3 weeks in SG...

- Never Stop Dreaming -

The recent trip back to Singapore had been rather eventful as compared to previous years. The reason being that I felt more appreciated, people coming back from different places, meeting up with those whom I really wanted to meet, weddings, mum and dad, Grandma, new places, food, gear, photography, etc. To sum it up, I was more reluctant to return here to Japan which was of course quite a surprise to me. Well, no matter how much or how strong those influences in SG were, work commitment and other reasons gave me the slip to come back here where I had to adjust my life to fit in after being all Singaporean again for just 3 weeks short.

Firstly, the big weddings of my brother and Desmond held on the same day albeit differences in the time was one of the sole reasons I had to be back. Nothing too spectacular for both weddings since I chose not to be the main photographer but rather there to enjoy the experience. My own brother's wedding had me and my younger brother played the role of "Best Man" whom had to go thru the usual ritual of getting the bride. As expected, we were put thru the 4 generic phases of emotions, your usual bitter, sweet, etc stints. I was prepared so everything else went to the corner of the stairs and nothing thru my mouth. It was also thru this wedding that I met my brother's photographer, Brian from "thegaleria" whose cinematic black and white film look got me poisoned! I was merely playing some amateur vids from the 5DM2 which filled up the 8gb UDMA card with just less than 10 short HDMI vids. Man this cam eats space like nothing! (Sign to get another 16gb UDMA card!). Brother's wedding was done as a lunch reception at Lawry's Ribs in Paragon where my cousins, aunties, uncles, familiar faces, unfamiliar faces, etc congregated for a good cause. I was really happy since I had the chance to meet my cousins and relatives which was always comforting when we meet...the bond of kinship I guessed. In the morning, a full suit and nothing less so that I would not look like a irritating thorn since the groom (my brother), my dad and my younger brother was all in suits. More like men in black or rather men from the underworld...but prior to the lunch reception, I had opted to go forth with my fedora which I had specifically flown back for the wedding with the semi casual blazer with jeans look. Much to my surprise, sister-in-law's friends were clueless who I was but eventually requested to have my picture taken with them which I humbly (yeah right!) obliged. Fashion was something that I do not take lightly when large events are concerned. My younger brother wasn't any sloppy either since fashion was also in his blood...he chose a more formal Italian style ditching the tie in the suit while I preferred a more Japanese semi formal approached.

In the evening I attended Desmond's rather unusual beach themed wedding where I opted to dress to kill with my fur fedora and semi formal wardrobe. Everyone else turned up in beach berms and slippers, of course inclusive of the bride and groom themselves. Once again I chose to be discreet about snapping pics since there was another paid main photog to do the job. He, like me was only armed with a single camera with a flash and diffuser, which greatly amused me since most wedding photog carries 2 or more cameras. Since I barely know him, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and not discount him but very soon I found him nailing my frames after I went in for the marco shot of the wedding rings on the cushion. And that gave me a reason to discredit him obviously for replicating my perspective. Nvm...so moving on, Desmond actually held another wedding ceremony done in the grandeur of Tenrikyo once again but in SG instead. Held after the monthly service at Watten Estate, I saw more people turning up presumably for Desmond's wedding and the fantastic fare of home-cooked Japanese cuisine. The familiar faces greeted me as usual and welcomed me back only to find out that I fly the next day back to Japan.

So weddings aside, I met new friends at the annual Japanese graduation ceremony held by Tenrikyo where I straddled my amateurish photography symphony hunting for more lens food. From the moment I set foot there, Japanese was all that I spoke which was a little achievement I took pride in since I had lived in Japan for almost 2 years. Mistaken for a Japanese in Singapore (Come on, what's new...), my identity was being questioned behind my back I presumed. Nonetheless, amazing people where every to satisfy my hungry lens. Crazy karaoke and food outings followed where digested lens food (Gee, I kinda like this jargon!) never looked better with the assortment of colors, shapes and lines. Facebook ultimately collects all these "digested" material which I am still skeptical they would be used without my permission. Your Bad FB!

Caught a couple of movies both on the cinema and off, kicking off with Johnny Depp's Public Enemies and Jack Neo's Ghost flick to Jacky Chan's Shinjuku's Incident. Great local flavors and disturbing gore from the Shinjuku's Incident but Mob movies are still some of the best movies that I enjoy. Local TVs still are crappy without essence but some are really good. I shall skip the not-worth-mentioning ones but I really like the one which show cases Singapore in the past and the Mark Lee one showing how ungracious Singaporeans are...Haha SHAME ON YOU fellows comrades! Speaking of which I was still utterly disgusted by how unruly the PRCs are in SG, how idiotic the aunties of SG are, and how crowded SG had became. The overflow of the PRCs are the main reason which SG had sunken deep into an ungracious society where their rude, loud, dirty and precarious attitude continue to flood every gutter, street and alley. Try harder with all those useless courtesy campaigns cos in a million years, nothing will change where one of the most advanced societies, top notch financial centers with the most prestigious government and infrastructure needs silly campaigns like this...Ha ha ha a big joke indeed. Let me do a small analogy for you...back in the days when MRTs were first introduced, there were no lines to "teach" commuters to queue or to give way. Then arrows and lines were painted because people had grown more stupid to understand one of the 4 main languages. This time even colors like RED and GREEN were introduced so that this advanced society had to fall back to basics to understand the most fundamental concepts...how ironical when everything is moving forward with the main users falling backwards. Could never understand why irritating pests would cram at the exits of MRTs and leave the middle empty and lousy drivers plaguing the roads where their cowardly instincts are wrapped in useless junk metal they consider beautiful.

Took a couple of really sweet "models" out for a small shameless self-proclaimed photoshoot. The first one only yield 1 usable photo but the second one actually had some satisfactory ones. All thanks to Brian, whom works had me craving for more. Went to 1 commercial shoot and 1 wedding shoot with him and I found myself learning so much despite fiddling for years with my camera. So much to see, learn and hear from him....truly an eye opener. Applied those tactics to my own shoot and viola, results which I could had never dream of appeared instantly. Still had a couple of potential "models" that I really want to feed my lens but had no chance to do so officially. Among them, 1 had the voice of an angel, one had an aura sophisticated as the universe and one had the tenderness like a sleeping child. There were many others but I had not time to associate them with the correct description but definitely if chance and time permits, I would want to do some decent ones for them. With regards to photography, I had only managed to amass some gear while trying to be frugal with what I have, which was an attribute I credit to a particular Master who had opened my eyes to what real photography was about. It's quite a simple concept which applies to almost every to life in general which is to produce the best with the the minimal.

Transferred data from my well-kept white Santa Rosa MacBook to the new unibody MBP while retaining the 13" size and ditching my all time favorite white...Brats! Credit to my brother who offered me the upgrade and Ben who got this baby at a steal. Uploaded more Hokkien songs and other less fanciful stuffs. All this only gave me more reasons to improve my photography, vids, etc. Glad that the new cam and comp worked well together so that I can embark on more personal projects...so shamelessly had a couple of really nice people fancying my works.

Missing so many people back home already...people like Grandma who is always so supportive, loving and kind, Mum and Dad who had aged with streaks of prominent grey, my brothers, my friends, my love ones, my cousins, aunties, and anyone else whom I have forgotten...It's been great.

Initially had a lot planned out for these 3 weeks except clearing my stuffs in my room but in the end, the foul and hot weather had me hiding under the sheets late almost everyday. Wanted to do some decent photography but only did less that what was planned. Vids was also reduced since the time planned was usually after nightfalls. So in summary I did enjoyed a hell of a time back home visiting places that I really missed while not completing what I had initially planned. And just before flying off, X gave a huge surprise by presenting me a custom design Trexi which I left it in the care of my Dad.

Peace...and I am loving it.