the random adventures of jojo

Instead of working on my CPJ, like I obviously should have been doing this entire week, I spent the time today editing my birthday photos instead. Oops?

Anyways, looking at my photos just made me happier this gloomy Sunday evening. I miss my camera, and I wanna go out and take photos soon! Anyone wants to go this Friday afternoon? Hee.

More details about my birthday can be found on last week’s Project 52 post, if you’re interested.

I started the day with my ex-colleagues at my favourite brunch place!

hhhhrrrroy. HAHAHA.

taken by andee

andee and his white ep-1!

eggs florentine that made me very happy!

and the most awesome pancakes everrrrr!

taken by andee

taken by andee

taken by andee

taken by andee

so cute, his ep-1’s super small lens cap! haha

my coloursplash flash sitting atop his ep-1.
notice how it is black. it was supposed to be pink, but mistakes and irresponsible blogshops caused it to remain black as a result of their folly, lack of following up, and my TOTALLY CANNOT BE BOTHERED TO CHASE THEM-ness. ahem.

ep-1 meets gf-1 meets Kiera, my d5000, and hroy’s new iPhone with Sigma lens =P

drowned in maple syrup

We headed to get drinks and pedicures, squealed at some dogs and cats before heading to get dinner at Da Paolo’s. I loveeee the king prawn pasta. Slurrrp. It was better than I’d remembered, like I’ve mentioned before, and now I’m craving for it again!!!!! Meh.

Dawnie came by for dinner, and looked scared by Andee who took this picture haha

Clara, otherwise known as my mad best friend, also came by though she was feeling abit sick. Loveee!!!! <3

Oh, but she had her revenge…

* I actually turned 24 lah. *sulk*

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silent contentment…

This was taken at my birthday dinner at Da Paolo’s on Saturday. I like how calm and serene it feels, and perhaps, that mood and photo effectively sums up how I felt by the end of my birthday.

Saturday turned out to be pretty great, which was rather unexpected, judging by my ranty emo outbursts the week that proceeded it.

Brunch with the ex-es at my favourite brunch place, incidentally introduced to me by them, was the perfect beginning to that day. Good food, and great company! It was nice catching up, and laughing at the various senses of humour that I’ve missed terribly.

I got a pedicure after that, with Charm and was pleasantly surprised at the expansion my now-favourite nails place has undergone. It’s now even more comfortable than before, and of course, there are few things that make me happier than getting my nails done.

Dinner was a quiet affair at Da Paolo’s with the ex-es, and Dawn and Clara who came down. My pasta was yummy yummy yummy! Even nicer than I’d remembered it to be, last I had it.

My Holland V walks are now complete, with the opening of Daily Scoop at Chip Bee Gardens!

Up in the Air with Clara after everyone left was awesome. When I last saw the trailer, I thought it was a typical Hollywood movie, and it totally confused me when it was mentioned that they were nominated for Best Picture!

Totally no regrets catching it – I was impressed with the movie. In fact, I really really love it! The editing and directing were both good, with a feel that was real and yet surreal at the same time. The script was good, with intelligent and funny dialogue. I hate slapstick, have I mentioned that before?

Acting was good as well, and George Clooney is just easy on the eyes. I adore his laugh lines! Sexy.. mm.

The movie was easy to digest and yet, so real but not in a sickeningly pretentious way.

Watching it, and being filled with the knowledge at the back of my head that I was going home to end my birthday with a conversation with Pinkie was just…. I don’t know how to put it. I just remember feeling totally content with my life at that point.

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I’ve come to realise that insincerity is shown and felt most vividly in actions, or lack thereof. It’s true, you know, that when push comes to shove, and when you need support you can truly see who is around and who chooses to fade away in the distance.

I know I sound like a stupid 15 year old bitching about how her friends aren’t there for her like they promised, but whatever.

“Being there” has lost its meaning when it escapes the lips of some people.

At least I know there are still some that I can count on.. I love the lot of you very, very much. Heh. Thank you for dropping messages and calls to check on me when I wasn’t doing okay. They’re really, really greatly appreciated.

You don’t need a quarrel for friendships to lose its meaning. Sometimes all you need is your world to come crashing down.

Goodbye.

…….. Aaaaaand don’t assume. Or ask.

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If I were to be accused of one of the seven sins taking over my life, it’d either be gluttony…. Or sloth. Goodness knows that if I had my way, I’d sleep at 4am and wake up at 3pm the next day, have lunch and then proceed to nap.

Oh, who am I kidding? That happens every weekend, much to my undone homework’s dismay. Don’t know what’s up with this semester but everyone seems to be sluggish about getting work done. I think it’s the 2 month Christmas break. Haha.. That has got to be the only drawback of long breaks.

Every Saturday, I’ve been forcing myself to sit at the dining table and get some work done, but I usually end up feeling guilty and pressed for time on Sunday. Haha!

I did manage to get some work done today, though! Still have another piece of work on today’s agenda so I suppose I’ll start on that soon.

School’s been alright, for those of you who’ve asked. It’s just a ton of work that I am new to, thus taking forever with each piece. Haha.

On a sidenote, my parents just got home and they forgot to buy me the dinner they said they’d get!!!! OMG WALAOEH I AM SUPER HUNGRY. I could have cooked noodles half an hour ago if they hadn’t said they would get dinner for me la!!! *EPIC SULK*

But they both were super nice and gave me money to get my CNY clothes so I shall just go and cook dinner nao. HAHAHA.

Before I disappear and ease the dizziness from hunger, I’ve overdue photos from when Zhan, Malcolm and I went out to shoot. We had brunch at my favourite place for brunch before that, and Felicia Chin was at the next table! SO CUTE. I have a crush on her, kthksbai. Hahahaha!

big bear paws!!! that’s an iPhone in his paws

poor tree…

malcolm has hair that is totally awesome to photograph!!! HAHAHA.

rarrrr!!!! hahahahaha

oh, shoo!

I don’t have proper photos from that outing because I hate the shots I took. Blerughhh. We didn’t go out to shoot this week either, so as of now I have no photo ready for Project 52. Ack. Shall see what’s around tomorrow.

Things have been a lil better at the home-front, albeit not knowing what is going to happen. Trying my best to leave everything to God, heh.

as with so many other things, i don’t expect you to understand. just keep the judgmental subtleties out of your tones.

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“It is futile to get empathy out of procrastinators when it comes to work.”

HAHAHA. True that.

In case you are wondering, I have 9 more images (out of the ten required for Monday’s class) to somehow spit out.

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Some time last week (I think) Zhan and I ended up at Chin Swee to take photos. It was an awesome day of shooting – the light was nice, the place was lovely and there was just a whole lot of things just crying out to be photographed. Awesome.

Not so awesome part was discovering that Zhan’s CF card got corrupted and he lost all but three of his photos that day. Horrid, horrid thing to happen.

And so, these are photos from our first trip there.

We went back there today with Alex to take more photos. Those photos will be up another day, I suppose. I much prefer my photos from the first time I was there though. Probably for a myriad of reasons.

I thank God that I had the time and company during my holidays to go on numerous photo walks. They make me quite happy. School’s started and I can already feel time slipping away more quickly than I’d like it to. This is possibly because I am getting reacquainted with the idea of homework. Yechh.

Plus, Zhan is leaving to go back to Adelaide in a little over a month. Pooey.. There goes one person I love having conversations with going away. *sad smiley face* AHAHAHAHAHAHA. (inside joke; please ignore!)

Ey. But I’m really quite sad. Ack.

I digress.

Here’s my take on Chin Swee, a place I think is really lovely and full of sights to just take in and observe. Today’s visit back was more in depth emotionally, for lack of a better word. But I’ll leave that for another day – too much unease and sadness for one day.

rustiest pair of tongs ever

one of my favourite shots from that day.
i like how the texture of the metal gates turned out in the photo

awesome old hair salon

there were more books than place to walk in the tiny store.
love the smell of books, hate the fear of silver fish crawling out!

heh heh

so sad, this place…..

It’s such a sad, melancholy night… Or day, if you will.

The homecooked meal that my wonderful twinnie the infamous Jiao Bin prepared for us Melaka zoo animals tonight was nothing short of awesome. Thanks, Twinnie. It was my bright spark of the day when you first told me of this dinner you had planned, and once again, it’s the bright spark of my day today. Love you!! Hehe.

& thanks, your holiness (bear bear if you will) for everything, really.

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Ladies and gentlemen, today the unthinkable happened.

I went to the Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

*pause* AHAHAHA. Yea yea, quite shocking if you know me, because seriously.. I’d hardly go into these places for fun. Hahaha.

Today I went there because Zhan and I headed out to shoot, and when I got into his car this morning afternoon, we still had idea where we were headed out to shoot. HAHA. On a whim, we headed there because Zhan realised we’ve both never been there before.

The moment I got into the car, he greeted me with, “HELLO F11. LOOK AT THE CLOUDY SKY.”
Apparently, every time I wanted to shoot two years ago, it’d just rain and I wouldn’t be able to take any photos. =X

The weather cleared up considerably by the time we got to Sungei Buloh, but the lighting was quite shitty the entire day. It was a mix of cloudy and sunny, with a lot of clouds in the sky. Being under the shade of trees meant that I was forced to shoot on full Manual mode, something I am usually too lazy to do.

Not having two dials to change both the shutter speed and aperture setting is so annoying! I miss having two dials to work with. Bleh. With the stupid sun going in and out of clouds very frequently, the lighting would change whilst we were changing settings. Pftt.

But it was quite fun! Even though the path ahead constantly looked never ending, and at first glance it seemed like everything was just green and brown, we found ourselves stopping every 10 steps or so, having found something new to photograph. I likey! Trained me to look out for the tiniest details.

AND ABOUT THE EVIL MONITOR LIZARD!!!!!

I was innocently walking along the path, much like the one in the above photo, when ALL OF A SUDDEN I heard he rustling of leafs on the ground AND SOMETHING CRASHED INTO MY ANKLE!!!! WTH. It felt so fricking alive and I got a HUGEASS shock that I screamed horribly loudly, scaring Zhan who was walking just behind me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. He later complained that all the noises we kept hearing in the nature reserve didn’t scare him – only my scream did. Hahahahaha.

OMG I haven’t screamed so loudly in a suuuuper long time man. I don’t even think Pinkie has heard me scream this loudly before. Haha. Zhan claims the stupid monitor lizard is now deaf, and that the entire park heard me. HAHA.

ANNNNYWAY, moving on. Here are the photos!
Not fantastic, methinks.. but I think for a day of sucky lighting and experimenting with full Manual settings, it was pretty alright. What do you think?

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i like this one

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i had to go close cos i was using a prime lens. super afraid he’d suddenly run towards me! this wasn’t the one who attacked me.
obviously, this shot happened before one of his stupid friends decided to run into me.

09.
potato chip?

010.
i likey this one too

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015.

We left soon after a ton of ants and mozzies decided to attack me (and only me), and I quickly turned into Zhan’s “miserable sounding friend”. HAHAHA.

The moment we got into the car, it started pouring. Hurhurhur. My timing with rain is becoming better!! LOL.

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Zhan and I headed out to randomly take photos yesterday, and it turned out to be an awesome day out despite starting out about 3 hours later than we’d plan. Insomniacs unite. Hahaha.

Really, how does he make a D70s look like a PNS camera?
It looks tiny!! HAHAHA!

We headed to Sunshine Plaza where I had to get things printed first, and had a cheap dim sum lunch at Victor’s Dim Sum. It’s alright for a quick dim sum fix. I quite like their teochew dumplings! My favourite one thus far is from Imperial Treasure, where they have awesome mushroom dumplings too. I miss Noble House, though. No $$$ to go! Pshh.

his name is Cow.

nice bear paws! i likey.

We’d planned to head down to Tiong Bahru to just walk about and shoot. I miss that neighbourhood! My previous office was there, right next to the market. I used to love the walks I took on my own when I cut across the neighbourhood of old flats to the post office.

By the time we got there, we had about half an hour to 45 minutes of light to shoot with. Sun was setting! Makes for lovely light, albeit a super short while.

Still not totally used to my camera and lens, but I love it! Having fun exploring what it can do. Heh. I love the DOF on f1.4! And the nice creamy bokeh. *swoons*

Love how there are so many cats in the area. Heh. I don’t like cats as much as I love dogs, but the ones in Tiong Bahru are awesome! There was one which looked like Hitler, with a black patch above his lip but he refused to let me take a photo. Haha.

Guess what that shadow on the left is.

he was sweet.

And then this one kept trying to attack something.. I had to go pretty close cos of the prime lens, and was damn scared that some creature would fall on my head please!!

I love fat cats. Anddddd I also love that I can shoot in super low light!

focus is off for this one, but i like how the shot turned out!
murderous back alley shot. hur hur.

After fussing (read: squealing) over the cats for awhile, it got too dark to shoot so we headed to the market.

he was nice

After getting a drink and attempting to cool down, we headed down to Cityhall because Lennel mentioned that the underpass leading to Esplanade had gummy bears as part of an exhibition.

Was super happy when I got there because I realised that it’s the same exhibit that involved pages of kids storybooks! I’d seen photos of those on Facebook or something, and had wanted to head down but forgot about it.

Much to my delight, I recognised most of the illustrations that came from Enid Blyton books! So awesome. Heh. There were also pages from Roald Dahl books, and a few others I didn’t recognise.

And then the gummy bears of many colours! I want to eat them.

i thought the turquoise ones were so cute!

one of my favourite shots from yesterday. can you make out the box?

& then we go down the rabbit hole!

We took a walk to Esplanade after dinner. Never been a fan of night skyline shots of the city, but I thought I’d try and see what night shots my camera and lens can produce.

Handheld night shot! =P
I am incredibly lazy to bring a tripod out, most of the time. Hahaha.

Yech. Still don’t like night skyline shots.
Sooo…..
.
.
.
.
.

… this happened.

Hahaha! More fun, imo. We took a random drive around after that, rather unintentionally – we just happened to get lost. I *love* these!

Randomly turning into roads just because we’ve never seen or heard of their name before, or just because the name sounds cute. Driving around and discovering parts of Singapore we’ve never seen before.. and of course, finding new places to go take photos soon!

Still not completely used to my lens, especially since it’s a prime lens and the DOF is so small.. but I’m happy with it so far! Can’t wait to go out and shoot more more more. Heh.

Haven’t had one of these almost-perfect days in ages. I love adventures!
Life’s awesomeeeeeee!

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So I finally have a dSLR to call my own, YAYNESS! It’s a Nikon D5000. I also got the Sigma 30mm/f1.4 lens because f1.4 is impossible to resist, really. And because I never liked kit lenses.

I can’t quite believe that after all these years, I finally have my own! Hehe. Praise God for His provision indeed.

She has yet to be named, though, despite the barrage of ridiculous names Pinkie and Zhan have attempted to heap on her. Hmpf.

Brought her out to test out shots taken indoors at night just now.. Quite happy with what the lens can do! Although, I am rather unused to the new Nikon dSLRs.. The last one I’d used for awhile was Zhan’s D70s which he lent me for a few months.. They’re quite different now! So am not used to it yet.

Also, this lens has abit of a learning curve because of the huge aperture, making it tricky to focus at the exact point I want it to.. especially when photographing people. Ack.

Anyhow, here are some of the ‘test’ shots taken today. Mostly unedited. Not as well-taken as I’d like my photos to be, obviously, but just to give a taste of what this lens can do in the hands of someone (who hasn’t handled a dSLR in over a year!) for the first time…

my shelf of elliefants! muahaha!

my new hot pink shoes!!! dawnie took this shot

jiao bin!!! Ahaha! this was taken in Ken Noodle House at Cuppage.
if you’ve been there, you’d know how dark the place actually is!

my ramen! i’ve missed the ramen at this place. i think it’s much nicer than the famous place in Central…
took this shot in a mad hurry because i was starving. hahaha =X

LOL, one of my favourite shots today. look how scared dawnie looks!! HAHA

hello, random bokeh.

bear with coke. crazed bear!

paw!

AHAHAHAHAHA OMG. every time i look at this photo, i laugh.
focus is off though. also, it’s incredibly hard to meter properly for someone who is dark AND wearing a white shirt!!!!! sheesh.

AHAHAHAHA!!

eh??

skinny dawnie.. eat more please!!

aww.. smiley bear!

“seal aerobics”, apparently. hmpf.
i am faaaaat.

the soles of my shoes are hot pink too! hehehe. taken by dawnie!

me, taken by dawnie. zhan saw the shot. i miss taking photos with him because he can see shots that i’ll miss!

Going out to take photos with Zhan and maybe Dawnie tomorrow. YAY!

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It’s okay, y’know? You don’t have to pretend – I know I have no say. It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Not anymore, because I am choosing to ignore this for now.

The past week has been…………..
If you’ve been talking to me, you’d know.

All I can say is, going to bed with squeezed chests and short breaths made up for most of the nights. With a pounding heart, I resorted to pills so I could breathe normally. Crying out of exasperation doesn’t help either.

Neither are you.
You’re never wrong; who am I to say anything? I can’t, apparently. Not in this position.

In an alternate position, that co-exists, I thought I could, but hearing isn’t the same as listening so I shall shut up and not try to voice how I felt.

I am but a tiny fry in a sea of potatoes.
Funny though, how it turns out my mum sorta knows the Head of this region of potatoes.

QUESTIONSSSSSSSSS…? Hahahaha. I was looking for a part time job, but because of the past week and the _________ that came with it, I am re-thinking my options. Maybe I should just catch up on sleep and ease my mind.

I do, however, have a target of how much I wanted to earn or save during this holidays but I’m not sure how that’s going to happen. God will provide, yes? Yes.

So many plans, so many things to do…

Meeting up with Zhan for dinner and random walks and drives made me insanely happy. It also made me realise how long it’s been since I’ve been out with any of my close friends.

I’ve missed his sense of humour tons! Heh. He says few people get it.. but why! I bet they’re all dumb. Pft.

—–

Long bittersweet talks fueled by love, wiping chocolate off cheeks and pseudo sad faces.
& just like that, I find myself falling in love all over again. ♥

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The monsoon season this time round brings about excellent temperatures to our otherwise too-damn-hot country. It rains everyday, which sucks when I want to head out.. but the cool temperature is awesome! *hops about*

However, it’s making me want to take naps ALL. THE. TIME.
And half the time I give in to them naps. *frowns* Horrible, considering that I have work to get done. Haha.

Barbs and I headed to the Peranakan Museum yesterday, and I must say.. I am looking forward to my Melaka trip even more now! Hehe. Will post up more pictures and stuff soon!

I can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait. Anticipation will kill me one day. Pftt.

Right now, I’m craving for corned beef and hashbrowns! HOW NOW BROWN COW?

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I. AM. SO. BORED.

Not that I’m complaining though. Not much, at least. I’m still relishing this new found boredom and free time that have landed in my hands now that I’m officially on holiday! I love school holidays! Don’t you? Haha.

In the past 3 years when I was working, I used to get immensely jealous of all my friends when they had their long school breaks. Now it’s my turn! Heh heh. The awesome part is that I’m on a 2 month break.

In view of my boredom and too much time, I decided to post up a hell lot of photos that I kept procrastinating over. That, and trying to evade the inevitable task of cleaning up the dining table in my house. I made a huuuuge mess when I was rushing work throughout the semester.

Here’s proof:

When I left this mess, I thought it was bad.
This was just after my mockup for the pop up was done.


This was after the actual pop up was done.

Since then, the mess has multiplied a couple of times, taking over more than 3/4 of the entire dining table (which seats 6, by the way) AND an additional mahjong table. It’s no wonder my mum has been going insane at the mess. I’m supposed to have cleared this up by yesterday, sooo I suppose I will head downstairs to clean it up after this. *deep sigh*

In happier news, this stupid Jiao Bin is coming home in less than 2 weeks!!!

Yes, I am fully aware that none of you understand that. Hahahahaha.

Alsooooo……. another bear is coming home!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

YAY! I can’t wait for the two of you to get home! Then we (+ Dawnie/Stumpy/Deepa) can head out and go mad together! YAYYYYY. In air conditioned spaces, preferably. Hahah.

I miss doing stupid shit like that with you guys. Please hurry home! Meh!

For the past half year, school has been taking up most of my time of course. Aside from being stressful especially in Term 2, school’s been a blast! I love what I’m doing and I’m so glad that God has placed me here. It took a lot of getting used to but I think everything’s going fine.

Some photos from school + school work!

Barbs!


Daniel!


Kelly!


& me in Daniel’s hat! Haha.

School drives us all mad. Daniel is in his special Halloween costume – can you tell what it is? HAHA.

Our coursework consists of a ton of hands on work, where we make things.. something I don’t think you’d expect from a Design Comms / Graphic Design course, but after the initial struggle to adjust to it, I can see its benefits in the long run. It’s become quite fun, although it still drives me mad sometimes. Heh.

Collage! Quite like this even though I didn’t really know what I was doing in the midst of it. Haha.

These were taken just before Pinkie slipped off the swing and scraped his knees and feet soooo badly. =/
He was preparing to help me with a shot I needed to take. OMG I felt so bad!!!! After that I helped him clean his wounds with alcohol swabs and qing cao you which had him squirming so badly in pain. =(

My poor wounded bear!!!! It was much worse than it looks man…

On one random day out, we saw a fat cat.

And I also fell in love with Risotto!!! I WANT MORRREEEEE!!!!!
As well as Da Paolo’s, of course. A visit back is due soon!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


helloooo, skip!

I miss Skip! BOOHOO.


YO!

Introducing… BELLY!!!!
So cuteeee. *squee!*


See! Now claws! She looks incredibly huggable, like a marshmallow.
I wish I didn’t have to wait 7 more months before I can hug her!!

One of my favourite photos of Pinkie and me. Haha!
This was taken at the pool when we were at Tioman earlier this year.

Totally random, but I painted Russell’s paws with watercolour paint and stamped him around.
AHAHAH SO CUTE!

unedited shot of a Coke can. Love the colours!

Very happy after my purchases + first Christmas present! HEE HEE HEE!

I suppose it’s time to head downstairs to clear up the tables… Hope there’s news from the various places where I applied for a part time job soon. Decided that I need to make some money to save up, instead of bumming around. Bleh!

I LEAVE YOU WITH PHOTOS OF ME LEST YOU FORGET ME! HAHAHAHA.

<3

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