Monthly Archive for September, 2008

The night the city roared to life

Published on September 30, 2008 in This I like and Usual Ramblings. 2 Comments

Thanks to a colleague of mine again, I scored a nice track side hotel room at the Meritus Mandarin to catch the F1 race on Sunday. To enjoy this historical moment with me, I shamelessly pulled some friends to join me including Lyn (my boo), Lennie, Sharon (Lennie’s boo), Justin and Junn (Justin’s boo). Located on the 10th floor, we got a nice view of the circuit from both sides (i.e. before the Bay Grandstand and along Marina Square).

Unfortunately, my 200-400mm telephoto lens was unable to get a clear shot of the cars zooming by and especially at such speed. So with that, I just snapped a little for my personal, archiving and blogging needs and headed back to the room most of the time to catch the race on a huge TV.

Left and right: Our nice little view

Helping ourselves to the loads of alcohol and chips, we enjoyed the F1 atmosphere from the air-conditioning comforts of the room. The deafening noise from the cars is clearly and loudly audible even from the 10th floor with the balcony door shut. Heck, I reckon it could even wake the dead. Massa’s pit crew errors and Raikkonen’s courageous but oh so stupid move with four laps to go aside, I must admit that my entire F1 experience has been a real blast. Adding to that, I am honoured and glad that I was able to not only enjoy the race with my close friends, but with a little (just a little) style and comfort.

As for next year, I guess I could get some nice tickets for my parents and Lyn. I had no idea my parents were trying to get into the F1 mood and walked around the circuit twice before the race weekend. Once again, a really brilliant show and efforts by my colleagues. Yeah, like I said earlier..I’m proud of you guys. Looking forward to a painless one next year .

Left: A Fearrari breezes by | Right: The ever so famous Safety Car

Experiencing the F1 Qualifier

Published on September 29, 2008 in This I like and Usual Ramblings. 4 Comments

I meet up with Lennie much earlier on Saturday to catch the 3rd practice session followed by the Qualifier. Lyn (my boo) had to study and since she is not really into races, she said she will only meet us for late dinner and thereafter, the qualifier. Holding on to our DSLRs, Lennie and I popped over to Turn 5 near the Singapore Flyer in our bid to capture some turning photos.

Unfortunately, I had earlier lent my 70-200mm F/2.8 to my colleague and forgot to ask him to return it. So I had to rely on my old and only telephoto lens, the 200-400mm. The lens has a very slow focusing motor and I can’t begin to tell you how painful it was to catch vehicles turning at about 250km/h. However, I was glad to get some relatively sharp ones.

Left: Kimi Raikkonen | Right: Nelsinho Piquet

Left: Lewis Hamilton | Right: Felipe Massa

Honestly, I think I am speaking out for fellow photographers here when I say I can’t stand to see the debris fencing getting into our every single shot. However, they are a necessary measure to ensure that the ‘car parts’ will not come flying at your direction if there is a crash. Heck, even the professional photographers had no choice but to mount themselves behind the fences for their own protection.

Left: Mark Webber | Right: Sebastian Vettel

It was a long walk from the Singapore Flyer to the Padang Grandstand, so we had to head there early to meet Lyn and grab some dinner. Soaking up the F1 atmosphere, I thoroughly enjoyed the combination of the building light ups, the stage performances and the fact that we are about to catch the first F1 qualifier in Singapore’s history.

Left: The City Hall area | Right: Us getting ready for the qualifier

After some not so savory and extremely expensive hawker food and drinks at the Padang, we headed to our seats just behind and waited a good 15 mins before the first car arrived. The constant high pitched deafening noise from the F1 cars is enough to give anyone a migraine at any given day. Thankfully, I bought two packs of the F1 survivor kit consisting of ear plugs and a poncho. Once ‘plugged in’, we watched the cars zoom by while catching updates of other cars and the qualifier on the screen directly in front of us. Yes, I think we got the best seats in the Padang Grandstand, all thanks to my colleagues for the passes.

Left: The view from our seats | Right: Lewis Hamilton zipping by

Being the typical Singaporean we are, we got out of our seats and made our way to the City Hall MRT with just 3 mins or so before the qualifier ended in our bid to beat the crowd. So it wasn’t long before we saw a horde of fellow racer goers following behind us with the same idea. Thankfully, we managed to head home smoothly and painlessly. As for the race day, I got an invitation to watch the race from a trackside hotel at the Meritus Mandarin…but that is another experience.. .

More photos in my Flickr album here.

24 cups at Chivas Live

Published on September 28, 2008 in Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments

Lyn (my boo) together with Sharon, her friends and I popped over to the Chivas Live at the River Valley Pool on Friday. As free events with free flow of Chivas booze go, the queue stretched a good few hundred metres and waiting was a real bitch. Once in, we headed straight to the bar and waited a good 45 mins to an hour while pushing and getting pushed by fellow thirsty party-goers to score ourselves with 24 cups of Chivas and mixers…just between the five of us. Lyn noted that the bartender opened about four and a half bottles of Chivas just to mix the 24 cups. Yes, the drinks were really…really potent.

The bartender laid our cups and prepares to mix our drinks

Weird stares, finger pointing and loads of laughter from the others while looking at the number of drinks we were holding on to, I must admit our drinks laid on the floor (tables were full) were a sign of a victorious battle to get the most number of alcohol goodness. Heck, we were not intending on headed back to the bar and fight with these people again…ever. As the night progresses and the amount of alcohol mixed in our blood streams, we partied away into the night to the tunes of Chicane. This lead to some camera whoring moments, most of which I can’t seem to remember taking.

Left: Near the toilet.. | Right:..moi

The organisers had earlier drained water from the pool turning it into a dance floor, thus allowing thousands to descend into the empty hole in our quest to party (hard!!). A couple of hours later, we had to bid the party farewell as we failed to withstand the potent powers of the Chivas mix. All in all, for a free party and free booze, I am proud to announce that we did fulfill our ‘KPI’ and got the most of the party (yes this is us being Singaporean)… .

Left and right: The party scenes

More photos in my Flickr album here.

F1 beggers can’t be choosers

Published on September 27, 2008 in Usual Ramblings. 4 Comments

Thanks to my colleagues, I scored a few tickets to tonight’s F1 qualifer. My role in this year’s race seemed minuscule which only requires me to work on a need-to basis. To be honest, I should have gotten my tickets eventhough I was told a few months back that I might be working through the race hours. At least I could sell them in the black secondary market (don’t you just love the way the government positions such terms?) and make a couple of dollars out of it. Sure I would love to get my hands on some Sunday tickets, but I guess as beggars go, we can’t be choosy eh?

Yesterday’s practice session seemed to be smooth with no drivers complaining of visibility issues. This means that my colleagues have done a heck of a job and I am really…really proud of them. Two more sessions to go before they can start breathing and take some very well deserved leave. Meanwhile, I guess I’ll stand at the sidelines and cheer them on. Well done boys and girls!!

Today’s Pandang Grandstand tickets

HP 2133 + Windows XP Lite = Faster and happy days ahead

Published on September 24, 2008 in Usual Ramblings. 4 Comments

After an interesting experience with installing Ubuntu in my HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, I decided to experiment a little more and installed Windows XP Lite. Boot up this time round is significantly faster even compared to Linux’s Ubuntu and adding to that, I am running an operating system that I am familiar with.

However, as warranty voiding installations go, I can’t seem to get my Vodafone modem token I recently acquired from M1 to work. Guess when it comes to lite operating systems, the folks have taken out a lot more than just sound and other bloatware. But it is a sacrifice I am willing to go through right now, or at least until I chance upon another operating system .

Welcome to another operating system

Stuffs you see at the HDB void decks

Published on September 23, 2008 in Usual Ramblings. 2 Comments

I’m sure we all have seen our fair share of weird stuffs (nothing supernatural) at the HDB void decks. So do allow me to share my current most noteworthy experience with these two photos I captured below Lyn’s (my boo) block last night while walking our dogs.

Left: Mattress lying in the middle of nowhere | Right: Opened suitcase full of clothings, books and such

Air 21 returns home empty handed

Published on September 22, 2008 in Usual Ramblings. 16 Comments

Thanks to Nic and Precious again, I popped over to the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday afternoon with Lyn (my boo), Lennie, Sharon and a bunch of other close friends to catch a rematch between the Singapore Slingers and Air 21. Both teams first met on the opening night of the Singapore Challenge Series last Wednesday where the Slingers gutted Air 21 with a 38-point win.

Tip off!!

Although Air 21 did play much better this time round, they were still out muscled and outplayed by the Slingers despite the latter trailing all the way to the third quarter. Once taking the lead, the Slingers didn’t look back and exploded all the way to a 98-85 victory. Although as a Slingers’ fan, I must give a thumbs up to Air 21 for their level of play. Physical plays and cheap shots aside (this is me being bias), the Philippines Basketball Association’s finest made pretty good plays and were sharper in their jumpers compared to their last game.

Sitting at the South entrance this time round, we got a good view of the team’s warm up and I am certainly impressed with Air 21’s offensive finesse. Pretty much everyone in the team can dunk and their shooting percentage looked pretty high. To be honest, their team effort and preparation seemed to suggest that they are not only about to give the Slingers a hard time, but take home the bounty of $10,000.

The Slingers however were not ready to simply hand the $10,000 over to Air 21. Slingers Bad Boy, Eric Sandrin #14 dumped 24 points, new signee Al Vergara #1 scored 14 points and Blagoi Janev #21 took home 12 points. Dr. Darren Ng #8 who dominated the previous game with 28 points had to take a back seat in this time round with 9 points all thanks to Air 21’s concentration on defending him.

Left and right: Dr Ng’s acrobatic moves

Left: Sandrin with a block during the 1st half… | Right: Followed by a stuff in the 2nd..

The game’s noteworthy player goes to Armein Kirkland #23 who contributed 22 points. The 2.04m Forward hailing from the United States showed no mercy to the visiting team as he helped led a Slingers charge during the third quarter. Although pretty much same the height as the great Michael Jordan (wait! I am not comparing them, just the height), we can’t seem to figure why he doesn’t furiously finish his drives with a dunk. All we get is just nice lay-ups from him. However, we would probably see him doing so in due time…~cross fingers~.

Left and right: No dunks, just lay-ups. But heck, we still get our two points

Somewhat similar to the previous game, the usual confrontations yet again paid a short visit to the stadium. I didn’t really catch what happened, but as my eye left the camera, I saw big man Blagoi Janev approaching an Air 21 player ready to take him on. However, the referee intervened in time allowing both sides to cool off. In addition, as the game came to a close, Eric who could have taken the last two points was unable to convert a would be magnificent dunk as an Air 21 player ran towards him sending Eric cartwheeling mid-air and landing on his shoulder. It took a good few minutes before the shaken Eric could get on his feet and headed to the dressing room. I hope he is doing alright.

Left: One pissed off Janev | Right: Slingers helping Eric to get up

As the whistle blew, the Slingers stood undefeated in the Singapore Challenge Series. I believe they will spend the coming week or so training for the next game as they meet with yet another team from the Philippine Basketball Association, Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants (no serious..not kidding). I think this is going to be another one heck of physical basketball game again. Tickets are available at Sistic. Gooooo Slingers!!

More photos in my Flickr album here.

Lighting up the river

Published on September 21, 2008 in Usual Ramblings. 2 Comments

Popped over to Clarke Quay on Friday night to assist my colleagues with some media relations for the launch party of the Singapore River Festival. Free booze and food aside, we observed some river bank light-ups followed by local performances from Najib Ali and Jive Talking.

Left and right: Colours by the banks

What facinates me about the light up apart from the myriad of colours brandishing across the steps, is witnessing this project coming to past. It was a few months ago when I was researching on some visions and plans before heading for an interview with my current organisation. Back then, I came across some newspaper articles on the light-up promising to add colour and life to our rivers. Now, a few months later, after much blood, sweat and tears from my fellow colleagues, all I can say is I am really proud of the works they accomplished. Way to go folks!!

Singapore Slingers’ 38-point victory

Published on September 18, 2008 in Mac and Me and Usual Ramblings. 7 Comments

All thanks to Nic (again), Lyn (my boo) and I popped over to the Indoor Stadium yesterday night to catch the opening night of the Singapore Challenge Series. To cut the long story short, the Singapore Challenge Series is a series of basketball matches where professional teams from around the region are invited to take on the ever so hungry Singapore Slingers. The lucky team that manages to beat the Singapore Slingers will take home a bounty of $10,000.

First up in the schedule is one of the Philippines Basketball Association’s finest, Air 21. Once the ball tipped off, Air 21 showed their scoring prowess and defence cutting drives giving them an early lead at the end of the first quarter. However once the whistle blew for the second quarter, the Slingers took over the dance and never trailed, giving them a 124-86 win over Air 21.

I have never mentioned this before but I guess the seats we got were just too good. We were so close to the players that apart from smelling their perspiration, photography was pretty challenging. Most of my shots included bobbing referee heads at the official’s table which no one can ever achieve if not at the best seats in the house. Thanks again Nic.

Left and Right: Air 21

Our new players including Darren Ng #8 and Eric Sandrin #14 made their presence felt with them scoring 28 and 24 points respectively. Darren Ng’s consistent three-point threat proves that he is not a force to be reckoned with. Canning treys from just about any angle in the court, any team playing against the Slingers must know that they cannot take their eyes off from him..not even for a second. For a person of a much slimmer built compared to others playing in the professional league, Darren’s fearless in his face shots and drives shows that size is never a factor to him. You can know more about Darren at his blog here.

Left: Darren fires from the arc | Right: Darren for an easy two

Eric Sandrin on the other hand puts his physique and size into play. Standing at over 2 meters, the Korean American was once a member of the Harlem Globetrotters in 2005 (not too sure if he is into street ball though). His repertoire of tough defense, fierce dunking offence and sharp shooting abilities proudly and loudly shows any team playing against the Slingers that victory may not be a walk in a park…not on his watch at least.

Left: Eric skies for a rebound | Right: Defence!!

In addition, Eric is not your average shy Asian American (I’m being stereotype here) who quietly takes in anything that comes his way. His absolute disregard for any opponent big or small and ever readiness to fire up cheap shots of all sorts both during and off game time earns him the title of the “Slingers Bad Boy”. Easily put, Eric to the Singapore Slingers is pretty much like Dennis Rodman to the Chicago Bulls.

Left and right: Eric fearlessly stuffing the ball in the hole

As tough games go, conflicts are inevitable and before we knew it, the two teams started taking it out against each other leading to an ejection of Air 21’s forward Homer Se for attempting to kick Eric’s head. The Philippine majority crowed showered the Slingers with boos and slurs only to fire up the home team’s goal of taking the game with much force.

Left: The confrontation begins | Right: Our Filipino fans (judging from their boos, I think they are Air 21’s fans)

A big welcome and a nice pat on the back to the Slingers team, especially to the new players for their team play. Much mention to the big man Sam Harris for making his presence known and the more aggresive Pathman (our only Singaporean) who scored 5 points.

Left: Pathman scores | Right: Big ‘ol Harris

Left and Right: The Slingers’ offence

The Singapore Slingers will meet Air 21 again this sunday as the latter attempt to redeem themselves from a pretty much painful loss yesterday. Judging from how it goes, Air 21 is not going to take the game lying down and all I can say is, expect more phyiscal plays and loads of action. Tickets are available at Sistic.

More photos of the game in my Flickr album here.

Gotta love A&W

Published on September 12, 2008 in Usual Ramblings. 10 Comments

I know I have blogged about A&W a couple of times before but hey…you just can’t stop me from loving their signature root beer floats and fried chicken. I was going through some recent Bali trip photos in my Nokia N95 a couple of hours ago and spotted these. Figured I’d share ‘em .

Left: My chicken strip meal | Right: Lyn’s (my boo) fried chicken meal