the sky: historic, geographic, spatial, prolific.

Because I needed something epic.

An incinerator designed by the artist, Hundertwasser. Vienna, Austria. September 2008.

Power lines. Bratislava, Slovakia. September 2008.

Crash. Cinque Terre, Italy. October 2008.

Looking up. Cinque Terre, Italy. October 2008.

Epic architecture. Pisa, Italy. October 2008.

Onset of dusk. Venice, Italy. October 2008.

Post-mass, post-Pope sighting. Vatican City, Italy. October 2008.

Holocaust Memorial, solo trip. Berlin, Germany. October 2008.

Falling night. Berlin, Germany. October 2008.

Ripple. Dubrovnik, Croatia. October 2008.

Almost holy. Lovcen, Montenegro. October 2008.

Still waters. Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina. October 2008.

Perfect timing. Barcelona, Spain. November 2008.

Columns. Sevilla, Spain. November 2008.

Compacted. Paris, France. December 2008.

A foggy London town. London, England. December 2008.

Suburbs. Outside Vienna, Austria. January 2009.

Casual-like. East Coast Beach, Singapore. April 2010.

Get set. Perth, Australia. July 2010.

Off the Georgetown ferry. Penang, Malaysia. December 2010.

Bustle on Bukit Bintang. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. December 2010.

The Kuta crowd. Bali, Indonesia. May 2011.

Advantageous. Skyline, Singapore. July 2011.

Sepulcher. Yogyakarta, Indonesia. December 2011.

Afternoon sky, unnamed road. Yogyakarta, Indonesia. December 2011.

Sunrise. Pasir Ris, Singapore. Early 2012.

Crater. Bandung, Indonesia. April 2012.

5am sunrise. Frankfurt, Germany. June 2012.

Summer dreaming. Kassel, Germany. June 2012.

Sunset. Pasir Ris, Singapore, June 2012.

rambler gambler

Went to see the Dali exhibition at the ArtScience Museum about two weeks ago and had a pretty enjoyable time. I’m beginning to appreciate the whole Marina Bay Sands shebang a little bit more these few days, though I’m not sure at what point nonchalance turned into appreciation for the whole MBS machinery. And I mean machinery in a good way. Like you definitely need really solid systems in place for the entire place to run smoothly. I bet they could film a TV series set in the area like Las Vegas does. Especially with the Gardens by the Bay developing there. Me and erfen popped by over the weekend and we were rather awestruck. Words like “Jurassic Park” and “Avatar” and “otherwordly” were being bandied around, and not said ironically, but really meant. Worth a look! What do you think about MBS? Love it, hate it, don’t care? I definitely would love to be able to stay for a night at the hotel and have a dip in the famed infinity pool. Just one of those things, I guess.

big wiener

Hello biskutians! (haha)

Pardon my infrequent posts as I find myself feeling rather unmotivated to trawl the interwebs lately, due to work-related fatigue. Oh to be a Singaporean cubicle-warrior!

Of course one could call it laziness. I won’t lie, sometimes at the end of the day I find myself just inexplicably drawn to my bed, unwilling to turn on the laptop and stare at what is invariably another version of the computer screen (read=work).

I find that I’ve taken less photos recently too, which is rather sad, because sometimes stills of my life, while seemingly fresh at the time of action, fade fast from my memory without any photographic evidence. The tablecloth in that delightful cafe where you had a sprawling lunch, becomes just a plain red instead of a rich vermillion, for example.

I’ve got to start taking photos again.

Anyways, I’ve veered from the point, which is to announce that recently I got a bit of good news. Some of you might know that I participated in the So You Think You Can Blog challenge organised by the People’s Association a few months back.

Well, I’m happy to say that I won! And I won an iPad 2 no less! 🙂

Thank you to everyone who supported me, it really came as a surprise and no, I’m not just saying that ala winner’s of all past, present and future Ms Universes! Hehe.

Tangs everybody tangs!

Congrats to the other winners, sherms (represented by her mom!) and William. Yes, that’s Mr Yam Ah Mee! 🙂

Ya’ll know I just had to! Mr Yam was so super nice! While posing for photos, he will talk to you and engage in conversation hehe!

All photos taken by erfen! 🙂 (except this one of course, hehe)

PA was celebrating because they now have 1 million members! Of which I am one now. Discounts at Cold Storage woohoo!

Soo many people were out and about on that rather hot day. So much love for PA.

Yep, plenty of love going round! 😛

Thanks to PA for choosing me as well. I am not worthy! Do check out OurCommunity.sg for news on the courses and workshops available at your nearest CC today!

Oh yes, and as you can see, the undercut is back! Not sure about the length so I might just have another haircut sometime soon.

Selamat Hari Raya Haji to all my Muslim readers! I had a rather good one with way too much good food as usual. My family goes visiting on Hari Raya Haji so it’s pretty much the same as Hari Raya Aidilfitri, but I know many others who stay home and chill as well.

Well, no matter how you spent the day, I hope it was a good one! We all have Monday off anyway so let’s make the best of it! Toffee nut latte anyone? (Yes, I am obsessed again!)

Have a great week!

island in the sun

Happy Deepavali everyone! Am posting these pictures taken in Bali back in May, yeah how did six months pass by so fast?? I have no idea and now suddenly I am reminded of how old I am. Hur to the hur!

Bali was so amazing but it was way. too. short. Need to go back soon and explore Ubud next, which we didn’t have time for the last time. It was a great getaway nonetheless – we played frisbee by the beach at sunset, sat by the roadside listening to the most amazing live music (paying cover is so 2008, people!) and became a little bit obsessed with Caprisone. Isn’t it funny how they are some things which you kind of obsess over only on holidays but don’t pay much attention to when you’re back home?

How are you spending the public holiday? I’m finding myself watching Sex and the City re-runs on HBO On Demand which I recently realised that we have and eating some pb&j sandwiches. Yesterday night was spent cycling to Marina Bay Sands, we took the scenic route and I was struck (not for the first time) by how beautiful Singapore can be.

Hope you have a great day!

bright lights

Sorry for the longer-than-intended hiatus, but was in a funk for awhile and never got around to blogging, though I really wanted to!

I have missed this place a lot! Here’s to blogging more regularly!

Now, I know Hari Raya has come and gone, but thought I’d share with you photos I took on the first day of Raya. Looking back on them now, the photos make me smile and just feel really happy inside! Hope you like them too dearies!

The obligatory family shot. I love how vibrant the colours look!

I love how there are two very distinct conversations happening in this picture.

One month of fasting turns you into a kuih monster!

Candid shot.

My beautiful mom! Wish I can age looking just like her!

Behind the scenes of the mass apologising session.

My dad hehe. Gotta love a family that makes teh/kopi pit stops!

One is my purse, the one is my dad’s man purse, heheheh!

So incongruous. Love it!

Mutual grooming!

Love the colours against the backdrop of green.

Last but not least, this neon sign was actually inside someone’s house!

It’s great to be blogging again! Hello again guys and hope you didn’t forget about me!

one year on

So this is how it ends.

Mereka it’s been a pleasure to have been part of you, and like they say this is not the end of the road for us. Some of us may embark on new journeys after this, in fact, all of us will, but we do so knowing that we have been part of something bigger. Something that was so intrinsically part of us that we did not realise it.

I did not realise it till I departed the gates of the abandoned building that I still do not know the name of. A space that seemed so daunting at first, but soon became so familiar that I left it in tears. A space that, when filled with the sounds of Irfan playing the takbir on the flute, made it feel so sadly beautiful and so appropriate given that it was Mereka’s last official day being together.

Is it silly of me to say that I don’t know how to let go? Perhaps I am inexperienced in such matters. But I’d like to think that this one year has been special for all of us. There have been so many moments..happy ones, funny ones, frustrating ones, proud ones…so many others you can’t place an emotion on. Let’s hold on to them while we are out there doing great things. Because we will be out there doing great things.

Lastly, I thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you Tini, Asyikin, Izzaty, Mo, Hammy, Nabila T, Hafiz, Li, Ruzaini, Khalid, Ezzat, Hazwan, Bib. For all the words of encouragement, for the support, the hugs, the inside jokes, the teasing, the food, the laughter, the strength, the moments of learning. I will not forget.

A special thank you goes to the amazing Irfan who puts in so much work for us that we sometimes do not recognise. Who puts in so much of himself into us that I know part of his heart belongs to Mereka. Who lets emotions get the better of him when it comes to us simply because we reside in that part of him where emotion sits in its purest form. You have been such an integral part of this experience, so if you look back with any feelings of regret, don’t. You deserve all the credit that can be given. Thank you for leading us in this journey, and for letting us lead you as well.

Like most things, gratitude is usually only recognised at the end of things, when they are almost too late, but credit must always go where credit is due. And I have you guys to credit for what has been an amazing year for me. I almost did not make it through that door to audition for Mereka so this has been almost like a dream for me. In a Sliding Doors-type of world, I wonder how my life would be like without Mereka and I struggle to even begin to imagine… Yet now I must.

Sorry for this emo note but my heart feels so heavy that I simply had to. And I know you guys understand.

Tok: “Hati kau rasa apa?”

Doktor: “Rasa sayang.”

Tok: “Sayang…”

-nabbycat

walk this way (SYTYCB Part 4)

On Sunday, I joined about 85,000 other people in a nation-wide mass walking event, the One Community Walk, which was organised in various constituencies all around Singapore. Unfortunately due to my poor coordination skillz, I did not manage to arrange to walk together with Sherms though we live nearby! I guess it shows you just how many Community Clubs there are in Singapore! (more than 100!)

So I was poking around the PA website and learnt that the Outward Bound Schools are part of PA! Did you know that? I didn’t! Also, the Old Kallang Airport which was used for the recent Singapore Biennale was once the headquarters for PA.

Back to the mass walking event. I was surprised to see a sizeable crowd already gathering by the time I reached (late, but hey it was 7.30am on a Sunday!) and the walk started soon after. It was rather heartening to see many seniors participating in the event, which would require them to walk about 2 to 3 kilometres around their neighbourhoods.

I noticed that while walking, there were a few moments when I’d catch one of the participants interact with a passerby who was just returning from the market, or an elderly man on a bicycle stopping to let the crowd past. It reminded me of the good old kampong spirit that people my parents age always lament that they miss in the Singapore of today. Sadly, these glimpses have been rather fleeting lately, but at least we can still hold on the precious few that still prevail in this day and age!

But I digress of course. Although I didn’t manage to stay for the entire walk (had to run off for rehearsals), I managed to take a few shots of the participants.

PUT YOUR AIRHORNS IN THE AIR LIKE YOU JUST DON’T CARE!

Hands up if you ever wore a cool bonnet like the one the little girl is rocking!

Leopard print pants for a community walk = FTW!

Backpacks. Because grandmas were the original hipsters, yo!

The juxtaposition of motorcycle, bicycle, human and green man is just too beautiful for words.

I call this one “The Bends”.

This one still wanted her bed, me thinks.

Bonnet girl, you’re back!  Kids, you just gotta love them.

The helpful volunteers.

“There are but many roads to Rome, my friend.”

To find out more about other such events or courses available at the CCs, do check out PA’s new portal, Ourcommunity.sg. The portal is super easy to use and you can search for  based on categories or by CC. You can also recommend it to your friends, parents, grandparents, siblings, I’m sure there is something out there for everyone to enjoy.

This entry is made as part of the So You Think You Can Blog challenge organised by the People’s Association. 6 bloggers, including me, are in this challenge and stand to win an Apple iPad for blogging about our adventures at courses and events organised by PA. I would be SUPER GRATEFUL if you could support me by leaving a comment, which earns me one point per person.

Do also support Sherms who tried her hand at making sushi recently! 🙂

american pie (SYTYCB Part 3)

O HAI PEOPLE!

I just came back from my 3rd course organised by PA. After going for an exercise class and a make-up class, this time, I opted to go for a cooking demo class! This time, it was Gourmet Cooking with Chef Yong at Serangoon CC which is in Ang Mo Kio.

Sounds like a condo, but this is the CC!

As can be expected, it was a really popular class and the majority of participants were women, but I did spy two men as well.

However, I have to say that it was a really enjoyable class due to the friendly and patient Chef Eric Low aka Chef Yong, who answers every single question (and believe me, there were many!) and took time to impart handy tips while he prepared the dishes.

Because it was a cooking demo class, it was like attending a live taping of a cooking show, complete with pre-prepped ingredients! However, the cooking was mostly done live. The difference was that you could stop Chef Yong at any point to ask him a question.

At one point, he recounted his experience cooking for an Arab family, when someone asked him if Muslims could consume red wine vinegar, and even talked about the difference between an Shiite and Sunni Muslim! This man is really knowledgeable.

On the menu for the day was Pulled Pork Sandwich, Cobb Sandwich and lastly, Walnut Pie. What I found really nice was that Chef Low apologised for not being able to offer me halal food. But he was very considerate to have prepared a portion of salad for me without the bacon! I was very impressed with his tact in handling the situation.

According to the chef, Cobb Salad is often a healthier alternative to Chef’s Salad which he says is just a salad made with leftover ingredients. In comparison, Cobb Salad uses vinagrette as a dressing, instead of the yucky, yucky, yucky Thousand Island dressing (which I think should be made a crime to consume!).

The class seemed more like a friendly cooking session at a friend’s house, as participants could just walk around near the Chef, stop him to ask questions and take photos while the class was in session! There was a very casual atmosphere and the participants were really friendly, stopping to ask me what I was taking photos for, and whether I enjoyed the class.

I also liked that tasting the dishes was part of the experience! According to Chef Low, tasting is strongly encouraged for a better understanding of the cuisine. Let’s just say that I got a good dinner out of the class 🙂 Some of the participants also brought tupperware to “tabao” the food home.

Overall, I felt that the class was really helpful to teach you some new recipes as well as to clarify with the Chef any questions that you might have. The friendly atmosphere is evident and some of the participants seemed to be good friends with the Chef!

He also gave handy practical tips such as where to get the best ingredients. He even shared that bottled bolognese sauce bought in the supermarkets usually only contain 30% beef! The rest is apparently just vegetable gluten, and hence he recommends making your own sauce.

And learning isn’t confined to the classroom either. The Chef encourages participants to email him if they have any questions, though during the class one of the ladies asked him to post it on his Facebook Page, hehe.

According to his file, Chef Yong has over 20 years of experience and used to be an Executive Sous Chef on the world’s largest privately owned luxurious super yachts. He’s even cooked for private parties and events attended by Sir Elton John, Sharon Stone, Denzel Washington and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, to name a few. Impressive eh? He’s even trained at the Culinary Institute of America or more awesomely known as CIA hehe!

To find out more about this course or other courses available at the CCs, do check out PA’s new portal, Ourcommunity.sg. The portal is super easy to use and you can search for courses based on categories or by CC.

This entry is made as part of the So You Think You Can Blog challenge organised by the People’s Association. 6 bloggers, including me, are in this challenge and stand to win an Apple iPad for blogging about our adventures at courses and events organised by PA. I would be SUPER GRATEFUL if you could support me by leaving a comment, which earns me one point per person.

Do also support my friend Sherms, who went for a super cool mahjong class last week! Who knew that the PA offered mahjong courses?

Make up, not war (SYTYCB Part 2)

Hi all! I went for my 2nd course yesterday – this time it was on Personal Make-Up and Skincare! Feeling a bit tired today so will do a mainly photo-post instead!

Kallang CC is a bit of a misnomer, because it is actually located on Boon Keng Road. Nonetheless, it is conveniently located near Boon Keng MRT on the NEL.

The CC is built in an open-concept way, hence you see residents walking through to get to their homes on the other side and there’s even a cafe on the 1st floor. I love that it has a lot of open space.

A feet shot, just because.

Elderly residents catching up on a Channel 8 programme.

A playground located just outside the CC.

The instructor of the course, Ms Cincelia Tan, starting off the lesson with a quick introduction on the different kinds of foundation.

Creamy foundation in two shades, the darker one is for shading while the lighter once is for concealing. Tricky stuff for me, the make-up n00b!

The course comes with fairly detailed notes. What kind of face shape do you have?

My very comical drawings illustrated how you should apply foundation (upwards for the cheeks, circular motions around the eyes and mouth, downwards for the nose bridge!)

Ms Tan and her technicolour make-up palette. Such pretty colours…

Teaching us how to shape our brows. What’s your brow shape? I hope not the last one! 😛

As you can see, the course is very hands-on and is really good for you to learn the basic techniques of doing your own make-up.

Each participant had to bring their own make-up products and a mirror so that they could practise the techniques right away, such as how to highlight certain features of your face and how to do shading.

 Overall, I found the workshop to be very engaging and enjoyable. The sad thing was that I could only attend 1 session as it is actually a 4-week course with each session lasting 2 hours, or longer. The instructor, Ms Tan was very personable and knowledgeable, having done trainings for companies such as Mary Chia, L’Oréal, Shu Eumura and Lancôme!

To find out more about this course or other courses available at the CCs, do check out PA’s new portal, Ourcommunity.sg.

This entry is made as part of the So You Think You Can Blog challenge organised by the People’s Association. 6 bloggers, including me, are in this challenge and stand to win an Apple iPad for blogging about our adventures at courses and events organised by PA. I would be SUPER GRATEFUL if you could support me by leaving a comment, which earns me one point per person.

touristy – part 1

Hello lovelies! Two Saturdays ago I inadvertently did two rather tourist things – I went for a really cool tour of our nation’s monuments (part of work) and then visited the zoo for my friend Christine’s birthday picnic and party!

Woke up bright and early at 8am and found myself greeted by these babies, that’s right, it was a tour on skate or kick scooters! It was organised by the Singapore Heritage Society and the National Heritage Board, where I work. And by the way, the Cenotaph above is a national monument, part of the Esplanade Park Memorials which also comprises of the Lim Bo Seng Memorial and Tan Kim Seng Fountain. If you don’t know what these are, you should check them out the next time you’re at Esplanade Park!

Tested out the kick scooter, and I had to practise getting used to balancing on the scooter with my bag and my camera (psst I have a new camera, a Canon PowerShot G12!). Also, did you know that the Padang, located behind me, was where the victory parade was held when the Japanese surrendered to the British marking the end of World War II in Singapore?

Tony the tour guide teaching us how to use the kick scooter and giving us the safety briefing. You can see the youngest and oldest participants in this photo (the boy in orange and the elderly man in an orange cap), which shows how universal the tour is.

Scooting past the Former Supreme Court, which will soon be part of the National Art Gallery (exciting!), along with City Hall.

The Lady Justice balancing her scales.  Interestingly, Justice is depicted without blindfolds, unlike usual depictions which have her eyes concealed.

The murals at the top of this photo show scenes of the signing of the historic treaty between Raffles and Sultan Hussein, which established Singapore as a trading post in 1819. Funny how I never thought to look closer at this building!

The Singapore Cricket Club, which is not a monument but is interesting because its members apparently used to be a lot more “selective” with who could enter the premises.

Poor cattle and horses who could not use this bridge! Cavenagh Bridge is the oldest bridge across the Singapore River and the first steel suspension bridge in Singapore. It was originally supposed to be like a drawbridge which could be raised during high tide but this was actually technically impossible and so it became a fixed suspension bridge.

Can you imagine that there used to be hundreds of bumboats in the Singapore River? The shophouses on the right of the picture were of different heights and colours to make each shophouse distinct for the boatmen, to make it easier for them to recognise which shophouse they were headed to.

The lovely Fullerton Hotel, which used to be the General Post Office Building and also once housed IRAS, is not a national monument but has been gazetted for conservation by URA.

That was the last of the photos in my camera before it died unfortunately but that was just about half of the monuments we went past during the kick scooter tour. Needless to say, it was a super fun way of learning more about Singapore! Also, did you know that we have 64 national monuments in Singapore? The latest one is the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, which of course just stopped operating last week. Here’s hoping that the authorities will listen to calls to have a Green Corridor along the railway tracks!

Zoo pictures will come in the next post because writing this made me tired! Have a great week all!