The Best I've Ever Had

There is nothing quite like chomping into a juicy strawberry so big that after taking a good, big bite off it, you still have at least half left to enjoy. No extra sugar needed, tis sweet enough as is.

Strawberries provided by my uncle at my house warming.

"Chap Goh Meh"

21 Feb 2008 the 15th day of Chinese New Year, and at this time of posting, CNY 08 is officially over. Work and life can go on as per normal now.

In keeping with the Chinese tradition, we gathered at my grandmother's place for a veritable feast. Let your eyes feast on the spread; I promise you it tastes better than it looks here:


My grandma is the best cook, ever =) She's also got incredibly green fingers. I had a whale of a time photographing her potted plants. Alas, I don't do her plants justice. View the full photo set here.

Shadows and Sunshine

Crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain where
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

...

Shine on me,
Let my shadows prove the sunshine

***
The Shadow Proves The Sunshine, by Switchfoot

A wallpaper for all with shadows and need some sunshine.

Therapy

This is Junior, the world's silliest dog.

His special abilities include the inability to jump over short walls and the amazing ability to trip on himself while making a u-turn or going down stairs. He also has a taste for wires and a penchant for all things squeeky. His extremely soft and shaggy furcoat makes him a prime candidate for a hug on a blue day.



Nothing cheers a down person up like a good dose of the family pet. If that's not available, I guess pictures will have to suffice.

Flowers of the Field

Psalm 103: 15-17
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children.

Saw these pretty flowers on my way to work this morning and quickly snapped a few shots of it. I love flowers, in case you can't tell by now, and I especially enjoy photographing them. The details are different from species to species and with a good shot, you can capture the softness of the petals, the vibrancy of the colours and the delicacy of its structure. Not that I'm "there" liaoz, far from it, but it's something I strive to attain =)

Sadly, these lovely creations are often here today and gone tomorrow, much like men in all our striving. Here's a wallpaper to remind us of God's goodness and the beauty of His creation =)

Postcards from Sapa

Beautiful weather while we were there =) Thank God, really, especially when Sapa is known for its muddy tracks and rainy weather. We had a wonderful time of retreat, except for poor Spelling Bee who had a bout of stomach flu there =( She spent most of her time in a lovely cafe, Baguettes and Chocolat, dozing and drinking ginger tea.

Thoughts on a Monday...

A Pretty Sight

For those who may be interested in a desktop wallpaper version, this is for you ; ) I hope you'll like it as much as I do!

Shooting Colours

Sometime this week, someone invited me to be a last-min stand-in desperate-liaoz-no-one-else-can-make-it-HELP!! photographer for a simple media publicity project for a seminar targeted at the ladies in his church =) Of course I was extremely flattered and accepted the offer! I'm a novice and I've never done this before, so I told him if he's willing to endure an inexperienced photographer, I'm game for it =D

The idea was to have a series of black & white photographs with a single colourful object highlighted. (he wanted 10 good ones.. I gulped at that) The models are all from his church--a bevy of beautiful babes. The guys in that church must have a hard time concentrating on the sermons! :P

Here are my favs from the morning's work =) It was a lot of fun. I would sacrifice my Saturday morning snooze-ins for more of these experiences =)







EDIT: at the request of my friend, I took out the pictures where his friends are identifiable =)

Zoo Excursion (whoop-de-doo!)

I went to the zoo on Saturday with my cell group, so you can understand why I'm so thankful that it wasn't too hot nor was it rainy :P Taking 2hours to travel there only to be met with wet weather doesn't do very much for your mood.

Here are some nicer photos from that day's excursion. Not a lot of animals, huh? Come to think of it, where were the zebras that I saw the last time? Hmm.. But this time we did go for some shows, which allowed us to rest and get some respite from the hot sun.



Could you tell that I went for the elephant show? For once I'm glad I didn't get the front row seats. The people sitting in front were mercilessly sprayed with the river water by the elephants. Just imagine. The elephants like to roll in the water, and then they suck it up their noses and spray at you. I try not to think about elephants doing their business in the water and elephant snot. You should try not to, too.

This boy's t-shirt read "I'm not allowed to date... unless you're hot". When asked, it was his mum's t-shirt :D I want this t-shirt!!

This boy's so cute--cheeky look and a mop of fine, curly, brown hair. The hula-hoop was taken from him and he remained in that position for a long time, relishing all the laughter and attention :D He's a natural entertainer, that one is!

We tried to rush for the 5pm "Splash!" show, but the show was absolutely packed. We could only look on from the side. There was this little girl who wasn't paying attention to the dolphins, she's probably curious about all those people milling about below her. Kawaii ne!

Quirkie Pictures of the Day

Photographic evidence of strange people in my life. This is my colleague and my good friend's boyfriend :P His job does not involve scaring people, don't worry.

This is the appreciative guy whose desk we wrapped up :P LOL!

I really have strange friends!

Quirkie Creations: Earrings

A pair of earrings I made last year. It's currently one of my favourite pairs to match with my blue outfits.

When you look at your custom jewelry, do you ever get an urge to take things apart and put it together again? Or do you feel like it will look better if only this bead was placed in a different position, and then you proceed to go ahead and give your earring / necklace / ring an overhaul?

No? Well, I do.

My interest in making my own pieces of custom jewelry started while I was hanging out with my Japanese friend, Ryoko. She would choose leather strings and pretty pendants and come up with stylish necklaces. My interest was piqued--you mean you can actually design your own accessories?? Ryoko would bring me to The Bead Shop in Hereen where beads of all shapes, shades and sizes were sold. I would visit that shop when I'm in the area and would buy strings and beads to piece together necklaces according to my wardrobe needs and fancy.

I had never ventured into the world of making earrings even though the interest was there. It wasn't until sometime toward the middle of last year when I stumbled upon a bead shop that also sold earring-parts that you could assemble yourself. The minute I stepped in I was stuck. It sold crystals, all sorts of glass beads, silver chains, hooks, nylon strings, semi-precious stones etc etc, and I would pore over each bead and imagine what I could do with each bead. Should I buy the blue or blue-green? Would a clear crystal match it better, or a light blue one? Or how about a complementary shade instead?

Over the next 2 weeks, I remember shelling out $60 for various beads, basic parts of making earrings and pliers. That's a lot considering what a tight-wad I am! I feverishly made my earrings (the same design in different colours. I had a packet of beads of the same design, but not enough variety to do more than 2 different designs) and wouldn't go to bed until my eyes were crossed and my shoulders were sore. Well, predictably, many friends received earrings for their Christmas presents last year, but hey! who's complaining :P

Anyway, this evening I thought I'd stay away from the internet for a change and indulge in my more productive hobbies. Presenting the work of my hands:

Experimenting with something different from the usual one-bead design by adding the bunch of beads at the bottom.



This is my favourite self-made pair to date. My mum bought me these beads. The design is not new, I actually made a few pairs of blue earrings in this design for Christmas last year. This time however the main bead is oriental in design and it's more colourful on the whole, which really suits my tastes. Pretty! Me likes ^-^

A Nice Evening =)

Last night, Intuition and I spent an evening with Intuition's friends, E (Intuition's old friend) & G (E's girlfriend, from Korea). We had dinner at Prego's, which was expensive but the food didn't disappoint. I always look forward to eating at Prego's, but I can only afford to go there if there is a discount available because it's so expensive and the portions aren't very big. A plate of carbonara costs $22+++ and a Ceasar's salad is $18+++, so you can imagine what the other fancier dishes must cost. Intuition had a 25% discount voucher which we put to good use yesterday.

E & G are a really cute couple. Because she's from Korea, she did some sightseeing and we brought her to the Esplanade as well as to 1 Fullerton to take some photos and to sightsee. We also brought them to Tom's Palette for some yummy ice-cream, which they enjoyed. She kept apologising "Sorry, I'm tourist" whenever she stopped to take pictures of sights we take for granted, such as the skyline and the view of the CBD from the Esplanade. Looking at these sights through the eyes of a tourist helps me to appreciate the pretty views in Singapore all over again.

I had my camera handy with me, but no tripod =( Boohoo. Night shots without a tripod invariably end up aggravatingly imperfect. When I look at all these almost-there-but-darn-it's-BLURRY!!!! shots, Mr Bing's words of wisdom comes to mind: Always take your photos with a tripod! One such shot:

I love the skyline and the effect of the clouds in the photograph. BUT it's tilted and if you enlarge the shot, you can see that it's BLURRY! It would have otherwise been perfect, but it's slightly ruined! Slightly ruined shots are worse than completely ruined shots because you see how close it was to being a great shot and you just ache for what it could have been. *Bawl!*

Thankfully, for all my lousy shots and almost-there shots that evening, there is one blessed shot that survived the long exposure timings with a nice sharp focus. I bring you The Merlion.

Simple Pleasures in Life

- The sound of brand new strings on my lovely Yamaha APX3. Smooth to the touch, it gives a real smooth sound too!
- A new hair colour at a discounted rate ^-^

Update: 21 March 2007, 6:20pm
- Simple pleasure in life: A new 2GB SD card for my Powershot A710 IS! For $21.70! cheap cheap! Thanks, Mr Bing, for helping me buy this!

I'm a happy girl today!

About Batam and a Headache

I've just came back from a short retreat to Batam. We stayed in Batam Beach View Hotel. The view there is really pretty and I like the service at the hotel--friendly & helpful staff who would go out of the way to help you.

We had 2hours of R&R and I took some photos at the beach. The beach is amazing, absolutely nothing like the beach in Singapore. The sandy area is covered with shellfish, crabs and small fishes. When you stand at the shore and keep very quiet, you can hear them move around. It's indescribable, seeing glimpses of the wonder of God's creation. It's something you don't get to experience very much in the concrete jungle that is Singapore.



It was an enjoyable retreat, with all the ingredients of a good planning retreat--relevant sessions, a good mix of sermons and relevant discussion and feedback sessions, good food, a nice hotel, great view, enough sleep and nice R&R.

Everything was nice, except the boat ride back =( The ferry got stranded in the middle of the sea 15min into the journey. The engine dieded and we were stranded there for a good one hour. I was trying my best not to be sea-sick. They sent another ferry to pick us up from there and we had to transfer to the other ferry in the sea @_@ I felt quite sick, but i didn't puke. This morning I heard from my colleagues many drama stories on the high-sea that happened during that fateful 1 hour. One of them fainted, another was soooo sick that she had to be wheel-chaired out when she reached land, and yet another was holding on tightly to her husband so that she could walk out of the ferry properly. So drama, huh?

Anyways, Saturday was an awful day. After being stranded in the sea for an hour battling sea-sickness, I was picked up at 8pm and was told that Marshall was due to be put to sleep on Sunday, so we went to my granny's to take a last look at him before Sunday. However, as my cousin carried him for his last walk, his tumour started to bleed profusely and as mentioned, we had to rush him to the vet a day earlier than planned. It was heartwrenching but necessary. We all cried buckets, and even now, we still tear when we see his pictures. So, yeah. Dealing with sea-sickness + a death of a family pet = buckets of tears and a throbbing headache that lasted til 2am on Saturday night. We were at the vet from 9:30pm til 10:30pm, just crying and crying and trying to come to terms with his end.

Was talking to another friend on msn about her shetland sheepdog who is facing some health problems and we could empathise with each other's heartaches. Dogs are truly a blessing from God, with all their varied personalities and quirky habits. My uncle just bought a new Sheltie today from VivoCity, a tri-coloured handsome prancing doggie who looks a lot like Marshall. We love him already, but he's not and will not be a replacement for Marshall. It's exciting to start anew with this new baby though.. My uncle is going through the toilet training and we're trying to get it to recognize its new name. My uncle told us many many times to not spoil it with too much affection, but seeing how we're all trying to get our turn to carry it in our arms, I think this will be one pampered pooch ; ) Seeing how we loved Marshall to his very last breath, I know that this is one lucky dog to be in this family already =)

Quirkie Creations: Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a bouquet of tulips that my colleague bought for his girlfriend. Tres jolie, non?

Mr Intuition and I won't be going to any swanky restaurant nor will he be giving me any jolie fleurs today, since we both don't like how Valentine's Day is so commercialised. We will be meeting for a simple meal at a coffee shop though, and I am looking forward to the food ; ) You don't need to burn a hole in your pocket to have a great Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kukup Part Deux

The weekend is here! Finally, I can post Kukup Part Deux with the pictures and all. I've been wanting to post Part Deux quite some time back, but I never really found the right time to do it, because on weekday nights, there'll be my mother, my brother and me fighting for use of the computer, and when I finally get it, I use the time to veg-out reading other people's blogs instead of typing some posts of my own =P So there you have it, the reason why I didn't update it as quickly as I'd like: Other Blogs.

Previously I showed you where we stayed and what we ate (not all the meals, but some of the food, at least...). For this post, here's a glimpse into the programme--what we did (such as lie on the couch, ref: the 1st picture).

Mangrove Swamp
When you're in Kukup, it's best that you travel in groups of 10, because EVERYTHING there is catered for Groups Of Ten. We went in a group of 6, and had a tough time persuading the landlady to let us stay. Anyways, I digress. We went to the mangrove swamp on day 2 and had fun exploring the place. It was full of inspirational quotes (click on picture below to read the text).

One reason why I LOVE my Canon Powershot A710 IS: I managed to capture some of the spider-web!

Suspension bridges make me nervous. I couldn't look down while walking across the bridge. I'm so glad I didn't cross the bridge with the guys. See the pic? The guy was bouncing on the bridge and the girl was hanging on for her life.
After exploring every nook and cranny of the mangrove swamp, we went to the Kelong for our next educational tour. Here is a quirky little poem on the ferry that we took. Click on picture to enlarge =)


Kelong
I enjoyed the kelong, despite being uber prone to sea-sickness.

The kelong guy told us that these sea turtles were kept by them until they were matured, then they would be released into the sea. When I repeated that story to my colleague, he said "Yeah, right!" Oh well :P It is a cute turtle, nonetheless.


Our absolute favouritest activity at the Kelong was feeding the archer fish (what we called the spitting fish :P) We would place ikan bilis on the small plank above the water area, and the fish will take aim and SPIT! at the ikan bilis with great accuracy! Those standing behind the ikan bilis will get wet, so be warned :P It's amazing how accurate they are. We could feed them all day and be constantly amused. What was more amusing and amazing was that a parrot fish in the same "cage" as them also learnt how to spit for fish (it can't spit very well, but spit it did!) :P Fish do learn behaviour! How funny is that!


What did we do when we're not triapsing around the town, going to the swamp / kelong, eating? well... in view of the IRs coming to town and in the wake of 007's Casino Royale, we erm, had some practice :P


I had fun =) Kukup! Great for holidays and for doing absolutely nothing!