Category: My Good Life

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My Hobbies My YouTube Oil Painting

My 8th Oil Painting – Battle Of The Ancient

One day while I was chatting with one of my favourite friends whom I have worked with a while ago, she suggested to me that I shall paint her. I asked how? And she said however way she has inspired me to paint. She kept referring to the “Dark Side” (in a career sense) and just recently I have talked to one of my buddy who is still happily staying at one of the companies that is definitely not one of my top 10 favorable places to work at. He told me that he is happy inside because he feels that the outside world may not be as nice. All that prompted me to ponder upon how different organizations appeal to different people. At one end, bosses reward people with good performance and on the other end, because bosses rely on how relationship works with the clients and are able to get away with sub-standard performance, they reward those who treasure relationships like themselves too. To me, it is a battle between the two. What better way it is to paint this tension some of us face everyday?

My Canon camera has once again failed me (vowed not to buy another Canon product) and the picture above was taken by my Nokia N80. I have made a video while I was painting and have recorded the process via my camcorder. It is a less than 4 minutes video and I hope you enjoy watching that. Many have asked me how difficult it is to paint oils. And I hope this video says it all. “Battle Of The Ancient” is my first attempt to paint abstract art.

Click here for my oil painting “gallery”.

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Diary

Finally Gotten Closer to My Jogging Record 5 Years Ago!

Roarrrrrrr!

5-year has passed. I am 5 years older and have gained 5 kg of muscles. Ever since I have started jogging, I have pushed my timing record from 24 mins (for 4.5 km) to 21 mins and somehow, no matter how hard I tried, I could not pass the 21 mins mark. 5 years ago I could complete 4.5 km in 17 mins. My friends they told me that as we get older, we take longer to complete the circuit. But I don’t want to get to that state! I kept pushing myself and regardless if it was a hot sun or a breezy day, I was tired or I was energized, I felt as though I was flying or I felt extremely heavy, my record was always 21 minutes.

Today, I felt good, I have widen my steps, and by the time I have completed 4.5 km, the timing was 20 minutes! I have gained that 1 min and it is 1 min closer to the 17 mins record. I still have a long way to go but I am hopeful.

Gosh, I feel good! I wish that the 17 mins record will soon be a reality.

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Diary

Four Surprises In One Day

This is possibly the shortest of my blog so far. Some mood I am in.

Ever since leaving the local website design company I had a short stint with – which I am grateful to have known a big group of friends whom we still keep in touch and meet often – my teams were usually small with just the two of us. Today, two of them whom I enjoyed working with immensely and whom I have not met nor chatted with for a long time popped me a message within 5 minutes of each other (I don’t think they know each other). At the same time, my sister in Hong Kong popped me a message saying that she has more or less decided to take up one of offers in Singapore. I think she will stay temporary at my place very soon. While all these MSN messages were flying around, a dear friend of mine who shares one of my many hobbies and his girlfriend was viewing one of the units on the same tower a few floors below me. They happen to like the place. What if, what if …

Some kinds of surprises I have in one day.

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For the Geeks Game Reviews

Supreme Commander – Boys’ Childhood Dreams Come True

There was a time when girls wanted to be Barbie and boys fantasied to take control of one of those robots as inspired by the Japanese anime series, fly high and kick some enemy butts (somehow I have this bizarre image of tomatoes and eggs flying towards my ways from the girls). “Supreme Commander” gives us exactly that.

The concept of “Supreme Commander” is unique, pretty like a game of chess. You are one of the Commanders (don’t you love a title like that?!) who take control of this monstrously huge robot of what looks like a 24 storeys high monument, walk into a warping gate, swish your way through space, and with a big bang, the ground cracks, you are landed right into the planet at war. Now, here is what I like about “Supreme Commander” – its sci-fi realism. How can one machine rage war towards another? Wouldn’t it be lame and boring?

Upon landed onto the war zone, you can start utilising the limited mass (something like materials) and energy you carry to build … ta-dah … mass extractors and power generators. How intuitive it is right? As you start gathering mass and energy and building your base, more and more schemata are downloaded onto your computer and before you know it, you have your team of engineers churning out one of the most formidable armed forces in the planet, top it up with a combined force of army, navy, and air force. This is not only boys’ childhood dreams come true but also grown up men like me and you!

Missions are varied (only cleared the first one) and when you manage to bring down the opposing Commander, he does just die but explode in the most spectacular nuclear-mushroom-look-alike’s fashion very much like the picture I have included in this blog. Like chess, once you checkmate your opponent, that is the end of the game.

I have a feeling that I won’t be able to get far into this game, like many from this genre that I have played. The games these days tend to get too hard too soon. Although it is likely to be another white elephant in my storeroom, it always excites me much experiencing yet another captivating game like “Supreme Commander”. For the geeks, this game is first of its kind to be able to utilise Windows Vista’s DirectX 10.0, multicore processing capability, and can be played with 2 wide-screen LCD monitors – one to see your war plan and another one is the actual execution of your commands. Your pocket must be pretty deep to play “Supreme Commander” in its full glory (as of 2 months ago, the machine without the LCD monitors would cost USD 7,000). For the rest of us, dream on!

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My Hobbies Oil Painting

My 7th Oil Painting – Endless Ironing

Click to view a larger image

Let me show you how my Inspiration Factory works. One fine day I was staring at the big pile of folded clothes awaiting to be ironed. It was more than usual because of our Melbourne trip (note: this blog was written a while back). So I asked Cynthia casually …

Me: (Nodding at the direction of the pile of clothes) How long will it take to iron those?
Cynthia: (Looking at somewhere else doing something else) Usually about 15 minutes.
Me: No, no … I mean those (pointing at the pile)
Cynthia: Oh, that’s a lot. Half an hour I guess.
Me: Just half an hour?!
Cynthia: Ya (continued doing that thing she was doing)
Me: I have an idea …
Cynthia: (Paused what she was doing and thinking) Uh-oh …

And I told Cynthia that I wanted to paint her ironing. Her immediate response was, “Do I need to stand for FOUR HOURS?!” “No, no, no,” I waved my hands in mid-air and reassured her that she just needed to iron the clothes as per normal. All of a sudden, I was bombarded with questions such as “What should I wear?!”, “What if I look fat?!”, “Will it be shown in your blog?”, and etc. I was surprised that she did not ask if she needed to wear make-up (she did ask what to wear). The only person I can think of who does housework wearing make-up is Paris Hilton in her Simple Life. I explained to her that the main focus of the painting is the ironing board. I did not know if she was delighted or disappointed.

To paint this, I have to do all the sketching before the model stepped into the picture. Once the sketching was done, I worked as fast as possible to sketch the model and to start putting colors and shadows. Whenever the model stepped away, I painted the surroundings. Keeping the perspectives of the composition to me was the most challenging part because there were lots of lines. In the end, I think I needed a different kind of brush to draw those straight lines. It was really difficult for me using those that I have.

Click here for my oil painting “gallery”.

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For the Geeks Game Reviews

Sam & Max Episode 4 – Abe Lincoln Must Die!

Stay frosty, America!

“People of Earth! Your day of reckoning is at hand!” – believe it or not, this is one of the many speeches our beloved rabbit Max made when he was running for American presidency side-by-side with his freelance police partner – Sam, the dog. This 4th monthly installment of a favourably rated point-and-click Adventure game has many surprises. First, it was pre-released to loyal customers like myself one week before the actual launch. I think that is very nice of Telltale Games. Second, this episode is longer and more challenging than the previous episodes. There is even a mini-musical within the plot of the game. To anticipate that gamers indeed get smarter as they learn the game mechanism through the episodes, the puzzles are relatively more subtle and there are a few parallel plots to the game that the linkages are not at all obvious. Third, Telltale Games has made several subtle changes to how they used to layout the plots. It disorients and confuses seasoned players like me and I found myself exploring the plot rather than following the plot. That, I love.

In “Abe Lincoln Must Die!”, Sam and Max is entering into politics. It is hilarious, they are adorable. I can hardly find anything to complain about except perhaps … it will be a month long wait till the final episode is out.

Telltales Games has even made a dummy website www.MaxForPresident.org for episode 4. I spotted it at the end credits (yes, I love their episodes so much that I read all the credits).

Related Links and Blogs: Official Site of Telltale Games, Sam & Max Episode 6 – Bright Side Of The Moon (End Of Season 1), Sam & Max Episode 5 – Reality 2.0, Sam & Max Episode 4 – Abe Lincoln Must Die!, My 3rd Contribution to YouTube for Sam & Max Episode 3 – The Mole, The Mob, And The Meatball, Sam & Max: Episode 2 – Situation Comedy, Sam & Max: Episode 1 – Culture Shock, Sam & Max at Wikipedia

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Diary My Favorite

This Is How We Guys Do It

You've been warned!

Sometimes I wonder if girls do admire each others’ bodies in a wow-that-is-nice-and-how-did-you-do-it kind of way like we (or some of us) do publicly. Be it as girls or guys, I think we all want a … erm … fuller chest. For guys, it is relatively easy. Just need to do more push-ups and iron pumping, have a good diet, rest to let the muscles grow, and lots of determination.

Days ago, my buddy KF texted me and told me that he has finally reached 70 kg (from 84 kg back in early 2006) while I am trying to get to where he is from a weight of … shall I say … way below. KF started his exercise ritual a little more than a year ago and his progress has always been an inspiration to readers like me.

Two days ago I met KF in person. While he noticed (and felt) my progress due to my ad hoc exercise ritual, I couldn’t help but to admire the results of all the persistent workouts he much talked about. First he asked me to feel his chest. I gave it a few punches (much like how we men access the quality of furniture – give it a few knocks to see how solid it is) and gosh, what muscles he has! Monstrous. Then he asked me to feel his bulging traps (just below neck). Let me tell you, those small muscles are hard to train. Already impressed, he further asked me to feel his lats (those muscles at the back just beneath the arms that give us the V-shape from behind). Tsk tsk tsk … truly amazing. I think that was how far we could go without starting to look weird in public. KF shared some tips with me and definitely prompted me to expand my exercise ritual. His next target is to build the “horizontal lines” in between his chest muscles. Now that, I want to see.

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My Hobbies Oil Painting

My 6th Oil Painting – 2 Dollar Flowers

Click to view a larger image

Last week, I have painted probably one of the most expensive oil painting to date. You will see why. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image and click here to view the real life composition.

So far, I have painted vegetables and fruits, sky and reservoir, teddy bear and human face, I have yet to try painting flowers. How difficult it was for me to paint flowers! There are just so much detail with the petals and stems, leaves and water.

This time, I calibrated both my viewfinder and the board that holds the oil painting tablet into a 8×8 grid so that I can replicate the composition as faithful to the reality as possible based on the coordinates of the objects. In layman’s term, it is much easier for me to paint the objects in the same way I see them through the viewfinder – for novice like myself in especially. It took me 45 minutes just to sketch the composition (which I am happy about). I made lots of mistake this time ended up have to scrap the oils time after time. I wanted to give up halfway because I did not have a clue on how to model the yellow and white flowers and how to fill in the gaps in between the stems.

Anyway, I managed to finish the painting. It is expensive because first, I paid two dollar for the flowers that cannot be consumed like vegetables and fruits. Cynthia looked at the bunch of flower over our meal and commented that they don’t look good nor smell nice. Well, it is no roses I suppose. Second, I have wasted a lot of paint on this and probably have to stock up more paints soon. Took me 4 hours to finish the painting. I wonder how much time I would spend on a canvas that is 4 times bigger.

Click here for my oil painting “gallery”.

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My Hobbies Oil Painting

My 5th Oil Painting – Intensity, A Self-Portrait (2007)

Click at your own risk!

I have a mixed feeling on this self-portrait oil painting and it is edging towards the borderline of disaster (click on thumbnail to view a larger image at your own risk). Perhaps I am not used to looking at my own image, having this somewhat intense guy who somewhat looks like me with a face larger than me staring back at me … it is sort of scary. When Cynthia returned from work and discovered my new oil painting, she couldn’t stop laughing. I reckon she knows my face better than I do (duh!) and she kept on asking how come this and how come that. I have to drag her into the bathroom and post “that look” to her. To demonstrate how I got “that look”, I positioned my shoulders 45 degrees relative to the mirror, I turned my head at a 30 degrees relative to my shoulders while my eyes looked straight ahead. Still, the questions of “how come” did not subside.

While the result could be disastrous, it was my intend to create a pair of eyes that captivate attention, lips that are redder than normal for contrast, and an overall texture of ruggedness. For that, I think I have achieved what I wanted. Hopefully my next self-portrait will be better.

To paint this self-portrait image, I have to turn my tiny bathroom into a painting studio because that is the only place in my home that has a huge mirror with 3 spot lights over my head. The easel was mounted right on top of the closed toilet bowl with a jar of turpentine to wash my brushes resting on top of the bowl’s lid. The paint tubes were lined up carefully along the side of the bathtub. The smell of the oils can be overwhelming at times because there was hardly any air circulation inside.

An excerpt of our conversation after Cynthia saw the painting.

Me: So, what do you think of this self-portrait?
Cyn: Erm …
Me: (looking at Cyn with anticipation)
Cyn: Well, the painting looks intense.
Me: Shall we frame this one then?
Cyn: Hmmm … how come you are not smiling?
Me: I can’t.
Cyn: You can’t?
Me: No, I can’t keep smiling for 3 hours. Besides it looks insane to smile at the mirror while painting.
Cyn: Hmmm … perhaps we can hang it somewhere that we don’t get to see first thing in the morning?
Me: …

Looking back, I don’t think I want to hang this painting in the bedroom either. Last night before I retired to bedroom, I dimmed the light, looking at that pair of eyes staring at me sort of freaked me out.

Click here for my oil painting “gallery”.

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Diary

My Scorecard Results for Feb 2007

Time passes me by and without realizing it, it is the month of March. A good portion of this rather short month I was holidaying with Cynthia in Melbourne. Barely made it for the home cooked meals measurement, I yet again have failed the exercise index with a downward trend. If only I can find a way to quantify all the walking and hiking in Melbourne, I could have made it. I guess the take home message for me is to emphasis on training this March. Besides, my friends and I am heading to Mount Kinabalu at the end of the month.

Looking ahead, I am most likely to fail two of the three quarterly measurements. Oh well, I have a month to think about it.

(click here to see the color coding system).

Category Measurement Frequency Target Stretched Target Result Score
Life Traveling Budget Utilised Half-yearly S$2,000 S$3,000 n/a n/a
Life No. of Extraordinary Projects Quarterly 1 2 n/a n/a
Health Exercise Hours Monthly 8 10 4.5 0
Health No. of Home Cooked Meals Monthly 15 20 15 5
Money Return of Total Savings Quarterly 3% p.a. 5% p.a. n/a n/a
Hobby No. of Public Performance Quarterly 1 2 n/a n/a
Hobby No. of Books Published Yearly 1 2 n/a n/a
Habit No. of Hangover Monthly 2 0 0 10
Habit No. of Gaming Hours Monthly 40 30 7.5 10