My Lifeblog

Typing to waste time

2010-03-17T22:38:00.003+08:00

Ok update time again. I'm uber bored of waiting (for something) so I'm going to blog to waste time.

So A Levels results are out and I'm glad I did well. Scholarship application is a major bane in my life now. I just applied for DSTA very last minute and screwed up my write up abit but it's fine. I don't think they'll call me and I (currently) hope they won't call me because I'm so afraid of the interview. After this round of application, I realised that hey I don't really want to work for the company afterall...I just want a damn scholarship so I can study in London, which is one of my wildest dreams. I just this one step close to it but this step is a tough one. I never believe I can fake my way through and pretend that I'm interested in working for the company when I'm not. It's just so...hypocritical. And people who know me well knows that I can't stand being someone I do not want to. Is that a weakness? Many a times, especially when it comes to doing stuff I dislike, I think so. :S

I'm still shooting these days but am kinda lost among all my aims. I think I've set too many aims for myself I just can't fulfill them all! I just sent in competition photos for the LTA competition which Ed-t recommend we go for. I think it's a decent attempt at most. But anyhows, I hope I can win some cash from this...so I can upgrade my gear. I went with Joscelin my junior to the studio today to shoot some portraitures today. It was my first (unguided) experience with studio photography and I'm not really satisfied yet honestly. I guess we kinda took too long to set-up and missed the opportunity to do some shots I really wanted to do. Till then then...it costs a fugging $30/hr to book the studio. And I don't really think I can afford this in the long run...too expensive for an experiment. I'm trying to build my own mini studio with 2 strobes, 2 umbrellas/softboxes & wallpaper but I can't find that space in my house. I need my own room badly. Something like Pearlyn's room would be awesome...so conducive for self-portraits.

I'm looking at Maldives photos again! I guess I kinda really miss it lots. Wonder if anyone that went to the trip miss it as much as me. Perhaps they'll when A Levels come (hee hee). But seriously the time at Maldives was one of my happiest moments in my life & it's the most beautiful place I've been. I would very much still like to keep in contact with the J1s I went with on the trip last year but we kinda live different lives...so forget it (<---this sounds emo). I seriously need to go down with the same bunch of people another time. Uber awesome stuff.

Okay I'm done blogging. There always seem to be so much time for me to burn every night. I wonder why am I not putting the nights to good use. I'm not chilling out, neither working on something. Just waiting. Idiot eh. I seriously need to learn how to put somethings aside sometimes & work on stuff that's imminent; like Army. I don't even know wtf is field camp or whatever...sounds tough. I hate the idea of carrying 20kg of nonsense on my back too. Seriously...what's going to happen to people skinnier than me? But then again, I can't really find one. Speaking of which, the gym training hasn't been helping much...on the contary swimming did. Cool eh?

Ok enough of time-wasting. Seize the day.

It boils down to this

2010-03-04T20:21:00.003+08:00

Oh well...I guess everyone is excited about tmr. Some worried. Some afraid. I can't exactly point out how I'm feeling right now. There's certainly anticipation but let's just say that I got a feeling I won't be scoring as many As as I would wish to have.

National exams are always crazy. It's the time where the underdogs unexpectedly do very well and the usual winners start weeping and complaining why didn't they work hard when they couldn't have work any harder. I wouldn't consider myself an underdog or consistent performer so I guess my grades will be easy to predict. Afterall, I managed to guess my O's score (although geog was a total shocker and saver). And that's what get me worried. I keep telling my worried friends "laxing man, what is done is done" and myself that I've nothing to regret since I've tried my best. But the fact remains that "I tried my best" is never a phrase you would love to use (on yourself) when you receive your result slip. Esp when everyone around you start flaunting or talking about the multiple no. of As they have. Pride matters. Future matters even more.

After the NTU Talk last Saturday, I told myself that if I were to ever get crappy grades, I would just happily skip to ADM (Art, Design & Media). But I know that deep down inside, I'm not prepared for it. To embrace Art when it has never been the focus of my life for the past 18 years (until recently). I would definitely not want a score to allow me to consider this option. My pride would take a terrible beating and my future would be ruined, well in a sense. I need a score good enough of my own expectations of myself or even better (thank god) to step out of that hall feeling good enough to tell others my grades.

I hereby pray for everyone around me, esp my best pals, and myself to do well. I would be really thankful if I do not see any tearing faces (including mine) tmr. God bless.

Paranoia's your best friend

2010-02-24T23:52:00.002+08:00

What's wrong with security in Singapore? Throughout my Made in Singapore photographic trip, I've been threatened by security at least 4 times. Worst of which happened at IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore), where the security guard asked me to delete all my photographs. And today I was threatened to be taken to the police again when I was taking a few shots of the F1 pit building.

Can't they tell apart a photography enthusiast and a terrorist? I understand that terrorism is a concern but need they be so uptight about it such that if I'll to spend more than 5mins shooting, I'll be approached by some damn security. Must policemen always stop to see what I'm doing when I'm shooting with my Mega Huge L lens? Need I always have an official pass to capture a scene in your official building?

For god damn sake, these security retards don't know what's photography. Like as if they're good at capturing terrorists either. Some of them don't even look like they can fend off a robber. It's really a shame because Singapore really has some nice architecture and paranoia is stopping these beautifully crafted buildings to be captured and preserved. The IRAS building is one damn good example. Pity it has one of the tightest and most idiotic security I've ever experienced.

Oh wells...what can I do if I don't want to be taken to the police station in a police car? Just delete my photos according to instruction and curse. Fuck security.

Back on dA

2010-02-24T01:09:00.003+08:00

Okay finally after 2 long years...I'm back on Deviantart. I previously took 2 years off from dA to refine my skills and partly because I felt that I hadn't reached sufficient standard to continue posting on dA.

These 2 years wasn't really the time I produced the most number of nice photographs but the time I really got down to learning those techniques...stuff like how to counter strong backlight, indoor settings for flash, light ratios & using a lightmeter and many more. And I must say that taking photos of events constantly in NJ helped me nail my techniques and think faster on the spot.

So after mastering those technicalities, I guess the next step for me would be to explore more perspectives, be it angle, point of view or thought process and ultimately turn Pro before Army. I'm currently trying to build my portfolio and hopefully someone would give me a chance to shoot for them (without pulling strings that's it). Of course there's still lots of experimentation to do and I'm not forgetting the importance of it. But I'll try to shoot something that looks professional while doing so :P

In a blink an eye (okay cliche)...3 mths is about to pass. The next 2 mths is going to be shorter than it seem because of all the preparation work for Army and some emoness/settling some scholarship shit after As (and that depends on how I score). I've really learnt alot during this short stint but hopefully the next 2 mths will be even more fulfilling for me. I can really feel time is running out (Muse fans no pun intended) and currently I just want to grab every opportunity that I've and I'll create. Heh. :)

In the meantime watch me here: http://matthewngphotography.deviantart.com/ :)

Cheers.

Rewindingggg

2010-02-06T01:16:00.007+08:00

Yay I'm blogging late into the night again. I'm not a stalker but I was reading Zhi Ler's blog (about half way through now) just now and I think it really brings back memories. Your flaming and sacarstic comments really made NJ sound more enjoyable than it is.

But well...sacarstic comments aside, NJ (or JC life in general) isn't really as bad as everyone makes out to be afterall. Tedious as the JC journey might have been, it certainly has its fair share of memorable moments. There're some memories I wish I can relive and others that are memorable (but I don't wish to relive LOL). I know I'm kinda feeling semi-emo now but let's do this in a chronological fashion yea?

2008 J1 Orientation. Okay I know I was an emo kid then. Not mixing with the class. Whatever. Didn't have much impression of this except the 1 single class outing that I attended. After that outing the class just spilted. Wow. Next.

Shooting was really memorable. Great bunch of guys in there except there're too many IPs (sry you know I just inherently dislike IPs) and I really hated a few individuals. However, for the first time I felt my CCA was one big family. Seniors were really really awesome. Kudos to Abel, Jun Yang, Joanna, Sing Hui, Gen & Xin Yuan. I had to leave in June because I couldn't cope with my studies and had to apply for Exco in Photog. Pity. If I could, I definitely would have studied harder & managed my time more effeciently.

Hanging around in school. I rmb I didn't like going home to do hwk during J1 so I just hung around in school to "do abit of hwk" and waited for the throwers to finish their training before I made my way home with them. It just felt really nice to be "involved" with school then. Looking at the Sports people train and other homeless people hang around at the round tables area. Waiting from dusk to twilight...stuff like that.

PW. A VERY important phase of my J1 life. Reading all that shit ZL typed about PW really revived those (painful) memories. It was a wrong move by MOE to put the TCC (Talking Cock Club) and one girl (who is not very girl) together. I admit we were bastards at the beginning (till June) and didn't really wanted to commit to the project but we really made up for it with our sweat and blood towards the end. Still rmb AK fucking up our proposals everytime we handed in to her. Our WR was fail. In comparison to many other people's WRs. But the morning after I finished WR really felt like Bliss. For once the hashbrown I had for breakfast from Mac really tasted like fucking hashbrowns. OP was hiongster chionging...no joke. But I'm really glad we all made it. AAAB results was really a gift. And I'm really thankful for whoever, spiritual or mortal, that made that happen.

ROCK NIGHT. One hell of a night. Best Gig I ever had. Thank God for making that happen. At least I've 1 very successful event in my whole gigging life to rmb. The whole LT was singing It's My Life Chorus in unison. It just felt...super awesome. It was a night I truely felt like a Rockstar. Rock Night aside, I rmb the whole of J1 I was just too focussed on my band 3:45 (till the point of obsession). Everyday I was just thinking of how to improve the songs we play and band matters. On hindsight, it was a really grave mistake. :/ But then again, I gained broader perspectives on these matters after realising how stupid I was and managed to save my A Levels...so I'm thankful for that.

Moving on to 2009...NJPS. One hell of an experience too. No matter what others think, we endured through lots of hardship to make SNAP 2009 happen. And I'm really proud to be the most hiongster Exco of NJPS history. I'm really glad the Competition and Exhibition turned out well. Seminar could have been better but for once, I really felt like I really gave it all for my CCA. So no regrets. NJPS was my heart and soul of 2009 and I felt really proud to create a legacy with the 2008/2009 Exco.

Maldives! A really special event of my life. For the record, it is the furthest place on Earth I've been to from Singapore. The place has the most no. of stars I've ever seen in my life. Till the point it looks like noise when you set your camera at ISO 128000. I made a friend there in a short 10 days stint that I can call a True Friend. Thanks to them I returned to SG with more presents I ever had for all my birthdays added together. And I met a girl, which for once, meant so much to me for the past 11 months.

Prelims & A Levels. After NJPS & Maldives...school was nothing but pure mugging. Fortunately, my foundation for J2 wasn't as weak as during J1 because I got to know ML. And I'm really thankful. For both her help & our friendship. :) In retrospect, it was really fucked up to study for As. Thank god for giving me the motivation to just studying like some motherfucking (I'm sorry but this term just has to be used) mugger who doesn't go out except to Lot One for lunch during study breaks & hols. And thanks to my NJC teachers for giving me soooo much pressure I managed to do just decently well at the end of the day.
Mugging is memorable (esp since I'm experiencing almost the opposite everyday now) but I really wish I don't have to relive this fucked up piece of motherfucking shit over again.

Wow...I just realised I finished typing my entire NJC life here. Left out a few insignificant events but who cares. And for once...I just suddenly feel like going back to school and revive all these memories. Alone. And just savour the moment...

Of Epic-ness

2010-02-04T13:53:00.002+08:00

Okay last night was a really epic night.

For starters, I broke my specs frame for the grand third time in 2 years. First time was during J1 Orientation Dance Party. I was dancing like some crazy fool and suddenly my specs went onto the ground and broke. Tsk. Second was...forgotten. And yesterday, amidst the moshing during Rise Against set, Kah han landed a fatal blow to my specs again. One moment I saw his head coming towards mine and next moment I heard a crack sound before I momentarily went into a semi-blind state. Oh wells...no one to blame but myself I guess. Should really have practised some restraint.

But MUSE kinda more than made up for it :P It wasn't their best set last night but I'm not complaining. Kudos to MUSE for Stockholm Syndrome, MK Ultra, Knights of Cydonia (with Man with Harmonica intro) and SUNBURN! Hysteria and Stockholm was EPIC. TIRO, MK and Knights were less epic but good nonetheless. I bet MUSE was really feeling good (no pun intended) because of the enthusiastic crowd last night.

There were a few interesting boards held up by fans in the first Pen too. Notable quotes of the night: "Fuck me, Bellamy", "Please play Citizen Erased, Can't Take My Eyes Off You and Unintended" and "Can I have your Plectrum (aka guitar pick)?". Epic.

Well...all epic nights have to come to an end. It was really back to reality after MUSE last night. No more anticipation until at least 3 years later. :( And for some of my friends who are going Army (esp YS) today or within the next few days I guess it must have felt worse. Anws All The Best to life in NS man. The online scene will definitely be quieter without you guys around anymore :(

Shall end off here. Feeling really wasted from the fatigue from last night.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-03T00:29:00.002+08:00

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MUSE LIVE IN SINGAPORE 2010 IS HAPPENING IN 20HOURS TIME!!!! WAT THE HELL WAT THE HELL!!!! I'M GOING CRAZZZZZYZYZYYYZYZY

Bane

2010-02-01T23:36:00.002+08:00

Hi people. I updated 'cause I'm currently bored and I got this feeling someone wants to see an update cos she wasn't totally satisfied with the previous since it's filled with photography jargons. Lolol. Okays no luhs.

Oh wells...life has kinda came to a standstill for me after last week's photog trips. It was really great to see many positive response coming in. They were really heart-warming :) I guess I've improved my Eye quite abit after this session. Certainly looking forward to producing a continuation of my album if I suddenly feel inspired again. :)

Anws why I'm saying life has come to a standstill for me 'cos I can't predict I'll be doing anything useful this week. I'm currently jobless and unemployed and my mum has been throwing Classified Ads at me everyday. :( I guess it kinda sucks sometimes not to have a job. I spent my entire time today rotting at home (well almost) and I feel so...wasted. Yet I don't want a job that will not have any relevence to my potential jobs next time. Say...admin.

Recently, I've a friend that managed to get a job at SPH (Singapore Press Holdings) as an intern photographer coz his dad has contacts. And I must admit that that's the most ideal internship I ever wanted. So much so I can forgo the pay. I'm seriously considering writing in to SPH to ask for an internship but I'm not entirely sure if they still accept requests that late. Now I know why it certainly pays to be the Early Bird. I guess I really need to be determined to make things work. Life is certainly not the way I want it to be currently. :(

Rights. I won't post too much here. I've got so much on my mind but I don't think it'll be appropriate to post them here.

We need to talk.

Back To Basics

2010-01-21T14:00:00.005+08:00

Okay I suddenly just felt like exploring my basics again and renewing some old knowledge about photography. (In a CIP kind of tone) Basically what we're doing today is Product Photography. And what I did was to test out different flash sources & diffusing/reflecting material to see which gives the best result. The materials used are as shown below:

1) NJC Family Tee (Dry-fit material)
2) NJC Step Up Tee (Cotton)
3) Grey Clipboard
4) A4 size white paper
5) White translucent plastic bag

A Gundam figurine was used. And all test shots are done with the 350D, 70-200mm f/2.8 L & 580EX External Flash on a tripod. Natural light shines in from the right of the figurine through my window. My ceiling is White & the wall at the back is alil like Light brownish.

Test Shot 1: Only Natural Lighting
Analysis: Lighting looks pretty even ('cause it's the Sun duh) but flat. Figurine does not stand out.

Test Shot 2: Direct Pop-up Flash
Analysis: Lighting is kinda harsh and produces ugly shadows at the back.

Test Shot 3: Pop-up Flash w/ White plastic bag over it.
Analysis: The flash is diffused a lil bit but still too harsh for my liking.

Test Shot 4: Pop-up Flash w/ NJ Family T (Single layer) over it
Analysis: Figurine is slightly underexposed. Diffusing material takes away too much light from the pop-up flash.

Test Shot 5: Pop-up Flash w/ NJ Family T (Double Layer)
Analysis: Okay it's even darker now. Out.

Test Shot 6: Pop-up Flash w/ NJ Step-Up T (Single Layer)
Analysis: Produces around the same result as the NJ Family T but lighting looks better.

Test Shot 7: Pop-up Flash with NJ Step-up T (Double Layer)
Analysis: More diffused. More underexposed too.

Test Shot 8: Direct External Flash
Analysis: Ouchie. Really harsh lighting/shadows produced. Photo looks a tat too overexposed too.

Test Shot 9: External Flash bounced to ceiling (at 90 degrees)
Analysis: Whee finally we don't see those shadows produced by the wings at the background. Lighting doesn't look as even as I would have liked it though. Nat Bed.

Test Shot 10: External Flash bounced to Wall at the back
Analysis: Lighting looks pretty nice. Shadows aren't too harsh. Nat bed.

Test Shot 11: External Flash bounced to White A4 size paper with on Grey Clipboard at the back
Analysis: Lighting is harsher than the previous. Shadows are definitely more pronounced.

That pretty much concluded my experiment. Personally, I found Test Shot 9 (Bounce to Ceiling) & 10 (Bounce to Wall) most pleasing. Surprisingly Test Shot 6 (Step-Up Single Layer) ended up not bad too; just abit underexposed. Test Shot 1 (Natural lighting) looks fine but cannot draw enough attention to the figurine as I would have wished because the lighting was too flat. In conclusion, I found Bouncing to Ceiling produced the most pleasing results. The following are shot using this method. (I readjusted the figurine a lil)

Okay hope that was fun for you. It was for me :)

Hello World

2010-01-11T20:25:00.002+08:00

~~Hi I updated because Mei Ling wants to see something new here.~~

Okay I guess I shouldn't be pleasing ML. I would be doing such a disservice to myself. So it's been sometime since I was here. Life has been normal so far except for a few notable events. Work is taking up almost everyday of my hols; kinda defeats the purpose of getting a freelance job. ZL, Brother Chun and I are planning to take a weekend off before completing our last assignment. After that I intend to quit and find a new job. Preferably something that's not related to surveys.

Meantime, I'm pretty excited about getting my new earphones. I sacrificed hell lot of hours upgrading my iTunes just so that all the music are of high quality. Sacrificed Paramore Live in Singapore too. Perhaps my greatest regret of 2010 till I go army (I mean I won't know what'll happen in Army do I?). Zl & I conveniently popped by Jaben at The Aldephi while we were at Bugis shopping for clothes. I must admit I was quite blown away by 2 sets namely Futuresonic Atrios M5 and Ultimate Ears SuperFi 5eb, esp the latter. It's gonna be expensive (as always LOL).

I'm supposed to go for 08s12 class outing now but I guess I would take sometime at home to play abit of drums. I feel that my playing has come to a standstill. (Well in fact...honestly I think it hasn't improved much since Prelims and As). I've made a few resolutions for Drumming this year (valid till before Army) but I'm not entirely sure if I can do it or whether I'm practising correctly. I seriously need a mentor/teacher. I feel so inconfident with my craft. Zac Farro of Paramore is my short-term drum idol for the time being. He plays with so much confidence live! Improvising really cool fill-ins during live shows and what not. Can I ever play like this with enough practice? :(

On the other hand...my Photog is really kinda gonecase now. I'm seriously suspecting if I'm even of photography-material. I've almost zero art genes and currently I'm anytime more passionate about music than the art of painting with light. It doesn't help that recently I just threw a hell of my fortune into a damn expensive sh*t. I really need some serious thinking.

Okay followers. That's quite a plentiful isn't it? I got this feeling that life doesn't begin until I start working hard for it.

Think of me when you're out, when you're out there

I'll beg you nice from my knees

And when the world treats you way too fairly

Well, it's a shame I'm a dream

All I wanted was you

I think I'll pace my apartment a few times

And fall asleep on the couch

And wake up early to black and white reruns

That escaped from the mouth, oh, oh

All I wanted was you

I could follow you to the beginning

Just to relive the start

And maybe then we'll remember to slow down

And all of our favorite parts

All I wanted was you

All I Wanted - Paramore

Still missing you alot.

Alright. I'm Done. 2

2009-12-02T18:47:00.002+08:00

Just finished shopping for Grad Night. Extremely tired now. I managed to get everything I want from 2 adjacent shops in Far East. It's certainly the place with the most student friendly prices. Topman sells a blazer for 203. Zara 299. Taka 599. Whoo. And I got mine at 90 (after discount) hehhhh. Looks similar to the one I saw at Topman (altho the Topman's one is probably shinier). Anws heck the worksmanship...the blazer gonna probably be a one-off affair kind of thing. Much thanks to Dan who was so nice to give me opinions on the attire.

And with that, I'm extremely relieved and please to announce that I have finished shopping for Grad Night. Time for MORE hiking and photograph-taking! Shopping and formal attires is seriously so NOT me man. Music/hiking/photography and quirky T-shirts for the win.

Alrights. Sleepy. Very Sleepy. Adios

Alright. I'm done.

2009-11-30T17:36:00.005+08:00

Finally over. Not the best of experience. But at least I'm done. I guess everyone screwed up some paper(s) so I should stop thinking about them. Fingers crossed all the way till March 2010. I guess I've just been too stressed up over getting those AAAB B grades I was aimming for. I've done my part and I'll leave the rest to God (and the Cambridge examiners).

Great. So now shit is over. It's time for Buying Spree. I've been discussing a couple of them with my mum and things seem to be coming along smoothly. ;) Looks like when you work hard, anything goes. :D The following list is just a reminder for myself...just in case I miss out anything...it would be to my disadvantage...hee.

In order of priority:
1) Grad Night Attire
2) HTC Hero/iPhone
3) Canon-EF-70-200mm-f-2.8-L (Prolly the most ownage)

4) Anberlin Hoodie

5) MUSE T-Shirt (for the feb gig :D)

Estimated expenditure: Quite gay.

And I'll prolly be getting a job at The Camera Rental Centre (CRC) if the dude responds to me soon. Can't wait. Doing a part-time job related to photography has always been my dream. :) Looking forward to being busy again. And for the RIGHT reasons. Don't want to just rot at home and do shit...would be so pointless.

Alright. That's all folks. Gonna go hit a couple of drums.

People and Spaces

2009-10-20T20:13:00.002+08:00

Have you ever been like this before/Two lovers at the ends of ocean shores/So close that you cannot hide/On the continents that share no day and night/My love it's alright//Maybe I would never be the same/So close but yet so far away/I'll build us a place in time/Beneath the pale moonlight/My love it's alright//It's warm down here on the other side/I'm waiting by the phone tonight/So come home to me, come home//Kookaburra on the old gum tree/She sings to a child beneath her wings/Don't worry my love, don't you cry/You're safe with me tonight/And the world is alright/My love it's alright//It's warm down here on the other side/I'm waiting by the phone tonight/So come home to me, come home//Tell her I've built a home to stay, and I built it for us

Ok someone requested for the lyrics for the TFF song People and Spaces. So here it's. Pardon for any minor errors. Although I typed this off the lyric book, I don't completely trust my typing skills. hee.

Hot Park

2009-09-20T19:03:00.005+08:00

Rights. Like I said ystd, I went Hortpark. It's my first time there and I think it's an excellent place to hang out, go for a jog or go dating hahaha. The morning sun felt pretty good :) It felt great to be shooting again. The new pirated neoprene strap that I bought was not bad. I think it made my camera feel at least 50% lighter hahaha. 10bucks well spent. We walked the approx 2.4km path from Hortpark carpark to Mt Faber then to Vivocity for shopping. I must admit that not doing exercise for half a year is really bad for health. I felt so tired after walking 2.4km I went to sleep without bathing (ee smely) upon reaching home. Enjoy the shots. I esp love the macro shots towards the end of the series. Esp the one with the bee. Fullview the pictures to get a better view. :D Signing off!

I'm almost as free as a Bird

2009-09-19T23:13:00.003+08:00

I took this off a friend's blog' cause it's so interesting. Doesn't the above scenarios look familiar?

Anyway, it's gonna sound kind of weird but it feels pretty good being in a semi-exam state. Think having finished all your written papers and having 2 MCQ papers left. It gives you a hell lot of time to slack around but at the same time prevents you from having the guilt of stopping studying totally. So I managed to find time to do some MCQs and play drums as well as catch up on some sleep. I'll be going to Hortpark early in the morning (dang 7am) tomorrow with my family and I think it's gonna be a great place to get away from Exams and citylife. Gonna bring my camera along too to snap some stuffs. I haven't touched my camera for way too long. I think it needs a white Canon L lens to accompany it. And I'll be looking forward to that after As. :) Of course scoring As will be essential.

Faith (all we need)

2009-09-19T00:15:00.005+08:00

Ah finally my first break in a very long time. Spent the time after my last NJC written paper with Brother Chun at Vivo as usual. Vivocity is simply the best place to chill out and have a chat. And I love night-long chats. :) I didn't realised that I haven't gone out (apart from school and Lot 1 for lunch) for at least 2 months. In fact...I totally forgotten how to transit to the North-East line from Outram Park. :S

Well actually, Prelims are not over...I still have 2 MCQ papers but I don't have any mood to study anymore. Dang it. Why must they drag it till next Thursday. It's totally a waste of time to spend 5 days studying for 1 Physics MCQ paper. To make things worse, the Physics MCQ is in the afternoon. I think. Haiz.

MUSE new album is very much out already but I still haven't got the chance to buy it. I can't believe Vivo doesn't have a single CD shop. HMV or Gramophone should invest in an outlet there. I mean...Vivo is such a nice place but it doesn't have a decent CD shop...ridiculous. I think I should set up a CD shop in Vivo and capture the CD market in Vivo (see...an obvious lack of Economics knowledge). Anyway, everyone around me is downloading the album. Nicer people tell me they would borrow the album from me to burn haha. But I'm firm in my stand of buying the album. Buying an album is the simplest way you can show support for your favourite band. It affirms the band's efforts instead of letting their work be reduced to mere megabytes. I guess I shall continue listening to the album on Muse.mu for the time being unless I can make my way down to Gramophone or HMV sometime this week. :)

Ok I guess I've nothing to type for the time being...due my my lack of life. Brother Chun says I completely turn into a full-time mugger during every exam. Somehow I don't have such an impression but on hindsight, I think it's pretty true. I thought it's the same for everyone. Hopefully, my hard work will pay off. I can feel I'm starting to achieve a little breakthrough in Chemistry. My Chem has been pretty stagnent at Pass for the past 1 and a half years but I think I've found the key. Econs is still a major worry. Can someone please tell me I need to pass Econs to get into Uni, that would be very helpful. Heh ok signing off.

Btw this is a song, titled Unnatural Selection, from MUSE's new album. It's really awesome. I esp love the outro and pre-chorus. :D

To:

2009-08-05T18:22:00.003+08:00

Thanks for being such a great friend so great my words just can't justify. For being there whenever I needed you. For letting me know that I still have you at the end of the day. Thanks for accompanying me in my journey of finding a true friend in NJC. Being there wherever I'm. Wasting your precious time on my phone calls. Letting me find my motivation when I'm at my lowest. For being so sensitive to my needs. For lending me your ears whenever I needed them. For sharing your troubles with me. For attempting to appreciate my type of music. For sharing my relationship problems and giving me advices. Being there was all I ever needed and you did it best. You're the reason why I don't need girlfriends. The reason why I wasn't the ignorant and unmotivated self of my J1 days. Thank you.

Love from,
Wei Shuen

And I came to my senses

What a fool I could be

Of a heart that grows colder

From the air that I breathe

To look at my face

Oh so pleasantly calm

Yet my heart beholds a weakness

Could you just see through me

Have I lost all my faith

For a beautiful world

In a quiet degradation

Of passion and purpose

Here I stand at the edge

Of the future and now

From the depths of my lungs

Oh could you just sing to me

Into the fire

Into your grace

Into your love

You know I'm here

To love you

Sonnet - The Fire Fight

I JUST HEARD THE FIRE FIGHT ALBUM LIVE!

2009-08-01T00:18:00.012+08:00

Oh man what can I say...The Fire Fight album launch was just awesome. I was particularly impressed by Iain Tham's mid-set drum solo. It totally set the mood right for the remaining songs of the gig. I swear I was banging my head, swinging my body, tapping my feet, jumping and shouting out lyrics like nobody's business. Paul can vouch for me that I was the most enthusiastic supporter there :) well at least within my line of view. For once I just totally ignored watching Joshua and the rest rocked it out onstage and closed my eyes and immersed myself fully in their music.

I bet you guys must be thinking how awesome it was...or thinking I'm just bullshitting around here. But trust me, TFF has proven to break every single stereotypes you guys have of local bands. Firstly, the sound system was great. The mix was perfect (Paul claims that the guitars could be a lil louder though) and it really felt like listening to the studio album but live. Every part of the performance was pitch-perfect. Secondly, TFF really got everyone high with their melodious vocals, intricate guitar riffs and dynamic drumming. They opened with "When Spring Comes Home" followed by their first single "Dreamer". But the songs that I really loved and got me frigging high was "Fires at Night" and "The Train Song" ESP FIRES AT NIGHT. Too bad they didn't play it for encore. TFF also did really well bringing out their emotions for the slower and more emotion-provoking songs. In fact, the chorus for "Hours" still rings in my head now. Iain's drumming was particularly emotional and inspiring. (I know I keep mentioning this Iain guy but he was really awesome that night and is such a good role model for a drummer like me :D) Thirdly, the harmonizing between Angel the guest performer (guitar and vox) and Joshua was really good and their voices really complemented each others. Haha I think they should make Angel a permanent backing vocals. Her voice was just so sweet, although she did cocked up abit on the guitar during the song "People and Spaces". Fouthly, TFF's music is just so inspirational and Joshua's lyrics are so thought-provoking. Combining Dance, Rock and Indie music, TFF created a unique genre of music they can claim as their own and I think that's simply why their music is so appealing...well at least to youths (age 17 and above) and young adults. While grooving to the compelling beats of the drums, one also does not forget to ponder about the meaning behind those finely crafted lyrics. That's enough substantiation isn't it!

Overall I would have given TFF 8/10 for the night's performance. Minus for one lousy unenthusiastic Singaporean crowd and one for not playing my favourite "Fires at Night". So it isn't really their fault they don't score 10/10 too. :D The set was well rehearsed and the song list was strategically organized...except for the poor narration of the story of Henri the bear by Joakim Gomez, which didn't allow me to fully grasp the story of Henri (ok in fact...I know only like 10%), everything else was just darn good. Atmosphere during Fires at Night and The Train Song was just amazing. Too bad I didn't make it home with the album. Both album and gig were sold out. :)

Ok so if you haven't heard of these guys called The Fire Fight, it jolly well time for you to check them out at http://www.myspace.com/thefirefightsg or http://thefirefight.com/. The Fire Fight is Joshua as Guitars and Vocals, Jonathan as Guitars, JBarks as Bass and Iain as Drums and Backing Vocals. I shall end of this post with a video of a performance of Beware! Monster by The Fire Fight during the album launch. Check out Iain's amazing drum solo at the start. Enjoy!

Don't you wish that...

2009-07-24T18:19:00.002+08:00

School wasn't as tiring. You can clear all that homework and start on revision. You weren't feeling pressurized by the amount of things not done. You could stop allowing this pressure to hinder the progress of your work. You could share this pressure with someone. There's someone on MSN to chat with. Your best friend would have time to listen. Music can wash away all the pain your're feeling. You could be a rock star. You could play the guitar and sing. You could produce inspirational pieces of music. You were Matt Bellamy. You were at the top. You were not struggling to pass. You were motivated to trounce everyone else. You were in Secondary School. You could do well in GP effortlessly. You could get started on that comprehension. Your best friend wasn't besting you in your best subject. You were a female and don't have to worry about supporting a family in the future. You could stop dreaming and start doing. You were really talented in something so you could skip schooling and live off your talent. You could write an essay for your blogpost when you can't pen down your thoughts. You could write persuasive arguementative essays and express your own opinions without having to worry about what others think of your ignorance. You had a hot and pretty girlfriend. She was understanding too. Your best friend was your girlfriend. You could play freely without worries. You could concentrate fully when playing and studying. You were knowledgable about issues debated around the world. You could take 1 year off from life to tour the world. You could visit the Maldives again. Time could reverse. You wouldn't make those mistakes. She is enjoying your company. She didn't have a guy. You could spend more time in your CCA. You could win a competition. You could appreciate your positive points and stop feeling inferior about your negative points. You lived in a parallel universe. Life was not a series of problems. You would not moan about life if it was a series of problems. You could solve all your problems. Mmmm...

Note to self:

2009-07-17T22:40:00.001+08:00

Wei Shuen stop thinking about stupid things and start studying.

Update 20/7:
Everybody's chionging like crazy. You must too...D:

I'm ready...to SLACK!

2009-07-03T14:55:00.004+08:00

Wow. CTs are over. It was over pretty fast I admit. First day and we've cleared 2 subjects GP and Maths. Wasn't too long before the end of the last paper Physics.

So what've I been doing recently? Basically just slacking big time and doing all the things that I haven't got the chance to do during the June Hols like going cycling, whacking on my drums for 20 consecutive songs, watching youtube and some documentaries, listening to TBS new album and MUSE's Showbiz album, jamming with Bear and ZL, going out with my best pals and watching "Marley and Me" LOL.

I can be quite proud of myself today. :) I completed an 18Km (approx) bike ride from CCK to Bukit Gombak then to Bukit Timah and back to CCK. I actually just wanted to ride the bike for an hour or so to relieve boredom but I ended up cycling all the way to Bukit Timah lolx. As a result, I really need Butt Therapy now.

I noticed something interesting about cycling (not competitive ones) today. From the time when you first mount the bike to cycling the first 2 plus Km or so, cycling feels like freedom. It feels good because you have this feeling that you can explore anywhere your wheels take you to and without the effort of walking. But after the the first 2 plus Km (and many uphills) cycling suddenly feels more like a challenge. And surprisingly, it makes you feel like cycling more and cycling to further places. You tend to tell yourself to cycle a lil further more before taking a break and explore areas/terrains you're would initially not feel comfortable to explore. Well that's my thought. Haha cycling is so wonderful ain't it? :) In fact, I think I refound my long-lost love for cycling, which is great. More cycling after A's.

Alright that's basically what happened this morning. I'm going to watch Marley and Me already. Adios and hope everyone here will enjoy this 4 days short break to the MAX. :)

I Wish...

2009-06-28T13:45:00.002+08:00

It's out boys. Ok in fact very long time ago. It's just that I couldn't be bothered to blog about it till today, when I visited MUSE.mu again. The 5th studio album from MUSE, titled The Resistance, will be out on 14th September. So get at least 25 bucks ready. This is one of the best thing that is going to happen in the music year of 2009. :) MUSE is simply genius and the band has said that the new album will be the best album they've ever produced. Now that's a really good reason why you should get the album. Wooo...

Ok apart from MUSE new album, local indie band The Fire Fight (TFF) (http://www.myspace.com/thefirefightsg) is launching it's debut album, Henri, too. Album launch gig on 31st July at the Esplanade Recital. Tickets selling at SISTIC for 25 bucks. Be sure to catch it. Contact me if you're going too haha :D

Lastly, Baybeats (wooo!) with Anberlin (WTF!?). The Esplanade will present Baybeats at various locations around the Esplanade Concert Hall from 28th-30th August. Be sure to check up upcoming awesome punk/indie bands like Lunar Node (http://www.myspace.com/lunarnode) and Audiocean. More details found here: http://www.baybeats.com.sg/2009/. Haha and of course I got a shock when I saw Anberlin will be playing for Baybeats. (What more free!). Anberlin has been one of the few bands I got really into during the past few months. I simply love the unique guitar riffs and their alt rock style. And unlike other bands, their most recent album, New Surrender, hasn't disappointed me a single bit. Check out Anberlin at http://www.anberlin.com/. Awesome stuff.

Ok with so many awesome gigs/stuff around. I'm ready for the end of CT and (heck start of Prelims). :) Adios!

Read This

2009-06-19T00:45:00.000+08:00

This is my study table. There're more stuff left, right and under of it. My table might look disorganized but it's organized in an unorganized way. You can see 5 pieces of paper stuck to the wall. Those are my sources of stress. Especially the third one from the left. It reads "H2 Maths Revision Plan" btw. At the very very left edge of the photo, you can see a small chip of my cymbal from my drumset. I feel like playing it every now and then but I can't. In the foreground you can see my Chemistry file. That's just part 1 out of 2. Thanks to my dedicated teacher. :) And on the right you can spot the good old "O'Sullivan"...it's pretty useful afterall. If you guys bought it and haven't read it...you can try doing so. You can also spot a fullscape pad at the table front. I scribble lots of stuff on it. Including Jesus's face and Triangles. And lastly, check out my waterbottle. It has many digimon stickers on it. It has been used since I was a kid. Might be good to change in case I get water-bottle-poisoning.

Ok actually I'm just saying all these nonsense 'cause I'm ultra bored of studying. If you wasted 5mins of your mugging time reading this, go back to your work! Bb.

MINDS CIP Part III

2009-06-16T13:40:00.001+08:00

CIP last Friday was pretty sucky. Firstly, I went there feeling very guilty because I was supposed to be doing an essay during that morning...instead I went for CIP since I gave my CIP rep my word already. My mood persisted for the entire session. Hence, I couldn't really pay attention to folding my paper crane (we taught them origami haha). Photos were sub-standard too :( Well anyway...here are the picks.

This guy really loves being photographed. He would eye my camera whenever I pick it up. So I just had to fulfill his desire lol.

This is my client for the session. He keeps missing out on my instructions but nonetheless he puts lots of effort into his work. You can see ML teaching another client in the background :)

This guy is called Roslan. He says the creature in the drawing is him. Omg.

My favourite photo of the day. Doesn't he completely have the Xiao Fu Zhi look ? (hey plus he's holding a comic)

Another of ML and my client. I suspect that beautifully folded crane he's holding is mine muahaha

ML teaching her client.

These are the cranes we folded. Not bad eh.

Couple of group shots (I'm too lazy to write any more comments...):

The End. Time for lunch. Whatever you see here will be given to MINDS. Hope they like it :)

The worst thing is to think you're winning but actually you're losing big time

2009-06-12T22:28:00.000+08:00

Studying at Mos@JP was sucky. D: Somehow I simply couldn't concentrate on Complex Numbers after finishing my Sampling exercise. The first question was a total demoralizer. Now I understand why ZL said he felt so tired during our studying session at CCK Mos and needed to go back home...he was doing this bloody question! Dammit.

I was reviewing my revision schedule last night and I found out that I'm really running out of time. 2 weeks are going to end in 2 days time and yet I don't even feel like I'm at least 5% confident. Even ZL has almost finished up Physical Chem and Statistics. Well at least that's 50% of Chem and Maths. Meanwhile I'm still stuck like a...what? fat man in a pair of skinny jeans. 2 weeks more...I'm just really afraid I end up going to the examination hall feeling inconfident, knowing I didn't finish revising all my chapters. Probably it would have been less stressful if there wasn't SNAP in the first week so I could start earlier like what ZL did. But for now, I seriously need to chiong...

Check This Out

2009-06-09T18:48:00.001+08:00

Haha I was really bored after doing half a Normal Distribution exercise so I decided to get onto the net. Somehow, I thought it would be interesting to Google my name and this is what popped out.

(Click on thumbnail to fullview)

I found my blogspot, Photovista winning, NUS Invitational Shoot 08 scores and even some Logistic competition organized by RP that I joined in Secondary 2. Mmm...brings back memories...

I remember winning a 20 dollars Popular Voucher for some Team Award during the RP competition. The win was damn Tyco because everyone saw our team as the black horse. Haha Roy, Jun Jie, Kah How and me. Black horse FTW. I used the voucher to buy a Linkin Park CD btw :)

NUS Invitational Shoot 08 was the 2nd and last competition I went for when I was still a shooter. I was damn surprised that I shot better than Jit Sheng and even more surprised that I got a 490 because Jit Sheng told me he had many 9s and 10s. 490 wasn't a good score. Nonetheless, I was very satisfied with it then. I wonder how much would I shoot if I had remained in Shooting Club.

Photovista. Haha my first photography competition and the only competition that I won. I was really lucky to win it. If I didn't, I wouldn't have had all the equipment I'm using now. I still remember the Prize Ceremony was held during my NCC March Camp. Haha check out my Sec 4 look:

(Click on thumbnail for fullview)

Alright that's all. Just wanted to blog about this interesting find.

MINDS CIP Part II

2009-06-07T22:33:00.000+08:00

Second CIP session was just as fun. Instead of painting glassware, I switched to a group which was drawing stuff. Didn't know I could draw (haha ok at least trace) something decent. :) In no time, ML and I finished drawing and colouring a couple of animals. The animal drawings were meant to be cut out and pasted on postcards but we couldn't finish the cutting in time.

Photography during the session was just as fun. Had fun playing with shallow DOF at f/1.8. Can be quite tricky but the effect is really wonderful :D If only I can have that kind of DOF for group shots. :) The clients are also getting more and more used to the camera. In fact I think they love being photographed hee. I'm planning to compile a couple of photos for the MINDS people after my CIP ends. For the record, there's 2 more sessions to go :D Ok here are the photos:

ML & her client. This guy keeps giving us high fives and draws the same stuff every session.

Group photo of my group and the group beside me.

Is her name Wei Ling? Haha I can't remember. She was doodling some stuff that I've yet to figure out what was it.

Jiaying & her client. JY always sits in this photography-unfriendly side, which doesn't have much natural light. Hence her photos always look abit artificial. :S

Hui Teng & her client.

ML holding my drawings (and her colourings :) ) Haha I think the client beside her got lost for awhile.

Shallow DOF group shot for SK, Yi Peng and Yan Jun. Love the bokeh (background blur) but then again Yan Jun's face looks horribly out of focus :(

Candids of the MINDS people at work:

One of my favourite shot of the day :)

END. More to come after the next CIP session. :D

MINDS CIP Part I

2009-06-04T00:11:00.000+08:00

CIP at MINDS today was really fun. :) When my class arrived at MINDS, we were greeted by this very friendly lady (who turned out to be the in-charge of MINDS) Roslin. She kinda did a brief intro on MINDS and the people in MINDS. I found it pretty interesting that teachers at MINDS refer to the intellectually disabled people as clients. And I didn't know these people have to go through Sex-education too hahaha. Apparently, Roslin was telling us about how one girl was telling her "Mr Ben is very handsome!" and how MINDS bought 2 very expensive life-sized male&female dolls with private parts (Yes she stated this very explicitly.) from US to educate them. :)

We had our activities at the Arts&Craft room. We were supposed to teach them how to make friendship bands but we ended up joining them at their crafts instead. ML and I settled at a table in-charged of decorating glasswares. We had to use paint to create multi-coloured dots on the glassware. And surprisingly, it takes goddamn lots of patience. The clients actually take one whole day to complete decorating one glassware ok! because they aren't as fast as normal people.

Ok I shall show some photos :) I'm surprised the clients actually love taking photographs :D

Mei Ling's and my Group. The guy on the left most left me with an almost unfinished glassware and disappeared for the remaining of the session. He came back in time for photo-taking though :)

Jiaying's Painting Team. I can't seem to make out what the guy drew though. I think it's Korean.

Hui Yi's client. Her name was something-ling. The girl beside her is called Wei Ling. Haha that's why Mei Ling kept telling me she heard people calling her name.

Group photo of Hui Yi and Man Ting's group. Check out the dude's expression man. MT told me he was hugging her around the shoulders damn tight. I sense a need for Sex-Ed :)

Yi Peng's and his client. They were scrapping tiles. I didn't really know what was going on.

Tiles Scrappers Team 1

Tiles Scrappers Team 2

This group was drawing with colour pencils. The girl on the right most has an excellent drawing of ML, MT and HY. :) Check it out below.

I thought Yan Wen wanted to compare his noobie Secondary 1 photo with a photo of this dude when he told me to take a photo. Turned out he was more interested in the chiobu in the mini photoalbum his client keeps.

Yah this is the one. I really love the drawing :) Don't you think Hui Yi really looks like Hui Yi?!!! Omg. I don't think I can even draw half as good as her. I think I'll end up drawing 3 papayas.

END. More photos after this Friday and next Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm definitely looking forward to going back man :D

Delete

2009-06-01T00:10:00.000+08:00

Today I've decided to give you up. Although giving up has never been the best solution, it certainly is now. I've tried my best to be who I thought you would like me to be. I'm tired of the thoughts of you and the ghost of the past that has been haunting me for the past 1 month. I need a grip. I know I can't go on like this forever. And I've decided. I'll forget you.

Hostel Life Mid-Term Report

2009-05-27T09:14:00.000+08:00

Ok I actually planned to blog about my hostel life everyday but my plans were hindered by either limited connectivity or time.

Hostel life has been interesting so far. Most parts of it are negative. The best thing about Hostel life is you can go enjoy a bath with heated water anytime you wish to do so. I totally didn't expect the BS to have heated water, so I got quite a pleasant surprise :)

Day 1 was spent checking into the unoccupied space in Wen Han's room and tidying the room up. I arrived at the hostel at around 740am to clean up the room. The room was amazingly dirty. There were thick dust layers and cobwebs I suspect. I thought Wen Han would have bothered cleaning it up abit...I mean dust particles floats in air right. At 2pm, the SISC comm. members were supposed to collect the boarding passes for their respective rooms. My teacher directed me to the Hostel Manager as I made special arrangements to stay in WH's room and that's when all the screwing starts to begin. The Conversation between the Hostel Manager and I went something like this:

...
HM: I think Wen Han's room is pretty dirty
Me: Yea it's. But I went to clean up the room in the morning already.
HM: How did you get up to WH's room without a boarding pass?
Me: I took a visitor's pass from the guard post and got WH to fetch me up to his room (and I totally forgotten the visitor's pass doesn't allow me to access the dorms.)
HM: Do you know you're not supposed to enter the dorms with a visitor's pass? I want you to write a report to me.

And that's how I got screwed. I had to write a report even before I managed to lay my bedsheets. Sigh.

I came back to the Hostel at around 6.30pm after CCA. The bath was good as usual. Managed to mug abit after that. But when night falls, I started to notice an interesting trend. You know...in hostel...almost everyone is equipped with a laptop (or even desktop!). So what happens almost every night is the boarders will start shifting themselves into each other's rooms and start gaming parties. And so the hostel rooms get transformed into mini lan shops, which can be pretty distracting for people who wants to study (like me :) ).

Another interesting thing is these people love to sleep late and wake up late. Even at 3-5am you will still notice people walking around, making cup noodles and what not. I managed to notice this because I couldn't really sleep on the first night because it was damn humid (and I was paranoid about bed fleas). The boarders usually skip breakfast and wake up at like 10-1130am so the corridors are always pretty quiet in the morning. :)

I woke up to the circulating heat in the room the next day. Day 2 was a mugging-failed day. I went for GP consultation in the afternoon and got damn demoralized by AK. I decided to do something I like before embarking on my next GP assignment by chatting with ML on the net. But the internet at the dining hall was so limited I got lagged out of MSN messenger. Terrible. The rest of the afternoon was spent sleeping because I was damn pissed.
As usual, interesting things happens at night. I found myself on the second floor of the BS trying to figure out how to use the coin operated washing machines for almost 15mins before WH's friend came to my rescue. I initially placed so little washing powder I bet everyone thought I was just washing one underwear. Thank god for him, I managed to get my clothes clean and dry by today.

Ok. So I shall continue when I've time. Surprisingly, it's pretty enjoyable to sit on the big red sofas and blog early in the morning. :D

40th Anniversary College Day Pics

2009-05-17T20:22:00.000+08:00

Some pics from 40th Anniversary. Inspired by ed-t. :)

Welcoming of GOH at the Atrium

Speech by GOH

Couple of performances from:
Choir

Western Dance. This is easily my favourite dance from NJWD. All the hip-hop stuff they've been doing were never to my preferences.

Guitar Ensemble

Candid shot caught while Jack the school-hired photographer was trying to get the kids to hype things up abit

My favourite shot of the day. The little boy infront is only JH1 (or Secondary 1 equivalent). He was super nervous about meeting the minister that day but luckily everyone around him was nice enough to give him encouragement. He got a little more confident after that. I like this shot because it shows him at his fullest confidence :D

Opening of Boarding School

Candid moment of the Minister having a chat with some students from NJ

Welcoming ceremony during Gala Dinner. Alumni of different batches from NJ were invited back to have a meal together.

Symphonic Band performance. The conductor is someone important. I forgotten who is he.

Cutting of the NJ Birthday Cake

Candid shot 1 of: Damn I forgotten another person

Candid shot 2 of the Minister

Thoughts

2009-05-05T23:38:00.000+08:00

It's rather late into the night and I should be sleeping by now but I'm still blogging anw. Because I've a whole mountain full of thoughts in my mind and I need to clear them. I would jolly well appreciate a Pensieve if anyone has one but too bad I'm not Harry Potter. Today Darkroom session was rather rewarding - for the members and me. I guess it felt really good that the members were enjoying themselves alot while learning something new. I finally started to see members chatting up with other members they don't really know. It was rather clique-ish previously and I didn't really like that. I think grouping them up and giving them work to do in groups really helps. :D Today's strength was excellent too. 28 people came for lessons when I was expecting just 20. Hence, I ran out of notes and equipment for them to try out. I finally see majority of the juniors turning up (and with repeated attendence), which is a good sign. :)

Well the reason why I'm typing all these is because I suddenly had a whole lump of thoughts about NJPS while I was trying to read my Normal Distribution math notes. Images of the next Exco-handover suddenly surfaced in my mind. I visualized myself tearing and giving a real emo speech to the entire NJPS. Well...sadly but surely, I'm nearing the end of my Exco term. Exactly 1 month later, after the SNAP Seminar, the juniors will be officially taking over the operation of NJPS. Sometimes, I try to imagine myself being not an Exco but it's just pure impossible. I believe almost all of the current Exco has put in their heart and soul into NJPS and it's just too difficult to imagine ourselves not having weekly meetings and planning any photoshoots/lessons. To be honest, I don't really feel like stepping down at all. I totally love my current position in the Exco. The role of CIP (Chief Photog and Instructor) really gave me alot of freedom & opportunities to improve my photography and gave me a chance to derive pleasure from teaching the juniors (Trust me, I really love the current bunch of juniors we have). It's really unthinkable that in 1 month time, I have to stop all photography related activities and pick up my mugging pen instead. It's insane. I would probably end up popping into the darkroom everyday and sign up for events to cover because it has already been in-built in me.

The reason why I'm not willing to part with NJPS is because the current Exco has really done alot this year to give a total revamp to NJPS and I can't bear to leave all the things we've done behind. Firstly, SNAP! Photography Competition cum Exhibition and Seminar. I bet our immediate seniors wouldn't even have dreamt of getting Nikon as sponsors. I admit that initially (during the early stages of planning) I thought the idea of a Competition+Exhibition+Seminar sounded abit overly ambitious but it's really great to see it coming along really well. Reponse for the Competition was excellent and abit unexpected. Preparation work for the Exhibition is smooth & everything's on schedule (Coincidentally, the school even repainted the I&E hub for our exhibition area...how lucky can we get). Seminar will be a tough logistic challenge but the entire club is working together to make this happen. Secondly, we finally changed our instructor after a draggy last year. The members are learning alot more now and everyone's becoming more committed because of the frequent outings/lessons. Thirdly, I can finally see unity in the club. From a club that has a maximum strength of (what!) 10 per lesson, we can now proudly boast that we have at least 28 out of 37 members attending club activities. Members are interacting with each other so much more and becoming increasingly committed NJPS. And the list goes on...

What I'm trying to say from all these points is that I'm really proud of what we've done so far (and will do in the future) and I'm really thankful to the current Exco for making all these happen. Believe it or not, I wear the NJ Photographic Society family tee with huge amount of pride whenever I cover duties because I know our club is really good and is really committed in doing better. I'm proud that I'm from NJPS because I know we're doing so much more than the other JCs' photog clubs. And we, as members of NJPS, can be proud of ourselves because we know that we put in our best everytime we're set on something.

Although every start has an end, every end has a new beginning. I really hope our juniors can really live up to the legacy the current NJPS has created. You guys must remember never to give up once you all have set your sights on something. Even if it takes up a hell lot of your mugging time or private time. Only through pure commitment to our CCA can our club be better the next year (and many more years to come!). Create a new legacy and, trust me, your future juniors will continue to create many more. Wear your NJPS shirt with pride and be proud of our achievements. Set ambitious aims and work towards them relentlessly. Unite your members and work together as an entire NJPS. Only then will you be able to leave the club at the end of next year with pride, knowing that you've done your best. All the best Exco 09/10.

I'm tired

2009-04-24T21:56:00.000+08:00

Mentally. Physically. Emotionally.

The past 2 weeks has indeed proven to be too much. I think I really overestimated myself by covering 6 events in 2 weeks - 1 Soccer match, 2 Touch Rug match, SC Speech Day, National Junior Canoeing Championship and Track & Field Finals. I think the photos got less and less good/creative towards the end of the 2 weeks. I was so eager to finish my Track&Field duty I didn't bothered trying out different perspectives. Just did it the CP way...portraits and more portraits. Meanwhile, my forefinger refused to pressed the shutter button during the final Touch Rug match hence resulting in many missed moments. Trust me, I was swearing alot before half-time.

I think the mass no. of events has really taken a toll on my health and studies. I felt bloody tired yesterday night after covering Track&Field. The walk from CCK Stadium back home totally felt like an eternity. It didn't help that my bag had 4.3kg full of equipment. My studies has also suffered because of numerous missed tutorials and lectures and lack of energy to study everyday. Tutorials remain untouched. Sometimes even without the name filled in at the cover page.

I think event coverage has come to an end for me (except for the more major events). My CT was right. I shouldn't tank all the events and not give my juniors a chance to learn. Besides, I think it's really time to start getting the juniors to become independent. Experience counts. :)

Alright I guess I'm signing off here. I'm gg to bed kinda early today to make up for my lack of sleep the previous night. Nights.

I guess the feeling has faded. I'm tired. Really. Probably it's time to let go.

Succour

2009-04-21T18:11:00.000+08:00

Today sucks. My CT just told me that I've recently been classified as "At Risk" for my studies. The reason being I failed most of my tests (although she claims I failed all...). And that totally added 100% of emoness to my already emo day because PTM is friday. I do regret not studying for some of my tests, esp the recent Physics test, but seriously I don't have time to study for some other tests. Especially when they're scattered about at random dates. I think the school should just have the CT before June hols like what HC & AC did. I mean...at least we can study for the tests as a whole instead of just wasting one whole bloody day studying a few chapters of each subject every other week. Besides, CT is always a better gauge than some random tests (Yes I know this is an assumption). Honestly, I would prefer exams anytime over tests. At least I know it's coming and I can get myself into the exam mood beforehand. Tests sound so optional. Anyway dammit I shall see what soup I get myself into after Friday before I decide to get anymore emo. But one thing for sure: I'm going to pass that bloody maths test on 7th May.

Life sucks without you.

Absence makes the Heart grows fonder...

2009-04-19T18:40:00.000+08:00

...

2009-04-12T23:16:00.000+08:00

Haiz. I seem to have lost all my attention in my studies nowadays. I haven't been able to really settle down into doing my homework on weekends ever since I came back from Maldives. Probably it's the photog. Back to back event coverage & photog outings hasn't been doing good to my concentration at all. I must admit I've become less able to multi-task recently. For eg I used to be able to think of things while walking last time but now when I walk, my mind just thinks "walk" & nothing else. And I get flustered very easily if I've 2 important tasks at hand simultaneously. Something is eating up my concentration...and it's real bad. I need to return back to the days when my weekends were solely meant for homework. Boring but totally essential. I need to review my Resolutions2009. Soon. NOW! I need like 2 weeks of NIL activities to settle down. I need to learn when to put aside photog. I need to tear down my drums and throw away my drumsticks. I need to get my HP line cut so I don't even think about sms-ing. I need a pair of mugger specs like 8)this & get my ass settled on my mugger chair. I really wish that sometimes my willpower to study isn't so dependent on my mood. It's kind of worrying this year is the final year. I'm gg back to study again

PlainSunrise

2009-04-02T19:05:00.000+08:00

Sunrise. This morning 7.09am. HDR. 3 pics composite....batt spoilt halfway while taking the sunset...click for larger image

Somehow, I feel quite enthu abit taking photos nowadays. I would never have as much motivation as today to wake up at 6am to take photos normally. Usually I just sleep past sunrise and go heck....Probably I'm just inspired. :) Ok that's all. Random eh.

Update

2009-03-30T23:43:00.000+08:00

Ok so sorry I've no time to blog at all. I've been bombarded with hwk and other events/activities since the start of a new term and it doesn't seem it's going to end anytime soon. Participating in any forms of non-academic activities makes me feel extremely guilty. In fact, I feel that after coming back from Maldives, I've been derailing from my 2009 Resolutions. So I'm currently using whatever remaining time I've to get back on track. Photos from Maldives doesn't seem like it's going to appear on this blog until I'm free unless it magically appears for godknowswhat reasons. NJPS bonding camp was uber interesting but too bad I'm not allowed to blog about the interesting part (if you don't know, don't ask). Expose was well ran. The current VJPS Exco certainly lived up to previous year's standards. Well that means extra pressure on us to do better than them, which ~~I hope will~~ must be the case. Anw...after Expose, I've been in a kind of crazy mood for some Sports Photography. NJC Alumni Golf Tournament this Friday will be the start. Hopefully, everything turns out well. I tend to screw up when there's pressure. Need to learn how to achieve consistent results. Argh. Why is it so hard? D:

Ok that's the end of my uber long paragraph. It's sub-standard I know but well desperate times calls for desperate measures. (I see another SNAP e-mail coming in...damn...cya)

I'm flying...I'm flying away.......

2009-03-09T21:29:00.000+08:00

It's really amazing how time flies; especially during the past 2 weeks. I didn't realise I will be flying off to Maldives so soon until I saw the Countdown to Maldives OCIP counter at the right read 3 days, 2 hours and xx mins and xx seconds last night. I think when Thursday comes, I'll start to really miss the people whom I get to see in NJ everyday. And when I return, I'll start to miss the people on the Maldivian islands instead.

My past 2 weeks have been spent partially on preparing for the Maldives trip. And for the past 3 or so sessions, the Logistic team has been packing like crazy the stuff that we'll bring there. FYI, we spent nearly 4 hours packing (and unpacking) stuff to stupid Jackie's orders during the previous Sat. meeting because more than half of the Log team wasn't present. It was crazy tiring but, I admit, crazy fun at the same time too :D The Log team consist of the most perfect bunch of jokers I've ever seen, which is totally awesome (for me hahaha).

I've also almost gotten whatever stuff I need for the trip already, including disposable underwears. It's my first time wearing these stuff...and I hope I won't suffer from abrasion, seriously. I'm really thankful I had a weekend to pack my stuff 'cause I can't forsee any other suitable timing to do so. The remaining of this week will be spent completing my some ancient hwk and finalizing the stuff for the Competition comm. for the SNAP! Nationwide Photography Competition cum Exhibition and Seminar. Quite a mouthful eh? Hopefully it'll turn out as impressive as it sounds.

Alrighty that's all for the remaining 10 plus days? I promise exciting pictures when I return from Maldives :D

I'm running...I'm running away......

2009-02-28T19:59:00.000+08:00

This is my third major event of the year; first was Orientation and Second STaR Symposium (I'll find time to upload this one if I've time!). Today's shoot was and wasn't really rewarding. Photo-wise, like Edwin said bout his own photos, I couldn't really find "The Shot" although I've a couple of fairly good ones. :) But through this shoot, I managed to learn quite alot from the professional photographer the school hired, Jack...stuff like how to pan properly, countering backlighting and in-camera settings. It was certainly rewarding listening to him share his experiences. Kudos to him :D Alrighy, here are my photos for today's Road Run. I suddenly got inspired by some B&W madness hence all my photos are in B&W. And I think the vintage oldie feel fits the school's intention of bringing back old memories from the past through this run. Enjoy :)

Hello everyone.

2009-02-26T22:28:00.000+08:00

It has been some time since I was last here wasn't it? The reason why I've time to blog today is because it's my mum's birthday. (The link is: It's her birthday, so she's giving me a break).

Well I noticed that recently there has been a greater influx of readers to my blog, which is kinda nice, because at least I know that I'm not talking to myself. :D

Hmm...this whole week has been pretty relaxing for me because there's no photog on Tuesday and no extra bullshit stuffs on the remaining days of the week (until today...which I ~~will elaborate later~~ shall not elaborate on). I find that the more relaxing my days are, the slacker I become. When I'm busy, I tend to make an effort to keep up on my subjects' homework. But somehow, when I'm free, I tend to make myself more free by doing stuff like playing drums, surfing the net and (attempting to) read The Economist.

Anyways, I finally got to try out the drums at the Broadcast Station for real today :D It's kinda lousy (as compared to my Roland's) but well it's good enough for a poor school like NJC. I was jamming with myself halfway when Wen Song, Sheena and friends popped in. They wanted us to play something so WS and I (haha coincidentally, I'm WS too) ended up jamming Drive - Incubus and No Such Thing - John Mayer impromptuly. Too bad Paul was at Physics Consolidation then. Consolidations always suck. Anways hopefully the IT department return the guitar and bass amps back to the Broadcast Station so we can jam with our electric guitar/bass. :D

Alrights. I think that's sufficient for an update. Will blog again when I'm super duper free.

Zzz-ness

2009-02-18T23:04:00.001+08:00

Ok a little update here:

1. I'm tired. Frigging tired. I haven't managed to get any hwk done for the past 3 days. And I literally conked out during Physics and Maths lessons today.
2. My Maths and Physics quiz results were horrible. :(
3. I haven't been home early than 9pm for the past 3 days.
4. My first photog lecture was 3 hours long - it ended 1 hour later than it was supposed to. (And I'm working on that)
5. I've a gazillion things to process for my Maldives OCIP trip on 12th March.
6. I'm totally looking forward to Maldives. School is horrible.
7. If I could quit photog for 2 weeks to catch up on my hwk and some sleep, I definitely would.
8. My eyelids are drooping. I think I need to sleep.
9. Yay tomorrow is the late day!
10. Zzzz

Waking up to the morning blues of Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T11:13:00.000+08:00

I was feeling all emo when I woke up at 1030am this morning. Thoughts about ystd Talentime performances still ring in my head. I was planning to emo on my blog ystd but I just couldn't pen my thoughts down.

Talentime 09 could be seen as a weird experience for me. For the first time since I started a band, I've never watched a (band) performance; I was always the one playing up there. But ystd I found myself sitted at the front row of the Ngee Ann Kongsi PAC cheering my friends on.

After the performances, I felt really emo on the bus back home. Zhi Ler was saying that Talentime might be the last performance the J2s are going for and I couldn't help but think: Is this the end of it all for me? I really really don't wish to end this year by just mugging for As. It would be such a waste. I want to perform. I want to jam. But the ugly fact is I'm neither good enough nor confident enough. Throughout the past 1 year, I've been performing within my comfort zone and working with not-so-talented but hardworking people. I want to play with capable and music-loving people like Ashwyn and Caleb but I'm afraid I can't cope with their demands. Although both Zestin and I have been playing drums for around the same time, Zestin is such an excellent drummer with so much more performing experiences than me. Learning and perfecting 5 songs within 1 day is definitely not what I'm capable of. That's the reason why I'm in such a dilemma.

Should I break out of my comfort zone and give myself a shot at playing with more capable musicians or should I break out of this whole music thing and concentrate on my As?

Btw here's a song that I love alot by a Singapore veteran band Plainsunset. It's called River Song.

2009-02-10T22:58:00.000+08:00

Ok today was awesome. Jamming/messing out with Caleb's band and photog orientation session simply rocks. But unfortunately I missed Paul and Wen Song's performance on Live N' Loaded. :( But at least I saw the interview by Utt. Re-Telecast on Thursday midnight! Ok more elaboration another time. iBlogging is no fun. Keyboard so small. And I'm bloody tired.

Everybody's playing and I don't feel the same

2009-02-09T22:45:00.000+08:00

Ok I've got rid of my 2.8cm iPod stratch post because I finally settled down and realised I shouldn't be fussing over some insignificant part of my life.

Tomorrow. Tuesday. Paul & Wen Song will be playing LIVE on Live N' Loaded on Channel 5 8:30pm. Friday. Zhi Ler (and Paul) and Caleb's band will be for Talentime 09. All my best friends are playing gigs while I watch from the stands or stone away. It's going to sound abit embarrassing but I'm saying it anyway. I'm Jealous. :/

Seriously, I can't help but express great disappointment for my own band 3:45. We did really well for Rock Night 08. But just when we got recognized and were offered to play for gigs, we lacked the motivation and commitment to do so. Gigs that we missed out? Senior Graduation Night, Live N' Loaded, Talentime and Bandage 09 (I bet you guys didn't know). I'm really thankful that 3:45 helped me build my drumming skills and exposed me to performances. In fact, 3:45 was the perfect stepping stone for me; until recently.

It was only a few months back I realised that everyone had different priorities and interest level towards music & performances. I wanted to jam, to perform and to build a name for 3:45 in local youth music. (In fact, I really wished that one day we could play like Redeeming The Riot, Ten Minutes Late and Fire Away, Samson! and gain publicity amongst the youths of Singapore at least.) Meanwhile, most of the rest placed CCAs and studies as first priority. That was when I finally realised the reason behind bands breaking up.

It's really not easy finding the ideal people to form a band. Firstly, you have to find people of similar musical influences. Secondly, gauge their musical proficiency. And finally, make sure these people stick with you till the very end. Finding capable people who shares your musical influences is already tough enough. Making the band last? It depends a lot on fate. Starting 3:45 was pretty much an error. Firstly, we didn't really have a genre all of us really liked to perform. We maybe playing simple rock or whatever progressive rock but I truly enjoyed was pop punk/energetic rock. Meanwhile, Kah Lok preferred solo artists like David Cook and Chris Daughtry. Secondly, (honestly speaking) we were all pretty noob at our instruments at the beginning. But as time goes on, I felt that the gap between our instrumental proficiency was getting larger and larger; and sometimes this makes some of us pissed at each other. Lastly? Let's not talk about it.

It is kind of ironic how Zestin was telling me one year ago that my band was tight (as in...bonded not the timing) and now 3:45 is tearing apart. One year ago, we were superglue tight. Half a year later, cracks started to appear. And exactly one year later, we fell apart; going our seperate ways. What a difference one year can make...haiz. I remember enjoying singing Unintended and The Remedy outside LT 5 together with Zhi Ler on the acoustic guitar after Talentime 08 rehearsals. The rehearsal night was cold and long but our hearts were burning with passion. I truly enjoyed those moments of pure fun and laughter I had with 3:45. Unfortunately, it turned out that Talentime 08 was one of our worst performances ever. Luckily, it wasn't too long before we experience the ecstasy of playing music again. Rock Night 08 was the most memorable performance I had. We worked really really hard for it. And we reaped the fruits of success. RN08 can only be describe as... 30 minutes of magic.

However, that is the past. Now that Zhi Ler has left to play bass for Caleb's band, I'm seriously disappointed at myself for not playing while everyone else around me is doing so. I want to start a new band but I can't find the right people. Life seems pretty dull now without jamming and gigging. Haiz.

I'm feeling half as tired as Letts Tan; assuming Letts Tan is feeling twice as tired as I'm now. And I presume he is.

2009-02-05T23:31:00.000+08:00

Wei Shuen Ng is currently: chionging photos, catching up on tutorials and fighting to sleep before 12 midnight.

Seriously, I'm really sick of putting all my homework to a stop. I find myself getting further and further from my Resolution no.1 of 2009. Basically, for the whole week (including tomorrow), I've been super busy with photog stuff. Orientation coverage, CCA Carnival & the ultra cui OG photoshoot. I've already missed 7 1/2 hours of lessons this week - equivalent to 7 lessons. I feel like an OGL or SC. In fact, I was thinking that I should have just applied for OGL for this Orientation instead. The red-shirted people seem to be having lots of fun D:

The main reason why I was thinking about (or rather hoping I was) being an OGL is I don't really feel like devoting entirely every single lesson or rest time to NJPS. If I were to miss lessons, I rather have fun missing them. Not feeling guity about ponning the remaining half-an-hours of my chem lessons. To be frank, event coverage for O2 was dull as I was almost shooting the same things I did during O1. And I found out it's rather irritating to teach 4 new kids and shoot photos at the same time. Maybe that was why I lost interest in Event Coverage for O2.

Haiz. I can't wait for my Maldives application to get approved so I can guarantee 10 days of escape from school madness. I hope some interesting new SH 1 students will sign up :D Coz I hardly know anyone from the 1st Maldives briefing and Moyi is so bad to abandon me D: Jk jk.

Right. I'm gg to sleep. It's 12! The earliest I've slept at throughout this week. Nights.

While Waiting...

2009-02-01T13:31:00.001+08:00

Ok a lil' update before I head to my relatives/dad's friends houses for visiting. My ulcer is healing pretty well :) My grandma gave me this cheem looking oral medicine and it was really wonderful. I suspect it's an anesthetic and a medicine. My ucler is looking a lot more prettier (although all ulcers are ugly) now. A few days ago it looked like some gross stuff, which I shall not elaborate on.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for news from the current Strings pres about whether 3:45 will be guesting for Talentime. Only a successful gig can save 3:45 from crumbling now. We had our first jamming in a longgg time ystd and I think we would need only a few practice sessions at my house before we're ready for Talentime. :D Besides, it's only 2 songs. I really really hope we can gig together as a band for the last time. If we're successful, I guess I'll have no regrets with 3:45.

Alright I should be logging off already. And I like my new Skinny Jeans :D

Mood is very very tired.

2009-01-29T17:57:00.000+08:00

Ok all I can say now is: I'm totally beat and I hate that ulcer at the back of my mouth. 2.4 totally owned the living shit out of me. I really can't believe I clocked 11.40mins. That's really slow btw (sry to Napfa failures). 2 years ago I was 1 minute faster than the qualifying time for A and now I'm 20 seconds to failure. Woo what a big contrast. I think 1 year of photog and no exercise has proven to be really bad for unfit Wei Shuen. I really miss the NCC trainings I used to have :( 2 minutes per round was a joke then. Gosh. I really really can't believe I clocked almost 1.54 minutes per round! 6 seconds slower per round and I'll be thrown amongst the overweight 3 months BMT pple. I must treat PE seriously now. New resolution no. 6.

Speaking about resolutions, I think I'm derailing from my plans for 2009. I'm starting to fall asleep during maths and econs lectures and I'm lagging behind on tutorials. No Matthew Ng Wei Shuen. Wake up. The going may get tough but it's the tough that gets going :D yay. That shall be my personal motto for 2009. But, seriously, apart from ambitious motto, I think school work and photog is really taking up any existing rest time I've. I can't even afford to be sick. After looking at the 2009 Events List, I can forsee that my j2 life will consist of just lagging behind hwk (due to lessons missed for event coverage) and chasing up on them and the cycle goes on. Gosh. I'm turning into a no-life freak soon!

I'm also getting rather distracted by music again nowadays. A fatal mistake I made in J1. Somehow after Zhi Ler told me he's going to play with Caleb's new band, I suddenly feel eager to give myself a new start as well. I've been losing sleep fantasizing about pro guitarists and vocalists from the new mainstream J1s. I really want to start jamming all over again. And this time with the right pple. No matter what you guys think, 3:45 was a failure and I'm eager to find a new bunch of people that matches my music preferences. I'm just worried I might fall into the same trap I did during J1. Haiz. Music you rock and you suck.

Ok I'm signing off already. Seriously very veryy tired.

I'm too lazy to think of one.

2009-01-24T23:29:00.000+08:00

Probably it's because CNY is coming close I kind of went on a buying spree today at IMM. I bought 2 T-shirts and 1 pair of Levis (and almost bought a Polo and a pair of Shorts) in a short 2 hours. And that doesn't include picking up a T-shirt within 10 seconds upon entering the store. In fact, I'm wondering what got into me today. Hopefully I will not regret any of my purchases.

While shopping, I kept on thinking of a lot of queer things; one of which includes how the things that we define as "hip" changes with age. I remember I used to like Power Rangers, Matchbox toy cars, Pokemon and Bayblades a lot when I was young. Owning a new Bayblade is like the most awesome thing one can own at the age of 10. And of course, nothing beats the feeling of your Dranzer beating someone else's Dragoon. (If you've got no idea wth I'm talking about, I suggest you google it).

A few years later, they became Billabong, OP, Sony Erisson Walkman phones (and occasionally still Bayblades...omg). They were perhaps the most expensive things I could afford then I think. Billabong shirts were overpriced but I loved them. In fact, I've only one Billabong shirt and I've been wearing it since Secondary 1. Somehow it grows with me. Meanwhile, OP was the cheaper alternative. And I thought a Walkman phone was the coolest thing on Earth because it saves me the money on buying a phone and an mp3 player. Fortunately, I never got to own one.

Next comes the more expensive iPods, Macbook, Canon camera and lens, Roland Drumsets, queer attention seeking T-Shirts and Branded long sleeves shirts and Levis Jeans. Contrastingly to my primary and secondary school years, I own almost all of the above except the Macbook. (My mum would never allow me to buy a T-shirt above 20 bucks or a phone beyond "Free with new 21 months Singtel contract" previously). I think if I've never got into photography or drumming, I can enjoy an additional 5k in my bank account. Lol. Too bad I've expensive hobbies.

It's kind of interesting how our choices change as we grow up ain't it? From Pokemon to Walkman phones to the iPods. Although they're a lot more expensive, we're also given increasingly more freedom to buy them. Haha who knows, maybe I will collect branded watches next time. And maybe some limited edition guitars :P

Oh well, that's what I've been thinking about while shopping this evening. I think my multitasking skills are not bad. Rights. Time to sleep. Adios.

Love & Life

2009-01-24T00:36:00.000+08:00

I'm blogging here on my iPod touch. V late into the night. Or rather early into the morning. In fact, I'm totally beat after going out with brother chun and going for 4C reunion dinner but I just can't sleep after reading zhiler's latest blog post about living life.

Seriously, although sometimes I feel that my life is full, there're certain times when I feel there's still smthing missing. Something which I admit I've been wanting to try but haven't got to. I think it's getting into a relationship. Ok I bet I'm talking like some ignorant adolescent here. But I think it's pretty true. I don't think my drumming, photog and studies are so pro I don't need to pay anymore attention to them but I suddenly feel like trying out smthing new in life that's close to my heart. In fact, it has been ages since I last chased someone 'cause I found RS lame then. Drumming and jamming was everything to me during the previous year. I remembered telling myself I don't mind sacrificing a RS if I could be a pro drummer. lol Maybe I'm just blabbering all these nonsense because I'm no longer as committed to my band stuff. Is love a distraction? Hmm no idea.

It's really kinda hard to live life to the fullest I guess. Esp when our lives are ran by smone else. Ever since stepping into RV i could predict that im going to become a salaried worker in the future. Sometimes I feel not enough time and opportunites are given to us to experiment what we really like. For all I know, music could be my career. But I don't dare to venture in that direction because life is short and I shldnt risk wasting it. But could it be exactly for the fact that life is short I shld pursue smthing that I truly enjoy? Gee irony.

Right it's getting late. If you are reading this post as soon as i'm finished with it, you shld sleep.

Screaming: ORIENTATION!

2009-01-20T21:55:00.000+08:00

OK here're the photos for NJC Orientation 1 for the JH 1 and 3 peeps :D I must admit I love the photos and I'm so much more motivated to do O2 now. 24 photos in total. Enjoy!

Thanks for viewing! Must be crazy to load all these photos :D

Beezy Beezy Beezy

2009-01-17T14:28:00.000+08:00

Here's an update on what has been going on for the past 1 week. Basically, I've been beezy with lots of Orientation One stuff. From event coverage to OG photoshoots to selling of OG photos. And I've missed like a gazillion minutes worth of tutorials and lectures so that means I've alot of hwk and reading up to complete :( Although Orientation One was tiring but it was certainly rewarding :D Our OG photo shoot/sales had quite a good response from the JH1/3 people. Kudos to the SC for helping us out. Seriously, people like...Lennon, Zi Yi, Xiao Peng...I own you guys one. We made a ~~haha too bad undisclosed~~ sum of money, which would most likely be used to purchase a set of China studio lights and backdrop. Haha finally some of our stuff in the Darkroom can be labelled as NJPS and not AEP. :)

During Orientation I also got to try out Ilyas new 2nd handed (haha ironic) D200 and Edwin's new (really new) 70-200 Tamron lens. Man...I must say I'm kind of tempted to switch to Nikon now. Suddenly, I feel like giving my whole gear a big change. Expensive mistake...haiz. Ok back to studying. Resolution one of 2009 must be fulfilled!

Btw why isn't busy spelled as beezy? Isn't busy bus-sy? :/

Drums and Drummania

2009-01-11T21:16:00.000+08:00

I found out this Friday that Drums and Drummania are actually 2 very different types of fruits. I tried Drummania for the (maybe) fifth time in my life at Lot One arcade on Friday with 3:45 and failed almost like 10 seconds into the song I dunno how. I thought playing Tap Tap Revenge on my Ipod would make me better at this falling bars shit but I was wrong. Somehow I just keep anticipating the notes. That's why I missed almost everything. Damn. I wonder if any other drummers experience the same problem. Fucking Zhi Ler was having a good laugh at the arcade. Wtf.

Oh wow school is starting tomorrow in exactly 630mins. Although I haven't finish some hwk (oh man), I still kind of anticipate school tomorrow. Finally I'll be able to see everyone in school like any other days. I seriously hope I can skip chem test tomorrow cause I haven't bothered to really study it. Besides, I don't want to fail my first test of the new year. I would be totally betraying my new year resolutions. Alright I'm going off to sleep lest I can't wake up in time tomorrow. Sleeping at 2am and waking up at 11am everyday hasn't really been helpful. D:

I helped a tourist get to the National Museum and that makes me happy :D

2009-01-08T18:58:00.000+08:00

Ok so Mrs Look was right after all. You feel good when you do good. I felt relieved when I saw the elderly Jap (I think he's Jap) dude reached the entrance of the National Museum as my bus was passing by. :D

Life for this whole week has been...dull. Like any other NJCians out there, I'm trying to finish up my holiday hwk. GP in particular. Just when I thought I could get a breather at the end of the hols (finally) I got bombarded by mum's $%$#%#$. I wanted to go out with Pearlyn but she's out of order too. 3:45 is currently so inactive. I can't foresee a single jamming session in the next 1 month at least. Oh mans but I really don't feel like entering a new schooling year without finish doing all the stuff I wanna do. D:

And on a random note, I notice that my blog posts and GP essays are of equal length. :/

1 Down and alot more counting...

2009-01-04T01:01:00.000+08:00

Man writing lesson notes for photog is totally not fun. One of such notes takes like 5 hours (not straight of course) when it looks simply just like Copy and Paste. Gahh. But well this is a good start to one of the resolutions I've made for 2009, which is to make sure the new 2009 NJPS batch learn something from my properly scheduled lessons. Hopefully, I can finish all my lesson notes before school kicks in on 12th Jan. After school starts, I'll most probably be busy with Orientation 1 coverage and more coverage and catching up on the 5 days of lessons I would be missing during Orientation 1. So I wouldn't have huge fully unoccupied days like today to write lesson notes for 5 hours.

Hmm...probably why I'm so determined to make sure things work out well for photog this year is because I felt that I've not done a really proper job for the past 4 months as CIP (Chief Instructor & Photographer). To be fair (to us the current Exco), I felt that the previous Exco didn't really do a proper handover. I didn't really have a proper lesson plan I could follow up on. The handover was rather late too (perhaps due to other reasons). The current Exco was only officially formed at the start of August and very soon it was Promos. Kind of like 2 months wasted. And the next 2 months was holidays...wasted again because it's hard to coordinate everyone's timing. Apart from the time wasted, I felt that I couldn't really teach anything to the current batch of people, especially the members who have been staying in NJPS since IP1. Probably that was the reason for a lack of commitment from majority of NJPS.

For far too long, Photog has been treated as a second CCA. Almost everyone places their other commitments infront of photog. Unsurprisingly, I've been guilty of that too during the Rock Night period too. I've this feeling everyone is more interested in any other things (like cushions in the Darkroom) than photog, which is really terrible.

This year, I'm pretty determined not to commit the same mistakes I made last year as well as those that my seniors made. In fact, I can feel that the current Exco is putting quite a fair amount of effort to make sure things work out better for NJPS and to instil commitment in the current batch of members we have. Amongst the things we've plan are changing of an instructor, introduction of basic and intermediate groups and setting up of a National Photography Competition (As in National JC...although it's Nation wide too). I hope NJPS can very soon be placed amongst the ranks of VJPS, RJPS, etc. Hopefully, all that the current Exco has carefully planned will work out well during 2009 and we'll be getting alot more commitment from the peeps in photog. :)

2009 seems rather bright :D

Fraq Party and I got pwned at Halo 3 again.

2009-01-02T00:52:00.000+08:00

Hmm...I wonder why do I always get pwned in Halo. Especially when it comes to 1 on 1 melee attacks. Is my reaction too slow or YS's reaction too fast? Gah...

Fraq party at my house was kinda enjoyable today. Meeting up with YS and Bear to fraq on Halo 3 and Guitar Hero, playing Cassie Me and You on Techno Drums simply rocks. Too bad Bflu couldn't drop by today. Stupid dude...he thought the party was at 3rd Jan. Surprisingly, the fraq party has been held for the 4th time in a row although this year we didn't head down to McDonald's at CCK after fragging to stack our fries together to make giant monster fries. It was nice to experience the good old days of fragging on the Xbox (not 360 back then) again. I remember back then we would head down to Bflu's house to play multiplayer Halo 1/2 on his xbox on his super small pea-sized television and blasting "Pushing Me Away" on the xbox. Those were the days the TV was so small the only way to identify an opponent was to find the "SHINY MAN!" or get shot down by them first. I remembered I was so addicted to fragging on Halo I ponned chinese remedial during Sec 2 and got blasted by Zhen Lao Shi in front of a gazillion people during assembly. Although fragging got me into hot soup, it really bonded Bflu, Bear, YS and me together. And it certainly feels nice to know that my bestest friends from 2B haven't left me before. You guys made my day. :) rock on!

Happy New Year and.....

2009-01-01T02:44:00.001+08:00

And happy birthday to myself too. Heh. Somehow...just somehow...I didnt really get the countdown mood this year. I was just following ziyi to be self-high when the fireworks came out. I couldn't feel the excitement this year, unfortunately. Maybe I've seen too many countdowns....or maybe I don't really yearn for a new year that much. I was trying to recite the resolutions I've made for 2009 in my head during the fireworks but it just didn't work out. I stopped after..."I must study hard". Dubious.

But anyway. Still lots of thanks to the Ziyi, Kok Leong, Lemin, Shi Rui, Si Hui, Sherman and brother Koh and Chun for singing a birthday song (embarrassingly) in public and (oh) the birthday card! Altho there are definitely less 4C people who turned up for the countdown this year, I certainly appreciate these bunch of people so much more. Thanks guys :D

I remember I used to count the no. of birthday smses I received on the today of previous years but somehow for this year, I completely skipped it. Probably because I've realised that I've been such an egoistic asshole for the past few years and it's time I put a stop to this. I've partly realised (means still trying to realise) that it's not the quantity that counts really. Some people might have stop appreciating you. But definitely, there're others who start to appreciate you more. The people you appreciate may not be the people who appreciates you. On the contary, the people you have yet to appreciate could be the ones that really appreciates you afterall. It's the simple actions, such as remembering your birthday, that really show that they care and concern for you. For far too long, I've been neglecting the ones around me. I've never managed to remember most of my close friends' birthdays. Putting it crudely, I've not made an attempt to find them out. Yet, I expected them to return the exact opposite. I expected presents and well-wishes. I was disappointed if I didn't receive them. But I had never really realised that what goes around (indeed) comes around until today. And I suppose I was just getting my desserts for not treating people with sincerity. It's rather sad I realised it only today.......

Hmm...I think I could go on with this self-reflection for hours but it's like 3.30am in the morning and I had better go sleep (lest I lose badly in the frag party at my house tomorrow). And on a lighter note, please don't flame my blog. I'm open to negotiations. Thanks. Happy New Year.

Ok Darkroom was fun...

2008-12-30T23:04:00.000+08:00

Haha unexpectedly. I was supposed to be teaching Ama and Qing Yun film developing but we ended up kicking people's butts. Ama was trying to stop Edwin and Ilyas from printing her enlarged face on photo paper. Meanwhile Edwin and Ilyas tried to "pole" me for my birthday. Thanks lots guys. But thinking back, I think if it was the MJ people coming for lessons today. We would have screwed up big time. Gahness. I almost forgotten how much stopbath to add and etc...luckily I've my iTouch with me. (See...Apple is an inseparable part of our lives.).

Oh anyway...in case you were wondering why the posts are getting more and more irrelevant to photog...that's because I've decided to transform this into my life blog aka blogging about my life. Haha coz I find that if I were to blog on photog only...people like Mei Ling who try to probe into my life and stalk my daily activities...will be very bored. So I've decided to turn it into a lifeblog. Besides photography is a subset of life. And anyway I think it's good to record the minor/major events in my life so I can get emo about them when I'm surfing wifi using iTouch in Army next time. Hmm but do they have wifi in army camp? I think have maybe but must be only high ranking officers then can use. And I think can bring iTouch inside camp right? Not a photographic device. Hmmm...

While my iTouch just crashed...(and again!!!!)

2008-12-25T23:50:00.001+08:00

I shall blog abit yea. Heh. Went to Changi Airport T3 today. I know it has been opened for like 100000 billion gazillion years but. I went today. Cause my brother wanted to go. So I went to snap some photos on the film camera I have with me currently. The new T3 was extremely huge and abit to the extend of wasting space. Shops were...so so...nothing really impressive. Overall, nothing much to admire except the new ceiling, which looks like flying birds. Despite the super-duper slow AF of the film camera, I managed to reach my aim of trying to be decisive and snap at the "right" moment.

Oh anyway...my mum bought an iPod Touch for me today. And it's totally awesome until the part when it crashed 2 times in a row during some stupid firmwire update. One moment I was praising Stevy, the next moment I was cursing Stevy. But. Stevy is still a genius afterall. I don't think I can live without an Apple. :( Hmm hope Stevy ~~don't die~~ gets well.

I will be processing my Airport and random friends photos before the MJC pple head down to NJ for darkroom lessons by us (or rather me). Makes me nervy. :( Must practise more!

Nothing quite as powerful as Black&White

2008-12-04T00:08:00.000+08:00

I'm back again, with some B&W photos from the Punggol trip on 29th Nov. Recently, I've been reading this photog book titled "Black & White Photography in the digital age" by Tony Worobiec & Ray Spence. Hence, a sudden interest in B&W photographs. Previously, or more accurately for the past 2 1/2 yrs, I didn't really give a damn about producing B&W photographs. Because I thought colours were nicer and also because I can't produce any good B&W photos. But after reading the book (I'm about 1/4 my way through), I started to think twice about B&W photographs.

As quoted from Andri Hery, "To see in colour is a delight for the eye, but to see in Black & White is a delight for the soul". I think I was really too distracted by the colours I forgotten to concentrate on the tones of the photograph. And Black & White made me truely see it. :)

Heh enjoy the pics!

Senior's Graduation Night 08

2008-12-02T13:33:00.000+08:00

Damn tiring but fun. It was way better than RV's at least...trust me. Although my creativity juice ain't really flowing that night, at least I had alot of fun. The emcee was really really entertaining and the activities that the SC planned really got everyone high and wanting for more. Even as one of the photographers of the night, I felt like I'm part of the party. Good job SC...finally! I guess I'll let the photos do the talking! These are the photos I sent College Pub too. They are not post-processed in anyways apart from cropping and a lil' adjustment of the levels.

Thanks for viewing! Keep a lookout for photos from NJPS outing to Punggol too!

Basic Studio Lighting Course!

2008-11-27T15:45:00.000+08:00

2 days ago, I went to this Basic Studio Lighting Course with the rest of NJPS exco and my teacher in-charge by Studiospace. Lessons were held in a studio in a rather sleazy area called Geylang. Surprisingly, despite the location, the studio looks well-furnished and equipped. We were taught by an instructor known as Sykes Tang on a popular photography forum Clubsnap (he claims that that's his real name too...). Lesson objectives includes: How to set up a simple studio environment, how to use a light meter and how to produce low/mid/high key portraits. The lesson was pretty easy to understand and well elaborated (although the girls look lost at times...). The instructor demonstrated good knowledge of what he was teaching and has certainly inspired me to read up more on portraiture photography. Kudos to him :)

Here are some of my example shots of low, mid and high key portraits. (respectively from top > bottom) And as you can see...the models don't look very professional. But the lighting does. :)

First Post!

2008-11-27T15:22:00.000+08:00

Hey guys. Welcome to post one of my photoblog. Believe it or not, it was my friend Kah Han, who claims that I inspired him to create his photoblog, that inspired me to create my photoblog. Woo...mind-boggling...

I thought the idea of creating a photoblog was kind of interesting. I can train myself to produce photos every other day...something like the "a-photo-a-day" kind of stuff and keep track of my photography's progress. I might post my some of my lesson notes that I will be teaching next year's photog newcomers and my workplan for some of my photos here. So keep a look out :D

Btw, I currently reading this book "Digital Photography: Beyond the Camera" by Ian Farrell. So far I'm about one third into the book and I find that it's a really good beginners guide to Photoshop (PS) CS 2. And it acts as a good PS revision for the seasoned PS users. One part I found particularly interesting was it explains to you specifically what does the various tools and sliders you can find in PS stands for...unlike some PS books that only teaches you how to do hardcore PS manipulation. Do check it out!