Celefest 14 July

For once I am uploading images on time and not too late after the event! And another first is the fact that there are so many pictures of people. Which I am not too inclined to, but it was good practice with the new camera. Again, I used mainly P mode (and Auto when I got lazy), and I also tried out the multiburst function. I know that some of the images weren't composed very well or slightly blur, but I am breaking the camera in and getting used to holding a new weight.

So, to kick it all off, pictures of Mr Chew prior to Celefest (school funfair) ...with (yes that IS a cow! It was used to dispense beer but this time it was used to dispense milk to make milkshakes) his new room mate. It has a HUGE red cow bell that makes a resounding clang. You have to grow a pair in order to ring it in the middle of the school office.

And here's Mr Chew riding the cow, as instigated by Aunty Ivy. She brought him a little blue stool and got him to climb up. It looks rather painful. Hmm. Yes. Well I bet he could fit inside that cow!


Getting acquainted with his new best friend. Heigh Ho Patches!


Hooray for Combat Skirmish! My class was sponsored by a rather wealthy person. So we could afford to employ the company to come in and organize the game, which is basically outdoor laser tag for those of you who don't know what it is. Eh heh. We have big guns. Heh heh.


Here are a bunch of 6Y people posing for a shot...their stall offered a photography service, whereby costumed figures ran about the school to take photos with people. Free cookies! You can guess what costumes were rented...


And outside the office, Ms Ros and Aunty Liza selling books of coupons. There are so many. It's crazy.

Presenting...Superman (Aqeel) and Supergirl (Ria)! Heh.


Aaaand Venom (Mark) with his good pal Darth Vader (Jackson). Join the dark side...


...we have COOKIES! Yeah. Kams is looking very, very pleased indeed. But who could blame her? She's got aaaalll the cookies!


Kevin and LH aka Spidey acting as tough guys while messing with the Combat Skirmish guns.


Ria giving a supersmile! (Pardon the bad superjoke.)


Bryan is attempting to be scary. Uh, right.


Ms Loh due for dunking! Yes, revenge, at last...


There she goes! Arms in the air as a gesture of surrender...

Teachers are real good sports when they want to be. So besides agreeing to be dunked, they also played Combat Skirmish and attempted a second childhood. I do believe many succeeded. Here is Mr West, looking every bit the part of a soldier...complete with neon sunglasses and battle stance.

Mr Chew, the best sport of them all (especially for riding the cow!) with his winning, wrinkly smile. Not to mention those kickass glasses!

Yes, he's out to make a killing today (with colleague Mr Lim in the background), and he's not talking about money! We got a teacher's team to play against a student team, and the teachers won. Go figure.

Off he goes for a respawn...looking as cool as ever, and clearly having a very good time.


Well, you didn't think Combat Skirmish was for all the youngsters did you? Bring on Dad's Army!

Mr Teo, trying to look like Rambo.

But he is very good at this! There's Mr Chew in the background, battle-ready...

Good ol' Dr Barrett. Awfully good sport, what. (He was dunked too! There's pictorial evidence.)

Apparently he spent the 15 minute game staking out the alcove by the biology labs on this floor. Still, I'm sure he had a pretty good time. He looks just like a schoolboy! Give the old boy some credit, eh?

Here's the best of them all! Dear old Mr Chen aka CCC. The general of Dad's Army, reliving his childhood. He really does look the part!



Yessir, aim for the goal...this is by far my favourite image.

That hand in question belongs to Mr R. Lim, who finally admitted defeat to a couple of schoolkids...

They'll have a job finding Nemo when he's hiding like this...

There goes Mr Teh dashing up the stairs sharpish, with opponent team in hot pursuit!

Good ol' Mr Ramesh, with his unmistakeable red shorts. Gotta love the shorts.

Here's Mr Lim again, staking out the toilets, with one unfortunate Hian Lee camping out inside.

Brothers in arms: (almost) All in red from 6X: Kev, Munjen aka Kenneth and Jums aka Ameer.

Kevin. Showing off. "Boom! Headshot!"

The Year 6 boys team...

Kevin and Mr Clarence, looking very pro and Counterstrikish indeed.

And finally, Dr Barrett being dunked! Cheers all round, Ladies and Gentlemen, for Uncle Steven has dunked the great P!

Whew.That's it for Celefest! The rest of it wasn't all that interesting to photograph since I was taking them for personal use, so for once I could omit any other informative images that I would have had to take otherwise. That took such a job uploading, now my eyes hurt. Hope you enjoyed them. More photos to come, stay tuned!

BREAKING NEWS!

I have a new camera! *cheers* Bought it a few weeks ago just before the GST hike, so thanks to the government I now have a new camera. Excellent.

It's a Canon 400D, and I'm quite happy with it. Though I need to practice more... -.- I hope to put up the first set of pictures that I took with it...or rather, the first set of photos which I took proper, not just playing around. I used mostly P mode (and I'm still not familiar with Av and Tv modes) and sometimes I cheated and used Auto (heh, wasting my mother's money) to take photos for my school's Celefest (it's a funfair, for those who don't know) and they turned out okay. I tried the multiburst function too, which is very new for me considering I've been using PnS cameras all along.

And yes I know I haven't been around lately, things have been going crazy as usual in life, and as this isn't some sort of well-known blog (YET!) or anything too spectacular, it doesn't matter I guess since few people come here anyway.

Oh well. One can dream.

New Zealand Photos 2

Yes, slowly does it...Archiving all these photos has been a crazy task, since:

1) There are so many
2) I've got little time to do so.

Still, I will finish this task and get all the images out here eventually...Meanwhile...well, enjoy.

15th June

On the 15th, the group went to a national park in Rotorua to learn about the Maori culture and to see mud pools and geysers and hot springs emanating sulphur dioxide.

Can you smell Rotorua? Well, I dare say so.

This first image is of a tall post attached to a traditional Maori building. It is adorned with carvings and paua shells, perhaps to tell the story of the ancestor who once lived there.


Here is a carver hard at work, creating beautiful carvings that he has to spend years of apprenticeship learning how to make.


An example of traditional carving, richly detailed with scrolls and loops. Truly amazing.

Another place in the park, which made me think of...a glade from Peter Pan's Never Never Land. You half expect the Lost Boys to come out of the bushes brandishing wooden swords and beating off pirates. That boat-like shape is a bird trap, filled with fruit and other treats in order to catch unwary featherbrains. It reminds me of a pirate ship.

Hot mud pools, bubbling and glopping. God's cooking pots!

And finally, the sulphurous hot springs! There in the background you can see a geyser shooting in the air. The sulphur-tinged rocks give the place a surreal air, as if one was on another planet. As a downside, this place really smells quite strongly of rotten eggs (yes, sulphur dioxide...urgh). I'm surprised people could get used to it long enough to settle here.

Dawn and Po Ni, sitting on steps carved out of rocks which are warmed by the hot currents beneath. Butt warming! Mmmm...

Jonathan enjoying being in a hot seat.

More images of the hot springs...right out of a sci-fi movie.

After we had our fill of Nature's wonders, we head back to where we started at the traditional Maori building to receive a traditional Maori welcome: A hakka. Here Mr Ramesh was chosen as our "chief", as he had been elected by the entire group of students, even as we were surrounded by several tourist groups. Here he is receiving his instructions about how he was expected to act as our "chief".

I don't have good pictures of the hakka as they were very blur due to poor lighting and constant movement. However I can tell you that it was very interesting to behold, as the performers danced with pois (not poise, mind you, POIS. A poi is a round white ball that they used as part of the dance) and told the audience Maori stories. Mr Ramesh (as chief) had to rub noses (as is the Maori way) with some of the performers, as a form of greeting and possibly a gesture of peace.

After that, we headed to a park where we would conduct some experiments on the water from the hot pools. Yes, more sulphurous pools! But first...a wonderful treat in the form of fish and chips! Excellent meal.

The steam from the pools caught the light filtering through the foliage overhead, and I got a few beautiful views of this, which is rarely seen in tropical zones such as the area in which I live.

A bolt of yellow in the striking blue sky.

I don't know why, but I love this tree.

A very large pond of warm springwater, cooled somewhat by the wintery air. The little black spot you see there is a tiny bird flitting over the water's surface, perhaps attempting to warm himself up.

Whoever Shawn was, his name will be here forever, carved crudely into a weathered picnic bench, one name among many names.

And a break, before leaving at last, reliving our childhoods...

This was taken after a brief shopping trip, and is a fitting final image for the day, I think.