Midaq Alley

Not exactly Midaq Alley but what I imagined it to be.

Egyptian Nobel prize winner for literature Naguib Mahfouz died yesterday morning at the age of 95. Athough it was not his books that first sparked my interest in Middle Eastern literature, he did play an intricate part in keeping the flame burning. Reading his books before arriving in Egypt and intentionally getting lost in Islamic Cairo's alleyways gave me a greater feel for his works. Yes, the very same alleys which he grew up in, and the very same alleys in which he based most of his works. I mourn the passing of a brilliant writer. A writer is much more than just a master of words, he is a master of emotions, colour, light, sound and the senses. Naguib Mahfouz was and will always be, a reminder of what mankind has lost to fundamentalism.

Biluminosity

Without darkness, light cannot be distinguished.
Without light, darkness is formless and meaningless.

Lomo Bilbao

Semana Grande festivities, Bilbao; street parties all night long.

Spent the day sorting out the Holga and Lomo photos that I had developed in Denmark. It was quite a nice trip down memory lane; now, thats what I call trippin. Intended to scan them again but gave up after a few due to the sheer volume of the lot. The whole exercise has made me miss my exchange friends even more.
Oh well, C'est la vie.

Shade

Through the alleyways to cool of in the shadows...

Kings of Convenience songs always remind me of travelling. Perhaps its the imagery laden yet simple lyrics. Perhaps its the soothing calm of the songs, akin to the feeling you get when off wandering alone.

Nature

Beauty will be convulsive or not at all.

Working from the imagination, from the dream;
the dream is nature because I am nature.

Golden Brown

Wenn Engel reisen, lacht die Sonne.

Read today's Life writeup about Flashpackers. In case you're not in the loop, the term refers to travellers who lug all their gadgets on the go. If you think I'm crazy for carrying a DSLR and 2 lenses when travelling then these people probably fall under stark raving mad category. Laptops, PDAs, digital cameras, Ipods and every Idunnoewat. Apparently, they actually bring more tech stuff and gadgets than clothes or clean underwear. Why travel then? If your ears are constantly plugged into your ipod and your eyes glued to your laptop, obsessively checking email, why don't you just stay at home and watch Discovery travel and living? Its cheaper and you won't get homesick. Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

And I Choose...

And I choose...

to put up this photo because I know Mei the best amongst the female leads but more importantly becuase she specifically told me not to do so. Alrighty, the posters are finally up and I guess it is time to plug the production. So, don't forget to catch this brilliant production.
For those not from NUS Law: Sex, lies, love, lust, betrayal, laughter, tears, you name it, Law IV has it.
For those from NUS Law: You would pay 8 bucks to see someone you don't know make a fool of himself on screen, I'm sure you would pay a tiny bit more to see someone you know make a fool of him/herself on stage, live and within rotten tomato pelting range.
For All: Keep yourselves free on the 2nd, 9th or 10th of September.
More information here.

Twilight

Even beauty has a dark side.

Makan at Kopi Tiam

Dinner with Amelia & Henrik, originally uploaded by -jammy-.

Met up with with Amelia and Henrik for dinner last night. We ate at Kopi Tiam at Swissotel because it served decent local food and was air conditioned. Plus it was highly recommended by food connoisseur PohPoh who highlighted the free flow of tao hui jui. Thanks Poh Poh. Besides, Henrik wasn't feeling too good so we decided to spare him the smokey hawker centres for now. It was nice to meet him again considering that the last time we met was in October, in Gothenborg. After dinner we took a much needed stroll to the esplanade and around the waterfront before heading off for coffee at Shangri-la. We took the sightseeing route to the Shang and Wj was nicely rewarded with a live jazz ensemble at the end of it all. Ok, I think I've fulfilled my stereotype-direct-what-i-did-today-kinda-blog post requirement for the month.

Synapse

2800km and Going, originally uploaded by -jammy-.

2800Km and going; fuelstop in Giessen.

The past few days have been spent trying to figure out the Macbook. The good thing about it all is that with my heavily discounted Ipod nano as a result of purchasing the Macbook through NUS and the car kit, I can now listen to all my mp3s in the car. So, I was listening to Franz Ferdinand this afternoon whilst driving to school and it reminded me of the road trip I did with Stephane in April. Franz Fredinand was a regular feature on the trip because of our lack of CDs and beacuse of the long hours spent on the road especially on the Autobahn zig zagging across Germany. Imagine going at 170Km/h on the Autobahn in a 10 year old very French (i.e. beat-up) Citroen ZX sans power steering, ABS, air con, power windows and airbags. At this speed, the steering wheel vibrates so much that it shakes every bone in your body and perhaps even your soul, assuming you have one of course; and I'm not talking about soul stirring drives derived from the likes of the BMW M3 or Porsche Carrera. Anyway, apart from a gut wrenching relfex that now overwhelms me everytime I think of vibrating steering wheels, I felt a sudden wave of sorrow. I miss the care free days spent on exchange. I miss travelling about solo. I miss my exchange friends. I miss speaking a spattering of French, German, Danish and English during cookouts or bbqs. I miss being excited and wowed. I miss... Anyway, it is interesting how the Macbook lead to the Ipod which played Franz Ferdinand in my car bringing about thoughts of Vibrating Steering Wheels that reminded me of the Road Trip and made me miss Exchange Life and resulting in me Surfing my Blog Archives. And boy am I glad that I blogged regularly whilst on exchange. Its amazing how a photo can bring back a torrent of memories. Ah..the power of photography.

Unique

A unique darkness called light.

First Blood

Law School 1 Jammy 0

The brain is most definitely not in "Academic" gear yet. Then again, I wonder if I do have such a gear in my box. The walk up from the car park to the school building was life threatening. The walk down to the car park was too painful to describe. The canteen... don't get me started. The new campus does have the potential to look really good and to be a nice conducive place to study blah blah blah. But the keyword being POTENTIAL. I hope they realise that potential soon.

Lounging

Alas, the days of Kiao Kar are over.
School starts tomorrow at the new BTC. No more lazy afternoons spent reading and lounging around. Well, at least no more guilt free lazy afternoons.

Skyline

Outstretched, the sky's the limit.
Really like this photo, minus the bloody cloud. Was thinking of photoshopping it off but I really hate to meddle too much with my photos. School starts in a couple of days and I have yet to look at my timetable. Tomorrow. There'll always be tomorrow.

Home

Looking towards a future framed by the past.

I know I tend to gripe and moan a lot about missing the life overseas but deep down inside I know where my home is. I also know that my country is not the same as my government even though with the unique political system that we have here, it is not always easy to note that distinction. Being away from home has not made me dislike Singapore. Sure, I bitch about the weather, I bitch about the congested roads and the lack of open space but that makes me even more Singaporean. I love speaking Singlish and will continue speaking singlish till the day I die. Of course, I won't speak it to a foreigner who wouldn't understand me. I have common sense. I am fighting the urge to sink into the meme fad that is taking the blogsphere by storm because I know that I will end up with a super long meme which would actually be more of an essay. I guess all I can say now is that I am really looking forward to watching the National Day Parade tonight over durians with my family. I missed that so much when I spent last year's National Day in Denmark.
Happy Birthday Singapore

Euoplocephalus

Food for thought.

I've just bought a couple of books from Kino and Borders so the next few days will be spent just reading and reading; instead of jostling for breathing space with the crowds in Orchard or any other public space. The perfect way to spend a public holiday.
I've also uploaded the photos from the wedding in Ireland. I must say that that was the best wedding I've ever attended. It was a real party which is what a wedding dinner is supposed to be. Right? Back here we get caught up with having wedding dinners at the most posh hotels, having the most elaborate flower arrangements, having the maximum number of tables that the hall would allow etc etc. You can add in any other ridiculous wedding antics here. Most of us forget that a wedding is supposed to be a fun thing, not a chore. Oh well. To be honest, if I were to get hitched, I would just run off with the missus and spend all that money on a really special honeymoon instead of dumping it into a wedding dinner, inviting people I barely know and later bitching about miserly ang pow collections. I can't wait to see mom's reaction when I have to moot this idea to her.

Photos of London with Matt here
Photos of the wedding here

Stoned

Just a pile of stones?

Stonehenge was most definately worth the visit although many, barring the cuckoo-summer-equinox-durids-wannabes, say that it is nothing more than just a pile of stones and a tourist trap.
But don't take it from me. You decide.

Photos from Salisbury and Stonehenge here

Arched light

We look for light, but, behold, darkness;
For brightness, but we walk in obscurity.

Ireland

Sitting.
I must admit that this is not the most stunning of photogrpahs and neither is it one that is technically accomplished. It was not taken at a renowned tourist sight, in fact, it was taken along one of the backroads that splinters off from the main scenic coastal road. I had to drive down a very narrow and winding road that was barely wide enough for our Forester but the view from there was splendid. Not breathtaking, not dramatic. Simply splendid. The whole family piled out of the car, even mom, and just lingered at this spot. The sun was begining to set behind our backs which made getting the right exposure tricky. But the setting sun painted the vista a brilliant gold that contrasted beautifully with the green Irish landscape. I wonder if it was the solitude or the scenary or maybe a combination of both that made this place very special. At that moment, I realised what the Irish countryside was all about. It is not just about ruined castles, Giant's Causeway and breathtaking scenary. It is about all that and more; like finding special spots like this. Spots where you are not overwhelmed by the scenary to the point where you are unable to reflect, where you are not surrounded by hordes of tourists. Spots where you can just sit; sit and enjoy the beautiful countryside alone, undisturbed.

More photos of Northern Ireland here
More photos of Belfast here
Photos of County Wicklow (Rep. Ireland) here


* Law School Taf Club blog has been updated. Would members please check it out.