woolgathering

Do not ever underestimate stop motion videos.
2 weeks, we're barely even done. Currently, we have over 4,000 photos for at least 12 different scenes.
Still trying to sort through/ pick the right ones for final editing.
Thank God for the deadline extension.
I doubt we could finish by this coming Monday.
Bear in mind the video is supposed to be only a minute long.

Work for the past week was slightly insane, OT-ed everyday because we have a tender deadline coming up for the working drawings of the Palace hotel refurbishment. And they have A LOT of rooms. 2 plans + 10 elevations for each. I don't even have time to go out for lunch.
And honestly, when I come home, I'm too beat to even go out for dinner, let alone sit in front of my lappy editing photos after photos.
And yet, that is exactly what I'm doing.

By sheer luck (again?), this book I wanted (which is slightly pricey) happened to be on sale in Kino (book of the month!) and I, of course, nabbed it without a second thought. Buahaha. Awesome.

"hubris, n.

Everytime I call you mine, I feel like I'm forcing it, as if saying it can make it so. As if I'm reminding you, and reminding the universe: mine. As if that one word from me could have that kind of power."

Anyway, the word 'hubris' actually means overbearing presumption or arrogance. And his example is so interesting... :S I honestly never would have thought of it that way. I suppose that's why he's an author and I'm not.

"sometimes, i can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives i'm not living"

I can't remember where I read that before.

Toured around KL for our latest video assignment.
KLIA, Thean Hou Temple, Little India Brickfields, Bukit Nanas, Central Market & Petaling Street all in a day.
I don't think I've ever been to all these places as often ever since I started college.
They make really good spots for taking photographs though.
I hope the promotional video works out well in the end.

"He is only a human," said the great fox, "while you are a fox. These things rarely end happily."
I finished Neil Gaiman + Yoshitaka Amano's The Sandman: The Dream Hunters.
The story is based loosely on a Japanese fairytale; about a monk, and a fox who fell in love with him. It was not a typical happy ending but I'd like to think that the fox spirit and the monk managed to be together in the end, in a world different from ours. It is still sad though.
The art is really dreamy. That's the difference between American and Japanese comics; American artists have harder strokes, whereas Japanese artists are more graceful, with fluid strokes and softer color palettes.
*sigh*
Is that a weird past time? Reading and analyzing too much?
Sometimes, I think none of the people I know actually have anything in common with me.

Some random pictures from yesterday's tour.
Aunt is encouraging me to take a deeper interest in photography if that is what I like, she said.
Sometimes, I feel that she is more supportive of my interests than my parents.

i have a monster bag

Blogging at work just because I can am bored.
Shopping spree with Lyd and CY yesterday completely wiped me out. As in, cash. This could be the first time we went to a mall with no intentions of going to a bookstore. Pyramid is cooler than I thought. This shop has that monster bag I wanted for a really long time.
And then we went to Kinokuniya in the evening, and that wiped me out again.

After that, dinner + more pervy jokes.
And then we went to CY's house where I pawned all their asses in Monopoly Deal.
I could have had a winning streak if they didn't gang up on me :(

I need more part time jobs!



I finally have my illuminated star globe. On discount!! Its so pretty when it lights up *_*
Which reminds me, I haven't fix the Star Planetarium Kenny bought for me.

i am not kidding

I dreamt of my grandmother.
I dreamt I woke up to the feeling of somebody stroking my hair, and it was my grandmother.
She spoke to me this time. She was smiling so happily.. she looked different.
She asked me if her new clothes were nice, and my mom (in my dream) answered "Yes, of course, I 'burned' it for you". I remember her clothes were black, with pink flowers.
I asked her about my grandfather. And she said she "came alone, but will bring him back with her next time".

Upon waking up, I told my mother about the dream.
When I came back from college in the evening, she said "I told your dad about your dream just now. And he did 'burn' clothes for your grandmother on the eve of CNY. They were black with pink flowers".

I really did not know about this.
On the eve of CNY, I was in OUG the whole day so I couldn't have known that he even bought anything for my late grandparents.
Is this a coincidence?

It rained.


If He was trying to grant my wish, He was 3 hours late.
After all that running about under the (scorching hot) sun (my back felt like it was burning at one point), we were just sitting down inside the tent to take a short break when it started raining and we rushed back out to collect all the props.
Lugging trays after trays of cups fill with water + oil was not cool either.
They decided to propose something new and we worked with oil and wicks this time (the ones used in Chinese altars), instead of water and floating candles. My hands were well moisturized by the end of the event.
Also, I found myself working with a real idiot.
He is so amazingly stupid.
He tried to pour the extra water + oil mixture onto the grass, and I said "No, don't.. you'll kill the grass."
And he said "Huh?? Why?" (Did we not learn this in primary school?)
After I explained to him, he said "Oh.. whatever. Nobody cares."
I do. And I (not so subtly) told him I didn't give a crap what he thought but he's going to walk to the drains. Even Lyd noticed I was pissed, and I hardly ever get mad at people, especially ones I've just met. (From this point onwards, I decided I would be mean to him for the rest of the day)
He thought asking about (Lyd's) weight was a 'sensitive' question.
He thought girls with makeup look like men.
He says girls shouldn't like anime.
He does not know what domestic violence is.
He cannot spell 'vanilla'.
He is a sexist and a homophobe.
Enough said.



I got to watch some pretty awesome fireworks up close!

i'm - and you're -

Reunion dinner with the SAS Form 6-ers..
I'm pretty glad we do this every year, because otherwise, I would have lost contact with everyone else.
After dinner, JS said 'let's go for a drink' and somehow, we ended up at a bar in DJ.
I don't know if it's because of the beer or the Long Island I shared with Celine (or a mash-up of both the drinks), but now I can't sleep.
And I'm dead tired.
Will have to wake up in another 5 hours for work.
Astrofest. I have no idea what's that.
It's going to be a looong day.
I kinda regret agreeing to it now.
Lyd just texted and said "bring sunblock because setup will be under the afternoon sun."

I hope it rains.



Oh wait, no I don't. Lugging wet table and chair cloths under the rain = not cool.

what are you thinking right now?

Tomorrow will be the last day of my holidays, until the end of internship in April.
Another 10 weeks to go. Time really does fly, doesn't it.
I thought 6 months would feel be longer than this.
And then.. my final semester of college.
I am nervous. Right now, just thinking about it.
Slight dread that I will have to go back to sleepless nights and stress, slightly relieved that it'll be the end, slight anticipation on what would happen after the end..
And slightly sad that if what you told me that day was true, that means I won't be seeing you in college anymore.... or seeing you ever again, anywhere. Because our paths never cross outside of college.
I wish I could do something about it.
I wish I had the courage to do something about it.
But I don't.
So after this year, or the next 4 months, we will be strangers to each other.

....

Singapore was an awesome diversion. Days were spent exploring other sides of Singapore this time. My parents had never been to Clarke Quay so we took a trip there on Saturday night to experience the night-life. I wished we could have sat down and enjoyed a proper drink, the bars looked really nice. Or if we had more time, we could have gone to Marina Bay to see 'the ship on the buildings'. I call it Noah's Ark. If there's ever a Great Flood in Singapore, I would know where to run to.
I have developed a slight obsession with Lego, from my childhood days. The Star War ones are really nice!! Its expensive though, and I do not have the means to start a new collection.... yet.





Thanks to my uncle. Mom said I am shamelessly spoiled by my family, even though I did not ask for it. But still, awesome! :D

On the way back Monday afternoon, they decided to stop by Malacca for food (yes! asam laksa!). I am surprised by how much it has changed. It started raining soon and Dad refused to stop by the side to let me take photos of some buildings, so I had to snap them on-the-go.






I finally have a dreamcatcher again.

who do you turn to when there's no one left

"Its weird though, that we are doing X-Japan now. We never thought of doing it. When we broke up, that was it. It's.. That's very strange."
-Yoshiki

By coincidence, I found an X-Japan app for iTouch :D So awesome!
Also, the news Yoshiki mentioned turned out to be a REALLY GOOD one.
Not only are they not disbanding, they have signed a 3 year deal with EMI to release a new album!
This means they'll be around for a while more, and hopefully most likely holding concerts around US.
3 years.... I think I would be able to catch at least ONE right?

Speaking of good news, the trailer for 世界一初恋 is out! Or has been for a while, I don't know, I haven't been keeping up to date.
News is that the anime will be out in April 2011, and while I am happy, I am also surprised it is still going on, in light of the new law on banning anime and manga deemed harmful to youths, aka materials containing/depicting sexual acts. And especially considering one of the guys supporting this new ban happens to be an anti-gay.
The thing is, I think its really stupid.
Because you can't undo what everyone already knows.
Just because they don't read about it, doesn't mean people don't know about homosexuals and all that.
And all this has been around for so many years (its already a culture of Japan), I don't know why he's only trying to put a stop to it now.
Who here doesn't relate unproportionately-chested girls with skimpy outfits to Japanese comics?
I've been reading Doraemon since I was.. I don't know.. 7 or 8, and Nobita goes through the どこでもドア (Go-anywhere door?) every time to peek at Suzuki when she's bathing. Isn't that counted as sexual harassment or something? I would like to see them ban Doraemon.
My opinion is, you don't put out a fire only AFTER it has burned everything down.
Because it doesn't change a thing.

in another place and another time

What I look forward to during CNY 15 years ago..
1. New clothes
2. Seeing all my extended family members
3. Yes, ang pow..

What I look forward to during CNY now..
1. College break!!
2. My aunt's home-made pineapple tarts.. once you've eaten hers, you never want ANY other. I kid you not. Every year she makes a big jar specially just for me :) (which I then hide from my brothers)
3. New clothes.. contrary to what anyone would think, I hardly have a reason to buy new clothes any other time of the year. There are more reasons to buy new books.

First day of CNY and I'm just glad I don't wake up thinking about assignments. I never thought there would be a day I feel such joy, just being able to sit and watch chinese re-runs. And I will repeat this again (even if no one cares to listen), Donnie Yen is a HUNK. I love watching him fight, so fluid and graceful even if he is breaking off people's necks and legs, plus it helps that he has awesome abs and arms AND HE PLAYS PIANO LIKE A DREAM. I want this man.
I'll be leaving for Singapore tomorrow! Because everyone is sitting around feeling bored, except my brothers. Lets just hope all the stores will be open, because I have prepared a list of books to buy in Kino, Singapore. Can anyone believe they actually have TWO Kino stores over there? That is my main motivation in wanting to move there. If that happens.

My aunt told me "Don't say if. Say when."

2/1/2011

I have a new toy!!! \o\ |o| /o/
Happy Birthday to me in advance!

Say hello to my new iPod touch!
It is finally here, after a week of delay which included me (trying to) yell at people over the phone.
It didn't work very well though, because the guy (Jim) from the Apple Customer Service was too polite.
I have also added an extra 700 bucks to my IOU list T.T
Goodbye, salary.

Shon, if you're reading this, YOU CONVINCED ME TO BUY THIS!

I am happy though.
Most expensive thing I have ever bought myself, to date.
Even my handphone cost a lot less.