next

although i really enjoyed working, it was time for me to start thinking about school again (although how i was not to think about school was quite impossible). it's just that i haven't touch my final year project (fyp) since the assessment day. and i want to resubmit it to my lecturer soon. argh, school is such a chore (i'll try not to rant so much this year insyaallah).

last day of work was like any other day, although the office was half full. a lot of people was on leave for christmas and extended it to the new year. luckily we had a company luncheon the week before, so i got to see everyone. they are quite a bunch (:

art director (also my supervisor), web designer, designer and design intern

i think i need to learn editing raw pictures. the above colours look horrible right? fir, help please.

last day of work
the day started like any other day, the auntie at the carpark toll greeted me enthusiastically when i passed by. i have noted her that day was my last day. when it was time to leave, she gave me a faux orange-y stalk of rose and pointed that she has another identical stalk right next to her drawer. it was all too cute (: few days before she gave me two piece of pineapple and grape flavoured jelly to thank the double slice of chocolate cake i had given her the day before. she is really so sweet, never fail to say hi and asked how my lunch were and all that. i have never thought of asking her name, but i do know that she has been working there for 13 long years. woho.

so you could imagine, i did a lot of clicking that day.

that's at the pantry. the only window in the office i can look out if my eyes got too tired. it's overlooking an old cemetery and the mosque. since my desk is two steps away from the pantry, i can smell coffee when my collegues are making thier cups everyday, yuum :D i'm going to miss a lot of things actually, but nothing unbearable i think. i'm going to miss the free flow of magazines, for example hehe. most importantly, i'm going to miss the view outside the office.

and the walk from the mrt station to the office. and the long walk for lunch as well. i love that i can choose tons of halal food place to go. but the others thought i was crazy to walk so far.

there's this rat that died on the pavement walkway near the station. scared me and my supervisor to death. i passed by it everyday, but i try to take another route after that. the dead rat was in the middle of the pavement and stayed there, i suppose, until now. it was already flat the last i saw. probably a bicycle ran on top of it. we can see the tiny feet and tail. it's really gross actually, but i couldn't get myself to move it to the side on the grass.

i'm going to miss the mosque too. if it's not for working there, i would never have stepped into it. it's such a cute mosque! initially i thought there isn't a place allocate for women.

so that's that. my name will appear in january issue of this! it's all very exciting for me. and the promotional posters i help designed will be on newstands and seven-eleven stores, i think. but one thing for sure, it will be blown up mural size at pasir ris. i've yet to check that out though. it's just a teeny thing but its something new for me :D

after work that day, i visited lisa at her workplace, which was at the heart of the CBD area. it is so different from my own workplace where everyone was dressed down with shorts, jeans and slippers. she bought me to the other part of the office that she's working in, and boyyy the view... awesome! i wish i could sit there and draw! it refreshing to be so high up and not be bothered with the hussle below. i was like a tourist in my own country! and lisa just laughed away (she's from china, btw). the corridor at the 36th floor was lined with huge paintings, it's really a different environment altogether.

and later that night, to end my last day of work (actually that's not the occasion at all), my mom and sisters and my elder sister's fiance had dinner at a seafood restaurant. it was my sisters treat. i stuffed myself silly.

First seven days

put on a suit

so i waited for a week only to be rejected, rather unceremoniously. failure, rejection part and parcel of life yada yada yada. but it's okay, at least the person who got the job is really good, you know. else i would feel really sucky :D so i told my dear opinionated cousin and mum, both reacted similarly. i doubt it, but apparently it is hard to ignore. if all else fails sings yori, i could put on a suit and look just like one of you. well, i am organized to be an assistant of some sort, so that could work. keep my options open, you know ;)

on another note, i just send another cousin off to cairo. at this rate, i'll probably be cousin-less at the end of the year.


Video mode, silly from Fika Hamidon on Vimeo.

***
second last haul for school. then Burden will be on holiday mode till next term starts, which is not till after new year.

gems

i have always admire a person with wit and charm. haji here have both. and a great sense of humour at that too. he is such a pleasure to talk to. i can't wait to develop this picture and send it to him. it is kinda exciting, snail-mailing is.

what touches my sisters and i so much was the fact that he could remember the exact book he had when we came for visit the year before. it was a lonely planet library book. memory; it is definitely weird and unique. don't think we will ever understand them fully! i was reading a lot more about diseases concerning memories after i watched the notebook sometime back (i am saddened that ryan and rachel split up, again!). it really is fascinating... and really scary.



ted has really great library of videos that are interesting and inspirational. this particular one is of jill bolte taylor talking about the time she had a stroke. there's just something about the way she delivers...

my eid

of course if what my dear 'alima wrote in her blog about her first eid in syam is any likely to be true (pffft :p) then in a million years can my eid in singapore ever beat hers! nay not jealous... just SUPER jealous. i'm going to spend my ramadhan and eid with y'all there next year, so stay put okay!

***

routine visit to both grandparents home, but this year i didn't even used up a single memory card! anybody who knows me well would know i never ever delete and almost always take picture multiburstly. so this is major! i'm quite surprised myself. fat chance with the film camera. i think i was just not in the mood :|

however, i do have some photos to share:

bapak was so worried (for lack of better word) that my uncle would dirty his white baju kurung, so he suggested the apron! hilarious.

a lot of laughter basically.

and my super awesome cousins who cannot make the day any less joyous.

gotta help each other look pretty y'know.

that's bapak and that was my cheeky cousin's hand with the money packets. i NEVER have good portrait shots of myself. it is either blurry or my sis trying to be funny, like this one, she cropped half of my face.

big boy muhammad getting ready to visit his other grandparents'.

and of course, the must have family shots.

and this one is of my relatives from malaysia. i never put my hand up for journey prayers..! my uncle was leading the prayers i think. i so admire this!

comfort zone

thank you wano for the last two pics (: (eh my hands look huge kan!)

shamelessly i admit i'm really lovin' the black and white and muted editings. perhaps i'll take out my film camera for the upcoming eid. i must make a mental reminder to get some expired films. and i wanna try holga and lomo and medium format! sigh. and i really wanna try using leica. guy berryman makes it look so hot. and nikon's d90, woah super tempting. check this out too. back on planet earth, i'm just saving for 50mm portrait lens :(

but most of all, i'm really excited about the tutu shoot. so first, i should probably pick up the tutu! i trust the make up will be in good hands, rockstar? so that's checked. now... i need assistant, any takers?

***
sorry i sidetracked a little. i actually wanted to say how much i enjoyed meeting up with you all (probably the only three-four girls who frequent my site; alims you were with us albeit only through our hearing sense! ;p). i can't believe i don't know how to operate my handphone for loud speaker!! one cannot get any sillier right? but maybe it was a good thing, else the whole place would talk to you too. i can tell you were smiling ear to ear anyways. hope the entrance test went well and hope that less than 7min phonecall cheer your day (:

i really wanted to remember all of shaz's jokes! half of what's left of my secondary school memories are those concerning the nightmarish system and being insanely scared for physics. i can get rather pessimistic these days. i can't believe i forgot about being a part of a (successful) plan to wake a certain sleepyhead in class, and man am i proud of how ungossipy i was back then or what! ;) having said that though, i can't believe i didn't know about the faisol joke before! seriously! i feel so sorry to have the funniest joke at the expense of others but its nice to know our sense of humor is still the same. sort of. haha.

it is always so much fun to see how much we have grown, i mean eventhough we haven't really change much in the maturity area. but what's the rush right? lol. really... artsy fartsy eel, rockstar shaz (complete with the attitude), The Content Dya and wano with the new bf (did i just typed that??) (:

i don't think i can really express how much you girls mean to me, and how very well i wish you all. shaz, don't skip school please. i'm trying to do the same too. a bad attempt, but an attempt nevertheless. it is improving, if you must know! hehe.

factory

i printed nearly 700plus pictures the other day. it was such a nightmare to sort! i dunno how it happened, but i'm the official family photographer, i think. yeah that must be it.

and another engagement.