I would first like to share a song by Dave Barnes. This is one of the songs from the soundtrack “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” that I performed in last year. There were actually two songs I felt that were very suitable for Valentine’s Day. But I decided to go with this one first and share the next for the following year. Hopefully this can be heard.

And along with the song I’m giving another freebie away My Love Wallpaper or rather… post valentine wallpaper

You can download it here at my Flickr account.

1280 x 1240

1280 x 800

The lyrics are extremely meaningful and sweet. Speaking about just the simplest of ways to love a person. Nothing fancy, no need for one to go to the great lengths to prove how much you love them, no need to say you love them wider than an ocean, nothing about the things you buy for them,… just nothing Just showing how much you love them.

There’s nothing fancy bout the way i love you,
there’s nothing you could not find in any other man.
There’s nothing fancy bout the way I love you,
but I love you as hard as I can.

There’s no good reason for the way you love me,
but you’re my walking dream come true.
There’s no good reason for the way you love me,
But I thank God that you do.

I don’t know the perfect conversation,
I don’t know the way to turn a head,
I don’t know the perfect way to prove my love,
But I know I’ll love you till I’m dead.

There’s nothing fancy bout the way I love you,
It’s as simple as the stars in the sky, and the blue in the sea.
There’s nothing fancy bout the way I love you,
But it sure is fancy how you love me.

As a kid I always admired the beauty of horses. I suppose it came from my dad’s own interest of horses. Till today he still enjoys buying horse models or statues. I can say that my dad’s favourite animal to view is a horse. This liking was spurred even more by watching silly Hollywood movies that showed kids in the USA having horses as pets. Which of course made me jealous hence i wanted a horse – yeah talk about being realistic! and not just wanting a horse I wanted to ride one because the stupid movies made it look so easy. 

Well today thanks to my mocap employer, I got the chance to go for a proper horse riding session. No the times when you rode around the ring at carnivals do not count… that’s what my dad told me anyway. :S We need the riding lessons so that we can make our riding more realistic when we sit on the boxes at the studio haha. Imagine faking yourself being chased by a bunch of badies.

The riding lessons took place at the Royal Selangor Polo Club, located directly behind my other home – Raintree Club. Back in my basketball days, the court i played some ball at was just opposite the equastrian club. I always said to myself one day I’ll go in and finally last week I not only went in but also rode a horse. Actually according to my relatives I’ve been inside before… but i don’t remember – so I won’t count it.

Walking into the stables of RSPC.

See that rough in the middle that is the indoor riding arena.

Everyone is getting their registration settled. The form we are to fill just to state if we do end up falling on our backs and breaking something ala Christopher Reeves style (that was a bad joke.. I respect Mr Reeves and may he and his wife be in peace now in heaven). 

This is my Artistic Director

We became trigger happy and the horse right there is Cochise. We tried very hard to not scare him. The stable is really a very quiet place. And the horses are trained and smart enough to behave themselves. 

The team from Young jump and MDEC. The Saladin crew hehe.

This is Lorna our instructor and trainer on horse riding.

All of listening intently to Lorna as she tells us what to do on top of a horse.

The girl on Sunshine there is Hannah. She’s been riding since like forever and she makes it look so easy. I don’t know why maybe it’s her svelt figure but she reminds me a bit of Kate in Lost.

Hehe you’ll never guess what my horses’s name is… oh nevermind i’ll just tell. D’Artagnan… just like the three musketeers that D’Artagnan. Such a masculine name. He was a real joy to ride. 

After riding on D’Artagnan, now I understand why the riders all wear either super high boots or something that protects their calves. I was wearing my usual fit pants and the stirrups that is attached to the saddle kept on snagging my pants. It was quite painful too everytime it kept rubbing against my leg. Felt like i was being pinched.

Lorna told us that we should never go around the back of the horse when you want to cross. This will actually cause the horse to be suspicious over you.

What you should do to get to know your horse:

They can’t see very well that’s why you’ll notice whenever they move their head to the side, this is so they can spot you with their eye. So that your horse knows you, give him a rub and a scratch on his neck. The horse will then be using his nose to sniff you out, his ear to hear your voice as you chat to him and how you rub his neck. That’s how you 

Ok if you think i was a bit worried, it’s possible i was. We had gone from a walk to a canter. Which is the classical trotting. I hope i’m getting this right. The one thing that my instructor Suresh kept telling me was to keep my heels down. A very very commong thing in horse riding. Which you can read here. Purpose of keeping the heels down is so tha you will feel the weight in your heels. Cause you are meant to have perfect balance on top of the horse. According to Lorna.. I don’t know where I picked up the habit but i seem to have a curve in my back, which means i have to think of pushing out my pelvis more. 

I think we only rode for about 45 mins or could’ve been less. We all had horse riding hat hair after that haha. The riding really works your thighs and your core muscles.

I decided to steal a snapshot of myself before anyone else saw. 

Aren’t they just beautiful creatures. I want to go visit them again.

I honestly didn’t think this shot was anything much. But as i look at it now I think it’s just so calming looking at this horse nibble.

This horse was just staring into the wall. According to Lorna she was saying when horses ears are up like that they are sorta in the midst of thinking. hehe. 

If i had money I would go for horse riding as often as possible. It’s a very calming experience. Cause you will not be a good rider if you can’t work with your partner which is the horse. The horse will not perform unless you perform well. So it’s quite a good lesson on how to do teamwork. Even more so without words. It’s pure trust.

love by ~auroille

Love is the smell of summer on a hot afternoon
Love is that tiny spark along the horizon
Love is a four letter word
Love is when you want time to stop
for one more moment
one more day
one more forever.

“Hold it up, then light it up for the world to see” ~atomic-ikon

love is… by ~dorkmunch

love is
painful
messy
work
worth it?

My comments: What I find unique about this photo, is that it shows how love is not all cozy, and made of wonderful images or words. Love between people is sometimes painful. With obstacles blocking the very essence of what it means to love. The relationships that come with human love is hard.. and confusing. I don’t think I’ll ever break the code, get the code or even understand the code. But that’s just it isn’t it… there are no rules for love.. is there? The image above reads for me that with every love there are sacrifices and heartbreaks.. In the end though it may all be worth it. The picture above can look tragic and sad, however i see a tiny light at the end of the picture. In a way the picture represents the last bit of hope. Despite the wounds on the heart but in the end it is mended.

Love by *ladyrapid

This is a little sudden for me, to post something so strong and meaningfull just like this , BAM! .

I saw this flower and thought, hmm what can I do with this one rather than just take a plain straight up shot on it.
After some concideration I think it can be fun to do something not so common and with a more personal touch. The idea of trying to display some kind of feeling or mode felt like something cool.
I picked it all except 1, now you get the title huh .

Love can be represented in many many different ways, this is just my personal touch to it all. What I like most of this photo/work is the fresh sense of it. It’s not “just another photo”, it’s a nice little twist on a long and great message/concept, love.
There’s different types of love, the one you have for your family, for your clothes, for your friends, for photographing etc etc . This perhaps can show and view MY love to photographing and everything around it.

To symbolise a message, thought, idea etc you aren’t bound to use the colours intendet, as in this photo you’d say that red is essential but no. It’s the colours I choose to mediate together with my ideas. With that said I want you all to stop think so closed-minded about colours, go outside the boarders and experiment. It’s only with new ways we can invent new things ^^.

Love by =ahermin

According to the Greek legend, red roses arised from blood of Adonis who was killed by a wild boar on a hunt. In Greek mythology red rose was a symbol for the cycle of growth and decay, but also for love and affinity. Red rose is dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and daughter of Zeus.

…I found this bloom by the sea last evening, hunting for sunsets. It was quite touching to see its strong colors even after death.What’s funny is that when I went home and I blew up the frame on my monitor, I clearly distinguished the textile texture in the petals, revealing it’s artificial origin…

love. by ~jan-ex

Love is beyond all words. 

this is inspired by all the typography work i have seen around on deviant art. but i have decided that love is a language beyond all – anyone in the world would have experienced love- no matter which form it is in: family, friends, spiritural…

and so i figured i should translate it to ALOT of different languages. since the language of ‘love’ is international so i went on google and searched for online translator(s) to translate the word, love (in english), to 30+ different languages. (so i’m really sorry if some ain’t correct, since i don’t really speak/write/read your language : P) 

yep. so spread the love, darlings. 

The Love Omen by `gilad

This light in your eyes, only I can see

This smile on your face, devoted just for me
This love in my heart, that forever will be
I know somebody must be looking over 
You and me

My Comments: I just thought this was a simple yet touching poem. See you don’t need to say much. 

Love Pollution by ~ll

So, yes, anyways – an anti valentines day message this year – I’m really not against the idea of celebrating love – love is a many splendid thing after all – I just take issue with the notion that’s it’s one huuuuge buildup to one day of the year – guys are under pressure to get the perfect gift, girls are obssessing about all the romatic things they’ll invariably end up not doing – and all the singletons winge about how they’re so unlucky! Much like Christmas and all other major holidays, it’s a lot of buildup to what is largely a very damp squib of a day that only rarely lives up to your expectations…

And yet – this one’s not even a religious holiday! Ok, birth of a deity, fair enough, you can have a day devoted to that, death of a deity you can have best part of a week – but a saint being mauled by a lion? Now you’re pushing it!

Yet in spite of that, like it or loathe it, everyone feels compelled to participate – and so the factory owners laugh a hearty laugh for another year and stoke the fires to belch out more cards, gifts and other materialistic tokens of love – leaving valentine’s day ending up looking cheap, nasty, suffocationg, sickening…anybody see where I’m going here? 

Ahem, anywho, I think my point is made – whatever your status, much love to all for this time of year – I know it’s a pain in the ass and an excuse to sell more chocs before Easter but have a good one all the same 

My commnets: I purposely decided to add this picture to the collection, cause it’s a simple way of showing how valentine’s day has become nothing more than a commercial event. Really is the day about love? Or about spending? You have ridiculous prices for food, roses and chocolates which should never be. For me I’ll be honest in saying that, it is special for me because that was the day I got together with the person i care for. I don’t want to buy into all the hype of the so called ‘love’ on that day. Valentine’s Day may be my original anniversary day but as of this year I’ll be anti-Vday.

The Way of Love by ~heavenzchild

My comments:  Need I say more why this was included  

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (New International Version)

Featured Valentine’s Day Wallpaper

Valentine Wallpaper Pack by *akkasone

Valentine Wallpaper by =funkmaster-c

Valentine Wallpaper by ~Limpich

Valentine’s Day by ~tayzar44

Happy Valentine’s Day from wallpaperez

Love Wallpaper by ~myargie22

wallpaper 4 by *ryye

Valentine Wallpapers

Love remedy wallpaper pack by *thaulow

Turtle Love by ~Abstractionist

The only downside to the Nike+ sensor with Itouch is that it requires you to have a Nike+ shoe. Fehh.. my sister had one so i considered using it for sometime. My next problem was that her shoe is not exactly ‘beautiful’ and neither is it fitted to my size. Yes she’s younger than me and I have a smaller foot. 

After going online for a bit I realised that there are number of ways to ‘hack’ wearing you’re own running shoe – or whatever shoe – while still using the Nike+ sensor. There are three main ways I found on the net. 

1. The Tape method

    

   

   Nike+iPod Sensor Attached by Tape Wendy Bumgardner © 2006

   Some people tried tucking the sensor underneath the laces of their shoes. Then to secure it they use sticky tape. Great for a quick fix but rather impractical since I would be damaging my shoe and leaving glue residue on the sensor.

    

2. The Velcro Method

   

   Nike+iPod Sensor Attached with Velcro by Wendy Bumgardner © 2006 

   What happens is you sew a piece of velcro on the tongue of your favourite running shoe and have the other piece of velcro stuck to your sensor. Stick the sensor on the shoe and lace up. Fast and effective but this means if you were to ever shift to another shoe you need to have a velcro for it too. I’m not going to sew a piece of velcro on everyone of my shoes! 

3. The Pouch Method

   

   

    

   This is a great method. Only problem is you have to buy it.  Such as the  Marware Shoe Pouch : A simple pouch that attaches to your shoelaces with Velcro, very inexpensive. Or even the Grantwood Pouch. While they may cost only around like $10, it would still cost a bomb for me since I have to consider shipping charges for it. I’ve gone to most of the Apple stores and partner stores in KL  - and no they don’t have what I’m looking for. But for anyone overseas go ahead and get them at the two links i’ve shared.

Since I don’t want to fork out anymore money then i already have to. I decided to make my own little pouch for my sensor. Yeah i know i’m soooo terribly proud over it. I told my mom and she said i did a McGuyver haha. I found my sister’s unwanted and old Nike basketball finger protector. I made sure she didn’t want it before I tore into it and made it completely something else for my benefit. 

First I got ready two things. One my mom’s sewing kit and some piece of velcro i found lying around.

And then i got to work. What you are about to see is the process of boredom taking form into something worthwhile. Me practicing on my sewing skills and to figure out how to not waste money

Snug as a button. I think that’s the phrase. Or is it snug as a glove. And there you have it my own pouch and check it with it’s own Nike symbol. Eat that!

And it’s firmly in pace too. I went for my first run with it and still all good.

Although according to some of the sites I read, I may need to callibrate the sensor again with the Itouch. No matter I’m happy! Now even when i head to penang I stil got my little pouch to check on my runs. Sweet!!

Anyway cousins came over yesterday and it was a ball of fun. One of the aunts made homemade yee sang. That’s a first for me.. i think. You usually have yee sang followed by a huge gloriously too heavy meal. But this batch was made so that we could just toss it in the air and have fun as a big gathering.

The yee sang is now being prepared. 

The yee sang is now nearly completed

Take a look at the two mountain peaks of yee sang. haha.. I’m serious those were two huge platters of yee sang. 

Now everyone gather round and get ready to poke pok poke and mix mix mix.

Just look at all the hands.

After all that I realised that I was so busy taking pictures that I wasn’t in the fun… I demanded that my sister joined me while i took a shot of my hand in it. My brother commented that i was sad.. Am not!

The good thing about Chinese New Year, while it is not my favourite time of the year it does have it’s perks. Mainly the catching up and collection of ang paos

Don’t deny it!

If you are a chinese and you happen to be not married yet. You are still going around happily collecting ang paos. The more reds you see the happier you get.. complete opposite of anger hehe. According to my mom she says that if you open your ang paos too early or too fast you get less later on…. Yeah right! The first two days are the hardcore period of collecting. So all those of you who are complaining of being single and or unmarried out there.. don’t! You’re still entitled to collection. And don’t deny you do ask your friends how goes the ang pao collecting phase lol.

Here’s grandma giving out ang paos to everyone in the family.. almost everyone la. 

The sister jumping in joy and actually i wanted a shot of Unc Tony with his two twin sons. The three of them were dressed in a mickey mouse theme. Hahaha so cute.

Then the time comes for everyone to say bye bye. Even after saying bye you don’t really say bye cause in the end we’ll end up just going outside the house to do more yacking before anyone can get in the car. Hehehe.

That was fun hehhee. All the cousins in a bunch.

Coming in first is the Chinese New Year reunion dinner. It’s just a simple dinner with the immediate family members and it was great food.

Immediate family all here. It’s a tradition that we have to take a picture of the family when we have our reunion dinner. And every single year I don’t bother to dress up for the occassion. Lol i just want to relax and chill.

This was the delicious food I smelt on the way down from the stairs. 

First we all dug into the Yee Sang which is probably my 4th Yee Sand in two weeks now. According to tradition when you mix the yee sang, you have to bring your chopstick really really high. Throwing the yee sang high means you have more prosperity. Okkkk….

And of course in between you’ll get yee sang all over the place and also you’ll get into a chopstick fight. Like how i did with my mom. lol

Glorious fresh steamed fish.

Pork with mayonnaise and pineapple. Not a fan of the pineapple but still nice. 

Broccoli with my favourite abalone. Ok I think that’s enough for food. 

Now i’ll move on to a short video of my nephew who is just so cute. You know little kids when they see things thet look at everything with such awe and with bid dowey eyes. Even if they have seen it for the first time they are still amazed. What’s even cuter is when a kid sees himself in the mirror or on the screen. My lil nephew here just kept on saying … wow! Hahaha. Ignore the voices in the video and just watched the kid. lol

That was my reunion day and here begins the Chinese New Year celebration.

This is related how? Well, I just want to share on the three must haves that any girl would need. Since I started going for castings again, I always get this from the casting agents. Come dressed smart casual. I never understood that. To be frank I always thought I had reasonable sense in fashion. It wasn’t only till recently, I realised I don’t! Shame on me. Most of the clothes I have are those funky types which are great for a one time wear and never for another time. I didn’t have basic stuff in my wadrobe, making it hard to dress myself well. 

So anyways lets share a lil 101 on what I’ve learnt. The 3 must haves in every girls closet.

Black is always classic, stylish, elegant, sleek and you can never go wrong with it. It’s great for any mood, time or date. Reason I’m stating all the following apparels as black is because that is basic.

Always make sure you have at least one good slip on skirt. 

Then make sure you have at least one if not two good Lil black dress. You’ve heard of the book and no this is not made up.

You have to love Zara for their simplicity in clothes. These two dresses are under the label Zara Basic and man are they basic. I love them You can’t go wrong at all. They weren’t terribly pricey either. Just shy over a 100 ringgit. Not too bad for a dress you can keep all the time and never have it out of fashion.

Every girl should have a lil black dress. You will never know when you may need it. 

Finally, always check on the list that there must be a pair of black pumps. I just love saying that. Pumps. Or as how the ‘inspector Clouseau’ in the Pink would say. Puuummps. Bwahaahha. cracks me up. Ahemm, yes all girls need a pair of good looking black puumps. And I just had to show.. cause I’m so proud of these two black beauties.

I got this from Zara at a wonderful markdown. Used to be around RM300 plus but when I got it was only at RM139. ooooohhh Happppyyy!! And I can’t wait to wear this baby. Ahh

This pair I got from Topshop. I can’t recall the price. My reasons for getting these two is because of the closed toe part of the shoe. See I share most of my shoes with my mom. And all her high heels are either open toe or strappy or wedges. Her pumps from her working days are too small and the minute I pop my feet into them I’m in ouch land. 

Only thing I didn’t manage to get a lesson on was buying a top. But as long as you the bottom covered – as in covering you up or settled, hehe – then it’s easier to figure out the top half of your wadrobe. 

After a few days from watching Underworld 3. The story of the movie still seems to stick with. A chord was struck, if a movie effects me or makes me think about it a lot. I suppose the reason why it has resonated within me a bit is because of the tragic love story between the two leads, Lucian and Sonja. It was very much like Romeo and Juliet if you think about it, only difference is that one of them sees the love of his life die in front of his eyes.

Later when i got home I went scouting around for things on the making of the movie and I came across a fan fiction. It was how after the 6 centuries that Lucian and Sonja had been apart from the day of her murder. They were reunited again in the afterlife. You can read that short story here. Why do some of us need that resolution of the happy ending?

I just had to make one of the two of them together.

The last time a movie left me with this helpless awkward feeling was the film Atonement starring James McAvoy and Keira Knightley. I saw that two years ago, and even now that story is still embedded in my head somewhere. The story of how one couple never got to be together because of one little girl’s jealousy over her elder sister who loved the boys he had a crush on. Plot was like so “Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister Cecilia’s lover, Robbie of a crime he did not commit.” Because of the false accussation Robbie was sent to the military and Cecilia became a nurse. They never saw each other again after their one night of passion. Briony never got to apologise for it either despite her regrets, for she never had the courage. Instead she wrote of how they met again… in her book. In that sense they are immortally together forever…

As the tagline of Atonement goes “You can only imagine the truth”. Maybe in the case of these tragic love stories yeah…

Why is it that we feel for movies like these? 

My thoughts on this is because, in life already there is harsh realities. Not everything in the world will be fair. Not everything in the world can be put to right. There will be broken homes and broken lives. Granted Atonement and Underworld 3 are far from the reality of everyday life. Maybe it is because that brokenness is mirrored to some parts which are relevant to our world and that’s why there is that sense of unresolved longing. Yes I’m psychoanalysing myself.. fun…  

I have a theory that it is because in movies or rather Disney movies, you will always see that there is a happy ending for every story. Everyone lives happily ever after. People can argue that Disney’s ever afters are a propaganda of some sort. Think of it whatever you will. Makes you question is the phrase “Happily Ever After” just invented for you. I’ll ellaborate on this on another post. 

We all need a happy ending. We all need hope. If not what is there is to live for in life. Just to see it painted as it is. That it is dark and dreary. That can’t be all there is to it. 

image taken from kurtzdesigns.com

Which is why I’m glad there is a paradise after this life. A paradise which He paid for just so that we imperfect beings can belong to and finally can say we are home. Won’t it be wonderful when the day comes when all is gone, but I can still say hi to my family and friends. There’s more to that truth and that isn’t an imagination. It is real.
]]> http://aronil.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/happy-endings/feed/ 1 aronil sl atonement460 happily-ever-after-invented f-500z_f500z_happily_everafter http://aronil.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/bro-or-gurl/ http://aronil.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/bro-or-gurl/#comments Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:26:57 +0000 Seeker http://aronil.com/?p=2469 ]]> There’s a coined phrase which is the stupid ‘Bro before ho’s code”. It’s a silly slang where, brotherhood / sisterhood is stronger than the bond between a couple trying to work make a relationship happen. It’s not a carved in stone rule.. but I thought it’d be a nice thing to start my introduction for this post. 

When I was in high school I went for tuitions all over the place. One day, I was just walking into the house of my BM tuition. Just walking mind you and one of the other girls looked at me. She then said to me ‘Hey Lin, do you want to like beat up somebody or something?”…. Huh… I was just walking. Nothing else. That didn’t bother me very much for a number of years, until yesterday. My dad had always mentioned that I walked like a guy. That still didn’t bother me, cause I couldn’t care. I wore girly clothes, I could still be girly at times… 

Then yesterday I got a note from my director for mo cap that I had to lessen the machoness in my movements…

That got me thinking. 

I never bothered that I didn’t have a relaitonship for 5 years, during the period i was in my last years of high school into my college days. Sure some my say that that is the period you get all the relationships and experiment… whatever. Well i was single during that period. So what. But after the “machoness note”, i wondered if the reason why all the guys I’ve been friends with or just knew… always saw me as another bro and never a girl. 

It’s a silly thought, but I need to get it off my chest. As young girl growing up, I was never the slim and slender thing that some or most girls are fortunate to be. The mind set I had created for myself was – ok.. I can’t be slim or skinny like some twigs in the magazines (no offense to my friends who are skinny), then I’d rather be muscular. I’m in a reasonable shape now. Can be better but not fantastic as how Mister G would say to me….thanks I feel real encouraged.

That was mindset number one. Then i had another thought, if i acted like one of the guys – be interested in some stupid computer games, certain sports and maybe a car talk or two – would be a good chance to have a conversation with them. I can say that sure they managed to garner some conversations… Then as the years progressed, I noticed that guys always tell me the guys stuff. I’d be literally treated almost like one of the bros. Some i’m not saying all, I’m just saying to some fo the people I know. 

Honestly the whole thing is silly. Because of those things (in my opinion) I’m seen as the sporty girl. Never just a girl. Half the time my guy friends joke that they’ve never seen me in a girly moment. And when i do have a girly moment it’s always bimbo. 

It’s just upsetting and it hurts. Cause on one hand i realise the faults here, and I’m pissed off at the times when I here how males are always keen on having a girl thats soft, docile and cutesie wutesie. I’m just fed up! I’d almost think that I’m too tough on the outside for the guy I’m with. You know how in a relationship the guy always wants to protect the girl. In the end I know I will not get that feeling that I can be protected because I’d rather protect myself. I’d almost think the only way i’d get protected is to have a guy who is way taller than me and double my size in terms of muscle mass. The i’d look super small and maybe only then I’d be considered a girl.

It’s a very round about thought process I’m having here. And no one would get it. Because no one is in the between. It’s that feeling of neither here nor there. It’s a sucky feeling. Cause you don’t feel you belong. It is said humans feel most uncomfortable when they aren’t in control. That is why there is a need to categorise everything. In naming something, you have a control over it cause not you know how to react to something, deal with it… whatever. I feel like I don’t have that knowledge sometimes…