Pls ignore: Bike repair cost made me nutz and ramble....

What the hell....suddenly spent $439 on bike repairs.... I don't even know for sure if the parts are really malfunctioned. Just recommended by the bike shop people to change. There goes part of my end of year lens fund. Dunno go through how many parts change in the past couple of years. Almost can say it's a new bike on the inside already! If not for the fact that I have to finance my upcoming exhorbitant course fees, would already have trade it in (not much market value anyway) for a Suzuki DRZ-400SM. Drooling for one since last yr... but can't bear to throw down $$ for something like that yet.... owning a machine like that will require lots of passion, time, aftermarket parts and eventually more $$$!

What was worse is that the first round of repair yesterday did not work and caused me to be stuck in the middle of Clementi just opposite my former sec sch. Ended up late for Njd. Fortunately Jinzhou is there taking the class. Had lots of laughs teaching Xinyu and Shawn the orange belt Kata. Esp the part where Xinyu had to make a full underwhelmingly dramatic turn around..... just to move a step backwards, while in the jump back and land postion of the kata. Hard to picture here. Gotta be seen to be believed. But in terms of recent kata-komedy, nothing beats Marcus's purple belt "fly-snatching" move yet! HAahah!

Now my facial skin is starting to peel but surprising not my body and legs. Looks terrible. As though I got some sorta disease with some parts of my face showing fresh skin while others wrinkled blackish peeling skin. It even made my infamous dark eye rings even darker and more wrinkled. ALMOST more scary than Hannah's stare! But not quite....Hah!

For dinner wolfed down 9 pcs of the KFC's Hot Devil drumlets... not to mention side dishes...cos my parents last minute say dun wanna eat.... damn full.. and the chili powder of he drumlets made my already dried and peeling lips burn like hell....yeah they sure are from the devil....

Hope tonight wun be yet another night of tossing and turning trying-to-clear-my-shallow-head till 5am like yesterday.

Mental reminder note to myself tonight: Learn from the past. Let go before all the tragedy replays itself. yet again.

Farewell Card and a Lobster me

Product of too much left over noticeboard material and time, I was presented a farewell card!
First off would like to thank these little ninjas for the farewell card that was given to me on Thursday!
Clarice (little devil/Guan1 Yin1 Ma4), Hannah (Chinaman), Marcus (Gay Pres/Squirrel), Ilyana (Cyclomeng), Jianyang (Ma3 Mian4), Amine (frolic-King).

It's stuff like these once in a while that recharges your drive and determination for volunteerism. =]
Still sad that I will be leaving this class of people. One last chance to play at the chalet on the 9th-11th Oct....after that....hell awaits!

Got a reminder from GYM and Hannah on Thursday training about my "white" condition. Totally forgot about it.. I was suppose to find a weekend to do some tanning but the procrastination monster always held me back month after month.
Finally this weekend damn free so decided to go Sentosa for a dip and tan session. This morning still deciding if I should go Clementi Swimming Complex instead. Ended up at Delta Swimming Complex instead. Since it is just a short dip and tan, might as well drop by the nearest one.
The last time I used a public swimming pool could very well be a decade ago when Bukit Merah Swimming Complex was still operational (if only.... so close to my place). Was so blur about paying the entrance fee and going through the turnstile that an uncle had to point me in the right direction. Had a short dip and proceeded to tan by the beach chair.
Previously I tried tanning myself at Sentosa beach for 4 hours and I still remain as shiny white as ever. I thought that today's trip would be futile as well. Wrong.
Lying down there for only like 1.5hours bbq-ed me!! Tan lines are so defined that my hips look like an Indonesian flag! Also din notice how much water i lost till i flipped over and notice the pespiration on the floor......Think those on the floor that never dried up can amount to 1+ litres!
That is when I quickly have another dip to cool down and headed for the changing room before I get really bad dehydration. Headed straight for the hawker centre opposite for lunch...and water! Already can feel the slight fainty feeling.... finished a whole bowl of peanut soup(fortunately this store gives a free big bowl!) and another canned drink.
On the right is the coppertone which I used to NO effect the other time....on the right is the damn oil that gave me the hots!! oUch...both legs hurting even as I am typing.. Guoping gave the oil to me a few months back claiming it is damn effective. He is sure damn rite....
Coincidentally today Hang Chong passed to me the pic of the mudlobster which I missed out during to the trip to Ubin with Sam and Yves. I can see lobster already everytime I look into the mirror.
I cannot take a pic of me to show you my predicament as this is a public blog.....this mudlobster can stand in for me....you get the picture?

Alrite.. now for a second try of the HDR photos.....went back to the sunset way rail road and outside Hort park opposite my house for these shots..




I still like non-HDR photos....looks too surreal at times.... but fun nonetheless.

One more thing...the soles of my sandals dropped out again!!! Aaargh!!! Someone get me a Teva or a Chaco for my bdae!!! In the meantime.. Joshua pls let me have a croc slippers!!

Spazz

Learnt a new word from Hannah yesterday while chatting online: Spazz

Spazz1 [Spas.z]
-verb Slang:spastic
to act or behave foolishly or in a spastic manner.

If the above is still not clear enuf, Hannah shall explain to you using moving visualisation below:

Trying out HDR

Happen to find a program in my comp yesterday. It's the photomatix Pro that Marc See sent to me through MSN from Canada about more than a yr ago. Too busy to be dabbling with software at that time.
Now would be a good time since I'm so free at home. Still not used to this large gap of time every weekend. No need to complain for I will be damn busy once the course starts. Moderation of time is what I seriously need. It's always either too packed or too much free time dunno what to do. Anyway gave the program a pilot test run today. Chose my window view, snapped a couple of shots using exposure bracketing, run it in the program, tweak for a minute..and here is the end results:
Ok ok, so it's a lousy HDR image. Trial and Error mah (more towards the error). But I will improve! More impressive HDR photos next time. That means I will have to drag my tripod to various places again....*groan*. Dun like to tripod hug my camera.....
Have to see if tomorrow evening there will be a nice sunset. My first target will be sunset way. Already can picture how the HDR will turn out to be....

A wakeup call to myself

This particular month has been relatively uneventful, both in personal and working life. Perhaps a calm leading to the eventual storm in the form of my long delayed commencement of study? One need not analyze too deep to know how restless I can be in times like this. Previously, this simian’s lifestyle must be perpetually filled end to end, ear to ear and over the brim with events/self fulfilling courses/ ego trips…etc.

In fact, social calendar along with my overall mental stability has been heading south since traumatic events starting back in April. Perhaps even earlier.

Good.

This peace is not without its merit. Reflections of the past showed that there is much to be refined.
Operation: Rebirth has been initiated. Waking up now.

If consideration of 2 equal choices has been made, no decision can be considered bad but only how you act upon the decision thereafter will decide your result.

4 years of indulgence in frivolous lifestyle has made me complacent about the things around me. Precious principles built around a solid foundation of lessons learnt has been thrown to the wind. Eroding every pillar of hope around me without my notice until everything comes crashing down. Only then do I notice myself piled up by the lies I have been living upon for so long.

I will dig myself out of this mess and I will start from the bottom again. This is setback will not hinder me once everything is set right. I am smarter than that.
I see I have been a slave to the wrong things, wasted so much for trivial pursuits and hiding behind convenient inexhaustible amount of excuses. Worse of all, I allowed it to go on for such a painfully long period of time.

Although it all sounds doom and gloom, but it’s not meant to reflect negative emotions. That would be against my new direction. On the contrary, this brief and withheld reflection will be the initial platform for launching my new life campaign.

Through this, many things I previously hold dear must be sacrificed. As a history and heritage appreciator, I too, must learn from the past. MY past.

Cherish them but loosen your fingers as the connection will only impede your growth.

To Ubin with Sam and Yves

This trip to Ubin was delayed for like 1 plus yrs! First coined up when we were all still colleagues. Yesterday finally had the chance. Yeah dun ask why it took us soooo long just for a simple trip like this. Hah.
Planned to wake up early so I can join Yves and his bros for brunch at Changi Village. Yeah I did wake up at 8am. Lazed around till 9! Before rushing out the house, Sam sms me to pick him up at Kembangan MRT. Fortunately dun have to go to his place. I always get lost inside that neighbourhood. Even the complicated joo chiat/onan/carpmael area opposite is easier to navigate. Maybe it's cos I used to hang around that area every weekend during poly days. Later when I sent him back in the evening, I notice the shortcut to exit is through Jln Yasin which is the Holyyyy GYM's place. Hahah...

As usual, I have the role of the tour guide whenever Ubin is concerned. Seriously I should start charging my services already ;P...then maybe I can afford the D700 I crave ....but then again... neh....where's the fun in that? Something I like does not mean I should own it. Rented a bicycle each and brought them round the island. Sam wanted more off road experience so I brought them into the more "west side" of the island. No problem navigating this part as it is still relatively unchanged. But the same can't be said for the rest of the island. Nparks is seriously changing the landscape every few months.

Too bad for them, there's not much random wildlife to be spotted on this trip. Even the oriental pied hornbill was napping. Only spotted one of them but too late to show it to the rest. Normally they can be commonly seen near the village. The common Malayan water monitor was also missing out their favourite hot sunny weather. Only a juvenile was basking on the road. There should be tons of them in this sort of conditions. Not to disappoint this group, I brought them to a wild boar hot spot where I found 2 of them nicely camouflaging in the secondary forest. Nothing was to be seen at CJ either due to the high tide, so just went there for a walk walk. Earlier in the morning, Hang Chong found a mud lobster at the CJ coastal cleanup. Wah Lau... I have been trying to find that elusive creature for years. I was invited to this event earlier but turned it down cos I already have this super duper procrastinated date to coincidentally the same island. So close yet so far. But it is weird for this creature to be seen during the day.

One thing to note: Almost every group I brought in for cycling was confirmed to have some cockster doing some stunts or freewheeling down a slope with disastrous results. Fortunately this group knows their stuff. Those zai enuf knows when to speed or not, while those not zai one knows how to erm....take their time. So no cycling drama this time round except for the PRC(yes, they are now flooding this island too!! Prob scared all the animals into hiding and drove the mud lobster insane and appear in daylight!)collision with one of Yves's bros.

Yves's slippers gave up halfway up Ubin's tallest ridge. Had to use parts of nature that we can find on the spot to make an impromptu temporary repair..

Sam spotted a "bug". It's a cicada molt. Quite a nice and complete specimen. Wanted to bring it back as a souvenir but dunno how to make it crush-proof so left it there.

Unwritten rule of a compulsory group shot at the summit.

Stopped for rest at one of the waterfront. Became a rock throwing/stone skipping competition for the fun of it. Guys will be guys...

Yves becoming inspirational....and will be a target of the rock throwing if he poses any longer.

Not satisfied with a fleeting view of wild pigs in the forest, I brought them to this farm where we see.......a Wild Boar ordering beer over a counter....ok crap.

"I wanna a heineken.. not that tiger crap u got over here!"
Lured by a biscuit the owner was feeding it with. Nice chance for a snapshot.
Here's what the uncle told me about it: "It was brought into this enclosure since more than 10 yrs ago when it was only like 8 kg. It was then bitten and injured by dogs".

So my group gets to see both wild and domesticated pig. It kinda reminded me of the Wei Wei(priscilla) the pig which died back in 2004. I din even get the chance to meet this somewhat famous resident of CJ in my earlier trips.

Part 5 of 5 of a loooong post split up

14th Sept Sun: Yet another Visit to Woodneuk with Wilson.

Helped Wilson to transport a sofa bed from one of the shops located at Peck Seah Str to ECO office in the morning. The owner of the Yoga/Pilate shop was quite friendly and we had a good chat. It seems that she’s moving out due to the condition of the shop being too lousy to hold her business. The building, named White House (see beh corny name) was indeed very old. Running your fingers through the texture of the wall, one can tell that the materials and architecture was somewhat similar to those flats built in the SIT days. The owner was quite surprised that we were able to access the rear carpark which only residents were able to enter due to the barrier. Well that would stop most Singaporeans but does not apply to this drivers who drive “out of the box”. HEheeh….

See beh heng the sofa was able to fit into the lift back at ECO. Dun think I wanna spend my Sunday lugging a sofa bed up 6 storeys. Later I found lots of nice photographic equipment left behind by the previous tenant including an old Nikon 2 mp digital camera with a fisheye lens adaptor! Immediately the idea of going to one of those abandoned locations to try out this lens came shooting into my head. It’s the perfect “wide angle” lens for those small and cramped rooms. But which building should I pick? Eventually the obvious choice was to be Woodneuk. Guess no other buildings can be compared to a burnt down Johore royalty’s pad from the 1800s huh?

It was a Sunday and all the workers deconstructing the Woodneuk estate were probably hanging around Desker or Serangoon. Whatever the case, the important thing is that there was no one to disturb us. I was right about nobody disturbing us but was wrong to assume it will be just another uneventful shoot. Halfway through shooting, I felt as though there was housefly stuck in my hair at the back of my head. Promptly brushed it off but felt that something was not right. The buzzing and flying pattern was not the usual housefly type. Then it stung me on my left hand. Kaoz….it’s a Bee! Or Wasp or hornet…. Wateva. I start calling out to Wilson who by then already knew what I was gonna say. We ran the hell outta there in case there was more behind us. Wilson fell while going down the stairs luckily he managed to hold the camera up and not land on it. Sueh things also comes in pairs too… it immediately began to pour. Had no choice but to walk in the rain to the nearest shelter which is the botanical gardens more than half a km away. The sting from the wasp (it kept flying after stinging me, so it’s not a bee) began to hurt and inflame. But I was way too disappointed with not being able to complete the shoot than to care about it.

A few pic of the place in fish eye view:





We eventually reached the Botanical gardens and I head straight to the toilet to wash off all the soil on my left feet. Earlier on in Woodneuk estate, I sank my entire left leg into some deceptively soft soil. Disgusting. The clay like soil made my sandals so slippery I had problem walking before it dried up. There was totally no friction between the sole of my feet and the sandal. Fortunately there was a water spray inside one of the cubicles in the toilet that made my job easier. Hah…I imported soil from Johore into Singapore!!!

Back at home, after uploading and viewing the pictures, I finally saw the source of the wasp. I the very last picture taken, there was a hive at the top corner of the door I went through. How careless. Add one more thing on my list of ‘to look out for during exploration’. The swelling made my hand resembled that of hellboy’s and abit like doraemon’s when I clench my fist. It remained swollen for 2 days until I applied the medicine prescribed to me by the doctor.

Hive at top left corner of doorway:

Part 4 of 5 of a loooong post split up

13th Sept Sat Night: Watched The Days.

Watched the movie,“The Days” with Wilson later at night after all that photoshoot.

Was actually quite looking forward to it, even though I did not even see the trailer. Maybe it's cos we also watched another show together that was somewhat similar way back in NP days. That show was “Eating Air”.

It is one of my favourite local films. Even inspired my choice for my first motorcycle. Well pardon me for enjoying brainless entertainment but that's the way I enjoy a show.
“The Day” in comparison was a total letdown. Perhaps my expectation was way too high. It ain’t fair to compare the 2 movies together, it ain’t fair to compare any movies since all director has a different vision for their movie which we may or may not comprehend. But still…..they have way too many similarities: local production on Ah Beng theme, tragic ending, old 70s type Chinese manga animations, etc.
Whereas EA delivers, TD falters.
Starting from the beginning of the film, EA starts off the laughter with the imaginary scene of the Ninja sword fights and then flows smoothly into the rest of the film with help from the talented Boredphucks’s soundtrack which helped a lot.
Somehow the beginning dialogue of TD starts to make me snooze maybe it’s due to a full day of strenuous shoot. The conversation of the brothers somewhat lack emotions you would have found familiar in a hoodlum. The first 10 mins of a film is the most critical portion of film. If you don’t get the audience’s attention then you better have more juice coming up later. Didn’t they learn that in film sch? The rest of the show never picked up the rhythm much either.
A few points to note is that the show starts stating in a news report that it was 1990. I got to admit part of me wanted to see this film so much cos I wanna have the nostalgic feeling of seeing those early 90s local locales / Beng and Lian behavior and fashion(or lack of). Unfortunately, what was part of it’s driving pt ultimately was its demise. A lot of the 90s features seemed like purposely included inside. Wayyy too forceful until it’s like the director is trying to show off the knowledge and props he got from the last decade. An example would be the phone booth with the old Telecom sign. What is worse is that the director tried to glaringly emphasize the things we did in the 90s…..albeit at a totally wrong period! The street Fighter II games was not introduced or popular until the mid to late 90s and so wasn’t pagers on students. Back in 1990 pagers are only for adult businessman or execs who can afford the price plan at that time. New year day and Christmas fireworks celebrations was also not common until the late 90s. All these and some small wrong details just kinda make you cringe.
Somewhat like an ah Beng trying to sian char boh on how smart he is by toking about all the wrong info!
Most of the shots were very tight close up of the places and I can hardly see any old places that I can reminisce with. A lot of the shots I can recognize is from within Toa Payoh perhaps one of the more larger aging neighbourhood in Singapore I had to say this wasn’t totally the director’s fault as Singapore is fast changing as can be seen in my previous posts of complains. Still, the location scouts could have done better. There are not many places left from the 90s but they can be found.
The casting could also have been better. Most of them are grossly over-aged. Other than the “Xiao Lao Da” acted by Anothony Levi Kho who is quite natural and enjoyable as a Beng, the rest fails to convince. Zhihao who is suppose to be Zhilong’s baby brother whose role is a fresh secondary 1 kiddo has more developed muscles than some people I know! He tried too hard to bring the innocence of a pre teen and ended up looking like one of those who should be admitted to MINDS Jurong Gardens School rather than Ming Fa Sec. The female lead also looks abit old to be a pre U student too.
Despite all these critical views, it’s still no bad movie overall, just that I am more sensitive towards local heritage and history. Credits should still be given to the fashion of the 90s bengs which was faithfully recreated but too bad no staple accessories like Jean Paul Gaultier extra longish wallets and pointy combs.

Part 3 of 5 of a loooong post split up

13th Sept Sat evening: Sunset Way KTM Bridge, Alexandra Hospital field, watched The Days.

By the time I crawled out of the bushes at Dariy Farm Rd, it was already close to sunset. Too early to meet Wilson for the movie at night so I made another stop to
Sunset Way. No corny pun intended. The place is quite appropriately named. The sunset view is tremendously good for such a inland neighbourhood. Let the pixels do the toking:






On a good day, the sun's refelctions can be seen in the water too. Pic taken a while back:

Doesn't look like plain old Singapore hoh?

Even the big Longkang looks nice under such light.

And what structure would it be without local talents to beautify it. There's even a whole paragraph of love letter(top pic)!

On the way back home, still had to make yet another detour when I saw the sky's clouds outside my neighbourhood. It's been like forever I have seen such beautiful clouds. Immediately rushed into the nearest photography convenient spot which happen to be Alexandra hospital. Unfortunately, the clouds were gone within a min and I lost the opportunity to snap them. Oh well better than nothing...these skyshots also not that bad:

Click to see larger view
These pics were not edited, perhaps only different white balance on the camera. The sky really is that nice that evening!

And my fav piece:

Part 2 of 5 of a loooong post split up

13th Sept Sat afternoon: Dairy farm estate revisited

Here's a peek back to 2004:
Back to the days when I was still hanging around with Raymond and Yuhua,

we came to know of Dairy farm rd through one of the paranormal websites.
Eventually it lead us to one of the two still standing cow sheds of the 50s which gave the road its name.
It was no easy task reaching there as the grass was almost as tall as us but we enjoyed every moment of it.


Inside the Shed was all sort of creepers wrapping themselves the pillars and walls.
With some bits of old furniture strewn around. The floors were all dried and cracked up.
Click to enlarge

Today the sheds no longer stand. They were cleared during the construction of the Petir Road Extension 1 to 2 years back. Oh why couldn’t they just leave those sheds alone? It’s not as if they were in the way of development. They do serve as a reminder of the more agricultural heritage of Singapore. Now the area is just a vast empty and boring field. Uniquely Singapore.

Other than the cow sheds, I also managed to find another abandoned house that is just beside Dairy Farm Estate. It’s only a small find but just as satisfying. Up till now, I am not able to find any information on this house yet. Perhaps it was just another rich man’s vast estate. Badly neglected, even the roof is missing. Leaving only a few windows and the main walls standing.

It's been like 4 years since the last visit. The undergrowth grew to uncontrolled proportions. It quite amazing that I almost cannot see the concrete even though it is only like less than 50 metres inside the field of lush greenery. Oh but what a 50 metres. Had to trample and bash my way in using my sandals while trying to scare away any potential snakes in the area. Even after going in through half the way, I had to take a thorough look around the general direction before I can spot the concrete walls.
It's actually below the roundish crown of the tree. Spot it? Perhaps not in this low res pic.

Here's a closer look:


A few pics on the overgrown insides (click to see larger):



The red wall room seems to me like some sort of praying room hope that's not it. Dun wanna trample into some former sacred grounds!

Comparison pics of how much the undergrowth grew in these past 4 yrs. Top pic is back in 04 while the bottom is current 08. Shot at different angle but essentially the same direction towards the front door. Had to crawl around the plants to get to the back for this shot.

After finishing the shoot, still had to trample a new pathway again cos the route I trampled in kinda 'recovered' by itself. Sianz....

The open field just in front of the house facing the main road has been cleared for what it seems like a new nursery. Well I didn't expect them to leave this land untouched for long anyway as is the trend everywhere now.

Part 1 of 5 of a loooong post split up

Yet another weekend where I cannot wake early enough for my pathetic attempt at exercise. Always targeted to rise before 9 am. Always saw my clock show 11plus am when I open my eyes. Guess this will go in a vicious cycle. Lack of exercise-> lower metabolism-> feel lethargic-> cannot wake up -> no time to exercise……rinse, lather, repeat. WAS able to party all night and still feel fresh for another round of painting the town red the next day. Week after week after week…..that was like 10 years ago. Dread to think that it can only get worse! Only thing I can do now is to impede the effect by having a more active lifestyle. No one else I can depend on but myself. But that has always been the case so better get with the program. This sat I will be joining Sam and Yves at Ubin so gotta plan to work out on Friday night. Intensity will depend on Thursday’s Njd training. Not going to hurt myself deliberately again. Never again.

Hope Wilson’s contact at Aibi can help me get the dumbbell set at a good rate. Damn those things are expensive for being a dead weight. Well beats having to visit the gym. I can do most of the workout at home and hit that place only when I’m convinced that I need more advanced weight training.

Weekends is now more or less been devoted to photography. That’s not too bad since I already spent so much on it. It’s time to make my dollar’s value work. With a lots of pics on hand, it makes this blog more livelier than reading all my dreary going-nowhere complains.

Of all the nature sites I been to in Singapore back in my Nature appreciation days, this is one of my more preferred area, even though it is already modernized by the boardwalk to make it convenient for all those rich tai tais and uncles with mid life crisis to access it. On the other hand, this makes it more accessible and relatively safer (for those who knows their stuff) at night compared to elsewhere like MacRitchie. It is also one of those places where you can really spot those not so commonly seen plant and animal life at night. If you walk quietly and in total darkness that is. I notice that every time I go back there, there will always be something new for me to observe. Even had a chance to spot a mousedeer once. Not sure if it was the Greater or Lesser species. It did not even mind my presence. Foraging through the undergrowth at its own pace, even though I was only was like 5 meters away. It’s also the only place where you are guaranteed to find one particular species of scorpion if you look hard enough.They are quite widespread in this area. Please do leave them or any other animals/insects alone if you happen to see them. Let us conserve what we have, what little that is left.

In the middle of the night in total darkness...

Cute little bug with a shiny coat.

Spider having a feast. This forest's insect are damn hungry. Everytime I go back there sure to see either scorpion, spider or some other insect or animal feasting. Sorry for lousy angle....already stretched out my arm and took this shot at right angle with nothing to support.

Lichen spider camouflaging....reminds me of something hmmmm

Very nice looking moth kept flying around us....

Disturbed a pair on a date.. Oops...

Night shift....

Foraging through the forest floor. Creepy movement resemble that of a tarantula. Could be from the same species. After all, it's half the size of my palm.

Special thanks to Andy for holding the torchlight for me until he kao beh kao bu cos I took my sweet time taking the pics! Hey, it isn't easy to take pics in total darkness leh....Heheh...