For the past several weeks, I’ve been coming really early to the office, (at least an hour before my office opens) because my sister is currently out-stationed all over the country and Af had to go to work early + I still don't drive to work.
So I stayed at mamaks and Subway (most of the time) to finish up my travelogue draft before coming in to work. Today, I wanted something different because I’m bored of the cheap sweet instant white coffee at Subway and I definitely can't consume anymore of Mamak’s Nescafe with exaggerated condensed milk after-taste. Like I’ve said because, my taste towards sweet things really changed over these few years. If it’s not because I’m getting old, I don’t know how to explain this bittersweet taste I’m looking for instead of all things sweet and sugary.
Anyone over 30 agrees with me?
Anyhow, so I went to the famous overpriced cafe at my office - that I use to think of as one-kind of wealth & luxury that I would want to achieve (Note : If I can go to this cafe everyday without worrying about spending it over coffee, that means I reached my comfortable phase - kind of thing) Lololol.
But I got old.
And I got over the overpriced coffee.
Funny how time changes things.
You know what makes me move forward and never stop illustrating since I was 13 ? LOVE
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Yeap, that love that keep me waking up early in the morning just to draw, or stay up late at night. The strength, that energy, that passion come from my love for the things that I can illustrate and I can appreciate. The title that I can hold on to because I know almost everyday of my adult life were spent on creating this sparks that fulfil me. Thank you my Patrons for believing and supporting in me, it's love guys, LOOOOOVE, and I love you guys.
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I was a bitchy friend - I guess I still am. I can't change this, it's who I am. I don't make friends much, I get too attached and hurt and in weird situation all the time if I get close to someone. I have some issues guys, so I chose to not make any friends.
But I'll try to be the best illustrator/designer I can possible be.
I ordered my old sticker to be printed on a die-cut sticker sheets. So I don't have to hand-cut it anymore - time matters, I want to achieve some small goals this year and it takes more than half a year to complete. I don't have enough time to : work at Fin, do my on-going freelance work, finish up my personal travelogue and take care of my little online business.
So I sent time to be printed and die-cut. Now you can get it in mini version for your planner, waterproof and matt-laminated, plus cheaper than the ones before. They are now up in my Etsy (international). Locals can buy from me via email or go to Salt x Paper (but it's in KK) :D
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Gift-away's How to :
Share this post to your blog/instagram/twitter/facebook and comment below to inform that you are participating in this gift-away. Plus, tag your crafter lover friends !
Each share will count as 1 submission - because I will also run this gift-away in facebook and instagram as well. So you can enter as many times as you want.
Winner will be selected by random name generator on the 24th February 2016.
Winner : There are 10 sets of Made by Hands sticker sheet to gift-away.
Note : Anyone can participate in this gift-away.
Good luck !
I've been watching a lot of movies while I was doing my works. Among all the movies I watched in January, here are some movies worth mention :
Captain Fantastic (2016) :
It is about a couple that chose to live in the wilderness and they raised their 6 children outside of the modern world. These children were home-schooled, trained to be fit, think critically and live independently among what's being naturally provided by the mother-nature. They need to plant their own veggies, pick chicken's egg in the morning, hunt for food in the forest, learn everything provided by their parents, find their own entertainment eg : play instrument for mini concert, and such.
Almost everything I ever wanted : except for the wilderness thing which I'm not so fond of. Well this movie show both pros and cons of wanting to live independently away from the modern world, of being too obsessive in trying to create what-so-called a 'better' live.
It's an opinionated movie, in showing us the good and bad of both worlds.
I agree on some matters and I disagree on some others. Af and I both concluded that we need both world to live in. Not too obsessed with consumerism in this capitalist world and not too obsessed in trying to live outside of it too.
Maybe for me, yes to :
country living outside of modern world,
fit and active lifestyle,
home-school and teach critical thinking,
healthy & organic foods,
buying only things needed
it's okay to choose a different way of living
don't lie to children
But not so okay with :
Avoiding modern medical treatment
Not going to public school (this is where we learn to live with the people)
Thinking how other people choose to live is bad if it's different from us
I think what's important is balance.
But things I definitely agree on :
Stop eating unhealthy foods,
stop buying things you don't actually need,
the vast importance of read - learn and think.
Note : They used Sigur Rós songs for the soundtrack - even our song ❤And the director didn't produce so many works as well : Face/Off(1997), American Psycho (2000), and The Aviator (2004). He has been away for awhile before coming up with Captain Fantastic.
Here, watch the trailer, tell me what you think ? :
It's about a problematic orphan city boy was being sent to his new foster parents, that lived far out-skirt of town. Halfway through the story, they were stranded in the wilderness. The town-folks and the people from the orphanage speculated that his foster father kidnapped him/the boy ran from his foster family- so the whole town went out to hunt them down. It is a fun-family movie with a bit of comedy even in such a gloomy topic.
I really love the unique story-telling style, it reminds me so much of Wes Anderson. Taika Waititi is a New Zealand film director, actor and a comedian - so I've never seen his other works before. Plus it was innocently funny, in a very light way - not exaggerated like most comedy movies I avoid.
Note : Wilderpeople is a not even a word in the dictionary, he made it up - so cute.
And I found out that the director directs the upcoming one of the big movie franchise Thor : Ragnarok (2017). So I better suggest you guys to watch this one first.
and of course, the latest movie I watched at the cinema : Split (2016)
The movie is directed by the famous director M. Night Shyamalan - the one that created famous 'The Sixth Sense' (1999). Af likes the director (must-see movie) and I like the topic (Mental Illness - Multiple Personalities) so we went out to the cinema to watch the movie a week after it went out. But boy - it was quite hard to find the cinema that shows the movie at the right time and right place. I think it wasn't as commercialized as Resident Evil or other CNY movies.
Af taught me how to appreciate movie, not only about the story and the actor/actresses but along with the director, writer, cinematography, music, colour, shots and such. All the things that makes a movie complete. He really likes those things, so I'm learning a lot from him.
I don't want to spoil too much of the movie, because it was pretty straight forward and easy to predict. Just watch :D
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Whole movie list I watched in January :
Hunt for Wilderpeople (2016) - Taika Waititi
Captain Fantastic (2016) directed by Matt Ross
Proof (2005) directed by John Madden
Interview with the Vampire (1994) directed by Neil Jordan
Split (2017) directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Good Will Hunting (1997) directed by Gus Van Sant
Ouija : Origin of Evil (2016) directed by Mike Flanagan
Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) directed by Anthony Minghella
I got a 5 days fully sponsored trip to Melaka by Lejen Komik & Tourim Melaka - for my next freelance project this year *which I'm currently working on. I don't want to spoil the story-telling and energy in writing it all down in this blog :F Let's just wait for the book shall we ♥
I went to the office's toilet at the end of the corridor this morning.
The fourth floor of our building.
There are big windows at the end of the corridor, opened.
I smelled the freshly cut grasses and sunshine. I asked myself, is it? Is it really the smell of the freshly cut grasses? Is it possible to smell it far up high? Does the grass bleeds and that is the smell of their blood when they are mutilated and cut open? Do they feel the pain?
Later I found out there were people cutting out grasses along side of the road in front of the building that morning.
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I watched Split last night, and I was touched by the ending's wrapped up line.
About the broken being more evolved, stronger, perhaps mentally in this case. About how the brain creates a mental barrier towards something painful or traumatizing. I used to call myself 'the broken ones', so it is relatable - in a way, I know what it feels to be in a club where no one wants to be in.
Instant coffees and hot drinks in cafes/mamaks make me feel really uncomfortable in the mouth - I rather have unsweetened green tea, mildly sweet coffees or plain water. I used to like desserts and sweets very much.
Daww, I'm old.
Well, my brother is taking orders for home-made carrot cakes - and chosen cakes by request.
You can contact him if you have something in mind. He made this nice white vanilla cake with purplish flowers for a wedding cake today, even I can't do something that beautiful and eatable at the same time. Kudos! Ps - Too bad I don't eat desserts as much nowadays.
This Patreon account will help me pursuing my dream to become a full-time illustrator and publish as many books/zines possible. This platform helps creator, maker, illustrator, writer, anyone at all to achieve their dream - it is like Kickstarter for an individual/group.
This year I'm planning to publish several books and zines, so I will need some big helps from all of you ♥I'll be a bit busy making this year as productive as I can *like I've never been productive before :F
I'll be posting a lot of doodle journals in my Patreon account, if you like this, you can pledge minimum $1 to be entertained by my mini-mini doodles, aaaand if you want, you can get my first ever mini ziiiine or book? Hah, I'm currently finishing of my visual travelogue : the mini stories when I went to Beijing, Istanbul, Bromo and Singapore, compiled into one.
Here is my first doodle journal post in my Patreon, expect a lot this in the account ♥ :
I was one of those people : the ones who feel like they are not good or skilled enough, the ones who feel afraid to tell who they are because they feel like they are not qualified to be one. True, I didn't learn graphic and the rules of designing when I was a student. True, I started with such a low salary that I didn't dare to tell my friends what I'm gaining compared to their salary at IT department.
But I'm way too stubborn too give up, and I hated the labels or inferiority. I wanted to put myself in the place where I can negotiate things that I can offer and what people want to offer to me. I worked myself day and night, weekends and holidays. In those early years : I sent more than 30 emails to random companies that might need some skills that I can offer, I applied more than 30 jobs even without strong experiences in the job I applied for, I accepted so many random freelance jobs : to learn, to learn, and to keep learning.
Everything I want to learn, I make sure I start learning and keep on improving throughout the year.
Try and try again. Even if it's ugly, or wrong, or need a lot of amendments or get repeated rejections.
That's how I get here, that's how I taught myself that I can be what I want to be if I want it strong enough :) Anyone can start somewhere. You just have to make the first step : Just Start.
Note :
You can learn at Skillshare for $0.99 - 3 months premium membership, just click here.
I take classes here.
We moved back to my red bricks apartment last weekend.
They are still staying with us until March, after we come back from our Japan trip. So for now, Af & I are going to stay in the medium-sized room in my apartment. We finally have a large windows and sun lights ! And our own personal moss-free wardrobe.
Moving out has always been a fussy matter.
One of the things that I hate is organizing my clothes because I have piles and piles of unused stuffs. So 4 weeks before moving back in, I went back and took out all my clothes from my old wardrobe and started to divide it into 3 piles : Definitely will use, Probably will use, and Will never use. The ones that I will never use were donated at the charity box near my home : a huge pile of clothes, the size of super-packed big IKEA bag! While the ones that I will use and probably will use were taken back to my rented apartment to be washed in the washing machine. That was phase 1.
Phase 2 was re-organizing all the clean clothes and filtered again. I did 3 phases of filtering to decide on which clothes that I will really use and which clothes I will donate because I shouldn't be keeping all these old clothes that I don't use anymore. Learning to let go things is something I need to remind over and over.
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Clothes :
Among all my clothes, most of the stuffs I hardly wear were donated to the charity.
I now have :
2 jeans *black & blue,
2 outing t-shirt,
2 track suits,
5 running shirts
several pajamas & stay at home shirts
2 telekungs
6 working semi-casual shirts,
6 kurungs,
2 singlets
2 bras
2 sport-bras
4 socks
2 towels
at least 5 tudung bawals (black x 2, red, dark blue, purple)
On dozens of running shirts :
I had to filter all the running shirts 3 times before deciding on which running shirts I do want to keep - even though I actually wanted to keep them allllll T^T I can explain each running shirt's history to Af, like my first run, or the night run when I had a bad headache and we all looked like flamingos, or the ugly red cotton shirt from our UPM run when Af first started to run in an event officially, or the nicely designed purple running shirt that I really like but seemed a bit too tight nowadays - and remember that I did looked good in it, or my first 21km finisher's shirt ! Can you believe I have around 20 running shirts? Even the ones with super ugly design and colours that can blind the eyes!
So I only kept several, I donated more than half of it. I now have 2 of my Milo running shirts for training because I love those shirts, and my favorite orange Harimau Malaya running shirt because it looked nice even though it looked a bit worn-out, one of the light blue running shirt that I might need, my finisher's shirt and the black shirt from our gym :D I think I still have a lot of them..
It is an organized mess.
Extra note : I'm a bit clingy to my old kurungs, because I personally selected them and I like having them even though I can't remember the last time I wear any kurungs these days.
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On keeping clothes :
Being a woman is a bit fussier in terms of keeping clothes, because we have so much layers and clothes for different occasions and use. On one occasion, we can wear : tudung and anak tudung, and bra, probably a singlet then the shirt itself, and then underwear, and the jeans, the socks and the shoe : at least 6-9 items at one time. While man can just wear the tshirt, the boxer and the jeans! 3 things, and 4 including the sandal.
Af is simpler, like this one black shirt; he can use it for work, for outings, for events, and even for working out. So his wardrobe is less packed than mine - he's super proud of it =.= I'm actually inspired by him, because his goal is to have everything minimal and keep only things that he uses all the time. So it's easy for him to pack stuffs for travel or choose anything to wear everyday.
Learning to be minimal and keep all items that I will use - only is hard.
Having only 2 tshirt that I use when I go out is hard. It's either that black tshirt or that dark blue tshirt, repetitively. For the work shirt, I keep it all in rotation. So the one I wore for that day will be washed and dried afterwards and kept in my wardrobe in the last line, so I will meet it again the next week. That way, I won't get confuse and wear the same shirt in the same week. Any clothes that I don't wear for more than 3 months will be donated, because obviously I don't really wear it.
I think buying new clothes is way easier than donating the old unused ones. Kan?
But I know at least 2 hoarders in my family, and I see how they get too attached on unused things. I didn't quite like the idea of wanting to collect and keep and collect and just make piles and piles of things that 'might-be-useful-someday'. You do know what I mean, right? Hoarders, keepers of things, the person who keeps things from 10 years ago, the collectors, the one with 6 watches, 7 shoes, and 15 hats?
The only thing I collect now is books.
And probably money :D
