Week Twenty Five: Hands

These are supposed to be my hands. They look fat enough in most parts. The pencil was the hardest thing to draw I think. Hahaha

Week Twenty Four: Personified Animal

This was definitely "inspired" by someone we nicknamed panda and with the horrible ill-fitting shoes that she wears. Not forgetting the weird headgear she had in the "halloween" photo. I would be looking very sad as well. 

Week Twenty Three: Imaginary

Definitely imaginary. Hopefully a dream come true someday. 

Week Twenty Two: Family Portrait

A really basic drawing of the family, including the dogs. 

Week Twenty One: Bird

I love owls because they can look so cute, yet look so sarcastic as well. Haha

Week Twenty: Bug

My colour pencils are dry and so this bug is coloured with crayons, which doesn't cover well on normal paper. Anyway, my favourite bug is actually the car the looks like one of these ladybugs. 

Week Nineteen: Eyes

I tried drawing human eyes, but I think these cat eyes suited the shape much better. I love black cats with green eyes, and a pink nose would be a bonus addition. 

Week Eighteen: Candyland

Candyland of cupcake houses, candy cane street lamps, lollipop postboxes, cotton candy trees, mint chocolate chip ice-cream mountains, gumdrop-lined waffle streets. Too sweet to live in. 

Halfway To Joining The Yakuza

The problems with blunt knives. Well it was deep and I think it kinda hit bone. Could not stop the bleeding for a an hour till I got mom to come with the special miracle oil we have at home. Everyone is grossed out, and probably wonders if I do not feel pain. Guess it is about mind over matter. What mattered more was stopping the bleed rather than the pain. Damn knife!

Week Seventeen: Favourite Animal

My favourite land-dwelling animal, the elephant. This one is a little out of proportion I think. 

Week Sixteen: Music

Because I'm all about that bass, 'bout that bass... Haha

Week Fifteen: Two

Another one that gave me a headache, but I am quite happy with my final drawing. "2" and "Two" together and with two colours. Wonder how 3 would have turned out....

Week Fourteen: Brand New

How do you draw "brand new"? The question had bugged me for more than a week and I finally thought about the ribbon-cutting ceremony as something usually associated with brand new things. 

Week Thirteen: Framed

Did not know what to frame, and I could not draw a nice frame to save my life. So after finding this cute quote by my favourite blue puppet, Cookie Monster, an idea finally popped up in mind. Got to work on the lettering for sure. 

R.I.P. Mr Lee

He created a modern city from a filthy island and that is what I appreciate most about what he has done in his lifetime. No matter what people might say about his tactics about getting things done, it has been done. 

“I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.”

Appreciate the fact that we can travel far and wide, have drinkable water on tap no matter how high we live, no chewing gum stuck to out behinds, have cool public restrooms, yet still have our flora and fauna to enjoy. 

“Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.”

May he rest in peace. 

Week Twelve: Wings

"Mama told me not to waste my life,
She said spread your wings my little butterfly
Don't let what they say keep you up at night
And they can't detain you
'Cause wings are made to fly...."

Week Eleven: Favourite Place

Mom said I should just draw a building with glass doors and the word "supermarket" on it. I thought about it and I felt I preferred a farmers' market and decided to try and draw one. My market is rather empty though, the stall holders are still setting up. 

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

"Everyone will go through some hard times at some point. Life isn't easy. Just something to think about. Did you know the people that are the strongest are usually the most sensitive? Did you know the people who exhibit the most kindness are the first to get mistreated? Did you know the ones who take care of others all the time are usually the ones who need it the most? Did you know the three hardest things to say are "I love you", "I'm sorry", and "Please help me"? Sometimes just because a person looks happy, you have to look past their smile to see how much pain they may be in."

If only people know better....

Week Ten: Inspire

One word to describe the inspiration that covers my thirst for knowledge, passion for travel, love for food and the joy of discovery. 

I Thought I Had A Little More Time

Received a really sad message on my phone this morning that informed me of the passing of my former colleague from my hotel internship. Eugenie was working there as one of the two main telephone operators and she was one cool lady who partied with us, and was not shy about anything.

After I completed my internship, she seems to have been dealt a really bad hand when it came to her health. There was also a time where she had two heart attacks and was on the brink of death but managed to fight back.

Recently, she fought cervical cancer and was doing quite good. That is, until recently when it seems that her organs were failing her. Just two days ago, I just asked how she was doing and I received a call from her brother informing me that she was not doing so good, and had been in the hospital for the last three weeks. She had had a stroke and with her failing organs, it sounded quite grave.

I was actually planning to visit her this afternoon and instead was told about her death. I just hope that she can finally rest in peace now.

Goodbye Genie.

Week Nine: Favourite Book

The book that sent my imagination to Japan and actually started my small love affair with books. The way the story was written also kept me so interested that I had to force myself to put it down as I needed to sleep. Oddly enough, I have not read any of Aruthur Golden's other books. 

Week Eight: Your Name

There is something about drawing something about yourself that seems to give me a mental block. The challenge this time was to draw my name, and although writing my name seems easy enough, drawing it was much tougher than I thought. I honestly could not decide on how to draw my name and that is probably because I am just as complicated as the number of ideas I had. The final results already show that there is no consistency in the style or fonts, but it probably indicates I am a little loopy. 

Week Seven: Something You Love

I love travelling. I love flying but I dislike the turbulence. I would love to learn to fly a plane and a helicopter. I would love to travel the world. So here is a rather complete picture of something I love and a lot of it's components, which includes a (attempted) Boeing 747.

This reminds me that I need to renew my passport!

Week Six: Tool

My choice of a tool is a chef's knife. It is the one tool that helps me relief stress through all the slicing  and dicing. The feel of cutting through something with a sharp blade also gives a strange sense of pleasure and joy, especially when it is so sharp that paper-thin slices can be easily achieved. This knife might be slightly bent at the top though. 

Now Even The Manager Knows

So I get to talking to the Japanese manager of the company, one question led to another, and I got asked if I did not like working with anyone in particular. I immediately mentioned that I disliked working with the Marketing Genius of the company.

From the very first day I worked with her, she actually talked down to me, like I was some student, fresh out of school, who had not worked a day in their life. No other staff had actually talked to me like that, and my first day meeting her was actually my fourth or fifth day on the job.

So other than the bad impression from the very first meeting, there was the incident where I gave her the title of Marketing Genius, then the day when she broke my bottle (and just buried the incident under the fridge apparently), and the day she thought her opinion mattered.

Today I get another point to add to the hate list. This was actually after telling the manager that I dislike her, and just simply telling him that "she cannot work" as the reason. She actually did something to prove my whole point, albeit only to me.

Due to some incident happening in the Scotts outlet, the boss of the company brought back three trays of food and the manager told me to try sell it off even if it meant lowing the price. This was midway through him carting in a van-load of stocks which we both had been stacking into the walk-in fridge. During the whole time, she apparently was outside just watching him push the stock in.

After all the stock was brought in, I had about an hour to sell a total of five trays of food. Cleared all the pans and fryer baskets, and placed them in the sink to soak in soapy water before I started packing the food for sale. Then for the hour I was trying to get as many packets sold, I got some help from the boy manning the counter next to me while the marketing genius just stood at the fruit juice counter, staring at what I was doing. Worse bit was when I finished packing, I found everything left in the sink and there was no attempt to rinse anything off.

Not only does she not help with sales, she did not help with washing up and then she expects people to help her when it is time to clear the vegetables back into the walk-in fridge. Perhaps a little teamwork would get you more help? I guess you thought I would stupidly carry three baskets of vegetables into the fridge for you rather than make you do slightly more work? Sorry, but I have no sympathy for you and your sad stories, and you just HAD to pull your weight for once!

Week Five: Profile

This is not my profile, but of someone who I definitely look like. I was inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock silhouette and was attempting to do something similar. Mine definitely turned out a bit messier and I am just drawing the main lines I see on my mom's face. I am noot good with shading, and definitely not with a marker. 

My Third Bouquet Actually

Yesterday I finally get taught how to put a bouquet of flowers together by the Flower King and this is the second bouquet I did with all the really short flowers that were supposed to be thrown away. I managed to get it almost right, and needed his help to suggest a bit more stuffing on one side to make it more even. So this bouquet is actually the third bouquet I did. 

The first one I had to put together was a bouquet of roses for someone's anniversary gift to his wife. That was my first attempt and I tried my best and he thought I was trying to be creative, but that was me just trying. The second one is probably still in the store but that was more like me just helping to hold the flowers together while the Flower King told me which flower or filler went where.

He says there will be more for me to do tomorrow, so hopefully the bouquets start looking better soon. 

Week Four: Four-Legged Friend

Here is a four-legged friend that has been with the family for about as long as I have been alive, Pest Buster. It had been in a huge clay pot that was in the bathroom for more than thirty years, and it is now in a fish tank with some mollies for company. It (still not sure of gender) once chased Daisy when we took it out for a little time in the sun, and is actually quite fast on concrete. Also, it will eat lizards and cockroaches if they fall (dropped or chased) into the tank. Just do not put your finger in to get its attention. 

Please Keep Your Two Cents

If no one asked for your opinion, perhaps you might want to keep it to yourself.

Firstly, I do not care what you think. I have already lost any respect for you so no matter what you say, my brain has already denied entry of anything coming from your mouth.

Secondly, your "prowess" for sales and marketing has proven that what you think is just crap, and therefore, a waste of time.

Lastly, for someone who does not know how to use the cling film machine properly, do not try to comment about my first attempt at wrapping a bouquet of flowers.

                                       

Three Days Of Torture

The last time I travelled with my aunt was to Hong Kong but I can not really remember why that trip did not bother me as much as this recent one to Tanjung Pinang. I do remember that I did not get to see what I wanted to on that trip though. However, I guess when I was younger, I was just happy to be in another country sampling all the food. 

The idea to go to Tanjung Pinang was thrown out a long while back and it obviously stuck in her mind. Since my uncle landed in hospital again, and this time it seemed like he might not be able to leave as soon, she decided she wanted to go to Tanjung Pinang. While planning the trip, she kept wondering if she would be able to go, and kept pushing us to go as soon as possible. While we set a date, she still keeps wondering if she can go and I told her perhaps she should just confirm my uncle's place in the rehabilitation centre before she took the trip. She decided to give in to temptation and asked us to add her to the trip. 

Good thing for her was that Angie got sick, and good thing for Angie because she did not have to deal with my aunt. So my aunt took Angie's place for the trip, of which we already planned a few things. 

So the trip to Tanjung Pinang involves about a two-hour ferry ride from Singapore and my aunt gets seasick easily. My mom had advised her on what to do during the trip but she obviously did not listen as she decided she wanted to play some card games on the ferry. Everyone kept telling her to focus on something far out but she obviously does not listen and say it does not help, but somehow, focusing on the sun setting help ease her seasickness. Is that not focusing on something far away? Got off the ferry and she decided that she is the ultimate survivor until I remind her to keep quiet at immigration. 

We managed to get the hotel to pick us up from the ferry terminal and while waiting for other passengers, she decided to tell the driver to bring her on the tour like it was her own taxi. Had to remind her that we are not the only passengers in the van that was only supposed to bring us back to the hotel. 

Our first stop was a night market that seemed really close to the hotel and while the rest of us were looking to see what we wanted to eat and share, she decided to buy two packs of kueh baulu and kueh pie tee from the first stall she saw, all because they were cheap. Then as Adi and I went to order more food, she decided to order another pack of kueh pie tee thinking that we wanted more. Obviously not paying attention to the fact that we actually went to order food. There were about fifty stalls there and she decides to order the same dish from the same stall twice. You are here for only two days, how about try something you cannot get in Singapore?

After dinner, I managed to spot quinine mangoes and decided to buy about two kilograms back and she decides to follow suit with two kilograms for herself as well. Adi thought a kilogram was already too much, yet she buys two. She also got a bit offended when she did not get a free mango while Adi and I both got one stuffed into our bags. Perhaps if you picked the mangoes and helped to clear the stock, the stall owner would also do the same for you. 

The next day, she wakes up earlier than Adi and I and decides that coughing around the room, digging through her bag and checking on her phone is a good idea. If you want to enjoy the view outside, just go out and leave the room quietly, close the door as the air conditioner is running, and try to be as quiet as possible. No one wakes up at 5am just for breakfast at 7am. An alarm has been set on my phone for a reason as well. Also, please get with the programme and realise that Bintan is an hour behind Singapore. Perhaps travelling with Adi and Angie so often has created a certain routine among us, and when anyone else is sleeping, all of us tend to be considerately quiet as tired travellers are grumpy travellers. 

That said, we managed to hire a driver and the deal was to bring us to anywhere we wanted on the island. We told him we wanted to start at the market to get all the stuff I wanted as my dad would leave first as he needed to go back to work the next day. Shopping in the market was meant to be for products like dried fish and crackers, things that Tanjung Pinang is known for. However, she decides she wants to look for batik, and when she found them pricier than another part of Indonesia, she decided she wanted to leave the market behind and go somewhere else. 

The rest of us stick to the market plan and while we scouted around and compared prices, she wanted to buy for the very first stall she spotted something as it was cheap. She then asks my dad if we could bring rice into Singapore as she wanted to get some, just because it is CHEAP! My dad had given up by then and told her we probably could not bring it in. She then buys everything that we are buying and in quantities too much for her consumption. Sees us buying tempeh and she buys one. See us buying crackers and she buys some. I'm not sure what she spent on but apparently by the second day she had spent most of her money. 

She then tells the driver that she wants to visit a temple on the island as it is apparently the biggest one in Southeast Asia. After driving a little out of the way of everything, she goes into the temple and decides she does not want to give any offerings. You made the driver drive all the way out here, with nothing else interesting within sight to visit, and you decide not to give any offerings? Also you say that it is no good to take photos? You are just as bad as the monkeys jumping around taking selfies then. 

We then check-in to the second hotel and the look of shock and horror when she found out she would be sleeping on her own in one room was priceless. She actually said that she had never travelled on her own, nor had her own room. I guess it was time she learn to be on her own as Adi and I were not giving up our place in the suite as we both needed a break from her. 

Seeing that the hotel was quite close to the pasar malam we were at last night, we were hoping to get a few more quinine mangoes as I knew my uncle would appreciate some after his dengue attack. Right next to it was a supermarket and she decides that getting two packs of yakult was a bargain as it was REALLY CHEAP! Only 70 cents for a pack of five bottles. One more day in Tanjung Pinang and no refrigeration in sight, a milk-based drink is a brilliant idea. 

Finally we send dad to get his ferry ride back to Singapore and we head back to the hotel for a nap. We decided to meet the driver at 8pm and by 7.15, we get an irritating series of knocks on the door which we tried to ignore. However, she decides to head back to her room just to call us and make sure we are awake enough to answer the door.

We head to another night market near the beach, and Adi and I just told her we will leave her to think about purchasing some ugly shoes, once again because they were CHEAP! She then gets scared and leaves the idea behind and joins us for dinner. While she wondered how is it she was left with so little money from the purchases earlier in the day, she still wanted to give her money away to a beggar who looked at her pitifully. Seriously?

Finally the last day and we were supposed to meet around 9am for breakfast. We were supposed to meet in the restaurant, but 8.15am and I hear someone knocking at the door. What do you not understand about just meeting downstairs? Do not bother people if they are sleeping. If you are done with breakfast and it is time to check out and you do not see us, perhaps only then do you come knocking on the room door, or calling the room. 

We get down and we can hear her from the stairs, talking excitedly about something. The group next to her obviously wanted to leave and could only do so when we got to the table and stopped her from talking. All through the breakfast, she just could not shut up and I only had peace when she needed the toilet. 

We then head up to pack and check out, and while we were halfway through, we get another knock on the door. She really needs to start getting a little more independent. This day we head to the Trikora beach and on the way back, I spotted a shop selling items woven from bamboo and rattan, things she had been looking for. When I told her about it, she asked me how we will bring it back. I honestly gave her the blankest stare I could while wondering if she was stupid or idiotic. Seriously, we are taking a ferry ride. There is no baggage weight restriction except for the one you put on yourself. Well, better that we did not stop for her to shop and head to the seafood place we actually planned to eat at. 

While there, she decides to mention that we should not order too much things, probably because she did not have enough money. Here we are at one of the most famous and popular seafood restaurants in Tanjung Pinang, and you decide we should not order too much? Adi and I know what we can put in, but if you decided to eat the food rather than the big plate of rice served to you, I think we would have needed more food. In the end, we ate everything except two pieces of chicken, which was not wasted as they went to the cats. 

Good thing she kept quiet throughout the ferry ride and most of the drive home. 

Irresponsible And Disrespectful

If you do something which causes another person's bag to drop and some belongings to break, at least have the courtesy to inform the owner of what had happened.

Nobody said you had to pay for anything, but it is not very nice to suddenly find that your things can no longer work properly when you need to use it. Perhaps also think that there might have been something fragile in the bag, that you cannot see without disrespectfully digging through, that could have broken when the bag fell.

Somebody responsible would have owned up, but not you. You rather keep quiet and hope that people would not find out, or might assume that someone else did it. The flaw is that you were the only on in the bar while the rest of us were in the back, and your big bag was in the place where my bag originally was.

Also, if you want to hide the fact that you made it drop in the first place, at least put the bag back in the original place or pick up the broken pieces. For a second I wondered if I broke it myself, but seeing the piece on the floor just confirmed that you are an irresponsible and disrespectful person.

Little Miss Kheng

Congratulations to Eddie and Sunny on the birth of their first daughter! Cannot wait to meet her personally but from the photos I got, she looks like mom and has a thick head of hair!

Week Three: Plant

The challenge is to draw a plant, and this is probably the only plant I can draw that still looks like a plant. I needed a darker shade of green but seems like the really dark green colour pencils have all been used up or gone missing.

Now the dilemma of choosing which four-legged friend I'm going to draw. 

Your Logic Does Not Make Sense

Sometimes I really feel like I should just take my eyeballs out and let them roll from the highest slope in the universe.

These were quotes from the "marketing genius" I was working with last night that made me switch my brain off and walk away:

• "I rather just throw away than offer it at a lower price"
• "Better to throw it away than someone else who give it to other people for free"
• "Obviously selling it is better than throwing it away"
• "You put on offer, I'm afraid people might come back and expect the same offer"

 - It is not written in black and white, if you do not want to sell it cheaper, just say there is no discounted price.

• "I think it's too early to put it on offer when everyone else is putting their items on sale"

 - And when everyone has bought everything on  sale and left the building...

• "Eh, you want to put it on offer? No one buy leh"

 - Of course no one bought anything because you did not discount it when everyone was in a buying frenzy.

• "You put on offer still no one buy ah?"

 - Yeah, because there is no one shopping anymore!

Frozen Fruit Pops

I work with a bunch of rather creative people who can come up with interesting ideas and sales pitches, but are stifled by bosses who do not understand the local shoppers' mindsets. Today's idea was to make frozen fruit pops with just a blend of persimmons, one kiwi, a little apple juice and some water. I am not sure if it was to be sold, or if it was for the staff, but the lady boss thought it was a good idea for a new product to be sold. I would ask he how she intended to sell something frozen when she does not have a display freezer though. 

Well the blended mixture was sweet enough for me and I wonder if the sweetness will shine through the coldness. Guess I will find out tomorrow if it actually tastes good. 

Eco-System In A Bottle

 

Wanted to check out Typo today and I passed by the Totally Hot Stuff pop-up store. It was having a moving out sale and was giving a twenty percent discount on everything, and I spotted some salt and pepper shakers. While walking through the store, I saw one last bottle which has some tiny red shrimp in it. I have been eyeing this for a long time and with the discount it was at a much better price. I probably emptied my bank account, but I am happy about what I spent my last few dollars on.  

Week Two: Self

Drawing your self is a bit strange. It made me feel really bad about my drawing skills, which I know are not good in the first place. However, on completion, it made me feel good about my drawing skills. The colouring would be what I would look like if I was in the sun a bit too long anyway, pink and crazy. 

Big Box, Big Stuff

Went to Big Box this afternoon and while looking for a bottle of oyster sauce, I found this big plastic  bottle of cincalok. Cincalok usually comes in small glass bottles that usually blast out half its contents when you open them due to the shrimp still fermenting in it. The good thing about this bottle is that you will be able to tell if there will be any explosion as it will bloat up. Fingers crossed they do not smell as bad as the ones in the glass bottles as well. 

Finally The Right Cheese Ramen

Saw this on the shelf at Sheng Siong just now and I was wondering if I might have been a new design for the cheese noodles I tried before. Since the other noodles were on the shelf, had a big difference in price, and this one had the Paldo brand with the cheese holding a sign (as described by The Ramen Rater). Finally I get to try the cheese noodles that i first saw on the 2014 top ten list.

Week One: Post Number One

It is the first day of 2015 and I might as well start of my 52-week challenge in my first post. The first week is to be my choice and it will be a simple one to start the ball rolling. It is inspired simply by all the celebrations around the world as you can see. It is also partly in hopes that 2015 will be a less depressing year than 2014. 

Happy New Year everyone!