Last Days of Semester 8

I did plan to show progress on the things I did for the final exhibition. But alas, I finished all advertising executions, portfolio book and promo items all in two weeks, with a major part of them all in the final week. There was simply no time to blog about anything. However, I did manage to snap some work in progress.

In the end I managed to pull off a port book, some coaster drawings, a CD sleeve and some stickers. Nothing fancy, but they did the work.

It was crazy. The exhibition. We weren't prepared at all for the rush that was gonna compel us. It was good fun going through all that with my classmates. At moments like these, you'll come to appreciate those people that you can turn to with a request and they'll just do it for you, no questions asked.

For my own part in the exhibition, I was quite disappointed with myself, for not being able to pull off the things I had in my head for the whole semester. For everything that I displayed during the exhibition, they were the bare minimum of what I had in mind. There was this trepidation in me, for I have asked a lot of people to come. My mom, all my closest friends. But then again, it was also because they are people closest to me that I didn't mind showing them my work. They'll understand.

Wokay... so my work wasn't that bad. Just, not, great. Hah.

I love my mom for being there. I seriously don't care a fig for convocation. Having her here for my exhibition was all I could asked for. When she was done perusing everything, I asked her what she thought, about my work and all. She was like "What is there to say? Aiya..." MOM!!! *facepalm*

Oooo... she got herself a new iTouch. One of the reasons I wanna go home. To play with this new gadget~!

And of course, nothing will be the same without these two crazies. Through thick and thin! Rui came all the way from Singapore for this. I was a bit sorry coz there really wasn't much to see on my side. All. The. Way. From. Singapore. But but but... she had to come!! She's OBLIGATED to come. Bah. Don't care. Thanks Rui!!

And Hooi Fong, for many times our crazy antics had her sacrificing sleeping time when she had to work the next day. Aih. So sorry. But but but... anticipate more of these in the future. Hahahah~

And not to forget, nutty Georgians on the move. Thank you, Chia Li, Chia Yinn, Evelyn, Kar Yee and Yueh Yih. Oh... and my cousin sis, Tres! Some came all the way from Penang just for this. And once again, I couldn't help but wish things were better. But at least you guys got some free cake from Fragments!

And o yeah... Tham, 41 and I attended the Kancil Awards Night on last Friday. We WON!! Merits and a bronze. My so-called one and only achievement to mark the end of my student life. I appreciated the night for the dinner we had on our own after leaving the awards. Just teasing and talking about random nothings. Thank you Tham and 41, you guys were fantastic team mates. I couldn't ask for anything better!

Woohoo~ I love my boots. Gotta get myself a new pair though. It's appearing too often in all my formal photos. Hahaha~

And on the last day of exhibition, when everything was cleared up and it was just us, there, with nothing much else to do.

Just a handful of the fantastic people I have met in my four years in LUCT. Funny, there weren't much photos taken during the whole exhibition. Maybe we were all just too busy running around trying to get our own things finished.

And so, that's it. Four years. Finished on a cloudy, gloomy evening. So many things happened and so many people were there. I wasn't able to absorb the moment. There is only this solitary picture to remind me of what I felt at that time.

All I could remember was a tinge of sadness. Is all.

Book Fest @ Malaysia 2009

Tonight was the night I fulfilled my annual fantasy. This only happened once a year, a ritual that I have started from last year. After tonight, it was still as satisfying, still as glorifying as ever.

It was the annual Malaysian Book Fest at KLCC!

Well, friends who knew me, would know that I have no qualms buying novels from time to time. But those times when I did buy, I would only buy authors that I liked and was confident that their books were good. I rarely steer away from those few good ones that I like.

One of the reasons I like going to book fairs was because of the discounted price. Besides saving money, I would also dare try some other authors that I have never read before. This was coz if the book turned out to be bad, at least I didn't pay the full price!

On the way to the book fest, I have already calculated mentally how much I could spend. I still need to save up some of my cash this month for utilities. Okay, I told myself, just RMxxx. No more. Self restrain, I must practice.

But within a few feet of the entrance, I could literally SMELL the books. The smell of new books chilled in air-con. There was an extra skip in my step as I entered the realm of my fantasy. The moment I began putting the second book on top of the first book I took, I knew that my budget of RMxxx was not realistic at all. Ah, money, small detail when it came to fulfilling my destiny tonight. Buahahah~

Check out my loot!!

1. 2 Eason Chan CDs at RM9.90 each!!! (like hello, how to resist??!)
2. Live 3-CD of various Hong Kong singers at a concert, RM9.90
3. A Fraction of the Whole, a novel, Steve Toltz
4. By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Paulo Coelho
5. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
6. Keeping Faith, Jodi Picoult
7. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffennegger
8. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, John Gray
9. Turn Left, Turn Right, Ji Mi (not sure if the pinyin is right tho)

I am so in love with the idea of so many different books from various genre. Keeping Faith and Time Traveler's Wife were two books that I have been wanting to buy since forever. I intend to read the Time Traveler's Wife before going for the movie version. I do have to admit, Eric Bana's good looks in the trailer did give me the very much needed last prompt to get the book. Good bargain, therefore good buy!

I got myself two 'self-help' books. Zilch told me that Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus was really good. I came across that book at the MPH sales in One U. Stood there for a while reading the first two pages. Immediately I was drawn into the narration. I kept myself from buying then, so I bought it at the book fest. The Last Lecture could be something like Tuesdays with Morrie. I think it was David that told me it was good, and an inspirational read is always a welcome.

25% rebate is definitely better than the usual 20% or 10%.

Bought the second book by Paulo Coelho at 50%. He's a popular author, and I wanted to try one of his books for a long time. But it seemed like such a rip off to get one of his thiner-than-usual-paperback at the normal price. This 50% thing came at a good time.

I have never heard of this author. Never heard of the book. Worst of all, it's from Penguin. Could mean that it's a classic, thus synonymous with *YAWN*... I bought if for the pretty cover! And the first paragraph was not bad. During fairs like this, I'd normally chuck in one completely foreign author. Let's see if the content will live up to the cover.

My CDs, not even exceeding RM30, all three added together.

I pre-ordered their first comic book. KK and Luke are my fav DJs from 988.

It seemed that by pre-ordering, I became their club member by default. I am member #0053. Woohoo~

Ahhh... another huge chunk off my wallet. But no worries, it's month end already. That huge chunck will grow back in no time! Yes, life should be lived always, in the light of optimism.

Ta-da, so long~ Good night!


Could barely keep my eyes open already... *yawn*

Like, the BEST Ever!

It rained in the afternoon. I was hoping that the sky would pour away, so that it would be clear at night for the concert. On the day itself, Sunday, went over to Kelly's place to put our stuff. It was great seeing her for the first time in ages! The plan was to go for lunch with some friends, head early to the entrance to get a good position then back to Kelly's place for a stayover. Overall, everything worked out incredibly well.

We were at the Sunway Lagoon entrance at about 5.30 p.m. I even told Anonymous, come on, don't be silly. Why wait for so long, when the concert was only going to start at 8p.m.? Thanks to his/her perseverance on not leaving the spot, we managed to be at the front of the pack.

Look at the picture below. The line was already beginning to get long even before six.

Due to reasons of his/her own, Anonymous barred me from mentioning his/her presence at the concert. For those of you who knew whom he/she was, please refrained from saying out loud. Buhaha~ Anonymous with his/her ticket.

One thing that truly surprised us was how punctual the audiences were. It was the first concert that I have been to that started right on time, at 8p.m. Look at the crowd. So full even before time.

Myself and Anonymous. Hehe~ With the dumb caricature covering Anonymous' face, for once someone looked stupider than I did.

Lucky for us, we managed to secure this bump on the floor to stand on. Gave us the extra two inches to see Eason better!

The ticket we bought was RM298. But I bought it on the day of the autograph session, so I got 10% off. An awesome deal of RM 270 and we were only several feet away from the stage! I was so happy when I saw the short distance. Immediately, I wanted to stand by the grill, directly below the stage. But Anonymous beckoned me to the back, saying we could get a better view of the overall performance than we could so near the stage. At that time, it seemed like a fine idea. But by the end of the concert, I sorta regretted not standing at the front. The back was alright, but it would have been grand to feel what standing in the first row was like.

Waited until the sun set...

When we were at the entrance, we saw this banner that said there's an even more expensive ticket, VVIP, selling at RM398. At that moment, we thought to ourselves, if we knew, we would have considered buying the more expensive one to get a better view.

Check out the picture below. This is the distance between RM298 and RM198.

Since the ticket we bought was already right in front, where the heck could the VVIPs be seated? Apparently, there's this stand that surrounded the Surf Beach. VVIPs were seated there, to get a higher view on the concert as well as being served food. Dank! Luckily we didn't get the VVIP tickets. What's the whole point of going to a concert if you're gonna sit so darn far away, chewing on fried chicken, and losing the freedom to move around??

.

This was the huge distance between RM298 and RM398.

Just let me say this: THIS WAS THE BEST EASON'S CONCERT EVER!!!!

All tickets are Rock Zone area, except for the VVIPs. Therefore, the sole purpose of the whole freakin' concert is to rock the night away!

During Stage 9, the last concert in KL last year, he did several fast numbers while showing off his dance moves. It was apparent then that he didn't have the stamina to dance and sing back-to-back at the same time. Even till now, I remembered him panting into his microphone. But after a whole year of tours around the world, he seemed to have built up a strong stamina as well as smoother dance moves. It was exhilarating seeing him so near! SO NEAR! I saw every moves and his every expressions, LIVE! For once, I didn't have to rely on those big screens at the side to see what's happening on the stage!

Another factor that contributed to the atmosphere was us, standing amidst some local Eason fan club members. Those people really knew how to enjoy themselves. They knew the lyrics to every song and were not afraid to move to the music. Standing among them, it pushed the excitement to a whole new level. I especially loved, loved, the dance medley. It was a medley of all his fast tracks, including my fav fast track, 'Live Concert Gig', as well as a compilation of other fast classics by veterans like Leslie Cheung, Alan Tam, etc. I have heard of those medley before, though I didn't know the lyrics, that didn't stop me from singing gibberish at the top of my lungs!

I was expecting more costumes this time around. In reality, there was only one costume that he wore, and it was this polka dot shirt right at the beginning. From then on towards the end, it was just T-shirts and track pants. Forget about all those frills. Eason is one singer that if he were to just stand alone on the stage with only a mic, I would have still pay so much to see him.

It was a night of pure Eason Chan. With his great canto classics, several Mandarin songs that I had no idea what they were doing in the line up, some new songs from his H3M album that I loved, Eason's usual hilarious banter with the crowd and the crowd's pure undulated love for everything Eason Chan.

The night would have been perfect if only I brought my SLR. I didn't. The last time I did, the camera was rendered useless by the distance and poor lighting. This last picture was the best I could do with my cheap-a** camera phone.

Eason Chan's Moving On Stage 26. Seriously the BEST ever.

Michael Hui Comedy Talk Show 2009

I haven't been to a stand-up comedy before, have you?

For the weekend, went up to Genting with my family. It seemed that we have been making just such a trip at the average of twice a year. As mentioned, my mom just retired, and she was looking for a short trip some where just to unwind. I suggested her to go catch this Michael Hui Comedy Talk Show in Genting. After much resistance, coz she wanted to go for the Tsai Chin concert instead, and good luck since the ticket to Tsai Chin was sold out, she relented.

I liked Michael Hui. I enjoyed those comedies by the Hui Brothers. Call me old school, but my preference for these canto-pop veterans went way back to my childhood. I was raised in a family where we devour all things Hong Kong. My father used to go to those VCR rental shops just to get those TVB drama series. That's why, up till today, I still prefer TVB dramas and why I enjoy cantonese songs more than others.

I have been to a lot of concerts with my mom. All in the Arena of Stars. We went to watch Sam Hui, the four divas consisting of Francis Yip etc, and Fei Yu Qing. Ugh. The last one was such a horrible bore. Ah, and one more, Mamma Mia, the musical~ awesome! This was at the Budaya centre one thing or another. Hah.

Anyway, back to Michael Hui, I was really looking forward to the show. He did not disappoint, neither did he wow me. His jokes were a little bit on the stereotypical side and sometimes it felt as if we're laughing just for the sake of laughing. One of his better lines was at the very end. He had already taken his bow and left the stage. But people in the arena kept shouting for more, refusing to leave. He then came out again, much to the people's delight. Then he said this, "I am so sorry to say that this is not a concert. So there will not be any encore."

Haha~ funny. But he managed to sing a song. And that's the end. Hopefully, his stint will attract other Hong Kong celebs to come here for a show too. Ah... I would like to go for Jan Lamb's stand up comedy. I have been watching his shows online... very funny! Much more so than Michael Hui's.

One down another to go. Did I say anything about Eason Chan's finale concert to his world tour coming Sunday?


You bet your *** I got the ticket!

Sunday. Eason Chan. Ah.

The Job Hunt

Today is a perfect example of how some times fear gets the best of you and the best way to tackle any fear, is to simply focus on what you want. Just in case if you were wondering something horrible happened to me today, well no, on the contrary, it couldn't have been any better. Well, it could, but still, no complains.

We are all supposed to be looking for internships now. If you know me, you'll realize how I often drag my feet when it comes to official matters such as these. Making formal phone calls, enquiries and actually planning for something, put fluttering bugs in my stomach. It's a situation where I know I will have to do it sooner or later, but I was just too lazy to get started. Fine, I was scared. *blek* Cut me some slack.

Anyway, what motivated me was the uncertainties that were going around. What to do with my current hostel unit, where to live when I come back for final year, where to work, penang or KL, if in KL, do I need to rent a house, then what about transportation? Little details that were quickly unsettling me. But the greatest motivator of all, I need to have already done something before going home. I seriously don't need my mom nagging into my ears.

Therefore, I set out to make the perfect resume! I referenced how to make a good one from three different sources. Thank you Adrienne for fixing some phrasing for me. Then next, I went and look for a whole list of different companies in which to apply to. Even registered to jobstreet.com. This is my list of priorities:

1. Ad agency
2. Web company
3. Graphic design company
4. Balik Penang

I simply bombarded every single company I found with an email. Hee... there was a moment of panic as well, as I didn't know how to start the enquiry. Once again, thanks to the Australian llama, who perfected a good opening for me: Dear Sir/Madam ......

It was nerve wrecking checking up on the emails after the bombardment. The waiting game ensued. After one day, I got a reply. It was a request to view my port. Thus, I scrambled to assemble some of my better works into InDesign, saved it in PDF, and sent it! (Adrienne: Use PDF, more professional)

And thus, the waiting continues... (This was after sending a few copies of my port out to total strangers.)

And then the interviews came. I got myself scheduled to three different interviews. Even got a call today from a company that I was having some pretty high hopes for confirming my placement. It was pretty high, being accepted, but at the same time, that web company is like located in the middle of no-where rich man's land. And I could have slapped myself over and over for not remembering the allowance advertised!

A bit long winded here. But I'd like to record down all these fine details. My memory is giving up on me when it comes to little things like these. I don't want to forget, therefore I write. More on this in future posts.

Anyway, I went for an ad agency interview today, therefore the last minute printing of my port. I went on the KL transit for the first time! So cool lo, I tell you... if only all Malaysian public transportation was like that! Yea right.. I wouldn't mind giving the extra ringgit for such a comfortable speedy ride again. I good choice apart from going to Serdang KTM. Will keep that in mind for future reference.

Aiyo! I seemed to be deterred from my main point in every turn of this post. So, there I was, pretty tired after changing so many rounds of different trains and taxi, I finally got to the company. Truth be told, I was not bearing any hopes. In fact, I did think about canceling this interview when I got an offer from the web company. But like a wise guy used to say, choice is power. Nothing wrong with having more to choose from.

So I went. And was immediately impressed. The company (sounding like a reference to Prison Break) was small in size, but not so small that they deal only with below the line ads. They don't do tv commercials, but they have some pretty big clients under their belt. The woman who interviewed me impressed me a lot. Quoting Ken Goh: She managed to sell herself to me. As in, I'm sold on the impression of her... something like that. The company was what I thought to myself to get even before I started looking for jobs. Best of all, it's in a very convenient location. And opposite the building there's room for rents. AND... it's only RM3 by taxi away from the LRT station. Pay is low, but not about to get greedy here. Money has never been an issue when I thought of this internship, and it shouldn't be now too, even when I do have more choices now.

So, will be going for another internship with a web/ad company on Monday. So, wish me luck!


ps: I feel so incredibly lucky today... so lucky to the point where I am afraid of whatever bad that's going to happen. Nothing bad happened, but just a thought.

Printing my portfolio cost a bomb! A3 pintouts: RM 35, emergency black folder: RM 15.

Fashion Show: Gothic

There was another fashion show at the plaza. If I was not mistaken, all final year diploma students would have a fashion show to showcase their final piece, or something. This is something I have gotten used to seeing ever since I stepped foot into the campus. What I haven't gotten used to was the bizarre sense of fashion these people have.

The theme this time around was gothic, which was a bad choice, to me. First, black was one colour people were seriously sick of looking at in LKW. Second, most of the models were Africans, and I personally felt they looked better in bright colours or white.


All the models taking a final walk down the runway. I didn't understand the black veil/cloth thing that they had on them. Most of these cloths were draped awkwardly on the model. What was worse, the cloth prevented a clear view of the design.

These were the diploma students taking an honourary walk on the runway themselves. I happened to think most of the girls here were prettier than the models.

I have three more semesters in LKW. I am still waiting for that one fashion show that will blow me away.


ps: there were this group of secondary school students who came for a tour around the uni. i have to fight down a serious urge to go up to them and warn them about this scamming place.

pps: hehe.... i have partially finished my labelling. one useless thing down, many more useless ones to come~ so stay tune!!