Maureen, an agent for a book publisher in the USA, got in touch with me a while back to buy the North American rights for the above photo that Wuan took at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park in Sabah. The offer was US$150 for one time rights or US$275 for future rights. We opted for the latter for all print and electronic ancillaries. We used the earning that amounted to RM876.29 (RM887.95 before deducting bank commission) for a 38L Aipo dry cabinet to store the Nikon D60 and a Lowepro Fastpack 250 backpack that can accommodate the DSLR and my notebook.

Click on image for larger version.

Malay Mail
Blogspot
May 13, 2008

I met my Wuan online!
Teoh El Sen

PETER GABRIEL TAN (www.petertan.com), who will be 42 soon, got married six months ago to someone hemet online nine years ago.
She is the most wonderful person who is supportive of the things that I do,” he says.

And he’s quick tomention that she has a photoblog (www.wuan.org). Peter’s weblog is called The Digital Awakening with the tagline Living One Day At A Ttime.

I became a tetraplegic at the age of 18 when I dived into a swimming pool and suffered spinal cord injury. I havebeenusingawheelchair since,” says Peter, born and bred in Penang but currently based in Kuala Lumpur.

SpinalCordInjury(http://sci.petertan.com/) was the first site he created, and that was in 1997. And since then, a fewmore.

But Peter aims to take a break, as “I have written all that needs to be written in more than 300 entries.

I have nothing new to say anymore….

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a peer counselor for the Independent Living Programme for People with Disabilities.(http://www.cilpenang.org) Essentially, I conduct programmes to empower severely disabled people to regain their selfrespect, understand their rights in society, evaluate their goals in life and work towards that.

I am also an advocate for an accessible and inclusive Malaysia. At the moment, disabled people face great difficulty because of attitudinal and environmental barriers. Many are unable to move around safely and conveniently due to the lack of accessible facilities and public transport. Infrastructure should be created to cater to the diverse needs of society, not only for people who can walk, but this is usually not the case. That is why there is a real need to advocate in the interest of disabled people who are still being marginalised and left behind in mainstream society.

How and when did you start to blog? I had several websites hosted at Geocities in the early 2000. Manually updating the links to existing pages each time I added new pages was tedious. It was also during that time that I began to read blogs and noticed that updating was done at the back-end effortlessly.

I posted my first entry at Blogspot on January 28, 2003, and have never looked back since.

Any reasons? I kept a diary before that.

Blogging is a natural extension to it. I had no idea how it would turn out. I just wanted a space to pen my thoughts and the story of my life. Being able to share it with other people was a bonus.

What have you achieved through blogging? The greatest gain from blogging is the many friendships that were forged with readers who live in places that I never imagined I would ever visit. We would not be able to get to know each other if not for my blog.

I’d like to believe that through my blog, I have given disability a face toMalaysian society that disabled people are just like everyone else. We have needs, emotions, ambitions and would love to lead fulfilling lives.

We are no different fromthe people that you meet everyday in the market, of!ce or shopping complexes.

Thewonderful thing about blogging is that it allows me to do what I do more effectively to a wider audience.

Through my blog, I disseminate information on disability.

Whenever the opportunity arises, I stress on the Social Model of Disability which states that people are disabled by attitude and the environment rather by their conditions. I am glad that they now have a better understanding of these issues and are supportive of the cause that I amadvocating.

Do you have any regrets through blogging? None whatsoever.

How has blogging changed your life? I have learnt a lot about myself at a deeper level.

Each time I put thoughts into words, I challenge myself on my understanding of the issues that I am writing on. Blogging has allowedme to bring out my inert emotions and ambitions. That has made me realise many things about myself and matters that are close to my heart.

I like writing and photography.

This blog has allowed me to do both in the same place. Apart from that, I like tosavourgoodfoodalthough that has been severely curtailed by the low-protein diet that I have to follow because ofmy kidney disease.

The ‘blogosphere’.What does itmean to you? It’s the place where we say the things that we do not usually say in real life.

Who is your absolute favourite blogger? To me, the integrity of a blogger is of utmost importance.

They must stand by what they write come hell or highwater. I do not have one favourite blogger but I have high regard for social- political bloggers who, knowing the risks, still openly reveal their identities and write critically on current issues.

Wuan and I collected the two albums for our bridal photo shoot some time last month. We were impressed by the images in the sample albums that were displayed by De Paris Image at the wedding fair at Mid Valley Megamall. We had gone there for our dinner after having our marriage solemnised at Registrar of Marriage at Thean Hou Temple earlier in the day.

When we placed the deposit for the shoot, we had specifically indicated that we wanted natural skin tone with very little retouching of the images and plain background. Never mind that our complexion were not flawless. We wanted to look natural. The package came with one large album and one smaller album of twenty images each and three framed images.

When we were called back to view and select the images after the 12-hour photo shoot, we were rather delighted with the results. The skin tone was nice. We threw out most of the images that did not have plain background. At the end, we settled for an extra five images that cost us RM600 more. We liked the photos and it was not something that we would be doing often.

Imagine our disappointment when we went to collect the albums and discovered that some of the images were extensively touched up. We did not look natural. The skin tone was not natural. I looked like I had too much powder on my face. Looking at the images of myself reminded me of the touched up portrait of my father when he was young. In those days, if one wanted colour portraits, the studio would take a black and white photo and coloured it.

I will not recommend De Paris Image to couples shopping for a bridal studio for their photo shoot. Shop around more. I am sure there are studios that understand what minimum retouching is or ensure that the touched up images look natural. Make sure all the charges are stipulated up front. Some devious studios will not tell you that make-up, hairdo, fake eye lashes and the ampoules for make-up are not included in the package. Brides should bring their own free bra which can be bought from other places for a fraction of what the studios charge. The bridal photo shoot may be a once in a lifetime event for most couples but that should not be an excuse to allow these unscrupulous studios to take us for a ride.

Because I shower Wuan with love and show my appreciation the other 364 days too. Valentine’s Day is over-hyped and over-commercialised to deceive us into parting with our hard-earned money in the name of love. Does an overly expensive bouquet of red roses really prove love and devotion? Not for me, not anymore.

I guess age has a hand in all these. Having been made guilty for not buying a present on this day for many years, I am now more the wiser. Wiser, not miser. I buy Wuan gifts whenever I come across something that I think she will like, not only on Valentine’s Day, but throughout the year.

I just checked the price at an online florist. They charge RM250 for a bouquet of two dozen red roses plus delivery when it would only cost RM120 on other days. The day when I spend twice the amount for something will be the day I need to see a psychiatrist. I can think of many other ways that I can sensibly spend the extra amount on.

This is one of those days that I want to leave all my cares behind, sit back and savour the serenity of the moment but there are so many things swirling in my mind right now. Eighteen days into 2008 and I suddenly realise that many things have changed with more to come.

Being married comes with responsibilities not only to the wife but also her family. For the past five years, Wuan was all the family I had. Now that our marital status has changed, her family has become mine too. What is required of the son-in-law? What are my duties, especially during auspicious occasions such as the Chinese New Year?

The one thing I do know is that I have to give away ang paus this year. That is the tradition. I collected my last Chinese New Year ang pau last year. My years of merrily accumulating a small fortune have come to an end. Now is payback time. There are already hints of what is expected from me. I hope the new notes that I have changed are enough.

These are changes that need time for me to get used to. They mark another few milestones in my passage through life. I am learning. I thought my Chinese New Years will never be the same again since Mum died. The last four years were different. Now that I have a family of my own, I wonder how it will be like.