Peiyan.Photography

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T00:28:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year!

I know.... Haven't been updating my blog for a long long time.
The webs are forming. Or rather the webs have taken over my blog.

Hope to do some back log soon.

Have a great new year 2012!
Pei Yan

Leica First Roll

2011-04-03T21:28:00.002+08:00

Finally got my M6's first roll developed.
Managed to scan it today.
I would say that I wasn't too happy with the quality the film produced.
Fuji Xtra 400

Love my Leica,

Pei Yan

Shanghai B/W film roll 2

2011-03-21T22:07:00.002+08:00

This roll was completed within a few hours.

Images taken from Chinatown area to Bugis area.

Pei Yan

Shanghai B/W film roll 1

2011-03-20T22:07:00.001+08:00

After keeping the roll inside my holga for about 2 years,
It is finally out for a shoot.
Quickly finish this roll so that I could sent for developing and see the results.

The earlier images had a paper effect I think due to the film being shot and keep too long in the camera.

Oh well...
Pei Yan

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-03-19T21:58:00.003+08:00

Happy birthday to me!!!

I love my birthday present to myself: Leica M6 with Voigtlander 28 Ultron

Leica M6!

Voigtlander 28mm Ultron (f/2)

Birthday girl,
Pei Yan

Happy Lunar New Year

2011-02-05T20:27:00.000+08:00

Here's wishing my readers a happy Lunar New Year.

Sunset on the 3rd day of LNY.
Changi beach

Pei Yan

Singaproe.scape: Drama sky

2011-01-22T23:58:00.004+08:00

Note to readers: Location of this image cannot be disclosed due to protection of the place.

In awe,
Pei Yan

Singapore.scape: Smelly punggol beach

2011-01-02T23:13:00.000+08:00

It was my first time to punggol beach.
The moment you reach the beach area, you can smell the unique smell of punggol beach.
The smell is quite strong, but still acceptable for me.
It's not the ordinary beach sea water smell.
It a smell which I don't know how to describe.

The rocks there are plentiful.
They are heavily covered with barnacles so do be careful if you wish to enter the water.

The water is kind of dirty with rubbish and small floating bits of unknown material.

I saw a few photographers on the beach but they were shooting on dry land.
Me and my friends were the only kuku people who went into the water to shoot sunset.
Hey... it's kind of fun getting wet while shooting landscape.
Especially when you shoot facing the sea. The unpredictable big waves hit you and your setup was the best experience.

Till now, I have yet to experience the beautiful orange glow and round setting sun.

Pei Yan

2011

2011-01-01T00:01:00.002+08:00

Happy new year to my readers, if there's any.

Have a great year!

Pei Yan

Butterfly hill

2010-12-24T22:05:00.003+08:00

Located not far from the NPark's Ubin-HSBC Volunteer Hub is a small hill with lots of plants.
These plants attract different species of butterfly to that hill.
It was my first time shoot butterfly.
I must say that it is not easy to capture them as they hardly stay still.
Furthermore almost all the butterflies will fly away once I get near them.

I was kind of nice chasing after them but soon, I gave up.
I did manage to capture a few of them.

Parantica agleoides agleoides
Dark Glassy Tiger

Lampides boeticus
Pea Blue / Long-tailed Blue

Butterflies are definitely much more difficult to identify the species.
The same family can look so similar, with only one small detail difference to mark a different species.

Shooting butterfly is a new experience for me.

Pei Yan

*Edit: updated with the correct ID of the butterfly.

Mangrove Dwarf @ Chek Jawa

2010-12-24T18:22:00.003+08:00

Yay...
I've added another dragonfly shot to my collection.
That makes it 8 true dragonfly species I have out of the many found in Singapore.

Raphismia bispina
Mangrove Dwarf (female)
Uncommon

My friend tells us that the male species is blue and it's too far away from the boardwalk to shoot.

Pei Yan

P.Ubin, Land of Robbers

2010-12-23T18:27:00.001+08:00

Don't be alarmed.
P.Ubin is a safe place.

I was referring to the robber fly.
We really saw a lot of robber fly until we lost count of them.
We saw them in all sizes. From tiny ones to big ones.
Every where we turn, we are sure to find a robber fly.

This is how a robber fly looks like.

General public usually call the different species of fly, fly.

This is not just any ordinary fly, this is a robber fly.

Pei Yan

Oriental Pied Hornbills @ Chek Jawa

2010-12-23T17:47:00.001+08:00

I heard them, I saw them.
It's the oriental pied hornbills.
I was that Chek Jawa with my photography friends at about 9am plus.
The hornbills were very active today as compared to my other visits to Chek Jawa.

We heard them as we were walking in to Chek Jawa.
Accompanying the sound of the hornbills was a woodpecker pecking at a tree branch right above our shooting location.
I didn't get a picture of it thought. It was covered by some tree ferns.
I saw them flying around at the start of the boardwalk and again at the coconut tree at House No. 1.

Later in the afternoon, I saw another pair at the butterfly hill, not far from the HSBC volunteer's house.

Taken at Butterfly Hill

A pair of hornbills

For some reason, I feel quite excited whenever I see hornbills or talk about their man-made nesting box at Chek Jawa.

I think that hornbills are great birds.

Pei Yan

Sunrise @ Ubin (part 2)

2010-12-23T16:58:00.002+08:00

After a great sunrise and island walkabout session at Ubin on Monday, my friends and I are back again today for another round of shooting.
Today's session focuses on sunrise and macro.

The light wasn't as great as Monday's but I got to try my new set of filters.
I also enjoyed the cooling waters and waves hitting as high as my thighs as I placed my setup in the sea.
The light rain did not stop us from shooting.
We carried on despite having rain drops all over our equipment and filters.

It's kind of addictive shooting sunrise and sunsets.
However school is starting soon...

Pei Yan

Discover the entire movie of your friend

2010-12-22T20:47:00.000+08:00

This is so fun...

Video.

Pei Yan :)

Ubin sunrise

2010-12-20T19:50:00.003+08:00

Today is another crazy sun chasing session.
This time it is in the east.
Woke up at 4.30am, ate breakfast at the market before cabbing down to meet the rest at 6am.
We were lucky that the boat had 2 other passengers, so we paid less.

The rocks there were really beautiful.
It was a pity that I didn't bring extra shoes, otherwise I would very much want to go into the sea to shoot.
My images were not good but the process and experience was fun.

I guessed you know where I went to...

PeiYan

MBS sunset

2010-12-18T19:43:00.003+08:00

I missed this morning's sunrise session with my gang.
But... I made it up with sunset with a few of them this evening.
Thanks to someone who announced it on our forum thread.

Today is my second time chasing the sun.
Gonna get some filters soon.

btw....
Did I mention that we saw a fire incident at MBS museum building, and then a car accident at night... :S

Peiyan

Macro @ Venus Loop

2010-12-10T19:18:00.003+08:00

I am back at Venus Drive again for another round of macro session with my friends.
This time round is a day macro session.
Our destination is further in on the left track from where we usually shoot.
Here are some of the images from the trip:

Blue-spotted Flatwing, uncommon

Treehugger

Telephone Sylvan (Male)

Copper-cheeked Frog

Blue-sided Satinwing (Male), uncommon

It was a great day with lots of subjects to shoot and not forgetting a few bashing and getting stuck in mud.
This is my first time getting quite dirty, but not wet.
The water in the stream was so nice and cool.

I want to go back there again someday.

Pei Yan

Sunrise at Upper Peirce Reservoir

2010-12-10T19:09:00.003+08:00

For the first time since I took up photography, I actually woke up at 4.30am to catch sunrise with my friends.
We drove down to Upper Peirce Reservoir, walked through dark steep slope before reaching our destination.

The light wasn't very good but I did capture a few streaks of red in the sky.

Catch the sun,
Pei Yan

Macro @ Punggol

2010-11-21T19:19:00.001+08:00

It's the school holiday period.
I get more time to go on outings with my friends.
This morning, we went to punggol. One of my friends was looking for a specific species of dragonfly.
The sun was up and shining brightly on us. It was really hot.

There wasn't much subjects to shoot.
The dragonflies were swift in their flight.
The only catch I got was this.

Spine-tufted Skimmer (Male)

There were a few spiders to shoot, but I'm afraid of spiders so I just looked at them.
Amongst the few spiders, one of them is the Singapore Tarantula.
It's really small and gives a nasty bite.

The rest of my images can be found here.

Pei Yan

IR: Infra red hits SAC

2010-11-17T14:39:00.003+08:00

This is how SAC looks like in infra red.

Somehow, I feel images did not turn out as expected.
Feels a bit off focus???

Pei Yan

Strictly Pancakes

2010-11-16T22:42:00.002+08:00

We usually associate pancakes with breakfast, served with butter and maple syrup or fresh fruits and cream.
Tuck along the same row of shophouses where the italian restuarants, pubs and board games cafe sits at Selegie Road is this unique cafe called Strictly Pancakes.
Strictly pancakes serves pancakes as a main course with meat, vegetables or seafood.
The combination sounds weird - "will my stomach reject it?"

All side pancakes and main course comes with maple syrup and a choice of butter - salted, unsalted, garlic and herb or run and raisin.

Garlic and Herb butter

Rum and raisin butter

My friend and I choose to go the main course way.
We each selected a main dish to share.
I choose Beef Me Up.
My friend picked Potatoes Leeking Cheese

Beef Me Up, $14

The extre-thick pancakes were really thick. It's about the same thickness as the pancakes from Mr Bean, but bigger in circumference.
The beef patty was disappointingly dry, different from the claimed "juicy" in the menu.
The ingredients they put inside the beef makes the whole patty taste funny the more you have it. I didn't quite like the taste.
The sautéed mushrooms were totally dried up. Some slices of mushroom had a strong heat and peppery taste.
The arugula salad was nice and tasty, vinaigrette dressing with walnuts in it.

Potatoes Leeking Cheese, $12

This dish sees the idea of rosti. The pancake batter is mixed with potatoes, leeks and cheese and shaped. It looks like the japanese pancake, okonomiyaki.
As usual the sautéed mushrooms are of the same pot, so they are as dry as those in Beef Me Up.
This dish is served with sour cream, which gives the idea and presentation similar to rosti.

We also ordered fries and it came tossed with some unknown powder.
It has some burnt tasted and we guess that it's roasted curry powder or something similar.

Overall was filling but I guessed that idea of having pancakes with main course items doesn't quite fit our mind sets.
Nevertheless it was a good try on their food.

Their weekend breakfast menu looks better.

Pan-caked,
Pei Yan

IR: Infra red goes to school

2010-11-12T19:38:00.004+08:00

On a perfect sunny noon time and a quiet school environment during school holiday, it is the best combination for IR.
You get a clean IR image with no human trails.

Back view of the school from netball court

Netball court (Morning assembly ground)

School field in black and white

Pavilion outside computer lab 3

The lovely part of infra red photography is that the long exposure produces cloudy trails.
I would love to shoot more of the school grounds next time.

Pei Yan

IR: Third Try - I'm moving on to theIR craze

2010-11-10T22:37:00.003+08:00

The IR craze continues to city area.

The moment I stepped out of Bras Basah Station, I saw the partial grey sky.
The lighting was pretty bad. My camera refuses to do the custom white balance shot.
It keeps telling me "no good".
Luckily my previous custom white balance is still there.
Despite the overcast sky, I managed to do a few shots.

Singapore Management University

Singapore Management University

National Museum of Singapore

I shall find time and good weather to re-shoot them again.

Pei Yan

IR: Second Try

2010-11-05T22:36:00.003+08:00

Today, I tried infra red at Orchard.
Was on my way to meet up my NIE friends for a gathering.
Thus I decided to come out earlier to try IR again with proper white balance readings.
The sky was quite cloudy today.

First stop: Istana Park

Second stop: Istana House main gate.
Today is a public holiday, so the Istana is opened to public visit.

Third stop: Walkway from Istana Park to Orchard Central

I got a better white balance reading today.
The greens are almost to the correct colour.

Pei Yan

IR: First Try

2010-11-04T17:35:00.001+08:00

I started to have some interest in infra red photography a few years ago through infra red seminar talk.
However my interest died down soon after as the IR filter was expensive.
With the recent IR craze in my photography forum group, I decided to buy one and try it out.

It's not a difficult thing to do, and yet it is not that easy to shoot.
Once the filter is placed on the lens, you can't view the scene through the viewfinder.
Everything has be be adjusted before attaching the filter.
The shooting mode is in manual and you have to trial and error to find the correct exposure timing.
White balance needs to be customised otherwise the color will not be correct when you post-process the image.
The effect is best shot on a sunny day. It is still doable on a cloudy day but the contrast and effect may not be that great.

On my first try, I am excited to shoot more.

Basically, most of the greens will turn white in infra red photography.

Infra-red,
Pei Yan

My Macro Setup

2010-10-03T16:50:00.002+08:00

Allow me to show you my night macro setup.

Let's start with the tripod:

The lens:

The torch:

The setup:

Happy shooting,
Pei Yan

The Lorax

2010-10-02T20:58:00.003+08:00

Saw this video via Ria's blog.

The story is from Dr Seuss' stories.
Perhaps it is telling us something about taking care of Earth that we don't know?

Do your part to save Mother Earth.

Pei Yan

From Plamp to Plamps

2010-10-02T15:27:00.000+08:00

On tuesday, I was on a buying spree.
First the Tamron 180mm macro from a fellow CSer, then I went to Cathay Photo to get the Wimberley Plamp.
Here it is:

On Thursday night, a fellow exposer posted on the exposer thread that someone is selling 4 plamps at a wooping price of $200.
That's $20 cheaper per piece.
Tempting me so much, I texted the seller on Friday night and I had the deal the today.
So now, I have 5 plamps:

That is really a lot of plamps to use.

Plamp-y-fied,
Pei Yan

Night Macro Session 2

2010-10-01T23:56:00.004+08:00

Another night macro session with my macro gang.
When we got to our shooting site, we found that the grass by the sides of the path had been trimmed.
There wasn't much insects to be found on the short grass.
However all is not disappointed. We saw some other interesting creatures.

My first subject was found my Michael.
It was the glowing mushroom.

After I finish shooting it, we realised that there are plenty of it in the dense vegetation.
Michael said that these mushrooms grow on rotting wood.
I couldn't get the image of the stalk of the mushroom though.

Next I found a field frog myself.
Actually it was Michael who showed us the area of croaking frogs but... I did spot this frog myself.

This creature was so quite and still, while listening to the smaller fellas make their forested music.
Andrew found this damselfly perched on a hanging twig some distance inwards.
It is a Blue-spotted Flatwing.

Quite disappointing with this shot as I did not realise that I was shooting at iso800.
The image came out grainy when I looked at it at home.
The sad thing was this is my first record of this damsel and it is one of the two "good" image that I had. :(

My next subject was a thorny caterpillar.

My second last catch was the arrowhead flatworm.
It is a Terrestrial Flatworm or Land Planarian.

Bipalium sp.

Another great night macro with new subjects to shoot.

Pei Yan

No updates???

2010-09-25T20:54:00.002+08:00

Wow!!!!! I've just realised that it has been 4 months ago since I last updated.
It is time..... to backlog my entries.

Meow?!?

2010-09-18T23:23:00.001+08:00

Meow :)

New Toy: LED torch

2010-09-16T20:59:00.005+08:00

New toy for me.
I bought a LED torch after being poisoned by my shooting company during the night macro session.
The torch has 2 types of lumen (light power) and it comes with a strobe function.
so cool...

The torch can take 1AA by default and there is an extension to fit 2AA.
shiok...

I can't wait to use it officially.

Default setup, 1AA batt

Extended setup, 2AA batt

Shine torchie shine!!!

Pei Yan

Night Macro Session 1

2010-09-09T20:58:00.005+08:00

My first try on night macro shooting last night at Venus Drive.
It was the first night after the 7th month.
Leong said that it is going to be very dark as there's no moon tonight.
In the first place, the whole carpark where we met was already dark.
We had to walk along the path for some distance till we reach our shooting site.
Good thing for LED lights and torches, it did lit up the area a bit but it was still dark and I am quite afraid of walking around in dark areas.

It was really scary to shoot alone while the others are at other locations as the surroundings were really dark.
Furthermore we had to scout around for insects to shoot.
Focusing the subject in the dark with a torch was a challenge too.
A few of my subjects were found from my shooting gang.

Here are some of the images from my first session:

Green hopper

Red Hopper

Adult Cockroach

Long legged Centipede

Some wasp?

It was a good session.
With my rain boots on, my feet did not get wet in the puddled and muddy path.
Night macro is fun. When the weather is cool and moist, you actually breathe out "smoke" (whatever it is called).

Pei Yan

Uniquely KC: Racial Harmony Day celebrations

2010-07-19T21:55:00.001+08:00

What would be a better way to celebrate Racial Harmony Day than having it in school.
The school used Monday's assembly program to celebrate racial harmony day.
It was a simple way to commemorate the peaceful relationship between the various religious groups in Singapore.
The program consists of a skit by the chinese drama students, the malay dance and a guest speaker on racial stereotyping.

Top down perspective of my two students from the gallery. Wish I could redo this shot again.

Malay dance.

Happy Racial Harmony Day

Peace!
Pei Yan

Switzerland, here I come

2010-06-11T22:13:00.000+08:00

I'm at the airport now.
Destination Switzerland.
Will be there for 11 days.

Bon voyage,
Pei Yan

What I gave to my kids.

2010-05-07T22:11:00.002+08:00

Today marks the end of my teaching practicum.
The 10 weeks passes so quickly.
To "thank" the students for their cooperations and fun times, some of the practicum teachers decided to do something for our students.
It was tough to think of what things to get or make for them as we do not want to have any repetition of gifts.

Since my sec 1 girls loved my cat images so much, I decided to print one for each of them.
Like wise, I thought that it would be an interesting gift to give them one of my photography works.
So...
My sec 1 got my pretty cat,
sec 2 received my silhouette taken at the top jejawi tower at chek jawa,
and sec 3 received a sunset image.

The set my sec 1s and 3s got looks like this.

It comprises of a name sticker and a photo.
Behind the photo is a little message written by me (thought it's standard wordings for all).

I'm sure the girls are touched by the little gesture from me, just like the little notes they wrote for me.
Similarly, I did the same thing for my two co-operating teachers (forgot to take pictures of them).
Thank you for making my practicum a memorable one.
Don't worry, I'm coming back.

Hugs,
Peiyan

What the kids gave me.

2010-05-01T22:10:00.002+08:00

What do lovely kids do in class?
They write notes during my lessons and secretly place them in my marker box (thought I strongly disprove them of doing so).
Never thought that a simple post-it can be so useful under the creativity of my sec 3 math girls.
Most of the time when I walk back to change a marker, there will be a note place in my marker box.
Out of class, I enjoyed reading their little notes and they are so lovely and beautiful.

This is the very first piece that I got from my student.
Actually, she recycled a piece of paper that she has written wrongly on the other side.

These came in bits and pieces.
SInce most of them are post-it, I have decided to stick them onto a piece of paper and keep them in a plastic folder.

All of the "little" (some not so little) notes are pasted on my table's wall.

Lovely notes,
Peiyan

The 5 faces of cybercrime

2010-04-28T18:53:00.009+08:00

While browsing through the newspaper in the staff lounge, I came across this headline on the front page of Straits Times' Digital Life.
Being curious of what the headline meant by "5 faces of cybercrime", I read through the Digital Life (my favourite section) and reach the article.
The article is presented in a form of illustration.

Each of the 5 kinds of cybercrime mentioned in the article is explained using drawings with a short description.
As you can see, the drawings tend to exaggerate each type of cybercrime face.

Here's the description of the 5 faces of cybercrime:

Phisherman:
Bot Herder:
Businessman:
Writer:
Spammer:

The use of illustrations helps to drive the meaning across to the readers. However the drawings may portray a different degree of interpretation as compared to text as some are just literal translation of the types' heading.

This article brings the understanding level of cybercrime a notch higher. People usually relate cybercrime with spams, pornography, cyber harassment... etc. With this article, a deeper understanding of the spamming and cyber virus network is exposed.

Interesting article it is.

Understand cybercrime,

Peiyan

My work table (Update)

2010-04-28T15:56:00.004+08:00

Here's an update of my table.
There are more things on my wall now after my students started to "secretly" place notes in my marker box.
I treasure these things and did not throw them away (they are beautiful too).

On the shelves side sits my books, files, papers, paper puncher and clips.
The little cupboard keeps my bag, plastic folders, thumbdrives, mobile broadband stick and mouse.
The table hold my students' homework, marker box, VGA cable and tissue box.

I love my table,
Peiyan

Adobe Photoshop CS5: Content-Aware Fill Sneak Peek

2010-04-28T15:40:00.001+08:00

Adobe Photoshop is coming up with Creative Suite 5.

Apparently, the new feature in CS5 is Content-aware.

It is a smart function that does the clean up when you want to remove objects from the image.

The software will decide the environment and clean up (or clone) the area for you.

It really helps in the cloning process and makes the image look very smooth and unedited.

Watch the video to find out more.

Are you ready for Photoshop CS5?

Peiyan

My BlackBerry has a new cover

2010-04-28T15:34:00.002+08:00

My BlackBerry has a new protective cover!
Actually, it's not very new. I bought the new cover end of last year.
As I was changing my cover, I realised that the old cover actually leave scratch marks on the side of the phone. *heart pain*

Now, with this new cover, I feel happy.
The new cover is a thick silicon casing and I know for sure that it will not scratch my sides.
I can remove the casing easily to clean my phone whenever I want to.

I'm loving my BlackBerry,
Peiyan

Human cheek cells

2010-04-05T16:12:00.002+08:00

This is human cheek cells (mine).

Under the microscope, you will be able to see

Nucleus
Cell membrane

The human cheek cells are not connected in an orderly manner.

Human cheek cells are spread out.

The cells are transparent and thus, we need to stain them (with iodine).

The human cheek cells.

"Bio" teacher,

Peiyan

Onion epidermal cells

2010-04-05T15:59:00.001+08:00

This is an image of a onion epidermal (skin) cells.

Under the microscope, you will be able to see

Nucleus
Cellulose cell wall
Faint image of the central vacuole

The onion epidermal cells are arranged in a neat manner.

Onion epidermal cells do not have chloroplast as they are found underground.

The onion epidermal cell.

"Bio" teacher,

Peiyan

Happy Birthday

2010-03-19T08:43:00.002+08:00

Happy birthday to me.

I've got 4 pages worth of birthday wishes wall posts on my Facebook.

The birthday girl,
Peiyan

My work table

2010-03-10T15:48:00.002+08:00

This is my work table.
My friends gets jealous as I have a big table to myself (or rather, each of the trainee teachers has a table to themselves), while some are sharing tables in their school.

I like my table and I have decorated it as if I will be using it permanently.

I love my table,
Peiyan

Testing

2010-02-25T13:39:00.003+08:00

Hello... it's been a long time since I last blogged.
This post is a testing on putting images created from Microsoft Word onto blogger post.

Lousy image quality after I increase the height.
:(

Creating Math Blog,
PeiYan

This is a backlog.

2010-02-20T15:13:00.000+08:00

As the title says, this is a backlog.

Nothing much to update.

The only exciting thing is that I have just started my practicum in an all girls' school.

Looking forward to enjoyable lesson with the girls.

It's 10 weeks busying churning lesson plans.

Teacher!

Peiyan

NIE Library

2010-01-18T18:17:00.001+08:00

I went to the NIE library in the late afternoon today.

Wanted to look at the mathematics textbook to get an idea of the syllabus flow for my math micro-teaching.
I am going to teach on Logarithms but I did not have a specific section to cover at the moment.

What I did was to take down the various Laws of Logarithms and decide later.

The textbook I was referencing from.

The late afternoon sun was shinning through the tall glass widows on the third floor. It created a nice effect the table I was sitting at.

What a nice view from the window.
I had an image in my mind and luckily, my camera was around to capture it.
With the camera I thought, "Why not take a picture of the library's book shelves?"
I made a number of attempts before I could get a decent shot. The position I was in was not an ideal location and most of the shots I took gave a slanted feel or distortions. In the end, I settled for this image.

The NIE library on a late afternoon is really quite. There are not many people around as most of them would have left for their lessons or on their way home.

Shhhhhh...,
Peiyan

Swiss Baeckerie @ Frankel Ave

2010-01-12T15:18:00.002+08:00

Met my Jiemei today to top-up funds.
Since he was meeting his client at Kembangan, I decided to do a search on eateries with good reviews near that area.
I came across Swiss Baeckerie, location at Frankel Ave.
It's along the same row of shophouses as where Bakery Deport is.

The shop can be recognised by its huge croissant that has already blacken.
Walking into the shop, it's pretty small but brings out the cosy feeling.
The tables were most all taken up.

Looking at the menu, the food sounds good but slightly pricy for the amount that you get.
My Jiemei ordered the Mushroom "Croques".
It's mushroom sandwich covered with cheese and toasted till the cheese melts, served with salad.

Mushroom "Croques"

I ordered the Savory Crepe served with scrambled egg and chicken sausage.

Savory Crepe

I find that the amount of mushroom in the "croques" could have been more and a bit too wet for the bread.
However the melted cheese on the toasted sandwich provided a good taste.

The crepe taste normal. Not very nicely done as it was a bit thick on the inside.
The scrambled eggs were a bit too wet, turning the crepe a slightly soggy.
However the eggs were nice to taste.
Chicken sausage, yummy!

We ordered the set meal, so it came with coffee or tea.
I think I would return to the place again to try the other dishes.

Swiss bakery,
Pei Yan

What Have I Learnt About Assessment?

2010-01-11T22:01:00.005+08:00

This was the summary question to today's physics lecture on Assessment.
In fact, all the 3 classes that I had today talked, discussed, described, explained... about ASSESSMENT.
That's like an overdosage of Assessment for my little brain cells.

To answer the question, Glen, Geok Lan, Czarina and I thought of funny things.
And we came up with this:

Assessment Algorithm!

Actually, we were feeling a bit crazy after Dr Ho's math tutorial.
He was going through what assessment is and the discussions were to think which of the 2 given choices is relevant.

Examples:
Assessment

See if the student know their Mathematical stuff.

See if the students listen to my teaching.

See if I am a good teacher.

See what the students do not know or understand.

These are not the exact words. I just phrase them to my best memory ability.
Basically, we had fun and translated these "answers" to physics lesson.

Finally, Rion even made use of what one of the classemate's formulae that "Assessment = Testing + Evaluation" to answer the lecture's question during Maths lecture right after physics class.
That's 3 consecutive lessons on assessment.

Enough of assessment.
The second semester of NIE has begun and things are moving very fast.
We have only 6 weeks to spare before we enter the gates of Practicum.

For some reason, I created an entry today.

Assessment!
Peiyan

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T00:01:00.000+08:00

It's the year 2010.
Its the year of the Tiger soon.

Here's wishing all my friends and viewer (if there are any).

Happy 2010!!!

Cheers,
Peiyan

Hong Kong Day 1: Wong Tai Sin

2009-12-14T01:59:00.001+08:00

By the time we settle down in our room and unpack our luggage, it was already 2.30pm.
We decided to go to Wong Tai Sin, a famous temple.
It is located at the Wong Tai Sin Mtr Station (did they name the station because of the temple?).

Two hungry ladies were looking around for food.
As we were staying along the Flower Street, we decided to walk down the street to see what we can eat.
There were so many char chung ting (small coffee shop kind) around and we had no idea what to eat.
Then the familiar sign came to our view: MacDonalds. Woohoo.
Without much thinking, our very first meal in Hong Kong is at Mac.

I ordered the Big Mac meal upsized while Miss Yew ordered their new Ebi Burger meal.

Big Mac meal upsized with crispy-yet-not-oily fries.

Yes!!! Their fries are simply amazing.
It's crispy and taste somewhat like Long John Silver's fries and yet they are not oily!!!

Ebi Burger packaging.

Mac in Hong Kong is not just favourite amongst teenagers but also adults and even senior citizens.

After our late lunch, we walked to Mong Kok East Mtr Station.
Along the way at the bridge, we took some photos of the market street (it's like our night market but the whole street is covered.)

The whole road is barely visible.

Amount of people walking.

Mong Kok East MTR station.

We had to catch the MTR at Mong Kok East station to Kowloon Tong station and then change train to reach Wong Tai Sin station.
Actually, we were quite noobs.
Eventually, we realised that Wong Tai SIn station is acutally on the same line as Prince Edward, which is 2 minutes away from our hostel.

Beware:
At Wong Tai Sin station, it is best that you observe the station exit first before really exiting.
If you exit at the one facing the main road, then good for you.
This is because, we followed the signages at the station and exited nearest to the shopping mall.
There lay a few landmines of old ladies trying to sell you incense and joss paper.
Well... I shouldn't use "trying". It should be "forcing".
Unless you have good agility and able to avoid them quickly once out of the exit.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay amounts from HK$10 onwards.

Praying items sold at the legal shops outside the temple. If you want to pray, you can get the incense and joss paper safely here.

Evening sunset at Wong Tai Sin

The sun sets early in Hong Kong.
By 6pm, it is almost dark.

After Wong Tai Sin, we went back to our hostel to change and head to Harbour City to deliver books to PageOne.
Miss Yew also met up with her friend, Stephanie, to collect her shoes back.
Dinner was at a canto restaruant and they provided free corkage.
I drank 2 glasses or red wine - the most amount of red wine I ever drank.
And after dinner, Stephanie brought us to a lounge at one of the tall buildings to drink and look at the night scene of Hong Kong Island.
It was past midnight when we took the bus back to Prince Edward station and walked back to our room.

Tired,
Peiyan

Hong Kong Day 1: Singapore - Hong Kong

2009-12-13T11:20:00.002+08:00

I'm flying off to Hong Kong on United Airlines.
We choose this airline not because we were able to get the tickets at a good price (SGD$400+) but primarily because it is the only airline that fly at 6.50am to Hong Kong.
That means we will reach Hong Kong at about 11am.
This saved us quite a bit of time as it will be just nice to check-in to the hostel and have the rest of the day to explore.

With 6.50am flight, the environment is still pretty dark when we board the plane.

Next to UA, I see SIA.

We were given the Economy Plus seats. Don't know what's the difference with Economy seats.

As the plane leaves the gate for the runway, the sun began to rise.

It was a beautiful morning sky.

Food came in a simple "breakfast" box. I was looking forward to a much better flight meal :(

View of the plane's right wing in the nice blue sky.

The journey from Singapore to Hong Kong takes about 3 hour plus a bit.
The sky was too bright for the passengers to open the windows and enjoy the view.
Furthermore, the windows at my seat were at awkward location that I had to bend near to the front seat to look through it.

On-board, they were showing Mosters vs Aliens. I got board reading magazines and took a 1.5 hr sleep while listening to on-board Jazz station.

Reached Hong Kong airport and the first thing was to look for toilet.
To get to the immigration, we had to take the internal tram as the gates were too far from the immigration center.

At the Hong Kong Airport, I purchased the Octopus card (Ez-link card in Singapore's sense).

HK! HK!
Peiyan

I'm off to Hong Kong!

2009-12-13T05:33:00.002+08:00

I have check-in at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3.

For the first time in my entire life, I am going on a trip with my good-friend-"neighbour".
The best part is, this is my first trip planned and decided between the two of us.
First time to Hong Kong, first time going out on my own (not quite on my own bcos got my good friend but it's still by myself).

It was a bit worrying when the check-in counter staff told us that they are still finding a seat for us.
Eventually, we got our seat.

Going off to departure gate.

Flyyyyyy,
Peiyan

SITEX 2009

2009-11-27T17:06:00.003+08:00

The annual last IT show is here - SITEX 2009.

Today's visit to SITEX has got only one aim: Look for good camera memory card deals.
The venue, Expo, was not really packed with people.
At tanah merah mrt station, the unusual crowd of people waiting for the train bounding to Changi Airport shows how many people are going to the fair.
On top of that, today is a public holiday. Even more people are free to go, look look and see see.
And there are a lot of children there too.

Actually, there's nothing to see at SITEX unless you intend to get a new desktop or laptop.
At every turns and corners, the sales-boy or sales-girl will come and ask me, "Looking for laptop?"
Unfortunately, I come with a purpose and items in mind.
Even if I wanted to shop for a new computer, I would have done my homework and have a brand in mind.
I would not be the group of shoppers who goes round the whole mall, looking at the various computers available and comparing specifications and prices.
I have to confess that I did that once when getting the new desktop for my brother as I do not know the brands available during the show.

Oh well... In the end, I got my stuff from the SanDisk booth, managed by Song Brothers.
These are what I got from them:

Compact Flash memory, 2GB and 4 GB.
SDHC Card, 8GB.
Card Reader.

There's nothing much to see as the booths are more or less the same.
What people are interested in is the "sale" or special prices for the electronic gadgets.

Let's wait and see what's there to buy during the next IT show.

Cards,
Peiyan

Beatuiful Sky

2009-11-26T23:56:00.002+08:00

The weather for the past few days has been scorching hot.
I can feel the intense of the heat even when I'm at home.
Outside, it's even worst and standing under the sun for a few seconds feel like getting heatstroke.

However, the bright and sunny weather these few days has brought nice opportunities for pretty sunset shots.
While deciding what to have for dinner with my friends at Jurong Point, I came around this beautiful sun setting sky.

Pretty sunset,
Peiyan

NIE peeps fun

2009-11-23T23:51:00.003+08:00

What happens when a group of trainee teachers have no class during term?
We meet up to do our essay assignment and then have lots of fun.

This week, we only have one class left: Edu Psy II.
However, we have two assignments due this week: Physics microteaching lesson plan and Edu Psy II essay.
Initially, one of my classmates told us that she will be coming to school to submit her physics assignment and then stay in school to complete her essay assignment.
Then the idea developed.
We thought of meeting up to do the essay assignment together.
Then someone suggested playing board games.
I have no idea how the board game idea came in.
And so.... We settled on lunch at NIE, study then play board games at Clementi.

We study hard. The Cavern @ Student Services Centre.

Game time! Mad Gab.

It's an intellectual game. Requires "deep" thinking.

Cranium

Time passes very quickly when you have fun.
Together with this "crazy" people, we have lots of fun together.
Looking forward to the chalet next week.

Hum to the tune of...
Peiyan

Hokkaido Ramen @ ion Orchard

2009-11-21T23:47:00.003+08:00

For some reason, I wanted to go for dinner today.
So I smsed Jeanbean and Leonard and after a few rounds of discussions, we decided to have ramen.
The place was suggested by Jeanbean.
Hokkaido Ramen located at B2 of ion Orchard.
The plan was to meet at the restaurant at 7pm.
Luckily the 2 guys were early and they had to queue to get into the restaurant.

By the time I reached B2 (slightly after 7pm), the whole eatery area was filled with people and many of the restaurants had long queue.

This is my first time eating Japanese ramen.

I ordered the Shio Seafood Ramen and fried tofu.
Jeanbean ordered Shoyu Cha Shu Ramen with Toro Don.
Leonard ordered Shoyu Toro Ramen.

In my opinion, i find that the ramen soup taste saltier as I eat.
It could be the nature of the soup but it got too salty for my liking towards the end.
The egg is nice as it has a soft yoke for a hard boiled braised egg.

Shio Seafood Ramen

Shoyu Cha Shu Ramen

Toro Ramen

Fried Tofu

The restaurant has 10% discount for citibank cards.

It was a great dinner and we shopped around at Tangs before heading home.

Slurp!!!
Peiyan

Maksim Concert

2009-11-19T23:15:00.005+08:00

Maksim is having a concert in Singapore!
Yay!!!
I finally get to watch him play live.
While buying the ticket online, I made a mistake and ended up sitting at the back of the concert hall.
But I'm here to listen to his playing, so it doesn't matter.

This is Maksim's Concert Classique.
He played classical music and also those in his albums.
The first part was so-so as it was those long classical music.
It was long for each piece.
Furthermore, this concert is Maksim and piano only.
Hence you only hear piano sound.

However, the second part I believe is what many of his viewers were waiting for - pieces from his albums.
It was shiok to hear the album pieces being played live in a concert hall.
The only difference was the lack of accompanying music that you get in the album.
This is solely piano.
Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable night and I believe Maksim had a great final night of concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall.
Though he had finished his concert, Maksim came out again to play an encore piece.
Everyone in the concert hall couldn't stop clapping.

Concert ticket from Sistic

Brochure promotion the concert from the Sistic counter

Ticket and brochure

Hopefully, Maksim can come to Singapore again in the future.

Classique,
Peiyan

Great Eastern Women's 10k

2009-11-01T23:50:00.002+08:00

One week after the the Nike Human Race, I ran the Great Eastern Women's 10k.
My first ever consecutive week run.
It was tiring for my legs.
Actually, I did not realise that I have signed up for runs within consecutive weeks.
Luckily, nothing happened. Just that I had some cramp like pain on my right calf muscle, near the back of the knee.

The route for the GE run was a bit similar to the Nike run.
It covered the nicoll highway, looped around national stadium, back on nicoll highway, raffles ave, F1 pit building and back to padang.
Whereas for the nike run, it started and ended at the F1 pit building.

GE run is special as it is a run meant for women only.
(Though along the way, I saw men running with their other half.)

The only bad point was that there was no distinct lane for those running the 10km and those running the 5km towards the ending point.
Everyone just ran towards the ending point.
Good thing was that it was not crowded at the finishing line.

Race bib (with baggage deposit sticker).

Race bib with finisher's medal.

Finisher's medal back view.

Finisher's medal front view.

It was a great run.
Chip finishing: 01:40:57
Gun finishing: 01:42:37
Position: 4972

Ladies' run,
Peiyan

NIke Human Race 2009

2009-10-24T23:48:00.004+08:00

Having missed last year's Nike Run, I was on the look out for this year's run.
Finally, the advertisement came on sgrunners.com and I quickly signed up for it.
But the website was creating some problem with the signups.
Nonetheless, I managed to register for the run.

Looking at this year's race tee, the design was rather disappointing.
I feel that last year's design was better.

The race route was ok.
Apart from the small slope at the nicoll highway and then at the underground road at beach road area, the rest of the route was generally flat.

One annoying issue was that the male runners were rather rude.
They push you aside in order to run past you.
Well... the very least they could have done was to say "coming through".
Isn't that the running courtesy all runs have been asking runners to do?

Baggage deposit was great and smooth and away from the heat.
The finisher's bracelet collection point was a bit awkward.
Overall a great run for me as I hit my personal best.

Race tee, finisher's bracelet and champion chip tag.

Close up of the items.

Finisher's bracelet.

Finishing time: 1h 40min (Personal best!)

Just do it!
Peiyan

Chek Jawa: Training Session 2

2009-09-26T21:02:00.003+08:00

Today is the second training session for Chek Jawa nature guides from the NIE green club.
Every trip is a different setup.
So... for today's trip, I brought along my D200 with tamaron 90mm macro and SB800, and my LX3.
There are 2 other photographers along this trip too and they are brothers.

Upon reaching the gate to Chek Jawa, everyone started shoot already.
And near the visitor kiosk, there are 2 orb spiders resting on their huge web.

Golden Orb Spider

Orb Spider

For today's guide training, I followed Kok Sheng's group as an assistant.
Our group consisted of all ladies and one gentleman group of 7 and we started off from the coastal walk.

Our first station is the Hornbill's nest.

Hornbill's nest high up in the tree

The nest you see here doesn't look natural right?
Yup... this nest is placed up there by the NParks.
The objective is to encourage the hornbills living on Pulau Ubin to mate and reproduce.
The nesting box is fitted with camera to capture the activity of the female hornbill when she is nesting in it.

After much introduction to the hornbill's nest, we proceeded on to the coastal walk.
Kok Sheng shared with the participants about the Frog Island, Pulau Seduku.
Along the way, one of the participants spotted a juvenile water monitor lizard sunbathing on the rocky shore.

Following that, we took a look at the seashore nutmeg, which were flowering and bearing fruits at the entrance of the coastal broadwalk.
Our group had a lot of fun along the way, talking about mermaids and some thought that the island opposite was Batam!
Perhaps Kok Sheng's misleading question of "The place where every man will have to go." prompted Batam to be the answer.

Just as we were about to enter the Sea Grass meadow section, we noticed small red insects on a sea hibiscus tree.
On closer inspection, it is the juvenile cotton-stainer bugs!
This is my first time seeing the young and eventually, we found a mating adult pair.

Mating adult cotton-stainer bug.

Further inland, I noticed this pinkish moth resting on the sea hibiscus leaf.
In fact, I saw two moths on different leaves.

We walked through the magroves, looking at the different species of fiddler crabs waving, nipah plant (where your atap chee comes from), and then up the Jejawi Tower near the entrance of the magrove route.
I did not realise the height of the tower until I climbed it.
It was scary as I climbed higher.
The Jejawi Tower is a good place to observe the bird when they are feeding on a nearby fig tree.
Too bad, the tree was not figging today.
At the foot of the Jejawi Tower, I saw a beautiful red dragon fly, Neurothemis fluctuans.

It was a difficult task shooting the dragon fly without a tripod and it was rather far away from the broadwalk.
I had to lay stomach down on the broadwalk to get a closer shot.
With 3 fps, I shoot continuously to get a more focused shot of the dragonfly.

As usual, after every guided walk, the participants are brought to House 1 to pen their thought about the place.
Following that, the guiders went for a second round.
At the second round, I saw more things.
One of which is the common aquatic moths.

I did not know that these moths were so tiny until I saw them in groups under leaves and a quick check on the guide book.
They do not seem to be bordered by movements of the leaves and I managed to tilt a leaf outwards to get a good shot of it.
Next, a few of us saw a grasshopper.

The grasshopper got quite annoyed at the few of us who were shooting it and it kept moving.

At the seagrass meadow, while the rest were enjoying looking at the many mudskippers in the tidal area, I was busy trying to capture a fly.
And I did not notice this shoot until I got home.

Today's guiding session was fun and fruitful.
Before we knew it, the guard was cycling around to chase us out.
It was 6pm.

Took the bumboat back to mainland and had dinner with the gang.

Installed in the next trip, I might be guiding a group.
How will I fair?

Coast with beauty,
Peiyan

Attack of the sandflies.

2009-09-22T19:48:00.001+08:00

I think I've been bitten by sandflies during my hike on either the dairy farm part or the mountain biking trail part.
I doesn't really matter at which location was I bitten as both trips happened within the same day.
However, I only noticed the bites and felt the itch the day after the trip.
Only my left foot got bitten and it is really itching like mad.
Till now, I haven yet to find a good solution to relieving the itchiness.
The best way so far is to avoid touch it as once touched, the itch will some back.
Apparently, the bites can spread through scratching.
Scary.

Here are the 2 images of the bite on my left foot.

Hope that the bites will go off soon.

Itchy scratchy,
Peiyan

Bukit Timah Mountain Biking Trail

2009-09-21T20:10:00.007+08:00

After walking through the Dairy Farm Nature Park, I decided to take the mountain biking trail.
I have no idea what made me do it but I after some time of walking, I started to regret.
Another worrying part was that the sky does not look promising.

At the initial part of the walk, I saw a few opportunities to shoot macro.
The subjects are mostly grasshoppers.
Other than the grasshoppers, I could find anything else, except for the orb spider.

Grasshopper 1

Orb Spider

Grasshopper 2

Grasshopper 3

The above shots were taken within a close area from each other.
Hence, I was shooting for only a small part of the journey.
Whereas the rest of the journey was spent walking up slopes and down slopes.

Finally, I reached an open ground.
This is my first time actually seeing the open ground at the biking trail.
And now I know where the rock climbing area is.
During the trip, there were 2 groups of people doing rock climbing and I took one shot of it.

Rock climbing area

The reason why I took the biking trail was that I thought it would be a faster route to get to the quarry side.
However, after walking through the trail for don't know how long, I decided to give up.
Partly because I saw that I had to walk further down slope and up slope to get to the quarry, secondly was the weather getting hotter and hotter as it was early noon time.
Hence, I decided to call it a day and enjoy lunch at the Railway Mall.

Just keep walking,
Peiyan

Dairy Farm Nature Park.

2009-09-21T18:59:00.004+08:00

After seeing the opening of a new nature park, I wanted to visit the place.
The newly opened park is Dairy Farm Nature Park.
It is situated behind Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, next to dairy farm road.

The good thing about the place is that I have a bus from my place to there.
The bad thing, dairy farm nature park is situated rather far back from the main road.
To get to the park from the main road, there is actually a nature trail in, which hikers and cyclist will take.
There are interesting things to see at the nature trail.

The walk on the trail from one carpark to the other caroark took about 15min.
What made it worst was the need for me to go to the toilet and there was none in sight.
After the toilet break, I continued the journey to the old Dairy Farm place.

Just outside the Daiy Farm visitor center sits an old abandoned PUB house.

There was a really steep slope after the visitor center.
After the tiring walk up the slope, I was greeted by an old broken down house.

Outside the house, I can see a few dragonflies flying around but they were too fast and not staying on plants to allow me to shoot them. Perhaps it's the noon time and they are very active.
After visiting the house, I went to take a look at the Wallis' Trail.
Just before the entrance to the trail, I saw some flowers that looked like orchids.

Then I saw another interesting subject to shoot.

I was rather difficult to take pictures with the macro lens as I can feel my body swaying even though I was standing still.
Also, the walk was rather tiring and my arms were quite tired from holding the equipment.

Nonetheless, Dairy Farm Nature Park is a great place to go.
However I find it a bit small and disappointing as it did not turn out what I thought I will be.

Mooooo,
Peiyan

Nike Human Race 10k Singapore

2009-09-16T19:11:00.004+08:00

The nike run is here finally.
I have been looking out the for run.
Missed it last year as I was too late for registration.

Those who are interested, sign up now before it is too late.

Just do it,
Pei Yan

Things due this week.

2009-09-13T20:29:00.000+08:00

This week is sure a hectic week.
I am dying from all the assignments.
Here's the breakdown.

Monday:
Teaching of Physics II - eJournal review and discussions due. (Completed)
Communication Skills for Teachers - Group summary of the assigned article (Completed)

Tuesday:
Teaching of Mathematics - Pedagogy, Content, Knowledge test (Not yet started studying)

Wednesday:
ICT for Meaningful Learning
- Individual 1500 word essay due. (Just completed, still need to look through)
- Install SMART board software and do some activity (Program not installed yet)

It doesn't look packed but somewhat, everyone in class seems to be struggling.
I am really feeling stressed out, or am I making myself stress???

Drowning,
Pei Yan

Kranji Nature Trail

2009-09-05T22:18:00.007+08:00

After the session at SBWR, we took another nature walk.
The place is just at one corner of the SBWR carpark.
It is the Kranji Nature Trail.
The entrance/exit to the trail is rather hidden.
So you can't really view the entrance/exit from a distance at the carpark.

Half side of the trail, you see the mangrove vegetation, the other side is the straits.
The path is made up of gravels so comfortable walking shoes is greatly recommended.
The Kranji Nature Trail was not a intended walk.
Furthermore, with the huge amount of mosquitoes buzzing around, we had to quickly get out of the place.

One thing I liked about the trail is the abundance of insects, especially dragonflies!!!
Just a quick walk from the start to the end of the trail, I shot 4 dragonfly species.
There were also a few other insects.

Shots of the trip:

This dragonfly I have yet to find it's identity yet.

Orthetrum sabina

Another specie which I could not identify.

Rhyothemis phyllis

Mating insect

While shooting the mating couple, I was irritated by many buzzing sounds by my right and I could not get proper shots of the insect. Anyway, I was bad enough to intrude their privacy.

I would have gotten better shots if not for the rush to get out of the trail and also the irritating buzzing insects.
Throughout the whole trip, I only had a few bites despite me wearing bermudas.
wow!

Kranji Nature Trail is definitely a good place to look for insects if not for the unwanted irritants.

Hope to go back again.
Pei Yan

Trip to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

2009-09-05T22:18:00.003+08:00

Today, I went to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR) for my second nature guide training session.
To get to SBWR, you need to align at Kranji MRT station and take the shuttle bus in.
That cost $1 per person payable by the "ti" machine - ezLink payment.
The shuttle bus arrives at 1 hour intervals, starting at 9am.

If not, you can take bus 925 at Kranji MRT station and align at Kranji Reservoir Carpark during Mondays to Fridays.
Then you will need to take a 15 min walk along the road in or venture through the Kranji Nature Trail.
On Sundays and Public Holidays, the bus will stop directly outside the reserve.

The main objective was to visit the mangrove broadwalk.
Along the way, July, our guiding instructor told us many information about the mangroves here at Sungei Buloh.
We also see the transition from the normal forest trees to the back mangroves and then to the front area of the mangrove.
Along the way, we saw many mangrove crabs.
One of the is the vinegar crab.

It is called a vinegar crab because the teochews like to pickle them in vinegar.
As a teochew, I have yet to try the vinegar version.
However, I had eaten the crab pickled in the dark sauce and chilled way.
I can be considered as a guilty eater of the crab.

As the tide were coming in, we managed to see the crabs in their tree climbing ability.
Vinegar crabs are also known as tree climbing crab because they will climb up the tree trucks during high tides in order to get away from water predators.

After the mangrove walk, we proceeded on to the Main Hide.
That's one of the hideouts to do bird watching.
As this period is the migratory season, you can see different birds feeding on the mudflats.
July told us that the mudflats water level are controlled by water barrages so that the birds can always feed.

On our way to the Main Hide, saw came across this Green Crested Lizard on one of the small trees outside the toilet area.
It was just slightly above my height and it does not seem be to afraid of humans getting close.
I spent some time there taking a few shots of it.

I was lucky that there happened to be an insect flying by, just nice in the same direction and position.

Along the way, we met Ria and another guider from the Naked Hermit Crab.
And we just met them one week ago.
What a coincidence.
At the Main Hide, we could see flocks of birds flying by and landing on the mudflats to feed.
With the longest lens I had (400mm), this was the best I could reach.

These are Common Redshanks.
They can be recognised by their red legs.

The trip to the Main Hide was more of a resting place and enjoy the bird watching session.
As it was impossible for us to catch up with the shuttle bus, we decided to walk out to the Kranji Reservoir Carpark via the Kranji Nature Trail.
That was the first time I am hearing about the trail.
Outside the visitor center, we saw a Malayan Water Monitor Lizard sun busking at the broadwalk.

It felt a little pissed off at us for interrupting his quiet time.
July told us that its bite is poisonous.
I figured or remembered that it is most likely due to its poisonous saliva.

I still remembered the incident were we saw another monitor lizard walking across the path just outside the visitor's gallery.
It did not cared about the presence of humans nearby as it takes its own time to cross.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is really an interesting place to go and visit.
The whole place is big and there are other parts which I have yet to explore.
Hopefully, I can make a trip on my own there.

Protect the nature,
Pei Yan

Visit to Chek Jawa

2009-08-29T21:43:00.001+08:00

Today, I joined the NIE Green Club for a Nature Guider training session.
I bet none of you know I have this special liking for nature.

This is my first trip to Chek Jawa even though I have been to Pulau Ubin quite a number of times.
We were early at Chek Jawa, so we rested at House 1, which is just behind the visitor center.
We were suppose to observe how the volunteers from the Naked Hermit Crab conduct their guiding.
Since there were few visitors around, the NIE gang split into 2 groups and followed different guide.
My group was following Ria.
We had a lot of fun time listening to her stories and lame jokes.
And we spotted many things along the way too.
I read from Ria's webpage that another group spotted a mud lobster.
wow!

The trip was fun and the weather was good.
We saw the tiny fiddler crabs along the shores at the seagrass lagoon.

I did not have the right lens to shoot.
Only had the 105mm VR macro with me.
Hence, not much of pictures taken.

Before we entered the gates of Chek Jawa,
We were greated by a group of macaques.

At ther inter-tidial area of the seagrass lagoon, there lay a dead mangrove tree.
It provides a good landscape shot if I had a wide-angled lens with me.

While trying to save my photos, I accidentally press the invert command and I got this.
Quite interesting.

I'm not sure if I will be committed enough to becoming a nature guide, though guiding is not done on a weekly basis.
But I'm glad that I can visit such beautiful nature places.
Just taking a walk at such places is good enough for me.

Hopefully, I can visit Chek Jawa more often.

Preserve Chek Jawa,
Pei Yan

Macro at Singapore Botanical Gardens

2009-08-28T21:21:00.013+08:00

Today, I rented the Nikon 105/f2.8 VR macro from the camera rental centre.
Since I was collecting it at about 3pm, I decided to take a trip down to Botanical Gardens to try out the lens.

I did not know that the lens with the VR ability was huge and heavy.
Nevertheless, it was a great lens to use though I did not quite like the VR function as the VR motor keeps moving.
Perhaps I couldn't stand still that's why.

The objective of going to Botanical Gardens was to shoot insects.
I did not really find a lot of insects.
Shot a spider and a dragonfly,
also saw a damselfly and a frog at the sundial garden pond.
Then I realise that damselflies are really small.

Here are the shots from today's trip.

Red Tent Spider (Cyrtophora unicolor)

Trithemis Aurora

I really enjoyed the trip with the dragonfly as my last subject to shoot before I left the place.
It was a great trip.

Dragon-slayer,
Peiyan

AHM 10km Women's Run 2009

2009-08-16T22:03:00.005+08:00

Today is the day, Safra Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2009.
Woke up at 5am to prepare for the run.
Took a bottle of 500ml 100plus and a vanilla flavoured PowerBar.

Everything has been packed last night.
Slippers for after run,
Towel and change of shirt,
Brush,
Sun shade,
Water bottle,
Sennheiser headphone,
iPod Touch,
and most importantly my number tag.
The disposable champion chip was also secured on my shoe last night.

I read on sgrunners' forum that drinking a glass of salt water will prevent cramps.
So I decided to give it a try and surprisingly, today's run was almost a no cramp run.
Almost because after I crossed the finishing line, the muscles just above my left heels started to cramp.
The run started late and the crowd was huge, with so many army men.
Just as I was about to reach the starting line crowd, the run had started.
I feel that I under performed by a bit as I did not hit the "first 1km no stopping" target.
Furthermore, I began to realise that my right feet was numb after reaching near the top of Shears' Bridge.
The numbness continued till just past the foot of the Singapore Flyer and thus, I was unable to run properly during this period.
Every time I start running, the numb on my right feet got worst.

The most encouraging part of the run was at the F1 starting point area.
3 DIV (I think so, it's the DIV with the tiger one) had men with inspiration notes standing along the whole stretch of that road.
Everyone who saw it will definately agree that I was inspiring to push them on to finish the run.

Alright, enough of talking, let the pictures do the talking:
My number tag.

Number tag with finisher's medal.

Medal front.

Medal back.

Hopefully, I can still consider to join SBR & AHM 2010.
A few more run to go for the year.

With striking pink kinesiology tape,
Peiyan

NO post? edited

2009-08-16T17:25:00.003+08:00

To those followers of my blog...
I'm sure that you are getting pretty up sad that there has been no updates since July 31.

Yes, the owner of this blog is very much aware of the need to update.
Unfortunately, I have been rather lazy to do so.

Don't worry, updates will be coming up soon...

Stay tunes.

Well, I've updated a few back dated post, including today's post.
happy reading them

I'm the owner,
Peiyan

National Day 2009

2009-08-09T23:27:00.001+08:00

This year's National Day was different from previous years.
Every year, I will never fail to stay at home and watch the National Day Parade live from the comfort of my own television.
However, this year's National Day was spent on site (nearby) with Yuman, Gobi and Wancheng.
The sad part was that we were rather late in reaching Esplanade area and there was not a single good/nice/ok spot for us to sit down.
Luckily, the area where we used to performed was rather empty and so I set out the mat and we sat there.
Later we found out that I was a bad spot as we could only hear and see nothing but humans.

This was what we saw directly in front of us.

Looks like Gobi was caught by paparazzi peiyan.

The finale, which was the fireworks, were blocked by the trees in front of us.
Luckily there were those glass buildings like the new NTUC building which provided nice reflections of the fireworks.
Boy it was magic.
After the fireworks ended, the crowd disappeared.
Some people from the floating platform were dispersing via the Esplanade.
We were the only ones who are still happily sitting on the ground while everyone walked past us and took at us.
WIth the crowd walking past us continuously, I took the opportunity to take a shot of it.

Interestingly, because everyone was wearing red top and white bottom, the image turned out to look like a Singapore flag:

We waited for most of the crowd to disperse before leaving the venue.

Stand up for Singapore!
Peiyan

Sad year for Science Fac

2009-08-08T22:42:00.003+08:00

Despite the scorching heat, everyone put up their best show.
I'm referring to this year's NUS Rag & Flag day.
For some reason, which I can't really figure out why, I decided to join in the fun and support Science Fac for this year's Rag.
Honestly speaking, I know no one there except for weidong and muslim.
And today was the first time I saw this year's float.

At 7.45am, everyone faculty and hall were busy preparing their float.
At the time when I reached, Science Fac's float was having the pre-judging.

This year, Science Fac is the first float to kick start the event.
The float is based on the story of Jack & the Beanstalk.

The first part of are all the faculty floats, then some beneficiaries' performance, then the halls of residence's float.
I truly admire the amount of effort the halls put into building their float.
It's so beautiful!
Afterall, they are fighting for a chance to showcase their float at next year's Chingay Parade.

When the results were announced, it was saddening,
This year, Science Fac was not so lucky and we did not win a single thing.
However, Science Fac did get the GOLD award for flag day and the questionable thing was that not a single word was mentioned during the whole event.
Sad.

Well, here are the results for Rag Day 2009:

RAG AND FLAG 2009 WINNERS

Chancellor's Shields
Overall Champion for Faculty Clubs: School of Business
Overall Champion for Halls of Residence: Kent Ridge Hall

NUS Presidents Shields
Best Total Collection for Faculty Clubs: School of Business
Best Total Collection for Halls of Residence: Kent Ridge Hall
Best Rag Performance for Faculty Clubs: School of Design and Environment
Best Rag Performance for Halls of Residence: King Edward VII Hall

NUSSU Challenge Shields
Best Float Design for Faculty Clubs: University Scholars Club
Best Float Design for Halls of Residence: Eusoff Hall
Best Presentation for Faculty Clubs: Medicine
Best Presentation for Halls of Residence: Eusoff Hall
Least Cost Float for Faculty Clubs: School of Computing
Least Cost Float for Halls of Residence: Raffles Hall
Best per Capita Collection for Faculty Clubs: School of Business
Best Total Coin Collection for Faculty Clubs: School of Business
Most Environment-Friendly Float for Faculty Clubs: School of Design & Environment
Most Environment-Friendly Float for Halls of Residence: King Edward VII Hall
OSA Most Creative Float Award for Halls of Residence: Eusoff Hall
OSA Most Creative Float Award for Faculty Clubs: Medicine

I'm very sure that Science Fac will make a rousing comeback next year.

Science Fac huat ah!
Peiyan

I'm a student again!

2009-08-03T23:14:00.000+08:00

Yes.
I'm back to being a student again.
And I can enjoy all the student meals.
But I can't enjoy concession pass for travelling because I'm drawing a salary.

I am a student.
More specific, I am a student teacher.

Doing my teaching course now at NIE.
Yes... it's very far.
Every weekday, I will perform "The Great Journey to the West" and "The Great Journey to the East".

2hr rides,
Peiyan

Remember this...

2009-07-31T20:30:00.001+08:00

Today,
While packing my room. I came across this set of A3 size magazines in my box.
Actually, I always know it's existence as I can see them through the box.
Now, it's the time to take them out to let them have some fresh air and sunshine.
hahahaha.

It's actually the free editions of the PhotoVideoi magazine.
I still can remember every month, I would take a walk down to my one and only photo developing shop just to get a copy of this free magazine.
Though I do not have every copy of this free magazine, looking at them now still bring up the time where the free magazine was issued.
As the president of the tampines junior collage photographic society at that time, I actually wrote in to have the magazine delivered to collage so that other students who are interested can have a copy.
(actually, it is more of a convenience sake.)

PVi,
Peiyan

Delicious tau huey @AMK

2009-07-26T23:00:00.001+08:00

Did you know that AMK hub sells very nice tau huey (beancurd)?
Now you know.
It's the dessert shop located on a corner on the second floor of AMK hub.
They serve freshly made tau huey.

Menu. The shop is called Tang Shui Chun.

This is the beancurd bucket for 2 people.
It just so happened that we were lucky the beancurd was ready.
Since their beancurd is freshly made, they are served in such a bucket.
That means the beancurds are made in individual buckets.

You can have the fun to enjoy being a beancurd seller and scope your own bowl of beancurd.

The beancurd is superly smooth and tasty.
A little bit of sugar syrup is sufficient.

Yummy beancurd,
Peiyan

Last Day at Chai Chee Secondary School

2009-07-24T20:54:00.002+08:00

This day marks my last day teaching in Chai Chee Secondary School.
There are angers along the way,
There are happiness along the way.
What's importantly, it the support I get from the people around me.
They have shaped me into becoming a better teacher.

Well... I did not take much photos about the school.
This entry reflects the 3 aspects of Chai Chee Secondary School - Environment, Students and People.
It is really unfortunate that I could not take as much photos as I wanted.

Environment:
Though the school compound is small, it gives a cozy feeling.
No matter where you stand, you can almost see the whole school, from level 1 to level 4.
Don't be mislead by the condition of the school.
Every classroom is fitted with an interactive whiteboard.
I must admit that I quite like the board as it is very handy when you want to scribble notes on presentations. Like most would have feedbacked, the software kinda suck.

Corridor outside the general office, leading to the staff room.

Physics Lab is old and woody.

It still has half a blackboard on one side and half a whiteboard on the other side.
Sitting in between is the interactive whiteboard.
The lab is one of the best place to use the interactive whiteboard as it has the correct lighting condition.

Students:
After teaching in the school for 1 year, I would not say that all the students are bad.
Most of them are friendly. They are just lazy to pay attention in class.
WIth some encouragement and persuasion and guidance, they can do the given assignment.
Sometimes, I like to hang out with a few of them after school to have some chat.

Colleagues:
Colleagues make the best friends in school.
They go for breaks together, have breakfast and lunch together.
We joke around in the staff room, have some fun chats to drive all the frustrations away.
They are the bunch of people I will miss greatly after I leave.

The one year contract teaching experience at Chai Chee Secondary School has been rewarding for me.
I understand is cooperative learning.
I have picked up a new technology - Interactive Whiteboard.
I understood the importance of weekly lesson plans.
I understood a teacher is not just someone who passes knowledge down. There are much more things that a teacher needs to do in school like work review, cca... etc.
There are people who have aspired me to reach for a higher position in the teaching profession.
There are people who suggest to me what are the roles I can take up when I go to a new school.

For now, I'm just a student teacher.
My wish: I hope to become a HOD.

On the eastern shores of Singapore,
Peiyan

Congratulations John and Melody

2009-07-19T23:38:00.001+08:00

Today, I attended John and Melody's wedding dinner.
Our guesses were true back in secondary times.
Melody indeed got married first.

The actual wedding ceremony was held yesterday at the Church of Singapore's Chapel.
I have no idea as to why I did not take a single shot when my camera was with me.

Wedding was held at Carlton Hotel.
The hotel provides nice wedding gifts to all the guest.

Either a key:

Or a little glass shot:

Here comes the beautiful bride and handsome groom.
If you realise, the table I was sitting at was right next to the door.
It was a rather bad location as we could not see what was going on at the front.

Chinese menu for the dinner.

Congrats to Melody Ow Yang Foo,
Peiyan

Black and White on my LX3

2009-07-16T17:32:00.001+08:00

My LX3's mode uses the properties of a film.
I can select the different type of film and set their characteristic.
Today, I decided to try the black and white mode on my camera.

The setting I've use is dynamic black and white.
Then I can choose to change the contrast and a few other settings.
For the following pictures, I tried on 3 different contrast settings from 0 to +2.

Setting 1: 0 contrast

Setting 2: +1 contrast

Setting 3: +2 contrast

Out of the 3 settings, I prefer either setting 2 or 3 as they give the good contrast between black, and white.

There are more features to be explored from my lovely LX3.

It's black and white,
Peiyan

My shy student

2009-07-05T16:09:00.004+08:00

This is Sayfun.
As you can see... He is a shy student.
But he is the best and most hardworking student I have taught so far.
Top student for my math class.
He likes to go for his band practices.
Obviously he enjoys it.
He plays the snare drum.

Let me introduce to you, Sayfun.

AYG- Beach Volleyball Boys Preliminaries

2009-07-04T15:57:00.000+08:00

Today was my first time watching a beach volleyball game.
It is also my first game watching live at the location.

This is boys preliminary round of the AYG's beach volleyball game.
It was held at Sentosa siloso beach, the area where my friends and I played volleyball weekly.
The games were exciting, looking at the players serve, receive, set and spike.

I did not know that the entrance fees are rather cheap.
It cost only $4 for the preliminary session and $8 for semi-finals and finals.
Prices excludes sistic's $1 charge.

The weather was pretty hot and its at the beach, so I did not carry my camera with me.
But there's still my trusty 5mp camera hp. :)

How I hope that I can play a 2-on-2 game nicely.
It requires a lot of stamina and running.

Serve,
Peiyan

Happy birthday to Lixuan and Nona

2009-06-26T23:25:00.003+08:00

Happy birthday to the two girls.

May all your wishes come true.

Cheers,
Peiyan

My Work Table

2009-06-25T16:56:00.005+08:00

I was back in school to do some work.
Since I had my new camera with me, I decided to take pictures of my work table in school.

Shocked right...
hahahah
This is not my table.
The table belongs to my neighbour.
From what I know, some of the things have been there for the last 10 years.
wow...

Forget about that table.
This is my table.

There isn't much things on my table as I just used it for 6 months.
All there is would be worksheets and books.
I made some rearrangements to my table during the term holiday.
The postcards on the cupboard door were publicity materials from Montage 2009.

That's my table,
Peiyan

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

2009-06-23T16:47:00.003+08:00

Finally...
I have been looking at this digital camera ever since Gerald told me about it.
Looking through the reviews and user reviews, this camera seems good and useful.
And with the $400 available to claim, how can I not resist buying the camera?

I bought the camera from MS Color, more specifically, from Aunty Florence.
Really nice lady I must say.

The images are from www.dpreview.com

I'm loving my LX3,
Peiyan

iPuke Botak Jones

2009-06-19T16:14:00.000+08:00

Was thinking of what to have for lunch.
Since I was at Bedok Central, decided to walk across the library for Botak Jones.
As usual, I ordered the botak burger with cheese and side order of spicy fries and pasta salad.

The food came in a full plate, each dish taking up third of the plate.
The pasta salad was stunningly A LOT!

Close up of the whole plate.

The combination of pasta salad and spicy fries proved to be a bit wrong.
My stomach was feeling uncomfortable when I reached the bus stop on my way home.
Eventually, my stomach gave way after holding on to it at home for some time.
I think I threw up about 90% of that plate of food.

The next round of Botak Jones, I swear I will not have this side dishes combi again.

Bleh,
Peiyan

Backdated photo

2009-06-12T22:15:00.003+08:00

Today just happened to take out my camera to take pictures of the things I've bought at the PC Show.
And I saw that inside my memory card, there is an image of an evening sky taken from my balcony window.

The editing part is a bit poor.
I am still unable to get the colors of the clouds out.
Perhaps the camera setting was incorrect and hence, I was unable to get the desired outcome that I wanted.
The sky looked pretty nice from my eyes, but after taking a look at the image on my mac, it did not turn out correctly.
Anyway... here's the image.

The exif shows that the image was taken on 19 April.
Wow... that's like 1.5 months ago.

Backed,
Peiyan

PC Show 2009... BBB Part 2

2009-06-12T21:52:00.004+08:00

Part of the PC Show buy buy buy spree...
Today's main aim was to order the desktop and get the printer.
And I've also decided to get the Microsoft Office 2007 Home & Student edition for the new desktop.

The selected desktop is from a computer part company call Pluto.
The new desktop will only arrive on 25th june.
We shall wait till then to get the images of the new desktop.

After ordering the desktop, I went up to Hall 6 to purchase the Microsoft Office 2007 Home & Student edition.
The offering price at the Microsoft booth is $159 with free webcam, cheaper than addition the software from the desktop purchase.

After that was back to Hall 4 to get the Canon printer.
The model I purchased was the Pixma MP198.
Surprisingly, I came to know that the printer can take 2 models of ink.
Then I found out from the nice sales guys that actually, the difference is just the capacity of the ink tanks.
Also, I reused the trolley I got from scanner purchase from Epson last year end. (ops... use wrong trolley, but still it's just a trolley).
I bought one set of ink too and the printer came with free wireless Logitech mouse.

Image of printer from Canon's website.

The printer will wait until the new computer arrives so for now, it will stay in the box.
Well...
That marks the end of my buy buy buy season for PC Show 2009.

Total damage done = $1 844.50
Got 32 lucky draw tickets from today's purchase.
And... today happens to be my pay day.
Sad sia.

BBB,
Peiyan

PC Show 2009... BBB Part 1

2009-06-11T23:36:00.003+08:00

PC Show is here again.
Went down on the first day to take a look at the deals.
Not a vary fantastic experience though.
Had to spent 3 hours at the Starhub booth just to re-contract my MaxOnline. (Cos got free netbook, lenovo s10)

However, I did not go home empty handed.
Bought the ScanDisk thumbdrive and signed up for the Singtel mobile broadband. (Singtel side only took me 20min)
And not forgetting that I had to carry back the unused trolley that was meant for the printer.

Here are the items for today:
ScanDisk Cruzer Titanium 8GB (4GB was sold out when I got to the booth)

Mobile Broadband USB stick from Singtel

Brought back the brochures from the show to on desktop prices for my brother to see and select.
Will be going down again tomorrow to get the desktop and printer.

Tired legs,
Peiyan

Oh gosh... Imeem

2009-06-10T19:11:00.004+08:00

Haiz...
Didn't know that Imeem has changed so much since I last used it. (don't know when was it too)
And I stupidly deleted the old embedded code for Moon River.
So now I'm stuck with the 30 sec listening preview for all the songs I have picked.

Should have copied the code and pasted it somewhere first.
Now the full Moon River song is gone and Imeen does not provide full song streaming unless the track is approved.

The song currently playing is the main soundtrack piece for the film Okuribito (meaning Departures).
The review has been done in one of my previous posts.

Preview listening only,
Peiyan

Okuribito

2009-05-31T19:39:00.004+08:00

I have heard of friends telling me about this movie.
Finally got to watch it, courtesy of my colleague.
This is a very touching movie, depicting about the division encoffined.
I was really crying half the time.

The english title of this movie is The Departures - The gift of last memories.

Plot summary:

Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.

Thumbs up,
Peiyan

Angles and Demons

2009-05-16T23:02:00.001+08:00

Went to watch Angels and Demons today with my best friend.
We decided to go Downtown East Cathay Cineplex as we were quite sick of going to town.
Using my Union card, we got cheaper tickets for a weekend movie plus a really small popcorn. (I didn't know that Cathay had such small popcorn packaging)
A little word of warning... the cinema at Downtown East is rather cold and I had to watch the whole movie without jacket.

Here's the movie summary:

When a murder of a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, finds a symbolist, Robert Langdon, and Mr. Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, on an adventure for a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati. Clues lead them all around the Vatican, including the four alters of science, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. An Assassin, working for the Illuminati, has captured four cardinals, and murders each, painfully. Robert and Vittoria also are searching for a new very destructive weapon that could kill millions. Written by XXDustfingerXX

Despite his notorious relationship with the Church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is once again called upon to decipher the clues to a catastrophic conspiracy. The Pope has died, and before conclave can begin to determine his successor, the four preferitti (primary hopefuls for the papacy) are kidnapped. An ominous threat of their hourly demise, along with the complete annihilation of Vatican City, is issued as an elaborate revenge scheme for a persecuted group known as the Illuminati. With their meager time limit steadily counting down, Langdon, accompanied by beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra, must travel throughout Rome to unravel the carefully hidden signs that will lead them to a terrifying adversary, a harrowing discovery, and the shocking truth. Written by The Massie Twins

The Pope died and the conclave has been called for. Four candidates were chosen. However, before the voting, the 4 candidates are killed one by one. The killer leaves clues that seem to say that he/she is from the Illuminati. Strangely though, the Illuminati was long thought to be extinct. Who is the mastermind? Who revived the Illuminati? What do they want?

Overall, I enjoyed the movie as much as I enjoyed Da Vinci Code.
I like to watch such type of movies (so... National Treasures I like too)

Where the angels point,
Peiyan

Where my eyes take me too...

2009-04-19T17:04:00.006+08:00

Finally, the results of my expensive Fuji Provia film is out.
Sent it to lab for developing but the lab does not have the correct type of chemical.
Hence agreed to x-pro the film.
The whole roll of film came out purplish.
When scanned, most of the images came out greenish.
With photoshop, what is there to be afraid of (not 100% true).

Here are some of the images...

The rest of the images can be found here.

x-pro,
Peiyan

The right etiquette as a musical audience

2009-04-18T01:02:00.000+08:00

What is the correct etiquette as a musical audience?
I find it irritating that audience cannot follow house rules.
Do you think that the house puts that "no photography, videography and eating" sign for fun?
The sign is so big at the door and yet people still break them.
Take out camera to snap, eat inside the theatre.

Come on... the staff did not confiscate the cameras because they trust that this is our personal belonging that we always carry out.
Yet, people misuse this trust to break the house rules.
How well will the images come out?
Blur?
Too bright?

Come on, I'm here to enjoy the show, not and blinded by all the flashing lights before the show began.

Just a rather pissed off audience,
Peiyan

CATS, now and forever

2009-04-18T00:45:00.001+08:00

I just came back from watching CATS.
I bought the tickets to watch CATS the musical last week.
It cost me $153 but... the musical was worth it.

The set is nice as it filled the whole esplanade theatre.
The story was good and it was rather touching at the last part of the musical.
Little did I know that the musical was a bit interactive as the audience found the cats to be amongst them during the poem recital in the beginning of Act 1.
Usually, the actors would only come out from backstage.
But my guess is that since it's CATS, the "cats" will be coming out from everywhere.
In the opening play, there were cats that came out from the theatre door.
It was interesting.
The interaction continued just after the intermission break where the cats were found loitering around at the audience seats.

The whole musical lasted about 3 hours including break.

My ticket

The original cast recording album I bought after the musical

Jellicle cat,
Peiyan

CCSS X-Country 2009

2009-04-17T16:10:00.000+08:00

No school today.
Because the school is having her annual cross country cum 2.4km run at the East Coast Park.
The gathering point is at the sandcastle building area.
Since it's rather near, I've decided to cycle to the location.

Before that, I met up with Mdm Poon and Sophia for breakfast at east coast mac to have coincidentally met Liping and Joo Huat.
I ordered the Sausage McGriddles with Egg meal with Ice Lemon Tea.
Oh... I'm loving the McGriddle.
It is actually hotcake with maple syrup sauce shaped into the shape of a muffin bun.
Yummy... I want to eat it again.

After breakfast, I cycled to the gathering point - Sandcastle Beach.

The whole event ended at about 11.30am.
Ruby house was a total disappointment.
Only a handful of the students were cheering and they looked so dead.
After the event was lunch at Parkway's Jack's Place.
It's my first time there.
I ordered the NZ Ribeye Steak, medium done.
It's nice and the potato with the sour-cream and bacon bits is tasty.
It was nice lunch as 6 teachers got to seat down for a nice out of school chat. (We hardly get a chance to do that)

After lunch was cycling back home.
It was about 2pm and the sun was hot hot hot!

Reached home so tired, wet and shagged.

Total distance cycled: about 21km
It was a nice cycle.

Pedal Pedal,
Peiyan

Courage

2009-03-17T14:45:00.002+08:00

As I sat down to do my work
He pop by on msn
And started talking to me in French
Lol...
Je suis tres noob
I told him
French was like 3 years ago
It's rusty now for me
I could only remember a few words
Je comprends et parle un peu de Français.
Simple words I can understand

For the past many days
I've been on the lookout for his appearance on msn
But we never manage to see each other

Finally he came today
And I've decided to tell him what I wanted to say
It took a long pause after I told him that I'm going to say something to him
Typing online is easy work on the fingers but a big step in expressing your feelings
I took up the courage and told him what I wanted to say
And from then on, my mind felt so at ease, though a bit saddening

That is my courage.

Courageously,
Peiyan

Get to know yourself better

2009-03-10T13:28:00.001+08:00

Your view on yourself:

You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don't like conflict. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:
You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

From

Peiyan.Photography

Happy New Year 2012

Leica First Roll

Shanghai B/W film roll 2

Shanghai B/W film roll 1

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Lunar New Year

Singaproe.scape: Drama sky

Singapore.scape: Smelly punggol beach

2011

Butterfly hill

Mangrove Dwarf @ Chek Jawa

P.Ubin, Land of Robbers

Oriental Pied Hornbills @ Chek Jawa

Sunrise @ Ubin (part 2)

Discover the entire movie of your friend

Ubin sunrise

MBS sunset

Macro @ Venus Loop

Sunrise at Upper Peirce Reservoir

Macro @ Punggol

IR: Infra red hits SAC

Strictly Pancakes

IR: Infra red goes to school

IR: Third Try - I'm moving on to theIR craze

IR: Second Try

IR: First Try

My Macro Setup

The Lorax

From Plamp to Plamps

Night Macro Session 2

No updates???

Meow?!?

New Toy: LED torch

Night Macro Session 1

Uniquely KC: Racial Harmony Day celebrations

Switzerland, here I come

What I gave to my kids.

What the kids gave me.

The 5 faces of cybercrime

My work table (Update)

Adobe Photoshop CS5: Content-Aware Fill Sneak Peek

My BlackBerry has a new cover

Human cheek cells

Onion epidermal cells

Happy Birthday

My work table

Testing

This is a backlog.

NIE Library

Swiss Baeckerie @ Frankel Ave

What Have I Learnt About Assessment?

Happy New Year

Hong Kong Day 1: Wong Tai Sin

Hong Kong Day 1: Singapore - Hong Kong

I'm off to Hong Kong!

SITEX 2009

Beatuiful Sky

NIE peeps fun

Hokkaido Ramen @ ion Orchard

Maksim Concert

Great Eastern Women's 10k

NIke Human Race 2009

Chek Jawa: Training Session 2

Attack of the sandflies.

Bukit Timah Mountain Biking Trail

Dairy Farm Nature Park.

Nike Human Race 10k Singapore

Things due this week.

Kranji Nature Trail

Trip to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Visit to Chek Jawa

Macro at Singapore Botanical Gardens

AHM 10km Women's Run 2009

NO post? *edited*

National Day 2009

Sad year for Science Fac

I'm a student again!

Remember this...

Delicious tau huey @AMK

NO post? edited