Fatttt Dragoon

Food for the soul~ Yay!

Of 24 Candles and New Toy

Guess how I celebrated my birthday?

Haha... this is a post long past due. Anyhow, I still want to archive it for it's one of the good ones I've had.

For my birthday this year, I wasn't expecting any celebration. I was away from family and also in a new environment. Another thing, I took down my birthday from Facebook, somehow recently birthday reminders from Facebook be it mine or others seemed so insincere.

It's rather awesome coz surprises occurred one after another. Firstly, my new housemates surprised me with a cake when I least expected it, two days before my birthday. They found out the date from my IC, when I gave them a copy for house renting documentation purposes. Truly, I hardly know them that well and yet they went out of their way to make me feel special. Thank you guys!

Then on the real day itself, people from office burst into a brainstorming session and started singing a birthday song for me. Whoa... I felt rather awkward and embarrassed to be the center of attention, but on the other hand rather pleased too. Thank you IFians! (none of them will be reading this, I hope)

I actually spent my birthday slaving away in the company. There was some work to rush and I didn't leave until about ten at night. Once back in my room, I bathed and settled in front of my comp to work on the stuff I brought back. Then all of a sudden, a wave of excited human bodies flung themselves through my room door, singing out of tune birthday song and bringing along a Baskin Robbins cake. Omg... the bodohs of #16 didn't forget about me. Feeling rather stupid myself for being so touched by this.

So all of us, new and old housemates, sat down in the empty leaving room and dug away happily at the ice cream cake. There was so much chatter, everybody's trying to catch up with one another. I miss those bodohs a lot. It felt great to poke fun at them and be laughed at too.

I was supposed to blow at candles and make wishes. But I didn't make a single wish on any of the three cakes. I was happy enough, I didn't need wishes then.

Mom and bro gave me cash to buy myself something. So I bought this! Eason Chan's newest EP and also a brand new Jumbo sketch book plus some fine liners. I wanna drawwww....

Bodohs of #16 with Stella and Tham. Awesome Eichi taking the pic for us. Thank you guys, for making my 24th birthday amazing!

And ohohoho~ on a more recent note, I bought myself a brand new phone. This is bought with my own hard-earned money. Not a single cent from my mom and all that stuff. ALL MINE. New Toy. New Love.

And I'm finally confirmed in my company. I'm a real working adult now. Life is good. =)

First Threadless Tee

This is my first design post in a while. Partly new, partly recycled.

Yo!! This is my first time submitting a design for Threadless! If you've kept an eye on my blog, you'll recognise this from my global warming poster. Well, I thought it looks kinda nice on a tee, so why let it go to waste.

Support me please! I need people to help me vote on this design. But you'll need a Threadless account first, I think. So if you have the time, sign up for an account, and vote for me! There are a lot of other nice designs there, you'll might find something you like, so the account won't go to waste (I guess).

All votes appreciated! Vote high!

ps: Do YOU think this design works on a tee? If not, why? Thank you thank you!

Vote here: http://www.threadless.com/submission/334483/Global_Warning

The impulse was too good to be true anyway. =(

Not today, not tomorrow, but one day.

To Appraise

It has been three months from my first day of work. I had my probationary appraisal done and was a bag of nerves before it. I wasn't really confident if I performed well and at the same time I was very eager to know what they think of me.

At first, the group head did the appraisal with me. I guess the questions were pretty standard where I was asked a lot of questions about my experience with the company, how I think I performed and where I think I can improve. It was more like a sharing session where he got to know about my experience and I can get some of my questions answered.

After that first session I was suddenly called again to have a talk with my direct superior. It felt a little out of the blue. He sat me down in the chill room and invited me to share about my thoughts. We had a brief talk about me, him and the company. It was awesome in a way coz after coming out from the room, I was pumped to do better for myself.

All this sharing got me thinking about what I want to do for the rest of the year. A quarter of the year has passed and I am not really quite near to achieving my goals. I know 2011 is going to be hard. This is not a year to talk about reaching high and be ambitious. This year is about me sharpening my technical skills and learn as much as I can from the really great people around me.

I love working for several reasons. The best of all was being given real responsibilities, real work. It bemused me sometimes when they will just throw a job at me regardless of whether or not I know how to do it. From here, I can either do very poorly or do fine, learning along the way. It's all really cool. Another reason I like where I am right now is the people. Clearly they are good in what they do. So I think I am in an enviable position where I get the opportunity to work closely with them.

During the appraisal, Mr. Direct Superior asked me what is it that I love. Do I love design? Where does my passion lie? What is it exactly that I want?

These are questions that stumped me. I can tell you I like design. Very much. I happen to think I am of the lucky few in this world where my day job is actually my passion. Graphic design doesn't pay well for fresh grads. I am willing to endure this for I know pay will get better if only I am willing to start (I hope).

However, I have come to realise that only talking about how much I like something are merely words. If really I am passionate about something, I will be willing to sit down and just work at it. Hack hours and hours away in honing my skills. I have always believed that passion triumphs talent. But I question how passionate am I really in this. Surely where I am standing right now doesn't show what I have been saying all these while.

I cannot see where I will be in a few years' time. But I can dream of that destination. Nothing is impossible if only I start. Stop looking around and concentrate on myself.

Remaining three quarters of 2011. I am committing myself to three things:

1. Know Flash

2. Know Web

3. Illustrate

To be where I want to be, I will need to begin. So when I question myself again, I will know the answer.

First Quarter

Quarter of the year has passed, how have you lived yours?

I made some resolutions beginning of the year, surprisingly I did make some progress.

1. Be happy.

I am content with what I have right now. Starting to fall into the routine of a working adult and getting used to the company. So yea, am good.

2. Learn how to make things move.

I know Flash! I've learnt some basic animation skills in Flash, thanks to doing a lot of banners at work. Though what I know is nothing to shout about, I do think it's an accomplishment for myself.

3&4. Learn how to code and illustrate.

Didn't happen.

5. Read 50 books in 2011

It's only March and I've hit 13 books. Progress is on track.

6. Start and finish my Eason Chan Artbook.

Didn't happen.

7. Save money for camera, laptop and holiday.

Didn't happen. However, I've set a short term goal for myself. In two months, if I'm still gung-ho about it, I'll go and get it.

8. Run.

Semi-happened. Just need to keep it up.

9. Lose fat, be healthy.

I've been eating a lot of salad lately. However, am addicted to junk again. So hard to lose the habit.

10. Be happy.

I really am.