Took these at Venice. I didn't bring tripod (too heavy) and forgot to pack my flash (too forgetful) for the trip. So most handheld low-light photos were done at higher ISO settings and as wide aperture as possible. 

For these, i rest the camera on top of a trash-can.  Have used the timer to trigger instead of depressing the shutter.  Lesser accidental camera shake this way.  Composition was restricted cos I couldn't move the huge trash can.  It's times like these when I wished I had brought along my tripod & remote trigger.

Canon EOS 5D,EF 50mm f/1.4 lens with settings at f/9, 30", ISO100.

Mention Venice and romantic gondolas come to mind.   Don't know about you but I was rather disappointed when I saw the waterways.   Canals were dirty and stinky, not quite what I had in mind.   Buildings looked like they've settled a bit cos the doorways were very close to the water surface (sorry.. engineers tend to notice stuff like these).  Or perhaps the water level has risen? 

Anyway at night, the canals looked alright.  For this shot I balanced the camera on the railing, strap around my neck.  Couldn't risk the camera falling into the water.

Jack Neo's movie sequel... Money Not Enough Too.. hahaha.. what a title.. can't get any more creative than that!

Life is a movie.. so they say.. and if that's the case... then my life's movie title is Time Not Enough!

At work, anything is super fast-track. My clients all want their projects to be done fast. And I simply wasn't given enough time for most, if not all, of the projects. My average phones calls (mostly in-comings) per day is 55. That's about 1 phone call per every 8 minute over a working period of 8 hours. And I haven't even included checking/sending emails & SMS. So where got time for anything else? ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

There's so many things I want to do and so many things I want to learn. I re-started gym sessions. Trying my best to go 3 times weekly. Took up drums and guitar lessons. Also signing up for bike, tai-qi and belly-dance (hahaha!) lessons.

My friends were wondering what got into me. You see....I realise I'm no longer young. And these were stuff I want to do when I was in my 20s but have been putting them off... the usual reasons.. too busy at work... too busy at home. There's always more urgent things to do. But time is running short.

And I miss my photography. A lot. Last year I used my EOS5D twice. Once for the Canon Digital Photomarathon and the Europe trip. This camera is even more under-utilised than my previous 20D!

I still want to publish my photobook. I even have the title ready "Hidden Landscape". Have gone through my old photos and selected a number of them but I want to explore the rest of my ideas. I need more time!!!!

Going to have one very soon..

That silly 'o man is driving me up the wall. He called me like 10 times today harping on the same issue.. that the contractor was not using the correct equipment, that they were not installing the sheetpiles according to our design and that he suspected contractor was trying to cheat. And after listening to his tirades I have to suffer his SMSs... samples

The problem is I can't fire the silly 'o man because he's doing what I've hired him to do, which is to keep a close watch on the contractor's work. That and there's a severe shortage of supervisors now. But his half-hourly, long-winded reporting with all that drama is giving me a headache.

My boss is not helping much either. He was very keen on a Marine Coastal Expressway tender and pulled 3 of my staff to work on it. That put a severe strain on my workload. I have about 8 clients chasing me for reports. All are urgent and now I don't know how to deliver.

Now where did i put my Panadol..

The work at rescue shaft is finally coming to an end soon... hopefully by end of this month. I'm not attending any more of the daily morning meetings unless specifically requested to. But I'll let the silly 'o man attend since he seemed to enjoy those meetings.

Last Saturday, we had our regular morning meeting. The rest was discussing the pipe repairs. Pipe repair was outside my scope of works. So I was doodling and only half-listening to the discussion. But then I noticed Mr. CoW sketching something on his notes. I was mentally prepared when he whispered to me he had a solution to the repair works. I cut him off and told him not to get involved. He said he wanted to help the contractor and his solution was a simple one and sure can work one.

I patiently explained to him (I must have been in a good mood that morning!) that since he's my site rep, whatever come from him, the rest would think I'm backing him up. But I'm trying to limit my scope of works since there is a high chance I won't even get paid for what I've already done so far. In short, I told him to mind his own business.

Apparently my message didn't pass through that thick skull of his. Coz 10 minutes later, he suddenly stood up, interrupted the discussion and announced to all he had an idea. There was silence when everyone turned to look at him. I groaned and looked up to the sky "why me?" (see? I also can be drama one, ok?) Of course his brilliant idea was shot down. What else do you expect for half-baked solutions? *sigh*

Anyway enough of him.

Rest of the day passed quite pleasantly. I was hanging around at AoR, waiting for Rachel to finish her lesson. My guitar instructor, Akie, asked me to try jamming with him & Luth. I wasn't sure. I'm well aware of my limited skills. But Akie-san was quite encouraging. So there I was, at the drums, Akie on bass guitar and Luth acoustic guitar. And I had my very first impromptu jamming session that Saturday. Didn't think I embarrassed myself too much. Tried a few songs. It was quite fun. And well, I won't mind doing it again!

Later part of the afternoon, I was back at the site to witness the rescue of the TBM. I wanted to make sure the shaft (my baby!) was ok during the process. Mr. CoW couldn't make it. Everything went surprisingly smoothly. So everybody present was in a good mood. I saw the damage pipe. The TBM actually cored through quite a substantial part of the concrete pipe. Since the temporary shaft was ok, I've fulfilled my duty. Now is for contractor to repair the damaged pipe. Hopefully they can get it done within the week.

I knew LTA has increased the number of ERP gantries and adjusted the timing of ERP operations. But I definitely wasn't expecting this.

Earlier this evening I called Hubs to tell him I would pick him up from work. I went by Bencoolen Road thinking the ERP gantry near Sim Lim Square would be turned off by 7pm. So I was a bit taken by surprise when I found the gantry still in operation. I thought, ok, so be it. I drove on.  But somewhere after the Boat Quay stretch I saw another gantry!  This time I was definitely surprised, shocked even.  There was no escape for me coz I was smacked right in the middle of the road and couldn't turn off anywhere.  That trip to pick up my hubby from work cost $4 extra of ERP charges.

I was so annoyed.  Hubs wanted to go somewhere else for dinner. I advised him against it. Better not drive until after 8pm when the gantries were turned off.  Who knows where's the next ERP gantry?  True enough, we realised later after dinner that we would have encountered another gantry had we gone home by our usual way!  wtf!

This is about silly 'o Mr. CoW. He's real drama mama. I think I could actually write a book on him. The latest being this.

Last Saturday night, Akie & Luth, both instructors from AoR, had a gig at the Cathday’s Ben & Jerry’s outlet. So me, Rachel, with our 2 friends from AoR, Fandy & Lynette, headed there to give our support.

It was quite enjoyable. So imagine my irritation when I received a call at 10.00pm on a Saturday night from the excavation crew that they had exposed the shield.

Excavation at the recovery shaft in the middle of the expressway was on-going. Mr. CoW was supposed to be there in the afternoon and to keep me informed of the progress. But the excavation had proceeded on to next 2 stages without me carrying out the inspections and certifications!

So no choice, I quickly sent Rachel home and rushed to the site. Stayed there till after midnight. I was back again at 8.30am Sunday morning to sort out the paperwork with the contractor. I could have done all these Saturday afternoon had Mr. CoW been keeping an eye on the site.

Monday when I finally saw Mr. CoW, he tried to explain his absence. Said something about the excavation crew being slow and unlikely they could do much so he left the site at noon. I felt like strangling him. At the very least sms me!  I could have gone to the site in the afternoon!

He must have been worried by my show of displeasure. Coz after that he carried out my next set of instructions to the extreme until the excavation crew called me crying for help. I received 12 phone calls within a span of 30 minutes ranting about Mr CoW being too strict and had stopped their work. The project manager called to complain that Mr CoW had no right to stop their work since his duty was to observe and report the site progress.

Mr. CoW became very defensive when I questioned him. He claimed the site crew was lying blah-blah-blah... said he had photographic evidence that they weren’t doing their work.. etc etc etc. *sigh*

On Tuesday morning he told me that he was very upset by the lies, that he would demand an apology from the contractor, that he couldn’t sleep, that he vomitted a few times the night before and that morning too. Said he’s going to buy a heart-monitor to check his heartbeat.

Well, if he was expecting TLC, he’s not getting any from me. Told him that if he’s going to let something so minor affect him that much, then he’s not suited for this line at all. He ought to know how contractors are like since he's been in the construction industry for so long. Anyway I asked him to decide whether to stay on this project or be assigned another project. He became very quiet and suddenly said he would resign.

Ha! No aces yet dare to show-hand. ok I accepted his resignation on the spot. But he was apparently very unhappy with my lack of concern. Coz he walked off and drove away without telling me where he’s off to even though it was still office hour. Very stylo-mylo except that the van he drove belongs to my office leh. Heh heh. 

But this morning, he called and said,
(1) he cared for me & company a lot so he didn't think it's right for him to walk out just like that,
(2) he's a responsible man and he would feel guilty,
(3) he is still healthy and can carry on working,
(4) if I found someone more suitable, he can resign anytime,
(5) if not, he would like to stay until end of this contract & then perhaps retire for good.

ROTFLOL