[Review] Melkco Leather Casing for Galaxy Tab 10.1 P7500/P7510

Disclaimer: This is not a professional review and all the findings and opinions are based on my own experience only.

Preface

A tablet as big as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is definitely not as pocketable as phones and PDAs. Therefore, carrying it out naked will possess quite some trouble if no proper protection or cover is used. Usually we will always put our tablets on the table and no doubt they will always be humps and bumps that will damage the tablet's chassis or dirt that will scratch the surface of it. Besides, a casing or a cover will act as disguise to avoid unnecessary attentions when holding it or using it in the public. I did not buy a tablet to attract attention like some other people, who prefer some particular brand. I want to keep as low profile as possible, to avoid attention and for safety reasons as well.

The Selection

There are many variety of casing to choose from in the market to fit my tab, with price ranging sub RM100 to few hundred ringgit to choose from. Samsung themselves also have their own design of casing for the tab, which is very slim and offer least protection but remains the slim profile of the tab, and it is good looking too. However, the price for it is exorbitant and it does not fulfill my requirement for protection purpose hence I will skip the official ones.

I bought a Belkin slim folio casing for my tab on the first day of launch but it has several issues. The linings beside the casing were terribly glued and it started to peel off within a month of usage. The peeling starts from the folding area where it is used to fold and keep the tab standing and slowly propagates along the glued sides. Another problem with the casing is that it is very hard to clean it once contacted with dirt, especially water or oil stains. Hence, after a month of usage, the casing shows a lot of wear and tear even thou I took good care of it. After two months, I couldn't bare the low quality Belkin casing anymore and issued a RMA request and sent it for replacement. It took them around 2 weeks plus to respond and Belkin replaced my slim folio casing with another variant, which is thicker and bulkier. I immediately sold it off and start hunting for a better quality casing.

Having heard of the good reviews Melkco received for their premium hand made casings for iPhones and Galaxy S2, I decided to give it a try even thou it makes my tab looks thicker and bulkier. However, the hand made genuine leather and the build quality is what attracts me the most because leather are very durable and easy to clean compare to PU, thou some maintenance are required to keep the leather last longer. Besides, a polished leather gives a very classy feel which will not make you shy to take it out and show it to others.

The Purchase

I spent some time looking for shops online that sells this Melkco casing for Galaxy Tab and found out that not many shops carry this model because of low demand. Most of them charge a very expensive price, which is around RM270 for the casing itself. My budget allocated for the casing is just RM150. I went to survey around shopping malls and shops, those who have this model sells it at very high price and claims it is a rare product as they don't take in much stock. When I almost giving up on finding it, I came across a shop located in Subang which sells this casing in lelong at a cheaper price at RM170. I contacted the seller to inquire about the stock availability and he says its avail but one stock left.

Wasting no time, I drove all the way to Subang because I want to inspect the casing by myself, in concern of a fake product due to the cheap price. I took me some time to look for the shop in Subang because I'm not familiar with the area. The seller shows me the casing, having one black and one red left in his cabinet. Even thou the red one looks nicer, but I choose the classic black instead, due to lower profile and more classic look. The seller let me open the box to inspect for any defects and it is a genuine product no doubt, with very good hand made stitches, the genuine leather smell that you will get for any leather product. After the inspection, I happily paid the seller, who in turn, gives me a further RM5 discount when I jokingly asked for it. So, the total damage for this casing is RM165, which is just RM15 more expensive than that low quality Belkin slim folio casing. Worth much more than it too!

Real World Experience

It has been 6 months since I had this casing, and it still feel very new, except that the leather smell, which is no longer there. The stitches are still very in tact, no sign of thread coming out. The casing is very well built with excellent workmanship. It has some cushion beneath the front facing leather which makes it very nice to hold and touch. Sometimes I will use my tablet as my arm rest too because the cushion and leather is so comfortable to put on. The back is also leather but wrapped on a cardboard, which does not have the cushion feeling as the front cover. 

The interior is covered with padding and carpet like texture and the padding has three grooves that can hold the tab in standing position. On the padding itself you will find it is embedded with the Melkco logo and brand name diagonally. The casing is made in China but no doubt on its quality which is superior to other leather casing you will find in the market. The leather is genuine cow hide, with my unit has some slight defects on the skin surface, but doesn't really affect the overall quality because such slight defect is expected from genuine leather.

 

Picture courtesy of Melkco website: Melkco Leather Case for Galaxy Tab 10.1

 A bad comment for this casing is that it is a bit troublesome to change it into standing position as it requires us to detach the bottom grip of the casing in order to tilt the casing in standing mode. Troublesome for initial use, but once you get used to it, it doesn't feel so anymore. Another thing is the cover grip, the cover closes on the tab with minimal grip because it uses a curved hook to just hang on the tab's side. Aside from the hook, the connecting strip between the back and the front gives me a feeling that I will snapped it if I open it in a harsh way. However, after half a year of abuse, no issues with it really. It performs how it should, and it is very durable.

Wrap Up

A very premium casing which offers good protection, good maintenance and classic look that will make other owners drool over the leather and the quality. Wear and tear is minimum, with some damage to the side but not very obvious, thanks to the black colour. The leather requires some clean up once in a while and will get damage by sharp finger nails, which must be careful. Overall, it still feels very new and I know it will last longer than my tablet's lifespan. A very well worth product to buy.

Advantages 

• Premium feel and quality 
•  Genuine leather for durability and cleaning 
•  Very strong grip of the tab 
• Hand made stitches with excellent workmanship 
• Comfortable cushion 
•  Solid build 
• Offers fairly good protection for front and back 
• Durable 
• Classic outlook

Disadvantages 

• Sides and edges are exposed 
• Thicker and bulkier 
•  Cumbersome to change to standing position 
• Offers only adequate grip on cover 
• Pricey 

Official Website for Melkco: Melkco Leather Casing for Galaxy Tab 10.1

Disappointing Launch

The long anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3 has finally reach the shores of Malaysia with the launching handled by the big 3 telcos only end of this week. It is very disappointing that both SME and the Telco did not really promote as much as what other countries did to push the sales of the S3. In fact, most of the time, the consumers were kept in the dark not knowing anything about the product except for the launch by the three telcos.

It makes me think whether SME really want to sell the phone to us in the open market. Apparently, the telcos are the only customer they have and they prioritize them ahead of the mass market. Even the RRP was kept till the very last moment and no further information about launching were given. 

Furthermore, most of the users preferred a pebble blue unit, including me but all the telco only offered the marble white variant. With rumours and recent confirmation from Samsung that the delay of pebble blue unit is due to manufacturing defects, SME never bothered to make any statement to clarify to the consumers the availability of the the pebble blue stock. In fact, they published widely in printed media and online media that both variant will be available.

Hence, it really makes me wonder that, if they published both variants to be available, and never clarify that the pebble blue unit is not available or delayed. Can we, as the consumers, complain to the Consumer Body that they are cheating on us? Having think that I can get my phone by this week, and then now being delayed a month with no explanations officially from SME and no compensation for the delay. The launching of the SGS3 in Malaysia is very disappointing. 

An email inquiry written to them is only replied with a brief answer of only white available and only through telco. They totally ignored my request of the pebble blue availability and the compensation to the customers. In fact, this is not the first time of them being ignorant. Just go ahead to their facebook fanpage and you will find out many disgruntled customers raising issues about the availability of ICS for SGS2 users before this and they reply with just a mere copy and paste and playing hide and seek with the customers. Can't they act more professionally and admits to their mistake and don't give empty promises which end up delaying the delivery?

Once again, SME has failed in their customer service, both pre-sales and after sales. I still love the product, but hate the local sales service.

[Review] Italiannies - Subang Empire and The Curve

This set of pictures have been laying around in my hard disk for half a year now and finally I have the time to dig them out, give them some touch up and published online. Since it has been so long ago after my visit, I have forgotten most of the names of the dishes that we ordered and probably just able to show some pictures. The pictures are not really up to standard as well due to the low ambient environment and the hunger that hasten my finger to simply compose and snap away. Nevertheless, hope I'm able to share something, and it will be a proper review.

Italiannies, an Italian restaurant that is quite common as we can spot it in many major shopping malls. They have 6 branches around Klang Valley, with Paradigm Mall as the latest one as I just checked their website. The restaurants has a very traditional Italian ambient and their waiters and waitress always make you feel at home. I have been to two branches, the first one was at the Subang Empire last year, and the recent one will be at The Curve. I will start off with the Subang Empire first then continue with The Curve at the second part.

I went to the Italiannies in Subang Empire during December last year. It was a Wednesday night and expected less crowd in the shopping mall and the restaurant as well. We took our time to read the menu and order what we wanted. As usual, we are served with some bread with a plate of oil and vinegar mixture to go along with it.

 

Some condiments are found on the table, such as olive oil (I suppose), vinegar, salt and pepper. I would say they are part of the decorations on the table because of the fancy glass bottle containing the olive oil.

 

I forgotten what we ordered for drinks, probably Cappuccino and Mango shake. I will just show the picture instead. 

My girlfriend ordered Shrimp and Mushroom Linguine and according to her, the taste was just OK only for her. Just a pass, I suppose. Sorry for the different white balance for both pictures.

I myself ordered a pizza which I couldn't remember the flavour. Apparently they removed it from their latest menu because I can't seem to find it anymore. It was a typical thin crust pizza with toppings of chicken cubes, traditional tomato sauce, some capsicum and not forgetting the Mozzarella cheese.

Well, that's basically everything we ordered during that visit. I'm not an Italian food fan and do not really know how an authentic Italian food will taste like. So I will just give my opinion, based on my thoughts of the food. My second visit is with my family at the Curve. This time, we ordered a lot more than my previous dine in in Italiannies.

As usual, we were served with bread and a plate of oil-vinegar mixture like what I had in Subang Empire.

As for drinks, we ordered ripe mango fruit shake, cafe latte, cafe mocha and ice latte.

For starter, we ordered a platter called Quattro platter, which is actually a combination of deep fried risotto balls, calamari, fried lemon cheesy balls and zucchini strings. It comes along with two types of sauces, which is the typical tomato sauce and another one is cheese sauce I believe. The fried lemon cheesy balls gives you a mouthful of cheesy sensation and will not be suitable for those who are not fancy with the smell of cheese. Calamari is good and fresh, while the risotto balls is a good try as well. However, the zucchini strings and onions are not really my type, probably will have their own fans, but not me.

We ordered a Chicken Lasagna as well since we never tried it in an Italian restaurant before. It tasted very good with a very strong taste of cheese in it.

Not forgetting to accompany the dinner with traditional Italian pizza. We ordered the Tropicale flavour since we liked pineapple within our pizza.

 Last but not least, a house specialty of Sizzling Roasted Chicken, which is served in a pan with a generous amount of vegetable in it like potato and onions. This is something very special as we do not usually eat it else where except in Italian restaurants. The soup (or sauce) is nice with very rich taste, I guess wine was added into it but not too sure about that.

Overall, both dining experience in Italiannies was good and would come back if I have a sudden crave of something unique.

I do apologize for such an informal review, or I should say just mere sharing as I'm no expert in Italian food. I hope the pictures will compensate some text for me in conveying the message.

Do visit http://www.italiannies.com.my for an in depth recommendations on their menu.

Business As Usual

Diablo 3's server is down for weekly maintenance today and it is a good opportunity for me to update some backlog entries from last year since my PC is not occupied for gaming.

Resume blogging after the break.

Last Week Of May

I guess I will be skipping blog entries with pictures as my brother currently uses my PC to play Diablo III everyday. All my pictures are in my hard drive where I need time to compile and to edit as well. Nevertheless, I will be updating pure text only contents at the mean time.

It has been a busy weekend with lots of things to do including shifting stuff and some outings as well. Finally collected my passport after two weeks of delay and getting ready for the Singapore trip next month.

This week is a much anticipated week because I will be getting a new phone (Finally, after four years) as the new King of Android is reaching our shores this week. It is time for me to get a smartphone after poisoning people around me of getting one. I will play around with it for some time first before writing out what I think about it, just like any other gadgets that I used. So, stay tuned.

Charity Needs Help

I was approached by a lady during my lunch hour today. She claimed to be a volunteer seeking for donations or raising fund for a charity house that takes care of mentally disabled children. She asked for my permission to sit with me and explained to me her objectives and some basic history of the center. Mentioning that they required a huge fund to operate and maintaining the center. Being aware of fraud cases, I insist that I will only contribute if it is proven legit. 

Because as far as I'm concerned, people cannot publicly seek for donation from the public without a proper licence/permit from the police/authorities. That is what we did last time when we are raising funds as scouts by offering service to the public. 

Anyhow, she did gave me the contact method and address for the center. Anyone who wished to contribute, may try and contact the number below. 

Persatuan Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Terencat Malaysia
118, Jalan Gasing, 46000, Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7960 8003

She said that it is located beside the main road, nearby Hospital Universiti. She also mentioned that they are trying to make as much publicity as they can so that the public aware of their existence and therefore increase the chances of public contribution. As an individual, this is what I can do for, as well as making a donation, if I'm able to find it legit.

 Thanks to some of the comments below. Hope everyone can help them in any way you may.

Catching Up

6 blog entries for this month (7, if you include this as well) with less than 10 days left for the month of May. Looks like I have serious catch up to do here because I'm far from my aim of a blog a day, which accounts to 31 entries for May if I were to follow strictly. This means I'm short of 25 entries!!

While instead of pointlessly updating some random entries that doesn't make sense, I prefer to write something more valuable to keep track. Perhaps I should plan out what I should write up for this month. Since I have already covered one review for gadgets, which is the stylus for my tablet. Perhaps I should dig into my picture archives to look for some photos that I took few months back in restaurants and places that I went.

That being said, I will then write up one food review and one app review for this month, as a target, alongside with some random thoughts and random posts that I can think of from time to time.

At the mean time, I'm anticipating a major even coming this end of the month, which is the launch of Samsung Galaxy S3 in Malaysia. Time to replace my 4 years old SE k810i, you have served me well.

Diablo 3

Diablo 3, is the reason that this blog has been lacking in new entries recently. Since the first version of Diablo, I have been playing this game again and again with different class and different difficulty. Followed by Diablo 2 and it's expansion pack, also tried different classes and difficulty. It's one of the most played RPG game by me, besides Ragnarok, the famous Korean MMORPG.

After a long wait and delay, finally Diablo 3 is here on the 15th of May 2012. to steal boyfriends away from girlfriends, hogging and draining your graphic card all day long, Making you believe that  you are the hero that saves the world from the prime evil, Diablo.

My brother pre-ordered a copy of Diablo 3 and it arrived the second day after the debut. He took his sweet time to play during the day time and I get my chance to play during the night, usually around 2 hours. I start off my first day by playing Demon Hunter, I loved ranged heroes more than melee heroes by the way. Spent the first day exploring around, reminisces the bits and pieces of Diablo 2. Diablo 3 has a lot of similarity with Diablo 2, i.e. the town names, the map outlook, the quest involved, the bosses fought. I ended my first two hours of gaming by killing Skeleton King, one of the bosses in Act One.

The game play in Diablo 3 is pretty much the same, but with some tweaks here and there. We are still required to explore maps, get quest and kill bosses, but a few things has been changed instead. We can no longer customize our character according to the build that we want. Stats are automatically added upon leveling up. Skills are unlocked instead of adding skill point. Skill levels are replaced by skill runes, which will be unlocked when the level requirement is reached. Skill combos are more important than spamming skills now. One can only use 1 skill from each set and there's total of 6 sets of skills available once u fully unlocked it at higher level.

There is no longer a stamina bar there, which means we can run freely around the map without worrying of exhaustion. No more element resistance stat, no more consumable items (arrows, darts, traps), no more mana potion (replaced by hatred, discipline, spirit etc.), and many more to be discovered by yourself.

In short, the game play is much easier than Diablo 2 with less things to be taken care of. The player can concentrate in hunting/crafting equipment, and plan the best combination of skills for various battle scenario. This may favour some players, but maybe not for hardcore old timer/fans. So, after 4days+ of demon slaying, I finally killed Diablo in Normal mode, on and off, which equates to the total hours of 13 hours game play. With the completion of killing the prime evil, the game will continue all over again in Nightmare mode, with stronger mobs and slightly different maps and quest. Since I have finished the storyline with my Demon Hunter, I probably play less now and concentrate back on the task I need to do. Perhaps I might hop back in once awhile to play other classes, or joining party to play in harder difficulty mode.

[Review] Normal Stylus and Dagi Stylus

Disclaimer: This is not a professional review and all the findings and opinions are based on my own experience only.

Preface

Previously I have done a review about my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and mentioned about the things that can be done with it. In addition, I would also like to use it as a drawing tool and note taking tool as well. Therefore, apps and tools are required for such tasks. While the apps will be cover up later, I will talk about the tools that I used to complete this task.

While drawing with fingers can sometimes proved to be fun and straight forward, it still lacks the feeling of holding a pen or a pencil. Besides, the accuracy of the finger is of course undeniably low due to the large finger tip surface. Hence, I began to look for a stylus for this function and I came across various design and brands for it.

Common design of stylus for a capacitive screen will be a black blunt rubber tip pen that acts like a finger. There are many brands that manufacture this kind of stylus including some famous brands (e.g. Bamboo, Wacom, Buffalo) and also some imitation China brands, with the price ranging from RM10 to RM100+, assuming they have different quality and functionality I suppose, otherwise it won’t justify the high price. While this type of stylus is good to grip, nice to draw/write, with various drawing angles, but the main disadvantage is accuracy because the rounded rubber tip blocks the view when drawing/writing, resulting in inaccuracy.

There is also a cheaper alternative where a DIY stylus can be made by using a metal pen casing and conductive foam or foil. There are many guides and tutorials, including videos to demonstrate on how to DIY these styli, but of course, the quality control may vary. The most common disadvantage is that the build quality is not as good, and the stylus is not accurate as well.

In the mission of searching the best stylus, I came across this Taiwanese brand, Dagi, who designed and patented a special type of stylus that is usable on capacitive screen as well. It is actually a pen with a metal spring tip and a round transparent plastic on the tip of the metal spring. The reason of such design can be explained below.

How Capacitive Screen Works?

There are a few types of touch screen technology used currently which includes capacitive screen and resistive screen. The majority of the touch screen technology used in touch screen devices like smart phone and tablet nowadays uses mainly capacitive screen due to the advantages it has over resistive screen like multitouch function, fast respond time and reliability. Do google up for capacitive vs. resistive screen if you want to know more.

As mentioned, most of the smart phones and tablet nowadays use capacitive screen including devices by Apple, Samsung, HTC, etc. I have quoted some pictures from http://www.cellstrat.com/blog/?p=1314, describing how the screen of iPhone works, which is applicable for any other capacitive touch screen devices.

 

 

Source: http://www.cellstrat.com/blog/?p=1314

The Selection and Purchase

After googling around, I found this YouTube video that demonstrates a user drawing with his Asus Eee Pad Transformer using a Dagi stylus. I'm impressed on how the stylus can perform especially on the accuracy of it. However, I do aware that some stylus has issues with Samsung's touch screen devices, therefore, I need to personally test out the stylus before buying it. I began to locate any sellers that carry this stylus from Dagi. Unfortunately, this particular brand is not well known in Malaysia and only a few seller are selling it but most of the them have stop taking in stock and no longer selling. 

I tried my luck around Low Yat Plaza and Times Square but all the stylus I found are the round rubber tip stylus. Giving up in search of the Dagi stylus, I went around to look for a good round rubber tip stylus that is responsive enough for my usage. During my hunt for a stylus, I came across various brands of stylus with different prices. Some cheap ones do not perform well as the screen always fail to detect the stylus and end up drawing broken lines. I tried some expensive stylus in AllIT mart and Epi Centre that is used for Apple products, none of them satisfied my need despite the premium price for it. Finally, I'm able to find good stylus, responsive enough for my need, with acceptable accuracy. The stylus is branded "Acer" but I'm not sure whether did Acer really produces it. It has a ink point pen at the other end and it only cost RM30. Having no other options, this is the best stylus I could find an acceptable price tag.

Blunt Rubber Tip Stylus

The blunt rubber tip stylus serves me well with it's responsive touch register and acceptable accuracy. After some time of usage, I have noticed some pros and cons about this stylus, and should be applicable for other styli that has similar build.

Overall, this "Acer" stylus gives good sensitivity and I'm able to write and draw simple things. It even gives a "fake" pressure because when the rubber tip is pressed on the screen, the contact area is larger and hence creating a "fake" pressure when the screen is registering the touch, hence showing a thicker line during drawing (provided the app supports the detection).

However, the disadvantages also come from the rubber tip as it will create a drag on the screen when swiping around the screen. While slower motions will not encounter such problem, a faster swipe will cause the rubber to drag and changes the shape of it, as if the rubber is being pull. Worrying the rubber tip might get loose or even tears apart due to force, often I do not apply too much force when writing or drawing, indirectly causes the stylus to be less sensitive and not able to write/draw normally.

This troubles me a little and I decided to take the risk to order the Dagi stylus directly from the manufacture without trying it. I contacted the manufacture directly and able to get a fast respond with my email replied almost within the same hour I sent. After considering some suggestions by the seller, Jamie, I decided to purchase a Dagi P602 that cost USD20, which is about RM60+. After confirming my payment, Jamie kindly included another smaller stylus for me to try out and my parcel arrived after a week plus. I passed the "Acer" stylus for my dad to use with his Galaxy Tab 7.0+.

Dagi Stylus P602

First impression of the stylus is very positive. They also provide 5 extra protective films for the transparent plastic and an additional metal spring tip for replacement purposes. Along with the parcel is the instruction on how to replace the metal tip, and not forgetting the free little stylus that is included, which I then passed to my gf to use with her Galaxy S2.

The hands on with the stylus was good. It is very sensitive and the stylus is able to register the tip accurately on the screen. The metal spring bends well to handle different writing/drawing angles as shown in the pictures below. The screen is able to trace the stylus around and I can write and draw very fast without any problem. The only problem occur will be the default touch screen setting of the Galaxy Tab which delays the touch register for 5 pixels. However, this can be overcome by installing an app called "TouchScreenTune" which required root. I will cover this app in a later post.

A complain for the stylus is the drag and the sound produced is unnatural where u can feel as if the stylus is scratching the screen. This is later confirmed after a month of usage where the protective film wears off and the metal tip is in contact with the screen. My tablet's screen protector end up getting a lot of scratches by using this stylus. I did not try using it naked on my tablet without screen protector even thou my tablet is equipped with Gorilla Glass, while I guess the hardness of the Gorilla Glass will not be higher than the metal tip anyway.

Besides that, the metal spring deforms after some time of usage where you can notice the spring is bent and deformed. The stylus also becomes less sensitive some times and requires readjustment every time. It became very frustrating because I thought that this stylus should last me for some time and didn't expect it to be faulty this soon. I tried to replace the metal spring with the additional one provided, however the replacement tip is not able to register any touch on the screen and I suspect that the plastic is a bit too thick, causing the screen unable to detect it.

I changed back the old tip and manage to make it functional again. Nowadays I seldom use the stylus anymore except for some time where I play DrawSomething or for some note taking.

Wrap Up

I'm truly disappointed with the quality of the stylus. It is very useful in the beginning where it performs as well as it claims. However, things started to change when wear and tear starts to kick in. I will sum up my findings with the summary below.

Advantages

• Accurate
• Flexible
• Nice metal build
• Transparent plastic for see thru

Disadvantages

• Metal tip scratches screen
• Metal spring deforms
• Bad replacement tip

As mentioned above, the disadvantages are not about the functionality of the product. In fact, its the quality control of the product that lets me down. Even thou Dagi provided 1 year warranty, it will be a hassle to send back the product to Taiwan for a replacement. I guess, this is the risk of buying international products directly.

Gallery

Where Are The Frames?

I noticed that I did not post any pictures in my blog for a long time, which opposes the name of the blog "SpeakingFrames" where I initially thought that I will use it mainly to share pictures that I took. But looks like I'm using it for text more often after the March overhaul. Furthermore with my camera gears showing some quality issues, I think I will spend time on arranging my old albums to dig out many pictures that I wish to publish. All these needs my extra time, which I'm currently lacking. Hopefully I'm able to do so after I settle down with my stuff, that concerns my future.

Perhaps I should create another blog for all my "too-long; didn't read" wall-of-text posts. Hmm..

Aging Lens

My Tamron lens that I reviewed previously started to show some age. I noticed that the pictures I took are less sharp than before even when dropped down to F8.0 and at iso100. This is really a huge discouragement as I really love this lens a lot. I guess the excessive use of it has hasten the aging process. The pictures still look fine when minimized, but not as sharp as before with noticeable softness in it. it gets much worse when zoomed into 1:1 pixel where I can notice the sharpness is no longer there.

My little EF 50mm F1.8 prime has also lost its sharpness when I try it out. I guess I need to send all these for service before my next trip/event. Sad case for me.

Confidence

Confidence is a very important element in my life. I have been brought up, labeled as a bright student, capable of doing many things. This indirectly shapes me to become a very confident person in doing my things, and sometimes arrogant too. However, I have long ditched the arrogant attitude after some kind feedbacks from some close friends. I learned to be humble and yet confident when tackling my tasks.

Over the years, confidence have assists me to accomplish many of the tasks that I face and fortunately able to go through all of it. While I cannot deny that luck does help me a lot, especially when I recap on how I gone through everything, yet confidence is also the main reason why I'm fearless when encountering problems or challenges.

There are many unhappy things, in particular, failures that occurred this year which slowly erodes my confidence. My confident level has fall until a point that I myself will think that I will fail even before I try. Because of this mindset, I have faced more failures than success.

For example, I played pool with my friends recently. It has been few years since I last played pool, and because this is a spontaneous activity, I do not have much mood to play. I joined my friend anyway since I do enjoy playing pool last time, but I sucked at it this time. I remember last time when I first played pool, I was confident that it should be easy and I played according to my common sense about force and angle. It all came out well and I thought I have little talent on playing that.

So this time, I was not in the mood to play and also my confidence level is very low, I missed many times and even did stupid mistakes and fouls. Mistakes that I couldn't believe I'm making, where my cue doesn't even touch the white balls as if I'm blind or what. Once awhile I told myself to stay cool and focus, I regain some confidence and managed to pocket the balls perfectly without a miss. But as soon as my guard is down and the confident feeling slipped away, I began to do stupid mistakes again like aiming the wrong angle, hitting the side of the white ball and stuff. All these happens because I'm not focused and not confident.

I wished to gain back the confidence I used to have. In order to do so, I need to seek motivation and self recognition about the things I do. i want to become the person that everyone can trust and rely on doing things again.