shutterbugISm

I really wonder where did the entire month of Sept go? A while back I was wondering where did Aug go also...

and suddenly it's Oct and there's barely 1 month's time before our long trip to Japan.. Ms Clover said this is the pre-trip anxiety coz there's a lot of things to settle before we can fly off and I can't really agree with her more...

Currently I'm still buried deep in folders of JPGs to edit and not including the shooting assignments, appointments and follow-up appointments this month... while Ms Clover has a big planning exercise @ work till end of the month... one that require her to fly out of the country for 1/2 day somemore..

Yet to see her gown in actual form from Kai Bridal Couture, saw my suit and going for pick-up (after final adjustments) at the end of the month. The rest of the stuff like shoes (hers and mine), ties, cufflinks... etc settled at least.

A lot of birthdays this month including my mum's, Ms Clover's, Lil' Ms Snooze, Ms Clover's brother... etc

1st appt with HDB at the end of the month while in the meantime, sourcing for contractors and IDs for quotes and ideas... another headache

Meantime, attending the SIPF's Asian Mosaics Travel Photography Competition @ Old School (Mt Sophia) at the end of the month (31st Oct) coz one of my entries have been selected for competition there. There will be 60 short-listed entries for exhibition at the Old School in Singapore from 24 to 31 October, 2008. Visitors to the exhibition will be invited to vote for their favourite images at the exhibition. The entrant with the image receiving the highest number of votes from the public will be the winner for the People's Choice Award. So do make time to go down to see the exhibition! :D


Week after week in Oct is so packed with activities... sigh..... I'm going out of my mind already....

*Yes I'm whining....*

Labels: BnW, Clover, Family, Friends, Images, Inspirations, Japan, Photography, Ranting, Thoughts, Us, vacation

Posted by ShutterBug at 09:22 | Permalink | Comments 9

and today marks a very important milestone in both our lives :)

We have finally bought our home!!!

Thank You Father for Your grace and provision, for the peace that we feel in our new home and for love that will fill it for many years to come. Amen!

^.^

Labels: Clover, Family, Thoughts, Us

Posted by ShutterBug at 20:32 | Permalink | Comments 15

Today has really been an incredible day... Thank you Lord for Your mercy that I was late for Sunday band practice but in turn prevented a bad accident from worsening.

Ms Clover had a fainting spell this morning after she complained of an extremely painful tummyache. I was very thankful that I was late for church band practice coz if I had step out of the house on schedule, she would have fainted in the house with no one around to help - the risk of hurting her head when she fainted can really be severe if I hadn't noticed that she was looking a little weird and non-responsive to my repeated callings. She went limp with her pupils dilated and her lips went pale. As she is slightly anemic, I suspected a sudden drop in blood pressure so I had to quickly make sure she is in a recovery position and making sure the nothing is affecting her heart or breathing.

Thank You Lord for the fact that my mum trained me well since young to know what to do and act calmly in times of medical emergency coz she herself was a senior nurse in SGH before moving on to be a clinic manager in Mount Elizabeth.

After making sure that she was alright (the loss of consciousness was very brief like 20 seconds but she has no recollections of me yelling at her for a response or how she pass out), she came to and we quickly assessed the situation and thought it best to go to a hospital to check it out coz this fainting is a very strange and isolated case .

Throughout the journey to TTSH, I was giving thanks to God in my heart for His saving grace and mercy. Had I went out of the house earlier, it would really be disasterous and God knows what will really be the outcome. God is watching over Ms Clover and over us.

The hospital side has no conclusive results except attributing it to be an isolated case but has referred Ms Clover for a followup with a Colon Specialist next week to see if there's any adnormalities in her gastro/ colon that caused that severe tummyache that made her faint in the 1st place.

I'm just glad and relieved that she is now okie with no major complications from this episode although I was a little shaken by it as it was so sudden. Had I not been there, I will really be feeling bad if anything happened to her....

Labels: Clover, Family, Friends, Thoughts, Us

Posted by ShutterBug at 00:25 | Permalink | Comments 9

Wow... can't believe I kinda missed blogging. I know I have been lazy the past 2 months to blog anything substantial but here's one to make it all up (or at least some of it)

* Pardon me if I get spelling errors coz I am experiencing a little reeling from the cocktail of alcohol I had just now in Char Siu Bao's place... (I never knew a welcome roulette of 1 shot of Vodka neat, 1 glass of red wine, 1 small glass of Hennessey Blue and 1 shot of hazelnut favored vodka can be that potent after 1 hour..)

So where do I begin....

Well, the past month I have been in buried under the mountain of backlogs, self-doubts and headaches. I am glad and blessed to have friends that I can talk to for advice as well as for emotional support when I really needed them. Some things really needed to be viewed from the sideline to see the silverlining I guess. Well, like in my previous post here, I will pray for God's timing and guidance for the solution and then the wisdom to take the right actions when He prompts.

So the happier stuff have been plentiful this beginning of the Lunar New Year. First off was the gathering of 4 babies @ Yveon's loft. Actually the plan was to meet dR and the adorable lil' Sniffles, before their big move to USA, somewhere in town but since it's really difficult for a mummy to have to carry so many things and looking after a baby as well as the inconvenient lack of nursing rooms in town areas, we decided to meet up @ Yveon's loft since the 2 lil' babies (dun forget about Lil' Nat) had a playtime gathering there the other time. This time round, I got along Su Ling, Vitali & lil' Vera as well as Sparkletots and lil' Jayden to make it a wholesome gathering.


I was rather amused at myself for organising this gathering coz it's just so coincidental that I know all 4 mummies (mainly through photography) and all 4 of them have babies around the same age group... so it was a 2 lil' girls and 2 lil' boys' playdate while the parents ate and got to know each other better thru the evening. Overall, it was a good networking session for everyone and I want to thank Lil Miss Snooze and TehPeng for graciously hosting the dinner @ their loft as well as to everyone who came :)

This year's reunion dinner with both side families were earlier than usual: my side had it on the 5th Feb night while Ms Clover's side was on the 6th Feb afternoon BUT it was held at the same place: One*15 Marina's Imperial Treasure restaurant. So you can imagine both Ms Clover and me ate almost the same dishes just 18 hours apart! :D

I'm definitely not complaining coz the food is really EXCELLENT! Service is, of coz', top-notch but the delicate cantonese styled cooking makes a lot of difference compared to eating at other restaurants. Sorry, I didn't take any photos coz I was too busy with the food but here's one to share:

CNY celebrations this years marked a significant milestone for both Ms Clover and myself coz this is, afterall, the 1st year we celebrate CNY as a state-recognised 'married' couple (why I used the term 'state-recognised' is that I feel that it's still not really complete without the customary, then I'm really finished....... j/king :p)

As usual, I stayed up the whole night on the eve of CNY to 'shou swee' or 守岁 which is a custom to me every year during CNY. Visitation only started @ 1pm on Day 1 with my parents then to Ms Clover's place where I spent the rest of the afternoon and night with their relatives and playing mahjong.. Seems that this year's not really my year on the gambling side coz I am down by $70 plus after 3 nights of mahjong and Texas Hold'em.. sianz... the tiles that came along were atrociously bad and even after I managed to make them good, I was constantly 'robbed' of the chance to game by someone else...

Must eat more cheese to attract the mouse liao...

Went over to Ms Clover's boss's home also... really nice place set in the quiet surrounds of Yio Chu Kang road's private housing district. Was introduced to her working colleagues and we had a grand time exploring their place which was decorated in a East Asian Contemporary style. Ohh, the well-travelled hostress introduced us to this fantastic gourmet wholesaler called Foodedge Gourmet where they have this really YUMZ tasting choco brownies! The brownies are not overpoweringly sweet and have a healthy dose of orange peel zest to give it a very different texture to the taste palate.. very worth trying! I would recommend also the ice cream selections from Melvados there also! Combine them together and you are on the way to cloud 9!

So back to today's event. We spent Sunday afternoon @ Char Siu Bao's place in the East, together with Xiao Long Bao, Martini and family and long-time-no-see K and her Aussie boyfriend, A.... and my dear friend welcomed me with a refreshing but lethal neat shot of Absolut Vodka (the rest of the drinks are @ the top of the blog entry) coz we were really late as we had a last minute visitor over @ Ms Clover's.

Played with lil' Siu Mai who has really grown up a lot and now can babble words and run around and recognise pictures with their meanings and pronunciations.... and so this 'Unker' Shutterbug played with her almost the whole duration of our visitation while 'Yiyi' Clover sat amused by her other half's silly antics and baby talk while sharing travel tips to Bali with Mrs Lian Rong Bao.

Well, think I have written enough, almost condensing 1 month worth of blogging into a short entry here.

Here's wishing everyone Gong Hei Fatt Choy, Blessed Prosperity and Good health during this festive season and for the year of the cute mouse :D

Huat ahh!! :D

Labels: Celebrations, Clover, Family, Food, Friends, Greetings, Images, Inspirations, Local, Photography, RICOH GrD, Thoughts, Us

Posted by ShutterBug at 19:58 | Permalink | Comments 9

08:07:07 - Sunday

We had it all covered today -

1) Splendid breakie with dR & MM @ One Rochester,
2) Heartwarming birthday luncheon with the Bao family @ Ema's Diner (Greenwood Ave)
3) Family time with a filling chilli crab dinner @ my mum's place

We are so going on a diet.....


* more photos later :)

Labels: Celebrations, Family, Food, Friends, Local, RICOH GrD, Thoughts, Us

Posted by ShutterBug at 00:56 | Permalink | Comments 0

Labels: Family, Pets, Ranting

Posted by ShutterBug at 18:49 | Permalink | Comments 3

This week is a long-awaited one...

We (Char Siew Bao, Xiao Long Bao and me) had planned to do a short course golf game since they learnt that I had picked up golf about 1.5 months back. It's some sort of initiation ceremony for me when we played 9 holes @ the Executive course today. What can I say.... it feels totally different from playing @ the driving range and man, I really hate 'cow-grass', I also hate it when I can't find the golf ball on the fairway or anywhere else after I tee-ed off and the golf ball has got a mind of its own on the green!

But overall, I still love the game... it's challenging coz you discover more of yourself when you are playing. Experience it for yourself and pick up golf today! (do I sound like a radio commercial? hee hee)

Well, let's not go into overall scores since I'm still a noob @ playing (okie okie, it was rather bad; I stopped counting after my 4th tee-off) but I managed a Par 3 @ one of the 89m holes with a 8-iron and putter. Happy sia!!


The BAOs Clan - Char Siew Bao, Xiao Long Bao & me (frowning coz it's so HUMID!)

Night event was dinner with the family which we have postponed since last week coz mum was down with flu and cough. A combi celebration for Mothers' Day and my birthday... so I guess tis will be the 1st time I post my family shot here. Ms Clover had to work tonight therefore she can't join us :(

Whever we had dinner or get-togethers, I always feel blessed that we had the opportunity to enjoy each other's company as well as for God's grace and mercy that He has healed mum from her operation last Aug/ Sept. My 2 bros are doing well respectively in their lives and dad's, still, my same ole dad :)


do-re-ME-fa-so! - this shot is so funny coz, my 2nd bro is like my dad, my youngest bro is like my mum and I'm a mixture in the middle.


I was commenting to Xiao Long Bao today that when we reach a certain age, what really matter are your family, your loved ones, your close friends... I'm starting to appreciate that already. Of coz material things are nice especially when I was younger but now, knowing that you are loved by those closest to you and being with true friends who had helped you through thick and thin as you continue to stumble on in life is juz absolutely priceless!

Truly I feel very blessed that God has given me a great family, a soulmate, great friends through the years, a talent for seeing things alternatively and a career out of this talent... indeed, there's countless blessings all the time!

Well, going offline soon to pack my bag for my trip to K-R-A-B-I!!! Yeah!!! hehehe... yupz, from 1 beach resort to another.... I always love the month of May :)
It's so exciting coz we are going there with old friends, Char Siew Bao and wife (Lian Rong Bao), Xiao Long Bao, Ms Clover (Guang Dong Bao) and me (I'm not telling what 'bao' I am)! Will only be bringing my Ricoh along but hopefully can capture some quality shots to blog about. Ha, finally this trip is realising coz we talked about going overseas together for the longest time but due to everyone's own commitment to work and other priorities, this idea got shelved till now :)

Am so looking forward to another turquiose water, blue skies and white beaches h-o-l-i-d-a-y again!

Anyway, just a shot of my youngest bro when we were walking to the car after dinner :)

(click for larger version)

Labels: Celebrations, Clover, Family, Friends, Inspirations, N73, RICOH GrD, Thoughts, vacation

Posted by ShutterBug at 01:40 | Permalink | Comments 9

Can't seem to find my 2nd brother's images.. yet....

Labels: Family, Images, Local, RICOH GrD

Posted by ShutterBug at 23:46 | Permalink | Comments 3