Month: November 2007

As the 9.30pm Channel 5 news was broadcasted on TVMobile on the bus just now, with the clips of the memorial service for the dragon boaters rolling, everyone was in a solemn mood. The combined memorial service was at Mandai Crematorium which reminded me of my mum’s. As I was about to alight the bus and I passed by the many other passengers standing and sitting down, I could see the sadness in those faces which were watching the news coverage, some even with tears in their eyes. two teenage guys, probably about the same age as me or younger, stared at the screen with wet eyes. to the families and friends of the dragon boaters, we share your grief.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine
But God who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God my Saviour has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending Love
Amazing Grace

I’m now on a new US-based host – HostMonster.
and it’s 300GB of space! lol. gonna post lotsa photos and stuff next time.

Support Substation Moving Images anniversary celebrations and my brother’s latest film – Zo Hee aka Making a Film. 7 December, 8pm, The Substation. Pay as you wish.

now it’s school holidays time, and there’s an increased abundance of kids joining those part time jobs…like giving flyers, selling ice cream in HDB blocks etc.

I especially hate those insurance and donation people who camp outside MRT stations and bus interchanges alike, progressively targeting people especially those NSFs in uniform for time and money. somehow the adult ladies of various insurance companies like to talk to uniformed personnel and I always try my best to avoid eye contact and walk away immediately. may seem rude but hey, I’m on my way home and please don’t interrupt my journey.

and then those donation stuff. these kids will try to stop people and then show some paper and talk long story of some organisation and please donate $2 or $10 and get free pen or notebook or something like that. and then they earn commission by doing this. what kind of donation is this? more like begging and cheating our money! mostly scam I think. I’d rather give some coins to those flag days…more efficient, give as much (or little) as you like, no questions asked.

hence, I’d never be this kind of sales promoter who goes around street touting.

though sometimes there are exceptions, haha. like the other day I was eating ice cream and trying to stall some time before going to the MRT station. this AIA insurance person approached me and ask me to do survey. ok fine. but I hate it when they ask for my personal particulars and especially my contact number.

I wonder how come got this “unknown number” and china person that kept calling/smsing me. weird.

We went driving-exploring again…the 2nd time was the longest one, from 11pm to 5pm on deepavali eve. haha. firstly, we went to the rail mall for supper…the ah mei shop…then we went to jurong hill, a place behind jurong bird park. there’s a viewing tower there in which you can see the jurong island and the sea. it’s quite cool with all the lights from the petroleum companies. i think in the day time you’d see pollution. lol.

then we drove to lim chu kang, and my friend crazily drove into the choa chu kang cemetry and out again. at the end of LCK, there’s a small jetty and there were people catching crabs in low tide. the crabs were huge! then we drove through the windy neo tiew road again, and then all the way down to mount faber. up mount faber was steep and curvy, but the view was quite nice. reminds me of the night cycling trip i had a few years back. now is by car. how times have changed lol. driving down was fun, like initial D, just that cannot go too fast else we fall off the cliff lol.

then after that we went ECP for breakfast at mcdonalds, before driving through the new KPE and back home…

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the 3rd driving trip was a shorter one. we went to holland village for dinner. hard time finding parking on a saturday evening. i gave up one lot and it kinda koped by another driver. luckily we found one later. ate at some turkish restaurant, quite interesting and good but a bit ex. then there’s this cool cold rock ice cream shop – it mixes 2 flavours along with tidbits of your choice…from gummys to nerds, chocolates, kit kat, freckles, malts, etc. just that each topping cost $1. haha. but the way they mix is very interesting, is not just some blender or what. they place two scoops on a special marble-like tile, and then they chop the chocs into small pieces and hand mix the ice cream together to become one big scoop into a cup or cone. very cool and it’s pretty tasty and unique.

after holland v, we decided to explore labrador park. my parking skill was not bad for a noob… it has a long beach, and i just realised that it has a nature reserve. next time must come during day time and explore its nature. next stop was marina south pier, the new pier near the marina bay. it’s a pretty furturistic new building, with a roof garden grass patch on for viewing the sea. the sea breeze was nice. but too bad it closes at midnight.

after that, we drove to kent ridge, down the windy south bouna vista road, and then up a very steep slope to kent ridge park. the view from the lookout point is quite good, can see pulau bukom and pasir panjang area. just realised there’s a heritage trail there too. after that my friend drove us home…we were too tired and slept on the way. haha.

actually singapore has a lot of interesting places to explore. i also have yet to go bukit gombak and little guilin, as well as this chestnut bike trail thingy and the smaller unknown trails of bukit timah.

slightly less than 6 months left. managed to apply leave to go mission trip to malang in december. next year prob have 8 days of leave, minus a few for synergiz and ignite and my birthday then will be quite little. speaking about my birthday, i’m kinda tempted to book the singapore flyer for a ride next year. who wants to come? haha. but quite ex.

I’ve sorta decided that I will not bother to apply to any US/UK universities. it’s too troublesome…with all the application forms, financial assistance, TOEFL, teachers’ reports, airmail, registration fee etc…too ma fan. well anyway, my concurrent programme in interactive digital media already has 1.5 years in CMU, so i suppose that’s good enough.

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went changi beach with jordanites on saturday. it is a pretty nice secluded place, not as crowded as other parks like east coast. more privacy, peacefulness and tranquility. maybe it’s because it’s so far away. good place for “plane-spotting” too. haha.

finally went driving after getting my licence. first time driving at night, plus on the expressway(s). kinda nervous/scary at first, but gained my confidence after a while. I drove my friends through the KPE, which was pretty short and desserted, and to dempsey hill. nice place with cafes and restaurants, albeit a little dark, but with nice atmosphere. we ate at ps cafe…the drinks were ok, but the main courses are very ex. got ben & jerry’s there too.

after that drove my friend back to his camp at sungei gedong, and then we went a little exploring. we drove to sembawang road end. can see the shipyard, and we were wondering how that giant (really big) container ship got into there. it’s like, there’s no space for it to go through!

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just heard news that my Dy OC’s mum passed away. you would never know how it feels like to have a loved one missing…it’s heart breaking and traumatising. it’s surreal.

I think I’m a bit like my dad. sometimes when see husbands with their wives, or families enjoying themselves together, flashbacks of my mum come into my mind, and then it sets in that she’s not around anymore. the last movie that my mum watched was 881. and I sorta got reminded of that when the charity show were featuring the cast of the movie.

the love of my mum is in the very ironed uniform that I wear. now there’s nobody to help me iron my clothes, cook meals for my family, buy new clothes for me, eat breakfast with me on my off days. there’s still so many things undone, supposed to go to shanghai for holiday this month, supposed to help her copy her photos from her handphone to the computer, celebrate my 21st birthday? my university graduation?……

then comes a very standard question…why me?
but I have no right to ask that question, and it is also not for me to answer.

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
– Psalm 145:3

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sometimes asking a ‘how are you’ shows that you care. although you may receive a standard answer of ‘fine’, it shows to the person that you actually bothered to ask.

life still goes on.

Last saturday, I joined the canon photo marathon. managed to borrow a dSLR from a friend and I went around with cedric. wow. so many people. about 1000 participants. tough competition sia. very messy and long queues everytime.

the first theme was passion, and we walked around and saw some company cohesion. thought we could stick with them. then we decided to explore the esplanade, merlion area and see got any shots. not many. tho got the same company people playing games. then decided to walk to lau pa sat and chinatown and see got anybody cooking good food and can take photo. in chinatown, got so many participants at every corner! everyone like think of similar things. last stop was at maxell food centre, where there’s really good food and got my photo from there, tho it’s not really that fantastic.

second theme was challenge. why the themes so open-ended?? decided to ‘challenge’ ourselves at the mind cafe at prinsep street. apparently another pair thought of the same idea and they were there too. it’s quite quiet at 1pm on a saturday afternoon, with only 2 tables. the kind waiters allowed us to borrow their jenga set without paying, and we engaged the help of one group of friends to pose for us. haha. so funny. i think it’s one of my best (posed) shot. dSLR quite fun, can play with aperture and depth of field to create the blurry background effect.

the last theme was playtime, which was more specific. we decided to go to the heartlands and see if got kids playing. went to toa payoh’s kiddy palace and took photos of kids playing with toys and slides. then went into the swimming complex, but kena chased out by the lifeguards, threatening to sue us. etc. lol. that was quite unexpected. but of course respect people’s privacy.

luckily we came back earlier than the specified time to beat the queue to upload the photos. but i think that it’s too tough to win. depends on your luck and whether you’re at the right place at the right time. don’t think I would join again. too many people already. maybe next time will trying the digital video one, perhaps more interesting.

guess what was the winning entry? someone opening a condom for the last theme. shake head.