mrbrown.com

Slowing down

Signs I need a vacation: I drove to work last Friday because I had stuff to carry and several places to be.

After a long day, I knocked off work.

I walked out of the office.

And took my usual bus home.

Gua gua.

Fortunately, on the bus, I took something out of my pocket and felt my car keys. Then it dawned on me. I quickly got off at the next bus stop and sheepishly walked back to the office car park.

A) It goes to show you how rarely I drive to work.

B) I think this is a reminder I need to slow down, and maybe find pleasure in the simpler things.

Like my nature and insect-loving youngest daughter, in the photo above. A photo I entitle "Joy, Insect Hunter, on a hill."

Non-Stop Mother

I wake up at 3.45am. Mom lands at 4.19am from Hangzhou.

I pick her up at the airport and we have breakfast at 5.30am.

At 6.30am, she is at the wet market buying supplies for tonight's dinner.

She is an Energizer Bunny, that one.

That's mom on the left. Looking for fish.

And since I was there with mom, I acted upon Marriage Pro Tip #65: "Thou shalt buy flowers at the wet market for the wife just because."

Typing…

Caption: The author's mother at Mount Bromo last year.

Whatsapp with my mother who is in Hangzhou now.

Ma: "Huangshan is very cold. Below zero."
Me: "Did you bring enough warm clothing?"
Ma: "typing…"

Five minutes later.
Ma: "typing…"

Ten minutes later.
Ma: "typing…"

I still haven't gotten an answer from her.

Caption: Photo of Huangshan trees with frozen over, sent to me by my mom.

to our firstborn, Faith, age 14

My son, age 12, is receiving his PSLE results today. This morning, he woke me up at 5 A.M. and said he will go down to check if the school bus was coming to pick him for school.

I said, “Son, the school bus isn’t coming. It is the school holiday period already. And your results are coming out at 11 A.M., not so early. I will take you to school later, and get your results with you.”

He is the first in our family to reach the Primary School Leaving Examination, despite being the middle child. 

In another universe, his older sister, Faith, would be the one to do the exam first, but autism changed those plans when we discovered her developmental delay at age 1.

Like many parents, we worried for his PSLE results (although my wife is snoring rather peacefully now by my side, at 6:15 A.M., as I type this.)

You know in your heart of hearts that, in the grand scheme of things, his PSLE results will not be something he waves at his potential employer in a future job interview. But it is also naive to say there is no impact on the next step of his education journey.

Even though I told myself I wouldn’t be that hand-wringing parent, I couldn’t help myself.

But I am reminded by God that I should be happy to even witness Isaac reach this milestone. What I would give to see my firstborn take the PSLE. What I would give to see Faith be able to fail or pass this exam.

Her life is a daily exam. She is still learning to talk at 14, her repertoire of words include “Dorothy the Dinosaur” and “Auntie”, which we heard last week. The former is from her favorite show, The Wiggles, and the latter is what she calls our domestic helper.

Each song she hums is celebrated in our household as if she has gotten the top PSLE score in the land and is now the poster child for a chicken essence brand. 

Each word she utters is celebrated as if she has gotten into the IB program in a top elite school that her father can barely afford to pay for. 

Each time she goes to the toilet by herself without being prompted, thereby saving us one diaper, is celebrated as if she has won the Angus Ross Prize for Toilet Training.

So on the night before my son’s PSLE results, just before I succumbed to sleep, I wrote this poem to my eldest daughter.


to our firstborn, Faith, age 14

your mother said
maybe it was her fault
maybe it was
something she ate
something she drank
something she did
or didn’t do
some tail bone
hip bone
body part
that may have hurt you
as you pushed your way out
into a world not ready
for the likes of you
a world that didn’t always understand
you
just like you didn’t always understand
why your senses
gave you so much information
too much information
there is too much information
look at the fan turning round and round
shutting down now
please hold
too much information
rebooting in three
two
one
please hold
system restoring in three
two
one
please hold
please
don’t touch
please do
wait she is back
back on earth
so much mars
your world
but I said to your mother
it isn’t your fault
it isn’t my fault
it isn’t God’s fault
either
because you cannot
be a mistake

you are fearfully
and wonderfully made
different
and we fearfully
and wonderfully love
you

Some Early Thoughts About the iPad Pro

Caption: Renowned artist Artgerm giving the iPad Pro and Pencil a go. He liked it a lot. Watch his Livestream review.

It has been about two weeks since I got my iPad Pro. I was probably one of the earliest to get it in Singapore before it was officially out.

Some thoughts:

1. When you first see it, your first thought will be “Wah, so big!”. Your second thought will be, “Wah, that’s really big!”

It is not designed for one-handed operation, though it is only about 712grams, about the weight of the first iPad.

It is happier on the table. Or carried with both hands.

2. The screen is incredible. I feel like my photos look awesome on it, and as a photographer, having something that shows your photos in the best light, in 5.6 million pixel glory, is really important.

That said, any flaws are also visible. Every bit of motion blur and poor focus is visible when you zoom into that photo on the 12.9-inch screen.

3. The speakers. Oh. My. The speakers. They have bass. They are loud without distortion. The four speakers, one at each corner, switch orientation when you turn the iPad Pro around, always keeping the top two speakers firing the mids and highs.

Movies and TV shows shine on this device. I rarely watch things on a tablet without my headphones. I don’t even do that with my MacBook 12-inch Retina because I don’t like the tinny sound. But not this iPad Pro. I want to hear the sound from the speakers. They are that nice.

I used to travel with an iPad Air 2 (tiny serviceable speakers that only fired sound out of one side when watching a movie in landscape) and a very loved Harmon Kardon portable Bluetooth speaker so I could get nice room-filling music in my hotel room. I may just take the iPad Pro alone for the next trip.

4. The iPad Pro is fast. They say it is up to two times faster than the iPad Air 2, which wasn’t a slouch in the first place.

I can feel it when I work. I open photos. Edit them. Type stuff. Open two apps side by side to work. Run a movie in Picture-in-Picture mode. The iPad Pro doesn’t break a sweat.

5. I wish there was no bezel. This is a peeve. I want to see an edge-to-edge screen. I know I’m asking for a lot. But an all-screen device would be awesome.

6. The Smart Keyboard and Pencil work great with the iPad Pro. The Smart Keyboard adds about 300grams to the iPad Pro, bringing it to about 1.1kg total weight, MacBook weight territory.

Yes, I weighed the Smart Keyboard because A) I am a nerd and B) there were no specs of its weight found anywhere.

iPad Pro or MacBook for Travel?

So do I pack the MacBook 12-inch, which weighs 900grams by itself and 1.2kg by the time you add an protective neoprene sleeve and the charging cable and plug? Or do I take the iPad Pro with Smart Cover and Lightning charger plug and cable?

It’s a close fight, weight-wise. And call me anal but I’m an ultralight traveler, and every gram counts.

I think for most of what I do, writing and photography, the iPad Pro can take care of business when I travel. I still find the Mac OS and the MacBook more useful for things like uploading to my blog and my Exposure photography site. But that’s only because these two online properties don’t have good app-support.

Video editing is doable on both the iPad Pro and the MacBook but the iPad Pro can handle 3 streams on 4K video in its version of iMovie. That’s amazing, considering that video editing is traditionally a desktop computer’s thing.

For heavy video lifting, I think my dual-screen desktop Mac will still be the go-to device but on the road, one can get decent video done on an iPad Pro, methinks.

I think I’ll take the iPad Pro on my next trip, which is the end of the month, and see how it performs. I will post updates on my thoughts.

Meanwhile, I am going to read my new Star Wars comics on this gorgeous screen.

This article originally appeared on my Medium blog.

the mrbrown show: Kim Huat Gets a Call

Kim Huat gets a call from someone he doesn't know.

Dell's first 27" Curved Monitor, the SE2716H

I've finally clocked enough hours gaming and doing computer things on the Dell SE2716H monitor to tell you that it's a really nice little 27-inch monitor.

I didn't think I'd like the curved part or that it would be beneficial but after staring at the thing for hours on end, I've grown fond of it.

At the right distance, the monitor's curve gives you a nice no-glare view of your world. I tinkered with the distance for a while until I got it right.

The max resolution of the screen is 1920x1080, or 1080p, which is fine for me because that's the max resolution I could get out of my Alienware M17x gaming laptop anyway. But if your graphic card can do more than that resolution, then this isn't the monitor for you.

The monitor is surprisingly light. I lifted it up without a problem from the box.

Some of you asked me some questions about the monitor, which I directed at Dell.

1. Why No 4K?

Reply: Dell does have a 4K monitor with a 27” screen size, but it doesn’t come in a curve format. Due to limitations with the current curve technology for the 27”, Dell has instead employed a full HD resolution for the panel.

2. Why TN panel and not IPS?

Reply: Dell is using the VA panel for SE2716H, which is comparable to the IPS technology.

To be honest, the TN screen looked fine to be, even though it wasn't an IPS panel.

You can push the sound from your computer through the HDMI port and output it from the monitor's 2x9W speakers. I found the sound pretty decent for in-built speakers and left them on for gaming. Except when the wife complains, then it's back to headphones.

I did have some overscan problems with the HDMI port when I first connected the computer to the SE2716H, which resulted in a thick black border around the image. But I fixed that fairly easily in my settings.

There are two HDMI ports, a VGA port and a headphone port behind. Pretty basic stuff though I wish the headphone jack was in a more accessible place instead of behind.

There were no DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort inputs, which I'm more used to using. If you have a Mac that uses Mini DisplayPort, it can be a pain because you need to get a adaptor or a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable.

Other small annoyances are the lack of USB ports or height movement. You can see I've had to place it on my trusty box thing to raise it to the level I'm comfortable with. The stand doesn't allow height adjustments which I feel is important.

Still, the monitor is good value for the price, and has good color and contrast. The bezel at 7.7mm is quite thin too. I'm pretty happy with it.

7 Things Every Person Should Do Before 7 A.M.

Caption: The author looking at how bright his future is after following the advice of his own Medium life hack article.

Everyone and his mother seems to be writing Life Hack articles on Medium so I thought I’d give it a go. Here are my 7 Things Every Person Should Do Before 7 A.M.:

1. Sleep

Sleep is very important because if you don’t sleep, you will be tired in the morning. And if you don’t sleep enough, you may die. And dying sucks.

2. Unload your emotional baggage

Get up to pee because, just before bedtime, you drank too much Pokka Gabu Gabu mixed with your manly tears, to drown your sorrow after watching the Grey’s Anatomy episode where Meredith gave that heartbreaking speech to the young interns on how to inform a wife that she has become a widow.

3. Dream your dreams

Dream of Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens. Pew pew pew!

4. Confront your deepest fears

Wake up in cold sweat because Jar Jar Binks was the secret villain in your dream version of the movie, and BB-8 was the love child of R2D2 and the first Death Star. And Disney announces in your dream that it is retiring all Slave Leia toys and merchandise from stores.

5. Seek the comfort of loved ones

Hug your Ewok soft toy and go back to sleep.

6. Free yourself from the limiting constraints of time

Hit the snooze on the 6:59 A.M. pre-alarm on your iPhone and by “hit the snooze” I mean throw said iPhone across the room. Which does not silence the alarm and now you have to get up and #%*?! walk across the room to turn it off.

7. Recharge your life

Make sure iPhone is connected to the Lightning cable and is charging, then return to sleep, because nobody likes waking up and finding out that the phone only has 19% battery left.

This article originally appeared on my Medium blog.

Me on the morning news

This is me on CNA First Look Asia this morning, Seven-Early-Eight-Early, to talk about ‪iPad Pro‬, Pencil and Smart Keyboard. I had to wake up at 5.30am for this. But you know, that's the kind of dedicated tech guy I am.

Scariest costume of all

Boo!

Then and Now

Yes, I know babies can only see shadows blah blah blah at birth, you science nazis.

Why I choose to shoot with a fixed lens camera like the Fuji X100T

A reader emailed me to compliment me for my photo essays from my Japan trip with my son. and asked me why I chose to shoot with a Fuji X100T, a fixed lens mirrorless non-full-frame camera.

“Why not a DSLR or some other mirrorless interchangeable lens camera?” she asked, considering that the price of an X100T can get you a pretty good interchangeable lens camera.

The X100T and the X100 series of cameras are an acquired taste, I have to say. I use DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras too but if you ask me why I prefer to carry just the X100T, it is harder to explain. I will try.

1. Quality. The APS-C sensor on the X100T is the same one in the top of the line Fuji XT-1. It gives 16 megapixel images that are sharp and as good as any full frame sensor. I often shoot at 3200 ISO without an issue. The X100T handles low light with very little ugly noise.

Frankly, the quality gap between APS-C and Full-frame isn’t that big a deal, as some pro photographers like Zack Arias have shown. The gap between full-frame and medium format, yes. But not for the former, especially if you don’t plan to print huge prints. And frankly, you can print fairly large and detailed prints from this camera anyways.

I know. It sounds sacrilegious to say it but full-frame matters very little in the current scheme of things (please don’t start an APS-C vs Full-frame flame war in the comments below).

And Fuji is one of the few companies that make lenses and film. So their color and glass expertise is incredible. I love the various film simulations on their cameras.

2. Lens. The lens is a fixed 23mm f2, which is equivalent to a 35mm full frame field of view. And because they fix the lens into the camera, they can make the protrusion very small and optimize the lens to the sensor. You can’t do that with interchangeable lens cameras due to the variance in the lens mounting.

I like shooting in 35mm for travel, it is one of the most versatile focal lengths. Though for my recent Japan trip, I shot slightly wider with a WCL-X100 wide-angle adaptor which gives me about 28mm full frame equivalent.

Fixed lens has its pros and cons. The con is that you can’t shoot everything. The pro is that you can’t shoot everything. Let me explain.

Not being able to shoot everything means that you end up focusing on making good photos with what you have, and focusing on composition. I find that liberating.

So I cannot shoot that bird 2km away with my X100T. I don’t shoot it then. It’s not a big deal.

You take the camera you need for the type of photos you want, of course. If you are on a trip to shoot birds, you are going to need a camera that has 200mm to 600mm options. But for general travel, I don’t think I’ll need my telephoto lens.

And being able to zoom can sometimes make you lazy. You think you can get something by zooming instead of trying to move to a better spot for the shot.

The fixed lens also sometimes means you have to move up close to the subject. It often means more intimate photos.

3. The camera is small and light, and doesn’t call attention to itself. Interchangeable lens cameras, both DSLRs and mirrorless ones, are usually big and loud (unless you are using small m4/3 cameras with tiny m4/3 primes, like the LUMIX GM-5). People can see you a mile away. And sometimes you don’t want that. Also, lugging big lenses and a heavy body is a real pain, especially when you get to my age.

4. It looks CHIO (beautiful). It’s a funny thing but having a camera that looks retro-nice makes you happier. Who knew?

5. The Viewfinder. The X100 series has a hybrid viewfinder. You can choose to shoot in optical or EVF mode. Some people like the feel of optical. Some like the what-you-see-is-what-you-get nature of EVFs. I like having both options available to me.

The viewfinder position is also very useful for a rangefinder shooter like me. I can see the viewfinder with my right eye and see the rest of the real world with my left eye, and having that visual worldview is important to me.

6. The Silence. The X100 series uses a leaf shutter. It is literally silent. For a stealth street shooter like me, it is a godsend. I even turn off the fake shutter sound provided. And because it is a leaf shutter, there is next to no vibration. I can shoot handheld below 1/15 and still be fine.

Some current cameras have electronic shutters that do the same silent thing but I’m old school and I guess I’m fond of the good ole leaf shutter.

7. The High Speed sync. The leaf shutter means I can shoot at high speeds with my flash, doing stuff like using flash during a bright sunny day.

8. The Built-in ND filter. I can shoot at f2 in broad daylight by cutting the light up to 3 stops, to shoot portraits of people in the sun, with shallow depth of field. Or shoot long exposure shots.

9. The Controls and Handling. The X100 controls are intuitive and very familiar to someone who used to shoot manual film cameras. The only other camera I like as much for controls is the X100T’s big brother, the XT-1. This is of course a subjective thing. But feel matters a lot to me.

The X100T also comes with USB charging, which is a great boon for an ultralight traveler like me. I don’t need to carry the charger if I don’t want to. Or if I take the charger along, I can charge two batteries at once: one in the charger and one in the camera.

10. The Wifi. This model has wifi on it, compared to the X100S before it. I own both the X100S and X100T and love both versions, but the wifi on the X100T has allowed me to shoot and send my shortlisted photos to my iPhone/iPad to be edited and uploaded immediately, and as a backup. That’s handy for a social media addict like me.

I’ve traveled with both an interchangeable lens camera and the X100T before. Like for my recent SF trip in June, I packed an X-T1 with three lenses (I had an event to shoot) and my X100T. But when I reviewed my photos for my SF photo essay, I found that 80% of that trip was taken with the X100T. It tells me that I enjoy shooting with it a lot and my hit rate of favorites is higher.

So that is why for my trip to Japan, I decided just to take that (also, with my son along, I didn’t feel I’d have the time to fiddle with lenses or a more elaborate camera).

Now if Fuji will make an X100 with a flip screen next. That will be neat. Then I won’t need to lie down to do low shots, and look like a bozo on the streets of Japan. Oh and make it weather sealed too, while you’re at it.

P.S. Check out some of my more talented friends who shoot with the X100T, like Gent Ho and Aik Beng (site and Instagram).

This article originally appeared on my Medium blog.

Traveling with my own pocket wifi

This is the pocket wifi I used on my Japan trip. It is from Changi Recommends and it was an essential part of my trip. It cost me $8 a day (discounted) and it was usable the moment I landed in Tokyo. I got 4G speeds most of the time (except in the mountains) and a generous fair use limit of 1GB a day. Some days, I would even use this rather that a hotel's slower wifi.

The pocket router battery lasts pretty much the whole day. In my nine days away, I only had to charge it once but that was a day we were out from 5.30a.m. till midnight.

I used to have my own pocket router but the hassle with that is that I had to hunt for a local SIM card when I landed and that isn't always practical depending on the time you landed and the city. Not every country has easy access to prepaid local SIM cards with decently-priced data.

Using my own iPhone to hotspot drains my phone's battery, so I don't use that method.

Another method I used to get internet for Japanese Internet was to book a pocket wifi from an Japanese online service. But that method meant having to pick up the device at the post office at the Japanese airport, which was a problem if you do not reach Japan during their post office opening hours.

The Changi Recommends booths are open at the Singapore side 24 hours a day, so you can pick up and drop off your device regardless of your flight time.

With the Changi Recommends pocket wifi, I can share the data over wifi with more than one device so my iPhone, MacBook and my son's iPod Touch could all access the Internet. Heck, I'd get it even if I was traveling alone, I think.

Booking one is simple. I called the hotline a few days before my departure and gave them all my details. Then on the day of my flight, I went to their counter at the T3 arrival hall (they have a counter at every Changi terminal) and picked up the device. It comes in a black pouch with the charging cable and universal travel plug.

I added the wifi SSID and password printed on the back of the device to my iPhone and I was ready to use it when I landed.

Charges begin one day after you depart, which I think is very fair since you may be flying to a faraway land that takes 18-24 hours and won't be using it in the air.

When you return, just drop it off at the Changi Recommends counter and they bill you right there. It cannot be simpler.

The data service is reliable and stable and they cover quite a lot of countries, like the States, Japan, South-East Asia, and Europe. This is me using the service in my recent September San Francisco-Portland-Seattle-Yosemite trip.

The Europe one is interesting. Their pocket wifi works across many European countries so if you are doing an EU trip that crosses different European cities, you don't need to buy and change SIM cards like we did on our last European trip.

I tell you, this thing is a lifesaver. When you land, and you need to get online to use Google Maps to find your hotel or Airbnb, the pocket wifi is ready to go. I'm a fan already.

Isaac and Papa go to Japan: Day 9, Going Home: a Photo Essay

(Read the full post and see more photographs at brown.exposure.co)

DAY 9: GOING HOME

All good things, as they say, must come to an end. And so we were finally on the last day of our time in Japan.

We slept in till 9:00 a.m., bathed, packed our stuff and left the apartment at 10:45 a.m., just before the stated 11:00 a.m. checkout time.

As per my usual practice with Airbnb apartments, I taught Isaac to make the bed and carry our own trash out, and to leave the place as close to the condition we moved in as possible. It's only good manners when you are a guest in someone's home, even if you paid for it.

We had one more stop to make before our 9pm flight: Akihabara, for one more round.

We took a train to Shinjuku Station and picked a block of lockers in the path towards the tracks for Narita Express.

The Narita Express was going to be our ride back to the airport at 5pm, and so it made sense to place our bags in a locker near our departure track 5.

I took a photo of our locker number and a few photos of the surroundings, so we won't be lost when we came back for it later.

Then, armed with just our daypacks, we took the Chuo-Sobu line to Akihabara. Or what I called the Chiobu line. I was corrected by my son on this though.

I set a return timing that we had to leave for Shinjuku station by — 4:00 p.m. — to give us ample time to get on our Narita Express.

Brunch was at a ramen shop outside Shinjuku station, after some hunting in the backstreets. No, I do not know the name of the shop but it was very very good. As you can see from the photos. The shop allowed noodle refills up to two times.

I saw a petite lady next to use polish off two helpings of the already generous portion. Isaac and I only managed one serving each.

We had a mission in Akihabara. One, to get a present for Joy, who liked Hatsune Miku, and two, to spend the $50 that Isaac received from his maternal grandmother.

We walked from building to building, floor to floor, evaluating each toy for replay value and coolness. The streets of Akihabara were closed to traffic on Sunday and we could walk freely on a street normally used for cars.

And boy, they were serious about the pedestrians-only rule. The wardens even pulled over moms riding their mamachari bicycles ferrying their kids, to tell them they were not allowed cycle across the road. The moms promptly apologized and dismounted to push their bicycles.

In the middle of our toy mission, we stopped for octopus balls and ice-cream. Every time I mentioned my love of octopus balls, the boy laughed. Same pattern one, the humour.

At 3:46 p.m., we finalized the items we wanted for his younger sister and himself. And precisely at 4pm, we left Akihabara to take the train back to our locker in Shinjuku station, and then onto the Narita Express to the airport.

I had one final mission at the airport after we checked in. To buy Tokyo Banana, Japanese Kit Kat and other random Japanese biscuits that I planned to give away to my mom, my mom-in-law and my own family.

I did a guesstimate of how many boxes I would need and when it came to payment, I used every last Yen note in my wallet and almost all of my coins. Swee swee.

Our flight home was nice and smooth. I watched Ryucho and His Seven Henchmen (a comedy about aging Yakuza) and then zonked out for the rest of the flight. Isaac finished his Ant-Man movie (continued from the Singapore flight to Tokyo) and watched movie after movie until we landed.

Mommy came to pick us up at the airport, which was sweet of her because it was 3:00 a.m. in the morning. I told her we could take a cab but she insisted on coming to get her boys.

When we landed, Isaac reminded me to return my Changi pocket wifi device (lifesaver, this device). Good man.

Isaac couldn't stop telling her all the stories of our trip on the car ride home.

When we reached home, a banner drawn by Joy was stuck on the door. It said, "Welcome home, Pa and Koko! ♥U!"

And with that, Koko and Papa finally completed their first Father-Son trip abroad.

(Read the full post and see more photographs at brown.exposure.co or view the embedded version below.)

Day 9: Isaac and Papa go to Japan: Going Home by Kinmun "mrbrown" Lee on Exposure

Isaac and Papa go to Japan: Day 8, Back to Tokyo: a Photo Essay

(Read the full post and see more photographs at brown.exposure.co)

DAY 8: TOKYO

It is our last night here in Japan and our feet hurt. Hurt a lot.

Mainly, it came from standing for two hours and twenty minutes for the Tower of Terror ride at Tokyo DisneySea.

But we are home now. Home as in our apartment in Tokyo. And I just drank some Calpis and Isaac ate his fave Family Mart spicy fried chicken cutlet. So all is well.

We started today not knowing where to go. As usual. But Isaac whispered into my ear in the morning, "Disneeeeeey… Disneeeeeey… Papa… Disneeeeeey…".
I had grand visions of taking a Shinkansen to Hakone or Nikko to show him the beauty of the Japanese countryside. But all I heard in the my ear was "Disneeeeeey…"

It is amazing what gentle persuasion will get you, compared to whining. The boy learns fast.

So off to Tokyo Disneyland we went. Or rather DisneySea. I decided that since he had already seen Disneyland in France, it was no point repeating the experience in Japan except with another foreign language.

DisneySea is pretty neat, I told him. He looked skeptical. "Trust Papa. Papa knows his theme parks."

His first ride was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He liked the undersea ride a lot.

I regaled him with tales of Jules Verne and all the cool books he has written, with the suggestion that he should read his science fiction and maybe also check out the 1954 Disney movie.

"Is there a reboot?" he asked.

No, I told him, laughing. Though I'm sure one is in the works.

This reminded me that our kids live in an age of reboots. The good old stuff is made new again. Or made worse again.

We also took the Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride. It was very popular and wait time was 150 minutes, with Fast Pass tickets already all given out. So we moved on.

Later in the afternoon, we found out it was closed for maintenance indefinitely. That was an even bigger bummer. It looked like we would miss this ride completely.

But a few hours after that, as we walked by on the way to another ride, we saw a few extra staff at the closed Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride.

"Let's stay and see if they reopen the ride," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"Trust Papa. I have a good instinct for these things. You hear that? The rumblings of the ride being tested."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a manager walked around the area inspecting things. The extra staff was for crowd control as there were other hopeful lingerers like us. And then one of the staff announced the ride was open again.

The boy and I moved fast and were the second in line of the regular queue. 30 minutes later, we got our ride. Little victories.

Some of the "lands" in DisneySea were a little kiddy but we didn't care. As long as the line wasn't too long, we joined it. So we ended up on the Sinbad Storybook Voyage ride (kind of like the It's A Small World ride in Disneyland), the Flounder's coaster ride (a milder roller coaster for kids), and even bigger ones like Stormrider and Indiana Jones.

We just focused on the rides. Ain't got no time for any shows. The Tower of Terror was the most challenging queue. 150 minutes, it said. And it was one of the scarier rides in DisneySea.

Challenge accepted.

For two hours, we queued. We activated the deepest Singaporean Queuing Gene in our body and went the distance.

Isaac kept himself entertained by reading the backstory of the Tower of Terror's fictional founder, Harrison Hightower III and retelling it to me, with fan fiction he added himself. He just rattled on for two hours, and in a bizarre way, time flew by.

Only our sore feet reminded us how long the wait was. It was worth the wait though. We enjoyed the drop tower experience.

We bought extra drinks and sandwiches from the convenience store near our place before going to Tokyo DisneySea. So we managed to avoid eating in the park till about 5pm. As I tucked into my scallop burger in Mermaid Lagoon, land of Ariel the Little Mermaid, Isaac quipped, "I wonder what Ariel feels about us eating her friends."

When we took our Indiana Jones ride, I told Isaac some trivia about Indy.

"Did you know the actor who plays Indiana Jones is the same guy who plays Han Solo?"

"No way!" Isaac exclaimed.

"Way."

We managed to squeeze in a second round at 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Sinbad Storybook Voyage rides. Isaac seemed to like those two rides a lot.
I enjoyed watching him take the Sinbad Storybook Voyage ride. He sat there, staring at the singing animatronic characters in wonder. A sense of wonder is a beautiful thing to have and to behold. We lose that so quickly as we grow up.

Throughout the day, sometimes I would explain how some of the rides work. And other times, I would just leave out the technical explanations.
It is good to let some experiences remain a little magical.

(Read the full post and see more photographs at brown.exposure.co or view the embedded version below.)

Isaac and Papa go to Japan: Day 8, Back to Tokyo by Kinmun "mrbrown" Lee on Exposure