Hello, May

So I've been seeing a lot of bloggers write out goals for each upcoming month, and thought maybe I should try it, and maybe, hopefully, it'll help with my procrastination and all, since one of the tips to make your goal-making successful is to share them with a bunch of people.

Let's go.

May goals, which I may or may not complete 

School

1. Cover chapters 2-6 in geography, also complete the past year topical questions. Also speaking of school, stay consistent with revision and work and all that stuff.

Personal

2. Less screen time. Meaning, watch less Youtube. go on social media max 4 times a day on weekdays.

3. Get more sleep (basically sleep earlier and wake up early too)

4. Away with procrastination! Meaning, plan and schedule, improve in time management. 

Blogging

5. Blog more consistently. And when doing that, be productive on the computer.

Arts, Books and Hobbies

6. Open my eyes and appreciate things in life.

7. Read more. (With this I mean more physical paperback books, not Wattpad ones, they don't really count here).

8.  Take more photos. Be less afraid to do so, just do it.

9. Also, my mum signed me up (and also I requested for) an electronics course thingy that included coding and physical circuits and all that things which I'm quite looking forward to. My brothers enjoyed the introduction course (which I had missed) and they told me how fun and interesting it was. At first I wasn't really keen, because I thought, I'm more of an arts kind of person. But really, why not, though? I figured it'll be an interesting hands-on experience and expand my knowledge. So, yeah.

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What about you? Do you have any goals for the wonderful fifth month of the year?

April Highlights

With 30 days of April almost over and May just right next door, I thought I'd summarise what happened in April 2016:

Personal

• Had my braces tightened for the first time and changed the colour of rubber bands to blue to grey.

Arts, Books and Hobbies

• Picked up art again- lettering and watercolour.

• I went on a small photography trip with a friend and a camera.

• I took lots of photos. Some of them you can find on the blog, some on instagram.

• Went to the library to check out a couple of books on photography, among those, Digital SLR Settings and Shortcuts For Dummies was especially useful.

School

• I finally started working on my Geography and revision for O levels, after dumping it since 2 Nov 2014- the date of my last Geography IGCSE paper.

Blogging

• Blogged more consistently- at least it was better than one post in March, right?

• Made some changes to the blog design- that will be the only thing that's constant: change.

• Discovered Kanra's Blog (more like she discovered mine and commented on mine, naturally leading me to hers)- The Lunar Descent.

the day after Chinese New Year

The red remnants from the firecracker that greeted the first day of Chinese New Year the previous day were left on the streets, for they symbolised prosperity and luck for the new year and no one in their right mind would want their prosperity to be swept into the drains.

The streets were surprisingly silent considering it was the second day of the lunar new year. Residents were either entertaining their visitors or out doing visiting themselves. Children no longer played on the streets with their friends and relatives who visited, instead now cooped up in rooms gaming or socialising through social media and networks.

Kenopsia. That was the word I needed to describe this lingering feeling I had wandering along the street, camera in hand.

n. The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet—a school hallway in the evening, an unlit office on a weekend, vacant fairgrounds—an emotional afterimage that makes it seem not just empty but hyper-empty, with a total population in the negative, who are so conspicuously absent they glow like neon signs. 

via

 It was just two midnights ago when everyone came out of their houses to admire the display of fireworks neighbours had trolleyed out, to admire with their hands shielding their ears to watch the firecrackers, some holding out their cameras to capture the magnificent spectacle before their eyes.

And now? All there was left was a reminder of what happened two midnights ago- red bits and pieces from the firecrackers, and boxes of used firework cartons and rubbish from reunion dinner piled in garbage bins in front of various housings.

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The small narration above was inspired by the photo taken on the second day of Chinese New Year.  I thought it'll be interesting to dig up photos I'd taken and try to recall the story or what happened, or make up one on the spot.

watercolours and brushpens

A couple of days ago at the library, while browsing in the art section looking for books on photography, I saw a book on lettering and borrowed it- The Art of Whimsical Lettering by Johanne Sharpe (link to website of author).

via

Filled my 5-page-filled-otherwise-blank sketchbook with a couple of starter quotes and words, then bought two brushpens from the stationery shop. This shop was rather small and didn't have a wide range of pens, so I decided on gold and silver (the others were blue, pink and purple).

I got rather excited and inspired, so the very next day I rummaged through the storage boxes and retrieved my watercolour set. 

I hadn't touched watercolouring since primary school. I remember sitting around a large table with my brothers and a couple of friends and their siblings, doing art as one of our classes in our co-op. So we'd study an artist and the type of art, then do some art. For example, I vividly remember lying on our backs and painting a piece of clay somehow stuck to a plank which was placed between chairs, because we had been studying Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. As you can tell, it was a rather fun class and I had really enjoyed it, also bonding with my friends. 

Speaking of which, one memory popped up where a friend and I were arguing over whose work was worse than the other, while our siblings at the other table were arguging over whose work was better.

Okay, enough reminiscing, the past is the past and there's no use wishing going back to those carefree days.

So this watercolour set hadn't been touched for at least 4 years. The white tube of white paint has long since hardened, and I was amazed the paintbrushes aren't hardened.

it just shows I'm not a good artist

these are just backgrounds, letterings will come another day

Watercolouring and lettering is really addictive. After I finished one piece, I wanted to experiment with another shade, another hue, another colour, and I spent around 4 hours before restraining myself from continuing and doing it for the whole day. I think it's because I'm compensating for the neglected art in me for at least four years.

So at the end of the day, I came to a conclusion:

It doesn't matter if you aren't good in art, drawing or painting or whatever, just do it. It's satisfying, and more than that, it's a really good way to find your inner peace and release stress. Just you, paint and the paper. I myself enjoy this because I really like seeing the gradients and different hues of colours, and it's much easier to get this result with watercolours than with markers.

So even though it's rather obvious I'm not the best in drawing and art in general, I'll still do it, because it's not like there's a rule that says you have to be good at something to do it.

Until next time!

Adventures with a Camera and a Friend | Xiao Guilin |

A couple of days ago, a friend and I decided to explore this underrated park with amazing scenery- Xiao Guilin. I'll let my photos do the job of narrating our story.

Decided to go up this mini 'peak'

we're up

inspired by Wesley Chan of Wong Fu Productions 

It started to drizzle a bit, so we took refuge here for awhile

everyone has a weird photo obsession. hers is patterns- stone, tile, bricks and all that stuff. mine is people taking photos, so I take photos of people taking photos.

another one of those 'shells' at the other side of the lake, hence a different view

hello from the other side

I didn't actually use monochrome for this, it turned out black and white.

Hope you enjoyed scrolling through the photos.

a little happiness

sunsets

komorebi (sunlight through the trees)

breeze against your skin

riding a bike downhill

writing with a new pen

starting a new notebook

finishing a notebook

receiving a letter or card

random little kids talking to you

falling asleep to raina

making someone laugh

jumping on trampolines

choir singing songs that we learnt a long time ago and haven't touched

choir singing in harmony

good book with good food

comfortable silence with good friends

being able to help a stranger and being appreciated

a stranger smiling at you

being out in the warm sun (not blazing hot)

watching popcorn pop

watching little kids or elderly get enthusiastic or amazed by simple things

puppies

when people you know from a long time ago remember you

finding a lyric or quote you perfectly relate to

hearing your favourite song on the radio

receiving flowers

sweater weather

colours pleasing to the eye

chocolate

mumbo

favourite channels uploading a video

lazy days

campfire and marshmallows with friends

smell of freshly baked cookies

when an old friend texts you to see how you are

walking into a bookstore or library

spending hours at the library

seeing everything organised

when people remember what you told them a long time ago

wave crashing

impromptu hangouts

deep conversations

watching someone grow over time

being able to open up

feeling confident

knowing that someone has your back

short and meaningful films

paper and a pen

climbable trees

stars in the night sky

sleepovers
singing
sleeping in
knowing someone appreciates your presence
looking at childhood photos
when they text you first
finding the name of the song stuck in your head

a random shot turning out to be amazing

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Happiness comes from small things. I try to appreciate every moment in my life, no matter how small it may be. I'd rather have a life filled with many tiny moments of joy rather than to waste my life waiting for a miracle and realising it was the small moments that mattered.

What is your little happiness?

Xin Yao | Songs of Singapore

[一个青年对《我们唱着的歌》看后感想］

1月16日前几天，我朋友的母亲传简讯问我，要不要去看这部<我们唱着的歌>，关于新谣的纪录片，她有一张额外的票。我也想不多，反正那个时间有空，就爽快的答应了。

1月16日那天来到首都戏院观看纪录片的人，多数是大约四十岁以上，但还能看到些跟我一样的青少年或更小的，小孩。

纪录片开始了，里面讲述新谣从以前到现在的旅程，歌唱家面对的种种困难，当然也有欢乐的时候。

纪录片播放的那两个小时，我很专注地观看，也不时被感动，不时会笑出声来。感动，是因为刚开始南大跟新大联盟，南大的学生都是华文背景，教育部那时又刚要学校用英语教课，许多学生无法适应。他们对自己的英语感到自卑，就更努力学习华文。之后，他们办了几次校内演出，其他学校的学生也被激发，在各自学校，中学，初级学院里办自己的小组。

虽然新谣流行的时候我还未存在，但我还蛮喜欢听新谣歌。小时候爸妈都会在家里、车里播新谣歌，因此我听新谣长大，如《排排坐》、《摇摇民谣》、《细水长流》等等。

当我在面簿（FB）知道《我们唱着的歌》将在电影院放映，我特别开心，因我要介绍这部纪录片给朋友和家人们，让他们也有机会更认识新谣，怀念以前的新加坡。

我很喜欢这部纪录片，看了后被感动和激发了。

特别的票 | Special hand-stamped ticket

On 16 Jan, I was invited to watch a documentary about xinyao, which is a genre of music unique to Singapore, composed and sung by Singaporeans. Naturally I was interested- I had grown up listening to xinyao, even though it's popular period was the '80s.

This screening of the documentary was held at the Capitol theatre, and viewers got special hand-stamped tickets that were similar to those in the '80s, I guess. The documentary itself was about the history of xinyao, how it started and the journey.

Though it might be a bit dry for children and teenagers, being a documentary, it is definitely worth a watch. I got a lot of nostalgic feels throughout the movie even though I wasn't even existent during that period.

All in all, it was a very inspirational and touching documentary. You'd have to watch the whole thing to understand what I mean, it can't be explained in words, and in English.

Trailer below:

Strand of Light

 Written and copyrighted by Zelus @ myhopefulpencil 5.11.15 

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Broken heart

Scarred soul

Dreams out of reach

Crumpled, torn and tossed aside

Thrown into a dark abyss

She wallows in despair

Numbed of emotion

Nothing left in her possession

Days passed without any dreams

Nightmares came to her 

like an old friend every night

She saw no means to continue living

This day she looked around and

Saw nothing except

A small ray of light

Peeping through a crack

Calling out to her

Whispering ever so softly

Sweet and gentle

Raw and sincere

With that she gathered the last strands of courage

Gritted her teeth and rolled up her sleeves

Holding desperately onto that single ray

her shirt wet from tears or sweat she could not tell

Day by day, night by night,

She held on and climbed higher and higher

Rested she was tired

But her hands still gripping onto the ray

Her body urged her to let go sometimes

But determined her mind was

Until that small, thin ray

Became bigger, brighter stronger

And one day she reached the end

Looked around and saw

A green, sunny field.

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