Little-Wonder.Net

18 September, 2008

Of photography and balloons

03:54:26 | Daily Life, Events | writebacks (5)

Signed up for the Canon Photo Marathon 2008, to be held on the 18th October.

The competition involves three segments - each with different themes lasting about three hours each. Participants would be assigned the theme at the beginning of each segment and they are required to go around, gathering snapshots and submitting their best work at the end of the three hour time frame before being assigned the next theme.

Nifty, huh?

Was initially contemplating whether I should register for it since I wasn’t too sure whether I would have recovered by then. But heck - this is just too good to be missed.

In the meantime, I’d work on polishing up on my techniques and use of lighting with Mojojo (that’s what I named my camera - a Canon Powershot SX100) so that I needn’t wrestle too much with settings and exposures and all that jazz on the actual day itself.

Speaking of which, I am eyeing quite a few DSLR models from Canon as of late. I feel that I’m quite ready to upgrade now, since I’ve progressed quite a fair bit from my former point and shoot with automatic mode phase. Mojojo, with his fair amount of manual functions has been serving me well enough but … I want more!

But of course, it’ll be a while before I actually go out there and get a new one. The prices are hefty, so I gotta’ think carefully.

Hmm.

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Presenting, the girl who loves colourful balloons. Captured last Sunday at my uncle’s 60th birthday celebrations, courtesy of my younger cousin, using Mojojo on … automatic mode.

Yay for balloons.

Much as I swear by the manual mode these days, I can’t seem to trust others to use them properly. Take my younger cousin for example - he only managed to get the above photo after six attempts, the first five using manual mode, and finally, his first success on automatic mode.

He struggled and struggled and after each photo, he’d go … “Eh, Brenda! Why (is the photo) so blurred/dark/grainy, ah?”

But I love the photo anyway.

Mainly because there’s a balloon in it.

It was balloons galore at the event, by the way. Loads and loads of balloons floated around us on the ceiling, in various shapes and sizes and colours. It made me ecstatic, and I wanted to take all of them home with me upon leaving. I eventually took only two in the end since there were a fair amount of kids around and it wouldn’t be fair, right?

There were a couple of balloons that were overly inflated, and ended up taking on a weird shape - elongated at the bottom and veering towards slightly round at the top.

My little nephew happened to be enchanted with one of those elongated balloons and had it tied to his pants such that it followed him everywhere he went, which I found really cute.

Until my smart alec cousin poked me in the side and went … “Eh, why is there a t*sticle following Luke around, ah?”

OMGGAH.

05 September, 2008

Cousins united, and double birthdays.

23:31:08 | Daily Life, Events, People | writebacks (5)

Gee, it’s been such a long time since the four of us took a proper photo together. (Okay, I lied. Our last photo had been early this year - but this is the first one in a long time where all of us look decent.)

Sticking together since young - the awesome foursome.
Clockwise from top left: David, me, Jeremiah, Matthias.

I look really tiny here.

The above was taken during a double celebration within my extended family - the 65th birthday of my Uncle Jimmy, and the 1st birthday of his second grandson, Joseph. (More pictures here.)

As usual, I came face to face with so many people I didn’t know. But then again, since when do we attend a large family gathering and not find any faces we don’t recognize?

Apart from the usual members of my extended family who meet on a regular basis - there were vast amounts of people from what I call, “the other extended family” - namely, the extended family of my cousin’s wife.

Smart alec kids
Boy, “the other extended family” really did know how to reproduce! Look at all the KIDS.

They ran around the living room, screaming their lungs out, shoving toy guns and all sorts of thingamajigs all over the place. They fought over balloons. They pushed each other. They threw themselves on the floor and kicked and screamed.

One kid crawled under my legs while I was seated - which made me jump up and yelp.

And another stepped on Jeremiah’s foot - which was recuperating in a huge cast after a recent operation. (Props to him for not jumping and yelping, though.)

And boy. Not only are they rowdy kids - they’re a bunch of smart alec rowdy kids.

There was one occasion where I shouted (to make myself heard over the din) at them to play outside the house instead of around the living room where plates and cups are precariously stacked, and the adults struggling to watch television.

The response I got?

“YOU WANT US TO PLAY ON THE ROAD AND GET KNOCKED DOWN AND DIE, IS IT?” - Kid in the orange sleeveless tee.

?!?!?!

Pfffffft, never heard of the garden and the backyard, is it?

More babies on the way?
Oh, and I received news that another cousin’s wife, Jeslyn is expecting her second child. (Which makes the fifth kiddo from the newest generation on the way.) I’ve another expecting cousin as well - although I’ve learnt of her pregnancy much, much earlier.

And it seems that my reactions towards each pregnancy are becoming more and more varied.

Eight years ago, when I received news that my first nephew (Jeslyn’s first child) is on his way, my response was an enthusiastic “Oh my gosh, that’s fantastic!”

Two years ago, upon receiving news that the second nephew (Cousin Dawn’s first child) is on his way, my response was a mere “Mmmmmph!”

Last year, when I learnt that the third nephew (Joseph, who turned one today) is coming along soon, my response was a sharp squeak - “Another boy?!?”

A couple of months ago when I learnt that Cousin Dawn is pregnant with her second child in two years, I reacted with a … “WHAT?!? You mean they’re so bored they have no other form of entertainment at night?!?”

And after tonight’s news? I leaned towards my mum and whispered “Whose condom broke?” Needless to say, my speechless mum couldn’t garner any response.

Later on, Jeslyn confessed that she decided to have a second child because Little Joshua (her first child, now seven years old) wanted her to.

I immediately had mental images of Little Joshua approaching both parents and asking - “Mummy, Daddy! Can you two have sex? Pleeeeeease?” and couldn’t stop cracking up after that. Hehehehe.

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I’ve another cardiologist appointment in about twelve hours’ time, which means that I ought to be heading off to lalaland soon. The fainting spells and the usual bouts of giddiness are still plaguing yours’ truly, this time accompanied with strong(er) heart palpitations - which means I should get my sorry ass down to a doctor soon to find out what’s wrong, and why I am getting worse instead of better.

Until then!

01 May, 2008

Of seaside bungalows and BBQs.

16:51:20 | Events, People | writebacks (5)

So, I’m back!

I should have known better than to straddle through the deep undergrowth from the beach back to the bungalow two nights ago, because now I’m inflicted with a very bad case of grass/mud allergy from slightly above my ankle - downwards while the rest of my legs were unaffected.

Thank goodness for that bottle of alcohol disinfectant I bought just a week ago that’s keeping the extreme itching manageable, although my ankles look slightly gross from all the little lumps (and small open wounds from scratching).

Sneezed throughout the whole of yesterday as well, although I’m as good as rain now. I’m presuming it’s because I slept with the dusty top-cover of the bed over my face (the room was beastly cold!) for the whole of my last night there, which meant that I possibly inhaled enough dust bunnies to last me a lifetime.

It’s all worth it though, because the past three days, two nights were insanely enjoyable.

I managed to get much sun! So I no longer look as pale as I used to before. I immensely enjoy being in the sun. Somehow, it makes me full of energy - bouncing around, raring for more after a long 20km cycle along almost the stretch of East Coast beach. You can possibly say that I’m solar-powered. So, who needs food? Hahaha.

Amazing how my two past injury-afflicted knees didn’t give way despite the cycling, especially after how I hadn’t gotten off my lazy arse for any for of exercise in the past … one year (or perhaps even more). Cycling’s pretty addictive though. Considering how I live so near to East Coast, I might possibly make it a weekly thing. Contemplating getting my own bike. Any suggestions?

Oh, we’ve had barbecue during the first night. Fried fish balls, sausages in three amazing flavours (can’t remember the brand), and chicken wings marinated and barbecued by Liz in red wine and garlic sauce which I swear, was the best I’ve ever had so far. Mithi brought some amazing sweet potatoes as well, which we wrapped in aluminum foil and baked on the charcoal.

And unlike past barbecues I’ve attended, WE HAD NO BURNT FOOD! Everything was just right-o!

We spent both nights watching Cartoon Network (Tom & Jerry!) and playing board games, especially the Taboo! set that I brought. And I must say that game brought upon quite a lot of hysterics.

Target word: Shower

“When I go to the toilet, what do I do?” - Des.

“PEE!”
“SHOOT!”
“SHIT!”

(I swear, I have no idea where the ’shoot!’ was coming from.)

“Another word, another word!” - Des.

“Err … DIARRHOEA!” - Zway.

“No! No! No! A more general term!” - Des.

“Err … PASS WATER!”

“…….”

Oh, and Liz and I found a whole bunch of ants invading our bunch of bananas (which were meant to make chocolate banana split, although we never did) and had no other idea on how to remove them apart from drowning them in water.

And when Little Miss Vegetarian - cum - Animal Lover Mithi learnt about the drowning ants in the kitchen, she immediately made a beeline for where they were and attempted fishing them out one by one and setting them free. (?!?! Hahaha. Oh, my!)

She didn’t allow me to kill any bug or ant or lizard in the bungalow either, and those creatures give me the creeps. Eek. A couple of them lizards invaded our food supply from Mc’Donalds (my favourite chicken nuggets and fries) which resulted in us having to throw them away, and I’ve hated lizards even more since then.

Oh, and I have plenty of photos as well!

Plus a couple of videos which will never ever see the light of the world wide web. (Teehee.)

Okay, off to apply more alcohol disinfectant to my itching ankles now!