Little Thing 214 : Soul Eater

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It's Friday.

There are 10 12 open tasks for UI designing and 6 more tasks for the promo and other collateral.

So I just spend my early morning staring at the monitor, thinking about how survival might disguised as a soul eater. I always thought that I'm a hard-core adaptable learner because I managed to work at online news publisher semi agency for that 2 years - until - I work in a startup as the only designer who does everything - :F

PS:

I borrowed a view from the 14th floor of Trinity Building in the city center.

We spent our morning in the other office owned by 1337v.

I'll probably miss the city vibes after this.

Perhaps, perhaps.

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Pity Af had to see my worn-out face like I survived a war everyday after work. 

His "how was today?" makes my eyes gleam with exhausted tears.

Mini Escapism : Raub - Gambang - Kuantan

Our weekend spent mostly on the road. 

It started with Raub for Af's sister's wedding on Saturday to stopping by at Af's old office in Bukit Gambang Resort and sending Af's grandmother to Kuantan on Sunday, next we went to Raub again to send Af's mom and Nani, and lastly headed back to KL the same night. We had travelled approximately around 600km in 2 days :F

I went to Af's old building where we first had our Facetime.
The places he took his photos in his instagram when he was so out of reach from the civilization. The huge clouds marching from the highest building, the strong hot wind, our yesteryears.
It brings back a lot of bittersweet memories :(

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That night the moon shone so brightly from behind the hill, it went up slowly all the way to the high sky. We were in the car all night, I can even see Nani's face in the dark when there was no lights along some of the road on the highway.

The black sky was beautiful, and the moon was magnifique.
But we had to go back to our reality.

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Little Things 213 : Muji Planner 2016

I love planners, because I love writing things down and I love to plan.

Usually there are 3 type of people : 

• people who are constantly write things down - the planner, the organized freak, the to-do list person, the writer, the doodler, etc.
• people who are not - even when they are given a new planner, they will probably give it to someone else or just keep it as a collection.
• and people who are trying - they like the idea of planning or writing their to-do list and stuffs, but it will be left untouched after the first 2 weeks.  

So this post was made especially for the Anon who asked about Muji planner several days ago :D I've been meaning to write about it but I was too busy lately - up until I got sick and stayed at home resting for the day. 

Several weeks before the end of 2015, I went to Muji Avenue K and saw a beautiful big planners - full white and another version in full black. It is a weekly planner; one page show the listing towards the whole week and another page is an empty page of squared grids. I love squared grids pages because I can draw things down quite easily compared to the one-line pages. I wanted to buy it for work & freelance planning, but it was too expensive : RM 50 :F 

So I left Muji :(

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Two weeks after the new year I went there again - just to see all those Muji planners in all sizes having a discount from 30 - 50% off ! The one I wanted was with 50% off - that means the price was only RM 25. I showed it to AF and explained to him about the planner and he said that I should definitely buy it :D Woooah, and I bought it right away. 

I thought that I wanted the full-white version but in the end I bought the other version :

It looked exactly like normal planner, isn't it?

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Except that it has grid pages on each week and more of those pages at the end of the planner. It also has several pockets on the cover jacket to keep extra stuffs like ruler, washi tapes or post-it notes. I put all my illustration research and UI plannings. The things useful for my works, and been updating it every day because I keep on juggling several tasks at once - I keep on forgetting things ! 

It is a bit smaller than A4 sized paper.

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The paper quality is quite good and thick. I've tried writing some stuffs using : Pilot - Pop'lol + Frixion + Wingel + Brush Pen and also Papermate Gel. No problem.

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If you are searching for a Muji Planner, go ahead to Avenue K, 

they still got those discounted planners! 

:D

Little House : 500sqft

We are nesting.

I think we overspent on buying little things we never thought we needed : like the place to put washed dishes, or the tiny case to put our keys and rings and pins, or the 3-plugs outlets, or hanging rods, or coaster for hot kettle or frying pans and pots. All the items we simply overlooked when we stayed with a big family for so long, those stuffs a mother prepared for us to use. I kinda miss Ma, and Awan. 

Suddenly leaving the house doesn't feel as excited as when I was single and alone, renting an apartment. I'm married. I know this is the phase when I finally detached myself from the family cocoon and start creating my own little family. Exciting, but sad at the same time.

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The colour :
We had it lucky. The owner furnished the small apartment using all natural soil colours : light and dark brown. The worned-out sofa, the wall, the brown kitchen table, all the cabinets, the floor, all in various brown colours. It matches my previous wooden furniture and carpet, and cushions :D I am very-very-very glad I don't have to see mismatched items.

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The working table :
And after a year, we managed to reattach my working table again. It was sitting behind the sofa for that long after I moved out from my previous rented apartment. I personally love-love-love the table, but the wooden texture is a bit splotchy now :(

I covered it up with a black desk's mat.

I finally have a working space again. A place to put my magical laptop, my graphic tablet and note/books to write or doodle. Big space to sprawl anything while packing for my Etsy stuffs and DIY projects. And my black desk lamp, finally useful.

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The internet :

The internet guy came and setup our high-speed internet ! This is one of the most daunting-and-exciting part, because we are committed with the 2-years Unifi's contract, it is a bit overpriced for both of us :F but we've been planning on being productive in our freelance business this year *at least I do. So maybe this investment will be a great thing. And I can have my drafts whenever I want to. I think Af is enjoying his daily Game of Throne series :F

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And we have a darling view from our living room :

Work Related : I'm a Backpacker - Europe

Read previous post on : I'm a Backpacker : Korea by Halian Azurin

Right after I went back from my Tokiyo Trip, Miss Jann contacted me again - this time to illustrate the next "I'm a Backpacker" series - Europe by Khairul Abdullah. I enjoyed the previous job, so I decided to take the task. My favorite freelance job for 2015 was the books !

It wasn't as many illustrations needed as the Korea series, but this time I had to illustrate a lot of buildings and travel spots in Europe instead of little items and clothes :

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Mr. Khairul shared with us on how to visit 12 big cities in Europe for less than RM 6,000 - *that's pretty impressive. If you think you are planning on a next cheap Euro-trip, this book might give several good tips for you. You can get it here on bookcafe :

I hope there are more to come !

Work Related : In Between

This is the point where I am on the verge to give-up.

Tasks at work multiply daily. I've been doing a lot of things, my job varies from designing a promotion to creating the whole structure for the website for both desktop and mobile, or designing mockup and wireframes, making places for random image re-sizing and designing little things for the admin desk. It never stops coming. I've never been this frustrated with myself for not being able to complete everything before going back every day. I love work, but this is sucking up my energy and I just want to rest after work.

And there are more, freelance works. All came in one shot, like a sudden thunderstorm, trapping me under a hut alongside of the open road. I'm stuck with all the work that needs creative thinking and visual representations. Everything has to be squeezed from a fast drying sponge-like brain.

I'm in a dire need of more space to breathe.
Kelakar kan, we always thought we can do more than we actually can.

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We stopped by along the road before reaching home. We had 2 minutes because we've been hunting for a spot to the last peek of the sun for more than half an hour before reaching there. Af just decided to stop the car and we went out, he snapped some pictures before it went down and replaced by the night :

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This week had been awful, awful, awful.

I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Illustration : Sailormoon & CCS Sticker Packs

I forgot all about my latest sticker packs at Etsy : 

The Sailormoon Sticker Pack & Cardcaptor Sakura Stickers.

I managed to finish up all the sailor characters and including Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura several months back. All done using the dying MBP and uncountable restarts - I'm very proud of my determination ! Hah.

The calming look inspiration came from my Sleepyhead troopers 5 years ago. They are not sleeping, mind you. They are just closing their eyes :) It's been around 3-4 months since any new digital artworks for fun, all work, work, work make me grumpy and tired. I wanted to share my latest project so much, but I signed the NDA - at least for another 6 months if it's ready for public, then I can share it online :( Basi.

I posted the update of the making on : 

Rei Hino | Minako Aino | Hotaru Tomoe

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Mini Escapism : A Date on the Rooftop

Taken early this weekend :

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Images taken from : Af's dSLR :D

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theme song :

Little Stories 217 : Allergic

My weekend ended with hot rashes alongside of my face and reddish dots all over my body, like little bumps from mini mosquito bites. I didn't know what I ate or what I touched, but what I know : I was having an allergic reaction.  

My face felt hot and itchy. I felt itchy everywhere, all over my body, I felt like crying. I took cold shower twice, I tried to sleep but I was distracted by constant need to scratch. I was too frustrated because I can't remember what I did wrong. Was it the food I ate? Or the stuffs I touched?

By 8.30pm I can't tahan anymore, so I took antihistamine pill  *the one I always keep just in-case. I sat on the sofa in our living room. Around half an hour later, I dozed off. I was too sleepy to function and those itchiness felt too mild for me to notice. I just went back to bed, wrapped my body in my blanket and slept for whole 10 hours straight !

I woke up feeling draggy and exhausted.

Happy Monday to you too.

=.=

Read : Past post on Allergic.

Work Related : Bfab Promo 2016

I created a funky-blinking promo ads for Bfab. Originally I wanted something classy and clean looking, so I designed some options based on what 'classy' means to me. But my bosses said we need various kind of audience for this launch promo.

You can make bookings on our website, it is still in Beta mode - that means a lot of bugs and flaws and annoying unwanted spaces and wrong font sizes. But bare with us. Just use the promo code : bfab20 when you checkout on any service.

Read about us here.

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And if you are an intern or fresh-graduates finding a job in a startup company, you can send your email to Bfab's HR to be reviewed :

Little Stories 216 : Post Birthdays

It's 'that' time of the year !

I love new year, it's birthday time for all 4 of us : Aja in March, Azmi in Feb, both Azura and Me in January. Consider '5' now since Af's birthday is in April. I love birthdays, especially when I have some money to spend on them. 

I've been putting some consideration in what to give to my younger sister. Her's on the 4th, after my birthday on the 3rd of Jan. As a person, she's into fashion and gaming, still in the young stage where she likes cute but cool stuffs.

It's getting harder now because we grew up and we don't really know what we want. Usually we will create some kind of 'wish-list' and pass it around the siblings so it's easier for us to buy stuffs. But not this year, she doesn't know what she wants :| 

Hunting takes time and a lot of thinking.

I've been putting consideration on these :

• Working Attire
• Sunglasses
• Facial Voucher for 2
• Shirts + Jacket

In the end, I bought these things for her :

• Long 'Happiness' shirt from FOS + Navy Green Jacket from Cotton On 
• Gift card from Starbucks
• Gift voucher from Aeon, *so she can choose her own working attires

We celebrated at Homst Restaurant, Cyberjaya the night before my birthday. It was a really nice Chinese Muslim restaurant, both my sister and I love chinese food. This was our 2nd time at the restaurant and the food was ah-mazing like the last time ! This time I asked Tasy to join us *I think it's her first birthday celebration with us, because most of the time we keep it only to the family.

Thanks Ma, my siblings, Af, Tasy and Wati :

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On my birthday, we spent half the day at home and another half day spent at my aunt's. Tokmak was there, alongside with my uncle and aunts - even my dad came as well, he baked a cake for both of us. We also stopped by at Boost to redeem the 'free' drink for my birthday - I can choose any drinks from the list ! So she gave me Cookies & Cream, the biggest size because I don't feel like having juices for my birthday :D  I've never redeem anything for birthday, and if it wasn't for my colleague, I wouldn't even know about it :

I also got 2 redeemable movie passes from GSC for my birthday month. I haven't decided on which movie to watch with Af :o

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Another surprise came from the office.

I was busy doing works when I saw a gleam of candle lights behind the mirror separator's door and I even asked to AR, "Ehh, what's that?". The door opened and my boss came in holding the cake, she sang a "Happy Birthday" song and the whole office suddenly sang it together *even all the students for today's class. T^T She then passed me an Austin Kleon's journal - The Steal Like an Artist Journal, the one to be used as a doodle journal. T^T 

I was surprised, I usually hate surprises and I didn't see this coming.

But it was a nice one, thanks Boss, and everyone in the office T^T 

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Note :

Can't believe I'm already 29.

I don't feel any wiser, and I'm not going to say that I mature up to be a whole 'new-me' because honestly, I feel exactly like myself days before. It's just a number and I'm proud of myself for surviving this long. I pray for the best in my future stories :D

Little House : 2nd Studio Apartment

So we've been searching for a place to live in for half a year ! It is really hard to find a decent place to live in with affordable monthly payment.

I'm in love with small personal space.

My previous studio apartment that I rented was 675 sq ft. This time, we found a studio apartment smaller than before, it's only 500 sq ft ! :D When the owner opened the door to the apartment, I knew I wanted to rent the place.

It is fully grilled and equipped with furnitures : well-worn sofa, tv sets, used refrigerator, shoe racks, washing machine, water heater, air-cond, queen size bed, nice mattress, decent curtain, blinders and everything required for a short living. It is like ready to move-in/Airbnb type of place. We are both still new in married life and we are still on our limited budget, so a fully furnished apartment in studio apartment is a real nice deal :D Some old stuffs pun boleeh lah.

We are on high-floor level so we can have the nice sunset view as well, we can even have a nice sunrise view from our corridor. Best kan? 360 view. 

Most fully furnished studio apartment costs around RM 1,500 these days. But we found one that costs almost RM 900 - fully furnished. T^T Thank you God, I hope we will be safe and sound throughout our stay. Amin amin.  

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We are going to live in the small space for awhile now, at least until my family found a nice house for them to buy :) And I'll be back to my nest !

On the first day of 2016, we moved in the to place :)

Mini Escapism : New Year Putrajaya & Hulu Langat

On the new year's eve, we slept early. 

We didn't wait for any party, fireworks or greetings, by 10.30pm we both were just too exhausted to do anything after a whole day at work. Weird how our body changes through age, kan. 

But later by 3.30 am, we were both awake and can't sleep. Af said that we should go out for a really early breakfast and hunt for our morning sunrise like we planned several months back. It was a great idea, seeing that I can't sleep and was fully ready for a new day in the first day of 2016. 

We went out and lepak2 at 24 hours Maulana, watching The Hobbit final series. We headed-off to Putrajaya around 1/2 hour before the sun rises and parked the car near PICC's lake. Other than us, there were a group of enthusiasts waiting for the sunrise, equipped with dslr and tripod.

Everything was blue, cold and serene. The sun wasn't around until later in the afternoon, there was a cold morning drizzle. A very gloomy Friday morning :

It was such a great way to start a new year kan, instead of waking up super late in the morning after spending the whole night celebrating new year :D Too bad we didn't saw the sunrise like we hope we would.

I'm hoping for a great 2016 for all of you.

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During the weekend, we went to Hulu Langat for a wedding. 

I know there were several famous spots like Sungai Gabai, Sungai Congkak and Gunung Nuang, so I thought of visiting those places after the event. There weren't much time because we got other plans for the night, so it was a really quick pre-exploration - just to see whether there were any exciting places to explore later.

We went up to the entrance of Empangan Sungai Langat but it was a private area with a big "No Entry" sign :( Later we stopped by at the Sungai Congkak's entrance and walked way farther from the gate just because we didn't want to pay for the lousy overrated parking just to find out that we still need to pay for the parking alongside of the road *really far from the gate. We also need to pay for the entrance fees as well. We didn't know about it and left both our money in the car, so we decided to leave the place. I am quite disappointed because they commercialized the whole place :(

Even though the 'look out point' near Ampang has been closed down, we managed to stop by alongside of the road to get the view of the whole KL city from above the hill :

That's how I spent my first & second day of 2016.

Little Thing 212 : Blog

I used to have several blogs in early 2009. 

I started with my personal writing blog, doodle blog, and travel blog. I maintained those blogs separately, each focusing on their topic. Years after, I combined those blog into this one for 2 reasons :

1. I want to be known as whole. The person who writes, draws and travels is the same person. Sometimes I write about things that I like, sometimes I illustrates, and sometimes I travel. The 3 things that I'm passionate about, jumbled into one place. It goes on, archived according to the moment while I was writing each post.

2. I don't want to find a 'niche'. I don't want to put a limitation on the subject of my writing. So I spread my canvas wide here and let all writings be my forever drafts to be improved by time. I love the randomness that makes me human rather than talking about one topic in different way over-and-over. It feels a bit unnatural, no?

PS : It still troubles me sometimes, the link to this blog is : doodle-from-me but I don't really doodle anymore. Ha. I thought about changing it, but I think I kinda like the irony. 

Everything always goes back to writing tho.

This, comforts me.