Princess & The Clown

Today is "Yuan Xiao Jie" (the 15th day of Lunar New Year) and Yu Wen's school held a celebration for all the students. Each has to wear a traditional cultural outfit and bring traditional food to share with the rest of her friends and teachers.

She is really maturing like little missy and boy is she a bossy lass.

Every time she wants to read a book, she would pull me away from my computer and barks:"Daddy! Sit down and read THIS!"

One evening when I sneaked out of the bedroom after lights out to finish up some work, and after she discovered that I wasn't in bed, she asked her mummy to look for me. After hauling me back to the bedroom, she didn't forget to chide me:"Naughty daddy!" That was the first time I realised she could relate my act of non-compliance to being a "naughty daddy".

One day at the playground, we saw some melted chocolate on the floor.
Yu Wen:"What's this?"
Me:" Melted chocolate...careful, don;t touch it."
Yu Wen:"What happened?"
Me:"Must be some kids who left the chocolate here."
Yu Wen:" Messy kids."

I tell you, I wouldn't want to rub the wrong side of her, man.

Free Roaming

The pre-wedding shoot for John & Cathy went about smoothly. One reason I was (still am) excited about their shoot is all the locations are new to me. No pre-conceived angles, no cookie-cutter "must-have" shots at a particular location, I went about the job with eyes wide open (you know how we can go about doing our job---a familiar one---even with eyes closed) but with an even open mind. I allowed my imagination to run free so that I can present those locations as fresh as possible.

Sometimes, Quickies Are Good

I like short weddings. There might be less money involved, since I charge by the hour, but the short duration of it makes it an intense exercise of concentration and application. Without the nagging feeling that there is still more work to do in the evening, it's a challenging joy to pull the full repertoire of tricks out of the hat for the few hours. At the end of the 5 hours or so, the feeling is plain "shiok" (hokkien word for shiok; it's so complex that there isn't an English word equivalent).

Balik Kampung

The Lunar New Year was a good break. I, being a Malaysian, have to go back to Johor for the reunion dinner and the subsequent 1st day of the new year. It got off to an inauspicious start because there was a terrible jam at both the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints entering JB, otherwise it was an uneventful new year.

Not so for Yu Wen. Our home town is in Ulu Tiram, a small town about 30km from the causeway. My grandma's house is one of those typical big Malaysian houses and there was plenty of room for her to roam. There is a big but tame rottweiler mix, several huge kois in a man-made pond (the biggest is almost one metre in length), which are all very interesting in her eyes.

In addition, my youngest uncle has a daughter who is only 6 months older than Yu Wen, so she had great company.

Good Match

And what a perfect match! They are made for each other. :)

Raise The Red Lantern

I will take this opportunity to wish all ex-clients/clients/readers/friends a healthy and prosperous lunar new year!

And a photo that suits the theme: