Happy Birthday !!

Last night, i went to a great old friends birthday. Uncle Jerry and it was great we were talking about old times as we tend to do when we gather, ghost stories, memories from years ago you know the stuff. I have known Uncle Jerry and A.Bessie since I was 16 that is exactly 16yrs ago too. We met in the church and I was told that he was to be in charge of the sacristy and that we would have to work closely with him man oh man was I unhappy the fella never smiled and he seemed so strict but as they say you cant judge a book by its cover and I totally misjudged him. As friendships go this couple are it, they have been there for every batch of altar boys since day one, always there to keep an eye out for us and feed us..man do they feed us. Over the past 16yrs there have been periods where would not see each other for months but at the end of our sabbatical from each other it would always seem like time hadn’t passed and we were talking just yesterday. At "events" in my life they have always been there, when I was in the army and had my first parents visiting day aside from my family, there were these two U.Jerry and A.Bessie, the morning my dad passed away they were at my house minutes after the ambulance arrived and at my wedding Uncle Jerry helped make the mass even more beautiful by his efforts in the sacristy. As you know Family and friends are the most important t thing to me, and these guys are family no doubt about it. Anyway here’s to a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE JERRY

and the next time your family wants to me up for a drink tell me so I can hide!!!!lol


Below are the folks who there last night if I left you out ..sorry.

In search of definition

I am not sure if any of you have watched a show called "BIG FISH" it is a simple tale of a man and his life as told by himself to people around him. One of those people who is his son, the problem with the stories he told, to his son anyway they seemed to be tall tales that while entertaining were just plain lies. The son grows up and goes away only to return when told that his father is dying....the point is that in the end he finally understands that his father was telling the truht all along. The thing is when he was young he belived and trusted but as he ages the son felt that he had been living with rose tinted glasses all the while and upon removing these supposed glasses he finally saw the truth, but as we know the truth is not always what it seems. I write this because there is a line in the moving that i just cant get out of my head, it is really the line that brings the whole movie together and also in a nutshell defines alot of things,
"Men see things differently at different points in their lives". Say it out loud...think about it, makes sense doesnt it.

In my own existence i realise that the statement is true, when i was a child i belived that my father was the greatest in the world as i entered my teen and early adulthood i began to think differently i began to question and doubt things and thought well maybe this guy aint so perfect after all, last sunday was his birthday and though he celebrates in heaven he still remains strongly in my mind. I sat down to try and think "who was my father" to many people he was many different things, to his friends he was the best friend a man could have, if he had 2$ and you needed it he would go hungry and give you the money. He felt the need for everyone to have a good time and be happy, he wanted the best for his children and all his life he worked for that goal, he wanted to be a better husband and he and my mother worked hard for that too. A perfect marriage? there is no such thing from the outside looking in, but from their perspective it was perfect. Perfect father? like the movie said at different times men see things differently and these days i realize that he was the perfect father for me, he did the best he could with what he had and if one day i have children and they are able to say that of me how proud i would be.

What did my father teach me? or Should i say what did my father try to teach me cause i dont learn too well....l he always said "IF your going to do something do it well and dont do it halfway" He always said" if when you die you have had two good friends then count yourself lucky cause good friends are hard to find" He taught me from a young age to be excited by nature and wildlife, he taught me that while there is a time to be serious there is also a time to play and have fun(seems thats my focus all the time), he taught me that having a sense of humor is an important thing his friends always said he was a funny guy. My brother got all the good traits, drive, determination the ability to keep at it.knowing right from wrong .....i got a sense of humor(albeit a rather warped one) actually i dont think i didnt get any of those things its just that i dont use them..very much anyway. The most important lesson i feel he gave me is this "family and friends"(doesnt need anymore explaining does it)i wish i ws better at these two things more than anything in the world.

I know its a draggy an odd post but what the heck.

So my wish for all of you this late night or rather early morning is this, when you awake may your thoughts be of "family and friends"

Flock of SHIH TZU

Dinner was a lovely white sauce pasta at casa machado, we went to see the new puppy! unfortunately because of the as yet not permantly named dog Zorro showed no interest in playing with his sister PEPPER..poor thing she looked so sad. Anyhow the new pup has adjusted quite well to her surroundings and Zorro has taken a keen interest her.

At work i spent my day running around sorting out stuff that i didnt doo last week cause of the mid autum festival, also had to destroy a bunch of bees...didnt like doing it but i had no choice they were a declared as dangerous by my "expert" boss. will update soon!

this that and..........................

Phew what a busy past couple of days it has been, thursday night we went for dinner it was the doo's birthday (moo,dooTLOML and Pepper) to charlies had me a chili dog yum yum. Friday night went to changi beach with the boys, i met Aaron earlier and we had a great wantan mee dinner with a side order of rojak double yum yum, we hung out at the beach till around 12 (the main group left about 10) and it was a pretty quite night just chit chat about this that and the other. Saturday was hectic, i had to work as we had a mind autum festival and man oh man was it rough we set up all the decorations around lunch time but our very own "katrina" decided to destroy all our hardwork. so we had to start from scratch. My head office was supposed to send an MC but of course they sent me one that DIDNT want to do it cause she was shy, so i nthe end i was MC, Organizer, Camera Man and "jack of all trades for the night" tired? to say the least, pissed off? thats putting it mildly.After the even finished around 10 i guess i swung to the the moo doo mansion for the doo's birthday i arrived in the midst of HAPPY BIRTHDAY. IT was an enjoyable evening. Sunday woke up with a migrane, went for lunch at my mums place, sept 11 is my dads birthday and so we gather with the machados for lucnh, my mum made chicken rice, devil curry, fish curry, a popiah type dish but instead of popiah skin you use vegatables to wrap, and fried chicken oh ya and she tried her hand at thosai. Bloated? nah we were beyond that. Than we did somethign silly, The two philips and i went to pasri ris farmway to buy dog food....and MR machado bought another dog! a cute little brown bundle of fur named zoey! lol imagine Alisons reaction, 3 kids and 2 dogs lol enjoy.
Was that the end of the day nope cause we went home had a shower then went to Doo's place to watch KIMI win a lovely f1 race. thus my weekend was over.....now its back to work!

ps if you notice my may typos..keep it to yourself its a secret ssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh
no pics cause i am still tired..soon..soon.

Midweek Guest

Its so quick that we have reached the middle of the week, worked until 8 yesterday and went home to a mini feast...macaroni pie...chicken wings...cutlets...salad and some great company. Glen, Fiona (aka tammy tay) Kyle,Malorie,Megan,Kristen and Mushi (cute little bugger) from Glens troop and Corey, Niki, Shauna from Rogers clan. This bunch must be the best behaved group of children i have ever met not so much Niki who was badly behaved (kidding lah nenek) the younger ones played board games n hide and seek,while we discussed matters of state...namly ghost stories..horror movies and other such important details. i enjoyed myself and i hope that they did too. next time i will take half day off to prepare for them. TLOML did a fine job even though she finished late and had to rush. next time we get some wine, cheese..and do it on a weekend so everyone can have a drink! i will post pics of everyone when i get home so please re-read this post again tom!

Sorry bout your pic Glen its the only one i had!!

after hours

Went for a walk with frodo around changi beach this evening, i wanted to try more night shots..alas it was not good....Nothing come out good so i will share my failures.... i edited the clrs in the tree pic...looks better then it did.

Where does it all go?

This past week was a busy one...if yo uaks me what i did i can only tell you a couple of things for some reason thats all i can remember...reckon i need some ginko.
Tuesday was dinner at my place with aaron, sherwin, mama lucy and my old friend Fr.Iggy. The occasion was a "fair thee well" type of thing as he was or has already left for Chicago for 2 years of study! Christmas just wont be the same anymore well not for two years at least. Friday had dinner at Ems place, with the clan known as "the outbacks" very enjoyable mean and company as always, the entertainment was excellent! Sunday lunch was at the MOO-DOO mansion. I really cant recall what else i did last week!!! where did it all go!!!

Took some shots just now, all shots taken around 745 to 8pm, with some street lighting..wanted to practice my night shots...hope you like em

Off Angles and Security Guards,

Had a busy two days..but i shall update the blog tom. For now let me just post a couple of pics i took today. Pics are of SUNTEC and GATEWAY, could you tell? The gateway security insisted i get permission to photograph the building from the OUTSIDE. When i asked for permission i was told NO. So i said i can cross the road or take from the middle of the road whats the diff to you guys security wise, the fella had the cheek to tell me "you cant take from the middle of the road too". So of course i went to the middle of the road and took as many pics as i wanted, he came over and said you cant take pics here ..lol so i told him call the police. with that he left and i gracefully exited the scene of my triumph...photographer 1 rentacop 0. mind you the two pics of the gateway buildings were not from across the road but right up on the side of the building.

Friar Pool

I sent this letter to the Franciscan Friars. I feel that as a Catholic we should stop( or i should stop) being sielnt when i see such things happening. I hope that he replies, and can give me an explantion that changes my mind about the disgusting situation they have created.

Father John-Paul Tan,

I read with surprise and sadness the article in the http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,93714,00.html website.

Firstly , I have no issue with building a grand church full of expensive wonders that the common man cannot posses, such as a Koi Pond and other such items as this is for the glorification of the lord. and i believe that no amount is to much to spend in such endeavors be it building or maintaining such a building.

My issue is with the swimming pool. I find it hard to understand the justification in having such a luxury. The issue is not of cost but of the link between the FRANCISCAN FRIARS and the common man. The common man has no such opportunity to posses such items. I would like to understand the rational for such an item being installed in the friary. As i have stated the low cost of the installation does not justify the actual installation. The priest said he could not remember the exact cost of the pool but emphasized that they 'would never think of it if we had to put in pipes and such just to build a pool’. By his statement it would seem that Friar De Cruz is saying that if a car normally cost 100k but it now only cost 80k then we should get it because we are making a large saving? In the first place is it necessary? Does it add to your mission here in Singapore? Does it better the lives of the common people?

Father Tan added that the pool aided in the 'development of the body which is important', and that priests in training at the church can use it.

As the priests live in the friary their whole lives, it was also 'planning for the future', as an amenity that they could use in old age.

By your statement, you justify the use of the pool. No one doubts the usefulness of the pool. What I question is the necessity. Nurturing the body is an important factor in life, but is there not other ways in which to do this? Such as jogging or cycling or using the public pools where people can see by example how you live. Its all well and good to wear robes and sandals and live as a symbol of the poor and express vows of poverty but to just pay lip service to such a vow is disgraceful. "Throughout his life, Francis espoused the virtues of (Christ-like) poverty and humility while promoting a closer and deeper relationship between the Church and the common man." by such a stark separation, you have with one stroke widened the relationship between yourselves and the common man.

I realize that I may be blunt, this is only because of my inability to understand the rational of the situation, maybe you an help by furnishing me with a response.
I am a catholic and a proud one at that, but sometimes these are done in the name of the Church, which makes it hard for me to justify not just to my non catholic friends but to myself, and this frustrates me no end.
I look forward to your response

Edward Simon

Weekend...

Its been awhile since i posted a normal blog, the last post on happiness was pretty good i thought, got so many people involved! And i think it helps to think about the little things in life that bring us joy. This past week was an intresting one for me work wise, we had a successful AGM and a council meeting all in the same week, and i was thinking it would be nice to take my foot off the pedal this week but ooohhh no now i have to plan the mmoncake festival for the 10th of sept, i dunno why weare rushing, i mean we had a whole year to plan and prepare for it but did we Noooooooooooo we waited till the last moment and bam here we go again. sigh.

The weekend was pretty nice, Sherwin,Frodo, Raj and Russel dropped by for "coffee" on sat which i must mention was the day i woke up with the kinda of migrane you wish Hitler had daily good lord the pain ws fantastic. i didnt leave the room till 2pm, the darkness and aircon were a great help. Even the fatty stayed in there with me such an angel she is. she too slept late on saturday night, around 230am and she didnt take a nap all sunday which meant she was dog tired all day and finally nested around 1000 till this morning. My family came for lunch yesterday, the Machados, my mum and Alisons mother in-law. We didnt cook cause TLOML had so much work to do and i cant really do asian food, we didnt want anything western so we bought stuff. Mee goren, murtabak, indian rojak and for desert pinapples and ice cream. delightful. well till the next time adios!

Odds and Ends

Went for dinner and desert with mum and the machado's on friday, father and son both look so serious!

I added two little pics i took over the weekend..one is of a nice little rainbow.

Red,Green..burn

HUNGRY?





This last friday, the staff in the estate where i work had our annual Hungry Ghost session. This is where offerings are made to appease the hungry ghost. Every year it gets more interesting as i learn more about the entire "event"
From the pics you will notice and altar on the floor as well as one on the table.
The one on the floor i am told is the altar for the gods of the eart and the one on the table is for the hungry ghost. It was very interesting as we had Muslims, hindhus, Christians, Taoist and Buddhist all involved .
On the hungry ghost table there were two bits of cresent shaped wood, and these are used to divine the will of the hungry ghost. The two blocks are thrown down on the ground and if they both fall on opposing faces that means your request is granted, be it 4d or if you have burnt enough papper before eating the food.
All prayers or offerings start with the god of eart, so proper respect must be shown to that before you can proceed onto the hungry ghost. The rites and customs seem to have changed or evolved as even between taoist and buddhist there were major differences, as the event was handled by a taoist we followed custom common to them. One of the things that was new to me wwas that the colour of the joss sticks burnt had significance, red for god and green for ghost.
Each item burnt has significance and, some are made to look like clothing while others beer cans, lots of care is given to the selection of items and preparing them for burning. As i said its an experience and while i am sure most of the infomation i have given here will be disputed (as it is in my office the debate rages on about the location of the altars) The even itself was bot fun and relaxing and it was nice to see malays, indians, chinese , eurasians ..people of different races and faith getting involved.

ADOBE FUN

Played with adobe last night and edited some of my pics....