How time flies, it's been 1.5 years since I graduated from NIE and teaching full-time. As the months pass, I have been taking up more and more projects, testing the limits of my capabilities. Getting married and in the process of settling down took up a fair share of my weekends too. And I started part-time masters in Physics and just got my results for my 1st semester today. You won't know how much you can achieve without loading yourself to your limit. Have I reached my limit? I don't know yet. Do you know your's (limit)?
Recently I came across a book titled [The 3 Signs of a Miserable Job]. I spent 5 minutes browsing it while Sucre was shopping and it seem interesting. So I bought [A Short History of Nearly Everything] because I don't think my job is miserable. If you think you have a miserable life, maybe this is a book for you to help yourself out. Buy one for your manager. Some snippets from Amazon.com
I think there are more than 3 signs for a miserable job. I believe there should be 4. Using Keirsey's temperament theory, I believe that we are affected to some extent by each of the 4 signs but we will be affected to varying degrees depending on our temperament.The first is anonymity, which is the feeling that employees get when they realize that their manager has little interest in them a human being and that they know little about their lives, their aspirations and their interests.
The second sign is irrelevance, which takes root when employees cannot see how their job makes a difference in the lives of others. Every employee needs to know that the work they do impacts someone’s life--a customer, a co-worker, even a supervisor--in one way or another.
The third sign is something I call "immeasurement," which is the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contribution or success. Employees who have no means of measuring how well they are doing on a given day or in a given week, must rely on the subjective opinions of others, usually their managers’, to gauge their progress or contribution.
The first sign seems to be individuals who values the human touch. They function best with loads of love and attention. It takes more than a social lunch to establish such links and it seems clear that Idealist will be the most miserable if they feel neglected as an individual.
The second sign describes individuals who wants to do good deeds. To feel that what they are doing are worth doing. For example, they feel good to know that they contribute to the company by monitoring and ensuring the productivity of a factory as a supervisor. These individuals are clearly Guardians
The third sign describes individuals who yearn for success. They are those who are pre-occupied with numbers, grades etc. They need to know how well they are performing as they want to be successful in whatever they are doing, which sometimes takes the fun out of the process. These individuals are Rationals.
My guess is that the author is an Idealist himself based on 2 observations. One is from the introduction he wrote in the book which suggest that he fits the profile of an Idealist. Two is the fact that he missed out the area for Artisans, the 4th temperament, the 'blind spot' of the Idealist.
The fourth sign for a miserable job would be a dead-end job. Artisans seeks new adventures and the worst thing that could happen for them is to do the same thing over and over and over and over again for eternity. Artisans may give up a dead-end job with job security to look for greener pastures that would energize them.
Unfortunately, Artisans are the last person among the 4 temperaments who would read such books so it might not seem to matter in some sense.
The MBTI (Myer Briggs Type Indicator) tests where senior high students would be taking in 2008 will tell what temperament you belong to. But beware, what Keirsey proposed in his theory is not the same as what Myer Briggs did when they devise the MBTI test.
Parrots for Pictures
If you think you have a bad hair day...
Otters like fish...
I'm prettier than she is...
But the king's favourite is she
Do you know the difference between a leopard and a jaguar?
Inspiration for the eye from Lord of the Rings?
Too much sun for this bear.. fur also 'chao tar'
I don't smoke, I chew
Animals that reminds Sucre of Me
1.
My favourite position - "Nua"
2.
My favourite past-time - "Sleep"
3.
My favourite expression - 'Hurrr?'
Pictures of dangerous animals taken behind a finger printed glass wall which affects image quality.
More camera banter... first few shots taken with the A700 while I was studying for examinations.
300mm f8 1/50s! iso3200! SSS on. Focus speed and accuracy is much better than the A100 and we get decent high ISO performance and incredible SSS to boot.
300mm f11 1/160s ISO800 SSS on. Autofocus better even with macro shots with the Sigma 70-300 APO Macro. But still I prefer to do it (focusing) manually when it really matters...
300mm f14 1/250s ISO800 SSS on. Tones of red. Like this picture because of the red colours so I took the chance to play around and 'develop' a few more versions.
-50 saturation version... a dull and gloomy mood to the picture
-80 saturation version... a hint of colour from black and white
Sepia, like a really old photo
auto black and white... doesn't seem so interesting..
Customized black and white... seems better...
Finally, some Picasa magic..
Man... I wished I have more time to play around with these toys... it's fun
No, I don't bike, but that doesn't stop me from driving a van around Singapore taking pictures. Those of you who are sharp will notice some new shots taken recently using a new camera. Yes, a new amateur level camera that Sucre bought for me as THE present for 2008 (including all special occasions). It's not cheap but it's worth it.
The bike hike only started at about 9pm and it was dark outside and the moon was hidden behind a cloudy night. Flash is a no due to many reasons so we have to use whatever light that is available. In the past, a tripod would be a must, but with great ISO800 and usable ISO6400, this camera outperforms my eyes many times over.
28mm f2.8 1/30s ISO3200 DRO Advanced Lv 3. DRO bringing the details in the shadow out from this backlit scene. But there's only so much DRO could do eh...
The reasons why flash wouldn't work well are as follows.
1.) Limited power of onboard flash limits it capabilities as it could only illuminate the objects in front of us.
2.) Dedicated flash may be a lot more powerful but direct flash casts harsh light and takes poor pictures.
3.) No celling to use for bounce photography and the use of a bounce card or light sphere will cut the reach of your flash too.
4.) Reflective surfaces (like the green safety vest) would reflect too much light from your flash and fool your camera metering system so exposure becomes tricky
35mm f2.8 1/25s ISO1600 DRO Advanced Lv 3. Setting off for the hike.
Night action photography was impossible with the A100, it is challenging with the A700. Couldn't get the shutter speed required and focusing becomes an issue. The best camera for this? The Nikon D3 with ISO25600. One day we would need a new system for ISO. ISO(2^n)*100 is the best as we could refer to ISO using only the power n but I doubt it will be welcomed by the mathematically challenged public. But in a decade we may be seeing ISO 409600 which becomes quite lengthy compared to ISO n=10.
50mm f2 1/30s ISO3200 DRO Advanced Lv 2. Thank goodness we insisted on the front blinkers, makes it very easy to spot for the safety drivers.
All shots you are seeing here are straight from camera jpegs. Usually I shoot raw exclusively with the A100 but I was experimenting with compressed raw + jpg with the A700. That makes it about 20 mb per shot in total but I get to compare raw and jpg from camera. I'm quite satisfied with the jpeg shots so far and have yet to work with the raw images. DRO helped a lot as I wouldn't need to mess with layers, masks and curves to bring the shadow details out.
28mm f2.8 1/2s ISO3200 handheld DRO Advanced Lv 2. Scene lit by moonlight and the street lamps behind me.
In camera stabilization makes me very ambitious in trying shots that otherwise would definitely be ruined by hand shake.
28mm f4 1/8s ISO3200 DRO Advanced Lv 2. Riding past.
28mm f2.8 2s ISO200 DRO Advanced Lv 2 Tripod. Punggol jetty.
28mm f8 5/2 s ISO200 DRO Advanced Lv 2. Rest stop
There's nothing to complain about the camera at low ISO. Even for night shots. People have been using the A700 for astro-photography with great success!
70mm f4 1/25s ISO 3200 DRO Advanced Lv 2. He needs the energy bar most since his bike gave him problems on the way up here.
28mm f4 1/15s IS1600 DRO Advanced Lv 2. Those who want prata raise your right hand
When properly exposed, even ISO3200 shots gives great photographs that can be printed to larger sizes.
35mm f4 1/200s ISO1600 DRO off. Mountain Prata de Jalan Kayu.
Pushing the camera too hard doesn't yield good results. As can be seen here. But you won't know your limits until you exceeds it. Isn't it?
28mm f8 2/5s ISO800 DRO off. The remote control comes in handy for a group shot like this. Press, smile, *click*
My precious...
Print size photos to be uploaded hopefully by 2008.
Too busy to blog... partly due to work, partly due to these lecture series.
Some of the lecture series are now on Channel U, Tuesday night at 9:30pm on Confucius and his teachings. For me, I'm more interested in the history of Ming and Qing Dynasty and the stories of the three kingdoms.
Why this episode? Because it shows 3 things that I strongly believe in, that happened during the era of the three kingdoms.
1.) That we should reflect on ourselves when we fail.
2.) That we should give credit to others when we succeed.
3.) That EQ is important.
The same can be applied to studies. I just mentioned about point 1 not long ago about a recent incident. This person A didn't do certain work very well and put the blame on person B because person B didn't help him in the work. This is very common in the school environment. At the end of the day, nothing is learned from the failure and he will make the same mistake again.
(Names changed to protect their identity, duh...)
Let's try to be a 善败将军
There was a time when your annual activity with your old friends involve
Your alma mater (be it primary/secondary) during special occasions.
Crapping about NSF and army life
Girlfriends, jobs, cars etc
Wedding Banquets <---- I reached here... Wonder what lies ahead of me. Some photos taken long ago of a Church wedding I been to for 2 teaching colleagues, faculty mates, JC school mate and NSF BMT mate. You figure out how to fit them into those categories. 
Nervous groom who cracked us up...
Guests witnessing the event
No, I'm not the official photographer, just brought my gear that to play play only, that's why I'm behind all these people taking photos of...
Blunder no 1. Groom spoke too much, too fast, too early. Audience laughed
All shots taken hand held.. pretty amazing eh... considering that I didn't use flash.
Blunder 2: Groom too nervous. Admitted to having a child outside wedlock. Of course he just simply said the wrong thing at the wrong time... Audience roared with laughter. Got to be the most entertaining wedding for me but have to be the most embarrassing for him.
At least his not laughing at the groom
Group photos..
That's about all the wedding invitations for this year... I think there's about 3 already. Next year... I'm expecting at least 3 more. And of course, my own one.
Some action pics... Just went burst happy with my A100 but didn't get much keepers at the end. Well, if only I have a telephoto lens with me to try out.
Some really cheeky driver
Engine so loud of course cannot hear anything lar
Oei.. air pollution lar... and smells bad also..
Older model but still good
Trying hard to get motion blur effectively..
And got the backside sharp... grrr....
This one got some potential
Some good turning
Success! And some taunting for some pair action
Vrrrmmmm...
Now, that's tailgating
Can you do it in reverse?
Finally, van also 'drift', with the help of the boards lar...
Loads of Physics here... including all the interesting stuff on circular motion and traction.. haha..
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