How it all began...

And it all started with an innocuous "Hey still awake?"


Fingers crossed... Only time will tell!! =)

2012. NTL.

NTL = Nothing To Lose.
A friend commented such, on one Sunday evening's ice-cream session @Udders, Serangoon Garden, last year.

With abated breath, I did what I felt I had to do...
Definitely a memorable end to 2011 and entry into 2012.

Whatever happens, I now can heave a sigh of relieve, and look back at this day and say, YESH, I DID IT! Finally. Phew...

Many months have passed... and these to recap last quarter of 2011...

Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century Tour in August. My First, and simply out of this world - Immaculate voice quality and boundless energy, worthy of a man half his years!!

Sept, Singapore Grand Prix. One of our many training sessions - This was in Pasir Gundang.

Helped out as track marshal for a local racing event (even chanced upon a sec fren who's race team is participating!)..

And this was the very aggressive Integra who took the chequered flag..
Oh, coincidentally, I do have some Integra driving experience too, but definitely not with one as souped-up as this...For they say, racing is a rich man's sport! Ha...

Colleague's wedding in Spore and Malaysia.. even doubling up as amateur photographer during the Mysia leg! =)

Pity I was still exploring the use of external flash and various ISO/Aperture/Shutter Speed combinations, in an attempt to capture sharp pictures in low-light environment, w/o whitewashing the shot. Think I've gotten it now, but still not quite "THERE" yet..
Need to be more adventurous and play with different settings instead of sticking to one default combi - though the moment may slip in all that hesitation.

Hmmm.. Be damned if you do, be damned if you don't!!?

Asia Pacific Technical Conference 2011 in Oct.

Big effort by colleagues who are roped in to be organizers, having to juggle day job and this biennial event. Really nice venue/hotel, isolated away from bustling City Center, so attendees can participate whole-heartedly in the day's programs we've lined-up for them. Myself was fortunate (or unfortunate??!) enough to be invited 'cos of a presentation I was "volunteered" to do... LOL

Glad I was of-help to the committee in some of the logistics and administrative duties... =)

I was real impressed by the artistry of the house-keepers. Guess this is what we term climbing up the value-chain - Provide value-adding services that make you stand-out from the competition! Never had I seen soooo much effort put into laying out the towels... What an art!!!

And this is the view from the main lobby... Daytime.

and when night falls... simply picturesque!

and here I am, fumbling about on stage - good thing I was 80% hidden by the Podium ie 80% less embarrassment! LOL

Nov, was my little nephew's 1st Birthday Party, followed by the same-evening travel to Customer's site in India. The 3.5hrs bumpy-road-chauffeured-drive from Airport to Site was quite an experience... adding on to the 10pm-dinner-in-the-Jungle experience on our last night with Customers - simply memorable!! =)

This same month was our inaugural Ride-for-Charity event.

Also the inaugural Ride of my jie-fu's road bike from AMK all the way to Seletar, albeit in the wee-morning hours, and late evening hours.

It also marked my first bike-fall in eons, and it wasn't a simple trip and fall, fall, it was a sliding fall during an acute corner, with lots of misjudgement and plenty of adrenaline to go speedily. Damage done? Abrasion wounds along right leg and lower chin, and a bruised ego, falling right in front of the supporting crowd.. Muahahaa!!!

And then we count to the last month of 2011 - Dec, which led me to a 2-wks job in Indonesia, before I hurriedly transited over to Malaysia for another work stint.

And here I am, in Malaysia, to count down Xmas and welcome in 2012...

Sure hope I get to keep my room on 31st Dec... The fireworks view must be superb from up here!! ;O)

Embrace Life. Always Wear Your Seatbelt.

This was shown to us by our instructor after our Confined-Space Entry course.

He wanted to remind us to drive safe and belt-up as we drive our way home that afternoon (although I took cab home that day).

I felt this ad is really very creative and striking - Sweet and Straight in your face.

Enjoy and spread the message!!! ;O)

B.O.W. 2011

This coming Friday will be our inaugural Community Project, B.O.W. 20111, organized by our local group. Guess whose driving this project!!? Heh..
B.O.W. = Bowling-on-"Wheels". Wheels as in wheelchair.
I've initiated contact with The Singapore Cheshire Home, and picked up Bowling with their Residents as one of the more interesting, meaningful and feasible projects to work on.
Community projects are nothing new to me; Getting support from fellow colleagues is.
I was quite apprehensive for the fund-raising portion, as I secretly had a target of 100 packs of Milk Powder, not knowing how generous we all are in the office.. at the same time, quietly confident of getting volunteers for the event, since most people are willing to contribute time (esp since Boss has given green-light for half-day off) and less so parting with $$$...

Surprise, surprise.. I found out our folks are more generous with $$$ and less able to spare the time!! ..Guess my perception was formed during Uni days when students have more free time on hand and less easy-cash! haa..


Conducting a final recce on Tues morning, and maybe a short internal briefing on Wed, and we're good-to-go on Fri afternoon for the BIG Day.. Looking forward.. ;O)

RSAF Openhouse 2011

Went to the RSAF Openhouse couple weekends ago...
Finally had the chance to put my 70-200mm f2.8 IS (ver 1) to good use!! heh..

Actually I read somewhere the best way to prevent lens from molding is to use it, as frequently as possible!! (Besides keeping lens in dry cabinet when not in use, and keeping the humidity level to 45%.. not too high, which defeats the purpose of having a dry cabinet, and not too low, as the seals/plastics may deteriorate in properties and crack..)

Give Me Everything (Tonight)

Another "heard-on-radio-but-dunno-title" song which took me couple of days before I heard it on radio again, and this time paying particular attention to the artist and song title!!


Some shots taken during our visit to the Tiger Brewery...

Just some of the varieties of beers you're able to find at the brewery...

Yep, we were there after-office hours.. by the time we were concluding the guided-tour, it's almost dark already.

This was taken when I went outside to look for a colleague who "suddenly disappeared", albeit pretty drunk and high..
Later on we telephoned him (NOTE: Starhub has no reception at this brewery.. being located at the way in the western-most part of Singapore, meters away from the 2nd Link), and from his gibberish, semi-drunken state, found that he had actually boarded a taxi and was already on his way back home! This was the "more-sensible" colleague. =)

One of them is the "more-sensible" one, the other, the "hopeless-Dad-of-two"!! LOL

Asia-Pacific Brewery Visit - Company Event.

We visited the APB last evening - a company event.
Things were moving along fine until the free-flow of beer, not just Tiger - includes Kilkenny, Heineken, Erdinger, Archipalego, Baron's, and a few others, kicked in, and some of my colleagues went past their drinking limit (luckily i was driving so I limited myself to 1.5 bottle, thereabouts!!)

One of them was still sensible enough to grab a taxi home before he totally passed-out.
Another, who was "instigating" the sensible one to drink more, got soooo pissed, we can probably leave him sleeping by the road-side with no problems at all - that's how pissed he got.. Ugly. :Ol
This latter one puked twice (luckily none in my Jie-Fu's car! Phew...), and now I finally fully comprehend the meaning of "Dead-drunk"!!
I had to literally drag him all the way from the car, 100m towards the lift, before we sobered him up a little outside his flat, for him to be able to bring out his keys and open the door. Oh, did I mention he's also 130% my own weight!!?! (not that he's heavy, just that I'm light! LOL)


The biggest lost that evening, is probably his spanking new Spain Worldcup Champions Soccer tee-shirt, which was stained with his puke!