These photos were taken two years ago and my brother-in-law, Benjamin would probably kill me for posting his photos here without his permission. I don’t know how often does he visit my blogs but I don’t think it is that often so I am kind of hoping that by the time he directs his browser to this blog, this post is already buried by other posts (Hah!, Like I blog so often).

I am not a professional photographer and I am not trying to be one but I like taking photos and I really like taking photos of people. I like to pursue this hobby but my problem right now is; there are not a lot of no willing people  I can photograph. My husband is very handsome but he’s a lousy model.  He feels uncomfortable if I ask him to make some poses for the camera. And there’s my brother-in-law who needs a lot of cajoling before he agrees to do such thing. The last time I got my brother-in-law to do a mini-photo-shooting with me was two years ago and if I ask him that now, he’d probably give me the look that says…hey, I’m a cool guy and that is so gay.

You see, he’s now a teenager and is very self-conscious. He’s no longer the cute little boy who likes to get into my nerve by pulling my hair or by pinching me. He’s now a self-proclaimed DJ and we have to be cool to be near him. I kind of miss those times when he was just a lovely boy who likes to show us crazy stuff he can do.

Time really flies away so fast.

P.S. These photos are unedited. Except for resizing and copyrighting it, I haven’t done any special editing to these photos.



I am a big Harry Potter fan and although I am not always the first to get a copy of the next book, I managed to complete my collection when I bought the final book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows) last August. When the movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, was about to be released in cinemas, I reread my collection again to sort of review it because there was a long gap between the preceding Harry Potter movie and that one.

I started reading Harry Potter after I watched the first Harry Potter film sometime in 2001. Yep, I’ve seen the movie first before I read the book but that is good I think because, otherwise, I would have been really disappointed. Books are better than their movie counterpart. I think a lot would agree with me on that.

I became a fan right after reading the first book but I only started buying my own copies in 2005. I got Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in China and I got Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince from a tiny book sale I came across with while walking around in Munich. All the rest I got from our frequent visits here in Austria (note: I was living in China from late 2005 to early 2009). I have to say that I am really late when it comes to owning the copies but I enjoyed them just the same.

To date, I’ve read each book three times already and I could read them all over again. I know that the Harry Potter series ended with the Deathly Hallows but if J.K. Rowling changes her mind and writes a sequel to the last Harry Potter book, I would be delighted and would definitely get a copy.

Why do I like Harry Potter?

I like the Harry Potter series because I believe that it teaches some of our basic values in a subtle, creative and entertaining way. It is easy to understand plus the characters are not stuck in a particular age. I mean, they get old and mature unlike Nancy Drew who’s always 18 years old in all of her books. I used to like Nancy Drew but I sort of grew out of it. In the case of Harry Potter, I don’t think that that will happen to me.

Though there are other things that are occupying me at the moment, I am still trying to squeeze this hobby in my busy schedule. I remember there was a time when I was able to finish reading a novel overnight. Books by Sidney Sheldon and John Grisham used to keep me awake all night long but that is now a thing of the past. Now, I am happy if I am able to read a few pages in the subway.