03 July, 2006

*113 - prawning

By looking at the way my photos are automatically named (DSC_ _ _ _ _) I realised today that I've taken more than 10000 photos with my camera because it's back to DSC00001! Wow.

Went to West Coast and East Coast today - And got severely sunburnt.

Before today I had:
1. T-shirt/blouse tanline (sleeves and neckline)
2. Swimming costume tanline (straps that cross behind and dip down to my lower back)
3. Bikini tanline (thin halter straps)

And today, I added one more:
4. A very distinct tank top tanline.

The worst part is that number 1 to 3 aren't noticeable at all unless I wear a tube or something, but today's tanline is oh so obvious and oh so ugly. Boo. I think to even myself out, the only cure is nude sun bathing, ehehe, which means I'm going to be tanline-ful forever I suppose.

Ok more about prawning, as promised (:


Step One

Slice up cockles to use as bait. Poke the bloody mess into the hook.


(Clockwise: Tubby, Justin, Marcus, Justin's fingers)


Step Two

Look into the pond and find a spot with an abundance of prawns. Swish the bait around and pray that therein lies a hungry prawn. Take lots of photos.


(Clockwise: Spot the 2 prawns, Joel & Mattheus, me, Justin & me)


Step Three

Get frustrated that the prawns are not hungry and scrabble in the pond with nets in an effort to scrape them into your nets. (The nets are actually meant for you to keep your prawns in.) Feel guilty (it isn't the "right" way to catch a prawn!) and try with your rod again and again until you finally catch one!


(Clockwise: Tubby & I catch our first prawn the illegal way,
Justin & I catch our first prawn the correct way,
Mingchuan catches a Giant Prawn and breaks the rod in the process,
The Giant Prawn!)



Step Four

At the end of one hour ($12 an hour leh), pour all caught prawns in one net to make it look slightly more satisfying. Rejoice at our grand total of six (or was it less?) prawns!!


(Clockwise: the prawns, Joel Jon Marcus Tubby Mingchuan Mattheus, the prawns again)


I"m not sure what happened to the prawns in the end (Tubby? Jon? MC? Did you eat them up?) but yeah despite not exactly catching many, it was quite an experience!! :D Whee very fun. Many thanks to Michelle for introducing us to this and teaching us the art of prawning (:


Went to Justin's aunt's house after that - they have family gatherings once a fortnight at different relatives' houses. It was just so homely and comfy and one-big-happy-family-ish! 5 little kids plus 1 big me squished onto a bed, everybody pummelling me with stuffed toys and screaming ridiculous things like "Evelyn is a pineapple!" "Evelyn the caterpillar!" - well, it's a nice feeling.

My family is the only one in Singapore. Everyone else related is in Malaysia and um maybe some in China. I've never had the chance to enjoy myself at family reunions. Besides, when I do get the chance to meet them, they're mostly fat and loud and hardly speak English and are way older than me, so they feel like strangers to me.

So count yourself lucky if you have a nice big bunch of loving relatives ... appreciate them! (: It might seem extremely ordinary to meet up regularly with all of them and have fun, but to someone like me, that's never quite happened before.