went out to the last day of skate singapore directly after i woke up, and burnt the photos from the last two days onto cd for indy, who's one of the coaches for pyramid ice kuala lumpur. fantastic chap - as a person, and life experiences. lilian wasn't around at all today, but it didn't take away me from experiencing the last day of the event. as tired as i was, there was a fellow photographer - gilbert - who did fantastic to lift up my spirits. must be partly because we were both handholding the same big mama lens... speaking of which, i have to call up fuji ice palace and get his contact - i forgot to take his namecard in a hurry. argh. also, zeuss called me up in the late morning, pledging to give me assistance should a certain government body giving me trouble for my photographs taken during the osim triathlon. that's on top of the legal or close-to-legal assistance i'm having - soon, the berne convention would be my bible... *wink* i must mention too, watching the "spotlight" events for ice skating was pretty novel... i mean, look at these...


we had a powerpuff girl...


and spidey as well!

it was also a new experience to stay for the end of the event - the "snow" they had - most of the skaters used the snow (actually, suds) and pelted at each other with "snowballs"... pretty funny. as you can see below, xiaoqian ravaging one of her senior skaters in pyramid ice...



i accomplished a feat - i found vikki out of a human haystack, and a riot of colours. she forgot she mentioned on her site that her team would be wearing new balance attire - how hard was that to miss? i mean, nb only has one boring old "design" of singlet...


a riot of colourful dragon heads

the world was so small - that i met fooxx, as well as uncle eric, the red santa cruz blur owner while i was shooting photos from the river bank!

shot like a machine gunner at the skate singapore 2003 competition - here are some of the better shots - autofocus was fine, but trying to catch the skaters midair in their spinning jumps was hard, at best.


kids waiting expectingly for their friends to go on the ice.


lilian - she got gold for this event she took part in.


yes, there was a little christmas mood here. at least... the place was nicely cold enough...


a caucasian girl representing fuji ice palace singapore. nice russian kinda attire.


a skater from hong kong - she managed to pull off several incredible jumps flawlessly


forgot to mention that i met kit leong on the bus while i was trying to go to fuji ice palace on friday morning. he's looking a heck lot better than when he was younger!

went to the zoo today. yaay! also happened to bump into clive and the boys from the afterschool house.


"let me try screaming..."

i've been really lazy to blog for a couple of days now. in short, the last few days were spent being... sick. still have a little phlegm in my throat every now and then.

tomorrow i'm going to the zoo! time to shoot using the big mama! yaaay!

the last few days whirled past in a frenzy of colour, music and dance. not that i was the one performing - i was the primary photographer (duh?) for my primary school for the school musical - "it's a goal!", held at scgs' khoo auditorium. the show was great - and i enjoyed all four shows (including the full-dress rehearsal). had a fair lot of practice in changing lenses in the near-darkness, but the big mama proved its use for 200mm portrait shots. my only friend who attended the show was edward, and claimed that it gave him some "ideas"... hmm... is he gonna do a musical himself?




the most demanding and tricky uv snowflake scene - iso800, f/2.0, 1/40s

now i'm as sick as i would be - since dr koh wouldn't be around on sunday, i'll go see her on monday. hope by that time my condition would have stabilized.

it's fun to be a car navigator once again - for jane, since we had a fair lot of travelling from school to either our homes and to scgs etc of late thanks to the musical.


belinda's cute daughter, kenisha


a surprise visitor to d&g boutique at forum galleria around midnight yesterday

after fixing up a new computer for aunt june with zongde in the late afternoon, on sunday night i finally had the chance to test out my big mama - check out my shots of the singapore dance theatre's dance in the heartlands shots on sdt photo gallery. technically, it isn't a anything about aesthetics, but just lens performance. i was just trying out the image stabilization, which is nothing short of fantastic.



today (tuesday), i met steven and ronghan in separate sections of borders while i was there with khairil, jane, and rose. steven is now doing 'o' level invigilation, and he was armed with his eos-300d on the roads. ah, good. another canon user! anyway, i also tried out the long lens indoors at scgs' khoo auditorium - image stabilization is a must-have for such a heavy lens, especially when handheld!

1-6's visit to the zoo yesterday because a visit to kfc @ singapore zoo because of the heavy rain that kicked in 10 minutes after the start of the show at the shaw amphitheatre. damned tired at the end of the day, but managed to hold on for dinner at fish & co's at novena square. it was my first time there, and i was petrified by the massive serving of swordfish collar that i ordered! but i'd say, it's a big bang for the buck - but the stomach gets a workout too...

saturday, first stop was the registry of marriages as one of my pals got hitched. i was pretty stressed - since this was my first such shoot! took a bus ride over to scgs to do some recce work for the boys' musical night to be held this coming week - was very challenged because of the layout of the seats. nevertheless there shouldn't be any gone-case problems... it was then a trip back to school for a new teachers' sharing session in the main office - then once it ended i ran like the wind to catch a cab down to sim lim square where i met up with dad to get money from him to transact for the "big mama" from harlequin. later on it was a futile trip back to cathay peninsula plaza, but i met waisj when he lifted up my bag and dropped it onto my bum. duh... but nevertheless, it was a good thing to see him after not meeting for such a long time.

had dinner at mos burger j8 - 2 cheeseburgers is a nice difference from mc-d's. met jonathan perriera (spelling?) on the bus that i was headed on from bishan central - he's the chap who wears the yellow nike kukinis during races.

i sure hope to get the photos from the singapore triathlon up as soon as possible, looks like monday or tuesday is a possibility instead...

my cfo agreed to fund my hunt for the "big mama" lens, but on condition that i clear up the house asap. deal! but i'll have to wait for harlequin to come back to singapore - chances are that we'll meet at the camera shop this saturday while he buys his lens as i get a lowepro lens case for my own "big mama"...



took a long, slow walk in toa payoh central after work - and summed up the day viewing magazines at popular bookstore.

all i want for christmas... the canon ef 70-200 f/2.8 "l" is...

argh. harlequin's selling his to trade up to a sigma "big mama" lens for his nature shoots. only if i can get this lens, i'll be damned contented for my sports shoots!... only problem? it costs $2750, and that's already quite a few hundred walloped off the original $3100 price he paid just two months ago!... *wails*

*hears imaginary refrains from n'sync's buy buy buy playing in the background...*

had a good time going out with jane after work - didn't know initially she wanted to pick up her hubby's redemption of this coffeemaker machine at park mall. so what we did - she drove us to burlington square, then she followed me to alan photo as i bought the canon speedlite 550ex through anthony for $630. we walked over to park mall to pick up the coffeemaker, then proceeded to close in onto cathay photo where i bought the stofen omnibounce for $29. nice to note that the canon eos-1d on display at cathay has now been replaced with an eos-1ds with a 24-70 f/2.8 "l" lens... cool!

in her quest to hunt down for the lonely planet barcelona guide, we got up to raffles city's mph bookstore, where we encountered a very helpful sales assistant, who looked for barcelona-related books although i wasn't directing the enquiry at her. fantastic!

after some more searching in vain, we'd tried to check out other bookstores around the area, but all turned negative. to keep things short... the day was very enjoyable. yeah!

i should also mention that i bought the coxford singlish dictionary from times in suntec - quite a hiliarious read, but the reader must have an open mind and humourous heart, otherwise one would be offended countless times, i think...

yesterday was a chicky day. imagine teaching boys how to handle a chick, with me taking a photograph for them for a paltry $1. granted that the photos aren't fantastic, but at least they're viewable. but imagine doing that from 9am all the way to 4pm without having a lunchbreak nor having the time to drink water... i was really dehydrated at the end of the day!...

friday, as i was about to leave school to meet jane at her place to go for dinner, one of the glass panes from the 3rd storey dropped out of the bracket holding it, and crashed in an aurally spectacular kerrrang! on the 2nd storey. thankfully no one was injured. eventually, i was late for the dinner appointment, but i managed to borrow the notebook computer all the same. while hunting for seats in food junction, i came across wei wei, my pess senior and another pess chap, whose name totally eludes me...

saturday was a full day on the eastern end of singapore. met tons of familiar faces at the osim singapore triathlon held at east coast park. shot with zplus too, luckily he wasn't too late and didn't miss anything. after the event, i walked over to attitudebikes to drop off some photos, and rushed home, and later on met siva and lily, who later on, became proud owners of the canon a80 digital camera, from alan photo. went out to have dinner with edward and colin opposite great world city. but i sure thought i saw fellow (ok, former?) blogger meihua going down an escalator when the three of us were going up. hmm.

today? spent the whole day at east coast too. shot, shot, and shot the whole day through. got to see more familiar faces, such as lawrence ang and of course, his wife, stacey. walked over to big splash and chatted with felix for a long while as i watched kids play at the children's pool. and not to mention being trapped there partially because of excessively heavy rain for quite a while, too.


national triathlete, liz kim in action

even more groaners from the primary 5 battlefront, after coming back from kampong glam with some p4 boys for a social studies field trip.

11. what do the following on the state crest of singapore represent? (2m)
a) lion: to be brave
b) tiger: to be helpful

a) lion: the lion is fierce
b) tiger: the tiger is cute

a) lion: courage
b) tiger: love

a) lion: purity
b) tiger: defence

a) lion: pride
b) tiger: fierce/fight

a) lion: respect
b) tiger: pride

a) lion: be fear
b) tiger: be fear

a) lion: braveness
b) tiger: smartness

a) lion: brave
b) tiger: strong

a) lion: don't give up
b) tiger: be storang and don't give up

a) lion: lion represent to give us air.
b) tiger: tiger give us carbon (aloysius, 5-10)

a) lion: the state of lion represent safe.
b) tiger: the state of tiger represent singapore. (ho tak, 5-10)

a) lion: eat people.
b) tiger: same. (jeremy, 5-10)

a) lion: lion live in the zoo.
b) tiger: tiger live in the jungel. (jun rui, 5-10)

a) lion: lion can eat people.
b) tiger: tiger can eat people. (jin kiang, 5-10)

a) lion: lion is a male.
b) tiger: tiger is a female. (marino, 5-10)

12. give two advantages of using advanced farming systems and technologies. (2m)
a) cow, because of the milk. whithout milk we don't have energy.
b) hen, they lay eggs if not we don't have breakfast.

a) it can help kill people.
b) it can help kill pet dogs.

a) fan.
b) aircon.

a) soild.
b) water.

b) we can watch television.

a) you could be better in it.
b) could be the champion in it. (rashan, 5-7)

a) gain of ecomical defence.
b) gain of knowlege (levin soh, 5-9)

a) because they are poor (aravain, 5-9)

a) keep clean.
b) work on it.

a) study can give us brain. (aloysius, 5-10)

a) technologies is good and can go ITE. (ho tak, 5-10)

a) use water to soak them.
b) put some water under it. (teck wah, 5-10)

a) fire
b) water (jeremy, 5-10)

a) to keep hens in the farm.
b) to learn a new skills (reginald, 5-10)

a) the gas
b) the air (yeu mahn, 5-10)

a) no!!!
b) no!!! (wei song, 5-10)

a) the farming systems to make wind
b) the farming systems to make food (jin kiang, 5-10)

a) lion eat meat and he will not eat anything.
b) techonologies is a kind of a warning system. (marino, 5-10)

13. suggest two ways of conserving electricity in the home. (2m)
a) save electricity.
b) do not touch the switch with wet hands. (r sathesh raj, 5-9)

a) water.
b) metal.

a) to waher tv
b) to cook (jun rui, 5-10)

a) yes
b) yes (yeu mahn, 5-10)

14i) what type of housing do most singaporeans live in? (1m)
a) bukit timah.
a) condonimiums.
a) one million (jun rui, 5-10)
a) no (yeu mahn, 5-10)
a) no!!! (wei song, 5-10)
a) hdb, condomuniam, banggalo or hotel. (marino, 5-10)

14ii) what is the main reason for this? (1m)
a) of the toilets.
a) there is no leak in the pipes.
a) to live to happy ending (reginald, 5-10)
a) no (yeu mahn, 5-10)
a) no!!! (wei song, 5-10)

15. oil is used to make a wide range of products. name two of them. (2m)
(assortment of answers) - cars, trains, cooking, engines, oliver oil, dum, wind, roti prata, egg, corn
yes, no (yeu mahn, 5-10)
selling, no (wei song, 5-10)

funny, indeed - some of the answers were just out-of-the-world! but really, i'm saddened by the fact that either the boys can't be bothered, or what seems like they have massive learning disabilities... these aren't the answers you should get from regular boys! if i were to be in a special school, i believe that would be kind of acceptable, since most have some form of mental retardation. but boys in a normal school giving this kind of answers? how i wish i had some way to change these boys - but question is, HOW?

here are some more ridiculous answers from the primary 6 social studies examination scripts:

q: what was the reason for the formation of asean?
a: to have ten different countries.

q: what is the main economic activity in brunei?
a: the main economic activity in brunei is volcanoes.
a: the main economic activity is climbing hill.

q: name the straits that run alongside (malaysia) and (indonesia).
a: dire straits.
a: nile river.
a: singapore river.

q: state two examples of cottage industries in southeast asia.
a: swiss cottage.
a: oil cottage and ink cottage.

thailand is the staple food of most southeast asians.
people is the staple food of most southeast asians.

thailand was known as power until the year 1939.
thailand was known as tiger until the year 1939.

q: name the most common crop found in the country marked "t". (malaysia)
a: they are weeds.

jokes aside, it reflects how scary the situation can get in schools, and what's left in students' brains other than wrestling. if students don't want to learn and find out more about where they are, and names of places etc, what will become of them when they grow up?

new family in the house: the olympus e-1 with olympus zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5. thankfully i'm not the one using it!

got quite a few big smiley moments from marking the social studies papers...

q: what are the people of philippines known as?
a: terrorists.

q: tallest mountain in east malaysia?
a: mount faber
a: bukit timah hill

q: capital of thailand?
a: guangdong.

and here's the ultimate sports lover's q&a...

q: what was asean set up for?
a: for athletes in asia to compete with each other.

mom's cooking didn't taste fantastic today, but the veggies sure had an odd taste.

went out in the evening to meet eric in yishun for his dh race photos. i was subsequently introduced to irwin as well. interesting kona with a marz shiver for a basic setup.

headed out for orchard by train, and bought maximum pc from kino. saw the just assembled christmas tree in the atrium. saw the pundits outside, with one hand on the car each trying to "survivor" each other out. met camellius and judith outside watching that spectacle too. had a big meal at bk's, and went to that cd shop - but couldn't find the juice compliation cd there. but i must comment, most of their staff are very stunning visually - great figures!


idiots who have nothing else better to do than take leave to participate

carol is proving to be a new good friend on the phone, to talk bs and anything under the sun to. after talking to carol, though she did not offer her views on this, i decided to call the chase for strawbere off. why? because i'm Christian by faith, and she isn't. we can be good friends, however. it's a loss of some sort, to consciously let go of the girl i would like to woo, but the power of the Lord is to be respected.

from the veggies (i suspect them), i think i'm having a stomach upset. verdict? not good. and i give up contacting jo already. called her one last time on the train while heading for orchard, but as again, the call wasn't answered. this sure would be good news for those who thought that i was ga-ga over her over the last few days.

this is good stuff for riders - republishing from my free subscription to the roadbikerider newsletter...

Make roadside repairs without tools.

Ideally, you'll have everything necessary to remedy breakdowns. But who actually lugs a tool box on every ride?

When you get stuck without the item you need, heed the example of 2-time Race Across America winner Lon Haldeman. He claims he can fix any bike problem with materials commonly found on a short roadside walk.

At one of his PAC Tour cycling camps, Lon proved it by hoofing along half a mile of Arizona highway with a big plastic bag. Here's a list of what he collected -- and how to use such items for emergency repairs.

---Motor oil bottles. Need some lube in a hurry for a squeaky chain or cleat that's driving you nuts? There's always a little oil left in the bottom of discarded containers. If you're caught in a hard rain that washes away your chain lube, this trick will return the sound of silence.

---Aluminum cans. If your seatpost is slipping or your handlebar is rotating down, cut or tear a piece of soda or beer can to shore up the loose part.

---String. If you've blown out a tube so a patch won't repair it, you can tie off the bad section with string and stuff it back into the tire. This tourniquet won't be airtight, but the tube should stay firm enough for you to make progress between each pump-up.

---Wire. Use it to snug a rattling fender or accessory that's coming loose.

---Grass and paper. If you've flatted and have no spare tubes or patch kit -- or your pump is broken -- pack the tire tightly with grass and anything else you can stuff in there. The biomass will provide enough thickness in the tire to protect the rim as you ride, slowly, to your destination.

---Plastic bags. Emergency rainwear.

---Chunk of broken glass. A suitably sized piece with sharp edges makes an emergency knife.

---Plastic cup or foil. Use it to boot a slashed tire.

Keep your eyes wide as you search for the piece of junk you need. It's amazing what items of value you can find by the roadside. Wrenches, screwdrivers and other perfectly good tools bounce out of pickups all the time.

yesterday after i got back home, i snored in bed probably from 3pm all the way to midnight. probably woke up around 1 in the morning today, breezebrowsed through my photos, up till 3 in the morning. then i'd zzz-ed all the way to 9am today...