Merry Sweet/Sizzling Christmas!

Here's a very merry Christmas!! From my dear Santarinas! (:

May you soak in the festive joy, and have as much fun as possible before the hols are over!

Thanks once again for dropping by, dear friend!

The pre-Christmas post

Hello again, nothing much has happened, except for my recent trip to Genting, and the recent 78 hike 2 days ago. Blog posts are so boring without drawings or photos, so I'd upload some photos soon! No drawings still, been feeling more sporty than arty the past few weeks.

Was up at Genting with my family and relatives. We drove up in 3 cars, but I was not allowed to drive because my mom is biased cos I still have a P-plate. Hey man p-plates don't show anything >:( And experience counts for nothing without experimentation. Centuries of safe and slow (boring) driving and keeping to the speed limits won't do good to your driving skills! Anyway there were about 20 of us who went, inclusive of 7 psp owners. 10 of us from the younger gen, so it was fun. I think company is quite crucial a factor for enjoying places like Genting, where the main attraction is like the theme park (we're all underage for the casino).

The foggy road trip

As usual, received tonnes of miss calls from camp, no less than the amount I got the last time I visited Genting in June. A major improvement however, is that I managed to free my mind off work this time round. The last time I was like whoa... holiday still being bugged by calls burdened by thoughts pertaining to work. I guess it's also partly because I am no longer ops officer (: and maybe because I've mastered the art of heck-caring now that Im in the ORD-ing stage.

Bought quite many clothes! There were good offers around, probably cos it's the festive season. I like the brand Soda, which sadly can't be found in Singapore. Quite a few 50% deals (: Have yet to do Christmas shopping in Singapore though, thought I think I'd be too lazy to do anything, and it's already like 23rd. Shopping aside there was the theme park. This time I tried the space shot. It's a ride that goes vertically up like 10 storeys or so, hangs there for 10 secs then drops. hahaha. Woohoo! Totally rocks. I would have gone for more rounds if I hadn't strained my neck again. Tip: don't look down when dropping, I had a hard time fighting to pull my head back up nearing the end of the drop (think opposite of whiplash).

The space shot!
proof of space shot


One thing I noticed about Malaysian (girls) is that I think they're friendlier than Singaporeans. Sorry I tend to notice more about the opposite sex because I am a guy. They also dress better, which is a huge ++ point over Singaporeans. Their dress sense is not as classy though, like more inclined towards the Taiwanese style, but what matters is that at least they bother to dress up. Most of them do up their hair, or spot fashionable styles. I spotted at least 10 with my fav hair style there. I respect them for how they can look pretty without relying on branded clothes and exp stuff. Same respect for office girls in Bangkok, who on the flip side can look refined and urbane with clothes that cost like $15 for 3. I think Singaporeans have a long way to go.

My grandma and most of my relatives frequented the casinos, for the slot machines, the free drinks and the nice porridge. They play them just for fun of course, like the machines only require 5c per game. I did manage to slip in for the thrill, but there wasn't much to experience. Tried the slot machines but they were so boring. But I began to understand how people get hooked on to gambling, and the nasty attraction it possesses. They capitalize on greed, drawing people to pour their money into these meaningless games. It was easy for me to pull out after losing $10, just feeling abit dulan, or stop for the day after raking in $25, but I think its alot more screwed up if you play them without a "just for fun" mentality. The probability of winning is just so low, it takes quite little IQ to not realize that. Not surprising that the people in there playing mostly look kinda dazed and stoned, not the regular bright chaps you see along shenton way.

It's just Genting, but I greatly enjoyed the trip. I have wonderful relatives, and I'm glad that we're all closely knit. I treasure times like these, cos one day all of us kids will grow up, and be engulfed by our personal lives. I hope that when that happens, we'd still be young at heart enough to enjoy such activities as much as we do now.


The recent 78 hike was fun! I thought it was a good initiative courtesy of Andy. It was something different, and a leisurely stroll through a nature park was rather refreshing. Chuan yuan even printed out the maps and had a planned route! Good job! I wouldn't mind more of these. The original route was from Macritchie to Bukit Timah Hill, but somewhere along the way we horlan-ed and ended up on boring Rifle Range Road that lead down to KAP, which was not bad actually! Considering how some of us were rather shagged, and that dusk was nearing. Along the road, we passed by 2 female cyclists on road bikes. Didn't look like recre cyclists, one was on a Specialized and the other on a Scott, and they had some form. One of them was pretty cute. hahah. That's rare.

Photo courtesy of Chuan Yuan

It was great meeting up with the class peeps. I'm glad our class is still quite bonded after 2 years. Feels like forever since I've been out of school.

This is too wordy a post. The end.

How's life?

It's 3.55am now, and I'm so saddeningly stuck in a military outpost somewhere near NTU, and forced to stay awake for manning at such odd hours.. :( :(

As of last week, I have been officially posted out of my dreadful desk-bound job! Yes I am no longer the ops officer. Call me TCO. and don't haunt me with all that audit crap anymore. I now get to take joy rides in vehicles, enjoy sunlight, not stay cramped up in a windowless room for the whole day, and get to sleep all day! (:

2 months and 11 days left to ORD, I soooo can't wait. Because I don't like the army, I will move on to other topics.


My scanner is refusing to work anymore, even though it can still print. Very cranky. So now I can't upload anymore drawings. What's worse is that my ownage freeware drawing programe has expired! Yeah it's only a trial version... I have to pay about $85 for an official license to use the software.. :( :( sadd.. I made quite good use of it I guess, haha, with the previous 3 paintings. All personal bests! Happy to be improving (: I was rushing to do some final touchups and editing on the last day of the trial, and now I can say, I'm quite happy with the painting! Nothing much that I can impr0ve on anymore.. except perhaps the trees.... but that is beyond my ability at this point in time.

So, well. No more drawing until I find another freebie software I guess.. Or until I decide to pay.


Been trying to cycle more recently, but somehow finding it difficult to find my motivation. Have got a race coming up next year Feb, am trying to train up for it. It's quite a large scale race, involving multiple road closures for the race. It'd be Singapore's first road race! I really want to get into National team, but it's soooooo far away! Hope that I can prove myself someday.


Yesterday 78 just had a class-gathering :) Nice to see everyone again. Think of it we have quite a close-knit class, that's something we shouldn't take forgranted. So many of them going overseas to study!


Talking about overseas, I so wish to go overseas for studies too! But I'm so lazy to do my research and find out what's good and what's not. Actually I can't even decide on my course, let alone decide where to study. Not really very keen on architecture.. not after hearing all the negativity about the job. There is not one person I've asked who tells me that there are at least some perks in being an architect, only my mom, who thinks architects have the kind of "cool", after all the lead characters of a few famous Korean dramas were all architects.

Im having an idea of studying photography, then learning make up and hair-styling from my mom, and then studying fashion design. This way I can provide the clothes, the make up, and the photoshoots, all in one! and earn all the money for myself. hahah. Owns all the bridal studios that outsource parts and bits of their sets. It could even be better as I can decide on a theme, and have everything exactly aligned to the kind of effect I'm out to achieve. Sounds good to a perfectionist! Only thing is that this path is damn metro, kinda gay.

I'm thinking of migrating after I graduate too, Singapore is really getting a little stale. The market here is also kinda small, and way too competitive for me. I wish to have a more laid-back lifestyle, and enjoy life more a little. Life's too short be spend it all pre-occupied with work and steeped in stress and worries. It'd be nice if the global climate change could bring about seasonal changes in Singapore.. riight.


Actually, it'd be nice if i were attached. Okay nevermind, I should just stop watching so many love-story-related movies and TV dramas. Speaking of which, I've just bought many more! They were on offer, $20 for 4, regardless of movies or full length drama serials. So cheap, how to not buy??


Ok I don't really have much else to talk about. Army robs us of our happening lives. But I wonder if it'd really get more happening after ORD. Looking at our ORD-ed friends.. I'm having some doubts.


Once again thanks so much for dropping by here. and thanks paul for being the new-frequent-visitor-and-poster! hahah. Everyone please try to tag whenever you visit! Makes me feel that indeed I do have many friends. haha.

Bye!

Winter's Sonata

Could not help feeling that there were still problems with the picture, so I relented and the perfectionist in me took over again. haha

Whitened her hairband, and changed a bit of the jawline, then added a more radiant pinkish glow to her cheeks.

Lastly, I framed it and added some words, to make it more presentable. Now it's worthy of being a wallpaper! (:

Autumn Memories

And it's finally completed! :) Not exactly but I've given up working on it.

This one is now crowned officially as "Most Time Consuming Piece"! Surpassing the lighthouse girl.

I finally figured out the main problems!
1. The trees and the trunks had no depth. - added some shading to the trunks. The leaves.... just some shading, too hard!
2. The treetops are all lumped together. - I tried to separate and distinguish the trees.. to some avail...
3. The ground looks funny. - because it had no shadows! Added in some sun-rays and tree-shadows. Very good! :)
4. The distant background is dusty and lonely. - Now there's the sea beyond the trees!
5. Her face.... - It was her mouth, her eyes, and her eyebrows... I finally figured after trying to change many things. I think the new one is not bad :)

Sigh.. Next!

Korean video

Check out this video! Stumbled upon it on youtube. Sweet but sad, great stuff!
Typical Korean kinda storyline, with an unexpected twist in the ending.

And.. she's quite pretty!

Autumn

Work in progress! Please comment!

[21 Nov]

Damn it.. the background is so not working out.. still trying..



[ 22 Nov ]

Now I've got 2 versions.. For the first one managed to solved part of the background by adding more trees.

Second one... is just a failure. ): Sandy barren ground with pine trees... and giant green feathers sticking out of the ground eh Andy? hahaha. FAIL...


Background always not working.. HOW??

Save The Earth

Welcome to the lighthouse once again! End World Era, the armageddon generation.

Click picture to enlarge.



It is the year 2047, the world is masked by a pollution so bad that Humans have placed themselves on the list of (critically) endangered species. Currently populating the list are about 9 other species of animals aside from humans, and includes hardy insects such as cockroaches and their likes.

Add 146,000 to this list of endangered animals, and you get 156,000, a figure which (roughly) represents the total number of different lifeforms inhabiting the earth in 2047. An accurate figure is not available as the number continually increases at an exponential rate. Out of the 156,000, only 10 of them are organisms that existed before 2010. Others came about from the environmental changes.

There is also much to be relieved about. PSI has stabilised at an average of 1210 over the past 3 months. Water toxicity levels stand at 84.5%. Buildings are still experiencing meltdowns from the intense air pollution.

Survivors still surviving are turning to technological aids for survival. Popular choices include gas masks and mock-4 suits. However there are also the few who choose to trust in traditional mediums and ornaments, such as feng sui and ying yang.

Let us now examine our feature girl in this month's Save The Earth! As always, this may or may not be our last publication, nobody knows. Her choice of accessories include the ever popular Twig of Hope. This twig with luscious leaves symbolizes hope, that one day greenery will proliferate and fill the earth once again. The twig with leaves also purifies the surrounding air, and negates an area of impure air around the wearer. On her feet are Ying Yang slippers, which ward off bad air and nasty water, protecting the lower half of her body. Her choice of her slipper design reflects her optimism towards her environment and the impending doom of the earth. That is precisely the attitude that all of us members of "Save The Earth" should exhibit, and that is what makes her our cover girl for this issue! Visible on her arm is the BCG mark, which comes from mandatory injections sanctioned and issued by the government. The BCG provides effective immunity against the harsh conditions that we live in now.

We've come to the end of this report, and now we'd leave you with the quote of the month:

" Are you sure that is a shark you see? "


Thanks to Adriel Fun for your contribution of ideas! (:

Sneak preview

Sneak preview sketches! Of a game that i loved in primary school. Forgot where i used to play it, but ever since then I had not been able to find it, even though i remembered it.. I remembered the game, but not its title.

Somehow randomly within the past week, I thought about it again! but this time a few keywords came back to me! So I googled dragoon, and i found it. Panzer Dragoon Zwei!

Here's a sketch of Lagi the panzer dragoon, when it was little, and its hunter who kept him so that he would not be killed. The village puts down mutant Coolias, and Lagi was a mutant who had grown wings.

and some background video from the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUDBNBv-tRg

灯台女の子

After close to about a week of intense eye punishment every night, I'm proud to announce that a new drawing is born!

Toudai no otome, girl of the lighthouse. Sugoi na!

Somehow it doesn't look as nice as the previous drawing, even though i it's 10x harder and required more than twice the effort put in to the angel. She only took about 3 nights. This lighthouse girl took about 8 nights, partly due to the fact that the original draft was created using Corel Paint Essentials 3, which is really too pro and inflexible and im really bad at it.

So halfway through i finalized and exported the lousy corel picture, and carried on adding on to it using the total ownage freeware i downloaded. Alot of time was then spent deciding on all the colour coordination problems, much of which were spent trying out all the possible combinations, as well as asking around for opinions. Wa my color coordi is really quite crappy, need lots more practice. Halfway through i realized that alot of the dresses don't match, because of her white hair, so i experimented with black and brown hair, but i couldn't achieve my desired shade of brown using the mixer so i stuck with black.

The sky was a first time success! So was the colour of the sea! I was damn happy. The two colours were spot on, creating a soft and rustic ambience. The spread of clouds mask the sky, toning down the piercing rays of the mid day sun, creating a cool mellow lighting.

The rocks were also damn hard to draw, looked very sketchy and hand drawn. Tried re-drawing them alot of times, now its better but I think they could still be improved but I'm too tired to experiment anymore.

The last thing i drew was the flower, which by then i was so eye-tired and exhausted that i spent only half a minute on it.

So, here's the progressive sequence once again! Hope you can appreciate it as much as i do!




A draft was done using Corel. Very hard to draw due to sensitivity issues.
The foundations were laid; blueprints for the lighthouse.
The girl was half materialized, after having its head scaled down and re-drawn countless of times.
The rocks were detailed and some shading was attempted
Project was compiled, exported, and uploaded on blogger ( see prev prev post).
Restarted project after completing the angel. Plastic surgery done using Corel.
Finally gave up on corel. Used freeware and started colouring, and gave her lush and well moisturised hair.
The dress dilemna begins.

The hair factor was made variable.




Magenta the way to go!
Solidify all the buildings and re-rocked.

Toudai Otome!

Note that I can't read the title of this post, appreciate if you can romanise it.

Thanks for visiting! (:

Tenshi-san

Phwoaa I so love this!

Its a new personal best man! and it comes with colors!! that's a first!!
I am very very pleased with her voluminous hair, and i love her hairband and the feathers!

Sure beats hours and hours of paint mixing and inhaling.

Needless for words, enjoy!






[ Edit 8/11/08 ]

Now with smoother facial complexion and colored contacts! But still without legs

Update as requested

You want update you get update!

Awxion.blogspot, reliable and informative, the epitome of efficacy. Requests are always entertained and duly fulfilled.

I spent the whole of my night today drawing on a new program (quite old already actually [ but unopened] ) which i just installed yesterday. It's called Corel Paint Essentials 3. Exciting stuff.

So after finishing the first few seconds of the tutorial movies i started drawing on it. Here's the first and only product! Fresh from production 1 hour before upload:It's not complete but more or less there. Drawing using a computer is so strenuous on the eyes, my wearied eyes are kinda straining just to read what im typing now. Pen and paper is so much better.

Anyway, here she is! A sprightly girl perched on the edge of a wall by the rocky shoreline. She has a flower fetish and is attracted to lighthouses. She also has a face which gets uglier and more disproportionate every time i try to improve it, and a head which is still a little big even though i have scaled it down 4 times. Her hair is thin and delicate, flowing fluidly as it rides on the gentle sea breeze, and which is probably a little sparse. I had enough problems creating her flowy hair. will tackle the problem of voluminous hair another day.

This is where she lives, her hometown; a tranquil little town placed on the edge of a random part of Japan, built around a lighthouse. This modest town thrives on the profits earned by catching and selling fish attracted to the light at night. On the wall she sits and stares out at the space beyond, pondering, contemplating, wondering what lies outside this picturesque picture. She has not left the wall, not even once, ever since the day she was drawn.

The sea is calm and placid; motionless in fact, until the day the artist figures how to draw water and waves.

Walau, proportion, angles and perspective are such a chore to figure out. I had to spend two nights of staring at the comp to create this.. Need more practice man. Probably need a few more nights to finish it. I'm not colouring it cos i still can't colour. Wonder if im cut out for architecture..

My brother says i should tie up her hair, like Aerith's one, still thinking about it. But i think this hairstyle suits the flower more. What do you think?

Here is the last thing i drew using a computer before the above girl was produced, done sometime last month i think. But this was done with MS paint.
It's supposed to have some spooky elements to it but apparently they have all failed and no one can even sense anything fishy about it. So.. nevermind. Tell me if you can spot anything potentially scary.


About 3.5 more months to ORD.. SO LONG! I can't wait, just wasting my life away here. Everyday follow through motion and get things done, can't find any motivation to work, even if i try finding. Life is still happy out of camp.

And I finally finished watching my carefully rationed 12 episodes of my favourite anime Rozen Maiden after about a year. All of them died, but thankfully some got revived, which means, sequel!

Stardust

Just came back from saturday duty in camp this morning.

Whoa ive had 3 damn nice movies/stories the past 3 days!

On thursday yongneng lent me a dvd with dvds, and we watched "Penelope". Nice show! Kind of a very light hearted kind of show which leaves you feeling happy.

Then on friday i was bored so i watched Stardust. Whooa damn nice man! totally love it. It's a fantasy fairytale kind of love story. Quite funny also. Very good man, you should watch it if you haven't. And the theme song is now my current fav, Rule the World by Take That. Check it out!

On friday my camp-mate Navin lent me a book to read during my duty. Mind you i havent read in 1935059 days, and ive only completed 35% of the books that i ever started on. Guess what i finished the book in less than half a day! haha. It was "A walk to Remember", quite a short book but niiiccee.. I know its damn popular. I'm slow lar. haha but im proud of myself for completing it. But i dont understand, so did she die or not? Sounded like she didn't.

So that's it, 3 love stories in a row. Whoa overdose man. Feel like falling in love now man hahah but thanks i'd probably have to wait for 1 more year before i get to meet anyone.

Going sentosa later! Class gathering, time to absorb some sun. Thanks for visiting!

Law Dinner guest performance

YOO!

Haha. super long no post! Thanks for still visiting man! appreciated! (:

It's been a long time but nothing much (non-camp related activities) has happened to nothing much to update also.

Guest played in mingtse's band for Law Camp Formal Dinner! Was quite a special night man, im non-law but could still feel it. Can't wait to ord and go uni man, looks damn fun! Really enjoyed playing for them. Anywayy law has many hot girls man! hahah. Dress sense almost all good! cept for 1 or 2. Very easily pulled off the kind of high class atas look. haha. Got class.

We played Lovefool by the cardigans, mindtrick by jamie cullum, and a medley of Collide, I'm yours, and Superman (check out How 6 Songs Collide by Norwegian Recycling). Our playing was too rushed, and everyone screwed up here and there but all in all i think we were like damn good already. We only practiced for like 2 nights before the actual performance lar. hahah. 1st song was the most wasted total rush the singer couldn't keep up. Was a very dynamic band, and got like full range of instruments 1 drum 1 bass 1 guit 1 keyboard 1 violin 2 singers. 7 piece band wa aweseome! the intrumentalists were power esp the keyboard and violins. The singers were also GOOD! Amatuer but with potential. The guy's voice was nice and mellow, and the girl's voice is super sweeet! love it man. The violin was just filling in with her own melody, nice. The keyboardist also can do freestyle wicked. I was v pleased with my own playing that night as well was a new personal best!

The best part was probably that i got to make a lot of new friends, precisely what i need to break the monotony of army life. Made good friends man, like the guy singer, similiar interests badminton and cycling. Keyboardist turned out to be my brother's ex classmate. Was great that I got to play one of my fav songs too Lovefool.

Totally enjoyed the night, but just like the Genting holiday i went with my family/relatives just 2 weeks ago, it totally sucks to be thrown back into army right after that. Cruel reality man, the feeling is just crap, damn depressing. Serious withdrawal symptoms and low morale. haha.

Here's the band photo, minus the guitarist and keyboardist.


Once again thanks for visiting! (:

Restore

still hoping to clear up my mess of a life.
but the sheer enormity of it.. not helping.
Just have to start slow i guess,
picking out the loose ends, unwinding and undoing
until i achieve something resembling what i was.
Still trying to free this oppressed mind
but God's here to help



im fine and doing well, just a little lost.
So don't worry about me, and thanks guys, i really appreciate you all. (: