(re-read)

I find that... I'm a bit overexcited with the offer that was made, and it makes me prone to be self-interested. Too much self-interest is never good for the mind and the soul.

(Just to keep myself focused.)

Allegro Cantabile

After 'disappearing' for two weeks, I'm glad to say that I'm back around the perimeter of blogging once more. I had a hectic two-week portfolio preparation period, which started with my tutor's mock interview comments that she knows I "work really hard but if I want to make it then I need to work really really hard". Not exactly a relaxing commando to digest, but I did as she suggested.

At the end of the two weeks, my design portfolio tripled in size (I had interesting things but I wasn't too sure about putting them in, so I'm glad she told me to chuck in lots of fabrics and do more *wearable* designs). To be honest, size isn't everything when it comes to portfolio selection, but the amount of experimentations you do indirectly corresponds with the amount of sheets you select.


The trip to the interview itself wasn't exactly a pleasant affair, but I made it in time for the interview... and still had some time to breathe and chat and calm myself down. At the end of the interview I was impressed to see myself develop by doing more works, hence the proverb 'practice makes perfect'. I still have to find my signature, so there are still lots of room for improvement on my part... especially after being told my drawings look 'outdated' and 'are not contemporary enough' 6__6;

(What did he mean by 'contemporary' anyway?!?!)

I still have another interview to prepare for, and it's on Monday, so I still need to work... harder ^^;

Oh yeah, and one good thing about it is I am offered a BA place at LCF. Not too bad considering its graduates have been winning the graduate fashion week show for eight times in the past ten years. I hope it better be my turn in three years' time ^________^ hee hee hee hee hee.

Take care, and have a good day! :D

Katamari Holiday

Even though it's a day late to blurb about what happened on Wednesday, I'm doing it anyway.

OK, first things first: my normal attitude to Valentine's. Regardless of being dateless or not, I consider Feb 14 to be a day purposedly created by chocolate manufacturers and florists to generate half of their annual revenues (really.) Red roses nowadays have become a hot issue in England, particularly because of the carbon footprints created in growing and sourcing these roses from areas such as Africa and South America (I'd have lilies anytime, thank you.) Furthermore, there are 365.25 days in a year when you can express your care for that special someone, so why do it only for one day in a year? :q (calad's thoughts are pretty much on the same line with mine.)

Secondly: why I acted differently this year. Quite recently a friend ditched/was ditched by her boyfriend and she was feeling down, hence I arranged a dinner outing so that singletons (fresh ones in particular) wouldn't need to spend their evening wailing for their lives. All plans went well... until *somehow* almost all of the girls found romantically-charged dates to spark up their evening. At the end there were only three of us: KY, Mag and myself. We had fun eating out and hopping from one cafe to the other... who says being single on V-day means misery? :p




One thing I learnt from this stray occasion is... never eat out unless you really want to have the ambience of eating out! The queues were 20mins long (it was the restaurant's no-booking night), and service was... mediocre. It took us frantic hailing for about 15 minutes for us to order, before a further table chat of 20 minutes on oh-so-hungry-where-is-the-food wait. Paying took us 10 minutes. All these tell me something about planning for any sort of outing on Feb 14: either come in really early at five or really late at ten for dinner if you want decent service. Next year if there's anyone who wails for not having a date, I'll just come to her place and cook there instead.

And today, I've decided to stay home despite the offers to watch a late evening fashion show. I was told I need to put in more fabric and textiles into my research, which turned out into a day of making something that resembles a cabbage rose... and which made me think of Chanel's move to obtain Lesage is strategically sound. Honestly, that fairytale good ol' poor shoemaker is really lucky to have an army of crafty leprechauns to help him do his orders every night - I'd love to have that, too!

(I just have this thought that Lesage in reality is a factory chock full of crafty leprechauns, human-sized.)


Also, today's song hails from a videogame called We ♥ Katamari. This is my motivator song - it makes me stay put at what I do! Probably it's the prospects of stress-free holiday after the COMPACT scheme interviews that really makes me stick my head into what I'm doing, but anyway... it stops me from singing along and helps me do what I need to do :p

Alright, it's time to bed for me: hard work starts tomorrow at 7AM! With 13 days left to pack my portfolio, there are lots of things to do. That's life, isn't it :)) Take care!

(mushy mode)

Despite my four-year attempt to brush off February 14 aside, I do love many things mushy... although I'm not having it this year. I'm going to hold a singletons' dinner party instead! ^^

One of my friends was talking about calling his significant other who is holidaying across the sea. He was talking about her view that [proverbially] a guy should be the first who puts his head on the chopping block. That's a nice allegory :))

Also, just wanna mention happy birthday to Celine while it's still February the 13th! There was this one time I went out to buy a red rose for her birthday since she wanted to have flowers... and red roses were what was available in store... and one stem was what a poor student's budget could allow. Celine, if you're reading this, happy birthday :D

Other than that, I'm spending tonight doing work for a mock interview session tomorrow... gotta be ready! >.< Cheers, take care, and please be productive/useful/careful today!

Remembering You

This morning I returned from showers to this song. I haven't listened to it for some time, and it hits a chord... I don't really know why though (finding out why is for brain exercise later in the Tube.) The song was featured in Chronicles of Narnia.

Hmmm... I wonder whether there are any recently-released, epic-style movies that are worth watching. It's not like I have all the time in the world to manage to watch three movies, but it's nice to know and keep in mind.

Enjoy the song, everyone ^^

From the first moment I heard Your name
Something in my heart came alive
You showed me love and no words could explain
A love with the power to
Open the door
To a world I was made for

And I watch as the cold winter melts into spring
And I'll be remembering You
Oh and I'll smell the flowers and hear the birds sing
And I'll be remembering You, I'll be remembering You

(weather shock)

Now let's say... I'm the urban girl who spent most of her life (so far) in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. I've had few strays to mountains and some remote places on the other side of the world (call the continent America) and seen snow in abundance. I've kicked snow around, I've foolishly sunk into fresh snow, I've done snow fights before, I've even built snowmen... but I haven't really lived and revelled in snow in an urban setting. Until that Arctic chill blast two weeks ago today's mayhem.

Commuting in the morning was unbelievable! There were reduced services everywhere (which I have come to expect), and walking was a hazard - even when there was no snow, the roads and pavements were essentially covered in grit to prevent ice from forming... and it turned snow into a muddy slush instead. It was pretty much like walking into a big puddle of freshly spilt frapuccino on the road.

Today's class was in Shepherd's Bush; I was also picking up some pattern blocks from a tutor on site. When I went to the staff room, I... didn't wanna leave 9__9; snow was falling, the building's exterior looked old (although recently renovated and refitted), the tutors wore dark colours, and it felt like... walking into Hogwarts. Really.

This weather thing is really funny... I know it's partly because of man-triggered climate change, but that's not what I'm getting into right now. I was praying and wishing for five inches of snow to hit London two weeks ago, and I thought I wasn't getting it until next Christmas. But yea, it happened :D

Finally. Despite the blood and pain of going around London when it's covered in snow, I like it. It gives a proper sense that winter is around, people are more accomodative, and the Tube is always late everyday anyway... so it doesn't really make a difference whether there was none or two or five inches of snow on the tracks. And I also get to wear all the nice stuff I've been keeping for 'the proper winter'. Tee hee hee ^.^

By the way, attitudes colour the day. Have a good day, everyone!

(IT SNOWS!!)

It totally snows! ^_______________________________________^
*starts to jig around*

(strike me through)

Now, I'm just doing something really silly. Improving my blog for sure... haha, at such an ungodly hour too. Good night, or have a good day! ^^

(seeing drunkards)

Seeing my friends turn into drunkards and drunken commuters zoning out of their senses in the space of less than 48 hours sure freaked me out.

First things first. On Friday night I agreed to join my friends' invitation to have dinner together. The evening started with a budget-style dinner in Covent Garden. It grew into a long and enjoyable affair, with the five of us moving into an opulently decorated pub in the vicinity of the Royal Opera House. Somebody ordered a bottle of champers. Since champagne wasn't my thing, I had two little sips and then relaxed to the company of hot chocolate, creme brulee and fruit platters. Then it all went downhill: three Cognacs, two house reds, two gin and tonics, a second bottle of champers (!), a bottle of soju and God knew what else they ordered while I was away. The evening ended with me and Anne frantically trying to send everybody on their way home. We boarded onto a night bus, my first ever, to Turnpike Lane to send off the most drunken girl home and sleep over at her place. The next morning, there was an invitation to a bottle of £100 champagne. My reaction was simple: either split-the-bill or all-paid-for, dash away!

(The evening practically turned me into a babysitter and chronic worrywart. Errr =__=; )

The second incident happened the following day, while I was out and about doing my laundry. There were three girls speaking loudly in the Tube, in what most likely could be Russian, and getting out without realising one of them had *slomp* dropped a bag on the floor. I ended up throwing the bag and gloves out of the carriage (don't ask me why - probably it's the chronic worrywart effect of the night before.) I also ended up having a nice chat with this nice Black lady who watched the whole episode of it, and who basically shared the same views with me: why do they drink themselves to oblivion?

And hence, the worrywart journeys on. Let me know what you think of excessive drinking by posting your response on the commentary section. Thank you! ^__^

P.S. check out myesight, a record of what comes across me (while leaving me with enough time to whip out a camera and snap a picture.)

Tu Amor

As for this year, and in line with the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words", I have decided to use more pictures in my posts. What I meant by 'more pictures' is not a mere motley of hurriedly taken images, but rather what I would... share. Being someone who works in a visually demanding industry, communicating through images are of second nature, and I would like to extend this concept to my blog. To top it off, my current laptop has a MemStick slot, which means... no more the-file-transfer-system-isn't-available-to-me-today reasons. (I just have to be strict with myself, don't I.)


While on my way back from the evening French class today, I took a detour and came across weird and wonderful buildings. Buildings aside, I enjoyed the walk... and when I looked up at the sky, it was wonderfully clear and bright - it wasn't full moon but it was bright and the sky was cloudless! There was a jet plane streaking across the sky. Alright, London isn't the cleanest city I've ever lived it, but it made me think that being able to walk around safely while looking up at a clear sky with the assurance that I can have a good rest when I got back home is a huge blessing in itself.

(Oh yeah, I found the midnight blue colour simply inspiring.)

Talking about late evening walks, I have been having a couple of them in the past week or so. Yesterday I was circling the block I live in when I came across a beautiful townhouse with a cream-painted front door, lattice iron gates, a decent garden and vines crawling up its brick facade. Love it so much! ^^ Wish I was living there. I wish I will be living there. Hee hee hee...

Sometimes I have this idea that democracy may create more harm than good. The foundation of democracy is the majority's right to decide what the society would do (and ultimately, which path it would take.) To choose a decent path requires understanding the collective synergies of choosing one thing over another, whatever they may be in the future. I'm afraid a lot of us has either incomplete or no understanding of these synergies, which means quite often we only weigh one side of an argument heavily without carefully revising our assumptions and/or stereotypes. Which means... democracy may turn into a case of a blind person leading another.

I haven't had the chance to try out whipping up the ayam goreng bumbu kuning so far. I know kemiri stands for candlenut in English... but what is lengkuas anyway?? Hopefully I would still have the energy and willpower to do so at Anne's place tomorrow night... I'm going to spend my Friday night to make someone else be happy and be fed. Well, at least that's my simplistic idea of using my life to make myself feel better. This doesn't imply I'm offering dirty labour for free - I cook only when I feel like it. Don't enslave me :q

There's one thing I would like to note in relation to dreams and aspirations: dreams are a nourishment for the soul, and even though people around me would sarcastically say "dream on"... I would do so and make them (or at least try to make them) become reality. Call them morphines to my spirit, well... it isn't exactly morphine-like in nature. But yea, it makes far-off aspirations become achievable goals. Dreams are good... and they're good as long as you stop faffing around and start doing something about it! :))

Cheers and take care from a non-stereotypical person on the other side of the internet ^^
(I wish I know how to do strike-throughs on blogspot posts...)

Mi amor I'm not sure of the right words to say
Maybe these simple words will do best to best explain
What I feel in my heart
What I feel more each day
How to make you see
How to let you know
How to say, how to say I love you so
With words you understand
Words that get right through your heart
Here's the place to start