By mapet on January 31, 2010
Just a quick one to thank my friends for their Christmas gifts. And to M for bringing them over. Yay! <3
The loot:
A Pink Shawl from K, my long lost. I don’t actually remember telling her that I wanted one. Haha. For the record, I really wanted one but apparently, she wasn’t sure if I was serious or not…
…so she also got me a pair of bunny socks just in case I was only joking. Hahaha! Such an awesome friend, this K.
Thank you, C for getting me The Demigod Files. I shall return it the next time we see each other. 
My friend E is hell-bent on unleashing my inner girl so she got me a lotion and a card that says that I should put it in my desk and use it before I code.
And she also got me an Acca Kappa brush (which is a professional-grade one) with explicit instructions that I always bring it with me (which also means that I should bring a bag whenever I go out).
Thanks gais! <3
Posted in Gobbledigook | Tagged christmas, friends, gifts
By mapet on January 10, 2010
After a day of hesitation, we gave in and bought a Nexus One. Yep, we are now proud owners of the Google phone. YAY!
We ordered last Wednesday, tracked like crazy, arrived in Singapore yesterday. Seeing that the delivery address was the husband’s office, I called up DHL and asked if we can just self-collect it in their warehouse. They agreed and off we went. We had to pay an additional 7% GST though. But yeah, I just wanted to get my hands on the phone so I gladly paid the tax. Haha. For those wondering, we paid USD 577.31 (~SGD 805.117). This included a country-specific AC adapter plus shipping and handling by DHL.
Anyway, initial impressions:
- I am totally in love with the screen! The colors are just so vivid and just… amazing. It came with a black slipcase with the Droid mascot printed on it but I wish it also came with (or as an optional accessory) a screen protector so I wouldn’t be too paranoid with scratching it.
- I don’t have much use for the trackball.
- The active desktop screensaver is useless, pretty and fun.
- A bit annoyed that it doesn’t allow manually selecting and adding recipients when composing a new SMS. User needs to type to invoke matches in the contact list.
- The Dolphin Browser app supports multi-touch but the Maps doesn’t. The old school zooming in and out (+/- keys) isn’t a deal breaker for me.
- The current Plurk applications available on the Android Market are not good enough for me. Might experiment and try to make one. We’ll see.
- It’s not as intuitive as the iPhone and takes a bit of tinkering a bit before you get the hang of the controls.
- The camera is way better than the iPhone’s. It performs well and doesn’t appear too grainy in low-light. This is a big plus for me.
That’s it for now. Maybe I’ll post a more comprehensive review after I used it more. So far, I’m really liking it.
Posted in Retail Therapy | Tagged google phone, nexus one
By mapet on January 4, 2010
One of these days, I shall buy you the video card that you’ve been drooling at.
Happy birthday!
Posted in Gobbledigook | Tagged life, love
By mapet on December 31, 2009
As the infamous year ends, I looked back and realized that it wasn’t all that bad. Sure, I was unemployed for the most part but a lot of things have happened that were so awesome that makes this a year for the books.
- The Final Set. I bet this makes the best of 2009 lists of everyone who grew up to the songs of the Eraserheads. I never saw them perform live during their heydays, so I made sure that I’m there this time. I wanted to share the experience with my brother and two of my cousins that I decided to buy them tickets as well. And it was money well spent! Thank you Ely, Raimund, Buddy and Marcus. <3
- Goodbye, C. After more than two years of osom colleagues, bug fixing, fun lunches, merienda, Saturday work days, and a whole lot more, I said goodbye to the company. It was a hard decision but I had to leave my comfort zone at some point. I’m very grateful because I’ve learned a lot from my tenure there and I have made friends that I know I’ll be keeping.
- Moving overseas. This was inevitable with the boyps working abroad and all. Everybody thought that it was only a matter of time before I left Manila for the city-state of Singapore.
- The longest vacation ever. This was a rather hard experience for me because truthfully, I had never had a hard time finding a job whenever I was on the hunt. My morale and confidence were at its lowest point but luckily, I had the boyps who was always there to nag me out of my depression. I remember I tweeted about this and an old colleague who is a great friend DM-ed me and said “Hang in there. It’s the recession that sucks, not you.
”
- My very own domain. As a result of the previous item, I decided to get lemonpassion.com to pass the time away. I got acquainted with the Wordpress platform and fell in love with it.
- For as long as we both shall live. Me and the boyps got married on the 20th of September, 2 days before our 5th anniversary. It was a simple ceremony with some of our friends. Planning to get married in a church in the Philippines some time in the future for everyone else who weren’t able to attend.
- Meeting the Dream King and his consort. It was a dream come true. And one item in the bucket list down. Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer are classy acts. They treated fans like old friends and were very, very kind and accommodating. <3
- Hello WoT books, my old friends. Re-read the whole series and fell in love with the characters once again. The Gathering Storm was also released this year and boy oh boy, did Brandon Sanderson step up to the plate. And consequently, this prompted me to buy the Mistborn Trilogy, but I digress. Looking forward to the last two books in the WoT series.
- The Contract. So, to end the year with a bang, a company offered a contract position as a mobile developer. Hope this works out well and they hire me permanently.
The husband is rushing me now to finish so that we can go out and partey. Happy new year my friends and hope that 2010 is a fruitful one for all of us!
Posted in Gobbledigook | Tagged 2009, life, retrospect
By mapet on December 27, 2009
Have you seen Singapore at night? It’s a picture waiting to be taken with its amazing skyline and well-lighted buildings!
I’ve tried shooting a couple of times (hand-held and with a tripod) but the photos always end up not to my liking. I’ve wondered if it was because I don’t know the settings to be used or if my gear wasn’t suited to this kind of thing. Disheartened, I’ve stopped bringing my camera along during our night forays.
Until I got the 50mm f/1.8D.
Yesterday, I managed to convince the husband to walk along the Singapore River from Funan so I can test the new baby outside. It feels a bit strange that I have to move around to adjust my composition. And I don’t know where to put my left hand when shooting! The normal place where I put my hand gets in the way when the lens focuses. 
My favorite shots from yesterday:
Bus stop at the MICA Building. I love that I was able to capture the woman walking towards the stop. I had to shoot fast while there are no vehicles to block my view.
Who doesn't love a good bokeh picture?
Picture of a bridge taken using manual focus <3
Anyway, I am very happy with our new acquisition. I may need to re-evaluate my initial thought that Singapore at night is wasted on me.
Posted in Ljósmyndun | Tagged 50mm f/1.8D, bokeh, night, singapore
By mapet on December 25, 2009
Hope you got what you wished for and more.
Happy holidays everyone!
Posted in Gobbledigook | Tagged bokeh, Christmas 2009
By mapet on December 24, 2009
While most people are busy doing some last-minute shopping for gifts, me and my husband were busy looking for Christmas decors! Our visit to Ikea last night proved to be a failure since there weren’t a lot of the Christmas stuff left. We thought of getting a small, albeit real tree but I decided not to go through with it. We didn’t see anything we liked at the Raffles City Mall so we went to Marina Square, where we got a nice 3 feet tree and some trimmings to go with it. We haven’t put it up yet though…
…Because I’m too busy tinkering with my brand spankin’ new Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens! Can you say, impulse? The husband offered to buy it for me when we dropped by Cathay Photo. I hesitated for about a minute before saying yes. Heh. The husband wanted better pictures of his baby (aka Cody, the Very Expensive PC) so I recommended that we buy this prime. So yeah, test shots:
Today I learned how to attach and detach a lens! Yay me! I panicked a bit when trying out the lens earlier since the auto focus did not work. Turns out that the lens wasn’t “clicked in place” yet. Doh.
My impressions: the depth of field is amazing, as expected but the sound when the auto-focus is activated is quite disconcerting.
Planning to bring this tomorrow to see if my night shots improve. Hrhrhr. And just maybe this is what I need to jump start my recent lack of interest in bringing my camera outside.
Posted in Ljósmyndun, Retail Therapy | Tagged 50mm f/1.8D, Christmas 2009
By mapet on December 15, 2009
One of these days, I shall write about my current project, daily routine, The Wheel of Time series, Brandon Sanderson, online purchases, Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits, not going home for the holidays, Steve Madden (my new bestfriend) and Haribo Mega-Roulette.
Oh and we’re still looking for a housemate!
Posted in Gobbledigook | Tagged life
By mapet on December 1, 2009
Things are shaping up.
Nothing’s final but at least something good is starting to come out of the waiting game.
Let’s see how it goes.
Posted in Gobbledigook | Tagged life
By mapet on November 27, 2009
Ever since my then-boyps moved to Singapore, I had this thing that I do whenever I saw something that I wanted: I would call him up and describe the item, the cost and I would ask him if I should buy it. Sometimes, I would send him a picture (via MMS) and wait for his reply before deciding what to do.
I remember seeing the Vertigo Tarot Deck set in Fully Booked in Greenbelt 5, called the then-boyps and he convinced me that I didn’t need it plus it’s expensive. Right. Somewhat disappointed, I left the store and put it out of my mind.
It wasn’t until yesterday that I remembered that occurrence. I was idly window shopping in Absolute Comics in Bugis Junction when I saw it again (placed strategically at the counter!). I immediately called the now-husband and ask if I can buy it. He says yes! (In retrospect, I think he allowed the purchase because earlier that day, he bought a new router and three fans for his new PC case. A kind of an offering perhaps? Heh.)
The set includes 78 cards, a black velvet bag for the cards and a Tarot book by Rachel Pollack (introduction written by Neil Gaiman). The cards were painted by the awesome Dave McKean. The Major Arcana of the set features some Vertigo characters like John Constantine, Morpheus and Swamp Thing. The general feel of the deck is a bit dark in my opinion. Having said that, the illustrations are dreamy and interesting at the same time. The cards are a bit big for my hands which will make shuffling a bit weird. But I don’t think this is going to pose any major problems since readings don’t really require fancy shuffling techniques as with card games.
All that is left to do now is learn how to do readings. Maybe the next time we meet, I’ll ask you to pick a card. Any card.
Posted in Retail Therapy | Tagged tarot, vertigo
