*..Give Thanks..*

Back in PL days, I used to have a favourite song amongst many.

I used to hum it on my way back home, before I sleep, whenever I'm feeling afraid and despondent from the pressures of life...

I used to vent my worries by playing the tune on the piano when I'm alone at home, and singing to it...

Somehow, the song never fails to soothe my emotions.

I realize I haven't been doing (all of) the above in a long while, but today I received the answer to my prayers for the longest time. =)

My heart fluttered and I was almost delirious. It was a dream come true, I wanted to shout for joy.

I guess it's true, about how patience is virtue.

About how when we don't get one thing we most desire, it is not "never" but "not yet". About how His plans for us get revealed in perfect timing.


"God will make a way,
When there seems to be no way;
He works in ways we cannot see,
He will make a way for us.

He will be my guide,
Hold me closely to his side;
With love and strength for each new day,
He will make a way;
He will make a way."


Everything in His time, indeed.
With this, life would be perfect soon enough. =)

So I guess, I'm about to fulfill one of my 2012 resolutions! The year looks promising and exciting enough already =)

*..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.

*..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! =)

*..Happy Birthday, Singapore!..*

The days leading up to National Day, xq had been pondering if she should go catch the NDP fireworks.  Been "chasing" fireworks like a fan girl since JC days with the PL gang and FSV gang, my parents as well! There's 3 major occasions for fireworks annually, minus the fringe events:

(1) National Day
(2) New Year's Eve Countdown
(3) International Fireworks Festival

Haven't seen a single fireworks display since 2008 NYE.  And just as I decided against seeing it this year, a twist of events required slave to videograph the fireworks from Textile Centre's highest floor. So this means that, XQ WAS FATED TO WATCH FIREWORKS THIS NDP 2010! WOOHOO!

We reached early at about 545pm and was fascinated by how old school the textile centre really is. Only been there once before, to purchase backdrop cloth for Year 1 FSV Studio Production with the T1B3 girls. 2006.  Other than that, pretty excited because it's near my Grandma's old house and Jalan Sultan held many precious childhood memories of xq's. Used to catch the NDP flypast and fireworks from Ah Ma's house with relatives back in kindergarten till early primary school years.

Then we spotted the parachuteeee very tiny.

This was the closest we got to the flypasts.

Looked down the stairway and got a fright from the height. 

xq lovess sunsets!! And silhouettes.

We loveee shadows too! heh heh! in the evening sun!

Time to camwhore the videographer whilst he's framing up!

The nicest shot of me, too bad the wind messed my hair up!

After 29736823 attempts, I finally got a few decent sunset shots of slave! wahhhhh! =)

All of which taken by my IXUS 100IS! haha don't belittle consumer cameras! Only the sky shots of fly pasts were taken with my Prosumer Powershot S5IS. Either way, Canon rocks!

We caught sight of the tankers along Beach Road.

And the night mode of the IXUS looks pretty cool. It's surprisingly better than my Powershot. Here's the very smoky skies after fireworks (majorly blocked by Suntec city and another building)

And the pretty night landscape of the low-lying shophouses.

Okay finally getting sleepy. From waiting 47528913 mins for the photos to be uploaded onto blogger.  Been having insomnia. Hais.

I loveee long weekends btw! Wonder when's the next. 

And it was ham ham's 1st birthday on 9th August 2010 too =)

MORE PHOTOGRAPHY TRIPS COMING OUR WAY =)

*..A good start to the week..*

Been lazy to blog of late, because too many things have been happening.

Today's a happy day, I did alot of things I've been wanting to do.

Though the day could have been better if slave was around in SG, oh well, 1-2 more days more!! Can't wait! =)

- Before I slept last night, I finally completed the Idol Drama I've been hooked to. 《下一站，幸福》The best one I've seen so far, it's simply amazing.  It made me feel a gazillion sorts of emotions: happy, sad, cry, angry, disappointed, disgusted, proud, envious and the list goes on.  Really an emotional and learning journey, following every character in the story and growing with them as the plot unveils. Please watch if you haven't already!

- Woke up realizing that my ulcer is almost recovered!! =)

- Had lunch at Lor Ah Soo market with mummy foo.  I woke up adamant about spending my entire day with mummy =)  We had yummy dessert too!

- Mummy foo and xq cut their hair at their usual hairdresser's.  There was a sale! Cut, Wash and Blow is usually $20+, but it was a mere $8 today. The simple joys of life! Somehow, the guy managed to blowdry my hair and comb etc, till it no longer looks like a stack of hay.  Hmm I bet it will be back to the old state tmr!

- Treated mum to yummy KFC's egg tarts and DEVIL WINGSSSSS *beams*  I hope devil wings will be with me forever moreeee.

- Shopped around and bought some snacks for movie.

- Mum cooked yummy jap mushroom soup for dinner.

- Managed to talk to slave twice on msn today. =) 

- Chapman timetable's out. Next sem seems free-er than year 1.  But SEEMS is a very apt word, cos things can't be as simple as they look on the timetable.  Can smell something brewing *shudder*

- Treated mummy and papa foo to 〈老牛吃嫩草〉aka Old Cow Vs Tender Grass Movie at Cathay Cineleisure. The show was kinda entertaining, but the plot was horribly weak.  Nonetheless it was happy to see mummy and papa foo happy the whole time =)   Sometimes, a small amount of money can generate lots of happiness if you utilize it properly, like treating parents to their favourite kind of movie =)

- XY suggested we go Kampong Buangkok for photography trip with Auntie Qammie tmr! Hope I can wake up =) I've been wanting to go there for the longest time!

- Yousendit 1478546275 photos from Widescreen YOG shoot to the producer at long last.

- Unpacked all the bags lingering on my room's floor.

- Cleaned my very dirty white laptop.  It's kinda white again =)

- Charged all my draining batteries.

- Emptied some stuff from laptop into my hard disk, saving 6GBs =)


Think I better get some sleeeep.  Another happy day tmr.

*..I found it!..*

Finally found the 2 songs I've been looking for, I think there's a couple more I haven't found.  Hmm good thing FM93.3's online streaming has the song title of the current song on transmission, makes it easy for me to check back.

南拳媽媽(梁心頤) - 下雨天

Lara looks abit different here, from shan hu hai MV. Hmmm, plastic surgery?

嚴爵 : 我喜歡(不,我愛)

I loveeee Cheena emo nemo songs!

*..SUN YANZI!!..*

Today, a very nice thing happened.

XQ SAW SUN YANZI AKA HER GREATEST IDOL FOR THE 2ND TIME IN HER LIFE WOOHOO!!!




Let me gush! HAHAHA!!!! =)

the 1st time was when I was 17, in my tjc uniform. I was with PL Gang. I can't remember who exactly though. Peiwen, the rest a blur. Was it WJ and Shimin? or Nu?

We spotted her at Taka level 1 watch dept, and peiwen encouraged me (whose heart was palpitating like mad for some reason) to trail her and so we did. We followed her till across the road, where the old swensens used to be. She was on her hp you see.

Then clever me had her "Kite" CD in my Discman then, so we asked her to autograph on it. HAHAHA what are the odds!

So today, went Macs @ Serene Centre aka beside Island Creamery with slave. After I bought our ice cream, he said: "You just missed your idol by a few secs."

And there she was, long haired and meatier than before. HAHA she was all bones the 1st time I saw her. Looking very ordinary like you and me, but xq's all-time idol. WOOHOO!!!

SIGH. HURRY NEW ALBUM PLS! she seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Papa foo's response?
"Why you never run up to her and scream AHHHH SUN YANZI WO AI NI!!!!"
"If I'm there, I will help you!"

-_-

Talking about sun yanzi, reminds me of the one person who introduced her to me. Zhang Zheng, my secondary school friend who's no longer in touch with us. We kinda lost touch along the years and sigh, how I miss her so. Been trying to locate her on fb, to no avail. =(

One day, we'll meet again =)

*..Happy 1st year, BUBU & BIRDIE..*

Been a long time since I last used my Canon S5 IS, lent it to a friend for half a year. Took it out to use that day and as usual, it sucked in low light, producing grainy and patchy photos. But loved the rotatable LCD screen which is perfect for ZI PAI. and the niceee video function (with excellent sound).

Introducing our new photo corner =) Shall develop even more so that we can stick photos everywhere!!







HAPPY ANNIVERSARY OUR DEAR CHICKENS! =) joanna thinks im crazy cos was telling her last night that these are not just ordinary chickens stuffed with cotton, but LIVE CHICKENS HEHEHE! at least to me.


So bubu and birdie are now happily sleeping at Panjang and will be together for some time. HAHAHA! HONEYMOONING! they've been away from each other for months.

and sigh essay is driving me nuts, which explains the post.

*..人间有情..*

As the cliched adage goes: "A friend in need is a friend indeed." Someone who offers you a helping hand in dire times and add a little colour to the grey skies, are who I call true friends.

Tonight, 2 very nice friends of mine touched my heart and brought a smile to my angsty night.

WOOHOO FINALLY GOT THE FEMALE CAST! in erm, like, 3 days prior to shoot.

Thanks Y-vonne aka Ah Qi (Who has now been upgraded to wife status!) and thanks Cherylene (my kindergarten friend whom I've still been in touch with).


人间仍然有情，
今晚，我深深地感受到温馨的友情。

*..Panda has found a name!..*

Introducing our latest addition to the family of Bubu, Birdie, Gigo, Bear Bear, Blue Blue, Pink Pink, Missy etc.

*DRUM ROLLS*

This is DA DA!!! The PANDA!!


from Hong Kong's Ocean Park. One of my favourite buys from HK! hahaha not cheap ok!!! but worth ittttt.

Slave named it Othello at first but such a mouthful, then it became DA DA and I think it's a brilliant name!

So niceee to hug Da Da to sleep everydayyyy. =) So round, fluffy, cuddly, cuteeee faceeee, everything niceee!

I loveee Da Da and thanks joannamary for choosing her out of the close to 20 other "Da Da" from the shelves! =) You're the GOD MA K!! let u hug when u're at my house. =)

BTW, slave says it's pronounced with a slang. "DA DA" is to be pronounced as "Daa Daa". Hmm not nice... DADA in the cheena piang accent is nicer!

After all, it's from HongKong!

Oh and meet her daughter, PICHU!!! belongs to Cecilia chin, bought by ginaNOTcute.


The cuteness runs in the genes!

*..I love museums!..*

Besides the library, xq loves going to museums too! There's just soooo many interesting exhibitions and short film screenings at our museums from time to time =) And the best thing? THEY'RE FREE!!!! WOOHOO!! going to National Museum with my wife aka xiaobai (peiwen) later =)

YAY i've never seen Mummies before! Only documentaries and read books about them. Egyptian mummies and pyramids are just about the most mysterious things to me in this world. Slave says I'm suaku to have not seen them before. If it's nice, shall go with him again! HAHA photography trip! =)




i love exhibitions that allow photo taking! =) this one does, according to cc and gina! HEHEHE which reminds me of the Greek exhibition some years back which I went with xiaobai and wj hot babe! On 23rd Feb 2008. Whoa exactly 2 years ago =)

"Greek Masterpieces from the Louvre"


one of my favourite shots from the exhibition.


haha this was taken with self-timer mode.


I liked this pic alot! =)

*..Happy CNY eve!..*

WOOHOO it's CNY eve already! Feeling so sleeeeepy though, don't know whyyyy.

Had lots of bad dreams which I can't recall.

Anyway it's gonna be an exciting day! Cos there's gonna be 1 reunion lunch with the Lows and 1 reunion dinner with the Foos. Muahaha what are the odds of having 2 very yummy meals on the same day!

Yayyy jus cleared the camera. Better get ready to set off for yummy meal #1 soon.

Happy CNY dear all! enjoy the festive cheer and long weekend! =)

*..Meet Boots!..*

This is Boots! Slave's 2nd bro's new pet at the studio.


Photo taken by his brother I think, kopped from their FB. HAHA! Slave cat-napped it from AMK yesterday. It's a stray that looks almost too perfect to be one.

It's really amusing and heartwarming seeing grown adults go all soft and fuzzy for the sake of a furry creature. Aww. And it's the first kitty I've ever dared play with and not fear that it'd bite/scratch me or something. Boots is the friendliest cat you'd ever see. Heh heh, like to tickle its tummy!And she'll roll on her back, back and forth. Took some pics of her but shall post it next time.

Today's a happy day. Or should I say it's pets day. 1st it was Boots, then we went to Eastpoint pet shop to exchange for a bigger cage for kitty. The pet shop was filled with endless animals. Cute doggies, hamsters and guinea pigs. Oversized bunnies that are absolutely ugly but amusing to look at. I miss my guinea pigs! Not forgetting, obsessed dog owners who think their dogs are real human babies! LOL.

Tried the new BK burger. Cheesy Bacon Chicken Crisps or whatever. I think I got the combination wrong. It was so-so. But the chicken wings were nice though.

Finally got down to reading the 110 pages of script for Coverage assignment. Feeling super sleepy since then. OH MISERY. I hate giving comments for scripts, cos it's subjective.

Then we changed Ham Ham's stuff and let her swim in a mini tank to bathe her. Okay, not WE. I watched only. HAHAHA!!! but Ham Ham was petrified and there was 7 pieces of shit in the mere 15-20 minutes.

And we had zi char with 1st Bro and GF after that. Super yummy and satisfying meal.

Nothing beats having good food and cuteee animals. Hmmm the only spoiler of the day was Coverage assignment. Okay, back to it. The dreaded feeling. Can't wait for Thursday to come! End of this module.