They shoulda put this pic instead!

It’s not fair. I have loads of smiley shots that night. How come this pic was chosen instead?

A friend said that the look justified that one-liner comment I made about ‘uncivic-minded Malaysians’.

And I also got misquoted for something. Now I know why some people prefer to say “No comments” to the media.

Gah :P

Ironically enough, the one person that I hoped would not notice my face appearing in the papers was the first person who told me about it.

“Hey, saw your face in the papers this morning,” said my boss cheerfully. “So, you are a member of a book club, eh? Didn’t know that your English name is Ariel!”

Aieeeee!

Photo Credits and Artistic Director.

A pic from my weekend project

Had a busy and fulfilling weekend. Tired to my bones. But exhilirated by a wide variety of photo shooting experience. So busy that I didn’t even have time to resize and upload some of the pics :P

And all too soon it’s Monday again.

Sometimes, I feel that life only begins on Friday evening and ends on Sunday night.

Bleh :P

Anytime now the stork will deliver my new baby to my doorstep.

Oooooh, the sweet sweet pain of waiting and the anticipation of a shiny new gadget!

Mmmmm…

Updates: It’s a girl!!! I’m thinking of calling her Seraphine :D

Was just telling my friends that you don’t have a choice when it comes to family members. Simply because you don’t get to choose which family you wish to be born into. Even if they are weird or you just plain couldn’t get along, you’ll have to do your best to work it out because you love them and they are family.

And if you are placed in a dysfunctional and/or broken family, it’s really no fault of yours. You just have to make the best of a tough situation. People who judge or discriminate someone just because they come from a fragmented home should realise the fact that it’s unfair to do so. Instead they should look at the person, their hearts, their characters that has probably been refined and strengthened in the hardships that they went through that most ‘normal’ people don’t.

Anyway, I’m a firm believer of maintaining peace at all possible costs. I know I can’t choose my family members (thank God everything’s a-ok in that corner thus far!) but I can certainly choose my friends. Any inkling of horrible times ahead will get me backtracking faster than you can say, “Chek Hup rawks.”

Imagine you are a car cruising along a one-way street. From a distance you can see the headlights of an on-coming car that’s headed your way. If you decide to go further, a collision will happen. So the sanest thing to do, is to backtrack, right?

That’s what I did. I saw a potentially weird and uncomfortable situation. I backtracked. What puzzles me most is that the other ‘car’ refuses to back down. It kept persistently going forward until I’m backed into a corner and have to spill the beans. How do you tell someone you don’t see the two of you being chums or even acquaintances without sounding like an absolute fiend?

To all those people who complain that their life is boring, I’d like to have some piece of that action. We can trade places or something. Oh, for a total bout of peace in my world!

Photo Credits

A cat caught on a scanner

Read this and nearly rolled over the floor. It’s darn hilarious!

A newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis has provided the answer to the question: where do pets come from?

Adam said: “Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked with me every day. Now I don’t see you anymore. I am lonely here, and it’s difficult for me to remember how much you love me.”

And God said: “No problem! I will create a companion that will be with you for ever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so you will love me. Regardless of how selfish, childish or unlovable you might be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself.”

And God created a new animal. And God was pleased. And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and wagged his tail. And Adam said “Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.” And God said ” No problem! Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG.”

And Dog lived with Adam and was a companion to him and loved him. And Adam comforted. And God was pleased. And dog was contented and wagged his tail. And after a while it came to pass that Adam’s guardian angel came to the Lord and said “Lord, Adam has become filled with pride. He struts and preens like a peacock and he believes he is worthy of adoration. Dog has, indeed, taught him that he is loved, but perhaps too well.”

And the Lord said: “No problem. I will create for him a companion who will be with him for ever and will see him as he is. This companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he is not always worthy of adoration.” And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam. And when Adam gazed into Cat’s eyes, he was reminded that he was not the supreme being. And Adam learnt humility. And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved. And Dog was happy.

And the cat didn’t give a s*** one way or the other.

Now you know why dogs are men’s best friends and why most men are not so hot about cats. Heh!

Photo Credits

Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim readers and friends!

Visited my twinnie’s house today for Raya and before long, was introduced to Ramos (not his real name), her male maid.

This is Ramos, my male maid.

There are three weird things about this maid. Firstly, Ramos only makes his appearance once a year at Hari Raya at twinnie’s house. And he only receives instructions from a fellow Raya guest, J.

Secondly, he only serves coffee and cakes. And he’s not very good at that. It’s probably due to the lack of practice – since he only gets to do it once a year.

Aiks, how come looking away while serving one??

Aaaah, much better!

The third weird thing about this male maid is that he likes to wear the Pomelo T-shirt on special occasions. Who would have thought a docile maid like him would dare to don something remotely related to *gasp* Communism???

Jokes aside, we had a blast feasting, laughing and snapping pics at twinnie’s open house. The brewed coffee was wonderful – not bitter (thus requiring very little sugar), smooth, strong and has a nice buttery taste to it. Kopi Che Nah’s the name of the game. However, I still prefer my instant coffee Chek Hup – no fuss and no muss in preparation. And certainly, no need for a maid to serve it to me on bended knees :P :P

Note: No one featured here, not the author, twinnie nor Ramos supports Communism. We support the local arts scene and the right to screen a ’semi-musical documentary road movie about the life and legacy of the former leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya, who now lives in exile in Thailand’ (Source). It’s a shame that the movie has been deemed controversial and thus banned in Malaysia.

It’s soo fun, it’s soo fun, staring at the waaaalll…!

On the sixth day after God created the earth, He saw that everything was good. And He rested on the 7th day. Not only that, the Sabbath was so important that He made it a decree for His people to not do any work on that day. Bonding, resting, taking walks, reading, recreation and basically, anything that recharges and refreshes your being are not considered as work.

I had a nice and lazy day over the weekend. Basically I just lazed around. Read a good book, spent time with my loved ones, caught up with my sleep, jotted some musings, watched some movies and oh yes, stared at the wall. Staring at the wall is one luxury I can ill-afford to do these days. I find it to be strangely therapeutic because it clears the mind somewhat. A friend tells me that it sounds like a very cat-like thing to do. According to him (no idea where he got this bit of info from!), some researchers have placed a brain scanning device on a cat that was preoccupied with the task of staring at a wall. The results of that brain scan? Just a series of blank readings. The cat’s mind was a total blank. I love it when my little theories are supposedly proven right :P

Haven’t had a day like this in yonks. That contributed to my recent burned out status. Observing the Sabbath really does wonders to the body, mind and soul. I should really try to regularly set aside time for it. If God needed to rest on the seventh day, what more I, a puny human being?

After a nice long day helping out in a video shoot and shopping with a newly-discovered kindred spirit, I joined my family to celebrate my niece’s 6th birthday. The minute I stepped into my sister’s house, I felt a keen sense of belonging that is different from the rest. These are my people. The ones that have known me and whom I’ve known all my life. So, even though I was tired by then, I was energized by their presence.

On the other side of the equation, my niece and nephew were equally energised by the sight of my baby. They kept asking me to take photos of them in different poses until their father got worried. “Hey, I think your camera is making them to be veritable vainpots.”

“Nah, it’s too late,” I reassured him. “This vain-pottishness is already in-built in them just waiting to be unleashed.” Before I could continue further, I was bombarded with more urgent requests for shots which they deemed to be cool.

No guesses who his favourite action hero is :P

The cheeky and cool princess

It’s not hard to see where they got their poser tendencies from.

Must be from their mother lar. Heh heh.

Went for my first photography workshop yesterday – conducted by John Ishii. Was kinda disappointed that the course content was very minimal – I learned more shooting on the job at the Refugee:Images’s musical. But I did learn some things about lighting for portrait shoots.

These two clowns are a riot

The magic show that wasn’t

Jit did not perform :( He merely gave a speech.

I also met some cool shutterbugs.

Guess who I bumped into? :P

Was blessed with a very nice photography partner.

With the guru himself

Gracie and Choon Ean having fun on stage

Miss 007

Best of all, I had my five mins of fame being a subject model :P

So all in all, it was not too bad lar.

Yeah, finally decided to get my first tattoo to commemorate bezzie’s departure to Melbourne today. I guess I was influenced to get a rose design after my favourite adventure computer game – Sherlock Holmes: Case of The Rose Tattoo. Nice, eh? :P :P

Just kidding.

The real case behind that tattoo was Janice’s birthday celebration. The bubbly girl made us put on stick-on tattoos and gave us rubber duckies. I promptly put mine to where it belonged.

The snorkelling duckie

The waiter and the beauty

Happy birthday, Janice! Thanks for inviting me to share your special day with your chums.