The day before Marj left, we brought her to the Singapore Flyer, which is a giant observation wheel similar to the London Eye. It was my second time to ride the Flyer (the first time was when good friend Laine was around to visit). During my first time to ride, I hardly used my camera because the shots weren’t good at all. Laine brought her tripod though, and she was able to take some decent shots, although it had just rained in the afternoon, so you could still see the rain drops when you’d take a shot.

This time around, I didn’t need a tripod. The shutter speed was fast and the aperture was big enough to capture the scene I wanted. Of course with a tripod, it would have taken some better shots, but for a non-photoshoot activity, this would have to do.

Highways amidst the construction jungle

My only comment was the irritating “blue light” and the “exit light” that was reflected from the inside the capsule. I didn’t know how to take it out, and for some reason, most of my scenes, I couldn’t avoid it.

This was one scene where I was able to avoid the blue light. But the scene was better on the other side.

On another day, I also had drinks at New Asia bar with some friends. This was a cocktail bar on the penthouse of Swissotel (one of the tallest hotels in Singapore and the same hotel my sis and Baji also stayed in when they were here) that had spectacular view of the city. Just imagine having some cocktails with a fantastic view. Perfect night cap and some shots.

If you come to visit, definitely go to New Asia bar. Not recommending the Flyer though, unless you really want to be a “tourist” and catch all the scenes of Singapore from different views.

Here are some shots I took, well to sum up the first-of-my-many weekend activities.

Testing a different kind of rainfall

Improvised Aqua-Spa

And of course, taking advantage of a willing mow-del. My roomie, Anna.

Flower power

Just Anna

Sun bathing in the pool, if there’s such a thing…

Here’s Anna and me, ready for our first dip.

I can’t wait for our next swim session.

Siguro nga ako, kase ako lang gising… ***tama bang sabayan si Beau matulog….

tsk.tsk.tsk… huuy… baka mahulog si Beau-Beau…

LOL!

I didn’t mean to go offline for this long though. I guess the “staying away” bit went longer than I expected. Initially I was trying to kick the habit so that the focus was on what I felt was more important at the time. Blogging, admittedly, became a bit of a time waster, ESPECIALLY when I had more time to waste. I felt that I needed to control it, otherwise, when I start working again, it would be harder to kick.

They say it takes 21 days to kick a habit. Because I took more than that, I now kinda feel out of it. My writing groove is either not there, or is just too overwhelmed with what to share with you.

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I guess a picture. A picture is where I shall start of with.

This is Baby Beau Cyrus. He is my newest nephew. He is also my main reason why my April was hectic and full of unexpected surprises.  To date he is just a month and a day old.  When he was christened around two weeks ago in Dubai, I made a surprise attendance, surprising even myself because it happened so fast.

It was a short vacation.  Most of the time I was just home.  And it was fine because I got to spend time with Beau.  I helped feed him and burp him and play with him and put him to sleep.  Mostly he was just sleeping.  When Ate wasn’t looking, I tried to wake him up because I wanted to play with him.  But he doesn’t usually wake up for me.  Hehehe.  So I just watched him sleep.

I miss him. I miss looking at him. I miss seeing him pouting, or smiling, or crying. And I’m going to miss him growing up. With everything that has happened so far for 2008, I think that I will only regret not being able to spend time with him.

For now, pictures (and stories) will have to do. So Ate… take loads and loads and loads. I look forward to more!

So that’s Beau.  Sigh.  My writing groove’s back because of Beau.

Oh and of course, here’s an accompanied scrap.

Sige nga, labasan ng gadgets!  Wehehehe! Mayabang ako ngayon, sorry ka.

Candon City Beach Resort, Ilocos Sur.

So there. Spent Christmas officially as a sabit. First with Kris and her family, and then with Reg and her family. I was at Reg’s place as early as 5:30 am and we headed out in a very short bit. It was just the two of us in the car, so we pretty much made it a girl’s adventure blabbered about anything and everything, made pitstops to get stuff to eat, and made mental pictures of the wonderful sights.

Mental pictures. That’s as much as we could do since neither of us had a cam. (Above pic taken from my handy dandy SE phone). So much for making it a photo journey. Oh, but I did have a point and shoot. Unfortunately I didn’t have any memory card. Crap! So I decided to bring my laptop so that I could keep on downloading the pics when they got full. Guess what. I forgot the laptop! Double crap!

On the brighter note, I was able to focus my attention to the company I was with and have a real vacation. No worries, no thinking, really low key. If I had the laptop with me, I’d be tempted to create my blog posts, do scrap pages from the pics I took, play games or what nots.

On a second brighter note, now I have other reasons to go back to Ilocos. Need to complete my photo journey. I heard form Joan that she had a Vigan photo adventure that I can go to. Sweet. More on that to follow.

I haven’t had time to surf because of the holidays (unless it’s a quick email/blog check) – most of the previous posts are scheduled as this one is as well. But it’s almost Christmas and I did say I wanted a meaningful Christmas. Normally I would have probably just stayed at home or sleep it out (it is after all, just any regular day). But since that wishlist post, I have expressed to the world that I wanted something different. And the world happily responded with different suggestions and offers.

Noche Buena will be as ampon with housemates Kris, Harv and Kris’ relatives. Initially, thought of NB hopping, but most of those who invited, also backed out last minute. Which was fine, because I needed the energy for the next day anyway.

Now for Christmas day got me many exciting offers and ideas. But I’ve decided to take on the soul searching-photo adventure-nature trip route which is a long drive to Ilocos Sur with good friend Reg. She’s my schoolmate friend from Ireland/Canada, and is here for the holidays. I’ll be the sabit here since it’s with her relatives. I only know her immediate family, and we’re not that close, but I do remember them to be very nice people, so I’m hoping that the relatives are just as nice.

I’ve never ever gone on this long of a drive. Ever. The farthest I’ve driven of too was to Quezon down south or Bataan up north (approx. 4 hours each). This, I hear, is a whopping 8-10 hour ride! But, as I heard, this is going to be well worth getaway.

So there. That’s where I’ll be spending Christmas. Partly on the road. Partly on a resort. It’s times like these that I wish that I already had a cam. Might as well make use of my point and shoot.

Merry Christmas everyone!