glad but sad

the press pool

funny how you sometimes can't wait for something to end, and yet when it's finally over you feel just a little empty inside. it happened with the general elections earlier this year, and now it's happening again with the end of the imf - world bank meetings that were just held in sunny singapore.

we bitch about how bad the hours are (7am till about midnight everyday) and how we aren't getting enough sleep (four hour average a night) and yet, the electricity of being in the press centre surrounded by media (just over a thousand journalists and photographers, broadcast and radio journalists, photojournalists and cameramen ) from almost every country in the world more than made up for it all. the sense of being in the thick of it all made all the difference. kindred spirits all slogging through the day, keeping the same weird hours, with the same set of goals (meeting deadlines, filing stories and pictures, securing satellite time, dealing with computer problems etc) made it feel like i was surrounded by the international family i always had but never really knew.

the idiosyncracies of each member of the press corps came to light, the noisy chinese camera man with the red hat who was always pushing the boundaries, the world bank photographer who looks like lincoln burrows from prison break, to the african photographer with the old school analogue wind up camera that always seemed to get in your way at the wrong time.

it was, in essence, a family reunion, albeit that of a very dysfunctional family.

and i can't wait for the next one.

IWOOT IV: leica m8

a digital leica rangefinder body with a 10.3 megapixel sensor, ISO 160 - 2500, 1.33x focal length extension factor and the ability to use almost every leica m lens produced since 1954.

need i say more?

payback

with 27 days worth of off in lieus in my pocket (not to mention 21 days of regular leave) you'd think that i would be happy to take some days off here and there, and you wouldn't be far wrong.

except that i've discovered that for some strange reason, i seem to be accumulating off days faster than i can use them

take last weekend for example, i finally get to clear three of my off days, bringing my grand total down to 24. not content to sit around doing nothing, the offs were taken specifically to head on up to kuala lumpur's sepang international circuit with ah seng for both of us to watch the 2006 marlboro malaysian motorcycle grand prix, something we've been looking forward to for months.


practice laps

the trip started with us driving to see the bike trials on friday. the usual hour drive from the track to the hotel took more than twice that amount of time thanks to the crazy rains and bullshit KL traffic but we arrived in once piece so one can hardly complain, even though there are so many things to complain about (malaysian taxi drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers, gridlock, bad weather etc). this was followed by dinner with eunice and a couple of drinks at the luna bar on the roof top of the pan regency hotel.

the next day had us crawling out of bed at around 9am, if only to grab the buffet breakfast downstairs before holing ourselves back in our room for the better part of the day doing nothing more than cable movies, snacking on twisties and smokes. yes we decided to skip the qualifiers at the track, but so did the riders, as another thunderstorm blew in and forced the track to suspend riding activities.


slacking in kl

but as with all things, our stash ran out, and we were forced to make our way out (after that horrific thunderstorm) and take a 45 minute hike to klcc for a 5pm lunch, and to buy some photo book for darren.


the pictures you take when you are too lazy to walk for a better vantage point


the view from kinokunya

last but not least, a night at a cool hole in the wall jazz bar called no black tie which was just as well as we showed up in shorts and flip flops.


whiskey and sangria makes it all good

then sunday dawns bright and early, and after a tussle with thousands of other race fans, we make it to the track in time to secure decent parking, and a bloody hot day in the sun that was made complete by nail-biting race.


flag off

so much to tell, but too lazy to pen (type?) it all down. suffice to say it was an awesome weekend.

which brings me back to the original point of this post. thanks to the manpower sapping requirements of the imf-world bank meetings held here this week, i'm forced to work on three of my off days, pushing my off in lieu total back to 27.

ah well. things could be worse i guess.

the big 3-0

that's right. i hit the third fourth decade (thanks terz) of life on earth today, and decided to make a list of some of the things accomplished so far and what i missed out.

things i've done / had done to me:
- met the woman i am convinced i'll spend the rest of my life with
- found my dream job
- visited five of the seven continents (europe, north america, australia, africa and asia [duh!])
- met more interesting people in the last eight years than most people meet in a lifetime.
- eaten worms, grubs and grasshoppers
- seen dead bodies
- bought a car
- bought a motorbike
- been to a rave (or ten)
- managed to clear myself of credit card debt
- lived alone
- indulged in illicit substances (a long time ago)
- covered natural disasters, plane crashes, elections in four different countries, SARS from the inside of an ICU and had more experiences than most people
- had my heart broken
- recovered from broken hearts
- shot a gun (more times than i care to remember)
- been shot at
- been mistaken for a samoan, a hawaiian, an indian, a malay, a latin american, and, on the very rare occasion, a chinese
- broken three different bones (three seperate times)
- slept in the mud
- not bathed for a week
- been published in time, newsweek, and the washington post
- worked with some of the best photographic eyes and editors in the industry (you know who you are)
- danced on a thai beach until the sun came up, then danced some more.
- made snow angels
- had a stalker
- had my own band and performed in public (no jeers!)
- taken fantastic pictures while drunk that i have no recollection of taking
- kayaked around singapore
- skinny dipped (during the slim years)
- punched someone
- had sex in a public place
- played tennis an hour after shooting a riot
- molded young minds
- molded not so young minds
- switched to a mac (1998)
- ridden a snowmobile
- conned my amusement park adverse father into taking a ride in space mountain
- seen my face on the jumbotron downtown
- been on tv
- been on radio
- spent over US$2,500 on a monthly phone bill
- jogged around central park
- passed out under a tree in central park for several hours in the dead of night
- thrown up in times square at 5am in the morning while sitting at the back of a fire truck
- been parasailing
- ridden an elephant
- survived a heatwave exceeding 55 degrees celcius
- trekked in nepal

things i still want/need to do:
- hear the patter of little beekers running around
- jump out of a plane
- bungee jump
- have a solo exhibition i can be proud of
- visit the other two continents (south america and antartica)
- ski
- ride a motorcycle to china and beyond
- shoot nothing but film for a year
- appreciate "catch-22" (the one classic i never really GOT)


it's late, i'm tired and a long day awaits me. this list will grow though as thoughts pop into my head, so be sure to check back for updates.

an idol extinguished

an alternative idol to be sure, but steve irwin was always a source of fun, whether you enjoyed his whacky sense of humour, or his outlandish aussie slang ("crickey!", "coor!" or the perennial "that's a beaut!"), steve was entertaining, great with animals, and a hoot to watch.

so it's depressing to know that he was killed by a stingray barb through the chest. even worse, at press time, his wife was trekking in tasmania and hadn't heard the news yet.

we'll miss you steve.