Tuesday, January 30, 2007



This morning, after a night of some low-degree emotional dithering, I woke up (still somewhat sleepdazed) thinking:

I don't want to look for love, I want to look for great shoes.
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All hail the Internet and Google! For they have unearthed these!

Moschino. Lalalalaladybug!



Stella McCartney. Wedges are here to stay, which is as the Boy would say: FAWSOME.


I don't understand how Prada can make already cute shoes (ballet flats) even CUTER, but somehow, they have.


Tash, tash! This would match your dress!



Nice ones from Topshop. One thing I feel sad about the world is that Topshop likes to line their shoes with pigskin :(


I envy whoever it is who is wearing and more importantly, owning these shoes. I REALLY DO.

Friday, January 26, 2007

So WOW, who would have thought boiling eggs could be an adventure.

Apparently, my dear readers, dropping in eggs straight from the cold fridge into really boiling water results in this:








Kinda makes me feel better about not being able to flip a perfect sunny-side-up.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Welcome to the new layout. I suppose I got tired of the minimalist-chic spareness of this place and thus, have traded it for something unfortunately cookie-cutter, but at least, with colour.

I made potato salad today, which was received well.

Potatoes take FOREVER to boil, let me tell you! No wonder everybody eats that instant mashed potato powder crap instead. Although, once you can be bothered enough to boil, juggle and peel the hot potato, and finally mashing it with a terrible amount of butter, IT IS WORTH IT. So amazing, butter and potatoes.

I have come to the conclusion then, that I am much better cooking than baking. There is something that I find difficulty understanding, when it comes to baking. I cannot see the relation between flour, eggs and butter and how the varied portions can result in something that totally looks alien from its origins!

Cooking, on the other hand, I understand. It makes sense to me - and there's that bit of growing intuition that tempts me with the promise that given time and experience, I can be an awesome cook. My mum would call it the Ability to Agak-agak, which means: The Uncanny Ability to Estimate and Hitting the Spot Right On.

Nevertheless, my lack of Baking Intuition doesn't mean I don't try.

The other day, Charmaine came over to my place where we baked rather good chocolate chip cookies and Chai Spice Chocolate Cupcakes. Phwoar check out the massive alliteration!!

Here's the pictoral documentation. Blur pictures ahead, watch out!

Cookies


Spot the peanut-shaped cookie!

Cupcake batter

In their cupcake cups! Charmaine likes the cups, because they are cute. Like panties she says. I don't know her Officer, honest.

Check out our goodies! UH HUH, YEAH I SAID IT, YOU HEARD ME. God, I need to stop watching so much MTV.

Iced. This was the only one that ended up looking perfect. And only because we're showing you its better side. Such utter, complete failure. How am I to become Nigella Lawson at this rate, I ask you.

It seemed funny at the time okay! It was a straight FOUR HOURS of baking and we were tired, and cranky and in need of some juvenile hilarity. (Sadly, I think the confectionery have weightier assets than my own.) (Nigella also has massive boobies. Da-yum!)


And so, the FINAL PRODUCT: Chai Spice and Chocolate Cupcakes...
as well as this:

Friday, January 19, 2007

Have been thinking about portfolio concerns ever since I went to a talk that comprehensively, and impressively, introduced us A Level noobs to their Art, Design and Media programme. There is nothing better to kickstart one's Panic button than to realize - "Yes, This Is What I Want".

Then also: "WHAT, THERE ARE ONLY 30 PLACES??!!".

Already the niggling whispers of oh no what if I'm not good enough, yeah I don't think I'm good enough have started prodding Zara and I.

But well! As we have all learnt from our years of adolescence, the only way to bear with annoying voices is to tune them out. The Parental Authorities should have realized this by now.

Time to self-exhibit, just a little! Give me some feedback love baby. (Hahaha!) (I do not know how to explain my abrupt bursts of cheesiness. I am deeply, deeply apologetic.)


Say hello to the Boy, whom some of you readers have yet to see!

You've seen this before, but here it is anyway, re-coloured.

I still like this old photo, very much. It might be just me though, A MEASLY PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS. I am sure it is not because I like seeing two boys lying down on the floor. Surely.

Yes?

Next entry: Photoshop pieces!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

It was a little too intense.

On the other hand, I did eventually manage to be FRONT ROW CENTER in the mosh pit which despite everything else, is pretty fucking amazing.

I think I have thoroughly fulfilled being a crazy teenager.

If we were to rate the intensity of mosh pits:
Level 1 - Really tame. LOTS off space to jump around, some attempted body-surfing.
example:
Rockerfellaskank 2

Level 6
- Packed. Some scary moments. Some difficulty in breathing, seeing but on the whole, still safe and enjoyable.
example:
Franz Ferdinand concert

Level 9 - CRAZY SHIT. Too many near-death experiences. Too much bodysurfing. Main concern: air. People being pulled out. People almost fainting. People getting trampled.
example:
Muse concert


Part I: Music
But first, let's talk about the music.

Impeccable, to the point that it was rather overwhelming. There was just so much that I did not know what or which to focus on. You could focus on Bellamy's vocals, but then you're drawn into the intense instrumentation and it's like woah drums! no wait, bass! oh god, guitar! vocals, fucking soaring vocals!

Note that the following may not be accurate. Cos you know, there was such a sensory overload that I couldn't track the songs...I think after awhile, I wasn't even able to recognize songs - it was just shit-awesome SOUND.

(Scroll ahead to the *, if you're not much of a Muse fan)

They played :)
- Map of the Problematique;
Which was amazingly beautiful. I think I was in the front row by this time. The layers of guitar instrumentation! I wanted to die, because I could only express my exhilaration with minimal headbanging cos that was all space permitted.
- Starlight:
The lights were incredible at this point - it's a beautiful song. Thought of Syahrul, who was stuck in a Changi barrack :( Can enough be said about the vocals here?
- Invincible
Thought about the Missing Boyfriend again as it is his favourite of the new album. Apparently, a lot of people's too. But still not so for me, although it was undeniably epic.
- Supermassive Black Hole
Hahahaha the Britney Spears Song! But yeah, it was good.
- Assassin

PHWOAR. CRAZY BAT-SHIT INTENSE. I think I was in the third or second row at this time, so the crowd went (enjoyably) nuts. The lights here!
- Endlessly
I think they played this. Thank goodness too, cos as a slow song, it chilled the crowd down abit.

- Soldier's Poem;
On acoustic guitar
- Time is Running Out
Awesome.
- Hysteria;
As a song alone, it is massive. Played live - when the opening riffs began the crowd went berserk. The trilling, then soaring vocals! He was crouching on the stagefloor with his guitar and oh god, so intense.
- Plug In Baby;
Yes!!
- Deadstar
Double-Yes!! Some good headbanging was accomplished here *pleased*
- Feeling Good
I was so happy that they played this. Bellamy was on a white piano, and at that part, he sang into a loudhailer which was da-yum! Sexy. And there was white confetti -.-"
- Butterflies and Hurricanes

I think they played this. It's a rather long song (officially 5:01) so I might have lost track haha
- City of Delusion
I think mosh pit wise, this was a pretty tough time. Shoving, making sure I had air..thus, not much attention was paid to the song itself.
- Knights of Cydonia
- Exo-Politics

They didn't play :(
- Pink Ego Box
- House of the Rising Sun
- Thoughts of a Dying Atheist
- Cave; dammit, was hoping so much that they'd play this.
- Unintended; see above.
- Agitated; disappointed they didn't play this, but good too I guess. If they did, I think people would have died in the crowd surge.

In retrospect, they played a hell lot of songs! Haha while I was there it was moving so fast, so intensely and then it ended. At least, that's how it felt - one long, beautiful assault on the ears.

*Part II: Mosh Pit

On the body though, not so beautiful an assault.

The drama began with Jennifer.

I don't care Jenn, I'm telling!

The show had not even started okay, but they were playing some music. The crowd pressure was considerable. This girl suddenly crouched down on the ground - at first I thought she was making a phone call.

But no, she was feeling giddy, which okay, we'll keep a close eye on you. General concern and whatnot.

When she crouched down the third time however, a WAVE of bodies surged from both our left and right - which let me tell you, is incredibly scary because it would have trampled over her. Incredibly, in retrospect, Tash, Aini and myself managed to form a ring around her and either through a burst of superhuman strength stemming from panic and SURVIVAL, managed to push back the surge.

Most likely also is that the crowd in close proximity saw the Casualty (that's you, Jenn) and helped too, which is the Thoroughly Awesome thing to note about mosh pit behaviour. More on such etiquette later.

So when we finally got her to stand, we and the crowd tried yelling for attention so that they could pull her out and YEAH THIS IS THE PART WHERE I FEEL LIKE A HERO haha. Because we weren't getting the security's attention, with my free arm I threw the poncho that I had in hand and it landed exactly in front of the security guy's face (who was a distance away). This is awesome because in general, I have a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally crappy aim.

Hurrah this proves that when the situation calls for it, I CAN DO ANYTHING hahaha!

So! It was my thrown poncho that first got the security's proper attention and consequently, Jennifer Champion was saved. (At least, that's how I remember it lol)

But anyway, fucking nuts lah, this girl in the end was fine, and had a hell lot of fun. Perhaps more so that me and Tash who were overwhelmed in the front row. Pffbt. WELL AT LEAST I WAS CLOSE ENOUGH TO LOOK UP HIS NOSTRILS, HAH!

In the early beginnings of the concert, there was some fair amount of bodysurfing, which after the novelty passed, began to piss the hell out of me.

It sucks okay. In rock concert footage, it always seems like a lot of fun, and crazy rowdy camaraderie but hell to the N-O. We're "supporting" you because your arse is about to crush my FACE and I need to BREATHE dammit! Tash said she punched a guy who was bodysurfing and I can only say that I wish I had done the same.

The middly first half of the show was rough, with massive, ribcage-crushing shoving especially because we were in the third or fourth row. It came to a point where it seemed that the crowd's bodies (consisting entirely of shoulders, because of my height) were going to smother me. It was at this moment that I thought: This is why my mum doesn't want me to go to a rock concert - I could die here.

And I don't think anyone who was there could honestly say that it wasn't a very real possibility. I also think this was why I did not feel as exhilarated as at the Franz Ferdinand show. A good portion of my adrenaline was being channeled into making sure I stayed alive.

How To Stay Alive (for short-ish people)
1. Keep your head up, as in TILT it to make sure you have access to air.

2. Always, always make sure that your hands are not pinned to your sides, because you need them to push people back. Keep them at chest level, elbows out, for good leverage. Good also is having an arm free in the air - no, this is not to make ROCK-4EVA signs, but to get security's attention when you need it, and also, to get water.

3. Communicate. Sounds crazy I know, talking in a civil manner in a hellhole but it works. Rather than a lot of angry shoving, there's angry shoving but people know that you're shoving only because you need to BREATHE. When they know this, I think its realized that you are a Person instead of an anonymous body with whom to struggle against.

Such is the etiquette that I mentioned before. At the Franz Ferdinand gig, I felt like a collective whole with the crowd physically, but this time, it happened mentally as well. After awhile, you realize that you are completely in tune with the crowd's movements and crazy mish-mash of shouted single words and hand gestures.

It's quite incredible, and thoroughly interesting, from the perspective of studying human behaviour.

Words are reduced to move, out! out!, 1-2-3 push back!, you okay?, everybody okay?, need water?

Gestures eventually have clear and distinct meanings. Palm straight faced out means Wait. Lots of people pointing at the head of a single person means This one. He wants out! After a period of some rough shoving, looks given and returned mean Okay?/Okay. To get your attention, the security would gently touch the top of your head, which I find strangely intimate and perhaps because of this, rather reassuring.

I had a snippet of conversation with a girl beside me who went:
"This is the worst mosh pit I've been too! I can't even mosh!"

"Well at least you can breathe."

"True."

Or funnily, with this guy behind me where I said:
"Can you move back please?"

"It's the people behind pushing!"

"Sorry. I'm going to have to push you anyway."


The show finished, with a single, lucid thought in my mind: That was intense.

But hell yeah, I feel like a tough cookie for having survived it all! FRONT ROW CENTER, NAH I'M NOT BRAGGING AT ALL.

Hahaha, I feel accomplished.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

OMGUH MUSE TODAY.

My heart is all a-flutter.

I'm so worried that I'll leave the house all excited, then realize I'd forgotten my ticket.

Last night I nightmare-d that I was on my way to Fort Canning for the concert but so many things kept going wrong! And I was late for the concert. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN TODAY.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Evidently, 512MB of RAM is not enough for the RAM-whore that is Photoshop.

My frail, 512MB is Tokyo and thus, crashing disastrously under the savage rampage of uh, moving lots and lots of shapes.


I'M IN YOUR COMPUTER, EATING UP YOUR RAM!!!
I AM SO FRUSTRATED I WANT TO SCREAM. But of course, the worse kind of frustration is the sort that you are resigned to, such that the only sound that you are possibly making are whimpers:
Meep! Meep! Meep!
I am so sad. Going to go draw on Yeuy's shoes now (will post pictures soon). Dammit, damn technology! And thus, we conclude.
At least, even if a lot of things have been almost-disastrous, and I'm sort of emotionally drained, tense, and embarrassingly weepy...

I JUST HAD THE BEST SOLITAIRE GAME EVER.

Take comfort, dear heart. Surely, this is no mere co-incidence!

But also, to cheer myself up I have bought:
- the February issue of TeenVogue.
Since I am no longer in class with people who buy such magazines (i.e. Tash or Stacey), I now have to buy them myself! For reasons such as this, I miss school dreadfully - what, no more free magazine browsing!

* I was actually looking for the February issue of W, because (I hope you're reading this Jenn), it has a lovely, lovely pictorial/interview of DANIEL CRAIG & NICOLE KIDMAN. I've seen peektures, and they are awesome. Swoon-time, you lot!

- Three new pairs of ear studs.
Three, you cry, how extravagant! Well, not so my dear reader. For I only purvey a certain shop in Bugis Street that sells these pretty new studs 3 for $5! Ever since I found this nifty little place, I have solemnly sworn not to patronize other shops! For they cheat your money!

And so, I am a little bit cheerier. Although I'm not sure how I feel now, having finally gotten around to surveying and downloading Photoshop brushes online. It's like:
"Cheyy that's how they did it! Wah lau, damn cheaterbug."

I want to be a cheaterbug too, hahaha!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Racism, is dumb. (Woah, profound statement!)

Okay, but seriously. It all started when Syahrul told me that he had a Malay friend who was for a time, neo-Nazi skinhead.

YES, BUT YOU'RE MALAY AND THUS, NOT ARYAN. IF THE ORIGINAL NAZIS WERE HERE, THEY'D SLAUGHTER YOU BEFORE YOU COULD SAY, "ACHTUNG"! They would be offended that you allied yourself with them, and you know, you just don't want to offend the Nazis.

You know what they're like when that happens.

Silly billy.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Welcome to the new year.

Let's defy the evident death of this blog by posting! Well, here I am tip-tapping on the keyboard trying to pull out of this dry spell, think think what is there to say?

A List
  • I spent the New Year at Tash's house partaaay, which was really fun for many reasons.
    1. Our arrival brought upon much screams of genuine JOY and MIRTH and yes, give it up for burst of sincere and intense emotion! (We told her that we were not coming, God-Knows-Why actually. But I suppose Mission Plans for Pleasant Surprises need no rational justification. Which is nice.)
    2. There was much mad laughter.
    3. Quite absurd actually.
    4. And, the best part I think, is the DANCING WITH NO SHOES ON. It is comfortable, it is casual, it is comfortable and altogether BRILLIANT. I mean, I'm a sucker for shoes but truth be told, it is a mildly crippling relationship I have with them.
Exhibit A
My most recent addition:


I wear it without the funny strap because it well, looks funny. But the colour is so saturated, and shiny, that I just have to forgive it for battering my toes. I mean, how can you not when the shoes make your feet look as if they're sheathed in bright leaves, wet with rain? You just do, you just do.
  • I have, for the past month, been working in a studentcare/daycare centre. I swear, each day spent there was a blog-worthy moment SO THERE ARE SO MANY STORIES TO TELL.
  • Which makes it a little bit baffling, why this blog has been so empty, of late.
Things That Make Me a Bit Sad
  • So a couple of my secondary school friends went to the Siloso Beach countdown party, and suddenly I feel sad that I didn't go with them. I didn't because the parental authorities would not approved, and I only went to Tash's cos I told them it was a small gathering. Which it was, a kinda loud, small, gathering. HOW WAS I TO KNOW, is my weak defence.
  • Well anyway! I feel a bit left out. A social miscalculation per'aps?
  • But I really didn't want to face the crowds, AND have to pay to face the crowd. That's valid, I think. No?
  • Also, dammit, I have no prom photos!
  • This is because I did not bring my own camera.
  • This was because for some reason, I feel much too silly whipping out my own camera and indulgently taking photos of myself and surrounding friends.
  • This however, does not come into play when it is the camera of other people.
  • Then I most willing to vapidly pose and prance about!
  • AND CERTAIN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN RATHER TARDY WITH THEIR PHOTO-SENDING.
  • This person's name starts with a 'Z' and ends with an 'ara'.
  • Hello Zara!

And because I am truly an exhibitionist, even though recent behaviour would beg to differ, here's a painting I did, badly scanned.