Christmas Day holiday, spent it out taking photos, eating prata, and playing pool. My first pool game like almost ever (not withstanding all the little failed tries when I tag along with the other guys...)


The oldest ship still sailing on the seas of the world; the 95-year-old MV Doulos, now berthed at Harbourfront. Was once a wartime supply ship, now a floating book fair...


The beautiful basement of Orchard Central, before the foodcourt opens, and the peace and quiet is lost amongst food smells and chatter~

The beautiful lighting of the basement...


Taking the lift up to the rooftop garden of Orchard Central.


My pool experience today wasn't quite as disastrous as all my previous attempts... haha!

Stepping from 2009 to 2010 really soon, what lies ahead?

It's another grey, wet, cold and drab Saturday... I want to go out! I want to cycling! I want to go take photos! I hate rain on weekends so much...


Thomas, who says turtles cannot be on bikes? =)

Damn sian today... Super sian... Bloody hell... I hate monkeys, I hate dogs; they always look happy, always without a care in the world. I so envy them. So much.

In a perfect world, all dogs should be nice and friendly and cuddly... Like Blackie from Mawai Eco Camp... I hate stray dogs! Especially when they bark and chase me when I'm out on the trail cycling! When I'm alone in the middle of some jungle somemore! I can't enjoy my ride if I have to keep looking around for any signs of stray dogs while cycling! Haiz... at least we don't have tigers or lions to worry about... =)

It's been 6 months since the back-breaking incident in my life thus far... While it's not been bothering me too much, it has not gone away totally as well, always sending me ad-hoc reminders never to forget about it... I've been totally grateful to whoever is looking after me up there in the heavens, and also grateful to all the wonderful people in my life. I'm totally grateful to be still walking, still running, still cycling. To be able to move about freely is a gift that we all take for granted. Thank heavens, thanks peoples =D

I hate smoking! I hate smoking! I hate smoking!!!! I hate smoking! I hate smoking! I hate smoking!!!!

Quite busy week for me, even though my main project for the year has been completed... so many little little errants to catch up... super tired and low motivation... feeling too tired to even go for my cherished biking and running sessions...


Met up with the FD Shooters for the Vivo anniversary fireworks. Had a meeting with my STK supervisor in the morning, which he had to evaluate me and sign my confirmation letter, then he asked me to join the Triz course he's in charge of. The course on only 3 days later! But anyway, the shooting went quite ok, apart from my photos which looked quite cropped on the sides... I want to try better again next time!!




Playing with longer shutters this time around, some pics came up nice, but many came up quite over-exposed... Try again next time!! Note: Must remember to bring tripod mount for shoots! =p

My Triz course friends, all strangers prior to the trip. But after a trek in knee deep mud, sitting through an afternoon of lessons, we sort of became quite ok friends, especially after a few beers... =)

It's really nice to be having the chance to go to Mawai Eco Camp on a company-paid trip =D

I quite enjoyed the kampung lifestyle, if only the snoring beside me at night wasn't there...~

It took me 45 minutes to get from Joo Koon MRT station to my Tuas plant this morning, usually just 15 minutes bus ride away. 2 double-deckers came and went, packed full. It is like SBS Transit decided that it wanted to bring back the feel of the early S'pore years, when bus services were infrequent, and bus drivers stop their buses several bus-lengths away from the bus stops even when you press the bell early and properly. And when buses were dark, dirty, dusty and smell funny. It sure didn't help that the main bulk of the people taking the bus seemed like stuck back in time as well. I spotted an iPhone, and a Crumpler bag, and they seemed like F16s flying amongst Jurassic-age Pterosaurs! Ok, too much petty complains... I just want my buses on time! And at least give me a space to stand when it reaches my bus stop!!

Remember the snake I caught on camera at Dairy Farm trial about a month ago? I was reading about the snakes in S'pore, when I discovered that this is not an Elegant Bronzeback. It's actually a new species only just discovered in S'pore in 2003! Wow!


Its real name's the Red-necked Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis Kcopsteini), as can be seen from it's reddish colour behind the head.

This song kept looping inside my head... and my MP3 player... and my Window Media Player... I could never understand why some songs can take root inside my head! Lyrics? Tune? Style? Vocals? Hmmm... but yep I do find 卓文萱 quite so irresistible too... ;-)

I was wasted after a drinks session. For my first time, I felt pretty terrible after drinking, although it could be due to my new bedtime regime ever since I started working. It seems that no amount of coffee, alcohol or stimulant could repel the avant of sleep at 10.30-11pm every night... although adrenalin seems to help to a certain extent... The effects of lack of sleep also seems to be much more pronounced now; I really do feel myself getting extremely grumpy and stupid (as in low IQ, especially when it isn't high to start with!) after bad nights! No Kel will not become a grumpy ugly uncle!!

This little mount of aluminium. Under a marco lens, it looks pretty much like a real snow-capped mountain. But it's barely a centimeter high. Like my job, so magnificently insignificant.

Job security has been a worry... I've never felt totally secure ever since the first few days of work. Yet I could not been sure about jumping ship, or sticking with it till a big wave comes and throws me overboard. In addition to my other big insecurities in my life. Till then, it's just looking forward one pay day at a time... and constantly convincing myself that the ground under me won't be giving way just so quickly yet...

Feeling much more relaxed at work, after I've finished the testing of a big project, and can wrap up for this year, although there are still a couple of reports and a presentation before the project's really closed... Really pleased because despite of the tribulation suffered in the course of the project, causing so many frustrating delays, but the products still passed testing reasonably well, so yay! Especially that I had to take over from my senior and then see out the project at a critical phase of producing and testing the product! Really have to thank my senior and supervisor for all the help too during the times of my lost-ness! I still have a couple of hot potatoes in my care that I have to handle with care, and get them out as soon as possible, those are a worry too, customer's already making noise! But finally, I can see the end of this year, at least. Before the mayhem of next year starts, already seeing a new stock of potatoes coming in for me to cook... fries or mash?

Have been chewing Mentos again, this time at work. The last time this happened was in April, during my exams... now I'm chewing Mentos during all the brain-juice squeezing times at work... Luckily it still seems to work on me... =)

The cleaner aunty at my plant in Tuas has passed away, on the bus, on her way to work early in the morning (those who read the New Paper would know...). Apparently, she suffered a heart attack and burst artery while on the bus, and passed away almost immediately... We were all so shocked when we got the call from her cleaning supervisor. She was a frail lady, yet she insisted on coming to work every single day except Sundays, where she'll go out with her grandchildren. Soft-spoken, and ever so courteous, yet always ready to smile and chit-chat. She always ask before coming in to mop the meeting room floor, where I'll be every morning to check my emails before I start work. She'll always greet me whenever I go to get water from the water cooler. She'll always greet me when I go out for lunch, always reminding me to go early to beat the crowds. She'll never get angry even when I step into the toilet and leave my black safety-shoe prints on the floor. And I'll try to greet her if I see her too. I'll even try to chat with her when I finish lunch early and see her sitting in her chair by the stairs. She even asked if I needed coins to buy drinks from the vending machine just the day before she suffered the heart attack! Now, we'll all get goosebumps whenever we pass by the stairs, with the empty chair and her slippers beside it. And I'll never feel the same whenever I check my emails in the meeting room. It felt worse when we heard that she had to lie for hours on the bus, before the police brought her to the mortuary. And her kin had to wait for two days before they got to see her. So sad, for an old lady to leave without to see her loved ones, without getting her daily hug from her 3-yr old grandson, with seeing her older sister in hospital. At least she left the world with love from all over; the office people, her cleaning partner uncle, even the Bangala worker from our plant came on his own accord to her wake with flowers for her. Really touching. Really sad.

Went with the Snappers to Keppel Harbour. I never knew such a nice place lied at the end of that road! I only knew it hated the construction sites along the main road, which littered it with irritating rocks and cement that threatened and claimed my bike tires and gave me a puncture once!


Got Mas to help me take this... Had to launch off a bench to get some height... I've never been a good jumper haha!! Guessed it that I hated SBJ in IPPTs... =p

Dropping pebbles into the water feature under one of Harbourfront's office towers...

Our "poor-man's" fish-eye lens...

We were captivated by a leaky hose and taking turns to capture it and the wet leaves that it was creating!

The Keppel bridge, leading to the "island"... quite a bloody warm day, although it did leave us with a glorious sunset...

The classy wooden planked seaside boardwalk...

I love the effect of this pic! Like machiam diving into the sea!!

Met two friendly dogs, although Rusco here is more interested in biscuits than me...

Beautiful sunset, but I'm only allowed to enjoy it on weekends...

Have to thank the Snappers for not fxxking me when I was half-hour late... at least not in front of me... =)

Really missing riding my singlespeed GT bike; it has been leaning on the wall, tires flat, since I last swopped it's tires out for my marathon last month. Pumped the tires back up, kitted it up and got it ready to ride, and off to my favourite beach that is Labrador Park...


Playing with auto-bracketing on my Lumix, and then trying out Layers adjustments on Photoshop, which really did wonders with some of my shots!

One of the only rocky beaches left in S'pore, along with many of the unique creatures that only live here... so sad that they're stuck on a vulnerable 100m stretch of coastline, next to potential threats such as oil refineries and thousands of passing ships...

Tree branch, against the sea...

One of the architecture on the jetty, with the setting sun glistening off it...

Me, my bike, the sea, and the setting sun...

Tagged along with my aunt and the Nature Photographic Society to Sungei Buloh for shooting today. They have really good equipment! Like their tripods alone are worth as much as my camera! Some of them are really good too, especially the young man, sort of the teacher of the group, a really experienced and confident nature photog. Although I drifted away from them along the way, as I kept on walking just to keep mosquitoes away from me! Yes, I was pretty much sucked dry by mosquitoes today! Their Depavali breakfast buffet! Till the point I gave up shooting many pictures, and many pictures were blurred, because I was swatting mosquitoes! And the sound of mosquitoes in my ears almost was as loud as the singing of birds and cicadas! Super duper scary!


Saw my first ever wild Oriental Whip Snake today! So so so excited! Found it in the trees while I was looking at a grasshopper... then I saw a pair of eyes also looking at me! I was so excited that when it was climbing away and up the tree, I reached out and grabbed its tail and tried to emulate Steve Irwin and pull it down again with my tripod's legs! But I couldn't see its head, and the snake is mildly-venomous and could strike at me any time, so I decided to play safe and let it go on its way...


What a beautiful snake...


A shed cicada nymph moult, glistening in the sunlight. This guy has been living underground for years, before coming up to moult, and then sing his song and hopefully have some babies, before he dies in a few weeks time... wish him all the best!

Good morning Mr Monitor Lizard! Still a bit blur-blur, and shocked to find so many cameras clicking away at him so early in the morning...

Another one sun-tanning...

Saw three preying mantises today! I love them too! I used to keep a couple as pets during my primary school days, and I love to see them eating mealworms! Although their strike can be very painful and draw blood too...

Saw quite a lot of mudskippers today... Huge ones too! They were always fighting, making huge splashes so indiscretely...

As usual, there were many, many crabs!

Went to the Dairy Farm Trail today. Much less people nowadays, as compared to its opening a few weeks ago... Good! Nice sunshine too, feeling too tired to go cycling after near-cramps from yesterday's riding, but I don't want to waste the beautiful weather...


Saw a Bronzeback (not too sure whether it's an Elegant or Painted Bronzeback...) sashaying across the pathway in front of some excited kids and adults alike. I was so so excited too! I love snakes so much! So excited I was snapping away at it, completely forgetting I had zoom on my lens! So regretting that I should have zoomed in on it much much more! But I'm so happy! I saw a similar snake yesterday on my bike ride too, as well as a coral snake (so deadly it can kill me for the rest of all my reincarnations over & over again!), but I didn't have my camera on my ride... Spotting more snakes recently, good sign? Good for me though...


So many grasshoppers too! Until I got sick of photographing them haha! Lost so many pictures to camera shake though... my hands seemed especially shaky this weekend! The breeze doesn't help either! So pissed!


Some bikers were chasing the monkeys around on their bikes... Can't tell who's the monkey in that situation... =p


Nice Sunday evening, and another work week beckons...~~

Recently, I discovered that I can't sleep for more than 8 hours, otherwise my back will wake me up! It will start hurting by the 7-8th hour, and nothing I've tried helps (I mean by changing sleeping positions... =p). Guess the bone that broke is probably one of my "lazy bones"; now cannot be lazy and keep lying in bed liao haha!

Need to start running more after work liao. My stamina is plummeting like the US stock market! Must start training so I can enjoy my weekend bike rides more... hehe!

Ever since starting work, I've been amassing a stash of chocolate bars, both self-bought, and some gifts from friends. I've been like a hamster, already hoarding faster than I can eat. Until recently. I've been going through a bar a week, or faster. Need to start looking for more shops to buy cheap and good chocolate from...

Damn virus! I have a Recycler.exe virus on both my computers, and all of my USB media! Bloody irritating! Managed to remove it from my thumbdrives, but still couldn't delete it from my computers... Rubbish antivirus programs can't detect it at all! At least a downloaded program allowed me to stop it from spreading around, but the fact that it is still sitting in my computers is really irritating me...

The swimming pool was seriously overcrowded today, especially the full-sized pool where 4 kids swimming classes were going on at the same time! Couldn't really swim with everyone else squeezed into the middle 3 lanes... This led to me discovering that the medium sized pool actually has a place to sit in the pool, and have high-pressure hydrojets massage your back and feet! Totally enjoyable! I spent half-hour just sitting there! And another 20 mins lounging on a reclining chair under the afternoon sun... Nice...

No camera this weekend... Sent it to Canon for cleaning, must be real bad because they asked for a week to do it!

A long weekend, but it didn't start too well haha! Went for the movie premier of Phobia 2 at Vivo after work on Friday, and while the older Phobia 1 was good, Phobia 2 was more like a comedy, a bit like the Troublesome Night series from HK many years ago. After the 2 movies, then we went for the entry to St James, although I didn't find it quite as exciting... Slept at somewhere near 4 in the morning, after which I had to get up at 6.30 for my STK staff brief, my god my long weekend! At least got to meet up some of my good old crappy colleagues from attachment... hahaha! Caught the last episode of 败犬女王 on tv, man I have a new favourite show! Really touching sia... then after been touched I slept the rest of Saturday away, good old sleep is best!


Went to Sungei Buloh again! This time with my aunt, and we got there like super early! Spent sometime trying to take some sunrise photos at Kranji Park, although all turned out rubbish... need to find the secret... But anyways we were damn lucky, and many many creatures turned up to let us take their photos! I'm quite in love with the place (I'm also in love with BT, Labrador, Changi Beach, Ubin, St John's Island and Kusu Island... hahahah!!), I'll be back!


Changed back my big tires on my Giant, and off we go to the trails! Super duper unfit, as I really struggled on my 3 laps of BT. Especially bad is this fallen tree, where I had to squeeze under the tree, and moving my bike while squatting under the tree. Really hoping my back don't give way again, I'm way far away from home in the middle of the jungle! Starting to time my laps again, after an 8 year gap... Yes I'm thinking of joining the race at BT in November! Only 2 laps Sport category, nothing ambitious, more of for the fun of it hehe, like the triathlon a week ago... still about 10 mins per lap off race pace, if I can't bring it down then I'll have to call off my race plans haiz...


Met up with my mom, sis, grandma, uncle & family at Dairy Farm trail. Then they hiked on the bike trail to BT... we lost track of where the Dairy Farm trail is! My grandma is still going strong and smiling after hiking from Dairy Farm to BT!


My mom going up the steep cement downslope that I hate (so many potholes!)... man I'm tired! I'm always so tired after my weekends! How to work hahaha?!