Thank You, Grand-aunt

Your kind words, your familiar voice and your warm smiles are something that I'll never forget since as a little kid. I shall add those perfect white sets teeth too...Never have I gotten the chance to thank you personally after busily growing up while your visits became rarer.

Thanks for touching my life, literally, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

RIP, Kor Poh

Hobart High

This is what I've been given towards the end of the reception in Hobart last Saturday! Was it a standing ovation of some sorts? For me, hell, yeah...It was like my Oscar night! It felt and still feels so good!

It's such doses of "HIGH" that spurs me on, giving my utmost best. Thanks, guys...!

 

These are some of the shots taken.

Congrats to Angeline & Andrew. It's such a sweet, fun and beautiful wedding!

Friendships, My Soul

Writing allows my sanity to be kept in check but I've been slacking. In the last few weeks and months, I've gone through some events and experience, both good and not-so-good.

One thing for sure that stays constant in my universe is friendships, specifically the genuine friendships. Being the only kid, I've been brought up with friends around me and some of these friends are like my brothers and sisters who are closer to me than some blood relations, no disrespect to them. These friends have extended their supports in various forms and offerred blunt but honest advices/opinions during times when I require them.

During my competitive swimming days, we had our ups & downs. Although these brothers- and sisters-in-arms can be a pain in the neck for being rascals, we genuinely supported one another through thick & thin, joy & frustrations, achievements & disappointments. Til this very day, some of these swimming friends are still the closest, truest and warmest friends. We might have grown up and living apart but that bondage that binds us will never break. You can take the swimmer away from us but you can never take away the swimmer in us.

Of course, there are some classmates, schoolmates, coursemates and colleagues that made great impacts then and now. These are genuine friends who I grew up or shared my days with and that they have no ill intentions whatsoever. We could be frank yet there would be no negative consequences to the friendships.

Unlike those childhood and true friends, there are such "friends", especially from the corportate world that are backstabbers and fakes who try to take advantage of the good souls without showing even the slightest true appreciation for our contributions and supports. I question the fact why such "people" not only exist but survive longer than some of those good souls who were taken away from me.

What I've been through over the last few months have made me realised that I should appreciate more of such great and true friends. I abhor the feeling of being taken for granted of my friendship but somehow I always fall into that deep end, offerring my warmest and truest!

Friendships are the heart and soul in my universe. I live and breathe them. They are the one very thing that I cherish, love, respect and fight for. I will always extend my truest frienship to touch their hearts. I would not be me if these qualities were to be taken from me. To take away that foundation that I long for, or the threat of doing so, is to take away suck out my soul and would certainly sadden me. Call this simplicity.

To all my genuine friends, my brothers and sisters, my heartfelt appreciation and love for your kinships. You know who you are. This is for you.

To quote from the Bad Boys movies, "We Ride Together. We Die Together." Friends Forever!

Back and Finally A New Post

After a 5-month hiatus, I've finally squeezed myself out of a little bit of juice to update it with some photos taken over the past few months. With Twitter, I've been lazy, and very good at it! ^_^

Speaking of which, I have yet to even look at the photos taken in the recent trip to Shandong, China (of which Qingdao is part of). Not that I have taken a lot of images but I have been bogged down with some issues including those involving my apartment's wall that was damaged from burst pipe from the unit above back in July 2009.

Anyway, here are some wedding shots taken during my "absence".
And here's the latest one done in late Nov.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Why so serious?
And...here...we...go.
You need an ace in the hole.
Why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves up again.
Night is at its darkest just before dawn. I promise you, dawn is coming.
I like this job - I love it.
You either die a hero or live long enough to be a villain.
You can't rely on anyone these days, you gotta do everything yourself, don't we?

The quotes sound familiar? Well, they are from The Dark Knight and have been going through my mind the entire day and the past few days. Who said movies are bad for you? Some of them are motivating while the others are just trying to get me going.

What makes a great manager?

Someone who pulls his/her own weight for the team and contributes constructively.
Someone who motivates instead of demoralises.
Someone who stands up for his/her team instead of pinning others' faults (including his) on one person or two.
Someone who says what he/she meant rather than twisting the words as he/she pleases.
Someone who under-promises and over-delivers with the consultation of the team.

I think I can be that great manager, but I know who can't be even just being good.

Those are the things that have led to me not living my resolutions for 2010.

To change the world, we must first change ourselves - Gandhi

May You Rest In Peace

I was today informed of the demise of a close family friend whom I am very fond of. It came as a surprise for me.

We met over 10 years ago in the swimming club's gym. I was asked not to acknowledge him as "Uncle" but "Brother" or just Foek On though he's of my parents' generation (his dad and my maternal grandpa were good ol' pals). Over the years, I've grown closer to him from being the spotter in the gym for him to being someone I confided with and seeked advices as well as opinions from. We also share the interest in photography.

There were some discussions about me futhering my studies in established universities for reasons of their well-known alumnis, advices on my timber floor after the flooding of my apartment and personal issues that I have gone through over the last few years.

I would certainly miss the stuffs we did together:

• Bugging him in his office
• Enjoying nasi kandar together
• Having a cuppa
• Visiting camera shop together or meeting in the shop
  
• Sharing of images taken by both of us and the knowledge
• Bantering of Windows v Mac; Lightroom vs Aperture; Nikon vs Leica; AF vs MF; Fully Auto vs Fully Manual systems

One of the flashbacks is the very last chat we had of which he asked me about flash and backlighting on his D700 few months ago. I can't believe it that he's gone.

Certainly, the next trip and every subsequent trip back would be very different without Brother Onn. Your jokes, sarcasms and laughters would be sorely missed.

He was talking about doing a trip to Melbourne and Adelaide since 2 years ago. I guess we won't be able to make that trip down the Great Ocean Road to capture the images of Twelve Apostles, the intended trip that will never eventuate.

May You Rest In Peace, Uncle Foek On (uncle as my due respect for an elder).

I Did It

What was on my mind before the dive/jump? I just want to get it done...
Was I shaken prior to the jump while standing on the platform? Not a bit...
Will I do it again? Oh yeah...either a backward jump or the 134m 8.5sec free-fall...

The rush only came in after the plunge and during the drop...!

Well, another item in my bucket list can be crossed off now...Kawarau Bridge is now over but perhaps bring on The Nevis Highwire Bungy...!

I am now a Jumper! When's your turn?

Seeing is Believing, Believing is Seeing

I've always love to travel since young. Competitive swimming has given me the opportunities to travel places where not many would consider them as resorts and holidays while meeting new friends. I miss those carefree days whereby the routines were just eat, sleep, study and swim with nothing else to worry about. I would give 100% in training sessions just so I could qualify for some outstation competitions in order to travel as these were the only holidays I could have as a kid. There was no such thing as vacation where no swimming competitions involved.

Even then, I still got to learn so much from so "little". These exposures have made me more independent at a younger age and be more responsible for myself as well as others. Back then, staying in luxurious motels (not hotels) was a rare occasion. Dormitories with filthy restrooms, cockroaches, mosquitoes and bed-bugs were norms. I could recall once in Kota Kinabalu that I felt something crawling near my bed while trying to sleep in a humid night without a fan and only realised that it's a cockroach upon jumping off the upper bunk!

The interesting part would be the stories of one seeing "something" or felt something "weird". It didn't matter who he/she was as it could cause the sensations to both us as swimmers and the officials! I was fortunate not to have those experience by being more respectful of the surroundings....! Whew....

The urge to travel still exist in me but it's not easily fulfilled with limited leaves available as well as resources [think mortgages...!]! The urge has been further amplified since our first actual family holiday in Beijing back in 2004.

Having said that, I was and still am very excited when I received an Xmas gift (which is very rare) that has once again flamed the fire in me for more travel adventures. I'll certainly list out plenty of places I want to visit. A masterplan will be in the works soon but bring on the Kiwi land and Land of the Rising Sun, hopefully soon and with fellow adventure-seekers, esp the person who gave me the gift...

I stumbled upon this book collection while staying over at my aunt's place in Singapore and out came my camera. How befitting it is to have the photo of the gift taken alongside The World Book collection that belongs to my uncle.

Thank you so very much for the book that meant so much to me. So much with so little...

Glutton Nite Out Relishing Korean BBQ

While I am awake at 5am on the very last day of 2009, I had to write about this incident happened few days ago in Sg as it's such a funny experience of which will certainly go down memory lane.

A cousin, AH, is looking at getting a new laptop and I tagged along since we'd be having dinner later with his bro, AY before heading for a night shoot. We headed to Sim Lim Square and I was advised to avoid stores at ground level be it computers or camera gear!

Anyway, it was decided that we would head to Bugis since it's just a short walk from SLS. Korean buffet dinner was the choice the brothers decided. That's one good decision. However, the subsequent decision and action (rather inaction by the other 2 persons) led to the hilarious incident!

We were left with an order form to choose our dishes. Guys being guys, we left the ordering with AH to hasten the ordering process with a single decision-maker. I recalled AH asked me, "Do you eat everything?" and it didn't hit me (and AY) until much later!! I wouldn't say this led to us being regret for what AH did or what AY and I didn't do but what a surprise we had.

The dishes kept coming and coming, filling up our table that's meant for 4 seaters comfortably. This was even after we started emptying the existing dishes! AY started to feel full from looking at the plates on the table. The look on our faces would have been "the moment", but alas, we were all shocked at the amount of food we had to have and would have to relish!


Obviously, AY and I were curious what else would there be. So, we asked and the response we got hit us so hard we were in a fit of laughter, realising the impact of the question AH posted earlier. AH literally ticked every meat in the order form, minus mutton! All sorts of pork, beef, chicken and prawns with various flavours!

AY indeed went out for fresh air a few times but he was the first to "quit" the adventure. Glory probably belongs to me that dinner that lasted almost 90mins of continuous eating, thanks to AH!

It was certainly a memorable glutton nite with these 2 brothers of mine, one of whom will never be ordering food again (no prize for right answer) and if he did we'll make sure it's not everything in the menu again! Nevertheless, it was a great dinner - "sum"-tious yet delirious!

The brethren
p/s: The walk for the night shoot was indeed helpful. The next morning, I was woken up early to clear my bowel while AY was feeling full still!

Men of Movember 2009

Although I am not possible to grow a moustache, I involved myself in another way for charity, Movember. Movember is held annually in the month of, well, November whereby moustache is grown and maintained for the entire month. The purpose of this is to raise the awareness of men's health, specifically prostate cancer and depression.

When I was asked to photograph some of these men for the purpose of using them in 2010 calendar for their company, I gladly jumped onboard. The best part of it was one copy of the calendars with the participants autographs was sold at $400 through auction during the company's Xmas dinner. In total, $1400 were raised through the 2010 calendar sales alone which were selling like hot cakes!

Anyway, here is the group shot.

Counting Down

The countdown has began and I'm actually not referring to the festive seasons. I can't hardly wait for next week to arrive as I will be back in my hometown. After some difficult months, the prospect of seeing my folks, relatives and close ones certainly replenishes the positiveness in me.

I can't wait for my family's Vietnam trip to come in about 10 days and I'm sure there will be quality time spent in fooling around with my folks, hopefully. I guess it's about time for me to make the effort in getting to know more about them, especially dad due to some personal reasons.

Before the Viet trip, I get the honour of covering a friend's wedding in our good ol Penang. It will be spread over 3 days and I hope to withstand the humidity!

How can I forget the company close friends after being away for some time. It doesn't really matter where we meet or where to eat. What I cherish most is the time we get to be together. Having said that, I'd prefer somewhere relaxing with not much of loud music for us to actually catch up rather than headbanging.

I hope to bring the very best out of this trip. Perhaps, I shall quote this from someone "Sleep is for the dead".

An Awesome Experience with The Grand Illusionist

I attended the performance by the great David Copperfield about 3 weeks back, 15th August 2009. I've always been fascinated by what he has done in the past. When it was mentioned by a friend that David will be touring Australia, I decided that I would not want to miss this opportunity to see him perform live.

Oh yeah, Webster the duck made some appearances too....! He walked through concrete steel, reminiscence of the same feat through The Great Wall, "puppetted" a maroon-coloured tie of an audience, wound himself shorter, made a piece of "magic" paper levitates/skips then turned it into a rose for a lady, made a group of audience disappeared on stage and reappeared at least 30m away in the crowd and had audiences gave random some numbers similar to his grandpa's 2 license plates.

It was truly an experience forever etched in me. His feats, though may be illusions, are certainly a form of inspirations and motivations.

Oh yeah, David Copperfield has put on plenty of weight and no longer his skinny self in the 80s and 90s! I thought he was a double!

Another tick off from my bucket list.....!

Living My Dream Sensibly

Some say he eats bullet to fly while others say he chomps silvery matters for ferocity that piss him off. All I know is that he's the Silver Bullet.......!

Well, I will be living one of my dreams in 2 sleeps and in line with my AIM (Aspiration, Inspiration & Motivation). All these while I have been driving "boring" cars. By that, I didn't mean they are not good but just normal. However, the FIATs that I drove (drive whenever available when back in Pg) are interesting that they are rear-wheel and that has actually made me preferred rear-wheel-drive cars. Other cars I have driven are '79 Civic, Kelisa, small Chev, '85 Civic Shuttle and '06 Yaris YRS Sedan. While I'm having these cars, my friends have the lowered Civic, Type R, Skyline, 180SX, Silvias, AE86, Supra, WRX, EVO, Merc, BMW, Minis, Golf GTI and the likes.

If you're still wondering the car that ticks the item on my bucket list, think practical but fast; small but big; and gentle yet ferocious! Read on and I'll get to that.....

There have been a few options that I was looking at. BMW 120d was one for the same reason that my FIAT gave me. It's has 50:50 weight distribution, 7.6sec for naught to 100 and it's BMW. However, there is a premium to it with disadvantages like tight rear legroom and small boot capacity. Further to that, the 120d doesn't have the "cult/iconic" status like its elder siblings 135i, 335i, M3 and M5. Having said that, I almost ended getting it (thanks to a friend who was waiting for his M3 delivery)! Another friend also put me into perspective.

Then, there was the WRX. Subaru does make some wonderful cars. The all-wheel-drive (AWD) that gives symmetry, thus, safety. On the other hand, there have been saying that should one go to the AWD path there won't be a turn back. Another analogy would be "Once tasted black, won't go back"! Ultimately, Subaru is still a Japanese car which may not be as refined and luxurious.

So, what are my requirements? From the above description, you would have probably listed out the following:
- Cult status with a heritage of being a thoroughbred
- Practical but tamely fast when call upon
- Small but big in terms of boot space and legroom at the rear
- Luxury but affordable without paying through my nose

Lexus IS250 may just fill the spot but it's still a Jap.

Audi A3? Hmmm....compact, stylish and decently fast but not a cult/icon.

Golf GTI? It's close, very close.......! But it's not there yet.....!

How about Golf GTI Pirelli Limited Edition of which this is the 2nd time having a Pirelli edition with the 1st edition done in 1983, totaling 10,500 units worldwide! So, what are the differences between the P edition and the regular GTI?

1) Full leather with yellow stitching, P Zero tyre designs on the seats and electric lumbar support with seat warmer
2) Titanium-varnished 18" alloy wheels with the spokes representing Pirelli's P and P-zero tyres 225 60 ZR18!
3) Darkened rear lights
4) 4 disc brakes

The more interesting part:
5) 169kW translating into 229bhp and 300nm torque (147kW, 200bhp, 280nm)
6) Naught to 100 in blistering 6.6sec with the packaged P Zero tyres (6.9s), top speed 245kmph (233kmph) with the 6-speed DSG transmission which is automatic manual without clutch pedal!
7) Combined consumption of 8.1/100km (8.0/100km)
8) Bumpers with similar body colour while the regular GTI has black coloured bumpers

For your information, I didn't get the yellow though it is the colour available only to the Pirelli version. I don't want to look like a taxi, in this case a fast taxi!

With the specs, I'm very sure it smokes most cars on the road. I don't have to live with the agony of being "bullied" on the road like those friends during uni. [Frestyler, Calpo/Froggy, Johnny were some of them!]

Mom & dad, don't you worry about me going nuts without being sensible. Check out the image below. What's power without control? Or in Pirelli's version, Power Is Nothing Without Control.
Did I mention practicality? It's a 5-door with 330l boot space. It certainly can fit my parents' luggage and my dad can concentrate on the driving in unfamiliar circumstances without worrying about clutch pedal! Perhaps, the latter is an excuse!

On that note, I'll try to get some shut eyes after some days with the twitching of my fingers imagining the paddle shifts, the lurching of my shoulder from the car's pulling power and the humming of the acceleration with gear shifting as well as the combination of the three together!

MJ Tribute in Melbourne's Fed Square

Attending the King's concert is one of the items in my bucket list. I was so hoping that the "This Is It" tour would travel Down Under of which was actually in his plan sometime next year. Unfortunately, it will never eventuate with his passing on 25 June 2009 (morning of Aus 26 June 2009).

As a consolation, I decided to head to the last minute planned gathering for the Memorial & Tribute to Michael Jackson in Federation Square on 8 July 2009 with a frosty sub-5C at 3am with another friend.

Perhaps, they will finally leave you alone but you are not alone. Thank you for your music that have contributed to many in various forms.

Let us all forget the controversies of Jacko, rather, let the legacy of Michael Jackson lives on eternally.

Michael Jackson

Less than a month from his comeback, the King of Pop shockingly died of cardiac arrest on Thursday 25 June 2009 (Friday morning, Australian time). When I woke up to the "breaking news" on the TV, I thought it must have been another rumour cooked up by the tabloids. However, that sad news was confirmed before 8am AEST. His albums are all sold out by the time I got off work and were looking for them in a few stores.

I shed some tears from reading the news, articles and those tributes shown on TV. The memories of us performing his song "Heal the World" in a dinner after a competition, doing the Moonwalk (or attempting it back then), watching some of his music videos on a bus and singing some of his hits out of tune seems not too long ago! It's just that I was so looking forward to his comeback performance, new songs and the rumoured new dance move.

Invinsible was MJ's latest and least popular album that came out in 2001 with roughly about 10mil prior to his passing. I bought it when it first came out in 2001. By selling only 10mil copies, it's by far better than most artists' level but poor comparing to his standard.

The more popular he became, the more the public demand from him and the more privacy he lost. Michael Jackson is for sure very talented but also tormented in more ways than one.

I wish all the controversies died with Jacko but his legacy as the one and only King of Pop lives on forever.

Fish Leong

Some songs from Fish Leong 梁靜茹. I think both are simple yet meaningful.....! LOL

whoALSE Has Relocated

Yep....whoALSE has moved and that is the reason why there were some very quiet periods. What I meant is the physical relocation rather than digital.

I am still waiting for my broadband Internet connection to be ported over to the new place and it seems like end of this week. However, a friend passed me the wireless 3G modem/dongle to keep me occupied, not that I'm idling since I have plenty to do after the relocation.

Finally, I have a place to call my own and I can do whatever I wish to it with no restrictions. Excitement is the term to describe what I am feeling now. New place, new fittings/appliances unlike the old place I rented whereby most, if not all, are pretty worn out!

These are just a little preview of how it is looking. Of course, I have a bit of tidying up to do prior to any more photos being taken.

Wisdom Lost

Well, I had lost my wisdom on Friday afternoon! The wisdom I'm referring to is my wisdom tooth that had been bugging me for many years. It was the phobia of having the extraction surgery after the experience of removing 2 sets of pre-molars (milk and permanent) over 16 weeks in my early teens. That is one tooth every fortnight with the permanent set barely protruded out from the gum!

The dentist advised me to take the medication 2 hours after the surgery. That last hour is the most agonising of which I was in pain and feeling chilly though I had a jumper on as well as the heater switched on while the temperature outside was hovering aroun 18C sunny!

A good old friend actually picked me up after the surgery and bought/cooked me porridge and soup! Thank you......

I am recovering but it's a whole lot better now.

Friendships

The Mansion in Werribee ParkThere were some cute moments before this snap (think crab's movements) Geelong HostsUncle, The Legend, with his Apprentice (depending on which topic, could be a reverse)Wii Fit Hula Hoop moments (I beat them all with 314)!I'm not bad at Yoga too!

In the last few weeks, I have had some friends visiting Melbourne with a couple staying over my humble place. It's tiring but certainly fun to be able to catchup.

We visited The Mansion in Werribee, Torquay and had a BBQ over at a friend's house in Geelong. There were some memorable moments like the group pic above in The Mansion, the "Tua Ki" heat-stroke indicent in Torquay, the group pic where we dipped our feet into the cooling seawater in Torquay (friends' cameras which we are still waiting for the pics), the Hokkien song by Chicken Wing, sharing of medical knowledge by the Doc and Uncle's awesome stories.

There were some Wii Fit sessions too and I didn't know Wii Fit actually means one has to be quite fit to accomplish some of the exercises. Hula Hoop sessions, some Yoga poses and muscle toning are notable ones where we still need a lot more practices (just to note, I need not as much as the Doc....LOL).

We grew up with one another as well as going through some ups and downs together. I guess that one tiny little strand of string has bonded us together for life. Friendships are forever but it's still up to us to at least make an effort to cherish them. That effort was definitely apparent here.

Happy Easter