Dad's World Buffets: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JECKIEEEE :3

today, jeckie and i celebrated his upcoming birthday in advance! and my gift to him is to treat myself to a buffet so he could avail of the birthday promo at Dad's HAHAHAHA so much for a gift ba? after all, he can't dine alone! hihi 

i thought the World Buffet (megamall) would be different from the regular Dad's Crossover but hmm, it was pretty much the same! siguro kasi, no matter how varied the menu is, when it comes to buffet i'm not too adventurous lalo na kung bawal left-overs! haha in the end, as with any buffet i ravaged, i always eat the sushis and makis first, then mexican, tapos italian, then filipino favorites (lechon and karekare!), then dessert! hahaha

meat monster!

<3

pic above is my first plate which i struggled so hard to finish! i have this takaw-tingin thing whenever i'm really hungry, i always put too much on my plate haha i just loooove them so much! >XD i wasn't able to take pictures of my other plates cos i forgot to hahaha

after 4 plates i felt extremely stuffed to the ribs that i can't tuck my tummy in anymore! hahaha i had to throw up a hell lot just to feel better. but even so, i didn't regret it! haha! for 788 pesos ALL-IN, i think it was really worth it, i just have to really watch over the quantities i put in my plate! hehe the 788 already includes a bottomless drink of your choice! hehe

ako personally, i'll keep eating at Dad's for birthdays kasi sulit talaga. haha in fact, today i earned my 5th stamp on their some sort of 'loyalty card' HAHAHA way to go!

whew! this is going to be a really abundant week for me! another buffet treat awaits on saturday! hahaha

since it's been ages since i last step foot at sm megamall, after eating we decided to stroll around the floor to look at galleries! and tagal ko nang hindi nagagawa to! it's soooo refreshing to be fed visually, hahaha lakas maka-inspire! haha till next tiiiime! >XD

// meanwhile...

i don't know how else to cope with our cobol exercise than to bring it home! unfortunately, none of the programs i downloaded are cooperating!

i downloaded visual cobol but it couldn't freaking read an input file (most probably b/c i didn't know how to make it work).

i tried to setup a virtual pc and found that win 8 has this so called 'hyper-v' which is the counterpart of windows virtual pc in win 7 BUT THEN i'm running on single language and hyper-v can only be activated w/ win 8 pro. sucks.

i downloaded vmware in hopes of setting up up my own xp mode and installing microfocus but found i have to have an xp installer as well! argh! so right now... i'm downloading an xp pro iso file over torrent which is a freaking 600mb++.

i totally wasted a cup of coffee over this, thinking i'll be able to pull an all nighter. hahaha! i think it's also a sign that i should, uhm, move on and just sleep and pray that the 3 hours i'm left tomorrow to finish this exercise will be enough for me to actually 'finish' something functional to the veeeery least.

i believe there's another option, like a cobol compiler something something but i'm too dumb to work on a console! i'm an interface dependent programmer sad to say. T___T;

anyway.

this brought me to really lag behind my illustrating project. i'm not even done with the sketches argh so

project: super labandera

so what's keeping me busy...

2 things lang naman, training and super labandera!

// training

well it's work related so i'm particularly busy at least 8 hours of the day. when i get home i just want to sleep. i want to make it a point not to study at home because I DON'T WANT TO and it takes time away from my daily k-drama therapy hahaha. in fact i feel so behind nga eh, why are my classmates to effin smart? >XS magkaganon pa man, i asked for this, and believe it or not, i'm enjoying it. i came in wanting to learn so much and so far hindi pa ko nadidisappoint! mejo information overload man but damn the modules are great.

hahah as much as i want to update my employment status already, it's too early pa. what if i get truncated? oh no. nega much. >__<;

// super labandera

sketching and coloring! just my weaknesses! i took this as a challenge cos i wanted to improve my skills pero more often than not tinatamad ako. hahaha i always promise myself to make the most of my weekends but but there's jeckie and there's k-dramas and there's... maybe i should work now. hehe

during our last mtg at amici technohub: paging and scenes discussed!

hahaha kahit may tamaditis ako i'm really grateful for this chance given to me, i may not be the best children's book illustrator out there (heck i'm still learning) but i know i can improve! having a couple of people (literal, si ate grace at kuya rey hahaha) believe in me is enough! >XD hihi keso much.

work in progress!

papers, adarna books for reference, and ate grace's macbook pro (sosyalin!)

hahaha eng seye seye leng. >XD

happy sunday and don't forget to hear the Word today! >:D

news flash

// RIP joseph wiyden suico

one of our college schoolmates/orgmate died yesterday due to (and i'm not entirely sure of this info, i just got it from a friend who got it somewhere...) multiple stabs! shocking news grabe. suico was never really a close friend, but he was an orgmate (well, all IT/CS students are in one org), and he's one of those happy go lucky people around our small campus. wala ako masabi, i just hope and pray that the people close to his heart whom we left behind may find courage and strength to live on. also, that the criminal be arrested and served justice. my deepest condolences too. :(

here's a news article related to the incident:
http://www.remate.ph/2014/02/kelot-tigok-sa-inuman-sa-quezon-city/

hay. you can never be too careful talaga these days. danger is always lurking around the corner, even in bright corners! walang pinipiling oras ang krimen. hay Lord. T___T;

//my 5th blood donation!

last friday red cross came to pointwest for blood donation drive! yehey, i'm not really regularly donating blood but whenever i get the chance to, i most certainly do! hehe it's my 3rd from red cross, and 5th so far. and man, this is the first donation i felt good about myself cos i was able to fill the 450cc bag in 10 mins! in the past, everytime i donate blood, it takes ages for me to fill the bag to the point that blood is already clotting in my veins, leaving me with big ugly bruises. ewan ko ba. masyado daw malapot dugo ko. i should hydrate more. or mali lang tusok nila? lol ewan. that made me feel guilty though, why am i donating blood when i'm not even sure if i'm healthy?

i must admit, part of the reason i want to donate blood is so i can generate more blood and be healthier, get snacks LOL, and shed a fraction of a pound even for a while. ang selfish no? but last friday was the noblest i felt in the 5 times i bled haha. kasi feeling ko ang healthy ko so yung dugo ay makakatulong talaga! wala lang.

to learn about some benefits of donating blood, read up:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/5-health-benefits-donating-blood.html

marry him if you dare: thoughts and spoilers

you have been warned! this entry possibly contains spoilers so unless you've watched it completely, uhm, don't read? hehe actually, you can read naman if you're interested in my time travel whatnots hehe

after watching marry him if you dare, i thought closely about the concept of time traveling in parallel universes and how it was used in the series. though there are a couple of loopholes, i still think it deserves some thought parin naman hehe plus i've always been fascinated with this crazy realm, so here they are...

assumptions:
- there are multiple parallel universes happening simultaneously
- and in each universe there's a different you
- doing a different thing
- resulting in a different future
- in essence, every unique combination of decisions you will make in a lifetime constitute an entire universe
- so you could say that...
- you cannot travel back in time to change your future
- you can only observe as another universe unfolds
- in fact, i believe that you traveling to the past to "change" your future actually creates another universe with that new factor in it, who know what you could possibly affect in that world?

wala lang. hehe. of course this has loopholes. but but, it fascinated me for a while! hehe

now watching: Marry Him If You Dare!

park se-joo, na mi-rae, kim shin, seo yoo-kyung

while rewatching princess hours, i'm also watching this super kilig to the bones korean drama Marry Him If You Dare. i know right? i'm on quite a yoon eun-hye overload right now. hehe she looks so different here! a bit older yes, and her super light brown hair curly too! di ako sanay! haha

anyway, i'll be rambling so much because i'm seriously flipped about the guys of this series. it's the first time ever in my whole k-drama watching life that i couldn't choose which guy to root for! aaaaarggh! i super like them both! it's so confusing! i feel like i couldn't care less whoever ends up with na mi-rae cos they're both lead guy material naman and they made me kilig so much HAHAHA

diba diba? if you're watching a series, most probably the leading guy gets built up better in terms of scenes and interaction with the leading girl, so most probably din we root for the leading guys. if not naman, for the most part i'm sure we have only ONE preference. but my goodness, this series is so tough! siguro kasi it's part of the story that na mi-rae gets to entertain both guys, she did say she wanted to give both of them a chance to like her then she'll sort out her feelings na lang. SO LANDI. joke lang.

ang haba ng hair nyaaaaa. kulot pa. hehe

first ever collab with jeckie! >XD

it's funny how we've never done something like this in the 2+ years we've been together, being self-proclaimed artists and all! hahaha but here it is! in an effort to divert ourselves from inglorious activities, we decided to do a titus pen collab on a 6x9 pad. we divided the page into two and drew away! the lower half is mine while the one with scary monsters is his. it's pretty fun doing this cos i'm left handed and he's right handed so you know, it's easier to share space cos our hands don't bump into each other. hehe

here's a work in progress for your appreciation HAHA 

and the finished product...

added textures in photoshop for uhm, wala, drama lang. hehe

yey! looking forward to more of these collabs!
special mention, as usual to Titus Pens HAHAHA it's really an awesome awesome tool to draw with. hehe

my Graphika Manila 2014 experience!

it was so amazing!  it's my first time to attend a GM conference so i can't compare with the previous ones! if i'm only going to rate the speakers, i'd give the graphika team a 9/10 for bringing in the best creative inspirations from all over the globe! the missing 1 goes to, hm, not having someone to represent the Web Design department hehe. anyway, may balance parin naman cos there were 3 for graphic design (illustration, lettering, identity) and 3 for motion design (visual effects, motion graphics, and animation). since i'm more interested in graphic design, shempre my favorite speakers are from that field! haha

btw, we were seated far from the stage so the best pics i got are from the led screen cast and most of them are slides pa so i'm just gonna go around the net to find better equivalent pics. hehe



SPEAKERS

1) let's start with my new found favorite graphic designer, Isabel Gatuslao, the only homegrown speaker of the bunch. she specializes in branding and identity, and has done a lot of crazy and amazing projects like these:

a rebrand for national bookstore's Best Buy product line:

seriously diba? super level up na ang Best Buy, pwede na magtayo ng sariling bookstore with that branding alone.

another rebrand, this time for an HMO called MediCard:

brilliant. just brilliant. seryoso, has an HMO ever made an impression on you like MediCard now does? mukang mamahalin na diba? mukang iingatan ka na rin ng mabuti hahaha. their head office at makati is looking really posh na nga rin eh. the power of branding talaga haha

i love it how she makes the identities she works on increase in value! i super duper look up to her!

this one's for Liz Uy, which is, take note, feng shui master approved! hahaha

now i'm inspired to make monograms. >XD

and lastly, this shoe is for Lebron James!
not a fan of LJ but as she explained the concepts behind everything patched on that size 16 shoe, i decided the item is better off locked behind a glass case.

it's just so precious looking

 on top of her awesome portfolio, she's also a really hilarious speaker! there was never a dull moment! haha

i also find her pretty and young looking! i mean, she looks 20-something lang but considering her experience, i really don't know. haha she looks like a fuse between lara quigaman and ana capri. wala lang. search na lang kayo ng pics online ang ganda kasi ng kuha ko eh. i wonder how old she is! hehe >XD

my take home from her: BE OBSESSIVE! pick on every little detail, research on all related stuff, and totally immerse yourself in your work to be able to come up with a fitting and smashing design concept. as she puts it, "Obsession is the secret to an exciting life." >XD

2) next up is DVEIN, a madrid based group of designers who does animation and live action. they're my favorite among those who talked about animation because they're so quirky! haha

what i liked about their approach is that they're very experimental and crazy. they're also very funny too! >XD the best things i liked from their presentation is the animation they produced incorporating 3 elements they want to see in their video, which they thought of individually. they're paint, landscapes, and old people. crazy mix. but the end result was so amazing! as in di ko maisip na naisip nilang gawin yon. sorry can't find a video. stalk them maybe? hehe

my take home from DVEIN: ALWAYS HAVE FUN! you know how even passionate people get stressed over their work right? but they make it seem like every shoot is an opportunity to enjoy the world and pick up ideas! such goofballs!

3) Sara Blake aka ZSO

her style is something i dig so much! ink drawings + digital coloring is something i'm trying to learn right now and her illustrations have all brought an immense amount of inspiration to me! please please check out her website so you would understand how excited i am to learn more! haha

during the event she's also selling limited edition silk scarves designed by her but they're so freakin expensive (4,000++ even on a 30% discount), i don't even know if anyone actually prepared that much money for it. sorina, ngayon lang ako nakakita ng 'designer scarf'. hehehe

my take home from her: DRAW LIKE A CHILD! never mind if it's not looking how it's supposed to be. just keep on drawing! >XD

4) Jessica Hische!
my 2nd favorite speaker next to Isabel. man, she talks a lot! i'm a big fan of typography so i really enjoyed her talk. i can't even say for sure if it's typography or not, or just fancy writing but yeah. it looks simple when you just look at the raw file (which she submits)...

 but when you add in effects and whatnots... boom!

so pretty! i think she didn't do the post-processing here though. hehe but being a fan of black and white, that clean writing for me is already awesome!

i love it how she doesn't run out of things to say! her energy is so high! haha as the last speaker of the day, she's quite a breather cos i almost dozed off the entire segment before her hehe! >XD

because of her, i have a new found fascination with drop caps! will probably do my own sometime! >XD

my take from from Jessica Hische: not exactly a life lesson but an adobe illustrator hack! that WIDTH thing she demo-ed that adjusts the width of your paths or something. haha will research on it when i hit AI someday. >XD

5) and 6) hehe Ash Thorp and Eugene Gauran of The Mill

i told you i'm not that into motion graphics so i can't really say much but these two are high-end! Ash Thorp has done visual effects projects for x-men: first class, iron man, and ender's game to name a few!

the hosts w/ Ashe Thorp

Eugene Gauran representing The Mill, has worked ad campaigns for sony, nike, adidas, and honda, etc. and hey! he's Filipino! hehe

that's it for the speakers hehe

VENUE

i'll give it a 7/10 sorry hehe

SMX is big yes, but it's flat! i mean, if you're at the left or right side, you're gonna face the LED screens instead, which is sad cos it doesn't feel live at all! i'm just freaking looking at the slides the whole time. T__T; 

last year i think they held it at PICC, i think they should stick to that venue. parang cinema type na may levels yung seats para at least kahit malayo, kita mo parin ung stage hehe. wala lang. hahaha if food is a concern kasi malayo nga naman ung kainan sa PICC... i dunno... provide food na lang! hahaha >XD

KIT AND FREEBIES

7/10 din hehe

i loooove the art book! it's a big book of inspiration for me! sadly, that's about all the value the kit contains. well they also threw in 2 stickers, a ballpen that doesn't write, a button pin, a tote, and a bunch of fliers from sponsors but really. i didn't quite see how my 1,750 pesos poured into this. sure the speakers are great and i went out really inspired and wanting to start a project asap but as for the tangible take homes? hmm. 

maybe i'm just expecting too much, maybe that 1,750 is nothing compared to what i've learned and took home mentally but... okay fine it's not cheap to source bad ass foreign speakers nga naman. i rest my case. BUT IT'S STILL TOO EXPENSIVE! haha

PRICE:

7/10 because it's still too expensive for me, even as an employed person. we paid 1,750 for the early bird rate. it's not even a workshop seminar. >XD if it's the foreign speakers that's elevating the price so much, cut it off! we have an abundance of home growns making it big here as well. i know you also have to get speakers who can show you that there is money in art but well, bottom line is, it's a conference on creativity! >XD

OTHER REMARKS:

THE RAFFLE. it was cool that they raffled off an ipad air but what's uncool is how there's only one winner among the thousands who came. seriously, one (super duper) lucky winner ONLY? i would've appreciated it if they raffled off many small items like shirts! or WD hard drives the price of an ipad air (assuming the ipad was not sponsored hehe).... instead naman of a one time big time prize that only one person will benefit from. wala lang. chaka walang thrill ung raffle eh. parang, okay, yun na yon? bitter bitteran ang peg ko ha sorry na. 

NO BACKDROP FOR PICTURE TAKING. it's disappointing that i saw not one space in that huuuuuuge hall with a good backdrop to take pictures with. as in nada. was there even a photo booth? how hard is it to put up a backdrop so we can take pictures naman? in the end we just posed against a boring white background. hahaha >XD

jec, ava,  and me :)

despite all my reklamos, i cannot deny that the event has a lingering effect on me even after a week has passed. i'm still super duper stoked to draw something! i guess what really made graphika manila "priceless" are the speakers talaga! hehe see you next year! >XD