120/365: Nanaimo Sunset

What I've really missed is Nanaimo faces the east side. So there hasn't been a particularly good coast line for a nice sunset shot anymore. This is worsened by my overwhelming laziness to wake up early for a sunrise photo as well.

However, today the clouds and a bit of mist rolled in just as the sun was setting and allowed for a pretty nice reflection I thought. I liked the rolling hills and tidy nature of field as well... This was actually part of the golf course that is the backyard to my place XD

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/80s; Aperture f/4; Focal 92mm; ISO 100

119/365: Baked Salmon

My experiment for the day: Baked salmon with nothing else except some onions, garlic and ginger. It turned out a little too dry though, I left it in the oven for too long, but I have lunch for tomorrow now! =D

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/100s; Aperture f/4; Focal 105mm; ISO 1000

118/365: Not so Fit

Lesson of the day - If you needed to push me down, push me down on to the right side. Apparently it's so weak I do not get any points at all...

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/80s; Aperture f/4; Focal 67mm; ISO 100

117/365: Frozen

So when I first moved to Nanaimo in March, I was given this Tupperware box of frozen meat by my mom so I can cook it and eat it. Seeing how it's been frozen for quite a while, I figured I should finally make it before it gets too freezer burned. Maybe I'm just a "sor jai" but the massive accumulation of icicles around the top of the container and growing out of the meat was the most interesting part of my day!

Well aside from defrosting the meat in my microwave and starting to smell cooked meat... Smell was too hard to capture on a photograph though. I'll have to work on it.

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/125s; Aperture f/4; Focal 105mm; ISO 500

116/365: Odd Flowers

I'm not well verse in flowers or plants, but the shape and color of these just struck me as odd. I've never seen anything quite like it before except... well those bundles of Chinese Firecrackers!

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/160s; Aperture f/4; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

115/365: Power On!

Finally got my hands on a Wii Fit board! I've been looking for the last few months, trying to make my video gaming sessions a little more active... Nintendo has been on the back order for them and when I first started looking, the wait list was 70+ people!

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/80s; Aperture f/5.6; Focal 90mm; ISO 1600

114/365: Bees

I returned to Nanaimo to discover something. The bee working force is out in full now. Even this bush of tiny flower/berry stuff is being SWARMED by bees! I paused to observe and noticed a good 20 bees were in front of me visible on the surface, let alone more that could be further inside the bush or around the other side.

Regardless, I shot a few with my 24-105mm but the focus is still off... Either the bees are too fast or I'm just too slow!

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/1600s; Aperture f/4; Focal 105mm; ISO 3200

113/365: Duckies!

I love strolling along the dyke in Steveston Village. It's so peaceful and relaxing there! There's always something there that brightens my day whenever I go... and today I got an extra surprise!

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/400s; Aperture f/8; Focal 105mm; ISO 100

112/365: Helen

My guinea pig model for the day!
I'm getting a little more practice shooting people but still not great with direction and suggestions. I'm glad the umbrella idea worked out really well though, Helen was much more relaxed and enjoyed the shoot once she had something to play with!


5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/100s; Aperture f/4; Focal 82mm; ISO 320

111/365: Personal Chef

I had a personal chef for the day!
Well, not exactly, but he made one mean pork tenderloin that I'll never forget! MMMMmmmmmmm

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/40s; Aperture f/4; Focal 45mm; ISO 800

110/365: Melody Fine Tea

A fancy, though expensive, place for tea in Richmond. It's located in Union Square with tinted windows. If you go during the day it looks like a gang hide out spot actually...

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/30s; Aperture f/2.8; Focal 33mm; ISO 1000

109/365: False Creek

A not so gorgeous day looked extraordinary when a bit of sun shone through =)

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/400s; Aperture f/10; Focal 16mm; ISO 100

108/365: Bunnie

I made a quick visit to Victoria to see my friend, Herb. There are rabbits here.
A LOT of rabbits.
And it looks like Herb has got them trained to some extent XD

Back to the rabbits, there are so many that the fields are nothing but patches of grass and little rabbit poo...

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/80s; Aperture f/4; Focal 47mm; ISO 100

107/365: Rejoice

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/100s; Aperture f/4; Focal 105mm; ISO 2500

106/365: Smash64

Anyone still remember this game?
This is the original Smash Brothers that came out on Nintendo 64. With all 4 players, the game lagged and the graphics were a little cubic. Nonetheless, I still find it one of my favorite multi-player games of all time... None of the new Smash Bro's has appealed to me quite as much as this one has. So I bought the game for my Wii, just need a few gamecube controllers to play it!


5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/160s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

105/365: Dinner

I have quite a few relatives/friends flown in to Vancouver visiting us this week. Lets just say there's been a lot of going out for dinners and large groups, multiple car trips to ferry everyone and just all around good fun! Of course, the epicenter of any good Chinese gathering is a large meal around a great table =)

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/64s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

We went to Lam Chu Kee for dinner where they served us big mushy oysters about the width of our face!

104/365: Apples to Apples

How to play: This is a card game where each player is holding 7 red cards and you take turns flipping over a green card. The green cards are adjectives and the red cards are nouns. Whoever flips the Green card is a judge for that round and everyone else picks a red card to put down (last player to put something down gets rejected and keeps their card). The judge then goes through the red cards and decides whats the best connection the noun has to the adjective. Other players are allowed to make comments to either establish connections or refute other's. Whoever's red card makes the best connection as decided by the judge wins the round and gets a green card! Player with the most green cards win.

So in this round... we've got the green card: Tame
Red cards were:
- Being in Love
- Hummingbirds
- A Bull Fight
- Rock and Roll
- Mohammad Ali
- MTV
- Ninjas

Guess who won this round?

HTC Hermes

103/365: Water #7 at Vanier Park

It is beyond me how an artist can go around making all these oddly shapped water drops, then label them Water #1-infinity... Does he get inspiration from watching a leaky faucet?

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/60s; Aperture f/22; Focal 16mm; ISO 100

102/365: FrogLegs

Anyone who works retail tends to be on their feet a lot. It's essential that you supplement with a health meal of frog legs from time to time to replenish your leg muscles and essential nutrients necessary to run around your store...

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/20s; Aperture f/2.8; Focal 25mm; ISO 200

101/365: Tired

Yea still no tripod. But in this case, a nice cushion/support for the camera on the ground provided the perfect angle. Just kicking back and napping on my new chair.

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/15s; Aperture f/2.8; Focal 16mm; ISO 200

100/365: Work

Yay I realized I am at the 100th mark! Little less than a third but nonetheless, I celebrated with a lonely night working on the laptop yet again... I'd like to think it's not depression but merely a form of isolation and hermitage.
5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/2s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 3200

99/365: Dusk at Westwood Lake

This is a new park I found in Nanaimo. Consequently, I took me twice as long to walk through it than I anticipated and by the time I left, it was getting very dark....

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/50s; Aperture f/5; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

98/365: Sails

Steel sails to withstand the wrath of time...
5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/8000s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 50

97/365: Train Tracks

While you're in school, depending on which program you want to obtain you knew what course you had to go. I miss that sort of structure and planning. Now the freedom and uncertainty with anything I do is unnerving...Where will this lead? Will it lead anywhere else?

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/640s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

96/365: Seagull

A Seagull enjoying the ferry ride...

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/800s; Aperture f/11; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

95/365: UBC Boathouse

A nice stroll on the Richmond Dike on a sunny summer's day.

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/320s; Aperture f/22; Focal 92mm; ISO 100

94/365: My Cup of Tea

My throat has been hoarse and irritated for the past week now. I'm just waiting for the cold to hit me full out but it has yet to come on. In either case, I'm ordering a lot of hot teas where ever I go when possible. Unfortunately, the few times I ended up at a pub it didn't work out so well...

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/2500s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

93/365: Red Room Grill

At the suggestion of a coworker, I dropped in to this resturant/lounge for a casual dinning experience and nightly entertainment! Tonight, there was a group called The Original University performing a jazz jam. They explained the night to be something where they started performing a bunch of jazz songs, then later on people would be dropping by and hopefully joining in at random on stage for all the share. Unfortunately I had to catch the ferry home so I didn't stay late enough for the jam portion to begin but this is definately a place I'd like to visit again!

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/50s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 1250

92/365: Rainy Days

5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/125s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 100

91/365: Endkey Not Functional

I realized that the end-key on my cell phone is no longer functional. I discovered this when I had made a few calls, and noticed I was no longer able to end the calls until the other line did. I suddenly feel so vulnerable every time my phone rings...


5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/40s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 320

90/365: Cat Under Car

No I didn't run over a cat.

Cat simply found a new hide-out underneath my car. I suspect it's the residual warmth of the engine Cat enjoys but I have no clue... This is a different Cat by the way. There are a few that prowl my complex. The only thing we're missing is a crazy Cat-Lady!


5D Mark II; Shutter speed 1/20s; Aperture f/1.4; Focal 50mm; ISO 3200