PureDew ~ Pure Thushara

That didn't take very long.

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:15:00 +0000

My friends-only journal is back up. I was expecting to take ages to make a decision on my blog software but the choice was pretty obvious when I surveyed what was currently available. B2evolution is, by far and away, what I have been looking for. A long while back, I tried the demo version out and although it was good, it still wasn't advanced enough at that time to do what I wanted it to do.

Now, its features have much improved and installation took barely an hour. I've still got to configure the sidebar and tweak stuff here and there. I think I'll take my time on that since I'm pretty busy now that university's begun once more.

Anyhoo, that journal is ready for blogging albeit its slightly unpolished look. So yeah, if you were reading my friends-only posts and want in, drop me a message there or e-mail me. This blog here at Blogger still remains to be my public blog which I shall update from time to time.

Change is good.

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 08:43:00 +0000

It first started with bots spamming my site. Then, I grew weary of the same old blogging system - Geeklog. Handy as it may be, I craved to play with another CMS, I just do not know which one to choose. There's always Blogger, thankfully, for now.

So, yup, if you've come here from my old journal, you'll already know that I'm planning a revamp. Maybe doing away with PureDew altogether (gasp!) and switching to Livejournal or Vox or Blogger or maybe Wordpress... who knows? I'm still considering my options.

Give me sometime to think about it and I'll get back to you. :) In the meantime, you'll find me here on Blogger blogging away.

Oh, and incidentally, happy birthday to me. (What better way to start an addition of a year to my (increasing) age than to pick a new blog system? Woohoo! :)

Fuschl-am-See

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 01:47:00 +0000

Fuschl-am-See, originally uploaded by thushara.

Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains.
~ Diane Ackerman

For me, the smell of a fresh water lakey breeze reminds me of Fuschl-am-See, Austria. Up till the second I saw the lake [Fuschl], I always believed lakes were simply niches for fishes and the Loch Ness, not Muggle swim spots. Fuschl-am-See convinced me otherwise. I can't wait to go back again.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100.
Exposure: 0.003 sec (5/1643)
Aperture: f/5.2
Focal Length: 4.7 mm

Puchberg

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:02:00 +0000

Puchberg, Austria, originally uploaded by thushara.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

~ John Muir

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100.
Exposure: 0.011 sec (5/439)
Aperture: f/2.6
Focal Length: 4.7 mm

Whirls of red

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 21:47:00 +0000

Whirls of red, originally uploaded by thushara.

Are women just headless beautiful bodies?
Taken at Leopold Museum, Vienna.
"Körper, Gesicht und Seele" Exhibition (Body, Face & Soul).

Taken with a 1.6MP Samsung Camera Phone.

Taken just for kicks.

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:45:00 +0000

Taken just for kicks., originally uploaded by thushara.

World Cup 2006 - Germany. Leipzig. Argentina-Mexico. Argentina won: 2-1. Taken with a Samsung 1.3MP camera phone.

Quotes from the players post-match:

"My granddad always told me to try to hit the ball with both feet, but I nearly always go with the right. I've got the left one, as they say, to get on the bus."
- Maxi Rodriguez, Argentina's right-footed midfielder, after scoring a wonder goal with his left foot to beat Mexico.

I swear I touched it, I swear!"
- Hernan Crespo's splendidly-desperate plea to be awarded Argentina's opening goal against Mexico.

Life's 10 Simple Pleasures

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:28:00 +0000

It's been long overdue... I'm sorry. *sheepish look*

Tagged by Rajinder and that's how I got roped into this. :P

Life's 10 Simple Pleasures:

1. Sipping a marvelously chocolatey hot/cold chocolate while watching an episode of Simpsons/Friends/favourite comedy (and laughing till chocolate comes out of my nose... heh)

2. Sharing a comfortable silence with the one I love (Mr. Lion), holding each other's hand while walking on the beach at sunrise.

3. Having a shower and just enjoying the water beat down on my body.

4. Enjoying a good book with the best chocolate ice cream sundae in the world beside me.

5. Vegging out with my best galpals and laughing over the latest goss in a girlie magazine.

6. Eating a damned good roti canai and spicy curry, with an iced Milo at the roadside mamak, with good company, to boot.

7. The afterglow one gets after a particular spiritual Ruhi sesh/devotional/deepening.

8. Shopping the whole day and finding my clothes size in everything I choose to buy.

9. The good ol' times of playing Monopoly and/or Scrabble with my family and catching my father cheating (or trying to!) so that he wins.

10. Being alone with my Thushee, listening to music and just mindless Internet surfing.

And I'm tagging:

1. Wyn

2. Michelle

3. Matze

4. Dr. P

5. Alkam

6. Michali

7. Prema

8. Rajiv

9. Sindhu

10. Onyx

Snowy trees

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:49:00 +0000

snowy trees, originally uploaded by thushara.

“There is nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow. It is the still ecstasy of nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig, is clad with radiance.”

~ William Sharp,
Scottish Poet

On the way home from Ruhi Book 2. Trudging through snow is not too bad when you get to gaze at snowed-upon trees!

Taken with a Samsung 1.3MP camera phone.

Snow in the AM

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:31:00 +0000

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So, it is."
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."
~ A.A. Milne, English Humorist,
creator of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Snow at 6:41AM GMT
Glasgow, U.K.
Taken with a Samsung 1.3MP camera phone.

Snow Upon the Desert

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 20:02:00 +0000

Airborne thousands of feet above, looking down on snow upon the deserted mountainous plains of Afghanistan.

If your hopes scatter like the dust across your track

I'll be the moon that shines on your path

The sun may blind our eyes
I'll pray the skies above

For snow to fall on the Sahara.

If that's the only place where you can leave your doubts

I'll hold you up and be your way out

And if we burn away, I'll pray the skies above

For snow to fall on the Sahara.

- Snow on the Sahara song lyrics.

Taken with a Samsung 1.3MP camera phone.

Evaporatin'

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:01:00 +0000

Flying over a dried-up Caspian Sea.

“The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising.
Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

- John Muir.

Taken with a Samsung 1.3MP camera phone.

Truer words have never been printed.

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:01:00 +0000

Taken in BeneBene, Canary Wharf, London.

Truer words have never been printed.

- Thushara

Taken with her Samsung 1.3MP camera phone.

Nightline Skyline

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:51:00 +0000

Lights in the night,
So bright.

- Thushara

Taken with her Samsung 1.3MP camera phone at Canary Wharf, London.

Ice cream Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:53:00 +0000

Ice Cream at The Harbour Bar.
Scarborough, England.

Having a dream you don't pursue is like buying an ice cream cone and watching it melt all over your hand.
- Frank Papasso

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100.
Exposure: 0.026 sec (1/28)
Aperture: f/2.6
Focal Length: 4.7 mm

Scarborough

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:55:00 +0000

South Cliff.
Scarborough, England.

Blessed is the spot,
And the house, and the place,
And the city, and the heart,
And the mountain, and the refuge,
And the cave, and the valley,
And the land, and the sea,
And the island, and the meadow
Where mention of God hath been made, and His praise glorified.

- BAHÁ'U'LLÁH
(Compilations, Baha'i Prayers)

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100.
Exposure: 0.333 sec (1/3)
Aperture: f/2.6
Focal Length: 4.7 mm

Silhouette.

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 01:09:00 +0000

Silhouette.

Near Loughborough, England.

Watch me at the window from your place on the couch,
watch me pretending that I am really looking out.
You say, 'Come here, I can't see you in this light,'
but I'm much safer beside the moon tonight.
'Cos when I am a silhouette,
I have no fear you can love me from here

When I am a silhouette

I can give myself to you and you'd never see through.

- Catie Curtis, Silhouette (song lyrics).

Taken with a Samsung D500 mobile phone 1.3 Megapixel Camera.

Grasslands

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 01:41:00 +0000

Autumn is here.

Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'

- The Talmud.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto

Exposure: 0.002 sec (5/2406)

Aperture: f/3.8

Focal Length: 9.6 mm

Short Story

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 01:49:00 +0000

Just that. Short.

She leaned against the window of the train, pressing her forehead hard. Her skin turned white at the site of pressure and she could feel it throb slightly. Green and black intermingled blurs whizzed past. She shifted in her seat and looked down at her shoes. Idly, she thought, "I need to polish them when I get home". But, she knew inside when she got home, her boots would lay forgotten. Unpolished when she wore them next.

The mechanical female voice announced the arrival of the train at Queen Street. Equally mechanically, she got off and trudged (for the want of a better word) through the turnstile, the ticket machine swallowing her ticket deep into its metallic bowels. Outside, a young woman touting the FT magazine looked at her hopefully as she walked towards her. Hastily, she crossed the road, thinking to herself, "Not this time. I just want to be alone." Springing unbidden, a mountainous peak appeared in her mind's eye and she envisioned herself sitting alone, and just being.

A loud honk from the road she had just crossed drew her back to reality. She glanced up at the shop signs and Caffè Nero caught her eye. She walked in. Stood in front of the expectant waiter/cashier and searched her bag, looking for her purse. Finding it, she randomly ordered the first thing she saw advertised on the chalkboard. A regular Caffè Latte. Lucky she saw that first and not the expresso macchiato. She hated the macchiato.

As the barista turned to prepare her drink, she stared at the cake display. The pristine white top of a marzipan coated pastry with criss cross chocolate lines stood out. The barista asked, "Anything else?" She answered, "A slice of... almond torta also", reading the cake label. "Right." The barista smiled at her as he slid open the door and selected the biggest piece for her, probably deciding she needed a sugar high to smile. He rang up the purchase, announcing the price and she paid.

"Got the loyalty card?" She looked blankly at him. He tapped the box of cards on top of the counter, explaining the concept of stamping the card when getting a drink. She nodded her consent as he ended with a smile. The cashier assured her, "Don't worry. It's valid at any Caffè Nero in the UK." She smiled wanly. He grinned back, his blue eyes sparkling in the dim light and pushed the plate of cake towards her. "You should smile more. You look more beautiful when you do."

For a second, she looked startled. Then, she replied, "What's there to smile about?" She indicated her right hand, showing him her index finger and said, "I lost my favourite ring today."

"Sorry to hear that. Maybe you'll find it soon."

"Yeah. Maybe." She answered.

"The sugar's over there", he said, pointing to the far corner of the cafe. "Take care, love."

"Right, thanks." She carried her coffee and cake to an empty table. She sat down and looked at her food. Amazingly, she wasn't hungry, having eaten nothing but a sandwich in the early morning. She sighed and picked at the cake, allowing the crumbs to fall on to the plate. She sipped her coffee - bitter. Like her day. She nibbled at her marzipan icing - saccharine sweet. Like how she had hoped her life would be everyday.

A storybook - Love is A Four Letter Word - was retrieved from her backpack. She thought to herself, "My life is just a four letter word too." Pages were turned intermittently to give the presence of the idea of the book being read, but she read nothing. Her eyes were unseeing as her thoughts were miles away. Every so often, she would pick at her food.

Across from her, a couple looked curiously at her. "Someone so young shouldn't look so sad. She has her whole life in front of her", they thought privately to themselves. A young man sitting two tables away from her, debated within himself if he should walk up and say hello to her. Feeling someone's eyes on her, she looked in his direction. Her eyes met his, her chocolate brown ones twin pools of direct honesty and yet unexplained sadness reflected within, that he was compelled to look away. He felt a twinge of sympathy for her and turned back to his coffee, flipping to the next page of his open magazine in front of him.

And so the time passed. Just like that. An hour and a half.

Realizing it was getting late by the customers emptying themselves out the door, she pushed her cup away and stood up. Slung her backpack over her shoulder and as she walked out, she dropped a 40 pence tip into the cup for the blue-eyed barista.

"Cheers, darling," he said as he smiled his thanks.

She echoed back, "Cheers."

She walked out, unrealizing the magnitude of impact she had made on his day, not knowing really, what effect she had made in the universe by simply walking into a coffeehouse to have a drink.

Italian Marvel

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 01:56:00 +0000

The Pisa Baptistry & Cathedral and yes, of course, that's the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Pisa, Tuscany, Italy.

You're the Nile,

You're the Tower of Pisa,
You're the smile

On the Mona Lisa.

- Cole Porter, American Composer and Lyricist, 1893-1964.

Lyrics to the song - You're The Top.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Focal length: 4.7mm

Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto

Exposure: 0.004 sec (10/2549)

Aperture: f/5.2

Towering

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:32:00 +0000

The Campanile San Marco, Venice, Italy.
Legend has it that the Ranieri brothers who built this 97 metre high structure (originally a lighthouse) had their eyes removed so they would not be able to repeat this wonder.

If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you've imagined.
Venice is... Venice is better.

- Fran Lebowitz, American Writer and Humorist.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Focal Length: 4.7mm

Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto

Exposure: 0.002 sec (5/2516)

Aperture: f/2.6

Highland Coo

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 09:37:00 +0000

"Moo", go the Highland Coo.

Inverness, Scotland.

The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth.

To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.

- Albert Einstein, German born American Physicist, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics (1921), 1879-1955.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto

Exposure: 0.005 sec (5/918)

Aperture: f/3.4

Focal Length: 8.1 mm

Expanse

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 09:39:00 +0000

The Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria.

Clear the air!
Clean the sky!
Wash the wind!
Take stone from stone and wash them.

- T.S. Eliot, American born English Playwright, Poet and Critic, 1888-1965.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Focal Length: 4.7mm

Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto

Exposure: 0.004 sec (5/1144)

Aperture: f/5.2

Yellow vs. White

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 09:44:00 +0000

Blurred ~ Yellow Flower Closeup.

Earth laughs in flowers.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist & philosopher.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto

Focal length: 4.7mm

Exposure: 0.028 sec (10/359)

Aperture: f/2.6

Now... compare the above photo with this previous one I posted:

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Focal length: 4.7mm

Exposure: 0.016 sec (5/317)

Aperture: f/2.6

Scene Mode: Close-up

Notice anything different?
Yes, the yellow flower picture's foreground is in a blur while the background is more focused. Whilst, the daisy photo shows a foreground that is focused and a background that's in a blur.

Chocolate Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 09:51:00 +0000

Centrepiece in the shop window of a famous Austrian confectioner & baker, Demel in Vienna.
The tree is made entirely of chocolate and other types of sweets - decadent!

Everyone who enjoys thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit,
but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed.
Herein lies the difference between them that create and them that enjoy.

- Friedrich Nietzsche, German classical Scholar, Philosopher, 1844-1900.

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto

Focal length: 4.7mm

Exposure: 0.041 sec (10/243)

Aperture: f/2.6

Slug

noreply@blogger.com (Thushara) — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 09:55:00 +0000

Just a Slug ~ Sluggin' it along in the dewy grasslands of Glenfinnan, Scotland.

He would pore by the hour, o'er a weed or a flower,

Or the slugs that come crawling out after a shower.

- Rev. R. H. Barham, English Poet & Dramatist, 1788-1845.

I was inspired by Alkam's post on snails to post this up. Snails & slugs - what a sight!

Taken with a Nikon CoolPix 2100

Focal Length: 4.7 mm

Scene Mode: Close Up

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern 1/14.9 sec - f/2.6