Doodle : Pencil Colour

It is like a never ending long journey of patience.

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My experiment on pencil colours :

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PS : I don't know how my mom did it.

I am pretty much bored easily with pencil colours.

Zzz.

Writing : Niche

On writing topic :

I read twice from writing articles about 'finding your niche' in blogging. Roughly, the idea is to write your blog specifically only on topic/s that you chose to write about.

You can have a fashion blog and talk about all the latest fashion, what people wear, what you should not wear, which colours suit you, how to combine patterns, and so on. You can write a travel blog and ramble about your travel experiences, tips and tricks, how to save and spend money, what to bring, interesting inspirational little stories along your journey and such.

Personally, when I try to think about which labels I should bring to give readers a tunnel to my life's interests, I failed. If I ever have to write about one topic alone, I'd probably cringe badly to the idea itself. What is it that I love so much that I'll write forever ? I can't choose !

Like what Leo Babauta said in zenhabits :

Focus, minimize, it's al about the energy of focusing on one thing alone.

Little Things 62 : Questions & Writing

The more I learn about life, the more questions pops-up. 

No one said it will be an easy ride.  

I took an online class on the Introduction of Philosophy from University of Edinburg to challenge my critical mind. I am very much interested in it ever since I was in high school : to understand about life and human in particular. 

Never-ending questions.

In the course, it teaches you which particular way to ask the right questions, as a guide. Arguably, no one can determine which way is the exact right and wrong way to think, so somehow they also teach you the better way to think and argue on that. What matters to you, and why ? 

Exhibition : 6 x 6 Art Geng 2013 - 3

Last weekend, we went to MaTiC, Kuala Lumpur again for the closing ceremony. I met several artists : Fai Zakaria & Dzul Afiq , for the first time. Not as many participants came as anticipated, but it was enough to fully make use of the stage for the photography session. 

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For the event, I brought 7. The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I loved the movie so much I had to read the book, even though I am currently reading 6. Beatrice & Virgil by the same author started several days ago. You should watch the movie, HD version, because it was breathtakingly beautiful ! 11 Oscars nominations surely meant something. 

Ps - I secretly went to Rhythm & Hues recruitment session at Uniten last year because my previous lecturer called me to participate. I remember they showed us the exclusive long trailer of the movie because they were the one who had done special effects for the movie. They had done a great-great job :D

I need to summarize more on the movie & book later, when I finish reading the book and re-watch the movie. A great story needs to be repeated so that I can learn !

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Here are some photos of the event at Matic Art Gallery :

The air-cond was still broken, I can't stay in the gallery for long !

Check out the previous post here.

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And for the previous pencil-coloured artwork by my mom, she framed it and c'est tres magnifique ! All her 12 orchids were sold on the exhibition, thank God I asked for the special version specially made for me. I adore her artworks very much. 

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Little Things 61 : Carpe Librum

What is it in books that I love so much? 

Is it the possibilities and stories? The hopes and faith ? The connection to the author as a resemblance to learning about other human along the way ? The art of written words or the beautiful intricate cover page? The soft smell of papers or the thickness of it packed with its own world? The beautiful quotations that reach my soul or inspiration that lighten my dim future? The knowledge it offers?

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Matilda walked the ten blocks to the library and devoured one book after another. When she finished all the children’s books she started wondering around in search of something else. So, Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow; nurtured by all those authors who’d sent their books out into the world. Like ships onto the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message “you are not alone.” - Matilda by Roald Dahl, 1988. 

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I watched Matilda when I was young. I remember my dad rented the VHS tape at our local video renting shop. I watched it many times before he sent it back. 

I loved the movie solely because she reads. A lot. A book lover will always love the other book lover. We are connected in an odd way we don't need to explain. 

I am a proud bibliophile :D

Little Things 60 : Be Thankful

In life, we can't satisfy everyone.

So choose carefully. Imagine it's your last day on earth, ask yourself who matters to you. Who do you want to say thank you and good bye. You will probably be surprised by what your heart tells you. 

And those people you'd thought about, call them, text them, meet them. 

Tell them that they matters to you, and having them is the best thing that happened in your life. Be thankful for having those people in your little circle. 

Live like it's your last day, and you will never see people in the same way again.

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Little Stories 37 : Taxi Driver 3

Morning story with uncle abang taxi :

It was a silent morning, I took a taxi ride like usual. I sat in the front seat, like most morning when I feel it's rude to seat at the back. My eyes routinely wandered towards the cross sign hanging at the mirror, slowly towards his taxi identification card. Moses. A devoted Christian Indian named Moses. Nice one. If he is Muslim, he'd probably named Musa. 

I saw his IC number, he was born on 1971,  that makes him 42 this year. I took several glances at him From my eyes, he is at least 35, or probably much younger than that.

When I was about to pay for the fee, I talked to him.

Me : You look so much younger. *while pointing to the ID card date. 

Him : Well, I am 42 this year. 

Me : For real? But you look so much younger. 

Him : I exercise everyday before work, I wake up at 6 am to run. I take a good care of my health and what I eat. I make friends with the Kelantan boys, they taught me to eat ulam-ulam, and those sayur. I do not smoke or drink.  

Me : Well, keep up the good work. It's working, you surely look young.

From his look, he was pretty happy this morning.

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PS : I'll jog and eat ulam-ulam tomorrow! or the day after. 

Books : Updates

For my 26 books aimed this year :

I am so happy to announced that I enjoyed reading 4. Reckless by Cornelia Funke. The last Inkheart trilogy was an interesting journey for me *throughout my teenage - early adulthood years. 

I took Reckless from the table on the previous BigBadWolf days, thinking : 

Hey, I might enjoy my teenage year once again.

And I was right !

Briefly speaking, like Inkheart trilogy, Reckless is a fantasy genre children book. Not as strong as Harry Potter but acceptable enough. I had never counted how many fantasy children books I've read throughout my childhood & teenage years, but I know I was hooked on the genre for years before I started to accept wider choices in fiction.

Anyone wants to try children fantasy books, in much shorter length than the Inkheart, grab Reckless. But, no high expectations, this book was aimed for young adult audience. I loved it nonetheless. 

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Last week, I finished reading 3. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, another children fantasy book. Luckily I found the signed version at BigBadWolf , the one and only ! Who would have thought to find such precious book in million of books !

I've been a fan of Carlos Ruiz Zafon since the previous books and I didn't know he wrote a book for young adult *I think that was his first book? Anyhow, the book was creepy enough I had goosebumps over those evil clowns in the wardrobe. Imagine reading something sinister about clowns while listening to Kill the Clown by Soley. Not a good idea. 

All in all, I didn't really enjoyed the book much, maybe because the storyline was a little bit weak, and some things like the statues in the garden got no links to the story? *I was hoping to find something more to that. But for children book, what to expect much?

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Last 2 weeks, I reread this for the third time : 2. The Five People You Met in Heaven and 1. For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I recommended books by Mitch so many times now. 

It's heart-breaking, and sad and inspiring and everything. I've read them many times, and I am sure I'll reread them again next year. 

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PS :
A nice leisure time with light reading.

Little Things 59 : Choices

People said, we choose.

We make the decision.

We are given choices.

And we decide.

No, I want to disagree.

This is not my story,

things have been written from the start.

Maktub.

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Exhibition : 6 x 6 Art Geng 2013 - 2

At last, I went to the MaTic Art Gallery with my mom & siblings today. There was indeed thousands of little artworks from many people ! If the air-cond was not broken, I may enjoyed it fully-heartedly. But, we came on the day the air-cond was not working and it was sweatily hot.

Anyhow, the exhibition is almost over.
Do come to visit !

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Some of artworks that I liked :

This is so adorable, it reminds me of my childhood ! :

I bet this is a fish. 

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Here is a Sunday song :

Originally by The Beatles,

sang by Yuna.

Exhibition : 6 x 6 Art Geng 2013

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6 x 6 Art Geng Exhibition

from the 1st - 25th January 2013

daily , 9 am - 9 pm,

free admission,

at MaTiC Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (next to Saloma Bistro).

A compilation of thousands artwork from artists all over Malaysia.
I sent several artworks that I managed to do last month, along with my super awesome mother & sister.

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Mom's Artworks :

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And this one mom did especially for me <3 :=":">

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Little Stories 36 : Taxi Driver 2

Morning story with Uncle taxi.

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Uncle : It's near Raya, everyone is so busy. 

Me : Ya la Uncle. Are you taking some days off? 

Uncle : I don't celebrate Raya much nowadays. No difference. Got children feels like no children. No one wants to come back home. I makan cincai2 on Raya. 

Me : Why so? It's Raya, Uncle. 

Uncle : Children don't want to come back ma. Young Chinese nowadays are very different. They are so focused on their work, on their current life, they forgot. It's different from the Melayu, Raya so happening, everyone goes to mosque, everyone goes makan2 with families, so many kenduri.  

Me : *awkward laugh* 

Uncle : There used to be time when people go to temple to pray, meet their parents, go have big 'makan2'. Now, Raya or no Raya, all the same. The young people go take holiday and travel. Leave their parents. They forgot that one day, they will be in our place, see how their children treat them.

Me : Why don't you give them a call ? Say " Come back home, makan2, rindu lama tak jumpa ".  

Uncle : No use lah. Not important anymore. You, Melayu, stick with your family. Take a good care of your parents, ok ? Don't buang them when they are old.  

Me : Yes, Uncle, I sayang my parents so much. I'll take care of them.

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Doodle : Cat Sticker Pack

Despite the unfortunate event of my Mac's unretrievable data caused by the broken hard drive, I am still going to continue living without my past. As it might seems, it has been all wiped clean, as clean as a new empty house up for sale. Void and empty. 

Although there might be a possibility of retrieving any data in the future, by sending the broken hard drive to other doctors, I don't want to get all hopes up just yet.   

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Anyhow, here is for the new future. I am finally ready with the cat's sticker pack inspired by my fat Awan, after a couple of month dragging this little project. 

Cat Sticker Pack

16 pieces including cats, toys, foods, and bubble talks.

Free : 12 little label stickers. 

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Price : RM 9

Postage : Normal - RM 1,  Express - RM 4

Email me : azreen_31@hotmail.com

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PS : Other stickers are all available now, 

please refer the link on the right side of the blog.

Thank you. 

Doodle : Post post

The stickers flew across the world in these two weeks, several to the United States, some to Australia, also to the UK , Canada, Greece, Sabah, Sarawak and the Peninsular. Thank you for giving me a chance to spread my love of little colourful doodle stickers to everyone.

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Send your Apple Product In T^T

My Mac went into a coma since a week ago,  and is hospitalized, until the Apple doctor finds out what is wrong with him. It has been 3 wonderful years, and I am so thankful for all the things he had done. Let's pray for all the good things in the world, because I can't afford to buy a new one better than what I already have now. 

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For any problems with your Apple product, just bring it to their new authorized service provider, next to Mid Valley Megamall, it's the building next to Mid, across the bridge. 

1. Go to your right, towards the iPad,
2. Type in your name, 
3. Sit & wait, until your name appears on the screen,
4. They will do some check-up,
5. Depending on how serious it is, your item will be checked-in or not,
6. They will contact you in a week,
7. They will send a quotation through email,
8. Agree to proceed, bank-in, and inform them,
9. They will proceed,
10. Wait patiently.

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Update : They have diagnosed my Mac and informed me that the hard drive is severely damaged and all data are unretrievable. I am feeling a little bit frustrated because I've never made any back-ups along these 3 years. My works, my past works, my current and future works are now gone. 

Seeing from different perspective, it is as I've always said : Avoid getting too attached on material things. Those pictures of traveling, artworks, my writings, vanished in a week. 

I guess 2013 is the year I reborn. 

A huge sign.

Update 2 : I am so saaaaaad. T^T

Update 3 : Bought hard drive from an IT store, not from Machine Service Center because they offered much much expensive ones.

Update 4 : Brought back the hard drive to them, they installed everything back in one day. I just took my Mac back this morning. I felt like crying with joy, it's been 2 weeks and I felt empty in those 2 weeks cutting stickers without it. I promise to do weekly backups this time, I promise !

Update 5 : Data is being extracted from my broken hard drive by our internal super awesome programmer. See how it goes ! :D

Update 6 : Yeay ! All data retrieved ! Hail our super awesome programmer ! :D

Doodle : While in Beijing

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While in Beijing, I managed to take note on things that happened daily. At night, after our long days exploring the city, my brother and I will sit at our bed and scribble away things for the day. It's a bit different from my travelogue ; which became a book that keeps all my little trinkets from those amazing places. This book was more like a visual diary. 

It's a bit of a long post of pictures, so, click on the link to read the whole post ya :D

Event : Doodle's Day

Last weekend, zamzammee and I were invited to share our experiences and stories about our doodling business in a small event : Doodle's Day by Sifoo.com at the Canvas, Damansara.

Other participants : PTSNetMedia, Basheer Graphic Books, Gorilla Ink, The Kufi Art, Kevin (Doodles Iphone App) n TheCanvasMy.

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On the Event :

I met Mr. Imran, the man behind Sifoo.com, and dearest Juliana that contacted me for the event, also people I know from facebook : Dayu Inai Pengantin and Nerdless Art, and many other peoples with a great interest in doodling.

Meeting a lot of people with the same interest was really fun. We talked and discussed about the same thing, we doodled on the huge wall and we spent time planning on future events together. I've never met a big group of people with the same interest with me at one time, and for that, kudos Sifoo.com !

I brought almost all my doodle books & travelogue for doodler to read. When someone pointed out about my passion in traveling, my heart leaped ! Now I know what it feels like when someone else understands about your passion in something, you'll just get so excited you want to excitedly blurt everything - Thank God I managed to control it.

Let's Jo ! 

Dear doodlers

Our small booth selling stickers !

Laser engraved doodle by zamzammee.

I doodled on a wall !

My doodle partner, zamzammee

Stickers Galore

Judging Awesome Doodles

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On Talking :

Truth to be told, I was a bit extra nervous when I was called upfront and given a microphone in my hand. After speaking as fast as the lighting for the first 5 minutes, I passed the mic to zamzammee and after those several minutes of nervousness, it finally faded when I came to my senses and focused on some familiar faces. Those talking time with questions from audience was much more better. Extra notes : It is not a secret, my skills in public speaking and talking to people are pretty unpolished, so I am sorry if there are any flaws & annoying things mentioned while I was sharing my experiences.

Talk by us : zamzammee & azreenchan

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Taken from here :

The Whole Gang

The Whole Doodled Wall

Thanks for the invitation and for making it happened !

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Little Things 58 : Faith

I personally think quantity does not equal to the truth, as well as a status,  an attire, a qualification, an outward appearance, and such. 

I hope to see beyond those words shared by people. 

A man wearing a 'kopiah', with long beard and gives Islamic talks thousand times does not make him any more Muslim than someone who feed famished street dogs, IF he does not utilize and understand his knowledge.

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Why everyone is sharing those quotations? Because it came from a well-known person? Did anyone realized how very unthoughtful and mean those quotations were? And they claimed under the name of my faith? That's absurd. 

And a friend answered :

Well, very few people can see beyond things shown. Lucky for those who can see, and for those who can't, that, we cannot do anything. We claim to believe in the same God, but every people got their own way in believing it. It does not matter if it's different, it is not you who can judge whether what they do, or what you do is the right way. That, solely on God's decision. You just do what you believe is right, and hopefully you are on the right path. 

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So what should I do? 

Ignore those sites , blogs, stop following their twitter, hide certain friend's status in Facebook, in hope of finding serenity in what I believed in and to  avoid feeling troubled by everything. 

Little Stories 35 : Childhood Memory

My earliest childhood memory is when I was having my 3rd birthday. I know it was at our rented little house in Japan because I saw the old photo of the little event later.

We were celebrating my birthday. I remember the cake in front of me. I remember the little Tv behind me, because I remember glancing several times to watch 'The Land before Time' that was on aired. Next thing I knew, someone scolded me for not focusing on the cake. The Tv was turned off afterwards - that was probably my dad, because he did that many times later in our life. 

That is all I can remember. 

Many times throughout life, I remember the short scene of my childhood memory. I asked my mom once, but she can't remember any of it.

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Today is my 26th birthday. I took a day off from work, I had a nice breakfast with my loved ones, I enjoyed my day and it ended so well. It was pretty nice - far from what I had last year. Last year, I worked on my birthday, and I asked myself many times on that day "What am I doing?", so since last year, I promised to make it as my day, free from work and stress. 

I also got this awesome box from my doodler sifoo : zamzammee. 

How I started my doodling career? Go ask him. 

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Little Things 57 : Books Rambling

When I only read 27 books, when I had to find time to cram reading in my tight schedule, when I read all the way to work and back home, this young girl read 150 books, last year ! Not 50, not 100, but 150 books and more.

The last time I read that much books was when I was 9. I proudly won Projek Nilam and my mom took a photo of me holding the highest trophy I've ever held. 150 books was all books I got at home and the school library. They were all rather thin, considering I only read children's books & novels at that time. I remember how my mom told my family in kampung about it for several years. Ah, those young days. And the last time I read as many as 50 books in a year was when I was 15.

Current year :

I can't even reach 30 books.

I can't imagine how she even read 150 in one year. 

That's about 1 book every 2-3 days. 

I need to listen to more audio books while doodling because of the time constraint. Audio books are not cheap. They are ridiculously expensive. Movies while doodling is getting lame - I got a hard time focusing on both things. I found funny short series while doodling quite easy to engage ; by this I only meant 'How I Met Your Mom' series. 

I want your time.

PS : I am excitedly reading IQ84 by Haruki Murakami since yesterday and rereading Mitch's books, where is my "Tuesday with Morrie", anyone?

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Little Things 56 : New Year

In life, 

I asked for several things.

Make me happy,
and make people around me happy.

I said to myself that I'll learn about life, I'll learn to accept, to understand, to open my mind towards possibilities, risks, choices, decisions, and outcomes. 

I learned many things in my life last year. 2012 was by far a bit challenging. Yet, I survived, we all did. There is no point in comparing our years, because like usual, they were all mixed with sugar and spices. 

I've been living in this life for almost 26 years now. Sometimes I feel like I've been here longer than it seems. If there is reincarnation, I am pretty sure I lived before because I learned to connect several dots in life that seems out of place, but belonged. If there is no such things as reincarnation, then I still think there are rather amazing explanations behind it all.

I am very thankful for all those incidents in my life that make me who I am now.
And I hope I'll survive this year, and more upcoming years.

I hope we can all start anew and leave those negative grudges.
Life is too short to be wasted on unimportant things.

And in two days, I'll reach 26.
I lived well. I had fun.
And I am ready to continue as long as it is written.

01.01.2013

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PS : 

With God's will, I want to keep on exploring. 

My explorer's heart is burrrrning !