a series of unfortunate events

1. one of those weekend, i had loads of work to do. so i thought working at starbucks will be a good idea. at least the coffee and not working next to a bed will be helpful. there i go, didnt mind a bit going all the way to a further starbucks because i prefer to work in a more quiet place. happily i bought my iced latte... chose my table near a sit with a plug, changing table making sure it is balance. taking out my laptop... "oh no, i forgotten my mouse and wacom. it is ok. forget all about completing my work. change of plans, i should at least do some research for my project." to find out that i actually forgotten my charger too and so happen my battery was running low. right, i left that place in a short half an hour. went home, guess what i saw my bed and i slept. there goes the sunday i was trying to be efficient.

2. apple invention is really smart. i always believe so. to avoid ppl tripping over my charger wire and dragging my laptop along they had created this magnetic part to my battery wire. i find that really convenient, so most of the time instead of removing the plug head, i removed this magnetic side. because of this convenience, it had coz me many times to forget my charger. despite leaving and having to rush back to this destination to collect it back, im more than thankful to complain. at least i do not need to buy another charger which will probably cost me more than the petrol and time needed.

that day, i was rushing home after class to reply an email and a rush job for my client. i was glad my class finished early. about 5ish just before the the jam hit the area. once i stepped home, i quickly unpacked my laptop and mouse. i reached inside to my bag... "gosh where is my charger." i panicked. "oh no, where is my charger? i must have left it in my college library." i quickly rushed back to my car, rushed back to college, rushed back to the library, not to find anything. i called home to ask my mum to check, she said "your white plug... isnt it on your table next to your laptop." i was speechless. i unpacked so fast, i actually already taken it out. but i dont remember doing it at all. all i did was panicked and search the bag all over again twice. i didnt even bother to look around though it was all within my view. i felt so stupid because by that time i left college the second time, i was trapped in a jam of the peak hour and it was too late to catch my client.

3. it is submission day the next day, so i worked thru the night till probably 4ish in the morning. someone sms me in the morning about 9. i was pleased to reply her, in fact thankful she smsed if not i will be way too late for my class. so i jumped off my bed. packed my things and left for college. it is a 9.30am replacement class. "why is it, i dont see anyone around?" tried to reach out for my phone to call my other classmates but i cant find it in my bag. must be i forgotten my phone in that rush. still no one appears. so i went to the office to look for my lecturer. he said "the class is in the afternoon, not morning." the intended replacement was morning but everyone cant make it so the change of date and time, yes i actually remembered after that i was informed but i mixed it up. im sleepy, i could have sleep a few more hours. but it is ok, i will not go home. i will go to buckie to troubleshoot my flash project. when i payed for my latte, i found my hp. it was there afterall.

4. i keep reminding the new girl in the office, "dont forget to do it in the new size yah" (our magazine have just change their measurements, so we need to redo all the pages template). everything went really well. i was careful to duplicate all the template to the latest size. a day after that i found out that i had done my cover in the wrong size. im so sorry... they redo it because i was in class. they were very forgiving and merciful. they kinda just informed me, didnt even raise a voice.

5. i was a bit late for class so i ended up parking at a spot i normally refuse to park, knowing that this spot is the favourite double parking spot. but u see im late, beggar cant be chooser, right? so i just parked. of course im right, i've got double parked. but what i do not expect is the double parking is so massive that not one but three cars double parked me. so i honked and i waited. no one come. i walked around these three cars and i found out, one kind soul who is probably a student like jelly-used-to-be-and-does wrote "sorry, i have to double park your car. call me at 017 XXX XXX". at this point, i remembered... i left my phone at home. this time for real.

then i went to curve to do some stuff, it was about 6pm so the jam already hit the area. i wanted to go to sunway so i took the bangsar route towards NPE. im not exactly sure how to get to NPE from bangsar but how hard can it get right? but just to be sure, i will make a call to my friend. just right at this point... all three friends i called decided not to pick up. so i passed bangsar, passed maybank... thinking of doing the u-turn when this one particular person that picked up do not exactly know how to lead me from that side, insisting i should go back to towards the mosque side... so i ended up towards the museum... but lucky i saw the damansara sign i turned back to jalan duta. oh no... i've got myself in another heavier jam than nkve. later ppl start calling me back to tell me i was right, i should have make that u-turn. so the smart me... when all the way past damansara, and bangsar again... and maybank, and u-turn and all the rest till i finally reached sunway. the total time is about the same as if i've taken nkve straight in the first place.

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am i unlucky? nope, in fact i was very grateful out of most of the incidents. am i complaining and cursing it is a spiritual attack. nah, i dont think the devil is free for me. so why am i listing all these things down. because it suddenly dawn on me these sleeping late, coffee and rush rush is not really helping me. all of a sudden, it reminds me of those ppl that doesnt have a sense of urgency. i used to be very agitated by them. "how can they still move so slowly when they are late." now i think of them wise. the last few days, despite the rush... i packed my bag very slowly and carefully. i told myself going back to get things doesnt help me save time. on a highsight, i think i have master all this nonsense. im not even upset about it anymore. nevertheless, i intend to end this shit. yes, anna... trust me, less coffee... sleep early. dont start getting clumsy like me :)

DISCLAIMER: my life is not that bad, im just compiling my clumsiness. the rest of the hours was fun, like the weddings, the birthdays, even the bit about baby sitting the twins while my mum is away. and yes, i actually enjoyed my assignments, got to know a few fun ppl the last week, and found the soft yogurt ice cream i discovered in spore. life has it fair share of sweet and sour.

paying attention to sound

am learning to insert sound to my flash animation now. this is when i learn to pay attention in the beauty of sound. it is really nice isnt it. i have watched this before, and again, but i am not bored of it yet.

when busy get crazy

from today till next weekend:

4 WEDDINGS AND HAPPENINGS
1. i have two weddings to attend
2. guide two couples thru their wedding planning/program
3. design a wedding invite and lots of prep for another wedding

COLLEGE
4. webpage design: convert at least 3 pages of my artwork to dreamweaver
5. 1 minute flash video: suppose to complete all my frames. 20 frame per second means 1200 frames (faint!)

WORK
6. half a magazine to do
7. proposal for a coffee table book
8. 3 other small jobs to follow up

FRIENDS
9. 2 different friends from singapore that i really want to meet up

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sorry, there are just so many thing... i need to list it down to decide which to do first. the funny thing is, none of it is a chore. i am looking forward to do all of it, i only wish i have more than a week to do all this. now BREATHE.

how ru feeling today?

my next project's moodboard -- vintage and grunge mood

be part of my work

ta-dah.... character design. trust me, i have never drawn a character before in my life. this would be my first of many to come and i am proud of myself. but here, i am not asking for praises. user testing are normally done to survey viewer opinions. let me know your behaviour toward my interfaces by filling the polls here and leave comments how to improve them in the comment box. thank you thank you.

intimidated by the young

ppl say if u hang around with younger ppl you will feel younger. im not sure about that, but i dont have much of a choice. now in college and party, im almost surrounded with friends that are younger than me. but what the heck, i try to enjoy myself and put that aside. i reminded myself not to think too much because it just so often screw up my day and eventually my life. and you know what, they are really kinda fun. somehow life is so simple for them, unhurt, undamaged.

im kinda stress in class. students and lecturers have expectations from me. i repeatedly tell myself, "i just need to finish my work. i dont need to prove to anyone anything, im not here to be a top scorer." up to date i still refuse to use my money to bind any of my project submission, unashamedly i stapled them. using more money instead to buy my latte haha. i choose to believe that good work has nothing to do with all this outlook. yet i found myself staying awake to finish my assignments till wee hours of the morning. one night, i even found myself reprinting my work all over again and redoing the whole mock up. in the middle of that, i felt so stupid. "what a waste of time and ink". i hate it when the perfectionist part of me take over. the second mock up look worst than the first, but i wasnt ready to give more attention to that piece of work. so i just went to bed.

i used to believe whatever we do, do our best as to glorify God. i am not denying that but beginning to question if my motivation was that all this while. i realised that so often i want to do the best because i am just another insecure bitch. especially now in college, im not even there to score... the cert no longer matters to me. i need to keep my focus right, push myself to learn the most not work the hardest. except for that bit im enjoying class, learning a lot of new things, falling in love with design all over again. 

make the logo bigger

im not sure if this video is a mockery to clients or designers. but i cannot stop laughing. the actual website video is here. but i think the youtube version loads better.

those designers out there must be darn stress to even come out with a song for it. hysterical.

maybe i should start playing the video at the background, when irritating client call. and make that song my call waiting music. wahahahahha....

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* insiders joke for designers and ppl who liase with ridiculous (no-design-sense) clients. had been doing loads of research for college work. what i didnt know is it can be so fun.

pixel man

actual work

in class, im thinking of sunbathing. i need another tan :)



every dot of effort to actually form that

latte

no latte in china. poor thing, i, on the other hand had been having overdose of latte. thanks to the whole stacks of buy 1 free 1 starbucks voucher from HOT office. you wont believe i actually finished it, right? i did.

things they show us in class

excuse the F*** words, but this is really cool isnt it. i used to love typography, also because im not good in illustration thus my design depends a lot in typo. it is time to polish that skill.

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i think im balancing my time quite well for the first week. meeting all my deadlines with a record of only ONE late night up to 4am. even managed to rest almost the whole day the following day. deserve a clap, not too bad. show u some of my assignments next week. quite interesting.

back to college

introduction:
hi im chaiyen, a graduate of THE ONE, i miss the suffering here that is why i am back for more.

and seriously my college did not disappoint, the 3 hours class left me with:
1. a new blog which i have to set up to blog what i learn from my weekly lesson
2. a minor project brief which i need to submit sketches/concept
3. a major project brief which i need to submit some research

overwhelm is an understatement. after that one class i seriously am thinking of bailing out. it didnt take me too long to remind me how crazy life was as a student at THE ONE.