According to an article I read in AsiaSpa, people are likely to do 3 things to improve their wellness: exercise, eat and visit a spa.

Unfortunately in our country, we really only do one of those three: EAT.

Even then, we tend to eat food that are high in fat and low in fibre instead of the nutritious ones that will bring benefits to our body.

On top of that, we don’t exercise. Only the richer ones among us will visit a spa – even then it’s probably the OH CHI PALA type of spa and not the clean-clean ones.

No wonder newspapers reported that heart diseases has been the number one killer in our country for the past 30 years, causing 1 out of 8 deaths in Malaysia – even more than cancer-related deaths.

Over 3 million Malaysians are at risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart diseases. If left untreated, these people are opening themselves up to strokes, heart attacks and organ failures.

But here’s the most startling part. Most people DON’T even know they are at risk of developing heart diseases.

Most people in my age group have this mentality: we think we are invincible. We are young, and so we can do whatever we want and nothing is gonna happen to us.

So we smoke, we drink, we don’t exercise, we don’t eat healthily and we don’t allocate time for exercising. By the time we reach 50 years old and the medical bills start rolling in, we regret we did not take care of ourselves when we were younger.

In fact, when I ask the 20-somethings in my fitness centre what they come here for, "looking good" is a often bigger reason than "staying healthy". That shouldn’t be the reason people exercise!

People in my fitness centre often work out to improve the appearance of their waist, their chest, their butt and their biceps. But I feel it’s even more important to improve the health of the heart.

This involves 3 steps.

The first is to take a Heart Health Test to determine what risk level your heart is at based on your current lifestyle and diet. If you have done a medical check-up lately, it is a straightforward test that can be done online at www.myhealthyheart.com.my

Otherwise, just do the test anyway and you’ll be given a discount voucher for a medical check-up at your nearest BP Healthcare.

That’ll provide a starting point for your roadmap to better heart.

Second, start exercising.

We often hear from doctors that just 30 minutes of moderate cardio activity 5 times a week is enough to prevent up to 75% of chronic diseases, including heart disease. It is such a little investment for a high ROI, and yet it is ironic that many people wouldn’t even want to spare that 30 minutes in the 24 hours they have in a day!

People, you gotta eliminate your excuses and start exercising now!

And lastly, stop smoking and start eating healthy.

Eating healthy doesn’t mean you gotta completely stop eating KFC. It just gotta be done in moderation. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I make sure I have a bowl of Quaker Oats when I wake up, and some fruits and veg in my diet throughout the day.

All these hype about eliminating carbohydrates for weight loss is getting a bit overboard. The key is to take in good carbohydrates like hot oats, and not too much sugary carbohydrates like alcohol and sweets.

It’s that classic food pyramid that we learnt since primary school but chose to ignore.

If you can do all three, then maybe you too can have a healthy heart. Like me! 😀

This community message is brought to you by kennysia.com 🙂

Recently I chanced upon a blog of somebody who referred to herself a “celebrity blogger/model/DJ”.

She’s not a bad-looking chick and from what I can see she’s quite talented. Good for her.

What irked me was that she’s calling herself a celebrity on her own blog, and yet I have never heard of her. Come on. If you are really a celebrity, then you shouldn’t really have to tell people, right? Much less publicize it all over the blog.

I won’t mention any names, but I do know she’s not the only person out there referring to herself as a “celebrity”.

It seems like in this day and age, we seem to have “celebrities” in everything.

Celebrity bloggers. Celebrity models. Celebrity DJs. Celebrity photographers. Celebrity chefs. Celebrity interior designers. Celebrity Feng Shui masters. Celebrity fitness centres.

Heck, even a celebrity octopus!

How the heck did this come about?

Why are people suddenly so obsessed with the tag “celebrity”?

And how could people be so kiasu until even they introduce themselves as celebrities?

Perhaps I have written so far may raise a few eyebrows. After all, sometimes people do refer to me as “Kenny Sia – celebrity blogger”.

The difference is, I have NEVER EVER sold myself as a “celebrity”. If you were to do a search through the entire kennysia.com archives, you will never see me introducing myself as a “celebrity”. Although i do acknowledge that I have achieved some recognition in blogging, there was never an occasion where I self-proclaimed, “Hi! My name is Kenny, I am a celebrity. Give me fame and money!”

If people do think of me as one, most likely it’s because it’s a tag given to me by the newspapers or magazines, and obviously I cannot control what they write, right?

Nobody deserves the tag “celebrity” unless you are so damn famous that you cannot even walk down the street without an army of bodyguards pushing away the paparazzi snapping your photos.

In Malaysia, that does not really happen. Unless it is Anwar Ibrahim when he goes to court. In fact, none of the local actors, musicians or models I know call themselves “celebrities”. They all know they are successful in what they are doing, but they are always firmly planting their two feet on the ground and remain absolutely humble about it.

Maybe I’m a little traditional, but I think humility should not be sacrificed in a person’s quest for success. Just because you got a little bit successful in what you’re doing does not mean you are a celebrity. Just because you appeared in the media from the time to time does not mean you are a celebrity. Just because a couple of people recognized you on the streets does not make you are a celebrity.

And just because you call yourself a celebrity, most certainly does not make you a celebrity.

Once every four years, the World Cup comes about.

As my eyes find their way to the TV, the stupidest one-liners find their way into my head as well.

For those who don’t follow me on Twitter, here is a compilation of some of my (not-so) proud moments during the World Cup.

On the loud and annoying vuvuzelas:

What’s that trumpet thing they blow at World Cup matches? Samyvellu?

 

On Greece’s 0-2 loss to South Korea:

Greece’s football team is going down as fast as their economy.

 

On England’s disastrous performance against underdog Algeria:

I think the Algerians green uniform is designed to blend into the football field. That’s why England cannot see them.

 

On the card-happy referee of the Germany-Serbia match:

This referee at the Germany vs Serbia match produces more cards than a casino.

 

On Argentinean coach Maradona:

Everytime I see Diego Maradona, I feel like eating Mister Potato.

 

On Spain’s unexpected downfall against Switzerland:

That’ll teach women that good looks does not necessarily equal good football skills. GHANA to win World Cup!

 

On the guy in white:

There’s a guy on the New Zealand team that looks like Will Ferrell.

On a unique name of a player from Honduras:

There’s a player in Honduras called "WELCOME". I wonder if there’s also a player called "THANK YOU COME AGAIN".

 

On the interesting name of a Portugese player.

There’s a Portugese player called "DUDA". Everybody sing a song. Duda. Duda.

On North Korea’s (World #105) single goal against Brazil (World #1):

Heard Kim Jong Il got stiff punishment for North Korea if they didn’t score vs Brazil. Like subjecting them to 1 month of Justin Bieber.

On Harry Kewell of Australia (the team I support) getting sent off against Ghana:

Angry with the results of tonight’s match. Ghana-sai.

 

On Australia’s World Cup exit:

Australians were so upset about their exit from World Cup that they got themselves a new Prime Minister.

 

On the Official 2010 FIFA World Cup theme song by Shakira:

"Waka Waka Eh Eh".

In Hokkien that means "my leg my leg, short short."

Some things in life are never meant to be understood.

Like love, life, Japanese fashion and why is there a cow speaking on the phone in the background?

While I don’t claim to be a fashion expert, I have enough common sense to realise Japanese fashion makes as much sense as a Lady Gaga song.

Throughout our whole Australian trip, Cheesie has been parading around in what she called a Liz Lisa Spring/Summer look, apparently the latest trend in Japan right now.

I call it the “wtf?” look.

She particularly liked to wear baseball caps by this brand called “Hello S.B.Y.”

Who the hell is S.B.Y!?

The only S.B.Y. I know is The President of Indonesia.

And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t make hats.

The thing with “Hello S.B.Y.” caps is that often they come with taglines that completely do not make sense at all. Like “BRIGHT BEACH.”

Or “I LOVE DANCE.”

It would be perfectly appropriate if she wore this cap to a nightclub and dance.

 

The problem is, she wore this “I Love Dance” cap to go HIKING through the Blue Mountains.

 

Not only that, she’d pair them with Mickie Mouse jeans and a fake blonde WIG. Yes, that is a wig, not her real hair.

And all these while I thought wigs are for bald people. Not anymore.

One thing I have to admit though. Whilst outrageous fashion like WIGS may look ridiculous on some people, it does take a certain someone to be able to pull it off.

 

Unfortunately,

I have no such luck.

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The most difficult thing I had to do today was to tell a friend she’s been scammed.

Here’s what happened.

Recently a friend of mine got to know this guy from the UK. After chatting to him online for a couple of months, suddenly this guy wanna fly to Kuching to visit her. At the same time, he claimed he’s gonna look for some investment opportunities.

Obviously my friend was excited to be meeting him.

Unfortunately for her, the meeting never materialised.

On the day he was supposed to arrive into Malaysia, the guy was detained by immigration officers at KLIA. His offence? Not declaring those excess amount of cash in his luggage, reportedly to be some £50,000.

It was her friend’s first trip to Malaysia, and poor guy spent it in the police lockup.

 

OR SO SHE WAS TOLD.

Upon his arrival, my friend received calls after calls from him desperately pleading for help. She was frantic. All she could think about was how to help him out. She put herself in his shoes, and immediately felt guilty because she was the reason the guy came to Malaysia.

Three days later, another phone call came. It was from the immigration officer,  telling her that the UK guy would need to hire a lawyer and pay legal fees to the tune of RM7,000.

This was when I smelt something fishy.

And it wasn’t the bad seafood I ate earlier.

The immigration officer instructed her to deposit this legal money into a Public Bank account. My naive little friend complied.

Desperate to set him free, she transferred RM2,000 of her own money to the immigration officer. She figured, he’s gonna pay her back when he got out anyhow.

But I suspected something was amiss.

Already, I was feeling extremely uncomfortable when she told me the story. I didn’t have a good feeling about this, so hopped on my laptop, searched for “detained at immigration malaysia scam.”

Whaddya know? At least 2 people have blogged about similar experiences. Malay Mail even did a story on such scam.

In the end, I had to do the dirty job – I told her that she’s been scammed.

At first, she was calm and collected. She told me that it doesn’t matter – because money lost can be earned back eventually. And karma will eventually find its way.

Then the floodgates opened. And she cried uncontrollably. How could someone do something so evil like that? How is she even going to trust anyone ever again?

Even more hurtful was the knowledge that this online friend that she’s been talking to for months never actually existed. He was nothing more than a phantom, out to take advantage of her charity and selflessness.

 

Moral of the story? Never ever give out money to people you’ve never even met.

If we stop and think about it, it’s kinda obscene to see how far technology has come.

When I was first exposed to the Internet at the virginal age of 12, my modem was from a brand called US Robotics. It was 33.6KBps fast, made clunky noises when connecting to the Internet and cost us a hefty RM700.

I remember the price so clearly because back then, my dad gave me a choice between an internet modem and a Sony Playstation (One).

As much as I’d love to see Chun Li fight in pixelated 3D, I instinctively knew I’d have more fun with the Internet.

The day those JARING technicians came to my house to install the modem was the day my life changed forever.

As soon as my modem was installed, I booted up my Pentium II PC, started Windows 95, dialled up 1511, fired up Netscape Navigator, then logged onto Yahoo! and entered into the search engine the magical word every young boy typed when the first got their hands on the Internet.

Come on, you know EVERYONE has done it.

But that was 15 years ago.

Back then, if I wanted to see a picture of Pamela Anderson in her red bikini, I gotta wait AGES for it to load.

The most embarrassing thing is -  just when the picture is about to load up her most interesting bits – SUDDENLY mom walked in!

I panicked as I frantically try to close the window. But then my computer FROZE!

Quickly, I unplugged the computer’s power cord before my mom stared at the screen enough to realise what I was doing.

It’s ridiculous. Come to think of it, we have it so much easier these days.

No longer do we have to limit ourselves watching Pam Anderson in JPEG photos. Thanks to the advancement of broadband, we can in fact now watch Pamela Anderson AND Tommy Lee in full video glory.

That was one of the points I raised at the “Future Is…”  panel discussion co-organized by HP and Microsoft.

I was one of the panel speakers alongside Joyce The Fairy, Cynthia Ong, Red Mummy and Jojo Struys.

Yeah, noticed something?

Thorn among roses.

Although the event was kicked off by HP and Microsoft, our discussion have absolutely nothing to do with the organizer’s products all.

The “Future Is…” campaign is basically huge online discussion about what we think future trends are. It’s a discussion that spans 4 countries. Apart from us in Malaysia, the online community from China, Korea and Singapore are ALL taking part on this discussion of trends that will shape our future.

I’d like to invite you to take part in this discussion.

In Malaysia, what we did was just to kickstart the process and get the ball rolling.

For you guys, HP has thrown in some awesome prizes (like a 5,000 buck touchscreen PC), just for pitching in ideas about what you think is gonna be the next big thing.

You must be wondering – why is HP doing this?

Simple. Because sometimes, even the simplest of ideas can spark a trend and transform the world we live in.

One example: text messaging. The inventors of SMS originally only intended it to be used for emergency when voice calls break down. Never had they imagined it to be used as such a commonly-used tool of communication these days.

But look at what it has turned into. Instead of having to tell your mom you’re coming home late because you are out partying hard in a noisy nightclub out studying hard in a quiet library, nowadays you can just send her a text without her suspecting anything.

Ridiculous.

But such are how trends are created, and future trends will be created. What future trends do you foresee? That’s something for us to ponder upon and blog about.

Anyway, just because HP and Microsoft organized this does not mean our discussion was just limited to technology. It could be future of fashion, entertainment, education, music, social media, the environment – basically anything and everything.

Anyway, we have done our part. The rest, is up to you guys.

Here is your homework for the day.

What is ONE trend you predict that’s gonna take off in a big way in the future? Could this be the future of handphones?

Discuss!

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So apparently, we are gonna have our very own F1 Team.

The prime minister recently announced that 1Malaysia F1 Team will be formed. The car will be made in Malaysia, the driver will be Malaysian, even the pitstop would be manned by Malaysians. The team would be lead by AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes. And it’ll be a joint venture between the Malaysian government, Proton, AirAsia, among others.

I guess when they made the announcement, they probably expected Malaysians all over the country to react with pride – “Wow, we have our very own F1 team! Competing with the big boys like BMW, Ferrari and McLaren on the world stage! COOL!”

Unfortunately, the ugly truth is that most Malaysians do not share the same joy and enthusiasm as those involved. Even when no taxpayer’s money is involved, a majority of people simply have no confidence in this project.

And I guess they have good reasons why. I mean, come on, this a Malaysian Government + Proton + AirAsia project.

Off the top of my head, here are five reasons why the 1Malaysia F1 Team is never gonna work.

#1 Every time our competitor’s car crash and bang into the wall, instead of racing to the finishing line, our 1Malaysia F1 car suddenly slow down to a crawl.

Why?

Must take a closer look at the car accident mah.

 

#2 Halfway driving, our 1Malaysia F1 car suddenly drives to the nearest petrol station.

Why?

Government just announced, “tomorrow petrol price increase by 0.01 cent.” Wah lan eh, better fill up tank first!

 

#3 Halfway driving, suddenly our 1Malaysia F1 car swerves left and right and bang into other people for no reason.

Why?

Our 1Malaysia F1 driver’s wife just called. The idiot one hand on steering wheel, the other hand holding his handphone talking to his wife!

 

#4 Other F1 cars have one driver. Our 1Malaysia F1 car has THREE drivers.

Why?

Because “1Malaysia” mah. Must have one Chinese, one Malay and one Indian driving. Otherwise other people might get jealous and protest!

 

#5 As soon as the gun went off, all the other cars zoomed out from the starting line, but then our 1Malaysia F1 car was still stuck there.

Why?

How to make it lah like that?

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Recently, a not-so-close-friend of mine called me up out of the blue.

This friend of mine, I don’t hang out with on a regular basis. In fact, I don’t know him very well at all. All I know is that he’s around my age, drives around in a luxury car and claims to draw a handsome 5-figure monthly income. I also know he’s somewhat of a self-made entrepreneur, having come from a poor humble background and built his own business entirely from ground up.

But the fact remains that we’re not that close friends, so when he called me up after not seeing me for about 12 months, I knew it wasn’t an invitation to go out for a beer.

He said to me, “Kenny, I need a favour from you.”

“Sure man, what can I do for you?”

“I’d like to borrow some money from you, if possible.”

“Well, how much are you talking about?”

“RM30,000…”

“WHAT!!?!?!” I literally jumped up from my chair in shock. “What the heck you need that much money for?”

Apparently, this friend of mine had borrowed some money from his friendly neighbourhood Ah Long. And now, because he couldn’t pay, he found himself in trouble with the loan sharks.

I probed him further for answers. He revealed the real reason he needed money urgently was because his mother was hospitalised.

His father, like mine, was no longer around. Being the eldest and the only working child in the family, it was up to him to fork out the cash needed to pay for her medical expenses. When his mother was first hospitalised, his savings dwindled down to zero. He was broke by the time she needed to be re-admitted into hospital. So he approached the easiest people to get a loan from – the sharks.

Eventually, I helped him out. (Not the full amount lah of course.) He was infinitely grateful for that.

To be fair, he has been nice to me despite the limited time I knew him. Part of me scorned at his stupidity approaching Ah Longs for an instant loan, knowing full well all those warnings from the likes of Jack Neo’s movies. Another part of me felt a sense of respect towards him, because he was only fulfilling his filial duty as a child.

And then it got me thinking, what would I do if I were in his situation.

 

I maybe 27 this year, but I’ve lived long enough to know that life ain’t just gonna throw you sweet roses all the time. I lost my dad 4 years ago. I came face-to-face with this cruel fact of life: that no matter how strong and healthy your parents might seem like right now, eventually they are gonna grow old, eventually they might fall sick.

When that happens, it is up to us to fulfil our responsibility as their child to pay any edical bills that they may incur. There are no two ways around.

This friend of mine, he spent so much time building up his business that he hadn’t the foresight to think about what to do if someone in the family were struck down with a life-threatening illness.

None of his family members has medical insurance. When emergency struck and huge medical bills were needed to be paid, he panicked. He had to sell his car, borrow money from Ah Longs, even swallow his pride and borrow money from not-so-close friends of his.

It could have been worse.

Being the only working child in the family, he himself could have be struck down by illnesses. And if he’s not able to work, who’s gonna take care of his old mother and young siblings?

I’ve known since a long time ago that a life insurance policy is one of those things that every responsible working adult out there must possess. Not just for myself, but also for the benefit of my family. Sure, I am healthy and kicking right now. But who knows what’s gonna happen down the road?

Being insured means I pass on any financial risk I might face to a third party.

If you already have an insurance agent you deal with, go ahead ask their advice for something that suits you and your family. If not, PRUHealth from Prudential is something worth looking at. The policy is pretty comprehensive, covering most of my hospital bills even if I had to be hospitalised overseas, and pays me back a no claim bonus if I stay healthy.

Everyone in my family has a life insurance policy. We all start young because the cost of insurance increases with age.

If one day I ever found myself in the unfortunate situation like my friend’s mom, at least I know my family won’t be selling off the house or the car to pay for my medical bills.

Knowing that fact gives me a peace of mind. It gives them the peace of mind. Better to pay now when I’m healthy, then pay later when it’s gonna be a hundred times more expensive.

Sure, it’s a bit potong steam when I’m paying Prudential every month and all I’m getting is a piece of paper. The fact is, I won’t know the value of that piece of paper until I’m in trouble.

To put it bluntly, in life, shit happens.

And when that happens, it’s better have that elusive piece of paper ready to wipe it off. 😉

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Been so extremely stressed out lately!

&

On the 30th June, I completed my tax filing like a law-abiding citizen, only to get a rude shock when I discovered the amount of tax I have to pay can only be described as obscene.

Crunching numbers ain’t not my forte, yet I was too silly to pay for the services of an accountant to handle the numbers for my business income.

In the end, my invoices and receipts were all over the place and I paid a huge sum of money to the Malaysian Government – not because I am earning lots, but because I did all the book-keeping by myself and absolutely sucked at it.

Times like these, I really wish I had hired an accountant so I could just sit back, relax and chill lah.

Just like this dude right here.

Another thing I absolutely sucked at is writing short stories.

Growing up, I always prefer to read non-fiction books (like those from the Recommended section in Singapore) instead of any fictional titles from the likes of JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien or Stephanie Meyer. As a result, my imagination and story-telling skillz suck.

But you see, here’s the thing.

There is a script-writing contest by Nescafe where the first prize is RM10,000 in cash. For Nuffnang bloggers (which I am), they’ll throw RM3,000 cash my way just for making it into the Top 20. Click here for easy money!

The only catch is that the storyline must feature Nescafe Chilled Coffee cans. And those coffee cans must be speaking in Chill Lah language – otherwise known as homonyms.

Again, I am not very good at writing short-stories. I am even worse at thinking in homonyms.

But since I’m terribly broke right now after paying my outstanding taxes to the Inland Revenue Board, I decided to give it a shot and send in my script. I must warn you though, it is really REALLY lame.

Let’s see if you are smart enough to decipher what this short story starring Nescafe chilled cans speaking in Chill Lah language is all about. Behold…

The Coffee Love Story
by Kenny Sia

Once upon a time…

In a park somewhere in Kuching city, a lonely girl sits by herself impatiently.

She’s waiting for someone. Someone who was already late again for their date.

From a distance, a boy came rapidly running towards her. Wheezing and panting, he apologised profusely. He knew he had done something wrong.

The girl, however, is not impressed. And she proceeded to give the boy a major arse whopping.

Boys being boys, he attempted dodging responsibility.

But it was to no avail.

All of a sudden, a good-looking guy emerged from behind Black Roast.

It’s Mr Original.

She was instantly mesmerized. Hand in hand, Black Roast and him walked off together into the sunset.

Leaving poor boy Latte all on his own.

 

…

 

The End.

 

It’s the Chill Lah language, geddit?

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One question I get asked a lot as a blogger, is unfortunately not “Can I date you?”

It is, “Eh Kenny, which camera you using har?”

Ever since I started blogging, kennysia.com has always been a blog that relies very heavily on photos. I like it that way.

Pictures tell a better story and contrary to popular belief, I’m not very good with words. So, my most valuable blogging arsenal is my digital camera.

When I heard Ben and Phat Fabes on the radio debating over which is the better camera between pro SLRs and compact slim cams, I felt compelled to give them my dua puluh sen.

Throughout these four years blogging, I have tried and tested many different digital cameras. It started with the ancient 3-megapix fatty I bought second-hand off eBay five years ago, to the big ass pro SLR that I use now.

I have used many different types of cameras, the one thing that never change is this love-hate relationship I have with them.

Over the years, I kept abandoning them and getting new ones. If you asked me which one is my favourite, I can’t really tell because each of them their pros and cons.

These days, depending on the occasion, I could use up to three different types of cameras.

If I have no cameras with me, then obviously I use my phone to take picture lah.

If I’m moving around a lot I’ll slip a slim camera into my pocket before I go out – just in case something interesting happens.

If I’m travelling or going to places where I expect to be taking lots of photos, then I’ll have no choice but to lug the hideously fat pro cam with me.

I have no choice because my pro cam takes far better quality pictures than my slim cam anytime.

Lemme show you an example.

This is a photo taken using a compact camera, at the cliffs near Uluwatu, Bali.

 

 

This is the exact same scene taken using an SLR camera.

 

There’s no fight there, isn’t it?

Under the right conditions, it’s very possible to take really amazing photos using an SLR that literally jump out and scream at you.

I especially enjoyed playing with the shutter speed during night time to produce effects like this.

So, it doesn’t matter where I go. I knew I’d regret if I didn’t bring my SLR.

As much as I admit SLRs take fantastic photos, there is something I must confess.

I HATE USING AN SLR CAMERA.

Yes, SLR takes fantastic pictures. Its ugly and humungous size aside, there are many reasons why I think SLR cameras seriously suck.

1. SLR cams cannot do videos. How the heck is it that a RM500 cheap camera can take videos and a RM3,000 supposedly “professional” ones cannot even do the same?

2. SLR cams do not allow me to compose a shot using the LCD screen. My only choice is to see my picture through the ‘hole’.

Sadly, many times what I see through the optical viewfinder is completely different from what I get when I hit the shutter button.

3. SLR cams are notoriously cumbersome to use for people who are not familiar with it. You’ll know what I mean when you ask a restaurant waiter to take a photo of you.

Half the time they fumble looking at so many buttons on the machine. Another half the time they were staring at the blank LCD screen confusingly.

4. There is no way I could bring an SLR camera into a club or a stadium. I almost got my SLR permanently confiscated when I brought it to Old Trafford earlier this year. How silly is it that I pay so much money to attend an event, but only allowed to snap photos of it using a cheap cam?

I maxed out the zoom already still cannot see the player’s faces!

5. Have you seen people camwhoring using SLRs?

It’s ridiculous. And stupid.

For that reason, I much prefer to go out with my slim cam in my pants.

I leave my SLRs at home because there’s no way I could fit it in
my pocket without looking like an idiot.

It’s a real pity I couldn’t have the best of both worlds.

Digital cameras are a bit like girls.

You know the heavy ones can do a great job, but it’s the skinny ones you really wanna bring out in public.

That’s why lah. After years of using an SLR for kennysia.com, I again flirted with the idea of going back exclusively to compact cameras.

Point-and-shoot compact cameras have come a long way. Image quality has improved. Pixel counts have gone up. Many also come with pre-programmed ‘scene modes’ to make it easier to take good photos without fiddling with manual settings.

All these, and still they managed to go on a diet and slim down in size.

Of course, I’m gonna miss my 200mm zoom lens and the ability to snap brightly-coloured photos with awesome depth-of-field.

But it’s a compromise I shall have to bear.

Besides, 99% of the pictures I take ended up downsized before they’re uploaded to the Internet anyway. I’m not working for National Geographic (yet). So all those effort lugging around an SLR ain’t gonna justify the end result.

For me, for now, it’s goodbye SLR, hello compact cameras.

Big Cameras vs Small Cameras, whose side are you on?

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