Holga + Orchard Road

I hate Monday. Don’t you hate Monday? I do.

Nothing can ever put me in a sour mood except Monday. Perhaps because I spend the weekends sleeping late and waking late and only getting up when I feel bedsore, and not eating meals  not because I’m not hungry but because I’m too lazy to cook and there is nothing to cook anyway. I can’t do that on Monday, because on Monday I have to get up early and be at work early, you know, starting the week right. My brain is hardwired to that silly superstition that what to do on Monday sets the whole week’s mood. So If I’m late on Monday, It’ll be a tardy whole week, so forth and so on. So yeah I hate Monday.

I only half like Friday and Sunday. Its Saturday I like more, and Holiday the most (because you’re supposed to work but not going too)

Speaking of Friday, here are some Holga prints for that last Bulbing Session.

Bulbing Session

Last night I took more pictures on my Holga than my dSLR. When I downloaded my the pictures in my PC I realized I only took 31 shots. I might have taken more but I usually delete the unwanted ones.

I shot 2 rolls of 120 films. That’s 24 prints, and that’s a lot in Holga Standards. 

My 2 1/2 year old Holga is enjoying itself sitting on top of a tripod.

I learned the basics of photography with it actually. It’s got a focal point of 60mm (supposedly) aperture of shutter speed of 1:8 (apparently) and f/13 (presumably). But really it is more like guesswork. Due to the uncoupled lens and view finder, the focal point becomes merely a “reference” for focusing. One must shoot with the “centre slightly to the right”. Shutter speed is fixed but you can keep it open to infinity and beyond with bulb mode. The aperture is a joke. It’s supposed to have Cloudy (f/13) and Sunny (f/20) but it is really just an added decoration.

I always get weird pictures, but never unwanted ones. My Holga have a mind and mood of its own.

Someday Sunday

 

I went to Orchard this afternoon because I was craving for Dairy Queen's Mudslide Blizzard but it was out of stock. So I went inside borders and gave in with the compulsion of buying a book instead finishing it inside. I am now S$19.85 poorer but with PAul Theroux' The Great Railway Bazaar in hand. I was looking for a place to crash and cozy up while reading my book and I went to Starbucks.

Somehow I think that there is something seriously wrong when the latest issues against teens are their frequent forays in Starbucks and other Wi-Fi hotspots to STUDY. Well at least in Singapore a lot of establishments have been complaining about them with their laptops and papers scattered all over the table. When I was their age, me and my friends were busy with Eraserheads, love life, rock and roll, street basketball and other important stuffs. The pursuit of academic excellence was left in the school boundaries and totally forgotten when the bell rings. Well, my group of friends still graduated at the top of our class (just in case you were wondering)  I mean, these kids are working their asses off in a very early stage, and they will probably carry these habits when they grow old and they will end up as boring citizens who don't know how to party. Their NERDINESS even shows in their sense of fashion. I see a lot of kids wearing thick frame reading glasses WITHOUT the glasses, whatsgoingonhere? No it's not cool. It's nerdy not geeky. There's a big difference.

Anyhoo, because of these kill-joy kiddos the seats and sofas wereall taken and I had nowhere to seat so I went outside and decided to read in alfresco.It's a bout the author's train journey from UK to Singapore then China. I have heard of the place Ceylon, but it turned out it is the present day Sri Lanka. I swear someday I'm gonna travel by train from Singapore to UK! I might need a 3 months leave and savings of 3 years, though.

I was so engrossed I didn't notice it was getting dark ( and I was distracted by the PINK BIKE and Scavenger Pigeons)  and was halfway through the book when I realized that I am bathed with artificial lights already. I turn around then, lo and behold! It's Christmas in Orchard! You see, Orchard is the ONLY place in Singapore that you can feel Christmas. The rest of the country doesn't really care. It's just another holiday for them. They even have contests for mall for the most lavish Xmas decorations (which makes me remember COD )

I walked around and saw a humongous throng of people at Ion orchard. At first, I thought there was an event or something, the I realized it was a crowd of Filipino OFW's! They (we?) were everywhere! They were waiting for the musician couple to perform. This tandem is a familiar sight in Orchard, the Singer is a Filipina, and her husband is Indonesian-Chinese, I forgot what they call their band, but last time I heard her singing, she was belting out Lani Misaluchia and Jaya's songs! So now they started with a Salsa, and the crowd started dancing -- in the street. They are no longer confined at the stair steps of

Ion but gradually spilling at the sidewalk. Then they started the Tango, chacha and some danceable tunes. The sidewalk is now an impromptu street party. Which is fine, really as most of the people whose supposed to be irritated they can't pass by, just joined the fray. The rest are just watching, heads bobbing, feet tapping around the revellers. There is something really contagious with the Filipino's Happy Nature. I even saw a couple of white tourists who jumped in, the woman dancing with an Indian guy, and the Man dancing with a Filipina. There was an obliviously Latina girl who showed some moves. This is how OFW's drowns the feeling of loneliness. With the Christmas lights, music and revelry, for a moment all feelings of homesickness are washed away. 

So yeah, instead of another boring Sunday, I got my butt of bed, bought a book and in doing so experience something positive for a change instead of my usual grumblings. Advance Merry Christmas!

It Just Keeps Getting Bigger

2 years 2 inches and my waistline just keeps on adding some inches. The truth is I worry about having a big belly! There I said it. Because these ever living, ever expanding fats right here are not rite of passage (like drinking coffee), they are here to stay, building a separate organ , watching LOST DVD with me, procreating on a daily basis, actively participating in decision-making, demanding a better accommodation and posher lifestyle and proclaiming their own holidays. Believe me, nothing will freak you out early Monday morning than witnessing your own fats outside your window rallying for the right of assembly.Everyday I feel like I'm slowly losing control over them, little by little they are making their own rules from toilet etiquette to table manners without considering my opinion. They even wake me up at night in the middle of my sleep cause one of them just had a "very clever idea" blah blah and decided to hold a meeting. We even had a serious argument last Tuesday when they're acting like bitches, saying they hate Tuesday and wanted to sleep it off. It's a losing battle everyday for me and I needed to do something before they take over and kick me out from my own lodging. I read a news about a 900 pound man who were helplessly controlled by his fats that the firemen made a big hole on the wall of his house and used a forklift to get him out and bring him to a hospital. I know I will never reach that point but I will surely die from embarrassment not from a heart attack if ever! His reason? he just can't stop eating and he craves for pizza alot! And I don't blame him and he clearly needs help. These little bastards are highly tyrannical and territorial and it will take your body a lifetime of grinding and crunching in a gym and a discipline of a Samurai to completely annihilate every strand of life that is breathing out of them.

So whattodowhattodowhattodo? Mien Gott if I only knew!

In the mean time, I think I want hamburgers for dinner.

Long Holiday Weekend

 

Philippines had a holiday last monday for All Saints day and I missed it. Well, because I'm in a country celebrating it as holoween, and wearing costumes and partying crazy is not a proper excuse for a holiday it seems. So yeah, I was working that day.

Anyway, Singapore had a holiday last friday though. It was the Hindu's Deepavali Festival and I decided to spend the whole day at home, catching up with my google reader feeds( 4 days, 2000++ feeds ), reading anime, drafting blog entries that i never get to post, planned on redesinging my blog, signing up with Tumblr, blog hopping, sleeping, napping (they are 2 different things) and occasionally scratching my butt. My lunch was hotdogs and nissin's cup noodles. It seemed like a good Idea lying in bed the whole day, but by 4PM I felt bored and unproductive (at least boredom catched up) So I decided to ring a friend to collect pautang to meet up and hang out but he was busy taking advantage of his friend who checked in at Marina Bay Sands and asked if he can swim at the skypark with them with something else I guess.

Which left me in a conundrum, because I was on my way inside the bus. So, Do I go back to sleep and waste a good .71 cents or continue to my destination solo flight? I decided the latter and my feet brought me to Bugis. Now, Bugis is always my 2nd default destination when bored (first is Borders at Wheelock place)

So anyway, these are the reasons why I like Bugis

Throngs of people

in crowded two-feet-street

Lots of knicknacks

and souvenirs

witty shirt designs

and weird thingeys

Familiar snacks

Overpriced Sumans

cheap dinner

and curry puffs!