walk and shoot
colin, my buddy from NS who is now working in Australia, came back recently for a bit, and of course, we had to meet up and hang out and whatnot. So I took the opportunity to take a day off and go out with him to shoot some film. actually, the film has not been used up and it’s still in the camera waiting to be finished. that’s another post for another day.
here are some of the nicer photos i took…
a couple of hogs… hanging out
beautiful tiles
whaddayaknow… a porcelain house
wooooooh square roooooots (ok rectangular, but you get the joke)
pipes for everything
bottom’s up!
here’s colin shooting something
the man and his teh (lovely voightlander lens he lent me for the day)
gong hei gong hei
rather than keep with the tradition of having a new year post on the ang mo new year, i thought i’d do it on lunar new year instead. hahaha. so while the world outside is revelling in the year of the wet wet water dragon (swear i got a little drenched as it made its way across the skies), i’m here, snuggled on my bed, writing this quick post before i go to sleep because there are early early plans tomorrow morning to visit the future-in-laws.
so we are…
we are going through our photos to put together something for a montage. she has got such cute baby photos. i hope our baby is as cute as she is. i just look a little awkward. ha.
so far, no “groomzilla” or “bridezilla” situations yet. fingers crossed.
p/s: we’re about to hit our 3 year mark this week. definitely an achievement. haha.
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so i’ve completed my ukelele course and had quite a bit of fun with it. even though i’m not a virtuoso, it’s not like i’ve wasted my time. i think i’ll make it a point to learn something every year, or try something new. this year, i’m thinking of a more physical activity, like yoga or archery. perhaps painting. ah who knows.
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new challenges for work, so gotta pull up the fancy socks and get there. no matter what, i want to get recognized. had a good talk with my boss last week, and she was spot on about some of my reservations. they’re something i have to work on in the new year. hopefully i can get rid of that side of me. maybe hypnotherapy might work…
christmas 2011
on our last christmas as “legal singles”, we both decided to be rather domesticated and be really nice to each other (and my family as a result). so we both gave each other the mandatory christmas present earlier because we just can’t wait to spend our AWS (a first for me). she got me a pair of B&O earphones and i got her the kate spade wallet she wanted for so long. it is part of my diabolical plan to make her consolidate her multiple purse/wallet arrangement into one wallet to rule them all.
anyway, she sneaked over to my place while i was away at ukelele class, father and microwave in tow and then rushed down to bugis to meet me, where she proudly announced that she is making dinner! so we went to cold storage and bought lots of stuff (and i finally got more bodum glasses. they’re fantastic).
after an hour of toil and lots of beeping, the microwave meal came to light! not bad i must say. the meat were cooked quite well. not dry at all. so there was warm bread, 2 types of chicken, sausage, mashed potatoes, pickled mini cucumbers(my idea) and a mushroom soup. quite a feast and i was quite full then!
so the next morning, it was my turn to cook. i made scrambled eggs, spicy italian sausages, pancakes and bagels for breakfast, and used the microwave ONLY to heat them up before serving. so i think i’m a little better. ha.
but in the end, it’s that warm fuzzy feeling that someone made the effort to do something nice for you, and you can do something nice for the people you love. doesn’t need to be a fantastic spread – even plain porridge and salted eggs will do.
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her post here.
death to glittery vampires
dream is collapsing {inception}
and so it begins
and i hereby declare the commencement of my lifetime obsession with mechanical watches.
i present watch #1 – Tissot Visodate 1957 Heritage Automatic (Model No. T 019.430.16.031.01)
lovely retro looking watch
BMW 6 Gran Coupe
nice.
jean reno plays doraemon in toyota ad
this is too precious not to share
i swear by…
i swear by all that is classically beautiful that we will have a pair of eames chair in our house… maybe 10 years from now, but they’ll stay in the family forever. (mine’s the black one)
women…
mona simpson’s eulogy for steve jobs
We all — in the end — die in medias res. In the middle of a story. Of many stories.
Link to the full eulogy here
sunday afternoon
sunday afternoon, taking a break…
hifi on 99.5, and doggie sleeping on the side…
once in a blue moon
i’m quite sure i’ve used this blog title before, especially when i’ve not updated my blog in a long while. there’s good reason why i’ve been missing in quite a while. allow me to explain…
wedding planning
that’s how many days we have left to our wedding next year, but we’ve not really been focusing on it much. well most of the items have been booked – photographers, videographers, wedding venue, emcees, cirque du soleil, vera wang… you know the usual stuff. we’re going for our fittings this coming wednesday – bridal studio and wedding bands. next up, getting down to the wedding invites list, programme, etc. we’ve also been attending weddings of some friends and family over the last few weeks, and a couple more to come until the end of the year. got some good ideas here and there, but boy, it’s all going to cost a bomb. ah well. it’s just money. can and will be made back eventually. it only happens once in a lifetime 
serene’s wedding at the armenian church
i’ve been spending the last month or so redecorating the house. mum got new furniture for the living room, and i got new stuff for the bedroom. we’ve thrown out tons of stuff, and i think there’s still some to give away here and there. i’ve redecorated my room to make way for…
…chengwei’s yamaha silent piano. (the glossy black surfaces is going to kill me through my OCD) somehow, by divine planning, most of the stuff meant for the room fits just right. her piano managed to fit in that side of the room, where my bed was, right to the edge of the door frame. and as you can see, i’ve painted over wall with her favourite purple. in fact, 2 walls are purple, and 2 white. got a white cupboard to put our clothes, reconfiguring of power outlets and stuff. in fact, i’ve given up my desk and am now working on a laptop pedestal. next time when she’s moved in, i’ll probably have to evac the room when she practices her pieces of “epic proportions”… i decided to do the redecorating in advance because we’ll probably be busy the next couple of months in prepping the wedding, so now’s the time to get things done.
corporatisation
so it’s almost coming to half a year since i’ve joined the big red telco (about to get confirmed). i must say i’ve been enjoying myself doing the things we do. i think my team is probably the one that has the most fun in the whole place. actual work wise, we’re wrapping up an event and a contest, and they were certainly learning experiences. little sagas here and there dealing with people, but most are good. i’m also getting the hang of thinking like a client from a big company (haha). couple of hurdles to cross for some projects soon, especially in managing my agencies, but they’re not giving me sleepless nights yet.
Me time…
i’m attending ukelele lessons with lichen and jiaxin from the office. it’s a hit and miss thing for me. the uke is so small, and my hand is so big that i find it troublesome to change chords. so i can play some parts (easier chords) and miss quite a bit (arthritic fingers lor). we’re trying to learn 2 songs so far, and i think i need a lot more time for practice. now that the room’s settled, think i shall come back home to practice more.
actually, every day seems to be packed tight to the brim for the last 4 weeks. there’s always something to do everyday. even when i took 2 days off to paint the room, that 4-day weekend was up early to pack pack pack and late night to sleep after all the packing. exhausting, but rewarding i guess. don’t see an end to this busy period, but i guess i can’t complain too much about it. just have to power through everything!
next up in the month of november – 2 weddings, events/blogs to set up, wedding preps, pay pay pay pay stuff. tired just thinking about it…
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was randomly thinking just now about how many “screens” we have at home, and realised we have about 9 screens for now (TVs, iPads, Laptops, Smartphones). when she moves in, we probably will end up with 4 more. just a random fact.
punggol
my friend/colleague jiaxin sent me this from the moving words anthology. (hope i don’t get into any copyright trouble by posting it up here…
punggol
by serene boey
These square frames of curly grass,
fresh plots waiting to be storied
with new households rising like reeds along the river,
lie fallow now,
bare like our pristine flat
with its unscratched walls and waiting shelves.
The dress has been returned, the cake is almost eaten.
The pages of our great romance dormant
with routine, tinged with
yearning for home.
Across the open fields,
the kites embrace the empty sky
in ardour of its clear horizon
and this stark prologue before
the page turns, the scene changes
and we watch our walls slowly fill
with snapshots of our passage,
see the belly of this green estate
swell with the shape of new life
and transform at last into home.
can’t wait for my house to be ready…
thanks jiaxin!
Bye Steve. Remember him.
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Remember him not for his trademark black turtleneck, jeans and new balance shoes, or just for the world-changing products he’s brought into existence.
Remember him for being creative enough to have colourful computers when everything was still beige, or making a computer that’s thin enough to slip into a manila envelope.
Remember him for being bold enough to get rid of almost all the buttons on your phone.
Remember him for being the marketing wizard that can have the whole world talk about a phone whose parts have not even been manufactured yet.
Remember for being such a detailed person that he personally oversaw the design of the glass staircase in one of the many shops around the world.
Not many of us will ever get to change the world he did.
Remember him for making a dent in the universe…
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Here’s his famous Stanford commencement address. Still inspiring.
• product of the ‘80s • marketer in sg • major tech junkie or technosexual • twitter addict • amateur petrolhead / photographer • best found on a beach after a couple of dry martinis¶