Day 1 continued.

Here's an advance apology for the ugly photo:


This is where we stayed at in Vancouver, the St. Clair Hotel, a backpackers' lodging in a heritage building a few hundred years old. Fortunately, no few hundreds years old ghosts haunting it.

St. Clair really changed my impression of lodging for backpackers, which I somehow imagined as hole-in-the-walls, dirty with rodents scurrying around and grime in a dormitory-style toilet (euuuugh!). The location was excellent - near Granville station - and thankfully it was very clean.The shower also had nice hot water with a very strong spray. The main difference from that of a real hotel was that the shower and toilet bowl was shared, and that the room was very small with bunk beds and no TV. However, the other places I read about had lots of complaints about dirt and pests, so perhaps my family was lucky.

Although my first time doing it backpackers' style was rather decent - perhaps due to my extremely low expectations - I highly doubt that I'd stay in at such a lodging again (:

Just around the corner was a small unauthentic japanese cafe and a few other cheap eats, prolly due to it being a location where students eat.



The cafe had a set that came with an appetiser, "main" and dessert or drink of your choice. I can't remember the price now, but it was affordable.

Sunomono (prawn / kani)




Sunomono is a type of "salad", vermicelli in rice vinegar with some vegetables and meat. Sounds really strange, but interestingly flavoured - imagine noodles in cold sour sauce. An acquired taste (:

Mains were basically a side of sushi served with rice. Not value for money unless you choose the right combination.







The best was probably mine, as pictured right above. It came with sashimi in spicy marinade and tuna something which I can't recall.

We all chose drinks except Mom, who had "puffs" which turned out to be icecream puffs (:



I'm sleepy so I'll continue in the next post.

Yashica MG-1

Yashica MG-1, originally uploaded by Capt Kodak.

I bought this today! As a present for passing my own piano diploma (: Okay I'm lying, I just needed a reason to buy one. HAHAHAHA.

BLACK BEAUTYYYYY.............!

By the way this is not mine. I'm just too lazy to take a photo of mine :P I somehow think I got ripped off a bit, paid 100 and it had quite a few chips and scratches although the seller was very ignorant and said there were only light scratches on the base. Those I spotted must be slashes and not scratches instead.

Anyhow, gotta run a roll of slides through it just to test the meter (: A very automatic camera, so much for going manual sigh.

I guess this means I need to buy another camera. A manual rangefinder this time.

RIP Fatter.

I was looking through photos of my babies for a new desktop background, and found this.



RIP Fatter, its sad to know you're somewhere out there, just not with us.

Canada, Day 1

The view which greeted us close to landing.



No idea what mountain range that was.

Stepped out of the plane and emerged into the airport. That's the plane we took.



Vancouver International Airport wasn't what I expected, it somehow seemed very different from all other airports I've landed at. The terminal was extremely crowded, all the baggage lanes were used as far as my eye could see, and there were many police officers situated all over. The police did not look friendly, and less so when they started questioning many Chinese who were on the plane, rather than the people of other races in the terminal. What's more, they asked really irrelevant questions in aggressive manners, i.e. do you have a laptop? what do you need it for? Electronics such as laptops are so commonplace, it'd be more normal to ask questions like, do you have a bomb? Goodness.

Needless to say, I was really glad to get out of the stuffy terminal.

Just so I remember...

Some updates:
Cappu has a tumour, Billy's foot has recovered.
And I passed my piano performance diploma!

Just so I remember...
Get $$ from sis, mom (200), violin lessons!

I feel stupid

I feel stupid. My eyes are tearing painfully from playing NeedForSpeed. With the fan blowing into my eyes at speed 2.

But its still fun! Yay!

Canada, Transit and Flight

On the way to Canada, our flight transited at Shanghai, where we spent the better of eight hours (cheaper flight = longer transit) sleeping on benches. I felt too tired to care about looking homeless. Hey, homeless people can't afford trips to Canada anyway.

After a not very restful sleep due to Chinese children (I think I'm a racist oh goodness!) shrieking and jumping on seats like monkeys, we shook our tired selves awake and started searching for food.

And guess what we found!



Ken te ji, otherwise known as ken tuc ky. We also spotted...



which reminds me of Japan (for no particular reason) so I suppose I saw it there. (: Hail the shop which sells chewing gum!

Now, say hello to our meal at ken te ji.



They have the weirdest offerings I've seen at KFCs all over the world! For example, a set does not come with whipped potato or coleslaw, it comes with a chicken wing and corn/mixed veggies in a cup! So, I ordered a burger which came with the above. And was thankful for the chicken wing cos the burger turned out to be a vegetable-flour patty (all together, UGH!). Luckily they actually ran out of the weird vegetable mix thing cos I got fries in exchange! (: yay.

Here's their menu.



And here's sis, trying to take a photo of all of us. Sometimes my camera can't flatter people's looks.



Here she is again.



Here's a shot I really like, with all the lines and everything. Which somehow managed to get my sis and dad to try and imitate it.



A strange plant seen at the airport. Must have took lots of work to make it look that way. While I was engrossed with photographing the plant, a Chinaman started examining the plant too, although he's probably seen tons of it. (:



Some shots of the Shanghai airport.





Interesting architecture, huh?

Then, finally, it was boarding time! Couldn't wait.

Took this onboard the plane... I like the composition (:



This wing with the sky reminds me of an advertisement. Fly China Eastern!



Plane started playing this movie on rollerskate disco and a cute little girl started standing up and dancing! (:



And that concludes the transit and flight to Canada.

Keep a look out for more updates to come!

Silly Billy

It pains me greatly to see him moving around, leaning on one hand, the other hurting to much to put pressure on.

He climbs up his little blue cube gingerly using his legs to push his way up instead of leaping up the way he used to.

Even when he stands up, he doesn't swim in the air as much, and when he looks out of the cage, he uses his good hand for support.

He can't walk normally with one finger gone ):

He doesn't dare to walk down my arm, as he can't balance well enough now.

He doesn't recognise his name anymore.

I call him, no response. I lift up the cage lid, no response. Only when I lean above him and he feels my shadow, he looks up.

Has he gone deaf, I wonder.

I cry to see him but a shadow of what he used to be.

):

My Babies

I finally got to see my boys again! (:

I missed them all so much, especially my Silly Billy.

Anyway, I was told that Cappucino was attacked by Billy when he escaped into Cappu's tank, but I forgot to tell Miak in the email that Billy probably got bit by Cappu too!

The same as the incident with Hunny Bunny, no one cared about poor Billy... Cappu's wounds have scabbed over, but I picked up Billy to find that he was missing a finger and in its place was a bloody stub with fungus growing over it!!! )))))):

Heartbreak. Poor Billy... I think that after being the king of the castle at home, not being played with or loved made him a totally different hamster ): He doesn't respond to his name anymore, and he can't even recognise my hand's scent. Depressing... I shall have to play with him more again. Well at least he's alive.

Cappucino on the other hand is becoming more active which is good, probably due to lots of interaction at Miak's house. However he's losing weight unlike my other 2, hope he'll gain it back soon (:

Updates

1. I got a haircut. Its short. Not again you say. Sometimes I think that [ me + long hair = not meant to be ] This time, it wasn't from the boredom of growing it long, but I am going bald! I hope its an exaggeration, but my hair is trying to make up for lost time (as I rarely dropped hair in the past).
   
2. I went and returned from Canada. It was about a 3-weeks trip, will update about it.
3. Piano exam results are out. I don't want to know the outcome.

I wonder why I need bullets when I can't even remember what I wanted to blog about. I am tired. And it seems the doctor is right. I get agitated easily.

Today

Today I saw the most amazing sunset ever. The train was stopping at Jurong East. For no reason at all, I turned to look through the window behind me, and the sky was as if the flats were on fire. It was a blaze of red all over, with dark clouds looming above. As if in a trance, I ripped open a roll of Velvia 100F and tried to load it as quickly as possible into my FE2. I snapped off 2 shots, then I realised my ISO setting was incorrect. 2 shots on Velvia wasted - 60 cents gone. I quickly adjusted and fired off another 2 shots before the train moved on.

On the other hand, I got this beautiful A6 fabric notebook for my travels.

Film Revival

I realised I had a roll of film sitting in the SLR for more than a year so decided to finish using it.



Finally got the meter to work, but it seems largely inaccurate as shots are extremely grainy... unless Kodak Gold is grainy. Will try a second roll soon.

Here's the first shot developed - me! Surprising, cos I remember shooting the rubbish bin first. Oh well.



Next is dear Jods.



I loved Hat Day. If the name is remembered correctly. Sadly the photo is blur!



Me and dear Miak - this is so grainy its impossible for a 200ASA film!



Now this is simple with nice bokeh (:



Taken at the school's bus stop.



Some HDB flats - images seem low in contrast prolly from fungus.



Till the next post on the zoo! (:

Outing

Today we went to the zoo! In case you are wondering, I went with the two people pictured in the photos below. In case you were also wondering, they were at the Children's Water Playground.

I had to stay and guard my two precious SLRs, instead of indulging myself as I did almost 7 years ago.

Now, what you have to do when you visit the Children's Zoo (which is under renovation except for the Water Playground - the most important part) is take off your shoes and get wet.

The best part is this green pipe (featured below) which has many holes that spout out water.

What we did est. 7 years back was to cover all the holes except one, so that specific hole would shoot water all the way out of the Playground.

Here, Qi unsuccessfully tries to spurt water... two hands cannot do much.



The water spouts noticeably higher when Bitchy joins in, see how the fun melts the unsightly wrinkles off her ageing face.



Here's the comparison of the water's original height again. Seems like three people are needed to get somewhere :P



*I love how the fast shutter speed freezes the water in motion! Cool stuff.

Way backkkkk

My folder never fails to amaze me with what I never remember to upload (:

If I remember correctly, photos taken with my 85mm f1.4.......... :D





Beautiful smooth bokeh!

*POOF*

There goes my dream of passing my piano exam, its all down the drain - thanks to Sonata in C minor third movement and Rhapsody in G minor. I have never practiced so much piano in my life, what I went through about three months seems the equivalent of 3 years. >4 hours a day everyday compared to 1 hour a week if I was feeling diligent. Hard work does not pay off! Do not let this discourage yourself though, it only applies if you have an exam on a Steinway grand which sounds like it belongs in the 1600s. Goodbye Pass.

At least I am very proud of my second movement and Moderato & Nocturne (: YESSSS!

Anyway, having just looked through my external HDD.... I realised I have yet to upload photos from a month ago. Was it a month ago?

The dinner (:

My cute Popo and Aunt Peiyi -


I have a knack for making my sister look tonnes better than she actually does! (: Bitchy and Cousin Qi -


I left my cam with Mom, and it turns out she takes rather good photos (:


Mom and Popo, the ultrathin DOF renders Popo blur ):


Daughters with Daddy - so handsome yet so unphotogenic!


The appetisers


Shark's Fin


Bitchy's special dinner!


Laksa-sauce fish


Uncle Anthony's concoction... He seems to have been inspired by his wife mixing beer with sprite, so here's wine with sprite haha! Rather pretty (:


Fried rice


Yam & Gingko Nuts dessert (:


I seem to have missed out a few courses!

Oh well there's always next year :P

Lily Wily

Lily, originally uploaded by chereamour.

A photo taken quite a while ago!

Oops, two months ago! O_O

Lily wily, hope your eye gets better (:

Breakdown!

Sometimes I ponder the meaning of life...

No really, not. It just made a nice starter.

I AM SO *insert something here* that my NTU registration website is lagging so badly that all the cows came home already and its still not loading! I am never going to get my Photojournalism module am I? Well I have got to do something about this! (I hope I will?)

So anyway I am blogging just to note down some things which I have to do but will forget, sooner or later.

1. Summarise programme notes
2. Re-examine layout
3. Buy nice paper for printing
4. Photocopy exam pieces
5. Borrow Rachel's Benjamin Britten
6. SMS piano teacher to remember to bring my programme notes!!!
7. Bring hairclip, heels, dress, registration paper / booking paper and identification to piano exam

I will think of more when I can.

Happy Happy Happy!!!

What makes me happier than Honey Dijon Kettle Chips? (this is not product placement I swear)



Good results!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Boy am I glad the hard work paid off! Finally.

However, I have a gripe with the fact that the worst scores are always from my CS core modules. Am I in the wrong faculty?

*By the way, everyone should try Honey Dijon Kettle Chips. The best in the world, seriously. Only available at Giant and Cold Storage.

if only life could be easy (-ier)

My Barber of Seville duet performance is on this Saturday (31st May) at MGS.

*edit: oops, it was at the Methodist School of Music; confusion confusion!*

Its going to be interesting, visiting my alma mater after so long. I have not gone back since leaving in Secondary Four. Did not go back for graduation too, thus my 'O' level cert is still with the school. Maybe not.

Strangely, I do not feel the need to practice for the duet, I just practice when I remember to, which is perhaps once in three days. On the other hand, I have to practice for the ATCL recital everyday for more than two hours. My hands ache, my fingers are stiff and the middle one hurts especially. I hope no fingers get lost in the process.

At least, it will be a nice (hopefully) experience performing... and confidence will be gained in prep for the recital.

Three more piano lessons to the big day.

Make My Day!

Today I saw this cyclist on the way to Fish Mart Sakuraya and he was so amusing!

A slight drizzle was fading and there he was.



Instead of covering himself, he had his bike all suited up! Not just that, it was securely fastened with the help of clothes pegs, to the handlebar and back wheel and pedal etc. And notice the just-passed sign?

(: Some people are just so cute.

What a fantastic new skin.

Cowboy

Cowboy, originally uploaded by chereamour.

He used to be my second favourite next to Silly Billy.

I used to hate how everyone at home called him the ugliest hamster of all the five!

Well look at him now, in the prime of his hamsterhood, and looking adorable while he munches some pear.

Being cute doesn't help now.

Too bad cow, you shouldn't have bit me!

Out!

It feels great to head out after being couped at home for a week with flu (:

And I realised this blog is all "prose" no pictures, so here goes!


The happy Bitchy who has finished her exams! Finally!


With her 22nd birthday present (: a DS lite! Lily and I planned it, and I even got her the pretty blue sticker she liked! Also, I designed a Fatter Mommy skin for the game cartridge (:

I passed to her the DS in my dirrrrty case where I always put mine, and when she took it out she actually thought I changed my black DS to a new one! Then she opened it, and *tada*, Happy Belated! She's a bit of a ..... cos she even thought that the hammie wheel was not just from me and lily! and she even thought the game cartridge was shared by everyone. A bit not right in the head, but thats understandable after the exams (:

I don't need to get a birthday present next year anymore, hooray!


Me with staircase bokeh (:

Foreigners, Trouble.

Today I met this irate old woman who was blatantly trimming her nails with clippers on the MRT. And she was letting them drop onto the MRT floor.

So, I politely told her, "Excuse me, you are not supposed to cut your nails on the train."

She looked up at me and replied in Chinese, "oh you mean we are not supposed to?" and continued to cut her nails as if we had never had a conversation.

So, I took out my dSLR and took a photo of her happily cutting her nails.

After she cut finish her nails, suddenly (and finally) her brain processed that I took a photo of her.

She came over and started making a commotion. "You took my photo right?! Why did you take a photo of me?!"

I calmly replied: "You were cutting your nails and littering on the floor when you were not supposed to".

Then, she said, "You took the photo of me before you told me to stop cutting my nails!"

I was like ... ... "You still continued cutting them."

She said (..........) "My nail had something! I had to cut it (and blah blah crap)"

I was like, "You didn't pick them up from the floor, did you?"

At that point she went NUTS. At a loss for words, she shouted: "Show me your camera! Delete the photo you took of me! You took a photo of me!"

I said: "Don't disturb me."

She came to sit down next to me on the two-seater and was fuming inside. The woman kept muttering things like, sell your photos, earn money la! Then when I started arranging my things to get off the train, she tried to secretly start packing but that was rather obvious.

AND. She followed me out of the MRT and whipped out her phone to take a photo of me. Sister was like, "what are you doing? stop taking her photo!" and the mad old China (oops, I DO detest China Chinese) woman said "but she took a photo of me!". And she quickly ran back into the train before the doors snapped shut.

Thinking back, it was really hilarious how she had to scramble back into the train before it left without her.

Go back to your country, you impolite China Chinese who litters in my beautiful Singapore (and fouls it with your Chinese slurring).

What's wrong with the Singapore government? When you let foreigners in, at least screen them.

Misery

I'm currently at stage 4 of flu... the cough-phlegm level. this is possibly the worst stage, okay make that 2nd, I positively detest the stage before fever comes and I just have warning bells in my head ringing full blast that I'm gonna get flu the next day and BAM it hits you.

I feel miserable.

Selfish

What a sister should not do:

when you are sick, spent the whole night trying to stuff your runny nose so you couldn't sleep, think about something other than the painful lump in your throat, have trouble breathing and swallowing saliva, have a really bad headache from fever, and don't have the energy even to move around.

• tell you to stop acting sick and pathetic when you are obviously not sick.
• tell you to get your sweaty hands off her when you hold on to her for support when walking.
  
• tell you you're not sick cos you will not play with your hamsters (which sick owner would want to pass her illness to her pets? well a mentally sick one.)
• tell you you're not sick cos you can watch tv (what am i supposed to do, sleep all day?)
• claims its unfair when you skip going out for dinner when you're not sick.
• come home from dinner and ask, "you've bathed right? i knew it!" - are sick people not supposed to bathe?
• when you've finished watching tv and you've said you have a really bad stomachache from 30minutes ago and rushing off to the toilet, she tells you to switch off the tv which she was watching too and when you say no i need to use the toilet she tells you you're obviously not sick again AND can't switch off the tv too.

i'm sick of having such a sister. she always puts herself before others.