so herman grew up...

and ate 4 of my tetras, including my favourite One-Eyed Jack. 

So we put him in isolation, in his own little tank for now, until we can figure what to do with him. Poor sod, he does look quite miserable but there's no way i'm risking my tetras by putting him back in his home. Although we knew that one day he'll start eating the tetras, we thought by feeding him enough bloodworms, he wouldn't turn to the tetras. Nature vs nuture. I guess natural instincts prove too strong for him. He stays away for now...

Now... let's see what else should I get for my tank...

scraps for a bag

used some old scraps from my hoodie and thai fisherman pants to make this for my sisters. i owe them presents for their 21st birthday this year :P the fabric on the outside is flannel-like material (i think) and i've lined it with linen. It feels hardy, and i'm pretty sure it'll last because i've hemmed in all the edges so no frays!

I was actually supposed to make my sisters each a hoodie, but i got lazy and took a long time to do anything about it. it has been 9months since their birthday now. i finally got my ass down to making one. i loved the results! i really want to keep the bag for myself but then i'll never get my sisters anything. so this bag is the first present, then i'm going to make them a pair of fisherman pants, and then i'll think of the 3rd present (i have 3 sisters,

you see. and their birthdays all fall on 

the same day, so poor me.) and i've also decided to spend one day every weekend making something crafty. wheeeeee! sara and anthony both requested for a pair of fisherman pants after they saw what i made. that's great news because it's an affirmation of what i am capable of! *happy*

well, i must say, the bag looks pretty good on me. :p can't bear to give it away. but making presents for people is fun, especially when you see the looks on their faces when they receive them. so next week, i'm going to start on sara or anthony's fisherman pants. my next new project is going to be to learn how to make a boat neck long sleeve shirt for myself. i saw some cool stretchy pink-and-grey-stripy material at the fabric market today. I can already visualise using that for my boat neck shirt. now to google and find a tutorial for making that shirt! ooh! let the fun begin!

wedding march

WE ARE MARRIED! 

check out the official red marriage booklets, complete with the stamp. 

yes, we're legal.

and at the same time, congratulations to Mr and Mrs Fiorito who got married one day before us in Singapore. wheeeeeeeee

shanghai according to the fisheye

so the photos came back. and man, there is a lot to learn!

first of all, i need to use the flash more often. well, this first roll, i hardly can be blamed because i went snapping away with buying a battery for the flash. so a lot of the pictures taken in alleyways came out really dark. but then again, i had thought there was enough light. i need to be more sensitive to the amount of light in the surroundings. 

secondly, i need to get closer to my subjects! in photos that i thought i got really close-up still turned out relatively far away. time to step closer and give in-your-face a whole new meaning. 

 

thirdly, the distortion effects of the fisheye works really well when there are structures or objects at the edges of the photos. the further away from the center of the shot, the more distorted they become. check out these cool ones that unexpectedly turned up interesting.

           

taken on the pedestrian bridge sandwiched between flyovers

 

     

introducing the family

hang on, i've never really talked about my fishies.

i'm a proud owner of a mini aquarium that houses 13 Neon Tetras, 2 Sterba Corys, 1 flaming red male Betta and an African clawed albino frog. 

My corys are named Hoover and Kirby, after vacuum cleaners (sigh). The frog is named Herman and my Betta -- Prince. The tetras i don't even bother cause i never know where to start, with the exception of one. My very special and hardy Neon Tetra, One-Eyed Jack. He is named thus because he has, very literally, only one eye. Half of his face was bitten off and i only noticed it when i brought him home and set him in his new tank. The poor little chap swims around a little off-balance, but he is a feisty one! When it comes to feeding time, he is not any slower than the rest! He picks at the fish flakes so deftly, you couldn't even tell he was ever at any disadvantage. 

Speaking of feeding, i give Herman and Prince frozen bloodworms for their meals. It's funny to watch Herman eat because he doesn't have any tongue, he uses his front legs to guide the worms into his mouth, kinda like people shoving food into their faces. It's almost human-like it's fascinating. He, of course, reminds me of Kermit the frog. His eyes and skin are so translucent that if you look really closely through his eyes, you think you might just be able to see his brains!

Prince is not doing so well though, we suspect he has fin rot. His beautiful red tail is slowly coming to bits. We're trying not to feed him too much as overfeeding is one cause of the problem. i don't know what else i can do for him. i might have to apply some medication on his tail, but how, i don't know. q-tips maybe? 

our aquarium comes equipped with a light, a filter, a thermometer and a heater. hopefully, they'll all survive past winter! 

wish lists

i'm such a nerd.

heart of darkness - joseph conrad

satanic verses - salman rushdie

midnight's children - salman rushdie

sons and daughters

i ambled through People's Park (人民公园）since i was too late for the Translocomotion exhibition in the Shanghai Art Museum. i came across the strangest phenomenon. Old men and women crowding around notices put up by other old men and women, advertising their sons and daughters for marriage.

Born Sept 1982.
1.6m
Earns 10500 RMB a month
Has own property
Pls contact 150XXXXXXXX

Has it come to this? Do people not know how to interact, fall in love and find their own lifelong partners anymore? Or are they too absorbed in their own lives that they have relegated this spouse-finding task to their parents?

i wonder who came up with this idea. did these old people, sitting around one day, lamenting their lack of grandchildren, suddenly come up with this brainchild? trust them to be thus enterprising. what will be next?

Venturing out with One-Eyed Jack

the fisheye is great!
i grabbed my fisheye and decided to roam around the streets of shanghai again.

i love how the fisheye is just point and shoot. it is exactly how i would take pictures, without giving it too much thought. no consideration to angles, or lighting. random capture. sometimes in embarrassment, i don't even look clearly into the viewfinder, i click away just so i can get over and be done with the picture. too afraid that i might be infringing on somebody else's privacy, taking up somebody's time.

i can't wait to finish this roll of film! i was suddenly (and excruciatingly) aware that i needed to be patient! no frantically snapping away just so i can develop the film. i have to wait till the roll finishes, wait till it is sent for developing and then collecting the photos just to see the results. With the invention of the digital camera, who is willing to wait anymore? We all want instant gratification! Aim, click, delete. (if the results are less than satisfactory)

i have 6 more pictures to go.
patience patience patience!

get crafty!

i forgot also to mention that the craftyfox awoke inside me and in a spur of the moment, i made myself the coolest pair of thai fisherman pants (with material i bought at the 陆家浜面料市场 fabric market a long long time ago)

Here are the pictures! (hmm not very good pictures i'm afraid)-->



i can be that fashion designer i want to be! i project!!

get arty!

This October National holiday week, i decided that it was way out of our budget to travel. J and i had grand plans to visit southern Yunnan / Sichuan / Zhangjiajie. Alas, after painstakingly outlining my itineraries (again with Lonely Planet China in hand), i had to shelve plans till the next holiday (probably Chinese new year).

Instead, with all the money saved, I decided to buy myself a Fisheye Lomo! i had been EYEing (pun not intended) it for the longest time, back when my friend got her Holga. One by one, my friends got their Colour Splashes, their Holgas, and their Polaroids i told myself, i'll get my Fisheye on my next birthday. Four years later, and after a random stumble upon a lomo shop in shanghai, i decided fate has called upon me to get one -- my One-Eyed Jack (named after my favourite, hardiest Neon Tetra)

I had the most splendid afternoon walking around the back streets of Shanghai. I avoided busy and crowded areas like Huai Hai Road and instead, turned into XiangYang road and Fuxing road, looking out for colourful scenes to capture. I realised, all of a sudden, i am aware of so many more things around me. The buildings / architecture, the patterns on the sidewalk, the colours in the stores, the activities going on. I think i've been walking around, too busy and absorbed in my own world that i have forgotten how to stop and just look around me.

Carrying One-Eyed Jack around makes me want to go up to people and ask, "Excuse me, but can i take a picture of you?" Most of the time, i don't carry it through. I see a group of old Chinese people sitting by the roadside just by my house playing cards. I see them every day, on my way home after work, yet i don't think twice about it. Right now, i actually feel they make good picture material! I did however, muster up enough courage to ask a couple if i could photograph their 13 month old baby who was crawling on the ground in the park. I can't wait to develop and see those pictures!

When I first saw and fell in love with the Fisheye, I thought to myself, hey i could bring this camera to school and take up-close and personal shots of the babies i love! i'm waiting for party week when i'll bring One-Eyed Jack in and go trigger happy!

Pictures soon!