12/31/2014 ‒
And one more thing...

This is likely going to get me in trouble, because I hit the shutter at that precise moment. Or, I could've waited for the barista to show up.

"One last awkward question," I asked Zaty. "What do you look like?"

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12/30/2014 ‒
And the Holy Mother's doorbell makes a sound

I am writing this from Kuala Lumpur, and all I've been watching on television is news of that AirAsia plane crashing in Indonesian waters. The rest are in Malay. And then there's that subtitled airing of Got to Believe, the KathNiel show.

So, no, I have little idea of what's happening at home. There's the indecisive storm, flipping between tropical depression and tropical storm; the rains have been a bit of a hidden character in my week-long holiday so far, being quite a presence in Singapore, and just hovering over in Malaysia, what with the floods and all. Apparently there's this police chief who disappeared on his boat, too. Oh, right, and there's a wedding.

Now, yes, I know I called that wedding, this afternoon, a "lascivious display of wealth and influence". Eight bridal showers? Closed roads? Maybe. Frankly, I don't know about that. A 26,000-seater venue reserved for a wedding reception? That apparently happened, too. One priest officiating the wedding, plus eight more bishops and seven more priests? Freaking hell.

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12/24/2014 ‒
That thing Niko does on Christmas eve

Not that there's a competition to be first, but... have a happy Christmas, a merry new year, and hopefully a brilliant 2015! But who am I to know?

Once again, I almost forgot I had something to do on Christmas eve. I wish I could say I was busy packing for a trip to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - we fly out the day after Christmas, and the itinerary includes a stint as an unpaid messenger for the girlfriend and her online friend of five years - but, well, no, I'm not packing. Not yet. I have an idea what I want to bring, and the care package I am sending as that aforementioned unpaid messenger is all ready, but I haven't done any packing. And here I am, sending text messages to people who likely wouldn't reply.

I sent that to 47 people, only one of which is international. I mean, my Singapore friends are all home for the holidays, and my Aussie friend, well, I'll just send the message through Viber. And, as I write this, I remember that one of those friends is in Hong Kong right now, so I apologize for charging you twenty bucks.

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12/13/2014 ‒
Three seconds

I only had a point-and-click at hand, which explains why I had to be in front. And why my raw files are four megabytes large. Shutter speed, of course, leaves a lot to be desired.

Longtime blog readers would know that I got into Kimbra around the time this blog started, and I have since loved her jittery, crazy, sexy mix of jazz, funk and pop: an electronic beat under Motown flourishes, that voice that can go places, and the ability to stage a fun, to-hell-with-everything live show. She almost wasn't on this list, but I write this in a week when she wraps up production on her follow-up to Vows. I can dream of being the guy whose stage is where she debuts her new stuff, right? Yeah, I can.

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12/02/2014 ‒
Kimbra has landed and I am freaking out

"I hardly ever feel this way about my fandoms anymore, but I must meet Kimbra in person!"

"Shall we do it together?"

"Sure! But how where when whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy OMG OMG OMG OMG--"

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