August « 2006 « thebemusedphotog.com

Archive for August, 2006

Baby Talk

Thursday, August 31st, 2006

The å¤§å§ notified the family that she’d made reservations for dinner for eight… Couldn’t figure how we were eight… Until i saw the preggie sister’s ever-growing tummy and i figured the eighth had to be baby Stella…

Stella’s certainly throwing her weight around now… the li’l 5 month old fetus… and she hasn’t even learnt to kick yet!

The profile of the preggie sister has doubled and she looks positively laden down… even i started to worry about her safety… but i learnt to stop it real quick… when i warned said sister about a pathetic little step at the entrance, she threw me a dirty look… *opps*

Totally freaked out when i heard from the Mother that the preggie sister started listening to classical music on 92.4Fm, for at least an hour a day… say what?? the preggie sis is the last person i’d expect to believe in the old wives’ tales about how babies get smarter listening to Mozart (that’s from the Incredibles…)

i mean, my sis is cool… she listens to the good stuff like Kings of Convenience and Jason Mraz… and the brother-in-law listens to alternative rock… now they’re inundating innocent Stella with Mozart??

thank goodness the Mother was only exaggerating…

Sure, they really fell for the whole Mozart-is-proven-to-make-babies-smarter thing and bought a 4CD set of Mozart’s Symphonies… Each CD is for a different stage in baby’s life (like seriously??)… And the preggie sister was all Mozart isn’t that bad…

But, thankfully, Stella also listens to soft rock and Kings so she’s gonna be one cool baby… (And i can tell you that when she turns out to be real smart, it’s not gonna be because of Mozart… It’s because both her parents are already smart… She can’t go wrong getting her genes from either parent… They’re both GEP…)

i did learn something totally annoying though:

When the preggie sister saw me today, she commented on the top i was wearing…(And I happen to really love this top… Thought it looked good on me…)

Hey I tried on your top.
My top?
Yea, I saw it on sale at the shop. But I didn’t buy it. (it was so not on sale when i bought it… grrr)
So it didn’t fit?
No. It fit.
It fit? You and Stella? (i stare incredulously at the tummy)
It fit. Me and Baby. But I didn’t look nice in it so I didn’t buy it…

MY TOP can fit the sister AND the baby… And even she didn’t buy it…

Either I’m all set to becoming a premature yummy mummy or I had better start changing my dressing style…

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Da’ bombshell

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

i was still relishing the good day i had when my dad dropped the bomb…

we’re repainting the house. you’ll have to tidy the loft.

TIDY… the… LOFT…????

it’s not that i’m incapable of doing household chores (contrary to popular belief)… i lived on my own in Dhaka 6 months… I was a hostelite for 2years… I can wash and clean… And I know how to use a vacuum cleaner and an iron…

it’s just… the LOFT… as of 0000hrs

… that little empty space on the blue carpet? that’s where I sit…

the LOFT is my little haven at home… the attic… the mezzanine… whatever you like to call it… and it’s always in the state of organized chaos… it’s intuitive… and i never lose anything…

love the power of the irony…

If i gave you everything you asked for, where would you put it? - God

been talking about tidying it up for the past 1 year… but i never got round to actually doing it… cos seriously… i can never find anything when everything is hidden away in shelves!!

and now, i have to tidy it all up… pack ALL my things into eeky little boxes… and hide them all away before the painters come round MONDAY and sprinkle white snowflake stains over everything in sight…

AHHHHH!!!!

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Caffeine Addiction 101

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

It’s the cool, legal, modern day drug… Yet, i understood so little about it… I had to go find out…

These were some of the stuff that caught my eye, according to HowStuffWorks:

- Caffeine is an addictive drug. It operates using the same mechanisms that amphetamines, cocaine, and heroin use to stimulate the brain. On a spectrum, caffeine’s effects are more mild than amphetamines, cocaine and heroin, but it is manipulating the same channels, and that is one of the things that gives caffeine its addictive qualities. If you feel like you cannot function without it and must consume it every day, then you are addicted to caffeine.

i’m quite sure i know someone who fits the bill…

- Medically, caffeine is useful as a cardiac stimulant and also as a mild diuretic (it increases urine production).

- Recreationally, it is used to provide a “boost of energy” or a feeling of heightened alertness. It’s often used to stay awake longer…

normally i’d agree with that… but not today… cos we still looked like this after coffee…

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dealing with joblessness

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

Â it’s one thing to have no job… and quite another to have one’s mother talk to one about it…

got me a little upset… and she realized and stopped (which is rather nice)…

so how does one deal with one’s own joblessness?

a.Â start promising friends and family that one is seriously looking for a job and sending out resumes
b.Â attempt to keep to said promise
c.Â stop feeble attempt and meet a friend from bangladesh (no prizes for guessing who)Â for coffee, on the day that he is to fly off

d.Â listen to music (i really did try to lay off the moody stuff…)
e.Â get honest advice over supper from friend who is already disillusioned about work
f.Â watch an inspirational video

all in all, it was still a good day, i think…

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we must say goodbye…

Monday, August 28th, 2006

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Kim Hyun ChulÂ - We must say goodbye (Il Mare OST)

dug up this ol song from somewhere in my massive mp3 collection… still feels nice hearing it… and still feels sad…

i don’t do nights so well anymore…

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i think i wanna work…

Sunday, August 27th, 2006

i know… it sounds like i’m reacting to a comment i got from some persons about my being a spoilt brat… spending my daddy’s money and all that… no la… i know i’m a spoilt brat… haha!!

sure it’s great to be bumming around… meeting friends… movies… shopping… shopping… shopping… and still shopping… i’m having a really good time… like having school holidays… the cell almost always rolls their eyes at me when i talk about my week…

but i really miss having things to do… constructive things…

yesterday and today, i helped to take photos for a project in church… it’s kind of an imitation of the 4 millions smiles Singapore was doing… they’re setting up a photowall in church and i was roped in to be a roving photographer…

Their final product was nothing like i expected… This was wat i had in mind… And it makes me smile to look at it…

was really tiring… but i had a lot of fun! got a chance to visit the lavender branch of church… played with some of the children… carried cute little 2.5mth Ryan… and chatted with a couple of ignyte girls… they even shared chips with me!!

looking thru all the pictures really makes me smile… and i suddenly realized how much i missed working on things…

like, even back in school, no matter how much i hated the theory classes… there was always the good stuff to look forward to… my practical work… like broadcast journ, BAV, radio, desktop, web design, photojourn & APJ, FYP, & drama classes… things that i loved doing, and could see the result of…

i felt constructive then… useful even… and this holidaying around is gonna get boring soon…

was never one to sit still… i’m not the kind of girl who can foresee herself being a tai tai… i imagine i’d love it for about a month… then get really sick and bored… i need to have things to do… new things to constantly keep me occupied…

and so, i’m finally inspired to get my act together and start finding a job… hope i’ll send out my first resume by monday…

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The Lake House

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

today in cell, cass described me as a hum bao bao or cry baby… and she didn’t even know half the story… i very nearly cried watching this movie… so æ²¡ç”¨ right? at least i didn’t cry…

nearly… but didn’t…

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this place is dusty… *sniff sniff*

I organised an outing to watch this movie because of the promise i made to Miss Lou… She’s a big fan of soppy love stories… Miss Ha & Kay came along as well…

The Lake House (see pictures) was an adaptation from “Il Mare“… The Korean film I watched with the Nightbirds (man, that was how long ago??) over at Mark’s place… I remember Mark fell asleep while Ivan & I watched, captivated…

it’s about a man and a woman who are living two years apart, and by a stroke of the miraculous (clemmie says we can’t use the word luck…), they are able to communicate with each other via the letter box at the Lake House… mind you, it’s faster than email… you can even send bulky items! size is limited to what fits in the letter box though… and as all love stories go… they fall in love… and do fun things together… like take walks… 2 years apart… and they share the same dog…

The way the director tied the car accident to the entire story was much tighter than Il Mare… The ending, the way I thought Il Mare should have ended… And it was really beautiful, the sunset scenes and the arty shots like the revolving door… The two characters were more intimate in this version too… Also pretty cute that the restaurant that the characters met at was called Il Mare… And how could i forget the chemistry between Keanu Reeves & Sandra Bullock? It’s a pity they’re getting old…

But if i had to choose between Il Mare and Lake House? I couldn’t…

I still love the house in Il Mare better… It was way prettier… The mood was very different, the soundtrack was gorgeous… And Lee Jung Jae was really cute… A lot of interesting stuff was left out in Lake House too… like how the guy saved wine for her… how he built a house for her… how she gave him fish in the letter box… (see review of Il Mare)

The plots were essentially the same… but each with it’s unique bits… I guess, I just can’t help enjoying these silly stars & aeroplanes flicks… (Did I mention I’m a huge Sandra Bullock fan? After while you were sleeping…) I’m so planning to get this VCD…

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Where’d you go?

Friday, August 25th, 2006

another all time favourite… played it to sleep one night…

i don’t actually like Fort Minor… but i love this song and what it talks about…

Fort Minor - Where’d You Go
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it’s sad when families don’t stay together… i know i’d be lost without mine…

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Shopping again…

Friday, August 25th, 2006

“…You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the shopping queen…”

i really am spending beyond my means… but of cos, that statement isn’t really fair cos my means are nothing… zilch… so as long as i spend something… like pay 50cts to go to the toilet or 20cts for a packet of standard 2ply tissue, i have just spent beyond my means…

ok… that’s the excuse for shopping…

at least i buy useful items… is my defence…

got the Lowepro Nova 5 AW camera bag… it opens the sensible way… it’s got all the space i need to put my camera, lenses, accessories and other peripherals that i always think are so essential for my assignment… like umbrella, water bottle, makeup kit (oh opps, i dun even use makeup), and bling! it is that spacious and roomy… it’s huge though, and boxy… and i look puny carrying it… But, when i walked into combined L cell today with it, everyone thought i’d started working as a photog already… I LOVE IT!

i also bought the Kingston 512MB DDR2 RAM from Sim Lim… Kay helped me pick it out… (I couldn’t even figure out the tiny print price lists in all the shops… Much less find the specifications of the RAM i needed… Kay had to demonstrate the wonders of CPU-Z) First time i saw my dear lappie taken apart… i think she must have felt naked when they took the keyboard out to install the RAM… (say, i never even knew my keyboard could open up… heck, i couldn’t even take out my battery on my own…) in any case, i think the comp is running faster now… and i have no excuse but to get to work on the video editing for Alphatrack… uh oh…

now, that’s two items struck off the shopping list… a zillion more to go…

Posted in Friends, Shopping, Websites | 1 Comment »

N.Y. Outing

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

met a fren today… initials of said fren - NY… Hence the title…

First things first
Did the sensible thing…

… bought the mr brown tur kua tee shirt… for $20… in smallest size which is still too big for me… and the printing wasn’t very good…

Sakae Sushi Lunch…
tried the baigai… expected something like escargot… turned out to be raw & smelly snails…

had to dunk it in the hot water for the green tea before i could eat the second… ugh… and NY never took a single one…

spent lunchtime discussing the perils of working in the local media… him i mean… not me… i’m still jobless… NY plans to wear the tur kua tee to work… i gave him all my blessing… also silently promising to write when they exile him… i doubt he’d even get internet access then…

Shopping…
NY was wearing a cool shirt…

i lost my phone number… can i borrow yours?

He showed me where to get more of those… (got a personal shopper assignment coming up… gotta do my homework… )

found a cool shirt at Fox Men… didn’t fit… took a photo of it anyway…

why would a guy wear a shirt that says “you are NOT staying over”??

Borders Bistro
finally sat down for a drink. I treated him to a pathetic $4.80+++ latte… He’s cheap that way… too lazy to recall what we said anymore… it wasn’t important anyway…

Posted in Friends, Photos, Shopping | 2 Comments »

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