.l-n-y

Red for New Year. Modeled by one of my distant nephews.

The first day of Lunar New Year has came and gone. I thought it was going to be a very long day when I forced myself up at 7am this morning..

And turns out that there was barely enough time - especially since I'd only get to meet up with a few of my close cousins once a year.. Oh, and especially with Cousin Z, who came back from the States to visit. He is going back to Kansas tomorrow for college, and I don't know when I'll be seeing him again.

Time is way too short this time round. :\

Anyways, quite a number of people came - close and distant relatives (some of whom I don't know of until today), common friends of my sisters and brother, new faces, 2 dozens of kids who were babies the last time they came over, etc etc etc etc etc. And it was good to see everyone.

A lot of old friends and relatives still had the impression that I was still a 12 year old kid, rather than 22 years old - half of them didn't recognize me until my parents pointed out Me, the youngest among my siblings.

These are the few common comments that I've received throughout the day:

"You lost weight!!!" - yeah kinda true.
"Looking prettier and prettier!" - no, not true.
"Wow, are you a professional photographer already???" - Uhh.. Semi-pro (because people don't pay me for event photography, yet).

--

Most of the innocent lil' tykes have grown up to become little un-cute and annoying kids. I realize that school seems to take away quite a bit of the innocence in a child. The more knowledge a kid receives, the less naive they get.

And my right wrist is breaking from the 617 photos (2.0GB worth) that I've taken today - that is like, about 1/3 of the amount of photos that I'd take on a 4-5 day vacation! Hope I'll still have the ability to take good photos in Shanghai during the rest of the week.

Alright, this year as been pretty memorable. I hope next year will be just as good, or better! Umm.. Actually, if all goes well, I might end up staying in Melbourne for the Lunar New Year in 2010.. Oh well, we'll see. :)

.be strong, _pdra.

I'll Be Strong.

Maybe I will, maybe I won't.

But chances are, I will be okay with the fact that you are going to be approximately 3752 miles away from me for the next 3 weeks.

Long distance relationships are inevitable for some... To be honest, I hate it. Why me? It's been well over 5 years and we still have to face the fact that we need to be away from each other for 3 months every year.

Now, please don't stop me from whinging.. I'll definitely feel loads better after unleashing these words..

Hmmmm.. I don't know what else to say.. But let's hope that 21 days will come and go by really quick. :)

Thanks for reading.. :)

I'll probably go and keep myself busy with the Lunar New Year preparation. Cheers!

.the one about lunar new year

Prosperity Snack.

If you were to ask me what the most important event of the year is to me, I'd say it's the Lunar New Year (春節). It's much more important than January 1st (the standard beginning of a new year) or even Christmas (umm in fact, I don't celebrate Xmas at all).

Soooo.. Right now, we are in the middle of preparing to celebrate on Monday. I reckon that LNY is the only time everyone get together to catch up..

I would say it gets better and better each year. Babies would grow into toddlers, toddlers into kids, kids into teenagers, etc. It's amazing how everyone's physical appearances changes (so much) when you'd only get to see them once a year..

I don't know how it's going to be like this year - one thing I can confidently boost is that I have officially graduated from university, which is something they didn't believe I could achieve. Now, finally, I have done something to prove everyone wrong. :)

--

Of course, I will be taking heaps of photographs to keep as memories on the first day, when everybody visit.

Can't wait to receive 压岁钱 (red packets) too. :D

.the childhood route

the causeway.

For those of you who went to school in Singapore while living in Johor Bahru would be extremely familiar with this route. :)

And I was one of these kids.. For 11 years.

The causeway between Johor Bahru, Malaysia and Singapore has had quite a long history - It traces back to way before World War II, where both countries were badly affected.. And I believe there are way too many stories behind this route.

--

Many of us who have traveled back and forth this bridge may have taken it for granted.. And I've never really appreciated how unusual it was to "travel overseas" for school everyday until I saw some of my friends' surprised expressions when they heard about this.

.favorite food

Hot chocolate.

Cream of mushroom soup.

Fried mac & cheese.

Friday's cheese burger.

I love dining in at TGI Friday's! It has been nearly a decade since I first came across this restaurant - we decided to try out a new place for our weekly Sunday dinner and decided to drop by TGI F's.

I fell in love with their cream of mushroom soup, as well as their trademark cheese burger since then, and am still loving it! :)

Hmmmmm... x)

Oh, and the fried mac and cheese is a new dish introduced (probably) a few months ago. It's pretty great, but I reckon it could be cheesier. ;P

And and and, also, their hot chocolate's one of the best! I love the fact that they've added whipped cream on top of the drink!!! Unhealthy but satisfying!!! ^^

.taken for granted

Supplies.

You know, I reckon we are all taking things for granted.. For example, what would you do if there are no electricity supplies one day? How would you feel?

If there isn't electricity, I wouldn't be typing up this entry, I wouldn't have internet, and I wouldn't be able to continue my passion for photography. And loads more...

I've been through a few no-internet occasions and I nearly died! That reminds me, I hope we don't have to move out middle of this year.. SF and I are seriously sick of it and we are actually considering selling our couch and buy a couple of large bean bags for replacement.

:\

Enough whinging. Let us all appreciate the resources that we have from now, if you haven't already!

.pass it on

These roots reminds me of the word "family tree".

I don't really know how to start, but umm.. As the saying goes, we should pass our knowledge and family history from generations to generations.

Seriously, I have no idea what I'm saying.. I don't really have any knowledge to pass down in future but umm.. Well, I will declare my camera and lens collections as the official family heirloom.

Gahhhhh. I'm not making much sense am I? :\

Maybe I'll delete this entry later.

Zzz.

.laziness

I'm kinda lazy to blog about my trip to Sapporo, Hokkaido..

So, I'll just leave y'all a link to my Flickr set for the -> trip <- . It's still incomplete as of now and I will try my best to bring everything in within the next few days... That reminds me, I still have photos from the Mornington trip with SF, Gin and Noelle to edit and upload. :\

Stay tuned for the other photos that are coming up in the next month guys! :D

.back to the past

Back to the Past @ Noboribetsu

Back in the Edo Period, this was where the ninja's and samurai's lived. Ummmmmm...

I know I'm doing a bad job with describing the attraction, but.... Ummmmmmmmmm... :x

...

Never mind. :\ Sorry y'all.

So here's a question for you to think about at your free time : What would you do if you were teleported back to the past?

.baby

the Shoes, @ Shiroi Koibito.

So pretty.. So cute... :\ I want a baby!!! >.<

Nah, just kidding. But I'll fly over to Sapporo and buy a whole collection of these if I'm lucky enough to be blessed with a bundle of joy some day.

.photographer's depression

Uncertainty.

What's happening? Did my 350D + BG-E3 battery grip + 24-105mm gain some weight over the holidays or something? How did it become so heavy all of a sudden?

I've never found my dear equipment to be that heavy until a few days ago.. My hands are not as steady as before and I'm not happy with all the photos that I've been taking this year... I think I'm suffering from the so-called photographer's depression...

:(

And no, this has nothing to do with clinical depression. I reckon that photographer's depression means losing the ability to take good photographs for an amount of time.

I need a break. However, I will continue to edit and post all the photos I've taken in Japan as well as keep up with the daily 2009YIP shots.

I'm not sure if anyone understands me apart from photographers who have been shooting for quite a while.. So I hereby apologize if this entry doesn't make sense.

:\

Perhaps this whole situation is telling me that I've spent way too much time looking at the world through my camera's viewfinder..

.the weak week

Comfort Food.

A couple of days upon returning from Sapporo, I've lost the battle to a couple of viruses that worked together to attack me. First, I received a horrible sore throat, and I blame it on the bad ventilation of the hotel we spent the night in before returning. Then, it was cough, followed by a slight fever and mild stomach flu.

I've never felt so alone and miserable before.. It was like being attacked by a handful of dementors and not being able to use the patronus charm (read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). This is definitely a horrible way to spend the first week of 2009. I feel a whole lot better now, after a few medicines and my mom's trademark porridge (image), which is the best of the best. I'm so going to ask Mother to make more of these before I return to Melbourne! ^^

The cough bug is not giving up yet.. And I'm trying my best to fight it off with cough syrups every night before I go to bed - also, I suspect that it's all thanks to the medicine that's been giving me good nights sleep for the past couple nights!

Okay, I'll update more on the Japan trip A.S.A.P.. In the meanwhile, stay healthy and have a swell weekend!

.what a beginning?

a Photographer's Hand. Photo taken by my sister.

Hello all, I hope you've truly enjoyed your New Years celebration this year, and that things are starting to look great.

For me, it has been ridiculous. I was suffering from a bad cough back in December and that lasted for I don't know how long.. Actually, it never recovered. The cough gradually got better towards the end of the year, until we spent the night at Sapporo's APA Hotel when I got this really bad sorethroat and the cough became worse.

Being sick really makes me lonely.. Like nobody's ever going to be there for me again, not even..... Hmm.. Never mind.. :\

Is this blessing in disguise? I doubt so. I just want to recover, be less sleepy and suffer from less muscle ache, and go out there to enjoy my time here in my childhood home town.

And I hope you don't think I'm whinging here, this blog is for me to unleash my negative self here from time to time. Believe it or not, this is the only way to make me feel better when no one's here for me. Next, I'll be doing a bit of iPod-ing and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I pray that this year gets better and better for me, as well as those who are having a tough time too. Cheers!

.sake+sashimi

The best combination, ever! Try it!

And stop drooling already - go get some for yourself now!

.at chitose

新千歳空港 (New Chitose International Airport).

We have arrived at and returned from Sapporo, Hokkaido safely. More photos will be up on my Flickr photostream in the next week.

But... For your convenience's sake, here's a direct link to the album. :)

And h a p p y b e l a t e d 0 9 y'all!