Blogging could be..

Blogging could be addictive or it could be a drag...............

Having not blogged for a while, I must say I am slowly getting addicted to it again.. slowly, probably not fast enough for my usual impulsive standards - not that I am a very impulsive person.

maybe.. just a little, when I get addicted to a particular ds game (not since Crosswords and Cooking Mama!), series or book that has got me so hooked and on my toes that I just can't let go and I would drag out every/any excuse I could to stay home just so I could keep reading/watching or playing whatever game it was that I was playing. Lately, it's been Neves and Mario Kart that has been occupying my spare time.

Photography is/was also very addictive....

I first bought a dslr almost 2 years ago, I remember snapping every Tom, Dick and Harry; every damn building street and what not that I came across. As a result, I would end up filling up my SD card with 300+ photos in the span of 5 hours.

I remembered when I went on my trip to Japan in 2007 I took about 300 photos (on my then 2gb Extreme II SD), the first day I was in Osaka. 300! Like geez, what was I snapping? Can't remember now. Sure enough, I ended up having to cut down the amount I took and made a point of culling down all the photos I took that day before bedtime every night just so I would have enough memory left to take more photos the next day. Suffice to say, I ended up burning some onto a DVD half way through our trip just so I could take more photos for the remainder of our trip.

So what's this gotta do with blogging? Well, part of the reason why I've not blogged about any of my European trips was because of the same reason. I lost interest. I took over 1000 shots on my first 2 trips (Luxembourg and Bremen) after arriving in London. It's taken me a whole week (approx 3hrs a night) to sift through the Luxembourg photos and come up with the condensed amount on a previous post.

I'm a lot better now and a lot less trigger happy than I was when I first started traveling. I no longer snap at every damn thing I come across in my trips. If anything, I found that as the number of trips increased, I got a better understanding of what I actually enjoy doing on each trip and made better use of the time in the city (that we were visiting) rather than spend the whole time trying to record what we visited/saw on each trip.

I've discovered that I loathe tours to cathedrals (though I do like their stain glass windows) and castles and I would rather spend the day walking the streets or markets and dining out alfresco style while watching the locals pass by.

I've discovered that I am a very visual person, weird and colourful things catch my eyes more often than anything else and people. One other thing that I've also discovered is that I am camera shy! I often miss a photo opportunity because I am too embarrassed to point my camera at a person if he/she is looking at me.

Argh! well, maybe not. I'd rather be safe than sorry, the last thing I want to do while traveling is get chased or beat up by some local dude because he didn't like/want me taking a snap of him.

So there, now that I've got Luxembourg up, I only have 26,260 photos (RAW + JPEGs) to catch up to my most recent trip, New York....*chuckle*

ps. Baking and cooking wise, I really haven't made anything worth blogging about lately. Most of my baking and cooking these days are repetition of previously made recipes. Mostly, it's been done as more of a last minute potluck dish than the desire to try something new. Other times, it's when I'm assisting with a friend's baking whim. Not having all my baking equipment in London, really takes the fun out of trying something new. I know it sounds like another excuse for not blogging, but reality is, it really sucks when I want to make mini tarts and haven't got even a muffin tin to use as a substitute for the tart shells. Sure, I can always go out and buy one, but considering we're not sure of how long we're staying in London for, it's probably not a good idea to start collecting stuff for a new kitchen, particularly where budgeting is concern.. :P

Well, the good thing is, I'll be heading home (Melbourne) soon in a few months. Though we're still not certain whether it will be temporary or for good, at least then there will be no more excuse for me to not try out something new or old like this: =)