It has been one week since Pokemon Go invaded Singapore and our society has shown great unity by putting up a concerted effort to take on the new challenge: to catch em all! Many other countries got to experience Pokemon Go before us and we were sulking and sulking. It didn't help with the release of this news article. Many of us uni students checked the app store daily, in hopes of the app launching and FINALLY.

It is here.

Now, we have an extremely united public that has random people talking to you and chatting up on tips and tricks about catching rare Pokemon and high CP Pokemon. Chats with friends and family are also dominated by the same topics and we do have the occasional swapping of handphones to look through each other's (achievement) Pokemon inventory. I got to admit, I too am one of the Pokemon fanatics out there!!! Pouring heart and soul into this game, certainly more than I've ever done for my studies. It has gone to the extent of having fun poke-outings with my friends, which are really rewarding! Rewarding not just in terms of good Pokemon and tons of rubbish catches but also good company and bonding time with friends. It is really one way to bond people together. more aptly, its the new way. Judging by how Pokemon dominates every conversation. I guess like how I have photoventures, you could call this pokeventure. But it sounds quite lame.

Sadly, I have my finals just around the corner and as such have to leave my Pokemon aside for some time :( Not to mention, learning how to use Lightroom, photoshop, those neverending piano practices and managing my startup, Thumbforlego also takes away a great deal of Pokemon time. But it really boils down to priorities and self control (Of which I do believe I lack quite a bit of the latter). At least i do know that my time away from Pokemon is time well spent. Progress for getting my products up online, getting the photos taken, etc etc has seen a slowdown definitely. Thankfully, Pokemon Go doesn't have the Tamagotchi system whereby if you don't feed your Pokemon, they will die.




Such a system would definitely leave us so much more precariously addicted to the game. Phew~!
Everyone is just staring at their phones now, it is so crazy when you go to town!! As though town wasn't crowded enough, now you have people mountain people sea. Direct translation from the chinese idiom 人山人海. Which means everywhere is flooded with people. Personally, I also do go to town to catch all the Pokemon and get my level up :P So let's take a look at how Pokemon Go is like through my eyes, starting off with the place that I should spend most of my time at: school.




So this is my school atrium during break time. Hehe so during much treasured lecture break time, when we all leave to buy some munch munch, all of us will whip out our phones for some swiping of pokeballs! It was really amazing when I first saw this sight, but now it has become a routine for me, having to avoid colliding into students staring at their phones. Then again, it's fine because everyone is just playing Pokemon Go. Even the drinks stall auntie asked me if I could catch any pokemon in the food court as she complained that she could barely find any.

Next stop: The mall! Shopping malls.
The photo is from Millenia Walk, a not-so-popular mall as it is a tad away from the other malls and there has been no news of it regarding rare pokemon sightings. Basically, any mall that gets featured for having rare pokemons get TONS of crowds. but yet just look at the number of people here! It is rumored that the prized dragonite can be found here too. Just tonight, I was nearby and it appeared on my nearby list! A pity I could not find it. So the malls can get pretty crazily crowded. Personally, after many hours of non-stop (healthy) walking pokehunting just so as to fill my pokeballs, my favourite spot would be the 313, Somerset area as I get to catch tons and tons of crappy pokemon. Just what I want! As my aim is to increase level and not get higher CP pokemon. Not now. So based on your priorities *ahem* in Pokemon, as well as life, your favourite spot will definitely defer from person to person. To each his own!

Orchard is a really nice and bustling place with close to everybody stuck on their phones and abruptly stopping in their tracks to catch that pokemon. Occasionally, you get those who play with the AR on, lifting their phones up to eye level and spinning round so as to find the pokemon. I was initially part of this -- notice how I frame it, "part of this" and not "guilty of this" and even though I found it fun, i looked really stupid. Come on, imagine you spinning around on the escalator, how stupid that looks. I've heard of people catching awesome pokemon outside the Cathay, of which when I passed by at 1am, still had loads of people seated outside catching those mons.



Late night catching of pokemon sounds difficult sometimes as the malls begin to close and the lights go out and everything dies down, including the lures. So where to next? The parks!!! I live in the east, so East coast park is my choice. Don't wanna be hanging out too late in the night isn't it? *goes home at 2am* The photo below depicts what it looks like when it's 1am at East Coast Park. Pretty crowded I would say! It isnt even that crowded on a weekday morning. I can't say for weekend mornings as on a typical weekend, by the time I am up, its already in the PM. Unless it's church day, sunday. Then that's different. I'll just be zombified on Sunday and be proud of myself at the end of Sunday knowing that I managed to pull through a walking dead day.




These photos are convenient shots from my phone as I was too engrossed in catching pokemon! Yep, can't even stop and take a photo proper. But if its in the night at town, I find myself taking more photos as there really isn't anything to catch... Everyone's just gone. So if you want to try your luck catching pokemon in the night, from my experience, head to Hougang, the parks, or Cathay. Just be safe. Singapore is safe but it can become unsafe when you rush across the road without looking!

Meanwhile, while trying to befriend my Sony A7ii, here are the shots that I took for this week!

There are so many kids screaming in the Starbucks today. The weeks of cold turkey from Starbucks coffee have just been broken by two cups of coffee yesterday and one more cup today right next to me. Does anyone else ever feel that the moment they take a sip of coffee, it instantly wakes you up? That you begin thinking on your toes and your vision becomes clear.

I just ended a church event and was the photographer and now there are 600+ photos for me to vet through. Which seems quite staggering taking into account that I've just started learning how to edit photos in Lightroom 5. I used to use LR3 a few years back but the new layout of LR5 does seem kinda different so it feels...just different. Like a renovated house -- in a good way. Totally beats the weirdly new "minimalist" layout of VSCO though. Can I just rant how irritating it is that now adobe applications are priced on a subscription basis?! Speaking of events, there was Maad Fair last friday! It was SO SO much more tiring than other fairs as it felt a lot more lonely. My friend alicia is no longer doing the fair as tassels&carousel.




So the fair feels a lot slower, which is quite a big difference as over a long period of time. It's like when you are in lecture, you'll be constantly looking at the watch and waiting for time to pass. Time passed a lot faster when there were people patronizing the stall and asking about what gave me the idea, and the process of reaching to where I am today. And it was also very interesting to hear the stories of fellow craftsmen too! The materials they use, why they chose such materials and how they make it, the littlest of details of making sure that the product comes out good. And also sharing the worries that they have, that what they are doing actually isn't that profitable. One of the craft(wo)man that I talked to said that she was most likely going to make a loss for this fair.




Which then is saddening that the many people really admire the works in the fair but are unwilling to spend on the products! The products are usually handmade and costs more but people are just so used to the exceedingly low prices of mass produced goods that flood the market today. Even I would think twice before spending so much for a craft work too! This is despite me knowing how much hard work is involved, although at least I do know that the money is going towards a "good" cause. It's really a lot of hard work for the handicrafts okay!! And it's people's passion too.




Given the amount of events coming up, I do see August as a maadly packed month! Moreover, with the release of Pokemon Go in Singapore, everythings going bonkers! I can assuredly tell you how mad dad is with me and mum now for constantly staring at our phones, abruptly stopping in the midst of our walking just to catch a pokemon. I just visited Orchard Road and EVERYONE is playing pokemon go. But this also gives a common topic for us singaporeans to bond together! Just like National Service for the guys! Personally, I've talked to a couple of people here and there as we discuss about what Pokemon we caught at what locations and tips on how to improve the spawn rates etc etc. Quite crazy isnt it?! Even in the car, while stopping at the traffic light, the people in the neighbouring car are also playing Pokemon Go. Absolute. Madness. I really do think that this is an extremely awesome weight loss regime.