Rumah Bahagia was the name given to our house when we first moved in into 641D, Jalan Delima, Taman Bukit Melaka. Initially, there were seven members and over the years, only five members had stayed throughout their study years in MMU Malacca campus.

The five members were Raymond, Gabriel, Sanjev, Vincent and myself.

Of course, the gang has its subsidiary members, Alexander, Chi Ho and Jeremy that also joined in every now and then.

It was our first official gathering since everyone bid farewell to each other and started their working life almost a year ago. It was rather an impromptu gathering as everyone was informed five to six days before the actual date for the gathering.

Due to my excellent planning, everyone arrived just on time for the 7pm reservation. Surprisingly, we have a 100% attendance record, even those who are working in Singapore, off-shores and Malacca took their time off to meet up at 1 Utama for a buffet at Shogun Japanese buffet restaurant.

It was also Sanjev’s birthday and the guys got him a bottle of liquor, which something I believe Sanjev would appreciate it greatly.

I shall dwell into the food at another post.

We entered the restaurant at 7pm sharp, with a table not too far from the food reserved for us. Quickly, everyone started to help themselves with the food and catch up with each other over stupid jokes, teases and more stupid jokes.

Group pictures inside the restaurant.

It was almost 90 minutes later when everyone had enough and decided to call it off and leave the restaurant; that followed by almost 20 minutes of crapping right outside the restaurant.

Introducing the Rumah Bahagia members and the gang.

That was only our first half of the gathering which we then continued at Bangsar, with a few more friends joining us. However, that will be another post for another day.

I am not even 1/3 as popular as most celebrity bloggers out there.
My traffic barely touches the 1,000 visits per day mark.
10,000 unique visitors per month always seem to be a dream for my blog and me.

Like it or not, I don’t see myself as a celebrity blogger like Kenny Sia, Ringo Tan, Timothy Tiah, Shaolin Tiger, Kimberlycun, Fireangel, Suanie and the many more heavy weight bloggers in Malaysia blogsphere.

However, I think I am blessed with a lot of loyal and nice readers who never stop reading my blog over the years, treating me as good friends, buying me meals, baking me cookies and muffins, writing me snail mail and cards and even buying me gifts or souvenirs.

I woke up feeling drowsy due to insomnia during the previous night and saw a package sitting on top of my notebook. It was from Chong, a relatively new reader of mine who happens to use the same camera as me, Canon EOS 40D. We never meet up before.

Looking at the fragile sticker behind, I carefully opened the parcel and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the writings on the box.

B+W Circular Polarizer Filter for 67mm. This piece of glass, I estimated it to be somewhere around RM250 +- RM50.

The function of a CPL filter, an illustration I grabbed from Wikipedia would explain it clearly.

For the uninitiated, B+W is probably the best filter manufacturer around since the early age of cameras. It is considered a branded item and very well known among photographers. It is made in Germany and using brass. Hence, the excellent built quality and weight.

Inside the box, was a short note that reads, “Souvenir and be-late-d birthday gift from Singapore. Cheers, Chong.”.

Friend, while I truly appreciate the gift you got for me, isn’t the gift a little too expensive? I even feel guilty about it. I was merely joking about getting one for me as a souvenir while you were in Singapore. Honestly and seriously, thank you very much. It could probably be the best birthday gift I ever received so far. I owe you one, big time.

As most photography freaks would know, getting yourself a dSLR (In my case, it’s a Canon EOS 40D.) is only the beginning of more splurging.

After six months, I finally saved enough to get myself the Canon Speedlite 580 EX II. Yes, the flash gun that could fire up to 13m, according to the technical specification.

It adds extra (a lot of) weight to my already heavy camera but with a flash gun attached, night shots would be much easier. It’s going to take some time to learn how to use it effectively though.

Chong, does my camera still looked small? LOL. Honestly, I still feel it’s small but the weight, is quite a bit.

Three test shot of my Chevrolet 2008 Concept Camaro cum Bumblebee.

Robin introduced to me the Hoya close up filter +4 some time back and I was tempted to get one. With my kit lens minimum focusing distance fixed at 45cm, a close up filter could really close the gap and allow me to focus even closer than before. As I don’t have the budget for a macro lens, a close up filter would be good for the mean time. However, I noticed the sharpness and picture quality have dropped a little. For RM84, I am not complaining.

Focused at 85mm (136mm on full frame) without close up filter.

Focused at 85mm (136mm on full frame) with close up filter.

That aside, again, million thanks to Bryan for allowing me to defer his debt payment and buy my flash gun first.

Yes, that is about it for my camera gadgets, for now. I want to travel, really.

Honestly, this could be one of the most creative and best birthday card that I have ever received. Not that I receive lots of them every year either. I got it two days earlier, in my letterbox.

Upon opening it, I saw these - “Don’t let a stick person be the victim of a horribly clumsy accident. Use this card sensibly.” and “This health warning is brought to you by the Anti-Ouch Association”. I was dumbfounded.

I opened it and was greeted with a small figure on top of the card. Ta-da!

So, that’s a stick people! Can you see his tiny little wooden hand? No wonder they call them the stick people. Damn cute, right?

Flipping over the card, I saw this sentence - “Not suitable for children under 5 years due to small parts”. Sweat. This is a dangerous and life threatening birthday card. Evil!

The price was printed on the back of the card as well, AUD 8.95, that’s a whopping (close to) RM30 for a birthday card. To make sure the money was well spent, the person wrote a message so long that it practically filled up all the available blank spaces on the inside of the card. Heh!

Thanks, you know who you are. ;)

Last Saturday, February 23, was my 24th birthday.

Special thanks to my parents who brought me to this world and also Pei San, Suet Lei and Yih Tian for celebrating my birthday with me.

And of course, thanks to everyone who wished me. Apparently, not many people remember my birthday.