Saturdays don't feel like Saturdays if I don't spend the day at Sungei Buloh. I get the feeling that I'm supposed to be somewhere and if here's not that somewhere, it doesn't feel right. But then again, I've got five Saturdays here in Singapore and if I can't even sacrifice one for my family, then my parents'll have a right to disown me.
I couldn't go with the Beachfleas to Sekudu (my fav island!!) this morn. Boat was full, bad luck. :( Next time I think I might need to put my name in first, then ask for permission later. Getting the green light from my mom takes far too long. Ria got stung by a stingray... or so her account on the WildFilms blog entry reads. Ouch. Hope it ain't that bad. :/ If my mom already has that Disapproving Look for my hydroid sting, I wonder what she'll do if I were to get stung by a ray or a stonefish, like what happened to Robin last year.
Well then. Finally managed to catch up with ZF last night... exchanged stories over dinner and watched Coach Carter - better than many inspirational films I reckon. At least the basketball scenes were very realistic and from what I heard, the plot stayed true to the actual event. Hope I'll get to see her once more before I leave for London again.
Today? Hmm. Family day. Had another hair trim to make sure it could last me another three months, kinda went up and down places in Orchard weaving through the human crowds (urgh... people...), and watched this Real Shaolin Kungfu Show at Expo. Inspiration for my wushu... hee.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
British elections - frozen face
Source: SMH, 30 April 2005
Beware of global warming ... an ice sculpture of Prime Minister Tony Blair commissioned by Britain's Green Party is seen outside the Houses of Parliament in London. The sculpture is intended to highlight Blair's "melting credibility".
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Am revamping the site (yes, again). Bored and giving WoW some rest bonus. Also running outta web space, and I've accumulated lotsa crappy pics over the years. So... all photos from the past have been deleted from the server.
Yayness! Hurray for intertidal trips!
One of the best things about intertidal trips is the sunrise. Especially if you're visiting an eastern shore.No fanfare landing this morning, no amphibious stunts, and no boats or offshore islands too for that matter. It was a simple pre-dawn outing to the shores of Changi. Ria and a few other Beachfleas were there two days ago. She said it was better than Tanah Merah. For me, it was more of a recce trip since I haven't been there before. Company for the day was Ria, Tom from wildfilms, and Luan Keng from Raffles Museum. Yeah, only us few 'cos the NUS crew are having their exams.
I was amazed... there were no corals or sponges on the sandy shores, but the animals to be found was astounding. We saw many species of crabs and snails, sea stars and sand stars, an octopus, an elusive ever-colour-changing cuttlefish, a sea cucumber, lots of cute little pipefish, gobies, a few flatfish and flatheads, rabbitfish, toadfish, jarbua and other perches, and shrimps.
w00t whoohoo! I wonder when my next trip will be. You just can't get enough of these trips, even if it makes you feel like you're living today twice. Or maybe that's why...
All the sandfly bites and hours of sleep lost were worth it. :)
The first light of dawn... sunrise colours
The sun is still hiding...
Wakey wakey... put away the torches; the sun is up!
Tom videoing some flatfish
This flatfish...
Inky cuttlefish... it kept squirting out black jets of ink
Cephalophod time - an octopus. Hmm... the smartest invertebrate ever known? Hmm...
Pipefish... very well-camouflaged
A sea cucumber
Sand star
Ps.
Xi - how's that for a 3 hour morn in the field? You gotta come when you come. :P
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Things I should not be seeing...
Iguanas look soooo out of place in Singapore. It's like all of a sudden you don't know if you've just been teleported to the zoo iguana exhibit.What's this island coming to? Iguanas aren't native animals. They couldn't even be found in 'the wild' before, unlike their distant cousins the Red-eared sliders (terrapins), which are now found in every lake and pond thanks - or no thanks - to irresponsible pet owners from yonder years. So ok, that iguana at Sungei Buloh made one. And now, out of nowhere, appears another one (which makes two) at the Botanic Gardens. I asked the NParks staff there. He seemed quite proud that the Gardens is home to the metre-long reptile. It was first spotted there three weeks ago, he said, and they have no plans to relocate it elsewhere. Hmmm... I'm not sure if that'll be wise. They should. True, this lizard looks quite happy and healthy and at ease amongst the reeds and ducks and dragonflies of Symphony Lake, but I doubt if it'll live long feeding on grass and soil and plastic bags and rubber bands and dried bread. The little kids were screaming and wailing and their parents were constantly warning them not to go near the iguana. "It's dangerous, later it bite you ah." Heh... they're missing out man. That iguana was quite friendly... I played with it for a while, feeding it leaves and berries from my hand, and I think the parents who were watching half-hoped that it would claw at my hand and chomp off a finger... just to show their kids they were right. Heh, they don't know any better. They're such gentle giants.
Aside from that odd reptile, I didn't see anything else special. They're upgrading some parts of the Gardens and Swan Lake and so the birdlife there is no longer as interesting.
Iguana
Close-up
Spotted dove - adult
Spotted dove - juvenile
White-vented mynah. Juvenile on the left - note its bluish iris, sloppy posture and messy feathers. Also... it keeps its bill open and calls for attention often - typical begging behaviour.
Eurasian tree sparrow
Male Changeable lizard in breeding colours
The chopper-like Slender skimmer (Orthetrum sabina sabina)
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
It's time to remember again...
| ANZAC Day - The ANZAC Dedication: For the Fallen With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free. Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. There is music in the midst of desolation And a glory that shines upon our tears. They went with songs to the battle, they were young, Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; They sit no more at familiar tables at home; They have no lot in our labour of the day-time; They sleep beyond England's foam. But where our desires are and our hopes profound, Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight, To the innermost heart of their own land they are known As the stars are known to the Night; As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain, As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain. Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) |
Monday, April 25, 2005
Exploding toads in the 'pond of death'
Source: SMH, Apr 25 2005Hundreds of toads have met a bizarre and sinister end in Germany in recent days: they exploded.Hmmm... interesting...
According to reports from animal welfare workers and veterinarians as many as a thousand of the amphibians have perished after their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to a metre.
It is like "a science fiction film", according to Werner Smolnik of a nature protection society in the northern city of Hamburg, where the phenomenon of the exploding toad has been observed.
"You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding."
He said the bodies of the toads expanded to three-and-a-half times their normal size.
"I have never seen such a thing," said veterinarian Otto Horst.
The death toll has been so bad that the lake in the Altona district of Hamburg has been dubbed "the pond of death".
Access to it has been sealed off and every night a biologist visits it between 2am and 3am, which appears to be the peak time for batrachians to go bang.
Explanations include an unknown virus, a fungus that has infected the water, or crows, which in an echo of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds, attack the toads, literally scaring them to death.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Vincy posted her graduation pictures on her blog. Even though it's not happening to me, it seems so surreal. Like, wow! My Aussie mates are graduating! The very friends I have been living and studying with in high school. And I would have been too, had I stayed on at Sydney Uni. But in a way, I'm thankful that I still have a year left. I don't think I'm ready to face the harsh, uncertain world of postgraduasim yet. We're only young once. We're only innocent undergrads once (well, most of us anyway). Anyway, congrats to all of them graduates... and for the rest who still have a bit to go, best of luck. :)
Edit: So it was only a little joke. So many of us actually believed it... we deserve to be spanked! Phew. And I thought my maths was really this bad that I couldn't even count the years properly. lol... but by george, robes do look grand. And well, congrats to Sam then. :)
Edit: So it was only a little joke. So many of us actually believed it... we deserve to be spanked! Phew. And I thought my maths was really this bad that I couldn't even count the years properly. lol... but by george, robes do look grand. And well, congrats to Sam then. :)
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Painted bronzeback. Hola, feasting on a frog!
Painted bronzeback. Erm... yawning?
Painted bronzeback... ooo... slithery...
Dog-faced water snake. Side-winding locomotion.
Glossy starling dad feeding his young
Red junglefowl (Not just an ordinary chicken. This is the Great Ancient Ancestor.)
Magpie robin
Common sailor
A sleepy-looking dragonfly. Trithemis sp.? Brachythemis sp. ? Darn S'pore needs more dragonfly experts...
Stinkhorn fungus
Last night... watched The Sound of Music with my family. First time in the Esplanade. Not bad, not bad.
Am quite drained today... quite sleepy, and very contented.
I think I woke up the earliest I've ever woken up this hols. Mad gulp of a breakkie, then made my way to Sungei Buloh. That annoying bureaucratic comms dept of NParks had only finalised the script yesterday, and I barely had enough time to remember what I was supposed to say. "Reforestation and Reach Out Project Celebration" can be quite a mouthful when you're nervous and need to say it many times.
Morning... quick run-through with the ushers. All was good.
The actual event. I think all was good.
Didn't do guiding. The new trainees had their first formal training session in the arvo so I sat in, and followed them afterwards. 'Else every time I come back, there'll be more new batches of volunteers and soon I won't know anybody at all. So many new faces...
Nice weather. I was really lucky today. Saw two snakes... and one... a bronzeback... eating a frog! And also saw the Stinkhorn fungus, supposedly quite a rare species of fungus which can only be found after the rain. All the photographers went bonkers after that fungus.
Photos coming soon. :P
Am quite drained today... quite sleepy, and very contented.
I think I woke up the earliest I've ever woken up this hols. Mad gulp of a breakkie, then made my way to Sungei Buloh. That annoying bureaucratic comms dept of NParks had only finalised the script yesterday, and I barely had enough time to remember what I was supposed to say. "Reforestation and Reach Out Project Celebration" can be quite a mouthful when you're nervous and need to say it many times.
Morning... quick run-through with the ushers. All was good.
The actual event. I think all was good.
Didn't do guiding. The new trainees had their first formal training session in the arvo so I sat in, and followed them afterwards. 'Else every time I come back, there'll be more new batches of volunteers and soon I won't know anybody at all. So many new faces...
Nice weather. I was really lucky today. Saw two snakes... and one... a bronzeback... eating a frog! And also saw the Stinkhorn fungus, supposedly quite a rare species of fungus which can only be found after the rain. All the photographers went bonkers after that fungus.
Photos coming soon. :P
Thursday, April 21, 2005
The pear I'm eating has some mint saucy taste to it. It tastes weird. But that's not the point. The thing is that I'm still stuffing down food (no matter if it's fruits) after a very full meal at some Swiss restaurant at Suntec - vongole, chicken wings, cheese fondue, grilled chicken and steak and sausages and tiramisu. The NUS guys sure can eat a lot. Most people I've been meeting all say I've lost weight... but my mom thinks otherwise, and she's trying to stop me from eating too much. Hee... as if I've ever really cared. But well, I admit bludging around all day isn't exactly healthy and going to the kitchen to get a cup of water could hardly be called exercising... darn I need to go out more. Why does it feel so strange to be outside at 11pm+ these days?
Watched The Pacifier. Vin Diesel doing a comedy? lol. Wasn't as miscast as I feared it would be. Quite entertaining. Like Arnie in Kindergarten Cop. Still, action stars can't rid themselves of their kick-the-baddies'-arse roles... Diesel still had a fair share of punches and actiony scenes. That was my first time at the cinemas this hols. Sigh. Pathetic. I hope it won't be my last.
Watched The Pacifier. Vin Diesel doing a comedy? lol. Wasn't as miscast as I feared it would be. Quite entertaining. Like Arnie in Kindergarten Cop. Still, action stars can't rid themselves of their kick-the-baddies'-arse roles... Diesel still had a fair share of punches and actiony scenes. That was my first time at the cinemas this hols. Sigh. Pathetic. I hope it won't be my last.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Filling in the gaps
Blog posts from the beginning of April
Tried exporting all my posts from that temp blog back here, but the images wouldn't budge.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Such is my addiction to blogging that I find 2+ weeks of unblogability too hard to bear. Here's a temporal solution to the problem of my exile from talfryn.net. The webhost guys are doing some server migration and I can't ftp in the meantime. My webspace usage has also apparently gone over 800MB... I don't know how the server calculates this but it must have taken into consideration some few hundred megabytes which do not exist.
