So I reached England the morning after my birthday, after having the longest birthday of my life (it lasted more than 24 hours because I crossed the international date line while it was still my birthday). Thanks for all the birthday wishes and presents! Although I'm sorry, I couldn't bring some of them with me. I simply had no space.

( London :D )
( and then Oxford )

Will be gone in about 24 hours' time.

It feels really fast and I'm really angry at my parents.

Oh well.

 because it's always more interesting to do other things that you really shouldn't be doing when you ought to be concentrating on productive things.

In this case, it isn't exactly productive per se, but it certainly is worth money. I'm supposed to be marking papers but I have no mood for it.

( So, tada, photospam time! )

 
And that is what I carry to school most days.

I'm rather nervous waiting for my course enrolment to begin, so I've been doing rather useless and random things such as taking this.

On top of the bag is my light jacket, meant for temperatures above -5 degrees Celcius in combination with another 1 or 2 layers beneath it. The heavy one is in Toronto, I wasn't about to bring that back... 

Then there is my clipboard and notebook. The clipboard cost me CAD$1.13, and I bought it because I realised after a few days that Canadian lecture halls aren't guaranteed to have those fold out table things, and when they don't, if you don't have a clipboard or a hard file, you can forget about writing properly. There's the notebook, which I buy from the university because it's relatively cheap, and has perforated pages that I can tear out since I use the same notebook for every single class I take, and tear the pages out to file when the book's finished. 

Perched on top of the clipboard and notebook is my cap, or rather, one of my caps. I have also realised that if I don't wear something on my head when it's really cold outside, I stand an extremely high chance of getting a headache and then a flu from the cold because most of the body's heat is lost through the head. 

And then there's some camera stuff, spare batteries and cards... a small notebook, a single pen and a single highlighter... because I have sworn off correction fluid and tape (too messy, takes too long, pointless anyway). Camera stuff goes to class with me because you won't believe the number of times there have been awesome scenes in between classes that I failed to capture because I didn't have the camera. And I hate missing things. It also allows me to go on a small photo walk if I want to after classes.  

In addition, I'll probably carry a water bottle or a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and that's about it. 

I don't carry my laptop to class as I am extremely easily distracted, and if I have the laptop with me, I'll be tempted to go online or play nonsense or simply not pay attention. Besides, I remember stuff better if I write it down physically, and my notebook and clipboard is so much lighter than the laptop anyway.

And I still have 30 minutes to course selection time...

Yesterday I woke up at an extremely ungodly hour to take a really long walk down to the lakeshore, to take a ferry to Toronto Islands.

Wow, it was really, really nice. The snow and the cold has kept everyone away, so the place was pretty much deserted for most of the day. I stayed there for around 10 hours, and when I left at 4pm or so, I saw a few photographers coming in... and I was like aww too bad you missed it, because the clouds were coming in and the sun had gone.

Along the way I discovered that Lake Ontario's surface does actually freeze, and the pack ice is really cool, especially when it's covered with snow, because the contrast against the dark water is just awesome. The ferry actually forced its way through the ice, breaking it as it went through, leaving ice shards everywhere. Apparently it refreezes at night, and the next morning they have to break the ice again.

Let's just say I'll most certainly be going back, perhaps when the temperature really drops on Thursday, because other than the pack ice, there will be really nice icicles on the islands. The high for Thursday is expected to be below -20 degrees, and well, we won't go into the low.

School started, and has been on for a week now.

I feel that I should be doing a lot more than I currently am, but my roommate evidently doesn't think it's time to pick up the books yet.

Oh well.

I started the new year by shooting 2 rolls of film as quickly as I could, and then dropping it off for development really fast too. But then, I forgot to collect it till today.

Above is one of the photos from one of the rolls. I like my new 85 f/1.8 lens.


In other news, I applied for the Summer Abroad programme at Oxford University. Hopefully I shall get it and go this summer. Sounds awesome, and I worked out that it is actually cheaper than summer in Toronto, believe it or not. It helps that the pound is comparatively weak now, and expected to get weaker.

So, if you're in England this summer (especially late-July and the whole of August), let me know! I'm considering going earlier to travel a bit around Europe before starting the programme, but I've got to be back in Toronto for school second week of September.

Toronto's experiencing the first major snowstorm of the season, and I think they underestimated it... I swear there's more than 30cm of snow out there. Because just now when I trekked (yes, trekked, because it took a lot of physical effort to get there) to McDonalds to satisfy my hunger, I was stepping in way-more-than-knee-deep snow.

And well. It'll be awesome tomorrow when it stops snowing.... but meanwhile this sucks because it's caused the flights to and from Toronto to be cancelled, due to the complete lack of visibility and also the fact that they are unable to keep the snow off the runway long enough for a plane to take off or land. And this sucks even more because now my dad and bro are stranded in Detroit airport because they were on the way to Toronto to visit me, and all the flights got cancelled.

The interesting thing is the news reports all say that this pales in comparison to last year, so they're kind of happy actually.

And now here's a photo of a cute dog (think: Hamley) to remind myself that snow is actually kind of fun... when it's not being annoying in the form of a snowstorm.

I realise that my definition of 'warm' has sunk to new lows. Now I consider anything on the positive side of zero degrees to be 'warm'. And I think that 5 degrees above zero is 'hot', because I can't bear to wear my big coat out when it's that temperature.

Today it snowed again, and for some reason it was incredibly cold, with the windchill putting the temperature at 21 degrees below zero. I have no idea what the hell is wrong with the weather, because it's not supposed to be this cold at this time of the year. The 20 degree and 30 degree below zero temperatures are reserved for January and February.

Wish me luck when I get back to Singapore...

Noooo where's the snow. The temperature is definitely low enough but no snow. Only freezing rain.



Anyway, I watched James Bond the Quantam of Solace the day after it opened in Toronto. And Daniel Craig was here to promote it, but I didn't get to see him because I was too busy studying >.<

And movie tickets here are waaaay ex. Singapore's about 3 times cheaper.

Won't spoil the movie for those who want to watch it but haven't. So just go watch and be happy.

There was a Santa Claus Parade outside my window on Sunday, which woke me up from my beauty sleep. The thing about living downtown is that everything happens right outside your window. On Remembrance Day a while back, they almost fired the canons into my window, or at least I think it felt that way. Apparently the Santa Claus Parade has been held annually since 1905 (!). It was snowing during the parade, but it was wet slushy snow, only good for getting people soaked and cold and not much else. It was really heavy though. And the rest of Ontario has been having snowstorms, but Toronto got left out.

After the snow stopped, I slipped outside to see the parade and shoot some pictures of it, and it took me about 30 seconds to get from my room to the edge of the parade. That felt good. And I think it's an ang moh kid thing - but ang moh kids are just inherently cute, and the proportion cute kids is higher.



This boy was on the Sound of Music float, and from the way he carried himself and how comfortable he was with it, I have a nagging suspicion that he is actually a cast member of the musical that's now in Toronto. But I can't confirm that, because there are simply no pictures online.

And yes, that's snow on his hat.

Back to my quest for the perfect GPA. It's exam period, sucks.

And finally, the trees are bare. It's slightly gloomy and dreary and bleak right now, and I'm highly tempted to pair the following picture up with Thomas Hardy's 'The Darkling Thrush' poem. But I need to get rid of that person for it to suit.... darn.



It's actually a reflection in a puddle in Queen's Park.

Queen's Park is the park just next to my residence, and I can view it from my window because the trees outside are completely bare. It's surprising how things change so much when the trees all lose their leaves. It feels really empty.

I suppose I'm just waiting for things to get white and stay white.

This is long overdue - I was in Cambodia in early June this year, but well, finally I got it done. It's a series of 15 photos of Cambodian kids.

And in other news, I woke up late AND IT WAS SNOWING. Therefore, I shall wake up late more often.

And watch the embedded video lah.

I upgraded my flickr account today to flickr pro, because I really need the extra space! The 200 photo limit was a bit too little for me.

Anyway, I was sifting through my harddrives to find something else, and I realised that I left all my edits and selections from my Cambodia trip in Singapore. Argh. I have the original files here though, so I did a re-edit of some of the stuff in it, and I kind of really like this one above.

In other news, I am very sian, and every Monday and Tuesday night I am even more sian than usual because there are tutorials to prepare for. There's this annoying participation mark which I fully intend to get, so I've got little choice but to actually know stuff inside out. Oh well.

It is kind of cold now, the temperature is actually ok, still above freezing point, although the weatherman says it'll snow later today again. It's the wind that's really bad, the temperature can be 3 degrees but the windchill makes it -7. And it blows right through you, making any attempts at keeping warm rather futile.

edit: just checked the weather report for tonight and tomorrow, and looks like it's snow all the way.


Hopefully I'm not stuck in some classroom while it's snowing outside >.<

Also, I just downloaded the new Nikon D300 firmware update, and hmm, it is kind of nice. It brings the D300 up to date with some (not all, unfortunately) of the features that are present in the D700, but one thing that I really wanted still isn't there, and that is the capability to program the function/preview buttons to go straight to liveview. The D700 can do that and I'm pretty sure it's entirely a firmware issue, so I don't know why Nikon can't just release an update for that.

Days are getting real short, and time is flying. I'm into my second month here now, but the first went past a whole lot slower.

Anyway, sort of can't wait for it to actually start snowing properly, and I also can't wait to get back to Singapore next May. Hopefully there'll be some people back in Singapore by then too.

The autumn colours have finally appeared in Toronto, despite the extremely wintery temperatures having persisted for quite a while now. In fact, going by the weather report, I'd better enjoy my single digit temperatures while they last. Apparently next week's highest temperatures are in the range of zero.

The colours are really damn awesome. And I get really high jumping in leaves, and yes, I know that that sort of activity is usually reserved for kids below the age of six. Unfortunately, I have never ever been overseas at this time of the year, (blame MOE's holiday timing), and as such have never expeirenced autumn or spring. So it's the first time, and I really like it.

I followed up my Singapore cemetery visits with a visit to a Canadian cemetery. Boy are the two different. The Singapore ones, while incredibly peaceful and rather pretty (by Singapore standards anyway), absolutely pale in comparison to the Canadian ones. Searched up google maps to find the nearest cemetery, and off we went.

Destination was St. James Cemetery, and, we walked the whole way there (and back). It's rather far actually, but public transport costs too much.

Had to walk a big round to find the gate to enter the rather nondescript place, and wow.



Awesome.

After I'd finished admiring the cemetery and the peacefulness of it all, Riverdale Farm was the next stop.

Riverdale Farm, as the name suggests, is a farm. In the middle of the city. It's really quite cool, it's got all the animals and it's free admission for everyone. So there were lots of kids there and everyone was happy because it was a nice and sunny autumn day. (That sounds so storybookish.)

Anyway I tried to avoid taking the usual boring photos of the animals, and opted for something a little different. So below is one of a father and son playing with the autumn leaves.



And then after that headed to Salad King for Thai green curry which absolutely rocked! The place's called Salad King even when it obviously doesn't serve any salads or anything resembling salads. Apparently, the previous shop there was called Salad King and really did sell salads, and when the current shop took over, they just couldn't be bothered to change the sign, so it became known as Salad King. There is this perpetual queue outside, and from what I hear, it doesn't diminish, even when it's snowing. I think the food's good, but not that good.

And in other news, I got back some of my tests/assignments, and at the moment I have a damn high GPA. Hmm. An unbelievable 4.0. But I'm pretty sure that will drop once the rest come back.

I finally gave in to homesickness today. I really want to go back to Singapore, now. Yes Canada's been good to me. There's no reason to dislike it, actually. But I still want Singapore. I knew this would happen sooner or later, but I've been trying to avoid it. Seems that I can't anymore.

I want so bad to hug my mother. I want my bed in my room. I want to see all those people I know back in Singapore. I want to talk to my brother on MSN when he's two metres away from me, not fifteen thousand kilometres away. I want to stick my head out of my study window and see another lousy Singaporean sunset, even though I know they will never compare to the ones here. I even want to feel the hot sticky afternoon, because that means I'm back.


Fly Away

"When will you be home?" she asks
As we watch the planes take off
We both know we have no clear answer to where my dreams may lead
She's watched me as I crawled and stumbled
As a child, she was my world
And now to let me go, I know she bleeds
And yet she says to me

You can fly so high
Keep your gaze upon the sky
I'll be praying every step along the way
Even though it breaks my heart to know we'll be so far apart
I love you too much to make you stay
Baby fly away

-"Fly Away" by Corrinne May

I'm pretty sure my mum cried when she left me in Toronto. I did too, but she didn't see. I think I understand. And the song lyrics put into words exactly what happened, probably way better than I can while I'm in this rather messed up state.

Had my first lesson in university today. Second year Eastern & Central Europe History. It doesn't seem to be particularly hard, but maybe I'm speaking too early. I think I'm the only first year student there, which makes things a bit intimidating.

I also had first year political science today, and I think I am really going to enjoy that. Tomorrow is psychology.

I do like Toronto, and although I'm walking a lot everyday (to give you an idea of the size of my uni's campus, it's served by 5 subway stations on 2 seperate lines, and has dunno how many libraries - something in the region of 30?) and running up and down 4 stories because my room's on the top floor, I still think it's really nice and the weather is just awesome. The flowers are so bright too, but I can see that they're beginning to die, and the trees are beginning to turn to red and yellow. Summer's over! I'm quite happy about it but I think the Canadians aren't.


My residence building in infrared.


I wonder where the bees go in winter.


I think this is slightly depressing, but beautiful at the same time.

Despite having insane amounts of freedom, I'm not even trying to do anything that I didn't do in Singapore. I haven't drunk a drop of alcohol even though I'm of legal age over here and most of the kids here aren't. I know they envy me because I can get alcohol and nicotine anytime I want, but I don't want, and they don't seem to be able to understand that.

And I'm generally just avoiding thinking about how far away Singapore is, how I am absolutely alone in this weird place, and what and who's in Singapore, because if I do then I'll really miss it. I know I will end up thinking about it eventually, but until then, I'll stave it off by just not thinking too hard.

I'm about to leave for the airport.

I don't really feel nostalgic or sad or anything. Just numb. Don't think it's registered that I'm going yet. Maybe it will once I'm there.

In any case, thanks all of you, for making Singapore an attractive place to be. And for making me realise that there's something here that I will miss.

I'll see you back in Singapore in May next year. But don't worry, there's internet in Toronto too. :D

Tiptoe

I've got less than a week left in Singapore, and I suddenly have everything to do.

I got my driving licence yesterday though, so yay.

Some stuff from helping Matthias out at a wedding on Saturday with Azlan and the D700:

National Day makes Saturday feel like Sunday.

I wanted to shoot the fireworks because I felt patriotic I'm leaving Singapore in two weeks, and it'll be nice to have a nice (cliche) view of Singapore for me to stare at in the middle of the cold Canadian winter.

Was lazy though, so I opted to shoot from my dad's office. At least it's a unique view.

As everyone knows, the Singapore Flyer is in the middle of a big lallang field. Well, at least that's what the photo makes it look like.