Isaac Chong at 8weeks

It had been an overwhelming experience till now...I like fatherhood!

:)

aliying

Tokyo ueno shin ji ku

Made a trip to downtown tokyo. Lots of people, lots of ramen and lots of sushi...best!!!













slurping up the Ramen
















look out!















no smoking sign
















who is the man behind the curtains?
Is he the chosen one?
















Total rush hour..



:)
aliying

on the mrt train back to home

supposed to post this 2wks ago....

----------------------------------

It was lndeed a tiring day for myself....however,a sudden urge came on to attempt to take the mrt from singapore changi airport to my home in bukit panjang....for the last two and a halfyears,l had always wanted to rush home after work..l thought that by seeing the rest of the world,there is nothing worth observing in singapore ..

How wrong can l be...
Taking the mrt is lilke going back to time...
1-l saw some junior college students taking the mrt from bedok to bukit batok...it reminds mi of my past as a JC student who is always late for school. Not because l want to but because there is neverending traffic obstructing mi to school

2-there is a boy sitting on my left right now drying up all his resources to finish up his homework at the v last min. It is not because he don't want to but because he really don't understand what is the obj of doing that assignment.

3-there are so many people during peak hr! this is way too contrasting when i drive...(analogous to there are so many cars during peak hour)


aliying

Amsterdam,dam square,tulip show

Had not done a travel log for a while. This is the first time I am doing a bidded flight with my batch boy. Truely inspired and revived by him to pick up photography from where i last left off.

Not forgetting the lots of catching up, learning photography from him and makan(throw in 2 heineken beer too)

equipment used
EOS 400D + 17-40mm f2.8 L lenses + 50mm f1.8 prime lense

enjoy!~


















Where am I?









top eye view of tulip





















aliying in action














cycling to get around is very normal in Amsterdam





My hand is shaking from withdrawl sysdrome



















Is this building crooked or?








dark purple tulip aka"angels of the night"







catch mi if you can!





:)
aliying

Isaac Chong

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is aliying speaking. I am pleased to announce the arrival of Isaac Chong, aka ali-junior on 16th Apr 2008

:)

aliying

The final countdown .....

seconds feel like mins, min feels like hours

Nevertheless, do everything as per normal and slow down the pace

:)
aliying

family ties

Did some catching up on family ties today - Min(always), Min's mother, HL, Leia, Nicole, Glendon, Carisse, Caleb, Yao, YS, my mother

At the end of the days, they are the ones that really matters

Not forgetting the soon - to - arrive new member of the family ...soon...not yet....

:)
aliying

The start and end of a chapter

As l think through my marriage,with my usual cup of coffee, I am glad that Huimin and myself had made it..so far so good.

The closure of a chapter makes the beginning of new chapter. For the last 2 mths, I had seen the string of arrivals of baby ethan,claudia and gwen. Soon it will be my turn to become a father.

Lots of question surrounds mi.
Will I have jelly fingers?
Will I have the patience and passion to teach?
Will I perform to my own personal expectations?
Can I cope with fatigue,uncertainty,change of plans,etc?
Can I talk baby language to my kid?
Can I play my support role towards my wife well?

I had taken care by someone or another for the last 30yrs. Now it is my turn to step up and take the lead.

Like a baby,break up the problem into small little parts.stay cool and composed. Everything will be just fine.

The mth of april-here I come!!!

:)
aliying

-----------I love Shanghai---------

My once every half a year shanghai is here again

This time round, it was so nice to catch up with Keng Fei and wendy for an authentic shanghainese dinner followed by drinks at xintiandi...
Many thanks to the both of them for the small little present that they got for mi

I may had travelled to slightly more places, but to a place with friends, hard to come by

many wheat beers and lagers to come!

aliying
the final preparation phase for the next chapter of my life

earlier post...

Excerpts when I was in Zurich,

Half an hour's time to zurich dinner time....as the sun is abt to set,it is time for mi to use my underutilised smartphone to write something 4 my blog...

Chinese new year is abt to end. However,it marks the start of my next project-project marathon round2(mi really asking 4 it cos it was really painful and torturing 4 my first marathon last dec)

I thought l had trained quite well previously,but reality sunk when my knee started to hurt @ the 28km mark..

Lesson learnt
1 l am clocking insufficient milege
2 l am running too fast for the first half by my own standard
3 lf l think l tried my best,but this is not my best!

just ran in Singapore

:)
aliying

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

spring cleaning...

Finally started a bit of spring cleaning at my very own home@segar

A lot of things for mi to gun down
kitchen - clean up the cabinet
storeroom - It needs a total revamp to be more space efficient and be able to locate my things
computer - back up back up back up!
work related stuff - documentise it, if need not, throw it!

:)
aliying

listening....

Yesterday...

It was nice to meet up with Jeff, Uncle Chua, Shan and Jas. Some of us are away..I just came back from Denmark and Uncle Chua just came back from Consumer Electronic Show(ie the biggest ever computer show in the whole world..remember HD DVD vs Blu ray) held in Las Vegas..

It was even nicer for the fact that I can be around during a weekend. To most of the people, 5 days of hardworking weekdays come 2 days of enjoying weekend. Not so for mi in the Heavy Transport Operator service industry. I value my weekends alot, alot and alot.

Lots of catching up...which strongly deviate from the initial plan to play mahjong. I am still learning how to listen, though the habit of interrupting a person's speech is reducing on my part...

Listening pointers...recalls a motivational book that i read recently

1. Undivided attention to the speaker
2. People r not interested in mi-they r only interested in themselves
3. Open arms & wrist - welcome!
4. Listen then speak!!

:)

aliying

sleep

Had not slept for the last 24hrs alreadi...
I need to sleep.....
Zzzzzz

:)
aliying

Istanbul revisited...

the year of 2007 had passed and we welcomed the year of 2008. Writing had not been productive till now, but I will try..always

sick on the first day of the new year with a high fever. Not really the best thing to start with..

Here are some photos to share in transit from 2007 to 2008














Hands of protection















Hot Turkish tea on a cruise













Blue mosque evening lights, Istanbul





















Dear Kitty kitty, come to daddy...



:)
aliying

Better get this out in advance

Was out shopping again, but all well spent for a good cause

Christmas is coming, and you can feel the festive season is indeed coming - weather turning a bit cooler, people shopping for gifts...

As for mi, I also got myself a small silver christmas tree to start with...

Merry Christmas in advance, everyone!

:)

aliying

Mr taxi

looks like Mr Taxi is going to raise price alreadi....

And it looks like I am going to set aside more expenditure for taxi fare to and fro airport soon...

:)
aliying

Project sentosa getaway completed!

Here are some photos of the quarterly getaway with Min's family














Who's that girl?
















"Save the cheerleader, save the world"














Just plain having fun















Handsome boy!




All in all, a very well spent trip at Rasa Sentosa. Not the furthest away from Singapore, but good enough to let your shoulders loosen up a bit, let your mind wonder for a while and set new dreams....

:)
aliying
P.S : Not forgetting the half a dozen of "Heinkein kopitiam beer" and Fong Seng nasi lemak chicken wings by the side of the beach with Min, Ah-Frey, Uncle Chua and Shan

marathon

I finally finished my first marathon!!

:)
aliying
now resting

Class outing@St James Power Station

The time had finally come....revisit St James Power Station, with an impossible objective - get the 3litre Henessy out of my way....It was Thomas's bachelor nite cum class outing and we gathered at 8pm at St james power station....Yes, the rest of the people are usually late, so only Elsen and myself are standing there from 8-845pm, waiting for them to come. I knew that they will be late, that is why I put the time@8pm, so that they can reach from 9-1030pm onwards....

Got it b4 9pm and most of the tables are filled up at Dragonfly...I grabbed a manager and asked:

Aliying :"Eer, if I order a 3 litre hennessy now, are you able to get mi a table?"

Surprisedly, he blinked blinked, thinking:"hey, you do not look like a guy who can drink a lot...you sure or not"

Aliying said :"affirm, I need that to run a bachelor nite..lol"

The 3litre hennessy had arrived!


















Dada! our drink for the nite




















The bachelor(Thomas, second from left)is finally here....act b4 he comes, we are already helping ourselves to the drinks



















Keeping it as a souvenior, bottled up with our blessings..Congrats to you, Thomas!!!

Aliying with his newly found asset

Although William Scorpion wasn't there(which gave mi a very good reason I will be back to Dragonfly), it was still a very good nite of good music, good drink and good catching up, chatting away. At the end, all of us finished up the whole bottle....alcohol really kicked into us much later and the rest of the details after that, you do not want to know...hahahahah(from mysterious red bucket to self make your way back home to stop the taxi halfway and etc)...hahhaahah!

What a nite! All in the name of good fun and laughter...

Happy guys with a lady watchin over us....

Price of 3 litre Hennessy : $680

Price of Happiness: Priceless

:)

Aliying

P.S All of the above are responsible adults without a single one driving..All are good men who took taxi after drinking....Drink responsibly, when you drink, do not drive...