Alison Performing @ Octoburst (Esplanade Event)

Alison will be among 4 students from Northwood Music performing at this years Octoburst Festival at the Library@Esplanade.

It's an event organized by "Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay" for this years Children's Day celebrations.

It gives young people an avenue to perform in front of a live audience.

Click here for happenings at Octoburst 30 SEP 2010 - 3 OCT 2010.

One of my Favorites....

Lighthouse Family - High (Forever You and Me) from the album - Postcards from Heaven

Got our US VISA

It was a long wait but the interview lasted about 2-3mins. Make it short and to the point, don't reply with a long story.

It went very smoothly, thank God!

Quite a lot of people were turned away because they did not have a cashiers order, some brought personal checks or thought credit cards were accepted. They had to go off to the bank and return later in the morning. By that time, the queue would have grown longer.

TIP: If you have very thick documentation (like I have from the lawyers), make sure you go through it, use a Post-It sticky and label the supporting documents. This will make it easier for the officer processing your documents.

US Embassy Interview

We're all going to the American Embassy tomorrow for the VISA interview.

Just preparing all the documents and putting and labeling them in order.

Every Singaporean Son - Ep 11

Having some fun!

I'm Listening to "Throne of Praise"

wonderful song.... I pray that I could play like Daniel.

Singapore Civil District - Videos

Singapore Night Scenes - Civil District & Bay Area

Merlion

Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino (IR - Integrated Resort)
Details here - Marina Bay Sands Info

One Fullerton... lots of restaurants and great view of the bay.

View from One Fullerton of Marina Bay with Mandarin Oriental, Pan Pac, Ritz Calton hotels

Singapore River

The Fullerton Hotel

On the left is the Supreme Court and the dome is City Hall

City Skyline

Singapore Parliament House

Istana Open House on Hari Raya Puasa - 10 Sep 2010

sadly... after queuing for almost 45mins, it started to rain just when we past the security checks.

anyway my son still managed to get some pictures...

中元节 (Zhong Yuan Jie) or Hungry Ghost Festival

This happens opposite my place every 中元节 (Zhong Yuan Jie) or Hungry Ghost Festival. This year it starts from 10 Aug to 7 Sep. On the last day they have this auction, getai (Singing, usually popular renditions of chinese and hokkien songs), and of course dinner.

It's very noisy! Not good if your kids are taking exams like my son preparing for his 'O' Levels.



Here is a wiki from the Racial Harmony Website - Hungry Ghost Festival
From yourSingapore.com website - Hungry Ghost Festival

related: Food & Fruits and the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival

I am Listening to "Our God" Chris Tomlin

Lyrics:

Verse 1
Water you turned into wine, opened the eyes of the blind
There’s no one like you, none like you

Verse 2
Into the darkness you shine; out of the ashes we rise
There's no one like you, none like you

Chorus
Our God is greater; Our God is stronger
God you are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God

Bridge
And if our God is for us then who could ever stop us;
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against?


This is an acoustic cover by Jonathan M Schmitz

Testing my Sony DSLR/DSLT-A33

just testing my newly acquired Sony Alpha A33 camera. It's got this new mirror technology called Translucent Mirror Technology, 14.2 mega pixels, phase detection, HD (1080i) video, 3D Sweep Panorama (auto stitch).

if you're thinking of getting one, get the A55, it's like $200 more, but you get 10fps(a33 - 7fps), and 16.2 mega pixels.

anyway, all that is such a mouth-full.... here are the pixs.

Captured this while waiting for my daughter's swim training.
Sweep Panorama - Location is ACS (I) Swimming Pool spectator stands... the building in the middle is Fusionpolis.


Window view from my home. Using the Handheld Twilight feature that does not require a flash or a tripod.


A closeup shot using a 18-70mm lens.


Will be at the Istana today, it's Hari Raya Puasa, so it's open house. See if there are any interesting shots.

Want to know more about Hari Raya Puasa (click)
And about the Istana (click)

Travel to the US

I've been told by our lawyers that I can only travel to the US 10 days before the validity of my visa start date.

My original plan was to be there in mid-Oct during the PSLE marking days, also during that week my son only has a single O level paper.

With this advise from the lawyers, I have to push back my house hunting and school arrangement trip till the last week of Oct. That week (exams) will be the busiest week for my kids and we won't be around to take care of them.

sigh....

Went to COMEX 2010

We were down at Suntec checking out the COMEX 2010 computer show. They had great deals there. Went on the last day, and they were slashing prices.

My son got a Acer notebook, my daughter bought a netbook with touch screen, and my maid bought a netbook as well.

I got myself a Sony Alpha a33 camera, the latest. Practicing everyday so that I can take some good pictures at my brother-in-law's wedding.

DS-160 Forms

Finally got all my visa documents from the lawyers.

just got my pictures done. Went online to fill out the ds160 form for everyone.

I must say filling out the form got me really tired. It timed-out so many times before I could save it.

TIP: Each time you fill out the form, make sure you save it, so if time expires, you can reload/import your last saved completed items.

So now I'm waiting for our interview on Sep 22.

Anyone been through the interview, what do they ask?