Thursday 28 December 2006

Jo's mom update VII

Jo's mom is currently in a normal ward. Her condition has stabilized and she is going through physio. She has some problems eating and walking, and the doctors think that the aneurysm has affected her eating and walking functions. It's also likely she will have to go physio and rehab at AMK Community hospital in the long run. Jo has a slight cough over the last week, please pray for her to recover too. Thanks guys. :-)

Wes

Tuesday 26 December 2006

Jo's mom update VI

We went to see Jo's mom yesterday. She's fully awake but not talking yet. The breathing tube has been taken out and she's in pretty good spirits also. She is not out of the ICU yet, might be pretty soon, don't know. Jo's dad had a headache this morning, the chinese doctor said his blood pressure is up. Please pray for him too.

Wes

Update: Jo's dad is feeling better. Been resting a bit. Jo's mom has been transferred out of the ICU! She's lucid, can't talk yet but able to communicate through gestures. :-)

Friday 22 December 2006

Jo's mom update V

Jo's brother saw her mom this morning. She's sitting up, can't talk yet coz there's a tube in her windpipe to aid breathing. She might be out of the ICU tomorrow! (instead of 9 days time). There's less pressure in her brain blood vessels and her blood pressure is way better. We visited our GP today and he said it's quite a miracle that she survived coz mortality rate for aneurysm are pretty high. Thank you and thank God. :-)

Wes

Tuesday 19 December 2006

Jo's mom update IV

MSN between Jo and Wes

Jo says: (12:11:59 AM)
mommy did another scan today, her blood vessels are easing up =)
Jo says: (12:12:08 AM)
so that's good news
Kar-Wai Wesley says: (12:12:16 AM)
you know i was just thinking about what your mom said to your brother. she's coherent, that a GREAT sign
Jo says: (12:12:26 AM)
ya
Kar-Wai Wesley says: (12:12:35 AM)
means reasoning skills are intact. that is great news. must update
Jo says: (12:12:35 AM)
doc also say she is quite awake
Jo says: (12:12:42 AM)
ya
Kar-Wai Wesley says: (12:12:45 AM)
cool. i put on blog
Jo says: (12:13:06 AM)
also her lungs are clear. only her lower lobes of the lungs got fluid
Jo says: (12:13:17 AM)
so tmrw they will draw the water out
Jo says: (12:14:17 AM)
actually they were afraid of deep vein thrombosis resulting in blood clots at her lungs = lack of oxygen. but today checked and its ok. so thats another good good news.
Jo says: (12:14:41 AM)
doc says once 21 days over, her condition should stabilise
Jo says: (12:14:58 AM)
today is day 11

Wes

Monday 18 December 2006

Update on Jo's mom III

My mom had a brain scan done today. As we greatly feared, her vessels are constricting quite a bit. The doctors have said that there is nothing further they can do. In fact, there is nothing my mom can do either. So now, we just have to wait and see what happens.

The issue with the constriction of blood vessels in the brain is that it may cause another bleed or stroke, which she might not be able to take in the current state she is in. So please pray for God to heal. My prayer is that now, when no one else on the face of this earth can do anything more, God, you have to come in and do something. My sis and I have been praying for a miracle. And we really want to see that come to pass.

My sis is in the hospital now. My mom is running another fever and there seems to be a strange swelling above her left brow. So that is causing some anxiety. I have still not spoken to her since I got back. Neither does she know I am home. Please pray for strength for us, in all aspects.

So that's how things are now. Thanks for praying. We will update you again.

Jo

Update on Jo's mom II

Hey all

Jo's mom is doing better. Her fever cleared last night, thank God. But the blood vessels in her brain is still constricted, this is not good. She is a bit distressed at her situation on waking up. Jo's dad, brother and sister are taking turns to visit her at the ICU. Jo was pretty fatigued last week coz she didn't have time to recover from the jetlag but she rested yesterday. Jo, her cousin and her cousin's wife have been clearing out the spare room to prep for the maid that could be coming in.

Thanks for praying guys.

Wes

Wednesday 13 December 2006

Update on Jo's mom I

Hi all,

We are back. Jo is staying at her mom's and helping out with cooking and cleaning. She's been up since 3 coz of the jetlag. Her mom is still in ICU and still recovering. They are keeping her under sedation for the time being. She is doing ok according to the doctors but it's still early in the recovery stage, so can't tell anything. She opened her right eye this morning and Jo's brother was there. Today is Day 4 for her and it's important that she doesn't contract anything coz her immune system is low. From today till Day 11, it's a crucial time for her. Please pray that her body will gain strength, also for Jo that she can overcome the jetlag quickly. Jo and her dad also has 3 kids to contend with during the day so she really needs the energy and patience.

Jo is likely not to answer phone calls. That's about it guys, sorry nothing else at this point. I am at my mom's place and running some office related errands, will be seeing her in 1 or 2 days this week.

Wes

Sunday 10 December 2006

Back in Singapore 12 December

Jo's mom had an anuerysm on Sunday morning (singapore time) today and had to admitted to the hospital. She is in a coma now has to undergo surgery to live. We are trying to book the flight out of Paris for tomorrow morning and will be back in Singapore for about a couple of weeks, maybe till end of January. We are not sure about everything else and will update you guys as soon as we can. I know this sounds rude but please don't call Jodie or me coz everything a bit luan now. We will keep the blog updated with info when we are back. Please pray for her mom. Thanks guys.

Love
Wes

Update: 2pm Paris Time - Kat just informed us the surgeon operated and cleared the anuerysm. 2 others were found and 1 was cleared. The other was too small. Jo's mom will be in intensive for the next 3 days. We are confirmed on the morning SQ flight back from Paris - Singapore. Thanks for praying guys. We are really stoned now coz we didn't sleep the night and there some things to pack.

Saturday 2 December 2006

Singaporean? Chinese? Singaporean-Chinese? What?

We just found out yesterday from 2 friends at prayer meeting that in the french vocab, there is no term for the word, "Malay". And we found this out after like half an hour of trying to get a French-Cambodian lady to understand what we are referring to. The conversation went something like:

Kar Wai: What do you call a Malay?
Friend: Malay? Ah! From Malaysia? Malaysien...
Kar Wai: No, I mean like a Malay.
Friend: Oh! The country? Malasie..
Kar Wai: No, no...like I am from Singapore but I am Chinese...or you are from Cambodia, but you are Chinese also..
Friend: No! I am Cambodian. I come from Cambodia!
Kar Wai: Yes, yes, but what is your race?
Friend: Race?
Kar Wai: Yes, like I am Chinese.
Friend: But you are not from China?

(Jodie gets bored and goes to toilet)
More mumbling outside
Jodie returns shortly

Kar Wai: So you see, I was born and raised in Singapore but my race is Chinese.
Jodie: You guys are still at it?!
Friend 2 (also from Singapore): Erm...actually, from what I've read, this concept of race may be a very Singaporean thing. The rest of the world probably just understands what you are as where you come from.

EUREKA!

So you see, we are Chinese coz we live in Singapore and the rest of the Singaporeans think that way. But if you say you are Chinese elsewhere, they automatically think you are from China.

I tested this out on my American friend today. She says that most of the time in the States, since they are, too, an immigrant population, they just ask, "What's your history?". But they will call themselves Americans....pretty much the same way we firmly say we are Chinese, Malay, Indian or Tamil, rather than to automatically say we are Singaporeans (which btw, says something too).

Now I know why every time someone mentions China in the bible study group, everyone looks at me like
I am supposed to know or say something. Most of the time, I just go, "err...ok."

I gotta go find more people to ask. This is getting interesting.

Jo

Wednesday 29 November 2006

Christmas

Hey all,

We are definitely not coming back for Christmas. We were planning to but the airfares are 1000euros/person this time. Crazy lah, so we can't spend that kind of money. But should be back for CNY. Will miss you guys for Christmas.

Someone asked in an earlier post if we missed Singapore. Answers as follows:

Miss
1. We miss the chwee-quay at Tiong Bahru Market.
2. Jo misses hugging her nephews.
3. I miss the nice auntie at Cold Storage in Katong Mall. She always gives us a nice hello when we see her.
4. Jo misses the handmade cold soba at Tamon (next to Holy Family Church, Katong).
5. I miss the raw salmon at Tamon. So nice and fresh, so juicy sweeeeeeet.
6. Jo misses real chilli sauce.
7. Surprisingly, Jo misses attending wedding dinners in hotels.
8. I miss the twice monthly Crystal Jade prawn dumpling noodles.
9. Jo misses the kai-kai at Parkway Parade.
10. Jo misses people speaking Singlish.
11. We miss Borders.
12. I miss English.
13. Jo misses Rose Garden.
14. I miss the Friday lan parties. Dearly.

Don't Miss
1. We don't miss the heat and bad air.
2. We don't miss the bad wanton noodles at Joo Chiat.
3. We don't miss msg overload in hawker food.
4. We don't miss the stress.
5. Jo doesn't miss being judged by other people.
6. Jo doesn't miss the chitchat about housing and branded goods.

Missing you all,
Wes

Monday 27 November 2006

Nantes




We went west to Nantes to film a show by the kids from Fondation d'Auteuil last weekend. It was a Gospel Choir and though they were French, they were really really good with some of the old English gospel songs and remixed versions of current stuff. We stayed at a catholic retreat centre, super bare minimum as you can see from the photos.

Wes

Saturday 25 November 2006

Inner geek is gratified

I got tasked by church to spec a PC for video editing and image processing so I thought I would do one up by meself instead of getting the PC shop assemble it. Went down to Montgallet to pick up the parts on Thursday, the shop guy insisted on plugging in the cpu chip (E6400 Duo Core 2) onto the motherboard coz I didn't look l33t enough.


So I came back, did what XR (Thank you man!) taught me to do when he came to fix up my PC last year. I laid out the components on the floor, setup up the motherboard with the video card, power supply, keyboard, hard disk, DVD writer, LCD and did a XP installation. He told me that in case the parts are faulty, it's not so leh-cheh to take the part for exchange.


As you can see, the vga and cpu cooler+fans look very weak, so we upsized them. And added blue heatsinks to the ram on the video card.


Changed both to Zalman coolers, the cpu cooler is hugemongous man. Pure 100% copper.


After that, I got the motherboard installed into the casing (Coolermaster Centurion), did a wee bit of cable management to make sure the fans got unrestricted airflow and voila it was done! I was also curious about how it would compare to my 1 year old AMD x2 4400+. So I installed CaptureOne Pro 3.7 in the new machine and did a test run of RAW to 8bit file processing for 6 x 11MP 1Ds files. The machines were fresh booted so the files were not cached in memory, I started the timer when the batch process button was clicked and stopped when the process timer bar finished. Both machines have >2Gb ram. Also bear in mind that the ram on the Intel motherboard was PC5300 ram (faster than 939socket ram on the AMD). Here are the results:

2.08.11min - 6 files with AMD 4400+ 250GB Seagate SATA II = 21.35sec/file
1.33.00min - 6 files with Intel Duo Core 6400 320GB Seagate SATA II = 16.5sec/file


The new machine is approx 30% faster. Envious siah. Translating that data for big projects (1000+ files), time saved would be fantastic. That's my highlight of the week. I will do another short picture post of our trip to Nantes last weekend. :-)

Wes

Tuesday 21 November 2006

Portrait of the family

Someone asked me on MSN the other day, "Hey, you miss your family is it? How come your MSN display picture is always your family?" Hmm...I guess so. I do miss them, I miss the whole entourage thing that we always have when we go out or when we celebrate birthdays.

So I think this post is more for me than anyone else....just so that I have easy access on the internet to the family photo. This is one of the best family shots I have. The best part about it is how decent we all look.


You see, that's the thing about taking family portraits. We always try to look decent and happy and proper. So I really love the one below. It's so much more accurate because it shows us trying to look decent for a family portrait.



See, in the family, starting from the floor, my brother is the welfare guy. He takes care of a lot of stuff at home and tries to maintain a everything-is-ok appearance at the same time. Shane (who is now 3) was actually in a bad mood that day at the photoshoot and my bro was trying very hard to pacify him while taking the shot. And Shane is one kid who hates attention and who would really rather go do his own thing. Janis, my sis-in-law, is more relaxed than my brother. She also loves to sleep (like me). Look, she looks sleepy here. Keke.

QQ (nephew from my cousin, but he lives with us...long story) is a sweet boy but gets into a lot of trouble coz he can be quite clumsy and is very very easily distracted. And that gets on my sister's nerves because she tries very hard to show him love most of the time. But the usual scenario is QQ comes running, "Auntie Kat! Auntie Kat!" (QQ trips and breaks something that belongs to Auntie Kat or steps on her foot or something). "Oops..sorry, Auntie Kat." And my sis is always in I-dunno-to-laugh-or-to-cry position.

Then there are my parents. For my dad, the family is his life, it's all that matters to him in life really. To be honest, he is actually quite an ah-beng (like go up-class restaurant ask waiter very loudly for green cut chilli type) so while he looks fairly decent, he can be quite a terror, though not to us. And mommy is a sweetie. She's the quiet mommy who pretty much leaves us to ourselves. And the laugh she has now is a typical response from her every time we get together and chatter away.

Then there's me and KW. I am always trying to be the peacemaker at home when everyone gets on each other's nerves. And KW is the "ok, hmm...this is too intense for me. I think I go sleep in Jo's room after this. Smile, smile, look neutral."

Haha.

Oh yes, my brother has one more son, Hon. He's not in the picture coz this is an old picture taken before he was born. But I've been told he's really curious now and will go around touching everything he sees. So I guess even if we went for a family portrait, he'd be distracted and go out of frame anyway. Keke.

Jo

Thursday 16 November 2006

Home alone no more!!

Haha! Guess what? At a meeting this morning, the client decided they need me to go along with Kar Wai afterall! HENG AH!!!! No need sleep alone! Yay!

So I guess I will grow up another time. Haha!

Jo

Home Alone

This weekend, Kar Wai is going to Nantes for a shoot. And I will be home alone.

I don't mean to be a princess about this but I really haven't slept alone in a house/flat/apartment on my own before. Seriously, all 31 years of my life. When I was a child, I slept between my parents. Then when I kept kicking Daddy off the bed (as I was told), I slept at the side but still with with my parents. Later on, when the house got bigger, I shared a room with my sis. And the routine always was, I will get in bed, and she will switch off the lights. Come to think of it, I think I might be a little afraid of the dark too. Oh no.

Even when I was in hospital, I was in a 4-person ward lor.

Then I got married. And of course, I share a bed with Kar Wai. When we first got married and he had to go reservist like the week after our honeymoon, I went back home to my sister's room. In the more recent years, Abby, our employee and friend in Singapore, would be terribly sweet and come bunk over, just so that I have company.

So this weekend, I am going to be home alone, sleeping at night on my own for the first time in my life. I think it's a sign. You know, turning 31 and having this happen. Time to grow up. Learn to sleep alone.

*gulp*

Jo

Wednesday 15 November 2006

Chicken braised in wine

I just found out from a friend that in France, there's a chemical they add to the water that causes hair loss!! No wonder Kar Wai keeps complaining I am shedding hair in the apartment. Boohoo...distraught, I sought solace in the arms of my other love, cooking.

This is a recipe modified from one of the asian cookbooks that I brought from Singapore. Didn't want to travel all the way to Chinatown to get Chinese ingredients so I made do with ang-moh ones. Turned out good, kinda reminds me of mom's cooking. Best part, it's quite idiot-proof.

So here's the recipe, to you guys who are living out of Singapore and miss the taste of Asian food, and to you guys who have your own kitchen but hate to clean up after oily recipes.


Chicken braised in wine

serves 2

2 chicken breasts
(this is palm-size chicken breast. The regular ones that Cold Storage has, i think you can put 4-5? Alternatively, you can put in drumsticks or wings. Kar Wai only takes breast meat)
2-3 tbsp red wine (you can use Chinese cooking wine)
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp soya sauce
Pepper

1. Heat wok, add oil, then add ginger and garlic and fry for 1-2 min in low heat.
2. Add chicken and fry till slightly brown.
3. Add the rest of the stuff, reduce heat to low and simmer (cover hor) for 20 min.
4. Can eat already!!!


Actually, the amount of seasoning is an estimate. It's really up to your liking, you know, you like it saltier, more wine, sweeter, etc...

So enjoy, and be thankful you just have more chlorine and flouride in your water.

Jo

Tuesday 14 November 2006

Cheek to cheek

I think we've pretty much gotten the hang of the cheek to cheek greeting thing with the people here. See, when we first came, I made the mistake of putting my lips too close to the face of the person I am doing this with. So the rest of the time while we are having coffee and talking, I would be staring at my lipstick mark on the person's cheek and wondering if I should just grab a tissue to wipe it off or tell the person or what..

First thing we learnt from a friend here, ladies decide if it is done. So if you are a guy, please don't go up to a lady and do the "muack, muack" unless she initiates. Of course, this is if you've not established that you are friends. With friends, you do when you meet and when you part company. Guy or girl, it's fine. Then, there are those who do it twice (which means 4 muacks). This is if the person is really close like family and stuff.

And so, if you get the opportunity to do this, learn from my mistake, it's cheek to cheek so keep your lips turned away. And in winter, it's interesting coz when you do it, you can tell who's been out in the cold and who's been indoors. Ha, acts like a temperature guage to see how cold it is outside.

Otherwise, it's a nice gesture. It's more physical than a handshake, a little more intimate. Folks here are generally more expressive, more intimate and more in touch with emotions. Of course, they can swing to extremes too. Just like the other night, we were watching tv on cable and there was a segment on fashion photography. And it was bizarre coz all we saw was a photographer taking pictures of naked models. No clothes, shoes, hats, nothing..erm...so where's the fashion?

Jo

Saturday 11 November 2006

Birthday


This is my birthday breakfast..keke...made by Kar Wai. We were kept awake last night coz our boiler for the hot water decided to leak at 3am in the morning. We only managed to get it to stop leaking by turning the tap in the bath tub on for a looooong time. I think Ah Por downstairs must be wondering why crazy chinois upstairs bathe so late at night!

So we woke up late and I had a video MSN with my family (it was great! My nephews are the cutest boys ever, btw) and then this yummy breakfast.

The day was spent at home, coz we've been out everyday this week. Very siong. So it was a nice slow Sat with just 2 of us and of course, the birthday cake I've been waiting all week to devour. We had coffee with the cake. And we put chocolate in the coffee. Totally yummy. Best part is, we found this bar of chocolate in our mailbox when we got home earlier this week. We checked the other mailboxes in our building thinking maybe it's a publicity thing. Nope, it's for us. Only we got it. So KW tested it to see if it was poisoned or something. Nope, one day later, he was still alive, so yay! An extra treat.

Here are the photos...we made special effort to take photo coz you guys have been complaining how come no photo??

This is the freebie chocolate that appeared in the mailbox. It's 70% cocoa!






This last photo (taken by Qian when she came visit) is for our families. So they can see our faces. Keke.

I had a great birthday.

Jo

Friday 10 November 2006

Food we like

One of the things KW and i love to do is eat. Haha. Even in Paris.

Most people tell us, when you are in Paris, you must go for the wine, cheese, coffee and chocolates. Erm...we are both terrible drinkers, sensitive to caffeine and lactose intolerant. So...there...i guess that leaves only the chocolates.

BUT, we do find good stuff to eat...not restaurant expensive stuff, but regular buy-from-supermarket type stuff. So I thought I'd share it with you guys. Keke.


This cereal is ZE BOMB! It's got REAL choc bits inside. Totally addictive. We eat it for breakfast and supper!


This lychee yoghurt is yummy! I don't really eat yoghurt in Singapore coz it's a bit sour but this rocks. Not sour and really taste the lychee.


We just found this. It's dark chocolate in the centre. But in Singapore cannot eat. Sure nose bleed.


Each bread slice is super thick, like the Sun Moulin ones we find at outside Isetan Supermarket in Singapore. But this is french pastry, so it's goooooood.


We tried this once and so loved it! It tastes like the kind of butter cakes our mommies used to bake back in the 70s. And not easy to find leh. I saw this by chance and got it immediately. I'm saving it for my bday. Serious.

Jo

Thursday 9 November 2006

The other half speaketh again...

Time of month again. Terrible. I'm too much of a blogger but tucked in bed with a hot water bottle and the lap top (thanks to a loving husband who fussed about me for the day), this seems like a nice thing to do.

We are now 7 hours behind you guys coz of daylight saving. It's turned a little colder and most folks here are walking around with big winter coats, fur and all on the streets. Then when we all get into the metro, everybody starts unzipping or taking off layers coz it's just too warm. We've not been out much except when we need to run errands, meet people or go down to Genesis (church centre at Rue Rivoli at Chatelet) for evening meetings or practices. It's too cold, and too much trouble to stack layers on ourselves, just for walks.

Other than that, we are doing ok. Life seems to be settling down a lot more for us. We've made many more friends, and I am now having french conversation classes with Tina, an American girl living in Paris and KW is having his with Ben, a France-born Canadian guy who came by Singapore when we were back the last time. So i think we might end up with different accents! Ha. Other than that, we are mostly busy with some work, lots of church stuff, a bit of web design stuff (KW), some dance (me) and minimal housework (both of us). Cooking doesn't count. I love cooking.

We have 3 neighbors in our building (Yup, small building, we are on second floor and that's the top floor already). Across us is a lady living on her own. Met her once or twice. Quite fierce looking but i think she is the loud, look fierce but quite nice type. Oh, she's the Juliet we talked about in our earlier blog in summer this year, the one who slammed the window on Romeo hanging at the balcony. Then below us is an old lady who lives with her son (who is never around). I think he works in Japan or something. She speaks only French and is quite friendly. She's the one who got sent to the hospital in the middle of the night when we first arrived here coz she fell and was alone.Now, someone comes in every meal time to check on her. Opp her is another lady who also lives on her own. Very quiet lady, we met couple of times in summer as well.

Nowadays, it's quiet everywhere coz everyone's windows are closed to keep the cold out. So it's really quiet here, great for thinking and doing stuff, except for the occasional outburst from KW, "Squad 9, Squad 9, arti in, get out of there... arti in, arti in, get out of there". Other than that, it's cool.

Someone told us today that tickets back home to Singapore during the Christmas season are a minimum of $2000+++!! per person!!! The cheapest are Thai, also about $2000, but they are sold out. Good thing we are hoping to get home a little earlier so i think w can still get cheaper tix. Our last engagement here is 21 Nov so still can make it, i think. Worse case, take Emirates lor. Transit 2 stops...faint...i have to brace myself....

Jo

Thursday 2 November 2006

Nutella-Love-Bread®


Qian came by for a visit last week and we made ze Nutella-Love-Bread® for some heartstopping goodness. It had so much love she couldn't pick it up with her fingers and had to eat it straight off the plate. You can do it too! Just put a couple of french President butter slices on a slice of 8 cereal bread, plonk it face down on a hot plan on highest heat, press gently with spatula for < 60sec or until it smells like it's going slightly chao-tar. Pick it up, scoop up a generous dollop (don't stinge ok?) of Nutella and spread it evenly so that it covers the whole slice as depicted. Eat quickly before it gets cold and feel the goodness going down.

Guaranteed that it's even better than the kaya-butter-love-bread at Joo Chiat Place.

Btw, temperature has dropped like crazy this week. Tonight's reading...


Wes

Thursday 26 October 2006

Oh, and about Macs

Inner geek is speaking again. I have friends who swear by the PC and some by the Mac. I guess we all know about Windows problems but I have had friends who swore that Macs are nuclear proof. Sad news is that Macs are also prone to software, hardware and other types of failure. Here are some links of the latest MacBooks. Engadget.com also has all the stories but the site seems to be having loading problems.

White MacBooks showing premature discoloration

MacBooks becoming crackbooks

Apple acknowledges random shutdown problem (aka blue-screen-of-death?)

People are complaining coz Macs are not computers. In the owner's heart and mind, they are Ferraris. And if you get a Ferrari, you wouldn't want your Ferrari to have a casing crack or expect the car to stop working, because you paid a Ferrari price.

I love both Macs and PCs. I also had the experience of dealing with the Apple Service Centre in Singapore. I had a 17incher that came with a airport card failure on arrival. In fact, the Powerbook was giving me electric shocks when AC powered. I had to ask Jo's dad for help coz he was really good at negotiating with stonewallers in Apple Yio Chu Kang. I ended up with an exchanged AC adaptor. :-)

So why were Macs worshipped from the 80s? I played Rescue Raiders on my buddy's Pineapple and wanted to buy an original Apple IIe. I saw a Mac in '83 in a display store (Sime Darby I think) in Centrepoint and I fell in love with it. When I went to Jo's company in 99, I saw an original Mac with B&W screen still chugging along doing wordprocessing. I was sold. Macs were invincible.

I got a G3 Powerbook in '99 and it died in '02 after days and days of overnight RAW processing. Back then, I read that Macs weren't produced in Singapore and Ireland (and the US?) anymore, the production had shifted to Taiwan. So how now? If you are on Final Cut Pro (like Jo) or Mac specific software, then get a Mac. Be prepared, pray and hope you get a good set.

That said, I like the iLife software that comes bundled with the new Macs. Really excellent, does about everything for media for most folks.

Wes

Saturday 21 October 2006

Merville, Juno, Pegasus Bridge

We were at a nice retreat center in Merville, Normandy. This was view from our room, first morning. The retreat was great for us, learnt a few important things and got to know some really great folks.

We were free to go wherever we wanted for reflection time. I went down to the beach twice, it was colder in the morning with the strong sea breeze coming in. The dog here was running around waiting for its master who is trawling for mussels (?) in the background.

There was a free afternoon where we could go and do our stuff. Some folks wanted to visit one of the D-Day landing sites and we drove for about 1.5 hours and ended up in Le Bessin, site of the Juno landing sector. It was pretty amazing, coz parts of the Mulberry Harbor concrete caissons were still visible even till this day. British construction is solid man. Circled in red is our location, in green is our retreat center in Merville.

This illustration shows the movement of the concrete caissons from England.

This is the view from the hill overlooking the town at Juno beach.

We rested at Pegasus Bridge drawbridge. When we reached this place, I found it strangely familiar, though I've visited before. After reading the signboard, I realized that I had played on this bridge in COD! woah.... it was surreal man. The details in the game were so faithful to real life, was pretty amazed at the similarities.

Another view of the bridge.

This is the Pegasus Bridge Cafe. No photography were allowed inside but it was filled with British Airborne memorabilia.

Close up of the cafe signboard.

Some of the church folks climbed up the tank for a picture.

Wes

Wednesday 18 October 2006

Bo-liao post

We took a picture of the chio Skynews TV presenter that we talked about in previous posts. Then we googled Wikipedia and found her name. Julie Etchingham. Really bo-liao man.



Wes & Jo

Tuesday 17 October 2006

Photography: 10 essentials I can't do without

The inner-photo-geek needs to blog about photography. Gotta blog about some essential software and other stuff that made work easier in the last few years. Note: I re-edited this post coz there was another item I wanted to include.

1. GretagMacbeth EyeOne Photo

I was struggling to get rid of a reddish-magenta cast for 3 years on my printer when I finally succumbed and bought a GretageMacbeth color calibration device for my monitor AND printer. This thing saved the day. When the 99.9% accurate color print rolled out of the printer, I was close to shedding tears.

2. CaptureOne Pro

Back in the good old days of 2002 with *only* Canon DPP released for RAW conversion. Using it was a big pain, even the local Canon rep was apologetic for the software. So when CaptureOne was released, we had no choice but to jump right into the software. It worked like a charm though the learning curve was a little steep. The generic 1Ds profile that came with it worked well too. Best other thing was that C1 Pro was geared towards portrait skin texture and it was speedy on a PC.

3. NoiseNinja

This cheap noise reduction software basically extended the life of the 1Ds camera with > iso200 images.

4. Renamer

Best renaming software I have tried, and it's totally FREE! I have tried to get something like this for the Mac Powerbook but they were either kludgy or not free.

5. WinACD

I am using an Apple 20inch Cinema Display with Windows XP (Yes, I use a PC) and it's only equipped with a brightness control. That's it, no other functions except for built in hub with 2x USB2.0 and 2x Firewire ports. Also, Windows XP does not recognize the hub nor the monitor. It's also easy to accidently touch the brightness button. With this nifty control panel software, I can control brightness via keyboard (like a Mac! :-) and correct the ! icon in the hardware device window.

That said, the Apple Display rocks, not only coz of color BUT the sharpening algorithm makes everything looks more natural. Not all LCDs are the same, no kidding, I have seen some with bad hardware sharpening.

6. Wacom Intuos Graphic Tablet

I got one 4 to 5 years back it's still working, tactile feel for the latest version is even better. Photoshop control with clone, healing brush is a breeze with the pen. This 4x5 pad uses absolute positioning, meaning that I'm not pushing the cursor around. Great with RTS like Warcraft and there's no carpal tunnel syndrome damage with super long usage.

7. Nero

Bestest CD-R and DVD recording software in the world. Back when I was on Toast on the Mac OS, it was coaster heaven whenever the burning process was slightly interrupted. This baby can still burn a perfect CD-R when I have CaptureOne processing, CS2 batching and Firefox browsing. I got a legit copy of Nero Express when I bought a Plextor DVD writer from Storage Studio in Sim Lim. Btw, Verbatim DVD-Rs and CD-Rs are teh r0xx0rs.

8. Photoshop - Liquify

One of the most powerful thing Adobe ever invented for Photoshop. Puffy cheeks begone!

9. Jodie Koh

Xacto sharp critiques of my images that I've been producing. Painful. Now, I still prep to cringe when she comments on my stuff. But bitter truth is better a sweet compliment.

10. Plantronics Headset with Mic

Honestly, this is not related to photography. I forgot to mention this coz it's totally comfortable for hours and I have taken it for granted. On some other more expensive headsets, I could feel the weight/discomfort after an hour or 2 but with this, I don't remember wearing it. The headset is rugged, the mic boom is rugged and clear, and it's built to last. I've had it for a year and it's still sturdy, no signs to wear and tear and the speaker-leather-sponge isn't melting unlike the Sennheiser HD457 that I used.

That's about it.

Wes

Monday 9 October 2006

Débit 7,06 Mbit/s (903,63 ko/s)

Yep. That's about the fastest I got from the up-to-28Mbps connection at 1pm in Paris, we must be pretty far from the exchange. No complaints about that though. Can VOIP through normal phone while watching 200channel TV with PC and Mac on with wifi. Slowest tranx was 4plus Mbps. But when I BF2, the VOIP breaks up a bit on other line, upload is slower after all.

Update 18Oct: Freebox supports MIMO in the Wifi box. Checked it out on Wikipedia and it looks great. Except that my Powerbook doesn't support it. Heh.

Jo and I have settled down to watching Sky News quite a bit. Of the 2 blondes and 1 brunette, we agree that the prettiest one is on the late afternoon time slot. Superduperbabe. At the end of the day, since all the news channels have roughly the same content, it's unfortunate that it's down to getting the best looking dude (or dudess) to keep our eyes on the same channel.

We are staying lots more at home, Jo's practising her new dance steps and I am doing my processing stuff on the PC. Also, I don't have to travel 4 stations to check the internet at 1.30€/hr and Metro tix at 15€/week, we are saving a lot more money. Weather is a lot cooler now, 6°C early in the morning to 18°C. So walking is to the supermarket is great!

We are going to Merville, Normandy for a church retreat this weekend. Must thank God for the kind soul who offered to pay for us (coz our budget is super tight when we came back). Jo was so happy she cried. I wanted to attend the retreat also coz I've always wanted to visit Normandy, D-Day landings and all, especially after watching Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. Just did a check on Merville, it was the site for ze German 100mm guns, so it's quite far from the Gold, Juno and Sword landing areas. Wahj, will take some shots for you, might just turn out to be shots of a pretty ordinary looking beach. lol! Btw, my personal wish list for the next place I REALLY want to visit is Bastogne in Belgium where the 101st E Company dug against the German offensive. Maybe in winter? ;-)

Anyways, the speaker Jane Wolf will speak on "Finding your sense of value in God" at the retreat. Thought it sounded like a general retreat-ish topic until the pastor talked about it yesterday. Turns out that the topic covers the issue of identity, how we are validated by our work, boss, spouse, parents & friends. I have been asking what it means to be validated by God, I know that I am a child of God, but what else after that? And how does this connect with how I see the world? Which then leads to "How does it affect my visual interpretation in photography" question. I have been chewing on this for a while now, think this topic might be connected also my "not-rooted" state.

On GodTV, we saw Rick Warren preaching at the Hillsongs Conference in Oz. 2 points that gave some insights into a question that's been bouncing in my head for while. What does a Christian do with wealth and fame? With wealth: To give to the poor. Rick says that he started with 10% then increased by 1% everyear. He's been doing that since the 80s. Like John Wesley who 'earned as much as he could and gave as much as he could'. With fame: To speak up for the weak, those who have no voice (Psalm 72). Not complete answers for me but it's pointing somewhere right, feel it in my gut. Do bear in mind that we are not in 100% with GodTV on some of the stuff that's broadcast, so have to weigh lah.

Lastly, my brother Isaac sent me this link. Totally hilarious, comes in 3 parts and don't mind the language hor. For you, all World of Warcraft fans.

South Park and WoW

Till next week,
Wes

Wednesday 4 October 2006

Aye Laddie

We went up north to Glasgow last Thursday for a some work, came back 2 nights ago. Was my 2nd visit since 2001. The city has changed quite a bit, lots of buzz, felt like a wee London. Went up to Loch Fyne with our rep and friend, Yvonne and her family for seafood and yummy stuff. Also tried some Harry Ramdens super-battered-fish and super-soggy-fries, it's extreme man, oil to the max. Jo also picked up a scottish twang from her kids. Was great fun. Have done up some pictures, they are a bit big this time round but gotta show the scale of the place. Ask Yvonne's husband about haggis and he said that he liked it, maybe I will gather the guts to try it next time.

Square in center of town.

Had some fries at BK. Not soggy.

Shopping. Looks a bit like Sydney doesn't it? Shopping was nicer than Paris for the simpler type of clothes we wear. Strange but true.

Memorial stone for the Korean War.

The Necropolis is in the back, really looks a city with the tower and all.

Bridge to the Necropolis. Jo's practising her dance steps while waiting for me.

Drive to Loch Fyne, Braveheart-class mountains in the back.

On our 2nd last day here, heard this guy playing from 100 meters away. Sounded great. Love his little purse.

Wes

Monday 25 September 2006

200 Channels

WE GOT ZE INTERNET!!!

We came back from the Effiel walk, had dinner and realized we were connected when I went to inspect the freebox. 200 digital channels + HD capability, 24mpbs and VOIP. 3 months of waiting and now it's here. :-)



erm... anyone for COD or BF2?

Update: Out of the 200 channels, there's only BBC, Sky News and GodTV in English. That's it, no other English stuff besides the French MTV channel with English songs. But honestly, I am grateful even for 1 English channel.

Wes

Saturday 23 September 2006

Home again

We took a walk to the Eiffel today, spent about 1/2 hour sitting down on the grass and did nothing but chatted. This time round, we were jetlagged and pretty much groggy since we landed in Paris on Thursday morning. Almost slept the 2 days away. Feels good to be home at our apartment after 3.5 weeks of siaoness in Spore.

Btw, turns out internet is not installed yet... but it's coming... soon... almost.

Took a walk down Commerce street.

Shoes were on sale we think. Kat, this one's for you.

Sunny day at the Eiffel today.

Celebrated Jo's mom 60th at home in Spore.

Jo and her almost-one-year-old nephew.

Sunday 17 September 2006

Diaspora

Just came back from a full dress rehearsal of Diaspora at the Esplanade. It's good, dono exactly how I can classify the performance, it's not a drama thing... it's got a full chinese orchestra, indonesian musicians, multi-video projections plus some really good performers.

However this show was relevant to me,
coz after staying in Paris for the last few months, I have been thinking and reflecting about my identity as a Chinese Christian Singaporean. Parts of the show spoke volumes to me, the feeling of displacement, a sense of isolation and the need to connect to the past. It's hard for me to put it in words, but the show has given me hope, that I am not going through this phase alone.

Two nights ago, I was on the way home in the last bus from Marina, I talked to one of the actors from the show. I told her that in spite of being part of the majority race here, I felt not-rooted. She was surprised since she was in a minority group but I told her that in spite of that, I didn't really know who I am culturally. I went on to explain, I am a Cantonese and I was raised in a environment where my dad spoke only English to me. I grew up with American sitcoms and TV series in the 80s and 90s so I am more familiar with Western icons than Eastern ones. At that time, China was branded as the bad guy by the media so I don't feel linked to China as a Chinese Chinese. I told her that even now, my past is being wiped because the places where I lived and studied are gone, I can't even show my kids the classroom where I studied, or the field where I played, or the canteen where I loved the chicken wings fried by the malay uncle.

I told her that one of the most bizzare things that happened to my school was that they replaced the old clock tower with a replica. And with that, my memories were taken away. Some people might argue that memories live only in our heads, I disagree. I think that old clock tower held part of my memories and a replica cannot replicate memories. Anyways, I think that this process I am going through will take time. Dono if it's going to be useful but not everything has to be useful, does it?

On another note, we feel that something fundamental is changing in Singapore, Jo and I were discussing about it when we came back 2 weeks ago but can't still we can't put a finger to it... but it feels as if the whole island is in a new big rush to head off to somewhere.

Jo's dad had to go for a lung operation this week and she was very tied up for a while, but thank God he has cleared the op and will be heading home soon.

We are heading back to Paris on Wednesday. Got a piece of good news, the Internet connection has finally been installed in our apartment. Woohoo!! :-)

Wes

Saturday 2 September 2006

Copyright

Got this from a Bill Waterson (Calvin & Hobbes) site. Just couldn't resist this one.

Wes

Saturday 26 August 2006

Wedding Photography

so funny it hurts.

Wes

Friday 18 August 2006

Learnt at few things:

- That the Eiffel Tower is only 15 minutes away on foot. Seems so silly we discovered this after more than 6 months in Paris. So once or twice a week we take a stroll to the Eiffel to walk off our dinner.

- That not only is a Tefal frying pan better than a house brand pan, the food tastes better too. I bought a Tefal pan yesterday after trying out cheap Monoprix pans for about 6 months. After Jo fried the fish on the new pan, I thought it tasted different and asked her. She said it wasn’t a psychological thing, the fish actually tasted better. Wow.

- That pancakes are called ‘blinis’ here. And they come in mini, medium and large blinis. The large are the size of MacDonald pancakes and the mini is the diameter of 2x S$1 coins.

- That Tabasco is a good substitute for chili sauce when I don’t want to travel halfway across the city to Chinatown. Better for the stomach too coz it doesn’t make my stomach go woozy like some other chili sauces.

- That mint leaves go well with fried rice and butter prawns.

- That Honey Nougat Magnum ice-cream is da bomb.

Siao liao. Jo and I are putting on weights.

Wes

Friday 11 August 2006

Phantom Food

2 days ago at home, I was sitting down reading downloaded stuff from the internet cafe (nope, we still don't have a connection) when for no reason at all, I missed the taste of a laksa tao pok. More accurately, I miss that squirt of laksa on the first bite of the tao pok. Then I realized that memory was from eating my mom’s laksa… man, even the Katong laksas don’t have that piece of tao pok.

And just yesterday, when we were walking in the metro, I remembered the texture of mee hoon kueh. This was the mee hoon kueh from an industrial area in Marsiling Drive where I used to work as an IT guy in Woodland in ‘94. And this was the best mee hoon kueh I have ever tasted. Missed it a lot back in Spore when I left the job.


Anyways, good news! Temperature has dropped to 18 to 26°C after a huge thunderstorm about a week or 2 back. In fact it’s so cool now that it gets a bit chilly when the wind blows, like autumn’s just trying to hurry up. It’s a really huge difference from those 35-37°C days… was really scary for a while coz there were folks who died of heat related reasons.


And Jo’s doing good, she’s been busy chugging away at her powerbook with video work since our stuff arrived
.

Wes

Friday 4 August 2006

Our stuff's here finally!!

The delivery guy came early yesterday at 7am to deliver 13 boxes worth of stuff that was packed in early March when we left our Rose Garden apartment. And due to complications with French import/export companies we had it shipped out only in late June. And even so, it reached France 22Aug even though we expected it to hit our house on the week of the 17Aug. I counted it’s been nearly 4.5 months since the electronic stuff like the dvd player, external hard disks, etc have been switched on. Anyways, I fixed up the heat sink in the desktop and voila!

THE BENG PC LIVES!

(hmm-chi-hmm-chi-hmm-chi-hmm-chi-hmm-chi-hmm-chi)

I’m sooooo happy. :-)

---

Jo felt great coz her cooking books, cutlery, books, tambourine stuff and clothes were here. I feel the same coz of the pc & accessories and dvds. It felt that a bit of our life in our old apartment had been restored… Honestly, it was extremely comforting. But at the same time I couldn’t help but feel that in getting all of our stuff, this was the final cutoff from Spore.

Wes