broylim / catalog

Through the 50mm Looking Glass

For the first outdoor shoot ever with my 50mm lens, I went to Vivocity! Yes I know, AGAIN!! Oh well… You can’t blame me because Singapore is so small so no matter where I go, chances are it will be the same old places.

And besides, we wanted to go look at some clothes and other stuff and Vivo seemed to be the only good place to go too. 

Let’s see… Bugis is out of the question. Orchard is definitely flooded with people. Everywhere’s crowded! Well, it’s not to say that Vivo will be spared from the influx of last minute shoppers (like ourselves) but at least, the crowd will be dispersed throughout the mall. In fact, there are times where I feel that the Vivo today didn’t feel as crowded.

Okay~ 今日の始めましょう～

It’s been awhile since I had 版面 (bian mian, literally means “board noodles”. Probably because of it’s flat shape) but today, I didn’t have it as well. It looks really yummy right now because I’m feeling a little hungry. :P

The chilli padi that I will never have because they are just too spicy!

It’s a pretty bad idea to get soft drinks from food courts that are slightly classier because this small cup lime costs a whooping 2 bucks! I can get so much from Giant with 2 bucks!! But this is a good photo though, no? Purposely chose the seat to be beside the window so I get the light.

I may be in NS but I still use a camera phone. Take that, bitches!! Okay, I don’t bring this phone to camp because I don’t want to get into trouble (I have another lousy phone for that purpose) so I only use this phone when I’m out of camp. But I don’t use the camera though because it sucks. In fact, I don’t think I’ve taken over 50 shots with this phone ever~ Just love the keypad and color.

And the KING OF UNGLAM strikes again! Don’t be scratching your butt when you’re near me because I might take a picture like the one above and it won’t be pretty. Don’t think anyone would recognize the back of this human being. I hope not… :)

The lens cap for the 50mm is so much smaller than my kit lens and it’s really adorable.

Remember once I posted a photo of the flower structure just in between Vivocity and Harbourfront Centre? I took another photo of it but this time, I couldn’t take the whole structure because the lens is not wide enough but I still love this photo anyway. Colorful~

If you stayed indoors for most of today, then lucky you because the weather wasn’t very nice. It was raining since afternoon and I believe it still is right now and because of that, my father canceled the trip to Chinatown and I don’t get to take more photos. Sadded. But I did managed to capture this photo of a boy playing at the water fountain at the Sky Park despite the terrible weather.

ADVERTISEMENT: For the more artistic interpretation of this shoot, click here!!

Little boy sitting in a puddle playing with water. So cute~ Unfortunately, this photo isn’t as sharp as I wanted it to be. A challenge I had with this new lens is that it’s autofocus is too slow and I have to do it manually most of the time and sometimes, I don’t do it accurately. Sad. The disadvantage of wearing spectacles because it always get in the way…

Ripples from the rain.

Actually, we were not meant to detour into Toys R Us but we did anyway to satisfy the children inside. Noticed this interesting toy and this is something that I won’t get a child because… It’s wrong! Why is he not wearing pants? Shame shame!!

At Toys R Us, they have this section which features lots of stuffed toys (if you don’t know about this section, shame on you!!) and these colorful seals are on sale! I find the pink one especially cute!! But please don’t get me stuffed toys for my birthday (hint hint) because I seriously, seriously have no space for them.

Walked past the Build-a-Bear shop (if you’re looking for an extremely overpriced teddy, go there~) and saw this bunch of little girls celebrating someone’s birthday. The only girl whose face is shown looks sad though… I wonder why.

Went into Man Project to look at the clothes and I took this photo of the details at the counter. Cool texture, no?

So while walking and minding our own business, this band walked past with drums and all, almost like a circus is coming to town. I have no clue what this publicity stunt is about but if they suddenly start banging on their drums behind me, I will probably die of a heart attack.

Huge Domo-domo!!

Big Wabbit at Harbourfront Center.

Have you seen this?! Have you seen this?! These McDonald’s goodies are shrunk down into miniature decorative straps and each of these are sold at $2.50 each! Sadly, they don’t give it out with meals and that sucks~ I was contemplating on whether to get the set which costs $25 but on second thought, I have no space to display them so oh well~ But they are nice to have, no?

“I’m your biggest fan I’ll follow you until you love me~ Papa~ Paparazzi~” I don’t know who he is but I just took this picture anyway while waiting for my McBistro to arrive. :P Eating alone is lonely…

While I may not have bought any clothes today, since I’ve already did all my shopping last week, I did get something for Maomao; this Kitty-Go-Krazy cat toy! Costs me $48!! Oh well~ Everything for my kitty~ My father was asking me why I keep getting my cat new toys and was nagging at me for not contributing to the Chinese New Year goodies and I rebutted by saying “Why don’t you be my cat?? :P”

Maomao watching his new toy from a distance. This 3-in-1 toy is actually pretty worth it because it’s motor operated and can keep the little prince entertained. There is this ball that makes lots of noises, ranging from bird chirps, a person saying “Kitty kitty~”, meowing sounds, etc. I think it’s a little bit too noisy so I kept it away.

See the dangling black thing? When you switched the toy on, it will start to spin and you can vary the speed and even set a timer for it (I have yet to figure out how though). If you want to watch how Maomao played with this toy, the video is on my facebook so do take a look! The round base is a toy too; with a ball inside that the cat push and roll about but I think the spinning thingie is enough distraction already. There is another stationary toy that can be placed on the base instead of the spinning toy if you want to save battery.

はい。ここまでです。

Sigh~ I have to go back to camp tomorrow and on Monday, I shall go see the medical officer about my condition. Luckily, it isn’t life threatening but that means that my future in the army is really unpredictable now. Can only see what will happen to me next then. :)

Can’t wait for Chinese New Year!! I want to take more photos!! 

Vera, Leon, Sheena, Rena, Laura, get your pretty/handsome faces ready for me!! :D

Maomao OVERDRIVE

After waiting for so long, I’ve finally bought this!

The EF 50mm f1.8 II lens; the cheapest lens that ever exist (or at least that’s what I believe). At a price tag for $125, it’s so many times cheaper than other lens. Though the construction and material are not the best, the pictures taken by this lens is not bad~

And of course, I couldn’t wait to try it out! And my model of the day…

Hello MAOMAO!! Yes~ My cutie pie is my model for the day and I couldn’t help but keep snapping pictures of him while he’s lying on his bed; the yellow sofa.

Sleepy sleepy…

He woke up after awhile. He’s such a light sleeper.

Still looks sleepy though…

Leon took this picture with the flash and his eyes are so huge~

“Check out my paw!!”

 

Lazing around…

“Whatcha want?”

NECK!!

The glister in his eyes melt my heart~

AHHHHH!!!! ~goes gaga~

One of my favorite shot! So cute!!

Leon said this shot reminds him of Tasmania Devil. Look at his sharp canine! He left 2 scratches with his teeth on my right arm. :(

He is cute but definitely deadly with those teeth. Little tiger..

“Eh?!”

If you’re wondering how I managed to capture him face on, this is the reason why. Leon had been luring him with his Guitar Hero drum stick and Maomao is happily chewing on. Drum stick~ Hahahahahahaha~

Last photo of the evening. SHOW ME YOUR TEETH!!

Maomao’s belated birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAOMAO!!

Okay, actually, it’s happy belated birthday but because I was stuck in camp on the 6th, I can only wish a belated one.

My little boy had grown up so much! He’s now officially an adult cat but he is still so adorable and mischievous. I still love him dearly~

Anyway, before I continue to the post proper, I shall make y’all jealous with what I had for dinner yesterday night…

Pizza Hut for dinner yesterday!! I know I know~ I’ve been posting lots of pictures on Pizza Hut but I can’t help but take picture of food!! Well, Christmas’ round the corner and Pizza Hut had released a new pizza to celebrate this joyous occasion. How can I not go try right~

A new way of drinking your soup of the day… Pile it with cheese. Tastes funny :|

I don’t think I’ve said this before but even though Pizza Hut’s soup is not the best out there, they sure have lots of mushrooms inside! 

I say, these meatballs are NICE!! The cheese, the meat, the cheese!! Lots of cheese! I love the cheese! 

And the pizza itself! I’m sure I posted a picture of the Cheezy 7 pizza; a pizza comprising of 7 different kind of cheeses but this one is so much better because not only does it feature the same Cheezy 7, it comes with a cheese stuffed crust! All the cheesy goodness! Sadly, it was served almost cold and it didn’t taste as good. However, we brought it home and heated it up using the microwave (we didn’t manage to finish it because we had too much popcorn while watching Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale) and it was so much so much better!!

Well, I know a lot of these pictures have nothing to do with Maomao’s birthday but oh well!! :P Anyway, dinner was yesterday night and this afternoon, I went to AMKHub to shop for Maomao’s presents and stuff but before that, I dropped by the supermarket to get this Magic Clean wiper and wipes! My bunk is dusty and it can really use some cleaning up~ I’m too lazy to sweep the floor so I shall use this. It’s not cheap but I guess it’s definitely worth it~

Bought these DVDs yesterday because they were dirt cheap!! Was actually looking for The Da Vinci Code but I can’t find it anyway. Rewatched Angels and Demons yesterday night and I’m still in love with it~ Gugu the Cat, on the other hand, is quite messy and I guess I don’t know how to appreciate it. Maybe when I have more time, I shall watch it to the end (I watched it halfway and we almost fell asleep through the movie…)

And finally~ Here’s what I got for Maomao for his birthday! Okay, I got the scratching post some time back but I thought it was more of an early birthday present. Today, I bought Maomao more food; Fancy Feast Medley’s cat food (though it’s junk food, I thought Maomao can use the occasional treat), a bird that keeps making chirping sounds (Maomao enjoys playing with it, thank goodness!), some cat treats and a whole packet of ProNature Holistic cat food.

Maomao examining his presents.

Maomao playing with the birdie toy. I stuffed some catnip into it and he went gaga over the toy; chasing it all over the house~

A model-ly shot~

Teasing Maomao with the toy…

Maomao batting the toy…

Well, I realized that Maomao is losing weight recently because he is getting fussy with his food and as many knows, I’m pretty against dry food but I have no choice but to get dry food for him because eating dry food is better than not eating at all. The vet attached to the Pet’s Lover branch at Ang Mo Kio suggested this brand to me because it’s on sale and after looking through the ingredients, it’s not that bad so maybe I should give it a try.

Apparently, when I set some into his bowl, he immediately went over to gobble it all (thank goodness!) At least he will eat this food. Hopefully, the food will make him gain a little bit more weight. It hurts me to see him get thinner.

Actually, sometimes I feel a little evil because I want to make Maomao fat so that he cannot squeeze through the gaps in the gate and run outside. That will save me a lot of trouble trying to find him back~ :P

Okay~ That’s the end of this week’s entry. Have to head back to camp later and my roommate is on leave so I have to sleep alone tonight. -_-” Oh well~ I want to apply my leave soon! Hopefully, next week won’t be as hectic~

Maomao~ Be a good boy and grow up nicely~ Stop biting me because I dote you so much~ Bite the birdie instead~ :D

Happy early Birthday Daniel + more…

Before I continue, I would like to announce that my hard disk had just gave up on me and died and therefore, all my pictures are stuck inside. Nevertheless, I’m still going to take pictures and blog about them while I figure out a way to rescue my hard disk.

Sometimes, technology just likes to screw us upside down…

Anyway~ I had lots of fun these few days because I’m out of camp!! Okay, I’ve been out since Tuesday because I was on MC but when you’re on MC, you can’t leave your house but now that my curfew is over, I can go where ever I want to!

Suck on that, rules!!

So I went out these few days and had lots of great food and great fun and of course, took some hopefully great photos!

Let’s see… FRIDAY…

In case y’all don’t know, we bought Vera a Holga camera with a flash unit for her birthday and this is how the beauty looks like! Don’t you love the fierce redness of this film camera? Vera has no clue how to use it so I loaded the film in for her and took a test shot of Maomao. Hopefully it would work… Only way to find out whether the pictures are good is to get the film developed. Coolness right?

After dealing with Vera’s camera at home, I went to Funan IT mall to check on my hard disk and that’s when I realize that it’s corrupted and I will need professional help to recover the stuff inside. Well, heck it because I’m too lazy. It’s not that the things inside my hard disk is insignificant; in fact, it’s so important that my LIFE is practically inside! But I’m not in urgent need for it so I can leave it first. Besides, I still have warranty for it.

Hard disk issues aside. Let’s talk about food! We bought this large Red Mango original frozen yogurt at Esplanade XChange and topped it with granola (my favorite!!), mangoes and crushed Oreo! Really loved the combination, especially the granola! Did I mention that the staff there were uber friendly? They make an effort to strike a conversation with every single customer so that their service is personal and unique. Yes they are! Big thumbs up to their marvelous service!

Walked around the place a little and saw this cute little dwarf bunny at Pet’s Lovers Center. Sometimes, I feel like keeping hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits as pets but when I think of the monstrous orange tiger at home, I have second thoughts…

Pretty lights? :) Looks like some meteor shower but it’s actually just the lens zooming. Try it next time if your camera allows! It’s fun!

Well, we walked around the place a little and bought Daniel his early birthday present; a blue smiley face mug. We were arguing with ourselves (not with each other!) whether to get a bag or a mug but we decided that mugs are more personal and that if you were given a mug by someone else, chances are you would use it more frequently and so, we went with that idea. Weird reasoning but I think it sounds logical to me. This photo is self-explanatory. It’s just a lamp.

To celebrate Daniel’s grand 21st birthday (actually, it was an extremely early celebration because it’s pretty hard for national service men like ourselves to get out of camp, let alone celebrate birthdays), we had dinner at Breeks @ Causeway Point. The salad above was complimentary if you ordered pasta/rice. I suppose it’s because they don’t include much veggies in the pasta/rice and so, to prevent you from getting constipation, they feed you greens.

Yin Zhi, Yahya and Ain doing totally random things.

Alvin went too of course.

And this is the birthday boy, Daniel, happily swaying vigorously from left to right in order to make himself look blur in the picture but sadly, he appeared pretty sharp in this photo. :P

Yahya got herself a new Samsung camera (which I think is GORGEOUS) and she is apparently figuring out some functions with Yin Zhi.

Ladies’ talk.

Isn’t this gorgeous?! Matte black camera with a huge touch screen at the back! Actually, come to think of it, Samsung has some of the most aesthetically pleasing cameras but sadly, their specifications are not quite there yet. Hopefully, their looks and capabilities will come on par one day.

Food again! Waffle fries with cheese and mayonnaise! Really loved these fries because of the cheese~ Could be more generous with the cheese though. Other than that, it’s delicious~

Yin Zhi had Fish & Chips served with colesaw (there are raisins in it). Instead of regular fries, it’s served with waffle fries (minus the cheese and mayo though) and some veggies. Just by looking at this photo, you can tell how huge the fish fillet is.

Yahya had Ham & Cheese sandwiches. Also served with colesaw and waffle fries. This actually looks more like what people would have for breakfast than dinner, right? Looks really good though, don’t you think?

Daniel and Alvin had this curry chicken rice thingie and LOOK AT THAT AMOUNT OF CHEESE! *jealous* From what Alvin told me, it wasn’t exactly what he expected though. The rice tasted normal and the portion of curry was not fulfilling enough, he commented. Mediocre? But the cheese looks deadly!!

I had this! Baked seafood pasta~ Reason why I picked this pasta is because it’s topped with CHEESE! I say this pasta is really good because it’s accompanied with so many different kinds of seafood; scallops, cheesy mussels, prawns, dory fish, clams, squids yummy!! I would recommend this, especially to seafood lovers~

Daniel om-nom-nom-ing his curry rice. I don’t really remember him complaining about it though. Maybe Alvin’s a little bit stricter when it comes to food.

CHEESE!

I enjoy taking pictures of others taking pictures. :P Their expressions are sometimes very epic and it sometimes makes you wonder what they are shooting to make them carry that expression on their faces.

Looking through the gallery?

I’ll be honest. This picture is posed but hey~ It’s good okay~ :P 

Sometimes, when I hang out with this bunch of people, I’ll be listening to lots of NS stories. Well, not that I don’t have any to share but I feel that I’m a little sick of talking about NS after being stuck in there for like 5 months? So sometimes, I would keep quiet. But for these guys, it seems like their common and only topic to talk about though. Yahya suggested that if we were start a “No NS Talk Day”, the guys will fail miserably.

After dinner at Breeks, we went to McDonald’s @ Woodlands Civic Plaza to have dessert. The dining experience at Breeks this time round wasn’t that pleasant somehow. The staff were not as nice as the ones at Harborfront Center but still acceptable. Yahya, Yin Zhi and Ain are sitting together again…

I think the last time I had Chocolate Fudge Sundae was during my internship days at Personae Studios. I normally don’t like McDonald’s sundaes because they are way too sweet (and they are still way too sweet) but somehow, I felt like having this the other day. Probably because I wanted the sticky chocolate.

While we had our desserts, we played Munckhin Fu! It’s basically like the original Munckhin where players fight monsters, collect items, sabotage or help each another in order to win. Really interesting game and quite easy to pick up~

You need a huge surface to play this game though because you have to lay the cards out. You must also have something to keep track of your levels, like coins or your phone. We played for, I think, around an hour because we were unfamiliar with the rules. Alvin won naturally because he was most familiar with the rules. Sadly, the game belongs to his buddy and I guess this would be the first and last time we played this game unless someone gets a copy soon.

And let’s fast forward to Saturday evening. I went to Vivo City because I have to get more food for Maomao. It’s either kitty litter or food that I have to get. Well, sucks to be me for having a family who doesn’t really give a damn about the poor cat at home. Saw this sunset scene on the rooftop and the reflections off the pool and immediately took my camera out to take this picture. Loving the colors…

Another sunset picture. Unfortunately, the sun is blocked by the clouds but its beauty still shines through. And did you notice I like to take photos of the sky in portrait? Weird but somehow, I prefer it that way…

If it wasn’t for the fact that Burger King was flooded with hungry people, I wouldn’t had went to the rooftop and wouldn’t had took pictures of the magnificent sky. Why? Because we bought took aways from Burger King for dinner and decided to eat at the rooftop due to lack of tables. Burger King is having a promotion; 1 for 1 Hershey’s Sundae! Great deal! Too bad ours melted a little and wasn’t cold when we started on it…

Before torturing myself with Maomao’s food, we went to walk around and one of the places we dropped by was Toys R Us. Saw the green aliens from Toy Story and I immediately went gaga because I always wanted a green alien stuffed toy! Honestly, I almost bought one on the spot because I wanted one but after considering that I still have other important things to get (like Maomao’s food -_-), I have to forgo my childish side. But if you want to get this for me for Christmas, I don’t mind! If you want to get me 3, I would be eternally grateful! :D

Carrying Maomao’s food back home wasn’t enjoyable because it’s heavy. Hello! 14 cans of cat food! Imagine that~ Furthermore, I finally bought Maomao his way overdue scratching post. Well, not that he doesn’t have anything to scratch on (like the scratching pad and the horizontal scratching post he seldom use, and my father’s sofa), but I feel that a vertical scratching post would benefit him, and my father’s sofa. Lucky for me, he instinctively knows how to use it. That’s what I like about cats; they are clever beings!

Other than the scratching post, I also bought a new food bowl for him (no pictures, sorry) because it was on 10% discount. That means no more sliding metal plate for him! The bowl is also smaller so I hope it would be easier to gauge how much to feed him rather than to pile the whole plate with food and make him waste food.

Bought this PhotoYou magazine at the bookstore because the cover is so adorable! Well actually, that’s the secondary reason but you know~ Purposely placed the magazine near Maomao to get this overly cute shot~ 

Well, that’s the last photo of this entry. Really enjoyed myself these few days because I was being me, not someone who’s wearing a mask trying to please others or to meet others’ expectations.

It’s so important, to me, to be me. Why do I have to make others happy at the expenses of my own happiness? That’s ridiculous. We don’t exist on this planet for others. We exist for ourselves. 

So~ Imma have fun! Heck those people who wants to be fake. Let them rot. 

I will be ME! :)

ayumi hamasaki - MOON/blossom

YES!! I’m out of Exile Island!!

This weekend will be shorter, considering the fact that I have to be stuck there this morning to do remedial training just because I was one chin up short from passing.

Not that I mind but it sucks big time because my bed is more comfy. Not to mention, I was stung like nobody’s business yesterday night by bloody mosquitoes. I’ll have my revenge!!

Anyway, the first thing I did when I arrived home was to unwrap my parcel holding “MOON/blossom” because they are WAY OVERDUE! The parcel arrived on Monday and I had to wait for the entire week just to unwrap it. The wait was excruciating!! Checked the discs to see if they are okay then after that, went to shower.

When I was done, I took pictures, of course!!

This is how the parcel looks like when you tear the brown tape away. All CDJapan discs are sent to you via these cardboard boxes so that you’re precious discs won’t get damaged. Maomao is obviously very interested in whatever beauty that lies within the box.

TA DA!! MOON/blossom with 2 posters! Oh yes~ In case you are wondering why the background is black, it’s because I laid a black cloth on my father’s bed to do this shoot. My bed was in a mess (no thanks to Leon) and therefore, you won’t get to see my blue bed~

Doesn’t he look stunningly fierce in this picture? :D

I got the 2 CD-only versions of this single because I’m more interested in the extra remixes that comes only in the CD versions. I can always get the CD+DVD version one when it’s released in Singapore. 

MOON/blossom is ayumi’s 48th single and it had topped the Oricon chart yet again! YES-ness!! It consists of 2 A-sides (the title of the single) as well as several remixes.

Jacket B (left in the picture) contains the remix of “Microphone” and the orchestra version (I LOVE ORCHESTRA & ACOUSTIC VERSIONS!!) of “Last Links”. Jacket D (right in this picture) contains the remix of “Don’t look back”, which by the way sounded funny, and the acoustic version of “meaning of Love”.

So far, the single sounds quite good to me, especially MOON, because it’s such a strong and emotional song. The remixes are okay, though I won’t go listen to them specially. The acoustic version of “meaning of Love” is to DIE FOR! I love it!!

Maomao enjoys sitting in the box while I enjoy taking pictures of him sitting in the box…

The sticker on the packaging. By right, the first press of this single allows you access to some of her content for her upcoming single but sadly, I’m in Singapore so I can’t access it. At least I got posters~~

This is how the CD looks like, in case you want to know.

Maomao is still enjoying the box. He’s a major distraction to my shoot because he’s always offering all kinds of new behavior with that box for me to take pictures of~ Cuteness~~

The lyrics~ I haven’t got time to go figure out what “blossom” is about but I love the lyrics to MOON. Go check the translation elsewhere because I’m too lazy to elaborate. Somehow, I feel that the black background is really working~ The blue sheets are kinda distracting. What do you think?

What else can I say about this single’s packaging? It’s just a typical CD-only packaging with nothing extraordinary (besides the music of course~). About her covers… I think MOON/blossom is not her best but the photos does portray sort of a vulnerability to her character that links back to the ballads of the single. The softness of ayumi is pretty but I think I would like to see something more daring~ More edgy~ Because ayumi has been relying on “pretty” and “sweet” too much recently. Wouldn’t hurt to change the image a little~

This is how the poster looks like~ Both the posters are the same so I’ll just leave the other one as it is to protect it. I used the You were…/BALLAD singles as paperweights to keep this poster down. Now you compare the covers, aren’t they just pretty and sweet~~~ But I think it’s time to give more EDGE, ayu!! Gorgeous poster, by the way~ Just that I have no space on my wall for it… :P

Well, that’s the last photo I have for this single. Can’t wait for the next one because I presume she would be releasing one really soon to reach her 50th single! 

Will be going out for dinner with my friends and some other people that I’ve never met before. Hopefully it won’t be too awkward~ At least I’ve volunteered to take pictures there~ :) Hope it would be fun~