The world is one big bLuR....

2010-12-28T18:13:00.002+08:00

Yup. Kel's life has taken a different turn of late. A life which is now to be shared with another living person. Not that Kel's complaining too much about it.

It seemed like the heavens have planned for this. Kel was just minding his own business and being his own crappy being till one day, Kel met this person with the same atomic domains but of opposite dipoles, and then suddenly they all aligned and like magic, attracted together. After weeks of awkwardness, shyness and double-guessing, the wall was broken and Kel has a special someone for his life. From the first moment of holding hands, that first hug, the first date, Kel's life has finally became special.

Kel still doesn't understand how somebody could ever fall for him, and stand by him. But in any case, Kel cannot thank the heavens enough, as well as the people around him, for making this miracle happen.

2010-12-04T19:06:00.002+08:00

Kel's life has taken on a different shade of colour over the last couple of weeks. It has been very very sweet, yet very very tiring, at times so so frustrating. But it just seems all worth it. While it's still only in the stages of infancy, Kel definitely hopes and will do his best to make sure it will slowly progress and mature and stand the test of time. Kel sincerely thanks the heavens for this precious chance, and Kel definitely hopes that the heavens will still continue to assist and look out for Kel. For now, Kel's adventure continues... wee~~! =)

2010-11-03T19:01:00.000+08:00

Hahaha!! So Kel~ =p

2010-10-24T13:40:00.005+08:00

Nature vs Man. Nature wins. Always.
EXCEPTIONAL IMAGES WIN THE ENVIRONMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2010

2010-10-17T22:35:00.002+08:00

Kel is not feeling all that happy these days. Kel's feeling that there may be a real need to start looking for something fresh on the workfront, and is feeling damn frustrated about it. Kel's feeling damn lousy on the PR side of Kel's life, and it seems like there's nothing Kel can do to make it better, at least for now... Kel has currently retracted back into his ninja turtle shell, and cherishing his much-needed "loner hours"; time for reflection, wallowing in self-pity and self-demeaning thoughts... not healthy! Come on Kel!! Buts...~

2010-09-07T22:43:00.002+08:00

5 days to Kel's India adventure... Progress report on the state of Kel's readiness level:
1. Absolutely no packing done yet! But I did my Packing List liao so not that difficult to dump everything into the bags...
2. Aunt has lent me a 15-85mm lens, should be wide and good for filling in all the mess and happening into the frame...
3. At least Kel got all necessary medication prepared in " Kel's Mini Survival Bag" from Yuman...
4. Took home my safety shoes from my Tuas cubicle; my safest bet against whatever dirt, water and danger that roams on the streets of India... looks presentable when worn with shirt and pants too!
5. Haven't changed money yet...
6. Haven't backed-up my laptop and deleted whatever shouldn't be in it in case I lose it there...

2010-09-04T23:45:00.003+08:00

It has been a busy, jam-packed two weeks in Kel's life. Work, play, and friends. Kel's just picked up inline-blading, which resulted in Kel's sore wrists and backside, naturally my best blading stunt so far is falling down and standing up again! Have to thank my colleagues Zi Xiang, Sheena and Waichee for accompanying Kel on his blading sessions! Without you people Kel will never have the guts to learn blading! Kel's just bought his blades too! Can practise after work liao... hehehe... only 7 days to Kel boarding the plane to India!

Thanks to Audrey... Kel got to attend the YOG Closing Ceremony! It wasn't as spectacular as the opening, but I did feel the sadness in seeing the flame go out, and the YOG ending in S'pore... even though I watched nought of the sports events at all!

Thanks Audrey!!

Thanks to Yuman & Yiin Fan, Serene and Yanyi, Kel went to the zoo again! A lesson was learnt... must go to the zoo early! 3 hours is definitely not enough! At least Kel got really really close for the first time to a colugo, lemurs, sloths and a mousedeer! Exciting!

Thanks to Serene, Yuman and Yanyi again... Kel got to laugh an entire night away! Of course the beer helped to loosened Kel up a bit bit hehehe... Really nice of Serene to spring a cake surprise for YY and me, even though she just knocked off from work... And I was really surprised by Yuman's present for me! I really have to thank the heavens for blessing Kel with all the nice people in Kel's life... I don't know what Kel did in this life to deserve all these... but Kel really has to learn how to repay all these people! Before Kel gets retribution for owing all the nice people in my life! =p

2010-08-15T23:25:00.003+08:00

Kel's weekend's a rojak-mixed bag of feelings. Especially when the department head calls you up to chit-chat amidst your Friday evening dinnertime nap.

I always wonder how my life can be as simple as I want it to be. It is only just a decision to make. But how many people choose to go down that street? Some people who think they are successful in their life will chide this way of thought of a simple life. Is that really so, that one cannot be successful when living one's simpler life? Where life is life, what Mother Nature meant it to be.

Kel's feeling patriotic, proud to be Singaporean. At least before the little niggles start to irritate me into complaining-mode again. But I promise I will sincerely appreciate how lucky we are, at the very least for this month. Until Kel rides on the metal wings to India.

2010-08-10T23:23:00.002+08:00

Kel has a huge head-heartache now. Kel doesn't really feel like going to sleep now. Kel feel's like he won't be able to go to sleep. Kel feels torn apart. Kel feels guilty. Kel feels really lousy. Kel feels like throwing down everything and walking into the sunset. Can he?

2010-08-04T22:19:00.000+08:00

Good job Kel!!

Now, next; learn to sleep earlier. =)

2010-08-01T21:33:00.003+08:00

Shit Kel's going into another phase of grumpiness and loner-ness. How come always like that? Not good. Not good. With my guy friends this is still managable because I can always resort to pure crap-talk to kill the inner-grump. But with the ladies, grumpy Kel will always crawl back into his ninja-turtle shell and into silence. Like this how? Damn Kel. Not good. Not good. Come on Kel~~

The fireworks photos from this weekend; I like! Back to work after a week out, to be honest, it's like first day of school; I'm getting the jitters! Partly because I couldn't manage to settle my urgent work before the reservist week, now I'm worried about my projects. I'm worried about the people. I'm worried about myself. Come on Kel~~

2010-07-30T21:44:00.003+08:00

I forgot to pay my credit card bill on time again... left the bill in my work file and clean forgot 'bout it... stupid stupid Kel... stupid stupid Kel...

2010-07-25T21:40:00.002+08:00

Kel's going back to wear green for a week. A level of uncertainty lingers prior to this annual re-visit. I am worried I will not be with the familiar group of guys. If they do deem me too weak-spined to remain with them, where will I be posted to? What will me be doing? ~~

2010-07-20T21:59:00.001+08:00

Blur Kel strikes again. I hate me-self.

2010-07-18T19:12:00.002+08:00

Frustrating frustrating frustrating week. Whether for things within or out of my control, the stars and heavens do not seem to be aligned in my favour at all. Worst of all, hard as I try, I do not understand what I have not done correctly, or what have I done wrongly. Even the non-feeling machines seem to rebel. One of which my camera lens, which only lets me shoot at the widest of 24mm and pretty much stumped my weekend night fireworks shoot. The sheer insignificance of me-self in this heaven and earth, that's what I'm feeling now.

2010-07-17T14:38:00.001+08:00

A type of deep-sea crab which lives inside the body of a jellyfish-creature; The wonders of the world. How much do we really know? And yet we'd like to think we know everything.

2010-07-16T20:02:00.000+08:00

A poor turtle's life~

2010-07-12T20:50:00.001+08:00

Stupid stupid Kel. Should keep my mouth shut. Stupid Kel.

2010-07-06T20:08:00.002+08:00

Got my virgin experience of being pulled over by a traffic policeman... I was driving my company 4x4 truck on the AYE, on Lane 2 at 65-70kmh. This TP bike pulled me over and said I was road hogging... which was strange because I wasn't really that slow, was within the highway and vehicle speed limits, and the fast lane was clear for overtaking... Anyway the reason he gave was quite absurd, such that I couldn't quite debate with him... he copied my details into his exercise book, and I continued on my way to DSO a good 15mins late... Anyway I'll probably try to appeal the summon, otherwise so be it and let it be "road tax" for the good old government... the points deduction doesn't really bother me because I don't usually drive anyway, just that the reason for which I was booked is quite unconvincing to me... haiz...

2010-07-04T21:33:00.001+08:00

An old photo of myself during the Trifactor Triathlon 2009 that I stumbled across on a photo website... Pleasant surprise =)

2010-06-30T22:24:00.004+08:00

Must remind meself not to rub my eyes while wearing my contact lenses. Got one folded in half and disappearing under my eyelid, just minutes before I need to leave company for a meeting. Took me a good while to slowly search under my upper and lower eyelids for it, and then digging it out, not fun, not fun at all...

2010-06-27T21:53:00.003+08:00

It's quite a beautiful weekend, after a week of crazy floods, commuting madness, back-to-back meetings and presentations. It's like the Greater Beings up there are egging me on, to face the week ahead, week after week. Thank you guys!

Not a flawless panorama, but I really love the textured clouds and deep-blue sky and the Star Cruise sailing out from the harbour and into the sunset... taken while sitting on my favourite bench... =D

2010-06-26T23:41:00.002+08:00

Respect Nature. Until Nature deals you yourself a cruel hand. And you have nothing that you can do. Because Nature is the Mother of all. The cruelty of it all. The cruelty of life.

2010-06-20T22:02:00.003+08:00

Flowers standing tall and pretty and proud in the strong sea breeze. Kel's teachers and idols for this Sunday evening class.

Waiting. Still waiting.

2010-06-19T18:08:00.001+08:00

"out of sight = problem solved"? Kel's such a loser.

2010-06-13T21:07:00.005+08:00

Kel has not been sleeping well for the past few weeks. Partly it was the crazy high night temperatures. Kel has to force myself back into the regular sleep regime... Seems like my responses to questions and situations are already being affected... aka stupid... heehee.

Saturday was the day "Uncle Kelvin" met his baby nephew for the first time. I love babies, but they are so fragile, so tender. I did not dare to risk carrying him after one try and he gave me this really uncomfortable look. He really loves to play though, like most babies "peek-a-boo".

Climbed Bukit Timah hill on Sunday, in the rain and draped under my raincoat. My shoes were soaked. I couldn't take my camera out of my bag. The ground was muddy and slippery. But I loved it. The air was mighty fresh with the rinsing of rain. The sounds around me; the pitter-patter of rain on leaves, the birds trying to chirp above the din of the rain, the frogs, crickets and cicadas happily singing away. It was like the forest was singing a welcome jingle for the life-giving rain...~

1,2,3 steps to Pink Mushroom heaven!

2010-06-06T23:06:00.005+08:00

Me and my circle of STK kakis had our first overseas outing... Our Batam one-day getaway. Full of shit and nonsense, but so much laughter all the way. I hope there is more to come... =)

Spa-ing... I didn't really enjoy massages, as I am quite sensitive to touch, and I am squirming and giggling almost throughout the whole massage! Better than my first massage last time in Thailand though, where I was really making noises and laughing each time the guy cracked my joints etc haha!

I love sunning myself in the 5-6pm sunset sunlight. I won't get burnt so quickly. And it is just warm enough, almost like a comfortable warm bath tube... Shiok... this was a marvellous weekend~~

2010-05-30T23:20:00.002+08:00

It's Sunday night again, and Kel's going to start his weekly groans and moans for the week ahead...

Kel's back running again, although only 10km this time... Running with girls is like steroids; my last 5km only took me 20 minutes! With practically no prior training before this too! This is dangerous drugs!!

Kel's back into reflective emo mood on the cloudy, rainy Sunday... Do you wish to be the kite, or the sampan?

2010-05-24T00:19:00.002+08:00

Yet another week's gone. Or I'd say, another weekend has arrived! Shitty Kelvin cannot continue like this, living for the weekends... Anyways... Kel's second ever friend's wedding dinner came and went, and Kel really did enjoy this one. Great company, great laughs, great music (what else, Fish's songs on a Fish fan's wedding)... The weather on Sunday was fantastic! Great blue skies, great sunshine! Brilliant weather to satisfy my itchy shutter fingers... yup! And also to give old Kel some sunning-time, to store up some sunshine in his skin, to last yet another bloody week to come... The more I watch 败犬女王, the more I am inspired and tempted, to leave my job and everything behind, and go, with camera in hand and bicycle underneath, leaving everything behind...~

2010-05-19T23:17:00.002+08:00

A repeat customer. Or at least what we thought. He flew in and settled onto the cushion my mum was hugging, while watching TV. Looks exactly like the one which sat on my bedroom lamp on Chinese New Year night this year. This one really made itself comfy on the cushion. My mum was touching him, circling her finger around him, and he just sat there really calmly. Almost just as if he's just another member of us, joining in for TV. ~

2010-05-09T22:41:00.008+08:00

It's the weekend again... it's been a long tiring week. And I have "homework" to pass to my boss tomorrow... very frustrating... that pretty much took up most of my brain juice and enthusiasm to enjoy my weekend... haiz... luckily this doesn't happen every weekend...

I just find it so therapeutic to be alone in the jungle, in the cool fresh morning, without anyone near me, being able to hear the birds, the crickets and the cicadas, the plop and splash of fish and turtles, the buzzing of bees, the rustle of leaves... I was alone, but I was never alone~

Me, myself, and I.

2010-05-09T00:21:00.002+08:00

Curled up underneath the shelter of layers, and layers, until it has grown strong, and ready, to face the perils of the greater world...~

2010-05-02T23:08:00.002+08:00

After of week of being busy doing things, and sometimes busy rushing about but achieving nothing, I made it to the weekend and Labour Day. Went with my mum, my aunt and two young cousins to the zoo. Until I got stung twice by some black and shiny insect right at the entrance. And that made me feel quite sick for the rest of the day. Shitty luck. It didn't help that the weather felt so exceptionally hot and humid, and the huge holiday crowd made it worse... But I did feel that the zoo's staff and service was pretty good, I would even say definitely world-class. And I really appreciate the zoo's effort to pass messages of animal and environmental conservation to the kids. This is one zoo I'd be proud of.

2010-04-24T23:54:00.002+08:00

Another week in Kel's time...

To and back from KL in 14 hours, visiting the DSA exhibition there in the process. My neck really hurt from the strain of sleeping on the bus for close to 8 hours. Not to mention it wrecked my sleep schedule for the rest of the week... zzzz...

Kel's Saturday morning was spent at Margaret Drive, and finally I got to snap the Ant-mimic Jumping spider, after coming in contact with a couple of other occasions but couldn't get any clear shots. Nature's really intriguing, to have evolution to produce creatures which look so much like something so totally different, all in the name of the chain and cycle of life...

Kel's Saturday evening at Marina Bay, for the opening of the double-helix bridge, currently still a bridge to nowhere... Kel's experiment to open up the aperture slightly more didn't really work out, having all my fireworks quite over-exposed... lesson is learnt! Kel has so much more to learn, especially from experts, like Wei... =)

Kel's-eye view from my seat, first time sitting on the Floating Platform, yay!

2010-04-18T20:18:00.002+08:00

It's lightning season again. Another one of Nature's spectacular gifts to us, for us to appreciate, if we know to, how to, take the time to, and care to appreciate...~~

2010-04-17T15:10:00.004+08:00

Ice Kacang Puppy Love. As inspired by Ah Niu: Ice Kacang is Sweet. Colourful. Full of different textures. Takes your mind off the hot weather, and whatever's troubling you. Yet it stings the tongue when you're greedy and take too much in a mouthful.

2010-04-17T02:51:00.002+08:00

It's 2.50am on a Saturday morning. I just woke up from a "black-out" after dinner. Still wearing my contact lenses, my eyes feeling terrible. My throat felt terrible, many hours without ingesting water. The wind, carrying a fine mist of rain, blew through my wide open windows. I closed them. And then the lightning came.

2010-04-13T22:36:00.003+08:00

I have no worldly possessions of any worth mentioning, I realised. Nor have I made any positive permanent contributions to the world. I'm not any different from a ripple on a water's surface. Plop, splash and all, calm returns as soon as all is spent, not a trace of the brief existence left behind.

2010-04-12T23:37:00.004+08:00

My personal finances are a fuck shit nonsense mess!! Yah! A Fucking shit mess!!! And it's fucking keeping me awake now! What the damn shit!!

2010-04-07T12:56:00.004+08:00

Yeah, I'm right on the verge of giving up. Like the lyrics of this LP song, no one really cares. What the fuck is wrong?! I'm fucked up, really fucked...

2010-03-27T23:52:00.000+08:00

Kel's now on Flickr! Link to Kel's Photostream

2010-03-27T00:32:00.002+08:00

Yay! Just bought my first ever big bicycle pump! Now I can pump my GT's tires to my usual 75psi without having to make a mandatory trip to the Shell pump near my home at the start of every ride! Yay!

2010-03-24T19:13:00.002+08:00

Haven't blogged in a while...
Quite tired with the constant report & proposal writing at work, trying hard to sell my ideas during the project lull period, while I wait for my hardware to come back online, and then I have to start clearing all the bad debts accumulated during the last 5 weeks of system downtime...

I do look forward to going out to take photos on the weekends though... the recent weather hasn't been good for biking. Just as well, it's also nice to go out, soak in the chill and peace of the early morning jungle. Especially after every 5 shitty days...

MacRitchie is my newest jungle home. The recent weather also made many fungi subjects for me to try out!

Looks good enough to eat!

"R-21"... Fly mating in progress!

Fat spider, with tiny tiny eyes...

My favourite subjects are these jumping spiders. I love how their soulful eyes can be! Although it's a big big challenge to snap pictures when they're always busy hopping about!

2010-03-18T22:21:00.002+08:00

I feel like crap. I feel like I'm a piece of crap. Useless piece of rubbish.

2010-03-08T19:52:00.004+08:00

Didn't feel like biking on last Saturday morning... still feeling sore after doing my first jog since Chinese New Year. But I woke up damn early, and didn't want to waste the beautiful morning. So I packed up my camera gear, and took the bus to MacRitchie Reservoir. It's been years since I hiked there; the last time I was there, the multi-storey carpark outside wasn't built yet! Really tiring hike though... a total of 10+km, with my camera, a few lenses, tripod, water and food on my back, under the mid-day sun, plus once-in-awhile dashing off into the bushes after some creature... it's really like some army mission! My legs were really lembek (soft) at the end of it man! But happy happy day!!

Really lucky to spot this sweet baby Wagler's Pit Viper. If not for my growling stomach, I wouldn't have stopped at a shelter to have my snack, and noticed this sweetie on a branch behind the shelter. She's a real sweet snake. She's really deadly toxic, but she allowed me to get so near and practically rub her nose with my lens! And she laid perfectly still for me to get all my shots, even though my flash was just millimetres away from her! Only when I got really bold and poked her with my finger did she really looked pissed. Really beautiful snake. My first viper encounter in the wild! Yay! I love snakes!

Pissed after I "molested" her by stroking her tail... =p

A hoverfly was bugging me when I was having my sweet date sitting next to the snake. So I just aimed at it and fired two shots. But goodness me... look at its mesmerising eyes!

Got lucky when I flipped over some leaves and found a family of caterpillars sleeping under them. I found them so cute to be nicely "parked" in their individual "lots"! And then, I saw this pair of siblings, away from the rest, probably sleepless and having a nice heart-to-heart chat...

This jumping spider was also so sweet. She did not run away as I was shooting at her, even though my flash was directed straight at her! Instead, she turned to me and flashed her big shiny eyes. Really cute! Next time maybe I'll concentrate on spiders!

2010-03-02T01:47:00.003+08:00

Was wrapping up my "home-made" corrosion test for my work project. This is the face of a badly-corroded piece of aluminium alloy just 10 days into my test. Putting my macro lens to good use =)

2010-02-28T00:13:00.005+08:00

Met Alex on the start of BT trail this Saturday evening. He was a relatively new mountain biker, just about a year in riding, and was excited about his new GT Force bike. I loved the look of his white bike, and went over to chat. Then we headed into the trails together, for my first lap, and his second. I stayed with him on the up-slopes. But try as hard as I could, I totally lost him on the down-slopes! Couldn't even see his dust cloud! Mid-way on the trail, I gave him a pat on his back, and mentioned that he's a really fast rider. Then he replied that it's my bike that's holding me back. His bike has 2 times more suspension travel, while weighing the same as my bike. Then he said my fork was already 9 years old, while my bike frame is 7 years, almost reaching end of "COE" already! What's more my fork and frame has been pounding rocks and roots and potholes over the length of time... it's good time to retire this set of old wheels...

Alex's comments got me thinking again, and yes, I could really enjoy having a new bike... and here's my current dream bike! And nope, it doesn't cost as much as the Universe. Start saving Kel!!
Bike Radar

2010-02-20T23:49:00.003+08:00

Tried night nature macro for the first time today, as I went with my aunt to Hort Park after dinner to play with my new Canon 100mm macro lens. Yay! Found this tiny praying mantis on a squash melon vine. It's probably just hatched, because it's not much bigger than the black ants on the same plant!

Found this grasshopper sleeping in the grass beside a lamp. Until I came to pepper it with my repeated flashes! This is the face of a "tulan-ed" grasshopper!

2010-02-16T22:07:00.001+08:00

Haha... Link

2010-02-16T01:32:00.003+08:00

My mum said, "Don't disturb it. It's just paying us a visit for the New Year.", as a praying mantis sat on my bedroom ceiling, then moved to the ceiling light after a while. There he sat, watching me upload his picture, and typing this blog post. He'll probably be watching me sleep tonight as well. My guardian angel for tonight... =)

Sky on fire, as the sun waves us all goodnight...

2010-02-09T22:36:00.002+08:00

Playing with camera bokeh recently... =)

Fishy rush-hour!

Love Traffic Junction... =)

2010-02-06T23:36:00.004+08:00

It's yet another Valentine's Day... Kel is still damn lost on the highway of love with everybody else speeding past... but anyways... Happy Valentine's Day to all my friends; single, attached, married or complicated!! May love be with & around us all the time - Cheers!

2010-02-04T20:31:00.006+08:00

Got my free company ticket to the Airshow. Of course, my company's the biggest single exhibitor at the show. Must be the bad economy... hahaha!! Was totally sun-burnt, from an hour under the noon sun watching the aerial display, which was somewhat of an anti-climax to what I was expecting. I loved the F16 and Korean aerial displays though! Otherwise the most interesting things were meeting familiar guys at the exhibits booths, as well as at and after the show. Nice to sit in the F16 cockpit too! Took me and my supervisor Wei Yao almost half-hour of queuing under the 3pm sun for that! So cute to see him so pleased when getting the "Remove Before Flight" red tag key chain from the RSAF booth that I got for him! Also so cute to find myself wearing a bright yellow polo tee and jeans, among the sea of business suits. =p

The US and Australian static displays. =)

2010-01-30T14:07:00.003+08:00

A snail which fights back! Here's a snail which has a shell that can blunt claws of crabs which try to crack it open; The wonders of Nature! The more I read about snail shells, the more I'm amazed by how Nature can generate such structures in direct response to day-to-day problems. Human engineering is peanuts compared to the intricate natural designs manifested on supposedly "simple lifeforms". We are only as big as what we see ourselves to be. Bigger, may just only be smaller.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/01/19/could-a-deep-sea-snails-shell-inspire-next-gen-body-armor/

2010-01-24T22:59:00.002+08:00

Super tired week... So happy it's the weekend! Until seeing that it's coming to end... It's as though I'm living for the weekends... No, I am living for the weekends! Only to see myself sometimes too tired to fully exploit my weekends... Shits it's Monday again...

A pair of Golden Orb Web Spiders, with the tiny red male, as compared to the huge female! Spotted on a busy track near Henderson Waves bridge... I feel like I'm the little insignificant red guy, treading on the sticky web of politics & relations, with huge omnipotent giants ready to swallow me whole at any one time... Or am I just being spider-ish? Hope it's just me, blurred me...

A very busy caterpillar who thinks he's a choo-choo-train! Spotted on the railings on Mt Faber...

A pretty caterpillar also travelling on the railing, who also thinks he's a choo-choo-train! Life as simple as it gets; eat-sleep-grow... Nice haha!!

2010-01-16T23:18:00.003+08:00

Good weather times are coming back! It all signifies cheery sunshine, good biking times, good outdoors times and less chances of having to go to work on wet mornings on jammed-packed, rain-slowed public transport! Yay!! Cheers to the weather!!

2010-01-14T23:18:00.005+08:00

The beautiful riverside view in Kuching, totally exudes the peace and calm of the place... I love the place. Totally unlike our messy, hectic island.
*Click on the pic to view it, so nice I love it!! =)*

2010-01-01T23:18:00.001+08:00

When can this blur turtle ever get his Subaru?

2010-01-01T14:27:00.003+08:00

It's yet another year past and gone. What have I achieved this past year? While... I've graduated finally, and I got myself a job. I have a stable income. I broke my back, and will never need to worry about IPPT ever again. I picked up DSLR photography, and still enjoying it. I still don't have the free cash to splurge on my bikes. Life has been an exhausting juggle between work, play, family, friends, and sleep, with no signs of abating. Plans and hopes for the next year? We'll see.

The flower of the night, the almost-last-flower-of-2009. And it was a resplendent example to cap the end of 2009. Not to say it smelled so especially sweet.

The first example to flower pointing towards my home too. Hoping that the sweet fragrance and exemplary beauty will spotlight new and better times ahead on my family and loved ones. Cheers.

The New Year's Day fireworks. Home sweet home. So sweet, the ants, roaches and flies on it are getting ever so all over our increasingly-xenophobic nerves.

Nonetheless, all hopes that in the new year will end up as sparkling and beautiful as these fireworks, as they fade away awaiting the next barrage of fireworks to display their glory... life's a non-stop fireworks show isn't it? Cheers to 2010!

2009-12-25T23:15:00.002+08:00

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?

2009-12-19T13:18:00.003+08:00

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? =)

2009-12-14T22:07:00.002+08:00

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.

2009-12-13T21:24:00.004+08:00

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

2009-12-10T23:09:00.004+08:00

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

2009-12-07T21:47:00.002+08:00

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...~

2009-11-30T22:04:00.002+08:00

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!!

2009-11-29T14:40:00.003+08:00

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.

2009-11-28T23:10:00.004+08:00

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!!

2009-11-21T22:59:00.003+08:00

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...

2009-11-13T22:34:00.000+08:00

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?

2009-11-05T19:40:00.002+08:00

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... =)

2009-10-31T15:17:00.003+08:00

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.

2009-10-25T12:44:00.002+08:00

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... =)

2009-10-18T21:21:00.005+08:00

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...

2009-10-17T21:44:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-10-04T21:41:00.004+08:00

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...~~

2009-10-03T15:11:00.003+08:00

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!

2009-09-27T15:46:00.002+08:00

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...

2009-09-26T19:13:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-09-21T21:27:00.004+08:00

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?!

2009-09-15T23:55:00.004+08:00

My birthday weekend has come to an end, already was tired to start off with, with all the walking and running about from work, my legs were already dead, and still are even now as I speak...

Went out for dinner and coffee with the FD gang on birthday night. It was fine, just feeling quite damn tired, as well as pissed with work issues (I still am pissed, just cannot seem to solve some problems...)

My Triathlon team No 3118!

Me at the end of my bike segment... It rained during my bike segment, and made it even tougher! I was already feeling the effects of not training (only 1 training ride done just the week before... Ssshh don't tell Violet and Vincent!), also the fatigue from work and of course, my dinner the night before at Geylang Serai with my D2 guys which I and Marshal got lost looking for the meeting place and walked from Paya Lebar to Gelang Lorong dunno-what and then had to go back to Haig Road!

But I think we did quite good! Although I felt I should have pushed much harder than I did, and should have prepared better than I did (rest, sleep and eat better before the race...), feels like I've let down the team... haiz anyways it's over and yeah I had some fun too! Have to thank all the people who had gave their birthday wishes to me, really grateful. =D

2009-09-11T00:42:00.002+08:00

My happy birthday light drawing to myself!

My birthday drink, at the stroke of midnight. A little something to mark the moment where I sit down, alone, thinking about the past, present, and future. A time to thank the heavens, for letting me reach this point in life, for letting me still be around, for watching over me. Between the alternations of initial intense burning of alcohol in the mouth, and the aftertaste of the bitter citrus peel and slight sweetness of juice and spirit, my thoughts are also alternating between the sweet and the bitter of the past and present. The future, I am sure will still be the same alternating sweet and bitterness. Will I like it? I don't know. But I know I can make cocktails out of it, even if I do not like the taste of it. It will be a total waste if I don't even try. Happy Birthday to you, Kelvin.

2009-09-06T22:26:00.000+08:00

Training for our 13 Sept triathlon. Calculated on Google Maps that I covered 36.5km on that on Saturday morning / noon ride! And I was crazily pedalling almost non-stop for an hour! No wonder I was totally KO-ed halfway on my return trip, where I had to slowly drift along on the park connectors under the shade of trees back to my home... Yes I've managed my target 40km/hr speed intended for the triathlon! Somemore, the headwinds expereinced along the 3km dead-arrow-straight Lim Chu Kang Road (the stand-by Air Force landing strip along Tengah Airbase) was hell! I had to shift down to my middle-ring just to continue moving ahead! Managed to stick on the ass of 3 roadies on trick Scotts and Specializeds on part of the road too! They did seem more than a little a little surprised to see I was on a Giant cross-country bike... Guess my Psylo suspension fork alone is already heavier than their frames and wheels combined! =p

Beautiful stretch of road along Choa Chu Kang's Bricklands Road where mushrooms were growing on the roadside grass along the entire 2km road!

Needed to get new cycling tights (my old ones had a hole on my ass area)... also wanted to catch 败犬女王 on TV! Then, to kill time while the guys were in KTV, I went to Fort Canning (my 1st time there!). Such a nice place! I love the greenery, so well-maintained! So many interesting plants too! Coffee tree, cocoa tree, cinnamon, kapok, things that I've seen in books but never in real-life...

Sunset on Fort Canning...

Met the guys for dinner at Molly Malone's (again!).

Went with the 2 Vs to collect our triathlon race packs. At least the t-shirt was ok looking... there were nothing else of worth mentioning inside...

Kel's stick-man in another picture! This time he's caught running away! Maybe he's shy?

2009-08-30T16:25:00.002+08:00

What happened to my GT's tires? Where'd they gone?

Copying the recent trend of 'accidental exposing' of pre-production cars by car manufactures, here's a sneak preview of my racer-tires shod Giant, my "Leopard tank with F1 tires"! Will be intensively bike-training in the next 2 weeks, looking forward to the 13th Sept event! Will aim to emulate this mountain biker who won a road race on his mountain bike with mountain bike tires! I don't plan to win, although I'm hoping to be able to embarrass some road bikers on their 16 pound bikes with my 28 pounder bike... hopes hopes... =p =p =p Link to Bike Radar

2009-08-29T14:13:00.002+08:00

Another pic of another of my samples! No, this is a backing plate of a sample of aluminium coating, but I thought this little bit of over-spray looked really like a miniature mountain peak! And like the real snow-capped mountains, this little peak grew from the millions of tiny particles of aluminium powder... =)

Kel's 7th Month themed photos continues! This time it's a much friendlier Mr glowing stick-man!

2009-08-27T21:26:00.002+08:00

I just couldn't resist taking a photo of one of my samples... this is a bar of copper sprayed onto an aluminium plate. It was born when I was test running the system after some wrenching repair and cleaning job. But I am so inexplicably attracted to this particular sample! I especially love the colour of the copper, so reddish-brown, so shiny, so nice... =)

2009-08-24T16:04:00.001+08:00

My buttocks are hurting like mad, especially while walking. Two days after my Bukit Timah hill climb. Haven't climbed so many stair-steps in ages. Seriously ouch-ing.

2009-08-22T22:41:00.007+08:00

Feeling quite lazy on this Saturday afternoon. Too lazy to even get hyped up enough for my bike ride. So I just grabbed my camera, my Camelbak sans bike tools inside, and took the bus to Bukit Timah. The same bus which I'll take to work if I'm going to Rifle Range office. So quite funny, that I've been going to BT like so often in the past decade, but I've only been there to bike on the mountain bike trails, and I've never been on the hiking trail since 1993! And I don't recall the slopes and steps to be as steep, the trail to be as rough, and the scenery to be as beautiful. Especially in the golden evening sun. Was so excited when I saw a snake too! I think it was a chequered keelback... much like the striped keelback which Lee KW caught for me during army... Wanted to take pictures of it, but I was a bit too far, and I didn't dare move in case I scare it off... haiz... but I was so happy to see it! I saw a fish in the stream too, looked like some type of loach or catfish during the fleeting moment... But it is still our proud local indigenous S'pore wildlife! Until I have to practically run out as I ventured too deep into the trail, and with the sun setting rapidly... So tiring... But it was so fun! Will definitely be back soon! And I'll learn to be less 'scared' of using ISO, half of my pics turned out blurred on the computer!

My first attempt at using multiple bracketed exposures, merging 3 images into a HDR image.

I love this picture. I thought it looked like a mystical bridge leading into some dark enchanted world ahead... =p

All the stair climbing... the Vertical Marathon should be held here instead!

Nice, until the sun started to disappear below the tree-line, and the place started getting dark...

Only decided to venture into the Rock Trail at 6.30pm, when I was on my way out walking on the Main trail. But I thought I had time and daylight left... bad decision! Met this wall of rock about halfway on the trail, and it was getting seriously dark. And this trail is especially creepy, with badly overgrown vines, met this strange uncle and aunty meditating on rocks mid-way through the trail, got hissed by a troupe of monkeys, and I was running through the trail, stumbling over rocks everywhere! Too late to turn back, I climbed the wall of rock. It looked steep, but it surely is climbable. And it was so cool, even got to use the vine like Tarzan to climb up! Then, I had to get real again, and continue running out of the trail.

2009-08-22T02:27:00.004+08:00

Kel's 7th Month photo special... =p

Goblins at work?

Mystical vodka... =p

Got the night shoot inspiration from a photog magazine... somemore shooting so late at night, tired, plus somehow worried I might actually capture something I shouldn't be capturing in my pics...

2009-08-20T20:49:00.002+08:00

I hate all those bloody buggers who waste all their bloody life time writing viruses, trojans and spyware! Now both my home and company laptops, both my own and company thumbdrives and even my phone's memory stick has been infected with these bloody viruses and trojans! My company's servers and my school's computers are the main sources for these bloody shit, and even the two anti-virus programs that I'm using cannot get rid of all of the viruses/trojans! At least I've managed to get my phone's memory stick back online again, after a day without my MP3s...

My legs are dying, after a day of many troubles at workshop today... feeling like I've just finished a stage of the Tour de France! Hopefully my product from today's work can work as intended; I've had enough of seeing it sitting at the corner of my lab! And hopefully I can progress to my next project, which is already dog-gone-long-overdue! A least I've learnt something new about my ABB robot, and managed to get it working again, and get my projects moving along again as well... ^_^

2009-08-18T23:50:00.005+08:00

Thinking of fitting my red narrow 1.25 inch width T-Servs onto the 21 mm wide white Excalibur rims of my Giant... Don't know if they fit or not, probably will try it one or two weeks before my Tri team relay on 13 Sept... If the T-Servs do fit onto my Giant's rims, then it'll rock man! Imagine a Leopard tank with F1 tires, racing with F1 cars! Hahaha! Should be so fun!

2009-08-17T07:42:00.000+08:00

The sole of my old SAF New Balance shoe is falling off again, for the 127th time. This time, some parts of it had fallen off without me noticing, and I didn't get to pick up the pieces. I've had enough of it. Will be going down to Chevrons to get the new version of it soon. Think the newer one looks cooler too. Will work great for work =)

2009-08-16T22:16:00.002+08:00

Really had biking fun today. Rode till my quadriceps started to cramp up again, and forced me to go home for lunch. Otherwise I will be starting yet another lap of BT! I really was riding until I didn't want it to end... such beautiful riding conditions! Still, I managed about 20km of off-road trails today, which means, Vincent & Violet, Kel's ready for the triathlon team relay! I've never been in better form in my life, after realising how to 'flow' and 'pump' the bike through the trail, which really made things a lot easier and way more fun! Still got much much more to work on and to learn, but yeah, Kel's in the best riding form yet! Kel's even seriously toying with the idea of bringing my heavy Giant to the race, much like using a Leopard tank to race F1 cars, but it does seem fun to put some red faces on some other fellow competitors, if I manage to that is... =p

2009-08-15T16:45:00.002+08:00

We used to love the mention of 'Cat 1' weather during the army. It was a real god-send on those IPPT, SOC or 'Life Run' mornings. So I was thinking about this when I was rather pissed when the lifeguards whistled for us to get out of the pool, 45mins into my swim at the pool opposite my place. What a turn-off to pay to be sitting under a roof, under a fan, shivering in the cold wind, with pesky kids running all around me. Until I got up, walked to the canteen and got myself a nice steaming cup of milk tea. Then I realised what a nice afternoon it was too. Wrapped in my warm towel, grasping a warm styrofoam cup, sipping hot sweet tea, watching the pitter-patter of the pool water, watching the kids having fun even with their swimming class halted, with no schedules to catch. And yes,the skies did clear up nicely just as I emptied my cup of tea. And the pool water was so comforting after the rain. Nice. =D

2009-08-08T22:11:00.006+08:00

Kel is back to the trails again! Yeah! So shiok! Did 2 laps of BT and 2 laps of Mandai Scorpion Trail, at a crazy fast pace too! Until the sun's threatening to set, the birds starting to fight over sleeping positions, and my quadriceps starting to cramp up! Forced me to slowly pedal on the pavements all the way home... but with a big big big smile on my face, and I'll bet even my heart's grinning brightly as well... ~ =p

A beautiful lone palm frond poking out of the leaf litter on the forest floor...

Bike and rider taking a break...

Yeah she's mine... =)

A half squirrel-nibbled cocoa fruit, in the blurry backdrop of the parent cocoa tree... I'll bet I'll be great pals with the squirrel who ate this! =)

2009-08-08T00:05:00.002+08:00

My poor jeans... it was the first pair that I bought myself. I got it from Chua Chu Kang's Lot 1, on the first weekend out from BMT. Really liked it a lot... Until I unexpectedly found this huge gash when I sat down to rest after getting some stuff done at work. It was a mystery too, I was looking everywhere for the one thing that might had sliced my jeans, but really I could find nothing... I don't think I can wear it again with this huge hole, rest in peace...~

2009-08-03T08:14:00.003+08:00

Saw this article on Straits Times Online (Syu Ying Kwok, Article)

Syu quoted "If you marry Mr or Miss Right for yourself, then you are very wrong. Marriage is not about finding the right partner (especially not one that fits your 'profile'), it is about giving unconditional love to someone you hold dear, and celebrating it when the love and commitment are mutual. Sadly, many men and women pick and choose the right partner as if it was a home or a car. Even worse, some spend more time and effort choosing a home or a car..."

Kel's seriously confused. While I do believe that the person that I'll love in the future may not be my Miss Perfect, but shouldn't I be entitled to choose someone whom I'll be comfortable living with for the rest of our lives, and ditto for her? Doesn't that mean matching with that someone who is comfortable with who I am, what I like and what I'll be, which constitutes my 'profile'?

I should go back to work... blogging while in office... GG... =p

2009-08-02T22:33:00.005+08:00

Went to the NDP Preview on Saturday, and then Labrador Park on Sunday with my aunt. My aunt's really into photography right now...

Kel getting sentimental... This is a picture of a man pushing a wheelchair-bound person (not sure if it's his mum or wife...) along the Labrador coastline in the warmth of the setting sun...

Kel getting romantic too...~

2009-08-01T14:26:00.002+08:00

So freaking nice to be at home... no more bathing in the ashtray of a toilet, exposing my most intimate regions and all to those filthy used cigarette butts stuffed underneath the water pipes and who knows where else... my version of hell!

2009-07-31T19:58:00.002+08:00

Just finished my 3rd In-camp reservist... just a very short 4 days, pretty less tiring than in the past, partly because I've been used to waking up just as early in the mornings for work everyday! This kept coming up in my thoughts... should I downgrade or not? I'm pretty worried that I'll be sent out of this unit, and not be able to stay with this great bunch of guys... I'll miss the chance of driving a 28 ton steel box around... I've been feeling great recently, being able to run and jump and walk and do pretty much whatever just as before. But every once in awhile, a numb pain will act up right at my right hip area to remind me of the weakened structure within. And my heart will literally stop whenever my back sounds off a crack from some bone joint. And I'll think twice, thrice, before I jump anywhere higher than 3-4 inches. My unit MO says I could downgrade to Pes C2L2, and still be fit for frontline duties, except I will never need to do situps ever again. But I'll never get money from IPPT ever again too, which sounds bad to me. And if so, I'll never be able to carry 155mm rounds ever too, which will make me a burden if we were to go live-firing. Thoughts... thoughts...

Our range went like stink. My rifle was a complete piece of junk. It jammed every few rounds, and I'm now pretty damn proficient in rectifying all the M16 IA drills now, having more IAs in one range shoot than some people in their whole lives! My night shooting is crap too, can only hit the big targets... at least we got to have an unlimited flow of keropok during our range... I've never eaten from a garbage bag half filled with keropok! So oily, so salty, but so nice, especially when so damn bored...

Convo was quite good, probably my last chance to meet many of the MSE peoples ever... starting to miss some of the days in school... gave up eating the brilliant buffet to try to meet up as many of the people there as possible, especially when I have to get back to camp later in the evening... took so many taxi rides! What a big transport expenditure for this month!