one of the better (pool) days

went to wheelock (instead of vivo as originally planned to catch the shot due to the rain) to fix my shuffle which got corrupted somehow :(

bought an italian bmt from subway @ lido, but when i got onto 171 it was too crowded to eat. so i had it for supper instead, it was a bit gooey but a quick toast did the trick.

headed to century early, and today's just one of the days when things go for me i guess. sebas wasn't really in top of form, conceded the game early at 6-4, of which the first 8 racks were split evenly and each winning off the other's break.

proceeded to play with eugene (who's by far the most improved player at century) and was down 5-0 when he scratched on a 9. all the while sitting in my seat i knew i deserved to lose, playing the way i was and how he was playing, just kept telling myself to get 4 racks so it'll be an acceptable result (like how losing 4-7, looks better than 0-7 - its still a lose but it won't look that bad) then somehow he had a sudden drop in form too. i won 7-5 in the end, and i think out of that 7 racks, i only deserved to win 1 when i ran out from a foul after i played safe on him. the rest were strangely uncharacteristic of him.

went for dinner, sebas tried some small talk with justin but somehow it was quite quiet. felt a lil odd too. seeing how i might possibly take over from justin in a few days, and how that one stunt could possibly be the final straw that breaks the camel's back. benny was working that night, so me and sebas didn't plan to stay long, had an 8 ball game instead of the usual 9 ball.

again like the afternoon game, we split 12 racks evenly, winning on each other's break, until the last rack where i finally got the upperhand and won. which surprised me in a way. today's one of the days where i've played better pool than i can remember. not thinking that it might continue but hoping nevertheless.

submission

guess the rain stopped me from doing what i would have liked. showers the entire day means prob no sun when i need it the most. so i went plan B and submitted what i had anyways.

Entry 1:








Entry 2:









now leaving everything else into God's hands :)

24hrs

yeap thats the time left to submission.

and fretting that i had no one scenery photo to publish, i had to dig deeper into my photo archives. and i found 6! unfortunately they look rather ordinary. have to find one outstanding one.

and grace told me she submitted 3 entries already, i wonder if thats allowed or if i would do that too ;)

anyways, here's one more addition to people, one more addition to action, and 6 for scenery:

people:



action:


scenery:

lost time and something remembered..

heavy downpours and cloudy skies meant i would miss today's opportunity for that scenery photo i'm looking for. and i'm running out of time! tmrw's the submission date and i don't have a photo to show for it.

feeling a lil anxious i might not get it and thus not go for it in the end.

have to get my butt off my chair/couch/bed more.

anyways i was looking through the archives of this blog and found this, i thot it was quite meaningful so i'll share it again,

The Final Analysis
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centred;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of having selfish ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world your best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world your best anyway.


You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anway

last minute plans

In an effort to join the Canon-TNP Young Photographer contest, i asked a couple of friends what they thot of certain photos, here's one of the replies I got when I asked him to choose between a photo of himself and of some kids: (names changed to protect the living)

says:
i shall be modest and say the bdc kids
says:
though i think i'm rather good looking

hahahaha....!

this is what sebas did while waiting for me to clear up, and he was leaving a msg for justin lols!






anyways, i'm missing a scenery shot. was hoping to get it yesterday at vivo before meeting a couple of friends for dinner. alas, i plan but work beckoned. ended up spending the night at century. and died when it came to the accounts. its so messsy lah. like sebas said, "you're a noob lehhh" and i totally agree. took freaking long to stack the drinks and then count.

owells..hopefully after more experience i would be better (:


anyways, i've shortlisted these photos for submission, let me know what you think!

people:










action:






let me know which you like! :)

basic manners pls.

if i am late, i will apologize at the very least, come up with a valid excuse and eat humble pie.


if you're damn freaking late, don't tell me, you are late because ...
1. you feel like being late
2. you can
3. you just want to see how pissed i can get before leaving

woo..done!

well done with yesterday's photos.

took 332, published 104! :)

have a look if you wish, http://www.flickr.com/photos/7489149@N07/tags/nexus2007/

or go to http://www.flickr.com and then search either for my username "joel.thingie" or the tag "nexus2007"

anyways, saw one of the "pro-er" photographers and the photos he took from yesterday. like they were so good. i've a loooooooooong way to go!

1st event cover!

wheee!

it was fun (and very tiring!) to cover the Nexus 2007 event. thank God for seeing me through the day.

i slept at 3am (again..must be a faulty body clock), woke up at 5.30am, reached the location at 7am, left at 9pm.

covered the talks and panels by several leading figures in the tech world. have some photos i'm quite proud of :) and mainly was running all over the place taking random pictures of people. in a way i guess i'm starting to like human protraiture =p

gonna spend some time to process the photos..took 331 photos in all. wow. didn't realise, just kept clicking ;)

think i might go and try for the TNP young photographer award thingy too. think i got enough stuff to try!

will post a link to the site when i'm done!


btw...tried this guy's 5d with a 70-200mm f4L IS USM lens. i almost died lah. its so good to shoot with lorh!

I WANT MY L LENS!

saw like 3 other "pro" photographers, one dude had a 70-200 f4L and a 17-40 f4L with a 30d (almost 6k), another a 30d with a 70-200 f2.8L, 24-70 f2.8L (almost 8k), and the most "pro" one with a 5d and a 30d with 70-200 f2.8L, 24-70 f2.8L, 17-40 f4L, 70-200 f4L (12k worth).

WOW.

then again a good laptop to do processing as soon as i shoot would be great too. especially for an event like this. saw some very good dude at design doing his stuff (the logos, shirts, boxes, banners were all designed by him) and thot that would make a worthwhile investment. but thats like another 2k :(



slowly slowly i hope i can get to that stage =p

now to shower =/

tiredness sets in

yesterday's cage was pretty good. ended up with a trio of malay dudes who were quite good.

not that i did much, but i was still very much tired after along with a sore left ankle =/ came home and konked out from 6-9 woke up for dinner, packed the house a lil before feeling extremely tired ard 12. proceeded to try to sleep but couldn't.

sucks.

the feeling of tiredness but not being able to sleep. konked out at ard 3 in the end. had to wake up at 8 to bring stuff out to give to the recycling company. then konked out till 12. lols.

well at least i didn't follow up with my sleep plan of sleeping at 9 on sunday and waking at 7pm on monday =p


weather looks like its gonna rain and another good day to sleep in. but i've got work to do!

sucks.


btw..this is post #350! yay!

Dies ist gutes Bier!

10 points to whoever guesses what that means. (jq is banned from trying ;)


anyways check out brotzeit (@ vivocity) when/while you can. food is good, the fluids are fantastic. had the original munich lager, dunkles (dark), and a sampler of their salvador.

each different and unique :)

D? N!

to the clueless, D = Drive, N = Neutral

so in addition to yesterday's post, Danny went down from JQ's place in N. and we managed to hit the main rd! thats a 1000 kudos points to Danny!

where logic does not always pay off

had a yf bbq thingy tonight, went early to start the fire.

opened the larger 6kg pack of charcoal and proceeded to start the fire. only problem is, they were all small bits and chips. any how the fire did get started though it was a lil low.

then i opened the smaller 4 kg pack and lo, and behold. all the charcoal in that pack were large ones =.=

what logic is that lah?!


anyways, bbq went great from the bbq end, didn't really eat anything from the tables, actually didn't really eat much. just 2 wings, 2 satays, 1/2 a fish, some bits of the sambal jacket, quite a few otahs and 2-3 sausages. guess its the smell that kills the hunger.

table tennis after that was great. should look into changing the rubber for my own bat from pimpled to a standard rubber. have to work on that backhand ;)

seem to be playing more table tennis, i do get a good sweat out of it and i like the quick pace of the game. hmmm alternative exercise option! :D

boredom

worked at century on sunday with sebas. first time officially. had to rush off though cuz of a family dinner and that the night dude was late. had a lil scare during dinner when sebas called to say that there was 20 bucks missing from the drawer =.=

turned out to be a miscalculation but that is way too common over there. really contemplating doing that for a month. like what if it keeps happening?!

dinner was alright, some place at kitchener road. going to my aunt's place wasn't. for those who wish what it is to travel in india, just head to the backlanes near mustapha centre. whole friggin place full of them. no respect for traffic either. lost count of how many times my cousin had to horn them to get out of the way. i would have bet joseph would just run them down.

mahjonged the whole night and watch spurs surrender a 2 goal lead to chelski. makes me think, spurs have now scored 7 goals and conceeded 6 goals in 2 away games. heard someone made a big score on 6 goals. eventually slept at 4 and woke up at like close 1. headed to century to meet sebas to collect my pay then home and to Jq's to table tennis till 11. reached home and konked. so i woke up at 11 =P

just noticed that the rain (which is pouring) is coming in at 45 deg angle. wow. boredom is settling in. i should go curl up again and nap *yawnz*

running in circles

crap. i have to wait 1 month and 3 days to get my phone at the 21 month price. -_-

have to hunt for another decent phone..!

might be getting a job from apr-may, crappy pay, crappy place, crappy job but errr...at least some inflow. think 20 days, $40/day.

otherwise, working as a lab rat would be good too..

1.9k, 4 weekends (book-in fri night, book-out sun aft), 4 drugs to test.


which would make a smarter choice?

proh-kras-tuh-neyt

no prizes for guessing what that is. or what it means. points will be given though (not like the points matter ;)

watched Out of Order with my mei. Brit comedy play, very interesting about a JMP (junior minister of parliment), his PPS (parliment personal secretary), his affair with the secretary of the opposition, an angry husband, a detective who goes down too easily, a very inquisitive hotel manager and an oppportunistic waiter. quite a barrel of laughs (:

so thanks for asking me to go, i enjoyed it! (:

when i first decided to go, i was thinking it might be a bit out of my league and understanding, but well it wasn't too bad. haha..well it wasn't my first taste with plays but this one was rather light-hearted and entertaining. its on now till sunday at the DBS Arts Centre and tickets are available from SISTIC.

had dinner at the bak kut teh store at the corner very near to mohd sultan. was quite good, like how it used to be 2+ years back. drinks with the guys later and now home and knowing i have to sleep but somehow putting it off again.

semi long day tmrw. thinking abt working at the pool hall where i play at, in the day. have to think about it this week and then i want a new phone! my dopod's down *koff*koff*hint*koff*koff* and even my trusty n6100 is starting to fail me! noooooooo!

a n73me would be nice ;)

man u for the title!

Heh still fatigued from the soccer, and i'll hand over the birthday torch to lisa in 2 mins..

and yes..what a "birthday gift" from man u! hehehe! 1-0 at anfield, thanks to an o'shea (of all people) goal in stoppage time..

great stuff..!


thanks its been a fun and interesting day ;) cya all in a bit!

*pant* ACROSS!!! *pant*

oh boy. do i feel old! my legs agree with me and they say, they feel 10 years older =/

the Grand Plan being completed, kudos to the drivers, joseph, jeremiah, danny, freddy! Thanks for allowing me the "use" of your cars to get everyone there and most back. Thanks to all who made it, adrian, kai (hope you two get better soon! meet on the pitch someday soon! ;), ben, jq, chan, elliot, haogen, zhuang, tian lang & friends (bryan, samuel, tianyu (?) and that big dude-sorry didn't get your name *grinz*), lian yi, lian kuang and the above-mentioned drivers.

i hope you guys had a great game and a great time :) i know i did! amidst a lil heated challenges beautiful football and excellent goals were scored.. thank you for all your time and energy. hahaha..i totally ran myself dry, feet refused to respond the brain's prompting to run for that ball which seemed to run so fast tonight (or rather this morning)


in retrospect, i enjoyed organizing as well as being part of this plan ;) as an average soccer player (and photographer, and pool player, and friend, and person) it really  felt like a dream to play amongst friends and everyone having a good time, and feeling that youth again ;)

thank you all once again. it has been a morning to remember! =p

*toy alert*

Heh. got my nice new 15 pointer Mike Bender from the customs today, thanks sebas for printing and accompanying me :)





if you see this pic, its actually 5 ebony points recut into 5 maple points and then finally recut into 5 ebony points, making it 15 points in total! (:






here's the link to the album: Mike Bender 15 Point Ebony into Birdseye Maple


on other notes, lugging a camera, a case with 4 cues and a folder will definitely give you a back or shoulder ache (which i'm experiencing now)

the new cue plays real nice, a lil light but its ok so far, will tell you in a month if its a keeper ;) took another set of cues for someone:






let me how i did in all the photos and in my album. criticsm is definitely welcome!

oh yes, the birthday plan is on!

WHEN: 03 March 2007, 0100-0300 hrs
WHAT: Soccer
WHERE: The Cage
HOW: get your own transport, drive or car pool. let me know if you need a ride or if you can give others a ride. i'll do the arrangements.
WHY: cuz i just so wanna play soccer on my birthday ;)

oh why won't the rain stop...

quite eventful 3 days (:

monday -
actually it starts on sunday night when i watched chelski STEAL a victory from arsenal's grasp in the league cup. a rise of a wonderkid, a blatant offside goal, a bad kick to terry's face (which left him unconscious and very nearly killed him), a great goal (by the one who scored that offside goal) and a bad brawl is how i sum up the match.

my goodness, i almost thot terry would have died after that full blooded kick from diaby. complete accident of course. but utterly scary.

had a couple of drinks and table tennis in the wee hours of the morning with jon and jq. played fairly well heh. 11-1 jon! =p *does "danny stare"*

woke up really really late like at 12. rushed down to klassic to meet the Chinaman, YH and took pictures of his cues so far, an 8 pointer James White, 9 pointer Franklin-era Southwest and a Cosnogcenti. beautiful cues (:

made my way to qshop, hung ard and took photos of an Omen plain jane and then basically chilled out and ate the taipoica chips there =p before deciding to go for basketball at aycc, met magdalene on my way there (she was on her way to NUH)

haha the bus i was on was like breaking down, so the bus driver took out the number plate on the front and sides! win! express service heh =p

tuesday -
resolved to wake up earlier but ended up procrasinating my hair cut and photo for my admission forms, ended up going to qshop ard 5 and hanging out there till 8 and back to century to shoot a few racks with jo and jere. had quite a bit of mind, so pool was a pleasant but insufficient distraction.

witnessed 3 fender benders through the day, one on my way to the shop, one near the shop and one on my way to century. sheesh. i was jokin with lisa that i should walk home so i wouldn't be in one then.

wednesday -
electricians and carpenters came by in the morning to fix up the loose ends and the new lighting! 95% done. left with the painters on the 8th of march to finish up. new lights are pretty (: glad i have better taste than my designer =p hahahaha!
and it rained the entire day! met gee and headed to century for a couple of sets, won 7-6, 6-7, 7-4 for a 2-1 victory. ok lah both of us were shooting quite off, he was rusty, i was erm...distracted. since i thot bball was off, played a set with sebas (won 7-5 but i didn't really play well lah) and then headed to jq's to play table tennis. didn't get to repeat monday morning's domination =p (perhaps chem A does help ;)

ok two incidents that pissed me off today, i was waiting for a cab and it was raining. i saw this woman who was flaggin cabs down but they didn't wanna take her fare (dunno why) and then she would step back into the shelter and wait till the next wave of cabs came. normally i would give whoever is there earlier the cab, but since she didn't want to wait for it in the rain and kept going back i decided to just stand there. when i got the first cab, she literally jumped up behind me and said, "excuse me, but i came first." jumped into the cab and drove off. the hell man. you want the cab, you stand in the rain for it.

then JUST NOW my half-wit, brainless neighbour comes over and knocks on my door demanding that something from my house woke him up. when asked what it was, he said "i dunno" geez he couldn't open his windows to find out something downstairs was making that noise. but just pinned blame on us. get a life dude.

btw...have to make an insanely long trip to paya lebar to collect my cue becuz the company refinishing it forgot to follow my instructions =/

owells hopefully pictures come out tmrw!

OH AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE PLAN FOR THE CAGE ON MY BIRTHDAY CONTACT ME!