Earth Hour (well almost)

I tried to get my family to commemorate Earth Hour today. If Changi airport can turn off non-essential lights for one hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, so could we, I thought.

And since I wanted to turn off everything except the fans, had to work out what to do in that one hour and decided that we would have a later dinner than normal, by candlelight. I made a shepherd's pie and a simple salad, with a pear cake courtesy of Chocolate & Zucchini for dessert. She makes the cake for tea, I reserved it for dinner just so I had something to round off the meal (lengthen it out a little more).

Well, my mother had a good time arranging the candles on the dining room table and we brought the food out just in time for lights' out. Peeking outside the house, however, it was only too apparent that the majority of the neighbourhood were blithely going about their normal household routine as opposed to helping save the planet. The family ate dinner; my sister told us how her husband, currently in Sydney, realised that he was the only one not observing Earth Hour as all around him, buildings were dark. We finished eating quite quickly, well within the hour. Washed up by candlelight and the light from the house next door.

After tidying up - there was nothing much to do. No TV, no internet surfing available. The family sat around, restlessly. We have lost the gentle art of conversation. My father went to his room and a thin slit of line was seen below his door. Finally, 9.31pm came and the lights went on.

Ultimate in photo recognition

Flower Market, Ile de la Cite
Originally uploaded by Taking5

Got the following message in my flickrmail the other day:

"Hi,

I am writing to you from SilverKris Magazine (Singapore Airline Inflight travel magazine). We would like to use one of our photo in our magazine:

www.flickr.com/people/taking5/

We will using it about A4 size. We pay $200 for this if is agreeable to propose this image to our client and approved by them.

Do you want us to credit your name or not?

Regards,
Geoffrey Lim
Art Director
Silver Kris"

Simply thrilled! There was a mistake in the link but subsequent checks indicated that the photo was one I had taken in the Flower Market, Ile de la Cite, France.

This is certainly not the first time when someone has asked me whether they can use my photo (click the "Flickr" tag on this post to see my bragging posts) but I've never really been offered money before. There was one happy moment when I was contacted by Lonely Planet (Lonely Planet!) but I don't know whether they eventually used the photo because it was taken on an old digital and was not very hi-res as a result. So this is indeed a Moment to Remember. I don't even know if I can bring myself to cash the cheque, or whether I will just frame it up to see forever.

My New Eee PC 1000HE

This handsome photo of Orlando was taken on the built-in camera for my new Eee PC 1000HE and I'm loading it up from my handy little ultraportable.

Of course, I touched up the photo as it turned out a bit dark.

Becoming Jane

Well, I watched "Becoming Jane" on cable the other night. Honestly, I am not sure about it. Anne Hathaway is a pretty girl but somehow she doesn't look very English (despite the name). Maybe she looks too modern? Or perhaps the eyebrows? Whatever it is, she looks like a changeling amidst her brothers and sister Cassandra.

The story centres around Jane's relationship with a young Irish lawyer, Tom Lefroy (played by James McAvoy). We all know the end - it doesn't work out. But in the meantime, we are invited to draw parallels between the Jane-Tom and Lizzy-Darcy romances - Jane initially prejudiced against Tom, but after that drawn by his charm (ok that doesn't sound so much like Darcy). Plus another suitor who has an aunt just like Lady Catherine de Bough.

I did enjoy the exchanges between Jane and Tom. But there are elements that don't ring true - somehow it is hard to picture Jane attempting to elope. She is a vicar's daughter, after all. More importantly, I would have liked to see a little more of Jane's artistic development and her relationship with the other members of her family - aspects brought out so well in "Miss Potter", the movie on the life of Beatrix Potter. But see this note about the production which supposedly provides more insights on the film.

All in all, a pleasant movie about a failed romance but nothing much about the deeper influences that resulted in a young woman, from a pretty ordinary family, becoming one of the most enduring and celebrated writers of all time.

Intrepid Hunters

The cats found a cockroach in the kitchen yesterday. I entered the room, saw Winky, Dinky and Orlando sitting comfortably on the floor, and next spotted the cockroach in the corner. It was utterly still so I thought it was dead, and judging by their lack of interest, it seemed that the cats thought so too.


I walked a little nearer, and then the cockroach started moving and (before a whisker could shake) squirmed beneath a cabinet door into one of the cabinets. I opened the door and tried to spot the cockroach - ended up half-emptying the cabinet before catching a glimpse of the cockroach scuttling into a far corner. Put Winky in - but something spooked him and he ran away. Put Orlando in next and (after some sniffing in the wrong spots) he emerged with the cockroach in his mouth! He dropped the cockroach on the floor, the cats surrounded it and after some initial tapping of the cockroach, they lay down around it again and did nothing further! In the end, we had to administer the killing blow and disposed of the cockroach. This is what happened when house cats get soft and lose that instinct to pursue the hunt right to the death.


Anyway, the incident inspired this poem:

Three intrepid hunters
Go stalking through the house
Searching high and low for
A cockroach or a mouse

A cockroach! They spy one!
Who will get there faster?
One lad streaks ahead and
Traps it in a corner.

One hard tap is needed to
Dispatch this wriggling prey
But once he lifts his paw
The cockroach gets away!

Foiled again! The hunters
Look for another trail
Excitement mounts - they spot
Long whiskers and a tail!

One pounce - the mouse is caught!
No need to jump for joy
Just take a closer look -
It's only a soft toy!

Poetry Exercise No. 16 : Triolet

Back to the poetry writing, after a very long rest period.

A cousin of the Rondeau, i.e. characterised by repeating lines/rhymes. Eight lines in total, with the first and second lines repeated in the seventh and eighth lines, and the first line echoed in the fourth line. Rhyme scheme - ABaAbbAB. So here is my triolet, on Casey:

I love my little Casey cat
I wish she loved me just a bit
Her pretty head I gently pat
I love my little Casey cat
But in return she throws a fit
At my touch she will snarl and spit
I love my little Casey cat
I wish she loved me just a bit

Paws for the Cause

I feel truly honoured- got a flickr mail requesting for the use of my photo on icanhascheezburger.com. Purpose was to help publicise and raise awareness on the issue of homeless animals. I'm glad to be a part of this effort. Here's the LOL which was created from the photo of a sweet little anonymous kitten which I spotted in the cage outside Mt Pleasant clinic on East Coast Road. I don't know whether the kitten was eventually adopted but with sweet eyes like that, I would definitely be a fan.


moar funny pictures

If you want to do something for the community cats of Singapore, check out the Pawpledge and CWS links in the left column - make a contribution, volunteer, help care for a cat in your neighbourhood, starting this Friday, 12/12, or according to the lady who contacted me, "the twelfth of never - for too many pets, that is the sad truth."