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I Missed My Friends

11 Jul

Sometimes an injury not only takes the person out of action, it makes a person out of sight, out of mind too. I have not been to my golf club for ages because of the tennis elbow. And because of this, I missed all my golf buddies. Boo hoo hoo…

The friendship and friends are far more important than the game I realized. I miss the company, the laughter, the silly banters, and love. Throw in the food and drinks, I miss all this. Boo hoo hoo…

Over the weekend, the club held its Annual Championship and for the first time, I did not participate. I don’t think I could survive the two-day tournament. The spirit may be willing but the body, the arm specifically, would not be able to withstand the outing. It would be a painful nightmare and a big setback to healing.

But I went to the club to support all my golfing buddies because I missed them. It was indeed good to catch up with everyone who played in the tournament. And after the two days of intense golf, the defending champion prevailed to retain her title and I am glad I was there to celebrate with her and the rest of my golf buddies.

The 12-year old Glenlivet whiskey (and 12-year old Singleton plus an 18-year old – which I forgot what label) were thoroughly enjoyed on that humid Sunday afternoon after the morning excitement subsided. And it felt good to see most of my friends after so long. Ahh… the company, the laughter, the silly banters, the love and drinks…

Maybe I should reconsider playing again just to be with friends. After all, it’s the friendship that matters, not the game.

Green Fingers, Part 3

6 Jul

Hubby had been very busy the past few weeks with his air plant creations. Every evening, after dinner he would sit at the terrace and be at it while I would be either carving an owl or just chilling indoors.

During the day, if time permits he would be on the net looking for inspiration. One day, he stumbled upon a site that took orders online. The lightweight box arrived in the office two weeks ago.

They were some interesting air plants that he purchased. It’s amazing what one can buy from the web, all sorts of things big and small, and even live plants.

Air plant-5

New Colors

4 Jul

Over the weekend I decided to buy two new colors to add to my acrylic color collection. I made this decision after holding out for so long because I thought I could mix the orange and purple consistently when I needed these colors to paint the citizens of Gigglesville.

But each time I mixed, I failed. The purple has come out in many shades unfortunately but luckily, the orange fared better and not so obvious. There seems to be no consistency in my mixing ability because I forget the ratio every time.

So to avoid this for future citizens, I thought best to get the two colors in tubes like the red, blue and green that I already have.

There’s at least four different shades of purple!

The orange less obvious in shades

I Think She’s Good Too

3 Jul

I must say both our girls make us proud. M1 has recently landed her second internship for this summer! Last year, she interned at the university’s seafood lab and this year, it will be with a leading seafood processing and distribution company.

I thought I was good getting an internship with WBMG, Inc. in New York City but M1 is better than me, with two internships! She starts this July.

Well done.

The X-acto Knife

29 Jun

One of my favorite design tool is not the Mac computer but the X-acto knife. I could be called old school but tools like the T-square and triangle rulers are still used by me, more so now because of the carving.

Recently I bought a new blade, an X-acto #16 to replace the #11 and to supplement my other carving tools and I must say, I love it!

The angle and its size is just perfect to etch the tight spots of the balsa wood. Carving just got more fun! Whee….

Carving-1

Green Fingers, Part 2

20 Jun

A few weeks ago, hubby had a huge and colorful air plant hanging on the frangipani tree in the garden. From that big fella, he harvested many little ones to create interesting displays on driftwood pieces or simply by themselves with just wires that he would bend with a plier. Like me with an activity interspersing painting with carving, he’s into cactus and air plant creations.

I ventured into the garden upon his insistence and lo and behold, a whole lot of them are hanging on the tree! The green fingers in him certainly makes the garden more interesting. And the tiny air plants sitting on wires are just as appealing indoors.

Air plant-1
Air plant-4

Crazy Dedication

19 Jun

Sometimes games with daily rewards can make one to be obsessed and dedicated beyond reason. I am certainly guilty of this. While I have removed Candy Crush Saga from both my iPhone and iPad, I could not for Candy Crush Soda because of its daily rewards appeal. Unlike other apps that run this on a weekly basis, Soda’s rewards program goes on forever.

So for the last 300 and 100 days, I have been diligently going into the app on both my iPad and iPhone respectively to collect the daily rewards. If I miss a day, I have to start all over again and I just cannot bring myself to break this. Silly.

Sometimes I go in just for this and don’t even play the game! Crazy dedication is what it is.

On the iPhone, it’s Day 100

On the iPad, it’s Day 300!!!

Full House

16 Jun

It’s been a busy and stressful week for me. I have been working late the past few nights on a super duper urgent design project. As the deadline looms without negotiation for an extension, it doesn’t help when the client gives the material to me late. I have a responsibility then to do my part.

Because of this, the carving has stop for the time being but last night, I managed to squeeze one in as a stress reliever. The new balsa wood was extremely soft and it was easy to carve.

Citizen #23 was born and now Gigglesville is just so crowded! Pretty soon, the ‘O’mobile cannot be parked in there anymore. When the house is full (I have space for one more), maybe there will be a migration. Some citizens of Gigglesville will leave for adoption and spread their giggles elsewhere on earth.

As for me, working on this project, I draw the giggles and positiveness from the citizens of Gigglesville to stay sane and cool. I can do it.

Good Me Time

15 Jun

I should make it a point from now onwards to visit the spa more often for some pampering. After all, a ten month hiatus for a body massage and a two-year gap for a facial is certainly not taking care of myself enough.

The Saturday session worked out some kinks and knots of my tired muscles but the facial treatment could not extract the embedded zit.

I concluded it has become fossilized and only an excavation, not an extraction can do the job! That’s how bad it is if one does not take care.

Have I Grown… sideways?

13 Jun

It’s been ages since I went to my girlie spa to pamper myself. The thought of driving so far just does not appeal. But when an unexpected project on a tight deadline packed with stress and more stress came last week, I thought I deserve a little break.

So I went to the spa over the weekend for some me time.

I remember the towel being a big comfortable size that one can just sink into the softness. It was very fluffy and fuzzy to wrap myself in it. This time?

It felt two sizes smaller and the ends could barely meet! Did I grow sideways or the towel is now smaller? Hmm…

I know I have not been exercising (no golf in other words for the longest time) and carving does not burn much calories, but have I actually expanded sideways that much? Hmm… again.

I went into the steam room with the intention to steam off some of the excess err… baggage that I have accumulated of late and it felt good. But whether they oozed away it did not matter because the 15 minutes did wonders for the soul, followed by an aromatherapy massage and facial.

Maybe sometimes I need a little more stress and challenge at work to reward myself such little pleasures.