Shakespeare at the Park

I had a good time with my gal friend. Watching Macbeth at Port Canning Park. It was performed by Singapore Repertory Theather (SRT) a charity non-profit organization. Conclusion, the play was better than I expected and I walked off feeling a degree smarter, and cultured :)

The show was at 730pm, we arrived strolling around 7 and the whole field were covered with picnic blankets by the time we got there. We had wine - white and red (ended up only consuming Moscato since it was hot and humid!), chips, dips, fruits, sandwiches. Very enjoyable and relaxing.

I signed up SmugMug

Smugmug i discovered is the preferred choice of site to host your photos, if you are an aspiring pro photographer, smugmug site is a must. So I did it, i created my (trial) smugmug site.

http://starelle.smugmug.com

And my first gallery

Enjooy!

Posting Profile Photo

I went to networking website and event rather for first time. Vainly trying to find a nice profile photo. Became interested in Photoshops.

So I have been following two videos on youtube on:
1. How to smoothen face:

1. Use Spot Healing Tool
2. Filter/Blur/Surface Blur
3. Duplicate layer with black fill. Pass those thru with White brush.
4. Filter/Sharpen/Smart Sharpen. Then do step 3.
5. Lights - duplicate with Quick Layer Edit (bottom left corner).
6. Duplicate layer and set "Normal" to Saturation -> Duplicate Layer (Ctrl-J) set to Soft Light and Overlay. Play with Opacity. 

2. Another method

1. Copy Red Channel over. Set RGB channel back to liven up.

Google Doodle

Today I saw a v unusual and impressive Google logo. Celebrating Martha Graham's 117th birthday, animated Doodle illustrated by Ryan Woodward.

It's first time I learned Doodle is Google's name for its logo when commemorating certain dates.

Copyright: Google

Transient times

2 weeks ago in a family gathering, my uncle and I had a conversation. He inquired about the procedures after I received the notice to become Singapore citizen.

That made me recall then... 2 years ago when I decided to apply for that change of citizenship. The decision was fairly easy one, that I didn't hover on. I had studied, stayed, lived, and worked in Singapore for more than 7 years then - my PR was due for renewal and I was very firm in my mind that I wanted to stay in Singapore for good.

Busy Sunday

On Sunday night, I was telling myself "Yeah, keep it up. Fill those days!".

Feeling energized from the good exercise on Saturday, I filled my Sunday with:

Waking up refreshed at 11am
Breakfast/lunch at Yan Palace Hong Lim. (I love the porridge and my fave cheong fun).
Facebooking.
330pm Indo mass at St Bernie - it's 2nd Sunday of the month. Mother's Day
5pm Gym at GWC
615pm forgot my clothes! Express shopping
Meet M and dinner with Y and M at Parkway
After-dinner walk along East Coast with some sob sharing
Long taxi queue (note to self : never attempt calling nor queuing for cab at East Coast on a Sunday night)
Gave up and took bus home. Home sweet home at close to midnight

Nike 5KM Run

Saturday was Hot and Humid. The run was inaugural held by Nike, so we could see some hiccups. Marine Barrage was nice as venue, I could see the perfect blue sky at the bubble up near starting line. But it was hot and if 5,000 people (luckily all girls so not as sweat smelly :) crowding in a narrow area towards the line, it was pushing and a bit chaotic.

Nike gave out a dry-fit Orange running tee, love the shirt, the design was shucky. And a black shoebag that is functional.

As finisher, we have a table trophy and a stalk of Gerbera. Mine is red. Gerbera in flower talk means innocence, purity and beauty. I like its cheerful color.

Now, timing! 37mins over 5KM. Not bad considering how hot it was, not my best timing either :( despite having run my best in first 2KM before the true heat sets in.

Update on May 17:

Nike created a pretty cool, if impractical site to check the timing result of the last run. Hey I got rank 218, I guess not bad out of 1,135 runners in my category (303 out of 1,672). Net official timing 36:43.

Here to check your timing.

Source Code

Movie: I love it 5 STARS

Moral: Live is valuable. Cherish the present and time.

Purvis St

Had a nice lunch at Garibaldi today with a close friend. Was there before for after drink desserts. Today we enjoyed the 3-course set lunch. Bread sliced like cake, with olive and balsamic vinegar - just the way I liked it.

Appetizer started with the Soup of the Day - a creamy Italian that is suprisingly filling.
My main was Tagliatelle (tal-ya-TELL-lay) with salmon bits.
Dessert is Italiana a mix of berries with pistachio ice cream. Finished with coffee.

It was close to 230 by the time we languishly enjoyed our meal. Thanks for the company, E!

I wished I had my EOS with me.

The most wanted man is neutralized

The buzz of this May 1, the most wanted man in the planet, Osama Bin Laden is dead. He's been wanted as the mastermind of the greatest and most horrific terrorist attack in modern times, in terms of the scale and momentum of destruction and fear. That's terrorist isn't it, to instil and promote fear. I remembered watching in horror when the TV showed WTC Tower 2 collapsed, it was nighttime in Singapore. Remembered waking up in the morning, going to my internship office in HP Consulting arm then, and hearing buzz.

Now the wanted man is gone. This is symbolic win to humankind that good will prevail in the end.

Here is a cool photo from White House watching the situation unfolded.
http://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-in-the-situation-room

Four Seasons HK

The restaurant talked about by my friend, 3-star Michelin Chinese restaurant, Lung King Heen - View the Dragon.

Excerpt from the site:

"Michelin three-star Chinese restaurant, Lung King Heen, is led by Executive Chef Chan Yan Tak. As the first Chinese chef to receive three Michelin stars, Chef Chan is the master behind the intricately designed menu at Lung King Heen. Chef Chan combines textures and flavours coupled with inventive presentation to excite the taste buds and satisfy the most demanding epicure."

Holiday morning

This is long weekend in Singapore. Traditionally here we always have the next Monday off if the public holiday falls on a Sunday. It is also a Mother's day. After lazy Sunday morning, we promised instead to wake up today at 530am for morning walk/run and see the sunrise with Mom. So after painful wake up, we were ready, out of the door at 610 with the bike, full running gears, and sleepy eyes.

We walked out... and suddenly it started drizzling merely 3 minutes out! Gosh. What a waste of our morning efforts. So we turned back (I ran to check out if Yakun at Far East Sq was open, it wasn't). Our family promptly went back to bed, with our new comforters :)

I am accompanied by Robert Timm's instant latte, editting my photos now.

Let me recommend a good little app that I am using this morning: FastStone Photo Resizer.

Museum Shots

Some of my favorite practice shots:

Rattan wickets and baskets at the History Gallery, NMS. 

Semi-auto mode 1/8 3.5f @ISO3200 Evaluative Metering, 21mm.

 Lo-Ho objects from recent past. 

The petromak lights (the version in museum were sadly lighted by electric bulbs), water pumps, kompor ijuk (stove stoked by the straws and gasoline), and the stone grinder.

Semi-auto with flash off. 1/25 3.5f ISO3200 18mm.

 "Food" exhibition. I liked this exhibition the most. 

This item is the ice-crusher that I used to see from my childhood days.

1/20 3.5f ISO3200 18mm

National Museum of Singapore (NSM)

Singapore is having its Biennale. My first experience with Biennale had been at the 17th Sydney bien's last year 2010, which was insightful. I recall esp an exhibition, quietly disturbing about experiment with photos take by maids in HK with prop help from plastic grenades.

One of The exhibition venue is the National Museum of Singapore, having its open house on the May Day yesterday. Some of my shots below.

Singapore GE Fever

Singapore is hit with the Election fever. Usual efficiency was this conducted. The nomination of candidates were officially done by last Thursday, campaigns over this long weekend, the voting next Saturday.

When we were about to go out, some entourage called us and notified the candidate is coming. So I greeted the PAP Candidate for our Kampong Glam ward, Mdm Denise Phua briefly. I should have asked her to sit down, but I thought she is busy and would be glad to move swiftly from house to house. Sorry if you were offended Mdm Phua! Let me made up by publishing this post....