Going AFA after work tomorrow. Probably reach there like 6.30pm? -_____- And Kaname's panel session is at 11am. : (

The day after, I have Asian Art History - Japan.

2 days later, I have Japanese Level 2.

I have finished writing something like short summary for Japan art history. 3 and a half pages of words.

For Japanese, I need to relook some of the katakana words and practice more kanji.

Should be all right. eh?

If the last Asian Art exam is anything like the previous 2 .......

Work was pretty annoying today because I was trying to do the above mentioned summary list and Saturday isn't exactly an empty day. Registered a new student today. 39 years old Japanese man learning violin from the boss. And he's General Manager of Toshiba. o_O I'm seriously thinking of leaving my Jap textbooks at home on weekends.

Didn't manage to finish my summary and I'm left with the last bit - Muromachi Period Zen paintings ( which is not covered much in the lecture and tutorial :( )

I saw a picture of Kaname taken by someone today at AFA. He doesn't look too different from his CURE pictures. Hm.

Looking forward to seeing Faustine tomorrow~~~~~~~~~~~

Correcting/editing essays all week long, that's what I have been doing this week. Oh, and looking at that abomination named Project Work.

First is credited to my sister and her friends. That made 4. The reason: O Levels English examination is on next Monday.

Second is credited to a writing assignment - to argue and validate the choice of candidates for survival after a nuclear winter in one paragraph, to be done in a pair. Well, I had to start it off. When the writing came back, I had to do severe editing and axed off 170+ words to make the word count.

Third is credited to my brother who needed to complete his Insights and Reflections component. Other than his group's Written Report, I have vetted countless times on the rest.

Now, I am thumbing through a grammar handbook to grill the said sister in English grammar.

I don't get it at all.

I got along fine learning English without any help, growing up in a Chinese background. Television programs were usually the ones in the Chinese channels. Newspapers that were bought were Chinese.

This is a very interesting case study.

If I had any aptitude for languages, I would probably be taking JLPT 2 by now instead of learning it in school.

I remembered in upper Secondary, my Higher Chinese grades lost only to a China national (seriously, it's a shame on her if I won. ) in class ( my class was considered the worst one in the cohort, because the majority of the classmates weren't that interested in the academic). Hell, I got 380+ for that inaugural HSK Chinese Proficiency Test without studying. I think I was the second or third highest in the batch who took it.

Then I threw a nice bomb to my teachers for O Levels: B3 for Chinese and A2 for both English and Higher Chinese. My form teacher was either pretty damned shocked or grinning in glee at the disbelief of the HOD. In my school, getting a B3 in Chinese for Higher Chinese students meant you had to drop the subject and take Chinese. My teacher and I thought I wrote out of point for the composition component ( it happened once in a school exam; I flunked the composition, got high A for Paper 2 and scored a B3 for total ). So he appealed for me to continue Higher Chinese.

Ability is not an excuse for convenience. I don't ask people who are good at certain things to help because I want to try it out first and figure out where's the problem.

I don't get compensated for doing things. I do them at the expense of my own sacrifice which goes pretty much damned unnoticed and unappreciated.

Go away.

今天拿回来亚洲美术历史－印度美术史的试卷。

竟然拿了一个74.5-> 75 A－。

O.O

最高份的部分还是那个方形印的题目－84分。

怪哉。。。

我就是看那个东西的时代太过久远，又没什么东西好写；所以写了多跟考古学有关系的东西 （好像是小学还是中学时候读得）。。。

我真的没什么读耶。。。

只是在考试前两天在工作的时间读完那一叠从必读本（我没买）影印的资料和简报。。。

我根本不会像一些人读到要死。。。没耐心，没时间，没心情，也没环境做这种事情。在我家做这种事是不可能。

读到正爽时，就会有人来问功课。。。

“我问你一个简单的问题。。。”

那么简单的话为什么不会做呀。。。

有点觉得脑袋秀逗了。三个语言在脑里转来转去；一句话同时被翻译成英、中和日文。家里没人可以和我练习日文，所以只好以这种类似自虐的方法来复习。

大変ですよ。。。

I got my 2nd History of Graphic Design quiz back yesterday. I got a 20/25 and I didn't revise at all, saved for flipping through my horribly scrawled designers' names on my foolscap pad a few minutes before the lecture last week. Wow. Guess I wasn't spacing out as much as I did during the lectures. I even got all the names right for the identification of works saved for one. O.o I am thinking that common sense sometimes do work. Joseph Schmidt couldn't be doing something in Russian since he's a German. The Times font didn't feel like it was designed by someone called Paul Renner so I picked Stanley Morison. Cherry got 14 and she studied very hard for it. : / The last and 1st quiz was a 27/30; the 2nd highest in the whole lecture group, and I didn't study for that one too. -__- I was kinda embarrassed when Astrid returned my paper and said good work.   

I don't really think I got a photographic memory. It would be nice to have one since I'm rather forgetful. Geraldine calls this the curse of Roxas. XDDD

There's another quiz next week. But what we covered since then were rather horrible. Modern movement in America, International Typographic Style and etc. -___- I definitely have to study for this one. So this means I have to finish the typography assignment 5 ASAP and no leaving it to the weekend. : ( ND16 is going to take a long time to finish…

Speaking of which, Astrid wrote Good about my exhibition brief. She thought it was very funny to have a large woman figure with a small product on a advertisement poster ( they did this sort of thing in Art Nouveau ). She wanted me to write more on Berger's ideals, expand a bit more on budget and timeline and find more pictures. O.o Except for the horrible presentation and the impeding examination on 2 Dec, I might actually pass History of Graphic Design with a much more decent grade than Typography I. Even Cherry says Joyce is biased.

I still haven't try to saw the Kingdom Key so that I could stick all the parts together. I still have to remake the rings. -___- Roxas, I'm sorry…   

今週は　学校の暇です。でも　仕事が　あります。事務所の　外に　空気は　とても熱いです。事務所の　中に　空気は　寒いですね。好いですよ。今は　私の　事務所が　好きです。宿題を　しますか？いいえ、未だ　です。ナミネの　絵を　します。

Well, that's about as far as I can write in Japanese about the great difference in temperature. I used to feel that my workplace is very cold because my boss sets the temperature at 23/ 24 ˚C and I always change it back to 25˚C.　But now, it feels very nice to be in a cold office. October isn't supposed to be so hot though. It's like July and summer all over again. I get reminded of the summer holidays of Roxas ( where he didn't really get one and that's why I have a grudge towards Soran) , and I am working during my holidays. : / It's very strange too, because for an admin, I'm doing an awful lot of designing for posters, brochures and stuff. Not that it's a bad thing, but I think my efforts are rather amateurish and I have to consider printing cost. I do the printing on the office's multifunction printer. Recently, I've just finished printing and cutting about 260 A5s myself using a long metal ruler, cutting mat and cutter. I feel so accomplished. Hehe. I did 2 poster designs this week too, one for advertising courses ( I literally used it to explore composition space ) and another for the Esplanade concert ( Italian music playing musicians in an Italian painting ). Rush work but I like it. I wished I had more time to make the name plate look more realistic.  

I don't feel like doing my homework. It's been a trying semester and I suspect the typography lecturer is biased. She likes the works of people who do and rush their work one day before and completely disparage the efforts of others. I'm switching lecturer next semester. I won't be learning anything much. I have better crack open the typography book I bought last month to learn by myself. I got the inspiration to do my locker design after reading a Dummy's Guide to Graphic Design and thinking about KH.   

Every time I use Illustrator, I learn new stuff on drawing with pen tool. Still getting used to it. My Adobe version is CS4, and some of the stuff have different shortcuts. Maybe at the end of the year, I would try to do a full digital work on Illustrator.

Jun Hui and I made crack sentences in Japanese class last week. We were to use the directions to make sentences. She started it with アンーゲアルと　ギンーネシーの　間に　ザークが　います。(Lit. Between Angeal and Genesis,  Zack exists .) So I went 神羅の　外に　クラードが　います。(Lit. Outside Shinra, Cloud exists. ) And then our Japanese teacher came by. O.O -_-'''''' I think she was wondering why we were laughing so hard.

Jun Hui: 私の　後ろに　シェーフィロンウが　います。
Me:　彼が　大好きですね。。。愛してる？
Jun Hui: いいえ、アーリス　ナインが　愛してる～
Me: '_' * looks at card * 隣。。。キングダムチャインの　隣に　約束の御守りが　あります。(Because I can't remember what's Oblivion's name in Japanese. Omoide something )

Because of Sora's singing Under the Sea, I was singing it on the way out of class. On crack, I was. I wish Geraldine was in the same class.

ソラ：隣の　海藻は　青く見えるさ
セバウチアン：陸に　行くのは　大きい間違い
                    永遠いの　見て　ごらん　　
　　　　　　　　
Under the sea -> 海の　下に？
Jun Hui says it should be in the sea. So it's 海の　中に？　Sounds like the sea swallowed Sora, Ariel and Sebastian…

Geraldine and I were trying to figure how to say Axel is in hospital. Our textbook says 「アクセルは」病院です when someone asks アクセルは　何処ですか？。But that's like saying Axel is the hospital. So I think it should be 病院に　です。However that seems to answer to アクセル？So maybe 病院の　中に　アクセルが　います。That sounds like the hospital ate poor Axel up so Axel in inside the hospital. I need help in verifying. JPLT 4 and above people??????

I'm looking forward to the work holiday at the end of the year. I'm going EOY 09 to cosplay with friends. Then rushing works for sale for SOY since Geraldine and I decided not to get a booth for EOY ( it costs $45!!!!) -__- Probably will work on the artworks after History of Graphic Design exam on 30 November. All of my exams finish in 8 days. Introduction to Asian Art (Japan) and Japanese Language Level 2 are on 23 and 24 November, a day after AFA 09 which I am thinking of skipping because I feel that Kairi wouldn't finish in time and I want to study. But I want to see Kaname, that Cloud cosplayer. He's damned good.

Yulonde finally died yesterday afternoon, during work.

I ejected the drive from Oathkeeper ( this is my Mac FYI ) to transfer some files to my company's computer. It appeared as Removable Drive and asked to be formatted. Flummoxed, I sticked it back into Oathkeeper. The drive wasn't not readable by this computer. O.O WTH.

Then I spent the night searching for solutions. Nil. Then I used the home PC to install a file recovery program to test Yulonde. I managed to recover some files ( the Divergence fanfic files  and 358/2 game file :D) but the rest of the recovered files were not readable. : ( So I went to Sim Lim to do data recovery.

Yulonde is dead like hell……. He's only … about a year old though, might be under. TT.TT I bought him in Sim Lim some more, after I did data recovery with Rae at another shop ( which wasn't very good since most of the files were totally unreadable.).  

Well, I'm left with Kalest and Rae now. Not going to buy another thumb drive until maybe like next year's COMEX or something. I'll need to be diligent in backing up files. I'm going to use Oblivion ( my 1 TB external HDD in case you didn't know) to do back up and do one more copy in CD/DVD.

On a side note, 4 PSD files disappeared from Oathkeeper's desktop. Either I have deleted them accidentally or one of the children at the school deleted them when I went to the mail box. : / I'll just have to redo them. Luckily I printed most of the copies needed.

P.S. I didn't know the act of sticking thumb drive into computers is called mounting. It sounds damn wrong. I am reminded of the chapter in Axel's Seven Days when the goldpanner was translating the scene where Hayner fell while on top of Roxas. XDDDDDD

P.P.S. Thumb drive is also known as flash drive, pen drive and portable drive. 

It was supposed to be my work holiday.

So I was a full time student for last week.

And, gosh.

I want to kill Cherry.

First, for the upcoming presentation, we decided to do individual research based on the Good To Know list given by Astrid. Then, during a meeting on Tuesday which I thought was cancelled because we were having another on Thursday, they decided to do Glasgow 4. On the same night, Cherry called me and said there wasn't enough information on the group to present and asked me how. By then, since I was in the vicinity, I had already borrowed a book which provided the most information on Glasgow 4 from the Central Library.

Over the phone line, I was already quite feeling murderous. I took my book, and told her to do it according to countries.

Then she asked us to finish slides by Thursday to put together.

Huh.

Damn brilliant.

On Thursday, they had a sudden idea to do souvenirs - tarot card size bookmarks for the whole lecture group, which is about 50 over people. I am informed that I need a image to represent the slides I'm doing and I said I will send my chosen image to her by the next morning. At night, she texted me and said to send her the same night. I rolled my eyes, and sent one at 11 plus, sacrificing my precious sleep.

Did I say Cherry came late from her class? Like a good 20 mins late from the agreed time for the meeting?

I told her to send me her slides by Saturday afternoon for compilation. She sent me at 11 plus at night. Good thing I wasn't waiting for her. At least Siew Khim mailed me before hand saying she needs to add some additional stuff. Cherry called me in the same afternoon when she was at COMEX 09 buying her Macbook.

And I'm working late into night like almost everyday to finalize the slides.

Very nice, Cherry.

You ruined my whole week. And you knew very well it was my work holiday too.

I should have stand up right from the start and be the firm leader.

And no, I was being stupid and lazy; deciding to take the back seat this time round and watch.

Don't expect me to talk to you much this two weeks.

I need to get my anger under control unless you want me to yell at you in class.

每天，两头跑。

下完课便去上工。

当然，星期一是Day off. 

可是星期三的课每次都要我去Sunshine Plaza 印A3，因为学校的影印素质更差了。

我可不想在Day Off的时候还要去离我工作地点那么近的地方。

闷。超级闷。

最近又一直下雨，搞到我现在有点病了。:(

刚买的Macbook的名字。。。我想取为Oathkeeper，但用日文的- 約束のお守り [译为守誓者]。因为它将守住誓约，我的或与他人的。责任很重大哩。(虽然它的外表比较像Oblivion。。。因为荧幕是黑的。）

Tablet也该有个名了；虽然它的名字是不可能会显现在电脑里。

我很想叫手机Axel - 因为又黑又红的，然后又吊着Roxas和Sora （现下没有，因为那个铁牌掉了；我得做一个补上去；用纸板，因为我不会刻铁片。）哩。XDDDD

说到Roxas（手机吊饰），不知怎么了，他的眼睛竟然掉色？！我只好自己拿颜料补色，然后为了将来着想，又加了一层亮面varnish。所以现在他的脸会反光的。眼睛的颜料又不平坦。。。

今年年底，我将做一个以前就很想做却缺乏信心的事：在EOY卖我的绘画作品。当然，不是一个人，还有两个支持我的朋友：Geraldine 和 Maya。会卖的东西包括A4和A5的复制作品，书签，徽章和锁匙扣。也许会卖手缝的娃娃。主要是 Kingdom Hearts 系列的。如果有时间，就有 Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 的书签或绘品。

为什么呢？因为今年我会买一台苹果；我会照旧做工 （一个星期做大概四天左右，课后搭地铁下去。）。

今年年底，我也会做角色扮演。Geraldine也是，所以会让 Maya 辛苦点，帮我们看摊位。哈，我们会分盈利的。

明年，我想画同人志，继续做角色扮演。

所以，我得暂时撇下四灵门的各位，很抱歉。

也许是时候规划一下画画的进度。

这几个星期下来，都不是画那种一个晚上就能画完的东西，都是些需要花上几天才能称意的作品。

这算好吗？还是是时候回归最原始的灵感激动，只画不修图？

わからない。

心里的惶然。。。我需要静下来好好想一下。

今年，我做了很多从前没做过的东西。现下想起来，那时是因为不够勇敢还是不够疯狂呢？

今年，我有了一个服装展；不要命地拿了多一个单元-日文， 做超载；重新做角色扮演，还有了一个很不错的工作 （虽然要缴CPF；但我不太介意。老板好；工作轻松。）  

这个世界的东西，在那一瞬间变得垂手可得了。

。。。。。。

突然兴起了闯闯这个世界的念头。

知道吗？小时候，我的心愿是能到世界各地走走，体验当地风情，知晓风俗民事。很贪的一个心愿，是不？

是时候了吗？

我想又需要更多的勇气。

Summary of this 3 weeks:

What I did:

- installed Photoshop Elements 5.0.2 on office laptop
- bought tablet to workplace to work
- registered next semester's modules
- bought Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days Ultimania :333
- taught Cherry how to use layer properties in PS
- finished Teaching: the Lexaeus way on PSE ( Photoshop Elements )
- designed A2 poster for Celebratory Concert for Musical Art Studio
- bought 2 male styrofoam heads for wig styling
- went to the Night Festival on Friday carrying my tablet and 2 heads
- printed 2 A2 of the above said poster at Poster Connections
- saw Daniel when I went to collect the prints; saw Mei Hung when I was on the way home
- rescheduled a student's piano timeslot : /
- discussed with JT over Riku and Sora's costumes : /
- cleared out the stuff in Rae and Kalest for my brother to use for transferring files over to another PC. We are reformating the main PC because of the recent blue screens we keep getting.
- whitewashed 2nd Mickey and gave to Sora

- Tuesday (14/7) : Reformatted the PC; installed motherboard, Singtel Broadband, and Adobe Reader
* My brother updated the PC to SP4 when he got back from school. :3333 Installed AVG Anti Virus.

- Wednesday (15/7) : Installed Messenger, monitor driver, NVDVIA, Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, Corel Painter Essentials, Belarc Advisor, Abexo Advisor and Microsoft Office.   

- Thursday (16/7) : Installed Realteck 97 Audio Codec for speakers. Speakers are officially dead with no sound even though they are on to the max. :(

- Friday, Saturday and Sunday ( 17, 18 & 19/7) : Printed 153 programmes that are double sided with office printer. Kept doing print head cleaning, refilling ink and resting the printer.

What I have done but still not finished

- Concert program  Done on 15/7
- ND12: A Wish and ND13: In search By next week. Break.
- digital drawing of the team bashing Kairi
- digital painting of Blindfold Riku from Deep Dive still.
- digital colouring of Roxas is Oblivious comic
- digital drawing of Axel using guides
- repaint my Mickey because failure of black shoe polish



What I need to do:

- pack stuff on my side of table and floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's getting overflooded with things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
- get new lanyard for Yulonde, Rae and Kalest. Current one is very chui. Cherry thinks it's artistic. -_-  Bought on 13/7. Chequered.
- find out prices for Macbook Pro for new academic year 09/10
- finish up Mickey
- get started on colouring Tidus and Yuna
- make a crown for JT :333
- get a pair of sandals and spray paint for Namine's sandals
- do drawing schedule - I'm very very behind with my own drawings........
- get Akuroku linework done before school starts.
- get Marly (done), Larxene (90%) and Axel (0%) piece done before school starts : /
- SLEEP EARLIER!!!!!!!!!!!

I think these tell you what I have been doing. Don't know whether this counts as being busy or what.