干妈: So, Min, you're going back to Melbourne on 23rd July right?

Min: Yeah. Gosh I can't believe it! Tomorrow I'll be on a jet plane (again), flying back to Melbourne! And semester 2 is starting next week! I'm going to miss this diamond-shaped island of course...

Robbie: MIN! Stop yapping and let's start! I'm running late for my grooming session!!

Min: Robbie, but you look much, much cuter with long hair! Let it grow, will ya? And it'll become so long, that maybe one day I should just tie it up into a ponytail and put a ribbon on it?

Robbie: Are you kidding? I'm a boy!!!!! *gives grumpy look*

Min: Ok ok!! Yes of course I know you're a boy! I was just joking with you as usual!!!!

Robbie: Humph!

Min: C'mon Robbie, don't be angry! Now let me see you smile......Big smiles.......!!!

Robbie: *sticks out tongue*

Min snaps away with her dSLR.............

Later on, after lunch...

Min: Robbie, what are you thinking about?

Robbie: Ummm...nothing, just the usual stuff...

Min: Oh really?

Robbie: Yeeeaaahhhhhh.... *rather unconvincingly*

Min: C'mon Robbie, tell me what's on your mind! I don't study animal psychology, y'know!

Robbie: Ok ok...y'see.........

Robbie: I can really see that I'm getting old. And I think I'm suffering from pattern baldness. My fluffy tail seems to have lost half its hair...and I'm turning pink because of that...

Robbie: And on top of that, I seem to get sleepier...

Min: Even though you sleep a lot?

Robbie: Yeah...I don't even have the energy to lift up my head now...I'm just so tired...

Robbie: And my eyelids seem to weigh a ton...

Robbie: Ah! The kitchen door!! Jeez I'm dead beat!

Min: Robbie...are you really sad that you're getting older?

Robbie: *jolts awake* Sort of. I just feel that I'm unable to do as many things as I used to be able to do...

Min: Like what?

Robbie: *turns towards his tail* Like chasing my tail for hours on end? Hahaha...that's a very old game I used to play with Muffin, my best doggy pal...we used to have competitions on who could spin longer without tumbling. And I always won! Now - if you ask me to chase my tail, I'd probably collapse after...say...1 round?

At the thought of Muffin spinning around crazily...Robbie chuckles...

Min: Robbie, do not despair. Even though you're inevitably getting older, there're some good things you get out of it! Oh...and have you heard of Eric Erikson?

Robbie: Nope...some psychology dude right?

Min: Haha...yep!

Robbie: Tell me more?

Min: Erikson came out with a bunch of psychosocial stages. The stage you're experiencing now is the Integrity vs Despair stage. Integrity - feeling satisfied with what you've done in the past, and what you are now. Despair - feeling unhappy and regretting what you've done in the past, and hence dissatisfied with your current self. Do not despair, Robbie! You've had a really good life, and your mum loves you so much! And you've lived so meaningfully! You're really, really healthy too! Do not let old age influence your bubbly and optimistic mindset. Embrace it and make full use of it!

Robbie: Oh... *thinks hard*

Robbie: Min, what you've just said really makes sense. I should really look on the bright side of life...and treat old age as part and parcel of life. Even though there're some things I cannot really do anymore, these things can remain as memories...which I can cherish and treasure. And of course, I could take up other new stuff too!! And, besides.......

Min: Yeah?

Robbie: Now that I'm older, I don't run as fast anymore...and hence you can take lots of pictures of me!!!

Min: You're so narcissistic!!!!!!

Robbie: Hahahaaahaaaa...C'mon Min! Snap away!!!!!

Robbie: And that concludes Min's little psychology lesson! And my photoshoot!

Min: Narcissist Robbie!!!!!!

Robbie: Ah...just ignore the narcissist part! Stay tuned for the next post!

Min+Robbie: See you guys soon!!

19 July 2010

Subject: TEH-O JUST WANTS TO SLEEP!

Dear Diary,

I had a friendly match with brother Kopi today. It's been a while since Kopi and I have wrestled! Man, I sure put up a massive fight! But Kopi won of course - he's the ultimate wresting champion!

I'd really like to have another match with Kopi, but he's such a lazy guy - he went to sleep straight after lunch! Hmmmm, I think I should just go take a nap too. But first, let me find a place to lie down. Kopi occupied my usual sleeping spot! But oh well, he's my brother, let him have it.

Aha! The backyard! Tiles that have been warmed by the afternoon sun - a perfect place to snooze! I lie on my belly (my favourite sleeping posture of course!) and enjoy the warmth of the tiles throughout my entire body. Slowly, I start drifting off...

But I'm jolted (rudely) awake by Big Brother Milo!

"C'mon Teh-O! LM, Eric and Ben are here!" Milo hollers. "Don't you want to play with them?!"

"Ugh...Milo! Just leave me alone, will ya? I'm trying to sleep!" I retort. I lie lazily on the ground again, totally reluctant to get up.

But Milo is persistent. He insists (and insists some more!) that I should get up and say hi!

"I told you, Milo! I just wanna sleep!!!!!!" I snap angrily.

"Oh, really? Well, let's see if you still can sleep if I tickle your belly!!" Milo laughs.

"Don't you dare, Milo!" I retort. "Or I'll slap your nose!"

"Oh really? I'd like to see you try!"

And Milo walks right up to me...and starts tickling my belly!!!!

I try to whack Milo, but I fail, obviously. I try to tickle him, but he has high tickling threshold. I try retaliating, but he's too strong for me!

"STOP TICKLING ME, MILO!" I yell, as a last resort.

"Ok ok ok!!! Chill out, dude! C'mon, let's go!"

But I refuse to budge. When Milo scampers off to meet LM, Ben and Eric, I decide to go back to sleep. But I lost my sleeping spot, thanks to Milo! Now Kopi has "migrated" to my sleeping spot, and I need to find a new one! Humph!

Ah well, the gutter is better than nothing! I guess I'd just lie down...and drift off slowly to sleep.............

"TEH-O! Didn't I tell you not to go to sleep? Eric, LM and Ben are here!" Milo reprimands.

"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS INTERRUPTING MY SLEEP?" I yell.

Gosh, I'm really, really going to get back at Milo for this!

Milo walks off, a little startled by my outburst. I decide (for the last time this afternoon!) to go back to sleep, no matter what! I really hope that it'll be uninterrupted this time! And after that, I'm going to take revenge on Milo! I'm going to tickle his belly, and interrupt his sleep!!! Hahahaha.....I'm just kidding, of course!

I hear footsteps from a distance.

"Milo, if it's you again, I'm going to take revenge for real!" I swore.

But this time, it's not Milo! It's Eric! He walks up to me, picks me up and puts me on his lap.

"What's up, Teh-O? You want to sleep?"

"Well yeah! Milo kept waking me up! I'm super tired now!"

So I drift off to sleep - undisturbed this time.

While Milo, being Milo, went to wake Kopi up! I wonder what the two of them are doing now...

Till then, see you later! I'll be Bach! :P

Signing off,

Teh-O

Welcome to piccas@pianofantaisie!!!! This is LM, your correspondent! Today, the fight between Kopi (top picture) and Teh-O (second picture) is broadcast - live at piccas@pianofantaisie on channel 117!!! Who will win this inaugural trophy, to become the Puppy of the Year???!!!!! Let's go to Eric's house to find out!

*switching cam to Eric's house*

In 5...4...3...2...1.......

DING DING!!!!!

Whoa...check that out!!!! Teh-O has got Kopi's face in his mouth!!! And no, he's definitely not letting go!!!!!

Teh-O: Growl! I'm going to win this award for sure!!!!

Kopi: No, I'm not letting you!!! LET GO OF ME YOU _________!!!!!

Oops...some profanities here! Censored of course! :P

But Kopi doesn't give up! He snarls, twists and jerks....and manages to release himself from Teh-O's grip!

Exhausted, Kopi uses his final ounce of energy...and pushes Teh-O off him!!! Teh-O, being exhausted as well, crumples to the ground...for now.............

But no!!! Kopi regains his energy fast...REALLY FAST in fact...and lunges towards Teh-O...

And they fight again!!

Fight...fight...fight........and Teh-O is driven into a corner by Kopi, who relentlessly pushes and snarls....and does everything he can to lower Teh-O's confidence and strength to fight on...

Teh-O...still refusing to give up, tries to retaliate, but Kopi does a final lunge......and Teh-O backs away...into the bushes...and out of sight...

5......4......3......2......1......and still no sign of Teh-O?

And KOPI IS THE WINNER!!! THE PUPPY OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO........KOPI!!!!

*applause*

Credits: Kudos to Eric, Ben, Teh-O and Kopi for starring in this episode!! :D Once again, this is LM, your correspondent for today, at piccas@pianofantaisie!! Thanks lots for viewing and do stay tuned for the next episode, right here, at piccas@pianofantaisie!!! :D

P/S: Kopi and Teh-O are brothers - adopted together around April.

It's been about a week since I bought my 2 new lens. The picture quality is really good, and I get to cover a wide range of focal lengths.

A few days before I got back, there were 2 massive midnight flowers in my garden, according to my aunt. These flowers only bloom at night, and dry up at sunrise. They typically grow on the edge of the leaves, and are pretty easy to spot because of their size and the length of their stalk.

I saw these flowers in full bloom last year, but at that time, I didn't have a dSLR. The photos turned out pretty decent though. And I had to wake up before sunrise to take pictures of them, before they withered. I wish I could do a time-lapse of them opening, but Helios the dSLR doesn't come with a movie function.

These pictures were taken over the past 3 days. There were 5 flower buds on one leaf, of which 1 started blooming first and shrivelled up the next morning. The other 2 only started blooming yesterday, after the rain.

The first flower - reluctant to bloom at first...

But after spraying it with some water, it opened within half an hour, and was in full bloom shortly after...

Subsequently the first flower dried up, and the other 4 began to open...

Closeup of the anthers, filaments etc of one of the flowers...

One of the many "group shots" I took of these flowers...

Unfortunately, the 4 flowers dried up this morning, and now there're 5 dried flowers hanging on the same leaf. :( Hopefully there'll be more flowers blooming soon...

On a side note...I should really make a trip to Botanic Gardens and take more macro shots with my telephoto lens...or maybe go on this photo-taking trip in spring when I get back to Melbourne? Spring flowers are really beautiful in Melbourne, especially cherry blossoms...

Hmmmmm I guess that's it for now!!! :D Thanks for viewing and do stay tuned for the next post!

Had an awesome day at Sentosa today! Although there were lots and lots (and lots and lots and lots) of people, and the Universal Studio tickets were sold out promptly, I still managed to practice using my 2 new lens - a 11-18mm wide-angle lens and a 70-300mm telephoto lens. Combining my 3 lens: 11-18mm (wide-angle), 18-55 (standard) and 70-300mm was awesome!!!

Anyway here are the pictures below. This is going to be a really image-heavy post:

Reached the beach and started drawing stuff in the sand - coz I saw 2 Japanese tourists drawing hearts in the sand. The Japanese tourists eventually saw it and they ended up taking pictures of my sand drawings! :D

After hanging around in the beach for a while...

Oscar the mascot! I kinda like his 2 front teeth...

And then I headed to the Dragon Trail (a long and colourful water feature) near the Merlion - and this was where the fun really started - with the changing of lens of course.

Closeup of some of the sculptures:

One of the patterns at the start...

A snapshot of a fish's mouth (which promptly reminded me of zoology for some reason) and an orange fish buried in sand...

I've not photographed children at play for a very very long time. This is probably the 2nd time I've done it, ever since I started photography... :P And the telephoto lens really came in handy! I should do more pics of children at play in the near future!!

More detailed shots of the water feature...

And at that point in time, my camera battery pack went flat! So...I had to switch to the handphone camera.....

Shots of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) on the monorail back to Vivocity. I went there in January but it wasn't fully opened yet. Now, it's just full of people...I should go there again someday...maybe at the end of the year...or later on...

My lunch: Garlic bread+2 mini eclairs+hot chocolate (of course!) from Delifrance. Gosh, I haven't eaten stuff from Delifrance for a long time!

A sculpture near the massive Merlion...

More pictures of the Dragon Trail...taken straightaway after my dSLR went flat...

And...oh yes! I found this yesterday and took a picture of the article while browsing through the newspapers (I think it's sometime around late May or early June)! Naaaaawwwwwwwwwwww..........such an adorable lil' kitty!!!! :D

That's about it for now, folks!! :D Thanks for bearing with such a heavy post!! :D

Once more...I LOVE MY 3 CAMERA LENS HEAPS!! :D