回故

在去年的这个时候我好像用了我的好光相机捕捉了一个小男孩在人群中带着超大的观阳镜的画面。不知道为什么，这个画面常时不时的浮现在我的想像中。。。

i was thinking about this picture i took about a year ago. with a little spectator boy and his oversized disposable shades for looking at the sunrise we were all sharing. wondering if it was really exactly a year ago, i went to check out my notebook from that trip and wow true enough, i really did take this picture exactly a year ago! 2nd july 2008. zhun until cannot zhun siah. wah my sudden moments of clear memory amidst my general lack of day to day memory do scare me a fair bit sometimes too.



一年前在阿里山的友团。一年后在回故的我。

时间啊时间，你可以不要飞得那么快吗？

记得在前往苏澳火车上偶然遇到的年长夫妇和也在毕业旅行的年轻情侣都很友善的主动跟我们交谈。阿姨还说我们好像还挺开心的。

好想念跟一伙人去长途旅行的感觉咽！

我们今年是否能去文莱探望文莱公主呢？

希望。希望。我们去实现吧！

milk

i think this must have been the first time i found a little friendlet lying on my lap to drink milk. it was so strangely calming and comforting and a real joy actually.

it reminded me of some lyrics i heard/read recently:

日子很短 只要是陪在孩子的身旁

i guess in that little pocket of time watching joash drinking milk i got a glimpse of what that might feel like. children are a blessing indeed. big joy in small packages.

i wonder how our friendlets would feel about all this facebooking and blogging and flickring and multiplying and whatnotting about them when they eventually do grow up and learn to start googling themselves. perhaps unlike us, they'd already be immune to all of this and find it perfectly natural.



photo by stanley cheong, from a time before i knew how to carry little kids.

time is flying.

i'm not sure if i'm on the same speed though. :]

the rain is so tempting

i've been watching the lightning out at sea from my living room window every few nights amidst these recent weeks of crazy winds and lightning storms.

the nonstop and silent lightning reminded me of the northern lights that i slept under once many seasons ago but could not see. (clouds!!)

so much lightning, so many flashes of maybes before the rain finally trickled and then tumbled crashing down tempting me to run right out into it.

and then there was finally thunder loud and clear and once again, hours after the first flicker in the sky.


i need to run in the rain again! it's been too long of a little while now!

"I do set my bow in the cloud . . . "

* * *


Genesis 9 : 8 - 17

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.


* * *

i got an sms from my othermother yesterday that reminded me to look up in the sky, for there was a rainbow encircling the midday sun at that moment. i strained my neck a fair bit to see it before having to rush out for an assignment but wow it was worth it. it's been a while since i've seen a circular rainbow, maybe years. it seems like there have been quite a few rainbows this year though, don't know if it's really been more rainbows happening or have people around just been noticing them more.

later that night my bible reading led me to this passage quoted above about Noah and the first rainbow in the sky.

wow it was surely no coincidence.

let us all look up and remember more.

here, there and everywhere.

friends coming home, friends and smallfriends going away.

i sure hope the world is as small as we always say it is and long haul transport becomes greener and cheaper!

nothing would break my heart more than this.

lately for some reason i have been thinking a lot, too much about mortality with regard to the people around me. and the phrase "nothing would break my heart more than -" has been making its rounds in my mind. so if i look at you with a frown that is a mix of distraction with a dash of disturbance, yup i might just be mentally counting down. it's really morbid i know, but maybe it's a season i am meant to go through before i come to terms with some things.

"nothing would break my heart more than . . . "
"nothing would make me happier than . . . "
"nothing means more to me than . . . "

these are really all about the same things, or the loss of them. some friends say that i seem rather hardy and adaptable but i find that it's probably also rather noticeable in my past and ongoing works that i don't deal with changes and loss very well. that might be why i choose to face these struggles and understand them and myself better through photography instead. sometimes this shows up even in my design work too.

whenever i find a line stuck in my mind as i do this moment, it usually ends up becoming the title of my next series but i'm afraid this time i don't think i will do it. words will hold my fears for now.

my faith leads me to believe in eternity. yet this same faith also includes the inevitable realisation that not everyone will partake in the good part of this eternity.

i just hope you know that nothing matters more to me than seeing you all in eternity.

我只希望你知道， 对我而言，没有任何东西比能够在永生时看到你们更重要。

hopes are selfish in a way.

The Photographers' Stories Redux // 1st to 29th March 2009 at the National Library

Exhibition
1st – 29th March 2009
Level 7 & 8 Promenades at the National Library Building

Official Opening!
Saturday 7th March 2009, 4pm
Level 7 Promenade at the National Library Building

Curator’s Walk
21st March 2009, 4 – 5 pm
Level 7 Promenade at the National Library Building

Since January 2009, 24 photographers have been exhibiting in various public libraries around the island. “The Photographers’ Stories” now culminates in this special group show spanning over the Level 7 & 8 Promenades of the National Library Building. Chris Yap, the curator, recreates new stories from the images, bringing with them new contexts to be perceived and admired. This show is also part of “circa”, a photography outreach programme that takes place biennially, for students aged 13 to 19 years old.




the little solo show that i had at pasir ris library is going to town!

it will be meeting up with the other 23 little solo shows and all 24 of our heartfelt solo stories will be brought together into one curated story in parts that unfold over the 7th and 8th levels of the national library building in town. be sure to check out both levels to catch the whole story!

yup, i know you can't read anything from those two panels so do come to the show to read - read the written stories and read the stories photographed.

enjoy! : ]

hope to see you on Saturday at the Opening then. 4pm on the 7th level hor!