Black Friday shopping!

Actually it was more of window shopping. The only thing I bought were new earplugs that were 50% off. The ones I bought previously chose a good time to act weird.So I bought these: Skullcandy Ink'd. I've been hearing a lot of recommendations for this brand, so I got these, eventhough there were iPod earphones going for the same price. One thing I like about these earplugs is that the plug parts are just a rubber skin, so they fit your ears exactly, blocking out external sound.

Other than that, I just went around trying on clothes for fun. The crowd was horrendous. It looked like Chinatown. There had to be traffic police to control people from spilling out onto the roads. Some shops were open since 5am or so, probably those selling expensive items like electronics.

But anyway, I had a good time. Fell in love with this brand:AllSaints Spitalfields
I think it's a UK brand though. But their clothes are so my style. All about unique structure and material. Their style is kind of rugged and vintage with muted colours.(With the sale, it was still pretty expensive to me...I think it was $90 for just the inside blouse I'm wearing in the 3rd pic. Not to mention, I still convert everything)
Focus on the clothes here. I know I'm studying 3D modeling, but that doesn't mean I actually know how to model. I need more camwhore inspiration from the yum cha gang.My poses remind me of the joke about people who look exactly the same in all of their photos.
This jacket is really heavy. It's got all kinds of pockets and layers all over the place like cargo pants. Kind of reminds me of a line from Jurassic Park: "Is it heavy? That means it's expensive. Put it back."

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Tried some really good recipes recently. This one is Tikka Masala. A bit more elaborate than what I usually cook;it's got 2 types of marinades plus 1 sauce:tons of ingredients. But it was worth it. I wasn't expecting much, since the Chana Masala I tried before this was too sour for my liking. Another one I tried was Chicken Kiev(I substituted for beef, which is probably even better)but my result is not much of a looker, so no picture for that.

Today was all about restocking my kitchen. Went to Chinatown 2 times to get groceries, the second time was for rice. But because of that, I had a late lunch, so in a hungry mood I decided to get a few Asian goodies for myself.

Ok, fine, they are both Japanese products. But I've been curious about how Calpico tastes like ever since Tali recommended it. It looks kind of strange, like the child of Eno and milk. The bottle says non-carbonated drink, which immediately makes me think that it is. I'm not sure if it is a fruit drink, a milk drink or a soda. And it's called Calpis, which is an awesomely imaginative name (I think Calpis and Calpico are the same company? Maybe they changed their name after someone told them how unappetizing Calpis sounds)My verdict? It's ok. Tastes a bit like Vitagen actually.

Also, I saw Old Town white coffee being sold in Chinatown. I think it was something like $17 for the usual sized bag. I forgot how much they sell it for in Malaysia. I saw Kopiko also.

Usually the most pressing reason why I go to Chinatown is to get fruits. Somehow I don't feel full if I don't eat fruits. So this is my trend nowadays: Making fruit boxes. They are fruit salads, but I take them as snacks. Besides filling up my quota of 5 fruits/veg a day, they also say that you should take fruits and veg from as many colours as possible because different coloured food has different nutrients. So in this pic, I have 3 colours: red(apple), orange and purple(grapes). I threw in some cheese as well for good measure.The fruits looks really happy together in the box. Maybe a good way to trick kids into eating more fruits.

Tomorrow is Black Friday, which means it's Sales day. Apparently there are really huge sales, especially for electronical items, but the sales are only for around 3 hours, so people go early in the morning and wait outside the shops before they open, then scramble inside as fast as they can. Kind of makes me feel like a tired salmon swimming upstream just thinking about it. I haven't even visited the shopping complexes before, so I dunno their layout. I'm the underdog here.I'll probably just go and have a look without any expectations, although I am thinking of getting a bigger bag. Nowadays I bring my green bag to uni anytime there's a lot to bring. The one I have currently is only good for putting my wallet,handphone and other small things, and 1 notebook maximum.

I just finished watching 28 weeks later. Interestingly, I just found out it's actually a sequel to a movie called 28 days later D8.

Actually, I didn't have very high expectations for the movie, probably just another lame zombie movie, right?I dunno whether I like it or not. In terms of storyline, it felt like there was a potential for the family story to be fleshed out more, but instead it was filled in 90% of the time by bloodied infected humans running around and screaming and generally acting mad.That's the thing with zombie movies right? The whole time at the back of your head you are thinking, really, it isn't going to take much to outsmart them if all they do is run around waving their arms. But on the other hand, it was actually pretty entertaining to watch the whole gore fest. I guess its the same reason why you feel satisfied bursting a really fat pimple or trying to burp for as long as possible. Really gross, but there's a sense of achievement there. Looking at the amount the zombies bleed when they are shot makes you think that in those operation documentaries you see on Discovery channel, the doctors should be wading knee high in blood.Oh well, artistic license makes everything more fun.

Also...the storyline may be a bit predictable. I dunno if it should be categorized as having 'a lot of foreshadowing' which is a good thing, or 'predictable' which is a bad thing. The music was kind of good, but somehow it reminds me of the music from Inception. One thing I hated for sure was the theme about countries. The 'savior' army are American, the 'ones that need to be helped' are British, and 'the ones that will die next' are French. For one, it's predictable, again, and also it seems a bit prejudiced. But I also didn't like how it was constantly reinforced that 'this is Britain' we have picture of our political leaders on our merry go rounds, and here are several shots of London. And then this is France, here is a shot of the Eiffel Tower, in case you didn't know. They could have been a lot more subtle on that, it turned out to feel a bit gimmicky.

Surprisingly, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 70% rating. I usually disagree with RT, but then again they are usually pretty harsh on their ratings, harsher than me, so I dunno how the movie scored so high.I suspect there is a lot more special effects than there appears to be though. Maybe they had to model all their bird eye view shots in the computer, definitely needed for the firebombing shots, probably needed for the shots where the whole city is deserted.The zombies though, are probably achievable with tomato sauce, some extras, some dummies and strap on explosives for the shots and slashes.

Fuh...at last my schedule for next Spring is fixed. I feel Zen now. Next time I will register for classes as soon as I can so I can easily get a space.

The trouble was that I sort of tried to personalise my schedule, not according to the standard one they give to all the 3d modelers, the reason being because I could waive one of the subjects (Chiaroscuro-a fancy way of saying Drawing 1; the brinjal and banana drawing class)and another one of the subjects I am doing in Winter instead. So there I am with only 2 subjects to take, and I need one more because 3's the minimum number of subjects that International students can take. So I go thru the course schedule and find one that sounds useful to me, I make an appointment with the school of animation director and get approval to take that class. Then I make another appointment with the graduate advisor to sign up for that class, only to find out that it's full.

Good thing that a new class has been formed, so I don't have to go thru the whole process(aka more appointments) again to select another subject.

But I dunno if I like the schedule much, I have 2 3 hour classes on Mondays and a 6 hour class on Wednesday. I guess it saves time commuting, but I'll have to make sure I spend the back 1/2 of the week doing my homework, I won't like to rush 2 assignments overnight.

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In other news, I downgraded my handphone plan because I have no life in that way. I think I use my handphone more as an alarm clock and watch that as a communication gadget. But I really miss the prices I used to pay in Malaysia. I think I prefer getting all those annoying advertisements than paying some insane price for my bills. My 1 month bill here is more than what I pay for 1/2 a year in Malaysia(after convertion)

Also, my earbuds are acting a bit strange. I wonder if I should get new ones...there's a sale going on where I can get some for 50% off.The right side of the earbud doesn't seem to be working, so it's like listening to music half deaf, so turn up the volume all you like, but it still won't sound good.

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I found out something too. My fingers don't seem to be able to respond well in cold weather. If it's been raining (it's been like that often, the temperature is usually around 10 degrees celcius now)I have a hard time handling coins and keys. It's like they become stiff and numb, like they are freezing up. I wonder how musicians handle it. Say there's a Christmas musical going on in the park or something.

Now I appreciate spots of sun, and try to sit in it as much as possible, like a cat. I think the scarves/hats/gloves/boots will come in useful.

Well, Thanksgiving holiday is coming up, so I won't be having 2 of my most heavy classes next week. It'll be a good change, need to catch up on some stuff, and maybe even get to walk around the city a bit. I seem to have no life these past few days. It's not a bad thing, I enjoy doing uni work too, but I'd like to have a few extra hours in a day or be those kind of people who are good with 6 hours of sleep or less. Also, winter weather is getting more annoying, there's less sunlight, and more rain.

Speaking of which, I went for a 12 hour 'paintathon' at my uni yesterday.(Actually I sketched, not painted) It was fun, cosy because there were so few people in each drawing classroom. The music was on, the heater was on (it was freezing outside, I think there was a proper downpour that day)and the room was a bit dark for lighting purposes. Made a few more aquaintances, including one Malaysian that turned out to be from the same college and art class as me. Had some free pizza from the uni too.I have to touch up the drawings a bit, but maybe I can post them here later.

Hmm...can you imagine being the model and holding a pose for 12 hours? With breaks inbetween, but still...I think I would pose reading a book, or my brain would atrophy. I could think of a storyline to rival Harry Potter in those 12 hours.Someone should have asked the model to hold an angry expression, and watch the anger turn to constipation over the course of the day. That would be fun.

Jakun time. Here are a few things I tried recently. Egg nog, and dried mission figs. I don't think they have egg nog in Malaysia. Maybe in Cold Storage or Jusco, but I never looked. It's kind of a very sweet and thick version of milk. Appropriate for the sweet tooth that I've been having these past few days too. I suddenly get cravings for chocolate, and I finished up a packet of chocolate chips that was meant for baking. Not entirely sure you're supposed to eat baking chocolate, but it tasted good :D And also, I bought that box of figs. I was looking for prunes, but when I saw the figs, I had to get them, just because I haven't tried them before. Kind of looked and tasted a bit like prunes. Even might have done that funny thing prunes do to one's digestive system(I think you can guess what), or it could be psychological.Don't be deceived by the $1 sign. It was a very small box

And here's a nice photo of some chocolate chip cookies I baked. I ate the whole batch in 1 seating. Yum. It was a small batch, but still, I think I should repent and eat oats everyday now.

I just found this out while I was browsing the SF symphony orchestra website. Holst's Jupiter. Apparently the Youth orchestra is playing the Planets suite and a work by Bartok next March, which sounds like a good selection to me. Anyways, enjoy. I always stumble upon some piece that sounds familiar, but I never know what they are called.



And while we are at it, if you don't yet know Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica, it's time I told you about them. I really like their Piazzolla performances.

Been really lazy to go grocery shopping these past few days. Thinking about Chinatown or walking uphill 10 blocks to my usual grocery place makes me tired. The thing about Chinatown is that it's like the entire oriental population of the earth is jammed into that area, regardless if you go at opening time, at closing time, in the middle of the day, on weekdays, weekends, holidays or any other occasion you can think of. And people walk really slowly there. And they shove. And there are a lot of old people there, who walk slowly, and stop in the middle of the walkway suddenly for unknown reasons, causing pile ups behind them. Oh yeah, plus various juices from the butcher, fishmonger, garbage trucks and produce transport vehicles splashing and flowing all over the place. Only thing is that buying fresh food there is always cheaper than supermarkets, even with their 'unbelievable offers, this week only'.

I think I'm probably being sarcastic. Next topic.

Made chana masala, which sounds glorious, but didn't live up to my expectations. It's chickpeas and spinach with Indian spices. I have big amounts of spinach and pak choy in my fridge now thanks to my determination to eat leafy green vegetables for a change. My stomach will have to race against the forces of nature to finish everything before they start drying up or sticking to the walls of the fridge too much. But I also tried boiling broccoli, and pouring on top of it a mixture of oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and pepper, and that tasted really good, especially for something so simple. Tried that sauce poured onto boiled turkey, and eaten with Thai chili sauce, and it's quite a good substitute for chicken rice in a land void of kopitiams.

My latest classroom sculpture. We have the same model come in for 3 weeks in a row and we make a sculpture of them, except this time it was more like 2 weeks because of a schedule mix up, but out current topic is busts. This is before being hollowed, so I will continue to add some smaller details, since the process of separating the sculpture from the armature and hollowing it, and transporting it around will result in a certain amount of smushing. Once I very ungracefully transported the bust from one room to the other using 2 hands, my chin, hip bones and guttural sound effects, only to unwrap it and find the nose half the size it used to be. Hollowing out a bust on the other hand, looks like lobotomy from the dark ages.The model doesn't look exactly like that and I doubt she would make that kind of expression(we had to customise the expression and pose to our liking, the model just sat straight with a neutral expression), but overall alright for a first try, I guess. The good thing is that it's 1:1 ratio, so we measured off the model's head and copied that directly, although somehow or other variations will occur.

Here are my autumn themed still lifes. Had to pose whatever I had in my apartment. I managed to get waived from Chiaroscuro :) No waive from Maya organic modeling though...but just as well, I think. Don't have much confidence seeing the very small amount of amateur human modeling I have in my portfolio now. I think I'll replace Chiaroscuro class with a Texture and lighting class.Lighting in TOA was such a side story...really sad they did it that way.

Larder.

(I just noticed my hat is bigger than my bag.I mean, it is really that big.)
Apple raiding.

I got enchanted by the idea of stealing apples from your neighbour's tree, and other simple Autumn pleasures XD

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In other news, I dunno why, but the rice I bought smells funny. Like some kind of sewer smell. I think it's time to switch one grade up when buying rice. This one was 69 cents per pound versus the standard price of $1 per pound.

A few days ago, I went treasure hunting for natural objects I could use for still life drawings. It was drizzling on that day, so I had to put out everything to dry as soon as I got back, but the good thing is that the parks were comparatively deserted, although I think I still might have made a few people think I'm weird, picking stuff off the ground like a homeless person. One of the park wardens for the day even stopped over to chat,and turns out he's an AAU student as well(only works on Saturdays) See...AAU practically owns San Francisco.

But anyways, since it's autumn, I decided to collect leaves and make some Autumn themed drawings. I also found a tree which had these cute leaves that look like scaled down maple leaves

So I'll be using that for my still life. But other than that, remember the maquette sculpture I did before this? Anyways, the theme was fire, with autumn elements, so I think I could add in a few of those leaves for the final piece. Look how well they scale down:
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Cooking update:

Made pancakes for breakfast these past few days. Been enjoying it with a bottle of peanut butter and bananas. I'm just waiting for the pimples to pop out now. But pancakes are a really easy and cheap breakfast, and you can throw in whatever ingredient you can think of. Speaking of which, I've been making a lot of scones to bring to uni for lunch too. So far, I've made the following varieties: Cinnamon, garlic, plain scones,chocolate chips, black pepper,garlic/oregano/thyme mix. Actually, the garlic/thyme/oregano one tastes the best so far, it smells really good. Plan to try carrot, banana, peanut butter and nutmeg varieties next.
Broccoli-kidney bean casserole, and pumpkin-apple soup. The casserole is one of those below-5-ingredients things(broccoli, kidney beans, tomato sauce, cheese, rice), but it turned out surprisingly good.
6 can chili. A bit of a cheat, since you just fry up some turkey and pour in 6 cans: 4 types of beans, tomato puree and chopped tomatoes. Then top off with cream(I substituted with sour cream, which is probably better) and cheese