Lamentations

Friday, April 29, 2011

Spire85 Official Video from Spire85 on Vimeo.

SPIRE85 : PROJECTION from Spire85 on Vimeo.

Above are the remaining videos that weren't up when I blogged about the graduation night. First video is the video that shows the whole thing from start to end, and the second is the Spire projection. Watch it and be impressed.

Anyway, I'm playing American McGee's Alice now. I just got it from Redzuan a few days back, and I'm 4 chapters from the end. I'm loving it like hell, despite this game being a decade old. Still, I'm enjoying the crazy and morbid reimagination from it, and how the places are bloody beautiful. As its a fantasy world, basically anything is possible, and with no logic and limits, I think its gorgeous. Not to mention I love the Cheshire Cat's voice and words. Damn nice; the things he says.

I've been reading into it quite a bit, and one of the theories of the whole thing is that although the whole thing is undoubtedly in her imagination, the different characters in her mind are based on emotions, feelings, and friends. The characters that help her are whats left of her sanity (apart from her good self) that helps to fight and keep her sane.

That's gotten me thinking because since I've began my holidays, I've been going out pretty often. However, I've also been staying at home aplenty. Now during my time in college (which only ended weeks ago, lol), and actually, all the years of my life, I've always been pretty slack when it comes to organizing things. I'm never the one to call someone out for a meal, I'm never the one to organize a hang out, and stuff. Heck, I'm even too lazy to organize my own birthday, and yet I have great friends who do it for me. This stems partly from the fact that its because I am all too assured that someone in the day will ask me out for a meal, or I'll be joining my classmates, or something would be planned in advance. During the last few weeks in college, I would skip on having meals with my classmates, go straight to the library and sleep while using my laptop. I did this here and there all the time, but I started doing it a lot more frequently in the last weeks because I was just so damn tired from all the finals. And even in the library, even when I intentionally passed on meals with my classmates, I'd still get a call from someone asking for a meal, or a chillout (usually with Symposium), or I'd bump into someone in the library and we'd have a good conversation there. Call it arrogance on my part, or whatever, but I'm just that damn assured I will hangout. On the extremely rare days that I am called up by no one, or hang out with no one I bump into, it allows me a bit of my alone time. Everyone needs a bit of alone time, and I get my alone time pretty rarely, but its enough. I undoubtedly enjoy the company of others far better. A good conversation is one of life's greatest pleasures. Chilling out is also among the top. And although it sounds pretty cocky that I have such assurance that someone will ask me out, there is also much appreciation, and gratitude that I am of enough importance to be asked out continuously, almost every single day. People who dislike you are not going to ask you out intentionally. And it humbles me (ironic, that the assurance reeks of arrogance) that I am a friend enough to many.

So, the thing that's gotten me thinking, in relation to Alice? During the holidays, definitely its a time to hang out, chill out and rest. And since I've graduated, even more so. Thing is, the days at home are pretty dull. Sure, I get rest and play games. I also need my alone time. But it's also reminding me about college days where despite the fact that I have to attend classes, that compulsory travel to Sunway also allowed the time to mix with all my friends and the assurance of getting asked out for something, or having a good chat with someone. While in Alice, the companions are the manifestations that keep her sane, I think I can apply this to myself as well. Maybe I'm reading (uh, playing, I guess) too much into it, or I'm making connections that don't stand up to intense scrutiny, but I definitely think that my friends are what's kept me sane.

Sure, I didn't wind up in a mental institution (Zoe did, ironically), but considering all things I've gone through, it's not too much to say that I could've gone (figuratively) insane. Like I said, ironic thing is that a major source of all that hell did end up going to a mental hospital. There's lots of things I did, and could've gone through, and through it all, friends have been the pillars of support. What's kept me sane, what's kept me living. How God played His part is another thing, but friends are the "manifestations" of my own sanity. Manifestations isn't the best word. But in both cases, what they did was keep the person intact. Living. That, specifically, is how I feel American McGee's Alice relates to me. Like I said, maybe I'm looking too deeply into it, making a connection.

But there's one thing that cannot be denied. They kept me sane, figuratively. Or maybe literally. Who knows how I might have ended up if things went worse.

But unlike Alice, I don't go around with a butcher knife killing everything around me. Oh the ironies of Zoe and her.

Chronicled
6:57 PM

e l e g y

Friday, April 22, 2011

Church service was good. I liked it tremendously.

Call it tradition, or whatever, but every Easter, I've grown accustomed to seeing a drama with a storyline that'll somehow involve the crucifixion, and Jesus eventually being raised from the dead. I've been in church for almost 9 years. And year after year, in CHC SG and CHCKL, the crucifixion has always been an integral part of Easter dramas.

This year was different. Very different. This year, it was a screening of a short film, called "Sixteen" about a boy with autism, and the challenges of living with it. They called it a short film, but I was honestly surprised by how short it really was. When the lights were on, and Pastor Kevin came on stage, I was like "What? That's it?". The film was decently done, and it did show the hardships of autistics, but I thought it was way too short.

Anyway, there was no Jesus, no crucifixion, no resurrection. Instead, it was inspired by what Jesus said; that if we ever helped anyone in need, we did it to Him. And for Easter, the focus was on the kids with autism. Our offerings would go towards an organization for children with autism. Pastor Kevin also told us about one guy's birthday. On his birthday, he decided to visit an orphanage with some friends, buy KFC for all of them, and donate a few thousand to the orphanage, which miraculously was the exact amount the orphanage needed to survive that month. Imagine on your birthday, instead of celebrating for yourself, you spend time, money and effort on making some children happier just for one day. That is an awesome and selfless birthday. I think Pastor Kevin spoke for nearly everyone when he said "I think through his actions, I feel like a sinner."

That is really inspiring. But to think whether I could do it, I honestly cannot answer. Can I be that selfless? I don't quite know right now. And what would be my intentions? To really bless the kids, or because I want to compare to that selfless guy? I have gone to charitable organizations and helped myself. Interesting that I never had any blog posts recording most of them. I visited Metta Home back in Singapore, which was a place for the mentally-handicapped. I helped out for JAMs church in CHC SG, which is a special service for mentally-handicapped people as well. I also visited an orphanage in Klang, and also helped out in United Voice before. I've done several visitations and the such. And it's a nice feeling. I remember in the orphanages the kids there enjoy any kind of company. They're so generous with their food (even though we're the ones who buy it for them, lol). The younger kids are obsessed with my hair, flattening it, climbing on me, asking whether I'm "Dragonball". It's cute. The older kids hold pretty good conversations, and appreciate the effort to visit.

Patience is also a factor. Mentally-handicapped people aren't the easiest to work with. Kids are easier and more fun, but they go crazy at times. Old folks often have language and topical barriers. Attending today's service reminded me of how much I've done before. But it also reminded me of how little it's been compared with other people. Like that selfless guy who shelled out his money and time. Like Khar Loo, who even till now, continues to visit YMCA to help disabled children. Granted our friendship is dead, but her dedication towards helping them cannot be denied.

And I hope it reminded everyone that whatever we did to someone, Jesus said we did it to Him.

Chronicled
4:24 PM

e l e g y

Crucifiction.

Haha. I saw that on Youtube today, as a mockery of Christianity. I must say that's pretty creative of whoever came up with that. I've seen people type crucification, crucifixtion, crucifixation (that might actually be a cool portmanteau of crucifix and fixation). But I've never seen crucifiction, despite it being the exact same as crucifixion, pronunciation wise.

But thats something that several critics charge today, that the crucifixion of Jesus is fiction. That it never happened, that Jesus never existed. It's funny because although scholars question if he is God, they don't deny He existed. They accept that He taught, that He performed what the people considered miracles, and that He was crucified and died. Whether He stayed dead or rose from the dead is what divides Christians from the rest of the world. The resurrection is what Christianity hinges upon. It's so important, that in the Bible, Paul has several lines that underscore it:

1 Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty"

1 Corinthians 15:17 "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!"

1 Corinthians 15:18 "Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished."

It is the foundation on which the entire Christian belief stands. If the resurrection is proven false, then you destroy Christianity. The funny thing is, if you look back on history, no one ever denied the body went missing. Ancient Roman, Jewish and Christian sources all claimed the tomb was empty. However, it's how the tomb ended up being empty that they differ upon. Theories such as the body went missing, or Jesus never died, or the disciples stole the body have all been thoroughly abandoned.

The thing is that no one ever denied the tomb was empty. If the body was still inside, all the authorities would need to do was show the body, and disprove Christianity days after it "started".

Also notable is that women discovered the empty tomb. Back in those days, women's testimony were considered worthless, to the extent that they could not testify in Jewish courts. And yet they were the ones reported to discover the empty tomb. Getting women to witness something this important isn't what a 1st century man would want. If they wanted to lie, they would've surely had males discover the empty tomb instead. Yet it has been faithfully recorded that women discovered the empty tomb, despite the embarassment to the 1st century church.

And people in this day and age still want to call it fiction? Despite the fact that 2000 years ago nobody denied the tomb was empty?

We may disagree on how the tomb ended up being empty. But that's something you cannot deny; it was empty.

And crucifixion was what put Jesus in there in the first place. It's Good Friday.

Chronicled
3:05 AM

e l e g y

Thursday, April 21, 2011

I'm officially on holidays now. Unofficially. Sort of.

The graduation exhibition is complete, so all thats left is to wait for my confirmation call for my job interview, and go for my graduation ceremony to collect my diploma in June. Technically I've graduated, and am just awaiting the formal procedures.

So what was a fitting way for us to blow off the whole exhibition and celebrate? Clubbing!

I went to Mist, with half of my class, and 2 people from AD085-1, Yee Chuan, and Wee Hian. Yes, the Wee Hian who pissed me off 2 years ago. You'll see why I'm emphasizing his name later. Interesting exchanges happened that night, thanks to alcohol. I got inside, and we had a couch, courtesy of Kin Yaw's booking. 3/4 of my class is female, so somehow this ratio remained in the club, and most of the people in my class who came were girls. There was Pauline, Wai Wai, Mei Linn, Wai Yern, Chuan Ying, Su Li, Bee Khian and Bell, Sze Keong's girlfriend who's not from our class. And the guys were Kin Yaw, Yew Terng, Kok Chun, Lucas, Soon Chit, Sze Keong, Wai Yern's boyfriend, and I. Plus, the two guys I mentioned earlier on.

I can't blog quite that much about this night because I lost my memory. Yeah. Again. Geez. Lol... I ended up forgetting half the night. What I remember are like in bits and pieces. I know that I didn't dance because it still wasn't very crowded on the dance floor, so while the rest went and danced, I was chatting with Sze Keong or whoever remained behind. I remember I confirmed the sexual orientations of 2 of the guys because hey, they were gay. I'm not judging them, but there was alcohol. You know what alcohol does. Anyway, I remember I drank a lot. Like continuously, since I was at the couch the entire time while others were going off and dancing at intervals. And there was a lot of bottoms-up among the guys, plus the pouring straight from the bottle into my mouth thingy. And I hadn't eaten since noon. Empty stomach and alcohol? Works way too fast!

But, while I was still sober, there was a cute girl who was selling tequila shots from test tubes. She approached Sze Keong first, since he was sitting nearer to her, and he said no thanks. Then she came over to me and asked to buy some too. I was broke, so I said no thanks. She leaned closer and asked again. I still wasn't going to buy, but I thought I'd try flirting with her instead. Heavily. With some new stuff I've been wanting to try for a while.

I've learned about digit ratio theory a long time ago, and its something I've used as an opener to conversations, and sometimes, when the topic is getting dull. Everyone is always interested when people tell you that they can learn something about you from certain traits, physical or mental. So I asked to check her fingers, and saw that she had a longer ring finger, typical of more testosterone. I checked in a more sensual way than I usually do with friends. I looked deeply, caressed her fingers, held them in my hand, ran over them gently and smoothly, and yeah. Bragging rights.

So anyway, I was in a club. It's hard to hear people over the loud music and beats. So I had to go nearer to her. She was already leaning in, so that already made things easier for me. I reached over to her hair, moved it behind her ear, and spoke into her ear, at times having my lips touch her ear. I told her that with more male hormones, she would have slightly noticeable traits of normally male signs, relating to sexual urges, emotions and the such. Then she told me she didn't know English very well. Meh. Fine, so I told her in Mandarin that my Chinese wasn't very good. Then I asked her to give me her email, so we could talk in the future. And I could tell her about what I found out too. I passed her my phone, and she typed in her email. I didn't get her number because I'm not interested to progress things further.

She typed it in, I said thanks, and she gave me one last look before walking off and taking her tequila shots with her. I got her email without buying her drinks. And I could've easily asked for her number while she was typing on my phone. Bragging rights, ahem. Lol... I had the attention of all the guys who were there, staring at me like what the hell just happened. For some reason none of the girls were there, but I was fine with that. I still impressed.

Then the night gets fuzzy after that. I was very sleepy, 'cause I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before, and I had been awake for 19 hours. The only incident I remember after that was I was outside Mist, puking outside the gates of a neighbouring factory. Then we went to a mamak to eat, and I was so tired I slept, and took a few sips of my teh ais. I have never left a drink unfinished before -.-. Then Wee Hian drove me back to my car. I don't know why, or how, but I ended up in his car, where I ended up apologizing for what started our animosity 2 years back. I was pissed off at him a few years ago because he had no opinions for himself, and that pissed me off. He overheard me mentioning that, and that led to 2 whole years of hating and ignoring each other's existence. Then I ended up in the same group with him for the practical project subject, and things eased up as we interacted more. And that I got closer to Lih Ting (his girlfriend) means I ended up inadvertently talking to him more sometimes as well. Clubbing at Mist was the cherry on top.

He dropped me off at my car, and I drove home. Without any accidents (bragging rights). I also tried something stupid, which shouldn't be done, especially under my condition. I tried to break my previous driving speed of 150km/h, and reached 160km/h. That's good enough for me now. Just 21km/h away from reaching the top speed. I'll try that next time. When I find a longer highway.

When I woke up the next morning, I found a bunch of email addresses from my classmates stored in my phone, along with the girl I flirted with. I have no memory about the other emails. Geez.

But she is cute. Tequila shots anyone?

Chronicled
9:43 AM

e l e g y

Thursday, April 14, 2011

At last. Spire85, my graduation exhibition is over.

After three years of torture, and quite a grueling graduation campaign. All is said, and at long last, all is done.

The graduation exhibition was no easy job. We ended up raising almost RM60k. We went through hell raising money, doing fundraisers, and for me personally, the proposals for the marketing team, and sponsorships from corporations. Don't forget to add in all the committee meetings, which lasted like 4 hours each time. The discussions, arguments, brainstorming.

Then came the prelaunch events, to help gain awareness for Spire85. We went crazy on Facebook, by changing everyone's names and pictures to Spire. Then there was the stick 'n run on, where people would write what inspires them, and stick this sticker on somebody's back or what. As well as the Spire wave, a kind of "flash mob" where a line of the students would produce a wave motion of their hands when people walked by.

Spire Wave from Spire85 on Vimeo.

Stick n' RUN! from Spire85 on Vimeo.

Spire for Hire from Spire85 on Vimeo.

It finally all boiled down to this. The graduation exhibition finally launched on Tuesday. And it was epic. Brilliant and awesomely fun. I reached there half past 6pm, where I was to do duties as an usher, guiding in cars and helping them navigate a bit, since Solaris Dutamas, where MapKL is located, has some of the worst parking in existence. After 2 hours of ushering in cars, and chatting with Chee How (Jeff), all the ushers finally went up to attend the official opening.

Spire 85 Official Teaser from Spire85 on Vimeo.

There were the usual speeches of course, followed by a very awesome projection onto our Spire85 logo sculpture. I was honestly shocked at the amount of people there. White Box, the specific gallery we used from MapKL, isn't very big, but the crowd of people was INSANE. I seriously did not expect this amount of people. Not in my dreams. You could barely walk around, and during the opening speeches and presentations, everyone was just standing there listening, some from a far distance, because we just couldn't pack the place anymore. Apart from a slight technical error, everything went perfect.

The night just felt brilliant. I remember when I was doing my internship attachment at Pluto Tech, back in Dover ITE, I once had to attend a gallery exhibition, which was also a competition, except it was for digital media and all. It was called the Asian Interactive Awards. My job there was to promote Granado Espada, as it was new that time. However, I also got to watch the different entries and all. After the formalities were over, it was pure drinking, eating and socializing for the artists. At that time, I was only starting to be involved with the arts more, so what I saw were my impressions of the contemporary artists and designers. Dressed outlandishly, smoking, profanities, open-mindedness, and very great charisma and humour. I was seeing artists all around being congratulated, shaking hands, meeting new people, being flattered and the such. As an audience (sort of), I thought it was pretty cool.

As the recipient however, now I finally know how it feels: awesome. Like, totally. Graduating as a designer myself, I guess I'm also considered an artist as well, in a broad sense. After the formalities were over, I was being congratulated everywhere. People who had come to visit and support were shaking hands, congratulating me, catching up, asking questions on my future. All that attention that night felt great. Everyone's focus was on the graduates (naturally), and I was part of that. When I was congratulated, strangers around me would look at me and give a look that was like "Wow" or "He's one of them". Did it feel good? Very. The mood was just so uplifting, and I was just chatting away with tons of people I knew. Chat here, someone would bump into me, or tap me, and talk to me. It was a continuous cycle that just felt great. With a crowd like that, it just brought up the mood more. Plus, you would surely see someone you'd know with such a huge amount of people. The compliments kept coming and coming.

Of course, the purpose of this gallery exhibition was to promote and showcase our artwork. For potential employers, for friends and the public to see, as well as for ourselves. In TOA, the only sense of satisfaction you get from your art is when your classmates or lecturers are impressed. And granted, their attention and feedback is very important. However, it doesn't compare to a complete stranger looking impressed at your artwork. You get a thrill when someone innocently walks over, and stops at your particular area, and takes a look at your art. And for those with physical manifestations, such as books, brochures and stuff, there's a bonus when they pick it up and flip through it. Another rush when they look impressed. And the icing on the cake is when they take your namecard from the holder.

This was my set. Woots.

The row of artworks, on my lane.

The interior design section.

The other half of the AD tunnel. Tunnel. Lmao.

Walking in to the gallery. The immediate left section houses multimedia. The immediate right holds illustration.

View from the stage.

The digital animation section.

As a designer, artist, or anything related to the art industry, the point of what you do is to show something. To communicate something. How your art fares is very important, for your career as well as your ego. Having them all in a school setting is fine, but having them in the public brings things to a whole new level. And seeing them impress the public is also a rush of feelings to a whole new level. And it feels great. Simply awesome.

On a side note, I was told my namecard was well done, and that several people recognized it as mine before even seeing my name. Lmao. Also, due to my logo, a lot of people also recognized it easily once they knew it was mine. My name card has done what its supposed to do, give information, give an impression, and have people remember it. The stocks also ran out pretty fast. And that's saying something because I went everyday to the gallery. There were quite a number of students who went around and took people's name cards, collecting them. Even then, the people with more noticeable name cards ended up having their cards taken more often than those who had a very generic or duller design. And considering how many times I had to refill, I'd take that as a bragging right (lol), and a compliment.

Without the name, does this obviously look like mine? Lol.

The exhibition lasted 3 full days. I went everyday, because well, its my graduation exhibition. I wanted to. Not to mention it would be the last few times I would see my classmates and batch regularly. It feels good, and very relaxing to just stand around, looking at your batch's artworks and read about their art, with nothing to worry about. Plus it was also nice to see the public check out your artwork, as I mentioned earlier. Also, its a great time to just chill with your friends, chatting on random or relevant things. It was also a good time to meet new people from the batch who I never knew before. Just chilling, just enjoying the view, the environment, the art, your friends, your batch, along with all the humour, jokes, and bonds. It was brilliance.

My class, AD085-2.

And it was fun. We dismantled (destroyed actually) the wooden frames used to hold our artwork. Three years worth of stress, released on the wood!

www.spire85.com

Chronicled
11:39 PM

e l e g y

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Heh, my graduation exhibition starts tomorrow!

All that blood (red paint actually), sweat and tears (due to me yawning) will finally be showcased along with all our artwork and stuff. Aye. I swear, with all that work the last few days, I should get a diploma in carpentry. Lawls.

And I overslept for church this morning. I was supposed to go yesterday but my cellgroup told me that they were going on Sunday, so I decided to go along. And then I stayed up till 6am. Why? Because I was chatting with a very experienced and well-versed Satanist. Venus Satanas is one of the more recognizable Satanists on Youtube, who regularly posts up videos on rituals, books, spells, magick, and stuff. She also does tarot reading, dances and stuff. I don't quite remember how I stumbled onto her videos on Youtube, but there were links to her website, and I checked it out. Lots of information there. And she's a heavy reader, which is a plus, 'cause I've encountered way too many Satanists who didn't really know what they were believing.

So yeah. She has this live chat thingy where anyone can come into her chatroom and she'll be on her webcam, replying to questions, and just chatting in general. Its was my first time on her live chat thing, 'cause she's not on it everytime. I asked a few questions on her materials, e-books, and stuff. She showed what she puts on her Satanic altar, her pole for pole dancing, and a lot of books. One of the things I asked was "What do you think of a Christian who's honestly interested in Satanism?" and she talked about how most Christians didn't treat her very nicely after finding out she was a Satanist, but that quite a few Christians talked openly and nicely about it too. And the people in the chatroom were impressed that I wear a reversse pentagram to church every week with no qualms or issues.

I had a very fun and enriching time learning about a lot of new material, and discussing certain issues, plus meeting quite a few people who were Satanists, or very interested in it. I spent hours chatting, so that when I woke up, it was 3pm. Waaaaay after church. Aiks. Ironic, that as I learned more about Satanism, I ended up oversleeping for church. HA.

Anyway, she gave a few links to websites. You can check my links for her website, and the link she posted. And you can click here for one website that collects a bunch of so-called prophecies about the end of the world. Really lol'ed at all those failures for prediction. It was one of the topics that night too. And you can also click here for a very interesting article on why the typical claims on Satanic crimes don't make sense even from a Christian point of view. Very accurate and true!

Anyhoo, a to catch up a bit on my previous weeks. I did say that Tiffany came over right? I actually hadn't seen her for a very, very long time prior. The last time I saw her was when we went clubbing at Dolce during my holidays. After that, we never met up. Until my last visit to Singapore in November (which... I still haven't blogged about! Lol =x). I was in Bugis Junction's J.Co, hanging around and wasting time for something I can't quite remember. Suddenly some girl came up to me and said "What the fuc* are you doing here?" Wow, what a way to say hi, lmao! It was Tiffany. We chatted for a while and agreed to have lunch a few days from then, which we did. Had a good catch up.

So when she told me she was coming up to KL for her American visa, it took me by surprise. But it was alright. She stayed at Muru's place, and a hotel, and for the remaining 3 days was at my place. So basically I brought her around Sunway Pyramid, eating and hanging around. We even went ice skating, which for some reason Miki tagged along. Between Tiffany and I, we said that whoever fell first would have to treat the other a meal. On! So we skated. I haven't skated since my first year at college with Wai Kwan, Adib (yeah, the porn addict moron), Ruz and Tarik. My legs were quite easily tired this time round though, but I managed to survive. Miki fell first, and later on, right in front of me, Tiffany fell face first. With a huge impact. LMAO. Luckily for her, she used her elbows to brace herself, but from the back, it really looked as if she fell and had her face shredded on the ice floor. Thankfully, no major injuries. Just bruises. And free dinner for me! We shisha-ed at Shiok with most of Symposium (we had lunch with Essenism earlier), and that got her to know some of my friends at least. Yeah, good time spent chatting and just chilling out. Plus I had my free dinner. Mee goreng -.-.

As we got home, I got to strip Tiffany, really slowly. From her arms all the way to her legs, I was a mean, dirty boy, stripping her down all the way to her bare skin.

With wax strips.

Lmao. Yeah... I didn't do anything carnal. Chill. Tiffany needed to look presentable for her interview with the American embassy, so we went shopping, and she picked out a dress that I said looked really nice. Pity the heels that looked great on her didn't fit well. Regardless, she also wanted to get rid of some hair, so she got some wax strips. And I helped out. Its my first time, so it took a while to get used to. It really sounded painful for her, and the wax strips were covered in her hair. After we finished with her, she let me try by sticking a small portion onto my leg. I was like EH. It was stuck on though, so I was like, oh well, there's gotta be a first time for everything. Maybe its not so bad. Then she pulled.

Muru was supposed to pick her up from my place and drive her to the embassy, but the morning jam at Federal Highway was so insane that I ended up needing to take public transport to bring Tiffany over there. I didn't drive 'cause if the jam was that bad at Federal, there'd be no point driving to the embassy at that state. Luckily I'm pretty well versed in public transport here, so I brought her just in time as her interview was supposed to start. Whew.

She went back to JB the day after, so I was all alone at home again. With no one to strip. LOL. Jokes aside, it was great to have her over. Had some great conversations till the early mornings, and got to catch up after quite a number of years.

Chronicled
10:12 AM

e l e g y

Thursday, April 7, 2011

So, my last classes are officially done. My time in TOA is officially done. All I have left is a graduation exhibition. And it'll finally, be all over. So, I need to cover some ground. Let's start with my last few subjects.

The third week of March was one hell of a week because it was the final week of Practical Project, which is the subject that we had to redesign a client's packaging, as well as come up with their SMP, taglines, marketing, and all that. It's literally like a real life job here, for an actual client, BioEnergy Technology, that produces enzymes for consumption and health. The team members in class were chosen randomly, so I ended up with Kin Yaw, Mei Linn, Hui Han, Soon Chit and Wee Hian (yes, the very same one I had a problem with last time). It was actually quite an average team. We didn't have any insane gods or goddesses in our team, and no slackers either. It was pretty well balanced.

Over the weeks of the semester, we did our work as planned, and did work so efficiently that pretty often we had nothing to do once our respective jobs were done. This, plus a pretty good design with everyone's contribution, led to us not being all too worried when it came to showing stuff. Our first meeting with the client went well, and I had to present. And for the final presentation, I had to present too. The time leading up to the final presentation was funny though.

First, I was in college since 11am. Then all of us were in the classroom F3 (or F4), till 10:30pm, when we were shoo-ed. We still wanted to record the radio ad, and we needed a quiet place, so we snuck into the AVH and waited for the staff to close the doors and stuff. What we didn't realize was that he actually locked certain portions of the building, which were inaccessible through the main hallway. Luckily for us, the AVH connects to the main building thats still open, and to the section that's locked. God knows what we'd do if we were really stuck. Lol. So basically, we had free reign in the AVH!

Yeah. Awesomeness.

We continued our work, and around 5am, most of it was done. I was finished with my portion, so I had to rehearse the presentation. The presentation would be in the AVH itself, so I had some early experience to see what it would be like. Heh. Originally we thought of having three people present; Kin Yaw, Mei Linn and I. Kin Yaw said he couldn't, wasn't confident, and backed out. Then while rehearsing, Mei Linn kept messing up, so she asked me to try her part. So I did. And I did better, so they ended up shoving the entire presentation to me. Great. My first presentation to an actual client and I end up being the sole presenter. Hell, it was pretty nerve-wracking! And since I was so tired, I messed up my lines a bit, and memorization wasn't that good. Either way, I went home at 5:30am, and woke up at 7am to go back to college. I dressed super formally, and went to school. With less than 2 hours sleep. Ho ho.

After settling down and getting all the slides in proper order and stuff, we listened to all the groups present. The designer for Petronas, Malaysian Airlines and a few other major brands was present, so it didn't help when it came to nervousness. Here was a legitimate bigshot with plenty of experience. Aside from him, were some other staff from BioEnergy. The first few groups didn't impress the bigshot at all. In fact, he seemed pretty disappointed, and he barely gave any comments, except for negative ones. Lol. So when it was my group's turn, I was wary of having him say negative things at the end of my presentation too. When I began, I was really nervous, 'cause it was a freaking client. Plus a bigshot. Naturally, I spoke too fast, and my group mates whispered to me to slow down. After the first introduction, I managed to slow down, catch my breath, and present more slowly, and chilled out. I kept myself pretty casual in words, and spoke clearly, loudly, and yeah. I was pretty proud. At the very end we had quite an applause and the bigshot stood up and said "Congratulations!". I was like what? He congratulated us for being the only group so far to bring across BioEnergy's products well, and that our group's ideas were superb, well designed, and made very good sense, especially with our tagline "Renew. Refresh. Reborn". The only issue he had was a slight differed opinion on the print ads, but other than that, he was very pleased and happy. And the staff with him were too, as were the guest lecturer's who were present. Even a number of my classmates said that the deal would go to my group. Whew!

As the groups finished one by one, it slowly began to dawn on us that no other group apart from mine, and Edmond's, had any chance of impressing the clients. Edmond's was done extremely beautifully as well (he is the god of the major... so yeah) and his group's presentation was very professional. It was very obvious that apart from these two groups, the bigshot didn't like any of the other groups works at all. I felt pretty pleased. My group, made up of averages, manages to compete with the gods' group? Hell, that's quite an achievement. Later on I overheard from the lecturers and some students that my group's design was very friendly-based, and my presentation style was very casual and chilled. Edmond's group was very professional and crisp in presentation. So it depended on whether they wanted to make their direction of their enzymes friendly, or professional. Like I said, to think that my group could compete with Edmond's, is awesomeness.

A few weeks later, I had Leon's final class in corporate literature, where I ended up with a C , and henry's advertising campaign class, where I had to make a TV commercial for Mentos. All these were completed, and that just leaves my graduation exhibition. I've been helping out in the carpentry and painting for the set ups, the last few days, from late night to around 4-5am. Add to the fact that I'm in the marketing team for the committee, and you'd think I'd go nuts. But TOA's already made me insane, so this isn't such a big deal.

I have a job interview in a few more hours. Lmao. Nitez.

Chronicled
3:37 PM

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