Back to basics

Everyone remembers art class in primary/elementary school right? Those pre-drawn pictures which you had to colour in neatly – everyone concentrating on staying in the lines… And then learning to draw shapes for yourself. The joy of those early forays into drawing

I’d like to say that’s what inspired these but the truth was I was plumb out of ideas and was playing around when I did this (see picture at the bottom of the post – the only side effect of blogging via the wordpress iPhone app)

Will have pictures of something new I’ve done for my hands as well posted soon and sone highlights from my recent vacation to Bali. As APEC continues to disrupt my morning commute I wish all a good week ahead!

Diwali decor

This is a momentous post. I’m putting it together on the bus-ride that brings me to work. Most importantly I’m using the wordpress app on my iPhone to accomplish this. I can’t help but feel “Is this cool or what??!!”

Ok so on to the post itself. Diwali came upon us for it’s annual visit and this year it was a mad scramble for my family to get to KL where the festivities were to be celebrated. I did do some minor mehndi but it’s not up to posting standard so instead I offer you these lovelies (to be found at the bottom of the post – it is after all the app and not the full-fledged writer I normally use).

Hope everyone had a great Diwali break and belated greetings (thought that counts and all) to all who celebrate. Enjoy the week – another weekend is in sight

Sanctimonious Sanctity of Life

I’ve been following the blog “Brazen Careerist” by Penelope Trunk for some 6 months or more now and she’s a hoot to read. There have been many mornings when her latest post is the foundation for conversations with AB. I don’t agree with everything she says and i seriously hope never to have a crush on my boss (i mean AB is my brother – how icky would that be!) but i do find her mind interesting if abit strange and remarkably courageous for how much of her life she puts out there. I sometimes speak about my personal life and i can honestly say every post is a debate – am i putting too much of myself out there? Will i be judged? Will my audience get my context?

Some might say its too easy for people to put their personal lives out there but i will say its not. When you speak about personal issues its because there is a need – a need to share, to educate, to inform. A recent twitter by Penelope Trunk on having a miscarriage during a board meeting caused a furor. Some highly conservative sections of society thought she was out of line – too blase about what was happening. How dare she not take ‘life’ more seriously!

What those people missed, which was the whole point actually, was that even in this day and age where the judicial and governmental systems have put in place policies where women should have access to options they are being denied the ability to exercise those options. She did an interview on CNN where the point of the ‘abrahamic religions’ was put forward – how could she be happy about having a miscarriage just because now she didn’t need an abortion? Doesn’t she value the sanctity of life? Why is she talking about women’s business in public?

Before she made her tweet and subsequent post I’m ashamed to say even I, a woman, did not know a miscarriage takes up to 3 weeks having mistakenly assumed the expulsion of the foetus was the be all and end all of that. By her having gone public there is now an increased awareness of this and a larger understanding of this phenomenon. I’ have to confess whenever i see the religious conservatives try to put their opinions on life and choice as the ‘go-to’ choice thereby making every other option an aberration i get really angry. As a pro-choice person i do not go up to every pregnant woman and say ‘are you sure you want to remain pregnant and bring a human being you may not be able to care for and nurture to the best of your ability into this world.

So what gives them the right that they can ask you to re-think not wanting to screw up your life, a life well in the process of being lived which is being de-valued with the presence of a life not fully form and nowhere close to being lived. They believe they have the right because in their minds having faith in “GOD” gives them a moral superiority. One of the basics of Christianity seems to escape most Christians “Judge not lest ye be judged”. At the end of the day if you believe in God shouldn’t you believe that what one person does/doesn’t do and believes/disbelieves is ultimately between God and that person or is your belief in God limited to what you can pass judgement on?

I suspect I’ll be asking questions along this vein for most of my life but ask i will. Fight the good fight and enjoy the weekend doing things that make you happy. I’m sure “god” would want us to have a happy life starting with this weekend On a parting note I leave you with a quote from AB: “Abrahamic religions are born out of a fear of vaginas and dark places”. This never fails to crack me up!

A walk on the wild side

I’ve been seeing the animal print rage make its move on the nail art scene through other blogs as well as the celebrity trends. This weekend i decided to give this my own whirl… a longer post is due soon and i know we’ve just had a long weekend but my long weekend had many activities stuffed into it – chiefly property related. I don’t deal well with change (historically) and am trying to keep an open mind to this change so fingers crossed. Enjoy me pics!

(excuse the bad toes ones..since the death of my samsung picture taking is a little challenging. On the upside – iPhone!!)

Picture blog anyone?

I’ve realised I only blog at truly significant events or when i’m cleaning up the pics from my camera. Which makes me think one of two things: 1) My life is busy but not really full of significant events (not really true…although blogging about the minutae that goes into making a significant event is beyond even my verbosity) or 2) I should just have a photo blog (hmmmm time, commitment, effort – this needs more thought).

In anycase here’s the clearing house…

In terms of traditional mehndi designs this is a pretty good design with a nice flow from one design element into another. However I lost the plot at the 3/4 mark hence the funny looking heart that’s completely out of place. Lesson learnt – no harm in repeating a previous design element that works. Better than hacking it to pieces with a last minute and ill-thought piece.

AB and I were talking about programming the other day (that’s computer programming!) and the general consensus was that to write and execute a great program you do it twice. Once in your head and once when you sit to code. I think it applies to artistic endeavour too. Of course this keeps in mind the assumptions of a more than basic level of mastery of the craft and the idea that you are a creator and not just worker bee type.

Whenever I sit to put together a henna design I’m especially happy with or plan a knitting project – the most successful attempts are almost always thought out carefully and planned before i begin actually working on it. Some may argue this takes the creativity out of the creative process but that’s just imposing limitations on creativity by saying it has to be off the cuff and on the spur of the moment. That does work but not all the time – not even for the gifted geniuses. Many artistes are always seen doodling and drawing simply to learn what works for them and what doesn’t so when the creative juices flow you’ve got the mastery (skill honed from hours spent doodling/drawing) and the conceptual idea sketched out in your mind (cut and paste what worked from previous attempts).

The same process worked for one of the following and again lack of thought put a dent in the other:

I’ll leave you to decide which is which. In the meantime here’s a project I’m pretty proud of. The intended recipient, AB (it was the hand-made wrist-tie for the annual raksha bandhan ie. brother-sister festival we celebrate), was quite pleased with it and i must say it does look lots better than the beaded blinding wonder of the previous year

Hope everyone has had a nice long weekend. Enjoy the week ahead!

Majulah Singapura

My home nation celebrates its 44th birthday a week before I celebrate mine. I can honestly say, having been alive for roughly 3/4 of its age, its been an exciting ride. The Singapore of my teen years is in many ways similar yet different to one in which teens are growing up now. I suspect everyone will feel this way at some point of their lives when they see the many advantages and yet hidden disadvantages progress has in-store for the new generations.

Majulah Singapura is the title of our national anthem. It translates to ‘Onward Singapore’. This year the gaiety of these celebrations is a little marred by the subtle but prevalent attitude of negativity toward foreigners coming to our shores. Every country which has a migrant population faces these growing pains at one time or another. This time its exacerbated by the tensions of a bad world economy and a population which wants a quick fix without any significant negative impact, short or long term, on their lifestyle habits.

What many of us fail to remember is that we are all immigrants to this land. True many of us, myself included, have a family history long intertwined with this place but it doesn’t change the fact that our ancestors came from other lands. Its also true in our time here we have carved an individual identity for ourselves. Singapore Indians and Chinese are quite far removed from India Indians and Mainland Chinese. So much so that its easy to have an us and them attitude. The basic quick fix appeal seems to be – “lower foreign worker quotas” etc. What we fail to realise is that the foreign talent does serve a purpose and we have to adapt ourselves, the way our parents and grandparents adapted to the mini-industrial age in Singapore, to bring about the foundation for growth which we enjoy today. The best fit will emerge as all answers do through a process of trial and error.

In the meantime, here’s my tribute to my homeland:

Freshly baked…

My large family has welcomed its latest addition. She’s 4 days old and already has her nickname…Gulabo (rosy hued) based on her little red face which is all of 4 days old. Meet my cousin Gulabo

Curioser & curioser…

What do you make of this?

I saw this whilst prowling around the old quarter in Hanoi on my last trip up. You know you’re an iconic figure once there’s bootleg art of you around. I have to wonder though … is the naked lady supposed to draw attention to Obama or is he supposed to be drawing attention to her?

A couple of streets down and a turn into an alley furnished this sight … the local market (which I must say smells alot more pleasant than the frozen foods aisles of some supermarkets!)

This narrow entry is for both human and vehicular traffic .. beware the oncoming Vespa’s.

The dry goods section which leads on to the fresh meats starting with the live seafood.

Fresh fish or would you prefer a side of bacon (this little piggy was being carved up into smaller pieces by a lethal knife!)

Now this takes fresh to a whole new level..the prawns were constantly jumping out of the baskets at this corner.

On our way to Ha Long Bay I caught sight of this field of lotus blossoms. Trust me when i say they do grow out of the muck. Bad image I know but I was in a moving vehicle!

For those who do make it up to Hanoi for more than a weekend i would recommend a trip up to the bay. Its truly lovely (though swim in the waters at your own risk – especially the spots where they pull in for sightseeing) and well worth the trip. We ventured off for a night on the water on the “Emeraude’ and other than me suffering through slim pickings in a seafood heavy buffet we had a lovely time.

The enterprising spirit of developing nations is amazing though. These ladies pulled up to our boat to sell us supplies once we had docked for the night.

 

A view of the bay before boarding our boat..

Where we docked for the night..

While going through my picture pile for this post I came across this..

More than tissue paper is being used to claim a seat in restaurants these days but this just bordered on ridiculous. And lastly the pervasiveness of trends that sweep the US and the power of the tween-teen generation – “Twilight” in Vietnamese being sold at the airport in Hanoi.

Meme-fied

I’ve been “meme-ed” once again and by none other than AB. Once again i refuse to pass on the pain but in the spirit of the ‘meme’ here goes..

 

Bold what is true – In my case the bold items are the exceptions…time to update my life’s to-do list

 

I‘ve never watched Titanic.
I’ve never read Pride and Prejudice.
I’ve never been drunk.
I’ve never played Laser Tag.
I’ve never skipped in a public place.
I’ve never sung at an inappropriate moment.
I’ve never cried over a movie.
I’ve never cried reading a book.
I’ve never cried while watching a TV show.
I’ve never owned a music player.
I’ve never made a Twitter.
I’ve never read anything by Charles Dickens.
I’ve never been in love.
I’ve never skipped school.
I’ve never owned a rabbit.
I’ve never sang solo in front of a crowd of 100+ people. (Unfortunate as it is this has happened as part of a choir!)
I’ve never played Guitar Hero.
I’ve never had more than four siblings.
I’ve never jumped off a swing.
I’ve never been camping.
I’ve never watched an episode of QI.
I’ve never watched a Heath Ledger movie.
I’ve never watched High School Musical.
I’ve never made a sibling cry.
I’ve never stolen anything. (Do hearts count..if they don’t i might have to re-think this one)
I’ve never broken the law.
I’ve never jumped in the sea fully clothed.
I’ve never read the Bible.
I’ve never passed on a chain letter.
I’ve never met a celebrity.
I’ve never written fanfiction.
I’ve never gone scuba diving.
I’ve never dyed my hair.
I’ve never had a tattoo.
I’ve never watched WWE on TV.
I’ve never taken part in a sports contest. ( I have one lone squash trophy – bronze!)
I’ve never been to a football match.
I’ve never danced to a Michael Jackson song.
I’ve never watched a sunset.
I’ve never played a musical instrument.
I’ve never sky dived.
I’ve never eaten fish.
I’ve never read Twilight.
I’ve never punched someone.
I’ve never swam with a dolphin.
I’ve never broken a bone.
I’ve never danced well.
I’ve never been arrested.
I’ve never owned a Playstation Three.
I’ve never watched a Batman movie.
I’ve never sang at a Karaoke Night.

24th June 2009

Nope nothing momentous happened thus far today but I’ve been sitting here trying to think up an innovative title for a post that isn’t terribly innovative. My creative juices are slightly dried up…a new colleague who just joined remarked of my blog that I seem to be fond of henna…i must admit i was floored. I thought i had more content than that but if i’m to be known by my henna alone well I’m not ashamed of that either. I do good work dang-nam-it!

In anycase maybe its time to fine-tune the focus of the blog or maybe not…if its to be a true reflection of me it can hardly be about one thing. Just a short note on IKEA today. Since we’ve had new hires there was a need for a shopping trip to IKEA to provide enough seating and work surfaces for all. The restaurant at IKEA Alexandra has had some very innovative changes made to it (seen here modelled by our very own AB):

Given the huge crowds that pack the mealtimes there they’ve designed ergonomic lunch tray carts which occupy the minimal most space and with maximum maneuverability. Awesome! Now thats a store with a consistent message that extends into their non-core business as well. IKEA is also (from what I’ve seen the few times I’ve eaten there) one of the few places where people do not attempt to hold seats with tissue paper packets…BLISS

I’ll post up the recent adventures from my last trip to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay but for now i leave you with this…i finally replenished my stock of henna cones and my sorely underflexed muscle produced this:

Next artistic venture is a baby blanket…Akan datang