Giddy-Up: 3D Movies

More than a year ago, I went to watch my first 3D movie in the cinema, Avatar and that was literally - eye strained plus vomit-inducing.

The associated giddiness was quite enough to forbid me from choosing anything 3D for the next year or so.   Then came a company event to watch Transformers III.   Very well.  Perhaps it was time to give it another go, given the fact that I might be in for a few unpleasant surprises.  



"When we watch something in 3D, our eyeballs rotate inwards, with accommodation as the goal. But if that happened, we would be left focusing on a spot in front of the screen, rather than focusing on the screen itself.

This confuses the brain because the eyes have converged without accommodation. Instead, the eyes oscillate between their natural inclination and the artificial state demanded by the film."


Are you with me?  Or is this explanation from Goggle a bit confusing?  See how giddy this whole thing can be even without the 3D effects!!

Avatar - vomit inducing.  
Transfomers III  -  I didn’t find it in any way - more relaxing, though giddiness was bearable. 

I shall give it a follow-up review in a year's time to see if there could be any degree of pleasure derived.  I better get used to this before they turn all movies into 3D.   I heard they are showing Wimbledon's Finals on the big screen in 3D!  Interesting, but - No thank you.

My Best Travel Secret

I can't tell you how trips can be spoiled by taking everything, including yourself, too seriously.


"I'm on vacation. I'm on vacation!"


I wish I could say that now, but no, I WAS on vacation.

I learned to slow down, took a deep breath, found a café and sat down. Purchased something to drink.  And I looked around.  Viewing the world as it walked by and that I tell you - is my best travel secret.   


What did I see?  I am more excited to see what you would see.

Really... Honestly...

You choose your reality.  You see a bad world, it becomes a bad world.
You see a good world, it becomes a wonderful world.   Life is that simple.

Make this your best travel secret in your next trip. 

And start planning for it now!  I mean, why not?

Remember Those Days With 35mm Film Photography?

As of writing this line, it has been exactly 10 years since I last used any rolls of 35mm films. 
Remember how we used to bring tonnes of them when we went travelling.  You would have the assorted ISO 100 or 200 for normal shooting and also chucked in a couple of ISO 400 just to play safe.  We either had 24 or 36 shots in a roll and remember that lucky feeling if we were able to steal 1 or 2 extra at the very end?



Having them developed was a big event too, so as arranging them in some chronological order.  While reluctantly placing them in what I thought were the world's most tacky photo albums, mother never agree it was a problem because the albums were thrown in for free!   It could easily mean weeks before we got to view all the photos taken after a holiday but it was a sheer joy even with such lengthy anticipation.   


Too bad those borned after the 90s won't understand what this is all about because in this generation, anyone would demand to view anything taken right away, any object could have been taken from 10 different angles in a 10-shots-per-second interval.   If the LCD didn't give the desired result, one can DEL ALL and do it all over again!

With the digital photography having the majority of the marketshare, film photographers have become some sort of exotic beasts in the world of photography.  Nonetheless, I am sure you'd agree - how ever much technology has advanced, some things can never be replaced.  I am not saying either is superior.  It's like exchanging a laser-sharp sniper's rifer for a 2000-round-a-minute deadly assault weapon.


Film photography would be one of them because in my opinion, film captures more than just brilliant colours.  It is able to give a dimension that DSLR cannot - the associated temperature, the warmth, the humanity.  

My Go-Retro Tee!  From Paul Smith 

The Wait at A&E

The stupidity of some people in terms of abusing the hard-pressed resources of our Accident and Emergency (AnE) services really never ceases to amaze.

People seeking to use AnE because they believe they will get treatment or tests carried out more quickly than through an outpatient appointment are so commonly seen, it's beyond joke!


I had to rush my uncle to AnE the other day from his home because he suffered severe acute abdominal pain.  The fact that he wasn't found bleeding nonstop, caught out of breath or appeared anywhere near the life-threatening sort of state, got allocated a ticket that stated "Cat. 4 Semi-Urgent". 

Holding that ticket, I could only hope Cat. 4 had a higher urgency than Cat. 3.  But then how do you define semi-urgent anyway?  I mean, can they even find a non-urgent case in there at all, as if a patient arrives by an ambulance in an AnE unit because he needs the toilet and doesn’t know where the nearest one is? 

As I looked across the room, my answer revealed on the board - with augmented information too - the estimated waiting time for Cat. 4 was at the time...

180 minutes! 

That was fast compared to a whopper 225 for those poor Cat. 5 semi-urgent souls!


Moral of the story - take care yourself and if one is still conscious and totally mobile - please just forget about getting treated at the nearest AnE, you will be wasting your time.

I must add though, their estimating ability was fairly accurate - 180 minutes of waiting time - spot on!

Not So Solo Friendly

Dying to go somewhere exciting this summer, but everyone I wanted to travel with either wasn’t available or didn’t have the budget.

Toyed with the idea to London as it is relatively simple to arrange but schedule of my local friends didn't work out.  That's fine.  Next comes Russia...seems very appealing..darn...have to pay single supplement and I tell ya, that is when things can become less interesting. 

While the whole retail world has made strides to cater for singles like us - such as individual meals, dinner for one, the holiday makers are still penalising us for going solo. The number of solo travellers is definitely on the rise but hey, why aren't we getting any breaks on price? 

I can see how a business could feel that it’s losing half of its revenue if only one person is taking up the space, but it puts solo travelers in a bind too isn't it?

I am sure single supplements have been quite enough to prevent many from booking their travel and I am not alone in that sense.  I really think solo travel is an untapped market being under-estimated entirely.  Let's hope the industry get it right soon! 

But before they do, anyone fancy going to Russia and pay twin-share price with me?

Swimming With Diapers?

Summer is here and while all my mother friends are frantically stocking up "Little Swimmers" for their little ones, I have a big question mark in my head.  

Not to be gross or anything.  I just want to know - how do swim diapers work? 

DO they work at all?   I mean they should because they are charging a premium on that wicked nappy innovation but doesn't the urine (or poop) leak out into the pool, or the pool water get soaked up in the diaper?

The very curious alampy scratching her head. 

Unusual Finds

Paid a visit earlier to the supermarket with the aim of trying to find an interesting beverage to bring to a friend's party.  Look what I've found.

1) Pineapple Beer

2) Wine in a carton

Anyone ever tried the pineapple beer?  However cute and sweet it might sound, I have absolutely no faith how that concoction of the fruit juice + some shandy (I guess) can bring to a party so I checked out with the latter item. 

It was my first foray into the exciting world of - carton-ed wine - and for the very mundane me, this was actually quite a daring move.  The aim was to find something interesting right?  There we go.

The Pinot Grigio turned out rather fine to our surprise.  It smelled like wine, tasted like one and to be honest, the nose matched exactly with the description on the carton which says “has rich aromas of tropical fruit and citrus which perfectly complement its light, crisp flavours of pears and peaches."

Bravo.


With the 100%-recyclable carton, unbleached and printed with soy-based inks, we all felt a bit environmentally friendly after the party as well.  Bravo some more!

Next time you need to carry a decent drink with you that is portable and shatterproof - this could be it.

An Official Pidgin: Singlish

When you had 10 days in a city that you've been for more than 10 times, the repeated visit should in some degree, let you explore more than what an average tourist can.

I was really grateful I was able to do just that in my recent visit to Singapore.  Apart from the newly created touristy attractions, I have paid special attention to one of their national delights this time - Singlish.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this creole, it is indeed a glorious linguistic stew that is spoken in varying degrees over the island.  


A fascinated mash-up of English, Malay, various Chinese dialects such as Hokkien and Cantonese.  And they have particular grammar and sentence structures, forming their very own official language with its unique accent, vocabulary and idioms.



While the majority of the local population merely peppers their English with Singlish words and phrases (a practice I can find slightly confusing at times), I came across some Singaporeans speak the full-blown version that is completely incomprehensible to foreigners like me.  Then when you switch on the national TV news or tune into any radio stations though, you hardly hear any Singlish spoken - as if its a forbidden tongue!   Spending a few minutes in any kopitiam (kopi = coffee, tiam = shop) however, immediately brings one back to the city and her compatriots!

Love this city more each time I visit.  This time has got to be the love of its multi-lingual dexterity that I am exposed to.  Special thanks to a local friend who took me around, allowing me to experience a certain humour and nuance reflecting the Singaporean psyche - that no Standard English can quite describe. 

Took A Break In Blogging (5-21 June)

I know it's been quite a while since I posted anything and this has to be the longest break I took since I started Project 340 in January 2010.  I honestly didn't anticipate I will be absent for that long, what can I say but - time flies!

Sure, I have been busy.  Busy working (on my golf swings) and busy spending vacation time with family and friends.  No excuse of course. It doesn’t take that much time to write a blog post and it never did.  Am I running out of ideas?  Not really either.  I have met some really interesting people and also been through some dodgy moments during this down time too. I thought about sharing with you readers all the time while I was away, I’m just not writing any of my thoughts down that's all. 

I guess when you stop blogging for a week, you thought adding a few more days to that won't matter and then all of a sudden it became more than two weeks of catching up to do and that appeared to be a real chore. 

I have just made up my mind to take it up from here and won't force myself to craft stuff that I know it won't be any fun for you to read. 

Thanks for not abandoning alampy's space.  I am glad to have taken the much needed time away to sort out my maintenance and I am all good and ready to go again.

Let me share a funny self portrait I took of myself which I don't remember taking, how's that for a bonus?

Quite Fearless

I used to love roller coaster rides.  It was about facing something scary and surviving it.  It was like - a package deal  - without the “scary" bit, you won’t get the “thrills”.   Cool.

As I grew older, knowing life is already full of thrills itself, I no longer need that added adrenaline jump so I wouldn't bother riding on any. Whenever I face fear in real life though, lots of people would give me sound advice on getting past fear, suggesting if I can break free of the shackles of fear, I will be alright.  

All well and good.  I learned the importance of mastering fear in order to get things done.  

And life moves on.  Fear just keeps knocking on your door to haunt you every now and then.  Sometimes you can get so out of hand that you might even think of giving up. 


One day, I woke up and discovered I do want fear to be with me because, for crying out loud - fear let me know I am alive and breathing!  So I have just decided to face fear with some gratitude.

Hangover Sucks Big Time

Caught the box office big hit: Hangover Part 2 for a good laugh.  

Bits of the movie did ring some bells, definitely familiar, never that drastic on me - thank lord, but certainly been there done that without the dramas of flying a car, nor did I wake up with a freaking tattoo on my face or found my palm missing a finger!

One of the benefits in getting older is we have had time to learn from our experiences.  At thirty something, I have to accept the fact that my ability to drink is in direct proportion to my age. The older I get, the less fortitude I have in coping with the consequences of an all-nighter and the longer my healing process takes.

I was reminded of this in excruciating fashion not too long ago where I needed some hilarious photos and friend's narration to fill me in.  I just have to keep reminding myself to drink moderately and that there won't be a next.  When you really think about it, the act of drinking alcohol is actually completely absurd.  And we say that every time we have hangovers, don't we?

I mean what sane person would spend outrageous amount of money to put a poison in their body knowing that they will feel absolutely crap after doing so? 

We must be morons - if we can't get ourselves out of that frivolity.

The Alumni Choir

Didn't know much about history,
Didn't know much biology.
Didn't know much about science book,
Certainly nothing much about the French I took.

But I was a member of the choir in school,
Pre-selected and quite proud to be true.
Enjoyed the practices simply because,
my friends were in for it too.

Now that I've become an alumni,
can't sound much older can I?
No one forced me to be in the choir this time,
I volunteered just to look for that awesome feeling inside.

It was great to be back at the Chapel,
reminisced how I used to hate reading the Bible.
Then we revisited the good old gospels,
for a long time, nothing has felt so right in principle.

I am already looking forward to the next practice,
getting all ready and excited.
Sharing passion, love and joy,
never too late if you are interested to join.