Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Carpentry lessons

We had none and this post is not going to give you much of one either! But I do have before and after photos of the chest-of-drawers/shelf that Hann and I built from scratch.

After, designing, shopping, lots of drilling, bolts and screws (and screw ups) later, we managed to get it to look like this:


Before painting


After painting

Not bad considering we had no experience and we started from just a large slab of mdf board! The project took about a total of 2 weeks to finish but it was good fun and I learned a lot from it. Special thanks to Hann for letting me use all his machines and use his shed for storage!




Next post will be sketches from the Japan trip!

Friday, November 5, 2010

It's good to be a glutton in KL and Korea

This post is all about food =) Very image heavy and as previously warned, do not read this post in the middle of the night unless you want a guilt trip.


First off, let's start with the good ol' roti telur with curry, dhal and more curry from Jaffar in Sunway


From top left - down: Assorted local drinks from a cafe selling ikan bakar (grilled fish); soft and fluffy J.Co donuts; classic vanilla cupcake with a rich icing on top, both from Sunway Pyramid


A hang out place suggested by Rinheart - Winter Warmers, hot drinks were served in delicately painted tea cups but I ordered an ice blended green tea. It was nice and cooling on a hot day in Sunway =)


A small stall next to the cinemas in Sunway Pyramid, decent fries with a large choice of dips, love the slogan too!


A popular meal choice for large group gatherings - STEAMBOAT! Top: BBQ plaza and Bottom: Yuen Steamboat (restaurant of choice for the MEMS gang)


Angie knows my love for Jap food, so she brought me to Rakuzen in SS15. Verdict - very decent serving size and the meal was awesssommmmmeee =)


Took a day trip down to Melaka to meet Shi Jia, bought snacks for the trip, very nostalgic as I haven't had them in ages. Thanks for driving Angie!


The must haves when you reach Melaka from top: Chicken rice served in circular rice balls; Assam laksa; ABC with thick gula Melaka syrup *drools*


And now for Korean food! It was an overnight flight so we arrived the next morning hungry for breakfast. Jiman koko got some kimbab (rice balls) stuffed with gochujang pork yum!
Some more food bought from a bus rest stop, little walnut cakes and fish cake skewers


The huge lunch Jiman koko's mum prepared for us with heaps of assorted side dishes, quite an eye candy too! Everything was so presentable.


Market food! The main dish is called Sunde, with sweet potato noodles and pork blood stuffed in pork intestines. Doesn't sound very appealing to most people but it was pretty yummy!


The menu at a large foodcourt. Much like Japan I'm guessing, they have inedible model versions of the meal on display so you could choose which one you like. So realistic you'll be tempted to eat it until you realise it was all plastic :P


My brother and I were also keen in trying the different fastfoods around there from the top:
A sushi roll and sandwich meal box with fried chicken from a supermarket; LOTTERIA~~ Bulgogi burger was small but tasty!; Dumpling ramyun with sides


We also had grilled eel in Yeoso, about 2+ hours drive from Gwangju, best in the area apparently! The top photo is a raw crab side dish, very fresh and juicy. The koreans would get upset if you tried putting the crabs on the grill...


Later in the Korea trip, we went to a small village near Seoul called Seoshin where we had Seafood korean pancake (bottom right) and hand made noodles (top right)... So YUM! Oh, we also went to a beach laden with oysters which we picked off and ate on the spot :P

To finish off, I have some pictures of the food I made for my sis. Been promising her a three course meal for ages now (she requested asian food) and I finally had the chance 2 weeks ago.

Creamy crab soup for entre
Sticky pork ribs and tofu with mixed veges for main
Strawberry soft chesecake for dessert


Boiling the crab to cook the meat and to make the stock for the soup~


The main meal TADDAAAAA~!


And lastly, a picture of the cheesecake with strawberries on top, not very presentable but at least it tastes good =)

The next post will be short: The making of my chest-of-drawers-shelf hybrid

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Korea


Very very late post on Korea. But I have lots of sketches for it so I'm really happy with this post :P

So we arrived at Incheon airport and found out that they don't use the simcard system and we would need to rent a mobile phone at the counter at the airport. Jiman koko did just that and this was the guy manning the counter that day...



Check out the dude's whacky hairstyle! It was super geeky coconut cut fringe and then all crazy and funky at the back and top! My mum, bro and I couldn't stop laughing when we saw the guy and secretly took photos of him :P

Weather there was very warm contrary to our belief that it was 'autumn'. The seasons were 15 days late this year so we arrived just shy of the start of autumn. No pretty red and yellow leaves, how unfortunate =(

Spending the first few days in Gwangju was nice and relaxing, for me and my bro anyways. My parents were swept off to dress up for studio photo shoots with sis and Jiman koko and his mum. Dad got a nice new jacket just for the wedding! Here he is checking himself out in the mirror of the hotel room with the jacket on :P


Ed had to dress up nicely for the wedding as well but was ill prepared by bringing an old shirt (!) Therefore he had to go shopping no matter how much he dreaded it ... But at least he looks handsome and he seemed pretty pleased with the black shirt mum got him.



Then off to Jeju Island for 4 days. A quick sketch of buildings inspired by the gel pen drawings on the glass windows of some cafes on Jeju and also in some cafes in Seoul. I really like this style and I'm really glad I managed to pull it off!



Remember I mentioned we thought it would be autumn by the time we reached Korea? Well, I seemed to have underestimated the tropical sun of the south island that is Jeju island. On our last day there we hiked up the sunrise peak at midday, and I got badly sunburnt... LOL

Ever wondered why the koreans are so fair? They are dead scared of the sun and getting tan and this is how they protect themselves...



NOT REALLY! Hahaha, but the korean ajumas (aunties or old women) all wear this huge reflector thing that is a cap during the day. This is an ajuma selling dried chili in a street market of Gwangju. Most of the younger girls look like this:



They love their checks! Guys and girls alike wear checkered shirts of all colours... and it was evident in the shopping malls too. Must be quite a trend.

Speaking of shopping, the night before my sis's wedding I had to buy a bottle of foundation that could hide the burns on my shoulders cause the T-shirt tan was pretty darn ugly. Good thing I was the photographer... meaning there weren't as many pictures with me in it =)



Mum looked gorgeous in a traditional korean hambok, eventhough she didn't get the colour she wanted (pink). You always look better in blue mum. Everyone said she looks scarily like Jiman koko's mum... they looked like twins!



And finally the couple themselves! Jiman koko was wearing a tuxedo (penguin suit ftw!!) with lots of bling (very korean style apparently) and sis had a really nice korean hairstyle with a super long veil which she kept complaining about because it was so hot! Congrats again!



Preview of the next post...




YEAP!!! FOOD PICTURES!!! MUAHAHAHAHA! Do not read the next post in the middle of the night, you are sure to feel like snacking

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Busy as a Bee

Bzz bzzzz....


Well, looks like my plan to update my blog in late September failed >.< I have a few sketches inspired by my trip from Korea but I'm not finished with them and I will not upload them till I'm finished... But it's gonna be a massive blog post (hopefully)! So no sketches for this post but! a small update on what has happened so far: Korea - KL trip was AWEESOOMMEE~!! It was great meeting up with everyone again in Sunway and food in KL and Korea was heavenly=) Angie came to Melbourne then went off to NZ :'( Built a chest of drawers with bookshelf from scratch (photos to come - it looks awesome no matter what you say Hann) Zonghui came to Melbourne! Finally! :D Got a new phone! XD (number will not change) And now for the Things I have to do: Upload more sketches for a proper blog post Upload some heavenly food porn for my Korea - KL blog post Finish writing my literature review for my project Finish writing my assignment/exam for research practices Finish planning for my trip to Japan (!) ... can't believe I'm going to Japan!!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Hiatus

Nope, not talking about the July - August hiatus but about the September hiatus as well...




I AM GOING TO KL AND KOREA FOR A 3 WEEK HOLIDAY!!!! :D

So, July has been a super super busy month, with my sister's wedding and Janis coming down to Melbourne. August was also really busy with wushu training and performances... I'll have a few long posts to cover for July and August plus a super long one for September.

I can't wait to meet my friends in KL (ANGGIIIIIEEEEEEE I'm coming to see you in less than 24 hours!!! OMG!!! Squeeaaaaa!). It'll be great to catch up with all my Sunway friends again. I've missed you guys heaps! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Korea is like and most definitely looking forward to the food! :P I also haven't met my dad in ages! Cause he didn't come to my graduation last year... hmmpph... ah well. If I do finish my PhD he'll have to come to that one! :P

It's gonna be a very very interesting month ahead indeed. I hope it'll be enjoyable! =) Hopefully I'll be able to post updates at the end of September otherwise this blog would have lost its purpose!




Gonna miss a certain someone in Melbourne too =) Take care!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Moving Forward

05.07.2010


It's time to take the next step ...

Thursday, June 24, 2010

June Babies

To Steven, Deevina, my ex-roommate Lina, Yasir, my younger sister Janis, Nahidah, Zonghui, Shi Jia, Michelle, Henry, Saebeq, Ain, Namita, Swee, Cain, Hann, my older sister Karen... Huge birthday wishes to all of you guys!! For some odd reason, most of my friends are born in this month!

For Steven's birthday


For Cain's Birthday


For Hann's Birthday - I still find it weird that you name your car!


I've been meaning to make a post sooner but I've been pretty busy. So this little guy down here can squeeze in this post cause he deserves at least that much. Referenced from a photo taken by Hann from the Melbourne zoo trip =)
RAWR!!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Squall

My favourite character ever! Here he is in his SeeD uniform:




Piano piece 'River Flows in You' progress: 40% ... Deduct 5% because my timing is off!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Catch Up

Lots of sketches for this post so I am pretty pleased with myself =)

I have tried several times to draw this JE idol but I have never succeeded in capturing his likeness. It drives me to the point of frustration sometimes and I still have 2 unfinished (I suspect they will stay unfinished) portrait drawings of him stashed somewhere in my room. Who is this J-pop artist? None other than Yamipi of course! A few weeks ago I decided to give it another try by drawing a much simpler sketch this time. Well whaddaya know... I failed again! But here it is anyway:


Yamapi with love~ Referenced from a magazine scan


I've also got a few new items to play with =)

Got a new jacket from my sis - I'm loving it!


The gifts I got for my birthday


Some more sketches I did over the past week:
WIP - Squall in his SeeD uniform


Saw a half moon when I was walking to uni on night and it had this small streak of cloud in the shadow, I thought it looked like a jellyfish so I tried drawing it... Now that I look at the finished sketch, it looks more like the half the moon exploded and is plummeting towards earth. FAIL


Last but not least, a sketch of my office desk... Does it look depressing or maybe a bit haunted? Yes it does, I am a depressed PhD student and I am haunting the desk day and afternoon ... sometimes at night too =)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

My sister's Wedding

Okay, so I lied about updating the blog during the weekend =( The sketches I did last week were not nice enough to show. On another note...

I am so proud to be designing my sister's wedding card =D

Still working on some changes here and there but the main picture is done~


Congratulations to Karen and Jimmy!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Easter Break

It's been quite a while since my last update! I have to tell myself to keep doing sketches otherwise this year is going to end up as unprodcutive (in terms of drawings) as last year! Things don't seem to be too bad though. I already have ideas for new projects and now it is just finding the time to put them on paper!

The 5 day weekend for Easter was much appreciated but was very very unproductive *wail*. I didn't manage to start some of the said art projects which is a bummer but! I went on a trip to Philip Island with my sis and her friends on Friday and they managed to catch quite a few fish and a few crabs. Fresh sashimi on the beach and korean seafood soup for dinner... NICE! Some sketches from the trip before I ran out of pencil lead (-_-) :




Jiman koko untangling the fishing line


Here are some sketches from my sketch book:

FFvsXIII Noctis - Can't wait til the game is out!


FFVII ACC Cloud - This sketch is kinda half arsed but I like the way it turned out


Okay, my goal now is to get some paintings done and post them up by next weekend. As if! I'll make it more realistic and say in a month, but I hope I'll have some more sketches to post by next weekend.

P.S. One of the things I've been meaning to do is to be able to play a whole song on the piano (properly). Been trying to play River Flows in You by Yirma on the piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhN7SG-H-3k

What a tough piece to start learning piano with *goes to the corner to cry* What an idiot I am for doing this to myself! Progress 5%

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Wushu

It's O-week and the univeristy clubs are setting up booths and tents in the campus centre to lure unsuspecting newbies to join their cult/organisation/society. I happen to be a proud promoter of the wushu club! It's a chinese martial art that does not focus much on sparring (which is good for me) but focuses instead on self-development and we get to learn to use different weapons and routines. I've been training since my first year in Australia and I still love every minute of it. It's mostly thanks to great people in the club and we have an awesome instructor! Muahahahahaha! The people at the club happen to be very photogenic too. Which means I have plenty of photos to use as references for sketching =D Here are some of the ones I have drawn.


Steph striking a pose for a performance we did last year at manifest; we had to dress up as japanese high school kids!


Scott in a 2-man performance at Crown, throwing quite a punch!


Billy breathing a sigh of relief after a broadsword performance at Crown



Tony using the 9-section whip *Bounce Bounce Bounce*


Mike performing his long fist routine


Last but not least, Happy belated birthday Scotty!!