[ s h o t s ] Malacca Trip 2012

Photos from Malacca trip last October, which was the first time I ever set foot outside of Singapore in six years. I realise that I am not a big fan of travelling and staying at a place for a short while. I prefer extended stays and culture immersion.

This year has been amazing, it’s too bad I don’t even blog so much.

[ l i s t e d ] DAY TWO ~ GOALS FOR SEPTEMBER

1. September is the last stretch of this term, I have a lot of assessments and reports to finish. Just today me and my partner finished a 45-second commercial. The commercial took us about four hours to finish from conceptualisation to recording and then finally to editing. My eyes are swollen. And this is just one of my assessments! I really hope that my juggling between work and school will prove to be fruitful ~

2. I’ve been working on two embroidery projects, free patterns that I took from Wild Olive. I hope to post it within this month.

3. Trying to be healthy despite by busy, crazy schedule. My goal is to exercise three times a week for at least thirty minutes or an hour. Of course healthy eating is also part of the equation.

4. Once all my assessments are completed, I would want to go play with all the cameras that I have DSLR, digital, LOMO and instax. A self-date is in order to reward myself for all the hard work I’ve done.

5. I really, really love studying Korean. But the recent busyness the time allotted for reviewing grammar concepts and vocabulary has given way to my studies or sleeping. I try to sneak in Korean whenever I can, paying more attention when I watch variety shows – learning new words and honing my listening skills.

6. I am excited to start a new phase in my writing, and I am really grateful for the opportunity to be in a place where I can write articles that I am passionate about!

September has started and I believe that it gets better and better! 2012 will be my best year yet!

[ l i s t e d ] DAY ONE ~ I AM A LISTER BECAUSE

OH WOW!

It’s already September, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in this blog. Today marks the first day of the 30 Days List Challenge and here’s my short but sweet list – done within five minutes and uplaoded within ten minutes (including turning the WiFi connection on) I really gotta go for another appointment so I’ll just put this up here!

Lots of love~

Elle

[ s c h o o l ] New Goliath – Writing a Literature Review

And July flew by just like that. School has started last month for me and I am really struggling to juggle everything. I have never been one to be good at time management and it has really become more apparent because of the increasing workload for school. For this term I need to write two papers – a media portfolio of an Asian country of our choice and a literature review on the topic of our choice.

I was more stressed out about writing a literature review than a media portfolio because I had to choose my own topic. I had a few topics I was interested in, to narrow them down I wrote my questions about the topic:

1. What are the functions and purpose of Embarrassment?

Is it just only me who wonder why we have certain emotions the way we do? I have always been fascinated by why and how we are embarrassed. Is there an explanation for this type of emotion?
2. How has fan culture evolved from the 1990s until now?

Being a fangirl in so many ways whether in music, books, film, ideas I am also interested in fan studies. Particularly in the evolution of fan culture. Nowadays there’s a rise in participatory fandom because of the digital age where sharing and creating content is easier, there’s also fan activism and the intensive online communities. I may be more interested in fandom in the digital age.
3. What is the role of religion in terminally-ill patients?

Part of me wanted to research about how religion affects the lives of terminally-ill patients whether it is their religious belief or if they practice prayer or their views on life after death. It seemed interesting to look at studies from the perspective of the terminally-ill.
4. What are the challenges that face primary caregivers?

Caregivers experience emotional and physical strain due to the nature of their role. Often times they are overlooked because emphasis has always been given to the person they are caring for. I thought it would be interesting to look at the challenges that caregivers experience and what the existing literature has to say about it.

My teacher told me that all my chosen topics were suitable for a literature review and I just need to consider which topic I am willing to take on.

Honestly, I would rather write about fandom culture but there’s limited academic sources available to me that I chose Embarrassment instead. It’s the second choice but at least I have an abundant supply of articles to glean information from.

Now I just need to organise my sources and start writing…*gulp*

[ c r a f t e d ] Owl Be Hanging Over Here

In the spirit of “making pretty things” I borrowed MICROCRAFTS Written by Margaret Mcguire, Alicia Kachmar and Katie Hatz. Since I felt that starting small means that it is doable for me.

I chose the to sew a micro-owl plushie, but the book has easier crafts to do. I just wanted to do something that involved sewing.

The book suggested to sew a loop of embroidery thread on the owl so that you can hang it as ornaments. I was deciding between a necklace or a keychain. But since the phone materials were well within reach than the necklace chain. I made it into a mobile phone charm…HUH? I am confused as well. But I am glad how it all turned out.

It was fairly easy to make this – it is small though so I had hand cramps while sewing. And because of its size it was really hard to stitch the beak and the eyes. I pricked myself a couple of times trying not to sew the front and back together.

I plan to make something new once a month (this should be easier to follow through right?).

 

[ r e f l e c t i o n ] Loving and Leaving

There’s no guarantee that those who love us will never leave us, nor is it always true that those who leave us never loved us.

This thought came across my mind while I was walking from my office to the bus stop, and yes, I just quoted myself.

How many times have I mistaken leaving for neglect or abandonment? There are people who in my life who I wished stayed a little longer with me. Growing up I had this view that part of  loving someone means that you will always be there for that person. I believed that I could always be there for the people that I love and expected that they would do the same. Once I felt the first stirrings that they were slowly drifting away from me, I would be bitter because I was feeling “discarded”.

But as years go by and different people pass through my life as through a revolving door, some might leave earlier than expected, while some might overstay their welcome, I realised that I have held on to a skewed point of view.

I refused to acknowledge that life is indeed full of changes and as I go through it, each season requires a letting go and a holding on. Each season will have its share of heartbreak and triumphs, a period of renewal and of breaking down. Some of our friends or loved ones were meant to be with us for a season, maybe because they had something to teach us or they had something to learn from us or both. There are people who we may be fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to spend and share our whole lives with. But most of the people we meet – those we’ll share drinks with, those we’ll work with, those we’ll attend a concert with – they will just  be present for a season.

But it doesn’t matter if they’re here to stay or they’re just passing through. What matters is that in the moments spent together, we laughed, we cried, we learned new things, we experienced things for the first time. Most of all in that span of time where our lives overlappedwe displayed love and devotion.

I guess it all comes down to treasuring every moment we have with the people we hold dear in our lives. Not doubting their intentions or wondering how long they’ll stick around, but really to make every second count. It’s easy to dismiss every stranger and not take the effort to build a relationship because let’s face it, we long for that lifelong commitment whether in friendship or finding a partner. But unless we open ourselves to the NOW we won’t be even sure of an EVER AFTER.

[ c r a f t e d ] Uterus Flag Project

I had hoped to blog about this earlier, but with all the stuff going on it inadvertently slipped through my writing.
I joined the UTERUS FLAG PROJECT. This project is the brainchild of Escondido artist Terrilyn Quick to raise awareness on the overmedicalization of women especially unnecessary hysterectomies. I thought that this project was interesting and it also connected to me on a personal level. Because even in this day and age women still have a lot to learn regarding reproductive health.  The uterus is symbolic because as Quick said, “This is the first room we all came from”.

My embroidered uterus flag was filled with sequins and outline stitch. I chose bright colors because they symbolized life and red thread to signify blood.

Honestly it felt good to do something and sewing something meaningful at that. My piece now resides at California alongside other uterus flags.