Wes & Jo

ooooh… pretty colors... wesandjo.wordpress.com

2007-07-08T02:34:00.000+02:00

Been changing the font, font color, font size, template, template color, re-arranging page elements for the last few days. Finally tried to get new blogger templates and stumbled on some sites with great design. Turned out they were wordpress blogs. sighz. wahj, if you are reading this, iTheme FTW!And after some mulling and testing (gripe: Wordpress cannot change font-type-size-color, must pay),

My stuff's coming in... Part 2

2007-07-02T21:46:00.001+02:00

Woke up this morning and found that FedEx missed the drop. Called the service hotline and said that they couldn't deliver. Double checked details and found out that we left out our building door code in the form. Argh. Arranged for 2nd delivery on same evening. But why didn't they call us when they failed to deliver? Hmm... nemmind.So juuuuust in case, I pop down and camped at the building

Shen Wei, David Alan Harvey, Alec Soth & Waiter Rant

2007-06-30T19:25:00.000+02:00

Dono if you folks have found these blog gems, but I thought I'd better share them.Shen Wei - Fine Art Photographerhttp://shenphotoblog.blogspot.com/David Alan Harvey - Magnumhttp://davidalanharvey.typepad.com/Alec Soth - Magnumhttp://alecsoth.com/blog/Waiter Rant - One of the better blog writers with great stories, not a photographer. :-)http://waiterrant.net/Wes

My stuff's coming in... woohoo!

2007-06-29T23:18:00.001+02:00

OCD's kicking in. I am checkin' the FedEx site every 1/2 hr 15mins. :-)It'll be a miracle if I don't get hit by VAT tax at 19.6% for the package. :-(Wes

Epson 2100 is down: Part 2 - Resurrection

2007-06-29T13:32:00.000+02:00

Today (1:37pm Paris time), just for the fun of it, I switched on the printer and tested it again.And I started a 7 ink nozzle test sequence.All of them printed fine, except for the black head which had some really weird patter. (Last time I tested, 1 nozzle died and after that 4 nozzles were completely dead)I'm doing an alignment test now. See how first...2:05pm Paris time. Guess what, all the

Happy Birthday Jie Jie

2007-06-26T22:21:00.000+02:00

Today (Singapore time) is my sister's birthday. And since young, we've always had the habit of going ga-ga at each other's birthday, with the hugs and kisses and say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" at the stroke of midnight.And for some reason, clever me forgot the time difference and waited for midnight PARIS time to do the much awaited "surprise" call. And it is only just now that I realised that ARGH! I

Month of Photography in Singapore: John Clang & Martin Parr

2007-06-22T17:13:00.001+02:00

John Clang is having an exhibition 24 June - 6 July at the Substation in Singapore. Titled Clang: A White Book. Martin Parr too! Titled Retrospective at City Hall from 6 to 29 July. A must see, especially Clang's work.Pity we can't be there. Can a kind soul take piktures and post? pweeese?Wes

Transformer Cosplay

2007-06-20T11:52:00.000+02:00

Super sia. You gotta wait for the Optimus Prime dude.

Geek Alert #04293 - Printing in Photoshop CS3

2007-06-17T13:01:00.000+02:00

In Photoshop CS2 for Windows XP, selecting 'centered' when printing would 100% guarantee a centered print. Adobe finally fixed this error in CS3 - you won't get centered printing unless the printer driver also sayz so. More here:http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/06/printing_in_cs3.htmlWes

Epson 2100 is down

2007-06-16T00:05:00.000+02:00

One of the printheads of our printer stopped working last night and no amount of nozzle cleaning could make it work. So we called most of the Epson recommended printer repair services in Paris and no one picked up. Tried posting on photo forums and finally got one reply that said, "It's probably too expensive to repair." Siao liao.Been looking at a few replacements... I REALLY have to ask why is

Last Big Supper

2007-06-14T20:06:00.000+02:00

Jo did one last big supper the day before Kat left. Click on the pix for big pikture!Wes

VISA

2007-06-11T19:11:00.000+02:00

We went to the prefecture yesterday to update our visas. Also, we happened to be interview by one of the stricter staff. She's curt, throughly official and very very French. It turned out great! Our work permits are going to be renewed for another year. Thank God.So, some folks from Spore have been asking questions this time we went back.QUE: Are we are heading back to Singapore for good?ANS: No,

lunch with sis-in-law

2007-06-04T13:52:00.000+02:00

6667miles from singapore and what do we eat for lunch in paris?kekekekekewes

Leaving Singapore: At the airport

2007-05-29T16:45:00.000+02:00

We are at the airport now, flight is 2340hr. It's been a great 3.5 weeks, quite enjoyable on some points. Jo actually feels that she misses Singapore this time... haha, I think it's because she had time to sleep and catch up with friends and family. I had a good run, it was great to be working, minus point was not being able to catch up (and TK) on fri nights. Not having 24hr internet access was

No Internets.

2007-05-13T14:21:00.000+02:00

We came back 1.5 weeks ago and have settled down quickly in a rented place. It's great but it's got no internets. So surfing/blogging/msn-ing is impossible. Also the McDonald's near our place got no free surfing coz it's down for 2 months (kuakuakua...) I have been busy arranging and doing a smallish photo project that'll end on 23rd or 24th then we'll head back to Paris soon after that.Wes

rue du Commerce

2007-04-28T23:10:00.000+02:00

Every turn of the season, our street will have a french ""pasa malam". The whole street, called rue du Commerce (which means row of shops/businesses) will be closed to vehicles and shops will set up stalls on the street for 4 days. It's really cool, coz for us, we live on one end of rue du Commerce and to get to the supermarket right on the other end, we see lots of stuff on the way!everyone

Paris suburbs

2007-04-24T14:45:00.000+02:00

Grace, Kristine, Lorelei and me rolling "tang yuan"Last Monday, a Canadian French family invited some of us from church to their house to celebrate the Cambodian New Year. It was great fun coz it felt like CNY again for us! And they made dessert which looked like our "tang yuan".It's pandan flavoured! Ha.The party ended at about 11pm and because the house is in the suburbs, we have to take a

Callwave - Free SMS (for now)

2007-04-20T13:13:00.000+02:00

Just found this great widget for the Mac, Callwave. Free local and international sms! Woohoo! but it's in beta and I think they'll make us pay for it in the next 6 months once we are hooked. Next to it is iStat, checks out memory, heat, network, etc on the Mac. Ever since using it, I can safely conclude that Macs have memory leak issues too, although this problem is not about OS X, it's probably

SIA: Internet Explorer ONLY

2007-04-14T22:02:00.000+02:00

Booked tix for flight back to Spore today. The seat choosing feature does not work with Safari, Firefox on Mac, Firefox on PC. It ONLY works with Internet Explorer. Anyways, temperature tonight is a balmy 26degrees celcius, getting hotz.WesP.S. We just took out the fan we bought for summer last year. Heat here is like stuffy elevator type heat. Help... Jo

Spring time in Paris

2007-04-13T13:18:00.000+02:00

Spring is here and it's hot. Temperature in April feels like last year's June temp. Sky News says that it's likely to be as bad as the 2003 heatwave. Yes, the one where a lot of people died. Anyways, we went for a walk at the Eiffel.On the way back, we saw a woman with a lot of dogs. They were really well behaved, even better than some kids. No running about and screaming, just sniffing here

Manhattan Gigolo - actual name of a boutique

2007-04-06T15:02:00.000+02:00

This shop is at Rue Du Commerce, about 10 min walk from our apartment.In other news, Jo has been pretty busy for the last 2 weeks with the Easter thing our church is doing, it's a walkthrough of some of the journey of Jesus to the Cross. She's handling the design and publicity materials. I've been out coz of a bad cold that hit last Thursday, so I am spending most of the time at home helping with

All of this for only 0.89€

2007-03-29T13:50:00.000+02:00

Monster lettuce!! We had to eat like siao for the next few days.

Paris in winter

2007-03-13T12:34:00.000+01:00

This is the warmest winter in the last 20 years or so. Usually at the end of Feb, which is about the time we got back this round, it is really cold (sometimes it snows). But we took some shots and you can see the difference. It feels more like early spring already. And spring doesn't start till late March.Luxembourg GardensOur favourite thinking, chatting, walking place.Blossoms in Luxembourg

Buying music from iTunes

2007-03-08T19:28:00.000+01:00

Jo had a good experience buying music from iTunes, painless and easy. But we were surprised that it wasn't MP3, it was M4P. It's no good right? Does it mean only iPod and iTunes can play it?Wes

Things I learnt

2007-03-05T12:46:00.000+01:00

My 1.5year Razer mouse was a bit wonky coz it won't work after a cold reboot, i had to unplug & replug and lived with it. I casually mentioned it on the hardwarezone.com gameaxis subforum and got emailed by a forumer who turns out to be someone who works at Razer.I said bye bye to the mouse and airmailed it to HK for $$6.10and got a new Razor mouse hand delivered to my house courtesy of Razer

Worst case scenario

2007-03-02T16:20:00.000+01:00

Today, I woke up and felt courage. No, I don't think it was anything I ate, or anything too spiritual. Rather, I think it's because it dawned on me that I had survived another worst case scenario.My greatest fear in coming to Paris was not how things would work out here. Rather, it was how far away I was going to be from my family, our families. Should anything happen, it would take us forever to

Back in Paris

2007-02-26T23:08:00.000+01:00

We are back in Paris. Landed this morning and our pastor and his wife came to pick us up and brought us for breakfast. So that was a treat.Our flight back was on the B777 on Singapore Airlines. I think this plane is new. It's cool, the screen is bigger, seats are wider, etc, etc. As usual, KW and I requested for the back of the plane where the 3 seaters converge into 2 seaters. In the older

Near the end of our 2-month-plus stay

2007-02-21T05:04:00.000+01:00

It's been more than 2 months since we got back. We got to meet some people (very very few) and had to miss lots people (a lot a lot). In 4 days, we'll be taking the flight back to Paris and I just know that we'll hit the apartment, take a nap, wake up and go, "woah, what just happened?". Temperature in Paris today is 13 degrees. Looks like we missed the worst part of winter (which solves my

"Can you do something like this?"

2007-02-16T19:06:00.000+01:00

I just had to get this link off mr brown's blog. Last I read, the student that copied the work was getting expelled from NAFA.Poor Little Singapore StudentHow many times have photographers got a brief that went 'Can you do a shot like this image that i've torn out from a mag?' ;-)Wes

When faith eludes me

2007-02-13T16:09:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, I went home and saw my mommy walking without a walker, eating at the dining table and leaning over the fridge door to see what the newly hired maid could possibly cook for the next meal. And deep in my heart, I thank God for this miracle that I see before me - I thank Him because when I got that call in the middle of the night in our little paris appartment, my faith was nowhere to be

Jo's mom update XIII

2007-02-13T02:42:00.000+01:00

Latest: Jo's mom is off the walker!! And she's able to join the family at the dinner table.Wes

FPS Games can sharpen eyesight - WooHoo!

2007-02-09T19:07:00.000+01:00

Michelle Tang who's a bio teacher in ACJC sent this link to me. At the rate I am going, I should be dumping my glasses pretty soon.Also, video games make better surgeons!Wes

Jo's mom update XII

2007-02-05T12:59:00.000+01:00

Since her mom's return, the family has settled into a routine now (more or less). She's coping well with physio but it's very tough as she has to relearn many things. She's stronger now and she goes for physio pretty often, Jo and Kai (myanmese ex-ER nurse) goes with her in morning to SGH nearly everyday. Jo then comes in the afternoon, or go for groceries then she makes dinner. She's also

Professional Photography in Singapore - Starting Out

2007-02-01T00:39:00.000+01:00

Moved to this blog.

Professional Photography in Singapore - Economics 101 (or Don't Blame the Freelancers)

2007-01-28T08:20:00.001+01:00

Moved to this blog.

Jo's mom update XI

2007-01-24T17:42:00.000+01:00

Great news. Jo's mom was transferred to the rehab ward 74. She's able to take solid food, apparently she has been secretly having late night supper of kuay teow soup brought to her by my bro and sis-in-law. She's also speaking more words and she's working really hard at physio. In fact, when she moves home on Sunday, she will not need a special bed nor a wheelchair!! She will just be using the

Professional Photography in Singapore - The Next Few Years

2007-01-20T00:54:00.000+01:00

Moved to new blog.

surfing along

2007-01-19T16:31:00.000+01:00

Came across these on youtube:medicated oil advert - thanks for the link Lennard!patricia mok kopi shop clipkopitiam funny prank - dono if it's staged anot but it's good.Btw, if everything goes according to plan, we are heading back to Paris 24th Feb.WesUpdate: We have a confirmed flight on 26th Feb back to Paris. Got friends asking why we are delaying it till end Feb when we were supposed to go

Jo's mom update X

2007-01-15T09:34:00.000+01:00

Jo's mom is in really good spirits. She's able to move her right hand slightly (it was kinda frozen before) so that a huge improvement. She will not need to undergo more surgery as mentioned before but she will need to do scan in the next 6 weeks to see how the progress goes.Another thing, it's highly likely we have to stay till the end of feb. will be making the decision this sunday. pray and

Jo's mom update IX.1

2007-01-11T02:28:00.000+01:00

Just a mini update about Jo's mom. Currently, her spirits are up, she can utter some sounds and she's eating a bit more. Think she had coffee a few days ago! :-)She will have to stay in SGH for the next 3 weeks+ for intensive rehab, very xiong. After that she'll have to go for day rehab for a couple of months. We are confirmed leaving for Paris on 26th Jan, not staying for CNY. Likely, we have

Jo's mom update IX

2007-01-07T16:36:00.000+01:00

The doctors have removed the feeding tube from Jo's mom! It's great coz she is beginning to swallow liquids on her own. She's able to move her right leg a bit also!The maid is coming in Thursday and Jo has been pretty busy. Jo and her cousin cleared out the spare room and painted it for the maid. Just now about 7pm-ish, Jo and I went Carl's Jr at PS (her 1st time. kekeke), then went shopping for

Jo's mom update VIII

2007-01-01T15:56:00.000+01:00

Hey all,Jo's mom is still in the ICA. The situation is still roughly the same. Jo and I went down to see her yesterday. She looks a lot better and her spirits are up. She's still not able to move right side of her body and she has trouble swallowing so the physiotherapist is helping her exercise daily. Thanks for praying guys. :-)Wes

Jo's mom update VII

2006-12-28T14:15:00.000+01:00

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

Jo's mom update VI

2006-12-26T07:31:00.000+01:00

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.WesUpdate: Jo's dad is feeling better. Been resting a bit. Jo's mom has

Jo's mom update V

2006-12-22T10:25:00.000+01:00

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.

Jo's mom update IV

2006-12-19T17:13:00.000+01:00

MSN between Jo and WesJo 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 newsKar-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 signJo says: (12:12:26 AM)yaKar-Wai Wesley says: (12:12:35 AM)means reasoning skills are intact. that is great news.

Update on Jo's mom III

2006-12-18T14:45:00.000+01:00

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

Update on Jo's mom II

2006-12-18T03:15:00.000+01:00

Hey allJo'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

Update on Jo's mom I

2006-12-13T03:10:00.000+01:00

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

Back in Singapore 12 December

2006-12-10T09:10:00.000+01:00

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

Singaporean? Chinese? Singaporean-Chinese? What?

2006-12-02T19:35:00.000+01:00

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

Christmas

2006-11-29T00:04:00.000+01:00

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:Miss1. We miss the chwee-quay at Tiong Bahru Market.2. Jo misses hugging her nephews.3.

Nantes

2006-11-27T14:47:00.000+01:00

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

Inner geek is gratified

2006-11-25T13:50:00.000+01:00

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

Portrait of the family

2006-11-21T13:46:00.000+01:00

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

Home alone no more!!

2006-11-16T12:39:00.000+01:00

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

2006-11-16T00:03:00.000+01:00

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

Chicken braised in wine

2006-11-15T00:13:00.001+01:00

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

Cheek to cheek

2006-11-14T01:10:00.000+01:00

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

Birthday

2006-11-11T18:45:00.000+01:00

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

Food we like

2006-11-10T02:32:00.000+01:00

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

The other half speaketh again...

2006-11-09T23:43:00.000+01:00

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

Nutella-Love-Bread®

2006-11-02T15:07:00.000+01:00

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

Oh, and about Macs

2006-10-26T12:05:00.002+02:00

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

Merville, Juno, Pegasus Bridge

2006-10-21T20:58:00.000+02:00

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

Bo-liao post

2006-10-18T15:51:00.000+02:00

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

Photography: 10 essentials I can't do without

2006-10-17T22:36:00.000+02:00

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 PhotoI 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

Débit 7,06 Mbit/s (903,63 ko/s)

2006-10-09T12:51:00.000+02:00

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

Aye Laddie

2006-10-04T00:03:00.000+02:00

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

200 Channels

2006-09-25T21:36:00.000+02:00

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

Home again

2006-09-23T22:08:00.000+02:00

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...

Diaspora

2006-09-17T18:17:00.000+02:00

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

Copyright

2006-09-02T18:04:00.000+02:00

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

Wedding Photography

2006-08-26T16:58:00.000+02:00

so funny it hurts.Wes

Learnt at few things:

2006-08-18T14:40:00.000+02:00

- 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

Phantom Food

2006-08-11T15:35:00.000+02:00

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

Our stuff's here finally!!

2006-08-04T16:52:00.000+02:00

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

TV's here

2006-07-28T17:40:00.000+02:00

w00t!! :-)

Business of Photography

2006-07-27T10:34:00.000+02:00

The subject of business in photography has been in my heart and mind for quite a while. I was doing photography as a hobby for the longest time before turning it into a business. I have also learnt some important lessons through blood, sweat and tears. And from time to time, I have had friend and acquainstances who have joined the photography profession. I have also seen the 'old birds' in the

37°C day : 33°C night

2006-07-21T13:44:00.000+02:00

It’s been blazing hot this week. And the temp hit super high about 2 days ago. We didn’t know this of course since our TV was down since day on the world cup final match. Jo and I have been using the bathtub for cold soaks once a day, keeps us cool for about 3 hours before feeling hot again. Have been guzzling tonnes of water, oringina and the occasional big bottle of 97cents Perrier. Heard

Our Apartment

2006-07-16T07:00:00.000+02:00

Took this shot from the window position last night after coming back from the Bastille Day fireworks at the Eiffel. Thought I better shoot before the house gets messy again. :-) The bed on the right can be flipped up in the morning to get more space. And the bright spot in the middle is the kitchen for one person. Wes

Coupe du Monde

2006-07-11T15:33:00.000+02:00

Sunday night, we finally went to a pub near our metro station. It was a small-ish crowd, quite fun. Cheered when a goal went in and of course we went “BARTHEZ! BARTHEZ! BARTHEZ!” during the penalty kicks. small crowdsianz... Anyways, we were pretty stunned by Zidane’s head butt. Can anybody tell us why he did that? Commentary was in French and with the TV still kaput, we can’t get any info. :-(

Dead TV

2006-07-09T19:08:00.000+02:00

Our TV died this morning, on the eve of the World Cup finals. It has a yellow power light instead of green. Since we moved in the microwave died and a couple of bulbs blew up. We had to change the mattress also. Dono what the landlord is going to say…Dead TV is a sign we thinkz. Wes

Our visas

2006-07-05T17:27:00.000+02:00

After 16 and a half months, we finally got them!!!!!! After all that running around like mad monkeys, all that red tape, all that frustration, all that pitiful ‘parlez vous anglais?’ to irritated counter staff, we FINALLY collected them on Tues =)Hmm…now what?Jo

Lonely Planet by Wes & Jo

2006-07-01T13:57:00.000+02:00

This week alone, we’ve had 4 different people, some we know, some we don’t, ask us if they could come stay with us or have us pick them up at the airport. Not that we don’t welcome people visiting Paris, of course we do! But we thought maybe it’s better if we let everyone have a clear idea of what is going on here, just so that we don’t offend anyone when we say we cannot have you come or pick

Football

2006-06-24T22:00:00.000+02:00

I’ve been watching a lot of football. Seriously. I’ve watched more football in the last 2 weeks than I have ever done so in my entire lifetime.Not that I am a fan of football. No, no. I’ve always considered watching big grown men chasing after a ball a fairly mindless activity. I am not against it, just not into it.But interestingly enough, with the World Cup on at 3pm, 5pm and 9pm every day, you

some more stuff

2006-06-20T16:29:00.000+02:00

Abby came to visit the last week and left this morning. Honestly, when she left, it felt a little like we were leaving home all over again. And so now, it’s back to the 2 of us. The weather’s been a hot 30 deg Celsius in the shade with little or no wind most of the time. Most folks are out in their berms and tank tops, knees and shoulders showing. We bought a fan the 2nd day after we arrived

More pictures

2006-06-18T19:52:00.000+02:00

Jo insta-baked a chocolate cake for my birthday today, so I had a go at it.Saw this at Champs Elysees yesterday, Portugal suppporters were soooo happy with the win. :-)Wes

Steven Seagal & Thunderbox

2006-06-17T15:15:00.000+02:00

Saw this advert in the metro and just had to post the image. I didn’t know that he could sing, really.Wes

Romeo and Juliet

2006-06-14T16:01:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, we met Romeo and Juliet. Really. Only that this Juliet was so pissed with Romeo, she told him off at the window.We were having dinner in our apartment when we noticed that there was a man talking fairly loudly outside our door. We figured… hmm... maybe he was on the hand phone coz my neighbor had already returned about 10 minutes before and there was no other voice except his. Then we

Leaving town

2006-06-10T18:31:00.000+02:00

Hello all,We are leaving town tonight at about 11pm plus. Am glad it's a straight flight back to Paris. Sorry that we couldn't meet up some of you. *paiseh*will catch up with mel and alex ok? :-)Wes

Grieve

2006-05-31T17:36:00.000+02:00

I grieve tonight. Just came back from the X-Men 3 movie. It's totally flat, it has absolutely no character development and it has the biggest plot loophole ever. The film also doesn't have a 'glossy finished' look, at some points it looked like a indie movie. Really really am grieved... they took the characters we loved in X-Men 1 & 2 and made them into cardboard characters... whoever did this

Back in Spore

2006-05-22T19:41:00.000+02:00

Hi all,Back in Spore. Landed in Terminal 2 at 7am after a 12hour flight with Singapore Airlines. Experience was better than we had anticipated, the service was stellar. Inflight movies were the r0xx0rs. Watched about 4 movies in all, couldn't sleep both Jo and I. How's that for being the cheapest airline to fly back from Paris!! (tried MAS and AirFrancce but they were more ex)We caught some sleep

Rose Garden

2006-05-22T12:11:00.000+02:00

Was a really nice day when we walked past the rose bush in the courtyard. Never seen a rose this big and pretty before. Looks like we are staying in Rose Garden II. kekekekeke. :-)

Paris Update: 18May06 - Cleared Medical Exam

2006-05-18T16:01:00.000+02:00

We cleared the medical examination!!!! It was nerve-wrecking coz we have been warned by our visa lady 3 times not to mention my medical history. According to her, it will only complicate matters and end up an administrative nightmare. So we decided that unless we are asked, we will not volunteer the information. As it turns out, we went for the medical exam, took our x-rays and all. Seemed

12 reasons we thank God today

2006-05-14T15:49:00.000+02:00

Today we sat down and thought about the entire process of our moving to Paris. Of course, not matter how much people have told us it was such an exciting and fun thing to do, it was not an easy choice for us from Day One. And our thoughts drifted to all the “compromises” we have had to make since we came. Mainly lifestyle and cultural changes. The truth is, we were very comfortable in

Medical Exam, Microwave, MBTI and MI3!

2006-05-12T13:10:00.000+02:00

After nearly 2 months, we have got a medical exam Wednesday next week. It’s one of the last few things required for the long term stay. Got xrays and all that. In hindsight, it was good that my blood pressure was brought down to normal while we were in Spore. Gotta thank the TCM doctor who gave me hardcore medication coz it took only a month to work. Do keep us in your thoughts and prayers. :-)

Setting up photography stuff in France

2006-05-03T19:24:00.000+02:00

Hi all, Wesley here. Just an update about how I am doing with the photography stuff here if you are wondering how you can start up in France (or somewhere else in Europe):I haven’t shot for anybody here. Really. In fact, I haven’t been taking pictures. We came here in Feb 2005 for 2 weeks, showed our stuff to some folks. Came again in July for 3 weeks and Sept for 2 months, showed our stuff to

Bank Account

2006-05-02T15:26:00.000+02:00

Thank God! Our corporate bank account has been approved! Took them a week plus to verify our records, etc but we have a Memphis West Pictures SARL bank account in France now! We are so happy coz without this we can’t get the company registered and started up. Praise the Lord! Woohoo!In other news, we have settled into the apartment, cleaned it up and are now trying to hunt down a microwave to

Our area, not showing the apartment coz it's not tidied up

2006-04-19T12:15:00.000+02:00

Jodie waves from our petite apartment. Our house only has 2 windows. The rest belong to other people.This is our street. Circled red is our building's front door. At the end where the trees are is a small park with the Metro Station.Jo standing at the door prepping to go out.This station is called 'Commerce', it is a 1 min run from our door.Train platform, sometimes got urine smell, coz this