Today, I found myself.. (Day 29)

Today, I found myself pacing and taking strides to program my life.

All I want for Christmas is my two cents worth

The quiet and empty streets where Solace and Tranquility is evident.

The long awaited term break is finally here and quite honestly, never a better time. As much as I enjoy the daily pressures of school work and assignments, the break will serve as an ideal period to rest the tired bones.

In retrospect, the term was filled with a rich variation of activities; assignments, school work, late nights and other commitments.

To sum it up in a nutshell, it was a real difference as compared to previous semesters. A myriad of assignments and expectations supplemented the time during the term, making it a real challenge as well as an ideal learning process within.

However, I would like to talk about one particular assignment which I thoroughly enjoyed, and one of my favorites to date in terms of the process and final product.

Disturbing, ain't it?

I'm pretty sure that, to many of you out there, lugging through town at the wee hours of the morning isn't exactly a norm for an assignment. But that was exactly what we did.

Basically, the assignment circled around nation building targeted at the youths of the nation and what we were expected to do was a simple photo montage of various pictures which depicted the group's interpretation of the theme.

Sounds juicy doesn't it?

Our group decided to do something a little different and thus had to go around in search of "empty" shots. The only way to do it? The wee hours of the morning.

So where are You?

Sure it was tiring but the end product was, to me personally, well worth the effort as we got the shots we wanted, which conveyed the effect and atmosphere that we intended to portray.

An abstract 4/6 of the Drool Bits Team.

Take a look at our final product for this assignment and feel free to give me your feedback and comments. The members of Drool Bits Productions look forward to these responses.



Moving away from that now.

Christmas is around the corner, but with a difference. The global financial crisis has indeed affected the bulk of consumers, both in physical spending power as well as psychological security.

Take a quick walk down down and you'll see that companies are doing their best to entice the wary consumers this festive season. From vivid decorations to "too-good-to-be-true" promotions, manufacturers and companies are going all out to get the sales they project for the period.

Marketers are truly put to the test.

I was in town recently and quite honestly, didn't understand the severity of the crisis until I began to observe what was actually happening.

The moment I stepped onto the cobbled sidewalks of the infamous shopping belt of Singapore, Christmas songs sung by a choir, filled the air with joy, hope and happiness; a typical Christmas scene, in short.

Little did I realize at that time that the source of the music wasn't from an actual Christmas choir but from multiple speakers planted onto the Christmas decorations which dotted the shopping belt.

I've also noticed the abundance of salvation army stands set up at regular intervals along the belt, with distinct bells to attract the public's graze and hopefully, with a few dollars to spare.

Few donated, partly due to the financial crisis but also partly due to the controversial charity fraud incident which happened a while back; trust amongst the people have yet to be earned.

Consumers are more wary about their spending ability due to the financial situation.

Certainly, the current crisis has put a drape on the festive atmosphere and rightly so. With higher demands of living, it isn't exactly easy to get by these days.

And on to more lighthearted content.

I've noticed quite a number of "Christmas Lists" springing up amongst the other blogs and pages which I visited and thought it would be interesting to do a personal list for myself.

So Here goes;

Christmas List 101

(non-material items)
1. Happiness
2. Emotional Stability
3. Health
4. An end to suffering everywhere
5. To build and bond with friends and family
6. A clearer mind in preparation for the new year ahead
7. People around me to be satisfied with their lives
8. Freedom

Cliche as it may seem, I feel very strongly about the above aspects as that is what really matters to us as human beings in essence.

However, here's the more material list, for good measure;

(material)
1. Nikon D60 (or something along those lines)
2. A decent Drum kit (but not really due to space constrains)
3. I can't really think of anything else
4. Oh yea here's one, Cowbells (for my Welcome to the Jungle drum cover)

Just for the record, number 1 on the material list is already in acquisition as I'm currently saving up/working and also, striking a compromise with my Dad (who is mildly interested in the product himself) for a decent entry grade DSLR.

I'm still open for comments as to which model I should get so feel free to supplement me with advice and feedback.

As for number 2 and 4, I'm sure Santa would have his work cut out lugging around a 5 piece drum kit on board his little reindeer cart thing, so I'll work towards a solution to purchase it myself, a long term thing though.

I have hopes for Christmas as with everyone else. A season for giving, as they call it but most importantly, a season to be jolly.

The family's Christmas tree still lies packed in the storage room since last year and quite honestly, I'm not too sure myself if it's gonna be out this time.

Be sure to check back for updates this festive season. Everyone might be on holiday, but here at metallic-stains, we work while on holiday.

So buckle up your coats, ready your wellingtons and dig up those ear muffs as Christmas is upon us.

Let us smile for all that's worth.

Happy Christmas! (in advance)

Cya'll later.

*All the images, pictures and video as seen in this post here on metallic-stains is the result of an affiliation between Drool Bits Productions and the management team of metallic-stains.blogspot.com. Usage of material or content from this post without the knowledge of either Drool Bits Productions or the metallic-stains management team is at the user's risk and legal action may be taken depending on the consequence. The people at Drool Bits Productions and metallic-stains.blogspot.com wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday.

"Your Crazy Kitten Smile"
----------------
Song of the Post


Now playing: Radiohead - True Love Waits
via FoxyTunes

A (weird) new goal in life, i guess.

A Hundred (Weird) Things To Do Before I Die
*IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER WHATSOEVER*

1. Smash and totally ruin a guitar
2. Balance a book on my head and take a sip of (really hard) liquor
3. Drink coffee (preferably from Starbucks) through my nostrils
4. Bite staples
5. Use drumsticks and make holes in drumheads
6. Wear jeans inside out for a date
7. Order a Subway club, foot-long, sandwich at Starbucks
8. Order a Coffee Frap, Venti-sized, at Subway
9. Cut my pinkie on purpose just to see it bleed and collect my blood in a pill bottle
10. Be a Chink for a week
11. Drink from my (huge) cup without using my hands
12. Sit on my head and complete a miserably hard Sudoku puzzle
13. Tell everyone I know that Black isn’t really my favorite colour
14. Try wearing makeup (eyeliner, mascara etc) (√)
15. Eat a whole tube of toothpaste and live to tell the tale
16. Tell someone on the streets that he/she has BO (even if its not true)
17. Be an Emo kid for a year (that means all black, LONG fringe and angst)
18. Not talking for a month
19. Being trapped on an island alone
20. Wedgie a friend
21. Spit at someone without getting into trouble
22. Tell everyone and everything that the world’s gonna end
23. Force myself to scream (very very loudly) when I stub my toe
24. Go without sleep for around 3 days
25. Go without laughter for 2 weeks or more
26. Eat out of a straw
27. Confuse the person who makes the drinks at Starbucks
28. Go and actually stay overnight at a 24 hour MacDonald’s outlet
29. Help every person I see for a day (even if they don’t need or want it)
30. Drink a cup of water out of Dad’s fish tank
31. Kick a moving car
32. Smash and totally ruin a useable cell phone
33. Stand in front of an audience (more than 20 people) and say something weird
34. Use hairspray as an air-freshener for my room
35. Break one of those fire alarm things
36. Go into a car showroom and yell “(brand name) sucks!”
37. Dial 999 just to hear what actually goes on
38. Drink Coke and eat Mentos just to see what happens (√)
39. Taste Ink
40. Sleep for more then 20 hours
41. Pay a hundred dollar (or more) bill entirely with coins only
42. Eat Subway at least once a day for a week
43. Speak only Chinese for a week
44. Order chicken rice without chicken
45. Clean the windows of a Starbucks outlet using a window wiper
46. Unscrew a lighted light bulb
47. Travel in someone’s car boot
48. Try to break a thermometer using heat
49. Sit in every chair in a particular Starbucks outlet
50. Do a pushup in a crowded area
51. Do the weather forecast once
52. Sleep through a really really really boring movie
53. Learn to rap (properly) in a foreign language
54. Get shot by a stun-gun (just for kicks)
55. Convince someone to do something on this list
56. Try and convince a female friend that her boyfriend/soul-mate/husband is gay
57. Praise everyone you know for one day (even if its not really complimentary)
58. Learn to speak Jamaican and/or African
59. Tell only lies for a week
60. Tell only the truth for a week
61. Take a bath sitting down
62. Take a particular bus from the interchange to the next interchange and then back again
63. Learn to sing an entire song backwards but in melody
64. Eat something exotic (like a live animal)
65. Say something mean to a famous person
66. Taste (or smell, rather) pure Oxygen
67. Strike a casual conversation with a stranger on a public transport
68. Throw something at a television set and break it
69. Lie to someone that you have a terminal disease
70. Take “Neo-prints” with only guys
71. Give a ten dollar bill to a street entertainer
72. Do a “power slide” in front of parents
73. Walk into the toy’s section and look at every Barbie doll on sale
74. Taste pet food
75. Act as if you’re 5 years of age for a day
76. Shower with the door open for once
77. Try and pay for something using monopoly cash
78. Tell a lecturer/teacher that he/she is beautiful (√)
79. Swim in a public water feature (eg. Fountain)
80. Take a bath in the rain
81. Use the laptop while on a tree
82. Break a PSP
83. Buy a Blendtec (or any other high powered) blender
84. Sit in a public shelter until it rains
85. Fall asleep while walking
86. Go up and down the escalator for one entire hour
87. Tune all the clocks and time devices in the hours 3 hours faster for a day
88. Learn and try to perfect the ability to fart on demand
89. Sing (horribly) in front of a (huge) crowd
90. Have a dog or a cat eat up a piece of my work
91. Taste waste (ie. human waste, animal waste, you know the lot)
92. Take a swag of Wasabi powder via the nostrils (Jackass Style)
93. Sky dive without a parachute (Jackass Style)
94. Watch Television programs for 24 hours non-stop
95. Start a mosh-pit in a crowded area
96. Walk to school or work place (from home) to and fro for a week
97. Convince a smoker to quit smoking
98. Swim or get wet in an artificial water feature
99. Use the wrong side of chopsticks for a week
100. Do a particular task on this list again

Those tasks that have a tick beside, (√), signifies its completion.

[/EDIT 10 October 2008] I've managed to update the list and fill up all 100 spots. I will be, however, revising some of the tasks on the list due to feasibility and interest so check back soon for updates and details.