never sleep around photographers

Honestly, I wanted to back out of PHOTOSOC's event to Long Reef Beach because it was right after polling day. However, I promised that I'd be there and it was part of my obligations to chaperone the members who were going.

Being so tired from the previous day, I thought I'd take a nap on the bus ride to the beach. Big mistake. I should've known that being surrounded by photographers, on a photography event, it was wise not to be unconscious around them. *sigh*.

Photo by Carmen.

Oddly enough, the beach outing was full of surprises. Quote from Zinah: Is this real Carmen? Oh no, I don't have my totem! It was a reference to the movie Inception. I must agree, there were so many unexpected things that it almost felt like something was out of place. We I think of beach, I thought of just a wide, open area full of rock and sand and sea water. I didn't expect there to be a football field, a tennis court, a golf course, a park and a mud swamp next to the beach. Note to self, I should never follow Alfred and his directions. He unintentionally led us to the mud swamp and the only way to get to the other side was to walk over it *sigh*. My purple converse turned black/brown.  

I also didn't except to see to many dogs around. Speaking of dogs, a Labrador walked towards us and laid on its back for us to pat his stomach. Unfortunately, earlier Alfred placed a bag of lollies on my hoodie, so when I bent down to scratch the dog, the bag of lollies fell out. I tried to stop the dog from eating the lollies, but in the eyes of the members, they thought I was abusing the dog. Well, I guess I'd rather look like an abuser than let the dog eat the lollies; dogs aren't suppose to eat sweet things because it's bad for them. I know that because I'm a dog owner myself. 

There were also power-gliders at the beach as well. It looked fun, but tiring at the same time. We passed by a group of people promoting Vitamin drinks and were given a sample each and got our photos taken as well. Free drinks, that's a plus =D.

For once in my life, never have I witnessed so many life and death situations in the natural environment. There were 3 that I've encountered:

1. A colony of ants eating a small, dead crab.
2. A man fished and caught a beautiful looking fish and was going to take it home to eat it. (Honestly, I wouldn't mind if it was a bream or something, but it was a such a beautiful fish; a fish that you'd take it home as a pet, not as dinner. I had the urge to kick the bucket. Alas, it wasn't my business)
3. Humans poking a red plum looking organism so hard that it leaked and died. Later, we discovered that it was a type of jellyfish. Because we learned that jellyfish lived in the ocean, it was odd to see them living on rocks. Curiosity could kill *sigh*.

Although I felt like I needed to do something, but I thought, even if I could do something this time, it doesn't mean I could do something all the time. It was like survival of the fittest. Organisms live and die everyday, it's part of life. Sad, but true. I prefer not to dwell on such a philosophical matter like this online, so I'll just leave it as that. 

Thanks to the members and their snacks, I had food to eat at lunch =D. I completely forgot to bring snacks to the picnic because I was running late. I especially liked the dried mango strips made in the Philippines. I should look for it one day =). 

I'll end my blog with a joke that Alfred told me: 
 

Alfred: What fruit does Beethoven likes?

Fiona: Um... beetroot?

Alfred: No

Fiona: What then?

Alfred: Bananana (8)

Laughs.

PS. Thanks to Andrew fro driving Zinah, Carmen and I home at the end of the day =).