bye bye birdie

after years of thrilling singaporeans with aerial displays and fly-bys and freebies, asian aerospace has finally shut its doors in singapore. it's hard to believe that such a permanent fixture in the biennial calendar of events has been ousted by the changi international airshow come 2008. sad but true.

while most people won't care either way, they will afterall still get to see airshows in the skies above changi come 2008, for me, aa holds a special place in my heart, from my visits there as a young boy determined to get as many useless posters, pins and every other freebie i could get my grubby little hands on, to my time in the army when we noticed a b-2 stealth bomber flight high in the sky over my changi camp, to the time when i got the opportunity to cover the whole event for olympus, which just so happens to be the same time and place i met my soulmate.

arrivederci aa. thank you for the memories of my past, and thank you for introducing me to my future.

the meaning of ...

sadness - when a founding father of your country passes away (yes we are THAT young a nation).
quirky - when the radio stations play nothing but elevator music in homage to the deceased.
stressed - when you find out that you are the only photographer from any media outlet in the country to cover the final funeral rites before his cremation.
little more stressed - when you get there and are informed that you can't get too close.
autopilot - when you put on your mid-range zoom lens (in the form of a 24-70mm) in anticipation of it having the best focal length for the job at hand.
pretty damn stressed - when you decide to go for a wider shot, attempt to change the lens and find out that for some reason or other, it can't come off the body.
bloody fucking stressed - when, on further inspection, you find out that the zoom ring is stuck, the autofocus doesn't want to focus, and the only way to manage to change focal length is to reach in front of the lens and yank it out and in.
breathing easy / professionalism / pure luck - when you manage, despite all of these setbacks, to troubleshoot your way through the problems and make decent pictures without hurling the camera.

now i have to make do with a borrowed camera body until i can get this shite sorted out. bah

an office outing

photographers + microphones = mayhem

friday nights are no longer filled with drunken stupors or wild nights on the town for me. the last couple of years have seen me move from the crazy clubber to the sedate slacker when it comes to these weekend parties. alcohol doesn't even have a smidgen of the appeal it did a few years ago. however, when it's 10pm in the office, and your boss and some colleagues traipse back from dinner proclaiming that we should all head over to the karaoke joint immediately for a pseudo office get together, it's hard to say no (especially since this would get you out of the office an hour early.)

of course, it turns out that i am not a fan of karaoke, and they don't mention the fact that it would cost $21 a person to get into the place (incl. two drinks) so what was supposed to have been a quick visit to k-box to laugh at the warblings of my friends turned out to cost actual money.

however, i have to say that it turned out to actually be a load of fun. no one took themselves seriously (with off key voices like ours, how could we?), and the cracking voices and ear-piercing shrieks induced way more laughter than cringes (i speak for our room and not for those of other patrons).

i still maintain that i am not a karaoke fan. just don't let me get started.

pain pain

we sms-loving singaporeans are so screwed.

seriously.

all things new

we all know how it is with shiny new things that come into our possession.

we keep sneaking glances to make sure they are still there, admiring every facet and curve.

we keep touching, as if to reaffirm that they are real.

... and we keep taking bloody pictures of every damn thing about them, and (for those fortunate enough to have blogs) blogging them for all to see.

bear with me. once the first scratch or ding appears, i promise to stop.

setting up

insideout opens on wednesday.

this basically means that the gang was at objectifs for most of the day mounting pictures onto the wall (the fairly easy part) and drilling holes in the ceiling (much much harder) to install hooks. of course murphy's law came into effect and we HAD to run into some problems with the drilling (in the form of a metal beam lurking beneath the concrete). drilling of the last two holes has been postponed to later this evening when we get a more powerful drill and some better drill bits.

i ended up going late (as usual), but this time with an excuse having spent almost the whole day at the asian aerospace (more pictures to come from that soon...i hope) but still managed to find the time to help out a little.


oh, and thanks to those who came to give moral support, even when they had much better things to do with their time.

have wheels will travel

it's been awhile. not so much because i've been slacking, but between work and teaching, i'm left with barely enough time to breathe.


needs a name


old and new


thursday brought along with it the latest addition to the gray fleet. now all i need to do is name it.

suggestions anyone?

support local products.

with one book written by my buddy mugilan, how could i not support his latest collaboration in the form of the blyss pack one. for just $34.95 (USD21.50 / €17.75 / £12.20 / AUS28.60), you get three children's books, a sketch book, bookmarks and illustrated stickers in a fancy cardboard box.

may seem a little stiff to some, but it's a small price to pay to support local creativity... and the works of a good friend.

space filler: on the roof

the view from kay chin's place near pandan valley. i guess living on the ground floor for most of my life hasn't really given me the chance to see excavators on the top of a building.

might be easier and faster to just blow the damn thing up (down?)

finding herself

seems like abi has no problems finding objects that refer to her in a myriad of places.

if only all of us could be so lucky