hmm... i've been back for 2 weeks already!! feels like i've been back for a very long time already.... upon landing in changi airport, my 1st sg purchase was chivas for billy's dad... haa... within 2 weeks here, i've bought myself lots of food (billy bought me more!) and 2 clothes already!! muahahhaaa... shopping is so good and shiock here... the 1st few days when im back, i tried to do whole day shopping... cos when i was in australia, i always tot its so dumb that the shops have to close at 5pm, but now that im back, i find myself too tired to continue shopping after 5pm! haha!!
i've been gone for only 10months but even im amazed at how different things really are as how i've remembered... or probably amazed at how adapted i was to aussie life... some few things that striked me was how short and stout our traffic lights are here! haha!! the round face with the red or green man leh... its so big and round in sg!! and the whole traffic light pole is so short it feels** like i can reach it.. haa... (but obviously, i cant... :s) i was also quite amused with our banga construction workers... all dark and dark.. haa... construction workers in aussie are big, tall ang mos - so imagine the contrast! also my breathing was so accustomed to aussie air too i actually need my asthma preventer seretide to help me deal with difficulty with breathing... den my nose allergy almost caused my nose to drop that i now have to use a nasal spray thingy.. den even my eyes got allergic and was prescribed some expensive eye drops that now i think probably shouldn't have been so expensive... all my medical bills added up to 150 bucks liao lor... aiyo... and the weather is sooo warm! hotter than i remembered!! i wonder how i survived in jeans all the time in the past... before i went to aussie i even wore long sleaves and jackets sometimes in sg...!
but being back is soo nice too... no worries about sms-ing pple short texts like "ok" or "ya"... haa... no need to wash my own dishes... always can bug billy on the phone... can start shopping at 7pm, eat dinner and have bus stopping rite outside house at 12am... woo hoo!!! nice to start serving again in church, serving the church i love... nice to worship in chinese... rev ng's chinese is still the same too.. haa! nice to be in pastor ivy's office... my oh-so-ever-comfy bed... sleeping in air con!! no worries about electricity... HEE... ability to explore beyond my own wardrobe into my sisters' ones... being back is still better... :)
yeah, looking forward to meeting more frens and relatives now... everybody's having exams or busy with some things now...
Love Is In The Air!
Friday, November 16, 200711:15 PMPraise the Lord I found a violin teacher and today is my first lesson of violin! Today I brought my violin back to office bcos I am going for lesson straight after that. Then after work my colleague asked where am I going, I said I am going to learn violin. Then they laugh laugh laugh bcos they think I was joking. haa... then I said I am serious and show them that I carried my violin. Then they believed. haa ... They said they should gave me an Ang Bao bcos today is my first lesson. haa... I had dinner with Debbie before I went for lesson. Nice to share my joy with her. My teacher is a young Christian, 24, and in Mandarin congregation in City Harvest. I can see she is not that type money minded kind of teacher, bcos she didn't even mention of school fees or what. She is very patient to teach also. Thank God provide me a good teacher! So today I learnt how to hold the bow properly and fingering. very fun and enjoyable! haa... Hope I can serve the Lord with violin too! Bcos violin is my childhood dream and now I am learning!!!!
Love Is In The Air!
Tuesday, November 6, 200711:54 PMim back in sg!!! the last week was so fast paced for me... i was doing assignments non-stop from sunday afternoon till monday afternoon, afterwhich i studied and dozed off from mon afternoon to mon evening and when for exam at 6pm, and finished and handed in 3 assignments at 8.45pm... of which my holidays officially started on monday 8.46pm.. haa...
den started buying things and packing stuff like crazy from tues to friday morning... and left brisbane on fri 1.45pm.. and reached sg 7.30pm!!!
why was i in such a rush to get back? well..... cos i wanted to make it back before 5 nov 2007 so i could celebrate 101 monthniversary with billy!!! sooooo cool... we've together for 101 months liao... as i was writing the card to billy... i recalled the times he always treated me so well, buy me things, make me presents, give me good advice, discussed and shared opinions, always giving in to me and nv picking fights... i jus remember that all my 101 months i've been very happy with him beside me and i juz thank god for such an angel... :)
today (5 nov) when out early in the morning and came back late at nite.. did lots of things, had lots of fun, ate lots of things too! haa... i loved his present, its so sweet i was holding back tears... hee... billy specially took a day off work to go out wif me... and i risked persis' fury of not wishing her happy bday in time by refusing to end the day early (so i could go home and give her highness an email or something).. haa... but today was all good!! its not the things we did or ate, its the day and the special meaning of it, and the time spend with him that made the day worked out soooo well...
happy 101 to my most treasured billy!!
and happy bday to my bestest friend persis!!!
debbie remembers...
Love Is In The Air!
2:03 AMEvery day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking "artists" for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.
But what they`re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.
To those who are "seeking artists", let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? ...none?
More than likely, you don`t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn`t be posting on craigslist to find them.
And this is not really a surprise.
In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.
So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?
Would you offer a neurosurgeon the "opportunity" to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him "a few bucks" for "materials". What a deal!)
Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?
If you answered "yes" to ANY of the above, you`re obviously insane. If you answered "no", then kudos to you for living in the real world.
But then tell me... why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?
Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.
A few things you need to know;
1. It is not a "great opportunity" for an artist to have his work seen on your car/`zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a "great opportunity" for YOU to have their work there.
2. It is not clever to seek a "student" or "beginner" in an attempt to get work for free. It`s ignorant and insulting. They may be "students", but that does not mean they don`t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a "student" once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.
3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it`s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their "portfolio". They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It`s not compensation. It`s their right, and it`s a given.
4. Stop thinking that you`re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.
5. Students DO need "experience". But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the "experience" they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother`s house when they were seventeen?
If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.
6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to "submit work for consideration". They may even be posing as some sort of "contest". These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the "contest", or be "chosen" for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or "spec", work. It`s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit www.no-spec.com.
So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are "spec" gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.
And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free... please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you`re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.
-- Anonymous from craiglist
Love Is In The Air!
Friday, November 2, 200712:53 PM
