Black & White

This is my part of my black & white collection that I have.. Enjoy, whilst I hunt for the rest of my pictures (I have a huge suspicion that the two little ones have managed to "rearrange" my folders so that I can't find my other pictures, it's going to take awhile of digging in my lappie to uncover them..)

That thing that you do

Ah.. Finally.. Some time to my self. It's the CNY holidays, happy new year AHYH, and been busy entertaining the kids and getting some house chores done, tapi as usual sempat lagi nak berFB, nyeh nyeh nyeh.. Been having a field day what with the sun shining nice and brightly and a few functions that I've been able to attend to let me practise me photography skills.

For those who don't know me, yes, I'm into photography, and no, I'm not a pro. Quite the beginner but quite enthusiastic though. Am lucky to have a set of wonderful friends who are really into this as well, so I get a lot of support there. People always wonder why I suddenly developed this "interest" in photography.. Well.. Thought I'd share how my interest developed here, today.

I've always loved taking pictures, even when I was younger. I would sneak into my dad's room and take out his camera (sorry dad) and quietly go around taking pictures of everything everywhere. Don't think my dad trusted me with such an expensive piece of equipment, so he hid away from all of us (but I still found it.. ha ha ha..) and thanks to digital photography, after I'd taken a few shots, I'd be able to delete it without him knowing.

I tried out for the school photography society when I was in school, but I didn't make the cut. Man, that disappointment still haunts me till today. I loved taking pictures so much, I wished they'd have given me a chance, but alas, it wasn't meant to be..

Over the years, I've had my fair share of compacts, it's served me well, but it wasn't quite giving me the pictures that I wanted. So last year, I hinted to AAA that I would like a DSLR for my birthday.. Left HUGE hints everywhere, but true to form, he'd just put on a blank face, semi ignoring me and just shrugged his shoulders.

So of course, I was caught by surprise when on the eve of my birthday, after I got home from work, he called me from our room. Thought he wanted to tell me something, but I was in for the shock of my life when there, on our bed was a brand new Canon 450D staring at me (he was paying attention rupan2nye, as I got exactly the one that I wanted, thanks so much Yang)! I was lost for words (ok lah, who would believe Linda would be lost for words kan?), I was practically screaming my lungs out with joy and jumping up and down I swear the neighbours would have thought we had elephants in the house running around. Opps! So here's the first picture I took with the camera, very blur and not nice looking at all..

Over the past hmmm.... 6 months? I've developed an even more deeper love for photography, and my skills have definitely improved by leaps and bounds. It's no longer point and shoot, but thinking what I want to picture to turn out like in my head first before I shoot anything. Still have a longgggggggggg way to go, but I'm definitely willing to learn. So, I've decided, my next few entries will be dedicated to this new found interest of mine. I'd like to share with everyone the nicest shots I think that I've taken via a few categories, i.e. black & white, landscape, weddings etc.. Maybe build up a portfolio so that I could actually take photographs part time and make the pictures pay for themselves (it is a very expensive hobby, do not be fooled).

To my next entry..

Little Hand

IMG_9551v1
Originally uploaded by lindasham

Just a test post from my flickr to my blog to see whether this works. This is one of my favourite pictures, I love doing potraiture and catching "moments" and this is one of them.. Will hopefully share more of my pictures in the future and the story behing them, being happy or sad. A picture is worth a thousand words (er, did I get that right?) :)

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

So the year begins..

It's been awhile since my last entry. Been meaning to write, but couldn't really find the time, though everytime something interesting happened from my last entry, I'd always go "Hey, that'd be an interesting thing to write in my blog". Tapi dah tak ingat dah apa dia (yes, I tend to forget things easily, especially midway in conversations, - Welcome to the world that is Linda). And since AHYH actually commented on my FB that I haven't updated my blog in awhile (wah, got following already is it me? nyeh nyeh nyeh), I'm dedicating this post to him - how are you sweets? Come back to KL soon will ya, we need to do coffee!

What's happened since my last entry? Went to Paris and came back - in one piece! It was freezingly cold! As I'd been to Paris many many times whilst I was a student in Kent, I kinda knew my way around, so it was easy getting from place to place. Didn't really shop, didn't shop even, main intention was just to have a rest and do a bit of sight seeing, and that was exactly what I did.

Christmas Day in Paris

The highlight of my stay was meeting up and staying with NAZ1. NAZ1 and I were classmates in Uni and we met each other at Kent for the first time 12 years ago. Since then, we've been good friends and she'd be my friend to cry on (literally), I could just pick up the phone and start crying and I wouldn't have to say a word and she'd understand me completely and vice versa. We don't go out with each other often, hardly even, as between us, we have 5 boys to take care of but it's always good to hear her voice on the other end of the line. Now that she lives in Paris, I accumulated everything I wanted to tell her and told her everything at one go, mana tak havoc gelak2 macam nak rak masa kat sana.. Thanks sweetie, for Paris, for Kent, for everything (including your ikan sadin, beras, telur and segala that we all bedal masa kat sana.. heh..)..

Last day in Paris.. Baby Iskandar, NAZ1 and I. You have no idea how much i miss you babe ...

The day after I came back from Paris, I immediately went back to KB to pick up the babies. MIL took them back to KB early December and I was suppose to pick them up during Christmas, and out-of-the-blue Paris happened, so it got postponed to the New Year's. Made it back in time to KL to get them ready for school i.e. it was already Sunday the day before the first day of school and they still didn't have uniforms.. Heh.. Typical Linda to leave everything to the last minute!

So it's been a week since they started the first day of school for year 2009. It's their third year in V*llamaria, and HadyAdam fitted in immediately. HarizAzlan, is actually a very shy little baby. He tends to keep his head bowed down if he doesn't know you, but after he warms up, he'll be ok. Still clings on to me everytime I drop him off to school every morning though.. Started them with Agama School in the evenings as well this year. Thought it'd keep them busy and minimise their bickering with each other. HadyAdam wasn't too happy at first, but as soon as he saw his classroom, I didn't see him again till it was time to pick him up from school at about 5 that evening. HarizAzlan went everywhere HadyAdam went, so thinks they'll be alright.

Today, I actually fell asleep whilst watching Bolt in 3D with AAA and the kiddies. Just realised that I'd been running around non-stop for the past week and only managed to catch a breather today. My day usually starts around 5 am, need to prepare breakfast (nowadays its waffles, pancakes or french toasts), prepare the kiddies food for their midday school break, then it's ironing everyone's clothes, then waking everyone up (now that needs a whole lot of energy and patience!), getting everyone ready, sending the kids to school first (HarizAzlan now insists that I send him to class even), sending AAA to work then only do I go to work, and this needs to be done by 8 am cause that's when my office working hour starts. It's our quarter closing as well now, so been working till midnight with the team (great team by the way), and after work I need to pick up AAA from work first (yes, it's the busy period for him too) then the kids then only do I go home. By that time, it's normally nearly one a.m., and sometimes I do laundry first before going to sleep. And the same routine follows the next day and so on. Yikes! No wonder I could hardly open my eyes today..

Which brings me to my next point. I thought of "slowing" it down a bit this year, not trying to do 5 million things at once like I always do, but doesn't look like that's going to happen. Seems like there's always something to do. I've got wedding invites one after another till June, and I usually try to fulfill these to the best I can, and to kick start things, I'd like to wish congrats to AdLim - I'll see you at your reception next week.

Also happening next week, my first hunt for the year! I love hunting, I love the rush I get everytime I solve a question, especially those mind-boggling ones, and I certainly am looking forward to this! I usually go hunting with my close friend WKA and his team and yeah, this is how we usually spend our weekends, and I love it to bits, the challenge of it all.. Though kekadang tu time tak boleh jawab, we all always go "what on earth are we doing here? bangun pagi2 nak jawab soalan ntah apa2 ni.." he he! Sometimes the hunt is held as an overnight hunt, so we usually take the oppurtunity for it to be a nice short break for us as well.

The usual suspects - my hunting buddies on the weekends..

Other than that, the other major thing that's in hot discussion now is my annual holiday with THEGANG. We've been doing this ever since the 5 of us became friends on the first day we started work at THEFIRM, 8 years ago. We usually do beach holidays, but last year we thought we'd be different and go up the hills. This year however, it looks like we're heading to the beach again! The Legendary Island has been chosen for our 4D 3N trip this year and Andaman, here we come! Biggest issue as always is trying to find a suitable time that everybody can go. AHYH now resides in JB and NAB is moving to Singapore next week, as such we hardly get to see each other anymore, not like the days in THEFIRM where there'd always be lunch, dinner or coffee every other day.. So, we make it a point to make sure everybody is available for the trip and it's usually filled with laughter and laughter and more laughter.

High up in the hills last year with THEGANG

Gosh, thinks I've written quite a bit today! Got lots of kiddies-related-errands to do tommorrow (how do I stop doing 5 million things at once again?) morning, and am spending the evening with NAB and ASH for the last time before NAB moves on to Singapore. Keep that spare bed for me will ya? Planning on visiting you soon too (Linda, stop making plans already!). And dinner will be with the LUNCHPEOPLE. Bad enough we have lunch everyday together in office, now it's dinner too? He he he.. Ok peeps, that's all for now.. Till my next entry (AHYH, remind me to update this blog will ya?), Au revoir..