And why not? Perhaps sometime down the road, when the time is right and the perfect opportunity comes along, we might do just that!
But for now, let's just float gently back from cloud 9 and arrive on terra firma...good ol' solid ground.
When I was approached to be interviewed and photoshot (if there is such a word), I gave it some thought. Was this the right time to 'go public'? Some of you might think --- 'Are you nuts? Newspaper want to feature you, say yes lah!'
Timing is everything. With H1N1 going around, the Asian Youth Games, Michael Jackson's passing (hey, it matters!) would it be appropriate and timely for us to be featured in an article? Well, the decision was made, and so the paper sent along a photographer to do the shoot at my place.
To any of you who might think that doing a photoshoot is easy, think again (I actually now do pity those who participate in 'America's Next Top Model'). I mean, in the past, I used to do work supervising photoshoots. Now, being 'shot' at, it was whole new experience. Along with me in this experience was my dear son, who is actually the focus of the photo, honestly.
So we sat down and arranged some props, trying to put Marc in position --- that was the easy part. The tough part was getting him to smile.
"Your son very serious leh," quipped the photographer. I really admire her patience as she tried coaxing Marc to smile and 'look joyful'.
(Note: The photo shoot was taken just before dinner time and Marc was really hungry. Bad time huh?)
There must have been more than 50 shots taken from all angles to try and capture a 'smiling Marc'. Yeah, he was cranky, fussing and hungry. Who could blame him? (Strong reaction to hunger and lack of food is genetically traced from The Wife)
Just before the shoot, I had completed a lecturing assignment and was rather pooped. So Daddy has to look energetic, Marc has to look happy. It was not going well.
As the shoot was taking place, Ah Gong was snapping away with his panasonic lumix camera, beaming with pride that his grandson was going to receive so much publicity (he used to be in advertising). The repeated pleas of 'Uncle, uncle, try not to blcok my camera flash' was not really heeded. But eventually, Ah Gong was disciplined enough to restrain himself from compromising the photo quality.
Ah Ma was singing and clapping her hands in tandem with the musical rhythm from an episode of Barney & Friends, urging Marc to react joyfully. We sort of stumbled upon the idea that if we put on a Barney DVD with the 'If you're happy and you know it' song, he would react animatedly, as he usually does. It worked...for a while. And then Marc sort of quizzically looked at us when we kept playing back the entire song over and over and over again.
He's a smart boy.
But that was good enough. Photographer called it a day and it was a wrap.
It took her 1 hr and 15 mins to get just this one perfect shot.
Daddy fell exhausted onto the sofa. Marc ran to his booster seat and was promptly fed his dinner (we usually let him feed himself. You can understand why we fed him this time around). Ah Gong and Ah Ma browsed their recently taken shots of Marc and were gushing praises about how Marc looked so handsome.
Now that I have to agree.
This fact can be genetically traced to The Daddy.
(I see my wife's eyes roll in disgust)
