Tag Archives: Design

Enduring Endometriosis

26 Aug

Last week, my excruciating endometriosis pain struck again because of the cycle. I did not see my O&G doctor immediately after last month’s attack because I wanted to monitor the situation and true enough, it struck to the core. And this time, I was popping more pain killers than ever, otherwise I would be down on the floor curled up and in agony.

To add to my stress or rather distress, I had a logo design deadline to meet and I played in my golf club’s Annual Championship Tournament over the weekend. Thankfully, I managed to pull through for the work that was expected. Maybe playing Cat Condo eased off some of the edge in the stress. As for the tournament, that’s another story all by itself.

So how am I feeling this week? Well, the storm passed and there’s relief but I need to find a window to schedule an appointment to see what’s the best option to resolve this problematic pain once and for all.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

My Cat Condo

9 Aug

Two days ago, I started playing a new game, Cat Condo. Although I am not a cat person, this cute yet silly and mindless cat game has captivated me, keeping me engrossed and entertained.

img_4501

Within a day, I amassed a gazillion in fortune (277m to 7.82b) growing my cat condo!

Then again it’s time-wasting too but I don’t mind playing it when I am stuck for creative ideas in the office because it’s a good distraction to reset my thoughts.

The earlier dinosaur excavating game, MyMuseum was completed three weeks ago with all 16 dinosaurs unearthed. And until now, there’s no update with new dig sites to work on. What this means basically is it’s pointless to keep playing it.

img_4497

Yes, I am still waiting for the update.

So it’s timely with this new game. And with 40 species of cat to unveil, far more than the dinosaurs, I foresee myself playing this for awhile.

Good mindless fun.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Ready for Migration

10 Jul

The three dozen Citizens of Gigglesville are completed and ready for migration. All they need now is just their passports which I am working on in between preparing for my design presentation. One has to multi-task when the situation calls for it.

I am so proud of this time-based effort. Mission will be accomplished once I meet up with my friend to hand over the Citizens who will go out there to spread their love and giggles.

img_4145

Tags: , , , ,

Twelve Hours Later, Part 2

10 Jul

When I was working on that stressful publication design project not too long ago, the timeline and deadline was simply ridiculous. It’s every designer’s nightmare but I pulled through.

Will I subject myself to such nightmare design projects ever again? Well, when a client is of utmost importance despite no room for negotiations on the deadline, we have to be as professional as possible. (We’re talking about the government of the country here!)

The urgency to meet the deadline was very critical because the project was a very high-level publication for submission to the United Nations. And looking back, stress aside I am proud to say my team and I have done our part because our work is now uploaded to the United Nations’ website for the world to see!

I hold my breath as we will continue with the client again for the second publication, which thankfully has a more reasonable timeline, no festivity holiday ahead and we have no travel plans.

Tags: , , , , ,

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

Tags: , , , , , , ,

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.

Tags: , , ,

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.

Tags: , , ,

Look What I Did!

16 Mar

Stress can sometimes be decision makers. Last week was very stressful with a short bandwidth to work on some design work for an upcoming event. And things culminated to this week and finally the stress session was over.

I wanted chocolate last week but didn’t even have time to open the two bags of M&Ms that I have. Frankly I hid them away from myself. So this week after the work wrapped, I decided to reward myself by filling up my gum ball machine to enjoy my chocolate.

Initially, I opened the Crispy bag and filled the yellow dispenser and was happily dispensing M&Ms to treat myself. No discipline! 

Then I opened the Peanut bag, throwing out all concerns of dust and what nots, and filled the gum ball machine but it wasn’t enough. So I moved all the Crispy M&Ms over to it. And it’s looking really good and enticing.

Seriously I won’t be accessing it freely because I would need coins unlike the yellow dispenser. Controlled eating I’d say. While it’s nice to have easy access to chocolate, it’s not good to be constantly eating it.

Then again maybe I need more chocolate because the yellow dispenser looks so sad and empty. Hmm…

   

Looks like two is not enough!

 

Tags: , , ,

Auspicious Day

2 Feb

Today is the sixth day of the Lunar New Year and like all previous years, we officially return to work on this auspicious day.

What makes today even more significant is the fact that we start off the Year of the Fire Rooster at our new office!

Yes, we moved at the beginning of the year and I am very excited at this new beginning. May 2017 be filled with exciting and abundant design projects to be a happy and prosperous year indeed.

Tags: , , , ,

Why Couldn’t I See It

25 Mar

Using the iPad is bad, I think. My eyesight seems to have suffered from the constant use of it with my games and reading or maybe it’s not the iPad but age catching up? Or something else.

I was having problems with my computer yesterday and again, the QuarkXpress that the dinosaur in me is still using could not launch. Whenever this happens and quite frequently I must say, what I normally do is to reinstall the software. It’s complicated to elaborate but I find this the best solution to solve my problem.

The CD is usually on my desk, in its box but for once, it wasn’t inside the box. And for the life of me, I couldn’t see or find the CD. Panic ate into me. Oh no… How am I going to start on my latest book design if I didn’t have my trusty software reinstalled to work with? I am not an InDesign person and try to avoid using it at all cost if possible.

That night I went home and searched for my QXP CD again thinking maybe I could have brought it home. But nope, it wasn’t at home. Not only eyesight has become a problem, the memory too! Oh dear… I couldn’t sleep that night.

The next day when I went into the office, I looked again but casually this time and suddenly, the CD popped out, it was right there! On my desk, under a book. How come I didn’t see it the day before? Am I so blind?

Then again you know that theory when you need something, you just cannot find it. And the more you look, high and low, the harder it is to see the thing. Then after a breather, you look again but not so hard and voila! It appears right before your eyes. I’d like to think it must be this rather than my eyesight and for this reason, I will continue using my iPad for my games and reading. Phew

  

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →