Standard Issue

I never thought I’d find another WordPress theme that I’ll love as much as Tarski! I stumbled upon PrimePress, which is free and allowed control over certain page elements that I originally tweaked on Tarski and cannot do without. 

There were a lot of other themes that I liked but there’s always something wrong with them. Some do not let me exclude pages from the navigation bar. Some realigned all my posts. Some had post bodies that were too narrow. The only thing wrong with this one is that I don’t have time to customise an image header. So I’ll let the defaults run for now.

I like my blog layout to be fairly minimalist due to the photos I sometimes post. I used to have a bunch of things in the sidebars, but I took a good hard look at them one day and decided that it’s a lot of unnecessary crap that’s slowing down my load time. Hence a more bare, uncluttered blog and all the more reasons to generate actual content.

Posting a screenshot for my reference.

On Friday, I went to the talk held by Alvin Leong Academy of Photography about their courses. Speaking were four of their instructors, described by Alvin as the best in their photography fields - Yusof Hisham on travel and post-processing, Jimin Lai on photojournalism, Harry Tan on nature and Alvin himself on wedding.

I have no plans on taking up a course. I was there as part of work. However, I did feel a twinge of… I don’t know what you call it… nostalgia? I used to like photography. For the first couple of years in the media, I loved it more than writing itself and thought of getting myself a DSLR to venture further into the photojournalism aspect.

But like most of my past loves, it hits hard and burns furiously, and then fizzles out and never darkens my doorway again. Perhaps I’ll revisit it in another 20 years, like my dad. ;P

When I went home that night, I went through some of my online archives. It’s amazing what I’ve forgotten I put online.

Here’s a round up of my own favourites between 2004 and 2007.

NO TOE: Buddy the Rottweiler relaxes at the SSPCA shelter. He was taken to the shelter by someone who claimed to have found him by the roadside. One of his toes was hacked off . (© Georgette Tan, 2004)

I'M SHY: A lotus blooming in a friend's garden pond. (© Georgette Tan, 2004)

I LIKE THIS: An elderly Iban warrior leans against one of the classic cars travelling through Borneo as part of an event whose name escapes me. (© Georgette Tan, 2005)

ELEGANT: Ramli Ibrahim & The Sutra Dance Theatre strikes a pose at the end of a number during their performance in Kuching. (© Georgette Tan, 2005)

SPIN: One of the rides at the Euro Fun Fair that stopped in town. (© Georgette Tan, 2005)

BIG BITE: A huge burger with a homemade patty at a restaurant that is no longer operating. (© Georgette Tan, 2005)

HURDY GURDY MAN: A musician at the 2005 Rainforest World Music Festival. (© Georgette Tan, 2005)

INSIGNIFICANT: A lone kayaker paddles down Sungai Sarawak Kanan to the backdrop of mountains. (© Georgette Tan, 2006)

WE DID IT!: DAP's Violet Yong and her supporters celebrate her winning the Pending seat at the 2006 Sarawak Elections. (© Georgette Tan, 2006)

REAL MEN CRY: Alan Bianco Martini Malgioglio of Brazil has a teary moment after winning the Mister International 2007 title in Kuching. (© Georgette Tan, 2006)

MERDEKA!: Fireworks and flag-waving at the Merdeka Day celebrations in Miri, 2007. (© Georgette Tan, 2007)

GOD OF ROCK: Once of Indonesian rock band Dewa 19 performs at the Sarawak Indoor Stadium. (© Georgette Tan, 2007)

SNORE: A baby Pied Fantail naps in its nest. Fantails find food by flicking their tails up and down to startle flies into flight. (© Georgette Tan, 2007)

SAUSAGE: A dish at Mr Ho's Fine Foods at Crown Square in Kuching. (© Georgette Tan, 2007)

AWAY: A self-portrait at a tree house balcony at Permai Rainforest Resort. (© Georgette Tan, 2007)

I am indeed going away to Miri for a few days, and might post  if I feel like it. Have a good week!

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat
Chris Riddell
Published by Macmillan Children’s Books
Hard cover, 171 pages

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat came before Ottoline Goes To School. You can see that she’s a bit younger in this book, but it doesn’t take away the fun of the series.

Ottoline lives in the Pepperpot Building (called so because it looks like a pepperpot) with Mr. Munroe, whom her parents found in a bog in Norway. Our intrepid young protagonist specialises in solving tricky problems and working out clever plans. She has a notebook specially for jotting down what she sees and working out those clever plans.

The mystery begins when Mr Monroe noticed posters of missing dogs and showed them to Ottoline. Soon, Ottoline noticed some interesting and possibly related activity in the crime pages.

One of the things I noticed about Ottoline is that she does manage to be a slightly annoying little snot the way young children are when then learn the proper codes of conduct but doesn’t know the appropriate time to sling it out. Nonetheless, she is still sincere and endearing.

Riddell’s line art is full of visual pun and references that adults are more likely to get. For example, does this scene look familiar?

And finally, another piece of evidence that Riddell might have been here: