It's a small world after all

It's always enriching to have extended time with friends bringing up kids. I've learnt quite a lot from just watching the kids themselves and from how the parents interact with them in all sorts of situations. So it's especially rewarding staying with David & Joyce who help in the upbringing of currently about 80 other little ones besides Brandon.

Thursday was a holiday so I got to follow the Kams on an off-the-beaten-road excursion with David's parents. To Brandon's delight, we managed to catch sight of quite a number of train tracks and even a real-life train! (As opposed to the many toy ones we've been playing with these past couple of days.)

We made quite a number of eating stops. At the 3rd one - a yong tau foo place in Ayer Hitam, we bumped into Gerald & his girlfriend, Mei, who were taking his mum out for the day. Heh - I had just been wishing the night before that I had thought to take a photo of them on Tuesday! It's so cool when God surprises you with things like that! =)




I spent the rest of the Kam family's day out taking shots of plants - one of my therapeutic pastimes during retreats. The most photogenic were David's mum's hibiscus... got so lost in photographing them that I didn't realize everyone else was in the car waiting for me!

What a wonderful world!

Am at the Kams' place in Yong Peng and I just have to write about how my cybershots found their way into the blog.

I didn't bring the Sony's connecting cable along with me so I bluetoothed the photos from my phone to David's Pocket PC which transferred them to his desktop PC via USB. Then I copied the images to my portable hard drive and uploaded them to my blogspot. =)


Thanks Joyce for capturing the process that made me gape in wonder, and Brandon for letting me fly the plane game! =)


Not incidentally, the entry header was also the song that Brandon's class performed at the Kams' kindy graduation ceremony last year. Here are the skies of blue & trees of green!

Chugging down the track

Keppel Road Railway Station, 3:34pm

I'm so loving my phone camera. =)

Anyway... had arranged with Paul earlier in the morning to pass them the Eden video at Kluang Railway station.

Elaine left me 3 mini paus, 2 post-it notes on her latest CD & an sms reminder to call Nat at her mum's place between 11:30am - 1:45pm to say goodbye to him. Checked my phone in time to make the call at 1:20pm after sieving through the 300-odd photos I had taken of the Wan family. Didn't get to hug the boys goodbye. =( Rechecked the sinaran petang schedule. Singapore-Kluang. 1530-1738. 1530=330pm.

Kempas Baru, 4:50pm.

Was glad for my new camera gadget bag with the rain cover. Still had to kidnap the Wans' black brolley that had kept me company the past few days. Caught #10 to the Railway Station. If I had waited another 10 mins, I wouldn't have needed to bring the brolley over the border. =P S$16 ticket to Kluang. Coach K1, seat 7B. Started off half hour late.

Gerald from Eden calls to let me know he'll be picking me up. I move to the seat behind 7B that doesn't face forward but I get 2 spaces to myself.

Mental & now written note to travel by train in the future. Thanks Lee Peng for the idea! =) For the umpteenth time, I love the Wans' new location! Wan straight bus ride to KTM in 20 mins! And the immigration get down-get stamped-get back into your coach-thing is much easier with the train compared to crossing over by road. You also get to experience the strange order of getting your passport checked-in by Malaysian immigration BEFORE you actually leave Singapore land.

Kulai, 5:10pm.

It's wonderful how music piped into your ears makes mundane things like waiting in line for your passport to get stamped in Woodlands seem so uplifting. Remembered those Sony Ericsson ads with the "I [SE logo]..." lines.

It's weird how some of the stamps in your passport remind you of the various times you've "departed".
Still in the seat behind 7B, 5:38pm.

Gerald messages to say he's waiting at the station. I [SE logo] my Sony Ericsson.

Kluang, 6:10pm.

Hahaha - had just spotted the other day a cover version of the Kluang railway signboard at Jaya One. So just HAVE to take a shot of the actual one. And of Gerald who kindly waits with my luggage while I goh clicking. And of the actual original railway coffee shop.


That's the last of my cybershots. I forget my phone camera to pay attention to my Kluang hosts for the couple of hours I'm there & then to my Yong Peng hosts who end up driving all the way over to get me. Note: There's no direct bus from Kluang to Yong Peng. It's Kluang - Ayer Hitam, then another bus from Ayer Hitam - Yong Peng. And the last bus leaves Ayer Hitam at 6:30pm.

I tried to figure it out

Spent the day doing just that - figuring things out.

First it was this epic and vivid dream I had, which managed to continue itself despite my waking up twice in between! So spent some time in the morning recording down as much as I could remember into my journal while it was still visually fresh in my memory. Broke the entire dream down to 4 scenes and 490 words.

Then went about taking photos of Elaine with her baby grand, testing out angles as well as my new 2nd-hand 550EX flash!


After several venue deliberations over sms, met Laura at Cafe Cartel for lunch. She knew I would like baby back ribs, she proudly repeated. =) We wondered awhile out loud to each other & to a waiter why they would offer the olive oil without the balsamic vinegar with the freeflow of slice-your-own french loaf.

The streets of downtown Singapore start to make sense to me as I find my way on foot to various art galleries, recognizing spaces I had passed a few days back when I had walked from Funan to Sim Lim. Halfway to my intended destination at Hill Street, I linger awhile at the Armenian Church, the first Christian church built in Singapore, 1835.

I sit in the small dome-like sanctuary & sort out some threads of thoughts with God. From then on, "Over My Head" is put on repeat. I walk in the garden with the sculptured sequence of the Passion and the scattered tombstones & sort out more threads of thought with God. From then on, I start taking photos with the 2mp camera on my K550i mobile phone.


Art appreciation at the MICA building / Old Hill St Police Station. Didn't quite match what I had expected but very rarely in my life does disappointment get the better of the ability to find something to be fascinated by. Several hidden treasures and the restored architecture itself made my trek worthwhile.

Inside MICA.

Outside MICA.

Some other sides of MICA.

I pick up the latest issue of Arts Beat at MICA and I figure out 1. which exhibit I want to seek out next and 2. which bus will take me there. #174 gets me to the Goethe Institute Art Gallery at Winsland House and 30 mins at the photo exhibit gets me inspired to to take more photos with my phone.



Downside of that is that I work up a thirst. Cross the road to a 7-11. Find a bus to Bugis St. Walk to Sim Lim Sq & back. Catch #133 to Suntec City. Then #97 to Vivo City. Noted along the way that #10 & #30 stops at the Railway Station on Keppel Rd. Take #143 home.

Spend time with the Wans figuring out how to get Elaine's THREE macs to see each other. Then spend time downloading photos & figuring out how I'm gonna get to Yong Peng the next day.

---

Shot of the day and song of the season... both pointing me in the right direction....


Over My Head by Brian Littrell

I tried to figure it out
Time and time again and time again
I guess there's just some things I'll never understand
'Cause Your ways aren't our ways
But deep down in my soul, down in my soul
There is one thing I know that I know

I'm in over my head
Right where I wanna be
I'm so lost within Your love
The love that always covers me
So high, so deep, so wide
A strong and cleansing tide
My soul has found a place to rest
I'm in over my head

I've been holding on
Now I'm letting go, just letting go
Gonna let Your love carry me away
I don't know where I'm going
But I'm surrounded by the truth
And I can feel the current pulling me
Deeper into You

You see me for who I am
You did reach out Your hand
You made me understand
That Your love has always covered me

I'm in over my head
Right where I wanna be
I'm so lost within Your love
The love that always covers me
So high, so deep, so wide
A strong and cleansing tide
My soul has found a place to rest
I'm in over my head

For the longest time...

...I haven't blogged.

Finally can, now that I've managed to get away from my usual crazy lifestyle in Klang Valley. But suddenly feel at a loss about where to begin... so much has happened since my last entry. So I think I'll just post photos to fill in parts of the gaping gap... takes less thought time... which will mean I won't have to wrestle with my writer's block... which will mean I'd actually post something.

Gonna start from today and make my way backwards in time....

Currently on my annual trip to Singapore and staying with 2 dear friends from Austin days with their 2 boys. Missed out posting a photo of them when I was paying tribute to the kids I had spent time with last June so made sure i caught some this time round. By divine timing, my friends had taken time off these couple of days from THEIR usual crazy schedule so I got to goh to Sentosa Island with them. Missed out on their trip to the zoo yesterday though cause I only got in at night.

Okay... I realize that's all shots of the kids and no Sentosa so as evidence that I was actually there... here are the jellyfish & the pink dolphins at the Underwater World!

Still March... explored Jaya One last Sunday, the day that Selangor together with Perak, Penang, Kedah & Kelantan made a mark in Malaysian history. Shot 3 weddings actually this month but on video... so no photos to show.

February... with my dad's operation, my brother back from Scotland & Chinese New Year... a lot of family time...






January... had quite a few video shoots that took me to a number of places... despite a painful loss of my entire lot of Penang photos, I managed to collect not-too-usual glimpses of Malaysia along the way...




...which brings us back to the start of a brand new year! =)