House Drawing Personality and Shino LXP

Saw on Shipei's (who saw on Marcus's blog)blog this draw a house and analyze personality thingie. Well why not... since I am abit bored in office(bored trying to study softcopied notes under my bosses' noses) so I just humor myself abit loh...Now let's see what it says.... :

Based on your drawing and the 10 answers you gave this is a summary of your personality:
Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader(really?). You are a freedom lover (How TRUE)and a strong person (Subjective). You love your house(not my house but I do love Depot Road!) and family (I learnt to progressively treasure them esp these past few yrs). You are a gifted artist as well (I suck at art since young but someone taught me to appreciate certain aspect of art once, and I did improve. hence photography, film-making etc). Once you have a problem, you need a friend with you(I learnt how to cope with it myself nowadays). Your life is always full of changes.(Very true) You are very tidy person(also true). There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends(Was. dunno about now). son. (dunno what this single word meant to say but literally it's right.)

When it comes to love, you shut yourself off(not that I had a choice). It's difficult to win your heart (no, I'm easy!)because you have decided to keep your feelings deep inside(Yep, not that I want to). You have a strong personality and you like to command, influence and control people(Not really).

You added a flower into your drawing. The flower signifies that you long for love (garden sure must have flower one wat?). It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt(do u?). You don't think much about yourself(who me?).

Cape no. 7, the movie mentioned in my previous post, did have a certain Lin Xiao Pei acting inside. Did not hear much of her in the entertainment circle since the drunk driving fatal accident back in mid 07. Must have been taking media refuge. Was quite fond of her music back around 97-98 period where her music was a refreshing change from the typical mandarin female pop scene. Shame about the 07 incident.

Here's my fav : 那又如何
I remembered trying to help Michael Chan film his own MTV using this as a reference since I can easily find a place that resembles the one they shot at. But without logistical support, dolly tracks, cranes, rain machine, etc, it's kinda hard to recreate the feel.

Another song, the more widely known 心動


and the quirky 煩


Which reminds me right away of the lighthearted song 最近比較煩
which is a good alternative listen compare to the saturated love song market:


Back when I was studying(yeah rite) for O'levels at the Jurong East bubble tea cafe with Weijie, Chin Kiat, Susan and Jane, There was once they played this song on the radio back to back with Shino's 煩.
I remembered Weijie saying "wah lau hear already bu 煩 will also become 煩 ah!!!

I still miss that cafe even though it closed down close to a decade ago.

Njd Tournament 08!

Click and read the news article. With a British-BBC-like accent for more fun! Hahah!

Anyway away from the tabloids........

I was suppose to be the originator/organizer of the Njd Sparring Tournament 08 which was held yesterday. Due to study commitments which came up later on, I had to jump ship and hand the work down to Jinzhou and the rest. At least I did up the tournament rules, referee guide and even went to pasir ris side (twice) to gather participants before handing it over. Since we are not going to rent a large area for the tournament, the rest of the work should be a breeze. Jinzhou did the rest of the paper work and ordered the medal and trophies but somehow along the line, think there was a slight miscommunication on the torunament ground. Din help much that it was just after the exam period for the NP people.

On the day itself I went down slightly earlier cos I sensed that things were a little too quiet. Fortunately luck was on our side ( and I always had the knack of handling things impromptu) and we managed to get all the missing logistical items in time.
The competitors from the CC side were on time but instead of 3, 5 turned up. Final decision we pushed to Victor sir for these last min participants. It was a go. I din mind as we do not have much participants on our side with the 3 Js(Jimmy, Joshua, Jianyang), Hannah and Ilyana backing out due to a whole mixed nuts of reasons.

It's a shame. Hannah and Ilyana whould have given a good show of female power while the 3Js would have gained a whole lotta experiences and Jianyang would have gotten a nice placing too. The visitors were not really on their highest form compared to the sparring I seen them do at pasir ris. Perhaps it's the environment? Even Jianyang said that he regret not joining due to self doubt.

I actually din wanted to referee the matches. My head was in a mess and vision abit slow and blur like sotong. Did not sleep more than 10 plus hours total during the week thanks to my studies. Fortunately Ignatius was there to help and alternate with me the duty.

The guys from the CCs would have dominated all the way if this was a street fight without any rules as they do have more seasoned physique and ferocity in their spirit. but alas, it was wrongly focused.

The action from Clarice and Xinyu was one of the best sparring for soo long a time. There was technique and there was spirit. Din let me "throw face" in front of the visitors. In fact in this batch, the girls are even out-performing the guys in certain instances! And NO they are not the butch type of people stereotypical of such performances. Not even Hannah! Hahahh.... If only there were external female competitors! NP Njd girls would own them good!

All the physical casualties are from our side. Marcus with deep lacerations to his inner upper lip and outer upper lip. Must have severed a artery or something with the blood flowing so fast flooding his mouth and later the floor.... Proud of him to continue sparing after all the injuries, including a swelling near the zygomatic arch of his face and numerous plummeting to his groin. He also managed to process Dickson's and my advices fast enuf to adapt to the opponent.

Amin somehow broke his arm while blocking a kick. Guess it was not his day as such attack did not have the potential to do such damage. His injury was the worst but fortunately we got a proper Red Cross personnel(ironically part of the casualty list) to do a proper splint for him.

And lastly Xinyu kanna a deep cut underneath the chin sourtesy of GYM's velociraptor toenails. Good potential to be a ninja with hidden weapons at the feet! Fortunately it was small clean cut in an unnoticeable position or else really hui rong le!!

To sum it up, I would say in my own point of view that this event was an astounding success. At least for the NP side. Why?

1) Everyone learnt something no matter if they are organisers, helpers or competitors. And some really learnt alot!

2) We see that there are so much more potential in our girls given the right stimulus.

3) We have proven that focus and control together with strategy can be used to overcome brute force.

4) NP Ninjado sorta got a near 100% victory! Amin was out of the match due to injury so that din count while Marcus did not concede any matches! Hhahah... ok I like my glass half full instead of empty!

5) We may have lost out the 2nd and 3rd placing but we ARE the CHAMPIONS my frens! And it was not possible to get the other 2 positions anyway. We only have 2 competitors and heng heng Marcus was randomly placed inside the same group with Amin in the round robin arangement. Even if Amin did not kanna the fracture to his distal radius and won the match, he would be up against marcus in the next round! So 1 of them would have to be eliminated anyway.

Lessons learnt:

1) Never assume everything is in place in an event. Check everything again a few nights before.
2) Wrist protection, groin guard and teeth guard are impt if not mandatory.
3) Check for long finger and toe nails
4) Make sure all referees and competitors are familiar with the rulings
5) Team spirit must be up!
6) Red bull is good! Maybe should ask them sponsor our next tornament!

Hahah.. I already know these things but I wanna state them down again for future references.

The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been more team spirit. Things like cheering the competitors on from their own team mates would have helped alot. Even a small post competiton celebration would have been great no matter what postition we got.

Oh well shall not lament on that. At least it was a good toking cock session at Al ameen during dinner and an impromptu decision to watch a great show (cape no.7) later on, abeit rushed and missed 15 mins of beginning. Orchard is now packed people! Dun drive down there unless you wanna slowly enjoy the light!!!

Pics of the tournament (as well as AGM) will follow when I have the time to edit....Hopefully soon.

D300 Camera testing Part 2 of 2 (night shots)

Let's see what i did last weekend....Fri night...as usual another blitzkrieg outing to make sure my spontaneity is kept alive after weeks of brain numbing studies. Straight after my Anatomy exams somemore. Had a quick meet up with Jimmy, Clarice and her cousin(whom I heard sooo much about) for a movie (Day Earth Stood Still) at Plaza Sing. So shiok... already wanted to see show for the past 3 weeks but never found the chance. In all the rush left out the cousin's tickets and had to sneak him in through the cinema exit. Conveniently (but not fortunately) PS's seats can fold up the armrest and 4 of us manage to squeeze 4 person in 3 seats. See beh queh shio! First time feel so hot watching a movie but I think Jimmy wouldn't mind ah? HEheheeeh..... The "leg action" caught me aback so I can only react by laughin sheepishly...
Show was only average at best (predictable alien invasion plot and scenes) but I like Keanu Reeves all the same. :)

Alright now for the pics from my D300, which passed my daylight evaluation.... but what about in low light? Would have wasted my 2 grand if there's no significant improvement over it's predecessor, the D200. After all, the whole pt of trading the D200 in was because I am frustrated at the noise level whenever I shoot in indoor sports locations and dark exploration locations. I dun give a hoot at the other bells and whistles that the new cam has.
Since it's the Christmas season, street photography will naturally involve Xmas lighting and trees!
here we go:


No feel for this shot lousy composition and all. Shot was blurred. Partly due to the rotation movement of the tree and waiting for Guanghao, his wife and Ah Ben for 2 hours due to miscomm.. haiz.... somehow the camera din work very well in this lighting. Setting at IS0 1600 is beginning to push it. Details are starting to smudge due to the auto noise reduction.









The gina playing by the fountain(it's all fun and games till someone gets shot in the eyes....) pics din come out that well but saved by abit of software adjustments. Gotta admit I am still lousy at photographing people. Maybe cos lack of practice. Too paiseh to take people shots liao.....

Nice and Brite moon. So brite even had it's own halo. My bike playing peekaboo....

My little scoot in the moon lit nite. To the right is the 55years old 7th storey hotel which will be yet another victim to LTA's urban "swallow up anything old" plans. Heritage is dead nowadays.
"C'mon kids, hurrah to Nasionul identiti...erm...except... identify with wat"?

Next: Orchard Road
It was still drizzling, a hassle to keep my lens dry and cold as hell. But hey! It beats the heck outta staying at home to mug! At least the wet road reflected the lights from traffic and all the Chyna imported LEDs on the trees so that I can shoot at ISO 800 instead of 1600. And at that sensitivity level, the results are great! The noise reduction even though still annoying, are not as bad. The saturation did their job and the shutter can be set to a level where I still can take handheld shots without the shakes.
Overexposed but I still like the final effect.

Lots of construction going on in Orchard at this pt of time which kinda dampens the holiday shopping mood.

Ngee Ann City Square with reflective flooring. Which Kinda reminds me abit of the ice skating rink in front of Rockefeller Centre in NY.


Ice Cream never goes outta style. Even in icy weather!



Lively-britely-lit-colourful-holiday-season-streets-of-Orchard. Say that 3 times fast!

Even more colourful is the personalities you find outside cineleisure's entrance every weekend nite. Now with funky blue and green lighting to make them feel more in their zone.

Every major shpping mall's gotta have their own tree. If not very malu leh. Here's Paragon's.

And our local fav pastime this time of the year. Take snapshots with the trees. Funny, I dun remember to have ever done that.

*The three beside the tree*





This Jamaican's earning $$ for a flight tick back home cos father's dying of prostrate cancer.... Dunno true anot but he does add character to the streets. Spotted him in Bugis too.

Ok.... overall the D300's does show improvement over the D200 in the dept that I care most but issit enuf? The bugis shots shows some reservations and the metering ain't that accurate at night either.
Should I have blown my bank to oblivion by getting the D700 instead? The low light performance is guaranteed but that isn't possible as I have to change my entire collection of lens to full frame ones.
Hopefully in the next wushu tournament I will be able to use the increased sensitivity for a faster shutter to freeze mid air motion. Next on the shopping list: MB-D10.... sick of adducting my arms so high everytime I take a potrait shot. The extra frame rate advantage dun hurt too in a sports event. And of cos.... the AF-S 70-200mm F2.8VR......Yeah I love to dream....cannot ah?

D300 Camera Testing Part 1 of 2 (Day shots)

Ok as usual complains first:
Now only left AOS mid term paper tomorrow but does not mean I can relax after that. The test/exams/assignment just keep on coming. Keeping us on our toes since the beginning of class in Oct. It's worse when you think that this is the first sem where everything is at the basic level. Will be even more packed next sem onwards and there is no way to prepare myself for that.

So why am I blogging instead of studying? It's sickening to the point that I dun really care that much anymore. Biah so much but in the end still make mistakes in simple give-away type questions in physio and anatomy paper. Oversaturating the brain only gives a negative effect. In fact, the more I study, the more stupid I feel. I cannot think properly during day work(switch focus from sports/human science to chemical engineering) and reaction is like a sedated sloth. It even came to a pt where during work, I had to drive and study at the same time!

Last Sat woke damn early to pick Joyce up so that she can bring me to the NIE library where it is suppose to be the largest resource for Sport Science in Singapore according to my human physiology tute. We arrive abit later than opening time but the librarian are even later. Stuck outside the entrance for awhile. Understandable since the library doesn't have much "business" as it is the holidays for NIE. The place was big and conducive for studying with power pts for my laptop and wireless too (but I had to use Joyce's NIE acct).
Just before we left the place, I showed Joyce some of my pics on my Macbk. She din believe the wall paper was shot at Seletar. Thought it was some pic on the internet. Well dunno to be sad or happy. The bad: she din think I can take such potraits. The good: she thinks it's one of those professonal internet pic. I will take it to be the latter.....hahahahh.....

That really reminded me. MyD300 ever since I bought it a month back has been rotting at home. Maybe if not for the low humidity of the dry cabinet where it is now, maybe already start to grow ginseng roots on it liao.... Thanks to the above mentioned schedule, never had the chance to shoot. Unacceptable!
But yet I cannot have the time to find somewhere exotic to shoot. Oh well... somewhere simple and close by my place......Hort park it shall be!
Been complaining to Andy that the D300 is somehow inferior to the old D200 in terms of natural skin tones. Well he advised me to play around with the settings.
Still got lousy human skin tones but at least in bright day light, the colours are superb. Already getting used to this new camera liao.....
This photo trip to Hort park is to test out the saturation settings and the results are beyond words! The below pics dun do it justice cos they are compressed jpeg and reduced sized some more.... the depth and feel of the original pics are abit lost....


Now for the pics!! (Click to enlarge) :)

This tree has all the funny furry plants on it kinda makes it look more suited to temperate countries rather than our tropical climate.


Relaxing by a slope...........


One of those super big bees that always like to scared the hell outta everyone by narrowly missing people when flying around. It's been beesy that morning according to the amount of pollen picked up around it's thorax.


I believe Hang Chong told me the name to this species back at Ubin but I dun remember. Heck...the colour is nice.....





Plants and flowers galore!


Nice heavenly environment but upkeep must be like hell!


Kiddos having fun.... Ok in bright daylight, the skin tones reproduction ain't that bad.

Colourful windmill spinning in the wind drove the D300's 3D focus tracking nuts! The focus pt went round and round with the blades!

And a lizard sunbathing. Smart reptile knows how to use the Npark signage as a reflector board so it will have an even tan on the underside.....




Enlarge the pic to see the spider staring straight at the camera. Prob would have grinned like some people i know if it had teeth.

Dragonfly............

more Dragonflies.....

and wat's that thing staring at us?

and a blue one too! At first thought it's a damselfly but the wings are open at rest.

Had a hard time taking this pic.... had to lower my camera using one arm down to pond level and estimate the manual focus using the external focus numbers, which was at 0.3m.

and a close up.........

Like countless other families before them, they actually believe the sign by Nparks claiming the plant will dance to music. The boy is playing some indian techno mp3 using his hp while the mom is trying to film it the plant in action. Sorry folks.. it dun work like that.... either that or the plant dun particularly enjoy blangrah-dance music......

The D300 has proven it's worth in bright daylight... next up in part 2: Night condition using High ISO testing in Orchard and Bugis!