Sanity… is for the Weak

Got myself a Blackbird, Fly a while ago, and have been going back to old-school film photography messing around with with it.

The Blackbird, Fly or BBF is a twin lens reflex (TLR) film camera like the old Rolleiflex, but using more easily available 35mm film instead of the usual medium format 120’s.

Taking pictures with it, I’ve come to realise a few things:

1. I’m re-learning to compose my shots and to take into account lighting and shadows. Digital photography has spoilt me somewhat with automatic settings and ease-of-use so much that I just snap without really thinking. It’s not really an issue since it’s digital, and I can simply delete rubbish shots, but isn’t it nicer to have just about every shot you take come out perfect?

2. With the view-finder located on the top of the camera, the perspective and composition of the picture immediately changes. Many of us are used to bringing the camera up to head-level to take pictures, simply because the view-finder is located on the back of the camera. Even with the advent of digital photography, the LCD screens, though large these days, are still located on the back, and so necessitates that the user bring it up to eye-level to compose a shot. With the TLR, shots are taken from about waist high, and it reminds me strangely of how a child might see the world.

3. Made mostly out of plastic, the camera feels very much like a toy. But like the Lomo cameras which are similarly made of plastic, it works, and gives funky lo-fi images with high colour saturation and even the occasional light leakage. It’s weird, but I think I’ll call it “artistic” instead.

4. The most common comment I get with the camera is: “Wow! That’s a really old-school style of camera”. Usually followed almost immediately by: “What do you mean it’s not digital?!?”

Going to mess around with it some more. Look out for more shots from the BBF in the flickr set.

:Links:
+flickr set
+SuperHeadz
+Multiple X Choice
+GrannySnaps

Got me a new set of cans!

Audio-Technica ATH-ESW9’s.

Sounds very sweet, especially in the mids and lows. I’m still breaking the phones in though, so this may change. The leather padding is surprisingly comfortable and doesn’t get all that sweaty even in our tropical heat. The only complaint is that phones are quite narrow across the head, and pinches my ear somewhat (maybe because I’ve got a big head, and oversized ears?), so extended wear is a little on the uncomfortable side. But other than that, I’m really happy with the cans. Sound isolation isn’t all that great, because I can still hear what’s going on around me in the office through the phones, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if using them on the streets (so as to hear coming traffic!).

Currently listening to:
+Quincy Jones: Big Band Bossa Nova

We finally got around to sending the furkids of to the doggie day care at K9 Kulture, and I think it’s been a great decision. From what the handlers have told us, both of the dogs are slowly coming out of their shell, and building confidence to play with others.

As a plus point, all that energy spent on long walks and lots of play time means that they’re tired out by the time we go pick them up ~ they sleep like angels on the trip home, and will nap till dinner time. And feeding time at home is fuss-free; put the bowl in front of them and they just wolf it down and head straight back to sleep! No more sad puppy eyes or persistent whining when we chuck them out in the back yard for the night.

I think we’ll make this a weekly routine, and send them to the day-care once a week, and given the rather bad experience we had with the neighborhood pet hotel on a previous holiday, we’ll probably board the furkids with K9 Kulture the next time we go on a trip.

Highly recommended.

K9 Kulture
110 Turf Club Road,
Singapore 288000

Email: josiah@k9kulture.com
Tel: (65) 6314-9363
Fax: (65) 6468-5363

We had breakfast at Picotin, and as expected the food was pretty good ~ I especially like the *huge* mug of hot chocolate; real hot chocolate mind, not just the usual milo you’d expect. I recommend the UK or French breakfast set on the menu if you’re a big eater like me, otherwise the waffles are a pretty light option. The “Healthy” breakfast option didn’t really appeal to me though ~ rabbit food is not in my opinion, breakfast.

We brought the furkids along with the intention of checking out the doggy day-care next door, K9 Kulture, but they were rather busy, so perhaps we’ll go again next time. I think the two furkids are starting to develop some anti-social behavior, to the point that Tess is highly afraid of other dogs, and would start getting aggresive ~ our fault for not giving them more opportunities to socialise. Perhaps this doggy day-care might just be the answer….

Scored a Soul Eater bag, courtesy of One - thanks bro!

Tess in a face off with the neighborhood cats…

Nothing much going on folks; just work and more work.

Weather was fine today, and since sword class was cancelled, we decided to bring the furkids to the beach for a swim.

Lunch was at Bora Bora, a very doggy friendly place ~ they will provide pet owners with a huge iced-water bowl to keep the furkids cool. Not only that, the food and the service is really excellent, and the beach front view just adds to the plus points for this cool little hang-out.

After a day out playing in the surf and long walks, we all went home and had a nice long nap:

Sunday Night Movie
Went out in the evening and caught The Golden Compass. Great F/X, and pretty good acting, but somehow the plot was just a little too bland for me ~ there wasn’t that grand sense of a sweeping epic or even the fantastic that we got from Stardust. Perhaps I was still a little tired from the beach?

Been raining the whole of yesterday, so the furkids spent it shivering and generally being sulky.

Could you say “No” to a hug from these sad puppy eyes?

“Cry ‘Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war;”
- Marc Anthony, Julius Caesar

I wonder if there are sizes to fit my whippets…..?

:Links:
Organic Armour
Julius Caesar

Was out walking the dogs a few days ago, and I came across a pet basket (from Ikea, by the looks of it) dumped at the bottom of a nearby block of flats.

Tess gave me a soulful look at that point in time and looked rather pointedly at the basket. I got the hint, and so brought it back, cleaned it up and reused it.

She looks happy now… except when Stanley decides kick her out and use it for himself….

Do your bit for the environment, ok? Even my dogs agree.

:Link:
Tips on 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Waste hierarchy

Brought the furkids to Turf City a few weeks ago, partly to check up on the new car, and for them to get a little exercise. Tess was happy to go off-leash; scampering about (it used to be the horse racing track after all…).

For this little doggy, her power to weight ratio is just way off scale. We shall bring them back there again.

As usual, my dog doesn’t look too impressed.

Must. Resist. Urge. To Laugh. Like. Dr Evil….

*fails*

Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

Stanley’s eye was giving him problems, so we brought them down to the vet on Sat. Luckily, Eugene’s family so we could get an appointment easily.

Good thing about cousin Eugene’s clinic? It’s almost right next to Lana Cake shop, so we popped over to get some cakes, but they were out of the chocolate fudge sponge cake (gotta pre-order those…), so we got a fruit cake instead. However, for first timers to the shop, it can be a little intimidating. There are no samples, no menus, nothing. Just a lady with a clipboard behind an antique counter, asking the moment you step in if you’ve a reservation. Definately not a candidate for a GEMS award anytime soon.

But still, the cake was very, very nice ~ even for E-Lynn, who’s not a fruit cake kinda girl.

Next time, we call ahead and order the fudge

Lana Cake Shop
36 Greenwood Ave.
Tel : 64665315
Open: Tue - Sat

One thing about learning swordsmanship in Singapore, is that you can’t walk down the street with a sword (or any weapon!) openly on your shoulder. Even if you have a licence to own and practice with it.

So, here’s the (semi-)official PHEMAS swordbag….

…. except that my dog seems to prefer it as his bedding for a nap, wasters and all.

Uploaded a bunch of old pictures of the dogs:

Aren’t they cute? ^_^

Was on duty yesterday, so I’m spending today resting up.

Reunion Dinner was as usual at Mom’s; but Dad had to rush a poject, so he’s stuck in Cambodia this year.

The two furkids had a grand time at Mom’s though:

An Aspiring Swordsman
I’ve pretty much narrowed my choice of steel sword down to Pavel Moc’s Violet or Embleton:

Now to see how much it’s gonna cost….

Thank goodness for the Roomba.

Tess wasn’t too impressed with it though…

Merry Christmas, everyone.

From:

Delta Green, Wifey, and the 2 furkids.

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

John Lennon, Merry Christmas (War Is Over)

Was French Toast (or Bombay Toast as some call it here) with some fresh fruit.

Hungry… Whippets
Speaking of food, we’re out of doggy biscuits. Stanley ate the last batch, the greedy boy!

As if it’s not enough, after finishing his, he tried to steal some of Tess’s biscuit! Looks like it a trip to the petshop soon.

iFuture
We dropped by the Science Centre on Sunday night for the launch of the new iFuture (what’s this with the prefix of “i-” on everything “tech” anyway?) exhibit, with the President, His Excellency, Mr SR Nathan as the Guest of Honor.

I won’t comment much on the dog-and-pony show about how infocomm and technology will change the lives of Singaporeans by 2035 (well, duh!), but some of the gadgets on show were especially drool-worthy:

A Segway PT and a PS3. What more can a tech-geek want?

*swoon*

Humor
Saw this at a wine-tasting booth while at the exhibition.

ROFLMAO XD XD XD

Today marks the very first photo exhibition organised by the Singapore Flickr Meetup, held at Gone Fishing.

Kudos to espion, sleepydays, *beezy* and others for organising this great event.

A pity that I had to babysit the doggies today, or I’d be inside talking to everyone! But still, I had fun, and it’s great to meet up once again with everyone. And I think the doggies had quite a bit of fun today too…

Here’s wishing all Buddhist friends a blessed Vesak Day.

In Other News
Flying tomorrow. Wheeeeeee!!!!!!

Was playing catch with the dogs the other day ~ Whippets in motion are a joy to watch; grace and speed in one lean package. Beautiful.

And they show it with different antics:

Can’t blame them I suppose, we’ve been neglecting the housework so spent Sunday cleaning house and doing laundry ~ no playtime for the furkids.

A little late in posting this, but we did find a rather nice Italian Muscatel the other day over at Paragon.

Sweet and slightly bubbly, this wine can easily pass as a dessert wine all by itself. Funny thing is, where you’d expct the vinyard’s product label pasted on the bottle, there is absolutely *nothing*. Just a little wax seal as you see in the picture and a little tag:

Villa Moscatel
Gianni Gagliando
2005

Rainy Days
Been raining almost daily for the past week. Great for napping… ZZzzzzzZZZZzzz

… was Spaghetti al Nero Seppia with Laksa. It turned out pretty well, so I think I’ll be adding this dish to my repertoire from now on. The Squid Ink Spaghetti gave the dish a different tang, that was detectable just above the Laksa, which thankfully, wasn’t too overpowering. And it had great texture as well, very different from the usual pasta ~ smoother and silky-like. Interesting.

But before that, we had brunch today at the Botanical Gardens ~ which was strangely rather crowded, with lots of kids running around. I suppose it’s because the mid-semester break’s here so parents broughts the young ones out. Not complaining, as we brought ours as well:

Not quite Valentine’s Day dinner… but we worked late on Tuesday, so I guess this will have to do?

Oh, and made Molten Chocolate Cake attempt #3 for dessert. Used a new recipie, and tried using one of those egg-beater thingies… which being a $3.50 product from NTUC, fell apart after 5 minutes. But the attempt turned out pretty well better than before. I think I’m getting the hang of it now ~ probably I’m not beating the eggs enough. Probably going to Carrefour over the weekend to buy one of those electric hand-blenders.

The Furkid’s Trip to the Dentist
Brought them over to the vet for teeth scaling last friday. Total damage: $628.00

Ouch.

That does it; they’ll get their teeth brushed everyday from now onwards.

New Restaurant!
Well, not exactly new as it’s been around for a while in the neighbourhood, but it’s the first time we’ve tried it. Serving excellent French Food and Wine, it’s located right along Balestier Road. Feeling like it’s run like a little family business (heck, the waitstaff, manager and chef all looked alike!), it still manages to serve up wonderfully French food and has an impressive range of wines to go with just about anything you might want to order.

Le Troquer
529 Balestier Road #01-01
Singapore 329856
Tel: +65 6736 1070 Fax: +65 6732 5356
Email

I recommend the Baked Cod Fish, as well as the Duck Leg Confit. The Foie Gra was… not too great. Not bad, but we’ve had better :p

:Review:

Found this while sorting through my shelf the other day:

This is the grand-daddy of D&D, the first edition, the compilation of all the rules since the “Red Box” sets.

Ah, the memories.

Speaking of which, I came across this little quiz that helps you decide your character race & class in D&D 3rd Ed. According to it:

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Ranger Fighter

Alignment:
Lawful Good characters are the epitome of all that is just and good. They believe in order and governments that work for the benefit of all, and generally do not mind doing direct work to further their beliefs.

Race:
Humans are the ‘average’ race. They have the shortest life spans, and because of this, they tend to avoid the racial prejudices that other races are known for. They are also very curious and tend to live ‘for the moment’.

Primary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.

Secondary Class:
Fighters are the warriors. They use weapons to accomplish their goals. This isn’t to say that they aren’t intelligent, but that they do, in fact, believe that violence is frequently the answer.

Deity:
Mielikki is the Neutral Good goddess of the forest and autumn. She is also known as the Lady of the Forest, and is the Patron of Rangers. Her followers are devoted to nature, and believe in the positive and outreaching elements of it. They use light armor, and a variety of weapons suitable for hunting, which they are quite skilled at. Mielikki’s symbol is a unicorn head.

Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy ofNeppyMan (e-mail)

Wifey is Stressed
On the work front, things aren’t going so well for her, as two of her bosses seem to be gunning fo a showdown, with my poor dear in the middle. Here’s wishing we strike the $10-million Toto draw by Singapore Pools. If that happens, she can then happily quit her job and be a Woman of Leisure (her words, not mine).

Until then, looks like we’ll have to continue working, although the doggies seem to be excellent stress-balls for wifey to relax with.

Wishing all, Prosperity, Health and Good Fortune in this year of the Dog ahead.

Reunion Dinner last night was the usual Hot-pot, and it’s always nice to see Pa, who works in Cambodia and only comes back once a month.

Heading off to visit relatives soon.

新年快樂, 恭喜發財!

Finally finished unpacking, washing and drying all the gear. I think we need another holiday. Soon. >_< I think the dogs were tired out too... from watching mummy puttering around the house putting everything back in place, so when she took a nap, Stanley took one too...

Chinese New Year coming up, with tomorrow being New Year’s Eve, will be heading up to Ma’s place for the traditional Reunion Dinner. Most Chinese people enjoy the festivities during this period, as well as the well-deserved break when all businesses pretty much shut down for the next few days - but some how I don’t look forward to it. Probably because it’s so boring ~ nothing is opened, and no much to do except watch re-runs on TV, only the fast food joints are open so no nice meals at restaurants either, and the movies won’t open till Monday or Tuesday at least.

It’s going to be a boring next 4 days ~

It’s been raining since 2am last night, and it hasn’t stopped since ~ 20 solid hours of rain!

It got so cold Tess was shivering all day, the poor dear. I guess that’s the downside of Whippets: they don’t have much body fat so the cold really gets to them.

Still, the rain doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon. Not looking forward to bed-time when we have to chuck the 2 doggies out for the night ~ they have a shelter and nice blankets in the back yard, but it never stops Stanley from complaining.

Busy day despite the rain: dropped by my mom’s for lunch (she’s been complaining that I don’t see her often enough ~ guilty), dropped by in-laws’ for dinner (wifey forgot to bring back her special shampoo & conditioner ‘cos she just re-bonded her hair).

Random Rumble
I’ve realised that I’m starting to lose pictures I’ve uploaded on flickr. As I’m still using the basic free service, all I get is just the last 200 pictures displayed.

So, is there a kind soul who will sponsor me a flickr Pro account?

One more thing:
A big Hello! to Elen from Indianapolis, IN. An old friend, and fellow gamer. Congrats on your wedding!

And she’s 5 years old today:

Although I think she’s already “found” her Birthday present… we woke up this morning to an extremely dead rat in the backyard… and Tess looking extremely guilty. Oh well, at least the both of them were all right with no scratches or anything.

On the other hand, I think the rat at least explains the foul smell that’s been coming from the neighbour’s house recently. They just seem to keep the oddest, oldest junk that will put a rag-and-bone man to shame, and the neighbour just behind us keeps an outdoor kitchen… with an open drain. A rat’s most conducive environment. I just hope that the rat has not has a chance to breed yet, though it seems a slim hope, as the rat was pretty huge. We’ll see…

Wifey’s Christmas Party
On a separate note, Wifey’s CPA organisation had their annual Christmas Celebration for the kids of the neighbours and an adopted Charity, The Children’s Aid Society. Of note, it seems that the orphans were a lot more aggresive and pro-active then the children brought by the members. The orphans were more talkative and willing to try our fun & games , while the other kids tended to shy away and some refused outright to participate. I suppose that the orphans were pretty much had to fend for themselves since young, while the others led a more sheltered life.

I suppose in today’s ageing society, where children are few and precious, the parents tend to protect the child more. But wouldn’t this lead to a generation of “softies” where the drive to explore or experiment is stunted? I mean, I already see it on a day-to-day basis at work, where perfectly healthy young men shirk National Service by all manner of execuses and aim to become a clerk or driver. Military Service is once-in-a-lifetime experience that enriches a young man, a time where life-long friendships are made, and a rite of passage where a boy becomes a man… and yet some of the boys I know express joy at being classified as a clerk when their time for enlistment is up!?!

Are we turning into a nation of weaklings? A deep question to ponder…

Or should I say, we’re having dinner over at my In-Laws, because they wanted to see the doggies…

I swear my mum-in-law absolutely adores our dogs. Proof of theory: First thing she says when we get off the car was “Where are the 2?”

Anyway, I don’t care, we’re having Pork Knuckles for dinner (probably because the doggies will get the bones later…). Yummy.

How wierd am I?

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you’re weird… But too damn weird to do anything about it!

That’s funny. I thought I was wierder than just 50%.