Food Photography: how bad is it?

A Facebook friend posted the following:

Seriously??

I immediately thought of the album that I wanted to update, and so I did:

Seriously, Mel? What are you trying to say?

First of all, let’s make it clear, I am not mentally ill or I hope I’m not. Secondly, there’s no second point. I thought it’s funny how my food album is just a quick scroll on top of her post. Kinda like someone is trying to make a point and I’m helping to be the example. But again, I am not mentally ill.

I like sharing food photographs because I hope my album can be a reference for my friends to select the restaurants they would like to visit. Because that’s what I do. From time to time I check out my friends’ food album to see if there’s any interesting restaurant to try out. Also, I am passionate about what I eat. Food should be shared.

I guess everyone has at least one annoying friend who posts a lot of food photos. Well I am yours.

Cheers,
Mel.

Japan, here I come.

As a child I was a daredevil. I skated down a precipitous slope right after I learnt how to wobble forward in my skates. I fell, obviously, and it hurt but I rolled down again as soon as I wiped my skinned knee. I fell down again and this went on few more times and days. Looking back, I don’t know how I had the courage. Perhaps I have not been exposed to fear. The only fear I had was of cockroaches.

Unfortunately my fearlessness shrinks with age. The realisation came as I am planning for a solo trip to Japan (*Not entirely solo as I have friends there). This isn’t my first solo travel, yet I find myself flinching at the idea of having to plan the route from one city to another, find accommodation cluelessly and having to depend on strangers for directions. I used to seek after those excitement but now I question if I really want to do that or should I just stay in one city where my friend lives. This transformation, for the better or worse, started with comfort.

Comfort usually has a positive connotation. However it has the downside too. Being comfortable is what makes a person stays in the same barren job for longest period because he is apprehensive about starting over at new environment. It is also the reason why someone with the talent to be a diva refuses to go up the stage as she has never done it before. Let me rephrase; Comfort is good but the fear of stepping out of it is bad. Kinda like money is good but the love for money is the root of all evil. Human can get so comfortable staying at their current state, that they began to slouch in the routine and slowly let their vigor decomposes. There’s nothing wrong with it if you’re happy. But if you’re slouching and complaining at the same time then something is wrong. I have to plead guilty to it. I am sitting and thinking that how dreary it is that I haven’t been on an adventure for the longest time and yet flinch at the idea of having to plan one. Life is good, but even if you sit on the most comfortable chair in the world, try sitting for hours and you’ll end up with sore-butt. That is why I am booking my flight to Japan.

If you are as a guity as I am, look and sign yourself up for an adventure today.

cheers,
Mel.

Film Review: The Place Beyond The Pines

Reviewers have been raving about this film and I can see why. Unfortunately, though the movie has a good cast and storyline, I feel like I was sitting for eternity at the theatre.

In the earlier part of the movie we were introduced to Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), a traveling motorcar stuntman, who doesn’t seem to have direction in life but to live day-to-day until he learns about his baby son from his former lover, Romina (Eva Mendes). Determined to be there for his son, he quits his job and stay in town. At first Luke has only good motives, but soon we witness him sliding into the dark side as he struggles to find ways to provide for his son who is living with Romina and her new boyfriend. From Luke’s life it then links us to Officer Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) and the story goes on.

The plot was refreshing and unexpected. I could guess what’s gonna happen next but I was hoping that what I thought might happen will not happen because it would prove the ugly side of humanity. Kinda like you know what person holding a gun could do but you wish that he wouldn’t pull the trigger and when he does you are shocked that he actually would. Something along that line if you know what I mean. This film shows what life can do to a person.

Initially I thought the film does well in portraying the transformation or revelation of human character when faced with life’s struggles, but the film’s stagnant pace makes it becomes painstakingly dull as the story progresses. Even with the incredibly talented actors, good plot and message, the way the story is told made me to feel like I was trapped in my seat. It’s not enough to have good ingredients, you got to know how to cook them. The film was like a plate of overcooked steak.

Having read my review, you would either; (a) Strongly disagree with me and think I lack of the intellect to appreciate this movie (b) Completely understand where I’m coming from.
I guess this movie would make a good topic for a literary discussion, but I watched this film after a long day at work and the slow pace makes it really hard for me to appreciate it.

Mel says: 6/10

Imagination.

It’s amazing how much time I spent on this blog and how few posts I’ve posted. The number of hours does not add up.
The problem is that I spent most of my time staring at an empty draft while my thoughts run amok with 1001 things I could be writing about. That’s what I face everyday; me against my own thoughts. There are many times when I feel like doing one thing and then I sit and think about all the possible things I could be doing. Before I knew it, I ran out of time. Although I enjoy a little escapade in my own mind, drifting away with my imagination, there has to be a point where one should come back to reality. Better still, find a channel to bring the imagination to life through writings, artworks, songs, etc. Imagination is a powerful tool because I belive most people who achieve greatness started with an imagination. Then again I could hear a voice in my head saying “Great people don’t imagine, they just do it.” What about great artists then? “Great artists don’t just imagine, they actually paints.” Shucks, I’m losing an argument with my own mind.

To cut long story short, having imagination is great, but bringing those imagination into reality is greater. So I stop thinking and just post an entry.

Love,
Mel.

Café et moi

You know how sometimes you know something is bad for you but you do it anyway and ended up wondering why did you do that in the first place??

That’s me and my coffee. I am really fond of coffee, or at least I used to be until I realised few years back that I have a bad reaction to it. My heart palpitates uncontrollably every time I take coffee and I’d be restless the whole day. I tried dissolving the caffeine by drinking gallons of water and going back and forth the toilet but the effect still lasted longer than what’s bearable. So I decided to stop drinking coffee altogether… with exception on days like today. I took 3-in-1 instant coffee this morning thinking a little would be harmless. Almost 6 hours has passed and I’m restless.

If I knew it’ll be bad for me, why did I still drank that coffee?
*Roll eyes at myself cause I deserve it*

cheers,
Mel.

My hair is horrible.

Sigh.

It’s a been a long time since I felt this horrible about my hair. It’s an absolute mess. Of course the smart thing to do is go for another haircut rather than complaining about it. I will do so next week cause it slipped my mind how terrible this haircut is. To the hairdresser who did my hair; YOU SHOULD BE BANISHED! This what happened when I experimented with a different salon.

Perhaps on Sunday I will go to the salon. Till then, sigh.

x,
Mel.

AnyThink.

I’ve never had to make so much decisions in my life before.

It has been almost a year since I stepped into the working world and it has yet to set in that whatever I choose to do now will have critical repercussions. Technically, I have been making a huge decision since I was a kid; going abroad to study, selecting which school to enrol, accommodation to live in, etc. But those decisions will only have major effect on myself. It wouldn’t inflict harm on anyone or jeopardise anything (except for little emotional damages on few people involved). Now that I am in the working world, what I decided can actually impact the company and people working for it. Like when I had a miscommunication that resulted in the release of pre-approved ad, my company paid a large sum of money for the reprint*. At work, it seems like I’m always caught up in a dilemma. I have to make a decision for my client yet I don’t really have authority to have the final say, but then again, to a certain extent I do because the client depends on my foresight for advise. I’m a (mis)fortune-teller. Misfortune because I have to think of the worst possible situation and ways to avoid it. Anyhow, have you noticed that most of my blog are work related ever since I started working? Don’t I have life outside work that I can discuss about? That question hasn’t popped in my head until this second as I type this. I have been thinking of trying something new, something more meaningful like saving someone’s life which is why I signed up to be a blood donor. They have yet to call me though. I guess I just miss writing, that’s all. I know writing isn’t something new or going to save someone’s life but there’s a satisfaction every time I publish a new post. Like what I say matters. I’ve been feeling a little insignificant at work cause it seems like everyone know so much more than me. I’m looking forward to the day when I’ve worked long enough to know more.

Maybe I’m writing to save my own life.

Cheers,
Mel.

*If you are a potential employer, trust that I will be a valuable team player to your company since I made a mistake few has done, thus learnt a lesson that few has learnt.