Very often, I’ll bring my camera along when I go wakeboarding. I love to photograph the riders in action, not just because I think the actions look really good. But it gives me the opportunity to practise my photography. Outside of weddings, I hardly even do any photography anymore unless I travel (I’m trying to work on this…) or ocassionally photographing the dogs. Over the few times that I took these guys in action, I found that it is actually quite similar to weddings in a way. Lighting, timing (this is so important), anticipation and composition. I think it’s pretty good training. And it makes me feel better that at least I did something good out there, since I suck at wakeboarding:D
Someday, I’m going to take it a step further to go on the tube. Someday…:D
It’s G0-Karting Wednesday again! So we headed down to Plentong Go-kart circuit in JB (Malaysia). We have 5 people in the car, 2 singaporeans and 3 hongkongers. When we reached the Malaysian immigration, the officer said he needs to see the air tickets of our hongkong friends. Honestly, I won’t bring my air tickets if I travel by car. But, according to the officer, it’s compulsory, especially if your passport is from China, India and some other countries.
Now, the thing is, our friend came to JB twice over the last 2 weeks and no one ever mentioned it. The officer claimed that not every officer wants to check. Anyway, here’s an excerpt of our conversation,
officer: I want to see your air ticket.
me: (I was relaying message to the officer since I’m nearest to the window) he don’t have his air ticket with him.
officer: I need to see his air ticket.
me: he bought an E-ticket, so he don’t have it with him
officer: Where is the air ticket? I want the air ticket.
me: It’s an E-ticket, it’s in the laptop in the hotel, he didn’t print it out.
officer: I know it’s and E-ticket, where is the air ticket?
me: We don’t have it here. It’s an E-ticket, you know, Electronic ticket.
officer: Yes ok, where is the air ticket? (I kind of think… he thinks I pronounce E-ticket as Air ticket… )
me: We really don’t have it here. why not we go online and show you the ticket through the email now. we can do it via mobile phone now.
officer: that’s a phone…
my friend: it can connect to the internet… i can show you.
officer: no, i want to see the air ticket
(This conversation was REPEATED for the next 20 minutes. The cars behind us were honking impatiently. I started to think he behaved like Miss Swan)
officer: (finally found the conversation stale…) I am going to ask my officer.
(Once he got out of his little cubicle, a very unhappy looking driver from the car behind got down and confronted him. Asking (loud enough for us to hear) him why is he waiting so long. Without even talking to his so-called “officer”, he came back in and stamped the passports)
And we’re off in the next minute. Had a good laugh. It’s truly the highlight of the day. Kinda remind me of this clip from “Dude, where’s my car?”
Remember your EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-ticket next time. Why the hell do they even bother doing an E-ticket if you have to print it out. Isn’t it why it’s called the Electronic ticket?
Managed to have some water time couple of weeks back. Went wakeboarding REALLY early in the morning. Brought my trusty 20D along and did some shots. Didn’t get to post them earlier because I was bogged down by work. Here you go!:D
Suter serving a chicken salad.
Indy shifty
Hah, the last one’s Andy. Sorry, I think the silhouette shots look better here. We’ll try for the face next time!:D
Went wakeboarding yesterday morning, hoping to iron out some moves and banish some painful thoughts. Didn’t do too well and got hell from Jem (the driver). He has been scolding me for the longest of time (most of the time for my own good, although sometimes I think he just do it to get the kick out of it), but this time it felt much worse than any other time.
I just couldn’t land my jumps properly. He got real pissed and shouted across the water, “if you are scared, don’t wakeboard!!”. Sigh… I’ve never felt so close to tears before. Even though I knew his intentions, it still hurt like hell. Anyway, I just kept telling myself to be positive, to try again and again till I get it right. Even though I still didn’t get it, I know there’ll be another day to try again.
When I took a break, he told me that he doesn’t understand why I’m always trying so hard, trying to be perfect and why I’m always thinking. I wonder how much of what he said is linked to what I am like in real life. In trying, sometimes, we hurt ourselves more than we know. I have much to learn…
Some comforting parts, he said he’ll teach me how to do a backroll some time. Good, I’ve been wanting to learn that.
After the short photoshoot today, I decided to get some drinks from a petrol kiosk. Added 2 more unusual items to my shopping list, Her World Brides (because I heard I’ve got pictures up in this issue) and New Paper (because it’s toilet friendly sized… and I need a dump)
In the news, a secondary school boy fell during cable ski and was partially paralysed!! I don’t know how he fell, but it sure sounds serious. When I started wakeboarding, I remembered falling badly once (doing nothing spectacular – maybe the fall was spectacular) and had a head concussion. Wiped out a good 20-30mins of my life, which I can’t remember till now. Tomorrow, I AM GOING to buy a helmet and armour…
I’m going to buy a white helmet and stick stickers on it… like… ”armoured turban” or “lightsphere”:D
No BBQ tonight. I was lying on the sofa, watching the race with the 2 uninterested dogs (they can’t understand what’s so fascinating about cars going round the circuit… like some people) . Ordered a couple meal from KFC for myself and drank 1 litre of orange juice.
Even though the rain I was hoping didn’t come, we still see drama after drama. Funniest one being “Massa’s tail”. Classic example of how technology fails when it matters most. Some engineer’s ass gonna hurt real bad after this.
I was quite surprised to see PM Lee presenting the trophy. While he’s always at the edge of the podium, I was hoping that Alonso or Hamilton will spray the champagne at him. Didn’t happen… damn… otherwise it’ll be a great photo opportunity for the photographers. And +1 for drama:D
It’s the first ever night race in sunny Singapore. I’ve heard alot about the sounds those machines make, so I decided to hear it for myself. Some people say it’s louder than our army range, some say it makes your heart beat faster… the office workers said it’s damn irritating. When I first hear it after alighting from the cab at Chijmes, I thought it wasn’t too bad (till I got to stand 10 meters away from it at MS).
The crowd in town was amazing. Imagine, the crowd of 4 PC shows combined. Everywhere, I see people, on the sidewalks, slopes, bridges, stairways of hotels, rooftops, fences… etc. My friend told me about spidermans all over the place. “Did you see this ang moh woman in skirt climbing up the fence?” Erm… nope… but I hope she doesn’t cause any car crash.
It was a very nice experience, not just to see/HEAR the powerful machines zoom past, but to soak up the atmosphere and all the happenings. It’s actually quite entertaining to see the lady next to you trying to catch the car zooming past on the camera… I know I’m not exactly kind because I laugh everytime she misses (which meant I laughed throughout). And the whole bunch of people who are trying to take pictures/videos of the race at one particular section (see below). I guess they didn’t know the qualifying was televised on Star Sports.
I hope there will be drama tonight. The more drama, the better it is. I’m praying for rain for the last 15 laps. The heavier, the better.
. Ordered a couple meal from KFC for myself and drank 1 litre of orange juice.