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Small Talk:
No, I haven’t forgotten about the Travelogs. In fact, after blogging normally for a while, I realised that I’m running out of stuff to write about. So, with lots of pictures I still want to show you, here it is. More pictures from Egypt!

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After a hearty lunch on board the MS Orchestra [our cruise ship] I took a short nap before I heard the loud honks of the many cruise ships docked at Esna. I then realised that the synchronised honks [yes, the ships actually honked in a very systematic rhythm] signaled that the cruise has begun.

Lugging my camera with me, I went up to the top deck and found that there were already a lot of people aboard. The staff have already set up a small cafe serving tea, coffee and snacks for the guests. My mom made a mention about a novel titled ‘The Blue Nile‘. It was easy to see why it was titled so.

We departed from Esna at about 4pm, and the sun was just about to set at that time, lending us a beautiful shower of light to drench the landscape in shades of orange and yellow and blue. I couldn’t help but snap away at the scenery because I know I’m never gonna get to see this ever again in my life.

Our ship was one among several hundred cruise ships that ferried some 200-300 tourists on board each. Since everyone was having a good time, and the ships weren’t too far apart from each other, everyone who were on the top deck were waving at every other ship that passed us by - and everyone waved back. It was pretty cool.

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It was a lovely Wednesday evening, and I just finished watching a [relatively] new anime series, I checked on Messenger to see if anyone was online, and chatted up Yun Chuan. It then hit me, the Johor floods, and Yun Chuan is from Johor…

Me: eh, your house tak kena flood isit
Me: now only i realised you’re from johor -.-”

YC: ……….
YC: fark u
YC: haha
YC: nolah… if i flood singapore will be gone
YC: i’m on higher sea lvl than singapore

Me: ooo
Me: haha, last time a fren and i thot wat if singapore dissapear
Me: like, what if singapore was just an appendage of malaysia
Me: connected by the causeway and a tiny stretch of underwater land
Me: we break those two connection, let s’pore drift away
Me: maybe say “yo, sumatra!”

YC: …..
YC: =.=”"”"

Me: that was my days before i learned geography la.

YC: haha
YC: not bad imagination for a kid
YC: well… but… u’re fazri
YC: that’s gotta happen

I miss chatting nonsense with this guy. Of course, it doesn’t just end there.

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It’s not uncommon for us to see an a beautiful photo, and then say “meh, it’s Photoshopped, of course it’s pretty”. Of course, there are also cases when you see a beautiful photo, and then say “wow, you can do THAT with Photoshop?”. Most of the time, it’s really just a matter of attitude towards the whole idea of ‘a beautiful picture’.

Personally, I love doing post-processing work on my pictures. Like someone once said, “Art is never completed - only abandoned”. It’s a fact, but not one that’s openly accepted by everyone.

Now that photography has gone digital, I think that every opportunity should be taken to allow us to create that ‘beautiful picture’. Of course, there’s the image review, and the instant delete advantages, but I’m also surprised at how many digicam users neglect doing any post-processing. Okay, to neglect it due lack of skill with Photoshop is perfectly acceptable, but I’ve come to know several people who actually REFUSE to do any post-processing supposedly implying that it’s as blasphemous as doctoring the image.

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I was hanging out by the riverbank with a close friend when his girlfriend called. I was spent the following minutes enjoying the night breeze to myself with the merry chirping of crickets and cicadas on this warm January night. Suddenly, the phone was passed to me.

Girlfriend: If you were given one whole day, to do whatever you wish - given that money is no obstacle, laws of physics can be ignored - what is it that you wish to do the most?

When asked this, my friend said that he wanted to make a day trip around the world to see all the wonders of the world - with her tagging along of course. When I heard him talking about this, and him mentioning to her that he was hanging out with me, I knew she would point me the same question. When it was my turn to answer, I took a long breath, threw quick glance to river, capturing the beauty of the night lights reflected on the water’s surface and said simply;

Me: I’d like to spend a whole day walking on the Moon with my camera, and look down on the Earth, just to see what it looks like from there. Maybe call a geek friend from there to brag about it, too.

GF: Okay,.. and then?

Me: And then, uh… come back down?

GF: That’s it?

Me: I’m a simple guy. It doesn’t take much to please me.

Right to this day, I still don’t know why I answered it like that. Still, it’s one of the most interesting questions anyone has ever asked me.