Another quiz.

Another quiz which I'm tagged, and just in case there are furthermore quizzes, this is the last one that I intend to do.

This quiz has 20 questions, but I decided only to answer the top 10 questions.


1. What disappoints you the most?
When thoughtfulness goes unappreciated.

2. Where will you go if someone sponsors you a tour ticket?
Europe.

3. What's your favourite thing to do?
Diving and singing.

4. Do you think money can buy happiness?
This question is too vague. So I'll answer yes. Let's be honest here, money is the most important thing to urban people.

5. If you have a dream come true, what would it be?
I want to go to the moon on a spaceship, and when I see Earth, I want to tell myself: "This is the planet that I was born. These are all the happenings in Earth."

6. Do you believe you can survive without money?
Yes. I've got my years and years of accumulated fats to help fend off any hunger.

7. What are you afraid to lose most?
People around me, especially my family.

8. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
I won't be buying anything. I'll be laughing the way to the bank first.

9. What do you dream of doing in the future?
Any diving-related jobs.

10. List out the 3 good points of the person who tagged you:

Chu Xiang - Mild Tempered, Soft spoken and Modest.

Personal thoughts of Myanmar Cyclone and Sichuan Earthquake.

This is a rather wordy and long post, and I do hope you will continue to read what I would like to say and hopefully it would evoke some emotions in you.


(If possible, do tag in the tagboard wishing the victims to rest in peace.)



Here's a true story which I saw it on a TV show:




There was this mother who was found in the midst of the ruins of the building. She was dead. But when the people look closer, there was this 3-4 month old baby sleeping away in the dead mom's arms.

It appeared that she held on to her baby tightly and use her body as a human shield to protect her baby.


They also found a handphone, and they found this message which she typed before she died:

"My dear baby, if you are still alive, I want you to know that I love you very much."

And that, his mother left the world.


That really hit me, especially when the host cried as well.







That aside, I've seen a lot of publicity for the Sichuan Earthquake everywhere I go. Donations drive everywhere, even in the television programmes. MSN nicks I've seen, and blogs that I went to, everything is about Sichuan Earthquake.


It really angers me that people neglected the people in Myanmar. They're even poorer than China, and the death toll is even higher, yet almost everywhere I see are donations for Sichuan Earthquake and a few for Myanmar victims.


The media focuses so much on Sichuan victims, and only a small portion for Myanmar victims. Through this little outlet of mine, I hope to highlight to people about these unfortunate victims as well.


Therefore, I hope that people will also donate money to the Myanmar victims as well. Each and every life lost is equally important, so let's do a part for them alright?


Someone sent me an email of the images taken in the aftermath of Myanmar Cyclone and I decided to post a few of it. I hope that if you look at the pictures, please count your blessings that you're alive and well while reading this.


BE WARNED THAT THE FOLLOWING HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES ARE GORY AND GRAPHIC, AND IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED:

Ruins of dead bodies and fallen buildings.












Dead body of a woman (probably a tourist) lifted from the beach.












Corpses become stiff, and being lifted using construction vehicles.










The most gory image of the Myanmar Cyclone. This baby must have drowned for a long time, because of the skin etc.




It reminds me of the terrible tsunami-earthquake in 2004 which killed more than 240,000 people.




My message to you:


Did the images hit you hard? You might think that the gory images are disgusting, but I hope that somewhere inside your heart, you will feel for these unfortunate people, and put yourselves in their shoes.


Often than not, we ourselves are preoccupied with projects, work and other assignments that seemed so trivial compared to these people.



These people who lead a simple life, got snuffed out by this cyclone. They have no dreams, they have no goals, and the only thing they ever wished for is to feed their families well to survive in this world.


How about us? We urban people have the ability to pursue our dreams and we hope to satisfy our materialistic needs every now and then, which I'm sure some of us will probably be going to the Great Singapore Sale and shop for clothes. Or even high-class brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada?


For once, let us excogitate and reflect on our smooth lives compared to others. Let us be contented for what we have, and treasure our family members well.




What you can do:


1.In respect to these victims, you can pray for them if God exists for you.


2. Mourn silently for a minute.


3. You can also type in your MSN nick like: "RIP to Myanmar victims and Sichuan victims."


4. Or you can type in my tagboard to wish all the victims to rest in peace as well, be in anonymous or not.


5. Donate. The following link below will bring you to where you can donate for Myanmar and Sichuan victims in Singapore.


Singapore Red Cross






Disclaimer: In case some people mistake for my thoughts, Sichuan and Myanmar's catastrophe are both equally disastrous, and each and every death should be treated with equal respect. The main purpose of this post is to highlight and publicise the Myanmar Cyclone that it rightfully deserved.

Optima, The Optimum Choice.

I rarely post up my design works, but I'll post this one up.

This project is to promote fonts to designers so that they'll use them often. This is a Typography project, and to those who doesn't know what's Typography, it is the art and design of fonts of every language. The words you're looking at is also considered Typography.

So I randomly picked Optima in a lucky draw.

My concept was to make Optima font as an expensive brand, and to design a chocolate box as a gift to people. And the target audience was for young designers and classy people. The rationale behind it was that these people will admire the design first before eating the chocolates..

Starting off from the chocolates..

Vanhouten chocolates...

and I packaged them into...

Tadah!

After alot of money and time wasted with processes and mock-up, here's the final end product of Optima Chocolate Box!

Front View.

Top cover view.

Overall view. I think the cutting mat spoils the whole image.

Macro view..

Another macro view.

I spent so many hours doing them, and I was really really tired. I board the bus today after school and I just dozed off all the way till the bus interchange. And guess what?

After the bus uncle parked his vehicle, he realise I was still in the bus ALONE and he tapped me to wake me up. How embarassing is that? And it's my first time in such a situation!

Once I reach home, I slept for an hour before forcing myself to wake up to do more schoolwork.

I'm really furious that my precious 2 weeks break is going to be interfered by a new Typography project. Why can't people understand the TRUE DEFINITION of the word "HOLIDAY". I'm praying that there won't be other modules to interfere as well.

Oh and by the way, do give comments on my Optima product if possible. Thanks!

It's the Champions League final. (Updated)

Update: Manchester United won the Champions League. Congratulations!


I've got other things to blog, but this one is more important because it's the Champions League final, the most prestigious cup in Europe.



Manchester United vs Chelsea in a netural ground in Moscow. Whoever wins are the best in Europe - literally.



As far as I'm concerned, Chelsea is more hungrier to get the Champions League Cup because they failed to snatch the English Premiership Cup from Manchester United.



Plus the dubbed "best player in the world" Cristiano Ronaldo never scored against Chelsea in the 9 outings they encountered, and the fact that he keeps saying that he's the best, chances are I think he'll be complacent.



Watch out for this guy:








Deadly Drogba.


Drogba's going to score against Manchester United, but I got a feeling Shevchenko might as well.



I really doubt Cristano Ronaldo will score against Chelsea, but Carlos Tevez will.





This post is rather biased, but I still think Chelsea will win (Behind my head seems that this might be a high scoring affair.)


Verdict: Chelsea 2 Manchester United 1

Insignificant compared to the world.

Recently, I've felt rather unhappy and moody about the recent disasters that happened around the region: China's earthquake and Myanmar's cyclone. (If you haven't heard any one of it, you're probably living in a cave.)

The death toll for China is around 20,000, while Myanmar's is around 78,000. It is really heartbreaking and tragic. The images shown in the newspapers and tabloids really hit me. 

Images of desperate parents hoping to find their children alive among the ruins.

Images of heartbroken parents weeping at the sight of their crushed children.

Images of people's belongings when they're no longer in this world.

And the images of the humanitarian efforts for Myanmar and China.

Why am I doing here, thinking of some stupid concepts for some projects, worrying about my incessant work, while there are so many far more important things that are happening in this world.

People are dying and trying to survive. Deforestation sets in. Global warming is increasing. Yet here I am doing work that seems so insignificant and useless compared to these things in life.

Why?

Stardust 2008 finals and Yan Rong..

Jun Ping and I went to Stardust finals yesterday which was located at The Arena, and of course I was there to support Yan Rong. It was also the first time I visited a pub.

Yan Rong and I..

The first few contestants were pretty okay, but I like this female contestant who sang Kelly Clarkson's Because Of You.

Anyway, Yan Rong was singing a song called Shi Lian Wu Zui (失戀無罪) by A-Lin, and being the only contestant to sing a mandarin song, I thought it was applaudable and courageous.

Her performance was one of the best in the solo category and I'm not joking. Take a look at her performance:

She sang with much gusto and attitude and with the song and voice, she completely blew the audience away. The only negative thing was she didn't connect the audience well enough. But her singing wins hands down, not forgetting she completely owned the song! Super awesome!

What's more, the song and its original singer was quite unknown to the audience, and I could hear people saying "What song is that?", but with this performance, I believe she brought wider attention and publicity for the song itself.

I'm so proud of her.


You know what's the most shocking thing in the finals? Yan Rong didn't win any of the Top 3 in the solo category and I thought it was quite ridiculous.

People will question my credibility and biasness in my comments because they will think I say so because Yan Rong is my friend. But I can assure that given her performance, she should be at least in the Top 3, and the audience will very much agree with me.



To Yan Rong: Though you didn't win anything, I'm sure we friends will support you all the way! Your performance didn't disappoint us, and we know you did your best. You'll soar to greater heights with more competitions! Congratulations on your awesome performance!


On the sidetrack, Tyron is competing with the best dancers in Singapore at Scape* Cineleisure, and I hope he'll do well!

Follow-up of the Cambodia trip.

There were several mistakes about the Cambodia trip, so I gonna point it out.

Technically speaking, I'm not actually the chosen 16 who will be going. I'm in the top 20, where we will have a bootcamp, and there will be 4 people who will leave the group.

Whether I'm confirming going or not will be known in early June. and the trip is from 31 August to 1 September.


Oh and by the way, I startled myself when I decided to choose the Cambodia trip instead of going diving during my 2 months break. (Anything is still possible yet.)

Happy Birthday Brother!

Sometimes you're a prick.

Sometimes you're a nin-com-poop.

Sometimes you're a jackass.

Sometimes you're trying too hard to act cool. (like me)

Still, you're my brother...

So a Happy 16th Birthday to you this year, and hope you pass your exams with flying colours, and hope you're always be guided to the right path in everything you do!

Happy Birthday Zhao Kiat!!!

A whirlpool of thoughts.

As lucky as I can get, I really got chosen as one of the 16 people to go Cambodia, out of around 50 people.

I'm having a mixture of feelings, because it is in my 2-month break and this community project is taking 16 days. It means I cannot work for 16 days, which I can earn like $700? What I might plan to do is to work during the weekends or holidays to compensate for the project.

That's because there's a 50:50 chance that I'll organise a diving trip again, and that costs money as well.

I'm not lying when I say I'm pretty worried to go to Cambodia, but I think it's because I have been in my comfort zone for all these years. Now that I'm going to do community work in a foreign country for 16 days, the feeling is kinda different.

There's a part of me which don't want me to go, while there's another part of me which wants to help orphans and gain experience.

Then, there's this factor that my parents don't want me to go. Sigh, I'm still considering.

Ah, I should stop here.

Today's a special day for 3 of my friends; Chu Xiang, Jun Ping and Heng Thye! Happy Birthday!

Happy Mother's Day, Mum.

It's a day to celebrate the maganimousness of mothers around the world.


Thank you for your altruistic love towards us, and the sacrifice you made. I love you mum, and I hope you have great health and happiness in the decades ahead.








You're the best, mum.


Happy Mothers Day!

My urine smells like luncheon meat.

I know the above title sounds distasteful, but it really smelled like that, after I ate with my family members and relatives for dinner. I'm pretty sure it's the food.

Unlike previous years, this time we settled at a shophouse off Beach Road in celebration of Mother's Day.

I don't know what my father was thinking when he chose that place, because the food was generally mediocre, unlike what he said was cheap and good.

Look at my brother's spastic face.

Cousin Jeslyn and I..

I seriously think I should stop procrastinating about projects or I'll suffer again. I'm sick and tired of this endless rountine.

Community service in Cambodia..

I've just taken the interview today for the trip to Cambodia. It is community service, and the purpose is to teach the orphan kids English, basic computer skills and painting their classrooms.

The cost is more than $1k, but after subsidaries from Nanyang Polytechnic and Edusave, I don't really have to spend a single cent. And I'm going there for 16 days.

I don't know whether I will be selected for the chosen 16, but all along I've been wishing to go to such countries and help them because I think I take things around me for granted easily, and I believe this trip will change my personal views about life and have a huge impact on me.

My mother don't really want me to go, but I'll talk to her about it. I think it's a life-time opportunity and I've been in my comfort zone for too long.


Most importantly, I think I'll be more humble, and really understand the meaning of contention. But everything's still kinda early. I still need to think thoroughly.

Support her!

Remember the friend that I told you people about who participated in a singing competition called Stardust? I told you guys that she went into the semi-finals, and GUESS WHAT?





She got into the FINALS!





So people (referring to Singaporeans only), if you would like to support her, please buy tickets from her at only $15!

This way, you will be helping her win this competition because the sales of the tickets affects her chances as well.


So yes, let's support for TAN YAN RONG!




The finals will be at 16 May 2008 (Friday) at The Arena, Clarke Quay from 6pm - 10pm.


You can contact Yan Rong at yanrong63@hotmail.com for the tickets, or type in your contact details in the comments and either me or her will get back to you!

Daphne's birthday.

Today's Daphne's birthday, and while I'm now having a terrible throat infection with a slight fever, let me sum things up quickly.

We ate at Fish&Co, and I have to say that the meal I ordered was rather disappointing, and Billy Bombers's Fish & Chips beat this hands down.

After dining, a birthday cake that we had for her was brought out..

The cake.

Fish&Co. has a unique way of celebrating its customers' birthdays, and they had this group of employees giving a cheer for Daphne.

A happy girl..

Then, someone had to do the job decided to smash Daphne's head into the cake, though I felt that it was pretty wasteful.

Poor Daphne, she got a facial of cake!

That's one classic photo.

Recovering from the cake smashing.

Anyway, I would like to wish Daphne a very happy 19th birthday and hope everything goes well for her.

Hope she likes the present!

Current updates of my stale life.

Updates have been rather slow, because I decided to take a break from blogging, while busy with other commitments.


Recently, I had the urge to start reading inspirational and touching stories, and it fuelled even more after listening to Corrinne May's song named Five Loaves and Two Fishes. I don't know why, but after listening to the song and its lyrics, I kinda felt abit closer to Christianity. But no, I'm not going to be evangelised.


I treated my mum and brother to a hearty steamboat along the streets of Bugis Junction today. I haven't really treated them one for a long time, and it was to celebrate Mother's Day and my brother's birthday in advance.

I really love you mum, you're the reason of my existence. Your sacrifice for this family is beyond the abyssal depths of measurement..


Projects are tiring me out, and I get really stressed out over ideas, concepts and the execution of the designs. I'm really hanging on.


Life will be like that for the next few months, and it is always disheartening to know that you will and always have projects inside your mind after finishing one after another; it's like the vast sea, which is never ending.


For now, I just pray that my current path in life is a smooth one, with not too many obstructions.