Illustration Friday - Round

Am I the only who thinks the idea of a puffer fish balloon is darned cute?

Illustration Friday - Vanity

Mirror, mirror, on the wall
Who's the vainest of them all?

Mention vanity and the first person thought of was the Wicked Queen and her magic mirror. For vanity's sake she arranged to kill and poison an innocent girl. Who can be more vain than that?

Illustration Friday - Silent

Illustration Friday - Stripes

This came to mind when I saw the <a href="http://illustrationfriday.com">Illustration Friday</a> theme, stripes. What is a tiger without his stripes?

Rwr Rwr Rwrry!!!

Yes, I was a little upset at work.

Fuel

Here's my contribution to this week's Illustration Friday theme, Fuel, inspired by my hub who is rushing a paper... :p

The Great Ji-Hup

Reminiscing about the past tonight suddenly reminded me of this:

http://boredslacker.blogspot.com/2005_01_02_archive.html

I don't know how many of you remember but way back in 2005 when I was truly a bored slacker, I did a short crappy cartoon on a rooster with socialist-terrorist leanings named Ji-Hup. (think of jihad) he organized a coup de tat and took over the chicken farm he was living in. Eventually, he met the fate of all rebellious plump poultry, and I had long forgotten about him till tonight.

Now when I read back the archives, one of my thoughts were: was I that free long ago??

Blast from the past. Hehe. Maybe I should do something else similar for fun.
Sent from my iPad

Rwr Rwr Rwry!

Came up with this Dino character after a stressful day at work. At the same time decided that his favorite food was annoying co-workers. Yes, it was a stressful day at work... ;)

Btw his name is pronounced rrr-rrr-roary...

A Tale of 2 Worlds

I just met up with an old time friend, one I've known since primary school. She is currently pursuing studies in film and was telling me of the month long overseas internship she just did. We discussed briefly some of the others in our group, living overseas, pursuing passions... Living what counts in SG as a wild and bohemian lifestyle basically.

I thought of this group and the friends in another group living on more practical Singaporean terms, i.e. having a stable job with a CPF account and concerned with more bread and butter issues. Stocks, shares, politics, gossip...

Over a lifespan of 30 years, I'm fascinated that I have these 2 totally diverse kinds of friendships. In each group, I am the same person, same likes and dislikes, same ages even, and yet i have friends at 2 opposite poles. (literally, in the case of one)

How misplaced I must seem in each group! A boringly married HDB dweller in one, a flaky artistic temperament type in the other!

But as in nature, diversity is a strength. One group shows me that insecurity should not get in the way of my dreams, the other reminds me to keep grounded at the same time. To me, the experience of both these groups shaped my life philosophy over time: to create a stable foundation and yet never let it hold you down from your dreams. Best of both worlds!

I can't imagine how people live with friends who are exactly the same or who live almost similar lifestyles. Don't one get bored once in a while?

Sent from my iPhone

Fwd: Raise your glass if you are one

>

> I've been hooked on a music rhythm game for a while now, my new guilty pleasure. It's like the classic Beatmania arcade game, but allows you to use the songs in your iPhone library to play in the game.
>
> I've been so hooked that I'm obsessively playing it on periods of free time on the bus, on the train, trying to press those notes when they reach the precise part of the song. In fact, my obsession has brought me from high scores of 200K per song to 600K over per song. I only wish I had that kind of returns on stock.
>
> For some songs, even, I've reached high scores of 1,000,000. Yes, I am that obsessed.
>
> But after I whooped a bit, I sobered up and thought: Nobody is gonna think this is a big deal, other than me. if I told people this, most people would nod politely in my direction, and then go on talking about big, grown-up stuff like housing, most and jobs.
>
> Because one of the Hard Truths Of Society is: Other people will determine your worth. They will count what you do a success insofar as you fit into their plans and rubrics, not your own.
>
> Take the example of my high scores. If I told my husband and friends, they would nod politely. (hubby would then proceed to ask if I'd paid my credit card bill. -_-!!!) If I told colleagues, I'd get blank stares and the conversation would go on to projects and latest office political machinations. Tell your boss and he'd ask how this adds to his bottom line. Tell your family and they'd ask you to get a real job.
>
> Life's lonely sometimes. Sigh.
>
> Because your life is so unique, so different from what other people are doing, that what seems like great achievements to you only bewilder them. They cannot understand why on earth you would do this, because they would not, and thus your activity and your achievements become worthless to them. It's like the kid who drew a picture of an anaconda, carefully scrawled the lines, colored within the lines with his best crayons, brought the finished work of art beaming with pride to his parents, only to be told to concentrate on arithmetic instead.
>
> (aside: I've heard that example being used in connection to children. No one ever says we should start by changing our attitude towards adults. An interesting aside for later.)
>
> People judge you by what you are worth to them. Hard Truth of Society.
>
> But, as I see it, not of Life. Because the Truth of Life is that there never is the one truth to follow. Just like the early Christians were persecuted and then grew to evangelistic proportions, just like early computer nerds were persecuted in high school, and then grew to become Silicon Valley millionaires. Whatever people perceive as the truth in that one moment is fallible and vulnerable to changes.
>
> In that vein, so what if people don't see the worth in what you do now? Them jocks persecuting the nerds at first thought they were damned right. They thought there was the One Way Right that was theirs and look at them now, working for the nerds.
>
> Also as you grow up, you realize and acknowledge that the worth of person can be weighed in so many ways, that it's pointless to stick to a standard set of measurements for all. My boss judges my worth to her based on the teaching I do and the documents I write for her. She judges me as a failure by her standards, by her One Way Right. She's not caring about whether I have a happy marriage or if I spend time with my parents or if I'm a caring and considerate citizen, as long as I bring in the results for her.
>
> If I followed her One Way Right, then by all measurements, I am a failure.
>
> Which is why you cannot ever follow what is set down by other people. For one, those rules can change. For another, you are so different that other people can never see the whole worth of you. If you use just their judgements, then you are setting yourself up for failure, depression and therapy when you can't live up to those standards.
>
> Then how? Accept that you are different. Accept that no one will ever truly understand you, accept that there will be people who will look down you, call you loser. And laugh in those fuckwad's faces. You have your own truth to follow. Play by your own rules. Judge yourself by your own standards. Decide for yourself.
>
> And in the words of one of my favorite songs in the game:
>
> Raise your glass if you are wrong
> In all the right ways
> All my underdogs
> We will never be, never be
> Anything but loud
> And nitty gritty
> Dirty little freaks
>
> Proud to be Freaks!!
>
> And damned proud of my 1,000,000 scores. ;)
>
> Sent from my iPad

Raise your glass if you are one

>
> I've been hooked on a music rhythm game for a while now, my new guilty pleasure. It's like the classic Beatmania arcade game, but allows you to use the songs in your iPhone library to play in the game.
>>
>>
>> I've been so hooked that I'm obsessively playing it on periods of free time on the bus, on the train, trying to press those notes when they reach the precise part of the song. In fact, my obsession has brought me from high scores of 200K per song to 600K over per song. I only wish I had that kind of returns on stock.
>>
>> For some songs, even, I've reached high scores of 1,000,000. Yes, I am that obsessed.
>>
>> But after I whooped a bit, I sobered up and thought: Nobody is gonna think this is a big deal, other than me. if I told people this, most people would nod politely in my direction, and then go on talking about big, grown-up stuff like housing, most and jobs.
>>
>> Because one of the Hard Truths Of Society is: Other people will determine your worth. They will count what you do a success insofar as you fit into their plans and rubrics, not your own.
>>
>> Take the example of my high scores. If I told my husband and friends, they would nod politely. (hubby would then proceed to ask if I'd paid my credit card bill. -_-!!!) If I told colleagues, I'd get blank stares and the conversation would go on to projects and latest office political machinations. Tell your boss and he'd ask how this adds to his bottom line. Tell your family and they'd ask you to get a real job.
>>
>> Life's lonely sometimes. Sigh.
>>
>> Because your life is so unique, so different from what other people are doing, that what seems like great achievements to you only bewilder them. They cannot understand why on earth you would do this, because they would not, and thus your activity and your achievements become worthless to them. It's like the kid who drew a picture of an anaconda, carefully scrawled the lines, colored within the lines with his best crayons, brought the finished work of art beaming with pride to his parents, only to

Irritating taxi drivers

Today had 2 irritating encounters with taxi drivers.

In the morning, I had to go to the area for training. The taxi I got drove me around a longer rout than necessary. Never mind, he's not familiar with the route And anyway I approved the route. My fault.

Then when we reached the area, I asked him to go into the carpark to let me down. Now this was the part that started to try my patience.

He told me that because he went through the carpark gantry, he have to charge me extra. Fine, how much, I asked

I don't know, he answered, but the carpark charge is 30cent a minute.

Er, so whats your point? So how much extra you want? How much do I have to pay you?

Somewhat after this, he thought I was trying to make a fuss over 30 cents ( which I felt like because for god's sake, you just earned $24 of cab fare from me and you still want 30 cents more for the few seconds you spent in a carpark?? ) and I was getting frustrated because I was late and he wasn't answering my question directly. Finally with bad grace, I slammed the fare down.

Ok, maybe both a bit at fault.

2nd driver was the one I took on the way back. He took the wrong turn on the flyover and instead of going to Thomson road then Marymount, ended up going almost to Toa Payoh and took one big round before reaching my place.

I asked him how much, and he pointed to the meter!

I make some remark about going one big round and he gets all indignant, saying how the distance wasn't much difference, ( yes, it was ) and if I was going to be particular ( yes, I am ) just pay whatever price I like bah. I did, and I shaved $2 off the meter fare.

Well, this I wasn't so irritated because I think he knew it was his fault for missing the turn, and he did offer me to quote my price, if in bad grace, and I discounted myself.

So many times I have taken a taxi home, this is the first time I've been unlucky enough to tio 2 irritating experiences in one day.

Sent from my iPad

No work meh?

There are times during the holidays that I wonder how some people can be so free during working hours.

As I sit here in the cafe, there are about 13 people. 3 couples are near me, 1 pair seeming of poly/uni age so maybe that explains them.

The other 2 couples are definitely of working age. Yet one laughing couple are dressed casually, guy in round neck tee and jeans, girl with nice makeup and in a maxi dress. They've been here for about an hour so they weren't in an office today. They talk about him going to the gym and the songs she sang today. (Recording artiste?) What do they do?

Another pair, the guy is in office garb. How come he's not in the office? How is it he's free to sit with the girl in the pretty designer club dress in the late afternoon? Does his boss know he's here?

And that's just the people nearer to me. What about the other guy wearing office shirt sitting at a table reading a magazine? (jobless? Just went for an interview?) Or the guy wearing tee and shorts writing in a binded book? (working from 'home'? Studying?) or the 2 western expats? (don't they usually have jobs here?)

I know why I'm here but what about the rest? How is it that some people don't have to be in an office during working hours? How is it they can work from this cozy cafe like I am trying to do?

And more interestingly: How can I do what they are doing?

Sent from my iPad

The art of doing nothing

After the whole Australia trip, I decided that in the one week I have left before work starts, I don't really wanna do much. The reason being I did so much moving from town to mountain to town to state that now, being static seems especially pleasurable right now.

Monday I walked up and down orchard with no aim in mind except a foot massage. Tuesday I spent the morning with Slayer and the rest of the afternoon peacefully reading. Wednesday I went out for breakfast with FH and then lunch with him and more aimless wandering till home.

Maybe because I know the deadlines looming, which is why these few days of no aim seem especially sweet.

Aaaah, how long can this last?

Sent from my iPad

How beautiful the night

How beautiful the night

How beautiful to sit here and enjoy the night

How beautiful the peace

How beautiful to sit in the night

To enjoy the night

And be at peace with me

How beautiful the night

My Quest for an iPad 2

Ion Orchard: "Sorry, we're all sold out."

Sign in front of Wheelock store: "iPad 2: Sold out"

Suspicion that major retailers would be wiped out by early eager fans. Decide to try somewhere a bit more out of the way.

Taka Best Denki: "We have one last set left...

YES!!!!

"Black, 32 GB, 3G and WIFI"

But...... How about 64GB?

"All sold out. That's the last set, you want?"

....... Not really, thanks. T_T

One more attempt at an out of the way store.

Electronic Store at Mandarin Gallery: ( Ha! How many of you knew this shop was here?! )

"Sold out."

( Enough of you knew this store was here, apparently. Damn! )

Sign outside Courts: One model remaining, 16GB White. Argh!!!

Skipped Somerset 313, Orchard Central. No hope.

Harvey Norman, Centrepoint: ( Ha! How many people know this shop is here?? )

"Sold out."

( A lot of you, damn!!! )

Dejected, I start to walk back towards Orchard, then...

Notice a number of people in the Orchard Central shop....

And some boxes being loaded into the shop...

TRY!!!! Run across the road ( with the green man, of course ) to the store!!

"Sold out!"

The boxes??? --- MacBooks. -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling, dejected, finally head back to Orchard.

Then I go to the one place in Singapore I know I will get it.

So I'll wait a week or two more. Oh well, at least I know it will come into my hands.

Meanwhile, head to Kino and browse furiously through iPad magazines.......................

Epilogue:

SMS from A: "Courts Toa Payoh got no queue. My fren wife bought today."

!@#$$^&*(&^^%$#@!#@#$%%^&^&**((*&^^%%$$##@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Youtube Music

The problem with having an iPhone that doubles as an MP3 player is that you are forever constrained by the memory space on the Phone. While I could dedicate my previous iPod to all my music, on my iPhone, my music starts to compete with my apps for memory. (Which is rapidly running out -_-!!! )

Then I discovered Youtube. Woohoo!

Not that I like to watch videos of kittens sliding into boxes or others like that. It's not fun at all to be trying to watch an online video, reduced in resolution on the iPhone, and on a rockin' shakin' public bus. I'm quite likely to unload my lunch at the next bus stop if I were to do that.

However, I did find out that there's plenty of talented musicians posting videos of themselves singing on Youtube. These aren't just your aspiring bathroom singers (thank god I haven't seen any of those... in the bathroom I mean... ) but also professional singers, music producers, and DJs producing music that deserve to be on the HMV shelves. Since they're on Youtube, if you have an iPhone with the seemingly bottomless 12GB plan, you can easily stream these videos on your Phone and listen to them as if you were listening to your own MP3s.

Here then are some of the ones I like:

1. Alex Goot

Sings and produces covers of popular songs. His videos also show him playing all of the instruments used in his covers, so kudos for multi-tasking musical talent.

2. Kurt Hugo Schneider X Sam Tsui

The first sings, the latter produces the music. Together they produce some surprisingly professional music videos on Youtube and even have songs for purchase on the US iTunes.

3. DJ Earworm

Remixes songs in DJ mixes and very good at cutting/pasting songs together to produce a new song. Check out the video of the Top Songs of 2010, it's a great mix!

The above artists as far as I know exist mostly on Youtube. The other following artists are professionals who have CDs for sale and Youtube videos as well. (Well, some of these Youtube videos are done by amateurs using their songs obviously, but it's a great way to be introduced to some very good music)

1. Alice Sudol 'Almost Lover'

Some of you may have seen her video on my friends' FB for her song 'Almost Lover'. Her drawn-out voice and heart-pulling lyrics are what appealed her to me. 'Almost Lover' is particularly heart-rending, as anyone who's ever experienced unrequited love can attest to. She has other good songs too, like 'Whisper'.

2. Oren Lavie's 'Her Morning Elegance'

He has other songs found on Youtube but what first caught my ear was the light-hearted bouncy tone of 'Her Morning Elegance'. The stop-motion animation used in this animation is also light-hearted and ingenuous.

3. Newton Faulkner 'People Should Smile More'

A cheery song and the accompanying Powerpoint-like presentation should make anyone smile. As Faulkner sings, slide after slide of goofy grins and shy smiles appear on the video. Love it! Look for the version by purpleturtle60. If you like his voice, I also highly recommend 'Teardrop'.

Of course you may encounter problems in streaming now and then. I've had times when I was listening to a song halfway, only to have it cut off. Or pressed on Youtube to get an error message saying 'Youtube Unavailable'. I have to disclaim here: Youtube is not meant as a replacement for your MP3s. The MP3s on your iPhone is definitely more reliable than any video that has to be streamed. And if you are in a moving vehicle, you may find streaming dropping and coming on again as you move.

However, it's a great alternative to try out new music and artistes. I still buy my CDs and listen to music, but buying is always a bit of a risk if you have never heard of the artiste before. You can use Youtube to sample new artistes and tracks before deciding to buy. And if you want to listen to other sounds, just do a search for the music you want.

And of course, if you find any great music, share with me! :)

We had the following conversation amongst the usual posse.

We found out one day that Candle's Whatsapp did not display the names of the persons typing the messages in a group chat. She could still follow the conversation, but she didn't know who was saying what. However, she said she could guess, because each person had their own distinct style when typing.

Which led to an interesting game. We took turns to type sentences in Whatsapp and she had to guess who said what.

Of course, because we knew each other too well, we started imposing as other people, typing things that another person may possibly say, leading to probably a lot of confused reading on Candle's part. We find it particularly hilarious when we use each other's quirks to pretend to be that person.

The following conversation took place between 3 members of the usual posse, and Candle. Can you actually guess who said what?

Yoyo

yo

yoyo

I dreamt of steak last night.

Was it well done or medium rare?

Raw... Really RAW but hot!!! On a sizzling hot plate! :O

With lots of gravy!

Which part did he swallow?

The juiciest part!

The rump? :D

Yea, black pepper gravy... Spicy!!!

He gives me FEVER

And shiver...

Fa Shao!

How about the baked potato with sour cream? Got or not?

Yes, with extra cheese

Hard or not...

And bacon sprinkled all over!

Too bad, over cooked... Mushy mushy one :(

Not hard enough... sad... Potato must be nice and firm then nice

Must heat it long enough

Bake it till it's HOT

And HARD!!

And must not peel away the skin, it's nice and crispy

----------------------------------------------------------

And this is when Candle finally entered the conversation......

So here is the following to think about:

1. Who were the 2 other people in the conversation, besides me? ( Of course I was one of them lah, see I help you all already )

2. Who said what? Match each sentence to who you think said it

3. Alternatively, choose your 'favourite' sentence in the conversation and guess who said it. :D

Can you guess? Show your answers below!

I nearly thought i would die.

Today, my friends, i went for a 10km jog. The jog was organized by PAssion card and was a practice run for the 100plus PAssion run which i had signed up for. ( Stay tuned for news on this blog if i make it through that one. ) this was my first time attempting such a distance and at some points I nearly thought I wouldn't finish it. Due to inexperience, of course I made some mistakes.

First, I took a rather heavy lunch quite late. I could feel something like indigestion when I was running.

I forgot to warm up. When I jog in the gym, I usually have a short warm up by walking first before starting the run proper. This time, when I saw everybody running past me, I kan cheonged and ran faster than i should have, forgetting to warm up. This made me lose steam faster.

I tried to compete. Especially with this aunty and her husband. I kept telling myself and other people that the main point was for me to finish the race, not come in first or second. Yet when I found myself lagging almost last, I was like I can't be last! I made myself a competitor, in effect.

And that was because of this aunty. She was running with her husband and we were almost at the same pace. Then she ran faster and I thought I'm losing to an aunty! Big mistake. Aunty or not, the only competitor is always myself. Why must I compete with her? Not as if last place will lose 'html'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>I took a rather heavy lunch quite late<br/><br/>I forgot to warm up<br/><br/>I tried to compete<br/><br/>Especially with this aunty and her husband<br/><br/>I stopped for drinks and broke momentum<br/><br/>Unused to the distance at one point I thought I was going to have a heart attack<br/><br/>Storm clouds were approaching and I could hear thunder<br/><br/>I kept crossing my fingers<br/><br/>I told God let me finish this race. I have to do it so that no one will ever look down on the useless fat girl, most of all myself. If you let me finish, I promise I will run through the finish line even if it kills me at the end. ( ok, I'll jog past the finish line ) <br/><br/>And whaddya know. The storm held back. The aunty and hubby kept up a walking pace at the end and I summoned up some unknown fat reserve and made myself jog. I jogged past them and I thought why not we come in past together? But they urged me on. And when I saw the finish line I ran towards it and I did it. <br/><br/>The storm didn't burst, I didn't crawl past and I wasn't last. ( well to be truthful i was 2nd last ) I didn't get a heart attack.<span id='BB_SIGN_BEGIN'><img alt='BlogBooster-The most productive way for mobile blogging. BlogBooster is a multi-service blog editor for iPhone, Android, WebOs and your desktop' src='http://theblogbooster.com/pixel.gif' style='border:none;'/></span></div>000000 right? Why do I have to compare myself with other strangers? The only effect was that it put additional pressure on me to reach some imaginary level of success.

That being said, I have to admit it was a bit irritating running behind her. Because she'd be walking with her husband, and I'd think ok! I can catch up! Then as I caught up to her, she would suddenly start jogging and she'd be ahead of me again! Argh! This went on for the whole 10k. -_-!!!

I stopped for drinks and broke momentum. When I jog in the gym or outdoors with my dad, I always ran the distance nonstop without hydration. Good for me or not, it was what my body was used to.

Then after 5km, I stopped at the water station and drank a cup of 100plus. Eargh! I got indigestion and slight churning in my stomach because I wasn't used to the slightly carbonated drink. ( I always drank h2o ) Then the break in momentum made my running lose steam and I suddenly found myself struggling.

Unused to the distance at one point I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I could my heart rate going rapidly crazy and I was like oh no, 30 yr old drops dead suddenly during practice run. Note to self: must train for distance and do not compare or compete.

Then as I was dying, I had another problem: Storm clouds were approaching and I could hear thunder. I was running out in the open. If the run didn't kill me, was I going to have to abandon my goals because of weather??

I kept crossing my fingers throughout the run. I told God let me finish this race. I have to do it so that no one will ever look down on the useless fat girl, most of all myself. If you let me finish, I promise I will hold my head up and run through the finish line even if it kills me at the end. ( ok, I'll jog past the finish line ) At the very least, even if I get a heart attack, I had to finish that damn race! ( notice how exerting physical distances make me overly morbid )

And whaddya know. The storm held back. The clouds swelled and the thunder boomed in the distance but someone up there seems to have heard my prayer (plea) and held the pause on the storm just enough for me to finish. The aunty and hubby kept up a walking pace at the end and I summoned up some unknown fat reserve and made myself jog. I jogged past them and I qas thinking we should jog past the finish line together as a group. I thought, why not come in last together? But they urged me on and told me to go forward.

And when I saw the finish line I ran towards it. My legs pulled forth some hidden reserve of energy and I ran through that finish line. I had done it.

and I did it. The storm didn't burst, I didn't crawl past and I wasn't last. ( well to be truthful i was 2nd last -_-!!! ) I didn't get a heart attack.

In fact, it didn't even rain till I had collected my souvenirs, my free drinks, and carried myself to the taxi stand where I grabbed a cab and then the storm burst and the heavy rainfall fell on the cab. I sat back in the seat and thanked God for waiting so long.

I understand now something more of the mindset of the ultramarathoner i mentioned in an earlier post. When you put yourself to the single-minded doggedness to complete a goal, you put all your resources to the completion of that goal and it is the greatest feeling in the world, even if you don't come in faster than someone else, to actually finish your goal on your own two feet. In fact, you don't even need to compare your progress with others, because everyone is also single-mindedly pursuing their own individual goals. How can you compare two totally different life paths, strengths and weaknesses, and conclude one is better? It is biased and unfair and you should not be doing that to yourself.

And when you do finish something on your own merits, congratulations. You have proven that regardless of what others may think of you, you have that strength in you to do what you have to, what you want to. You do not need to measure yourself by other people's standards any longer. And that feeling of self worth may be the most precious thing you can ever win in any marathon.