This is not a Christmas greeting post

Hi, folks! I know I'm too late for a Christmas greetings already but it's just too pretty! And, happy belated Merry Christmas to everyone too! Heh.....  Wow, we have only less than an hour left over here before we say goodbye to 2012 and welcome 2013 and boy....., was I missing in action for a while from the blogosphere!

Gosh, my last post was actually in April! That's a good 8 months of absence! My, oh, my..... I don't think I've actually been away for THAT long, have I? ...... So, did you missed me? :P

This year has been quite an adventure year for me. Not so much creative wise but a lot about new discovery and re-discovery, if that makes any sense at all. I know I sound a bit abstract here but then again, most artist are. :P

Ah yes, just in case you missed my last post, I've moved out on my own to KL already. I got a 9 to 5 job, and yeah, which explains the lack of free time post and jewellery pieces. But the irony of it is that I'm so much nearer to the sources of the materials but yet I've got much less time to spend on making jewellery. Dang~ >.<

While 2012 was a lot about self discovery, I hope 2013 will be more on creative discovery and ouh, ok......writing on those discoveries too! Happy 2013, everyone! 

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Hullo!

Hey, peeps!

I think I must have abandoned this blog for the longest time!! So, a quick update on my whereabouts.

A lot has happened for the past couple of months i.e. in year 2012. One of which is relocation. Yes, I've relocated to Kuala Lumpur. Got a job offer here and decided to take it.

I'm still in the legal field but in a different industry. Well, that's talking about my day job of course. Hope to blog again as I slowly settle into my new job and of course the new environment.

Dang, I think I need to inject more life into my blog!

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Merry Christmas 2011!

Just a short note to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! And I hope you guys had a good one this year! ^.^

Ouh, and this year, we decorated the window in office too!

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Oh....so Frust!

Yes, I am frustrated. No, wait.... I mean I WAS frustrated, which explains why I was M.I.A for a while.

No. 1 - Work. The facial expression above was what work made me feel for the past month. Well, it's not always like that. I enjoy what I do most of the time but sometimes you run into a brick wall and just as you've manage to find a mega drill to drill a hole through the brick wall, you realized that there's no longer any road ahead of you and now you're faced with the giant pacific ocean. So, what's next? Swim! Swim in search for the shore but luckily you CAN swim!

That's work, and then...

No. 2 - Blogger. Blogger has been updated with all these new features, format and what have you, which is really cool but kinda driving me nuts while blogging.

And finally.....

No. 3 - Blogger. AGAIN. To put it point blanc, my ENTIRE Galerie is GONE. All the more =.=". I downloaded some free template that you can get online as one of those blogger template hacks cuz I like it arranged in one of those picture viewer format-style but ever since Blogger made the latest changes and updates, the hacks probably not work with the new Blogger and the whole thing gone haywire and disappear! Luckily, I didn't lose the pictures but I definitely have to re-do EVERYTHING! Argh!

Dear Blogger,
Your Dynamic View comes a tad too late. -.- 

Oookay, that's my rant for now. Will update again later tonight. :)

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What's up, folks?

Aaaah, yes. And so I've been rather quiet the past month. Apart from my birthday month, a couple of other events came up as well. Mostly personal events.

Heeee... yeap, I got 2 birthday cake this year. Yay! :D The top one is the Baskin Robbins chocolate ice cream cake from Mum. The cake could have been better but since it was not ordered  in advance, they were stuck with what the folks at Baskin Robbins could whip up in that short span of time. It was still delish nonetheless!

And just in case you are wondering, 'Tan' is my family name. I seriously don't know why on earth my bro included my family name on the cake. It just look so odd. It made it sound so..... 'formal'? o_O

And the one below is from office. Also a chocolate flavoured. Chocolate sponge cake. They could have challenged my taste bud, really, since I've got a rather adventurous taste bud! But choco is still all good!

Also attended two weddings.

One traditional Chinese wedding. My cousin bro got married.

That's during the tea ceremony where I offered a cup of tea to my sis in law in exchange for a red packet or 'and pow' filled with money. It sorta means like an acknowledgment of the new addition to the family..... I think!

And as for the red packets, it's given out as the blessings from the newlyweds. I know what you're thinking. Shouldn't the newlyweds be GIVEN blessings instead of GIVING blessings?

Well, the GIVEN blessings part happened earlier on already wth the elders. Now it's the newlyweds GIVING their blessings to the younger ones.


And the other wedding I attended was a traditional Malay wedding.

Now, Malay weddings are different.

The bride and groom will sit on a 'pelamn' which is the two huge chairs to have guests offering their blessings to the newlyweds. The bride and groom will have both their hands on ther lap, palms down and blessings are given to the newlyweds by sprinkling 'rose water' on the newlyweds hands.

The 'rose water' here is actually just dipping a the rose flower on a stalk into water and then sprinkling it.

Actually, I think my friend (the bride) skip this step. Cuz I don't remember sprinkling any 'rose water' that day although I've always remember that as part of the tradition. I only remembered crashing the bride and groom on the 'pelamin' for photos. :P

Thing is, traditional custom weddings can be very elaborate and modern couple tend to skip certain step/ritual to simplified the process,

And another good news is a new addition to the family! :D

Sis-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Baby M is slightly over a month old now. Been spending every weekend for the past month at my bro's house in another town with Baby M.

Isn't she such a sweetheart!

What a way to end the first half of the year! I hope everyone had a good frst half of the year too!

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Stay Creative!

Hey guys, how is everyone doing? Hope all is well and good on your end.

Aaah, yes, been kinda quiet lately. Apart from trying the adjust to the new Blogger editor layout (ha.ha), but the day job been kinda busy lately. Energy wise, well.....lacking, really. Anyway, a friend shared this link with me and I thought it was really nice and just had to share it with you guys. I believe this might ring a bell with most of us who does any creatve work.

Well, I guess I won't have much problem with all 29 ways except for method no. 8. I don't really do no.8, ya know. Anyway, check the video out, will ya! ;)

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An organized mess!

I'm talking about me, that is! :P

Sorry peeps, haven't been updating very often lately. Work has been kinda crazy for the past month or so.

Just a quick post to shoutout to everyone that I'm still  A.L.I.V.E ! Heheh!

Will try to get a proper post out by end of the week! ;)

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Beading.com.my Final Storewide Sale!

Ok, final not as in closing down final "Final" sale but as in the final sale in 2010, yeah. :P In other words, if you miss this one out, you probably gotta wait until next year for their next sale. I know next year is only a couple of months away but if their next sale is gonna be in Sept 2011, well, you technically do have to wait for 12 months! :P

So, what are you waiting for? Head on down to check it out! =D

Just a quickie one here.

 I know it's been some time already since my last entry. Work has been a bit busy and tiring at the moment. I'm stealing some time off my lunch break to post this entry. I've got about half an hour to do this. So, let's see how fast I can type how much I can cramp in. LOL.... XD

Yes, as I was saying, Beading.com.my's sale.

Remember how I used to have a list of the online stores that I go to to buy my materials listed on the sidebar? Ok, no need to look at the sidebar. I said "used to" i.e was here but not now anymore. :P Some people ask me where did that list go. Well basically because  I'm now getting most of my stuffs from Beading.com.my that there just doesn't seem to be any need to look elsewhere.

Only for those odd items, I'll hit this eBay store. Otherwise, Beading.com.my is pretty much the "one-stop".

Got the above Labradorite from Beading.com.my. I haven't got the slightest idea what I'm going to do with them yet but they're just too pretty to turn now.

I've just got a knack of buying buying and buying but when it comes to using it, I have this slight nudge at the heart not to part with it! LOL...... Like a beads collector more than a jewelry maker when really, the practise should have been the latter!

Look at that 'flash' ! Seriously, I think the picture just don't do it justice!



If you're into gemstones, they've got more in store. And the best part is, they also ship worldwide! So, yes, everybody can buy! =D

Oh, did you know that Steve from Beading.com.my in collaboration with Emi Kaz is conducting Metalsmithing workshops also? Well, actually, they've got a lot more workshops available!

I think the inaugural workshop was held last Saturday on the 25th I think. I of course hadn't the opportunity to attend given the fact that I stay so far away from them. Mastura from whimsicalandquirky. blogspot.com attended and wrote a post about her experience. So, you might wanna go check it out.

Alright, lunch time's up! Gotta dash off now. I'll try to put up a more long-winded proper post later tonight IF I'm not too tired. :P

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When opportunity comes a'knocking......

 And so, I've been really quiet lately.......

I know I haven't been blogging as often as I would otherwise have planned wanted to. I've been wanting to blog about this and have been putting it off until I know that unless I sit myself down in front of my laptop and start typing away, this post will never live to see the days of light. Okay, I don't know if grammatically, that made any sense, but you get the picture! :P

Thing is, so much has happened after Chinese New Year i.e. Februsry that I'm still trying to digest and settle into the new time table. Well, not so much that I don't even know where to begin but enough I guess to even caught myself by surprise. I mean, really, it wasn't even in my plan at all.

And so, you've read in one of the post before this that I recently joined the work force. Well, it wasn't something I deliberately planned for but it just happened. As bizarre as it sounds but that is exactly how it happened. I mean, seriously......it just came to me.

Okay, so this is what happened. My friend's husband is a lawyer and has a law firm. Just not too long ago he was looking for someone to help with some translation of documents from English to the Malay language. He thought of me who was unemployed free and asked if I would be interested in the job. Needless to say, I said yes. Ahem, you need some *ka-ching* for beads to continue making jewellery, right? *rolls eyes*

Anyway, those documents involved translation of a lot of legal terminology, of which that I can't just translate it as it is. Problem was, I didn't know what those terminologies in the Malay language were. At the same time, I was also concerned with the legal bearing those documents had from the legal standpoint. There were just too many that I was unsure with but yet it wasn't a situation where I'm gonna say, "Sorry, can't do it. Bye." I needed help.

Immediately I thought of my current boss. My current boss is a friend of my Dad and also someone I knew personally way back from my high school days. Back then, I was very active in the school's Interact Club and my boss was the Youth Director/Officer from the local Rotary Club of which Dad was also a member of. So if you guys know anything about Interact/Rotary Club, you'll understand how the two are linked together. Just like the Leo and Lions. If you don't, well..... google search! :P

So now you know how and where the connection comes from and the next is what actually happened.

So, I went to see him, asking for advice on the translation but he ended up asking me if I was interested to work in his firm.

Alright, thais wat what happened that day I went to see him. When I went to his office to see him, he was with a client and I was sent to see another lawyer for help. It turns out that there wasn't much that they could help me with and so I left. Just as I was walking down the stairs to leave, Boss was done with the client and called me back into the other lawyer's office and the exact exchange of words go something like this......

Boss : So, you're not giving tuition anymore? (yes, EVERYONE knows I was teaching....*sigh*.... why don't they know that I make jewellery too? *shrugs*) 

Me : Yeah.... *smiles*

And then he went on to ask me.....

Boss : Did you finish your CLP? (That's the Malaysian Bar qualification, a certificate one needs in order to practise Law in Malaysia)

Me : No......  (5 years ago, a few months down physiotherapy and the realization of what a mess I was actually in and how it was not possible for me to get back on my feet within the time frame I had in mind, I've already decided to give up on practising Law altogether)

*****

Alright, a little digression here to explain the 'within the time frame I had in mind' ....

5 years before the brain hemorrhage I had 5 years ago.....or in other words, 10 years ago, I was met with a motor accident from which I suffered from a severe head concussion and internal bleeding. Yes, blood clotting in the brain and blah blah blah. (Man, you have no idea how many times my brain has already been messed with!)

I was however very very fortunate. I not only miraculously survived but even recovered within a very short span of 3 months with no major physical setbacks and even the blood clot in the brain slowly dissolves itself over time without the need to undergo operation to remove it.

So, with this hindsight, I thought I was going to be alright in also a similar time frame or probably just a little more in time for the next CLP exam sitting.The hemorrhage happened not too long after my graduation, which means I have the degree but not the bar qualification.

But boy, did I misinterpret the situation! 4 months down physiotherapy, I came to the realisation how serious my condition actually was and then and there decided to give up pursuing a career in law already. It was ok really, cuz Law was not really my first career option to begin with! I wanted to be a fashion designer (don't laugh, ok!) but coming from a traditional Chinese family, this is not exactly an approved career choice. Probably also my only regret for not having the courage to be obstinate with my choice.

*****

Boss : You're not going to complete it?

Me : Erm, don't think so.

Boss : Why is it that you're not going into law?

Me : Well, the long hours, stress, pressure..... and all that. (I was still in constant contact with my college friends and I understood what the real deal was!)

Then, we went on into a discussion on what areas of Law that I was interested in and then he shoot me the question.......

Boss : Are you interested in conveyancing?

To put it simply, conveyancing basically deals with land matters such as the sale abd purchase or transfer of land.

Me : Huh? But I have no experience. o_O

Well, I don't. If you follow the chronological of events, I hadn't got the opportunity to seek employment. The hemorrhage happened right after graduation, well, while I was reading for my Bar exam to be precise and I wasn't physically fit to do anything at all.

Boss : Well, I guess you could always pick it up along the way.

Me : Why, are your firm looking for people?

Boss : Well, we're always looking for people for conveyancing.

And then, I think he's in a rush (he always is! LOLs....) to leave the office already.....

Boss : Nevermind, you think about it. If full day is too much for you, you can try half day for a week or two first to see if you like it. Just think about it and then give me a call.

Me : Ok ..... *smiles and nod my head*

And that was the end of our discussion and I went back. I didn't gave much thought into it though but later that day, dad told me that Boss called him and mention that he talked to me about this and encouraged that I give it a try. Mum also agreed and says that I should at least give it a try first before deciding whether you like it or not. If I don't like the work, I could always say sorry, I don't think the work is suitable for me and leave.

So, I called Boss up the next day and told him I'll give it a shot. He wanted me to come in the following week but because I still had some translation work on hand at that time, I could only went in the week after. But I did drop by his office briefly before I started.

I'm telling you, if that meeting was a job interview, it's dead sure that I'm going to fail so badly!

Boss : What do you want to do actually?

Me : I don't know actually. 

It's not a very impressive answer but I was only being  honest! Like I said, I've already decided from way back to give up law already and now I'm seated in a of a lawyer who is about to give me a job in his law firm, being asked what I wanted to do. What am I supposed to answer? o_O

Boss : I see that you are still very alert. It will be a total waste if you don't go into it.

By 'it', he meant the legal field. Thing is, outside people who don't really know me thought that my mental capacity is somewhat affected because of the hemorrhage. Well, I won't say that it didn't. Multi-tasking is one. But not in the way that most people in the unknown/unclear of my condition thought.

And then boss went on to hand me a contract and asked me to read through it.

Boss : Now, tell me, what does it says?

Me :  o_O !!!

I haven't looked through a contract since college days and the words they used.....ugh! Anyway, my eyes were scrambling through the documents trying to search for the key words......

Me : It's a ....... contract ......... for .......... the sale ........... of land.

Boss : Okay, tell me in one sentence what does the contract says?

???? !!!

I felt like I was transported back in time to a classroom back in college days. My tongue was tied.

You see, I've pretty much flushed whatever leftover that I still remembered from college days out my system already the day I decided to give up on it. And now this? Oh, boy ...... o_O Die!

Me : It's a contract ............... for the sale of ................... land.

Erm, not very smart. I know it's the same answer that I gave just now but I thought maybe by changing the phrasing a little, it might sound as though it was a new answer? Heh! Lame ....... but when one is desperate, you just do what you can to save your ass! LOL......

But then and again, I've got a sympathetic boss. He could see that I was struggling and he guided me to the answer. LOL.....

Alright, to cut a long story short, boss basically told me to come into the office for the following week to see if I like the work before deciding.

Well, I did as suggested. Went in for a week and found that the work was rather interesting which was how I ended up there for a little over a month already!

 This is what I now deal with everyday!


Anyway, there's still a twist to the the story of me and the workforce. But I'll keep that for later! Heh! ;)

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Just A Quick One!

Sorry for not been posting anything in a while! That was quite a draught, isn't it? LOLs.....

Sorry guys! Been quite busy since after Chinese New Year and just early this month, I've gotten myself a job at law firm. I'm employed. Er, Yay? LOLS.....

This was certainly not something deliberately planned for. I'll tell you how it all happened. Later. My boss wants to have a discussion with me later today.

No worries, I'll tell you all about it! ;)

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New Galerie!

I've always not like the old Galerie browsing format but have no idea how to revamp it.

I've spent like ages thinking of how to change the layout and only last week did I finally found the right template and spend the past week putting them together and I'm happy to say that the Galerie now is how I've always wanted it to be! :D

Editing the pictures took the bulk of the time! Some of the pictures might seem overexposed to you but I've been editing, editing, editing and re-editing that I honestly can't be bothered anymore.The odd thing is the same picture seems alright at one time and then underexposed at another and when I checked back again after everything's done, it then appears to be over-exposed! o_O

There is like almost 300 pictures to edit there! Enough to blind my eyes from the hours spent looking into the monitor with don't-know-what-some-kind of energy or wave emiting from the screen.

Okay, maybe I exaggerated the last part a 'lil. :P LOL.....

But hey, I remember my cousin sis bought some kind of .... uuggghh.... I don't even know what it should be call..... ok, thing. Yes, some kinda thing and placed it next to her computer, telling me that that 'thing' purportedly can absorb the harmful radiation (yes! that's the word!) from the computer instead of our body.

*shrugs*

Even a friend of mine who was in confinement was not allowed to switch on the computer for fear of the radiation which will be harmful to the mother's  already weak post pregnancy body.

Okay, this is something that I'll probably need to clarify. I'm not sure if this is only customary with the Chinese tradition or how people from different cultural back grounds do it but a Chinese lady who has just given birth will be under confinement for one month post pregnancy. Confinement means literally confinement where she is confined to the house. Well, you can say it's some sort of a house arrest but completely legal! LOL.....

And the new mother will be very well taken care of during this period. Mostly from her diet, more nutritious food to make up for whatever that was 'lost' during the whole pregnancy esperience. Erm, I'm not sure if I explained it correctly but to put it simply, the body of the mother is weaker now and need to recuperate.

What is customary is to hire a confinement lady during this period who will help with the care of the new born as well as the new mother, making sure that both the new born and new mother is well taken care of because the assumption at this point is that the body of the new mother is still weak.

So, the confinement lady will be in charge of the new mother's diet. Well, normally consisting of food and Chinese herbs which is believed to help with the restoration of the body's energy.

You might be thinking that the mother or in-laws of the new mother could have helped with the care but mind you, these people are deemed the professional. They know better.

Gosh! How did it digress to this?! LOL......

Okay, so that was about the radiation. Anyway, just ignore the last part. What are you waiting for? Go, quick! Check out the Galerie !....and tell me you like it too! =D

 

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What's up?

Sorry for my absence.........

Life's kinda mashed up for me since early of the year and up to this point. Things are a bit overwhelming for me that I don't even where or how to start sorting it out. But to sort it out I will and I MUST.

Now that I've got some of the distractions out of the way, will start to put The Work Room back in order again and eventually Atelier Wendy Sue as well.

I'll update soon!

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I hear wedding bells ringing.....

Well, not mine though. :P

It's been another crazy month thus far. Was over at Singapore last week to attend a friend's wedding.






I've got another wedding to attend in a couple of hours time AND another one next weekend in KL.

It's insane really, three weddings back to back on each weekend for this month of Nov! Can you believe that?

I'm close to say out loud to my friends.... "Csn you guys stop getting married already?" LOL......

I need a breather and so does my wallet! LOL.....

Okay, to those that may not know about the Chinese culture, we don't give wedding gifts to the couple. Instead, the custom is to give red packets containing discretionary amount of cash inside. The final ammount collected from the guests will normally be partial contribution towards the cost of the banquet and if the couple is lucky enough, there may even be some leftover cash after paying for the cost of banquet, for them to keep! :P

Well, that's Chinese weddings for you......

And I haven't even touch on the mind boggling details of a Chinese wedding ceremony yet!

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My hands are itching.....

To rip this bag apart! LOL.... :P

Was clearing some of the boxes packed with stuffs from the old house and found this bag. I almost forgotten about it, which is not surprising since it never crossed my mind to use it. :P

This is a vintage bag, passed down to me from my aunt. When it comes to metal mesh fabric, I think it's gonna be either you love it or hate it scenario due to the glamourous but probably questionable-in-taste character associated to these mesh fabrics.

I love the metal mesh fabric on the bag! LOL.... XD .... but there's just something about the style of the bag itself that put me off from using it.

It's a sling bag and it's huge. I have never been a huge fan of sling bags and I really don't like the fact that this bag slouches frumpily when you hang them over your shoulder.


See what I mean? So NOT chic lor. -_-

It seems too big for use with eveningwear. The size would have worked for casual use but the bling and the gold is just a tad too OTT for casual wear unless you want to look like you just stepped out from a time machine departing from the 80's . Which explains why I forgotten about it because there just doesn't seem to be any practical use for it!

But the bag is still in very good condition and I feel it's such a waste to just store it away. Plus, apart from the style, I think the bag's really pretty lor!

At present, the bag looks like it's a throwback from the '80s, which you can actually consider it to be quite in trend considering the '80s fashion is making a comeback. (OMG, did you see some of the shoulder pad dresses? o_O)




Sorry lar, as much as I love how fashion always recycle the trends, and so can you do the same with your wardrobe, I'm not sure if the shoulder pads should be included in the recycling policy. I mean, c'mon.... let's face it, not every Susan, Mary and Jane is gonna look fierce in shoulder pads lor.




Even so, I think the comeback trend should be made relevant to the current trend. The current trend should look like it was inspired from the past trend and not as though you send a time capsule back to the era, load the machine with all the goodies and transport them back to the the present. The latter is just so wrong.

F.I.E.R.C.E.

N.O.T fierce.


So, I'm really thinking of ripping the bag apart to 'reconstitute' it into a more modern chic clutch, with the very least practical use of it. I'm thinking.... it might go very well with the LBD that I'm thinking of wearing to a wedding at the end of the month. Hhhmmm.....

One problem though. This bag is a vintage GLOMESH. GLOMESH is a brand name (an Australian brand, I think!) for those metal mesh fabric bags. The brand has become so successful that it has become a generic name for mesh bags. Genuine GLOMESH will command a higher price than unlabelled bags and purses made of the same glamorous fabric.

The relevancy, you wonder?

It's considered an expensive bag lor. Well, mum always says in a low-down hush hush tone, "It's very expensive. It's a GLOMESH" whenever I made a comment on these bags that I see lying around the house. Yea, there's a couple of 'em.



A silver GLOMESH coin purse. I knda like this one. Very chic! And I think the style of this bag never gets old.





Now, I quite like this cream/beige cluth too. It's very my style but the problem was the practicality.


Erm, what can you put in there wor? o_O The solution to not being able to find something in the way you wanted it is to make them yourself!

There's hardly any space for you to put anything. Now, mind you, this was before the era of cellphone and what have you. Ladies back then only bring with them probably a pack of tissue, ID card and a few notes and they're good to go.

Ladies these days uses gigantic clutches, okay! LOL..... :P




BUT the thing is, almost EVERYTHING is expensive to mum! LOL..... :P

And so I googled to find out the cost of a GLOMESH bag and it turns out that it averages around $20. Australian dollars I think!

-__-

So, it's not Gucci-or-LV-expensive but Wendy's-mum-expensive! LOL.....

Okay, maybe it was considered expensive back then in the 80's. *shrugs*

But seriously..... I think I'm just going to rip it apart.

However, problem is, I'm not sure if there's enough fabric from the bag to form the fabric base of the new bag, although I'm quite sure I'll have more than enough mesh fabric for the new bag. There might even be sufficient leftovers to use for jewelleries. Yaay! :D

Neither do I think I want to be bothered to go out looking for the right fabric. It's just like shopping. You know how when you purposely make a trip tp search for a particular specific item, more often than not you'll end up not finding it but when you're not looking for it, it miraculously appear in front of you.

Anyway, the theme is going to be R.E.C.Y.C.L.E. :P

Aaaah, don't we love to hear that word, these days. ;)

Now, if you'll just excuse me, I remember seeing a piece of cream colour cloth stashed somewhere.........

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