Aya Sekine

"All her designs, there are no middle!"

- Aya on her stylist's love for the asymmetrical.

Had the great pleasure of shooting Aya's album launch today. Recovering from a high fever and enduring a throbbing headache, she nonetheless put up one helluva performance.

The first time I saw her she had on an Afro wig, red overalls and gold high-heeled pumps. Moved on from playing in punk rock bands in New York to being Jazz@Southbridge's regular pianist.

She'll be playing again at Esplanade in late-September for their Late Nite series... Catch Play! Aya, Play!

The off days inch nearer.


I thoroughly enjoyed the Brazil/Ghana match tonight. Minimal rugby-like brashness and rough play, smiling players, plenty of on-target attempts and... aiyah what do I know.

Didn't realise they were tunnelling under the old National Library. No one stopped me as I wandered into the construction site tonight - was very nice to be there.










Another sample from the mountains of film shots from a year back..





The boys had devised a way to carry the huge plastic gunny sack with one arm, leaving the other free to pick up scrap metal and plastic to be sold off for cash.

One guy told me how he had bathed in crystal clear waters when he was a child, and refuses to do the same anymore now that the waters are black.

Parallel universe

A simple case of where I am, and where I want to be. Two women I have met at very different points of my life. I wonder what they would say to each other if they met.





Just having a slight bout of reverse-homesickness these couple of days. I miss it very badly, probably induced by all negatives I've been scanning. Will upload them soon, one year too late.

Was glad to find some shots of Cat when she was still there... I'd forgotten how scrawny she was. I don't think I would have expected her to still be with me as I watched her leap and pounce at our breakfast table. How strange the way things unfold sometimes.

I woke up at 4 in the afternoon with a headache, half of my off-day gone.

I had looked through two of my colleague's raw shots of the same event which we had attended together (long story, manpower allocation not my desk's strong point sometimes). My pictures were comparatively messy, unfocused, technically unsound. Generally, I'm not happy with my work.

People ask me why I don't source for a job elsewhere, or go overseas - and I know I'm right when I tell them that I need more experience.

I'm looking forward to work tomorrow, and in an evil not-good-for-work-attidude way I hope nothing happens, because I envision myself spending the day scanning my negatives - just like I used to do for hours and hours and hours.

And so it seems that the 24-hour McDonald's near my place has introduced FREE wireless internet.... so the weird "Sky Net Global" connection I couldn't connect to one year ago works now, they were probably running tests on it in the past.

So, with available XL iced-lemon tea, toilets, power points and now the internet... McDonald's is EVIL. I can't stay away even if I want to.





Abir has a gallery to himself at Enter World Press Photo. I love his work. And i'm dying to go back.

I had read a few issues of the New Internationalist magasine when I was there... seemed like good stuff. Not too sure if its available here. But they've archived most of their articles online. The most recent one about Singapore was printed in 2001 about globalisationn.

" The moral of this tale is rather simple. If the richest, most highly educated, nationalist country in the developing world will willingly sacrifice its cultural identity, the last, best bastion of its individuality, to globalization – we can be sure the pandemic has already happened. "

Running into brick walls

Again and Again and Again. Its just one of those days at work. Like Groundhogs's Day the Movie the Sequel x 10.

Thankfully, her evilness makes me happy.

Cat's Happy Hereday

So, what is it like to have been a Singaporean for exactly one year? I'd ask her, but she really doesn't care. Bleah, indeed.




A couple of photos I wanted to post... but the flickr Pro account has expired and I haven't renewed and I've exceeded my limit this month. Horror!

Soccer soundbites.

Banzai!!!

Tamagotchi! Kanagutchi!!

Banzai banzai banzai!!!!

Bloody bastard he shoot through the hole man!

Your hair so stylo you better shoot me one good goal!

Go back home and eat more kangeroo meat!

Eh what's the meaning of Banzai ah.

*SILENCE* (when Australia scored)

*SILENCE* (when Australia scored)

*SILENCE* (when Australia scored)

Sunday

For all my disinterest (not 'un' but 'dis') in the World Cup, its hard not to get sucked into the hype. Cat apparently, has some form of defence against the media saturation.





Thanks to a car, I went to two new places tonight and revisited another. I bitch and whine about it, but make no mistake - NTU is really beautiful at night.

There are a gadzillion steps to climb to reach my much-missed place of solace in Hall 9. But I think its worth it. It's actually a laundry-drying area no one uses anymore, and comes with a nice view from the fifth floor atop a hill with trees all round.



We had once dragged up a discarded mattress and just lay there looking at the (few) stars and enjoying the fresh air. When you're in hall, surrounded by strangers and a whole lot of things that don't really make you feel comfortable, you inevitably find means of escape from it all.

The fatigue of the day was quickly dissipated,





and all that was left was just a puddle of me.

Gone Fishing

I had a GREAT weekend (don't get technical with me). Two photo exhibitions, one in-coming cheque and one small bouquet of happy flowers bought at a whim in celebration (of the cheque).

Would buy flower more often, but in a showdown of Felis domesticus VS Phlox divaricata - there can only be one winner.

Double off-days are so good.

Life Lesson Module #879 :

(Flunked Thrice And Repeating)

SOLO CONSUMPTION OF HORROR MOVIES AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Course Outline : This course covers an overview of the psychological processes involved in an individual's visual experience of horror-themed films, including a comprehensive investigation into the causal links between the motivaton to undergo the experience and illusory beliefs in courage. Students will also learn how to identify socio-behavioural patterns and establish correlation between incidence levels and IQ measurements.


Prerequisite Course: Life Lesson Module #101 : I TOLD YOU SO


------------------------------------------


A damn lot of new photos. Inspired the seasonsed guys at pix desk talking on and on about how great 0759 was (couldn't find other info for it online), a couple of us tried to soft-relaunch it.

Will set up another place to put the photos up, We're sure as hell going to try and keep it going. So for now.... back to randomness.







Oh and I dug up a few more photos from the Election Period. Only one month on, but it feels like ages ago.








------------------------------------------



And oh, Happy Birthday Joo.

Congratulate Us.

I sit here with a glass of ribena-tequila feeling very smug and happy.

Second-upper honours and a B for FYP. Not too shoddy indeed, considering that I had been prepared for the worst. Everyone I've spoken to seemed satisfied and happy. This is excellent.

At first, four years doesn't seem like a long time. But then I think about what has transpired since... it was certainly long enough.

A far cry from the nights spent up on the rooftop of Hall 9's drying area, tentatively trying a cigarette, staring at the stars and enjoying the breeze, gossiping about the guys in the block, listening to Portishead and Lamb, heckling the noisy motorcyclists in the carpark, quarreling with the boyfriend on the phone.

Since then, numerous projects and powerpoints, chron offstones and news cons, drunken hours and false purchases, two short videos and many photographs, writing heartfelt essays and hated reports, four halls and four roommates, visiting bangladesh and indonesia, finding love and losing it.

Ahhh how nice it is to be at the beginning of everything.









Moving on to reality. It was World Environment Day. Digging from the archives of Things Which Will Never See The Light Of Day:

Isn't that awesome?

Like. Totally. I just read GFY and watched Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Contest and now all I can hear in my head is a blonde girl in an ugly-bikini telling me things, like, about ya know, things.

And that'd be completely ok except that when such an accent gets in my head all I want to do is start yammering away to irritate-someone/make-someone-laugh (fine line, fine line) and there isn't any one but The Cat who has already scratched me twice tonight and seems unreceptive to American Accented Discourse.



I was so worried that in her quest to Kill the Butterfly she would overestimate her leap and jump to her death.

I wonder if horoscopes apply to animals. What is Cat? Aloof. Independent. Fickle.



One day I shall create a MCQ Quiz on Life and Things and have these two 30-May birthday-boys fill them out. If they answer the same for more than 80% of the questions I will accept it as conclusive proof that astrology is a fact.


Have the weekend off. Seeya Monday.

In Kilts, Naturally

Saiful told me that there were complaints from residents about too many foreign workers sleeping in the collection centres.

That is such a bizarre thing that I can't quite begin to wrap my mind around it.

These people sleep at 10pm at night, except Saiful who works two jobs a day. I don't ever see or hear them unless I actively seek them out. How could they have possibly bothered these residents?

In case you're thinking, WOAH JESS, don't jump to conclusions! Yes, its also entirely likely that these people didn't complain about them, but complained that they shouldn't have to stay in such a place.

--------------------

A job at Sungei Buloh at 9 am in the morning, which made me groan at first - till I remembered that this is probably the only chance I'll get in a while to visit the place. The only gripe I have now is that I cannot explore at leisure.

Lotsa outdoorsy stuff recently. Punggol beach, ECP, Ubin possibly on Sunday and now Sungei Buloh.

I ain't complaining, that's for sure.

--------------------------------------

Three north-easterners discovered a good reason why staying in the NE may not be such a bad thing after all.

--------------

And we come to the title of this entry, naturally.