I kind of suspect I will clock the least number of entries for this year. *sigh* Have got many things to do but I just can’t find the drive / can’t stop sleeping at 6 and waking at 3 in the afternoon (5 today).

Last week was the hectic CNY week; also, a battle with overeating and sore throat and fever and spells of dizziness. Nonetheless, t’was the best time for catching up with my cousins <3 (especially the younger ones) and friends, thanks to the awesome steamboat at Grace’s home. No, seriously, the feast – including the giant container of RED TEA JELLO – was fit for many kings ;)

Monday morning was the stressful meeting at MICA. Although I prepped myself by reading up and making notes about the brand, I was pretty sure I flubbed the portfolio presentation by being so awkward and all. Moreover, they didn’t even require me to talk about what I know about their brand. Oh fail! As I await for the outcome, I find myself hoping for the worst. Because I’m not sure I can handle the job. Anyway the odds of getting it is like, going up to a random person on the streets and having him guess my name right.

I’m currently designing CJ’s wedding card! The London scenery/train ideas sound like they might work, but my hand is not functioning; in other words, my drawings turn out crappier than I hoped. Had better hurry – wedding bells will be ringing.

Work aside. Are we seriously going lan-gaming (L4D2 at that) again this Friday?? Damn the headache-inducing visuals ;_;

* * * * *

My room – into its 15th year – needs thorough revamping after all. *stares hard at the $200 ikea vouchers from the <3 lovely friends* I envision a smaller bed, brighter wooden flooring, pretty lightings, white walls, gorgeous cupboards and crazy murals :) Maybe lots of Rilakkuma too ^^

So today had me fishing about in the thrash bag/can twice for entirely different reasons I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve an infinity with it. Who the hell rummages in the thrash! -.-

My payment via ATM to a certain online service provider hadn’t been exactly recorded under my name and hence the outstanding, as they claim, amount of $100+. I gingerly poked around in the bag and quickly gave up on the two discarded receipts; it could be explained away, anyway. The second instance had to do with a piece of A4-sized paper scribbled on by my dad with apparently very important work-related details, which he had accidentally shredded – thank God, into quarters not bits – with others the computer table can gladly do without. So I emptied the recent contents of the thrash (oh gross, peppered with used tissue; it was in my grandma’s room after all) and meticulously went through the torn contents, laying them out on the floor until I found what my dad had described in the sms. As I fixed and taped the said pieces together, I thought, this is so turning into a scene you find only in dramas. The next time I’m going to think thrice before dropping things into the bin, really.

By the way, I’m sporting a new hair colour – guess?

A new project in the works: Miracle Moments newsletter, in fact a 32pg A5 booklet, for church; design and general template carried forward from the previous inaugural issue I designed at the end of last year. When, after the Chinese translations have come in and after a round or two of proofreading, this is complete, I’m all set to working on CJ’s wedding card (long overdue! I’m sorry) and have it produced by this month.

Perhaps I should kick myself in the head for making the most unwise decision of this year (oh come on, it’s only February? omg) for agreeing to meet up with the panel of executives in the coming weeks to have them review my portfolio as well as for me to learn about the public installation project. By unwise I mean mindlessly jumping at the opportunity without noticing that you are certainly overestimating your own abilities. What’s installation??

Anyhow, I’m prepared to present myself as a nervous wreck, but first not without some proper reading and research on that certain label that would most definitely put me in the worst possible light if I have zero knowledge of which. It’s the least one can do right?

Now I don’t even understand why I’m crashing headlong into this. *groans*

These two weeks have mostly been dedicated to design work. At one point I worked almost simultaneously on the 20-page A5 newsletter for church, now expanded to 32 pages, and a last minute (notified by the events company) A3 portfolio for the Singapore Design Festival in late November. I am so not kidding in saying that I did 17 A3 layouts in one sitting, and a handful more the next day. It was so rushed I did not manage to proofread, by this time it should have been printed and I finally spot some typos. Gooodness. More details on my blog closer to the date, especially after I’ve sorted the online version of my portf.

Then, somehow today I managed a general design for the theme “No More Room”, a Christmas drama by the church youth group, and a postcard design based on that. On the other hand, I am mostly done with Children’s Society; website should be launched anytime – well probably only after they’ve fixed the php bug. With two public “REALise”-themed roadshows behind, I think it’s high time the official website be launched. That I really can’t wait!

Since I’m such a sucker for the idea of lazing around, I shall NOT accept anymore design jobs, requests or begging. For the rest of this year that is. Sorry, but we’re closed. Please direct your design needs to the one next door. (oh fish, I must be one heck of a hopeless designer to even say that). I thought I’d freed up enough time to relax for the last quarter of the year, but apparently it’s not true. So, I suppose, when everything has been completed by mid November, that would be the best time to wrap things up. To start mini personal projects, like THE Christmas List, Dreaming Of Holidays but not doing anything to fulfill it (because I can’t seem to find anyone to go with me currently), Revamping Websites and Striking Off Whichever Possible Items Left On My Supposed Longest To-Do List Ever. Oh, my to-do list. What a sad kind of motivation that doesn’t even keep me going.

At the very least, I’m making bits of progress with my Japanese, however small it is. Intermediate 3 class is going to end this Friday with a final written test and oral! Nearly two months with a total of 7 lessons have gone by since? Then the JLPT notification letter came to inform that the test location on 6 Dec will be at SMU. I’m taking level 4 along with Atikah, while Ade takes level 3. Time to begin mugging, but first for the Int-3 final test. I’ve only about a day left. Will. need. to. pass. *dies*

On retrospect, it beats me how Japanese classes, outings with friends and design projects just seem to NOT relate to one another chronologically, in the same time line. They all feel very detached. Which goes to show that the last few months have been a slight blur, because I can’t seem to recall exactly when I did what.

* * * * *

The weather has cooled significantly; it’s the time of the year. I’m sure in any moment Christmas would arrive. Some people have expressed that if you are not dating, or do not have a date, Christmas would be a lonely time to spend, hence the unrelenting longing for company tugging within you. Though not just anyone’s company. In the past I would have probably been bothered by my status, but for now it doesn’t get to me anymore. In fact, I think I can go without seeing you for a month. Three months. Half a year. Maybe more. Notably because it has always been this way, hasn’t it?

To disregard the past may be a regrettable decision, yet what’s never there, has never been there. Until I come to terms with reality, I’ll try to stop dreaming.

Ah, today’s brainstorming session for LG Secret was held at the second storey of Coffee Bean. So refreshing to be in somewhere other than the office =) Well, after lunching at the wanton shop, Sean and I dropped by next door at Feng Yu 丰裕 (Sin En’s favourite restaurant) to join the both of them. Even though we sat ourselves right beside them, they didn’t notice us until quite some time later. Sneaky :D

We took a bit of time to roam around Red Town some more and took some photos of the outdoor and indoor sculptures. The red brick car that Jolene stood beside was made of real bricks cemented together and not a form that was painted onto. They’ve a lot more interesting sculptures indoors too, like the cardboard (which wasn’t) box that stood so much taller than us actually.

The design bookstore that we love to visit,

and even more installations and galleries along that stretch.

Sean’s desktop at the moment.

Dinner at 丰裕 after we knocked off, the beef in oyster sauce and rice I ordered was only soso; it made my urge to want to eat at the wanton shop even stronger!

Sin En’s agenda for the evening was to visit a bookstore at Times Square, and we joined her, planning to take a bus down at first but soon we realized that particular bus was only in service after midnight…

Times Square 时代广场 felt exactly like Paragon, with the very high-end stores and brilliant window displays. The bookstore, rather small, was at the basement and sold mainly imported books in English. I took a walk around, and immediately noticed several books on Audrey Hepburn and an irritating couple hanky pankying at the sofa beside the bookshelves. Thus we all stood there, talked in English and made lots of noise on purpose 8D

On M群 today (M群 is a mass convo system on MSN that includes everytime everyone who’s been added in it, i.e. all the colleagues) someone posted a joke he/she found on the net about the Olympics. Especially the one on Japan! Omg, I LOL so hard when I read it: in Japanese terms 3p refers to threesome, as for the rest, go figure hehe. Peace~ XD

菲尔普斯夺得8金以后，各国对游泳比赛蛙泳、仰泳、蝶泳、自由泳×100、200、400、1500导致金牌过多感到非常不满，纷纷要求增加自己优势项目的金牌数目。

巴西提出： 足球应该分为3人、5人、7人、11人×沙滩、室内、草地。
中国提出： 乒乓球应该分为直板、横板、直板双打、直板单打、直板横板混双。
英国提出： 马术应该分成黑马马术、白马马术、红马马术、褐马马术、皇马马术、斑马马术。
肯尼亚提出： 长跑应该分为10000米、11000米、12000米、13000米。。。
日本提出： 所有男女混合项目应该增加3p、4p、5p、6p、7p。。。群p。。。500p。
泰国提出： 除了男子和女子项目外，所有应该加上人妖组

[ Expenses ] :
9 rmb (yoghurt, macha milk, 鸡蛋饼), 7 rmb (beef wanton soup), 12 rmb (beef rice)

Seems like Time sped up slightly in the last two weeks.

Picture from ebay.com.sg

Admist the LG70 project, I’ve been hearing quite a bit about Audrey Hepburn, whose image they used for LG Secret’s Black Label. As part of our research and brainstorming for ideas, of course for the upcoming LG Secret project, we all had lunch at the meeting room and watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s. There was a scene at the beginning with Hepburn’s character, dressed in her iconic black dress, wearing gloves and huge retro shades, munching on something from a paper bag and standing in front of the display window of Tiffany. Insead of jewellery, in LG’s version, she was looking at the LG Secret phone through the window. Though it was really interesting and the character she portrayed was extroverted and fun, I could hardly sit through the entire film.. kind of fell asleep after finishing my food =.= The only thing that really caught my attention was the fat orange cat that looks like Garfield. XD Anyway, I’ll make it a point to read up more on Audrey Hepburn.

I don’t know was it Erfa or Atikah who sent me the link to watch the latest Arashi on Utaban clip (ahh, I think BOTH of them sent me, they’re always sooo updated ne~). It was, the ultimate, the best haha! All of Arashi, apart from the usual member Ohno, took turns to say things to piss Nakai off big time. And at times it was so awkward for Nakai because he had to pretend to be talking (and trying hard not to laugh), but soon he ran out of things to say and started blabbering nonsense. HAHA ULTIMATE I TELL YOU. The watermelon was dammit too funny for words.. Nakai slipped and sat down hard on it =.= In the end, we found out it was his birthday month! Arashi had prepared a cake for him and at the moment just before he blew out the candles, Ohno did the job XD Lovely, then Nakai chased all of them with a watergun lolol.

Hai hai, enough of nonsense フフフ~ Colin, Sin Yew, Sean and I went for dinner at 龙之梦 and this is what we saw: LG conveniently promoting their own products by screening the Olympics live and hence, the crowd was willing to gather and sit in the middle of a shopping mall.

This was shot upwards while on an escalator, pretty interesting effects you have there.

Tom’s World (mwaha, the arcade) and a random restaurant with a long queue, and chairs for the people waiting in the queue :S

At the so-called Japanese restaurant, selling rather non-authentic Japanese food, I ordered baked potatos with mentaiko and cheese (but still, the one at Ajitei is so much better!), smoked salmon salad and barbecued squid (too hard to chew! oww).

Oh yes, remember I mentioned about our problems with the showerhead? Let me show you… wait, where is it? It’s not here..

Neither is it here.

Uhh random, those are mine..

The showerhead! But how do I shower without it??

Like this la, for more than a week already. Please, laugh.

[ Expenses ] :
1.5 rmb (鸡蛋饼), 3.5 rmb (milk), 4 rmb (yoghurt), 10 rmb (lunch), 51 rmb (dinner at zhongshan)