Monthly moments: July

On the one hand, July was pretty stressful.  

On the other, it was also a month of meeting old friends and new ones, celebrating life events and enjoying solitude and finding new peace and purpose.  

On balance, I think it was pretty great.  

On to the next one!

I found a new journalling partner in Jia Min.  We sat in La Ristrettos and had drinks and wrote and grinned at each other over breakfast, and for one hour, all was right with the world.

Ann-Marie and I had brunch and she brought me a beautiful tote bag and bracelet that she'd picked up from a holiday in London.  Afterwards, I went with her and her fiance on their wedding photo shoot and helped with changes of clothes and carrying bags and pulling at skirts.  The couple looked gorgeous and the photos, promising.

The best part of the day though, was the massive dinner we walloped at Garden Slug afterwards, while she rocked her still-styled hair and eyelashes and posed for yet more photos with Yuan Wei.

It's awesome how couples seem to come away from wedding photoshoots with a great sense of humour about how absurd it can be to have a sweating guy shouting at you over a camera to elongate your neck when there's sand flying in your face.  Here, they're re-enacting the loving gazes they were made to give.

One of the best moments of my month was meeting a good friend from when I was doing my Masters.  Anjuly flew in to Singapore for work and we spent a night eating hawker food (sorry, Mathai, about the out of focus picture!). When I realised that her hotel was parked right behind Orchard Towers, my sense of mischief kicked in and I suggested we go for a snack and drink there.

A killer Thai beef salad and coke turned into a spontaneous night of barefoot dancing in clubs amid the ladies (and ladyboys) of the night.  We giggled and watched the transactions and sang 90s hit songs with the cover band.

Jia Jun lives in the same country, but since we hadn't seen each other for 6 years, it was just as much of a reunion.  We met with Priya for German food at Brotzeit and talked about all the times we'd pretended to be synchronised swimmers in the pool in my old estate, or yowled songs so loudly at my piano that the neighbour could hear.

I haven't had much time to knit this month, but I'm working slowly but surely on a knit and yarnover pattern with this Moda Vera wool in Bailey.  The spontaneous pink stretches give the colour a different dynamic and the yarnovers are both fun to knit and create texture.  For what it's worth, this is my favourite wool I've knitted with so far.  The spongey tubelike structure makes it easy to manipulate and tough to split and because it works on 4mm needles, it's less clunky than it looks.

July was a month for eating the snacks my parents brought back from Japan including this beguiling Tokyo Banana biscuit that is filled with a slightly buttery banana cream.

And in July, I got to catch up with one of my best friends, Mel, while her dog, Kaiser, made friends with Chip.  We spent several hours chatting at my place and it was like curling up with the most comforting mug of hot chocolate ever.  We laughed and ate cookies and the dogs' claws clicked around us as they snuffled up crumbs.

I can't get over how alike they are and how we probably own the exact same breed of dog without planning it.

I hope I get the chance to meet as many friends in August and to share as many laughs and cups of coffee, to spend time reading and writing and introspecting and to sit quietly, and just be, under a delicious mackerel sky.

Washi!

I know.  I know.  I just said I wouldn't buy any more washi tape.  But that was before I found out that the MT Expo was coming to Singapore this week and for special edition tape, I'm going to assume I get a pass.  

MT is apparently one of the better washi brands out there (not that I know any better) and when Amanda and I heard that there was going to be an expo, we decided to go on our day off.  JM, also a massive washi fan, decided to head there with me over lunch.  

While waiting for JM, I wandered around in the basement and realised there was an art exhibition of sorts going on.

The doodles, paintings and photographs were quite lovely, and I enjoyed watching engrossed people wend their way through the racks of paper.

I particularly like the one that looks like a crazy ticker tape roller coaster.  It looks a little Tokidoki-ish and I love Tokidoki.

This couple was ducking in and out of art pieces that covered their heads like lampshades.  They would turn a circle and look at the artwork inside and then stop and sneak a kiss.  It was quite sweet. 

When JM arrived, we headed straight up for the expo, giggling in nervous anticipation.  I will admit, I'd been wondering how in the world a trade fair revolving around masking tape was going to be run.  In my mind, I could hear my saner friends laughing at me.

We wandered into Prints by accident and were briefly disappointed when we thought that the small trays of washi they had on display constituted the whole expo.  The salesman pointed us in the right direction and the moment we turned the corner, we knew it was going to be good.

Every inch of the walls and floor was covered with home decor sized rolls of tape.  There were hollow wooden houses filled with samples and even the paper balls were made with strips of washi paper stuck over a spherical frame.  We kept rounding corners and being shocked by the sheer abundance of tape plastered everywhere.  JM said it was the best laugh she'd had all week. 

People were moving very slowly and politely with shopping baskets through trays of the stuff, but we could see that the special edition tape wasn't going to last long, so we got down to it.

There was tape in every size, colour and description, and just for good measure, there was a sample strip of every design running down the pillars in the room.  There were prints and shapes and tape with cartoonish scribbles and with delicate botanical prints.  Some of the tape told stories of sweet bear and rabbit characters and some showcased tickets, posters and mementos from all around the world.  I was quite taken with a roll of tape that had recipes for pancakes and fruit tart on it.  There was even a bizarre roll with articles about how to use washi tape printed on it.  I imagine that would get old really quickly. 

 I like bright, geometric prints but lately I've been looking for designs that are a little more fine and muted.  I didn't get the beautiful Rafflesia print you see above, but I snagged a special edition roll of animals that has a tapir on it! 

After JM went back to work (nine rolls of tape poorer, might I add), I hung around to meet the source of my washi tape problem.  We spent several minutes debating the merits of moose vs. stick figure tape (I vetoed both; I love meese but these were orange) and she very sweetly gave me one of her free MT tote bags. 

"Is this going on the blog?  You better take a special photo.  With some quality control.  Make sure that I look like I'm touching the balloon with my foot," Amanda demanded.

Yes, Miss Wintour.  Notice also, that the paper bag is almost full. 

I got home that night and deliriously showed my collection off to my highly bemused cousin who kept saying, "Wait so, it's just tape?"  

Yep.  It's just tape.  I spent the afternoon at a tape exhibition.  You just read an entire post about tape. 

And I blame Amanda. 

MT ex, on the fourth floor of Ion, is on until the 11th of August.

Under the sea

Imagine, for a moment, that this dolphin is saying to you, "Hey bro.  Uber-long post ahead, yo".  Thanks.

So I got sick, then I got fiendishly busy but between the two, I've really been wanting to post photos of the things I did before I got... well, sick and busy.  I'm still slightly delirious from drowsy medication, but I thought I'd have a bash.  

A couple of weekends ago, my friend Wai Kit and I decided to hit the new S.E.A. Aquarium.  Wai Kit had cheap Groupon tickets and a background in biology and I, well, I just freakin' love to look at fish.  

I was also really excited for the chance to take some pictures and to see what is now the biggest oceanarium in the world.  The experience was exhilarating and disappointing in equal measure.  For one, I'm glad I went with Kit because he is equally excited by animals.  We kept waving frantically at each other and going, "Oh my god!  It's a insert-your-choice-of-sea-creature-here".

For another, the aquarium is huge.  We walked slowly through it for two hours savouring the sights and at the end of the two hours, we were still walking.  The species are not as quirky as some of those that you get at the Underwater World (sea angels and garden eels, anyone?) but for the sheer range, number and size of the display, it's absolutely worth a visit.  

What was disappointing to me though, was the photography - well, my photography in particular.  My first instinct was to bring a zoom lens, but then I thought about how dark it was and settled on the 35mm lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.  It turned out to be absolutely the right choice but I hadn't realised just how reflective and distorting aquarium panes can be and with the largest acrylic viewing panel in the world coming in at about a foot thick, I found it impossible to take pictures that didn't come out cloudy, out-of-focus and excessively blue.

That said, I have decided anyway to subject you to a ton of the least badly taken photos of... fish.  I know.  I'm a real giver.

Wai Kit and I went on a Friday morning and we showed up even before the aquarium opened in order to beat the queues.  It worked... for a about a minute.  We were congratulating ourselves on being first in line and then busloads of tourists pulled up and we were caught in the deluge anyway. 

While waiting for the aquarium to open, we sat and watched some preliminary video about Admiral Zheng He, whom I don't know from Adam.  The display was pretty cool though - they had built the Zheng He museum in a life-sized ship and on the front, there was a wooden carving of a lion.  Before the video started, the lion suddenly blinked open glowing red eyes and started to spew smoke.  Very Night at the Museum.

The fish inside the aquarium are grouped together by species so I thought I'd just put the photos together that way for convenience.  

There were tanks full of puffers.  I kind of love how in the second photo, the two fish look as if they've just accomplished a shady drug deal and are pretending not to know each other as they hurry off in opposite directions.

The boxfish were also pretty cute.  That second guy looks quite thuggish, as if he's demanding to know what my deal is.  Look at those transclucent fins!  Could you just die?  (Bonus points for recognising the Fresh Prince of Bel Air reference.)  There was a little yellow-green cow boxfish with horns, but I didn't get a good shot of him.

Archerfish!  I briefly wondered if the aquarium staff hung random insects on the branches for them to spit down on a daily basis.  I would. 

There was a perspex bridge where little fish and skates swam under our feet and then we queued up with all the four year olds in Singapore to get to the touch pool.  Wai Kit wanted to touch everything; I just took pictures.

I really liked the chocolate chip sea star, while Wai Kit was thrilled that he got to touch the little bamboo shark in the picture above.  Back in the Underwater World, I loved the exhibit where you got to pat and feed the rays and skates.  Then, I couldn't bring myself to eat stingray for six months so I decided not to go back for awhile.

There were many large columns like this one spread throughout the aquarium and we would just stand there for a few minutes, soaking in the colours and crazy swirls of fish.

There were sea horses and ugly, bloated frogfish.

And then, there were cuttlefish.  I love cephalopods.  They are among my favourite sea creatures and I can sit and watch them going about their business for hours, particularly octopodes.  Many years ago, I learned that cuttlefish will greet you if you wave at them slowly, as if your hand is another cuttlefish altogether.  Every non-science person I've told this to seems to think that I'm trying to pull a fast one, but if you look at the second picture, you can see that the cuttlefish is responding to me. 

Beyond that, there is apparently a whole series of sign language that you can learn to communicate with cuttlefish, and I've read stories online about cuttlefish even trying to offer food to a person who showed them the right hand signals!  So fascinating.

We watched them hover and pulse colours for awhile, and then walked on.

I wanted to dislike the dolphin exhibit.  I really did.

I'm not someone who goes around thinking about cruelty to animals a lot but at work, we'd recently been teaching classes on how bad zoos could really hurt animals and I know that dolphins need lots of space and freedom.  So I was prepared to feel stomach-churningly disgusted when I watched them sluggishly pacing circles in a tiny tank.

I don't know much about animal husbandry, but exactly the opposite thing happened.  We pulled up at two small windows labelled Dolphin Island.  When I looked inside, there was nothing there, and I wondered if I'd been confused in thinking that the dolphins had arrived. 

And then, I swear, it was just like magic.

There was a massive splash and five dolphins exploded into the water from above.  I'm not the type of girl who is crazy about dolphins and whales and unicorns but I couldn't help it.  I grabbed Wai Kit's arm and squealed and the two of us stood in awe watching them spinning and whizzing playfully through the water.

The lady manning the exhibit explained that the dolphins actually have eleven different lagoons spread out across the whole aquarium and that they can swim through and jump in and out of them as they please.  At any one time, they're spread out across about six olympic sized swimming pools of water and since there is only one viewing area, they're free to swim up to it only when they feel like it.  The pane is a two-way pane that we were not allowed to touch or pound on, and since the dolphins can see the humans, they sometimes come up to the glass to interact.

I thought this was quite a good idea, better than having tourists pressed thickly up against the glass all round a tiny enclosure without any respite.  She also told us that the dolphins are identified by the white scars that they get when they bite or nip each other, which is a natural behaviour.

There is something magical about a dolphin that I now finally understand.  Watching them swim and shoot through the blue and leap in and out of the enclosure really lifted my spirits and maybe I was anthropomorphising, but I felt like they were being playful.  Occasionally, one would pause to look at us curiously, as if to say, "Oh, you're still there," (see: the first picture in this post) and then another one would come up behind it and the chase would begin again.

As I've said, I don't have the slightest clue about how to keep dolphins, but it seemed like we could be doing worse.  We walked away, feeling a curious lightness, and came upon the jellyfish exhibit. 

Jellyfish remind me of the moon.  They were as graceful as the dolphins in a different way - serene, silent, unearthly.

We also saw a heap of Cassiopeia, or upside-down jellyfish, that I didn't manage to get a picture of.  They live upside down, on the swamp or sea bottom, and they photosynthesise.  I couldn't get over it.

I was already high on dolphins and jellies and when we walked into the viewing gallery for the largest tank in the whole aquarium, I lost it altogether.  Photos can't do justice to how huge this exhibit it.  It stretched about two or three stories high and I couldn't capture how wide it was.

There were sharks, schools of fish, manta rays so huge that they were as big as two men and carried themselves in a simultaneously unwieldy and graceful way.  Wai Kit and I sat on the lush carpet in front of the acrylic for a good half an hour and talked in hushed tones about the manta rays that were powering effortlessly through the water.  The tank is so big that the fish adopt schooling behaviour and we could see them flicking and shimmering as a cloud near the surface.

I also spent my time people watching.  I love watching people watching things; I love the looks of wonder and surprise on their faces and the vicarious pleasure that parents get when their children discover things for the first time.  Half my time in exhibits is spent hiding behind pillars and enjoying people's reactions to them (the exhibits, not the pillars.  Although if someone were excited by a pillar, well, I would enjoy seeing that too).

We finished up by walking through the eel and shark exhibits.

There is nothing quite so evil-looking as an eel.  Standing in front of the tank and watching them gulp and slither nefariously overhead, I was reminded of Flotsam and Jetsam in Disney's The Little Mermaid.  They looked exactly like the smooth, muscled giant morays that were simultaneously glaring and smiling at me just then.

The hammerhead sharks really cracked me up.  I love how they look permanently disgruntled; the one above is like, "Come at me bro".

Afterwards, we had a wander through the gift shop and bought fish-themed notebooks for our students.

We ended our outing at the Malaysian street food centre next door and Ah Kit, who comes from across the Causeway, was pleasantly surprised with the quality and the prices of the food.  We shared a Penang assam laksa and Penang char koay teow between us and then gorged on a really delicious chendol for dessert.

If you're still with me, thanks for wading through that random pile of pictures!  I had an awesome time and if you're anything like me (for example, if you went straight to the sea episodes of BBC's Planet Earth), you'll enjoy the S.E.A aquarium. 

I'm a little sad I didn't get better pictures of the giant tank, but that just means that I get to go back and try again some time!  Lessons learned: there is no point bringing a zoom lens when you can't lean and zoom beyond the glass anyway and I really need to practise focusing behind the boundaries of the tank.

And that, as they say, is that.  I'll just leave you with an idea of how much Wai Kit loves jellyfish...

... which is a lot.