snail mail

Nervousness is taking over my life!

I have been trolling the forum constantly looking for things that I can participate in. Even though I've been there for about two months now, I still have not been nominated for codes - you need that to join in the objects [Land Mail Art Objects] that are offically listed on the site. Forum is for us wannabe nervoussers. So that we have somthing to work with while salivating/looking longingly after the official objects.

Anyway, I've been enjoying the mails that have been trickling in dedicated to moi. You've got mail.

Hmmm ... that gave me an idea. Wouldn't it be cool if there is a mechanism that announces that 'you have mail' once you get in the house or when you press a button or something? It'll work something like the answering machine. Hmmm ... which means there should be a light/led installed somewhere that indicates that you have mail.

Right so ... mails. Enjoy them. Sent out about four of the just an hour ago. Some ATC swaps. Costed me RM11.30 on stamps. Ouch! *sigh* that's the only drawback of this enjoyable endeavour. Most of the people there are in the US or North America or Europe. Asians are a rarity. And if I ever there evere come a time where Malaysian will go to for a trading session or a make and trade session, I might have to wait until I'm old and grey.

quiz time


You are Agent Smith, from "The Matrix."
No one would ever want to run into you in a
dark alley. Cold as steel, tough as a rock,
things are your way or the highway.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
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friday five

1. What's one thing you've always wanted to do, but never have? travel the world / backpacking around the world. still want to do it. just collecting the funds at the moment and also trying to find someone else that would go with me.

2. When someone asks your opinion about a new haircut/outfit/etc, are you always honest? most of the time. sometimes when it's bad, i'd just might say something evasive like "it's short!" or "it's so short" or "it's so red!".

3. Have you ever found out something about a friend and then wished you hadn't? What happened? sorta, more like found out about what a friend thought of me. we used to hang out quite a lot especially when we were studying and then when we started working she's always posted for overseas assignments so we hardly see each other anymore. another mutual friend told me that that friend is sort of afraid of me. :( i wish that i didn't know that. now i'm wondering why.

4. If you could live in any fictional world (from a book/movie/game/etc.) which would it be and why? when i was younger and was reading enid blyton's faraway tree series, i wanted to live in that wood with the faraway tree. that tree is way cool!

5. What's one talent/skill you don't have but always wanted? i have two skills that i want. 1) public speaking skills. i'm absolutely useless when it comes to public speaking. & 2) improvisation skills. absolutely useless there as well. i'm such a lamb i just follow whatever i'm told. i wish i could create stuff. some friend have asked that i create some dance steps for them cause i have dance background but i've always turned them down cause although i CAN dance, i CAN'T choreograph.

caller #9

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Perseverence pays off.

After a whole week of trying, on the last day of the giveaway, I finally got one. I got the Sarah Brightman CD. I was caller #9.

trying, trying, trying ...

*sigh* been trying to get my hands on one of those CDs they're giving out over at Light & Easy. They're giving away Sarah Brightman's yet to be released album - HAREM.

So far I've been caller #1, #2 (twice), #4 and #5.

I need to be caller #9!

I'm A Dick

... I'm Addicted to ...

PC card games.

Yessum.

Solitaire.
Freecell.
Spider solitaire.
Oh! And the singular non-cardgame ... Minesweeper.

I've been playing and playing and playing them constantly. At work (shhh! don't tell my boss). At home. At all hours of the day.

My original plan of getting a good night's sleep at the respectable hour of 12am at the latest during my week of rest has been shattered by this addiction. In fact, I'm sleeping even later due to it.

3 am.
4 am.

... the latest being 5.30 am. Which caused me to missed batu dance class the next day.

Urgh! Nasty addiction. Difficult to get away from it since it's so readily available on the tool which I use on a daily basis. A tool which is a necessity for my trade.

I wonder if they have a patch for this addiction; y'know like how they have a patch for smokers? Think I might need those if they do have them. 'tis quite distracting.

Hmmm ... I've left some documents at home. Darn it! Have to go home and get it so that I can work. Otherwise I'll use that excuse to play more games.

break time ...

*phew* I've been out almost every day of the week for the past two weeks. Out of the house at 8am and not reaching home until about 11pm or 12am. Practises, rehearsals meetings with friends, classes.

For the next two weeks however, I'll have three days of non-activities after work. Hurrah! Break. Break. Break.

Time to catch up with all those ATC swaps that I've agreed to. Even started them already yesterday night until the wee hours of the morning today. They're nothing much really. Just made some of the photos I've taken into ATC size. Still need to mount them on cardboards, I've saved some cereal boxes for that purpose and paste labels artist info at the back and they should be ready to be shipped out. Cool!

Here's some comic relief for the day - horsing around [http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf]

friday five

1. What do you most want to be remembered for? having been alive

2. What quotation best fits your outlook on life? don't know if this qualifies as a quotation ... "life sux! deal with it."

3. What single achievement are you most proud of in the past year? having survived it.

4. What about the past ten years? having survived those years.

5. If you were asked to give a child a single piece of advice to guide them through life, what would you say? please refer to question #2.

an ordinary weekend



Nothing much happened over the weekend. Had to work on Saturday and went home at noon with plans of having a short little nap before starting on some ATCs and a quick shower before heading for One Utama for the show with the Phil for a Kiwanis dinner.

*sigh* ... plans tend to go awry.

So, I went home, set the alarm on my phone for 3.00 and promptly fell asleep. That was at 2pm.

Awhile later, I woke up thinking that it's weird that I felt like I've slept for a really long time and yet the alarm hasn't gone off. Lo and behold ... it's 5pm. The time that I'm suppose to be at One Utama.

A rush through shower and a mad dash drive later, I was there. Thankfully, they've yet to begin rehearsal; not like they could anyway seeing as how I have the pedal for the bass drum and the stool for the side drum(?).

All went well though. We rehearsed, had dinner and then it was showtime. The audience were very appreciative which is always good for us. So, yay!

friday five

1. What brand of toothpaste do you use? Colgate. I prefer the gel but sometimes if my parents buys them, they might get the regular ones. I'll just use whatever's available but will buy the gelled one if I'm doing the buying.

2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer? Brand of toilet paper? Hmmm ... I don't buy this. I think it's usually cutiecompact or something like that.

3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear? Most often would be my Renoma heels which I wear to work almost daily. Then there's the strappy heels from Vincci, a pair unknown brand which I got from Singapore, the yellow and the red Fila trainers which I share with my sister. Think that's about it.

4. What brand of soda do you drink? Coca-Cola! Have to support my aunt :D

5. What brand of gum do you chew? None. Don't chew gum but I eat lollipop though. Chuba chups choco-vanila flavour.

wasted opportunity

Empress, you're a sap!

Everytime someone gives you the chance to stand out, to audition for a solo, you decline. And yet, whenever there's an audition, you'd go. What's the deal with that?

Mr. Liau was looking for a shepeard boy last night. His original shepeard boy was a no show so he was auditioning the girls to look for possible replacements.

He auditioned the whole first row - the altos and sopranos one - but didn't audition the second row girls - the sopranos two - which I'm in. Someone pointed that out and he then pointed at me to audition. As usual, I didn't my "No lah. Don't want lah." routine and pointed to another girl.

Why do I do that?

I know that I'm not trained like most of them in the room is but if they took me into the chorus, that would mean I can at least carry a tune right? So, why do I lack the confidence to try something more than blending in the chorus? I know the worse that would happen was that I'd go out of tune and him not picking me for the part but so what? At least I can say I've tried.

But no. I didn't even try.

I wish I have someone to slap me on the head everytime I do something this stupid. Someone to say 'Just do it you dumb ass.'

Must look for Suzan about the book she has about crystals. She says there's a stone available for confidence boosting. The stones probably don't work and it's probably all psychology but if psychology works, to me, that's just the same as the stones working anyway cause without the stones, I wouldn't be psychologically psyched, right?

C'mon. Someone give me a good whack on the head for my stupidity.

Quiz

My results from The Princeton Review Career Quiz.

		People with yellow Interests like job responsibilities that include organizing and systematizing, and professions that are detail-oriented, predictable, and objective. People with yellow Interests enjoy activities that include: ordering, numbering, scheduling, systematizing, preserving, maintaining, measuring, specifying details, and archiving, which often lead to work in research, banking, accounting, systems analysis, tax law, finance, government work, and engineering.

		People with blue styles prefer to perform their job responsibilities in a manner that is supportive and helpful to others with a minimum of confrontation. They prefer to work where they have time to think things through before acting. People with blue style tend to be insightful, reflective, selectively sociable, creative, thoughtful, emotional, imaginative, and sensitive. Usually they thrive in a cutting edge, informally paced, future-oriented environment. You will want to choose a work environment or career path in which your style is welcomed and produces results.

Geez! Sounds like I'm prefect for my job as a programmer, don't you think?

FRIDAY FIVE (a few days late!)

1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.? ice cold bottled water.

2. What are your favorite flavor of chips? ruffles' cheese and onion or is that cheese and sour cream ... i can't recall, it's cheese and something.

3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most? my chicken fettucini which i got the recipe off the fettucini's wrapper.

4. How do you have your eggs? all ways. preferably scrambled with mushroom, green & red pepper and onions.

5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out? the guy who prepared the sushi this afternoon at sushi king. it was yummy!

skipped class

Well, I skipped class on friday. It wasn't compulsory to attend but is encouraged. I wasn't very encouraged when the time came and therefore did not go. Also there was the fact that my muscles were still very much aching.

Anyway, I've sent out my first ATC trade. It's been such a long time since I've done anything artsy that I have no idea what to do anymore. It may be because I'm not a natural.

Artist are born aren't they?

They were born wanting to draw, to create, to want to make interesting things with paints and papers and anything and everything that they get their hands on ... right? They just know what to do to create an art piece. It's just in their head.

I guess for the rest of us who are not so blessed we could learn to draw, to create but somehow the end product just might not be as inspiring.

However, I thought I was pretty good in art class when I was studying. Always got an A anyways. Would that mean I was good at it or does that mean that the teachers are pretty shitty and don't know what they're about?

I still have a few pieces that I painted but if you were to ask me to recreate them now, I'm afraid I'd be at a loss.

Maybe I just have to start again.
Maybe it'll all come back again.

Was it natural for me? Or did I just like art class cause the teacher gave me an A?

Anyway, it would be fun to make these little ATCs anyway. I had those I made scanned before I mailed them out. There's plan to make a site where I'll post up all the ATCs I've created or rather will create so people can take a look and hopefully comment on them. Hopefully they'll be honest with their comment. But if they're negative comments, will that deter me from creating more?

I hope not.

first class at batu dance

I don't want to walk down any steps today.
I don't want to walk UP any steps.
In fact ... I don't want to walk at all today if possible.

BUT ... it's a workday and so I'd have to.

The thighs, both inner and outer is really hurting after the two and a half hour class yesterday. First of the many that's to come if I don't drop out of it midways.

This is the one which I went for an dance audition a couple weeks ago.

It was interesting and was quite a workout. Must have been cause I'm feeling the effects of it now. Felt quite uncomfortable/dizzy in the middle of class though and I wasn't sure if it was because a) the room was hot (no air condition, just fans and open windows on a hot hot Malaysian day), b) I'm way out of practise and out of shape, or c) I didn't have any breakfast before.

Anyway, it was quite difficult for me because of my previous ballet training. I think it's quite different but there's still some similarity. Difference would be that we're not suppose to be poised and pull-up all the time but more flexible/maleable. I'm having trouble letting loose. Have always been too concerned on what everything should look like, where we should look, arms, legs; the whole package before doing the step and the letting loose technique kinda throws me off. I have to think, force myself to relax and just throw myself into the steps instead of thinking too much of it.

There's another class tonight. It's not compulsory and my thighs are hurting. I'm not sure if I'm going to go but I've already packed my stuff in case I decide to go which at this moment I'm kinda thinking of going.

Hope I won't be bed ridden tomorrow. :)

may day project

Okay, i've sort of completed my may day project. Well the pictures are all ready and six of them are up but there's two more. Didn't realise that there was an upload quota at fotolog. I'll upload the remaining two later tonight. Have a look at what I did on the 10th of May 2003.

my first friday five

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not? Yes and no. I organise almost everything except my desk. It's always in a mess. My family would tell you that I'm really organised though; almost like Monica from friends ... almost.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly? I have an organiser and several pocket calendar. Three/four of the pocket calendars I do use. They're just LOTR calendars that I got from a friend. If I ever get a PDA, I'll have less bulk to lug around.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now? No. Most of the books and files are upright but they're not organised in any manner. The papers that I'm currently using are strewn all over.

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter? I've alphabetized the CDs and DVDs that I have in my shoe boxes. Those in the CD racks were alphabetized until I added more; now they're no longer in ABCs. It doesn't matter really.

5. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to organize? A full moon project for Leo Club when I was in school. I've always been a silent member and then one day, they asked me to organise the full moon project. It had to have laterns and exhibition and activities. I have no idea what to do. They, the board members, eventually took over after they've heard of the dismayal progress I was making. :(

You are Beast!

You are brilliant and extremely clever. You can
handle almost any problem swiftly and
efficiently. You are devoted to philosophy and
are always up for a good discussion.
Sometimes, though, your anger gets the best of
you and you upset those whom you care about.


Which X-Men character are you most like?
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my fotolog

I've created a fotolog at fotolog.net. Check it out at www.fotolog.net/empress.

Also, will be participating in the May Day Project. Let's see what Saturday has for me. I'm excited.

second half

The weekend has been very eventfull (is this a word? if it is, is it spelt with a single or double 'L's?).

On Saturday, I met up with a guy who's looking for a latin dance partner. He says he competes at a level higher, back when he was in UK, than that which I'm doing so I'm not sure if he's still interesting in partnering me. We haven't tried dancing together yet. There wasn't time that day to try out as he was in a rush plus the studio that we we're gonna try out in was having a workshop. So, maybe he'll arrange something for this weekend. He's tried with a few girls and still have a few more girls to try out with. He also have some other guy friends who's looking for partners. If he's not suitable for me, one of the other guys might be. Hopefully something will work out. I've missed competing.

I might also be joining the Batu Dance Theatre. They had an audition on Sunday to recruit more members for their company. I went, did the sets and the liked me. Hurrah! I haven't seen any of their stuff though so I'm not exactly sure what they do. I know that they do contemporary dance but that's so vague. Contemporary dance could be anything. Hopefully it's not anything overtly weird. I've been told I'm very classical and that's probably true cause I don't like all those performances which are called dancing but which I think looks more like people just writhing around with no apparent structure.

Structure. That's the word. I need structure.

Okay, then this morning I got an email about the audition I went to last month. That's the Turandot audition. Guess what?! I made it! Yay! The show's gonna be in December with the last show being on my birthday. :) Rehearsals are suppose to start in September. Not sure which day yet and I haven't been given the contract. Hopefully there nothing unfavourable in the contract. They're not gonna pay much. Only RM500 for six shows. Three of which will be in Penang. But I'm only doing it for fun and, of course, to pad my all to empty performning arts resume.

Woo hoo! Lots for the second half of the year. Hopefully I can fit everything in and don't die in the process.

Oooo ... happy happy ... joy joy.