Sneak Preview!

Today (or yesterday...since it's been today for half an hour already), I made a new friend:

He is a useful friend, but probably a very formidable enemy. I'm surprised I never got one of these precision knives earlier in my 'artsy-designy' life. It isn't very cheap, though. But it's nice and heavy, and it feels reliable. And being new, the blade is gloriously sharp, so that I actually cut what needed cutting quickly and effortlessly. 

Here's a sneak preview of what I was cutting, more of it very very soon!

Two more blog posts till I celebrate the 400th post on this 'ere blog! Come around for the party, everybody! I shall unveil something pretty awesome then :D. It's the 25th right now, which marks exactly one month to Christmas and my birthday! So many things to do, so little time ><. 

Hope I'll be feeling better than I do now this time next month. Till then, have a happy happy Sunday!

Loo | Me | AH!

Because I foresee this to be a long, detailed ramble, there will be the possibility of two or more posts on the same topic in succession. Feel free to walk away now, or grab some popcorn and a coke.

That being said, the announcement is this:

I am getting married. 

I got a new phone! And I'm sorry for giving you a mini heart attack. It was wholly intended, lol. 

Okay, so I got the Lumia 710 a good three weeks ago, but I put off blogging my joy out because I was too busy making sure I learnt all of its little functions and tested close to everything.

Readers will probably know that my previous phone  is (was? is? Oh grammar) a SE W508, swanked up to perfection. Or as close as it could get. I realize I only had it for over two years, and no doubt it served me very well. It braved many a fall, a thwack, and suffered greatly. It's had trouble charging and lately it was slower than a dead snail, so I knew it needed a rest...and a successor.

So far I am very very happy with this! :D. It has everything I really need in one pretty bundle, and even things I didn't know I'd need. The interface is beautiful, swiping through is super fast and touch-sensitive; I don't know, there's so much in here that just works for me. Right now I am using it mostly for communicating, entertainment, and organizer for my daily doings. I was surprised that most of the stuff that came in it is really good enough to get things going; no need for additional apps. Of course, I did get one or two (plus a lot of silly games!! XD) 

One of the biggest downsides is the battery, though I am told most smartphones live for a little over a day before it demands a charge, certainly less when you've been using a lot of apps. Windows Marketplace is a bit limited in apps, though most of the popular sites and games have apps. Not only that, there is only a non-expandable 8GB internal memory, which I think will be a bit of a problem in later years. But other than that, I feel a completely satisfied customer.

As you can see, I also got coloured cases to jazz up my phone. It's a bit hard to find casings for Lumias, as the market is very few and far between. However, these covers come in lovely solid colours of turquoise and coral- how lucky am I? =D. I also got an extra white case, for when the time comes for my phone to don some more colourful clothes ;D.

I meant to blog about some of the apps I have in the phone, but I'll make a separate post on that. Have a happy Sunday everybody! =D.

Foody-Two-Shoes

It's funny how I think up of random titles to name my blog posts. Most of the time I think about what I'm blogging about, and if there are more than one topics I try to link them together and come up with a snazzy post title. It entertains me somewhat, and I hope it entertains you too.

I was suppose to make this post yesterday night but I was busy with something else so I couldn't. This is what I had for dinner! No, it's not your usual brown rice with sesame seeds. It's PORRIDGE!!! 8D.

I never really liked porridge. Do you? I especially hate plain white porridge because it just reminds me of being sick. I hate the bland, boring taste. And I don't like porridge that has too much ginger or cilantro. And fish porridge. Oh god. Fish porridge. Seriously the person who decided that 'Hey, why don't we take fish and put it into porridge?' needs to get shot. For something so soft and meant to be swallowed, why in God's name did you have to go put something with little bones into the mush? It's so goddamn annoying, when you're going *slurpslurpslurp* and you have to pause and pull fishbones out of your mouth, or worse. You go *gulp* and suddenly there's a foreign object stuck in your throat that promises you hours of endless torment and anguish. 

I liked my porridge though. It was non fussy, savoury, and very yummy :D.

My housemate Pearlyn found me in the kitchen furiously stirring half a stock cube in a bowl. And she was shocked that I planned to make porridge with the stock (she says people usually just use plain water). I was shocked, lol. I had the impression that everyone made porridge with a stock base, which was why I purposefully purchased stock cubes at the supermarket. Even Esmond said he'd never heard of people doing this. Oh well. My chef instincts told me that I had to make the porridge with stock, and I did. And ooooh I ain't regretting, yo XD. The porridge came out flavoured; I barely needed to do anything else with it. Buuuuut, I bought MUSSELS from the supermarket as well, so I stir fried some bright green veggies with those and had that as a side dish with the porridge. Absolute heaven :D.

And then....

8D.

I went to Mid Valley yesterday for reasons you need not know about and...well...yes. I got them babies \^O^/. Next time you see me please whack me across the head and make me solemnly swear I will not buy another pair of shoes until the next year.

Ooooh that's gonna be hard XD. But it has to be done.

They are so gorjas tho :'D. All that cream and little dots of red and green. I shall take photos of me wearing them soon enough, more for my own pleasure than yours. Lol. 

A question I'd like to pose to all the girls: how hard does PMS hit you? And how do you cope with it?? =P. I'm curious because all I can do is sit and rage and make the lives of people around me miserable. Any better way to handle this? You hafta admit, I'm more or less a gentle person on normal days (hah), but during the odd week in the month I go rabid, lol. Feedback and comments are much appreciated! :D

Happy Saturday everyone!

Pok Chop~!

Warning: This post about my dinner is not halal. You have been warned.

I went grocery shopping today and found 3 pork chops for less than 6 bucks. I've never cooked pork before though. But I went ahead and bought them and when I got back I slapped one into some garlic and salt and pepper and herbs and tabasco and popped it into the fridge. Then when it was time for dinner I spread a coat of corn flour mixed with basil on it before it slid into a nice hot pan of garlic infuzed oil. 

It was a splendid dinner today, that's for sure :D. I haven't eaten pork in a while, simply because it's just not so readily available in my current situation. It never actually crossed my mind to begin with until I ambled into the non-halal section of Carrefour today. 

Then there was that retarded mix-up about the price of two packs of sausages and I feared missing the bus back and having to wait for another hour. My God, Malaysians are just blardy slow. Blardy blardy blardy slow. I wish I could clone myself just to double the attendants' speeds but...yeah, I didn't. But after a long while I was refunded my measly 2 bucks and I shuffled over to the bus stop at top speed despite being weighed down by much groceries. The miracle was that the bus was late and didn't come round till 1.16. So much win! :D.

Ah, broccoli. And potatoes. And ketchup and mustard. The world is so beautiful with things like these around. 

I'm broke though, lol. But at least I won't starve till April ^O^. Don't you just love food? Screw not being slim and pretty. Eat and be happy! I think the diet doctrine is completely ineffective to me, unless of course by diet you mean a well balanced diet and not an 'all-of-one-thing-and-none-of-the-other' diet. Listen to good ol' Buddha! Live a life of moderation! Too much is not good; too little is bad too. Tis be a life of moderation for me. Amitābha. 

How was dinner tonight everyone? Hope it was as yummy as mine, halal or not. Have a happy Friday night!

Markers, Glorious Markers~!

So I went out and bought myself these two new babies:

And ohmaigoodness I began to wonder why I stopped expanding my collection of markers.

Then I went to the counter and the guy totted up the bill and I was gently reminded the very reason why, lol.

And, yeah, with the whole digital era coming down on us, markers and every other traditional media is more of a hobby than a means of generating revenue. Of course I can still rattle off a string of artists that still work off traditional media, but they and almost everyone else also use digital besides. 

 But with Illustration class this semester, everyone will be needing markers, right? I'm just lucky to have a working set beforehand, the same way some people go to Photoshop/Illustrator class with knowledge on the tools and whatnot already. Still, I will never consider myself to be a master at markers. Never. I just enjoy using markers, and I am a very enthusiastic collector of them. That be all. 

There is still some good in all those years of me using markers though. I've tried quite a few, enough to know them quite a bit. And I think, safe to say, that Copic markers are still by far the best of the lot. Of course, you'll probably need to starve yourself a bit (or sell a some of your soul) to get the cash to buy a decent set, but yeah. If you have the money, you get the best. I'm not saying that other markers are bad, though. But I'll get down to that later.

...Yes, I bet you didn't know that I was going to start lecturing on markers XD. But once I get started I can't seem to stop, lol.

Here we go: Copic markers! I actually did a presentation on them for Communication Studies back in foundation, don't know how many of you remembered that, lol. Anyway, Copic markers come in three different kinds: a square bodied one (top), an oval bodied known as Sketch (middle), and a smaller, round bodied Ciao (bottom). Price differs, it's around 13/14 bucks (yeah, I know) for the regular/Sketch, and the Ciao is cheaper, I think maybe 10 bucks or so. Simply because it's smaller.

The nibs on them are different as well. With the regular Copic you'll have a Broad nib on one end for large surface areas, and a Fine nib for precise corners and whatnot. The fine nib is firm, but it can flatten if you press too hard down on it. I actually have a G05 (Emerald Green) marker that has a flattened fine nib. Still usable but, well, it's just weird, lol. The Sketch and Ciao markers both have Medium Broad nibs on one end and a Brush nib on the other. The Brush nib is firm yet flexible and you can get very good feathering effects with them, besides covering moderately large areas and tiny areas with the tip of the brush.

There are a few reasons why I say Copic markers are best. One, they come in a good variety of nibs, and all nibs are replaceable. So if you do press a bit too hard and flatten a nib, you can get a pack and pop a new one on. And there's the amount of colours they come in; last time I checked Copic Sketch markers came in 358 different colours, and I'm not sure if that's with the new 2011/2012 colours included ._____. . Not only that, all Copic markers are refillable, unlike Prismacolors. They don't smell bad, unlike Prismas. The colours, I find, are more translucent compared to other markers like Kurecolour or Letraset. Event the more vibrant colours are a bit...lacking? In body. Not sure how to express it, sorry.

The downside of Copics is of course its price. God are they expensive, lol. And they're also hard to come by. Before Art Friend opened in The Gardens I only saw them in Kinokuniya, but now even Kino doesn't have Copics anymore so it's just Art Friend. And only the Sketch markers come in each and every colour. Regular Copics come in 214 colours and Ciao 180. 

If one is planning on using markers to complete an assignment and be over and done with, I wouldn't really recommend Copics. Because you'd be spending a fortune and then said fortune would be mouldering in the corner after you're done. Also, if you are on a tight budget I can assure you your heart would crack in more than one place if you're going to cover a huge area of colour with your Copics, even if you have re-fills =P. Which is why, I'd recommend some other markers to satisfy your alcohol-pigment needs:

The one on top is Kurecolour. Fat, round body with two nibs: a flat broad and a fine nib. Both nibs are harder than Copics but if you're doing precise work it's an incredible advantage.  They are also refillable, though they don't come in as many colours as Copics. Very nice to use, though. I like them for their vibrancy, especially when I'm working on one of my drowned in colours drawings =P. 

Prismacolours (second from top) is probably the next best to Copics. Although not so many in colour as Copics, I think they put quite a lot of thought into which colours to produce, so that there is really just about every colour you'd need, be it for human portraits or architectural rendering. I really like the Deco   series; very pastel and dreamy! I have not tried the skin tones, but I've seen many works out there and the results are pretty good, though it looked just a bit more artificial or 'plastic' than how natural skin would look. 

One of the downsides of Prismas, I realized, is that they tend to turn yellow after time. I was flipping through my swatch book and I realized that some of the Prismas have a yellow halo around them.

Only the oranges and the yellows have them, though. The reds, blues and greens seem to have no effect. 

I can't remember where I got the Letraset markers from. They are pretty much like the Kurecolours, except that they are slimmer. Letraset also produces Tria markers that correspond to the Pantone colour system, though I have yet to try those out. Yoken markers are nice and cheap, and the art shop in Limkokwing sells them along with the Prismas. I got two whole sets from someone, and they are pretty nice. They have a very light scent. And the greys are pretty good. 

What I usually like to do is use cheaper markers for large areas of colours when I can, and use Copics for medium/small areas. Most of the markers blend well with one another despite not being of the same make. So it boils down to the nature of your work. Whether you want something to grab-and-go or something longer lasting and permanent. 

So...there you have it. My long long ramble on markers. Hope it was a bit informative, if not entertaining at the very least. I need to practice my marker $k!lLZ, will you believe that I have not touched markers for almost 4 months now.

Happy markering~!

Cherry Bomb

Hello there, everybody. How's things? Coming back from a weekend in Melaka made me sick T_T. It was windy at the bust stop and the rain was splattering right in my face. Yesterday night was teh shitz- all I could do was toss and turn and alternate from a human broiler to a refrigerator. Hope tonight won't be as bad, or better still be wonderfully refreshing.

Anyway, the weekend in sunny Melaka was pretty all right. Went shopping and bought things. And, amongst them is the new addition to the growing camera family. Yeap. Here you go:

Presenting baby Chewwy, or Cherry for the conformists, lol. She's your regular Canon A2200 compact. Seriously, after experiencing the load of the DSLR, one will definitely realize that a DSLR is completely out of the question when wanting to go for casual shopping and snapshots. It's heavy, cumbersome and annoying in just so many ways. Unless you were planning on going for a photowalk or taking more than just snapshots, just...don't bother. Really. Kids, you think it's all hip and cool to be toting a 600g+ camera with a bigass lense (or lenses for those who don't deserve to be rich =P) but really, it's just a show-and-tell contest, maybe with no tell and just all show. 

Anyways, the A2200 is a really nice, lightweight (120-ish g, almost featherlike compared to Dee) with almost all the functions you could ask for in a compact. It has a semi-manual mode, where you can adjust settings like ISO and white balance. There's your auto mode and even an easy mode, though I can't quite tell the difference between the two. Then there's the regular lot of scenes to choose from aaaaand, my favourite feature: the funky effects =D. You can choose from lomo, miniature, poster, monochrome and fisheye. Not too bad effects, I must say. 

I went about Melaka town with Chewwy and managed to get a few shots along the way. Here they are:

This is the lomo effect. It really just darkens an image and adds a vignette effect to it, but it's pretty cool.

Miniature effect blurs the top and bottom areas, besides brightening the overall photo.

Fisheye bulges the photo, though I can tell this photo is not too good an example, lol. I'll take another when I've the time.

And here's a happy family photo! Deedee unfortunately could not be in the photo, since she was the one photographing it =P. And, yeah. It's been less than a year and yet Esmond and I have collected a pretty substantial amount of cameras, new and old. Oh, the joys of life. 

That be all for now. Happy days, everybody. Have happy days.

Wilt and Blossoms

I don't suppose many of you know that I lost my MP4 pouch. Or that you know that I even have a pouch for my MP4. Maybe you don't even know that I have not one, but two MP4s to begin with.
Now that you know all of that, yes. I lost my pouch.

But then my mum went and bought a new one for me!

Isn't it pretty? She bought it for RM12.90 in Tokyo Street, Pavilion. It's a whole lot girlier compared to the black and white stripy one that is now lost to me forever. But it's so oriental and pretty! And I love the material- it feels soft and has a nice leathery texture.

First day of October, friends. I hope all of you enjoyed today better than I did. With this pile of assignments before me to which I see no end of, all I want to do is go sleep. Yes, I shall go take a snoozle now.

Love and Loafs

Be warned: This be a post of shoe+love rambles.
You have been warned.


^O^

Don't they be the prettiest shoes evar? XD.
I've been (quietly) in search of loafers for a long time now. I just love how comfy they look- laid back and just a little bit dressy, but not as casual as sneakers. I've seen bright red pairs around and was quite keen on them, but after coming across this pair (through a random stumble into a random shoe shop), I knew that these were the shoes I'd get.

Beautiful dusty turquoise colour!! I believe it's called seafoam, and I can very well imagine a walk on the beach in this pair. The dark brown tasselled bows and stitching at the side just adds to its rustic charm. Being new shoes, they rub a bit, but a bit of running around in them should do the trick =D. Better rub the insides with a bit of lubricant first though. Don't want to end up with mega-blisters through no fault of my own.
Omeegawsh, I've never been this excited over a pair of not-sneaker-shoes. Wait, just wait till I get those Reebok Retro PopxUslu Airlines sneakers...

Wait, did I say a pair of not-sneaker-shoes?...



Yes, I have two pairs of shoes in the same colour =P *gets shot*.
Well, it isn't my fault my mother agreed that the colour was oh so gorgeous =P. Can't blame me for good taste now, can you? XD. This pair is a lot softer compared to the loafers. They're a bit more feminine, with the bow and cookie-cutter seams. I sense an approaching need to go for a wardrobe makeover *sinister laugh*. Someone stop me before I turn into a twisted feemale of epic proportions, please and thank you.

Today...oops, sorry, it's been today for almost two hours. Yesterday there was another bazaar in campus, and dear sweet Esmond bought me this:

Isn't it adorable? And it's red too! ^O^ I wasn't expecting it at all, so it came as a very touching surprise. I am more grateful for his thoughtfulness than the actual gift. Not too much, of course. I love the little thing =D. Almost but never-quite-as-much as I love Esmond ^O^.

Okay, end rambles for now. Enjoy the rest of the week, folks! I'm plodding along as best as I can, hope you are too =D.

Snoogle Boobles

So I return with another blog post.

Maigawd the whole day was spent in front of Ai, to the point that the whole thing started lagging something chronic. So much more to do, I'm going to be busy busy busy the whole of the week. Month. Two months. The busyness appears endless right now, so I'll just go with the flow and enjoy myself while I'm at it.

Anyways, weekend in Melaka and I went a-shopping on Saturday (twas stress-relief! Though the stress piled right on today anyway, lol). Was actually in search of a certain pair of shoes but no luck. I did, however, buy a couple of completely random and completely nonsensical items =P

*neigh*

Got this little fella from Daiso. They stocked up on Halloween and Christmas decorations already, and this is suppose to be some sort of aerial decoration. It's so cute!! Simple and a bit rustic-looking, I think. A bell or two will make this just perfect.

Froggy notebook from S&J! I got another one for a friend's birthday present, only that one was a Totoro one. There were other designs and colours too. Wished I could collect them allllll XD. The little butterfly pegs I got from Daiso as well. I love the vintage flower fabric patterns! These make for really useful gifts for people who like keeping their lives organized with whimsical accessories =D.

Aaaand, the prize of the day! =D. Saw this at the counter when I was paying up at S&J:

Mini Domo-kuns!!! And they come in so many different designs!! =D. These depend on your luck though- you get a random design in each box you buy. But I fell in love with the one already on display, so I bought that one instead...

Oh come on, you know you love him too.

A Super Glitter Domo-kun!!! He is sparkly and shiny and shimmery splendid ^O^. I want to put a hook into his head and make him into a keychain, but I think I'd be heartbroken if he popped out and was lost D=.

*rawr*

I suppose I'll just use him as a lucky mascot for now. He's been sitting on my laptop keeping me company with his shiny-ness all day when I was pegging away at the typography assignment, then he gave me a rawr when I was frustrated over the good-for-nothing laghang.

That's all for my shopping excursion =D. In the morning I shall return to the hills and re-immerse myself in me assignments. For now my brain is dying, my eyes are woozy, my whole body aches, and I have the urge to pee.
Oh, and I still have not uploaded the pics from the merdeka celebration. I didn't do that because I shot in RAW and I'll have to convert+edit them before I post them up. And I know you know how we all know just how unproductive I want to be in every activity but sleeping right about now =3=. Tune in for more updates folks. For the time being, a happy Monday to everybody.

This is not a toy

There are those times in life when we do really odd things for the hell of it. Like randomly Googling an item and uncovering an entire cult. Or stumbling upon some novelty shop in some seemingly faraway place, then getting directions to it and roping a travel buddy in to embark on an adventure into the unknown. Or actually making it to some faraway novelty shop and then spending a mini fortune on novelty items.

Or, all of them at the same time.


8D

Yeah, so, uhm. Haha. Just another one of my random splurges I suppose? XD. I don't even know how I got myself into this. I stumbled upon The *Click* Shop some odd weeks ago and I was instantly attracted to the colourful little cameras and whatnot. And, yeah, I'll admit it, even earlier before I had expressed my negative opinions in regards to polaroids and lomography, but after delving further into the subject and learning more about its ways and 10 nonsensical rules, I felt game to try.

Of course, Esmond will probably never allow me to forget just how pointless I thought it all to be when we were first discussing all of this XD. Anyway, we got directions to the shop in PJ and with some divine intervention and luck we got ourselves at the doorstep by 11 on a sunny Saturday morning =D. After much deliberating and wishful thinking (plus a short trip to the nearby CIMB bank for the ATM), we made our purchases and made ourselves pretty much broke.

You see, that's why it's great to have a buddy with you at all times. You drool over things together, choose and pay for stuff together, get broke together. One of those blissful things in life that only much friendship and love can provide.



Anyway, the Diana F+ is a fun little plastic camera with odd little knobs and switches. Not something overtly complicated neither is it something that requires no brain cells to operate. I have yet to develop the roll of film within it, but believe you me it is a mixed bag of feelings on what I expect the end results to be. Partly because it's my first time using a toy lomo camera such as the Diana and partly because I loaded a 220mm film into it instead of the needed 120mm (25 bucks for that-expensive first mistake which I pray will reap *some* satisfactory results so that I wouldn't feel too much of a heartache =P

Oddly though, when I first held the box I was wondering why it was a lot heavier than I expected it to be, what with the camera being made entirely of plastic. It was only when I unpacked the little dood that I realized it came with a BOOK.

Only God knows just how much I love books XD.

The *Click* Shop had a few of the same books on display in-shop and I was wondering where to get it. Didn't realize how soon I could own it 8D. Haven't quite looked at it, really. But from the cover I believe it to be some sort of collection of short stories and photography using the Diana camera. It's a beautiful little cloth-bound hardcover with colour and black and white pictures inside. I think it's worth more than the camera itself, lol.

Hm, so this begins a new photo-taking experience for me? XD. Here's hoping I have fun and somehow improve my photography $k!lLz without burning a crater into my wallet =P.

Yeah, I really do want to know when I started spelling $k!lLz that way.

Sometimes you can't get all that you want

8D

so you just gotta make do with what you already have.

Yeah, talk about sooper colourful shoes right? I guess I should be eating my words when I said I'd not get any other pair but the Koinoboris =P. But tis the love of me lovin' parents, so who am I to say no, right? XD. And talk about drenched in colour! Reminds me of my own works of long ago. Oh how faraway those times feel when I'd be hunch over me desk colouring away in me happy little world. Good times man, good times =D. Keep the productivity up Joanne~! You gotta keep those creative juices flowing and keep working to create that next big drowned-in-colour shyt you're apparently so good at doing XD.

I guess it is normal to come across occasional hiccups now and then. It's okay, isn't it? Nothing's perfect. If you're going to find out all the similarities, it's inevitable that you'd find out the differences too. And if you can accept and rejoice in the first it's only fair that you do to the same with the latter. That's what I think anyway. I can't expect every single Tom Dick and Harry (why this three names by the way? I've always wondered. I think in an average individual's network of acquaintances, I doubt they know even one person named Tom Dick or Harry =/) to be able to think and accept things the way I do. If such was the case the world would be a very very warped place indeed.

Then again, I might just flip =/


Such a cool grey day. One of those days when you feel like doing nothing much but zone out and wait for the rain to come down and drown out all the worries, all the nonsensical fears, all those nagging doubts from your heart and mind.