Reaching

DID YOU SEE THE AFTERMATH of last night's storm? At work, roofs were blown off, windows shattered into pieces, window frames flew inside the building breaking a lot of things on its way.

I was at home during the thunderstorm, spending time with the PS3 until all of a sudden I could hear the strong winds. I didn't think it was bad but turned out it was horrific. My sister recorded a scene at the perayaan in bandar where people were running towards the stage and under tents while others were trying to hold these tents together. Cries were heard here and there and apparently, a group of female Indonesians ran into the men's toilet, crying, thinking it was another tsunami.

On my way to work this morning, I saw huge trees rooted out and fallen in the middle of the road. Another fell on electric cables. There were also houses with completely blown off roofs. Scary. Thank God I was at home. Although, after hearing my mom's story about the storm lastnight, I did had the tinniest feeling of wanting to run out and start taking photos of the aftermath. Call me crazy, but I really really wanted to - if only my wife hadn't told me to stay put.

Photo: Reaching, taken during last Sunday's event.

Camera Wars

CAMERAS ARE AMAZING, well most of the time. When they are crowding your space though, it's war. Every man for himself. Take the following two photos for example.

They're a mess. That one camera is covering the Sultan's face. I hate it. This time, in Bandar, during the Bersama Rakyat event in conjunction with His Majesty's 61st birthday was a fight to the end. And I ended up at the losing end.

Yesterday, I saw on the front page of The Brunei Times an excellent shot of this same scene but from a higher, wider, different angle. And in that photo, I saw my hand and my camera, taking these shots. Now, to find that photo so I can point it out to you guys.

PS: Some more photos have been uploaded to My PicasaWeb albums. Go check out HM 61st Bersama Rakyat Album.

Patriots

I AM EXTREMELY TIRED from this morning's event. His Majesty's Bersama Rakyat ceremony is huge! I think the sultan have a heck of a lot of patience just walking around the field and bandar to shake everybody's hands. I think that's over thousands of hands. Personally, I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd be too paranoid with where these hands have been before they start shaking my hand.

Anyway, the event was long. Very long. Longer than years past. And the weather was boiling hot. I was drenched from my sweat. Best part? I took almost 6gigs of memory just on photos. Over a thousand of them. I just processed and uploaded these two for now because they show exactly what I went through, the crowded streets and the over enthusiastic kids. The rest of the photos will be uploaded in the gallery once I've finished processing them. So stay tuned!

PS: Slow updates lately due to overloaded with work.