Dream of Paradise

iStockphoto

The last time I was on iStockphoto (according to their records) was in July 2011. Which means the last time i was rejected by iStockphoto was more than a year ago.

I've been working really hard to up my game in terms of the pictures I shoot and here I am, more than a year later on the website thinking of getting possibly rejected yet again (I've been rejected on at least 3 different occasions now).

But here's the thing - I'm not sure if my eyes are starting to fail me at this ungodly hour of the day or if I'm so technologically impaired or if I really can't seem to find the damn button that lets me submit my photos to be scrutinized by the worlds leading photo critics (I assume their jobs are to just sit there and rate our photos like health inspectors rate restaurants).

I've spent over 45 minutes scouring the website, including the SITEMAP, but have so far turned up short with my eagerness slowly dwindling into an exhausted stupor.

Well, for what it's worth, here's the picture I intended on submitting. Would love to hear what total, honest strangers have to say about it.

I'm guessing it wouldn't pass iStock's criteria anyway. After closer inspection, my boat seems to be a tad fuzzy. 

Cohesion of Sound and Sea

It was a Thursday night. I had come back from work and stayed up all night to catch a flight the next day at 6am to the East Coast of peninsular Malaysia where a little island called Perhentian lay.

There were 8 of us. A mish mash of friends from different worlds leaving to enjoy the sound of the ocean beating against the sand that would, in a few hours be making its way through our toes.

On a plane, off a plane, on a van, off a van, on a boat, off a boat. We had finally arrived. Abner handed me his iPhone and the sounds of Ludovico Einaudi's Divenire filled my ears as I sat on the chalet front staring out into the endless body of water that would engulf anything that dared mess with it. Such a gentle element and at the same time, such a dangerous one.

We laid in the sun, on the sand. We sat in chairs, under the stars. We washed our worries away in the ocean as silence fell over our submerged heads, eyes watching the schools of fishes. Blue, green, white, rainbow colored. Corals that would tear your skin if you stood on them and corals that would caress your skin when your hand brushed through it.

We ate, we drank, we laughed, we shared moments, and all too soon it was over. 4 nights of sheer nothingness, and then we were once again pulled back into our reality of smog and pollution, of time that seemed to tick too fast, of work that seemed to never end.

It was a trip. Not a holiday, or a vacation but an extraordinary trip which brought man back to nature, and the soul to peace.

The Backpack Dilemma

A couple of months ago I stumbled upon a really cool field pack.

The Arkiv R6 Field Pack by The Mission Workshop

Fully customizable. Enough space to fit a chopped up dead body. Easy access compartments and pouches. And it makes you look like a man.

Then I saw the price tag. After conversion it would cost me roughly 700 Ringgit. The price is justified simply for the fact that its fully handmade. I was ready and willing to buy it.

But it still lacked something I truly needed. The protective elements for my camera.

I've been looking for a really nice camera backpack that can fit and protect my laptop, my camera and my lenses.

The problem with camera bags these days is that their fully functional, but not aesthetically pleasing enough. If they're aesthetically pleasing, they usually aren't practical enough.

If someone knows of a good, practical, aesthetically pleasing backpack that would fit my laptop, camera and lenses, as well as other rubbish like notebooks and pens, please let me know. I'm dying for one.

Bags, Bags, Bags!

Bags. I'm a sucker for bags. What also sucks is that is that I can't afford them.

You remember when we were kids and use to lug around big ass backpacks which could fit 6 textbooks in it? (Here in Malaysia if you don't go to a blue blazer private school, you don't have lockers)

I remember the day I got my first "cool" backpack when I was in high school. A bodypac that barely fit 4 notepads and a pencil case, that my dad had bought for me one day when we were out walking around the mall. It cost him 50 bucks. Which was a shit load compared to the 10 dollar bags I use to have. I treasured that bag until the dag i finished high school (Which, honestly, was a year later than i expected, so the bag lasted real long).

Then I went to college and a buddy of mine was telling me about this place that sells cheap knockoffs of American brands. I headed there one day and got myself a really cool looking, but uncomfortable "Manhattan Portage" messenger. College kids can't afford imported 400 dollar bags, so I was pretty happy with it. Then I got myself a nifty laptop and realized the bag didn't have the necessary padding. I spent hours scouring the internet for a bag that would properly protect my laptop and not cost me my arm. And I found NOTHING.

So I trudged along with my laptop in that same beat up messenger. From my first college, to my second and then to my third.

By then I had already bought a camera which had gone through one free gift sling bag, an unwanted free gift sling bag, and a hand-me-down sling backpack which my friend didn't want anymore (I later saw why). I ended up with a really awesome backpack I bought on the street outside a 7-Eleven in Bangkok. I still use that to this day.

It was then I decided maybe I needed a bag that could fit my laptop and my camera all in one. So on the internet I went again. And found this.

The Timbuk2 Snoop Camera Messenger Bag.

It was perfect.

It looked awesome. Had a camera insert option, and fit my macbook, along with tons of other stuff.

Problem was, because Malaysia is such a shoddy country, they didn't want to sell online to us (They were victims of credit card fraud here once). So I called my cousin in San Francisco and asked if she could get it for me. I had to wait a month before she got home from Seattle. By this time, I was already exploding on the inside with excitement.

Then I found a guy in Malaysia selling this same exact bag online. 50 bucks cheaper too. So I bought it and anxiously awaited its arrival at my doorstep for a week.

It came and I started to get skeptical if it was legit. I cross checked mine with the original specs online and realized this asshole sold me a knockoff. It generally worked in the same way but was missing a few parts, like the memory buckle and proper padding on the strap.

I lost it. I had spent 400 bucks (original price after conversion) on a bag that wasn't even legit. I gave up and began using it. Telling myself everyday that it was fine. It worked and thats all that mattered.

Then I took it on a trip and came home with one shoulder partially paralyzed and decided to go back with my backpack and leave my laptop at home.

These days I spend everyday sitting in front of the computer searching the interweb for a backpack that would fit my needs. I can now afford them, but realize that none of them can do or offer what I need.

A Midnight in my Imagination

I dreamt. I dreamt.

I dreamt that in I walked along a path so long and windy my head spun around me. My eyes focusing on nothing but a bright, shining, white light at the end of the journey. I squinted. I shielded my eyes. I cowered for protection from the rays that assaulted my peripherals. And yet closer yet I walked towards the unknown.

All this while I thought about the fear of the unknown. How our bodies shudder and go into tiny spasms at the thought of what the unknown could do to us. But what could the unknown do to us? It being unknown, we very obviously wouldn't be able to tell what it can or cannot do. Then it dawns on me it isn't the unknown that we are afraid of. It is the imagination that the unknown encourages. The simple imagination of the possibilities of what things we don't know, can or cannot do.

I'm not the first to realize this. Many before me have come and gone and have managed to control, no not harnest, but control and cage the imagination. Kings and Queens, Dictators, Governments, Prime Ministers and even Presidents all fear the imagination. The ability to imagine and create with the mind, to set an idea and bring forth the creation of what was once unknown and unimaginable, the ultimate unknown. Ideas that could topple governments, economies, and the very good lives of the elite.

But as they say, fight fire with fire. Using the imagination to control imagination. The planting of one seed that will outgrow another. We all know this as RELIGION. The plant of idealistic thinking to transition into discipline and submission.

I didn't say there isn't a God. I only ask where did the idea of a specific one come from?

I'd dare say the light at the end of my journey would more easily be a spaceship than it is a gate of such grandeur that it blinds me (Why would you built a gate so grand that you couldn't see it. How the hell would I know its grand then).

From Rugs to Riches

Publika. The latest hipster hole to pop up here in KL, offers all things expensive, trendy, artsy and sometimes even out of place. Like this Habibi selling rugs dead smack in the middle of what is now hipster central on sunny Sunday afternoons.

Their staff are really friendly too. Like the Indian girl working the information counter who decided to halt the entire line of lost patrons just to ask me where I got my tattoo done and if I could write down the name and number of the shop for her on a small piece of paper. All this while the line only got longer.

But all jokes aside, this really is a nice place to hang out if you enjoy good food that's served with actual pork in its food court. The Hokkien Mee and Chilli Pan Mee are foodie favorites here.