The real deal

This has been a running joke - actually since early this year when famouse philippino photographer with the AFP came to Singapore. His name is Romeo Gacad, and has been nominated for the pulitzer prize many times.

He also happens to look a lot like Ho Chi Minh himself, and is affectionately known to us photogs as "Uncle Ho". He's really humble and we love him for being him.

Some really funny quotes/jokes made during the ASEAN summit:

" When i walked into the market in Vietnam, all these old people stopped and started starring at me." - romy

" I didn't understand why until i went to the museum and saw the statue of Ho Chi Minh. I even got a discount." - romy

" You should have gone for a massage. They would have paid you!" - Bobby Coloma, romy's boss

Quinny Story

I've always liked the non-conventional. Blame it on my weirder taste in things (this does not factor in to why i like Terence either). Weirder however, isn't necessarily cheaper or better.

I prefer 4-wheel drives. They're gas guzzlers and not very practical for everyday use sometimes _ why i drive my jimny_ they have box-like shapes and are not very aerodynamic which translates to it not being very economical fuel wise. But they can't go very fast and i take that as a plus point.

Sometimes, actually most times, we find ourselves trying to find a fundamental balance between want and need. And in the case of the Quinny Buzz perembulator, it was very clear to me that it was a "want". '

It had everything I imagined it would have. First of all it had the wonderful 3 wheel design which aids movement and is ideal for mother-joggers. It spins on its own axis and has interchangable seats from infant size to toddler size. I've also always wanted to have a pram which allowed your child to be facing you while seated in it.

Only problem: it costs only a little under SGD$1000

Crazy I couldn't afford it and decided to stop drooling and wait.

I was so angry over the price and how little money i make as a photojournalists vs all the bills i had to pay, i had to pray that God would settle my heart and help me appreciate the good things i already have and let go of all these materialistic wants. I surrendered.

Anyway,

One day Terence decided to stop by at Tanglin Mall to use the toilet after an assignment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he walked past the pin-up board which has advertisements of stuff people wanna sell second-hand.

Lo and behold there was an add up for the exact same model of Quinny prams up for sale for just SGD$250.

A couple from UK decided to sell the pram because their daughter was walking around most of the time. It's condition was good except that the tires need to be inflated once in a while.

I think that's a pretty good deal and to date, nate's been enjoying it very much. He has graduated from his infant seat and now looks like a little space man waiting for take off.

Sunny weekend

The weekend of the Barclays Singapore Open is finally over and it was very fun, and not to mention HOT HOT HOT!. One thing i've learnt from covering golf for the past 6 years or so is that in order to get good pictures, you've got to walk the greens. Buggies are helpful but you miss alot of good pictures when you zip from one point to another. It's the in betweens that give you the time to think and come up with possibilities to be a little more creative and make use of the environment. The course on Sentosa also happens to be one of the tougher courses for golfers and us photogs. It's very hilly. So all that weight and walking up and down the grass can be very good training for the calf muscles.

Here are some snaps of my buddies and I. This was what we were up too while waiting for the next flight to arrive at the tee box.

So the annual tanning session has come and gone. Time to fade away and wait till next year, I'm dark as hell, i've never been there but from what I hear it's pretty dark. (:

Sunburnt!

Did i ever mention that this year's Barclay's Singapore Open Golf Tournament has given me a new shade altogether? Yesterday's heat was amazing. It started blistering as we heard thunder rumbling over the CBD area from where we were, which was at the 7th tee box of Sarapong Golf Course over in Sentosa. The kind of heat that really peaks just before a storm. Check out my burn nose and cheeks. I've also got many funny tan marks on the rest of my body, like half of my calf muscles are red because as a photographer, you squart most of the time, exposing only half the outter calf, and oh, the arm gets burnt half way from the sleeve marks. Oh yes and the thighs are cut into half with tan lines as well! I'm going to hurt real bad. I guess i'm all set for Christmas. ... think rudolph the red nosed raindeer....

On a separate note:

I don't mind that I won't be doing that much running this week because of the lack of time due to the golf coverage. I ran a 10+km with Terence last Saturday and managed to squeeze in a 6.68kmer on Tuesday. I guess i'm making it up carrying all that camera gear and walking the very hilly course from 7.30am to about 3pm daily - sans caddie. (: I wish there was some way to calculate the distance i've walked and burnt from these 4 days of coverage. Oh well.

I love this Face

its like he's saying "whatever"

I love that Nate, my son, ( in case some of you don't know ) has a very huge sense of humour.

This is a face he learnt to pull off, by himself and does it only when he wants to make fun of you for example when you're trying to talk to him seriously or ask him something. It's cool now but i'm sure i'll be changing my mind when he's a teenager and tries to pull off something like that.