The Ambitious Piece Completed

7 Oct
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He’s one good-looking gnome I must say!

I am so very pleased with my latest piece of carving. My best effort yet. This was an ambitious piece because of its height at almost 20cm to begin with and the unevenness of the glued pieces to tackle. The protruding excess was, well… excess.

But once it started taking shape, the height wasn’t the issue and eventually it got shorter. The completed Gnome now stands at 16cm (about 6.5 inches).

Soon after I painted it up, I would just sit at my little work station to admire it from all angles at every opportunity possible. I didn’t even bother to start on the next intended piece. No hurry as I bask in the satisfaction on a job well done for the time being.

Yes, I love my new Gnome!

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An Ambitious Piece, Part 3

4 Oct

I am at the tail-end to complete Ginormous Gnome. I’m satisfied with how the shape of the cap bob at the back turned out. I think it’s not necessary for it to be even more prominent because then I’d have to glue an add-on piece to it, like what I did for the nose and then tediously carve it down.

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Nose checked, gap in beard checked!

The nose which posed some challenges initially was resolved. Once I got over these issues, the rest was not that difficult – the body was effortless but the beard was time consuming to shape. However after shaping the beard, I was faced with a new predicament!

 

The front of the beard was looking so flat! Haish…

After all that effort to give the nose some prominence, the flat beard made all that hard work look wasted. So I decided to glue a piece and several add-ons to the beard part so that it does not appear so flat and square. Quite challenging to carve, shape and puff up that part but it was fun.

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The extra piece to puff up the beard

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The beard part resolved and putty all over to smoothen the surface

It’s good I am keeping track of what I am doing now because if I ever wanted to carve another Ginormous Gnome, I have this to refer to and would be better prepared. Sometimes what I envision in my mind does not quite come out right, so along the way, I have to adjust.

That being said, Ginormous is progressing at a good pace as I’m at it diligently almost every night. Soon I will be starting a new piece and it will most likely be another whale because recently, I gave one away.

At this point, I’m considering to paint Ginormous in the red and blue uniform like my other Gnomes rather than the Lavender of Gandalf. It should look good.

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Last step of putting gesso completed before the final paint job!

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Our Poor Frangipani Tree

1 Oct

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It looks like the rust fungus has acted up again on our frangipani tree and hubby had no choice but to chop off the branches with the affected leaves.

Otherwise how else to contain this problem so that it does not spread and contaminate his air plants hanging on the branches? Poor tree.

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An Ambitious Piece, Part 2

30 Sep

Ginormous Gnome is coming along fine. The cap was challenging because I had to file it down in order to make the hole disappear; then I had to shape it – at the back especially, so that the little bob (at the back) looks natural. I think it’s coming along.

 

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Notice the gap on the beard? Needs to be patched up too

The next challenge was the nose as it’s rather flat. After much thought, I decided to glue a piece to give it a more prominent bulge. But the add-on that I split did not split well and I ended up with such an uneven piece, it made Ginormous looked like it had a pig nose. Ugh.

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Ginormous looking piggylicious with an oink of a nose!

So more effort was needed to shape the nose to make sure the add-on doesn’t look like an add-on. Glad to say, it worked out well and with some putty to smoothen out the surface, you can’t really tell that Ginormous had a nose job. I’m confident by the time paint is applied, all evidence of an add-on will not be visible.

Stay tuned, I’m almost done with this fella!

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Gone to the Dark Side

27 Sep

Two days ago, I found out that iOS13 can be downloaded already but truth be told, I wasn’t keeping tab on it. It was M2 who mentioned to me when I spoke to her. She’s doing great by the way, enjoying college life to the max in Ireland.

Anyway, I downloaded the update for my iPhone XR. And my… my… new features to learn! The biggest thing was of course the Dark Mode, which I enabled. Like a Jedi gone bad, I gravitated to the dark side. Bwahahaha…. I couldn’t resist. Seriously I enabled it to only activate after dark, perfect for reading in bed or low light environments, as what Apple envisioned.

The other new fun thing I discovered – creating my very own memoji. This feature was available since iOS12 but I never used it. According to reviews, it’s now more refined and more fun to use. I’m glad to have discovered it now as it’s rather delightful, and my memoji looks pretty close to the real me. I’m a good memoji I must say! Heheh.

The other thing that I was fiddling with was Shortcuts which somewhat works for me and not. Apps that I use constantly, I can’t seem to add to the menu. User problem? I think this will take me some time to figure out.

Nonetheless, I seem to embrace the latest changes well. Gotta keep up with technology even if this means leaping over to the dark side with glee.

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Attack of the Killer Endometriosis

24 Sep

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Just when I thought I had a month’s break before the next endometriosis pain attack, the body went haywire. I had only a week’s reprieve! Boo hoo hoo… it’s such a messed up bloody affair.

Prior to the third long weekend getaway, I took the meds my O&G doctor prescribed – Tren (Tranexamic Acid) and Ponstan (Mefenamic Acid) before pain got the better of me when the unexpected cycle struck.

Thankfully both made the condition more bearable than before as the pain and discomfort were reduced by a whole lot. However the inconvenience of waking up in the middle of the night was still happening; I can’t overcome this just yet.

Only time can tell and unfortunately, I wait with fear for the next cycle to hit. Shudder… but before it could even occur, I was hit by another unexpected experience instead.

Last week, after our return from the third long weekend getaway, I had the worst cramps ever. EVER.

OMG… it was an epic scale attack of the killer endometriosis pain and this time, it floored me. I keeled over. I have no words for the immense agony and sleep–after downing painkillers–was the only option, which I did. For almost 12 hours.

The irony of the situation – it wasn’t even the cycle phase and the cramps just came suddenly. The pain level felt like a freight train mowing me down repeatedly. Dang… after the last bloody episode, this awfully painful experience. I had only the Ponstan to fight it because taking Tren wasn’t appropriate. And after two days of intense suffering, the cramps did lessen and a little more bearable before it subsided. Sigh.

I seriously hope this latest problem is a one-off freak occurrence. If I have to go through this again and again and again, perhaps vetoing my doctor’s veto on removing my uterus might be the ideal solution than waiting for nature to run its course. I can never be prepared enough to withstand the unexpected without keeling over. Shudder…

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An Ambitious Piece

23 Sep

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Two weeks ago, I started on a very ambitious and challenging piece of carving. Ambitious because of its size, measuring at almost 20cm tall before I even started. And challenging because the chunky piece is a combination of three Meranti pieces glued together and uneven in height at the top.

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I wanted to do another Gandalf-like Gnome because it’s been awhile since I last did a giant piece. I have been too focused on the Whales lately so much so, the Gnomes and Citizens of Gigglesville have been neglected. But I am unperturbed by the stalled population growth because I am sure when the mood hits, I can whip up some Citizens or Gnomes effortlessly.

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The biggest challenge now is to shape the cap of Ginormous Gnome and ensure that the gaping hole does not become a permanent feature on it. We’ll see how it will be as I progress.

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I Bought Plants!

20 Sep

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It is a big deal when I buy plants because it is a known fact that hubby is the one with the green fingers, not me. Why… I don’t even venture into our garden to enjoy the greens and all, only he does that. I stay indoors to do my carvings. At most, I would venture out to the garden terrace and not beyond when I need to do some drilling or serious filing because I certainly can’t do this dusty and messy job inside.

Sometimes when hubby excitedly brings a potted plant to me, I become flabbergasted because I don’t know what I am supposed to look at or even compliment about. I don’t see anything special—at least to me—and as always, he has to point out specifically to me; that’s how useless I am when it comes to plants.

So it’s a big deal when I decided to pick up four little pots of greens when we were up North recently. I thought the petite leaves and succulents were oh-so-very cute and obviously appealed to me. But of course, the one taking care of them will be hubby and I know he will do a good job.

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It’s All About Food, Part 2

17 Sep

Now that the three long weekends are over and done with, it’s back to work. Sigh…

Over the weekend, we took Friday off again, this time to stopover in Ipoh for a round of golf and a full blown three meals of yummy eats prior to driving up North to see hubby’s parents.

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Nasi Lemak breakfast at the Agromall along the Plus highway

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A little hazy but it didn’t stop us at Royal Perak Golf Club

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Felt like a glutton doing Nga Choy Kai with Hor Fun AND Char Siew at Lou Wong after golf

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Amazed at the White Rabbit sizes! Humongous or Large anyone?

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Had to eat Nasi Kandar before reaching the house

Honestly, the weekend was also all about food, and golf too. And yes, the 16/8 diet was put aside as well. There was a variety of local fare we ate this time, mostly spicy but just as enjoyable.

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Caffe Diem in Pekan Cina was very hip with the decor and ambience

 

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Had dinner with an aunty. Cakes were really good

And the two rounds of golf, at Royal Perak Golf Club (on Friday) and Darulaman Golf & Country Club (on Sunday), was equally enjoyable with both games finishing in three and a half hours as we had the courses all to ourselves. Nice. However, the golf elbow flared up this time! Uh oh… I had to Salonpas it to reduce the pain.

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We had the course all to ourselves!

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After the game…

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After game lunch was a Kueh Teow goreng (top) and Pasembur (bottom)

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Dinner was a Fruit Rojak (top), Nasi Ulam (left) and Thai Kueh Chap (right)

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The Apom was nice while the packet of Nasi Lemak was very little but enough

Well, rest should fix the elbow and no more breaks until October. This has been a good break too like Club Med but the same cannot be said for the drive back this time.

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It felt like a Chinese New Year exodus drive. So tiring!

It was an unbelievable eight hours and 15 minutes to reach home! Very unusual for a typical 4.5 hours journey. Then again, when there’s a long three-day weekend, others are bound to take advantage of it as well, just like us.

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Constant Holidays

16 Sep

This month of September is just full of public holidays that happen to fall on every Monday. As such, we have had three consecutive weeks of three-day weekends which was kind of nice because work at the office of late has been very frustrating.

The first long weekend, we took advantage of it and went to Club Med, taking Friday off as well to make it a four-day escapade. The second long weekend, we stayed put to do our usual weekend activities but added a movie date on Monday night.

It was hazy leaving Ipoh

Now this third long weekend that is just ending, we visited hubby’s folks up North and will say goodbye to them after lunch. The folks are fine.

Pretty sunset colors approaching Alor Star

We are taking the approach to enjoy the breaks when they occur and not worry about deadlines that keep extending. Work can wait.

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