~Not just a Post~

だいすき (dai suki) -- love
しあわせ (shiawase) -- happiness
わらって (waratte) -- smile
まもる (mamoru) -- protect
えがお (egao) -- smiling face
あたたかい (atatakai) -- warm
あんしん (anshin) -- be comforted/don't worry
がんばります (ganbarimasu) -- jiayou
あしてる (ashiteru) -- love
ありがとう (arigatou) -- thank you
おげんきで (ogenki de) -- take care

I've decided not to put sad events in my life in this blog, because I only want to remember the happy moments. And I don't want people to feel sad reading my blog.
One slight crack today though.
The words above are dedicated to someone special.
Dear M,
I love you. May happiness surround your life and may you always smile. Although I can't really protect you for you are the one who is always protecting me, I'll try my best because I've always wanted to see your smiling face. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'll ganbarimasu! You too yeah!
あしてる、
ありがとう
おげんきで　ね！
Don't cry anymore. I'll cry with you too if you do.

Bought 23 books at the NLB book fair at expo! gosh @_@

I want to watch Miyazaki's new 2008 movie: Ponyo on the Cliff (崖の上のポニョ, Gake no Ue no Ponyo)!! Hope it will come to Singapore soon!
The plot centers around a goldfish named Ponyo who desperately wants to be a human. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponyo_on_the_Cliff_by_the_Sea

Here's the trailer~



If I'm not wrong, the movie consists of 170,000 picture frames, all hand drawn!!! No computer graphics (CG)! O_O
Looks super cute too! XD

Yesterday: Went to east coast park to cycle with my female cousin. Cycled almost non-stop for about 2 hours. Legs so suan! Ate at Jack's Place for lunch.

Today: Went to watch the movie "red cliff" or 赤壁 (chi bi) with my male cousin. Ate at shokudo at raffles place for lunch.
After the normal chinese movie, I found out that,
Zhu Ge Liang was played by Takeshi Kaneshiro. LOL
A japanese zhu ge liang O_O
HAHAHA!!!
I thought that the combination is just hilarous! lol!
Of course I'm not making fun of the actor or zhu ge liang. Takeshi played the character fine and in chinese.
But it seems like history is no longer history. Globalisation and modernisation has taken over. Fictional history is dabled with new elements of today's world. The blend between real life and history.
The romance of the 3 kingdoms chinese novel, written in the 14th century, is where red cliff is based on. In the book, its characters are totally chinese.
But now, the characters are played by people of different nationalities.
Interesting yeah!
Modern irony o.O
Of course, TK is cool! shuai! and kakkoi! xD

Tomorrow: Going to book fair at expo.

Slacking, going out, spending money.

That's my life.
And I'm lovin' it~~~

I'm having writer's block recently so I've decided to put up some pictures instead!

First of all, an interesting cloud I took just outside my home today! xD was actually better because of the reddish gold sunset but I didn't have a camera at hand. Therefore the sun went down slightly and the effect wasn't as good. But it reminds me a little of the atomic bomb explosion O_O or on a better note, castle in the sky! lol.


Now some pictures from my mum's holiday in US. I'll only put up a few sceneries. Now, contrast them with Singapore's....... lol.
Beautifully designed and so colourful!! :D


Some heavenly food called chocolate :P

I didn't show a lot because they may not want me to show their faces online and so as respect their privacy I took only those without the persons. And there are only a few of those.
Of course, there are plenty more!
Lots of greenery, flowers, lakes, extricately designed houses, buildings etc. And, good food!
TOo bad I couldn't go :(
~~~

My ambition: To go to Japan and become an animator!!!

Well, I'm quite tired of people telling me how tough it is and so on. I KNOW! Of course I know.
Life is not easy anyway.
But that's not going to stop me. I'm a survivor!! I'll do my best! I'll take over Studio Ghibli! (just joking). lol. But of course. I'LL DO IT!
I don't need to make lots of money. All I want is to create or do something that brings smiles to people's faces.
The world is sad enough with all the economics, politics, wars and disasters.
They don't need another economist.
I'll become an animator!!!
So stop pulling me down. Some encouragement or help would be better for me.

~I don't know how long it will take, but if I don't start somewhere, I'll never get anywhere~
^_^

Today, I've decided to practice my copying skills so I copied a character's face from one of Miyazaki's movies.
Using a 3B pencil, an eraser and a ruler.


Of course, Miyazaki's drawings are a million times better than mine. And I cut away the mouth part because I used a 3B pencil and kept redo-ing the mouth till there are uneraserable smudges. :(
Used a wrong pencil again.
Sorry for the amateur work...
So, can anyone guess who is this? :D

NUS Literary Society is holding a short story and poetry writing competition 08/09! Deadline is 1st nov 2008. Join if you love to write! But of course, you will be up against me! :P
MUAHAHA
good luck!
Refer to the website for details, rules and qualifications.
Website: http://literarysociety.wordpress.com/about-the-creative-writing-competition/

Some of my recent drawings~~
P.S. I've only recently started.
Without taking drawing lessons.

While sometimes it is hard to create but easy to copy, it is sometimes hard to copy but easy to create. Was trying to draw some anime characters but looked! what happened to them! lol
Warning: You are about to see some of the worse works in the century :S lol
Tools: mechanical pencil and eraser only

The below picture is from the manga: ouran high school host club, character is Hikaru

My 1st attempt:LOL doesn't even look alike =.= Now I've got a new character! lol :S
Oh btw, I choose a picture without the eyes... Easier to draw for an amateur like me :P
And I'm only concentrating on the face, so I left out a few things. Sorry about that =X

My 2nd attempt:

Lol. Slightly more alike. But! It's really difficult to draw the same one! I really do need drawing lessons =X

Now on my 3rd drawing attempt. Becoming ambitious! I tried to draw the character Tamaki.
Here's the manga version.

LOL. This one is a challenge for me because it is side viewed + eyes and complicated hairstyle.

So here's what happened to it!!!



LOL?
1st I drew the eye but couldn't draw the side-viewed face and the hair was too complicated!
And i didn't know how to draw the other eye. So I covered with the hair :P
Oh gosh. Sorry for the weird drawing lol. The eye actually looks like a side-viewed eye :S
Well, without foundation and basics, I didn't do a very good job lol.
Other than some strange creation :P
Well I guess I did quite nice new hairstyles. HAHA
For my above drawings... I didn't know if they look more female or male lol.
But for my 2nd one, cover one side and u see a male, cover the other and you see a female, or is it just a female? :S
P.S. The drawings here are fainter than the original version because it's difficult to scan pencil works.
Note: Somehow, I cannot re-draw what I've drawn. This is terrible!!! !!!

*Original pictures are from the Ouran High School Host Club manga chapter 62 and its great mangaka!

More updates:

1) Apparently NUS CORS decided to take away the modules and put up the full list on the 3rd week of July!!! =.= Why so slowww...
2) I'm considering taking up manga drawing or animation courses. But they aren't cheap :S And I don't know where to find quality classes in Singapore. So still in consideration mode.
3) After watching so many animes, I realise that quite a few copies another. Similiar backgrounds e.g. schools, streets, relatively similiar storylines with some tweeking e.g. people going into another dimension, fightings, people going into another's body, the overused of heroes and heroines etc. Till it got quite predictable! And I'm bored. My hands itched to create something entirely NEW!
But hell, I can't draw lol. I might if I try though.
But of course there are some very good animes still!

Lastly, a conversation with my cousin.
His Japanese sensei told him that kunoichi (くノ一) is a female ninja
Then if one combines them together: くノ一 becomes 女 (female) XD haha!

Then another thing about how japanese children first learn to identify features of the face:
heno heno mo heno （への　への　も　への)

Cool yeah? :P

*Added some videos and pictures to my older posts. Take a look :)

A FICTION entry~~

Dreams (Yume 夢)


I’ve dreamt of striking 4D or toto all the time. But somehow, my dreams never came true. And neither did my dreams come true in real life. I mean it. For real.
From young, I’d dreamed big.
I’ve wanted to earn lots of money when I grow up.
I’d wished for a happy and comfortable life.
A huge house, a car, a caring husband and so on.
But my dreams never came true.
Never.
Whether I’m sleeping or not doesn’t matter. They just don’t.
However, one did come true.
I’ve always wanted to go to a University.
And now I’m in one.

As a cleaner.
Sweeping the grounds of the University. Cleaning the toilets of the University.
Should I be happy?
I never wanted to be a cleaner!
Who would want to anyway. =.=
But I’m doing it for my family. So I have to be happy.

Although I’ve scrubbed the toilets as specklessly as I could, washing away urinal misses, accidental spills, these students somehow believed that toilets have guardians.
Who are SUPPOSE to clean toilets.
“Aiyo! Toilets here so dirty sia!” One complained to the imaginary toilet god, voicing the opinions of many others.
“Ya lor ya lor!” A few others echoed.
I almost wanted to shout at them. OI! My hands are dirtier la! Who is going to clean them for me huh?! Or something like that.
But yeah yeah. This is my job. I shouldn't complain.
Well If I'm getting the income of what they would get when they graduate, with bonuses and all, perhaps I wouldn't mind.
Yet while they are at work, they may receive praises and all from others.
But me? Nothing... Only complains. Complains without actions.

So while I’m sweeping the grounds of a University, keeping the floors and toilets clean, students streamed past me as though I’m invisible.
The future elites of society.
They can’t see me.
Or pretend that I’m not there.
Even though once upon a time, the younger ones serve tea and bow in respect to the elders.
Now our backs bowed to pick up their careless litters on the floor.
Crack My spine screamed.
Oww I grimaced.
Students continued streaming past.
I straightened. Keeping my face as normal as possible, hiding the pain in my spine.
But I didn’t have to hide. Nobody even saw it. I think.

Maybe I should upgrade.
Become a professor or something then these disrespectful idiots will gape at me in awe as I spew out streams of knowledge.
Yes! I will make them bow to me!
HAHAHA!
So I crafted a small plan.
I’ll study as I work.
So one day while sweeping the floor, I edged stealthily over to a bench where a student sat.
Apparently she didn’t hear me approaching as she continued to stare at her book.
I peered over her shoulder.
Instantly I was flung back as lines after lines of huge words hit me.
Sweat poured down my face.
I could hardly breathe.
What was that?!
I couldn’t understand a word.
It said something like: わたしはごはんをたべました。
I can’t believe it.
The Chinese that I learnt during my younger days apparently didn’t cover that.
Such high standard! No wonder this place is called a university! I thought, shocked, my heart thumping rapidly against my ribcage.
Shaking my head, I tried to dispel the weird symbols in my head.
It’s giving me a headache already.

Never mind.
I heard that students sleep in lectures.
Humph. So there’s no point in being one.
Lecturers don’t seemed to be respected either.
Humph. What’s with students nowadays…
Tsktsk.

I continued sweeping the floor. My eyes on the ground. If someone were to stand on that flight of stairs in front and look down at me, he would probably think that I’m sweeping with my eyes closed.
Perhaps it was.
Me praying that I would sweep some luck to myself.
And as I open my eyes,
Ta Da! A $50 note on the floor!
Wow! I could finally treat my family to a small restaurant dinner!
Or a 1st prize 4D ticket!
Or a $1million toto winning ticket!
Then I could take my kids on a holiday! Then they wouldn't have to helplessly envy their friends.
My eyes shone brightly as I swept the floor with increasing vigour.
Yet, perhaps my eyes were opened.
And all I saw was garbage.
Meant to be thrown away.

Dreams.
I have them too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* How and Why "I" became a cleaner is my private affair. Everyone has problems. But not everyone has opportunities. And now, with cheaper, foreign cleaners, life's is becoming tougher. :(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End of fictional entry~~

Minasan!! Everyone! Some updates~:

1) NUS modules for sem1 08/09 are up! :)
2) A newly created story blog by me and Yuez is up too! :D

Lastly, my family dinner at Sun with Moon @ central (at clark quay) was fantastic!!
Oishii!
Demo, yasukunai desu yo...
It wasn't not cheap lol. Even with a 30% discount, it was around $25 per person. :S
Loved the desserts! Esp the tofu cheesecake! kekeke.

yup! that's all~~