Don't worry. I'm still alive.

I'm still alive & kickin' yeah. But this weekend, I'm feeling a bit lazy. My students have ended their exams, which left me alone now. =(

Still not much inspiration for Design & Drawing Process. But much improvement for Photography and 3d Design. =)

Meanwhile, I'm gonna be a fat bride(s?)maid at Cas's wedding this coming November! Such a shocking news for all of us, but I always love weddings, especially when it's my closed ones! Hope that she will be happy forever.

Trying to save more money to purchase a white dress and a pair of shoes. Might do something for the hair & make up too, if time and money allows =)

Bye homo sapiens. Miss me. Time to prepare for tomorrow's children art class.

BibidiBabidiBoo

One heavyweight explosive bombing news right ahead.

When the few of us saw this little piece of paper on the door.

Stared. Stoned. Stunned.

And for that split of second, we shouted like there's no tomorrow and the whole corridor trembled. Hahaha. That means there will be more time for my Gongbi and photography. Take care, Miss Ho!

Anyway, assignments are flowing in faster than the water in the river flowing uphill. So I won't be updating as often guys, since I have decided to shield myself from blogging, online shopping and other unneccessary stuff and concentrate on the art stuff=)

Sports is human life in microcosm.

Bloody hell freaking surprising. For four years I'd given volleyball a pass, and Nafa sports day just re-realise my old favourite game. Since I'd left Sabah I have not taken even one step into an actual match. But that very Friday, I was so glad that Ray the boss forced me to get into the game =)

The breakfast of champions is not cereal, it's the opposition. That's what I've learnt from the boss.

And yes, it's my very first attempt of becoming a real setter! I was always a spiker in the 'younger' years though. Honestly, I did nothing much, and I did not really play a good game, but I was so happy that I'd never thought of being near to the net again, and feeling your feet sinking into the sand just spells awesome.

Now then I realise, a setter is the hardest to be. You got to set the ball nicely, almost perfectly, to the spikers so that they performed flawlessly.



And we got a GOLD!!!

!!! Nafa's really very cute and I think I enjoy the sports day quite a lot. Thanks for the team, the Fine Art gang who came down for the support =")! And to all the wonderful photographers who got sunburn later on.



Later on in the afternoon, we visited Angela's 'supermarket' at Bishan, ate lunch, had a good walk and hearty chat at the park.





All pictures were shoplifted from www.changethyjohn.blogspot.com. =)

My best shot of Johnston's flying across the sky. Nice nice nice!!! And for goodness sake, I think he made me get addicted in taking pictures, and the craving of getting a dSLR.

By the way, people, I bought a new camera!!!! & 3 cheers & 3 cheers for Weiwei!! Woot! Double woot!! Time to capture all the memories everyday =)

To hell and back. Full stop.

Good evening homo sapiens ( if you still are one after all the hustle and bustle of life), and I'm back from my trip to hell.

My fingers are now bloodily aching after the never ending cutting of XXXL-hard corrugated cardboards and a few merciless burns contributed by the good old glue gun. ( Whew. I'm using lots of stupid words, juxtaposing everything together)


I was in the library for the whole day, wearing the same old shoes that was soaked in the rain the day before ( powderfully smelly man...), cutting and glue-ing out a random artifact ( which I had totally no idea what I was doing...). I know my mood & heart are somewhere else, but not in me.




I prefer to have the day passed at the library to staying inside the stuffy painting studio ( tying to gasp in some fresh air...) and insist on looking at the teacher's owe-punching face.

Well, what do you expect us to do? A skyscraper? When you did not even teach us anything about it, just throw in the assignment and do?

Ok, I forgot. Correction. Nafa's a college. And we, the students here, are supposed to be independent individuals who will go and do researches and get inspiration from any corner of the world...

So I pay that much for a 3 hour tutorial just to come and get some meaningless assignment. Excluding my tuition grant and asean scholarship, I'm actually paying almost $70 for a 3 hour tutorial like this.

Haha, and yup you're right, money does flies down from the sky.

And even better, after putting so much effort in achieving your final 3d artifact, you just show your teacher a while, let them catch a glance on your masterpiece, listen to their relatively useless, and take a picture of it by saying "cheeses crust".

Submit. So that's the life of your tour de force. Captured inside the tiny frame, and do you know how much difference it is to view at the work of art itself than looking at the pictures?????? Pictures only speak a thousand words. The work itself speaks a river and sea.

Ok fine, so did you say maybe the teachers remembered our actual design? When they couldn't even remember our names over and over and over again, asking whether I'm from Malaysia for the 8000th times, forgot and mispronounced my name for the 9000th times and asking Angela whether she's from China for the 10000th times.


Yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada

******

Back to reality, ok I think I'm way out of board now but those are my heart felt utterance. Nevertheless, I still enjoy school life with the great people around. And trust me, I think I learn more from my friends than from the teachers. Sometimes hanging around with them chatting, gossiping, drinking kopi O Kau Kau, eating Add Add Add rice, or doing absolutely nothing means a lot to me. Don't ever underestimate the value "doing nothing". Even the 3 seconds of interval between two breaths rest the mind by a lot.

Thanks to Mimi's onigiri, Eza's penknife ( to cut the boards lah not to cut myself), Johnston's silence, Shane's omg stunts, Angela's tittle tattle and nagging(s), Mr Hu's uncle-ish sweaty gan gan zuo encouragement. All the mutual hi-byes

And most importantly. My sunshine and old friends who are locked deeply in my heart.

Last but not least. Myself. Without all this I won't learn so much everyday.

Compared to ( Again! I'm always comparing how horrible life there is!) life back in the junior college, it was more tiring and arduos, but it's weird, it's art, it's something I like. Even though I was mad as written at the abovementioned, but till the end of the day...

All's well that ends well. =)

So I was still sitting in the library for the whole day, wearing the same old shoes that was soaked in the rain the day before ( powderfully smelly man...), cutting and glue-ing out a random artifact ( which I had totally no idea what I was doing...). I know my mood & heart are somewhere else, but not in me. BUT BUT once in a while my mood and heart come back when I suddenly laugh at a joke sunshine told me a week ago, or the gang just splurted out a dirty yellow joke, or a sweaty uncle suddenly ( I should use the word consistently) acting like a 3 year old, or a long hair extension tickled pass by my face, or the cute silence, or the rhythm of a new beatbox hit, or a pleasant soprano's high pitching of giggles.

I appreciate all of that. =)



Wenfeng's landscape. I called it " The sweaty swan lake".








My Gongbi paintings! I really love gongbi a lot actually. Despite the truckloads of homeworks, we spent some pleasing quiet moments watching the teacher paint the florals petals by petals, showing us how to paint, every stroke of it. Now that's what I call a worthy and fulfilled class...

=) Ogay, time to sleep, cuz there's Nafa sports day tomorrow! And I just wanna enjoy it =)!

Fraud Case Alert!

Completed my Gongbi painting, left with 3d designs template and BAH, I'm two steps nearer to my bolster and blanket and huggies!



But before I say goodnight, PLEASE PERUSE the lines below carefully. Originally written by Ruth Chua from http://lylarose.livejournal.com/, one of my favourite LJ store. You'll know that there's actually such fanatical people living in the island.



****

( By Ruth from Lyla Rose)

Following TE's fraud case, we have a story of our own. Happened about 3 days ago after I launched the most recent 3rd October entry.

She used the email of altlove@live.com . But we also found out later she has been switching emails and using different emails altogether for past transactions.

Sounds Interesting? Read On.

These are the 3 receipts she has used and doctored in hope that I will be a fool and take in her orders. Guess she was too greedy this time. Geez.

I have always found it fishy for buyers to insist on making several transactions for 1 post . From now on, combine all your items into 1 receipt. I will NOT ALLOW SEVERAL TRANSACTIONS UNLESS YOU ARE AN IB USER.

As you can tell, the receipts look real and unaltered. But I wasn't a fool to going to beleve that these transactions are real. It is true that are are transactions of that amount when i called the bank up. But the transactions belong to SOME OTHER HONEsT BUYER. Not this girl.

AND EVEN AFTER I ASKED HER IF THESE RECEIPTS ARE FAKE,SHE PROCEEDED to "MAKE" ANOTHER TRANSACTION FOR MY PRADA INSPIRED FRINGE BAGS"





OH WOW LOOK! THE TRANSACTION REF NUMBER SUDDENLY CHANGED FROM 5000+ TO 9000+It is also true that there was a transaction of 45 bucks at 11 o clock. But that transaction belonged to MY FRIEND.

Thus, confirmed my suspicion that these are fake and doctored receipts. At this point, I began to check through ALL her previous transactions and found out that she has been doctoring 3 other receipts.


Luckily, those are backorder items that I have NOT sent out because stocks are NOT HERE YET.I found out her BASE RECEIPT. AND luckily for me, That was the only item from THIS EMAIL ACCOUNT that I sent out. As the other 3 receipts that she has doctored are backorder items.





The above receipt is also doctored by her.This time, she insisted on having made a transaction when the ITEM WAS STATED SOLD OUT 5 HOURS AGO BEFORE SHE MADE THIS TRANSACTION.


She insisted on a refund as item is sold out and claimed that she is new to online shopping. I GAVE HER A REFUND EVEN THOUGH THAT WAS A DOCTORED RECEIPT AS I DIDN'T FIND OUT THEN.


I later found out that she owed her friend money and made use of my kindness to her own advantage. Very well. I cannot stand being taken advantage of and being the resident evil bitch that I am, I decided to create hell for these fraud users.


IF YOU ARE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE WHO HAS BEEN DOCTORiNG AND PHOTOSHOPPING YOUR RECEIPTS THINKING THAT I HAVE TOO MANY TRANSACTIONS AND WILL NOT CHECK UR RECEIPT. YOU BETTER THINK AGAIN. BECAUSE I NOW KEEP AN EXCEL SHEET OF ALL ATM TRANSACTIONS. ONCE I FIND OUT IT IS DOCTORED, I WILL PLAY YOU AROUND AND THEN REPORT YOU TO THE POLICE. =)


ANYWAY, BACK TO THE STORY....

I immediately called the bank up and reported this case.



I also sent an email to this girl telling her I am going to report this matter to the authorities as XING/jay is in the police force and he'll help me through all the procedures.



yvette here! to me show details Oct 3 (3 days ago) Reply
hey sorry!am very sorry!i will stop this for sure!please dun report me! ):i will not do this anymore!PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
I SWEAR I'LL NEVER EVER DO IT ANYMORE!AND PLEASE DUN REPORT THIS TO POLICE!I CAN SWEAR FOR MY LIFE I WUN DO IT ANYMORE!PLEASE FORGIVE! I ONLY DID THIS RECENTLY. ):
I REALLY DIDNT KNOW IT WILL BE SO SERIOUS!PLEASE DUN REPORT ME!I WILL NEVER EVER DARE TO DO IT AGAIN.
I HAVE TAKEN YOUR WARNING!PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I SWEAR I'LL NEVER DO THIS KIND OF THING ANYMORE!

AT THIS POINT, I WAS IRRITATED. I TOLD HER OFF IN A VERY NOT-SO-POLITE WAY AND TOLD HER SINCE I HAVE SENT OUT HER ITEM ONCE, I STILL RECORDS OF THE MILING ADDRESS.AND THIS WAS HER REPLY.



yvette here! to me show details Oct 3 (3 days ago) Reply
please ruth, please forgive me!even that address i've given is my friend's actually, please dun find them.i know wad i did is wrong alr, please really forgive me, i will never ever do this anymore.
im really sorry!please dun report police PLEASEEEEEE!i haven cheated from you much, please cancel all my orders.i pleadddd for your forgiveness, please dun report police please. ):you can warn other sellers about me, as i will not do it anymore, dun worry!i did it for a sudden greediness, i know it was wrong now, you've alr warned me how scary it is.
I SWEAR I WUN DO IT ANYMORE REALLY!PLEASEEEE! PLEASE FORGIVE!i will never ever, please give me a chance! ):
pleaseeeeeeeee, please reply when you've seen this!and also, ):please be careful of other buyers as well, cos not only scanned receipts can be fake, snapshots can be fake as well. ):i hope you'll check all transactions super carefully by counting them one by one by the date next time.



No replies from me as I was handling other emails and checking through all payments



yvette here! to me show details Oct 3 (3 days ago) Replyplease forgive me, dun report me to police please!



So , she thinks by using her friend's address, I will not be able to catch her. She is damn wrong. Because then , i will report her friend as an accomplice. No mercy. I hate such friends. Trying to pull each other's ass down. I told her I did not wish to converse with her anymore and would be reporting this case for sure. directly to the police.



No replies from her.. but 2 days later..



LOCATION : MY HOUSE.
TIME : 11 PM. (READ, IT IS PM, NOT AM)
DOOR BELL RINGS: 2 LADIES STAND OUTSIDE MY DOOR AS I WENT TO ANSWER IT. WHO CAN IT BE AT THIS HOUR?
I FOUND OUT THAT IS IS HER MOTHER AND SOME FELLOW CHURCHMATE.
STARTED BEGGING ME TO LET GO OF THE MATTER STATING REASONS LIKE : YADA, SHE IS STILL YOUNG, YADA, HER BOYFRIEND WAS THE ONE THAT GAVE HER THE IDEA.. YADA. SHE REALISED HER MISTAKE. YADA, SHE LOST HER FATHER YADA...

YADA.YADA.SHE WANTS TO COMMIT SUICIDE*PLAYS SOME WEIRDO SOUND EFFECT FROM AUDIENCE THAT GOES SOMETHING LIKE "WAHHHH"*



AT THIS POINT. i WAS GETTING REALLY PISSED OFF.

Firstly, my first sentence to her is:" Do you know it is extremely rude for you to come up to my place. I did not invite you, nor gave you permission to come up to my place. furthermore, at this ungodly hour.I feel that you have intruded my privacy and will not hesitate to ask the guards to come up now."



and then..



she started crying and begging. Ok , i admit, I got a little soft hearted because here is her mother, trying her best to protect her kid. OK, so i told her, I have already reorted it to the bank and it is up to the to decide if they want to pursue the matter but from my side I would let her go. (but in my heart im like, no way im letting this go so easily pls get out of my sight)

and then.. she started preaching to me?!"thank you god i just got baptised today actually god will bless you yada yada yada. "



"My daughter wanted to commit suicide because of this, my heart very pain i cannot sleep i confide in god.. yada"



Now, I'm really sick of all the suicide threats and at this point, I simply told her politely to get lost and if her daughter really wants to commit suicide, that means her life is not even worth the 100 odd dollars that she has attempted to cheat.



I hope this case serves as a warning to all fellow atm users.I am still trying to figure out the perfect way for genuine buyers to verify their payment easily, do leave a comment if you have any suggestions. =)



For other sellers out there who has encountered the same email fraud, I will assist you fully in getting your refunds back if you need any help.



she goes by these other email accounts.



foolishjiayu@gmail.com (her boyfriend)
wenzhuang_1989@hotmail.com (her other account)
altlove@live.com (it's a random acc that she used)



I hope this will be the END of all fraud cases out there. The next time there is one, I will not even warn you, Im going straight to the police.It is truly sad that online shopping has to be resorted to fraud cases.

For now, we are still figuring out what is the best way to verify genuine atm transactions. do leave your suggestion behind.

*************

End of the story.

So... what say you?

For me, I met lots of extremely good customers, they even bought me gifts and sent me cards, which I don't really encourage. But I've met some ridiculous customers too. Doing business is all about the risk here and there. I'd faced delivery failures previously, but I chose to redo the shoes and cards or fully refunded back to the customers.

But for this kind of cases, it's RIDICULOUS. She's abusing the usage and 'service' of Photoshop editting.

********

Sekian terima kasih dan selamat malam.

I'm dead.

Those condescending looks from the haughty neighbours...




And dear, please tell me what's the best therapy for peer pressure...

My first drawing class... to teach!

I've been doing lots of tuitions and personal drawing classes and voluntary art & crafts lesson, but this time, it's my first ever drawing class, conducted by me exclusively, with my own classroom, and my beloved children =D!

>=( Ok fine, some of the boys were impished and badly-behaved, but all in all it's just a wonderful first hand & first time experience! You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. And I'm oh-so looking forward for the next class!




Local fruits ,done by Liang Ee, a super uber adorable 7-year-old.



My Colour Wheel by Eeqal my handsome 8-year-old!



And this is done by Liang Yuan, Liang Ee's little bro of 5-year-old. That menace can really create chaos in the room, especially when he started rolling and somersaulting on the floor and by the piano seat. It's more like a love-hate relationship, but no choice cuz he is TOO CUTE TOO!

Trust me that a child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer. And children are way too unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next. But still, I think it's my best job ever I've ever had, besides Tenladytoes =)!

And I heart Miss Tan and Teacher Ong from Royale Music School! Muak!

OOH! for Octagon Octopus October

All my girls have undergone a massive plastic surgery- that's what Zen said.




This is extremely hideous I tell ya, spent a whole afternoon's effort doing it but it turned out undone and real BAD.



Better. I was inspired by Shane's miniscule letter. And yes, I trully believe the fact that a woman speaks an average of 7000 words more than a man everyday.



Then till the end of the day, I got too lazy and I simply wrote the words with water and hard old poster colours. If you can see what words I'm writing, tell me and I'll give you a little pressie!

***

And notice I did a big change for this tiny blog's layout too? Yes at last I've changed! And the theme fitted well, like once in a "purple" moon. I was too excited to sleep ( Mimi, Shane and Johnston are coming to my place tomorrow and the children's drawing class is starting on Sunday!!!) and I stayed up to do some html and photoshop thingy I'd never touched for a gazillion years.

I've been longing to change the skin for a very long time, but my digital tablet's spoilt for good =(, and this purple mysterious tone has tempted me for so long. Might a wee bit hard to view all the pictures, but that's how the secrecy of it forms right yeah?

& I've added out all my favourite websites too. Hope the long lists will irritate you but you will certainly regret for not visiting them!

Ok now here's my favourite part. Time for bed. People like me who snore always fall asleep first.

Huh, uh-oh I can't think of a title right now...

It was such a LONG MONDAY. Along with the usual monday blues routine, I found it hard to complete the still life drawing. BAD monday. BAD still life day. BAD drawing day. Yet as usual, I enjoyed school a lot with the crazy souls around the studio.

I thought I would have a good rest since there's no class on Tuesday and Hari Raya's on Wednesday, but all of a sudden, I urged myself to sms Miss Ho ( Photography lecturer), to plead her to give Angela and I one last chance to redo our pinhole images.

And guess what, she said yes! How good can she be!!!

But that also indicates that I will have a hectic day!




Yup, sound so 'chim' for the pinhole cameras right? This Milo tin is supposedly our DIY cameras, sprayed entirely black internally, choose an ideal location, and take a picture for a minute.

It was really fun, and I would love to try it again next time, but it turned out that our 'cameras' had some problems and all the images that we took turn out in black. & I mean ALL.

''''-__-'''''



Thank goodness we had each other that day. I was all alone in the dark room at first, which turned out to be quite scary. Mimi came and helped out later. Thanks for the photo paper and your wonderful help honey! =)


And yes guess what again, Angela agreed to become my shoe model! Hahaha! I've been pulling the dudes around to help out. If I own a SLR, I will take almost everyday cuz you'll get addicted taking pictures ( of others), like seriously!





Okok, please don't laugh at my shots skills if you think they're not good, but I was having so much fun with this pretty model and everything turned out well =)! Angela looked a bit stiff at the last pic, but all in all the shots are gorgeous!


****


On another note, I've been doing a lot of self reflection nowadays. I think of what people told me in the bus, I think of what I thought of in the ladies', I think of what should I do in my slumberland.

Can't you agree more that each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves?

I really couldn't agree more. I thought I was always calm and steady internally ( you may see me as a crazy person on the outside), but that day one little old man reminded me about my stubbornness, regardless of anything. I was quite ignorant about it. Yet, when I sat down and reflected back, my mind coincided with all the previous doggedness I had at all times....

Kinda abstract and surreal, should not elaborate more here. Straight and forward, sometimes I thought I'm not stubborn, but actually I'm stubborn at alot of things, in a manner of pros and cons. Got it? Tell me too if you have such feelings.

After reading the tags from everyone, I teared again. You guys rock! One day I should post out stories behind the names I heard of so that we all can feel proud of what's being given as blessings when we're born!