On The Road 01 – California Dreamin’

Step 1: Quit your job

Step 2: Plan a travel itinerary that will take you across the world and back

Step 3: Pack light (this is learnt the HARD way)

Step 4: Bugger off for a couple of months

Step 5: Repeat

And… that was exactly what I did for the past couple of months, living outta my suitcase and sleeping in planes, buses, boats, trains, hostels, hotels, and tents. I clocked in a total of 24,864 miles and crossed a couple of continents. I experienced the warmth of cities like San Francisco, it’s vineyards, and it’s sprawling suburbs… I survived the Nevada desert and experienced all the highs and lows of Burning Man, admired the dried golden landscape of the bay area, humbled before 2000 year old trees in Yosemite and along the way… I reconnected with friends all over the globe and made some new ones along the way. And that was just the first 3 weeks of the trip. Hahah!

SAN FRANCISCO is arguably my favorite city in America. This city has a most bizarre wall of fog that just lolls around the city even through the dead of summer, I mean all you have to do is to drive over the Bay Bridge or the Golden Gate Bridge and all of a sudden it’s 10 degrees warmer and you have to start peeling off your layers. Bizarre!

Gorgeous F Market Streetcars

Secrets of a Fortune Cookie Factory

We stumbled into a hole in the wall Fortune Cookie Factory in a small alley in Chinatown. I was so excited! And it was just amazing to watch these bunch of old men fold fortune cookies at lightning speed! Here were some of my fortune cookie predictions: A plesant surprise is in store for you soon (Oh! Goody!) Now is the time to try something new (logical advice to keep things fresh) A short strange will soon enter your life with blessing to share (keep an eye out for magical gnomes).

Vineyards in Napa Valley

Shawn and I boldly leaped into the mysterious world of Left Hand Drive when we decided to rent a car to drive to Napa Valley. Oh my goodness! It was so strange to be on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and to have the gear shift in your right hand! Yikes! We visited a mock-castle vineyard called Castello Di Amoros, and I was repulsed by how the management of the castle tried to idealized it’s imagined history despite being built just 10 years ago?!! Bllehh! In the words of a wise English man I met later on… ‘We kick ass with the castles we’ve got back home!”

Lunch on a lawn outside City Hall

Eating on lawns while busking in the sun is definitely one of Life’s greatest pleasures. (Unfortunately for us, living on a tropical island city like Singapore, it is NOT something you’d normally do unless you enjoy perspiring profusely while trying to eat a fast melting sandwich in your sweaty palms. Not entire glamorous is it?) On September 11th 2009, flags hung at half mast, we sat on a lawn outside of San Francisco’s City Hall which made worldwide headlines not too long ago when they legalized same sex marriages. It was a good lunch. Poetically poignant.

GREEN TORTOISE was whom we signed up with to go to Burning Man. For USD$550 you get food, water, transport, bike space and a common shelter out for five days out in the Nevada desert. The camp also comes with it’s own art car (a lighted green bus shaped like a tortoise with an erupting volcano at it’s helm), prime party real estate on the Playa (6:30 & Chaos, only 5minutes away from Center Camp), no showers (eeewww…) and a hundred other happy campers from all over the world.

Unfortunately, I only hung out at Green Tortoise village whenever I was sick on the Playa. Dehydration, heat exhaustion and the common flu saw me sitting in camp for entire afternoons with a cold towel over my face. Oh yeah… those were definitely the really low points of my Burning Man experience. But with every low… come the incredible highs! Catching up with my poifriends! Exploring amazing art on the playa! Learning how to hoop in the middle of a white-out at center camp, going for Tittie Tassle class with my darling MK, and of course… the burning of the man as well as the parties that followed!

My most magical time at Burning Man was spending sunrise at the man’s ashes after the night of the burn. Those few short hours, in my opinion encapsulated all that Burning Man meant to me. There were knife jugglers, singers, dancers, single long poi spinners, a bunch of die-hard Burners branding themselves with the man, and last but not least, a few of the most generous Burners cooking up a storm of pancakes and coffee using the heat of the smoldering ashes! Yup! Just put your frying pan and coffee pot on the ashes, wait for it to cook and share your food with everyone. Yup. That did it for me.

Sunrise as seen from the Man's ashes

YOSEMITE seriously humbled me. The force of mother nature, impossible rock cliffs and two thousand year old trees definitely has that sort of bring-you-to-your-knees humbling effect. I was lucky enough to spend 3 days enjoying the valley, while most people try to cram it all into a 1 day trip. I spent my nights at Yosemite Bug Lodge where I befriended fellow happy campers, who were really generous with ride shares! Whoohoo! Had the world’s best lunch up on Glacier Point, the view just made everything taste better. I also noticed something about the sound of the wind as it came through the valley and through the pine trees. It wasn’t howling… it actually sounded like… applause.

Lunch at Glacier Point

Mariposa Grove

ARRANZ-BRAVO was the man whom I fell in love with on my last day in San Francisco. A Catalan master with an astounding overture of work that started even before I was born. I am now a delightful owner 3 of his drawings from within his series of drawings titled Els 25 de maig.

Els 25 de maig VI

Els 25 de maig XIX

Els 25 de maig XVII

Homeless in Singapore | Uncompassionate Judge

18th August 2009 -  The Straits Times (by Sujin Thomas)

Jailed for living in an illegal tent

HOMELESS and unemployed, Noor Mohammad Yassin Ismail pitched a canvas tent at East Coast Park in May, 2007, and lived there for almost a month – without a lease or licence to do so.

He was discovered on June 26 of that year, after he was apprehended by park rangers.

In court on Tuesday, Noor was asked to produce his Identity Card or passport but he said that he had lost both items.

It prompted District Judge Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan to retort in jest: ‘I suggest you use a bicycle chain to tie yourself to a tree or you may lose yourself as well.’

Pleading for leniency, Noor, who is tanned and skinny, said that he seldom ate, only doing so if friends gave him food.

He added that his mother is paralysed and looked after by a younger sibling, while an elder sister does not care about him.

He was fined $800 but could not afford to pay the fine so he was jailed four days instead. He could have been fined up to $2,000.

I am utterly disgusted by District Judge Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan careless remark: ‘I suggest you use a bicycle chain to tie yourself to a tree or you may lose yourself as well.’

I mean… here is a homeless guy, who can’t even afford his meals, so how can you expect him to have the money to renew his Identity Card or Passport. Where is your compassion as a judge? Where is the compassion you have a human being? To find out more… check out the on-going debate at The Online Citizen – Where’s the compassion in our “Fine City”?

Blog props to Nevisoul

I have been watching this video over and over again, and it just gets better every time. Thank you Nevisoul (Thomas), may your passion for poi never fade. I hope to see you on the playa and I also hope that you’ll come for Bornfire in Singapore later this year! To find out more about Nevisoul, feel free to check out the blog.

Latest work | BLACKOUT

I was kindly invited by the organizers of BLACKOUT to document this amazing event and here’s what I’ve created. What is Blackout? Answer: Watch the video.

My favorite exhibit was definitely Effervescene by Chng Nai Wee. The field of lights were just so mesmerizing that I couldn’t help but gawk at it the first time I saw it. Yes… blinky lights. I’m attracted to that kinda thing, and so were my fellow spinners from Starlight Alliance who are also featured in the video.

Organizer: Salon Projects Director & Editor: Karen Ng aka iamspidermonkey Camera Assistants: Edmond Ng | Eunice Woo Photographers: Eunice Lim | Jason Cho | Noel Yeo

Healthy Eating | MacDonalds vs. Mrawz

Unfortunately… I chose McDonalds today! I just inhaled half a Double Filet O’ Fish burger with wasabi fries for lunch. And now… I’m feeling kinda slow and greasy all over… yuck… Brrr… should have listened to my inner voice and stuck to the healthy eating. Doh! Meanwhile… checkout Mrawz – I’m kinda likin’ it.

Latest work | SEIKO Stories

Here’s the latest video I’ve done for SEIKO. Kudos to all those who shared their SEIKO stories! And for the rest of you out there who want to win a spiffy new watch… find out more about the SEIKO contest!

The Rockband Induced Baby

So we spent last Sunday night at Momo’s house playing Rockband. Ayu sure felt some rockin’ in her belly while we were all singing our little hearts out and making the loudest racket you could imagine in the Tampinese heartlands. Hours later… she was in labour and we have a new member join the band! Ladies and gentlemen… Introducing the little rockstar himself… Adil Khairul! Welcome to the world little man!

Adil sun tans on the balcony

Feimao, Grandma & Adil

So long, farewell adieu to you and you…

Yesterday was my last day working at muvee Technologies. After a brilliant 3.5 years, and all I can say is Thank you, thank you, humbly… Thank you. I will forever remember being interviewed over the phone in my pajamas, and packing up my life (and two cats) in Melbourne to come home for this job, and boy… that was probably the best move I’ve ever made. I have learnt so much from everyone, and I sincerely hope that I have given back, just as much, to my fellow colleagues and friends at muvee.

Here are some of my fondest memories of muvee:

Being part of the muveeBand

Bowling with Lumpee & Stingray as 'One Armed Bandits'

Enjoying the cultural exchange with international colleagues like Em (Sri Lanka), Berryguard (Canada) and Cooper (UK), and the furbie too...

Working in the coolest office that had no issues with staff periodically sporting purple/green/red/orange hairdos

And so… I bid farewell with a happy heart and I wish muvee all the very best as we go our separate ways. Though… I’m pretty sure that our paths will cross again in the future. Meanwhile… I’m looking forward to being a part-time traveler, a freelance videographer and a full-time creative hobo for awhile! Whoolooloo!

Catnip | Catpixs

Awesome photos that my cousin took yesterday while she was playing around with my iPhone. Gotta love this great iphone app called Polarize available FREE for endless hours of fun!

Please also check out my cousin other works on her blog at One Step Behind the Drum Style.

This Old Love | Lior

Here’s a great little video of my dearest friend Paul doing a cover of one my favorite songs by Lior – This Old Love. This song brings back so many bittersweet memories of my last year in Melbourne. It was one heck of a rollercoast year in 2005, but in a blink of an eye, its 2009 and so much has changed. Change for the better, change for the worse… nonetheless, it goes to show the impermanence of Life. Meanwhile… please check out some of Paul’s other great videos on his youtube channel. Beware… he loves to sing into a broomstick and wear crazy headgear sometimes. Paul: I love the new microphone, the sound is brilliant.