resolution

its official. i'm f a t.

i decided to do a little of spring cleaning since i've been doing nothing else but bum at home. the first thing i did was rearrange by 'bottoms' drawer. bottoms here includes jeans, pants and berms. you know, stuff i wear to go out. so i had to sort the pile of bottoms into Keep, Maybe and Throw cause darlings that drawer was gonna burst at its hinges.

first thing i did was to weed out the the passe ones. the cargo pants, the corduroys, the jeans with the holes. since that's out of the question, the next thing i did was to see which of the bottoms i tend to wear most. you know how sometimes you have like 10 different shades of blue for jeans yet you keep wearing only 3. and this 3 are the ones that matches everything and you think you like nice in them. so i kept those that receive higher usage frequency.

after that, all that is left are the 'Maybes' pile. somewhat the undecided bunch. stuff that you wear occasionally. they're not exactly ugly but somehow you just do not gravitate towards them. to solve this pile, what i did what to see which fit. those which did were kept and those that didnt made the trip to the 'Throw' pile.

and lo and behold. out of the 8 in the Maybe pile, only 2 of them fit me. i realise what the problem was. i bought most of these Bottoms when i was still in NS. i mean of course i do realise the main problem here is i've gotten more full figured but the thing about buying clothes during national service is that they will only fit you when you are still in the army. once you've pass that stage where you no longer run 6kilometres everyday or do jungle warfare every other week, your body does not maintain that same svelte fingure.

it gets frustrating i guess seeing all these bottoms that i bought using my savings and the meager NS allowance all go into the Throw pile. so thats that. i need to get back in shape. obviously i know its close to impossible to regain what i had during my heydays but at least a slight reduction in fat retention could ease the frustration.

not gonna embark on a strict diet cause i know these diets don't last. what i'm gonna do is include little changes into my life, think stairs and low carbs.

if not for fashion, at least for my health.


do i hear an Amen?







ALI JOE

2nd roll

today i finally managed to collect the photos from my holga that i sent for developing last week. the thing i like about having a film camera in the day and age of digital ones is the anticipation that builds up from wondering how the photos will turn out.

when i was young i always looked forward to accompanying my dad to the photo developing shop. it's always a treat to see how the photos we took during hari raya or a recent trip to Malacca turned out. and then we'd go home, look through them again and carefully slot them into a photo album. and whenever somebody comes to visit, we proudly present them with the photo albums while we eagerly explain each picture and laugh at those that didnt turn out nice. well, i kind of miss that now. digital cameras has somewhat numbed up from this excitement we use to feel from film cameras. now photos go directly into the computers and the once deemed unsatisfactory are deleted with a simple mouseclick. then they're uploaded onto facebook while people comment on them. in a way, the whole process is still somewhat similar. its just that it has lost its warmth.

so here are the photos that were developed from my holga which i received today.


double exposure of a spiral staircase and, some clouds and the sun on a sunny day.


a view of the mosque opposite my house from my corridor.


double exposure of the clouds and a monument


fountain outside swissotel


outside raffles city. i liked the complexity.


SIM atrium. i've always found the roof of the atrium fascinating. reminded me somewhat of wheelock place. whenever i take the escalator from the basement to level 1. i love to look to the top, the glass roof is so pretty, especially in the day.


taking photos in a way is like a red traffic light. you make the moment stop by capturing it on film.


clarke quay. depicting movement in stillness.


row of colourful houses along the Singapore river.



*Photos taken on Holga 120N using Fujichrome Provia 100F film developed at Triple D Mini Lab Centre.


alright thats all folks. i hope you like them!








ALI-JOE

Bottletree Birthday

it's always so frustrating when it comes to somebody's birthday and you can't decide on a place to celebrate it. i mean like going for dinner is just too common, we do that every time we meet up. birthdays have to be more special. so for sheryl's birthday, we decided to go prawning (prawn fishing) at Bottletree Park.


it was our first time prawning so we didnt really know what to expect. so when we reach the prawning place, we realised that prawning was simply people sitting around a drain of stagnant water while holding rods. OMG, so boring can!! why on earth do people find this kind of thing entertaining?!


so we decided to have dinner and explore the place instead!


they had some nice cool places where you can take photos. the whole bottle tree park was actually quite big.


there were even random bones structures lying around. i've seriously no idea how the bottle tree concept integrates with the bones. maybe the owner bought it on impulse.


we found a nice spot to sit down so we told sheryl to turn around cause we've got a surprise for her.


tadah!
birthday muffins!!


the muffins from Starbucks were so yummy, the girls couldn't stop gobbling them up!


after the birthday muffin it's time for presents!


we got Sheryl some stuff from Body Shop and also made her these lovely cards! handmade cards are lovely. i personally HATE those ready made cards sold at gift stores or bookstores, especially those with corny words already printed on them. bleah.

continued munching on the muffins and later, decided to call it a night since it was getting a little late. i'm sure everybody had loads of fun!

clutter

there was a period of time where i looked forward to blogging everyday. there was a period of time where amount of readerships mattered to me. there was a period of time where i spent hours editing every single photo that i wanted to publish.

right now, to be honest, i don't really care.



i need to sort out my life first.





ALI-JOE

preview

ali joe

muse

i like to look at runway shows and spot outfits that somewhat speaks to me. its ability to capture my intrigue works in creating the vision that assists the direction i wish to emulate. from there, i interpret the look by factoring in the weather, budget and its ability to complement other pieces that i already own.


3.1 Phillip Lim


Yves Saint Laurent


this time around, these 2 looks from the Spring 2010 collection strikes my fancy.



au revoir


photo credits : men.style.com

translation

happiness is a choice.
its is merely your ability to reduce the discrepancy between your actual and desired state.
in theory it sounds deceivingly simple to attain what others spend a lifetime seeking.
but reality proves otherwise.

often we are faced with many barriers and challenges that life propels.
so we seek comfort in the reasoning that life is unfair to us.
but come to think of it, whoever said life was meant to be fair.

in the end, happiness is only an expectation that prevails in theory.
the meaning to such an illusive word can only exist in dictionaries.
not in real life.

to be free

in 7 days, i shall be.





ali joe