imagination and wonderful ideas. Whether its work related, life inspiration, or whatever. It seems like it work best when I try to think of nothing. Or perhaps its the quietness of the night.

Or maybe I should be Batman... but then I'll have to hit the gym..

Coffee

After resettling in my hometown, I get to know my distant nephew whom I recently met. Well..  I might have met him in the past, but just forgot. The fact is, I've been away from here for the past seven years, and so did he. Alright, that sounds as a valid excuse :)
Anyway, I'm just five years older than him. Now, my nephew is into coffee, drinking, roasting, grinding, the whole nine yards. Me, I just drink it. I couldn't tell the difference between a good coffee and a superb one, just like with wine. For me, what makes the difference is the whole experience of drinking it. You got to have a good reading material, and nice bread/pastries to go with it. I wouldn't mind music or radio in the background (my current favorite is BBC London).

Roasted coffee beans

Grinder

Slightly coarse grind

I've been looking for a decent (read: inexpensive) French press. I'm not going to pay more than 30 bucks for a French press. My excuse is.. so I can get a decent tasting coffee without burning a hole in my wallet. My standard does not include the regular freeze dried (instant) coffee from Nescafe. It just tastes sucks.

Premium brands taste better, but they costs a lot, compared to ground coffee. 

What I don't like about ground coffee is the coffee residue. That is why I need a French press. The other method is to use coffee drip, but its hard to find the filter here. So I settled with the press for the moment.

Update : Finally.. got it. And thank God the resulting brew is good.

Freedom press in action

(*okay that's a bit lame)

Memories

I always wonder how people write their own memoirs or biography. I seem to have a short term memory. I already forgot past distant travels. I'm not sure if this is common, or that I'm the only one with this shortcoming. Some people seems to be able to recall old memories vividly, just like it was yesterday.
I envy them. Maybe this is partly why I became a photographer, and writing this blog. To record fleeting moments.

Well, after idling for some time, I did something useful today. I got an acceptance for my offer for IT consultancy. Albeit the low rate, at least its a start. Which prompt me to fix my laptop due to its slowness. After five years, I was wondering whether its time for a replacement. Usually I don't like working on a laptop, since at a comparable cost, its performance is far from a desktop. But if I need to travel, there is no other option.
So I began to Google the web and try to find what causing its slowness. It turns out that the IDE transfer mode is set to PIO instead of UDMA, for some puzzling reason (maybe a crash). So after a few restarts, it was fixed. It seems I still get to keep my notebook for at least another year.

Utopia

So this blog survived the apocalypse. Boo the Mayans!

But we're approaching the end of another year. In the midst of more (economic) uncertainty, I hope 2013 will be a better year for all of us.

The world is pretty much border-less already. At least for money anyway. Goods are still subject to few restrictions and duties, but you can get pretty much anything from anywhere nowadays. Unless you are importing bombs or some radioactive materials.
As the world become borderless, so is the government control over its subject. One who does not like one's government's rules and regulations can simply go somewhere else. Just like FBs Saverin, and a few other billionaires who moved to Singapore, or the French who move to London because of Hollande's tax policy.
The same can be said in economic and monetary sector, the world is so closely connected and linked today that every individual government's policy will eventually affect the other nation, whether they like it or not.

Beneficial policy (at least for the taxpayer) like low tax rates in Ireland and Singapore, attracts talents and corporation. Countries who wants advance their ranks therefore have to compete by issuing even better policy. And this is a good thing for the global citizen.
On the flip side, this global competition have side effects, for instance, with the Fed pumping money into the economy, they have effectively exporting inflation to other countries. Some analyst worried that this will spark currency wars.

I will end my ramblings for now. Two posts in a day is a bit too much, and on Saturday even!

New Year List

I have a few list for 2013. I think the first is my wish list
- a Kindle paper white perhaps
- the legendary Nikkor 70-200 VRII
- a travel trip to Japan / Europe / New Zealand / America
and lastly.. maybe a steady stream of income, or a job.. without which all of the above would be unaffordable (browser spell checker suggest that the word is non-existent.. seriously?!).
But I have learnt that I have been very privileged to live in this life. We have to put our self in perspective, looking at those who is less fortunate, and learn from the history.

I just bought free books (is there such paradox?) from Amazon Kindle store for new year's reading (although I suspect some of the books can go as far as the next new year)

     

Its quite odd that some of the books have actually changed price during this writing, which is just an hour afterwards, so be warned, and grab the free or bargain books while you can (not necessarily the above).

Another list I which passed my mind is of course, the usual goal and resolutions..
but I'm not putting myself on burden this time.. well.. at least not today. I do have TWO days left.