Lots of things happened but didn't have the time to write about it because I was so caught up with doing more wishy-washy Java assignment. In particular a few interesting, intellectually stimulating, self-examining conversations that have caused me to think about a lot. Well, apart from assignments...
First up, a slightly bigger comment on the wedding. I was supposed to cover the preparation done at The Willows for the reception. People are supposed to be pouring in at 10:45am (ideally) so I figured that people might be around the venue roughly an hour before people start coming in. So I went there at around 9:30. And it was empty. I'm like "What the...?" There were literally no one else apart from the people working there so there I was looking very stupid with my overpacked camera bag with tripod. But soon realizing that there were some small things going on around the venue, I'd figure that I should be shooting. Manage to get some relatively OK shots of the venue, the little itty bitty things for the wedding and so on. It also gave me ample time for me to test my flash as the weather didn't look like we were going to have the reception outside. It was then that I noticed something wrong with my flash unit. I was taking some shots around the room and I had my flash pointing slanted up and away from the subject and when I fired the flash, this gargantuan flash of light came out and I'd dare say it nearly blinded me. This was very unusual and as you'd expect it burned the picture. This was cause for some concern but it didn't happen all the time so I thought it was just a tiny glitch. Also came with the glitches were that the flash sometimes doesn't respond even when it is charged up. But it was OK. Or at least that's what I thought it was.
People start pouring in and it looks like we were about to start. Only thing missing is the bride. Melvin gathered the rest of the wedding planners and Fernando to pray and in particular pray that the weather would hold to have it outside. The moment he finished praying, the rain came in. Talk about quick denial. But the sun came out briefly when the bride arrived which was always a good thing. Reception procedure went on as usual but for most of us photographers, it was exceedingly difficult to take pictures with about 80+ people around in a small area. Finally we moved to the conservatory for a brief speech session and canapes. There at least there was most space so I can whip out my 100mm for some candid portraiture. Flash problems continue to plague me as a lot of good shots came out burnt by the occasional gargantuan flash. And sometimes I don't get anything because the flash wouldn't fire. But the ones that do come out good were good.
Reception over and back home for a short nap before heading to the dinner. Because it was Grand Final Day, a lot of trams were redirected elsewhere so I ended up walking to Docklands for the dinner. If anyone remembers that Saturday, it was freezing cold with nail-biting winds. Nearly died there. But during the dinner there was nothing much going on. Again it's not easy to take photos but not as bad. Brandon seems to be doing fine doing the group shots as always without us.
Now the interesting things happened. I had a chat with Lydia and Yen Ping about our current problems with people, in particular OCF. There were a lot of things that we discussed but they have managed to come up with a possible solution for my problems. And I genuinely agree with this almost on the spot which is something rare for those who have been reading the blog for awhile.
I need a mentor.
Not like a teacher or something formal like that. A mentor. A Christian mentor. All this while I've been subjecting myself to giving and giving to the rest of the OCF entity but nothing comes in. That's where a mentor can help. Help heaps apparently. All my life I've never had a mentor for anything. Not in my Christian walk, not some of the sports I play fairly seriously, nothing. I don't know why but I think it's shocking. I've known so many people who have had mentors at one stage of their life and I never had the need for a mentor. Or at least that's what I thought. I didn't need anyone to show me the ropes or go to when I have a problem because I've always been able to imitate just by observation. Some things can be learned formally like a teacher or Bible studies but it lacks the depth of having a mentor mentoring you. We have follow-ups in OCF (which I guess it's the equivalent of mentoring) but it is lacking. I feel that I have no one to fall back to whenever I have problems. There were a lot more things on this subject that I thought about but I forgot a lot of them thanks to my assignments.
Bottom line is that, I somewhat now recognize the need for a mentor. And not just a Christian mentor but ideally a mentor for some of the other things I'm involved with. Photographer mentor.
That gave me a lot of things to think about over the past few days. Particularly on the whole mentoring side of things. Why didn't I have one? How was I able to get away with a lot of things just because I see how it is done, indirectly? How was I able to be an island that just kept exporting? Questions indeed.
Before I knew it, the day was over. Great but tiring day it was.
Sunday was another conversational afternoon. This time it was on media, organization and management related things and somehow connected with our church's second service, among other things. Was very quiet for this one but still actively listening. This is not one of my areas that I have any knowledge of but nonetheless it was interesting. That also gave me a lot to think about though the exact details of it has been lost somewhere between FireStation.java and java.util.ArrayList. Sigh.
I wonder, with the advancement of technology in particular to how much time we are connected to social networking sites, does it really hamper our ability to converse? This what I mean. I know it has happened before several times already but it does say something. We seem to be going in this trend that we can know a lot about what goes on in a person's life based on one sentence on Facebook or under-140-characters on Twitter. That may be alright but are we stopping at that? Are we content knowing just one sentence about a person? Is this a case of the much talked about information overload in the information age? Hmmm.
There is also another thing I would like to comment about OCF that I think the trend seems to be moving in that direction. I don't think I am going to outline it yet because I feel that people are going to take this the wrong way, much like the few things I have said here. May be I should have gone to Wordpress so that I can protect some of my posts. All I can say is that, OCF seems to be returning to the trend it was just a few years before I came to OCF. Only with slight dynamics modification.
And now the news of the week:
Don't you wish you'd had memory like these guys? And not becoming a savant?
Some interesting numbers of WoW
Must have guide for the budget traveler to Japan. Also for my own benefit.
Interesting job search method.
Such oxymoronic titles only make us to read even more. 10 ways how to enjoy doing nothing.
Xbox on fighting heart disease. That can't be good especially since they haven't fixed the red ring of death (analogous to the blue screen of death for PC users)...
Hmmm, to the can-count-with-one-hand-girls reading this, is this true?
A very touchy subject but one that has huge implications. The right that religious groups can reject a person to work in their establishment on the basis that they do not observe their doctrine/beliefs. That right is still in play here but rest assured that there are many other people who will fight to dissolve this right under the banner of discrimination. We do not discriminate women or even the homosexuals in the general workplace but this is starting to get messy when we talk about religious grounds. I can't further comment on it simply because I do not have much knowledge or arguments on it but we should be careful. Those who fight for this right to be abolished would almost definitely be of the mind that religion has no part to play in our society and should be treated as any other workplace. Keeping religious institutions would now just be out of novelty. There is no difference.
Hate customer service of your favourite product or service provider? Do what this guy did, sue the Bank of America for 1784 billion trillion dollars.
People steal the weirdest things from hotels...
Great way to get up, wash up, dress for work, have breakfast and leave in 5 minutes. Some great things for us guys to learn
Why are we not surprised at this survey? We've been complaining about the broadband service in Malaysia for years and now here's concrete evidence for it.
Two of my favourite entries in the Strobist Assignment here and here.
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LOVEEEE that youtube video you posted up it is absolutely hilarious!!!!!!
I think it is a privilege to us friends that you share what you do on your blog... Hope that God will provide you with a suitable mentor and that you will continue to grow towards Him.
The bit about social-networking was rather apt. There are days when I seriously consider deleting my twitter and fb accounts.
Kat:
I suggest for good entertainment, to get Yeems to do this. I would be even better if you can secretly video it too =P
Josh:
That's the great irony or dilemma of the current generation. We can't live with them and we can't live without them. While I've never had such considerations as yours, it's just depressing to see that it does happen more often than you think in your own life.