Two weeks after

I’ve been here two weeks, and here’s what I’ve experienced: meetings are short & sweet, we love snacking (groundnuts packages are often abound), we lead a hectic schedule but there’s no conflict, 5 pm is just the start of things, 10 pm meetings are often accompanied by Domino takeouts, one of the meeting rooms is called War Room in which I suspect it is a reference to Dr Strangelove in which I also suspect it was named by one of the guys who keeps quoting Clockwork, slide decks can be 'sexy', I've produced enough charts out of the info given that I might consider pursuing a career in market analyst or joining Feltron.com, sometimes I couldn’t find my pen (and my brain) amidst all the papers, we celebrate birthdays at the end of the month by having some sort of a bake day so there are all types of cakes, I was not properly introduced to everyone but I got to know them while on the job, we just organized a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday in a course of just 4 days (thanks events team & the agency) by tearing one of the playgrounds in Taman Tun Dr Ismail apart, my body temperature skyrocketed to 40°C eight days after reporting duty complete with flu & coughs and they profusely pestered me to go home & avoided me like a plague for the next three days. Other than that, I am still having a great time (referring to Azah's question, "Is your new place still fun?").

There. What else do you need to know? (Photo from sine qua non)

Hello Friday

What's new? Woke up to find out that Michael Jackson & Farah Fawcett passed away, and now news has been flying all over Twitter saying Jeff Goldblum is dead too. My funny switch is off today, not that it often works though. I just can't confront more death news. Anyway, hope you like the light breakfast photo by David Sykes above via swissmiss. (Update: Jeff Goldblum is still alive! That man survived dinosaurs man, think!)

We still haven't got a good night's sleep for the past two days, Michael the cat was still upset his sister was nowhere to be found, he was up meowing all night long. My hearts sinks to the bottom of the lowest pit possible every time he does that.

Wonderland, Burtonized.

I have a confession to make.

I often secretly wish for Alice in Wonderland to be Burtonized. I just felt that he would have the right ‘feel’, the right hands to bring the Wonderland and the characters to life just as they are supposed to be.

Apparently, The Guy above hears me and psychokinetically conveyed my message to Tim Burton.

Either that or I am just so full of myself. Yup.

Good bye my adorable little bugger

We lost Adik/Shazam (the quote uttered by Beyonce Knowles every time she kicks arse from Austin Powers), our adorable little bugger today. Woke up to find out she was already lying unconscious by the roadside. I wailed my heart out and still possessed a pair of swollen eyes upon arriving at the office.

We went 8 months thinking she was a boy. She was born along with two others, but they died early of malnutrition. 2 months after, Mother the cat got pregnant again and couldn't stand the sight of her, so after much persuasion we managed to nurse her with a pet's feeding bottle. Instinctively her big brothers Michael & Lincoln soon took over Mother's responsibility of looking after her. She grew up idolizing them and my boys never failed to protect her every time another stray cat came up and tried to claw her up. Her left hind paw was partly squashed, the auntie next door told us her grandson threw a brick at Adik after she tried to steal a chicken leg from their kitchen and it dropped on her paw. We poured all sorts of medication oils on her poor little paw until she was able to walk again.

She was always in another zone, so to speak, she had to be led to her food bowl even though it was right under her nose. Every time we pulled into the driveway, I had to make sure the coast is clear from her and her brothers before safely parking our car. Adik in another words, just like every little kid, she was oblivious to the dangers surrounding her.

She must not have noticed the neighbor's car speeding fast towards her. Typical Adik, she always had to be watched over.

Adik/Shazam/our dear little bugger with the sweet fangs, you will be greatly missed. Your brothers will go crazy trying to find you during dinner today, but I will have to find a way to let them know you were no longer with us, at least, physically. We missed you already.

When I looked again, it's not death in general that scares me, it's the aftermath - of how I have deal with it. (Photo from Lace & Flora)

Make-a-New-Friend Monday

Today I am glad someone new has made my day. And a Monday at that!

To be honest, I am by far not the most positive person you would have ever come across with. Unlike my mum who sees kindness in every person despite how sinister they can be, I become cynical with overly nice people. I see hidden agenda lurking behind their pearly white smiles, so to speak.

Today after a short discussion I was scheduled to go on a site recce for work. I was all prepared to go all alone just like how I always did just when my phone rang and a colleague, F, I just got to know through the discussion answered on the other end, "We go together?" Usually I would come up with millions of excuses but just when she said, "I am not familiar with the area." I went "what the heck" so I agreed to pick her up after lunch.

Now let me remind you again that I am also by far is not the most friendliest person you would have ever come across with. I was told a child could cry upon spotting my face five meters away . It's surprising and I myself had no idea how F did it, but by minutes we were able to chat like old friends! Her joie de vivre in a way lifted the invisible wall I had built upon new people and made me open up to her, which is, trust me, very very rare.

Don't you just love positive people? (Photo from Chris Glass)

Happy Daddy's Day!

...to all awesome dads around the world!

Fallen princesses

I’m a realist (and also narcissist enough to start every post talking about myself). Whilst I may grow up watching a mixture of Disney princesses, Transformers & Thundercats (heard there’s going to be a movie?), my favorite fairy tale was still Alice in Wonderland. In some way to me it is about making wise choices, and even after you have chosen the wrong direction you have to find a way to fix the situation. Also because there is that sneaky Cheshire cat & how most illustrators and photographers portray the Wonderland to be so menacingly grandeur.

Have you ever thought what would happen to the Disney princesses if they didn’t live happily ever after?

More here. (via A Cup of Jo)

WANT!

Holga 120-3D Stereo Camera, sample photos here. I am so having a 'wishlist' tag in my blog now so that you know what to get me for birthdays.

Circus wedding

My delayed wedding planning dream went on. I am not sure if we are not getting looks if we were to plan a circus-themed wedding (after all my family is a bunch of conservative folks and Mum insisted to plan my wedding 2 years ago back-to-back all by herself) but the idea is just too lovely and colorful. I like colorful stuffs. (via Smitten via A Cup of Jo)

I might reserve this idea for Along or Wani. As for mothers (yes I'm partly talking about you Azah & Lisha) would you let your kids have themed weddings?

And while we're at it, have a look at this gorgeous mechanical engagement ring. It opens to reveal a diamond! (squeals & falls off chair)

Superflat first love

There's a voice inside of me that kept saying, "Shut it with the series of whinings Zana, it's about time you post something interesting. Your life is none of it."

So here is something interesting.

Hello. It's been awhile.

I know this might seem pretty shallow to some of you but on those days where I had been having bad days at work and nothing seems to cheer me up, I put on my best, most comfortable outfit & some pretty shoes and instantly I can't wait to show up in the office!

On another note, I am currently adjusting to my new job & workplace so it all is good so far. I could not sleep during the night before my first day here - I was excited and nervous I nearly puked. I am still nervous though, I've been so hard on myself I'm afraid I might screw things up. Wish me the best. (Photo from Equal Parts)

Words to live by

OM2N + Fuji Proplus 100. Copenhagen, Denmark from Zephyrance.

Growing old together?

Inspired by the mutual support and dependability that gives a great sense of security within our relationships, Co-Cane aims to remind us how important it is to have someone beside us both in good times and in bad. Although I am not quite sure how do we walk with that, it's like tying our feet together to race in our school's sports festival or something. Do you remember those?

This reminded me of a post from I Wrote This For You, where he wrote something along the lines of "I want to grow old with laugh lines so people will see how happy you've made me." But I can't seem to find which post it is.

Starts here

This just pretty much sums up the new adventure I am about to embark today. (Photo from Studio K)

Please treat your computer nicely

Hi from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

From the ever brilliant Multitouch Barcelona, a recently born interaction design group that explores natural communication between people and technology. You should take time to see their other amazing videos.

I'm off traveling for the weekends again so see you!

Su casa es mi casa

To mark the end of five years in her home, ‘Monty’ is inviting close friends and artists to form a creative collective who will take over her Barcelona apartment and create installations in each room, re-imagining her private living space as a public gallery.

How cool is this? I imagine my shutterbug friend Shafina would love this post, so here's for you Shaf Shaf. Also, because I have a weak spot for red balloons.

What better way

... to start the day then finding emails of "Zana do this Zana do that" and finding out the email sender escaped will be on leave till Wednesday. I think he bundled all his tasks together and threw them at my face.

Give me my transfer letter already! (Photo from funnycatpix)

Tackling American Airlines and its design challenges

Designer Dustin Curtis was so disgusted with the American Airlines Web site that he redesigned it, and posted the results as an open letter to the company. Guess what? One of AA's designers responded with a long defense about why better design dies a slow death at places like AA. Read more, and please do not skip the comments. 

I can imagine why.

First, there is thinking and dialog.

My first encounter with the Bouroullecs involved me falling in love with their modular room divider creation, and that intrigued me to know more about their ideation process. I am, anyway, always intrigued about ‘the making of’ of everything – movies, music videos, animations etc.

I only wish that they are more enthusiastic in explaining more, or answering simple questions like “If you were not a designer what would you be?”. Maybe they could have a shot at random answering like “Caped crusader!” or  “Kindergarten teacher!” or something. I don’t know. 

Sorry I'm late

Sorry I'm Late from Tomas Mankovsky on Vimeo.

This, whether you need to feed the cat or there's another singing reality tv show you have to gather around the idiot box, you gotta drop everything and watch it NOW! I suggest you view the making as well, it just shows how much effort is put into this and how fun the whole process is! On another note I might have used too much exclamation marks in one blog post.

"I'll be BACHK!" No please don't!

I have never thought doing movie summary was so easy until we went to watch Terminator Salvation the other day. So here's one for you:

RATATATAT KEBABOM RATATATAT ARGHHHH DUSH DUSH DUSH MORE KEBABOMMMM robots die humans rule the Earth I puked the end kthxbai.

The day where we found our shooting stars

As I was catching up with the rest of the world after a super hectic week, Sunday proved to be a day of revelation for me. As we were at Hari Bintang Jatuh 2: 3 Venus yesterday at The Annexe, Ana Raffali’s innocent tunes got me swaying my head back and forth, what’s with herself in a cute white kebaya.

My favorite Venus, Wani Ardy’s whimsical metaphorical sense is what attracted me to her music at first. Sort of when you hear you'd go, “Oh yes why didn’t I think of that?” Little did she know when she sings about her so claimed out-of-reach, out-of-her-league lampu jalan (streetlight; it was a metaphor that she could just buy any lights she wants but not those scattered around the streets) that he was around. I think she has got some explanation to do.

What got me the most is Fynn Jamal’s spirit, which does not fade at all despite her recent surgery. In fact, she had everyone at her most heartfelt feat. I saw faces wrinkled, hands clasped together & tears welled down people’s eyes. I was told the team advised her not to perform but she insisted because “I promised everyone.” Proved that there will be no stopping if we won’t let anyone do so.

Let’s face it; I sort of had an internal conversation with myself during the event. “You love this so much, but why aren’t you here much?” The other me answered: “I haven’t got much time.” There was another voice of mine that snapped, “You have to make time!” followed by, “You grew up too fast you missed out a lot of things.”

That’s when I realized I probably had been too hard on myself all these years I forgot to smell the roses.

Wani, Ana, Fynn and all the interesting people, here’s for you:

Along, you too tau!