Coolcat's Jottings

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I find that it's easier being behind the camera. You don't have to put on make up to look your absolute best. You don't have to sleep early to reduce your eye bags or drink lotsa fluids to ensure healthy glowing skin. You don't have to worry if the troubles on your mind are showing through the frown lines of your forehead or the dim look in your eyes. You don't have to watch every calory you eat. And best of all, it doesn't matter in the least if you were wearing just a T-shirt and that pair of very comfortable shorts.

Behind the camera, you just need find the right angle and camera settings, frame and shoot.

Models don't have it easy.

Photo credits: MF

Sharon had this out-of-this world idea - a children's church photo project which involves a cocoon. The question was, how on earth would we find such a huge cocoon that we can angle in whichever direction we like? The ingeneous girl finally decided to make her own cocoon. Surely a case for this coolcat idiom ~ if you can't find 'em, make 'em.

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The assembly of a cocoon. It's basically made out of newspapers with crushed leaves stucked onto it.

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Sharon hangs it carefully on a tree branch

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And voila, an honest-to-goodness cocoon!

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The cocoon inventor lovingly beholds her invention. Awww...

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And after she got tired of it, she wanted to eat it!

That was one hardy cocoon. It survived two high-level falls. With just a minor touch-up, it was good to go for the next round of photo shoot. Needless to say, it was one fun weekend project

Just came back from a birthday bash. Organised by bezzie and I - for ourselves and our mutual friends. We thought it would be so cool to put a dash of the 80's into the whole party flavour. The 80's was like the age of bad hairdo and bad fashion sense, the time of experimentation of all things funky. It was also the time where our favourite songs, music videos, movies and TV series were at. I think we had a LOT of fun.

A special thanks goes to Mei Fong for opening her beautiful house to host our party. Paulos for doing such a great job and great effort in preparing for the games. Grace for her old but reliable laptop. Rapunzel for bringing TWO laptops as backup. Lenny for being the official photographer of the night, he sure was trigger-happy - can't wait to see the pics! The cg members for helping set the place and clean it up after the party's over. And last but not least, for our dear friends who came to celebrate a rite of passage for us. Your presence (and presents!) are deeply appreciated by the both of us.

Here are some pics from my baby. The pic with my face in it was taken by Grace. Thanks, girl

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80's models

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The 80's teeny boppers

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Dianne and Nianci digging in

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Paulos thinking up dastardly things for us to play during the games time.

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Jotay working hard at Win, Lose, Act, Hum or Draw

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Irene and Denise trying to guess what Jo was drawing

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The gamemaster enjoying the unfolding of the game play

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And the best dressed award goes to Jane!

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And SJ!

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Those who were not garbed in the 80's fashion were punished. Sadly, the gamemaster himself was punished.

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I was fascinated by Irene's earrings

A friend who had nothing better to do with his time, started to wonder if I am really as narcisstic as I claimed to be.

Today, out of the blue, he decided to count photos of me right on the first page of my blog.

"Hey, I did a photo count on your blog. Your face appeared 9 times!!!" the bored boy said excitedly.

How could this be?? Was he stating the truth?? I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and did a thorough count. Felt a mild triumph when my suspicions were confirmed. I knew he had miscounted.

"It's not 9 times lar. It's 11. You forgot to include the two pics at the top."

And today, there are 10

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Is it possible that birthdays just keep getting better and better as one grows older and hopefully wiser? This year, it felt like God was showering blessings upon blessings to me to make up for all the horrible birthdays in days of old.

This year, my dear ones really did remember my special day. Although some did experience panic attacks in the days preceeding my birthday. I received quite a number of belated birthday messages from friends and blog readers who thought that they had completely forgotten. And thus, I placed that "Birthday Break" blog entry to ease your fears. Thank you all for your well wishes!

This year, my dear ones made the time and effort to make it the most memorable birthday ever. I received surprises from all quarters. And the surprises keep coming on even till today. My dearest MAG members blindfolded me and took me to a secluded place for a nice seafood dinner.

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After a very nice meal, I duly received my gift.

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Alas, things are not always what they appear to be. I received three mysterious poems one after another. Sure feels like a treasure hunt!

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And this was the lady behind the counter that I was supposed to collect my real gift from.

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I still haven't received my other half of the gift yet and it's nearly bed time now. But I'm really really touched by their efforts to appease my love for nice surprises and sense of adventure (the blindfold and poems), romance (the rose and song dedication) and general tlc (the prayers, blessings and huggies).

Thanks, MAGers and each of my dear ones for making my birthday a most wonderful memory that I'll always treasure. Your gifts of friendship and being there for me means the whole world to me.

I'm truly happy.