New Year's Reflections

Hi Everyone!

Just like that, a year is gone and a new one begins soon. I am quite surprised at how 2013 just went by so swiftly. Indeed, I still remember starting this blog and my travel around Sarawak earlier this year. Now, it's less than 24 hours to New Year's Day 2014. Honestly, there is not expectation or anticipation of what the next year would be like for me because I'm going off for my internship at the start of January. It's not that I have never worked before but back then, it's all part time jobs. My internship would lead me to the actual 9 to 5 working life which frankly, I have no idea what's going to happen.

Will I fail miserably?

Will I make great strides?

I have absolutely no idea because this is something I have never done before.

Throughout my life, it's always books, studying and exam. University was no exception. I guess I'm so used to the routine that once I step out of it, I will be overwhelmed by a degree of uncertainty. It will be a new routine to get used to and I'm not sure if I like it. Nonetheless, no one really knows their future and you just have to take a leap of faith...and hopefully, you land in a pile of soft marshmallow full of sweetness. Anyhow, that's my personal feelings towards the new year. No excitement. No sadness. Just utter uncertainty. Just want to let that out for some reliefs.

Moving on, it is the tradition of every New Year for everyone to make resolutions of their life that they hope would happen in the next year. I'm no exceptions but problem with me is that I never actually finish the list I made for my resolutions (and assuming a lot of people too, don't lie!). I realized it's always the same pattern. I would become thrilled and anxious to make a list of something and then I would be so eager to complete it. For the first few months, it kinda worked. Subsequently, my resolutions slowly fell into the pits of subconscious oblivion and never to be heard from again until half a year later when my guilt brought me back to it for not trying to finish what I started.  Well, I say, no more to that! This year, instead of making another list of things that I would like to complete in the following year, I'm making a list of what I have done in this year. In other words, the highlights of my life of 2013. The future is always bleak and erratic and that is why it is almost futile to try to keep things in order because you don't know what will happen. Therefore, rather than trying to control my future, I'm going to reminisce the good things of what I have done in 2013. Cyren taught me this philosophy and it keeps me from worrying too much about the future.

List of Achievements

1) Travelling

While I mostly traveled around local destinations, I was glad that I managed to visit certain places that I had been meaning to go to. If you refer back to my earlier posts, I was in Sarawak, showing Cyren around my turf. We went to the major cities of Sarawak - Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri - with the last one being my first time there. For two weeks, we did all the sight seeing we could do and the trekking we could survive (it was tough walking in the forests). Not trying to sound cliche but I was really happy that I could do those things with Cy.

The other two major places that I traveled to was A) Fraser Hills, a resort-like forest sanctuary where the wildlife (mostly bugs) thrives and occasionally sings loud bug-kararoke, soothing to some ears. An interesting activity that I did (with Cy of course) was that we set up a makeshift spotlight to attract all sorts of insects. Also, night time in the forest was AWESOME!  ;and B) Penang, which is my second time there but my first time was memorable in the wrong way. Anyway, a group of friends on a road trip while staying in a high-end condo, which overlooks the ocean, was seriously a moment worth remembering. There were also certain places that I never thought I would go to but we had the best guide ever. Click this to see one of the sunset beach photo I took: Sunset 

2) University and Academics

As I mentioned above, 2013 is the last year of my university life. While there were certainly ups and downs, not to mention friendly fires, dramas, hurri-phoon-quake, I definitely wouldn't trade it for anything. Yes, I actually grew fed up with assignments and journal readings but it was one of my life goals to finish a university degree and I'm glad that it's psychology, a subject that I never knew existed until I came to Sunway University. Of course, along the way, I met new people to whom I can actually call best buddies. Ironically, one of the best moments was studying late night in the uni-foyer cramping every bit of information from notes and textbooks during exam month. The laughs and annoyance we experience for this course was hilarious.

Another highlight of my university life was this final year thesis that I have to write up. My chosen is sex and religion to which I'm currently wrapping up. Because of this thesis, I was awarded in a conference for having one of the best presentation. It may sound pompous of me but I'm really proud of it but it's not something I would do again.

Though I can't call myself a psychologist after this course, I could call myself smarter and more experienced than before. Not to mention happier.

3) Instagram

Some of you may know that I'm pretty big on Instagram (just look at the right side of my blog). It's not necessarily the best thing that happened this year but it worth remembering in my list of achievement. I started Instagram sometime in April or May (thanks to Cy...again XD). From then on, I was hooked and I even tried out the #lego360 whereby you have to take one LEGO picture a day. I failed miserably on that as I became sicked of LEGO photos after a while. So, I stopped the challenge but I continued on with my LEGO photos with less restraint after that. As of now, I have a total of 300 followers and here are my most liked photos for this year, ranging from 60+ to 76. It started with what I would like to call, Think Lovely Thoughts (the pic with flowers); then Friday the 13th; next, 3; one of my Halloween specials and lastly, Dark Knight. People are morbid...lolz~

4) LEGO models

With LEGO pictures come LEGO models. I have to admit that I'm not as skilled as some of the LEGO builders out there (their personal models make mine looks like a kindergarten art project). I did try my best to build an original model and I believe these two are my personal best.

This is Ivy's Lair. 

Inspired by Tomb Raider, I built this plane crash scene.

5) Relationship

I'm talking about romantic relationship. This year marked another milestone for us and I can't believe we survived this long. We both get on each other's nerves but what counts is that at the end of the whole fiasco, we make peace with each other. There are times when the journey gets too rocky for both of us to bear but once you get past that, it's smooth sailing again.

I believe that no relationship is perfect, even friendship for that matter. However, I do believe that even with all those shxx that two people go through, as long as the pair can forgive each other and drop their ego, any obstacles can be overcome. That is why my last highlight and most memorable one was being able to spend time with this guy,

and still love him regardless of how bumpy the road was.

That was my review of 2013. So, now, are you ready for 2014? If you're not sure, don't worry, all is well. Just don't think much of it and all those nagging problems will eventually stop being a nuisance. Reflect on what is good in the past year and maintain it by doing whatever it is that you do best.

Have a Happy New Year everyone! And welcome 2014!!

(PS. I totally missed out several other important highlights. I was Indiana Jones for Halloween; I got my first tattoo just few weeks ago; I went to a mental institution as part of a class trip; and I had been showing my brother around a side of KL that he has never seen before. Surprisingly, the last event was enjoyable).

300 Followers!!!

Well, it's Instagram. No here. I would be overjoyed if that many people actually take their time to read my blog. Anyhow, I hit the three hundred mark a few days ago on the photo-sharing site. For every hundred milestone, I will post a picture of something indicating it. Took a few months to reach that mark but nonetheless, I reached it. And to celebrate that, I invited the Gotham City Sirens to help me out.

You can't really see the number 300 unless you move further away. So, that's one more achievement to be included as one of the highlights of 2013 for me.

And speaking of 2013, the year is almost over. So, do whatever that it is you intend to do this year and we shall all celebrate the year comes 31st December.

HO HO HO...Santa and His Christmas Staff (Part 2)

So, just gonna continue on from where I left off:

4) Christmas Fairies

Fairies are everywhere. They are among the misty woods; they are by the shores of a calm lake; and they live in the icy snow of winter. Indeed, fairies are everywhere. While most run wild and carefree outside of human societies, some are born from the imagination of wishful children who want nothing but joy and wonder. Thus, fairies of such product, Christmas Fairy is one of them, have dedicated their immortal lives to help out those who are in need.

In the case of Christmas Fairies, their duty is to ensure that Christmas hope and joy is maintained among all children. In this world we are living in, there are many children who are not as fortunate as children from affluent families. As such, all these children have are wishes and dreams to which they desire to be a reality. Comes Christmas month, these fairies visit all the children who are less fortunate and do their best to rekindle the children's Christmas spirits. While the effect of their magic is not immediate (they work in mysterious ways),  those who believe hard enough might find their wish come true.

5) Superior Spider

Normally, the sight of creepy crawlies make us jumped and the instinctual behaviour of squishing them comes about. Fortunately, spiders do not hold such a grudge. At least, their Superior asked them not to. Like Yeti, they are born with uncanny features. It's true that some humans admire their features (some even revere them), spiders are nothing but humble critters minding their own business, catching a bug here and there for munching.

So, what does spiders have anything to do with Christmas. In Ukraine, many households decorate their Christmas trees with cobwebs or shiny spiders. This may seem weird to us but there is a touching story behind this tradition. As with all stories, there are many versions but my favorite one is as such:

A group of children from a poor family found an evergreen seed months before the winter and they planted it, hoping to see it bloom into a Christmas tree. It did and it was lush and healthy. Came the Christmas month, these children couldn't wait to decorate their full grown tree with pretty ornaments but the parents didn't have the money to buy these decorations. Grief-stricken, the children went to bed on Christmas Eve with a heavy heart, knowing that their tree will not be as bright as the trees in the neighbourhood. By now, a spider had made the tree its home and it saw the whole incident. Feeling sorry for the children, it decided to do something about it. Using it glossy silk, the spider gradually decorated the tree one layer at a time. It made sure that it finished by sunrise. At dawn, when the first sunlight hit the tree, spider silks glowed in colours of gold and silver, sparkling just like the other Christmas trees. The children woke up and saw this. They were overjoyed. This is also the origin of tinsels.

Many families do not have the time to decorate trees these days due to work. Santa is hoping that the Superior Spider may come forth her children and ANTM-ize those trees to look fab and awesome.

6) Old Man Winter

Whenever it gets cold, you know Old Man Winter is there. While this is the common name he usually goes by, Old Man Winter has other aliases. He was once known as Father Christmas and even Woden, the mighty Norse God due to his association with winter. Regardless of his name, he is just an old man who blew winter storms comes certain time of the year. Because he want to make sure the cold does not completely taken over the whole world, he only blew half the earth hemisphere at a go. In my depiction of him, he uses the Staff of Ice to do his bidding.

As we all know, global warming has messed up the world's atmosphere. Freakish storms and blizzards are disrupting air travels (just look at UK at the moment). Santa wants to make sure that on the night when he delivers his gifts, no freaky storm would impede his travel so he needs Old Man Winter to adjust the winds of the storms in appropriate PSI. 

Well, that's all Santa is summoning this year. Hope that you all have a fun read with the latest two post and Happy Holidays!

HO HO HO...Santa and His Christmas Staff (Part 1)

For those of you who follow my Instagram would know that I like to write mini stories about some of the pictures that I posted. This is just a small hobby of mine to create fictional stories with just about anything. With Christmas around the corner, it's instinctual for me to write something about it. Also, with my stories, I like to include certain facts about the world to make it more relatable and interesting. For the current post, I will only feature 4 figures and continue on with the rest in another post. So, here goes:

Twas the week of Christmas and Santa's work has never been more difficult. The world today is just overpopulated with children and families in need. This is too overwhelming for dear old Santa and trust me, he's old. Even with all those workouts and gym sessions (hey, Santa needs to stay buff to deal with this hectic holiday), the task was too arduous for him and his elves (i.e., minions). He deeply requires the help of all the other Holiday figures. So, with his magical staff, he summons his...staff. Each of them is delegated with a certain task while Santa deals with Nice List with his Book of Niceties.

1) Krampus

The first Holiday figure he summons is none other than Krampus, a common figure in the Alpine regions. Now, Krampus is a serious man (his whole outlook is an indication of this). Unlike Santa who is all jolly and gleeful, Krampus is hideous, scary and just plain hellish. Why is he so scary? Well, his sole priority is to punish children - naughty children! Santa can be a tad too nice sometimes, that is why he needs Krampus to do all the dirty work. See, social media, bad role models and unfavorable upbringing has made kids spoiled, obnoxious and just plain naughty. With Santa swamped with the nice kids, it's up to Krampus to punish the naughty kids. Thus, Krampus is bestowed with the Book of Naughties.

Naughty kids beware. If Krampus finds you naughty or bad, he will come and spank you. If you are extremely naughty, he will stuff you inside a bag like stuffed turkey and leave it in there until he deems you are ready to come out.

2) Yeti or Abominable Snowman

Residing in the Himalayan Mountains, he is known by the locals as Yeti but to commoners, he is the Abominable Snowman. Truth be told, there is nothing abominable about this guy. See, Yeti is actually a shy creature. He is greatly misunderstood by the humans due to his imposing stature and uncanny features. It started out a long time ago when he accidentally scared a few mountaineers. Since then, movies or social media depicts him as a petrifying monster that eats and kills humans. Ashamed, Yeti locked itself away from the world...until Santa approached him. Santa told him about his crisis and wished that Yeti would offer his assistance.

Reluctant at first, Yeti eventually agrees to it. Even though he is not exactly a X-Mas figure, he wants to clear his name by showing others that he is nothing but a gentle giant. While he has no magical power, he does has his strength. With crates of presents and bags of gifts, Yeti could effortlessly move them to Santa's enormous carriage. He even helps out Krampus sometimes with carrying his bags of naughty children (children these days aren't as skinny as they used to be).

3) Befana

The world is diverse. The third Holiday figure summoned is Befana. She is an Italian witch who is honored on the Epiphany Eve or the night of 5th of January. Befana is one of the good witches in the world (not all witches are evil) and this can be proven on the Epiphany Eve when she would reward nice kids with presents which not so dissimilar to Santa. As with Santa, she has various origins. Some say she was a Roman goddess of new year by the name of Sternua; others claim that she was a biblical figure who was supposed to tag along with the Three Wise Kings to observe the birth of Jesus. Regardless of her origin, she is currently viewed as a good witch (hence the getup).

While her Christmas isn't her day, she offers her help out of the kindness of her heart. She knows how tough it is to deliver gifts to children in Italy, let alone the whole world. Well, she only has a broomstick and Santa has a carriage. Anyhow, with her myriad of spells and potions, she can deliver these gifts in a jiffy and charm children to sleep so her presence wouldn't be detected and the wonders of Christmas remain intact.

I'm Inked

Ignore my nasty back but ya, I was inked yesterday. I always thought about getting a tattoo but I need to be prompted because the idea of a needle poking me continuously wasn't exactly a comforting thought. So, Cyren (my partner) decided to pay for my first tattoo as a Christmas present (which I'm deeply grateful for :D) and he encouraged me to take one since I talked about it from times to times. Let me tell ya, the experience was novel and awesome but whoever says getting inked doesn't hurt is a major liar.

So the story started with me admiring Cyren's tattoo (he has a few) and I lamented about getting one. Since getting a Christmas present for a loved one is always a hassle, he just settled for a tattoo for me. Of course, he told me that my first tattoo has to be something that's significant to me. Duh, LEGO comes to my mind. I did consider other choices (e.g., comic book characters, some weird but cool tribal symbols which is cliche, and a little ghostie in white cape cuz I thought it was cute). Nevertheless, I have decided to settle for a LEGO minifigure and since I used this little guy to represent me, I'm like, "What the heck."

Good thing that Cy knows all these tattoo parlors and which ones are the best for specific kind of arts. Some tattooists are good in cartoonist stuff while others are adept in sophisticated arts. He chose a parlor in Sunway Pyramid by the name of Black Cat. So, arrangements were made and I was scheduled for my tattoo yesterday.

To be honest, I was extremely petrified when it was my turn. I thought it was just needles so no biggie but no. I found myself pulsating and speechless when I knew I was going next. Hours earlier, I have trained to tell myself, mindfully, that I can block out the pain and the anxiety that comes with a first tat. As I sat down on the chair with my back facing the tattooist, I waited for the needles to poke. Before that, there was a long procedure or cleaning and shaving the back and outlining the details. Fast forward, after those minor stuff, I waited for the long sharp needles puncturing me. I know I was exaggerating with the pain because as soon as the needle touched me, I'm like, "that's it?"

Of course, the first step is to use dark ink to outline the figure. I can't say there wasn't pain in that but it didn't hurt throughout. I supposed certain parts of the skin on my back are more sensitive. Anyhow, I cringed a bit for some parts while I enjoyed the rest. To put myself at ease, I kinda imagine I'm at a massage parlor instead and the needles are some new forms of massage therapy with some scientific proof that it works. When the outline was done, I knew the subsequent step is colouring and given that the pain will intensify, I decided to put on my earphones and listen to some Avicii and drown myself into the techno beats.

Colouring hurt more than the outlining. The dude had to shade it and move the needle up and down, left to right, basically everywhere. I required more effort now to block out those pains because it became unbearable at a certain time. My music stopped giving me comfort and I was begging for the dude to finish up. I tried to remain a neutral face cuz I didn't really want others in the parlor to see me cringing in pain. I'm thick-skinned.

Anyhow, less than 2 hours passed and I'm down. In my mind, I was thanking the heavens. Nevertheless, I like the outcome and I really am grateful for it and Cyren for giving this special gift but you won't see me in any tattoo parlor any time soon. I know I would need tremendous efforts to block out those sharp dreadful pain.

So, now I have officially joined the tattoo crew with my geeky tattoo. Really appreciated it.

Oh and Happy Holidays! 

Skeletal Anatomy of A Minifig

I posted this picture in Instagram quite a while ago. Before I came up with the picture, I have thought of presenting a skeletal anatomy LEGO style. This is the best that I can come up with with my current equipment and LEGO pieces. Although it's not much, I would say this is one of my most prized artwork because I like how it turns out with the background complementing the figure in the middle and all.

Oh plus, just finished my exam so yay! Hopefully, I would post LEGO pictures. Impending pictures coming in!

A Bricky Holiday

LEGO bricks are everywhere, especially if you are in Bangsar Village. In the centre of this local mall, there is a huge LEGO X-Mas exhibition with all kinds of LEGO building designs. Even the perimeter of the mall is decorated with LEGO-styled ornaments. So, do check it out whenever you can so you don't miss this 'Bricky' Christmas. Plus, there is a sale for the LEGO sets released this year. In case you miss out a set you desire, come here now and be a buyer.

Happy Holidays.

Overdue Post

Alright, so this post is way overdue. My reasons, as usual, are university-related and soon, work-related. I know this blog has become stagnant since a few months ago and I do want to reignite the writing part of me. It keeps my mind occupied cuz sometimes, I do find myself suffocating under boredom.

Anyhow,  my exam just started, so don't expect too many posts any time soon. I will try my best to update at least once a week on my seemingly busy schedule. Of course, that means more LEGO pictures of my life as well. 

Also, Christmas is coming soon so make sure you prepare something nice for your loved ones. I believe a nice dinner or even a hug will do. No cash needed for that. 

Happy December!