It all started with an MMS...

A lot has happened in the past few days that I've missed out on writing this. I'm not going to put every single detail down but the gist of it is that I found out that people tend to exaggerate.

For example, when I met Ace yesterday, he told me that he started his own photography business. "Good for him" I thought. Then he gave me his website and told me that he had posted some pictures in there. So I went in to take a look while I was at HP. The sure, he had access to certain events and was priviledged enough to photograph a bit celebrity like John Travolta when he toured to Singapore on his Qantas 707.

But upon looking at his namecard, the back of it had things such as "Celebrity photography", "Fashion" and "magazines". His "Magazines" photography were actually advertisement photos that had a lot of touching up in them. So much so that it no longer looked like the original photograph. Still, I suppose it wouldn't really be misrepresentation for him to put that in there.

K commented that he was in the CMI category of photographers and I agree (after looking at his shots posted in the website). Well, like I said, people tend to exaggerate. Especially when it comes to their capabilities.

On another note, I met C on friday morning for pancakes at Novena. I'm still flabbergasted at how my phone number managed to get into her phone. Perhaps sometime back in recent history, someone must have given her my number since I really have no idea who she was. Anyway, after pancakes I went to meet Nick downtown for "lunch" but since it was such a late and heavy breakfast, I passed on ordering more food to stuff myself silly with. The office at FH is decent if small. However, I feel that it will suit our purposes well.

I met Ed along with Nick during lunch...Nick might just be envious but I'd say that Ed is a pretty good looking guy. Anyway, after lunch, I went on to meet A at CP. And by then, I only had a couple of hours to spare before having to pick up SY and the kids home.

It's 3.15am now and I've got a shoot at 8.30 later. 3 hours of sleep might be enough cause I'm definitely still wide awake, even at this ungodly hour. Big sis got a surprise birthday celebration with the rest of the family today. We ate so much that till now, I'm still really quite full. I printed a 22 inch by 14 inch canvas of a family portrait of big sis taken a couple of years back during an XMas dinner at her house and she loved the present. Thank god for K who did all the printing. I feel so indebted to him.

Everything here is silent again as I stay awake in my darkened room typing this out. It felt good spending the weekend with KS and KH. Yesterday, we celebrated Aldon's 1st month anniversary. So I guess it's been pretty much a weekend of family, friends, colleagues and celebrations.

Ice Cream!!!!!

Yeah...that's Mainey enjoying her Ice Cream. She was so excited about getting one that honestly, she looked like my LuoHan fish when I'm about to feed him. The excited stare at the Ice-Cream with longing. I met up with her this morning after sending the M6 in for servicing and checking the Jag's remote control cause it seems to suffer from amnesia time and again.

I'm made an appointment to have it checked cause being the idiot that I am, I totally forgot that I need the spare remote in order for them to reprogram the one that's forgetful. Anyway, sufficed to say, I kinda looked like an idiot at Malayan Motors because of that.

I went on down to PS after picking Mainey up and then had Mac's Bfast. I was pretty stuffed by the time we were through cause you know...Mac's Bfast is awesome and I usually overeat when I think that it's awesome.

I then went to get a new Motorola charger since the old one seriously died. We then proceeded to Peninsula to get the strobe fixed (the one that came crashing down yesterday) and Steven said that it would be a couple of weeks. I hope it won't cost us a bomb though. :P

Went on to Funan where I got this awesome S+ARK mouse by Microsoft. It looks really cool (it's the one in the picture). And I'm loving it!

Anyway, after that I dropped Mainey off at Millenia Walk so that she could join Piotr n JuJu for lunch and went off to TM with ST. ST liked the Starfish so I got her one. I think she really likes it heh...had a nice long talk over lunch and coffee before sending her back and heading home to do this. I'm about to go MM to collect my car.

I guess I'll see if they've fixed the passenger sunvisor then.

The Uninvited

Things happened pretty much as planned. I promised to meet ST in the evening as well as have her photo taken.

Anyway, I decided to head to the airport after dropping mom off again to shoot the car in the carpark. I found that carpark some time ago and feel that it's a good spot to take a picture there. However, I felt that it was a little wasted that it had that many lights and that the lights were sodium.

Also, I didn't have the 70 Mz-5 which could be triggered remotely by the 54 Mz-3. Anyway, the 1Ds did what it was supposed to do and I'd say that the photo came up pretty good. Anyway, working with 1 strobe issn't as easy as it seems. Even though I still had the Metz as a fill/bounce I'd much prefer it if I had something more to work with.

Hopefully, KL can pass me the 70 Mz-5 today. I'm gonna have a go at the Agfa Dye-sub to see if it works as nicely as the Canons but based on the review that KL's given it, seems to be workable. Just wish the damn thing didn't cost as much.

ST's got certain angles where she looks good (depending on the lights) and she's quite open to experimentation. I enjoy shooting her. So much so that I'd probably spend lots of time going through the shots I've taken to figure out which are her good angles.

Mainey mentioned that I don't love her anymore. Hmm...it must be due to her PMS that she's behaving this way. Gawd. How could I ever not love her? She's found her polish prince and I'm giving them time and space to be together. Afterall, it's not very nice if I kept calling is it? Poor gal's a little confused as to her position with him though. They refuse to tell each other that they love each other.

Anyway, I'm not sure where I stand in their relationship except that I'm a bystander. I'm viewing it from the outside. And to top it off, I wasn't invited to Jiao Kia's Birthday Party as well. Talk about feeling left out! Oh well.

FreeSpirit

"You can't handle the truth"

Just realized that some people just can't face the facts and run away. I suppose that's their way of escaping the truth. It's about time that a long hard look in a mirror is taken. And of course, they tell others a different story and lay the blame on some scapegoat.

My snooker sucks. I've managed to badger S into playing another round with me and I still got a big can of whoop ass although it wasn't as big. I love the way S looks when playing. The sheer concentration in her eyes, her posture and poise. Ever so graceful. It's like watching a professional play. Wait a minute, she is kinda semi-pro. She's got lotsa hidden talent but doesn't really brag about it.

We watched Die Another Day later in the evening and all she could say was, "James Bond's car is so cool!". Well, yeah cause it's like and Aston Martin Vanquish V12 babe.

Spent most of the afternoon after my meetings with Maine. She's been a little down lately and desperately needed cheering up. Ah well, that's what I'm good at. Cheering people up. Heh. We bummed around FEP for a while checking out diffferent stores selling so-called "street" accesories as well as a quaint little shop selling women's undergarments at 50% discount (the price, not the amount of material).

Had Chicken Rice for lunch and I can swear that the chicken used was not as tender or yummy as before. Probably frozen chicken. However, that didn't stop me from whalloping down 2 bowls of rice cause I was absolutely farmished.

Maine was going on about her boobs and white top that she was wearing. She swore that they've gotten bigger. Well, maybe Bruce Almighty's been paying her a visit. But later, she figured that it was due to her period and raging hormones that caused the effect.

Maine's a wonderful friend to have. Mature for her age, except when she does the "Hmmm" thing with her eyes opened really big and innocent look. That would really melt any guy into a puddle of goo. She got frustrated and almost burst into tears when I mentioned that she had put the cigarettes into the case the wrong way round though. Gawd, if there's one thing I can't handle, it's a girl sobbing...

FreeSpirit

Time flies

Just got back from the airport and found out that the gate for SQ18's closed. I suppose she'd be getting the "in the event of a water landing" lecture right about now.

It was a tearful goodbye and the CH MoFo was there as well. Didn't have the guts to look me in the eye. Guess now I know what a chicken he really is.

She should be arriving in BC in about 18 hours I guess, plus the 1 hour transit in Seoul. Right about morning there too. Damn I remember my JAL flight 18 years ago...I waas a 15 year old kid travelling on my own (the fourth time I can consciously remember taking a plane) and trasiting in Narita, Japan. I had like 12 hours to kill at Narita Hotel and about US$50 in my pocket along with a couple of coupons for meals.

Boy was I tempted to order room service but the money I had didn't get me far. But I distinctly remember jumping on the bed with joy at the new found freedom I had of not having any parents around. I was 15 years old and I was travelling ALONE! To a distant country where I didn't know anyone and was one of the coolest places on earth!

What irritated me though was the customs and immigration people back then. The Japanese dude didn't speak english, and the flight attendants all thought I was japanese and started conversing with me in Japanese...they were like super shocked to learn that I didn't have anyone with me and that I was only 15 (apparently, anyone under the age of 15 in some places had to be accompanied by an adult 21 years and above). What were my parents thinking?

Well, I'm glad I didn't get too lost and sold off to some third world country as a slave. HaHaHa...a bad slave I would've been too.

Anyway, R called me up last night to apologise for her behaviour. She was like "Oh I'm sorry and shit" and then, blamed me for being oversensitive. Oh well, you can't have the cake and eat it too I guess.

She's taken off now, and I'm sure I'll miss her. I guess I have until January before seeing her again. Can't wait.

Tattoos and Marriages

Most people discourage me from getting a tattoo. Some of them say it's the permanance factor that I'll have to consider very carefully.

Well, lets put it this way, I jumped into a marriage (which is supposed to be kinda permanent as well issn't it?); okay, so you can file for a divorce if you're really unhappy with it. How about kids? Once you have them, you can't get rid of them can you? That's kinda permanent as well. Duh.

So a tattoo is permanent. Yeah, but it doesn't have to be shown all the time. Unlike your family, kids etc etc. There are ways of hiding a tattoo. Afterall, Angelina Jolie has a fair number of them and they had to digitally remove them from her films. So that wasn't so much of a problem.

Times have changed. Of course I'm not gonna draw all over my body...just a small 8cmx4cm one at the bicep would be nice. It would be tasteful. I really don't think I'd get carried away with them.

It's Sunday night and everyone's home. KS and KH are both about to fall asleep and SY's bugging me to turn off the computer and lights since I'm writing this from my bed. Nah...not gonna happen just yet. Got some emails to send out and chee hong friends to flame.

Talking about CH guys, there are some guys that one should never introduce female friends to. They don't give a shit if she came with your or not and just take over cause they're feeling lonely, dejected and horny. Well, I guess their moralistic principle is "I managed to chat her up so too bad for you that she's going off with me instead" - well, it's not the first time he's done it but I think it's the first time he was actually succesful; and that truely surprised me.

Yeah...well, that's life huh?

FreeSpirit

4 Days and 4 Nights and 4 Minutes

7 days I do not post and people start complaining. Is my writing really that entertaining a read? A lot happens in 96 hours. J was frantic in figuring out what to buy so that she steals the show from the bride at a wedding dinner, photos of MCS were taken, a bright yellow FD RX-7 has been parked outside my mom's house (under the mango tree - what a dumb fuck), I got a tattoo (so what if it's airbrushed), a new cigarette box that's out of this world, got paid five-hundred bucks (for 5 hours' work), took some interesting photos, covered Takashimaya's 11th Anniversary D&D, felt like a fool (that only happened last night though), and consumed more MacDonald's ¼ Pounders than anyone else I know.

I so love the airbrush tattoo. Think I might actually go out n get a real one. That's probably gonna happen next week. We'll see. I also love the ciggy box that I got. It's fantastic. The ciggy pops up just enough for me to grip it with my lips. And to think that Mainey didn't think that it would pop up :P I'm just wondering how long the spring will last though.

Got a mild headache now. I suppose it could've come from the lack of sleep and the booze that I consumed at Balaclava and Eastside last night after work. I remember J saying something about someone a week (or two) ago. "Phew. I couldn't wait for him to leave." Yeah well, I guess it must've been what she probably said to C last night as well. I stuck around cause I really had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. Besides, I needed the time for the booze to settle before driving home.

And yes, I was way below the limit. I only had 4 beers the whole night. And 1 of the beers was with food. Anyway, I guess that's why I feel the fool in me. Sometimes, I just don't get the hint. Ah well, c'est la vie, oui?

I've been hung up on retro music lately. Well, at least it's not retro dance music although kids here tend to dance to tunes such as "we didn't start the fire". I'll have to admit though, the lyrics of the song are just fantastic. Talking about what happened from the 40s to the 80s. Harry Truman, Doris Day, Studebakers, North Korea, Marrilyn Monroe (Norma Gene was her birth name by the way) etc...the song just summarizes a whole generation in 4 minutes.

Sometimes, I do wish I was some American hippie back in the 60s and 70s. Too bad I was born a decade late. Although I must say, that I did experience the cold war a little. Krushchev and Reagan at it, Jimmy Carter as President, men on the moon, the fall of the communism etc...and I understood what was going on then!

Tuesday was a kinda weird day. In that 1 day, I saw 2 Maseratis. 1 was the fantastic Quattroporte and the other, the Coupe Cambiocorsa. I think, ever since my dad got the brochure for the Maserati 420, 220 and Spyder back in the 80s sent to him, I've been in love with that brand. The Shamal and Ghibli...argh...mouth watering absolutely!

What are Italians good at? 3 things. Cars, Soccer and Fashion. Think Lamborghini, Ferarri, Maserati, Lancia etc, Inter Milan et al and Giorgio Armani, Versace and what have you. If you add female butt pinching, that'd be 4 things they're good at I suppose.

Ah well. It's been an interesting week to say the least. And yeah, I gotta go for Prata and Eggs again since they lifted the ban on eggs coming in from some Malaysian poultry farms. Time to call Jiao Kia I suppose. :)

FreeSpirit