A Journalism Undergraduate Who Didn't Want To Graduate

Many years ago when I was young, I'd known a full-time university student, majoring in Journalism, who'd transferred from university to university almost every year by signing up for only 18 semester hours per year. 

In other words, he was doing only half the usual course work in school.

Instead of carrying a backpack of books for classes, he would sling a  Nikon SLR camera around his neck and carry a backpack full of camera equipment.    

He didn't want to graduate and leave his college life. 

He had a nickname called Peter Pan.

A Homeless Person Living In An Airport

Several years ago, a newspaper reporter had discovered a supposedly homeless woman living inside an airport, making free use of bathroom and WiFi facilities.

She was found to be renting out her downtown apartment and collecting monthly rental income of about $2,000 and having a bank savings account of more than $100,000.

 

Anchorage Airport & A Slice of Watermelon

In 1986 while traveling on a flight going from New York to Seoul, South Korea, I'd got to know a young college student who was sitting two or three seats away from me. 

The airplane had a short stopover at Anchorage Airport, Alaska. 

This student bought a thin slice of watermelon from a food outlet inside the airport lounge and he paid US$5 for it. 

He told me he was dying to eat some watermelon, and I thought he was insane to pay that kind of money for a thin slice of fruit.

(At that time, the currency exchange rate of US$1 was equivalent to about S$2.15) 

A Story About Penang Char Kway Teow

When I'd visited Penang many years ago in 1975, I came across an elderly pushcart Char-Kway-Teow hawker nearby a street named Anson Road.

He'd used firewood to heat the wok and he'd cooked my order of Char-Kway-Teow with a big duck egg. 

He'd served the food on a plate for me to eat by the side of the street. 

That was the best plate of Char-Kway-Teow I'd eaten ever since.

Carr® Picture Frame

Frame size: 227mm by 177mm.
Glass size: 145mm by 94mm.

This is an ornate metallic picture frame for a 3-R photograph, most likely made in USA.

If any viewer out there knows about the kind of material this frame is made of, please write to me.

Weird Bookmarks

Over the past decades of browsing and buying used books, I'd found many interesting stuff used as bookmarks inside those books.

They are brochures; envelops; airline, bus, and train tickets; lottery tickets; Christmas cards; name cards; postcards; photographs; sales receipts; used postage stamps; and bookmarks (of course) among several others.

I have heard of absent-minded readers who'd conveniently used banknotes as bookmarks but, being a keen paper money collector myself, I don't have any luck yet in finding one so far.

You can never know some of those weird but interesting stuff readers tucked into their books as bookmarks. Have you ever heard of the story about someone who'd found a piece of ham bacon left behind as a bookmark?

Garden-in-the-Sky Concept saves Time and Effort

1. This garden-in-the-sky concept saves precious space in your small high-rise apartment.

2. Use a corner of your open balcony to catch free sunshine and rainwater to save your utilities bill.

3. Easy to care and no parasitic weeds to remove, and thus save a lot of your precious time and effort.

4. A place for you to enjoy some nature without having to walk to a park, and therefore save you a lot more time and effort.

5. Please don't try this garden-in-the-sky concept when you already have your garden on the ground 'coz you're already wasting too much time and effort on your landed property. Heeheehee!

gardening
Singapore

A Strong Howling Wind is Blowing

It's always windy at my place of residence. At times it's very windy and I can hear the howling wind blowing pass my windows.

But for this very afternoon, it's exceptionally windy and a strong howling wind from the northeast has been blowing for the past two hours now.

The sky is a little cloudy and the weather is a little sunny. I've shot this photograph at 3:40pm (about an hour ago) from my window facing the east. Check out those tall palm trees at the center and you can see that their palm leaves are swaying to one side. None of the residents are using those recreational facilities for the past few hours.

Where's that strong howling wind coming from?

Singapore

A Strange Misty Afternoon

February 28, 2007 -- It was a strange misty afternoon like never before.

I'd experienced a strange feeling when I'd shot this photograph and the whole atmosphere was almost surreal 'coz I'd never seen this kind of mist around here before.

This photograph was shot on Feb 28 at 2.12pm from my window facing east, towards Mandai forest. I've shot several photographs and only this photograph shows a strange diamond-shaped bright object (an UFO?) in the mist around those trees at the farside. Click on the photograph to enlarge.

Today, the sky is clear and the weather is sunny.

I've just shot this photograph in the early afternoon from the same window and facing the same direction for comparison.

Is there something strange going on at the farside?

Singapore

Tiong Bahru Road, Old and New Houses

It was about 11:30am and the weather was cool and breezy.

That elderly person was standing right across Tiong Bahru Road when I'd shot this picture of those 57-year-old houses in the background. Was he trying to catch a taxicab or just looking at me?

Walking into a side street called Boon Tiong Road about a minute later, I'd turned around and shot the new twin-tower condominiums in the background.

You notice in the lower left-hand corner of the second picture that the elderly person was still standing along the main road.

I'd got to move along 'coz I was going to meet a seller in 5 minutes to collect some items that I'd bidded from an auction. It was a nice Sunday yesterday to travel around and buy something that I like.

By the way, I ain't sure how long that elderly person was standing along that main road 'coz I didn't go back that way.

Singapore

Is there Something at the Far Side?

Looking out from my window on December 30 at dusk, the early evening at about 6:25pm, I saw this long rainbow across the sky. A drizzle had just ended in time for me to shoot this photograph.

After watching the rainbow fading away slowly for about ten minutes, I'd wondered if the proverbial saying about that pot of gold might just be there among those trees at the far side. Heeheehee!

Singapore

Romie of Books Galore, Far East Plaza

BOOKS GALORE
14 Scotts Road,
#05-107,
Far East Plaza,
Singapore 228213.

Sole Proprietor: Romie (left photo).
Telephone Numbers: 67328773 and 93852696.

Check out my friend's bookshop selling mostly second-hand (used) books like Fiction (Novels), Non-Fiction (Self-Help, Inspirational, Motivational, Business, Hobbies, Fashion, General), Children's Books, Comics, and Imported Magazines.

Best bookshop downtown selling and renting used books. No regrets walking into Romie's bookshop 'coz I've been buying used books and magazines from Romie since 1991. This is the man who has been selling books since the good old school days at Bras Basah Road. He will gladly answer all your questions about books.

Peruvian Baskers along Orchard Road

The weather was cool and a little windy in the afternoon of December 22, as I went to Orchard Road, the shopping district of Singapore.

I saw this great outfit from Peru basking along the walkway in front of Wisma Atria, across Orchard Road from CK Tang department store.

With some luck, I had my digital camera with me and I'd shot a few photographs.

Here are two nice pictures of this group of musicians entertaining the crowd with some cool music of the Andes.

Singapore

An Old Beatles B & W Poster

Large black and white poster, 14 by 11 inches in size, bought in the early 1980s from a bookshop at Bras Basah Complex.

Sealed inside a glass and metal frame, this splendid poster features the Beatles and their friends from Liverpool, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Roy Orbison (wearing sunglasses).

This item was sold to a bidder at Yahoo! Auctions Singapore about a year ago.

SOLD!

Beatles
poster

Make Your Own Print for Display

When you can't find a photograph or a postcard of a good scenery that you want, try to search for a virtual image and do your own printing.

This large printed picture was done with a HP Deskjet 690C sometime in 1999 and then sealed into a wooden frame of 9¼" by 11¼" in size.

Now you have something almost like a photograph or postcard framed for display.

resorts

Almost Like a Real Photograph

A sparkling diamond among those rough diamonds. They look almost like real stuff on my living-room table.

This is a magazine clipping from an early 1980s in-flight monthly published by Malaysian Airline System. It'd looked like a color photograph when I'd got it sealed inside a wooden frame 11¼" by 9¼" in size more than 15 years ago.

Romie's Bookshop Downtown Singapore

BOOKS GALORE
14 Scotts Road,
#05-107,
Far East Plaza,
Singapore 228213.

Sole Proprietor: Romie (left).

Telephone Numbers: 67328773 and 93852696.

Check out my friend's bookshop selling mostly second-hand (used) books like Fiction (Novels), Non-Fiction (Business, Self-Help, Inspirational, Motivational, Fashion, General), Children's Books, Comics, and Imported Magazines.

Best bookshop downtown selling and renting used books. No regrets walking into Romie's bookshop 'coz I've been buying used books and magazines from Romie since 1991. This is the man who has been selling books since the good old school days at Bras Basah Road. He will gladly answer all your questions about books.

books
Romie
Singapore

Don't panic when your PC goes beep beep

Sometimes your computer might show a black screen and give a beeping sound when you switch it on. But please don't panic.

Switch off the power supply to your computer.

Unscrew and slide out the cover from your computer chasis and look for the memory RAM chips.

Use your thumb and apply some pressure onto the two ends of these memory chips, indicated by the yellow arrows in my second image.

This will usually do the trick and you can then switch on the power supply and restart your computer.

I am pleased to share with you this simple solution, and your problem is resolved.

computer
hardware

November 23, 2006: The Haze Has Gone!

Looking out from my window this afternoon at about 2:45pm, I can see that the sky is clear and sunny, and just some white clouds up there.

I can see clearly now that the haze is gone and I can certainly see those trees out there at the far side. It's a great day to find some inspiration to write something here.

By the way, a heavy thunderstorm has occurred at about 4:45pm and I guess the rain is good for those trees out there at the far side.

Singapore

Penang Hill 1975, My Adventure

This old faded color photograph was shot on a fine sunny afternoon in January 1975.

On that day, I rode a cable tramcar up Penang Hill in the morning and soaked in the nice and cool atmosphere on top of this beautiful tourist resort.

Being young and adventurous back then, I'd decided to hike down Penang Hill instead of riding the usual tramcar.

I'd figured out that by starting my journey at around midday and walking along the footpath winding down the slope, I should reach that nice and pleasant Botanic Gardens at the bottom of the hill before sundown. I had a manual Minolta camera with me and that was how I'd managed to shoot several photographs along the way, including this photograph on display here.

I'd never known how many hours it would take to hike along that long footpath, but after more than an hour, I felt thirsty but had no portable drinking water. Miracles do happen if you believe in them, and when I'd wished for something cool to drink, a tiny spring just popped out from the side of a hill slope, very much like a zamzam, a small sprout of cool and clean water to quench my thirst.

Feeling much refreshed after that drink, I could then walked down for another hour and a half to reach civilization at last, indeed before sundown, to find that nice and pleasant Botanic Gardens, and a gentle stream of water flowing by that place.

I'd asked a passerby to shoot a photograph (above) of me wading in that cool stream of water. As you know, water flows down from the top of the hill and it's always found somewhere at the bottom of the hill. As for that zamzam, well, I don't know 'coz I haven't gone back there for the past 30 years.

Penang