Chester - composer, photographer, blogger

This album was published by Warner Music Korea in 2006. A 2CD album featuring songs by Laura Fygi, Ray Charles, Renee Olstead, Chester Tan, Maksim, Ennio Morricone... wait a minute. Is my name in that list?

Yes.


I found out about this album 2 years ago. Since then, I tried many means to get hold of the album. But this album is only available in Korea and like the Japan market, it's difficult to find an online merchant that ships internationally. I even asked friends and friends' friends who were going to Korea to help find the CD at shops, but to no avail. Ironically, this CD is readily available online!

Finally, through Facebook, I found out that an ex-student from the ballet school, Sue-Ann, was there for a student exchange programme. I asked her to help, and she managed to get a copy! Today I finally met her to pass me the CD.

There was also a Korean write-up. Sue-Ann helped to translate:

“Chester Tan,began learning to play the piano at the age of 5. After entering university, he combined ‘computer MIDI’ together with his major to create dynamic and simple music, becoming Singapore’s first pianist to release an album. The album, Body and Heart (or Body and Soul) was released in 2004, in the album , which consisted of classical new age songs that were calm and served to soothe the senses. Songs/sounds that serve to relax and encourage meditation will warm your heart and awaken your senses.”

The part about me being "Singapore's first pianist to release an album" is so blatantly unreal. It's so embarrassing if Koreans really believed that. It sounded like Singaporeans don't have great pianists worthy of album releases.

What is so curious is why of all the tracks they chose "Heart and Soul". It's definitely not one of my better works. That goes to show how music tastes differ vastly with individuals.

But still, it's so surreal to find my song in the same album compilation as some of the greatest artists around the world. Thanks to Warner for using the track from my Piano Spa album and most importantly, credit my name as the composer and artist on this CD.

Maintaining a blog is a sure way to forge an online identity if you are serious to establish yourself on the World Wide Web.

It is easy to fake an identity, hiding behind a user name and run amok in your verbal actions as if you will never hurt anyone like you could in the real world.

But if you have a blog that runs for years, you are guaranteed to have international alibis - people who follow your blog for a long period of time, who reads and follows your life over the entire period. They will attest to your personality - good or bad.

The blog is a personal space where you can write whatever you want people to see you as (not necessarily your true self). But it's ironic how someone could pretend to have another personality when he or she is not in real person. Think about it: if you knew how to pretend to have another personality, why can't you be that person in real life? If you 'pretend' to be nice to people in blogs, wouldn't that be convenient to be just that person in real life?

So seriously, don't pretend. Just be who you are in blogs. Write what you feel, say what you think.



Yesterday was my dad's birthday, which coincided with my sis' wedding banquet food-tasting session. So we conveniently celebrated his birthday at the restaurant.

Rarely sees Dad in such a hearty smile. That's our gift for him, a Raoul shirt that he can wear on my sis wedding.

One year ago, I remembered going to Singapura Finance wanting to withdraw my matured fixed deposit amount, but was rejected because I went too late and the principal amount was already auto-committed for another year. If I were to terminate the account then, the penalty would be hefty. So I marked my calendar and told myself that one year later, I will close the FD. I even went to the branch 3 weeks before maturity and hope to request in advance for a standing order to send the principal amount in cheque. No, they said. Have to wait for maturity date.

So one year has arrived. And I nearly missed the dateline again. Today is my company D&D so we had permission to leave office early. I left at 3.40pm and drove hastily to the AMK branch, reaching there at 3.59pm - one minute to closure. After 10 minutes of paperwork, I got my money in cheque. And that ends my relationship with that financial company.

Amazing how time passes by, so quickly.

And to think of what I have achieved. So little, so much.

That's how my life will be.

One year. One year.

Some photos of Mayenne which I picked at random.

Lara is 17 years but she is already experiencing the urban pressures of a grown up. Longing for freedom of her life, she writes to me her story and requests that I produce a photostory.

Here are some images taken during the shoot one month back.













And click the below cover image for the 40-page photostory.


This is the shoot assignment where I encountered the black cobra as described in my previous post.

I was listening to some online music and began to miss the days of producing music.

Then I suddenly realise why I love to compose so much.

That's because I get to create a piece of work that touches my soul.

It's not about money, it's not about fame. It's not so much about the pleasure of realising how many people appreciates my song (although that does motivates me somewhat).

It's the pure joy of able to experience a tangible form of my emotional state.

As far as I know, I have emptied my best compositions to the Piano Spa series - all 106 of them.

So it's time I stock up, find some time in the next 12 months to write another set of new compositions.

I shall create music the way I like it. Not for any record labels, nor for any particular projects.

I won't be involved in Piano Spa 5. Fred is already working on it now and is expected to hit the market by the end of the year.

Support the Piano Spa series, and hopefully the old albums will get a lease of life from the warehouse.

For years, Nikon refuted rumours of developing full-frame DSLR, despite Canon dominating the full-frame DSLR market for many years. Then in August 2007, Nikon revealed the D3 and christened 'FX' to denote full-frame 35mm format (DX for 1.5x cropped-frame). D3 is the top-range DSLR to replace D2X.

From there on, people again started to speculate whether Nikon would release a more compact and affordable FX DSLR. Yesterday, Nikon finally announced D700, a hybrid of D300 and D3, the best of both models, a compromise of both too.

Deciding to buy D700 is not a simple upgrade from my current DSLRs, because D700 is a 12MP full-frame DSLR while all my current DSLRs are DX format. Based on my existing lens collection, I only have 2 DX lenses, which means I can use all other lenses on FX DSLR. Actually, I can also use the DX lenses on FX DSLR but I only get 5MP image size.

Another important consideration is my semi-retire status from wedding photography. The major advantages of D700 is excellent low-noise at high-ISO and ultra-wide angle coverage. While one can claim that a camera alone doesn't make good images, having a camera with low-noise at high-ISO will help the photographer make clear images at low-light situations.

Another consideration that I have to remind myself here is that the FX market is yet to mature, so there is still a limited number of ultra-wide angle lenses that allows FX to replace DX DSLRs. To state my point, you can get a FX-equivalent 15mm coverage using a DX lens for S$900 (Tokina 11-16mm f2.8), but you have to pay $2400 for similar coverage for a FX lens (Nikon 14-24mm f2.8), not forgetting the additional equipment weight. Well, you could settle for a similarly-priced 3-year-old full-frame Sigma 12-24mm f4.5-4.6 lens for about $1000, but that's a different class of lens that you wouldn't want to use on your new D700.

One thing is for sure, that is, FX is here for good. So I can take my time to consider if I really want to go to FX format in future. For now, I'm hanging on to DX format to take advantage of the lighter lens and the fake-crop advantage.

PC Show is over, but the shopping isn't. After the LCD monitor purchase, I went on to grab 3 more new gadgets for the past 7 days. So allow me to narrate my 'exciting' shopping adventure.

Last Tue, I decided to buy a pen tablet for photo-editing. I had enough using the mouse to do photo touch-ups and was convinced that a pen tablet gives me better control after borrowing one from a colleague. Instead of the costly Wacom brand that is undoubtedly an excellent tablet - for professional graphic illustrators - I settled for the cheap Taiwan-brand Genius G-Pen 450. I managed to find the cheapest at Mediapro at the Sim Lim Square 5th floor, selling for $62. There was only one piece left, so I took it.

When I got home, I found that the stylus pen's battery leaked badly. Even after switching the corroded battery, it failed to work. I thought to myself: what an idiot. Seeing only one piece is an obvious indication that it's probably been on the shelves for such a long time.

The next day, I went back with a colleague and was hoping they would refund on the basis that they had no replacement stock. But they said no and would order from the supplier and I had to come back again to collect it when the stocks arrived. I grudgingly left, but not before noticing a media backup device. So a while later, I brought my colleague back to the shop to show him that device, but then he caught his eyes on another device:



This generic-brand device is the size of a 2.5" HDD casing and plays media files straight from the device to TV or VGA. At $62, it sounded like a good deal. I thought: since it's the same price, why don't I exchange for this device and buy the pen tablet at another shop so I don't have to come back to Sim Lim again. So my colleague and I both bought it.

As for the Pen Tablet, I miraculously found another shop a few units away selling for $4 cheaper. And it's a clean set. How lucky I could get, I thought.

Anyway, my colleague agreed to pass his 40GB HDD to me, so I left the multimedia HDD player in the office since I can't test at home. That evening, my colleague SMSed me saying that his HDD player didn't work. Next day, we tried in the office using the VGA-out port via the office PC, and it worked. So we wondered what could be the problem. At the same time, he passed me his HDD and I quickly went to install in the HDD casing, but found the HDD corrupted with gibberish files and folders. I brought the HDD back to my colleague and he too tried to re-format it, but the HDD refused to complete the format.

All these problems led us to think:
1. Is the AV-out port faulty?
2. Is the HDD player's interface faulty causing it to corrupt the HDD content?

Not taking chances, my colleague went to Sim Lim that same day lunch to exchange for another item, while I decided to monitor the situation. I left my HDD with my colleague who went home to try to re-format again.

Next day, he told me that he still could not get the player to work with his TV. I prepared for the worst. I went home, plugged in the TV, and true enough, the display flickers. Then I looked at the remote, spotted the TV/VGA button, pressed it, and PRESTO! Clear image. Tried the video playback - works. Tried the MP3 files - works.

After 3 days and $62, I got a device that totally works.

Over the weekend, we watched Bee Movie with it. And I have a dozen more DivX-encoded movies waiting to watch. If not for this player, I would have to convert them into DVD formats so that I could play on the TV screen (my wife dislikes watching on my PC screen). I also didn't have to purchase a HDD recorder that will set me back by $600 - although with that I could also schedule and record TV shows. But I will come to that in a moment.

Throughout the above ordeal, my colleague mentioned to me about this multimedia storage viewer called Vosonic VP8860. The selling point is the ability to view camera RAW images. I had been contemplating getting a simple electronic image viewer, not unlike the currently-popular digital photo frame, so that I could show Mayenne's photos we took regularly to parents - rather than printing them out. The other advantage is that I can backup CF cards on the go during assignments, so no more out-of-memory situations. The other less-compelling reason is the media player functions like music, video, something that I won't do on the go because I'm not really a TV buff.
There was a feature which left me thinking: AV-input. In photography, there is a term called tether, which means you hook up your digital camera to a computer and you can practically control the camera on your computer, as well as providing instant download of shot images to the computer for instant review and scrutiny. Although VP8860 cannot do instant download, it can allow viewing of playback images on the digital camera. In other words, if the art director for the photoshoot wanted a shot-to-shot review, he could do that by simply hooking up the VP8860 to the digital camera, and it will mirror all the information displayed on the camera's LCD screen. That could be a simple solution for image review.

So anyway, I wasn't quite ready to purchase it because of the price-tag of $599 (250GB HDD). But all that changed when I so happen to find a seller letting go of it at 20% off the retail price. $500 for a 2-week old VP8860 which he bought at the PC Show.

And so I bought it, and instantly loved it.

RAW image viewing is fast, clear, and sharp. CF backup on Sandisk Extreme IV is 9 minutes for a 4GB card (Transcend 120X 4GB took 18 minutes, however). AV-input via D300 works. I can record Cable TV programmes, set record schedule and the device wakes up at an instant. I can listen to MP3 and radio, which really is not the main purpose since my mobile phone does the same job at a fraction of its size.

So the main selling points to me are the RAW and JPG viewer, and memory card backup. The secondary fun-factor points are AV-input live view and recording, video and music playback.

There you have it. 3 new gadgets over the past 7 days.

2 weeks ago, I received a request to do a photoshoot for an experienced runway model wanting to venture into print assignments. She wanted a natural and soft look, not heavy made-up or glamorous kind.

Sounds like my kind of style.

Here are the results of the shoot.








At 176cm, Emilia is the tallest model that I have ever worked with. She is taller than me. Good thing my job as a photographer doesn't require me standing side-by-side next to her: she's either seated or standing at a distance away.

It's been a very long time since I shot a model (my assignments are mostly on non-model clients), and I almost forgot how easy it was to photograph one who knows how to pose. I enjoy shooting people who are confident in themselves and comfortable in front of the camera, because the confidence and ease show on their faces and they give impact to the photos I take.

Father's Day was just another day, which is perfectly fine. We had lunch with my family with guest appearance by Angie's mum at Peach Garden at OCBC Centre. After a usually-delicious meal with a mouth-opening view, Angie and I went to catch the movie, Kungfu Panda. It is totally entertaining, more so because of the China Kungfu theme. Dreamworks has captured the essence of the Chinese culture with this animation, and infused child-like humour that is their trademark.



We had some time to spare before the movie screened, so we hanged in Popular bookstore. I walked past the local books section and a book caught my eye. "Final Notes from a Great Island" by Neil Humphreys. A quick read of the prologue got me hooked. I proceed to finish about 3 chapters before it's time to enter the cinema.

Neil's sense of humour is the selling point for the book. The way he describes the things around Singapore enlightens even us locals to see things in a different way. It's been years since I touched a novel and Neil caught my attention. I'll be looking around for the omnibus edition and maybe read it during my next vacation.

I was doing a photoshoot today at Punggol beach with Lara. Halfway through the shoot, we headed back to the car to change. I was leading the way and was already walking up the concrete stairs when I heard a hissing sound to the left of the stairs. And I saw this:


Instinctively, I backed off slowly. Lara, who was behind me, was unaware and wondered why I was going backwards. Then when I showed her, she startled. There was a guy standing at the top of the stairs talking on the phone and he too was shocked.

The black cobra "challenged" us for a good 3 minutes, giving me time to grab some shots. I fitted on my 80-200mm to get up close.


After a moment, it slithered away back into its underground nest.


This encounter was a very good lesson for me. When shooting in the wild, you never know what's around you. In fact, when we went to our 2nd 'wild location' stop, a regular passer-by pointed to us of a hornets nest up on a tree. He warned that if those bugs get provoked, there is no escape.

Which makes me wonder: should I inform the authorities of these dangerous creatures? Then a question comes to mind: who are the intruders?

Another event also occurred while photo-shooting at the beach. While doing our 1st attire change, a crow-culling van drove in. The bird-shooter waved at us that he's going to shoot at the crows so warned us of the loud sounds. Without missing a beat, he got down to work. He fired about 8 shots, managed to hit 6 crows. Lara was appalled at why the crows are being culled, and I briefly explained to her that it was to control the crow population and prevent them from polluting the environment through the droppings and to some extent bird-flu. She was not aware how crows are a menace in housing estates, often loitering around carparks or void decks, fighting for food and sometimes even attack passers-by.

The lesson here is that: every living thing is part of Earth's ecology. But sadly, it is the human species, the only species, that is destroying the balance. And you cannot blame all other ecological entities from trying to re-balance from the human activities. Some 're-balancing' activities include: becoming more aggressive to find food for survival (e.g. wild monkeys in Nature Reserves), changes in climate.

Again, my message here is not to say who's right or wrong, but to realise that every action has its consequences that we all have to accept, rather than pushing the blame on some other (in fact, any other) species for which they have no way to argue back. Animal attorney, anyone?

I went down to the PC Show at Suntec Convention Centre with a few colleagues during lunchtime. After a quick lunch, we took a cab and arrived at 12.30pm. Barely opened for 30 minutes, the place is already packed with human traffic.

I had a list of things to purchase, but ended up buying only one item, the 22-inch ViewSonic VA2226w LCD monitor at $349. This is the third ViewSonic that I bought over the years: I have the 19-inch VA912b which was the primary display until my new purchase, and the aging VG900. The new VA2226w I bought is to replace the VG900 which now sits on my office desk. While 19-inches looked small at home, it looked big at the office because of the closer proximity to the monitor in the office. Actually, I was so relieved that the VG900's 1280x1024 resolution gives me so much more extra room to display more Excel tables than the company's 15" 1024x768.

But I wonder how long the VG900 will last. I'm encountering some problems with the display, which occasionally the pixels seem to flicker and discolour on certain tonal shades. Initially I thought it was a faulty VGA cable or graphics card, but after testing in the office for a few days, the same problem occurs, thus concluding that the monitor is at fault, and a good excuse for me to buy a new monitor.

Currently in the market, most LCD monitors come with widescreen format because of Windows Vista. So, a 3:2 widescreen 19-inch would look shorter and wider compared to the old 4:3 format. Plus, running at 1680x1050 against the old 1280x1024 will make the new monitor display look smaller even though it's commercially the same size category.

But when I purchase the 22-inch VA2226w, the display size is quite proportionate when placed next to the VA912b. In case you are wondering, I am running on dual monitor configuration, something that I've enjoyed for almost 2 years. You cannot imagine the kind of efficiency you get with dual monitors: at a combined screen space of 2960x1024, you can put so much things on the screen without having to toggle among windows. Right now, I am composing this post from my right-side monitor while editing my photos on the left side. Or I could open up the audio multi-track applications and span it across 2 screens. In fact, I was feeling handicapped at home for the past few days when I brought the VG900 to office for testing. It's not the same as having an extremely large monitor at high resolution. Let me explain why:


1. If you squeeze more pixels in a same size, you only get smaller images or fonts at the same magnification. A 19" 1280x1024 will present items on the screen at a larger size than a 19" 1680x1050. While you gain 400 pixels on the wide side, your screen items will look smaller. That defeats the purpose of getting a larger monitor.

2. With dual monitors, you can maximise an application on just one monitor, leaving the other monitor for another application to be maximised, effectively viewing 2 applications at the same time. To do that on a single monitor, you need to tile 2 applications, but then each application would only have half the monitor to display the content. Also, if you toggle to a third application window, it could obstruct the view of your existing 2 applications.

3. It will be more expensive to get one large LCD monitor than 2 smaller monitors. And 2 small monitors give you more pixels to display than a single monitor.

But having said that, not everyone needs dual monitors. If your sole purpose is to enjoy a single application in a large screen, e.g. watching movies, then get a large monitor. But if you always multi-task, then you will benefit with dual monitor.

So in my case, I bought a 22-inch VA2226w at a higher resolution to match my current 19-inch VA912b resolution. But why choose ViewSonic? Firstly, the price. Secondly, to match my existing monitor in terms of calibration. And from what I see, it's extremely value for money, and I'm totally satisfied with the purchase.

Now I'm waiting for my 7-year old CRT 29-inch Sony television to spoil, then I can buy a new LCD television.

Tech-savvy readers to this post would call me crazy, but I just went to Sim Lim Square today lunch to grab some stuffs for my PC: a Western Digital 750GB SATA2 Harddisk and the Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock.

Why not wait for next week's PC Show from 12 June? Because I believe the price will not drop much. Granted, it'll be up to $10 cheaper, but the price difference is negligible compared to the benefits I get if I purchase now and housekeep my PC.

You see, I have done so many photo projects for the last 3 weeks that I have accumulated almost 100GB of new data. And I can't archive it because they are still open projects requiring me to work on. I current run on 2x250GB harddisk, and I intend to replace one of the 250GB with this new 750GB. The removed 250GB shall be my backup HDD that sits on the external HDD casing.

Speaking of the HDD casing, it's not just the normal external casing. It's actually a plug-and-play HDD dock like the MP3 player. It supports both 2.5" and 3.5" size HDD, plus support USB and eSATA interface. The latter allows you to access the external HDD at the same speed as if the drive is inside the PC, unlike USB. Therefore, the performance will be on par. This is beneficial for speed-intensive applications, allowing you to read this external HDD as if it's inside the PC, yet you don't have to install the HDD inside the PC.

This is the HDD dock that I bought.

Within 15 minutes, I got everything hooked up and now I'm transferring files from the old drive to the new one.

Next week at the PC Show, I'll be hoping to get a new CF card for my DSLR. With so many projects, I must make sure I have enough memory cards on assignment. I am also contemplating upgrading my LCD monitor. Computer peripherals are so cheap now that it's close to worthless. 1000GB HDD costs less than $300 (same price as 300GB 2 years ago), 19" LCD monitor below $300 (that's the price of a 15" 2 years back), a normal 16GB CF card is less than $100 (for that price, you get only 1GB 2 years ago).

After a photoshoot yesterday, I met me wifey for dinner at Vivocity. Not knowing what to eat, we wandered and chanced upon White Dog Cafe. I had craving for western food and admittedly the menu photos are tantalizing. But we left and looked around further and saw Earle Swensen's. After reviewing the menu, finding the price a little higher and the food photos rather clinical, we headed back to White Dog Cafe.

We shared the clam chowder, I ordered the Tenderloin Steak and she took the Lamb Chop. Soup came with steam but I was surprised it was lukewarm. Microwaved, I believe. But the taste was good, with generous servings of clam and 2 shells.

The main course came moments later. For once, I finished the side dishes - salad, corn and whipped potato. They're good, especially the potato, nicely concocted. The steak isn't as juicy as expected, but was tender enough. The lamb chop has lots of fats, but otherwise tastier than the steak.

We decided to have dessert. I ordered the Bailey's Coffee while she order the crème brûlée.
The coffee's alchoholic content kicked in making my face red. The brulee was too sweet for my liking but removing the top-layer sugar made is slightly better.

Total bill: $80.

I'll be going back again someday to try their chef's recommendation: beef stew, and the warm chocolate cake dessert.

As I was driving back, I suddenly remembered about the park connectors at the Mount Faber vicinity that was recently built. We then detoured to the Telok Blangah Hill, parked there, and walked to the Henderson Waves, one of the highest pedestrian bridges in Singapore.





At 69.59 metres above sea level, the feeling is one of calm and isolation, a feeling that you could only get if you stay in high-rise apartments. There isn't any spectacular viewpoints there, just another place that you can go to seek solace and hopefully some sea breeze.

Just for your read. Gurus always verbalise common senses, but they do it so effortlessly that it makes these words of wisdom so enlightening.

http://kentblumberg.typepad.com/kent_blumberg/2007/10/26-truths-about.html

This morning I had to travel to work by public transport as I sent my car for 10,000km servicing to the authorised service centre. Initially I dreaded the thought that no longer can I get from home to office seamlessly. But as I got on the train, the groove came back to me, and the old thought that public transport is still more convenient came flooding back to my mind. Indeed it is fuss-free. Just board, wait, alight, walk, and you would have reached office in one piece. I can even run some errands along the way, like posting letter and buying coffee, activities that I would find it inconvenient if I were to drive to work.

Then at 11am, I received a called from the service centre. Apparently, they broke the wheel nut bracket when trying to remove the nuts (screws) on the wheels. To explain, the wheel nut bracket is an adapter that fits onto the nut of the screw to allow the wheel brace (screwdriver, in layman terms) to loosen the nut. If the bracket is missing or broken, then the wheel brace cannot loosen the nut, and the wheel cannot be removed.


So I had to take time-off, grab a cab to the tyre shop that fitted the wheels, bought the bracket, took another cab to the service centre, and passed the bracket to the service guy. Then he tried it on and oops, it didn't fit. So the guy called the tyre shop and he informed me that they had the right one. So I left it to them to sort it out while I took a bus to the train station and headed back to office (no more cab rides, too expensive). I was told the car would be ready by 3pm.

Then at 3pm, I received their call, with more negative news. Yes, they got the right bracket, and yes it fits. But, YES, it broke again! So the service centre had to drive the car down to the tyre shop to get it fixed. My car was finally ready for collection at 4.30pm.

An important lesson for a new car-owner: NEVER get those fanciful wheel rims with fanciful nuts. I'll be damned if I get flat tyres on the road and I - or even the tow truck - can't get the wheels changed.

I enjoy taking public transport, been doing that since a young age. It offers me lots of time along the journey to indulge in thoughts. But no doubt having a car delivers benefits of convenience, something that I also experienced today. I do feel somewhat handicapped when I had to run around. But again, the public transportation system did not let me down and I was able to accomplish the above errands without much hassle.

Today is also the day my wife took her first driving refresher course. Her first time behind the wheels on public roads since 10 years back, and she's doing very well. See, driving is like riding a bike, except that while you can see every inch of the bike, you have to be one with the car, able to have good judgment when maneuvering the vehicle.

Very original! Extremely unexpected twist! This is probably the best ‘Turn Off Your Mobile Phone’ trailer I’ve ever seen. I’ve never felt tickled by such messages so much. If I’m laughing when watching on YouTube, I can’t imagine the amount of laughter I will get on the large-screen cinema.

Today I caught Indiana Jones And the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the cinemas. I can't even remember the last time I watched the franchise movies, but with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford, you just have to watch it, no matter how crappy it is.

Fact is, we are swarmed by adventure movies in the past 2 decades since the last Indy movie. Therefore, IJ4 turns out not as exciting as some other Hollywood movies like National Treasure. In fact, George Lucas the story writer threw in some scenes and plots just to make the movie more entertaining. I shan't reveal the scenes lest I spoil your movie-going experience. All I can say is that the effects are more realistic with today's technology.

But you just have to watch it, because it is Indiana Jones, although it probably doesn't mean anything to teens. There are some character developments and closure to the quadrilogy. There is actually just one or two scenes where Harrison Ford is in hey-day action. The rest of the scenes are just like any action movies he's done in recent years. So to say that he's too old for this role is over-exaggerated.

So, watch it if you are in your thirties and want to reminisce the good old times. If you teens are expecting some kick-ass heart-pumping action, then National Treasure is probably a better movie.

We had another birthday party for Mayenne last Sunday. We invited Angie's relatives plus a few colleagues and friends.

In our previous party, my parents did all the decorations. This time around, we did everything by ourselves. Fortunately, there is a large common area at my mum-in-law's flat, so we used that for our party.

Mayenne wasn't as enthusiastic as last week, maybe she was "kissed" on her face by bugs. Also, she was being carried throughout as the party was held outdoors.

But she soon warmed up to the kids, which was really the best part of the party. Kids are always the centre of attraction, especially when they are cute and adorable.

We bought the cake from the same cake shop, ordering back the Lychee Martini but changed the top tier to another flavour. We chose 'Winnie the Pooh' theme not because Mayenne likes him, but more because of the soft toy on top of the cake and those little figurines that looked rather nice, albeit non-original.

Immediately after the cake-cutting, we passed the teddy bear soft toy on the cake to Mayenne, and she cuddled it tightly. Within minutes, she dozed off.

For more photos, visit http://photosg.com/v/mayenne-18052008/

Mayenne will have 2 official birthday parties. First one was held last Sunday, to coincide with her Lunar birthday.

We started off the day with Mayenne soiling the entire bed, no thanks to her diapers who was so full that it could not contain the poo. So Mummy has to remove all the bedsheets to clean. (Unfortunately, her favourite bolster has to be thrown away because it was deem unwashable)

We went to my Grandma's house where the ancestral tablet is for the ritual blessings. Mayenne had fun picking the "symbolic items", a custom that all toddlers go through which could determine her future career. Mayenne picked the book first because it was conveniently the closest to her.


The celebration continues at my parent's house, where we invited relatives and friends and enjoyed Mayenne's good behaviour and entertainment.

Beautiful and delicious lychee martini cake from Pine Garden.

Who's the happy girl?

Taking a ride on her birthday gift.
But she still prefers going all-fours.
The party ended about 5pm. Mayenne didn't sleep the entire afternoon, and was instantly knocked-out the moment she got in the car.

More photos at http://photosg.com/v/mayenne-11052008/