Lost In Translation

Shortly after dinner at Wayne's, I came home to find the fire alarm in the apartment ringing. At first, it was a mere beep. Okay, a loud beep. I didn't have a clue to how to respond to the beep, initially. Until it turned into an emergency alarm with a digitalised voiced saying something along the lines of "There is a fire in the building. Please evacuate the building in an orderly manner". Well, something like that.

No more than two minutes after evacuating the building, two fire trucks arrived at the scene. Well, all I could think of, really, was:
1) I hope this isn't a real fire, and
2) I sure hope the poor dude who caused this thing has $3000 to cough up cuz the fire trucks ain't there for free.

Here's a lil video clip of the scene outside last night I took with my still awesome Nokia 6260.

It was nice to see that there were still people who were ignorant enough to ignore protocol and stay within the safe confines of their homes. For one, there was that lady in the video upstairs just staring at the trucks outside from her balcony, on the phone, in a towel. Well... maybe that's why she didn't come down I suppose. But she should've nevertheless (wink, wink).

It turned out that apparently some people were cooking in their apartment and the fumes from their cooking got a little out of control. Amateurs. Esther's guessing that instead of opening up their balcony door to let the fumes out, they opened their front door instead, letting the fumes out into the hallway. Geniuses. Thats $3000 for them.

So there we go. No real drama. Just a little more excitement to add to the already awesome night last night.
Wheee!

This evening, Lydia, Esther & I explored the lower end of Collins Street to check out the brand new Krispy Kreme which just opened over a week ago. Just being two blocks down from Esther's apartment, we decided to take a walk down Collins as the weather was nice after all.

All pictures taken with a Nokia N73!

But what was really funny was that we noticed a lot of balloons being handed out to kids as they come and go, and we started wondering if the balloons were hydrogen-filled or helium-filled.
So shamelessly, Lydia, being the big kid that she is, grabbed a balloon home and decided to find out.

What it was then? Well... see for yourself.

My exams are in less than 3 weeks' time. So surreal, the feeling. This semester seemed to have zipped pass so fast. Not a very good sign, really. Firstly because of the obvious exams coming up sooner-than-I-thought scenario. Secondly, this is actually my very last (God permit) summer holiday EVER. I honestly don't think I'm honours material, so I'm graduating next year, making this coming summer holidays my very last one ever. After this, no more holidays except for that gap of time between graduation and work. And when work starts...
Well, let's not get into the details just yet there.

I have a funny feeling about this coming exams. My timetable isn't exactly ideal.
6th November, Business Finance
8th November, Corporate Law
9th November, Accounting for Corporate Entities
21st November, Introductory Econometrics.

3 papers in the first week itself. 3 huge papers too, may I add. Especially with Corporate Law. And then 12 days to my weakest subject. Which I suppose is a good thing. And another thing good. I can make it to the U2 gig, and for the first time in many, many years, I get to enjoy my birthday without having an exam on that day or the next.

So yes. Tis not so bad after all, I suppose. All I have to do is rush through 3 subjects' revision as fast as possible now. Without being distracted by the many, many other activites calling out to me right now. That shouldn't be too hard. I hope. Well... I am blogging now when I'm supposed to be doing my Econometrics assignment. There's a good start.

Anyways, on a sidenote, meet my coffee-substitute.

It is the butt-ugliest drink in the nicest looking bottle I've seen in a while. But it tastes awesome and is actually (supposedly) some really healthy boost juice. It wakes me up like nothing else. Perhaps it's just the soury taste. As long as it does the job. Only thing to complains' the price though. About $3.50 - $3.80 out there? For a mere 350mL. Not cool. But I think it has to do for now because I've been getting more conscious of my very yellow set of teeth lately. So yes. Staying off the coffee for a while now till I get my teeth whitened. Soon.

Okay. I think it's about time to get back to my work. Will blog again soon. Seeing it's the exam period, my blogging frequency should up a bit anytime soon.
Till next time.

Photos are posted at here and here.
T'was a great night indeed.

I would firstly get myself a Holga 120CFN.

I've been dreaming of using one for almost a year now and now that the exams are nearing, my distracted mind would long for it even more. It is selling for about $70 on ebay if I were to buy it now, but kg reckons it's a fake because the seller's from HK/China, and so they'll cheat me or something. If I were to order it from the lomography website, it'd be about $150. The difference is that I get a book with the one from the website about lomo's which can't be found on ebay. And the assurance that it's definitely a genuine camera, of course. Even though they're all just plastic.
Iris tells me that I can probably find a shop in FedSq selling it. Just not sure for how much. I just might check it out.

Secondly, only because I was so impressed by it after borrowing Josh's for the Girls' Night In, would be the Canon 430ex flash for my DSLR.

I don't have an external flash for my 350D at all. Tis very depressing, especially when I'm taking photos in not-so-sufficiently-lit places. It breaks my heart to have to tune up my ISO to so high, have the photos turning up grainy, and yet, still blurry because of the low lights and moving objects. Using the flash at Esther's Girls' Night In was definitely satisfying. They make so much of a difference! Hence, I have to have one. But of course, it's not exactly cheap. UNLESS I WERE RICH, THAT IS!!

And lastly (for now, of course), I want a Polaroid One Step camera. An older model would be preferred. Like the one below. But a new one would be fine as well. I'm just into it for the novelty, this one. Hehe.

Apparently on Amazon right now, I can get this exact one in the picture above for about $45 without delivery from the States. Which isn't that bad, I suppose. And it's not dodgy by kg terms as well because... well... it's Amazon! I think. But yes. I reckon Polaroid shots are simply awesome. Simple, and yet they look good. In a Polaroid sorta way. And the old ones just look so FUNKY! So yes. No real substance in terms of interest here. But I'd get one anyway. IF I WERE RICH!!

Oh well. The bible says 'seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these shall be added unto you'.
So... God'll bless me with these toys if I were to seek Him first?
We'll see... (LOL).

Stuff the previous entry.
Stuff it all! Right from the holga all the way to the Polaroid!

I headed to the NGV shop today, where according to iris and her posse claimed that they sold lomo cameras there. They were correct. A lot, in fact, but the holga. They had a Pop9, a Fisheye, a Colorsplash camera, the Oktomat, and a couple more. Very funky. Especially the Pop9, in gold. Talk about spunk.

But no holga. I asked the lady by the counter and she said that they ran out of stock, but they will probably be back within the month. They were selling for about $110, but she's unsure of which model that was. Right now, I'm just thanking God that they were out of stock.

Why, you may ask? Did I find out something terrible about the holga which I would've regretted getting it if I did? Well, no. The holga's still perfect the way it is. It's just that I happen to have found myself a new obsession.

You see, after the visit to the NGV, I headed back home to browse around the lomo site some more. For some reason, I suppose the inner voice in me was calling to explore the site some more (Hah!). And the inner voice drew me to something I've noticed hanging around the site for a while, but for some odd reason, it never initially caught my intention to be bothered to click on it. Not till today, that is. And so, I clicked.

Lo and behold, a thing of beauty.

The lomo lc-a+.

What on earth is that, I hear you ask? Well, I'm not entirely sure myself. But I believe this is what I'll be spending the following month, if not revising or freaking out over my exam, obsessing about due to the SPECTACULAR shots it creates. Just take a look at the gallery in the microsite itself!
THEY'RE FLIPPIN' BEAUTIFUL!!!

I mean, look at this!

The richness in its saturation and contrast, and yet, not overdone. Gah! I'm palpitating already!

GOSH IF ONLY I WERE RICH!!!