Coming up for air

Touched down last Wednesday morning at 3.30am, was back in office at 8.30am. And then it was work, work, workworkworkwork, go home at 1am, eat, shower, hit the bed, wake up, be back in office on Thursday morning at 8.30am, work, work, workworkworkwork, go home at 1am, eat shower, hit the bed, wake up, be back in office on Friday morning at 8.30am. Chat briefly with colleague about the death of the King of Pop. Wonder what’s the point of it all. Chat briefly with friend about parachute pants. Smile. Go back to work with smile on face. Go home at 12am, go back to work on Saturday.

Saturday was the dragon boat festival, but somehow I’ve managed to meld my project into the festival as my colleagues came down to the Marina Barrage. I drummed for one race, then we rushed off to the beach for the client’s event proper. I don’t even have any photos this year; anything I shot was for work. Saturday night, around 9pm, I sat down for a moment to see what was on TV, blinked, and pretty much fell asleep till Sunday morning.

Sunday morning, I turned my Mac off and was about to go out when I got a text from the office. My team needed something urgently. Less than a minute later, my room filled with the familiar chime of the Mac turning on.

Anyway, I would go into this week, but it would be repetitive, save for the “chat with friend about picking grapes in Spain” and “can’t help smiling” bits. And the part where my girlfriends keep asking when I’m gonna put up the pics. So here’s a post and a pic. I felt compelled to put it up because I would find it too depressing if I can’t take a few minutes away from work to upload a picture of a flying turtle.

Okay. Back to work.

Moments every five minutes (or in 140 characters or less)

Chanced upon this today on the feed of my recently downloaded still-fresh and minty TweetDeck (I caved and got it). I’m not big on updating my Facebook status every five minutes like the rest of the world. (In fact, I tried not to go in more frequently than once a fortnight.) I’ve got other things to do, like work. But when work moves into social media and micro-blogging… Oh, well…

I like McSweeney’s, I like lists, and I like Greek Mythology. I thought the style of humour here was funny. I knew FUG, BFF, MILF and but not FML. (Well, I knew the sentiment, I just didn’t know it had been abbreviated.)

And I also like sleep, so this is gonna be a short post.
 

FML MOMENTS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
by Jon Mitchell Edge and Tim Caine

Aeneas
After the Greeks began to burn down my city, I was ordered to leave. I was hurrying out of Troy with my son, my father (who can’t walk), and my household gods. The one thing I forgot? My wife. Now she’s dead. FML

Icarus
Today my father made wings out of feathers and wax so that we could escape the king’s castle. But I flew too close to the sun and the wings melted. I then fell into the ocean below. I can’t swim. FML

Odysseus
Today I came up with a plan that helped my country win a 10-year war. But, because I forgot to pray to Poseidon, I won’t get to go home for another 10 years. FML

Polyphemus
This morning, I came home to find a bunch of guys sitting around my cave, so I locked them inside to teach them a lesson. Afterward, I got drunk and passed out. I woke up with a horrible pain in my eye. Those men had poked my eye out with a huge sharpened stick. I’m a 50-foot-tall giant and they were 5-foot-tall humans. Oh, and did I mention I was a Cyclops before I met them? FML

Oedipus
I’ve been really busy. I solved the riddle of the Sphinx, gained entrance to the city of Thebes, killed the king and took his place, and then married his wife and had several kids. As it turns out, the guy that I killed to become king was my dad. And the chick that I married and had kids with was my mother. FML

A month ago and worlds away

Was it just over a month and a half ago that my friend and I were in the Big Apple? It seems so long ago.

Chie Ayado – New York State of Mind

This is why good food photography is important

Maybe it’s because the foods are badly shot. The lighting’s all wrong. The styling… what styling? Maybe it’s because many of the foods here are half-eaten. Maybe it’s because meat is hard to photograph.

Maybe it’s because a lot of the foods are fried. But I like my fried chicken. I like ice cream and the occasional chocolate cake.

Still, these pictures make me lose my appetite. Maybe it’s because I don’t like bacon, and a lot of them have bacon. They are funny though. They’re from thisiswhyyourefat.com.

Food and photography, two topics I like. And when combined well, it can trigger serious cravings, not just in me but any foodie out there (or anyone that eats).

But food styling and food photography is an art. The lighting has to be just right. The styling/setting/props, meticulously done well yet looking natural (most of the times). Like something that you’d want to see sitting on your dining table and that you’d want to put in your mouth. That plate of vongole? Every clam was positioned in the right place to look random.

As for meat or half-eaten meat, aside from the standard fast-food chesseburger shot, I’m sure it can be photographed nicely, even if it’s by amateur photographers or food bloggers or simply foodies with a good eye and a half decent digital camera.

I still don’t like bacon, though. Even if it’s is nicely shot by Martha Stewart. (Mmm… vongole…)

Banana pancakes

Yesterday was my day off. (Yay.) My day of giving the local economy a boost (while I still have a job and still can). And giving myself a treat (I figured what the heck). And I was off to a good start. Yummy banana pancakes (didn’t count on there being sausages though; that tipped the meal over to the “too much” scale) for breakfast. Okay, it was more like brunch coz I didn’t have lunch. It was such a yummy meal though.

Like the Jack Johnson song, only without the whole world that fits inside of my arms bit. Dammit.

Today, I’m trying to work banana pancakes into something I write. Just for fun. And I actually have. Watch this space to see if it makes it all the way to print.

The First Ever World Oceans Day

World Oceans Day was officially declared by the United Nations as June 8 of each year beginning in 2009.

The concept was first proposed on 8 June 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (I remember that Earth Summit; there was a lot of publicity about rainforests, and celebrities rallied together and sang songs, and kids got together to write letters or send postcards in the shape of a leaf, all of which did absolutely nothing because look at where we are today) and it’s had been unofficially celebrated every year.

But, no more. It took 17 years but it’s official now. About time.

And of the 365 days a year, they could not have picked a better day than June 8. It’s a great day. Actually, it’s the perfect day. Sometime in the middle of the year, not too early or too late. Summer’s kinda here, yet it’s not hot like July or August. Kids are on their school break. The mood is generally upbeat. Lots of cool people were born on June 8, like Frank Lloyd Wright, Scott Adams, Kanye West, Nick Rhodes… and many other exceptional and remarkable individuals, for sure. And that “8″ thing is so popular with the Chinese and all. In fact, there’s no more perfect day than June 8. (Yes, I just said it’s a cooler date than Christmas. Or at least I think so.)

June 8. World Oceans Day. All creatures great and small in the oceans thank you. And so do I.

Good call, World. (And Canadians, too.) Good call.

To sleep, perchance…

Who needs an alarm clock when you’ve got a family commotion on a Saturday morning? I could hear my mother going on about something my younger brother’s girlfriend did to my youngest brother’s room — a sensitive topic especially since my youngest brother is coming back next week.

Anyway, if wouldn’t have mattered. Ten minutes after that, the new neighbours upstairs started some drilling work. It was time to get up (it wasn’t that early…).

It’s been hot, but yesterday was especially so. We’d look up and there wouldn’t be a cloud near the scorching sun at all. Still, turnout for training was good — we had 21 rowers and two small boats (so someone had to take turns).

Dunno why, but I was stuck in the competition boat, even after Shufen and Nic got swapped to the other boat. Actually, that could be a good thing — the sets are gruelling but the rowers are rowing harder and faster. The other boat had the water-tapping newbies.

Then I went and pigged out on Japanese food. Alas, not of the healthy sort. Three words: mentaiko, cheese, rice. (To think I was doing so well on my mentaiko pasta cravings.) I even had dessert, because my mum wanted dessert so I had to order something to keep her company. Honest.

And now, I can’t move. But really, that’s also because everything hurts. (If the yoga teacher says bend your knees if you have back pain, does the aching from Saturday’s training count?) But at least I made up for Saturday morning by napping most of Sunday away.

(That’s two deadly sins in one post. Not bad.)

June 6, 1944. The Longest Day

Sixty-five years ago today, American, British and Canadian forces launched the Allied invasion of Normandy in the largest single-day amphibious landing in history, with 160,000 troops landing on June 6, 1944, on the beaches of Northern France.

The term D-Day was used for the day of landing, which was dependent on weather conditions. The Allies’ plan needed both a full moon and spring tide: the former to illuminate landmarks on ground, and the latter to provide the deepest possible water over defensive obstacles placed by the Germans (part of the plan was for the invasion to take place at low tide).

Eisenhower, Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Commander had originally selected 5 June as the date of the invasion. But the balmy weather that Europe had been enjoying in May deteriorated and conditions of wind and high seas made a launch of landing craft impossible. However, with the next full moon a month away, when Eisenhower’s chief meteorologist forecasted better weather for 6 June, the invasion was given the go ahead.

The Germans didn’t expect an Allied invasion. In fact, with the poor weather, they believed one would be impossible. As a result, many German troops stood down and senior officers went off for the weekend, away from their posts.

Still, things went wrong for the landings that took place along the 80 km (50 mile) stretch of the Normandy coast where the invasion was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

The landing on Omaha Beach is probably the most well known, thanks to numerous movies, TV series, documentaries and historical books.

It’s where the Americans landed and where fighting was the fiercest. Allied bombers that were supposed to take out the German heavy guns and mortars before the amphibious landings missed their targets, leading to a disastrous battle on the beach with casualties and losses that came up to 4,500.

It is this landing that marks the opening of the movie Saving Private Ryan, as well as the movie my father made me watch as a child to teach me about D-Day, The Longest Day. (The scene I remember most is the one where an Allied soldier hears the clicker which identifies which side the other soldier is from and comes out from his hiding place only to be shot dead, because it was the loading of the German soldier’s rifle that he really heard.)

Besides the amphibious landings on the beach, airborne operations by British and American landed soldiers inland. Total allied casualties (killed, wounded, missing or captured) are estimated at 10,000: US – 6,603 (including 1,465 dead); UK – 2,700; Canada – 1,074.

Today, world leaders pay tribute to the soldiers who fought at Normandy, including President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and President Barack Obama.

I’m partial to Italy and Spain, but a driving holiday through France sounds nice enough, and definitely it would be good to visit Normandy.

Waxing lyrical on the surface of the Moon

Did he or did he not say “a”? Was it pre-scripted or was it spontaneous?

When Commander Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, he uttered one of history’s most memorable and iconic lines: “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”

A wonderful line. Poetic. Powerful. One for the history books (and countless motivational and business presentations as well).

However, “man” and “mankind” kinda mean the same thing in this context. He later recalls saying “one small step for a man”.

Maybe Commander Armstrong’s words were joined (like how my youngest brother speaks and my mother can’t understand a word he says and I serve as interpreter at the dinner table). Maybe his Ohio accent rendered the word inaudible. Maybe there was static. Or maybe he was so excited he really didn’t say it. It happens. (I like Neil Armstrong, he seems like such a pleasant and humble chap.)

End of story? Nooo… Apparently this issue has been niggling at scientists and linguists all these years. Really.

In 2006, an Australian entrepreneur come out and said that there might have been an “a” as there was a gap. However, subsequent analyses disputed this conclusion.

Many hours of research later, including the study of Neil Armstrong’s speech patterns and the best recording of the Apollo 11 mission audio ever released by NASA, Dr Chris Riley, author of “Apollo 11, An Owner’s Manual”, and forensic linguist John Olsson say… no “a”.

(They even studied his body movement; every split second that corresponds to every word in the quote and how it might have been spoken at that precise moment.) By the way, there’s also consensus that the line was completely Commander Armstrong’s and was not pre-scripted.

Read the full article from BBC News here. Otherwise, here’s a stunning shot of the man himself, walking on the surface of the moon. I wish I was five again and wanting to be an astronaut when I grow up.

Back on Earth to the present, I’ve got a presentation to do tonight. I guess it’s no biggie, although it’s really really long. And, after these past few days, I’m just hoping I can speak in complete sentences on 3 hours sleep. The good news is, it’s not like I’m making history or anything. But we do have a problem: I have no idea how to work the cable and projector.