went for the ndp shoot on saturday - the students were a lot more spontaneous than last week - partly because boon lay secondary wasn't around by the time i came back from visiting the red lions.

the students from deyi were absolutely fantastic, although some of them were a marginally boisterous...

cycled over to west coast park in the morning for a short 5k race, didn't fare too badly, my knee(s) didn't give me problems during the run, which is a good piece of news indeed. cycled back home, and headed to town to shoot the ntu odac pumpfest. frankly, from the initial impression i had about it, i was sorely disappointed about certain arrangements. 40k cycled, 5k raced. enough workout for the time being. need to increase my mileage soon though...

discovered a scary thing yesterday - the day before, i thought it was only my army pants has shrunk on me over the three years away. but to my horror, even my jeans was having a problem too!

i'm getting fat. and i'm not joking. well, it may be one or two more inches to my waistline, but it is still a point of concern. i'm starting on a more regimented exercise cycle of push-ups, pull-ups, and starting from next week, mileage runs, as well as gym visits within camp.

too tired from yesterday's run, so i woke up at 10+ am. so needless to say, i missed out the morning run, since training with fatigue is liable to cause injuries least expected.

in the end? cycled with bev to east coast, where we linked up with derrick. while the two of them were out running, i set on a task of truing my wheels, as well as bev's diamondback. got fairly good results on my wheel, but actually it was her bike that "forced" me to try this untested skill of mine out, because her rear wheel was wobbling by up to 5mm i think! when i was about nearly finished, both handbag and colin came back from a run, and they soon vanished. derrick came back much earlier than bev, and left soon, as he had an early appointment.

as for both bev and me, we cycled back to serangoon gardens, had dinner, before i escorted her back on bike. see la, i so nice one...

friday was reporting to camp. was stuck for a long time with nothing to do, attended a safety exhibition at safti, and got to see some sort of a "wits" kind of exhibition.

saturday was shooting ndp rehearsal. got there at 8am, and shot up till 5+pm/ also had the pleasure of meeting djork. very pleasant chap - till the next rehearsal shoot!

went out with daphne to watch rugby yesterday, and after that we walked over to tef. it was funny to witness her ooh- and aahing over the bike stuff at the shop. no wonder, since the only store she knows of is cannasia...

today after the nie ne seminar (where i also met synapseman), i went over to safra yishun to climb for the first (actually, second) time of my life, using toproping. derrick was my belayer, while i was introduced to sabrina, tony, de-wen and gary. fairly fun - i swear i'm gonna clear that wall 5 green route without "rainbow-ing" the next time i get there...

back to ns tomorrow. hope things turn out the way i'm planning!...

yesterday was a day to remember.

met rachieeee around city hall, and walked around town with her, and after a little window-shopping, and a fair lot of waiting (hint, hint) introduced rachieeee to cannoncal over at bugis, and had a good time laughing and chatting away. it's so awkward to go out with a girl! she didn't seem to mind, but it was terok try to understand how girls and shoes make a logical connection... i'm brain-drained by this topic alone...

had early dinner with cannoncal after bidding rachieeee farewell at guess where - the toilets of bugis junction... then i made my way to safra yishun to find derrick and bev, as well a whole lot of sp climbers over there, to watch them climb. wanted to try, but so malu!...

sunday:
cycled from my place to east coast park in the morning, did my 16k run. before going back, i met a middle-aged gentleman who was curious about bike maintenance and all the works, so i gave him some tips, and passed him lynten's contact before we bade farewell and then i cycled back home.

went out to ang mo kio to return waisj his inon 165 macro lens. that's quite a lot of commuting around for a day! in the evening, azhari popped by my place and deposited his computer with me to do some reviving... i'm on work on it now!

monday:
went off to discovery centre just after my phantom lunch. had a "bus tour" of safti, which was pretty much something i was against, because there's absolutely nothing to give a physical impression on the mind. but too bad, after 9/11, a lot of things have changed.

ended the day with a trip to the tuas bus terminal and back to boon lay.

if you're free... try this new game by talkingcock.com...

thursday was spent at the beach, got quite a few shots of cute little sand bubbler crabs 1 cm wide.



the evening was spent shooting soccer at sajc, where sajc defeated yishun junior college by 1-0.

friday was a keynote day - went on an exploratory trip to the singapore sports school. met gobi and david there - quite a long time since i last saw either of them.



today morning was spent at ccab, where we had a briefing from ccab as well as the moe pe unit. after this session, i went over to edgefield primary, where i did a shoot for actsmart, and also met "captain" azhari, kian chye and jason. small world eh!

singapore is not a clean and green city, as so many overseas visitors mistakenly believe. actually, if one walks along the main streets, it may be generally clean to the passerby; but the reason for that is because of cleaners employed to clean up.

incredulously, there has never been a ceasure or lessening in the amount of litter at any place. at labrador park yesterday, i just verified that, at the highest viewing point overlooking the water and jetty; today i just verified the opposite at pasir ris park, which was pretty clean and free from litter. reason for being clean? it's not just the cleaners who have just eradicated the litter, but also the lack of visitors to the place. how many years does the government have to teach the general public to not throw their litter anyhow, and anywhere?

as i was walking to elias road today, i saw this young boy, probably 8 years old, and his grandmother crossing the road, covering their heads with a piece of packaging cardboard each. upon reaching the pavement from the opposite side of the road, the boy remarked to his grandmother that there wasn't much rain anyway, and proceeded to put down the cardboard her was once holding, beside a lamppost. by this time, he was just about to my right hand side directly; he proceeded about two steps before i turned back to him, and instructed him to pick up the cardboard and dispose of it properly. i didn't say that in a chiding tone, but in a single precise instruction. why do people still care not for the land and the area they stay in? why do people just throw tissue, drink cans, or food wrappers all over the place, not bothering to carry it with them to a proper disposal point? the land is ours, and it's our civic responsibility to keep it clean. cleaners need to earn a living, but let's not make their life harder than it already is.

went in the morning to pasir ris beach for the shorelife program, came across many finds from various persons - a mantis shrimp, some worms, a large sea hare, two porcelain crabs on a sea pen, couple of anemones, thunder crabs, a ghost crab, gobies, shrimps, "enchies", and a blood mussel. then went over to sajc in the evening to shoot rugby again...

it's such a sad thing. singapore's beaches are all "improved" - the original natural beaches are far too small and countable. and east coast park, a beach? not to me anymore. labrador park is best!

yesterday i attended the seashore life program at ntu lt19 in the morning, lasting up till mid-afternoon. sivasothi was one of the speakers, didn't know that he had a longstanding cooperative relationship with dr vilma and dr leo tan. until one of the speakers mentioned it, i didn't know that dr leo tan was a marine biologist, only knew that he was the director for the singapore science centre a long time back, when i was still in primary school.

went over to sajc to shoot the acjc v sajc match in the evening with yaoxing, thankfully sajc won! after the shoot, we had dinner at telok blangah food centre, and we parted ways by hopping on different buses. the service 10 bus that i took, took such a meandering route to tampines, that was driving me nuts.



finding my way to sis' place in tampines was hell. what to do la, have to get the camera anyway. on the bright side, her place is close to seng chu hin and tay cycles, so if i ever cycle over... and to sum off yesterday, i reached home just before midnight, feeling totally spent.

today was much better. tried to rush to meet waisj to borow his inon 165 closeup adapter, but i couldn't make it in time, so instead, i decided to be early to touchdown at labrador park. i joined in today's group at the location since i knew that i may not see the same kind of rocky shore inhabitants at either pasir ris park tomorrow, or changi beach on thursday. as the whole group left by bus, i started to explore the historical remnants of the park, in regards to the world war ii. left to meet waisj around town, to pick up the inon piece in anticipation for the next two days' shore visits - pasir ris tomorrow, and changi beach on thursday. and that's on top of wednesday evening at sajc for rugby, and thursday evening at sajc as well for soccer. and to think i'm going back to fulltime ns next friday... better enjoy my civillian days before i don't get them no more.

looking at the beach at labrador today, i already felt the heartpain. broken bottles, trash of every form, tissues, a broom... gee, i can't imagine how bad the worst places on earth look like. why don't these very people start to realize they are killing the environment just for their one moment of laziness? those same people are those who believe, it doesn't matter if they just dump a cigarette butt into the sea, thinking it'd disappear. truth is, it goes somewhere else into the sea. it may resurface on another faraway land, or be stuck with some underwater seaweed garden. but it has to go somewhere, doesn't it?

non-biodegradeable plastics, glass, all these will remain somewhere on planet earth for all time to come, this is the double-edged sword for modern convenience. just for a moment of convenience, we threaten the balance of things on mother earth. i certainly don't mean, that we have to return to primitive days, pre-plastic days, a world ban on smoking - but what i plead for it - do it with a conscience. plants, animals, they are non the wiser. it's really saddening to know that man is the only species on earth to be so developed, but yet devastating the environment that they exist in. spread the message - save the earth. and that time has to be now.

shot at sajc yesterday evening, for the rugby match against cjc. gee, it was all play tipped in sajc's favour, what to do? sajc plays very well mar... met yaoxing there too.


one luckily timed shot i got


mad max took a different twist at kopitiam...

the uwcs meeting was really massive! just from the two of us, nightshades and i witnessed at least 20 uwcs personnel as well as non uwcs personnel joining in... scary!

went out in today afternoon to suntec with dad to get him a pair of running shoes, in the end he didn't want to, so i've got myself a pair of salomon xa pro 2 trail running shoes.

just did a random search for my name on altavista just now - and i found the blog of a distraught rjc girl over swee haw's passing on. and like this girl, i treasure the memories of jin jin, and i still have her emails of these compositions she asked me to vet then for her, in my yahoo mailbox.

was talking to melisa (tp girl, not my pess classmate) about her disappointment with her results. glad that i managed to talk her out of feeling down.

came across this open-source password software that stores all your passwords, and manages them securely with don't-know-how-many-bits encryption. have yet to try it for myself though.

i think a lot of us are just escaping the truth, as we eagerly bury ourselves into our daily business of work and play. in doing so, we detract our minds from wondering and wandering about the unknown future. i know, God has planned our lives for us waaaaay before we even live itout, but i need to know how much it costs, per day, or per month, to live each day in singapore, or any other place on earth. down to every single cent, for the matter. because one day, i will have to bear with losing one, then both of my parents. everyone has to, too. it's not a matter of whether it will happen, but rather, when. frankly, i cannot imagine the perpetuality of losing someone in my life forever. friends can be lost, but you know most of them are still alive somewhere out there.

it's more than just losing someone who cooks me a meal when i'm back home, or someone to fund me a camera part when i want (no, i don't need, but want) it. why are they doing it, i must ask? simple - it's just because we're kin. no one has ever the interaction like how mom and i interact. dad's great, but we are quite like mules when it comes to disagreements. thank God that we're improving, now because photography is something that we have a common interest in. whatever wrong i did to them in the past, there's no way to turn back the clock. like the criminal who accepted Christ as the Son of Man at the cross of calvary, i believe so long as i acknowledge my wrongs and intend to change, and not repeat it ever again, i will be forgiven. thank you for the mercy, God.

in a matter of God-knows-how long, i will be the only one fending for myself, earning my keep, doing my own laundry, managing where-ever i stay, all by myself. it's not like army camp even - at least in camp, there are other brothers to share the duties of area cleaning and so on. and i don't intend to impose on sis because she's married - married people do have a life together, you know.

in the eventuality of that day, where my parents are gone, i really want to pack my essential stuff, and just move overseas. can't imagine how i'm going to bring along my computer with me to a faraway land though. getting hitched? actually i should have a wife and a child right now, in fact. if any later, i'd rather stay single. i don't want my child to work his/her ass off to support potentially two old haggards who are about to die, and strangling his/her own pursestrings when he/she is earning money for his/her own family when he/she has his/her own family and child. ironically, my personal opinion of some great ladies to know of, are those who are already married. no, i'm not thinking of affairs (oh please!), but rather the kind of character they exude. ladylikeness, gentleness - gee, where are those girls with that kind of qualities? sorry ah, i forgot to mention, that knack of athletic sense, and the "lean jean" body to die for... *drool* but so far, those nice girls to know of, were attached long long ago, so there's no chance for me.

i was talking to eric at the train station last night. he told me, it's either health or wealth one is predetermined to have. he has a colleague who seems to have a fair bit of wealth (not wealthy, but cash reserves, i suppose), but doesn't have a family. so when he passes on... what happens to all that he worked for? the dearth of losing all that one worked for, if he has no family or children to pass these inheritance to... personally, at this frame of time, i intend to stay single. if one day, i so choose to stop teaching, i'll most likely move overseas, do fulltime sports shooting, and probably will just pass on where-ever i am. but what is going to happen to all that i have earned to possess in my lifetime? who, or where are they going to? i want to live a life on earth, do my works as God lets me achieve, and die off without people remembering me. what do people remember me as? these days, most of my friends and acquaintances know me as a photographer. few will tag along the descriptions as "nice guy", "charismatic gentleman" or anything like that. more probably than not, no one i know of, will be called "my girlfriend" nor will i be known as "my boyfriend" by any girl.

that was the main revelation i got.

where are we headed in our personal lives? are we ready for the day when we are about to leave a legacy behind on this face of earth? it's gonna be lonely, to live life without a mutual partner, but i don't want to have more heartaches of trying to know those nice girls i get acquainted with, and learn that they're hitched or attached years way before we cross paths. it's almost like desiring the forbidden fruit, but thank God for his deep roots in my heart that prevent me from that sin of the heart.

self restraint is very handy at times.

went for the netball finals shoot at toa payoh in the afternoon, and met up with junyang over there. also met alex, as well as lawrence at the venue. it was really tense, both the matches. thankfully it wasn't as deafening as the b & c division finals the last time - but i wore earplugs all the same.

we went off for early dinner at toa payoh central, then took a train down to lavender, and met up with the rest for the trial shoot at the young lions-sinchi fc match. also present were, peterlim, agila, willyfoo, junyang, mervin420, szekiat and of course not to forget travelshooter, who was the one who invited us along. also present was aundry, who was shooting officially for the association.

went to meet up with jasphotography at blk 85 bedok over bak chor mee to pick up his corrupted transcend compactflash card to help him recover his photos on monday night.

then last night, i went over to meet him again to pass him the card, and the recovered photos. almost met up with kommissar at the same place, over chilli stingray, otah, teh peng, and how could we bear to leave out the bak chor mee?

the run was um... long. guess i was out of action for too long after all. ran probably 14k at most, walked the rest of the way with a middleaged lady who wanted to discover how to go along the northern route. massive 2:33 timing for me!

shortly after i got back, evelyn passed me a cheque from michael. i was stumped - i only shot some photos of his daughter in action, and only asked for a can or two of qoo after the long run, and instead i got a cheque? gee, i better develop the photos for him then!

and don't let me start too much about the groin abrasions. i had some difficulty walking, and cycling back home because of it! feels a lot better after some afternoon nap. should recover fairly soon, if jeanette said it correctly.

and there was some drama for the day - one of inoue's fellow countryman went missing for a couple of hours, apparently he lost his way and ran over to rifle range road instead, somehow made a u-turn to northern route, and found us at ritchey's cafe. i sure was wondering, though singapore is small, how are you gonna find one person in the forest when there is a really heavy downpour, when the chap is on his first time out to this very forest, speaks very little english, tired and hungry? was pretty relieved to see him in person - phew!

by the way, there's an interesting article about hiring professional to do "kidnapping" by this journalist in portland. go read about it!

and courtesy of rachieeee's friendster posting...

You're a Dope BF!
You won't be without a girlfriend for long (unless you choose to be,) cuz you are perfect. You always know the right thing to say without being a totally sappy loser and your girl appreciates it. Your the guy every girl dreams about, but you don't let that get to your head. Stick to your current dating game plan and you'll always manage to get the girl.

met nightshades at the "nemo & neighbour" talk, then after the talk i passed my old floppy drive to benedict goh (my coursemate, not the tcs actor), and as nightshades and i were walking just outside the big singtel "hello" storefront, i was startled by a petite isza and of course, with her guy hatta. so shocked ah!

ought to mention that i bought a book about chek jawa at the nemo talk for 17 bucks - it is absolutely informative, and has information very well laid out. good buy!

last night, instead of joining bev for climbing, i decided to join ash for the closure get-together for the event held almost three weeks back.