*..Everything In His Time..*

Oftentimes, I lose sight of what lies ahead. I can't seem to see where this path eventually leads me to. It gets depressing and almost demoralizing.

Things aren't exactly turning out the way I had envisioned it to be after graduation. Not in a bad way, but just in an alternative way.

Unknowingly, I seem to be moving further away from my dream. To the point I question myself: "What is my dream?"

I begin to doubt, mostly myself. My aspirations and dreams, where have they gone to? What have they become?

Everything's way too cloudy, it's almost as if I'd unwittingly decided to remain in comfort zone too comfortably and conveniently. I've been taking things as they come, but shouldn't I be taking things in my hands and steering them towards my goals and dreams?

A friend shared this verse with me, one I constantly remind myself of.


Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV)
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Wait upon Him. His plans might not necessarily be our plans. Just be faithful and pray. Bless others just as He has blessed u.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. [12] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. [13] You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.


I need to use my heart more. Been relying too much on my head these days.
That's right, back to retrospection in lalaland. =)

*..Times like this, I wanna smash my Macbook..*

So I've been doing this for 2-3 days and giving up on it here and there, but I had to finish it by hook or by crook tonight for a film submission that has annoying A2 Specifications. But my original poster isn't of that huge a resolution, hence I had to try to fill up the empty space to my best ability.

Still sucks, but really at my wits' end as to how to do up a nice proper A2 size banner with all my low res screenshots.

DEAR MACBOOK, YOU SUCK!

With each click I make on photoshop, the colour wheel appears for FOREVER. What a waste of my life. It's almost 6am now, the sun's gonna rise.

Before I set off for a briefing for Sat's shoot tmr, I need to get the following done.

3 x invoices
1 x quotation
send emails

PLEASE KILL ME NOW, all that paperwork. zzzzz.

On a lighter note, when the cheques come in (I WONDER WHEN!!! *yawn* *taps feet*) I can buy a new macbook pro!! WOO!!!! But I will still love my Macbook for its sentimental value, or at least try to as much as I can. For it's been through thick and thin with me through all the major milestones in my life since 2007.

Goodnight world!

*..xq is still alive..*

Helloo world!

I've been super lazy to blog, hence the looong hiatus from this space. Too many things happening in my life since graduation on 22nd May 2011. All happening too quickly, I can barely catch up with the new equilibrium.

In summary, I've graduated and so begins a full-fledged working life. The transitionary phase sure is strange, I'm still trying to grapple and come to terms with it- but so far so good - I'm really enjoying work no matter how much I like to complain to my close friends. The thing is, I've been really lucky since graduation, to be working with old and new people, mostly new, and to top it off - all of them are reallyyy nice people to work with. Great bosses who make great friends, who don't judge you for being new, who trust and appreciate your work, who make work a little more bearable as we know how boring corporate and commercial projects can sometimes be.

So a month ago, I asked myself what life would be 1 month later and I was clueless. Now, looking back, I think the start of "The Rest Of My Life" turned out much better than I could ever imagine - I can only give thanks for my stroke of luck, and all the people I've crossed paths with for giving me all these opportunities. You know, right now every little bit counts - referral from friends, lecturers, old colleagues, word of mouth, current friends cum co-workers. Truly blessed and I shall become a workaholic so I can retire sooner.

Oh wait, I already AM a workaholic. Working almost 7 days a week. Life is sad cos I cannot find time to meet the 235872581 friends I yearn to meet. I can only meet my Chapman friends mostly, because our work schedules are all comparable and unpredictable, so we flock together as one after work.

I miss the Chapman people who have gone to LA for their internship - I wish I can visit them. But I feel like I have other priorities that overtake having fun right now.

So many things I want to blog about, but I don't know where to begin. To end off, I shall share a series of niceee videos that someone showed me at a meeting. It's fun to meet new people, and realize we all have a common interest really - watching films, filmmaking & storytelling.


(1) Who says only living things can fall in love? Watch this video and feel for them.





(2) SIGNS, a really subtle and sweet love story. Non-dialogue film at its best.




(3) The Digital Story of the Nativity- Bethlehem story, told from the social media perspective.




(4) Sinema's Internet TV Webisode on Abbreviations



And to end off with 2 animations, my personal favourites amongst the above videos.

(5) ZERO =)

Zero from Zealous Creative on Vimeo.

(6) A short love story. =)

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Totally loveee the stories, the characters, the lighting and everything about both videos, especially ZERO.

Okay goodnight world. I spent my weekdays editing, sat editing and tomorrow it's sunday, and I have to EDIT again. *yawn*

FCP (editing software), my current best friend!

On a lighter note, I can see cecilia tmr =) She's accompanying me at the office with her freelance edit as well, so I won't be emo and alone in the office on a Sunday.

*..GetCharlar..*

So for the past few weeks, on and off...xq met her brother's new friends and we've been recording vo, conceptualizing, filming and editing his business pitch videos...

Yes, amidst my crazy crunch time at school...I almost died trying to squeeze "free" time in to accommodate all of these..

and today the efforts paid off! =)


IT IS OVER!!!

My only regret is....I missed the pizza treat from the professors after school yesterday cos I had to rush off to complete the video for today's deadline...it was 12am just now...And I didn't eat all day cos had been working on it the whole day... Almost died of a heart attack at close to 12am because there was an error with the video exporting, bro wanted to add things into the video, rendering was crazy cos my macbook is ultimate slow poke, everything that could go wrong- went wrong...we submitted the entry form at 2359 hrs and realized the upload link didnt work... 0000hrs the submission closed, our hearts stopped!

AND ALAS! at 0003hrs, the site reopened and they announced an extension of 24 hrs for the deadline! What are the odds! So we made the amendments and it's all good and ready.

Hope my brother wins so that I can have more money, huat ah! Hahahaha....don't like doing free jobs yo! Esp not if it's heart attack-inducing and causes me to get x875346243 pek chek with my oldddd macbook that annoys the hell out of me each time I do video edits with it..

But it was fun though, this whole process. I experimented alot and learned alot...the people were nice =)  I realized that my drawing isn't as bad as I'd imagined. They only provided me with the VO script and some random ideas, so alot of DIY involved. Shot with my niceeee digicam Canon IXUS 130IS yo!! I'm loving it more by the day =)  And I learnt some new things on FCP in the process too.  It was overall a good choice to be involved in this, despite all the angst encountered.

Video #1: Bob & Charlar



Video #2: GetCharlar - Pop-up Space



Happy much! IT IS DONE!! =)

and I think my hands are quite telegenic! wahaha just kidding!!

now...back to the sad reality of life! Re-hi my script and essays!  *emo*

On a lighter note, graduation is in exactly a week! 22nd May, Sunday.  Yesterday was kinda the last day of school, of official classes. Still feeling a little blue somehow. Am gonna miss all the nice friends and times we shared, attacking deadlines and rejoicing at intervals as we overthrow each deadline.

More about the sad partings of life next time. Back to work.

Oh it's my 3rd love's birthday today. HAPPY BDAY MY LOVE! aka carolyn!

*..37627532 things on my mind..*

This feeling, it's way too familiar.
Heavy-hearted, depressive feeling, no mood for anything, the urge to sleep excessively.

I always do that as a form of escapism at crunch time, when I feel the incompetency to complete all the tasks on hand to my bestest ability. =(  Okay xq, this is so not the time to feel like that. Just a mere 3 weeks of hard work and it will be over.  Even if you'd wanted to do more, you won't have any assignments from school to do for the rest of your life!

But still...
Kill me now.

Amidst the 896387452873 deadlines that are almost impossible to complete in this crazy time frame, I wonder why there are other things that are out to kill me and steal my time from assignments.

1. xq is I/C of Chapman University's Network Party invites
2. xq must do a shoot (yet again) for bro on Monday.
3. thereafter, xq must EDIT the things all over again.
4. xq must do some photoshop annoying shit for bro's biz pitch.
5. xq is still caught within the most &%^&#$%&^ library saga of the year. Have to meet the dean here and there for unnecessary interrogation, when I'm really but the victim of poor administrative procedures on the part of the stupid library.

So all of these ^$^%#^ things here and there, distracting me and taking time away from my non-existent free time in the next 2-3 weeks.

Sigh, depression has hit xq. It's been confirmed by the 4 hr nap I just took for no apparent reason.

AND THIS IS CONTRIBUTING TO MY FOUL MOOD as it is. Spent the whole morning converting the video to the appropriate format, filled up the film fest form and then it failed. 

And when i woke up I did something really stupid. Sent an email to my professor instead of gina because their emails appear next to each other in gmail. Lucky I didn't mention anything in the text body, but still! PAISEH MUCH!

Meanwhile, I just wanna shivel up and dieeeee. =(

*..真的累了..*

只剩寥寥的6个星期就毕业了，但教授都毫无犹豫地把我们折磨得团团转。。。功课，作业，讲座，报告， 许多而外活动，似乎要我们的命。
累得什么都不想做，
迫不及待把一切烦恼抛到九霄云外；
累得没有冲劲，
所做的东西都是在为了达到作业的需求而做的，不再出自内心。

Feeling so insecure and stressed now, I can't believe I would actually feel this way again.

A mere 6 weeks, and the workload keeps piling up like nobody's business and we don't see any end to the list of deadlines.  So much for them planning for the syllabus- actually only one professor keeps tilting our equilibrium of deadlines- but one is lethal enough - for he's the one taking us for the 2 most important and tedious modules of the final semester.

STOP GIVING US GROUP ASSIGNMENTS JUST FOR THE SAKE OF GIVING! Really senseless doing non-related assignments so he could make up our percentages. Really sick of assignments that pop up at the very last moment - his emails are never about good news. Honestly, we are all working on very tight timelines now, the worst thing is to tie us down with scheduling of group meetings. Zzzz.

=( I feel guilty if I even sleep these days. For the amount of work we have on hand (and god knows how much more hidden homework we have), is enough to last us for months and months, but we have only 6 weeks left.  It seems that even in the event that we do not sleep at all due to some special prowess possessed, it is still impossible to complete the tasks on hand.

That said, I'm in a depressive state.
Shall go into hibernation from the world after this week.
SIGH. ALL THAT ANGST.

And now, we even have to go to school on our "free" days which we could have used to catch up on our deadlines. School till 9pm tmr, when it's our free day.

Life is really boring now.
Seriously can't wait for graduation.
May 22nd.

But that would mark the parting of ways of precious friendships.
Sigh, I hate departures and partings.

New beginnings- they are but a love-hate "entity" to me.

*..I can't sleep..*

There's so much on my mind tonight.

At the very thought that I'll be graduating in a mere 7 weeks' time.
May 22nd is graduation day- the day I've been waiting all my life.
The day that I missed enjoying with the peers from my sec and jc life.

Yet, it's the day I'm gonna walk down the aisle with some of the most important and awesome people in my life whom I'll never have met if I didn't come this longer route. =)

It's a mixed feeling I get- I'm happy, yet scared.
Of what awaits beyond May 22nd.

I'm suddenly very worried about my new job that I don't even know what it would be. I'm very afraid, yet also excited, about starting a new chapter in life, of becoming financially independent.

I'm even more frightened of the new equilibrium in life that might topple the current equilibrium in life that I'm all so familiar and comfortable with.

Changes- they're all so intimidating.
You're raring for them to happen, yet you shrivel in fear of what looms ahead.

Tonight, I pray for wisdom to make wise long-term decisions;
For the strength and discipline to tackle the insanely crazy amount of deadlines these 7 weeks.

I pray for a fulfilling 2011.
A year I've been awaiting all my life, I can't possibly disappoint myself.

OH MY LORD.
Scary scary scary.

xq stop scaring yourself with these thoughts.
Don't worry, it will come to you when the right time comes =)

相信就可以。。。

Panda is going off to KL again tmr, for a week. Sobs only managed to see panda 2 days out of a whole month. What with KL, HK and KL again this one month period.

On a lighter note, can't wait to catch up on assignments and deadlines this long weekend. Byebye life.

*..I love film analysis!..*

I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes I find it really fun.  Got carried away with the writing and couldn't stop googling interesting facts. Hmm I should sleep soon.

So last week for International Film Survey module, we watched 2 films! They didn't seem fantastic at the start, but was mind-blowing thereafter. Especially upon after-thought. So much intent in the characterizations and story decisions by the filmmakers. Hmm sometimes foreign films have so much more meaning to them than commercial films.



(1) En Couer En Hiver (A Heart In Winter)- A French film.

xq's posting (Click to enlarge).

(2) Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) - A Spanish film.

  

xq's posting (Click to enlarge). 

On a lighter note, it's WEDNESDAY tomorrow, my favourite day of the week cos no school on Thursday! Okay, not really, have to still go to school on Thursday. Just no proper classes. 

And panda has complimentary tics for us to the Lion King musical at the Marina Bay Sands tmr night! YAY! googled and and it's apparently a highly-acclaimed one. Looking forward! MEOW!

Okay xq quick go sleep! You don't want to fall asleep tmr!

OH HAPPY DAY! It was a happy day with panda today, simple but happy! And it's going to be another happy day tomorrow! =)

(ignoring the fact that I'm going to die under the tremendously crazy workload in the next 9 weeks)

Until then!
Goodnight world! =)

*..Had a bad day?..*

(Q) What could be any worse than having had a bad day at school and at shoot?

(A) Having cooped all your thoughts, frustrations and emotions within you the entire day because all you have around you were your project mates whom you aren't that close to and hence not appropriate candidates to share your thoughts with.  To top it off, you had to always put on a smile to PR and smile smile at your talent and his daughter, when you don't actually feel too good within.  And then rushing your 2 hours duration footage of Chinese interviews, transcribing them in English as quickly as you can so you can have dinner with someone closer to you.  Taking the effort to travel to where the person is, and then realize within 15 minutes that the person you thought would make your best listening ear and emotional support was none other than the one who would make your day worse.  And in turn implies that you were being unreasonable and selfish in wanting to meet up.   

To top it off, reaching home lying on your bed for an hour or so, and realize that you're having some difficulty bending your toe. Walked out of the pitch black bedroom, only to see that your toe is half covered in blue-black (cos you cleverly walked right into the leg of a chair at the girls' apartment earlier in the day). 

Life sucks.
At least for now.
Can't believe there's class tomorrow.
Can't believe I have to see the faces of you two-faced serpents.
Can't believe I have no more life till the edit is done.
Can't believe I actually have to stay overnight in school tomorrow.
Can't believe I only had one bowl of soup and 3 fish balls the entire shoot day. 

Can't believe so many things.

Like,
how my grandmother is hospitalized now and my mum could actually hide from me for a few days, so as not to distract me from my shoot.

You know, I love my grandma, but I haven't exactly been visiting her proper in at least 3 months.  I pray for good health i for grandma in the years to come, and a speedy recovery.

Times like this, that I feel like disappearing for awhile. Take a breather, come back for a helluva new ride.

*..Monday isn't blue today, Sunday was..*

I was absolutely sleepless last night (Sunday), with every tiny bit of information, detail, pre-empting of today's shoot floating in every corner of my mind. Like things were so blurry, details were but ideal details, people weren't answering my calls and smses, and the shoot had to happen by hook or by crook today.

Cross-cultural documentary has the craziest and most unrealistic deadlines of all Chapman modules. With the US exchange students here for 21 days, including weekends. We got to know them on 6th January (Thursday) and a group portrait documentary was due on 10th January (Monday) already. Hence, we worked through the weekend.

On Wednesday, the treatment, synopsis and other paperwork were due for our 2nd documentary on the 7 deadly sins. Ours was by default Sloth, since the other groups didn't choose this topic. The scariest thing was, by Tuesday afternoon, we still didn't have a topic at all.

And then it all began on Tuesday, we were at Coffee Bean Holland Village and Sulaiman mentioned the magic word "Chinese Opera" after 30 min of brainstorming. We googled, found the Chinese Opera Institute, I called them up, the guy was superbly and unbelievably helpful, we went down to his office for a chat within 30 mins of the call, chatted for an hour or two, he opened our perspective on the topic and suggested possible subjects, went to Chinatown to discuss our treatment till 9pm. It was the most efficient 6 hours of my life (3-9pm).

Lots of things in between, like the subject agreed to be interviewed by is always uncontactable and busy, it was the 1st time we met him on the interview set today. How scary is that? We based our treatment and came up with an ideal angle based on what the Chinese Opera Institute guy told us, which thankfully was every bit factual. But I was worried sick yesterday that he would pangseh us at the last moment.

And thankful for the Telok Ayer Canto Clan for assisting us in getting location permit to film backstage of the Opera performance on Saturday. For big-hearted people willing to assist students in their requests, for Panda who took time out despite his busy schedule to help out with that shoot cos 3 out of 5 group members were in Malacca over the weekend.

On a sidenote, I guess my chinese has upped many levels in the past few days, today especially. I typed an extremely long sms in chinese to him cos he's from Beijing and doesn't understand English. Took me 20 minutes of my life with the Sony Ericsson HP. Last night, I had a long phone conversation with him, trying to decipher his heavily accented Mandarin. Today, Kaydash and I had a chat with him on set, and little chats here and there, and the interview was done by Kaydash thankfully! Whilst I topped up some questions at the end. And throughout, I was listening attentively to whatever the interviewee was saying, taking notes which impressed myself after I read them over again. HAHAHA! Translation at its best. After listening, speaking and writing so much Chinese in the past 2 days, I feel like I'm getting back in touch with my Cheena self again. xq is a Higher Chinese girl yo!

One more round of Cheena Chinese session tomorrow for Day 2 of shoot, and we're all done with production. And there comes the dreaded editing. I guess we'll be bunking in alot with the US students at Kismis alot, in the next 8 days. The edit is due 26th January. Hmm a week of editing. On top of classes every morning from 10am-1pm which would have already drained us out.

Today, was a wildest dream come true. Everything just fell in too perfectly, we really have to be thankful. For panda helping us at the studio technical rehearsal, for Uncle Jack helping us out at checking out equipment at Cage (no thanks to Uncle Johnny for not approving any basic accessories), for Gina who lent us her group's 2 red heads, for Chapman Eric's assistance in getting us the letter of verification and a room to lock our equipment, for the Chinese Opera Institute for their undying passion in helping us in everything we request for, for Mr Lee's eloquence and passion in the art form, for Mr Wang, the musician's enthusiasm and pride in his music, for Tianyu's feedback and presence, for a cohesive team of workers.

There's so much to be thankful for, especially with uncertainty that clouded us last night. It's exciting, this journey. The power of documentary- it touches lives, it has touched me so deeply today, I kinda feel so cultured already.

Tmr brings another hopeful day, can't wait to get into editing though! except the fact that the interview is in Chinese and only xq & kaydash can understand it. 2 US students & 1 Malay. Hmm, translating is such a bitch sometimes, it gets my mind way tired (especially with the Beijing accent). Otherwise, this is going to be a good combined effort.

An example of translation, typed a pretty long email with the interview content in broad strokes.

JIAYOU EVERYONE!

And to other groups, especially ginacute, cc, JY and mary, JIAYOUUUUU OUR FREEDOM IS NEAR! 8 more days! AND I MISS YOU GUYS! I wish we had more time to spend with everyone, instead of just spending all of our time with our respective groupmates.

I'm so tired now, I wish I didn't have to wake up at 730am tmr. LE SIGH. Yet on the other hand, tomorrow morning is yet another inciting incident for a new beginning!

*..2 weeks into January 2011..*

And I still tend to write 2010.

Life has been a whirlwind, 2 weeks passed us by just like that. It's just the 1st week of school, but this seems to go on forever. Like so much has happened in the past 7 days since 6th January, and we are already halfway into this accelerated module. It is times like this that make me realize how much we can actually achieve within a day, considering we have lessons from 10am-1pm, and often our day ends at 10-11pm after project meetings/discussions, location recces, bringing the US exchange students on trips. And we had shoot on Sat and Sun as well, hence it's been 7 days of continuous action. And counting.

The US people would be going to Malacca over the weekends, and I'm looking forward to catching my breath and probably packing my room for the CNY. But oh no, I guess I might have to go out film some B-rolls or what-nots. And erm, more pre-production, possible re-crafting of story.

Life is sad. Principle photography takes place on Monday and Tuesday, editing from Wed and it's due the following Wed. Basically, I foresee no-lifer weeks all the way through 26th January. Hmm or maybe not, if all goes smoothly and we manage to edit at lightning pace.

Right now, things are unsettling and feeling so insecure. Thank god for group mates like Sulaiman, times like this that you need someone responsible to fight the battle with you.

Just hoping for the best for everything, for prompt replies from everyone we email; flexible scheduling in all we require; cooperative locations when seeking filming permits; and most importantly, please DO NOT dua us, dear cast! You are our everything! Without you, what film can we make out of nothingness.

Really frightened now, but there's not much we can do as yet.

And for some reason, I've been feeling strange of late. Missing just about everyone else in my life, because all I ever see and spend time with the whole day are my 4 other group members. Other Chapman mates, I see them, but yet I don't really see them. We just get to interact for that mere 15 minute break between tutorial, before everyone breaks off into their respective filming groups.

Most of all, I miss the girls- glad we have been able to spend time with each other here and there. Gina, JIAYOU OK!! we're always here for you =)

Above all, I miss people in PL Gang! Like mole pervert, fionna pervert, NWJ, xiaobai, SKINNY LYT, neo shimin, and so many more =) Mimi yeo, 24/03 people, alex aka "xq", my laopopo Joanne-marie....

Have several gatherings to organize, but it seems that I can only be available after Jan 26th when this module ends.

2011, a year of speed and precision. So many things changing, I can't hardly catch up as yet. I haven't even had my 2011 resolution post, or a recap of my 2010. Maybe this weekend I will =)

Nonetheless, this is a good experience...I really like the US exchange kids. Yes they may look much older than us, but they really are kids at 19 or 20. I feel really olddddddd already.

SERIOUSLY? WE ARE GONNA TURN 25 THIS YEAR??? SINCE WHEN!!!!

On a side note, I wish I were rich at this moment. There's so many things I need to do, all of which I cannot do without the presence of $$$$!!

(1) Buy a new digicam to replace my spoilt one (eyeing the black IXUS 130IS)

(2) HK Filmart. Thinking if I should go HK this March for the film market again. Somehow the whole world's going this year, seems really fun to be part of it. BUT....but....$310 just for the air tickets... For a similar amount of money, I could be in Taiwan! Or Bangkok! Eating and shopping like mad...

Sigh the dilemma?

(3) US Hollywood exchange: We have to confirm our interest for HK Filmart & exchange prog all by this week. But seriously, no money no talk. As much as I would want to go, it just doesn't seem very practical for me to incur myself in more debt. We're talking about $10000-$15000 here.

Le sigh. LIFE IS REALLY SAD, tell me about it!

Goodnight, another long day tmr. I feel really, really sick of the sickening routine of school and project. We should not be expected to shoot 2 documentaries in a mere 2.5 weeks. LIFE IS SAD, SAD IS LIFE!

*..I hate this already..*

I feel so sick of school already, despite it being just the 1st day.

The sight of the jam-packed timeline just irks me out.
Such a turn-off.

The uncertainty.
The feeling of being tied down to just one thing for the month of January.
The looming thought that student life will be over in 4.5 months' time.

26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!
26th January hurry come to xq!

I can't wait! Cos that's the end of inter-term module! I love shooting documentaries, but surely, we need more time to plan for everything right? Hate doing things for the sake of meeting deadlines, hate doing things blindly to fulfill course requirements.

The mechanical flow of things, almost robotic. Almost, irksome.

I feel so damn sian, I can't get to sleep now.

*..Life is miserable..*

Just puckered enough courage to check my overall grades for Sem 3. And it's really weird, comparing the alphabetical representation to the numerical representation of each module.

So the grades are SUPPOSED to be as follows:
A+ = 100%
A = >95%
A- = >90%
B+ = >85%
B = >80%
B- = >75%
C+ = >70%
C = >65%
C- = >60%

Any lower, D or F, kinda failed already.

xq's results for Sem 3.

Then I referred to the numerical equivalent and they don't really tally.

Internet Comm : 94.6% (A, ok I think the lecturer rounded up)

Indie Film: Graded us in alphabetical form for all fields, so no diff.

Senior Proj: 1 field wasn't graded so final marks might be inaccurate.

Law & Contracts: 86.5% (Should be B+, but reflected B. Means B+ is from 87-90%? makes no sense for the small range)

Finance: 91% (A-, this one is correct)

VERY UPSET! HATE Bs! They pull down the GPA alot, but I can't hate C any worse. Got 2 Cs for non-transparent reasons last sem too.

But then again, should be thankful there were no Cs this time round. Phew. JIAYOU XQ! 6 more modules to go, 5 more months. Before we join the scary workforce.

We musn't let numerical and alphabetical representations pull us down in what we aim for. Yet the greatest irony of all is, how much of a role these figures and alphabets play in scholarship applications.

It's such a hate-hate thing, not even love-hate.

Life is very sad, especially when my precious IXUS is spoilt. And the warranty was up on 5th Dec 2010. Couldn't the camera have spoilt mysteriously 25 days earlier? OH MAN. Shall see what I can negotiate with the service centre tmr.

The only way to make 2010 end great is....to give me a free servicing for the IXUS! And erm, better still, free replacement set!! WOOHOO!! But the latter is highly impossible. Meanwhile, I've been sneaking around with the warranty documents and trying to decipher things here and there...Just 'cos I'll be minced meat if mum finds out it's spoilt.

STUPID LENS ERROR! WHY DO YOU HAPPEN SO RANDOMLY?!?! the cam has never given me a single problem, and it suddenly died on me with some disgusting clicking sound when I was about to off it.

VERY ANGSTY NOW.

*..xq is still alive!..*

Here's some random photos for the sake of posting something. Been very lazy to blog! and accumulated tonnes of photos!

So xy showed me the new photo on FSV recruitment page.. and this photo was taken by...XQ! HAHA! Okay just a normal photo, but just cheap thrill!

this is a random photo I saw on some random blog of some stranger's nails! SO CUTE!

i want to watch Despicable Me too!! NOW! Who has soft copy, please donate to xq!

And this, a screenshot of fb chat with this lil boy cast from "Thieves", one of Chapman's short film. He's p3 and occasionally chats with me, and he actually remembers who I am. Guess it's because I was "babysitting" him and his twin sister at the shoot.

Boy: What do people do at Christmas parties?

Check out his answer with regards to what Hari Raya is about. LOL!

His sis & him were carrying a fluffy toy cat during the shoot.

Him: Remember that cat we brought?
me: yup, why?
Him: She has clothes now, show you photo next time. Mummy haven't upload.


Last, but not least, this photo cracked me up! JOANNA MARY WAS SO SLEEPY, SHE DOZED OFF ON HER KITCHEN FLOOR! -_- SO UNGLAM! and jy actually posted it on fb. HAHA WELL DONE!

Okay, so I had a hard time uploading, tagging (getting people to help tag) and captioning all the photos before Christmas, and now I have new batches of photos to upload.

This photo debt thing, it's a vicious cycle in my life. Tsk tsk tsk, hope I'll get it all done by the end of 2010! It's just 2 more days, freaky!

Goodbye world! Till the next! Have a great 2010 meanwhile! =)

*..Officially Depressed..*

Till 18th December 2010.

xq's holidays are from 18th Dec 2010 to 5th January 2011. Then, after 19 days of short-lived joy, there will be Cross-Cultural Documentary Inter-term with the CHAPMAN US STUDENTS on exchange in SG.  Hence, xq will be officially depressed again from 6th January 2011 till graduation on 22nd May 2011.

I hate deadlines.
I hate quizzes.
I hate writing.
I hate essays.
I hate readings.
I hate reading emails.
I hate presentations.

And most of all,
I hate exams.

School is starting to be such a dread.

Some things about school may be fun, but too much of something becomes really annoying.

Time to close myself in my room for a stretch of time, to finish up whatever I have on hand.

Le sigh.
Just updated my scheduler and in a mere 4 weeks, there's just too much to be executed.

Welcome to the life of a final year dying student.
Where work just avalanches in an upward manner till it reaches the summit. 


I miss the carefree times already =(

totally lost my mood to sleep tonight.
ANGST AT ITS PEAK.

*..Sunday, happier than expected..*

Just thought I'd type in point form again before I go to sleep.

I figured we have to be thankful and appreciate the little things around us in order to feel happiness from within. I should stop being a pessimist and really take a step back to assimilate the simple joys in life.

- woke up to a thunderstorm this morning. The pitter-patters against the windows, flashes of lightning. The cosy-ness that soothed me back to sleep.

- after a very good sleep, I woke up to yummy brunch cooked by mummy foo--Fish congee, just like the ones at chinese restaurants.

- we stood near the main door, it was Genting-like. The freezing wind so freshening. =)

- went shopping with mummy foo at City Square. Helped her choose clothes and shoes. Been a loooong time since we really went out shopping. Thanks to school and thanks to packed schedules/clashes.

- stocked up on my junk food supplies from NTUC! Cuttlefish, korean salty seaweed and chips!

- had yummy pepper lunch for dinner. Coaxed mummy foo into trying new food and she loved it. HAHA hilarious how she coated almost the whole hotplate with pepper -_-

- talked to slave on msn =) 2 more days to PANDAs!

- talked to carolyn aka 3rd love on msn! =) Awwwww.

- OH AND THE BEST PART IS HERE! I was craving for strawberry fruitare like crazy the past few days and casually mentioned to mummy foo. She went to buy the box of it for me after dinner, whilst I was feeling pek chek sorting out my notes for Rights and Contracts paper just now =)

- Lastly, JUST FOUND OUT THAT TUES' PAPER IS AT 2PM AND NOT 10AM! HO HO HO!!!! =) so thrilled till I can't get myself to sleep.

Okay, overall Sunday's a really nice day.

Can't say the same for Monday though. I can predict it's gonna be lousyyyy already. STUDY STUDY STUDY, burn midnight oil.

Why is life so miserable? I HATE LAW AND CONTRACTS urgh.

*..Random Stuff..*

xq was really bored today and spammed herself with funny videos online.  Watched about every video posted on fb today, and xy provided me with a few. So here you go! =) 

Mr Brown's Show--"I Got A Fewling"



The lyrics are hilarious..laughed till pengz...esp the very random parts about hamster...i imagined ham ham's face btw when the music reached that part -_-


Taiwan Variety Show "瞎拼ABC"
Word Guess in English



Cute Doggy Sleepbarking...



Cute kitties doing some Ip-Man steps.



And last but not least, my favouritest! Cute Chinese Little girl role-playing police woman but freaked out and blabbered hilarious stuff!



Sighhhh so bored. Been home on Friday night, Saturday and I foresee Sunday! Hope I will get into the school mode and study for Rights and Contracts test for Tuesday. JIAYOU XQ!!

But for now, enough of funny videos. Been laughing my head off the past 30 minutes.

Good thing slave dropped by after shoot just now and we managed to catch 1/3 of Personal Taste Episode 4. HAHAHA mole must be thinking we're watching at a really slow rate. One of the nicest Korean dramas I've ever seen! Both funny and sad, all at once.

Mole intro-ed it to me! And miss ng wei jing too. HAHA i really like the female lead.

On a side note, I'm really craving for 3 things now.

(1) SALMON SASHIMI LOTS OF IT
(2) SOFT SHELL CRABSSSS
(3) PEPPER CRABSSS
(4) STRAWBERRY FLAVOUR FRUITARE ICE CREAM

Wahhhhh I feel like dying now, cos there's no more snacks at home except for hershey's chocs that mummy foo adores, so I cannot attack them cos I will finish them up once I get started.

And to continue with my random post, here's a picture which cracked me up yesterday. JOANNA MARY DAMN ACT!

So this weekend and last weekend, xq's been a good girl. Uploaded just about all the photos I've been wanting to.

- xq's 24th (left with presents given to me)
- cecilia's 21st
- old supreme court outing with laopopo aka Joanne Marie
- bad hair cut gang's hair cut trip
- chapman steamboat outing
- random chapman photos

I guess I'm left with not much...

- ham ham photos
- boots and roo (studio cats) photos
- Baybeats 2010 outing
- KL shoot/trip with slave!
- remnants here and there

Had enough of photo editing and uploading. The captioning and tagging...AND WAITING TIME is most annoying...Have to do it in moderation...next week it shall be!

For now what should xq do? Watch MOVIE on my computer and find some junk food to attack. For some strange reason, I'm in a holiday mood. Kudos to all the fatigue from school I guess. Hate deadlines, hate mid-terms....hate LAW AND CONTRACTS!!!

*..Many things I miss..*

I miss my grandma.
I miss ham ham.
I miss stones.
I miss milo peng
(our 3 hamsters)

I miss my old friends.
I miss the good old days.
I miss having alot of time on hand.
I miss short film shoots.

I miss my panda!

If only there were more hours in a day, then we could maximise time spent with everyone we miss.

*Sigh* feeling so sad and down now. For no apparent reason. Left with 4 hrs 45 mins to sleep now.

I hate that annoying mid term paper for Indie Film tomorrow. ARGHHHHHHH just let me be over and done with it. And the next 2 papers in the following 2 weeks are gonna be worse than hell. Production Financing and Law & Contracts.

School has already been annoying enough, and these MID TERM PAPERS have to make the situation worse than it already is.

Take things one step at a time xq. HANG IN THERE!

meowwwww.

*..101010 was annoying..*

Stayed over at miss mole's house to help out in her tabulation of marks and counting of summary words to facilitate her marking of the final year papers of her sec 1 students.  And she treated us to macs breakfast in the morning.  We decided to ask xiaobai along and she did come! =)

but that was about all that was nice to 101010. Nice date, but sucky day it turned out to be.

had wanted to watch Memento with slave.  but the moment I got home and checked my email, I was greeted by this annoying announcement from my lecturer.

So they were mostly due in class on Wednesday and he very conveniently brought forward everything to sunday night. And mind you, some of the things could take an eternity to do. Esp the story outline/treatment for Senior Project.

And so xq spent 1-5pm doing poster for Indie Film with Joanna mary, email blasts. Getting all angsty with Photoshop simply becos I'm lousy at it and really sucks to know what you want to achieve, but not be able to do that due to restrictions of my limited (lousy) skill.  Had to keep googling for step by step guides.

Spent 5-8pm brainstorming my story idea and loopholes with slave. It would have taken weeks if I'd done it alone.

8-9pm eating nice dinner by mama foo. Oh that 2nd nice thing of 101010.

9-1am typing my treatment in full, 5 pages of prose. Only to realize at the end of it that there are still many loopholes to the story.  But still submitted it just to meet the deadline. Shall refine it when time permits or inspiration strikes.

1-2am thinking and typing out my marketing and distribution plan but gave up halfway cos my brain could not decipher nor process what I was typing.

I swear I haven't done that much homework all in a day.

Thanks lecturer! For the really last minute notice that killed all of us.  Almost everyone was half dead in class today, and probably a good half of them barely slept last night.

Sigh. Did I mention, there's Internet Communications' MID TERM ON WEDNESDAY?! means our tuesday is no break, but for studying.  

JUST KILL ME.

*..A Day full of Coincidences..*

Today was nice.
Point form again.

I met slave in the morning.
We went to lf's studio to have lunch with him.
Slave sent me to Macpherson mrt and we drove past Alex aka "xq" who was standing by the road side. 

My laopopo Joanne-Marie called and said I can go for the Old Supreme Court tour with her today.
It rained so she couldn't ride there and we took mrt together for the 1st time.
My 1st time in the old supreme court and in a real court room.
A major eye opener, will upload photos when I'm really too free.
We were there from 2-4pm.
Bumped into Jean Hair there.
Means I met like 3 people from "Love Song" today, what are the odds?

We went for tea at BK Raffles City, greedily ate one full set.
Sat there to chat for 2 hrs.
Laopopo bumped into 1 actor and 1 actress friend.
I know that actress too, uncle Calvin's MOS shoot's cast.

Met PL Gang celebrate Huzi's very belated birthday @ Waraku Central Mall.
Had the udon I was craving for.
Met my favourite group of friends and made my night.
WJ aka apple girl sewed a lovely drawstring pouch for me =)
She brought polaroid camera too.
I now feel like buying the latest polaroid.
So sleek and pretty, and my birthday is next Friday *grins*

This is so gorgeous I would die for it!

Instax mini 50S

Was standing at a strange corner talking to PL Gang.
Saw FSV Lecturer Craig McTurk run up the escalator.
Slave & I were just talking about him this morning.
I said Hi and was expecting "H...he...heyyyyy xiuqi, how's it goin'?"
He said hi and rushed off.
15 minutes later, he walked back to the strange spot we were at just to continue the conversation. What a nice lecturer he is. We should stop making fun of him. hmmmm.

Took NEL back with neo, hz and pw.
Neo was crazy as usual, we laughed like crazy at her weird antics.
Walked home slowly with my bruised feet, kudos to my sandals.
It's feeling kinda raw now, sobs.
Read my gmail inbox only to realize that Mid-Term begins on wednesday.
And I have to study on my birthday probably.

And hence, I feel like dying now.
Goodbye world.
Shall wake up earlier tmr to do some homework.

How can someone give us so much homework, and exams simlutaneosly?