the entry about blocking up an ad shoot

i am a rock, i am an island. that's pretty much the mantra that was going through my mind. in fact, this was but one of the many thoughts that were racing in my head when i arrived at the set the very afternoon. what if i wasn't exactly what they were looking for? what if they didn't like how i posed? what if i broke wind? it was making me batshit with anxiety and panicky all over.

to cut the long story short, i had a modelling job and was scheduled to pose for an upcoming sunblock advert. i was faced with the task of looking fresh, sunshine-boy-meets-boy-next-door, and modelly right in the midst of switching careers, the most strenuous and grungy of human endeavors. the ad for the new series of sun tan care products, aptly named blockup!, necessitated me changing into my "beach outfitter" mien, i.e. stripped down to bare nothing, save but a pair of board shorts. so here i was in the fitting room. the dig was a makeshift one, i gathered, which was made of a billowy velvet curtain and suspiciously feeble-looking rings that were supporting the drape.

i stepped onto the set, and it was a pretty awkward experience: the crew were carefully scrutinizing me from head to toe. sure, i love attention and all (read: megalomaniac), but never have i felt so exposed and surveyed like a study object. one crew suggested that i did military push-ups before the shoot; i guess he wanted my man-boobs to swell up like i was doing a lingerie ad. another crew was tasked to spray squirts of water on my body to enhance the look of the tan appeal, but she was so shy she didn't look where she was spraying, my face endured a bukake-esque squirtful. and i thought i was supposed to be the sheepish one.

fast forward an hour and half later, i was all swarthy from the mix of the suntan lotion and water spray, i smelled exactly like freshly extracted coconut oil. great. so anyhows, here are a couple pictures taken during the set and also photos from the official website, www.blockup.com.sg. there aren't exactly that many, because i was still recovering from the shock of having my topless photo taken in front of a set crew. nevertheless, here's it:

a pedestal for the vertically challenged, yours truly.

the crew sifting through some of the shots.

extreme left: the ever-bashful water-squirter, jac.

the lineup of sun-care products from blockup!

the final product, on blockup.com.sg

p.s.: check out their facebook app at http://apps.facebook.com/blockup/.

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the entry about an afternoon nosh and thereafter

i admonish myself for mismanaging my meal schedules so badly these days, i'm having a bad time with bowel movements. i endeavored remedying the farce situation with consuming loads of fibre from fruits such as banana and papaya and downing tons of water; it didn't work. i even tried fybogel, and imagined myself sitting atop the throne later excreting the unspeakable, but it was pretty much a fiasco. i'm thinking laxatives next.

folks, never underestimate the power of inflation. a two-dollar bill fifteen years ago would have bought me a bowl of egg noodles and vending coke at the local school's tuckshop, and with change to spare. fast forward to now, and it's hardly enough to cover for even the entree, let alone a scrumptious budgeted full-course meal. miser-warts, beware. gone are the days of economical food.

so, a friend brought me for an afternoon delight of noodles-slurping affair. well, technically, i drove, i led the way, and i demanded he gave me a treat, but what gives? anyways, as i was chopsticking my plate of springy eggy noodles, enjoying the treasure find of wanton dumplings that was few and far between, i heard a massive cacophony of blaring percussions of the orient, represented by the likes of cymbals and large drums.

indulge in savoury eggy nosh from the likes of kok kee

the vendor's new kicks: waterproof and abundant

apparently, the hawker has just been retrofitted and refurbished, and a procession was in place to celebrate the brand-new facade of the center. amidst the sea of dizzying new beige tables were these lion mock-ups sluggishly batting their eyelids to the almost-tuneless music played by "the orange band". they are so called "the orange band", because i could think no other name suited it better. it was such a hot mess: the sweltering weather was beating down mercilessly and the ruckus wasn't letting up at all. the masquerade of lions nearly ruined an otherwise sumptuous feed.

the din was apparently too much for crony kevin

we moved on to something even more delectable: test-drive! get a load of my potentially new ride, a mercedes c-180.

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the entry of miniscule festivities

of late, i've been running down memory lane watching re-runs of mean girls with various friends so many a times that i could almost recite the entire transcript it's crazy! i know, right? it's like i've got a fifth sense or espn or something. someone spell me x-y-l-o-c-a-r-p.

anyhows, i must be really down in luck. i made another trip to the hospital yet again. apparently, a cyst-like lump on my wrist, which has been there for almost a year, is mushrooming to the size of a small quail egg. i've decided, for the benefit of those who indulge in quail congee delights, to not have any pictures taken. so here's how it went down:

i traipsed back to the same clinic, but consulted another doctor, who was a specialist in hand and wrist-related malaise. he gingerly poked at my lump (risque much), shone a torch at it (for whatever reason), moved the lump around to assess its mobility, and concluded it to either a case of ganglion or fibroma, both of which required a two-cm saucerization across the locale to extract said lumpy. in laymen's term, it just meant i need to fork out another $3,500 for the operation. fantastic.

on a brighter note, the last day of october, i.e. halloween, brought about some long-awaited fun. the gin gang decided to dress up in acjc outfits. i tried squeezing into my old school pants, and found it to be literally breathtakingly tight. in the end, i went as a flight attendant. hark back to the days, deja vu. meanwhile... photos!

chen liping and the whole gin gang

gary and me

colleen, the cool chick from cathay

shuhuei

power of the manly muscly dykes

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