broylim / catalog

04, 05, 06

It’s my second attempt trying to blog this entry because an hour ago, tumblr went amok and refused to let me post my entry and because of that, all my hard work of writing and inserting pictures went to waste!!

Shame on you, tumblr!!

But upon receiving news from my friend who also uses tumblr, she said that posting is back to normal and I did a dummy post just now. Yeap. It’s working alright.

Dear tumblr… Please make an auto-save/auto-draft thingie please~~ So when I do long entries, my things don’t go missing…

Oh well~ Enough of my whining. I shall re-write the entire entry.

Well, due to lack of time, I was unable to blog every single day. Okay… The real reason is because I’m too lazy to even edit the photos but hey~ I’m making an effort now okay~ So I shall compress all 3 days into 1 single entry. Makes reading easier also.

Let’s start of with…

04 MARCH

Before I continue, Maomao wants to say “HELLO!!”

My naughty boy has been really picky with his food. In fact, he gives me headaches sometimes because I seriously have no idea what to feed him. Feed him dried food he’ll only eat a little… Feed him canned food (used to feed fully canned last time) but he won’t even touch it… I tried fresh chicken meat but he won’t even bother~ Picky picky!! Hopefully he doesn’t lose weight because I want him to grow bigger!!

Back to my life. I came out early on Friday. In fact, I reached home at around 12pm~ The past week was just like the previous weeks of doing practically nothing. Well, at least I learnt how to indent transportations; been doing that for the whole week. Wonder what other “nonsense” I will be doing for the next.

On Friday, we had dinner at NEX’s (guess where~~) Fish & Co.!! And it was a treat!!

THANK YOU!! :D

Don’t you envy CitiBank cardholders? They always get discounts at restaurants. One day, when my bank is not at a miserable $50 mark, I shall go apply for that card! Took this picture while waiting for our food; I do this all the time, no?

We got a set which comes with a drink, this passion fruit soda, and a soup. 

Soup of the day: Fish Chowder. Just so you know, the black specks are grounded peppers I sprinkled on the soup so don’t be afraid. I think the soup was mediocre as compared to the Clam Chowder I had at Heeren’s branch the other time. I remember going gaga over the Clam Chowder but the Fish one was just okay. Not as tasty but is good enough.

Clam > Fish perhaps…

We had the Seafood Platter! Apparently, it’s one of Fish & Co.’s signature dishes. This platter is really huge~ Comes with a huge piece of dory fish laid on chips and rice, squids, mussels topped with a special sauce and the buttered prawns. Really sinful and hearty dish.

Close up of the buttered prawns. I think the prawns are so-so though. Probably because of the way the prawns are served; dissected into half along the length. Makes the prawn less chewy? I can’t really taste the butter too. Slightly disappointed by the prawns.

These mussels, on the other hand, are good! They are not tough and rubbery like some overcooked ones outside but soft and juicy. I like the sauce too~ The serving is generous too.

See those round thingies? I guess they are bloated raisins. Really sweet stuff!! The rice is fine but I think with the chips, it’s too much carbs! Sinful sinful!!

Unfortunately, I don’t think I want to go back to NEX’s Fish & Co. in the near future because I was rather unpleased with their poor service. But on the other hand, I can’t really blame them. Here’s what happened…

So we were eating innocently at the table when a couple sat down at the table beside us. They were constantly trying to get the attention of one of the staff after deciding what to eat but to no avail. There were only 3 staff on the floor and one of them was busy preparing the drinks and soups.

I was slightly irritated by the couple because they were trying so desperately but it never occurred to them for anyone of them to just stand up and go tell the waitress. They just sat there~ So I went ahead and told the staff at the drinks/soup counter that they want to make an order. The couple thanked me.

But~~ No staff came!! So the couple got so fed up, they stormed out of the restaurant. Oh well~ I tried to help~~

Furthermore, trying to pay for the food was a hassle too because the manager was so tied up with other customers. Before us was a group who paid using cash. We paid using card. The manager settled the cash payment and gave us the change and we were like “????” I think the manager himself was in confusion.

I mean~ If you know you’re going to get a full house (happened that evening), why not get more helpers? You are making lots of people frustrated. I sympathize with them but again, if they worked smartly, then perhaps things won’t be that bad.

Maybe they should try playing Diner Dash… -_-“

After dinner, I went home. Vera and Aik Hin just came back from their Malacca “honeymoon” trip and I’m so jealous after looking through the photos (some of which stunning, some of which *ahem*) they took using my Lumix FX 48 (advertised by ayu!!). I want to go there too!! 

Oh yes~ Did I mention that we met Rena and her friend while we were having dinner at NEX? So after dinner, we walked around NEX for awhile, and I asked her whether she wants to play Mahjong (no money involved, of course) at my place and she said okay. So we took the bus but she changed her mind and said she wanted to go home and bathe first instead.

Okay. So I went home and waited. And waited. And waited. And we started the game first without Rena since she took so long. Even Maomao got tired of waiting. Eventually, she came (like around 2am?) and we were already so tired so we ended our game and she didn’t get to play. 

Sorry Rena~ But you took too long!! 

05 MARCH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENVIN!!

Kenvin’s my BMT platoon mate and I was honored to be invited to his birthday party held at Costa Sands Pasir Ris. Honestly, I had never ever been to the Pasir Ris Costa Sands before because all along, I went to the one where you have to pay a dollar entrance fee. Apparently, Sentosa has one too~ Gosh~ I had no idea!!

Before heading to the chalet, I met up with Moon at City Hall so we could go do some last minute shopping for Kenvin’s birthday present. We were clueless on what to buy but eventually, we settled for a really cool mug and Show Luo’s limited edition album (yes, suggested by me).

After that, we made our way to the chalet which, thank goodness, wasn’t hard to find. Larry and Yijing came shortly after and we caught up with each another’s army lives.

ちょっとまって。。。 They caught up on their army lives while I listened because to me, there’s no life in the army!!

Broy’s vocabulary = Army = No life.

Unfortunately, we had to leave early because we had something on. Like what Larry said, weekends are precious. But before we left, we took group photos!! From left to right; Larry, Kenvin (guarding against Larry’s non-stop pinches), Moon and Yijing.

Another shot. You can tell that Kenvin’s obviously guarding against something. :)

One of Kenvin’s friends was kind enough to help us take this shot. I can see my chin!!

06 MARCH

Now for something more recent (today!!). I went to Woodlands to meet up with Alvin and gang for lunch and movie. After getting the tickets to “I am Number Four”, we went to Breeks to have lunch! Apparently, Breeks marked up their prices. THAT AIN’T COOL!! Good thing there’s this daily special where 2 of the dishes are on promotion and I picked the Cajun Blackened Fish because it costs $12.90 before taxes on Sundays.

One of those “I’m bored waiting for my food” photos. I love the lights and the photos on the wall.

Considering that Breeks showed us no love by marking up their prices, we gave the drinks a pass and went for plain water instead. Cheap and healthy.

Food now!! This is the Maryland something chicken cutlet thingie served in a basket. Alvin had to get a separate plate in order to eat this because it was a challenge to try cut the piece into pieces when the chicken is firstly so huge and secondly, in a basket. But eventually, Alvin got tired of cutting it and went on the barbaric by just poking the chicken with a fork and sending it straight into his mouth. The true way of enjoying this dish.

The fries look tasty!!

Chong Yee and Yin Zhi had the Fish and Chips. The fish is HUGE; spanning across the diameter of the entire plate itself! Did I feature this fish before on my blog? I don’t remember!! I feature so many photos of food now and then that I lose track~ Recently, I’m really interested in food photography and I’m aiming to improve because taking photos of food is yummy!!

I think that the dish that’s the most worthwhile was Yahya’s pizza. It costs $12.90 before taxes and serves 2!! But she had this all by herself~ No, she did not finish everything in one sitting because that would be insane but if you were to share it, it’s actually one of the most cost-efficient food in the menu. Plus, the pineapple chucks are so big that I’m so envious~

Regrettably, I didn’t manage to capture Hazel’s pasta because she was sitting too far away. :(

Well now for my *scrolls up to check the name* Cajun Blackened Fish! The fish is not black though; it’s a huge piece of soft and silky fish topped with the sauce that makes the dish “black”. Comes with pasta and crunchy veggies. Overall, it’s really worth it because of the promotion!!

Close up on the pasta. I love this shot!!

After a tasty lunch, we had some time left to walk around so we walked over to Civics Plaza to get ourselves some McDonald’s ice-cream! The Milo McFlurry is back!! We sat at this area opposite the reflective glass panels of the building and I took this group shot of ourselves. Cool, no?

Then I went around snapping photos of the building. I’ve walked through this building so many times but have totally ignored the marvelous design and architecture of this place. Even though it’s cloudy, the windows still managed to reflect blue beautifully.

The blue is so pretty!! This photo may look distorted but actually, the building curves so you get what I mean.

Sitting around… I hate the waiting time before a movie because there’s hardly anything for you to do.

Eating ice-cream…

Group shot. :)

One of the horrors of eating ice cream is when the ice cream starts to drip all over and Hazel had her ice cream drip on her thigh and of course, as the Master of Unglam photos, I just had to take a photo of this. :P

Dripping dripping~~

Well anyway, in case you want to know how I feel about the movie “I am Number Four”. I think it’s worth the 5 dollars that we all paid for it. Apparently, M1 users get a promotion where they get 2 tickets at the price of 1~ Since Yin Zhi, Chong Yee and Yahya uses M1, the rest of us enjoyed a cheaper movie ticket!

Back to the movie. It’s basically about this guy being an alien with superpowers; almost like X-Men just that his guy has so many powers you kinda lose track at times. Super parkour speed? Telekinesis? Shining light from hands? Shooting beams from hands? There’s a reason why X-Men commonly have a single power or two and not a whole arsenal.

Furthermore, the storyline is a little predictable. The characters are also predictable (e.g. you know who will die, you know that a female kickass character will appear and save the day for awhile, etc). The characters also lack vulnerability for me to feel anything for them.

From the ending of the movie, I suppose there’s going to be a sequel so I hope they develop the characters a little bit more and give them more depth. Verdict: I think there are better movies these weeks than this one so give this a pass unless you want to look at pretty and handsome people.

That concludes these 3 days of my weekend. I hope tomorrow, I will have “nights” out so I can go down to Orchard to collect my Pokemon game(s). :P Pokemon Black and White is out, y’all!! Go get them so we can catch ‘em all!!

I pray that this week will be shorter than the past 2 weeks too. :P Staying in camp doing nothing but getting fat (I certainly hope not!!) is boring!!

And that’s why I had this for dinner today because I’ve been stuffing my face with all the good food. Guilty~ :P

This weekend is short.

Yeap! I have to book in like in an hour or slightly more and I have yet to go bathe and stuff but again, I still want to rush this blog entry out because there’s too much dust collected here already! No thanks to the stupid rehearsal tomorrow morning.

Seriously~ Do you need SPECTATORS to rehearse how to freakin’ CLAP?!

So~ I shall use pictures as much as possible and cut down on the words. :)

So on Saturday, I went to IKEA. I don’t really recall why I went there but I know it was extremely random. Probably because we wanted to have Pizza Hut for dinner but we don’t know which outlet to go to and since it’s been ages since we went to Tampines, we went to walk around the area.

Before exploring furniture paradise, we had meatballs for “lunch”!! 8 dollars for 15 meatballs!! Is that worth it or what?

Gimme those balls!!

I didn’t pay for it though. THANKS FOR THE TREAT!! :)

Welcome to Singapore; where some people are just too fatass-ed to return their own pathetic dishes.

Welcome to Singapore; where people don’t understand simple instructions.

MEATBALLS!! I wonder why they serve meatballs with jam but the combination is EPIC, no? I see y’all mouthwatering monsters already. :) The meatballs are obviously really good, needless to say, but I feel that there’s something lacking from this dish. Some greens perhaps?

After having a light lunch, we walked around IKEA to explore a little. Took lots of random photos; like photos of chalk…

Time telling thing…

Children counting tool thing… Yes, I know it’s called an abacus.

Light bulbs… Interesting~

Plants and the likes…

And of course, we had the 1 dollar hotdog too because lunch was just way too light~ I think there’s no one time where I stepped out of IKEA without having these classic dogs. Cheap and delicious! Notice the sudden blop of sauce on the sausage? I accidentally dispensed too much. :P

Saturday was a really hot day even though it’s so cloudy.

And then, we headed to Tampines 1 to walk around. Honestly, there was nothing to look at because all shopping malls in Singapore are more or less the same. Furthermore, it was really crowded~

Finally tried the Weider-IN, as advertised in Japan by ayu!! It’s a jelly-drink thingie that comes in a pack. There are a couple of flavors for this product and I tried the Vitamin version (Passion Fruit flavored jelly) because I haven’t been eating much veggies these days. Not too sweet~ Just nice!! Quick and healthy thirst quencher. It’s a pity it’s a little pricey, at $2.50 per packet ($2.70 for the chilled ones).

Walked around just to past time and when it’s finally dinner time, we headed to Tampines Mall’s Pizza Hut. Was brought to this table by the window and I was like “YES!! Good lighting!!” The photo proves it, no? :)

We had this meal where iced lemon tea is served. Unlike those extremely sweet ones you get normally, Pizza Hut served the tea plain with a cute jug of syrup so you can control the sweetness of the tea. To me, it just makes a good subject to shoot~ :)

Paparazzi-ing from the window…

Hawaiian Supreme Pan Pizza with 30% more cheese and stuffed cheese crust!! All the cheesy goodness! Unfortunately, I think I prefer the regular Hawaiian pizza though because the supreme version kinda have too many things on it. Sometimes, more doesn’t mean better.

Now, let’s skip to today’s lunch at Ajisen. This is the baby octopus that’s served as a side if you purchased the meal. I believe I’ve featured it before on this blog. :)

My fried prawns!! Tastes okay-okay only though…

Some really spicy ramen. Good thing I didn’t have this because my throat is already half dead. That reminds me… I have to take my medicine tonight.

My vegetable ramen. The waitress calls this “a healthy choice”. :) Just had that craving for those shiitake mushrooms! They were so GOOD!! Soft and smooth and succulent! 

Well yesterday while I was at Tampines 1’s Times bookstore, I saw this edition of VOGUE magazine on sale with Lady Gaga gracing the cover. I was contemplating on whether to get it or not but somehow, the conditions of the magazines back at the Times bookstore was pretty bad so I gave it a pass.

BUT!! At night, I was thinking of the magazine and I was thinking “Since I have nothing to do for the next week, might as well just get it to study the photos.” I needed something to do so I went all the way to Kinokuniya to grab a copy. Boy is it HEAVY!! Really thick and filled with gorgeous photos! That will keep me busy for awhile. :)

Oh yes!! Ann Ward, ANTM Cycle 15’s winner will be on the cover of May 2011’s VOGUE Italia’s cover! Going to get it even though the Italia edition is almost 2 times the US edition. Excited!!

Okay~ This is the fastest blog entry featuring 25 photos that I have done!! Normally, it will take me around 45 - 60 minutes to do an entry like this but cutting down on the photos and words really helped cut down the timing~

Time to go bathe and prepare to go back to the dreaded place!! I hope I can come back home early this week!

Until then!!

Night by Singapore River

We were too bored yesterday evening and had nowhere to go so we decided to head down to the Singapore River to take photos of the Merlion.

BUT ALAS! The Merlion was CLOSED!! What the hell!! I wasn’t expecting one of Singapore’s main tourist attractions to be barricaded away. I think it could be for maintenance but what bad timing! On a Saturday night…

Apparently, there are sources on the internet that says that the Merlion is closed for cleaning. Hmmm… Makes sense but still suck anyway.

So, here are some of the shots that I took yesterday. Not all of them are “nega+ive” worthy but good enough for this blog. :P Yes!! I’m biased!

Note: Photos are not in order because I’m too lazy to blog in order. :P

The Fullerton Building! Actually, I think this is part of the hotel but who cares~

This would be a good photo if the colors weren’t that hard to manipulate. Lots of distortion that I did my best to fix but oh well… :( Such a disappointment.

Remember my post on Day 3? The photo which I took of the hotel from across the river? This time, I took a photo of it across the street. :D

Customs House. I have no idea when this place was built or when it existed. I just know that there are lots of high class looking bars there. Too bad I ain’t alcoholic.

Some metallic pillar walkway that we walked past when searching for the Merlion. Yes~ We got lost!!

This really cute fountain on the opposite side of the Fullerton Hotel. Parts of the road was barricaded away so we had to walk through this really classy hotel IN SLIPPERS AND SHORTS to get to this fountain. Really embarrassing but that’s for blocking my path!!

More water. Forgot where this place is.

I didn’t know the Standard Chartered bank actually looks this cool at night. Keep a look out on my nega+ive blog for a better version of this photo! :)

Marina Bay Sands again… I think this is one of Singapore’s most photographed landmarks in recent history, thanks to me. :P Just that this time, it’s taken from a different side of it.

And unfortunately, the last photo of this blog entry; a ball light thingie just outside the Esplanade.

Okay. That’s all~ Visit nega+ive for 2 more photos not posted here!! :D

walk in the parks - making of

I’m so excited!!

As you have already known from my “publicity stunts” all across facebook, Twitter and now on tumblr, I went on a photo shoot trip with Laura and Yong Xiang on December 29 and yesterday night, I released all the edited photos onto facebook.

This afternoon, I’ve finally updated my “nega+ive” photoblog of selected frames to create a full album. COOL right?! I’m really excited about this project because I have never did anything like this before and secondly, I’m really in love with lots of the shots!

So, if you want to see the full album, titled “walk in the parks”, do drop by my photoblog by clicking on the link on the right. To access the album quickly, you can click on the album art (woo hoo!!) on the right as well.

Well, besides glamorous (I hope) and pretty (I hope too) photos, we took lots of random shots as well and over here, in this “making of” post, I shall talk more about the whole shoot.

Here we go~ *DISCLAIMER: Lots of photos!!*

We decided on the location of the shoot like just the day before. Actually, we had plans of going to Fort Canning Park for the shoot but I decided that it was boring (from experience with Rena’s shoot) and so, we decided on the Southern Ridges.

The Southern Ridges is basically a park connector connecting various parks such as the Mt Faber and Hort Park and in between, you get to see interesting architecture and bridges like the Henderson Waves and the Canopy Walk’s bridges. Really cool! In fact, you will never know that these places existed in Singapore unless you go explore.

These signs, as seen above in the photo, are displayed all over the parks because most of the places are covered with vegetation. Walking in it feels as though you are doing a route-march/hike.

There were LOTS OF STAIRS! Lucky for us, we woke up extremely early (at around 7:30am) and arrived there at around 9:00am so it wasn’t that warm but we perspired like hell! It was almost like morning exercise! Furthermore, we were in totally wrong outfits for this walk but who cares~ We were there for a photo shoot, not for a route march.

Besides interesting architectures, you will also see interesting plants, birds (though I never seen any) and butterflies along the 9km trail. This tree thingie, according to Laura, looks like a giraffe but I can’t see the shape though. Can you?

Mt Faber Park (or at least I believe it is). One of the advantages of waking up early in the morning is that the lighting is favorable. Isn’t the photo pretty? Well, I admit I did touch ups but hey~ Without the original photo, you can’t do much even with tons of touch ups, right?

The Marang Trail. It basically translate to “Welcome to the forest”.

Pretty sky!!

Sadly not the Eiffel nor Tokyo Tower but it’s still pretty interesting, no?

This was taken from Mt Faber and it shows that the place is really high up.

Throughout the entire shoot, we walked through the trails in search of interesting places for shots and this is one of the earlier ones that we took. Unfortunately, this did not make it into the final cut because Yong Xiang’s eyes were opened! Otherwise, it’s a really good photo~

If you decide to go explore the Southern Ridges one day, you have to keep a look out for these signposts because they are so important! Basically, they will point you to where ever you want to go, like what signposts do, but they are also pretty accurate. Unless you have a map or is born a natural navigator, you have to rely on this. Otherwise, you might find yourself wounded up in the middle of the forest hugging some tree.

More stairs… This flight of stairs is scary because not only is it steep, it’s pretty narrow and long. One wrong step and you will tumble all the way down and yes, you’re in the middle of the forest so you might just rot there without anyone knowing.

One of the main reasons why we chose the Southern Ridges is because of the Henderson Waves. It’s this really cool bridge that’s 36 meters above Henderson Road (in fact, it’s the highest overhead bridge in Singapore!) made of primarily wood! It’s wavy architecture is also really gorgeous~ I’ve seen it on TV a few times and always wanted to go there to take pictures.

The beginning of the bridge is marked by its name.

YIPPEEE!! Getting to the bridge wasn’t easy because we had to navigate through quite a long stretch of forest from Mt Faber but it was worth it. Do remember to bring a few water bottles if you intend to go there because you will sweat a lot. Furthermore, the vending machines there don’t seem to work.

Can you guess what that is? It’s actually the marking my back made. I lied on the ground to take a couple of shots and left this signature on the wooden ground of the bridge. The place is surprisingly very clean~ I hope it stays this way because you know, wood is a natural attractor of vandals.

Got Laura to lie on the ground too. I laughed a lot while doing this shoot because she looks like a corpse. I’m still laughing now when I see this photo because it’s so funny! Yong Xiang and I keep calling her 死尸 (dead body).

The side of the Henderson Wave is curvy and wavy, just like what you see over here. It’s really challenging to sit on the curves but again, it’s not meant to be sat on. Ain’t the couple sweet? I feel like a paparazzi following them through the whole day but hey~ Laura was the one who asked me for the shoot okay~

Yong Xiang left a signature too with his back.

Ain’t this FIERCE?!

Before heading out for the shoot, I asked Laura to bring some props (e.g. books, magazines, toys, etc) and this magazine is one of it. I asked her to use it and this is what she offered and I gave up.

Another 死尸.

The Henderson Wave.

In between, we had breaks because walking for such a long distance on only 2 tuna sandwiches for breakfast isn’t easy. While break-ing, Laura and Yong Xiang posed for this shot where Laura is treating her boyfriend like a puppy.

And then the revenge…

And this is how the road looks like from the Henderson Waves. It’s a long fall down~~

We walked along the Henderson Waves and somehow managed to find ourselves at this park. Apparently, it’s called the Telok Blangah Hill Park (as stated on the NParks website). This park was eerily quiet, with the exception of a few Bangala workers planting plants there. When we arrived there, we were all complaining of hunger and that’s when we decided to have sushi for lunch and throughout the rest of the shoot, I was singing “Sushi sushi sushi~”.

Since the park was so quiet, we backtracked a little and continued with our trail and found ourselves entering this long stretch of metal bridges, which I believe is called the Forest Walk. The bridge, I believe, is called the Elevated Walkway. SO CONFUSING RIGHT?! The website is not very helpful because it’s so complicated.

Anyway, the bridge is FREAKIN’ LONG!! In fact, I think it’s like the longest bridge in Singapore, ever! Basically, this bridge is constructed in the forest, well above the ground. If you’re afraid of heights, looking down will sure make your head spin.

Having fun on the bridge (or should I call it Elevated Walkway).

And there were quite a number of stairs that we had to climb as well. Don’t look down if you’re afraid of heights, because the metal ground is not completely solid; you can see what’s beneath your feet and that almost made me faint.

If you want to have an idea how tall the walkway is, brace yourself. This walkway is definitely fun, even though I’m afraid of heights, because there’s so much to see! The trees, the structures of the bridge, the sky, everything! But keep your hands to yourself because you definitely don’t want to drop anything from the walkway because it would be impossible to retrieve.

The walkway is winding by nature (not a straight walkway) and because of that, it seemed as though it’s never ending. I took this photo while standing on part of the walkway. Really cool, no? I think I will definitely go there again in the future because it was really fun. Laura and I even thought that this place can make a good runway because it’s so unique.

And we finally arrived at our destination; HORT PARK! Hort Park is really beautiful, featuring some greenhouses, a butterfly house (it’s not open yet though) and some other interesting flora and fauna. When you arrive at the end of the Elevated Walkway, after exhaling “FINALLY!!”, you will have to cross a short bridge to get here. We were greeted by this fish pond when we arrived and I took some shots of crazy Laura.

A cafe by this big body of water at Hort Park. You know what? I actually chanced upon Hort Park the day before the actual shoot when I went out to meet Chua Ying Ying to get my hard disk fixed. The building where I sent my hard disk for servicing is actually just IN FRONT OF Hort Park! So, the day before the shoot, I managed to explore part of Hort Park before shooting day, just to see how the place is like and I love it.

And finally, we found a place where we can get drinks and something to eat. These are the things that Laura and Yong Xiang brought along with them for their shoot. Apparently, Laura brought 3 sets of clothings along with 3 pairs of shoes while Yong Xiang brought a pair of shoe and I think a set of new clothings. Sadly, we didn’t get to photograph every single one because where do you expect my models to change? In the public?

I had Aloe Vera and Apple juice for my break! Felt heavenly! Didn’t eat anything though because I wanted to reserve the space for Sushi, sushi, sushi!!

Awwww~ Pure sweetness. I meant the ice-cream… :P

Hort Park is a FANTASTIC place for taking pictures because there are so many interesting structures and plants around! Yong Xiang found this huge, square, wooden platform and I took one of my favorite shots on this very platform! Again, Laura had to lie down but this time, she didn’t look dead.

Yong Xiang also found this gorgeous white gate, much to Laura’s dismay because she was getting tired, and I took some of Laura’s beauty shots over here. This crazed shot is a little bit too crazed to be usable, in my opinion, but it’s sure is entertaining to blog about! :P

One of the last creatives of the day, where I got Laura to pose on a patch of grass with the shoes that she brought laid out in front of her. Since she already brought those shoes, might as well use them as props right? Inspired by one of ayumi’s photo shoots from her GUILTY photobook but somehow, I cannot capture that feel but I did make this location shoot work out~ Visit my photoblog to see the final cut! This is Laura acting crazy again.

AND FINALLY FINALLY~ After the shoot at Hort Park, we called it a day and went back to Harbourfront Center to have our lunch+dinner at Sakae Sushi. Before that though, we went to Yoshinoya to sit for awhile because the unfriendly manager at Sakae Sushi said buffet only starts at 3pm. Well heck him!! Laura also managed to change out from her clothes to a new dress.

And at 3pm, we entered Sakae Sushi and had our meal!! I was hungry like hell but as usual, I cannot survive long in buffets because of my unfortunately/fortunately?? small appetite. 

歌うよ～　“寿司～寿司～寿司～！！”

Do y’all prepare your soy sauce by adding some wasabi inside?

As I sang Sushi for the whole shoot, Yong Xiang was craving for chawamushi. Honestly, I never really fancied chawamushi because… I don’t know~ I just naturally don’t have that craving for it. I tried the Sakae Sushi one that day and it’s not bad~

That’s just part of our plates, in case you’re wondering.

Weeee~ The wonders of shutter speeds~ Imagine if you’re having a sushi buffet and your sushis just zoom past you? That would be such a game, no? :D

So, that wraps up the whole shoot and this “making of” post! It was really enjoyable to photograph this sweet couple. THANK YOU, Laura and Yong Xiang for allowing me to tag along with y’all for the shoot and I hope y’all enjoyed it as much as I do!

For you, the readers, viewers, critiques and aliens out there who are reading and looking through the photos, thanks for that~ It means a lot to me when people are looking through my hard work and it would be nicer if y’all can give me constructive criticisms on my photos, yes? :) Leave them in my tagboard or go to my photoblog to comment, yes?

So~ Who’s going to be MY NEXT TOP MODEL for me to shoot? :D

Links:

nega+ive / walk in the parks - album version
http://broylim.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/dream-is-starting/

facebook / all photos - director’s version
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262686&id=534557053

NPark website - Southern Ridges
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?Itemid=73&id=62&option=com_visitorsguide&task=attractions

Experimenting 400 & below

Thursday bookouts are the greatest! In fact, if I can choose not to go back to Tekong, that would be the bestest of the best!! But too bad… Reality sucks.

Anyway, I had fun these 2 days because I’ve been out and around and I’ve managed to take lots of pictures! This time, my aim was to try taking pictures with my ISO set at 400 and below and surprisingly, I managed to take a lot of shots that are not too bad~

Okay… Not going to bore you with technical stuff. That’s just for me to know and to practice. So here are my pictures!!

Dragged ourselves out of bed early yesterday morning to get McDonald’s breakfast! It’s been awhile since I had the Big Breakfast. In fact, it’s been awhile since I had breakfast out of Tekong and the feeling was great! No more oily noodles and other nonsense for breakfast (though there are really good breakfasts in Tekong too, just so you know)!

Went to Vivocity after breakfast to catch Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D!! It was MARVELOUS!! Though the plot was a little mediocre, the 3D effects were stunning! Personally, I feel that this is the best 3D film I’ve ever watched because this movie was MADE for 3D~ Milla Jovovich and Ali Carter are FIERCE!! And the cameo at the ending just make me want to watch the sequel so much more!!

Okay. The paragraph above had nothing to do with the picture. These windmill thingies are sold at Vivo and they just spin and spin and spin~ Managed to catch a good picture of these using a slow shutter speed~ Interesting stuff…

Walked around after the fantastic movie and went upstairs to the sky park to take pictures of cranes (the mechanical ones). It was extremely cloudy yesterday and not good for taking pictures but thank god for Adobe Lightroom! :P This is one of my favorite shot of the day actually.

I’ve never expected machineries to appear beautiful before…

While walking over to Harborfront Center, we saw this huge structure with lots of gigantic fake flowers on it and I took this picture. Played with the different sliders in Lightroom to get this effect and I’m lovin’ it~ 

Flower explosion!! Not photoshopped or anything (other than the color corrections).

Became hungry at around 5pm so went to have dinner at Breeks. This is the salad that came along any main course that you order. Though it looks really cheap, it actually tastes pretty good~ Refreshing veggies and tasty sauce!!

This is some chicken and rice in paper that’s served with a huge scissors so you don’t have to make an epic mess. But the scissors is really big… How many of these do they have?

This is how the inside looks like; chicken thigh smeared with mushroom sauce accompanied with shiitake, cucumbers and carrots and served with rice. The rice was fragrant and when you eat it with the mushroom sauce, it was one of those classic “AHHH~~~~~~~~!!” moments. Costs around $18 if I didn’t remember wrongly and I reckon it’s worth it!

Cajun chicken accompanied with veggies and a baked potato stuffed with sour cream and bacon bits. Not bad as well, though not as special as the paper-wrapped-chicken-thingie above. The chicken’s slightly crispy and the sauce is sweet~ The baked potato can do with more bacon bits though…

Breeks have DELICIOUS DESSERTS!! The desserts made me go “AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” This is some chocolate ice-cream with Milo balls, bits of brownies and mini Oreo cookies. Fantastic choice for chocolate lovers~ Love the texture of the whole composition!

I had this chocolate and vanilla ice-cream with huge brownie chucks and a cherry on top. The brownies are really good and adds texture to the soft ice-cream~ There’s this coffee-ish taste to this dessert as well and it’s heavenly!! I want more!!

O yes… Did I mention that I was extremely pleased with the service of the Breeks outlet at Harborfront Center? There’s this particular staff whom I think is a Filipino named Anas and he is always smiling to his customers; very polite chap. Not just that, he’s not those typical waiter that slacks in a corner when there’s nothing to do. He’ll fill up the glasses for the customers, clean up the area and do other things to keep himself occupied. Really hardworking! Imma write a compliment letter to Breeks later!

I didn’t go home after going to Vivo yesterday… I went to play with my camera by a road and took several shots using my tripod and slow shutter speed. Wanted to capture light flying through the road, like what you see above.

More lights! Do you see hints of the SMRT bus? :P

Tried to capture a shot of the traffic light changing from green to orange to red but I missed the orange light. To get this shot, I had to stop traffic by pressing the button by the pedestrian crossing so it was really stressful because I didn’t want to get yelled at by drivers. But I still got yelled at by my assistant because my camera didn’t focus in time… -_- 

Was very honored to be able to mess around with this Minolta X-700 film SLR yesterday night! This is the first time in my life that I’ve encountered a film SLR but it feels almost like a digital one minus the LCD screen. At least the dials look familiar to me. The lenses behind are really heavy and one of them has a focal length of 300!! Sadly, it doesn’t fit on my EOS 550D. Cool stuff!!

Last shot for this entry; sunset while on my way home on the double deck bus.

Well, have to book in again tomorrow and this time, it’s really early! At 7:00pm!! Argh~ Means I have to rush a little tomorrow but I guess I’ll be fine. Can’t wait to go out again to take more pictures another time~

Okay… Off to play Maple or something now… :P

Comex + Javen’s First Month

It’s been awhile since I last updated on happenings in my life. Well, other than the random single picture posts or poetries (READ critique IF YOU HAVEN’T!!).

What’s there to be happening about when you’re stuck on Exile Island for like 85% of your week? The only time when I can actually bring my camera out to shoot is on the weekends. Lucky for me this week (and next), I’ll be enjoying a longer weekend. Don’t ask me why because I’m sick of explaining but if you want to know, MSN/SMS me and I’ll gladly explain.

Okay. So on Friday, a day when I’ll normally be stuck at camp thinking of going home, I went to Comex with Sheena, Rena and Alvin. However, the pictures that I’m showing here have almost NOTHING to do with Comex because it was BORING over there!

Just people and more people and more people! What’s so fun about that? Nothing!! We were shoved rudely around the place and it wasn’t fun at all~

So, I’m just showing some of the better pictures of the film… or memory card… You get the point~

Before going to Suntec City via the long bus ride, Alvin and I went to Sheena/Rena’s house to play with Qiqi. It’s been awhile since we last seen this naughty girl and she’s so happy that we suckers are there to play with her~ She’s photogenic, no? :)

I love this shot especially! Look at her fierce bark!!

Before we went to Comex, Sheena, Alvin and I went over to the Esplanade station to wait for Rena because she had to go back to school to get tips on her test. Took this picture of Sheena and somehow feel that she looks like a cat, in a good way. :)

This picture is called “Woman waiting for her sister impatiently with an LV bag”. The bag is a real, mind you~

Like I said, Comex was boring not just because people were pushing you around like sandbags but because I only had like 80 dollars left in my ATM card so there was virtually nothing that I could afford over there. Wasted~ Otherwise I would have bothered to go at earphones or camera lenses but oh well~ Being broke is good considering that it stops you from shopping.

After walking around in the sea of people, we went over to Cineleisure because Sheena had to report for work. Yes~ She works at night at the pool/billiard parlor but so long as she likes it, who cares right? But before that, she went to get Famous Amos cookies and Rena is showing off Sheena’s tattoo.

I saw Resident Evil: Afterlife’s promotional materials at Cineleisure and I went crazy!! It’s such a pity that the material has a unsightly white hole on Milla’s shoulder. Totally spoiled the whole thing~

At least the standing POP looks better~ Too bad I had to stand in an awkward position to take this so it didn’t turn out as good as I wanted it to be.

O yes. I forgot to mention that Alvin left for home after we went to Comex and we met Rena’s friend, Amanda. After sending Sheena to work, the rest of us walked over to Far East to take our bus back to Serangoon so we could go home. On the way, I took one of my favorite shots of the night; the exterior of the Gucci store~ Beautiful lights!!

The fountain outside Ngee Ann City at night…

Took a portrait of Rena by the fountain to “borrow” the light. Too bad it’s not sharp enough but I actually like this shot though~

Orchard Ion at night~ The short walk from Somerset to Orchard made me realize that actually, there’s lots of photographic opportunities at Orchard at night. I’m normally there during the days so I’ve probably missed a lot~ 

“Borrowed” the light from Orchard Ion to take this picture of Amanda and Rena~ Love the colors~~

The following day, I went with Vera, Nick and Aik Hin to my aunt’s condominium at Paya Lebar to find out whether my cousin’s new child is going to be my new niece or nephew. We didn’t know the gender of the baby! :P But it turned out that I have a new nephew~ Welcome to the world, Javen!! Had buffet for lunch and they had sushi!!

As many of the people there were either full-grown adults or too busy, we went outside to entertain ourselves and obviously, taking pictures is entertainment to me. This picture was almost hopeless because of the bad lighting but good thing I managed to salvage it a little… :S

Vera as a top model? Might have potential… :P

I forgot what Nick was doing but he is definitely not feeding the Kois in the pond beneath the railings…

Another one of my favorite shots because this shows true happiness and the smile was not forced~ 

Where is the baby right? Here he is!! Javen the little cutie~ He was asleep half the time so there was nothing much to it. And no, I did not hold him because I have a phobia of dropping babies. :S

Look at the smile on that proud older brother Javier is!!

DESSERT!! This time, there were no chocolate éclairs like my other nephew’s birthday/first month but we had this coconut with water chestnut thingie for dessert. If you have been following my twitter, you’ll know that I have been stuffing my face with these for the whole afternoon because they were good!

Okay, honestly, it’s because it’s the only dessert around and beggars can’t be choosers. :P

Well, that concludes today’s entry because I’m out of pictures. I feel like eating ice-cream and I believe I have some in the freezer. Gonna get some later!! :P

Going back to camp later tonight so don’t miss me! I’ll still be tweeting now and then so be sure to follow!

I don’t want to go back but do I have a choice? -_-“