thebemusedphotog.com

What happens when you put 2 guys, 2 girls, 2 cars, 2 hours of gender specific workshops, 2 dinner tables worth of supper, and 2 expensive concert tickets into one little carpark after midnight?

Quite a lot actually.

You get…

… an unnaturally long conversation on your feet

… 2 completely bemused gentlemen, pondering on the meaning of the Real Christian Man.

I’m more real than he is =)

… a lot a lot of jokes

… some Jason Mraz

… a lot of “i can’t believe you don’t know JASON MRAZ!!”

… some hand-on-heart “this is what i really thought of you when i first met you” statements

… 4 very bo liao people who decided to commemorate the carpark conversations with a photograph.

With emphasis on “very bo liao”

Did this quiz thing in facebook. Worked really hard to make it seem effortless. Am exceedingly proud of it. Putting it here because I can.

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Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real…nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name : Yi Xin

2. A four Letter Word : Yuck

3. A boy’s Name : Yngwie Malmsteen

4. A girl’s Name : Yvonne

5. An occupation : Yodeler

6. A color : Yellow

7. Something you’ll wear : Yarn

9. A food : Yam

10. Something found in the bathroom: Yves Saint Laurent perfume

11. A place : Yugoslavia

12. A reason for being late : Yanked the doorknob out of the door and couldn’t get out of the bathroom

13. Something you’d shout : Yay!

14. A movie title : You’ve Got Mail

15. Something you drink : Yoghurt drink

16. A musical group : Yeah Yeah Yeahs

17. An animal : Yorkshire Terrier

18. A street name : Yio Chu Kang Road

19. A type of car : Yamaha OX99-11

20. The title of a song : You Know My Name

p.s. i could have used G and made my life a lot easier, but i chose to work with Y… I’m good!

Here’s a shoutout to my new cellmember who’s been reading tbp.com during lunch hour.

WELCOME WELCOME!

Was much flattered by the compliment that this blog’s been most entertaining.

Was shocked that anyone could finish my 3 years worth of posts in 2 hours. sheesh….

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My cell’s nuts.

And they didn’t forget me!

I’m touched.

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Accomplishment: Converting 2 total non-gamers to Rockband fanatics in 1 evening.

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Contrary to popular belief… Not everything on tbp.com is for public consumption. I have some posts that are for my eyes and my other administrator’s eyes only. Yes, wordpress does PRIVATE posts too.

And on Valentine’s Day, the only remotely romantic thing I did, was to reread the private post written on the day it all began, and whisper those same 3 words back to the sleepy, sniffy boyfriend as we drove back last night.

shhh…

A week before my birthday, the family gathered at Orchard Parade Hotel for a nice steak dinner at Black Angus, as per my request for meat.

It was the first time I’d ever eaten a steak that cost over $40. But then again, it was a giant 16oz (medium rare) ribeye steak with red wine sauce. And even dad had one himself. While I was fretting over the prices, he was all, “it’s your birthday, never mind…”

And it was really, truly awesome. The steak was HUGE! It was nice and tender and bloody, and I’ve never tasted anything like the red wine sauce. We were so eager to get started on the steak that no one thought to take pictures until after it was all done. Pity. But there were plenty of pictures after.

Biggie sis and hubby had a rare night out without baby Linus and were making up for lost baby-less time with a vengeance. So they made the rest of us take lots and lots and lots of photos of them. After all our efforts, this was the only one they liked.

I guess you can’t really blame them for their enthusiasm. Baby Linus was conceived shortly after they were married, and they could only enjoy 9 months of alone time. Ah well… at least Linus is cute and brings a lot of joy to their lives. (When he isn’t bawling away)

Then it was my turn for photos! With the hamsome, charming darz by my side.

Biggie sis shot this, reviewed it in the camera and commented. “This picture looks rather strange. Why ah?”

The boyfriend candidly replies, “She looks demure.”

Wait, what?

“Oh!” biggie sis exclaims. “Yar, you’re right!”

Great, that’s real nice… Admittedly, I still had food in my mouth and couldn’t smile, but still…

Biggie Sis shot this one after and was much pleased. “Ya, this one looks more like you.”

And she’s probably right.

Wenyinyin & her preggie mommie doing colouring

Wenyinyin had spent the morning hunting for my cake with her daddy and preggie mommie, and was excited to say the least. So excited, that as soon as she got to the dinner table, she chirped “where xiaoyi cake?” (when it was, of cos, supposed to be a surprise.)

I was still surprised, btw. Because my parents had arrived at the restaurant with a cake box, which i assumed was the cake. Turned out to be a “backup”, taken from one of the many CNY cakes we were given, and had a giant 福 written on it. Wenyinyin’s cake was the real deal.

When dinner was over, Wenyinyin refused to let anyone bring her out of her seat to wash up. She was adamant not to miss any of the cake action. So I had to do it, and only after convincing her that since it was my birthday and my cake, no one would start without me. And she obediently went with me. When the cake was finally served, she sat on my lap, cos it was the closest she could get to the cake.

Preggie sis looked at these two photos and commented, “hey, your daughter is very cute!”

Very funny… My sister’s a joker.

Then it’s more photos… with my parents.

Me, discovering that my cake is from Canele. Oooo!

And finally, our family portrait minus Linus. And the only picture showing yeechin and preggie sister.

It was a great way to start becoming 26. =)

Sunday night family dinner.

The 2-year-old had listened in on the dinner conversation and quietly asked her mommy for ribena and chocolate. Her preggie mommy proceeded to get only half of what she requested. The ribena half.

With the preggie mommy in the kitchen getting the ribena, her daddy decided to teach her new words.

“Wenyin, you should say this. ‘Can I have some ribena please?’ “

The little girl gave it some thought, and said, “Okay!”

Everyone burst out laughing. Her daddy was stunned.

“No no, wenyin. You say, ‘Can I have some ribena please?’ “

“Yes!”

More laughter. And Wenyin was feeling rather clever.

“Repeat this after me, wenyin. ‘Can I have some ribena please?’

“Yes!”

Everyone at the table roared with laughter. Her daddy decided to try one more time.

“Wenyin, say ‘Can I…’ “

The 2-year-old looks at her daddy suspiciously, refusing to say a word.

At this moment, preggie mommy comes back in waving the little girl’s bottle with ribena.

“Wenyin, do you want ribena?”

“YES!”

- End of lesson -

… and ex-colleagues! (yes uncle, i see you.)

Because a bunch of them got together and bought me a bouquet of really really lovely gerberras. Was honoured and touched-ded.

So for those of you who already stopped working in this office and never got a chance to see what you paid for… Here they are!

Thanks again! You guys totally made my day!!

1. A small, black, powerful, & reliable Netbook (or the Acer Aspire One)
2. Nikon D300 w/ vertical grip
3. Nikon SB800 flash
4. Rock Band for Xbox 360
5. Sony Ericsson c905
6. Canon Powershot G10

It’s a wishlist, because I only dare to wish for it… =)

…because we ALL wanted one of Calvin & Hobbes’ toboggans.

Recently, I did a food photoshoot for Potter’s Cake… An online cake shop started by a friend of mine, selling tiramisu in pots.

It’s a pretty good little setup. Every Tirapot (as it is called), comes packaged like the one above. She throws in a packet of cocoa powder, with shaker, for you to sprinkle generously over your own portion. The tirapots are about the size of a pint of B&J ice cream, and I can share 2 or 3 with my family of small eaters.

The shoot was a sort of voluntary assignment for me. It was during the Christmas holidays and work was winding down. And I thought I could do a much better job with her pots than I’d seen her do on her own. Plus I was completely inspired by Chocolate Monster Mel.

This one above is one of my personal favourites. If you must know, I shot this with both natural sunlight and a small flash.

And the only shot showing what’s below the cream, erm, more cream. Am hoping to do another shoot of her tiramisu in a glass pot, so that the layers can actually be seen.

This shoot was a lot of fun. I spent an entire morning moving furniture, digging up nice place mats, ironing place mats, trying out different flash positions, different spoon positions, different backgrounds, making sure everything looks perfect, re-sprinkling the cocoa, even changing the placement of the wood surfaces so the grain is more interesting.

The very best thing though, had nothing to do with the shoot. It was the fact that I got to eat the tiramisu after I was done with the whole thing. If I’ve ever eaten a good tiramisu, this would be it. She never scrimps on her ingredients, using only the best kampung eggs, mascarpone cheese and amaretto liquor. Hence, each pot costs $8.70. And if you can resist eating it for 5 days, the tiramisu is at its best on its fifth day.

If you like tiramisu, then you must must try the ones at Potter’s Cake.

They’ve never disappointed me. =)

I shot this before I switched on my AF…

It’s so disconcerting just looking at it…cos i’m half expecting the camera to roll into focus so I can see who the guy is.

Like in a movie…