Andy's B'day

Lol, this one is like well overdue. Really really sorry Andy!!

Was really hyped up about going to Sgt. Pepper's for dinner that night. For what reason? No idea. Personally, ordered a ribeye with a side of 'shrooms and eggs. Yarr!! This boy was HUNGWYY!! The mushrooms were served in a plastic dish (wtf?) and the eggs were too well done!! I happen to like my eggs sunny side up with the yolk running circles around the plate. The mushroom sauce tasted just like condensed soup from a can. I chose a ribeye mostly because that cut is supposed to be uber tender as it's a bit more on the fatty side. It was done to the required 'medium rare', but it didnt taste as tender as I thought it would be.

I dub thee 'medium rare'...

Jo and Vinny had lunchy looking open sandwiches. Which looked pretty good. I think the bacon made most of the meal for them though. Also, what it was doing on a dinner menu, I have no idea. Looks more like something we'd have a nice al fresco lunch over at The Strip on a summer afternoon.

Von, Laui, Andy, Reuben and Pan all had the fillets. I think they enjoyed them thoroughly. But not sure if they would come back again.

Looks like a meal for lunch...

Sgt. Peppers was a strange place. I had high hopes for it. The entrance looked sordid and dingy. The decor looks dated. VERY dated. Not quite sure if they were going with a period themed decor. If they were, they didn't pull it off very well. They had a very kiwiana tomato sauce dispensing squeezy tomato, and nothing very Brit going for it. There was a huge group painting of the Beatles and some memoribilia strung up on the walls, although they did look like garage sale items. Nothing quite like some garage sale furniture to zhoosh that 60's restaurant up eh?

But still, a fun night out was had by all. Had a wee bit of a buzz going and soon we were the loudest table in the place (which really isnt too difficult cos there werent ALOT of people at all). Ah, the little ranting/raving/banter sessions we have are totally unforgettable.

The gang, and the headless Beatles...

However, I don't think we'll be going back there anytime soon...

Rangers HO!!!

For All The Haters

And so, a month into the workforce and what do I have to show for it? A nice furnished studio and a promotion, with a 12k pay increase, which isn't too shabby considering the times we live in (worse than 'The Great Depression'? Just how great was this depression??). The road was long and hard, there were doubters and nay-sayers. Oh boy, were there doubters and nay-sayers. I've been put down, ridiculed, laughed at and had noses scrunched up at me when I told them I had a degree in Geology.

'So you look at rocks?' Yes, I damned well look at rocks, and make money out of it. Beats being on your ass staring at a computer screen all day... Or being unemployed. That's one sure-fire way to flatten said ass and get boils on them or something just as icky... like hemorrhoids...

'No one else I know does geology.' I've taken the road less travelled and it has paid off, very very well... In more ways than one... Career wise... and monetarily... So to those who have ever doubted me, have a pineapple... up the arse, you ignorant bastards. Good luck making it in this job market, already saturated with a billion people with your degree. You gotta let it all hang out there once in a while for things to pay off... BIG.

'Can you even get a job with a degree in Geology?' Yes fuckwit. The only reason you don't hear about it is because you have your head too far up your ass. Took like 2 months of searching to get a job. Just enough time for a nice holiday. And rest assured all you geols out there, you're bound to find something if you look in the right countries. Do your research!!

'Geologists aren't sexy!!' Really? Cos, I have photographic evidence, proof - the very basis of pure science. Don't make me pull it out.


Ok, you asked for it.

Sexy? Stephen Hawking - Physicist

Sexy? Harry Stamper (Armageddon) - Deep Core Driller/Geologist

Sexy? Dr Josh Keyes (The Core) - Geologist


Sexy? Dr Henry Dalton (Dante's Peak) - Volcanologist

Sexy? Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) - Archaelogist (branch of Geology)

Do the math. Geologists are the sexiest of scientists. Geologists spend more time in the field doing their research, unlike their lab coat wearing counterparts who really just stay in their labs. Geologists are rough and tumble, and love to get in amongst things, very hands on and a hardy bunch. Geols get more of a workout than transferring liquids to other test tubes, they also have more of a tan, none of that pasty white complexion which blends them into their lab coats.

Also, this clip from American Dad dishes the definitive consensus on Geologists:

'Have you ever had breakfast with a geologist Stan? It's pretty great.'

Think very long and hard next time before you pull a diss on a geologist.

Just writing what you were thinking...

The X-Files Syndrome And I'm Back!

Like my partner I too got the chills when the theme to the X-Flies was being played, signalling the start of the show. What made it worse were the images of paranormal activity that accompanied them: still shots while closing-up on a picture of a UFO, that shadowy thing walking in the corridor, the chalk man falling towards a UV light palm print and finally the blinking eye creeped me out more than a sober Amy Winehouse. Yes, the truth is out there, but I’ll stay in if you don’t mind thanks.

I find it amusing that I still get a tad weirded out when the song plays despite me rationalizing that all the spooky stuff look like the baddies in Buffy and I can easily kick their ass like she does. Though to be fair, not all graveyards and scary places at night have great lighting like the show does and the absence of background action music (or the romantic one when Angel appears) does make the night scarier, especially when you’ve just watched a horror film.

Why did I mention Buffy? Cause like my lil cub I’ve been going retro on my tv viewing as I recently acquired the remaining seasons that I needed to finish my collection in the UK where I was studying.

Season 8: Now in graphic novel format

Oh yeah, I was there for a couple of months finishing my degree and hence the lack of posts from my side. Apologies on my part and I’ll make it up by showing you the tonnes of pictures I took. I’m back full-time on the staff of PiD as of now.

Righto, back to the post. I too find myself getting worried about the monster that is my career and future rather than the one that used to hide in my closet. Though I still have a very active imagination (thank you comics, videogames and tv) I find myself limited by the scope of my daydreams, choosing to fret over what the coming year holds for me. What makes it all better though is that I won’t be doing it alone (the boss will be right by my side) and that knowing what (and whom) I’m doing this for makes it all worthwhile.

I’ll technically be on holiday the next couple of months but this period is where I’ll be back logging all the stuff I’ve experience the past season. So look out for a whole slew of content real soon. It’s great to be back.

All Blacks FTW!! - a preview for things to come??

A Fundamental Change?

Was alone in a big ol' 3 bedroom house in backwaters Westport a few days ago. There's only so many episodes of 'My Very Spoilt Sweet Sixteen' that I can stomach in an hour (congratulations MTV, you have upped the ante on vomit- inducing TV programs since Jackass), so I decided to watch an episode of The X-Files before I turned in.

Du-du-du-du-du-du

The opening sequence to any episode of The X-Files has become so ingrained in our minds that it isn't an understatement to say it is well and truly part of pop/sci fi culture. The trademark synthesised piano notes that echo followed by the shrill, alien wailing composed by Mark Snow has pretty much etched itself in our collective audio memories, sending a shiver down our spines whenever those eerie notes start to play in our head. Except, this time, I wasn't as scared as I was 10 years ago.

Where I used to have the heebie-jeebies just hearing those notes, I now find myself amused at what it used to be able to do to me. I used to be scared of things imaginary. Walking up a dark stairwell I would sometimes picture myself bumping into something scaly, cold blooded, red-eyed and downright scary, I would then proceed to run down said stairwell and scream for my Mum. Or sometimes, during one of my sleepless nights, I would imagine myself catching sight of an emaciated Golem like creature gnawing on my toes.

But now, age 23, I don't have such an active imagination anymore. Instead, during the course of the episode, I find myself getting paranoid over all the groans and scuffles the old house emits from time to time. What could that sound be? Robbers breaking in? Crazed lunes knocking on my window? Drunk bogans smashing into my car? Or worst of all, armed racist serial killers after a quick kill?

Which begs the question: When did our imaginations stop? What was the fundamental change in us that triggered a halt in our over active imaginations? We don't fear anything beyond the realm of extreme possibility anymore. At this rate, my fears in the next 10 years will probably involve bank statements, mortgages, hire purchase bills, spousal fidelity, bills, dental insurance, terrorists, bills and more bills. Whatever happened to our flights of fancy? Gone are the days where we could dream about racing in a car that drives, flies, dives and does a smoking wheely... underwater!! What do we have if we don't have our imaginations? What a grim time we live in when our very own imaginations pander to the realist inside of us. What a grim time indeed.

Spin Off!!

What is with the recent spate of television programming ripping off their foreign counterparts? It started off innocently enough and now we're getting a spate of American programs based on foreign programs.

Here are some that you can probably look forward to with dread, and some, maybe with glee. Be warned, there are a few WTF moments in this list:

Original: The Office BBC

Adaptation: The Office US

Verdict: The original had a smarmy Ricky Gervais heading his paper company, and it's just incredible how ignorant his character was. The adaptation wasn't too bad, the first season was a complete rip of the original, but it really started picking up in the 2nd season, then it got hilariously funny by the 4th season. A rollercoaster of emotions this one. Expect to laugh and cry and frustrate alot... like.. ALOT!!

Original: Top Gear BBC

Adaptation: Top Gear USA

Verdict: The original had 3 very different hosts, but they gelled some how. The cars were an awesome mix of European exotics, American muscle cars and Jap rice rockets. It wasn't always about speed though, they branched into luxury cars and Kei cars and they always had car challenges, often with hilarious results. What can we expect from the American version? Errr, terrible terrible American cars around a track with an obese Stig... I guess... Also, an Australian version is coming out too, expect lots of hopping marsupials in this one.

Original: Little Britain

Adaptation: Little Britain USA

Verdict: You know its not gonna be good when the title doesnt make sense. Little Britain USA?? How does that even begin to work? Ah well, was a HUGE fan of the original, the skits can get repetitive, but they always made for good one liners. I want THAT one!! *points at original Little Britain*

Original: Kath And Kim ABC

Adaptation: Kath And Kim USA

Verdict: Serious WTF moment here. Selma Blair as Kim?? Honestly??!! Mmm, the orignal thrived on how trashy they were, the accents totally completed the whole redneck feel to it too. As far as I know the US version is based in Florida, that not nearly as redneck enough!! Expect this one to seriously flop!! Australian Broadcasting Channel's Kath And Kim sez "Look at moii, look at moiiii!!"

I kid you not, all of these shows exist already or will start airing in the near future. Keep your eyes peeled and who knows, we might have even more reason to clog up the bandwidth hogging and hub leaching!!!

Solution: Double Tape

Caution: This post isn't to be taken seriously at all, and when you get a crack in your windshield, fix it up as soon as you get!!!

Regarding a comment left on my previous post, the answer isn't Novus like Andy said. No no, its DOUBLE SIDED TAPE!!

Few have ever relied on a piece of adhesive as much as me. Many have doubted it's use, but I on the other hand, have always had full, unwavering faith in it. Described in wikipedia as "a variety of adhesive tape that is coated with adhesive on both sides", double tape does just what you think - it sticks TWO, count em', TWO surfaces together. This is of course opposed to just the ONE surface or the almost impossible THREE surfaces. And that's where it's beauty lies.

Double Tape FTW!!!

Double tape has saved me on more than one occasion. It's saved my ass from getting curtains dropping, it's saved my ass from huge canvases dropping, it's saved my ass from getting my graduation gown from flopping all over the place, and now it's saved my ass from getting the windshield cracking any further, thereby saving me from a painful prickly death from shards of glass. If you really think about it, it is the only one true path to eternal salvation (LOL, JK JK!!).

It's just so handy in so many real life situations. I think it wouldn't be out of place in Macgyvers toolbag at all. So, to all of you who haven't taken Double Tape as your official religion yet, I urge you to. It's gonna be HUGE in the next 10 years!!

Crack Is Whack!!

Trouble has come to haunt me lately.

In the form of an ever advancing hairline crack on the windshield of the Camry. It happened on the commute back from Westport when a frikking 8 Wheeler picked up a pebble and chipped the black rubbery bit holding the glass in as it drove past. Talk about a head shot!! But now I have a big gaping hairline crack that advances ever so slightly with every moderate form of vibration.

Crack is whack, yo'!!

I get visions that it'll smash into a million pieces, and I'll bleed to death from the lacerations I get from the shards stabbing me, when a rather large member from the avian family flies smack bang into it. So remember kids, crack is bad, dont do crack, mmkay?? Seriously though, anyone know how to fix this??

Must-Watch-TV: Fringe

Once in a while, the stars overhead conspire and collaborate, getting intricate timing down to perfection to produce nature's very own light show - aurora borealis or the Northern Lights as we know it. Very rarely do the elements align themselves to form something as perfect. That's why I'm so excited about THIS!!

Smexy tones!!!

It's been described as the love child between The X-Files, Altered States and The Twilight Zone. And when you have J.J Abrams at the helm, you always know you're in for a fuckin' fun ride. Pitting together creepy mystery, corporate/government conspiracy, Alias-like femme kick-assery and 24-esque action, you know its gonna be good. I've watched the pilot and have to admit it delivers on sooo many levels. Unlike Abrams' 'LOST', questions get answered in every episode, but similarly to 'LOST', there is an overarching mystery about the incidents that happen, dubbed - 'The Pattern', which so far, I can only describe as experiments on mother nature by man and science.

Quote from the pilot episode:

John Thompson: A normal kid who went missing back in 98, reappeared last month halfway around the world hasn't aged a day. Forty-six other kids who went missing that same year turn up, same story. An hour after a tsunami that kills 83,000 people.

A Sri Lankan fisherman reports a low flying plane emitting a frequency that blows out all of their windows. An hour later an 8.7 subsurface earthquake in the same spot creates a tsunami that kills 83,000 people.

A patient awakens after spending years in a coma writing a series of numbers that turn out to be the exact real time coordinates of our carrier battleships in the Pacific, intel that is classified above top secret.

Still not interested much?

How many fingers?

Coaster-ification

Just finished my first shift on Wednesday, and drove back to Christchurch yesterday. Absolutely knackered. 4 twelve hour shifts can wreak havoc on a person. Imagine getting up at the break of dawn, having to leave the house by 5:30am, a 30 minute commute in pure darkness through shanty towns, before you have to climb up to the mine site via the main haul road which really is just gravel, caked in mud. And all that, is just the start of my day.

My job consists of basically making sure stockpiles of coal are present and that the quantities are correct. I also take samples from each of them before sending them off to the lab. Nothing to do with geology and any other chimp can do it. But alas, it's harder to get someone into middle management than it is for him to work up the ranks. So if you really think about it, I'm a Coal Cowboy (officially, Coal Quality Sampler though..) . LOL!!

It's wet up in the Stockton mine, like WET WET WET. You can actually watch the fog roll down the hill and engulf your vision, quite dramatic actually. Its all muted hues of brown, grey and black (can you say sensory deprivation?), the only hints of colour are the bright oranges on our jackets and the relfective 3M strips. So you can imagine my relief when I clocked off on my Friday and drove all the way home with sunshine in my eyes and a field full of colour and depth.

Ahhhh.... View at Culverden

You're right Vinny, they really do know how to make their meat pies there. Theres HUGE CHUNKS OF MEAT that you can see in them!!!

Go, Going, Gone...

This time last week, I was still arranging for accomodation and confirming my induction into Solid Energy. It never quite sunk in... even then. I hadn't even begun to pack my personal bits and pieces whereas Mum was getting all that I could possibly need into a box. Apparently I only need a fry pan, a sauce pan, 2 plates and 2 mugs... *sniffles* Although, there was quite a bit of food (no complaints there). Hehe. So I just kinda looked on, and brushed it off, cheating myself into thinking I had a week to pack stuff.

Surprisingly good!!! Chicken was a bit mashed up though...

And so, the days crept by until Saturday came. I was half packed and ready to head out to lunch with the rest of the crew. I sorta realised what I'd be missing when I was in Westport, so I stuffed myself silly in La Porchetta. Finally got that steak I wanted... amongst other things (like a chicken pizza, risotto and gelato). Dropped everyone where they needed to go before I headed home to pick my Mum up to go to Dressmart for some work pants. After that I was sorta left alone to my own devices. That was when it hit me. HARD. Suddenly I was panicking and absolutely pissing my pants at the prospect of going off to a new place all alone. Not knowing anyone, not knowing anything. There comes a time where we need to cut our umbillical cords, but surely, not this early on??!

Ah well, looks like I've dealt myself that card when I chose a degree in geology. Of course, there are alot of 'what if's' on this road I've taken, given the opportunity, maybe I would've done things differently. All I know is, I haven't exactly taken some chances and opportunities that have cropped up over the years out of fear of the unknown. I still believe I've lived my life as best as I can, and have done well given my circumstances.

Sitting here in the motel room, all alone, I can't help but recall all those I've crossed paths with throughout my life. Each and every one of you have had a hand in my adulthood. I thank you all. I will miss some of you, and will relive you in my dreams. Thanks for making me the man I am today.

See ya'll soon!!

Spring Time... Again

After a very extensive hiatus, Photogs In Disguise is officially up and running again!! A big thank you to all our loyal, long time readers and fans who have stuck by us even when there wasn't alot to read. Thanks y'all!! Without further adieu, I am proud to present the all new 'Photogs In Disguise: Revamped' blog!!!

This time last year I was off in Hagley Park shooting the newly bloomed cherry blossoms and pondering what my life would be a year down the road. A year has passed, and I'm still up to the usual shenanigans with my camera (albeit a newer, awesomer one, and some bigger life changing moves round the corner). Yarr, its spring time... again!!

A different kind of flower this time round...

So yea, I've actually got people to take photos of now!! See how far I've come (LOL!!). Had the chance to do a shoot for Jo and Jess (who look really sweet together btw) at Mona Vale.

Yaww...

It's really nice to see 2 people who are deeply in love with each other. It makes for awesome photo opportunities. Took a while to get over the shyness, but we found our rhythm soon enough. Glad to say, the pics came out looking great!! Not sure if Jo's gotten round to getting them printed out yet, but I think they'll look awesome on print!! That being said, yes you have my blessing Jo, even though there's a bit of a height difference. LOLS!!

Yawwwww... dammit Jo, you're so tall!!

That's better...

Tagged... Out Of A Lack Of Posts...

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they got tagged and to ask them to play and read your blog.

Starting time : 11:27
Name : Allan 'Raging Bull' Ting
Sisters : 3 older
Brothers : 1 younger
Shoe size : 9 1/2 (bad day) - 10 1/2 (good day)
Height : 170 cm (yes, I'm surprised too)
Where do you live? : Too many small cities...
Favourite drinks : Old Town Milk Tea, Starbucks Green Tea Frappucino
Favourite breakfast : Dim Sum, Rice Porridge, Wantons, Fish Beehoon Soup
Have you ever been on a plane? Yes, racked up my share of carbon credits already...
Swam in the ocean? Anything with enough water in it...
Fallen asleep at school? Enough times to count on one hand
Broken someone's heart? Yesh
Fall off your chair? No, low centre of gravity.. is that a good thing?
Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call? Yes, what a night that turned out to be.
What is your room like? Utilitarian.. I've got damned garden furniture in it, what do you think??!
What's right beside you? HDD, Pillows
What is the last thing you ate? Banana muffin
Ever had chicken pox? Yes, too young to remember the details, I think i spread it to my brother
Sore throat? Yes, didnt like it
Stitches? Yes, on my right forearm when i ran past a rusted nail jutting out from the wall..
Broken nose? Nope, quite intact in fact
Do you believe in love at first sight? Yes, it happens..
Like picnics? Mmm, more of a BBQ man...
Who was/were the last person/people you danced with? Gawd, I totally don't remember..
Last made you smile? Picture of beagle puppies on Flickr, you'd smile too...
You last yelled at? Picture of beagle puppies on Flickr, you'd yell too!!!
Today did you talk to some one you like? Yesh
Kiss anyone? It's been a while... T.T
Get sick? When I came to CHCH from SGP... T.T
Talk to an ex? Don't go down that spiral... trust me...
Miss someone? Too much...
Eat? Breakfast time
Best feeling in the world? Being in the arms of the one you love
Do you sleep with stuffed animals? Snowflake has a permanent spot next to me
What's under your bed? Bag of Solay multigrain chips (baked, not fried!!)
Who do you really hate? Who's Nick Lai Andy? lol
What time is it now? 11:41
Things I was doing 10 years ago? Learning chinese in a communist-run school in Malaysia
5 things on my to-do list today

1. Party hard with Joseph and Co.
   
2. Get something for Joseph
   
3. Have lunchies
   
4. Watch some Simpsons
   
5. Catch a show off my HDD
   

5 snacks I enjoy?

1. Multigrain chips
   
2. Takoyaki
   
3. Fried Squid
   
4. Instant Noodles
   
5. CAKE!! (the cranberry one from Coffee Bean!!)
   

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire

1. Travel with ChocoBear!!
   
2. Pay off my student loan? Yea right..
   
3. Condo.. with private pool..
   
4. Start a restaurant featuring my favourite snacks!! (It would totally work out!!)
   
5. Some photog gear would be nice..
   

5 of my bad habits

1. Indecisive
2. Procrastinating
3. Overly sensitve
   
4. Lazy
5. Fall out of bed in the morning, mmm how to stop that..
   

5 people I tag

1. Me
2. You
   
3. Him
   
4. Her
   
5. Ben
   

Law Revue '08

Wow, GRIDS!! really are kinda nice.. especially when your internet is being capped and you can't upload stuff as quickly. Yes.. 10GB we signed up for gets used up far too quickly.. sigh..

So Law Revue came and went. I got slightly too excited about it and showed up at the flat 1 day too early. Ah well, we all misfire from time to time (didn't mean it in a rude way, just.. you know.. some people get more hyped up than others). It didn't help that the E-vitation on facebook stated the revue starts on a Thursday. Little did I know it was the first showing of 3. Maybe I really need a pocket assistant...

Needless to say, the show was awesome. It takes alot for something that was thought up during a drinking session to come to fruition and to actually turn it into a show fit for Law Revue. I felt the Austrian child abuse one was a bit too early to laugh about, the one with the wheelchair also didn't seem quite right to laugh at either. But as a whole, the show was well produced and the songs were AWESOME too!!

'Twas quite a night...

Picture opportunity wise, it was also an experience. Felt a bit out of rhythm with the varied and changing lighting at first, but slowly got used to it and came up with some awesome pics. Tried hard to capture emotions and facial expressions. Maybe that would've been easier if I sat through it twice (or was more liberal with space on my memory card!!)

Variable lighting - the bane of us all!!

Enjoy y'all!!

PS: Anyone want full size originals, give me a shout out!!

Boardriders: Mt. Hutt

Didn't think I'd be hitting the slopes again for a while. The chance to do so cropped up when the Geols wanted to make the most of the season passes they purchased at the start of the year. So, on a clear, chilly morning we departed for the ski fields on Mt. Hutt.

Not quite Mt. Hutt...

Things started well, till I fell badly on my coccyx, and shook up my confidence for the rest of the day. It hurt like fuck, but I took the opportunity to take some piccys. Not alot of people lug a big camera up there. But trust Allan to...

Icicles!!

King of the World?

Katie and James making their way down...

And so, in the afternoon, I worked up the courage to head up to the summit (without a board... but with a camera instead...) Holy randomness, it was perfect on the way up, then when we got up there, the wind just started blowing up snow dust and coated the camera in ice!!! But good thing I sealed up the most important bits with duct tape!! Didnt take pics up on the summit cos of bad conditions, but here are some pics on the way up.

Dude was too fast...

Taken while the chairlift paused momentarily...

More Gears

Had med checkups for Solid Energy throughout the week. Let's just say having your Doc take a rummage through yer junk isn't very fun... AT ALL!!

So yea, had a bit of time in between med check ups and x-ray scans so I came up with this:

What Gears would look like in real life...

Not to get ahead of myself or anything, but I guess its one of the better ones I've done to date. And also, Ben looks uncannily like Dominic Santiago. So much so its actually kinda creepy. Look at the original and tell me how freaky it is...

Scary stuff...

Smoko' Von

Hehe, sorry boys and girls for the delay in posting. Been busy, what with driving up the coast and around the country in the midst of a weather bomb and all...

Anyway, I got the chance to photograph the ever elusive (yea right) Yvonne Mak one day when I got bothered to lug my gear round to the flat. And wot a co-inky-dink, she just happened to be having her smoko break. LOL.

Nah, Von was practicising puffing for her Law Revue Night (she wants me to remind y'all to go and watch her onstage debut). And so in the waning evening light, I had the chance to portray her in a light that suits winter at the moment.

The theme here is grey, dank and sorta emo. Hope I hit the mark with these shots.

Thought about captioning the rest of them... but maybe just the one will do...

PS: BIG thanks for the photo-op Von, might do more in future!!!

Zoo Day

This is a bit of a back post...

One of the many cool places in Singapore that I got to visit was the Singapore Zoological Gardens. Even putting the pictures onto GRIDS!! format brought back fond memories of dodging torrential rain and attempts at conversing with the animals in some hope that they'd come out from their wee hiding spots and pose a bit. I've never gotten to see 'exotic' animals, not in my adulthood or recent memory... A trip to Willowbank Reserve for Bursary Biology comes to mind.. but that isn't as much a zoo as it is a petting farm, so that doesn't really count.

Various forms of wildlife available in Singapore...

On the day itself, Singapore's tropical weather didn't fail to rain... like in BUCKETLOADS, so it was a bit of a mission keeping the camera dry and electric short free. Shooting wise... its quite an experience with a 70mm-300mm f3.5/5.6 zoom lens and trying to frame something thats about a meter away from you and in dim light at best. Mmm.. quite fond memories indeed.

PS: More pics on my Flickr account!!

Announcing GRIDS!!

This is totally the next big thing!! In this day and age where people like to just gloss through quickly and shortcut everything, GRIDS!! are a godsend. Especially for all you busy uni students out there, this means you get to see all the pics you need to see in a teeny snippet, saving you maybe a minute of your valuable time (assuming you dont have to zoom straight in to every pic you see). So, heres a preview of what to expect in future:

Just a test run.. hehe

23

There's alot behind those two numbers - '2' and '3'. Apparently there's a whole number of conspiracies behind it. At the end of the day its just BS. In my case, it wasn't quite BS... it's my age for the next year...

Damned I feel old...

It doesn't help when you're the oldest of the bunch and being surrounded by those younger. It also doesn't help when Jo taunts ya' about it (well at least I CAN keep my eyes open when the flash fires off JO!!!)

Are his eyes open?? We'll never know...

Eyes Wide SHUT...

At this stage, we've theorised it to be some undiscovered condition where the eyes are seemingly shut but are apparently open and it doesn't matter how hard you force em', when the flash fires off, the eyes are always shut. When it's found to be a disease or some condition in the next few years, I want it to be called 'Kwak's Syndrome' after it's most famous sufferer.

The day started off with cake and coffee (compliments of James) with James. Denegenerated into chips and beer (compliments of Ben) when the kids came over, dipped further into mahjong before dinner time came round and we headed to Osaka.

Thanks James!!!!

Thanks Ben!!!

Thanks Osaka!!

Dinner was followed by a quick shot of coffee at Coffee Culture. The initial plan was to catch Kung Fu Panda at Hoyts... which degenerated into catching the Hancock premiere. It was ok I guess... Got a bit too lovey dovey towards the end. Camera work was shoddy as fuck. It didnt help that we were 3 rows from the screen, it got to the point where Von felt induced to vomit. But the mythical elements and references to super heroes were good. Then it was Round 2 of cake time. This time it was a rich Lemon Cheese Cake (compliments of the Kids) from Divine, which was just that - divine!!

At 'da Culcha

Von having a go at the cake...

Von having a go at herself...

Mmm, well a year has passed since I was 22, not alot has changed. Except maybe being on the virge of my professional life. I find myself at a crossroads with the job offers. Rio Tinto is very eager to offer a contract, BHP haven't rung up for that interview yet. I hope my decision doesn't boil down to the first person that rings. Then again... who am I to complain?? Just a fresh grad here... The months ahead are gonna be rocky as fuck. No more smooth sailing from now... Man, I'm getting old...