OH MY GOD THERE ARE ZOMBIES EVERYWHERE. Not really. Before I tell you anything, I should start my story at the beginning of this crazy day.
Last Friday I had to attend a class in the afternoon (urghhhhhhh) , and I reached school early in the morning to discuss my Tuesday presentation with my partner. After he had to go and attend his class somewhere, I took refuge in an abandoned classroom and caught up on my YouTube subscription. Halfway through, a few people came in and asked me if they could use the classroom. Naturally I said yes and turned back to my screen. I caught some words like "get ready" and "do this quick", and out of curiosity I walked over to them to see what they were doing.
It turned out that they were preparing to dress up as zombies for a "zombie walk" to promote the Haunted House at our program's Fright Night. As they worked, I looked on for quite a while, and eventually I got interested enough to start helping them. They burned some parts of their clothes (yes, burned) and cut it here and there to give them that apocalyptic look. The wounds and blood were next. One of them already mixed the adhesive solution and fake blood beforehand so they only had to put the wounds on. We tore cotton pads to fine pieces and rolled them up to make the edges of the wounds. The intended area for the wounds were first covered in the adhesive solution (you will never believe what's in it...... it's mango jello mix and flour) and then the rolled up cotton pad pieces were then slighted dipped in it before being put on. When those were slightly drier, the very-much-convincing fake blood (consists of chocolate syrup, cornstarch and red food dye) were used to fill in the wounds and smeared around them to make them more realistic. More fake blood was used to smear their faces, bodies (one guy was smearing his abs, it was heaven, don't tell him that), and clothes. More of them came in and did the same thing as well.
Before we could finish, we were told to evacuate to the foyer for the classroom was to be used for a lesson. We complied and finished up outside at the foyer. A few more people joined us there and we had a fun time. Powdered makeup was put onto their eyes and fingers to make them look more "dead", if that was at all possible considering the blood and wounds on them. After all that necromancy, they were ready to terrorize the school grounds. I stayed behind the first time to look after their belongings that laid among the blood drips on the ground. It smelled of mango and chocolate.
They came back and reapplied their blood and readjusted their wounds that might have slipped off from their original position. This time, I followed them as they scared and chased unsuspecting passerby, while promoting the haunted house at the same time. One guy had half his face covered in blood as one of the female zombies slapped him (... I think), and a girl ran in panic as the very same zombie chased her screaming. Props to you, girl.
We eventually returned to the zombie base camp. The zombies went off to wash off their wounds, blood and sins, while I stayed and chatted with the ones who didn't transform. I soon found out that they were from our university's Society of Performing Arts, one that I had tried to figure out how to join but had no luck. I enquired about the membership of the society and had gotten a satisfying answer (you will have to find it out yourself).
I then joined another club, Grapevine, an editorial club (again, too many unsureness), by chance while talking to a random person who was in charge of selling the tickets for Fright Night. She holds an important position in the club and confirmed my membership after I had offered to help for Fright Night. It is in two weeks and they are in a hectic situation, so I was more than glad to help.
That was quite a rant wasn't it? I sincerely apologize if this bored you but that was one of the most interesting days I have lived in a long while, with emphasis on long (ehem). I am now engaged with two clubs' decoration, as well as a personal project for Fright Night, so I might be too busy to write something next week, but I will try my best.
Until then, I wish you eventful and interesting weeks leading up to Halloween.
Sunday 19 October 2014
Sunday 12 October 2014
IDEASSS + Crazy Day Out
I have been getting a lot of ideas lately. There's so many that I started the habit of carrying a little notebook around again. I would say a good ninety percent of those ideas is about food, which might be the influence of the movie Chef I watched a while ago. I also have been getting some ideas about crafts, mainly surrounding the possibilities of paper, which probably is an after-effect of me making a paper wallet out of a Starbucks paper bag.However, I didn't write any of this to tell you the ideas I got, I wrote this to guide (I am not qualified enough to use the word teach) people how to get ideas and work from there.
Now, before you start to do whatever work that requires you to have ideas, get everything you need in place. Pen, pencil, paper, tea, computer, and so on. Put them all down on your workstation before you start any actual work. Ready? Go.
1. Write a title for your ideas. Make it simple and to the point. For example, I need ideas to write a blog post. I would write something like, Ideas For A Blog Post. With a title, it will be much easier for you to write anything.
2. List out all your possibilities, the major ones first if you can't manage. Using my previous example, my possibilities would be: Tutorial, Food, Thought, Rant, and Diary.
3. By this point, some people might be stuck at trying to think of more exact ideas. For this, I suggest you to do something else that is related to what you are trying to do. For me, if I am stuck at writing a blog post, I would read other people's blogs for inspiration.
4. Now that you have a general idea of what to write, write a draft. It doesn't matter if it's in point form or paragraph form, just write down everything you can think of. Ignore the little mistakes here and there, you have plenty of time to correct them later on.
5. Compose your work. Weed out things that are irrelevant or with insufficient evidence support, then regroup by order what is left.
6. Take a break and look at what you have so far. Get a glass of whatever you fancy, just make sure you don't add too much sugar and get jittery from it. Good? Moving on.
7. Expand. From the previous steps, you have already formed a skeleton for your work. Just expand what you have so far, but keep it relevant. Try not to repeat points or add unrelated subjects. If I'm writing a blog post about a restaurant, I shouldn't go off and talk about how to do photography.
There you go, seven steps (or six if you didn't take a break) to getting ideas and working your way from there. It might or might not work for you, but it worked for me. Take a shot, what is there to lose?
*********************(This is a line to separate two topics. Kindly ignore.)******************
Yesterday was Sunday. I got bored of my four-walls house scene, so I decided to call my aunt to fetch me to an event I read on Facebook the other day. The name's Foodgasm Fest, and it's organized by Rock and Tulips, whoever they are. My aunt agreed to drop me off, and we embarked on our journey.
Before we go to Foodgasm Fest, we went to a lunch appointment with my aunt's friend at her father's restaurant. The restaurant's called Cafe Vietnam and it's located in Puchong, and they have a mannequin dressed up in Vietnamese clothing standing outside. (SPOILER ALERT: They are opening a new branch called Cafe Vietnam Express, with less varieties on the menu.) Let me tell you, this cafe serves the BEST authentic Vietnamese food around. I promised to come back again to give them a proper review because it is an insult to not write about such a good restaurant.
After the eventful lunch date with two little boys running around in glee initially and quieted down after getting scolded and punished (with some tears shed no less), we set off to the actual destination the Foodgasm Fest, held at Taman Rimba Kiara at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail. I got off the car and walked to the venue, hopeful that my expectations are met.
The first thing that I saw: people. People everywhere. People of every age walking in and out of the park entrance. After staring at the ridiculously huge lines of people, I started my walk to the actual entrance of the event. It's a good thing that the park has a lot of trees because the combination of haze and human heat is slowly rising the temperature of the surrounding air.
The event was packed with people. Being a leisure-style picnic event. a lot of people was sitting around on picnic mats with their foods and drinks. One thing I noticed right away was the loooooong lines to buy drinks and ice creams. They, are, so, long. I walked around the entire venue to survey what there is. After ten minutes of brisk walking, I had come to an unhappy conclusion that there wasn't a lot of worthy booths. I did however found one booth that proved to be very interesting. Their name is Ladle & Whisk. They specialize in boutique catering, anything from dinner gatherings to afternoon tea parties. I bought two cakes from this nice lady who spoke with passion (and THAT, people, is how you recognize commitment) and told me about their establishment. Naturally, I took a name card for future reference.
I wouldn't pin the event down as a disappointment, but it didn't live up to the expectations it generated in me. With cakes and fried chicken in my hands, I left the event for dinner with my aunt and grandma to this famous franchise that got a lot of attention lately: Johnny Rockets. In hindsight, I regret for not having taken any pictures, but I will try to illustrate my experience there with mere words.
We went to the franchise that opened in Avenue K, which is located right opposite the Petronas Twin Towers. The entrance was sandwiched between two other establishments, one's a restaurant and the other is a pub. We were led into the restaurant and the staff collectively greeted us. All of them wore uniforms that look like waiters at an American diner from decades ago. The restaurant itself looked a great deal like a diner too, with its bar, cushion sofas, and a jukebox (that doesn't let you play your own choice of music, but still plays music nevertheless) . We sat down at the cushion sofa tables that has a tiny jukebox (that doesn't play music at all but is a nice decoration) and ordered our dinner. I ordered a Route 66 burger with chicken patty and a mango shake, while my grandma wanted a Tuna Melt with no cheese (oh grandma) and my aunt ordered some spicy chicken wings (or something, I don't much care for spicy stuff). About five minutes after we ordered, the music changed and got louder. The staffs gathered as if on cue and started dancing. Some people looked and laughed good-naturedly while some simply ignored the dance routine. They danced for a good three minutes before going back to their bussing.
Our orders arrived and my first impression was the onions falling out of the burger. After trying to put the onions back into the burger to no avail, I cut my burger in half and started eating it. The burger buns have an unmistakable taste and smell of shortening, but the mushrooms and onions more than made up for that. The chicken patty was not hard and dry like a certain franchise's burger, but was tender and juicy enough for me to rank it higher than some franchises. The mushrooms and onions were cooked to the Maillard point, giving them a nice sweet and grilled taste. The only thing I didn't quite like was the large amount of fries served together with the burger and made me wish that I told them to hold the fries. I tried some of the wings my aunt ordered and had to take several large sips to rid of the spiciness. Johnny Rockets, being famous for their shakes, changed my perception towards shakes forever. The shake was so creamy and had the prominent sweet and sour taste of mangoes, at just the right temperature. There were so many of it that they served the leftover in a metal shaker. The dancing happened again when we were almost done with our meal. Following that, we settled our bill and set off for home.
That was one heck of a Sunday I had in a long while. Minus the disappointments, it was a fairly fun run. Looking at the name card now, I know who to call when I want to organize a send-off party when I leave for USA.
Until next time, I wish you interesting Sundays with surprises in store.
(P.S. Stupid computer won't let me post pictures.)
Now, before you start to do whatever work that requires you to have ideas, get everything you need in place. Pen, pencil, paper, tea, computer, and so on. Put them all down on your workstation before you start any actual work. Ready? Go.
1. Write a title for your ideas. Make it simple and to the point. For example, I need ideas to write a blog post. I would write something like, Ideas For A Blog Post. With a title, it will be much easier for you to write anything.
2. List out all your possibilities, the major ones first if you can't manage. Using my previous example, my possibilities would be: Tutorial, Food, Thought, Rant, and Diary.
3. By this point, some people might be stuck at trying to think of more exact ideas. For this, I suggest you to do something else that is related to what you are trying to do. For me, if I am stuck at writing a blog post, I would read other people's blogs for inspiration.
4. Now that you have a general idea of what to write, write a draft. It doesn't matter if it's in point form or paragraph form, just write down everything you can think of. Ignore the little mistakes here and there, you have plenty of time to correct them later on.
5. Compose your work. Weed out things that are irrelevant or with insufficient evidence support, then regroup by order what is left.
6. Take a break and look at what you have so far. Get a glass of whatever you fancy, just make sure you don't add too much sugar and get jittery from it. Good? Moving on.
7. Expand. From the previous steps, you have already formed a skeleton for your work. Just expand what you have so far, but keep it relevant. Try not to repeat points or add unrelated subjects. If I'm writing a blog post about a restaurant, I shouldn't go off and talk about how to do photography.
There you go, seven steps (or six if you didn't take a break) to getting ideas and working your way from there. It might or might not work for you, but it worked for me. Take a shot, what is there to lose?
*********************(This is a line to separate two topics. Kindly ignore.)******************
Yesterday was Sunday. I got bored of my four-walls house scene, so I decided to call my aunt to fetch me to an event I read on Facebook the other day. The name's Foodgasm Fest, and it's organized by Rock and Tulips, whoever they are. My aunt agreed to drop me off, and we embarked on our journey.
Before we go to Foodgasm Fest, we went to a lunch appointment with my aunt's friend at her father's restaurant. The restaurant's called Cafe Vietnam and it's located in Puchong, and they have a mannequin dressed up in Vietnamese clothing standing outside. (SPOILER ALERT: They are opening a new branch called Cafe Vietnam Express, with less varieties on the menu.) Let me tell you, this cafe serves the BEST authentic Vietnamese food around. I promised to come back again to give them a proper review because it is an insult to not write about such a good restaurant.
After the eventful lunch date with two little boys running around in glee initially and quieted down after getting scolded and punished (with some tears shed no less), we set off to the actual destination the Foodgasm Fest, held at Taman Rimba Kiara at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail. I got off the car and walked to the venue, hopeful that my expectations are met.
The first thing that I saw: people. People everywhere. People of every age walking in and out of the park entrance. After staring at the ridiculously huge lines of people, I started my walk to the actual entrance of the event. It's a good thing that the park has a lot of trees because the combination of haze and human heat is slowly rising the temperature of the surrounding air.
The event was packed with people. Being a leisure-style picnic event. a lot of people was sitting around on picnic mats with their foods and drinks. One thing I noticed right away was the loooooong lines to buy drinks and ice creams. They, are, so, long. I walked around the entire venue to survey what there is. After ten minutes of brisk walking, I had come to an unhappy conclusion that there wasn't a lot of worthy booths. I did however found one booth that proved to be very interesting. Their name is Ladle & Whisk. They specialize in boutique catering, anything from dinner gatherings to afternoon tea parties. I bought two cakes from this nice lady who spoke with passion (and THAT, people, is how you recognize commitment) and told me about their establishment. Naturally, I took a name card for future reference.
I wouldn't pin the event down as a disappointment, but it didn't live up to the expectations it generated in me. With cakes and fried chicken in my hands, I left the event for dinner with my aunt and grandma to this famous franchise that got a lot of attention lately: Johnny Rockets. In hindsight, I regret for not having taken any pictures, but I will try to illustrate my experience there with mere words.
We went to the franchise that opened in Avenue K, which is located right opposite the Petronas Twin Towers. The entrance was sandwiched between two other establishments, one's a restaurant and the other is a pub. We were led into the restaurant and the staff collectively greeted us. All of them wore uniforms that look like waiters at an American diner from decades ago. The restaurant itself looked a great deal like a diner too, with its bar, cushion sofas, and a jukebox (that doesn't let you play your own choice of music, but still plays music nevertheless) . We sat down at the cushion sofa tables that has a tiny jukebox (that doesn't play music at all but is a nice decoration) and ordered our dinner. I ordered a Route 66 burger with chicken patty and a mango shake, while my grandma wanted a Tuna Melt with no cheese (oh grandma) and my aunt ordered some spicy chicken wings (or something, I don't much care for spicy stuff). About five minutes after we ordered, the music changed and got louder. The staffs gathered as if on cue and started dancing. Some people looked and laughed good-naturedly while some simply ignored the dance routine. They danced for a good three minutes before going back to their bussing.
Our orders arrived and my first impression was the onions falling out of the burger. After trying to put the onions back into the burger to no avail, I cut my burger in half and started eating it. The burger buns have an unmistakable taste and smell of shortening, but the mushrooms and onions more than made up for that. The chicken patty was not hard and dry like a certain franchise's burger, but was tender and juicy enough for me to rank it higher than some franchises. The mushrooms and onions were cooked to the Maillard point, giving them a nice sweet and grilled taste. The only thing I didn't quite like was the large amount of fries served together with the burger and made me wish that I told them to hold the fries. I tried some of the wings my aunt ordered and had to take several large sips to rid of the spiciness. Johnny Rockets, being famous for their shakes, changed my perception towards shakes forever. The shake was so creamy and had the prominent sweet and sour taste of mangoes, at just the right temperature. There were so many of it that they served the leftover in a metal shaker. The dancing happened again when we were almost done with our meal. Following that, we settled our bill and set off for home.
That was one heck of a Sunday I had in a long while. Minus the disappointments, it was a fairly fun run. Looking at the name card now, I know who to call when I want to organize a send-off party when I leave for USA.
Until next time, I wish you interesting Sundays with surprises in store.
(P.S. Stupid computer won't let me post pictures.)
Friday 3 October 2014
PAPER CRAFT FTW!!!
HI.
Sorry, too excited there. It's been... two weeks since I have updated this blog, I think? I've been doing something extremely time and effort consuming, at least, it is so to me. What you can see above is one that I already done, it is a character called Danbo from an anime named Yotsubato&! (yes, both the ampersand and exclamation mark is supposed to be there). It looks like a cardboard robot (to some extent it is), but it is actually a costume worn by a girl named Miura for a science project. Miura didn't want to crush Yotsubato's dream of meeting a robot (which is herself in a costume), and lied that she is a robot named Danbo. I actually bought the papers for this over two years ago, so I procrastinated quite a bit before I decided to make it.
I bought this one pre-cut, so I only have to stick the pieces together. Sounds easy eh? No. It's actual cardboard, and that made it very difficult to bow to the force of my fingers. Building the individual pieces was relatively simple for someone with experience in arts and crafts, but putting them altogether? Nuh-uh. It took me about 237 glue stains on the table and 154 glue stains on my fingers before it is finished.
The moment when the final piece is attached, I felt a feeling of euphoria I have not known for years, and I realized...... it is the feeling of making a piece of art with my own hands. *cue backstory music*
During my primary school years, I found a love for arts and crafts, especially those of a papery nature. Origami was on top of it all. Every day, my little fingers would move silently below the tabletop when the teacher is talking as I made one fold after another. A crane, a flower, a space age military airplane, you name it, I will find a way to fold it. My classmates looked my way and awed at my work, but they never approached me more. (Interruption: I wasn't exactly a nice kid, but that depends on how you define nice) One of the most significant works of mine is a blessing I gave to my friend, in the form of a miniscule crane. However, as the years passed by, I slowly forgot this passion of mine and moved on to other things, like reading and *cough* surfing the internet. This curious paper robot have reminded me of my adoration for such finger works. I... excuse me while I become emotional for a while. *grabs tissue*
Hem, hem. Well that was embarrassing. So that was my story about paper crafts. Lame, yeah I know, but it's, all true feelings! *fake sobs* Anyway, I am actually working on another piece of paper craft, but I won't tell you what it is just yet (Hint: Miyazaki).
Here's to a future where paper crafts rule.
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