Wacky Osaka

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Finally I have finished post processing the pics from Osaka so here it is.


Touch down 0700 in the morning and this is the first fuel for the day which I had skipped altogether.


On the way to Namba, SGreans wreak havoc in the local trains.



2 consecutive completely random shots with the camera held at my belly while crossing the road.


WY the "Paparazzi" paparazzied.


I just can't help but peep into other people's camera.


All black W unknowingly "posed" for me.


Yep K and C were captured on the gigantic screen.



Things people do in the face of economic crisis.


The setting was splendid but somehow the pic didn't turn out the way I wanted...must practice more.


Yes the Sign was really annoyed.


K smile one for the camera.


Tonkotsu Ramen with an unusual presentation.


Street candid.


Mini Miko Kitty Chan (Adeline I hope you are reading this..)


Life Size Kitty Chan


No photography Kitty Chan


Puri Kura --> Print Club


WY's G9


Haagan Dazs Cassis Orange...yummy!


SG style YUM SENG with the assortment of photojournalists.


More YUM SENG...


Priceless expression.


Yeah finally one for the memories.


Sunset before heading back home.

More items added...

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Finally I had time to post process those pics I took from Osaka...still processing them in PS later this evening after the initial CR thru the LR2 process. Looks pretty impressive not because the photog is good but the deadly equipment he is blessed with.

Was recently eyeing a decent tripod because the vintage chrome-plated one that Grandpa had left behind is getting a little stressed out when I mount the KDX with the 580ex2 on it. The metal welded joints began to show signs of weakness and I doubt it will hold up to any more of such abuse. Beside I would want 3 grand of gear to crash and break my heart. So did a little bit of research and I finally settled on the Slik "Carbon Series" 814 Pro II with a 806 base plate. A little pricey with the MSRP at ￥81,000 ++ but the usual digging around, I found a decent piece at around ￥50,000 with 5 times points rebate. Being hesitant about blowing out my pay again like last month, I decided to push it to the next payday. 2 days later when I checked it again, it was already sold out and once again I was disheartened. Instincts automatically kicked in and I flooded the net with queries and searches until I found it at ￥44,000. With the indication that the company is low on stocks, I cashed in and ordered it to be delivered 1 day before my payday next week.

The other strobist gear which I had initially planned will have to be scheduled later. I need the tripod much more urgently than the other gear. Besides the initial Skyport RX triggers were not meant for 3rd party flashes so lucky me, I didn't actually buy that. The Vivitar 285hv had so many blown out, smoke spewing horrendous stories because it is a MADE IN F****** CHINA piece of crap that I will be avoiding. For a 100 dollars extra, cup noodles for a couple of days and the mental insurance of a decent MADE IN JAPAN Canon flash, I had opted for the Canon 430EX instead. But all that will have to be pushed back till like May. 3 nonths later, I will probably blow at least 2 months pay into a new camera body that is if Canon release the 60D (7D) in August. I would loved to have a live view and video recording capabilities on my cam. Expensive journey has just gotten more expensive.

So here is pretty much my Photography's Itinery for this year.

March ~ April
Kyoto, Nara, Osaka trip for the Cherry Blossoms, Architecture.

May
Okada Sensei and Akira's wedding at Nara

August
My brother's wedding in Singapore, hopefully outing with someone very special.

So if I can get my hands on a new camera, no doubt my pockets will be burnt real bad...at least I have vids and pics to console me for the remaining years of completing my book.

What?! Again?!

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Yesterday, Wednesday 18th day of the second month of the year 2009. Once again I failed my driving test for the 3rd time. As expected, converting my 10 year old SG licence to the Japanese one had been quite a hassle. Not because I can't drive for God's sake but the petite, bespetacled Japanese "Police Officer" was pretty adamant to pass foreigners. Each time I take the test, it cost ￥2,400 so if I had passed on the 1st attempt, that would had been a huge slap in his face. The way I look at it, it's all about the money...see if the dumb foreigner fails 5 times in a row, that's ￥10,000 for the company. Think new roads, cars, fuel, upgrades, etc.

Alternatively the foreigner can go to a driving school, take a full credit course and pass with flying colors and a certified driving diploma. Or he can take as many practice lessons as he like in the nearby driving school. Either way, it would have been anything between ￥30,000 to ￥50,000. Unfair, bias and pure bullshit...and yes indeed I am very unhappy about how converting my 10 year old licence is so farking difficult. Of course the petite little man cannot demand an upfront payment but he simply put it in such a humble and justifiable manner which makes it all so undesirable.

Each time I fail, the reasons I was faulted were new and almost dumb errors like the correct positioning of the hands on the steering wheel. And each time I correct these errors, they will fault me on new and totally bullshit errors.

Angst angry and very very angry because I have to take a day of leave specifically to go and take the dumb test. Each time I fail, I would indulge myself in a huge feast just to appease my anger. Sigh...

Snowboarding On Sunday

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Last year I had a great season of snowboarding because my roommate was a 12 year veteran and some other enthusiasts around me. So anticipating the joy of snowboarding this season as well, I got myself a decent helmet. But never did I expect this winter turned out to be the worst one as compared to last year. To little snow and in fact, it had only snowed decently less than 5 times till now. THe temperature is quite bad because it's not cold enuff for snow but chilly enuff for rain. Like how I had dreaded in the previous post, rain is a huge no no in winter.

Snowfall in Feb is usually forcasted to be the most but now it seems almost like Spring, really really bad. Other reasons for not snowboarding much this season is the lack of decent snowboarders because most around me are pretty much on and off boarders. A little rain is enuff to put them off. So after skipping snowboarding for a scary 3 weeks, I finally got my boarding crave fulfilled on Sunday.

Hooking up with a few other amateur but really enthusiastic boarders, we headed to Koumi resort. Not huge as compared to Nozawa Onsen but the fairly acceptable snow and semi long runs allowed me to pull off some speed and minor jumps. Witnessed a skier launched off a ramp about 2 storeys high and landed tragically after a failed attempt to complete a 360 vertical flip. He basically landed on somewhere between his spine, collar bone or anywhere along his vertebrate. I was cruising down when I saw him launched before me and splated flat on almost concrete ice. He was lifeless and his gear was flung in various direction. Couple of minutes later, the siren of snow patrols were tearing up the slopes to his aid. I simply delisted huge stunts on my to-do list on that day.

After a day of rather pleasant snowboarding, we headed to an Onsen nearby perched on top of the mountain. The blend of soaking naked in a huge outdoor stone pit with chilly winter winds blowing thru and at the same time admiring the different peaks of the distant snow-capped ranges. Splendid indeed but I tend to avoid Onsens because I tend to go dizzy after soaking in hot water...a sign that my body is failing. Mos burger for dinner and some last minute for groceries before I reached home before 2000 hours. With the almost full moon up in the winter sky, I knew I had to dance in the moon light shadow with my KDX once again. Set it all up right outside my house, I orchestrated the play of me being the photographer, choreographer, performer, stage hand and director. Here is one untouched, straight off the RAW pre-proccessed pic.


Right now I am completely drained of any decent energy after that rejuvernating Onsen which sucked my juices dry so that my body can have the necessary recharging capabilities...

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Fire Mountain

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Continuing from the previous post, it seems that lately, Mt. Asama in my area has been spewing out ashes presumably from an eruption. Over a period of months, this Fire Mountain aka volcano had already erupted like at least 5 times with the last one topping news all over the world. Not that I am particularly concern because the eruption is everything about smoke, ashes and long trails of clouds but nothing like lava flowing or earthly tremors.

Fitting in like pouring gasoline to the flames of hate and when my anger is growing, this fiery mountain is fueling my cause so many thanks with sarcasm of course. Yeah blow up and torch everything so I can have more holidays. Evil Evil Evil. But whatever the case, I am downright determine to get my card to work one way or another.

Don't be alarm and don't freak your ass out for me yet because I will issue an official statement via Fiendster, FaceNewspaper or any other medium if there is a need for me to abandon my current stronghold.

ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Very Volatile State

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Patience or rather ignorance had always been a virtue that I am proud of because angst is something that rarely poison me. But there is a limit to how much one can take so when the limits are broken, then disaster do happens.

Take for example I screwed up my debit card here in Japan because I entered the pin incorrectly for 4 consecutive time. My card froze and I have no way to access the remaining funds inside. Besides that I can't order anymore things online which is really annoying. Then I thought by calling them would solve the issue and get my card re-issued ASAP. I was wrong because it seems that there are like a ZILLION security measures before I can get my card activated. This is really really getting on my nerves because I have to change this security, change that security, verify this, verify that, do this, do that and yet there is still no information on WHEN THE HELL I CAN ACTIVATE MY CARD. S*****J*******D***A**F*** that follows idiotic protocols or you can blame me on my less than perfect understanding of Japanese. Yes it's almost like experiencing an epical miracle when I foul-mouthed the Japanese so you can clearly comprehand the level of angst that is fanning hell fire in my fiery eyes. If I have a gun now, many people will lose their lives.

Now I really can't seem to understand why the hell are there so many darn protocols when I had already confirmed my identity. Just send me the f****** card so I can start spending and hopefully help your company and your country recover from this drastic situation, why make things so complicated.

No doubt these people that I loved so much are slowly showing signs of serious faults simply for being stupid. The Raging Demon has risen and this is really bad.

Such Sweet Irony

- Never Stop Dreaming -

I have never considered myself a saint

I have never considered myself good looking

I have never considered myself smart

I have never considered myself wealthy

I have never considered myself significant

I have never considered myself charismatic

And yet I found myself at times influencing some decent amount of people around me which greatly surprises me.

Maybe I am weird

Maybe I am eccentric

Maybe I am one of a kind

Maybe I am dumb

Maybe I am overated

Maybe I am full of nonsense

And yet I find myself very much loved by some decent amount of people around me which greatly surprises me.

To such an extent I really find myself being just another plain street Joe slaving for a regular day job to make a living. No Brad Pitt looks, no Bill Gates wealth and no Steve Jobs talent but over this course of existence, there are people whom their lives I have came into, seems to be all over me. I depict myself as someone who happens to share a tiny fraction of their lives over their long life story and yet it's within that limited time that these absolutely gorgeous people become pretty attached to me. I guess I give too much freedom, I smile every second, I make people happy, I am full of crap and I have never throw an angst ridden front more than thrice over a decade.

So now that my contract is coming to an end in March, the kids upon hearing some rumors began to worry if I would leave this noble place of knowledge. They began to fill their diaries with their worries about my doubtful departure. I could clearly sense that I have gotten into their good books over the span of 1.5 years. But quite seriously I haven't done anything special because all I did was to talk to them about games, relationships, snowboarding, animations, Singapore and photography. These kids don't confront me though some do but most will pen in their diaries about their thoughts. Yes it's really sweet that everyone is pretty concerned about the rumors that I am leaving but that's beside the whole point. These kids are in their final year before moving on to High School so it's THEY who are graduating and leaving. And yet they are so innocently naive to be overly concern me than to realise their departure in March. Such sweet irony are indeed very very comfortable to a man who have never really done anything impactful to command such gratitude.

Like I have said, I might just be a little more chatty than most people and I might just strike a chord with them. Despite a strong front that I present aka Kim Jong 'is very' Ill, I am really a softee who do yearn for a little warmth like this at times.

So here is one for you marvelous generations of the future...the noble institution of knowledge where we met for the very first time basked in star dust.

Some other random pictures of 2009

- Never Stop Dreaming -


"Beer"


"Slave"


"Corona"


"Memories"


"Denial"

And with a Zippo, some Jim Beam Black, a Kangol hat and brandless slippers, I found myself sitting in front of a awesome EF35L mounted on a KDX resting on top of a silver tripod.

Another salvaged weekend

- Never Stop Dreaming -

This weekend was well planned ahead, weeks prior and everyone was set for snowboarding. Unfortunately, the foul weather brought rain, thunderstorms and minutes before departing on a rainy Saturday morning, people started backing out. Mails, phonescalls, etc and I was already convinced that unless you are really in to snowboarding, thunderstorms are probably sufficient to put you off. Since everyone bailed on me and that I wasn't going snowboarding alone, I went back to sleep at 0730 after undressing, brushing my teeth and setting my mac up to complete the certain tasks. Woke up with a splitting headache as the Sun was peeking in and warming up my room by late afternoon, around 1400 hours.

Met up with a friend for some late lunch and caught up with her after not seeing her for a rather long time. Then headed to the usual Ueda joint with the usual boring crowd. Luckily Emi returned my missed call and off I go to another party, Kazu's house warming. Here I met some of the most gorgeous people on Earth and yes I was jealous. Met another avid photographer using the same camera body as mine. Played around with the menacing flash set up and whisked a couple of pretty decent shots...still processing them. Had a great time chatting with Andrew.

Sunday, went out with Andrew who will most probably set me up for a big party in Canada this year end. Hopefully it will be rationalise so I can to to Canada for a short break. Went to Round 1 in Nagano City where a measely ￥1,500 for 3 hours of various sports like baseball batting, basketball, soccer, archery, darts, volleyball, airgun, table tennis, tennis, roller blading, and a wild time in the arcades. Because every game in the arcade is free, I ended up playing 2 hours of games and completing 4 games in total. I will be most willing to come down here again to play arcade for free. Headed back home around 1900 hours and while it was snowing in Nagano City, my city was nothing short of a cloudless sky with stars. Drove to my school, set the camera up with a tripod in the vast field, blazing the chilly winds, I did manage to frame my school against the back drop of glittering stars in the darkness. Reached home around 2200 hours, shower and dinner and had a nice chat with Her Royal Highness, The Mighty Little Bear till 0100 hours. Tired and really worn out, I hit SlumberLand.

Still waiting to buy my camera gear so I can set up more photos.

平成20 (2009) 成人式 (Coming of Age Day)

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Alrite I have finally finished processing some of the pictures while leaving most of them relatively untouched except for a slight LRoom adjustment. These are the pictures of the Coming of Age Day held on 2 consecutive days (10 and 11 January) in Karuizawa and Ueda respectively. As usual because I have a menacing camera amongst those toy digicams that almost every Japanese were carrying, some of the pictures were simply the works of an Evil Paparazzi. You might even find that in some of the pictures, 1 of the subjects will be looking into my camera while the rest of the subjects are looking into another toy cam. That's what menacing camera can do, steal attention...


I think a young lady's maiden step into adulthood is a good focus point to begin the journey with.






These fine boys looks like characters from the movie, KUROSU the Worst.



The kind staffs at the reception desk.


I kinda felt that the lady in Black looked like an actress.






Notice the long sleeves...these are furisodes and not kimonos.





An overwhelmed grandpa looking out for his grand-daughter. If you had seen the look on his face, the joy in his eyes and the warmth of his smile then winter simply is not cold.



Using a friend as a cover, the sneaky paparazzi snipes one eye candy from the crowd.






This was the most sinister equipment at the event. Canon EOS 1Ds Mk3 with giant strobes, unbrellas, power units, cables and remotes. My Kiss Digital X felt seriously threatened.








I felt she had an exquisite and well refined features that resembled the yester years.







The only non Japanese dude with an angry face while a sweet damsel looks on.


Pushing a rather distinguished looking Canadian into the groups is a good excuse to get those shots.



The twins, presumably not implicated in the Edison Saga.


I kinda felt that she had a slight resemblence to Selina of S.H.E.





A reluctant friend implicated to capture weird guys.