Lensbaby!

Recently, I’m going through a phase as what I would call ‘stuck in the rut’ where my photography skills is concerned.  I’m bored with my life and I think it shows up most clearly in my pictures.  I still take my usual food photos, but even that is becoming routine and boring.

In the past, I usually take this as a sign that I need to go travel and recharge.  Yup, most of my pictures fall into two categories, or make it three – food, travel and the furkids.  I need to break the habit and try doing something different.

A very dear friend seemed to have noticed this as well.  So she gave me a book on Lensbaby as a birthday present.  It couldn’t come at a better timing.  Thanks dear!

For quite some time now, I have been wanting to allocate a specific time slot in a week to commit solely to photography.  I don’t have to have a destination in mind; just grab the camera, go out and shoot.  But me being me, I love to procrastinate.  Seems like it’s time to put my plan into action.  After all, I’ve established that photogrpahy skills improve with practice.  It’s the person holding the camera that maketh a picture, and not vice versa.

Anyone interested?  I intend to start with day transiting to night of The Fullerton and Singapore River.

On a separate note, I wanted to practise a little on my Lesbaby (which had been collecting dust in the dry cabinet for a while).  Here’s my iFamily sans the smaller items.

Delicacy

I have a puppy who has a delicate constitution.  For the 8973252th time, we sent Belle baby in to the vet’s for a check just a couple of days ago because of her soft stools.  As it is, we have resorted to feeding all 3 girls with boiled water, which is something we never did before Belle joined us.  If you know Singapore, you would know that our water from the taps are potable.

The hubby was frustrated because he came home on Tuesday and Wednesday evening to a whole load of shit littered all around the living room.  Literally.  He commented that in the 8 months that the puppy’s been with us, she has been to the vet’s more often than Sugar and Paris combined in the 6.5 years.  Not entirely true, but you get the idea.

The vet could not give a conclusive diagnosis.  And she couldn’t tell me anything that I didn’t already know.  We concluded that:

1. She was stressed out by the renovations works and drilling taking place in the apartment directly below ours;
2. A change in our working arrangements caused some disturbance in her life;
3. Something is wrong with the kibbles we were feeding her; or
4. A combination of the above.

I am apt to blame the renovation works because she had shown some violent negative reaction to drilling works last Monday.  But I wouldn’t consider her a dog which would get stressed up easily – she’s more laid back and happy-go-lucky.  The easily stressed dog in our house is easily Sugar or Paris.  But not Belle.

So the vet prescribed some medicine to stop the diarrhea.  And made me change her diet to some hypoallergenic kibbles which I picked up at the vet’s clinic itself.  It worked, but we can’t know for sure what worked.  It’s the weekend so the renovations were interrupted, we are both at home during the weekend, and we have changed the kibbles.  Plus aid of the medicine.

Whatever it is, this episode has sparked the hubby into seriously considering changing the kibbles for the girls.  For the longest time, we have been loyal to Timberwolf Organics because Sugar and Paris did very well while on them.  Never mind that they cost 3 times as much as the more popular brands in the market.  But now that Belle is not taking too well to Timberwolf, we would rather change the diet completely for all 3 girls.

I’ve been so out of touch with what the market offers nowadays.  I know Orijen is good but I’m not sure if they produce hypoallergenic kibbles.  Time to do some research…

Suggestions, anyone?

Ding-Dong

The two elder furkids were sent away for boarding (or rather, enjoying themselves at the resort, as my favourite boarder-friend likes to put it) last Friday.  They would be away for a week.  We don’t usually send any of our girls away unless we are travelling overseas, but we were expecting some company for dinner on Saturday and the hubby was slated to travel for work sometime this week.  Thence the decision.

Ended up that the boarding was not necessary.  The dinner was eventually cancelled due to an unfortunate circumstance, and the hubby’s travel plan was postponed due to an even more unfortunate incident at Bintan - a plane crash.  I reckon the airport authorities would be too busy to chair a meeting with their friendly neighbours.

Despite that, we decided not to bring forward the returning of Sugar and Paris.  I’ve been working at a rather punishing pace this week and returning home to a relatively more tranquil home was a very welcoming thought.

Turned out that there was another surprising benefit to this decision in stall for us.  Being the only furkid at home, we saw other sides of Belle we never knew existed.  The fact that she didn’t seem to miss her jie-jies* distubed me a little, but I’ll let that go for the time being.

I’m not a morning person.  And I become the most terrifying monster in the morning between trying to convince myself to get out of bed and negotiating for more time.  I don’t think the furkids understand why I’m like 2 different persons in the day and in the night.

But Belle?  She’s like the coolest and happiest puppy with no cares in the world.  She doesn’t let my moans and groans bother her.  And she waits.  For what?  For the right moment to jump right into bed to greet me the instance I sit up.

What can I say?  Only that I have an impossibly cheerful puppy who is bent on getting me in the right mood before I leave home for work.  She smiles so much that it’s a herculean task not to smile along with her.

The week is coming to a close – the timid eldest and rambunctious second are returning home.  I’m quite glad we had to opportunity to spend some quality time with this puppy which we know least about.  It was such an enjoyable week the hubby asked if we could just leave Sugar and Paris with the boarder like… forever.  I gave him a look.  And if looks could kill, I think I just committed murder.

And now, back to why this post is titled ‘Ding-Dong’.  That’s simply because my mum has taken to calling my cheerful puppy ‘Ding-Dong Belle’.  A rather apt moniker for her incessant chirpiness, I thought.

* jie-jies refer to elder sisters in Mandarin.

Hobby Taken a Little Too Far

A decision was arrived at, after a long period of contemplation.  I decided to take the plunge and bought myself the Lensbaby Composer which comes complete with a double glass optic, single glass optic, plastic optic and pinhole.

I confess that I am getting bored with my current lenses.  I needed to have some fun with my camera so this hobby lens totally fits the criteria.  It ain’t dirt cheap, but it is most definitely affordable.  Photography is never known to be a cheap hobby.

Admittedly, I’m still no good on the Lensbaby; still need further practice before I can achieve some decent shots.  Well… Rome was not built in one day so I guess time is all I need.  And practice, of course.

My house is repleted with subjects for my practice (read: the 3 dogs) so do expect to see a lot more of them on this blog.  Stop me when it gets too much to bear.

Saint Valentine’s Day

‘I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.’

That was what he replied a decade ago when I wanted to know what to expect on our first Valentine’s Day together.  Or rather, the day after.  You see, on the night of 14 Feb 2001, I was undergoing my aerodrome validation as an air traffic controller.  I passed on my first attempt, after 3 months of on-the-job training, by the way.

I was disappointed.  Who wouldn’t be?  Sure, I understand his logic about everything being way overpriced on 14 February every year, and that if we love each other, every day should be Valentine’s Day.  And for that matter, he doesn’t celebrate any other festival or occasion as well.  If I want a gift, I choose whether to have it on my birthday or on our wedding anniversary.  Just not both.  I married a practical man.

But still… a girl could dream.

The next few Valentine’s Days came and went in a jiffy.  I have no recollections whatsoever so we could safely deduce that he was holding true to his words.

And then he started surprising me.  In 2008, he bought me a soft toy holding a small bouquet of pink roses.  Never mind that I don’t like roses.  It’s the thought that counts.

Then as if deciding that 2008 was a fluke, I received nothing in 2009 although I prepared a 4-course dinner for us.

And then I received the biggest gift yet from him in 2010.  I had been eyeing the Omega Speedmaster in white for a while.  When I finally returned to the boutique to purchase my dream watch, he told me he would reimburse the amount to me.  So it was to be my Valentine’s Day gift.  I gasped and went weak in my knees there and then in the boutique.  Glad I didn’t sob all over him.  That, would have been most embarrassing.

In early January this year, I received a mailer from one of the international hotel chains in Singapore.  They were offering a Pierre Hermé Ispahan-inspired macaron-cake in the shape of a heart.  I love macarons, and wondered if I could possibly hope of receiving one of these cakes for Valentine’s Day this year.

I was truly surprised when I saw the cake.  And that he actually took notice of the email I sent him!  Truth is, I send him a lot of emails telling him a lot of things, but I thought he never took any of them seriously.

Oh, ten years on and he can still surprise me, yet.

There are times when he truly and honestly gets on my poor nerves.  And some of his decisions… makes me want to tear my hair out.  If there is really any reason why we earthlings should celebrate Valentine’s Day – apart from supporting the commericialism tagged to it – it is the gentle reminder that love endures all things.  Even the stupidest of all mistakes.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My Favourite People

I have many favourite things but far too few favourite people.  Through the years, I’ve added people and then removed them from my secret list of top favourites.  One person dwelled steadfastly on the list – my dear cousin who is just a year older than I am.

Growing pains were made more tolerable because she was always there – with me and for me.  Although we never went to the same school.  Well… technically speaking, we went to the same college but chose to specialise in different majors.

In more ways than one, she is more like a sister to me than a cousin.  And now that she has bairns of her own, I have 2 additional little people to add on to my list of favourites.

I love my little nephew and niece to bits.  I saw a lot of them over the Lunar New Year holidays but other than that, I don’t think I put in sufficient effort to see them often enough.  I shall make that a new year resolution – to see them more often.

And to end off, here’s someone who has been placed on and struck off my list several times.  I’m starting to like her much better nowadays so hopefully her name stays on the list for good.

Sorry for the off focus.  I’m still trying to get used to my new toy.  And that, I shall write about in a separate post.

Ma Belle

At 9 months, Belle was finally sent in to the vet’s for spaying, a couple of months after her first heat.  You would think that after 2 prior experiences with Sugar and Paris, it would be easier for us.  No it isn’t.  We still fret over the puppy and very much feel her pain.

Belle is a very brave little girl.  She obviously felt a lot of pain, judging form the tears welling in her eyes (see photo above), but she maintained a dignified air about her.  Not so much as even a whimper was heard.

A friend asked how long the pain would last and I was forced to think back.  By tomorrow morning, the worst would be over.  The difficult part is this long night ahead.  Paris had quite a botched job done on her (although all 3 girls were operated on by the same vet) and she was groaning in pain the whole night.  I resorted to hand-feeding her with sliced fish when she refused to eat or drink, and slept with her on the floor the whole night.

For Belle, I didn’t do much except to send her in to the vet’s in the morning.  Due to work commitment and a language class after, Belle was sent home by little sis while the hubby hugged her tight on the way home.

I am feeling a lot of guilt for not being there for her.

Get well soon, ma Belle!