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What a Year 2017 Has Been

29 Dec

2017 is coming to an end with two days left to go. This is my last entry for the year and my, my, what a year it has been for me!

There has been many significant changes to our lives in 2017, the biggest one being the relocation of our design studio. We moved closer to home and it’s a mere 5km away only. What a difference for us especially when it comes to time management and traffic jam-free driving which is really nice.

It may be smaller in size but it’s a lot more cosy and I certainly feel happier. Work-wise we have been fortunate to be kept busy. Let’s hope this momentum carries onward to the new year.

On the personal side, I have been plagued with injuries causing me to lose interest in playing golf. While it’s unfortunate I lost my passion for the game I enjoy, it spawned a new passion, carving. Gigglesville was born with a whole new township of owl Citizens and Superheroes. They have been lovingly hand-crafted with each day of me staying home to recover from the tennis elbow.

Hubby also picked up a new interest in air plants. The house is now full of these everywhere and it’s nice to look at them. M1 had a good year at university, and did her second internship which we feel the experience was invaluable. She has matured so much. M2 turned Sweet 16 and doing well in school too.

We had several crayfishes that lasted and didn’t. These creatures are not easy to care for! Some fishes died too due to old age. Senior citizen of the house, Rooney, also official pet number one, turned ten and for the first time showed signs of his seniority. And demanding more attention than ever.

The list can go on for what happened throughout the year! As I reflect back, there’s more good and memorable ones than anything else and I carry these in my heart forever. With 2017 almost done––sometimes too fast with the days going by, sometimes super slow––I look forward to the new year and eagerly await what lies ahead with a positive outlook.

I want to thank all my readers, people from all over the world, friends and family who have followed me to read my stories and thoughts. It’s a nice feeling and I hope you’d continue to read and enjoy the musings.

A toast to 2017, thank you for memories and another toast to 2018, let it be an exciting year with lots to write, grouse and muse about!

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I Need a Mallet?

28 Dec

My latest set of tools look so huge that hubby thinks I should have a log or wood stump to work on instead of puny one inch thick balsa wood! It’s just too funny. Tempting as it may be, I shot down the offer because this would then make the whole living room become a woodwork workshop.

And out of the blue, I feel I need a mallet to complement the new tools. I even picked one up over the weekend when we were at the hardware store but hubby told me that there’s an existing mallet in the office already and I should just bring that home.

Well, we’ll see how my usage of the new tools will be. But I need a bigger piece of wood…

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Serious Tools

22 Dec

I had a good chuckle when my latest tool purchase from Lazada arrived. Dang! They are huge!!!!!! One gentle tap on the soft balsa would be enough to break the wood apart.

Hahaha… honestly I didn’t expect this latest set of tools to be so gigantic. I guess I didn’t read the fine print or ignored the size mention. Oh well.

Well, at least I now have some kick-ass serious tools to tackle harder wood, like the bass wood.

New Colors, Part 2

5 Dec

Citizens of Gigglesville are getting new colors! I dropped by the art store over the weekend and bought new colors to expand the range for them. Actually not totally new but more of different shades for the existing red, blue and green for variation. I even picked up a bottle of Glow!

I thought the name of the blue shade is rather funny, Real Blue, as if all these while, the other blues that I am using are fake! Hahaha… it’s a nice dark blue nonetheless. So now, there’s three shades of blue which is good. Variations.

The dark Engine Red is similar to an existing Naphthol Red Deep, but it’s okay because like the blue, the red range now also has three shades.

And although the names are the same, the new Leaf Green does not even look close to the old Leaf Green. It is leaning more towards an olive shade while the old is akin to a Granny Smith’s apple green. Like the other two colors, the green range now also has three shades with the new olive addition.

As for the Glow paint, it’s something new to explore. The big debate now is whether to paint just the eyes or the whole body. With balsa being so porous, I’m don’t know how the end result would look. Hmm… got to experiment and see.

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How Did I Do That?

23 Nov

I have been playing golf for a long time but this does not mean I am consistent at it. There are good days and there are bad days on the golf course with or without injury. Last year during a span of slightly over a week for two games, I did the most unimaginable. I hurt some trees…

It was a good tee off. But the second shot went wayward and to the right. I was in between the trees.

Hmm… How do I get out of this? So in this first game, I stood over my ball and looked ahead. I could punch my ball out in between the trees to the fairway, I thought. And so I did.

But of course, me being me, my ball accurately hit the first tree and deflected forward in the direction of another tree only to deflect backwards off it as well! The poor trees… I lost some distance obviously.

Two deflections off two trees! How accurate is that?

Then during the second game, a similar scenario occurred. I teed off into a tree again. But this time, my attempt to get the ball out onto the fairway deflected off the poor tree so badly, I ended up a good ten feet behind the tee box instead. How did I do that?

Golf is a funny game. Thank goodness when I played yesterday, none of this tree-hurting deflections occurred. Phew.

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Dinky’s Progress

21 Nov

Dinky the Dinosaur in 3D is coming along fine. Much effort was put in to shape it but unfortunately, I couldn’t have its arms and legs intact. So this means I have to improvise with add ons – either toothpicks or wooden chopsticks.

But now I face a predicament. I’ve come to realize that 2D Dinky is a flat two dimensional character especially with both its eyes on one plane, defying perspective. Almost Cubism but without the collage that Cubism is known for.

Both eyes on one side will stay true to its original character but now in 3D, surely I can’t have it like that! Then the other side, another two eyes? That would make my Dinky freaky with four eyes!

Hmm….
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Making the Effort, Part 2

20 Nov

I finally decided on what to carve for the four inch block: my dinky dinosaur! I feel it’s an apt choice but a very challenging one because of the tiny arms and legs.

I just hope they don’t break off when I exert a little bit more strength to carve out the limbs. Otherwise I may have to improvised and use toothpicks or wooden chopsticks to add on. We’ll see…

Dinky for now is 2D on my leg; let’s see how it turns out in 3D as a wood carving piece because thinking in 3D and 2D are two totally different process. Not easy.

Wish me luck!
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Making the Effort

16 Nov

Finally, I pushed myself to carve and it felt therapeutic. But unsure of what new species I want to embark on, I started off with yet another Citizen and another Monument to get the momentum going. I must say the details on the new Monument are more prominent compared to the earlier 3-citizen piece. Practice makes perfect.

So while this is ongoing, the mind is contemplating and thinking what next. It should be a good challenge ahead because I have decided to go with the four inch block.

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Dry Spell

13 Nov

Lately, I am going through a dry spell on carving despite having comfortable cool weather. I don’t know why. There shouldn’t be any excuses.

The last Citizen carved was 24th October followed by the Halloween Owl a week later. I’ve gone almost two weeks without any new additions, a rather unusual stretch. Maybe if not more Citizens, at least some gnomes, another monument or two, superheroes or even the big pieces. OR… maybe something totally new.

We shall see…

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One Cute Little Sad Egg

10 Nov

Recently I have taken a sudden liking to the cartoon character, Gudetama, a depressed little egg yolk with a butt crack and bought two little keychain plushies of this popular Japanese character.

It was M2 who introduced me to it when she showed me her Holika Holika Gudetama Edition Lazy & Joy Dessert hand cream, a gift from her friend. The character tickles me so much so that I have the sad little fella sitting like one fried egg on top of the dashboard in my car and one hanging behind the driver’s seat.

While I do have other favourite characters and collect them, I don’t put any of their plushies in my car. This time, I find myself having two Gudetama in the car! And my sheer driving pleasure increases every time I look at it whenever I have to stop at the traffic light. It’s certainly one appealing cute little sad egg.
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