Neighbours Pt II (Wildlife edition)

A fly sticking around before the rain

A cat imitating a punk headbanger after the rain (click to zoom)

Janice is back! But where are the housemates?

"lol", 2001

Janice, a good friend who used to hang with me in Canberra, is back in Singapore after spending some time in the States dancing and making coffee and going for Bible classes. Wheeeee! If you didn't know, Janice is a professionally trained psychologist who prefers working in a cafe and trying out new recipes. She's a good person to talk to, and one of the handful who can stand shopping with me. So she totally rocks. See you soon, Janice!

Since I'm reminiscing my uni days, here is an ex-housemate of mine, Nat, caught reading during the summer hols. She used to blast Britney over her hi-fi and torture the rest of the housemates with it. Hers was an amazing display of consistency, except for the times when she blasted the Backstreet Boys. Then when Jess, my other housemate, tried using Hootie and the Blowfish to out-blast Britney, Nat would retaliate by knocking up the volume even more. Things could get pretty ugly, especially if you had to study with 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' on repeat. Besides that, Nat also dressed a lot in pink. Shocking pink. Tight tops in shocking pink. But what's most shocking is that she was the oldest amongst us at—what, 26 then? Yep.

"Natalie in Summer", 2001

And here's Jess, my musical buddy, singing in the N1 laundry where we used to jam till the grog or our throats ran dry, or until Nat or the weird neighbour from upstairs appeared, yelling at us to shut-up-do-you-know-what-freaking-time-it-is? How I miss those good ol' days.

"Nights at N1", 2001 (My favourite shot of Jess)

Anson & Alex do their thang

More fluke shots from Ai Mei and Terence's wedding. Here we have Anson on rhythm guitar and Alex on congas. Motion is natural—my PhotoShop skills ain't that advanced. :)

Focus

Experiments in crazy

Yesterday's wedding rehearsal involved musicians, singers, shofar blowers and dancers. Here is Janet dancing, and me having no freaking clue what's happening with all the light. They do, however, seem intent on dancing with her.

Experiments in candlelight

In the days to come, I'll probably be writing less and shooting more. My new toy has left me as poor as a church mouse, especially once I pay the credit card company for it. But for now, I'm still trying to figure out the mysteries of the camera and photography in general. I wish I were a lot more technical in this area, but all the f/x-number, aperture and whatnot is rather confusing. Still, it's digital and I can afford to push any combo of buttons and just shoot. Whee!

Candles in the Anglican church where Ai Mei and Terence will be wed tomorrow

Made in 1910

My maternal grandma is 97 years old. For someone her age, she's in pretty good shape and fiercely independent, but when you're almost a century old, your body does get worn, and her leg muscles have been grumbling incessantly in recent days.

Despite having known her all my life, I haven't been very civil to her since my rebellious early teens. Now, I am past acting like James Dean but our static relationship has come to be the accepted way of life. The lack of conversation partly explains why my Cantonese sucks so bad. But even if I could speak the language, she's now hard of hearing. I do help her with stuff on occasion and when she asks, showing the care through actions, but I know it's far from ideal.

I don't know how long God's mercy on her will last, but the fact is that she isn't a Christian and doesn't seem close to being one at this point in time. Which leaves me feeling blue, as I recall her sacrifices for me particularly when I was a kid; how she's served and taken care of me. Despite her controlling ways (as the mother of seven, grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of five), I do, after all, love her.

I took these shots because I needed to preserve her on 'film'—memory is so unreliable.

Poh-poh, June 07

Cheers, Mate

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with... B!

~


Beer. Also known as:
- belly girth enhancer
- burping agent
- better days ahead

This is an early celebration for the latter. (Crosses fingers in hope that it's not premature. Otherwise, darn, those calories coulda been saved for later.)

Also presenting my new Nikon D40x baby. I <3 superzoom lenses.

To Pastor Tim (whom I'd call Timmeh, but for fear of incurring that swallowed-annoyance look)

"Hello, Pastor."

Kampung Jus, Melaka, July '05 (Whee!!! Check out my eyebrows!!)

You don't need to worry if you left an impact. You did. Thank you for praying with me through dead-ends and my darkest days. Your quiet joy in God, your love for Him and the way you worship are inspiring. You don't take God as a sugar daddy as many are wont to do. You took Him as Lord, ready to follow His leading. Your faithfulness and service are some things we will visibly miss.

Thank you, Pastor Tim, for sharing your life with us these five years.


Today // Tomorrow. Time turns the page, and behold! A new adventure beckons.

A Public Appearance on a Public Holiday

Meet Zara. She's a malnourished vegan who doesn't want to eat animals because "I love animals". While I don't doubt her sincerity (two years of being a vegan might have saved err... 3 cows, 2 goats and a few hundred chickens?), I do have reservations that any such love is mutual. For instance, if I dumped her in the rugged (often misconstrued as wildly romantic) African landscape with nothing more than a professed agape love for animals, my meat-fed guts tell me that a starving lion would probably prove my suspicions right.

But I digress.

Meet Zara.

Zara is also my new partner in rhyme (sorry, these lines don't come supplied with a puke bin). And rhythm. And music. In other words, we are going to be rockstars together. Or poor buskers who might, in the hazy future, be able to describe in detail what a Bukit Aman cell looks like. Hey, we've all got to start somewhere.

SOMEWHERE
And so our particular venture into the very public sphere of busking (i.e. begging for money aided by a musical instrument) began last Wednesday, a public holiday. I had only busked once on the infinitely safer streets of Canberra; Zara, zip. After two practices, we had about 11 songs we could cover quasi-decently—enough for one set. We decided to try our luck at the recently revamped Central Market, a stone's throw away from the historic birthplace of KL. Such non-exclusive places tend to congregate the craziest kinds, so for safety reasons, I engaged the services of Reb C, who is a few dozen sizes smaller than me and a few elephants lighter, to protect us from the baddies and also to take pictures.

It must have worked, for we were not robbed. As we sang, smiled, screwed up and said thank you whenever someone was kind enough to actually pop money in, we were never once booed, impaled by another busker's guitar, or bounded off to jail in a flashing police car. While all that would have made a more thrilling blog post than this, I shall be content with the memory of my first-ever busking experience in Malaysia. For those who'd like to see us strut more embarrassment on the streets, my meat-fed guts tell me there will be more to come.

Babies: A lazy Sunday post

My niece is learning to walk and talk. I'll teach her some really cool stuff soon, like how to say, "My name is Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and I work at the Kwik-E-mart" real quick and with an Indian accent, or "My Ah Yee is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".

... ... ...

(Okay the real reason why I'm posting is cos I like these pics. And I am waiting for Gmail to upload some files. That's all. Lazy brainless post, yes.)

Jo on Angie's carpet

Erin on Angie's sofa

Battle Wounds

Felix's This guy's scar is scary.

For those without an imagination, that's what your arm will look like if you break it three times at the same spot. For those with an imagination, that's what your arm will look like if you break it three times at the same spot. It looks like there's a creepy alien underneath, slithering up and down, just waiting to burst out--like in Alien, of course.

There's also a slight swell (much more prominent right after the break/surgery), making the injury-bearer look like he's been working out his forearm flexors. (Or course I knew the name of that muscle group! Why should I waste time googling it? Bah!) Which is pretty useful for guys cos it makes them look err... tough.

In reality though, a scar like that makes you more interesting by about 20%. Fel This guy is already more interesting than other people by quite a lot, so the scar just gives him an excuse to have lotsa kids so that he can awe their kids with grandfather stories of fighting in some gulf war, taking on an armed robber at the ATM, or how he narrowly escaped a furious slasher girlfriend.

Or he could say he broke it playing badminton. And futsal. And futsal again. Or something like that.

Meanwhile, here's my little souvenir from all that walking in Singapore. Comparatively, it can't compare.

(Thanks, Jon, for the cam. And Fel some dude for posing.)

A Commemoration of an Insignificant Incident

At precisely 7.31pm, Monday 9th April 2007, the pimple in my left audio cavity erupted, first leaving a trail of blood and puss, then a slight wooziness on its former tenant. Minutes later, the heat of such an explosion was sensed, like warm blood trickling into my middle ear, though I know I'm probably just being paranoid. Wooozyyyy...

Mike Tries to Evade the Camera While Tying His Tie

Joanna, 'Gift of God'

Here are the first pics I'm posting of my niece Joanna. She's almost a year old in these pics (taken in January), but she's now really one year, one month and one week. Rock on, baby. (Btw, that's my sister next to her.)

Blistering Post This Is!

Those whom I've been in more regular contact with in RL (real life) might know that I've been atrociously busy at work. Yes, work is stealing my precious time, energy and... youth. My eyebags are back with a vengence and a huge gawking zit is freeloading on the prime spot of my face: at the confluence of my eyes, eyebrows and nose. It is bloody annoying as I'm trying to make an impression these days. Certainly, this is not it.

Yesterday was one of the busiest days of my life, which culminated from an overall mad week. My company, being one that does everything from ads to PR to events to TV productions, has been gearing up for a CNY TV production called 'Dreams Come True'. The recording was at Pyramid yesterday, so, after setting up till late the night before and starting the day slightly after noon, I... met the sampling girls and tried to arrange for a table for them, failed, carried down two buntings by myself and got 'lost', resulting in unnecessary embarrassment as I was literally a walking billboard, carried down a table myself since the guards refused to help, met printer for a bit just to check the colour in the test print for an unrelated advertising job, rushed backstage for a new tablecloth since the original one was wayyyy dirty, went back up and down again but with some water for the sampling girls since I messed up the arrangement earlier, rushed to meet wern--who was there shopping--for lunch, rushed to toilet (the first of half a dozen times... just kept drinking water and releasing it again in the loo), had half a dodgy shepherd's pie, but as wern says, the company was better than the pie, met up with client immediately after to discuss print ad, got digital beta tapes from him; halfway, got call from lorry driver who was bringing the foodstuff for the goodie bags so had to rush to meet him (but luckily, the client came along and we figured out where he was [loading bay] and managed to get the stuff to the backstage), after client left, I arranged for boss to prepare invoice for client for bunting stands, then, walked over to hon ming's dental surgery to borrow his digital camera to take photos of the event / live shoot, walked back, feet starting to ache from all the running about, blister was forming... met another client who was filling up the goodie bags, by this time, other colleagues had started arriving, went away to buy a pair of slippers as the back of my foot was really a goner, stumbled in and out of three shops before deciding on one, changed into slippers, walked back to stage, started arranging chairs and later, labelling them, started arranging buntings, had really yucky dinner from TAJ CURRY HOUSE. SUCKS, started taking pics, guests arrived, checked that client's tvcs were playing, then client arrived again, took photos. took photos. took photos. then we had a technical problem--one of the major hardware died, so we had to wait for them to deliver a replacement. took photos. walked walked walked walked walked walked walked--was so glad I bought the slippers--more pics. walk. pics. walk. pics. walk. pics. walk, took pics of the event's hosts for the flyer which I've to do after this, after the shoot was done, packed up, collected tapes from car to pass to colleague, cleaned up, took down buntings, packed stands, went home, downloaded pics to comp. slept.

Okay. I don't expect you to read all that by the way. Just felt like looking productive. Anyway, it sure explains the volcano on my forehead. And the hot springs (pictured below) on my feet. Sigh.

The Loveliest Ice Cube

A few days ago, I chanced upon the loveliest natural ice cube; not the kind you shape with chisels and ice-picks, but the kind you take straight out of the ice box and just as you're about to dunk it in your drink, you gasp and say, whoa... cool...

The Holiest Bug

Just yesterday, after talking to someone about prayer, I saw this praying mantis perched on my parents' room door. Quickly, I grabbed my camera and shooed it into another room, where I snapped its mug. Then it flew away... to the fluorescent light, to be exact. Ugh, I just realised my camera looks even sicker...

Pray without ceasing... 1 Thes. 5:17

Braid Story

It was my first time at William's, and the Chinese mamak owner said I reminded him of someone. "Anakin Skywalker," he said, with a grin. Right. Well William, I don't look like Anakin no more. The hair braid Wern expertly tied on my head, and which stayed there faithfully from mid July, is now gone. I took it down i.e. cut it a few weeks ago. As you can see from the pics, it was growing pretty long!


All in all, my hair grew about 3 inches in 3 months. (The braid started off with about a one-inch gap from the scalp.) I think the part pulled by the braid grew faster too cos of the additional weight, but that's just my theory.

At final count... 4+ inches of hair!

The most common question encountered was, "How do you wash your hair?" Haiyah, simple lah, you just wash it like normal and make sure you don't pull at the ends.

Well, it was fun and cool having a braid while it lasted. I thought I would have it on for longer but my hair obviously outgrew my ambitions. Thanks a bunch, Wern. You rock, and so does your hair braid!

Chronicles of Oz (Part 2)

Brisbane
(The writer apologises for not regaling you with tales of adventure and misadventure from Brisbane earlier. But it's been two months since those events took place, so she figures it's too late now anyway. So here you go... more pictures, with some brief descriptions. Hope you don't mind.)

The highlights of Brisbane were:
* Staying with Uncle Bill and Aunty Joni—Wern's aunt's sister—and their household of two Taiwanese and one Japanese exchange students
* Waking up REALLY early...like 7am every day
* Riding the Superman Escape in Movie World, which goes from 0-100km in 2 seconds
* Walking, walking, walking
* More walking in national parks, kangaroo reserves, forest reserves, weekend markets
* Having a kookaburra steal a barbecued sausage from out of my hand
* Petting koalas and feeding kangaroos at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
* Trying out kayaking, at the lake at the back of Aunty Joni's house
* Seeing a singer-songwriter do a really cool cover of Big Yellow Taxi at the Eumundi weekend market
* Spotting koalas, dolphins, hares, wild birds in the wild
* Uncle Bill's crazy, bounding Labrador, 'Hamish'
* Visiting the Brisbane Powerhouse (nothing much but interesting 'feel') and Brisbane Museum
* Lots of sunshine and balmy weather

Brisbane was so much fun. It really was.

Lazy koala at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Awww...this wallaby has his tail between his legs

Aunty Joni gets grossed out by a greedy, slobbering kangaroo. Notice its bigger feet and um, clawed hands?

Sheep are pretty stupid. Luckily they're cute

Feeding a wallaby, which slobbers less compared to a kangaroo

Uncle Bill at Noosa Heads National Park. Being a 6+-footer, he left us wayyyyy behind

Some bird poised on a tree on a bright winter's day

Some hive stuck on a tree. I don't wanna know what's inside

Standing on the edge of this cliff was freaky. A mis-step, and I'd be gull-feed. My knees actually felt wobbly

Somewhere, E.T. is listening in to all the crappy radio music

Can you spot the moon in this pic?

The Brisbane sun's superb when you need self-portraits

(Lame description here)

All Brisbane's electricity boxes are painted by different artists

This one here's in Chinatown... a rather seedy part of town

The Great Superman Escape. Super fun. Rode it twice. Guaranteed to make you feel years younger. :)