light shopping

hmm... Dad sprung a surprise. Glad he is in a good mood (always glad when he is in, not fun otherwise).

Was planning to spend the day just being arty - happy i created a bracelet, a necklace and painted the background of the canvas today... then Dad said - let's go Balestier to check out the lights.

So I went. Was rather 'xian' after a while coz my designer tastebuds were gg for $500 at least. Hmm... kinda prepared to give up... then whilst dad was asking my opinion about a lamp, I saw something. Ooh... instead one, 3 lamps. Ooh... lateral thinking eh? They were white and retro looking and where just 100 plus.

heh. got them in the end. Kinda half regretted not getting this lamp in Australia, but oh well, glad I got nicer ones now. As a friend smsed "your own lights". Yes. I'm finally owning my own lights. Happpeeeee!

Green green cacti of home

I love my cactus garden (to be precise, it is cacti garden). It's a risk. I don't have green fingers. An airplant died on me when I was in secondary school. Blah. Well... it started last Christmas where one of my mom's friends gave her a cactus. And it came in a nice white pot with a red ribbon. Then I saw a picture in Home and Decor where they had a cacti garden with toys on top of a retro white table. My mom got inspired and went to get soil and cactus from my aunt. Viola! Birth of our cacti garden, just in a few days. Remember transplaning them and decorating them with the good old "Gou lak"- marbles I kept for a long long long time. =)

I like cacti/ cactus whatever... they represent tenacity, perseverance and hardiness. That in crazy circumstances, they still survive, bloom, stand. There's a quiet presence, a depth about them.

Heated.

I love this lamp - it is designed by a Japanese who brilliantly tapped on the heat of the bulb to generate enough energy to cause the "metal petals" to rise, thus causing it to "bloom". Brilliant! ( I think this is my current favourite word).

Wat is more brilliant (there I go again), is that the title of the light is "Hanabi" which means fireworks in Japanese. Fireworks also need heat to break out into its full glory.

Wish I could have it for my new room =) (drool)

Font story

My brother is fond of fonts. So am I. I used to trace fonts and draw them out when I was a kid. I remember loving the broadway font. Heh.

Just finished a book on fonts - titled "Stop stealing sheep and find out how type works". Loved it. It had a column at the side that tells the story of how some fonts came about. I was fascinated. Suddenly when I scroll down my font list in photoshop or word, the fonts start to make sense. Because they had a story. They had a creator. They fulfilled a need, a want, progressed with history, restricted by technology and each had a special use.

I always wanted to design a font - be a font artist. Hmm... perhaps I should start putting feet to my dreams.

Travelling

"In the creative field, the road less-travelled is often the more popular route."

Hmm... still struggle at times... on the less trodden path... learning to live on another reality, learning to choose what I want to do and go for it. As a friend puts it, sometimes you need to get out of that circle and you'll see that the world is actually much bigger than what you see.

What John Mayer is to John Heng, Jason Mraz is to me

I like John Mayer but I like Jason Mraz better.

Just finished watching the DVD of "Tonight, again". Blown away. Woah. I knew he was good but live was better. It was SHHER pleasure, just listening to him scat and roll out prose like this! Brilliant! Loved the improvisation to the lyrics, for the moment. And how he explored a variety of styles just within the concert itself. Beautiful. And of course - the polariods. Grin.

He's got a nice clear voice, clean looks and is really likeable. I really really enjoy his songs. Perhaps I'm a word person too. I think I enjoy the words more than the music. If it were just poems, I would have lapped them up too. Love the parallels, love the rhymes. It's like rap too. I DIG this kind of thing man! Haha.

He reminds me of Jamie Cullum - breaking through general traditions of music - the fixed formulaic 3 min pop song and how stiff playing with a grand piano is. Good stuff.

La la la la la life is wonderful...

truth - always held in tension

"Humility is a vigorous state of being, in which we have a sense of who we are and more importantly, who we are not."

- Franky Schaeffer

"Jet Lag"

goodness. it's real tough swinging back to the 930-630 rhythm. Find myself struggling to get out of bed, facing a fixed time and facing the zzz monster at 4pm.

need to be less greedy and sleep early. ha. i only have 24 hrs and yes, i need my 8 hour sleep less I cannot function properly. Ha.

A good friend said its kinda like jet lag. Yeah. A good description.

Yeah... just lots happenning since Jan... interesting times... upbeat, positive yet also with challenges. A bit frustrated that my jazz piano skills seem stuck. And am not getting much excercise. And CNY just sneaks up. Ha.

But the good thing is there's a harbour - God. So glad for time with Him. And glad to still manage to plan and design jewellery somehow. Glad for time to roam and discover new and interesting things/ places. Been meeting and going out with fun peeps too. And friends flying back for CNY. Ha.

yeah... life... the fragility... the ebbs and flows... the events... the journey... the destinations.

sleepy. still. hope to catch a wink soon. And yes, I still need a pillow. Am searching for a suitable pillow. The present one ain't working.

okok... I'm rambling... hahahaah