Too Hectic Too Hectic!

- Never Stop Dreaming -

At the moment, ma hands are pretty much tied up with a lot of things. Just last week when I started off on a usual Monday, a fellow colleague dropped me a verbal wedding invitation just 5 days short of the actual day. It's not like I know him since childhood days but more of a rather hi and bye every Monday kinda relationship. Nonetheless I graciously accepted it since there wasn't any plans for the Sat as well.

The Sunday prior (15th) wasn't really spectacular to be exact...The weather was indeed really good since Heaven granted me almost 3 to 4 days of consecutive rain. But besides that blessing, everyone else was laying low beneath radar detection. Good for me as well since I am saving up for the huge expenditure coming late June to late July. In the end, I went out with C to scout for decent places to do some photoshoots. The rain did ruin everything since I wasn't agreeable to subject my gear to it but it was just nice driving around the scenic routes. While stopping by Megami Lake for a short break, the Japanese guy and his gf in the blue Evo 7 next to me bombarded me with their curious looks. Well I have already gotten over this shallow stereotype of the typical Japanese mentality that every single Chinese or Korean that walks in Japan have to be Japanese and every BLONDE have to be an American. Can't really blame them since they have not much luck knowing things outside of their self sufficient island. C was as curious as them but after hearing my reasoning, she got it as well. I swore the look of the Japanese guy was like, "Dang...wish I was that fellow Japanese chap with the hot blonde girl!" exploding inside his silent head since he can't be expressing it in front of his girl...Haha what an episode.

Ok moving on to the Friday just last week. Hit some precious 外人 (Gaijin) literally "foreigner" time with the rest of the not-so-usual crowd. New watering hole introduced by C which wasn't much of a fad except the house music was pretty listenable. Went back home tired without any alcohol poisoning but failed to make it to the Japanese class on Sat morning since it was raining and I was lazy. Slept till late into the afternoon, dragged myself outta bed and made my way to the wedding ground held at 1800 hours in Nagano City. Wasn't expecting anything much from the wedding but Mr Kitahara (The Groom) did surprise me when mid way he went out to presumably change kits like the usual Chinese wedding. He appeared back with the exact same suit PLUS an oversized striking blue backpack. Inside the backpack was something resembling a keg of Asahi Super Dry Beer with a hose connected to it aka Proton Pack Ghostbuster style. Sweet was what I thought as he made his rounds around the buffet-themed dinner that had 70% of the guests standing. Definitely better than the "Yam Seng" in SG....so Kudos to Mr Kitahara for that.

After the wedding, I went back to Ueda and met up with more friends for some TCSS session.

Sunday, 21st June...woke up to a rainy day again (in fact 2 weekends in a row). Tried to Jailbreak my Ipod Touch to get the stupid Metal Gear Touch to work but failed AGAIN after like an intense week of failed Jailbreaking. Finally after all the hair-pulling experience, Pwnage Tool for Mac weaved magic but still can't get the MGS Touch to work. Gave up and made my way to 辰野 (Tatsuno) Park to catch the fireflies party. Was given the news by one teacher who knew I like historical stuffs, anything Japanese and photography after he saw a newspaper article in the papers. About an hour and a half drive from my place that passed thru hidden valleys of paradise, Initial D styled snakey mountain passes and more breathtaking scenery that I opted to skip since I was all juiced up for the fireflies. Too bad I was doing this photography journey all solo...with only the music, the car and the beautiful day to accompany me.

Located slightly on the opposite side of the massive Suwa Lake...the mountain pass up to get over to the other side had me stealing a rather nice view of Suwa Lake. Again you can only take my words for it since there are no pics. In the end after the long almost 2 hours odd drive...I reached a small park no bigger than a football field. Checked my watch and realised that it was almost 1800 hours but the sky was slightly overcast and HOT!. Since this is the first time I was there, the ￥1,000 parking at the park was obviously the best choice. Seems like this Firefly phenomenon is quite huge at this famous place since the locals had dressed up in bright blue Happi(s) with a firefly emblem on the back. They were ushering in the cars and they littered the entire vicinity of the park to provide nusiance as well as support.

Parked the car and went inside the park to scout for possible shooting locations...it was only then I realise that the tiny initial park wasn't the place. Had to cross a bridge spanning over a wide river, sort of like the huge "Long Kang" in SG except bigger and had natural banks instead of towering concrete. Wiggled up the beaten path and viola! In front of me was a huge park with thick low-lying bushes with tiny purple flowers and streams beneath it. A complex but well organized path and the wooden fences presented this place as modern. This was all done to protect the fireflies since they were the pride of this place. Only 3 tripods and 2 photographers were in sight resting beside their gear. No cameras were in sight as well, only tripods. I smiled and picked a spot close to one of the 3 tripods since I did not know the place well and those 2 photographers looked like they really know what they were doing. So they were simply an indication of a good spot.

Went back to the car to haul my gear and whisked back to the spot. Tripod up and gear checked...I was beginning to test out my preferred framing angle, which of the 2 lenses to use, remotes, etc. and all these while the other photographers were simply checking out my setup. It's normal since I do that all the time...like in all other situations as well. Digging the cars others' drive, digging the girls other groups have in a club, digging the amount of food on my platter, etc. After that I simply laid back to enjoy the nice moist smell of the air less the pesky bugs buzzing around my face. As the clock started to tick by, one by one, two by two and hordes by hordes, people with point and shoot cameras, photographers with tripods, kids, families, couples, etc started turning up. Of course I was more concern about who or in fact what was being set up beside me. Just before the last dying light disappeared into the distance horizon, there were 5DMk2(s), 1DsMk3(s), KissDX3(s), D90s, D700s, Pentax film cameras which looked like priceless antique pieces and various assortment of lenses. The only thing that set myself apart from all these "professional-looking" photographers were that I was the ONLY young punk with a decent camera and tripod.

Getting stares and curious looks from the other fellow photographers given my youthful appeal, the prominent L lens stuck on my tiny camera might actually indicate that I knew what I was doing or that I simply had stacks of Yen to burn. Luckily for me, the guy on my left was pitching his 5DMk2 with the older 28-70L lens so I took a sneaky peep on his LCD to syphon his settings...But in the end, I stood with my settings.

And then the moment that everyone was waiting anxiously for finally strolled in with ease. One by one the tiny fireflies began to randomly "Glow" their biolumiscence light. They flew, they danced and they glowed...drawing streaks of greenish and yellowish lights everywhere just like what Nature had intended. We the invaders just go "Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" and the photographers fiddled with remotes, switches and the sounds of shutters fluttered the air. Of course there were the occasional "Spoilers" who would fire their flash from their handphones or point and shoot cameras despite countless announcements not to do so. Nonetheless nothing did dampen any enthusiastic spirit since it did not rained and the weather was good. An awesome display of light painting by gazillions of firefiles...yes there were so many of them, in the forests, in the parks, stopping on the power light on my camera since they shared the same color, stopping on people's head, hands, etc.

That's about it for now but have been rather busy with work and reports lately since my Boss wanted a more detail summary. Tied up with trying to get the apps to work on my Jailbroken Ipod Touch...and buying the 5Dmk2 this weekend, going back to SG in less than 4 weeks...

I am alive and very much ready to embark on the next adventurous journey...