peek

here are one of my first two project’s that i’ve done in school! we have really much more freedom here to create and experiment around.

presenting information about our own lives through information graphics

Publication on the theme exactitude

dream big

Alrights, everyone reading this, you mus be saying this as the back of your mind: FINALLY.

haha yes, FINALLY this entry came. Its been almost two months since i landed here in oz. Life down under isn’t that easy, or rather, much tougher than i’ve expected. okay, maybe its not the life down under, but life abroad and independent living. But then again, i’m lucky to have a great friend/classmate/roommate/soulmate with me here. and now i can say, i’m beginning to settle down and getting used to the life here. (beginning, but not yet settled)

Previously i’ve been asked many times, “hows life in aussie?” i couldn’t bring myself to say “great” cos, i really had some hard time adapting. i landed here with culture shock and a sense of loss, everything looks unfamiliar and strange, insecurity was following me everywhere. Then came a coupled of issues, my school fees wasn’t processed, the once-in-a-century-hailstorm destroyed our room, causing severe leakage, sch’s hectic with loads of work (we are into 3rd year, so we didn’t have the luxury of exploring things and the system slowly)….in addition, still have to cook for ourselves, do housework, get groceries, laundry. i have  no idea that can be really tiring! Now, i really appreciate mom for doing all these for us!

and yeps, things are starting to settle in for me. or maybe i’ve a different point of view towards my own schedule. i wana enjoy the experience here, and visit places not just only chionging blindly for school work. i can forsee more challanges ahead, maybe much more challanging. but with all the constant support from all my love ones, family and friends, i’ll be ready and brave to face it head on

Here’s a lil song, by David Cook, which i thought might be quite inspiring!

When I was a little boy,
I swore that I would change the world when I grew up.
Nothing else would be enough.

I see it everyday,
We settled for safe,
And lose ourselves along the way.

‘Cause if you don’t dream big,
What’s the use in dreaming?
If you don’t have faith,
There’s nothing worth believing.
It takes one hope,
To make the stars worth reaching for.
So reach out for something more!

It took a well perfected plan,
For me to finally understand,
That it’s not me.
Faith is something you can’t see.

I wiped my tears away.
Now it’s time for a change….
No I can’t waste another day.

‘Cause if you don’t dream big,
What’s the use in dreaming?
If you don’t have faith,
There’s nothing worth believing.
It takes one hope,
To make the stars worth reaching for.

‘Cause if you don’t have faith,
What’s the use in dreaming?
If you don’t have faith,
There’s nothing worth believing.
It takes one hope,
To make the stars worth reaching for.
So reach out for something more!!

in a blink

today is the day i’m leaving for aussie, embarking on a new journey and adventure. had been really busy for the past few weeks, packing and packing, going for meet ups and with cny coming about, it was really hectic. now my mind is a piece of blank paper, i was nervous this morning, maybe later on when i see all my family and friends sending me at the airport, another surge of emotions will gush through me. I just wana thank everyone for giving me all their well wishes. i’ll bring the whole truckload of wishes and love with me, work hard and open my eyes to the other side of the world, then bring back loadsa great experiences to share and spread around. i know it inevitable that i’ll miss home, my family, my friends and my boyfriend, the spicy food and my cosy bed. BUT, I know one year’s gona fly really fast. so look out for me, i might just appear to be having a meal with you in a blink!

Take care everyone here. look out for this space, i’ll be sharing my 52 weeks of life in the land of oz here.

LOVE YA.

p.s. i welcome visits to the land of oz, esp you, MJ.

Quote Of The Week/Year

when i stumbled upon this image, my inner self screamed: i love thissss.

happiness can be as simple as it is.

no fireworks and party this year, just coffee and donuts

alright, it’s time for me to write something. especially when i’m slightly less packed with work right now, and the wireless is taking forever to load the web pages. (fyi, i started writing this since monday)

just the right time for me to sit down and think, reflect on the past 11 months and 29 days.

Last year 31 dec 2008, i posted this:
” while we are welcoming two-o-o-nine, let’s wish that it’s a year of only ups, and no downs (hopefully, even though its not very possible)
two-o-o-nine shall be a year i :
1) step out of my comfort zone - i think i did, but maybe not that much. at least i did. so, fulfilled.
2) experience more life - yes ups and downs of the real life. fulfilled
3) packed with activities – i assume its entertainment activities i refer to when i wrote this. hmms, not-so fulfilled.
4) pursue my dreams - this is on-going, so leaving it open
5) earn more money!! – fulfilled. but i have to admit i spent more as well.
6) live perfectly - cancelled. i realised perfection can drive you blind. so this year, i learnt that imperfection can be beautiful too.
yay! it shall be an exciting year ahead for change!
farewell two-o-o-eight! & hello two-o-o-nine!”

Here’s a summary. This year, i graduated and went on to earn my own bowl of rice. i tried for a scholarship, unfortunately/fortunately, i did not succeed. i met with a car accident which woke me to not take things for granted and left me thankful for not losing anyone dear. i complained a million times more than i usually would. curse and swear. As time goes, i worked smart, learnt from mistakes. i found someone who has always and will always be here for me. 2009 i’ve gain and loss, but i’m still thankful for everything and everyone. i’m lucky to be me.

here’s my top 10 list for the year 2009:

Ten Best of the year :

1) Movie:

UP! inspiring and touching about how far and determined people can go to pursue their love and dreams. the animation brought fantasy to life, i totally love the colors and the intricately crafted scene. and now i hold my very own adventure book.

2) Randomness:

i chatted with a random stranger in a clinic. the nurse thought we were friends.

i woke up one morning to see a beautiful sunrise by my window

3) Festivals:

Mid Autumn festival. being a kid all over again on the swing, smiling purely from inside.

Christmas. because i’ve been good this year, santa gave me you.

4) Moments:

when i was up on yangmingshan in taipei. (i’ve posted a photo of me up there previously). it felt like a rebirth, refreshing my spirit on the huge grassland.

when my friends met my friends. i’ve met people at different parts of my life and it’s interesting how they get to mingle around, with the same frequency. haha.

when i visited the reservoir under the moonlight for the first time in 20years. honestly, 20 years living next to the reservoir (or under), other than the route to tp, i haven’t explored it much, haven’t tried completing one whole round more than 8 times. but i still love my reservoir.

when i listen to a mini guitar live performance.

5) Inspirations:

Tim Walker. You’ve gotta see his photographs if you haven’t done so. he showed how fantasy and dreams can be made possible in real life.

6) Toy:

toddy and mr. pink and because i bought it on my own! fyi, toddy is my itouch, mr. pink is my diana.

7) Project:

Sustainable SG. great experience and challenge. presenting to reps frm the govt organisation, generating the ideas from scratch to seeing the end product within a short time frame, working with a good team. i love how it turned out to be.

MNY pop up press kit. for the first time ever i tried doing pop-up mechanics frm scratch, derived how the water graphics should match the pop up. try and error, try and error. I was pretty fascinated when i saw the printed and done up copies.

8) Action:

Yawning. there couldn’t be anything else. haha, someone should really invent a yawn-calculator and tabulate exactly the number of yawns i produced.

9) Book:

1~100 的梦. okay i’ve to admit i haven’t finish the book yet, since i started reading like months ago. its a compilation of dreams frm a hundred people, aged 1-100, simply inspiring and make you see what some simple things in life can be a huge dream of others.

10) Activities:

Prawning. this can be addictive, its a great way to relax the weekends and have a gathering with friends.

Picnic. best activity during saving mode. No need to spend too much to enjoy a day out.

Here’s my wishes for all my love ones.

TWENTY-TEN resolutions:

1) experience and dig the best of aussie

2) read more

3) draw more

4) work hard to achieve what i want in life

5) grab every time and opportunity to keep in touch with my loves

6) face challanges bravely

& CHEERS to a brand new year 2010!!

i finally managed to get to sentosa after many failed plans for the past few months, but mr sun was hiding. din get the tan that i was so looking forward to. ohwell, we had a great time anyway, stealing each other’s properties, being tribal princesses, swinging on the hammock and awarded barang girls of the day. took loads of photos with our different format cameras, some came out pretty amazing.haha

this effect of this instax came out totally unexpected. but it was really hilarious.

we had planned to have 4 faces in the photo, using the splitzer. but somehow, it came out as quite a logical composition (and abit wrong).

this too, came out totally like a puzzle. i still can’t figure out how come the heads are chopped off altenatively.

we decided not to waste the last few films and got someone to take it for us instead, without the splitzer.

haha came out as one of the best photos, faces all in, everyone smiling sweetly, nice background.

somehow, i still prefer the accidental shots. back to the saying “perfection is boring, mistakes can be beautiful”

like life, some unexpected events can add colors, just following your heart and not sticking to the rigid plans can be exciting as well.

 

actually, all i’ve been trying to say is,

my life has never been better!

one morning i woke up, sunrise by my window, everything seems so beautiful.

smile at mistakes

I caught (500) days of summer, like finally.

the way they shot it and narrate the story, its pretty cool. Some scenes that you sometimes thought might really happen in real life but did not, they managed to portray it well. Especially like the part when Thomas walks on the streets feeling all high n good about the morning, just to put it simply, feeling happy. and then the world starts singing along and cheering for him, fountains splashes, birds flying arnd, smilling at everyone sharing your joy.

sometimes when i feel good, such scenes do appear in my mind, like i hope i can dance along with that rhythm frm my itouch.

reality vs expectations.

that’s another scene i like. its really in life that you have certain expectations of what’s gona happen, but sometimes it turns out really frm the opposite frm what you’ve expected. mayb it’s cos we usually form to much of a perfect/ideal scene in our minds and take it as expectations. But as the saying goes “ perfection is boring“. reality is still reality.

Anyway yiling enlightened me by something she told me on friday.

make sure you do not regret not doing the things that you’ve wanted to do but did not.

somehow it kinda really think about it. i’ve always been like drowning myself in my own thoughts, just about anything in my life, worries, fantacies, dreams, questions, and comes all the “what if…”, “maybe if..”, “how good if..”. IF, is the word that i’ll probably need to dump after what yiling told me.

and then when i’ve decided that i don’t want any regrets in my life, suddenly some devil (by the name of mistakes) pops up on the left side of ur minds and tell you all the IFs.

its really contradicting. maybe i’m really afraid of making mistakes, but i wana learn how to make mistakes and gain from it. that’s the way we all grow, isn’t it? mistakes can be beautiful too. i’ve been really envious of people who are spontaneous and live by the “because i just feel like doing it” motto.

i should really start learning, with support, before i start regretting.

pacing

i woke up early this morning to collect my new passport. need to rush to work by 9.30am so i made the earlist appoinment available, at 8.15am. the procedure n wait was unexpectably fast. so i’m done by like 8.30am, too early for work. LOL.

i just thought maybe i’ll hang arnd the cafe near office to past time, but i already had breakfast at home. then i thought, okay i’ll just enjoy some good music, take a couple of train stops up and then go back to commonwealth again, that shall cost me some come alrdy.

mornings to work has always been a rush for me and i guess for everyone else too. running for buses, climbing escalators, squeezing into trains. hectic. but this morning i had a tiny bit of time allowance to travel to work, and it feels pretty good not having to rush like a mad horse.

enjoy the scenery outside the west side of sg, listen to some music, breath in, and think ” its a brand new day”, then smile.

this is a much better start of a day than a ” shite, its morning, i have 9 hrs more to go”

previously, i’ve posted a hallway print that speaks “some days you wake up feeling great, full of freedom and possibility. but you haven’t had one of those days in a long time. maybe ever”

now, maybe i should start practicing the “morning smile”, think of sth that will perk me up for the day and get me through. or maybe there is already a reason to perk me up everyday.