We Live In A Textured World

On Sunday, I was overworked and highly irritable. I wondered if it was worth it for minimal hourly wage.

I came in at 9.30AM, duty at Snackbar. I was alone doing opening. However, 4 people were scheduled to come in at 12, so I thought, "3 hours alone couldn't be all that bad right?"

But it was indeed really bad. First of all, I had to complete all the customers' orders by myself! Nobody to run errands for me. Basically I was doing everything on my own.

There was a couple of boys, who ordered about 10 bucks worth of snacks which included a cup corn. So I had to prepare the freaking cup corn, right?! Then one of the boys decided to be insensitive and said, "Can you hurry up?"

I slammed the ice into their drinks and half-glared at him.

I hastily gave them their snacks to get them outta my face. I cannot stand the faces of disgusting people. It's as though my being 'slow' in serving them caused them to miss the start of their movie. I really cannot help it if they're late for their show. I get extremely miffed when people become insensitive when I'm already trying my best to be quick.

It was 12.00NN. I was busy serving customers, ALONE.

It was 1.00PM. Still serving customers. This time, STILL ALONE.

It was not until 1.45PM onwards that I had more people turning up for work. Nevertheless, we were still understaffed. And I was bloody overworked. I was practically on my feet from 9.30AM to fucking 6.00PM lah! Definitely not worth the work and energy for what I'm being paid.

After work, I went to meet Ghani. Bugging me to mention his name here, 'or else my blog not worth reading'. I helped him do some drawing, because apparently, I'm really one of those people that CAN draw. I'm used to believe that there was no such thing as CAN or CANNOT draw.

Then I saw Ghani's drawing of a cuboidal trash bin and I knew immediately that he CANNOT draw for nuts. Hence he needed divine help; from yours truly.




Ghani's original drawing was not what you'd call ideal, because it really was an ugly piece. However, ugly CAN be beautiful. Many things look ugly, but they're usually ARTFULLY UGLY(self-coined term: art-gly), which makes the world a much more interesting place.

I associate 'visual interest' with 'texture'. Hence, I just kinda came up with a slogan, "We Live In A Textured World".

I went to the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, got a type specimen book, and just kinda xerox-ed the typefaces that I like. I know, it's so bloody cheapo. But I honour intellectual property, so obviously I only zapped a few typefaces that were truly versatile. The last thing I wanna do is to infringe copyright law lah!

Here, I traced out my slogan using Helvetica and a touch of Stymie. Just a simple typographic composition; I'm so intrigued by perpendicular baselines!



I attempted a more complicated composition with "We Love Graphic Design". But as I've said, 'complicated', so I didn't really finish it 'cause I got confused halfway through.

I'm really just thinking of screenprinting when tracing out my slogans. The really great thing being in Lasalle is that my screenprinting skills actually come in quite helpful. I seem to be able to find something to screenprint for ALL the subjects. I LOVE SCREENPRINTING!

Back in NYP, I was so deprived. I was constantly trying to bring screenprinting into my school work, but it was always a futile attempt.



Okay, back to Lasalle. Graphic Communication class today. The lecturer facilitating a class critique for our 'Singapore Olympics' logos.



I was 30 minutes late for the class, so I ended up having to sit right behind. The lecturer whispers to the rest of the group because she 'doesn't want to distract the other groups by speaking loudly'. (P.S. It's a large open studio with 4 class discussions held simultaneously.)

However, that's not what the other lecturers think, because I could hear more clearly what the OTHER lecturers were saying. I tried my best to pay attention to her careless whispers. But of course, I was still distracted in the end.



Duh, every moment is a good moment to cam-whore. Ghani says that I'm a freaking narcissist, but let's just put it this way: I have an incredible sense of self-worth.

SELF-WORTH, okay, Ghani? Not narcissism.

Plus ar, it didn't help that Junniee kept offering sweets! She got 20 bucks the other day for JUST DOING A SURVEY, so she bought like tons of snacks. Ya lah, go class eat sweets and Oreo cookies only...



To distract me further, Junniee whips out a DSLR, which totally 'owned' me because I was using a COMPACT CAMERA only. Being the avid pro photographer she is, she started shooting. I started posing for her. Then she asked for me to do a 'shi lian pai' meaning 10 continuous shots, where I'll have to change my expression every single shot.

Yeah! Believe it! Got critique going on, you know, but we just sit at the back at take photos! Haha!... We had so much fun because I've got a wealth of facial expressions THAT ARE FUNNY.

Class ended at 12.00nn. IT WAS POURING OUTSIDE!

We were basically trapped in campus like rats beneath draincaps. People were cursing the architecture of the school, saying that it doesn't really work during wet weather. Which is quite true, because the fibreglass roof isn't totally sealed up, resulting in leaks.

The synthetic grass got wet, and I kinda just slipped on it. Jasmine couldn't but to laugh at my misfortune because 'it's really damned funny'. Haha!... Okay lah, who doesn't enjoy a sight of slip-and-tries-to-regain-balance act?

It was still freaking raining after lunch, so I decided to use the studio to finalise my slogan tracing.



I really only got down to my tracing in the evening because I spent the afternoon with Terence and Satasha doing paper sculptures. I guess I just got the feel for paper art lah, huh. I taught them how to do that zig-zag ribbed thingy since they were so interested in it.

Then we just went on to origami. We were following instructions from a book, which didn't really make sense to them. Hence they needed my divine help to 'decipher' the instructions for them. But frankly, some of the instructions and diagrams are rather cryptic, even to me.

It was a trying period for them because it was quite taxing on the mind. A lot of patience was required as well, but they definitely felt a sense of accomplishment, okay! UNDER MY GUIDANCE. Haha!... Terence was delirious after figuring out this looks-simple-but-actually-very-very-challenging paper floral pot.

I obviously had fun personally lah... In this aspect, I'm a complete fucking weirdo.

Before I knew it, it was dark!




And then I realised that in that huge studio, I WAS ALONE.

Too Lengthy In Length

I've been told that my entries are too lengthy with words.

Tonight, I'm well over-worked, too exhausted, and too much in bodily pains to do a proper entry.

Back in a couple of days.

Oh yes, before I forget, I am such a freaking bitch!!!

Paper Sculptures—Part 1

On Wednesday, I had class with Colin, who probably owns more than 5 pairs of Cheap Monday jeans.

Anyways, we were doing paper sculptures in class! It was basically part of the assignment where we had to produce at least 10 black and white paper sculptures, using whatever techniques as creatively as possible.

I had missed his intro class the week before, so I didn't really get verbal instructions for what I was supposed to do. It was all pretty much hear-say from my classmates.

(P.S. My classmates had cutting mats that were BRAND NEW. Mine was all bruised and battered.)

So we went into the studio, settled down, then for like 10 minutes, we were just staring at each other, not knowing what to do. Colin just told us to do anything. Fold, cut, slice, weave, crush, twist, assemble, or whatever our brilliant minds can think of to do to the paper we have.

My classmates appeared a little lost. Some brought along some picture references, while most, including me, had nothing to refer to. However, paper art HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HOBBY OF MINE.

My very first memory of paper art would be during my primary school days, when those square pieces of flimsy art paper were so popular. I learnt how to fold paper cranes from my mother.

During Chinese New Year, my mother would make lanterns out of hong baos, which involved pre-folding the hong baos, sometimes having to slice them up as well. It all looked rather interesting, so of course I had a part in all that too.

Coming back, some time ago while working, I got bored and my hands got busy on a piece of scrap paper. I created creases of this square grid, then did like a zig-zag ribbed folding of the paper. That was when I was still enrolled in NYP. Paper art was essentially a pure interest that did not have any relation to my course.

It was quite stunning, the ribbed design. So during Colin's class, the first instinctive thing that came to mind was to re-create the ribbed pattern. It took a while for me to recall what I had to do. I was a little panicky when I got a little stuck. But I refused to believe that I forgot how to do it because folding the ribbed sculpture felt extremely close to my heart.

Ta-dah!



I began to feel more in tune with where exactly I'm 'heading' in Colin's class. He was damned impressed when he saw it, toyed with it a little, then asked me to teach him how I did it. After that he just exclaimed a few times, "That's great!" and "It's fantastic!" in a Scottish accent.

Colin's attitude is highly commendable. It simply makes me love art college more. Frankly, lecturers at NYP are rather stuck up, claiming to be 'from the industry', often giving 'valuable advice' from the industry's perspective. Whereas at Lasalle, tutors ARE designers who don't boast about their being in the creative industry.

I got more warmed up for the two more hours ahead.




A series of concentric arcs sliced into a circle. You pull it out et voila!, this organic, fluid web-like sculpture. Cutting paper is like second nature to me. Colin was so happy once again. I also got really excited, "You could put like a light bulb in the middle or something,"

"Wow, you could go work for IKEA," Colin joked.

He examined it, flipped it over, and transformed into a carrier bag of some sort. It was such an exhilarating start! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even though that didn't seem to be the general sentiment.

A classmate told me that most of them people totally hated 3D modelling back in the Lasalle foundation year. It was literally 3D modelling, with wirework and all things interesting. In NYP, 3D modelling meant being in front of a PC(!!!) with one hand on the mouse, the other on the keyboard because 'that's the proper way to work".

Anyways, I just found it really strange how they could hate doing 3D modelling! I would have loved it! Last week, I told my classmates that I thought 3D modelling was damned cool and interesting, and got alienated.




"Hey people! I did this when I was at home!" I would tell my classmates. It would be damned hard to guess their general reaction.

I really like this because it feels very soft and flowy, yet really sturdy and strong.

Once again, all about feeling. Feel good, look great, I say.

Can You Feel It?

Yesterday we met Kelvin, who was basically one of those Photoshop wizards. Haven't seen any of his work, but by the looks of it, he seems to know his stuff well.

It was a night class from 7.00PM to 10.00PM. I find it rather thrilling to have night classes. Plus the campus still looks fantastic at night.

Kelvin was going through all the Photoshop basics, which basically left me very bored. Then I felt a headache coming up. I realised that the ceiling of the teaching pod(as opposed to classroom) was studded shamelessly with spotlights which suddenly appeared to be too glaring for comfort.

During the start of the class, he asked for us to do yet another introduction of ourselves. Well, his suggestion wasn't too well received in general. But for me, I had no problem with self-introductions. In fact, I find it cool that we had to self intro a little bit.

He asked for us to include why we wanted to be in Communication Design in our intros.

Most said, "'Cos I'm into graphics..." while giving the very pai seh look.

Pai seh for what? I have no idea. I thought I'd meet people who were at least more passionate about visual communication, graphic design, etc. Apparently I've to meet more people.

Some said that they were into Advertising Design. Fine, I have no problem with that.

But what I find truly disturbing is when someone said, "I chose this course because I don't like all the other courses."

I felt so disturbed, disgusted and INSULTED.

For me, I said, "...I'm more inclined to do design for print because I NEED TO FEEL MY DESIGN."

Talk about alienation, this was it. Kelvin looked at me, turned to the class and asked, "Do you all know what he's talking about when he says he need to feel the design?"

I looked at the class, instantly got alienated and blur looks. My heart literally skipped a beat. It's awkward silence again. I always get awkward silence! It's so unfair.

I tried to explain a bit, and thankfully Kelvin said, "Ya, I know what you mean," and went on to enlighten the class, who so obviously weren't paying much attention.

Basically I need to literally feel my design. It needs to be tangible. I want to hold it, I want to feel it; it gives me satisfaction and gratification. However, Kelvin explained that he was rather the opposite, preferring to be unable to feel his work (websites, etc.).

Well, I've done my fair bit of attempting to create websites and scripting to build an interactive application, so I definitely know that those are not things that I wanna do because they are not tangible!

Feeling is very very important to me.

Patriotism: Never Too Late

School has been great! I'm loving it more and more with each passing day.

However, something unfortunate happened today. The class got nagged at. I told the person beside me, "One of the reasons I quit mainstream poly is because of lecturers like these(who like to nag)."

I'm like whatever.

Somehow, I'm feeling rather patriotic. I'm feeling so much pride and love for Singapore. Before the National Day on 9 August, I did feel a little bit patriotic already. I had a BIG idea to screenprint a I-heart-SG logo on a red ringer tee, but it slipped my mind. Before I knew it, National Day was over and done with.

I didn't even catch the National Day Parade. I find that it gets a little boring and predictable as the years go by. But I have to admit, quite cool lah, floating stage platform at Marina Bay.

One more thing about NDPs, the goodie bags they hand out are always hideous. No exception this year, despite it being "the first time that a professional Singaporean designer has been commissioned to create the National Day FunPack." (ish magazine 8.3)

It's one of those butt-ugly bags made by zipping up strips of nylon. Very timbuk2 messenger bag wannabe. Plus I'm not too big a fan of timbuk2 messengers. I really only love FREITAG.

Anyways, I don't suppose that it's ever too late to feel patriotic right? I'm especially fond of Singlish. I think it's iconic of the Singaporean culture. Back in school, they portrayed Singlish as an evil. Fuck them. It was a wrong approach. Of course it is vital that we are proficient in English, but that should not stop us from using Singlish!

The Speak Good English Campaign is good, nevertheless, because it allows people to know the Singlish-English translation. It is important to know BOTH English and Singlish. Singlish is our culture, we cannot eradicate it. In fact, the government should encourage Singlish.

What's key here is that we should know when it's appropriate to use Singlish/English. It is also crucial to note that our knowledge of Singlish SHOULD NOT degrade our use of proper English.

While feeling all the patriotism, the school delivered a project brief, titled: Singapore Olympics.

Pretend that the Olympics 2012 will be held in SG; create a corporate identity for the event.

Isn't that like perfect timing?

I was so excited when they were delivering the brief! It's been a long time that I've felt so happy receiving a brief. It's been said that receiving project briefs are akin to receiving gifts. Hence, it is only courtesy to give back generously.

I had plenty of ideas running in my head, feeling very inspired as I gazed at the stunningly beautiful campus.

The Feeble Surprise

Yesterday was Jana's birthday!

Leila, Lil' and I sprang her a birthday surprise, with Mufid being the mastermind. He brought Jana to Suntec, where the three of us 'ambushed' her.

But I have to say that the surprise was a wee bit feeble. It didn't turn out all too surprising, because we were quite low on strength. Furthermore, we weren't too used to surprising people.

HOWEVER, I do have to say that despite being feeble, the surprise was nevertheless VERY THOUGHTFUL! After all, as cliche as it may sound, it is, indeed, the thought that truly counts.

We got for Jana the most wonderful cake!



Isn't that the most wondrous porous cake you've ever seen? I figured, since she just got into Lasalle too, why not get a cake that could relate to the Lasalle campus? My brilliance came up with this fantastic ultra porous cake that fit the bill so well! (See, what I told you about 'porous'...)

You'd think that it's just any other pandan chiffon cake. But hold that thought, because it's not just ANY chiffon cake, okay? It's chiffon cake from Polar Puffs & Cakes hor! I assure you that it tastes as good as it looks. And it looks good because it's porous! I really like the texture the cake creates.

Believe me, it's really very delicious! Billy was so into the pandan cake, he just ate and ate and ate. If it's not good, why would he go for helpings after helpings? Maybe partly because he's hungry, but that's besides the point. To show you how fabulous the pandan chiffon cake was, here's a shocking photo of Billy's arm AFTER he finished eating cake:



Apparently, the fragrant pandan flavour seeped into his bloodstream and infused with his body tissue. He was almost as delectable as the pandan cake he ate! We were all clambering to get a huge bite off of Billy's arm, eager to taste the 'cake'. However, Leila proved to be the strongest because she beat us all to it! She's the only one that managed to get to Billy's arm. She attempted to bite a huge chunk off it.

Futile attempt, of course, since Billy's flesh wasn't porous like the cake's. However, I think it's most likely that Leila felt more anger than hunger when she bit Billy because after all, Billy finished up most of the pandan cake that SHE bought.

But aesthetically speaking, the bite mark looks not bad, huh? Formed this rather perfect oval shape, with varied depth of bite some more!

All right, end of story, children! Did you enjoy the tale of Who Ate My Pandan Cake?

(P.S. Despite being a tale of fiction, the story above was inspired by REAL-LIFE events that took place that night. If not where you think I freaking get the photos???)

Back to serious business.

PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Of course we didn't get Jana a pandan chiffon cake lah! I know it's the thought that counts, but if you DO get a pandan chiffon cake for your birthday, then it's obvious that whoever bought you the cake hadn't been thinking hard enough!

Come to think of it, it will perhaps make for a really good prank instead. If I were to get a pandan chiffon cake for my birthday, I WOULD FLIP! It's so ugly, so unthoughtful, SO CHEAP!

The real cake that we got Jana:



The real cake from Polar Puffs & Cakes. Truly fantastic right? I told you we were very thoughtful already. I heard Leila and Lil' had to trick Jana into taking the shot so we could get the people to print it on the cake.



Jana with her birthday cake, obviously very happy. Can you imagine if it had indeed been a pandan cake instead?



The mini gathering: Mufid, Lil', Jana, Kang Yong, Leila. I told you we were low on strength already right? We were at this secret function room, so we more or less had the place to ourselves.

After that, we went to Jalan Kayu to grab a bite.

No more photos, because my camera battery died.

Happy Birthday, Jana.

Photography Class

Back during the portfolio interview with the Lasalle lecturers, they told me that photography is a mandatory component. In fact, photography is a subject at Lasalle College.

Today, I had my first photography class with Phyllis.

I've been dying to learn professional photography and Phyllis couldn't have come at a better time! Back in Nanyang Poly, we were always told to 'capture our own images'. We were taught how to compose a shot, the fundamentals of design, but never were we once exposed to photography know-hows and know-whats.

In the era of independent learning, I have definitely tried to learn more about photography on my own. But more often than not, I find myself lost and confused. I simply had no direction whatsoever. Plus there were so many things to focus on that delving deeper into the topic on my own would be plain suicidal.

Frankly, why is the poly even teaching so much redundant stuff for? I've realised that there is no focus back in NYP. There's always a gazillion things to prioritize, sometimes to a point when everything seems equally important. In the end, you're back to square one, with a long list of things to prioritise.

As creatives, we shoud always 'have objectives and goals that we should periodically reflect upon'. But the problem back in NYP was, doing so many different things(website, interactive application, figure drawing, digital 3D modelling, scripting, etc) all at once steered me away from my personal objectives.

Once that happens, it's pretty clear that the course structure isn't working. I'm not saying it's a lousy syllabus, just that it's important to find something that works for you PERSONALLY.

Phyllis gave some really valuable advice today. It was genuine advice from the industry perspective. She advised us on the importance to observe, seek knowledge and keep our minds open. The very first thing she told us was, "In my class, I just want you to focus. All your troubles and worries, I want you to throw them out the moment you step into my class. I want you to have fun and learn. It's important that you focus."

Genuine and useful advice from the industry as above. Let's go back to my days in NYP:

Advice from the industry was always something to do with Malaysian, even Chinese designers. I remember they always told us, "competition among all the other students from everywhere else, blah blah blah"

"Companies would choose to employ Malaysian workers because they are in general cheaper and they're more willing to do the same job. After all, they cross the border and the salary gets doubled."

There was once, this guest speaker cited the same example, using Chinese designers. Fuck it.

I mean, what kind of advice is that? It's not even advice. They just like to nag about how cruel the industry is, how harsh it is to be working in this creative industry and all the shit we were going to get in the future. Truly motivating for student designers, I guess.

And all that shit about 'treating all of you as adults' has been heavily misused in NYP. However, today in class with Phyllis, I felt that I was finally treated like an adult. I wasn't told to do anything 'properly'; I wasn't nagged at; I needn't hear all the 'horror industry stories'.

Seriously, I felt really good during the lesson. She made me feel so motivated and enthused. It's a feeling I sorely missed. Today is the day I really felt my passion gushing back. I felt it burn within. I felt it running through my veins. I felt I could make a difference and I WILL make a difference some day.

Phyllis was saying that since it's photography, we'll need to get ourselves Single-Lens Reflex(SLR; but of course it's the digital age, so digital SLR, which shortens to DSLR) cameras in time to come. For your information, the most basic DSLR starter kit will set anyone back at around S$1K. Gasp!

There was a wave of commotion through the class since, you know, money is a touchy issue. You freaking want us to fork out a couple of K's for a camera?!

Then my favourite moment came. Phyllis said, "You shouldn't worry about the money issue. Take it as an investment. What you give, you will eventually get back. It's not karma or anything, it's just the way the world works,"

You have no idea how long I've waited for someone to say that! Okay, I've heard lecturers telling us this in NYP, but DO THEY MEAN IT? Say it like you mean it! And Phyllis DID mean what she said. For once, I felt that at least someone was concerned for our career and concerned for us as individuals too!

I'm loving art college at an extreme level. It's opening me up more and more each day. I feel less restrained, growing bolder. Hopefully I gain valuable experience from a whole new level. It's widening my perspectives! I feel I want to find out more about everything(except politics)! I feel free!

I've noticed that I'm more open in chatting people up too. There's just something very positive about Lasalle; the vibes in the air or something. I mean, I find myself just more comfortable with talking to strangers. Back in NYP, chatting people up came across as a gruelling task because of all the unnecessary 'what ifs'.

True, I had my worries, too, before the start of Lasalle semester. But as soon as semester started, I simply find myself wanting to talk to people. I'm yearning creative company. Haha!...

I remembered yesterday when I officially met some of my classmates. I had to holler a bit to get everyone's attention, then I introduced myself. We were all like gathering on the greenway, so it was a really informal setting. But still, all I heard after my introduction was SILENCE.

Since nobody really cared(or dared) to come talk to me, I kinda just went around to the little groups here and there to ask for introductions. There's something communicatively wrong going on. It makes me look like I'm trying too hard to get to know people.

Today during lunch with the classmates again, it was once again, silence. Nobody really wanted to talk, 'cept for me. I'm okay with silence, but in cases like this, I'm dying to find out more about each and every one!

This communication 'war' is a war I must fight! They say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. NOT IN THIS CASE.

Jana said that her lecturer once told her, art college is all about communicating.

I definitely agree with that and I definitely have no problem communicating.

Be Patient, Don't Worry

This morning, the lecturer replied to my e-mail, one that I aptly titled 'Lost', and intentionally set it to high priority.

Shw told me that it seems to be happening to many other students too! So I'm glad that I'm not alone. She specifically said, "Be patient, don't worry." I'm really feeling much better after her reassurance. I mean, cannot blame me that I very kan chiong right? First time at art college, undoubtedly very eager and kan chiong one what.

In her reply, she also told me that the timetables are put up at the studio, which I completely missed out yesterday despite trawling the campus grounds!

Today, I really wanted to be in school bright and early in the morning, but as I've said, 'bright and early', which so happens to be synonymous with 'sleepy and dreary'.

Instead, I ended up at Tampines, met jana again and went to school together.

Before this, I did a very stupid thing. I arranged for a friend to get some stuff from me. I was really sure and confident, I was like, "I meet you at your college, since I'm pretty free anyways."

Hence, I went down to ITE College East. It's really my first time there. I hesitated before going in because there were like 3 guards on duty and I definitely looked like an outsider. Anyways, I decided to just stride in. And I wasn't stopped or anything! Excessive worrying lah, huh.

There was loud music playing and there were a hell lot of people gathered round this arena space. There were three girls in the middle, attempting to dance to the song. One of them was just idling at one side, looking really lost. After a while, it's damned obvious that she forgot her steps. The other two were then just gyrating sleazily to the beat, not the least bit sexy.

There were A LOT of laughing, mocking, boo-ing and taunting from the audience! I mean, okay lah, it's funny to see people screw up, but don't have to be so outrightly terrorizing right? The girls must be so tormented.

There was this point towards the end when THEY WERE DISCUSSING. Tried to be discreet, but hey, it's like a freaking open area where people can see you from 360 degrees, totally can tell that they were talking.

I think they were discussing their ending pose. After which, I didn't bear to see anymore. When it ended, at least the spectators clapped and encouraged the girls.

Then I trodded on, came across the food court. My friend called, "Where are you?"

"Oh, I'm at the food court, Food Haven,"

"Alamak! I at ITE Tampines! Not Simei!..."

What the fuck. So stupid right. All the while I was mislead. I swear it's stupidly funny. I mean, it's so dumb of me. It was the most glorious himbotic moment in my life. Or as Homer Simpson would say, "most glorious himbotic moment of my life SO FAR"

So I went to Tampines to meet him instead. Then of course, met Jana and we took bus service 23 to school.

Before we were about to alight, I noticed there was a green speck on my jeans. It was a yellow-green that stood out quite well from my highly indigo raw denim jeans from Dr Denim Jeansmakers.

Keywords: highly indigo raw denim jeans from Dr Denim Jeansmakers

Haha!...

Anyways, it turned out that the green speck was a caterpillar. You know, those puny caterpillars that like to suspend from the ubiquitous SGean raintrees? Yeah, so it was making its way up my lap, I looked around and couldn't find a spot to flick it off.

So I promptly asked Jana for tissue. I was very calm in asking, very casual also, 'cos I didn't wanna freak her out. Somehow, it seemed like an awfully long time for her to take the tissue out.

I threw flitting glances at the caterpillar and thought, "Oh come on, hurry up with the tissue, it's reaching the crotch area already!"

When I finally got the tissue, I just grabbed the caterpillar and balled up the tissue.

Then I safely told Jana that there HAD BEEN a caterpillar. Obviously she freaked out a little lah, but 'HAD BEEN' what... Meaning no more already lor.

I went up to the design studio to check my timetable. There were like two classes going on, but I just went in anyways. I wandered around a little, then approached the lecturer for help. Meanwhile, the other lecturer with the Cheap Monday jeans said, "That's all for today," There was a bit of commotion and I kinda deduced that it was indeed my class and it lasted only for half an hour.

So the Spanish lecturer showed me where all the timetables were. Finally some form of double assurance for me.

Basically, I went to class and it ended. Attendance wasn't taken lah. First week still honeymoon week. I truly believe that they're still settling a lot of admin and housekeeping stuff, so I'll be patient now....

Right now, I'm just lepak-ing on the fabulous greenway, utilising the wireless network.




P.S. The T-shirt reads 'huang jin wan liang' meaning 'ten thousand taels of gold' in Chinese. It's 4 words combined into this monogram thingy. I screenprinted this earlier this year, for the Chinese New Year. I swear, all the aunties and uncles very attracted to it! They very pantang, so auspicious messages like that they ultra adore.

Just now at Tampines Interchange, there was this uncle that read off my tee quite loudly. I just smiled at him lor. Some people cannot figure out how it's read, so quite smart huh, the uncle.

My First Day At Art College: There Was None

During orientation, they briefed us on what to expect for the coming semester.

They also said, "It's been a trend that the Comm Design students will slack during the first 3 weeks, some even the first 3 months,"

Gasp! 3 months is basically one semester lah!...

"So we're going to give you a small assignment,"

Assignment: Avatar/Artifact
Create either an avatar or artifact that communicates your personality.

Today is induction day. And then I realised a HUGE problem.

Where do I go for induction? I must have missed out on the details during the briefing. Do I follow my timetable?

Oh wait, I DO NOT have my timetable!

I cannot log on to the Student Portal to download my timetable because the username or password they sent me does not work. I e-mailed the service desk for help last night, but still haven't heard a thing from them.

I was on campus this morning, hoping to get to speak to a human, since I needed immediate attention. I dropped by the IT office, only to find myself not able to get any human to speak to. I was only asked to write down my particulars on a SPARE PIECE OF PAPER and was told, "They will email you to your personal email address," in Pan-Causeway accented Mandarin.

I walked off giving no response whatsoever.

Then I tried calling the lecturers. None of the two were available. So what was I to do???

First day at art college; basically there's none at all lah, huh.

I suppose this first semester week is still very messed up. Perhaps I should just cut them some slack, seeing that they might still be busy settling in the new campus.

Anyways, during the briefing, they did tell us about our project.

They said we were doing on TYPOGRAPHY!!! Yay!... I love typography!

There's this lecturer who wore Cheap Monday skinny jeans! See lah, art college is just different lor. I got a very positive first impression.

And talking about skinnies...

The crowd at Lasalle is fabulous. I absolutely love it. PEOPLE PUT IN EFFORT TO DRESS UP.

That, for me, is very encouraging and extremely pleasing. I mean, for once, I won't feel like I'm over-dressed. A huge sigh of relief.

However, it is true that most people dress similarly:

Skinny jeans, skinny jeans, skinny jeans, skinny jeans, skinny jeans, skinny jeans, skinny jeans...

I believe that the art college has the highest occurence of people wearing skinnies. If not skinnies, then leggings and tights.

Of course there are the occasional 'fashion misfires' lah. You have people looking like freakshow escapees, no doubt, but at least there's the effort right.

Maybe it's the light through the fibreglass roof, but the people are looking hell GORGEOUS! There is a very high concentration of gorgeous people, for some very strange reason. I have to admit that I've never seen so many GORGEOUS people gathered together.

No wonder they built the school with glass through and through. BECAUSE GORGEOUS PEOPLE DESERVE ONLY THE BEST AND GORGEOUS PEOPLE DESERVE TO BE SEEN.

Lasalle Orientation: A Porous Affair

Last week, I was waiting for Lasalle College to advise me on orientation details. But they left me in the dark till the last minute. Literally last minute!

Friday, I was at work the whole day, and handled main cashier for the night; I called it 'Virginal Main Cashiering' because it's the first time I'm using the cashier after they upgraded the whole system.

I finished my stock-taking and account-balancing pretty quickly, considering that it was kinda my first try with the new system. Thereafter, I went home, ALONE. So poor thing, right?

At 12.45AM, I thought there might still be normal service buses, so I trodded around Suntec City to the bus-stop. But to my dismay, the last bus left 30 minutes ago. I still had to walk to Bugis to take the NightRider bus.

I was home at 2.00AM, feeling extremely drained of energy. Was about to go to sleep, when my mother, half-asleep, told me, "You've got letters from Nanyang Poly and Lasalle leh, what they say?"

"Really ar?"

I mean, please lah, I'm already so tired, still expected me to check for mail on the kitchen table? Then so I did anyways.

Instinctively, I zoomed straight for the letter from Lasalle College(duh!). Thank goodness! They finally advised me on orientation details and some other admin stuff. I was relieved! I had thought that they'd forgotten all about me.

Then I went on to open the letter from NYP. It says, "INELIGIBILITY FOR MODULE CREDITS/EXAMINATIONS... despite being counselled by mentor...attendance level below stipulated in Clause 7.1(a)...deemed failed in following modules: (insert list of ALL modules)"

When I went down to the dreadful campus the other day, I was told they cannot process my withdrawal. Hence, my status would reflect as 'REMOVED' rather than 'WITHDRAWN'. I guess let them do the removal for me lah, huh.

It's Goodbye Nanyang Poly and Hello Lasalle College!

Finally, I could sleep with peace in mind. I went back into the bedroom, told my mother of the notifications.

Then she asked, "So what's in the box?"

"Huh? What box?"

I mean, PLEASE LAH! I'm freaking tired, I just wanna sleep!

"The box underneath all the letters lah,"

Then I thought to myself, "Box...For me... It couldn't be..."

YES IT WAS!!!

My Big Brovaz Re-Entry Album arrived! I was elated despite being energy-depleted. I had the urge to immediately listen to it, but I realised I was wayyy too sleepy to thoroughly enjoy it, so I went to bed instead.

Basically, I spent my Saturday sleeping, making up for all the rest time I lost over the National Day holidays. Then in the evening, I met Kalis and Hairianto.

Ever since I said I liked to sheesha at Haji Lane, we've usually just hung out at Bugis area. But that night, I felt we should go for something different. After all, they always say I'm addicted to sheesha. WHICH I AM NOT.

So we went to Vivo City instead.



We were having dinner at Fig & Olive. It was nearly impossible to get a proper shot with my lousy camera and trembling hand.

It's been so long since I've dined out properly at a restaurant; so long since I've had proper food too, so I went crazy with ordering items.

We got seats in the restaurant, but then I requested for 'alfresco' dining, thinking, "Hey, it's Vivo City leh! Facing the harbour." Expecting a view too, but got disappointed. But still, I like alfresco because it's more ventilated and less stuffy. Apparently, we ended up clammier. I don't really blame the weather, because if it was a well-designed space, ventilation should not be an issue.

After dinner, we didn't know where to go. We walked around in Vivo, and I had a chance to go express my disgust for TAGGER bags. Finally, I said we should go St James Power Station.

Kalis said, "I knew it!"

Ya lah, huh. Good friends right, know what's on each other's minds.

I mean, after all, I STILL HAVEN'T BEEN TO ST JAMES! Need to go there 'cut ribbon' some time soon. There was a bit of hesitation with my idea. I guess we're the type that's not particularly active at night. Furthermore, we had BIGGER concerns.

Kalis wasn't dressed up enough.

Not that she's shabbily dressed or anything, just that she needed a little 'fine-tuning'. I have to say that there is no major problem with how she dresses herself, just in case you think otherwise. Plus she's very pretty okay!

I think it's because she's matured beyond her age. Her wonderful philosophy of 'Comfort is everything' is highly understandable. But it's quite sad because everytime we hang out, Hairianto and I would kinda scrutinise her dressing and she'd get lambasted by us, especially Hairianto, in ways you cannot imagine! Of course, we don't fall out because of that lah. After all, being such good pals, the least we could do is tell the truth right? And accept one another for who they are. Correct or not, Kalis?

In the end, we went to Balcony at Heeren.



Kalis appears to be attempting to kiss me. But really, she's not lah.



We were on one of the swings, talking. Took this photo, and my camera went dead.

It's quite subtle, but if you really notice, my neck's a little too gleamy. Gleaming with sweat, that is. Even at Balcony, we felt stuffy and hot. Hairianto couldn't take the heat anymore, so we ended up with a stroll up and then down Orchard Road.

Not your typical night of 'fun', but I definitely enjoyed myself. It was a good weekend off from work.

The letter from Lasalle definitely made my weekend. Because on Sunday, while at work, I feeling really nice and dandy. Then time just flew right by.

Then I realised that the Lasalle orientation was the day after! Damned excited.

This morning, I woke up at 7.00AM, can you believe it?! I was so eager that I couldn't wait to go down to the campus. So I met Jana and we went to Lasalle orientation together.

They've removed all the boardings and supporting beams to reveal a very modern and POROUS campus!

In a welcome e-mail, it says, "Until the previous campus, you will find the new campus very porous by design. As such for security reasons, you are required to have your student cards with you at all time to identify your status as our students in the new campus."

I immediately smiled at the word 'porous'. It's used so nicely! It's one of those words that are plain simple, but instantly conjure up a plethora of images in my head. I mean, the new campus has a black facade that's filled with many of the signature rectangular 'holes', which makes 'porous' very very apt as an adjective for the campus.

In fact, I'm strangely turned on by the word. I believe it's the next IN word: POROUS. Jana and I were crapping (creative exchange of words) continuously about 'porous'. Simple word, but highly imaginative and artfully descriptive.



We were sitting down on this huge piece of faux grass patch, sloped very slightly. Then there was live bands playing some more! Sitting on a hill enjoying a live band, a la Singfest at Fort Canning! Haha!


Jana, synthetic grass, me.



Look! POROUS by sight!



Artful misfire. A lot of recent professional fashion spreads feature motion blur too!



Another artful shot in a smashingly hot campus. Bubble lifts leh!

The Random Things

I'm currently listening to the Hairspray soundtrack. It's really weird. I have no idea how to describe the whole experience. But I have to say that it's kinda growing on me also. A different experience definitely, so I could try to get used to it.

I really bought the soundtrack just for fun. I mean, how can you resist the colours?! Design-wise, using so many colours instantaneously kills your design. But in this case, it all just works wonderfully well together. I feel so happy just looking at it. Colour theory and the psychology of colour perception. That's one hell of a complex topic, I'm telling you.

Anyways, I particularly got drawn to Hairspray because Nikki Blonsky is plain adorable. Plus I also like Queen Latifah, so cannot blame me lah, huh.

Also, yesterday at work, I got myself a paper cut.



It was so stupid lah. I got cut by wrapping paper while trying to help a colleague wrap a gift. It's funny HOW MUCH PAPER CUTS HURT!

The defining moment when the paper sliced my finger, I totally felt my skin splitting IN SLOW MOTION. I froze up, but looked at the wound. I was definitely a tad queasy, plus it hurt so bad that I got into a brief state of shock.

Luckily I snapped out of it pretty quickly. I lazy to maintain pressure manually, so I took a plaster and just wrapped it tightly around my index. Then I continued to wrap the present. I discovered that my hands were trembling and I couldn't hold them still.

I took the photo this morning. I have to say what a hassle it was to take that macro shot of the tiny cut. I took like ten times over and that was the only shot that focused correctly on the cut on the finger.

"I Want A Stylish Home"—Pt. 2

In "I Want A Stylish Home"—Pt. 1, I showed some photos of vintage tiles. Here are the tiles in their full interior 'glory'.



Kitchen 'gateway'.



Living room and bedroom floors.



What do you call these? Trim or molding? They just line the perimeter of the space lah.



Kitchen floor.



Kitchen counter top.

Yes, those are pictures I TOOK AT HOME. Yes, those tiles are tiles that can be found AT HOME.

Yet, I'm constantly complaining about how I hate the way my home looks. There is a perfect logical explanation for this:

GOOD TASTE, BUT ZERO SENSE OF STYLE.

I love the tiles INDIVIDUALLY. I think they look great, really. Each on their own, they make very good statement pieces.

BUT, when you put them all together, they just look wrong. They don't work well at all. In fact, I absolutely loathe the way they come together.

Hence, my home is actually quite tasteful, if you don't mind. But the problem is, I don't want tasteful when it all falls into place looking awkward and out-of-place!

I WANT A STYLISH HOME!

Then today, I truly appreciated the worn out condition of the main door.



The keyhole. Notice how the surrounding area is aged and rusted. So hot!



The lock. It's just so old lah. I don't think locks like these are still in production anymore.



The hook. Hooks on to this fixture on the wall to prevent the wind from slamming the door shut when open. Look at how the paint wears off from the brass. The details are simply endearing.

Oh yes, and that wear mark there, where the hook abrades the door surface; authentic vintage lah!



The latch that doesn't work. Just look at it! Caked with paint! It won't budge.



The latch that DOES work. I mean, you can tell from the worn out state of it right? This is the latch on the top of the door. This is the latch that my mother latched up TO LOCK ME OUTTA THE HOUSE after a particular night of partying.



The peephole.



The peephole from outside. WILL YOU LOOK AT THE FLAKING AND PEELING PAINT?! I cannot contain my enthusiasm for aged and worn out surfaces.




The unit number donned in gold—10 years ago. I tried to polish it with Autosol back in the secondary school NPCC days, when we had to polish our badges so our uniforms looked good.

Anyways, yeah, I tried to polish the fixture, but it was a futile attempt lah, huh. But now that I look at it, as Viv Tudor in Little Britain would say, "Oh, it's GORGEOUS!"

Let's take some time off to talk about Little Britain. Basically for the past week, I've been hooked on Little Britain. I watch it 5 times over, and I still laugh hysterically 5 times over!

I didn't know I would enjoy sketch comedies this much! And you wanna talk about talent, Matt Lucas and David Williams are REAL talents.

I mean, it's perfectly fine that they come up with side-splitting content. But then to ACT it all out, that's just pure brilliance. AND they go into a myriad of disguises, BOTH male and female! That's... that's... god-ly!

Okay, I'm so excited that I'm at a loss for words.



Uneven paint. I used to loathe it when I was younger. Looked ugly to me. But now that I'm so infatuated with textured surfaces, it looks bloody fine to me.



Haha!.. Peeling paint!!! Okay, I won't start...




The full-length shots of the main door.

And as cliche as it sounds, you really don't learn to appreciate something till it's gone.



Yup, the wooden door just gone like that. The Chinese worker came, whacked the hinges a little here and there, and hauled the sweet, old wooden door off its hinges. JUST LIKE THAT.

I regretted not having a better look at it before it was removed. It's all part of the Housing Board upgrading works.

After removing the door, the Chinese worker told me that they'll resume work after lunch. So after lunch, it was another Chinese guy, who brought along the most hideous looking door.




And who're they trying to kid? It's not even solid wood. Just wood veneer. It's so fake. I hate it lah. It's so smooth, so polished, SO BORING. And I especially dread that disgusting band of rectangle in light brown. There's nothing aesthetically pleasing about it.

Plus they way they arrange the grain so that it forms this diamond shape is mind-blowing. IT FUCKING UGLY.






Eugh!!! Would you look at all the the shiny brass fixtures?! It's horrendous! Devoid of character, devoid of depth, devoid of interest!

This is the most fugly thing in the house. I mean, at least the tiles on my floor, kitchen and counter top exist with taste individually. But this door, on it's own, it's simply a bastardisation of design, not tasteful whatsoever, much less stylish!

Sigh! What to do? Public housing ma...