Unless you have been living under a rock all these time, you would have used gothere.sg at one point or another. It is now a fantabulous site that I keep dear on the Bookmark Bar on my Camino browser, along with I Can Has Cheezburger and YouTube.
But I digress.
Gothere.sg started out as a decent replacement for streetdirectory.com (after the latter went down from copyright infringement) by using open-source Google Maps and customising locations for Singapore. But the good people behind the site have outdone their horrendously full-of-ads predecessor and many-up the other wannabes fighting for a piece of the mapping pie for our little island.
First they added efficient and user-friendly road name searches on their very pleasing site.
Simple, easy-to-use, soothing san-serif grey text topped with candy colours and rounded edges, all the goodness of Web 2.0. Mmm.
No ads (I am sure many of you out there hated streetdirectory’s cluttered interface to the bitter core).
Then bus routes with bus and train interconnectivity interchangeability interwhateveritis. With duration approximation.
With links to each bus number information to each bus-stop on the roads. And be able to check next-bus-arrival times.
Of course, driving routes. With smart turn-by-turn directions and distances that doesn’t take a lifetime to load.
Hmm. Carpark rates. Not bad.
Teaming up with my other favorite, HungryGoWhere.com for nomnom locations…
Used their own maps while still using the Google Maps interface. Lovely icon designs. Again - more round edges. I like.
Then naturally, comes the ERP charges on simple pop-ups.
Now driving routes AND be able to avoid ERP, EVEN plan the routes based on the bloody time you intend to travel also ok!!!
Then maps that you can freely embed on your website. HMM!
Do you want to AVOID EXPRESSWAYS AS WELL!?!? YES YOU CAN!
THEN YOU CAN NOW GET TAXI RIDE APPROXIMATION WITH ITEMISED BILLING FEATURES.
*heaves*
And then now what?!?!! Omni-directional, paranomic, street-level pictures OMFG!
Is there anything they can’t do?
OMFG!!!
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Just in case you were wondering… nope, this is not a paid ad. It’s just a fan rave
Did a rather major shoot for some CNY Idents for mio TV. First time working with a DOP that had somehow became a personal friend to me. Worked with the Panasonic P2 camera for the first time and the effects were breathtaking! Here’s one of the idents:
Got my first and only payout from Nuffnang and forced the cats to pose for a picture with the cheque Soon after this, I removed my Nuffnang ad space because I just didn’t want to continue anymore.
Got myself a great portrait lens 50mm f1.4 for my Canon 300D for a damn good rate! Hope to use it more!
Had some kind ofan emotional breakdown in the middle of the year. I was subtle about it on the blog, but actually I was bawling my eyes out at night and turning up on time for work. Somehow, I survived that.
Went brazilian waxing again, to much regrets. But like someone told me: Pain Brings You Closer. Hur hur.
Approached the end of 2008 with a sour mood. Fearing for my job, even.
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And so here I am, telling all of you my 5 new year resolutions:
1. Work smart, work hard and work happy!
>>> No more crappy time and project management, no more crappy careless mistakes, no more negative attitude.
2. Swim more and get healthier!
>>> I aim to swim 2 times a week and perhaps do 10 or more laps. Need the heart to get stronger.
3. Try not to beat myself up so much!
>>> I tend to tell myself I suck, and that I don’t deserve better because I am so bad at being even mediocre. I want to get more positive, detach myself from other people’s views of me. If I don’t trust, love, and have faith in myself… who else can give me that?
4. Save more, spend less on frivolous/luxurious things… times are getting bad!
>>> Not going to upgrade to a better laptop, no more big purchases, less expensive meals. Save, save, save!
5. Show more appreciation to my friends, colleagues, family and of course, to my husband. =)
>>> I want to meet you guys up more often!
After driving almost on a daily basis for 3 months or so… Here’s a list of things of how having a car changed me or my habits, behavior… etc.
1. I seldom wear my pretty shoes anymore - I need comfortable shoes, not the bite-y ones. I have driven in my heels and no problems at all, but my pretty/painful shoes are a still little neglected sometimes. I shall stock a pair of comfy shoes for driving in future. Perhaps I need to fix my sweaty feet issue first before doing that
2. I start to bother about routes (which ways are less jammed or have no major road works), parking (whether the parking is easy to navigate and find lots, or if the place charges through the roof), ERP (what timing is best so I incur less of this if it’s even possible?) and inane stuff like that. WTF.
3. Choice of makan venues are influenced by parking issues as well. Or I’ll just go home to tabao something because I can’t be bothered to shop at Jurong Point (now a madhouse due to the new wing) or the crazy food centre nearby…
4. I am less grouchy, because I am very privileged to skip public transport nowadays. And I get to sleep about 2 more hours in the morning - which makes me less sleepy during the work day - a good thing!
5. If time allows, I am actually more open to meeting up with friends (but haven’t been doing so because work has been hectic, and we were still recovering from the Tokyo trip ) or picking them up from whichever place is convenient for them… But yesh, I am more willing to do so because at least I have a mode of transport home.
6. I am more aware of roads, routes and the like, and slowly I am depending on my Garmin Nuvi 205 GPS unit less and less…
7. I have a spare jacket, some toiletries and etc stored in the boot for emergencies - which means no more lugging around heavy, bulky stuff! Wheeee!
8. The independence and freedom of not having to rely on others to give me a ride out to my location - no more worrying if there are cabs around, no more worrying about bus routes or the horrifically crowded trains. I can run my errands at my own time and stuff like that…
I’m pretty zonked out from the intensity of the shoot. Not to mention the horrible sun I faced the other day… I am now horribly sunburnt, perhaps a first degree burn ah!!!!!!!
This is infinitely more EPIC than the spools of colourful threads unravelling down an Egyptian pyramid. Or the colourful bouncing balls down the street.
