Mm

M is for Maye-E

M is for Mommy

M is for Maybe

M is for Monster

All of which I aM.

bored again

Universal Studios and a bunch of photographers

We covered the soft launch of Resorts World Sentosa's Universal Studios and ended up having some fun.

Some more than the others but overall I wouldn't mind going back there to really enjoy it. This time round, I was working so the idea of having to lug gear around and try to have fun was not happening for me.

Desmond from the Straits Times, Vivek from Reuters and I decided that we'd do a simple wet and wild ride in the Jurassic park section of the theme park. Had to do one thing before leaving at least.

So after getting our photos, we hopped onto one of the rafts, WITHOUT ponchos ( what's the point if you don't get wet ), I took one camera body with me and we were off.

Needless to say we did hope that we would be sitting on the side of the raft that wouldn't get us too wet but at the end of the ride, after a verticle drop and a splash, ONLY the 3 of us got wet. And we were SOAKED.

But of course it started to rain cats and dogs the moment we stepped out of Jurassic Park.

I'm not sure if children under 8 years of age will get to enjoy it as much as adults because some of the rides can be quite scary.

See picture of a 29 year old Vivek going crossed-eyed on the roller coaster and you'll know what I mean. Nontheless a cool experience.

Bettle Juice! Bettle Juice! Bettle Juice!

"Because if I tell you, you'll tell your friends, your friends are callin' me on the horn all the time, I gotta show up at shopping centers for openings and sign autographs and shit like that and it makes my life a *hell*. Okay? A living hell." - Bettlejuice

First race of 2010

Coach and us

Lookin like a gangsta'

Darling fishes (photos courtesy of Jiayee)

It's been a year since I did my last open water swim but I grew up spending most of my life at sea so I was really looking forward to it. This year, I told myself that i'd do more body conditioning and less races. More run focussed and core conditioning. Next year, we race. (Yeah we = me and me). So this year, I just maintained my running a couple of times a week and swam at least once a week.

The thing about racing without the pressure of performing, allows you to really have fun.

Not that racing's not fun to begin with but this time round, you can really do silly things and not beat yourself up when you don't finish within a certain time target.

Of course the best part of the race was the big reunion with my swim mates. My old friends that went thru blood sweat and tears a couple of years ago while training together for half ironmans and ultra-endurance races.

The water was calm and the tide was at it's highest of the day so there were no currents (at least for our start) so that made the swim nice. I found my space and avoided being beaten up in the water.

Not swimming the way I did while training for races last year left me struggling a little to stay focussed but nontheless I enjoyed every moment of it. The sea bugs stinging you, the salty taste in your mouth.

The run was fun but I hadn't trained much on that aspect yet so I told myself to just finish it. And my icing on the cake came when an old swim mate o'mine came by the last 1km and pulled me along and encouraged me to keep pace, eventually both of us ended up sprinting thru the finish line.

I'm sure I would have taken my own sweet time and even walked across it instead.. After all, I told myself "no pressure on this one" but it's still great to finish with someone next to you, giving your very best!

I heart all of you yellowfish people, those who raced and thosed who just supported.. Really very very much. And Chingx, thanks for selling the slot to me. Sorry I made you look alot slower on paper!!!! hahha. xoxo.

Operation biscuit sharing - paying it forward

Just dropped Nate off at school and his teacher came and told me that one of Nate's classmates actually offered to WIN a box of biscuits back as a gift for Nate (Seeing that nate didn't get any) at a shopping mall that has games and the same biscuits as winning prizes. Now that's real cool.

Well let's hope my plan did not back fire.

Last evening, I picked nate up from school and in the car, I passed him a packet of cookies.

I took two from the pack and started eating them.

Of course Nate saw it and threw a fit in the car along with the cookies which landed all over the back seat.

I gave him a big scolding along with a silent treatment after that. But when things calmed down, he apologised and I emphasized the need to share and share good things with others.

He understood or at least I think he tried to put in some effort this morning when I gave him a box of Thomas the Tank Engine cookies (his no. 1 favourite _ because he has many) and to my suprise, he told me, that he wanted to share that box with his friends!

Can you imagine the joy I felt.

Here's the catch:

A minute ago, his teacher calls me and said that he distributed the biscuits and had enough for everyone EXCEPT himself! OH THE HORROR..... and he started to sob quietly to himself..

I'm going to have to carry out some serious level of damage control right now.

I will reward him with a box for himself.

Oh Poor Boy.

Lessons in life huh?!

Of course I know he must be thinking that the lesson learnt now is that it sucks to share hahahahahahha oh horror!

Time flies...

They say time flies... so come home quick! One's back... now waiting for the other!

Some things are just worth A shot - Literally

Today, I decided to take my photography to a new level.. NO PUNN intended.

The 50th floor of the Pinnacle (a new highrise housing) in Singapore, hoping to get a breath-taking view of the city-skyline or whatever else it had to offer. Bearing in mind that it had been raining for the whole morning I didn't expect much.

It wasn't really that bad looking but it was totally inconvenient because of all that excessive railings they put up. I understand the need to be safe but couldn't they have put glass on one layer?

It killed the effect of being up there in the sky! And I felt that the whole thing was over-rated.

If you are interested, it's SGD$5.00 for a single trip and it closes at 9.45pm. You can stay there for however long you like as long as you stay in there or pay another 5 bucks.

Otherwise, I still managed to get my economic illustration done and I don't think i'll be headed up there for a while.

Some things are just worth a shot - literally.

Ya right...

Nate pretending to sleep.. super con-artist.

IS this naughty or what?

That's my blood.

Oh Thank God!

Thank God for the good news!

And for all your support that you've given me (y'all know who you are.)

I was a little ill before with all the stomach problems and after a few episodes including one which brought me to the hospital left me with a slight health scare. I was sent to the specialist where he was worried because my grandfather had cancer of the colon.

Thank goodness I was fine and clear of all that.

The bigger worry came when my blood showed REACTIVE to Hepetitis C. That to me was very scary. This only came about when I was forced to do a full blood screening.

Suddenly the fact that I had caught a bacteria in my tummy and all that pain and intestinal reactions didn't seem to matter anymore.

I was freaked out because the doctor had warned me that treating Hep C was a very complex procedure. I've never even heard of such a thing! I know of A and B but C?!

It was really weird as well because my liver was supposed to be in the range which was healthier than normal. This was good news because it meant that it hadn't hit the liver yet.

Hep C is incurable and there is no vaccine for it. Depending on what genotype my blood was (we had taken more tests) it would determine what type of treatment I would need to face.

One part of the conversation between my doctor and I , which got really funny was when he kept asking me was if I took drugs!! Me? No way. I don't need drugs to get high. And if I had any operations done overseas as well. This is because it only passes through blood tranfusions.

So til now I have no idea how it's in me.

I can't pass it to you unless we share the same needles so don't feel alarmed ok?

Anyway treatment would last from 6-24 months and if treated aggressively, would leave patients feeling very horrible side effects from vomitting, mild fevers, depression, weight loss (this I was ok with), sinus and cough. Sounded to me that it was everything short of losing hair. And the worse part was that after all that treatment, which included injections weekly and going on and off the medications to see if it works, the results are only 70-80percent.

So for the past 2 weeks i've been praying really hard among other personal penances that I made with God. But mainly I prayed for mercy.

I am an active person and it would be really really upsetting to be ill. No one likes to be ill anyway.

Having said that, my heart goes out to all who are battling this illness.

Yesterday, my blood tests came in and Thank God, it showed up as negative.

Meaning that it's prolly still in me _that's why the first Reactive results_ but the amount is too low to worry about.

In 6 months I will take another test and hope that it's still a negative.

So in the mean time: Take care of your health and don't procrastinate when it comes to chasing your dreams. Thank you also for all the calls and sorry if I didn't really wanna talk about it at first. It was just something too foreign for me to grasp at that point.

Sometimes we all need a wake up call and to pray a little more. Believe in Him!

Wong Jingna

Felicia, left, Jingna and I

That's what Felicia introduced me as.

Tongue-in-cheek I said that we'd make the perfect photographer. Journalist paid in commercial bucks ... can you imagine that?!

The real joke comes later when Jingna and I find out that we have way too many things in common.

Firstly:

- We were both sports persons at the national level

- Jingna was in Air Rifle, I was a Sailor

- She was the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) Sportsgirl of the Year 2006, and I won it a decade earlier in 1995.

- My father knows her and her mother ( I found out today because my dad left a FB remark ) My father was in the Ministry of Education and in charge of Air Rifle and WaterPolo/Swimming at National Schools level.

- Jingna's assistant is a little girl (well, many years ago) that I was buddied with when in primary school.

- Now we are both photographers and take pictures for a living!

When they say the world is small. They weren't kidding!

Be Empowered by Canon

In conjunction with International women's day, Canon launched its campaign BE EMPOWERED.

I was invited to give a little (just little) talk during a seminar held yesterday and all I can say that it was awesome being around so many budding female photographers.

It's really encouraging to see so many women taking up the "sport" or "hobby" of photography. I had a great opportunity to share my experiences as a jounalist which I think is very important.

Most often, during and assignment, its the process and the journey which grows us and humbles us. That's what I really love about my job, aside from all the other fun stuff that we get access too. Personally it challenges us as well. We're put out there in the open, with reality thrown at us sometimes and faced with an open canvas, we're expected to communicate to the rest of the world our interpretation.

Being able to balance that and not be indulgent about it is the biggest challenge i'm sure most of us journos face and that itself is a kind of empowerment as well.

Fellow speaker and fashion photographer Jing Na

Ching Yee, my friend from sailing 15 years ago

Valerie, my long lost younger sister ( i took care of her when she was 7 - school buddy system)

The best part of the seminar was catching up with some unexpected old friends.

To all you women out there, just keep shooting. It's digital anyway. Don't like it, delete it. And no one's gonna grade you so what's there to worry about?

Thank you all for coming and all of the Canon team for putting this together, recognising women in photography.