Singapore Museum Night Festival .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } fire dancer 2, originally uploaded by Wahj. Fantastic show at the Night Festival last Saturday. Part of me regrets not being able to photograph the magic, but another part appreciates the fact that moments of magic like Secret message .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } secret message, originally uploaded by Wahj. Spotted this funny scrawl on the note pad used to test pens at Muji. Probably some kid, judging by the handwriting. Equal parts banal and mysterious, and mildly disturbing ... Christian Moeller's "Daisy" .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Christian Moeller's "Daisy", originally uploaded by Wahj. I've been to the new Terminal 3 at the airport quite a few times over the last few weeks, and each time I've looked at this kinetic sculpture I've wanted to thirty-one pounces? I've started a tumblog over here ... I'm not sure what to do with it, but for now it's mostly as a scrapbook of things, thoughts, photos and ideas.  (not sure what to name it either ... thirty-one pounces anyone?) PC Show 08 The PC fair at Suntec convention centre is one huge mass of geekery swarming over 3 convention hall floors. Here's the loot from braving the crowds yesterday and today: First off, the largest laptop cooling fan I have ever seen.  Yes, that's one single, huge, fan - and, as a bonus, it's lit with blue LEDs.  But here's a pet peeve: why do manufacturers believe that a sticker showing a series of Forgetful is when you get home after work to realize you've left your Macbook Pro on your table. This leaves you without access to the 'net, the wider world, and that part of yourself (the blog, the photos,your World of Warcraft character) which is not located within the confines of your skull and 3 feet of personal space. (forgetful is also somehow misplacing the money you drewfeom the ATM, forgetful Forgetful is when you get home after work to realize you've left your Macbook Pro on your table. This leaves you without access to the 'net, the wider world, and that part of yourself (the blog, the photos,your World of Warcraft character) which is not located within the confines of your skull and 3 feet of personal space. (forgetful is also somehow misplacing the money you drew from the ATM, Helvetica, it is not ... ... but it is my very own font =) Fontstruct lets you design your own font, publish it, download it, and use it. The drawing tools are somewhat limited - but some people have managed some pretty amazing fonts with them (such as this one and this one, or how about this one). I can already think of several people who would jump at the opportunity to design their own font, so a word of warning: flightless .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } flightless, originally uploaded by Wahj. Found this bird squashed on the pavement. The action of countless cars driving over it had mummified it so only yellow bone and a few feathers remained. It's funny that the Morning scene with cats .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Morning scene with cats, originally uploaded by Wahj. This is what a holiday morning is like. On days when my wife and I don't have to get to work before sunrise, we sleep in, and the cats sleep in with us. All is Victory .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Victory, originally uploaded by Wahj. From the Army History Museum, Singapore. Shopping Centre Defibrillator I don't know whether to be reassured or concerned. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Shopping Centre Defibrillator, originally uploaded by Wahj. Is the presence of a de-fibrillator in a shopping centre cause for reassurance ("What's that? A heart attack Shriveled cherry .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } shriveled cherry, originally uploaded by Wahj. I found this sculpture outside the back entrance of the National Museum of Singapore. A gigantic, shriveled, cherry. Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Happy things .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } happy things, originally uploaded by Wahj. My long awaited Amazon order arrived today, just in time to cheer me up on a typically lousy Monday. From top left: Stardust, widescreen DVD. Presentation Zen Blade Runner - the Belly in the sun .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } belly in the sun, originally uploaded by Wahj. We stayed at the K-hotel in Phuket for one simple reason: they have cats. Last year when we were there, one particularly friendly Siamese came to our room and slept on the Wine-dark sea .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } deck and sea, originally uploaded by Wahj. I've never spent 4 whole days on the sea before this last dive trip. I can't say I really got my sea-legs, though I puked but once - and that was mostly because the water was "This was a triumph" I stumbled across this song on YouTube the other day, and was so taken by it's quirky and offbeat humour that I went and bought the game the next day (the video is of the end-credits of Portal). This may be the first time I bought a video game just because of the theme song. Portal is one of the most inventive, original, and genuinely entertaining games to come out recently, not the least Green spot The relentless grind of the holiday season has kept me from blogging about the dive trip to Phuket, but here's a little observation from the trip. 2 years ago when I first spotted these green laser pointers for sale online, their prices were in the hundreds.  Two weeks ago, I saw these in Phuket, being used by street hawkers to get the attention of tourists like me - they would fling a green Our poor feline friends I came across these two articles today: Scientists create Glow-in-the-Dark cats Hypoallergenic Cats Follow the first link to see a cat that glows red in the dark.  That's RED.  RED. Why in the name of all that's good and holy anyone would do that is beyond me. Follow the second link to see how a company is marketing their line (yes: these are products) of hypoallergenic cats.  What struck me was Craning up .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } craning up, originally uploaded by Wahj. It seems we're always building. Progess is construction, progress is under construction, progress is never getting there but always trying. We're a nation that wants to arrive but Gandhi memorial .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } gandhi memorial, originally uploaded by Wahj. Spotted in a recent jaunt through Little India: a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. As far as I know, this memorial isn't mentioned in any history, tourist brochure, or any text The light at the top of the canopy .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } The light at the top of the canopy, originally uploaded by Wahj. Hard to believe this is Chinatown: this was behind a block of HDB flats, near the car park and the garbage collection area. If you looked down you'd see the Feeding time What do you do when it's a been a lousy week at work? You go out and buy a carnivorous plant for your little high-rise garden, that's what. When we first moved into this house, I had a pitcher plant that did quite well, but it died when we got our first cat. It's been 5 years since my last attempt at carnivorous plants, but I now have a Venus Fly Trap. I also bought a nice flowering pot, but Lion doorknocker .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } lion doorknocker, originally uploaded by Wahj. Back door, facing the alley, where no one would ever see it. Bush .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Bush 2, originally uploaded by Wahj. From our recent jaunt in Chinatown (perhaps I should call it a photowalk? - a term someone introduced to me recently, though it strikes me as being a bit excessive to come up with a Red roses, red shoes .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } red roses red shoes, originally uploaded by Wahj. Remember those roses I mentioned earlier? Well, this is what they were used for. The play was called 'Ophelia', by my wife's colleague Nick, and it was pretty intense Roses are Infra-Red .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Roses are InfraRed, originally uploaded by Wahj. I never thought red roses would be so IR-reflective as to turn alabaster white. Shot of roses floating in water (see previous post for explanation). Sandpaper and Roses Monday night was sandpaper and roses. My wife is helping out as stage manager for a play, and the director wants roses floating (stem down) in a fish tank. The stem-down part is easy: screw in a screw or a nail into the bottom, and it weights the rose enough that it floats straight (getting the right mix of buoyancy and weight does require some experimentation though). The roses on the other My most popular photo This is apparently my most popular photo on flickr: Lone Tree. Apparently, this image made it to the top 25 of flickr's "explore" pages, which is not bad. This is also the one image which has received requests from various people to use - for posters, in a magazine, and for some book (which it is totally unrelated to). I've mostly told them yes, since I'm not a pro and I don't make money Indonesia Rocks Our World I was sitting in front of my computer when I thought I was feeling dizzy. Then I realised the room was moving - an inch to either side, a gentle but rapid swaying. And then I was running out the door and downstairs as fast as I could. 7.9 scale quake in Indonesia. I couldn't feel it when I got downstairs, but at the 17th floor, the swaying was enough to terrify me. Random thoughts as I was