I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

It’s getting foggy again. Woo.

In other news, I’m (also) stuck in San Francisco on Facebook. No changing regional networks willy-nilly, they say, only once every 60 days. Great. So much for exploring the regions.

Had a long week. I feel fatigued. I need space of my own.

Driving lessons. Retail hours. Dinner. Research. Chores. Home.

BLAH.

Had my second driving lesson yesterday. And this time, I drove on the freeway.

The driving instructor picked me up bright and early at 9am. Bleary eyed and sleepy, I adjusted my seat and mirrors and headed down to the Great Highway. We headed South and before I knew it, we were on our way down to Pacifica.

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The drive was really nice, and when your senses are maxed out trying to process all the information available: cars on the street in front of you, cars on the road behind you, instructions from the driving instructor, an hour goes by with the blink of an eye. Time flies when you’re behind the wheel. Fruit flies like a banana.

After a short drive to Pacifica, which by the way is really pleasant because we took the Ocean Route, we headed back towards Chinatown.

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Driving on the freeway was a tad scary, but if I psyche myself to pretend it’s some driving game, it’s ok again. Also comforting to know that if I bash the car, the instructor’s car is insured.

Traffic downtown was crazy, and it was raining. It slowed to a crawl, but I stuck in there and managed to get there in 1 piece. Car intact as well.

It was fun. I get to drive again on Tuesday. Yay!

It’s nice to be back working in a start-up environment. Not that I didn’t treat my time at the Big Why with the same irreverence reserved for a start-up, but things are always different in a small outfit where everyone has a direct and vested interest in making things happen. Things at the Big Why circa 2007 is certainly different from life at the Big Why circa 2001.

What I did love at the Big Why was the fact that it didn’t matter whether you were some unhappy dead-beat engineer (probably called Harry) working on a small cog in a periphery and unimportant big wheel. If you have been lucky enough to be hired at the right time, you would probably have enough money in the bank to tell your recently-hired-probably-spineless-definitely-clueless boss to f**k off and pretty much do what you want (or not do anything), since he probably needs to pay off his mortgage while you bought your house with cold hard cash after exercising your gazillions of options. It always kept things interesting. And real. And funny.

I try to carry on that tradition, where-ever I am, but it’s hard when:
1. My name isn’t the slightest bit close to Harry
2. Unfortunately, I wasn’t hired at quite the right time
3. Unfortunately, I didn’t get gazillions of options
4. I can’t even buy a car with cold hard cash

I will try to make do with just snapping at my current boss when I’m feeling particularly adventurous.

In other news: it’s raining tonight. Another first for me in this new land. According to the weather widget on my browser, it should be 15°C outside, but it feels a lot lower than that. The room, however, is toasty, thanks to the lights and my laptop. Tomorrow looks to be a 19°C sunny day, so perhaps I don’t need a sweater.

Ok. First we have to establish that, I was at the Big Why for a damn long time. I mean, internet years are like dog years – so in that sense I spent close to half a century at the Big Why.

I even forgave them when Jerry showed up at the SG office a few months before I joined them.

But hey, when Filo shows up a few months after I leave, I think it’s a sign.

What? Can’t have more than one Supreme Commander in the house? I’m a care and share sorta person! I’m willing to share the limelight on occasion!

Anyway.

When you add things up

Digital SLR damage so far:
- 400D body + kit lens (whatever that is)
- 100mm f/2.8 macro
- 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS
- UV filters for both

Digital SLR pressies so far:
- 400D wireless remote (neat!)
- pen-brush + cleaner (neat!)
- polariser (neat!)

Digital SLR stats:
- 628 photos since 14 August 2007
- Average of 3mb per photo
- 12 separate picture-taking days
- Sep 8: last photo session

The universe has been good to me. I have no complaints.

Nessun Dorma will never sound the same again.

And I managed to get a few shots before it went dark. I am uploading the test shots as I type this. It’s taking longer than usual, but then again, these are large images.

So the new toy is my Canon 400D, coupled with a nice 100mm/f2.8 macro lens.

I love it. I also love the new lens.

L-O-V-E.

I love the bokeh. Love the couple. Love the feel. Love so much that I can’t bear to bring it with me to work until the camera bag arrives. Unfortunately the bag was shipped from a different merchant on Amazon, so I couldn’t get it in the same order.

Many thanks to – my engineer friends
Jeffrey – for finally tipping me over the edge with the whole “sensor size” tutorial
Eh Don, Ah Leongsan, Jetski (who’s almost an engineer) – for putting me on the edge
Eeevahn – for his perpetual enthusiasm, especially when it involves getting someone else to spend a lot of money

Always said that engineers (the software kind) are my favourite people in the WWW. This is why.

My new Gaiman books arrived too.

Qoo is happy again.

:D:D

YAY!!!!!!!!!

More pics later! Flickr superstardom, here I come!!