What's a Dragain?

One frame, two frames, three frames, four!

2009-02-09T00:22:00.000-08:00

(c)Dragain.blogspot.com
My free time is coming to an end, but I'm currently drawing a lot at home using my not-so-trusty mouse as well as my much-more-trusty pencil! Sad to say, I haven't improved one bit... But I guess it helps to pass the time! Also, I've been experimenting with making animated pictures in Photoshop Elements 2. Yup, old version but handy to have around since its so much more user friendly than GIMP! Maybe that's why PS is not free!

I mean, look at that animation at the start of the post! Its not much, but its more than what I could do with only GIMP... Basic animation that refuses to flow properly.

Also, the icon next to every post! Now I know how hard it is to pull off a decent piece of art with animation in them... Frame after frame after frame! All must be perfect or the final animation will come out ugly and distorted and not smooth... Kudos to everyone who can do decent animated (.gif) images!

And so sorry for the abuse of the exclamation marks in this post!

Oh dear, there I go again... Another exclamation mark.

Also, I went around and listened to the live performances of a few of the bands I listen to... Gosh, I prefer their cd versions, although I still really like their songs. Not going to name any bands since maybe I judge differently.

For now, bye and don't trip when you walk!

Twinkle twinkle little star.

2009-01-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

It is my belief that everything will die one day. People, places, plants, planets... And yes, its a coincidence that all of them start with the letter "P". However, I would like to talk about the death of a star... Well, actually, stars in general. There are people trying to deal with death everyday, all over the world; it doesn't matter if its happening to you, someone close to you, or even the neighbor you never talked to before. Some point in your life, you will have to deal with it.

But it is really all that bad?

There are countless stars in the universe, the most well-known one being the sun. Millions of years ago, life on planet Earth just started, being lucky enough to be 3rd in place in our solar system and thus, having the right temperature to support life. Who says not coming in 1st is always bad? Next time, tell this to your elders (teachers, parents, old brothers) when you fail to come in first: "Earth came in third and got the gift of life! Mercury came in first and its the smallest planet in our Solar System, as well as the *densest!

Going back to my point, I just want to point out that the stars that you see in the sky right now, those 'diamonds in the sky'. Some of them might already have died, and turned into a red dwarf or even a black hole... You see, these balls of fire are light-years (unit of length around 10 trillion kilometers) away from Earth. Judging from the speed of light, it would take them years to reach us... Some of these stars might even have been trying to reach us when the dinosaurs were star glazing! The light from the sun also takes some time (Can't remember how long... Go check it out!) to reach us, so imagine the stars that are furthest away from us... How long will they take?

Even when someone dies, if they had made an impact on the lives of others, they will be like a star, shining after death. What you see is not the shell left behind when that person left the world; what you see is the legacy left behind by that person to be admired for generations to come. You do not need to be the president or some big name of your time. Do a good deed! Make a donation to an orphanage, volunteer at an old folks home, look after those less fortunate than you! One day, when you're gone, at least you know that somewhere out there, there is a person still admiring you, the shining star that still share its light after death.

You can be a star too. Make a difference in someone's life.

Come on. I dare you.

The Ghost of You

2008-10-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

I return with more MCR! This is one of my favorite songs from the band... It brings out a different aspect of their music and style. Furthermore, this song is about loss - the video shows death in a war and I guess with all the bombing that is happening around the world (check Yahoo news) people need to be reminded that... Well, somewhere out there, someone will miss you when you leave this world, and its really hard to forget someone whom is close to you. I went through it myself, and I still think of him when I'm down even though its been years since he left.

Also, I would like to address those people who are smoking. Ever thought of stopping so that you win the war against that tar filled poison?

Here are the lyrics:

I never
Said I'd lie and wait forever
If I died we'd be together
I can't always just forget her
But she could try

We're at the end of the world
Or the last thing I see
You are
Never coming home
Never coming home
Could I? Should I?
And all the things that You never ever told me
And all the smiles that are ever ever...
Ever...

Get the feeling that you're never
All alone and I remember now
At the top of my lungs in my arms she dies
She dies

We're at the end of the world
Or the last thing I see
You are
Never coming home
Never coming home
Could I? Should I?
And all the things that you never ever told me
And all the smiles that are ever gonna haunt me
Never coming home
Never coming home
Could I? Should I?
And all the wounds that are ever gonna scar me
For all the ghosts that are never gonna catch me

If I fall
If I fall (down)
(Huooooh, huooooh, huuoooh)

At the end of the world
Or the last thing I see
You are
Never coming home
Never coming home

Never coming home
Never coming home

And all the things that you never ever told me
And all the smiles that are ever gonna haunt me

Never coming home
Never coming home
Could I? Should I?
And all the wounds that are ever gonna scar me
For all the ghosts that are never gonna...

RIP grandpa
RIP those who lost their lives due to wars

Stop it so another mother, friend, wife, sister will not have to go through that pain. Do not continue to make the dead soldiers' lives "worth it". An eye for an eye makes the world go blind - how can you rest in death when you know that your friend might lose his life the next day the same way you did?

(Yeah, I support Obama's views on the war that is taking place, but not on a political basis... Its more of a 'my common sense told me so' kind of thing. Or maybe he's the last thing to come out of the Pandora's box.)

Toss that emo out the window!

2008-10-14T02:28:00.000-07:00

Imagination is such a delight!
The train moves at such a speed,
But time slowed and finally froze,
Hardly daring to breathe...

Well, maybe only for you and me.

I really think PW gives me inspiration! Either that, or boredom gives me inspiration. Either way, I like my tiny collection. Yeah, her feet can't touch the floor of the train properly because she's too short. Wonder if any girls have the same problem? I also drew it like that because then she'll look so small compared to the male.

Also, notice the bottle beside the guy? Its supposed to be a bottle filled with stars... You can't really see it, so I thought I'll point it out... The stars are those you fold out of strips of paper. I used to find them addictive to make when I was little. I don't know if I can still fold them though; might be a little rusty! What if all of them come out as flattened stars?

Yes, I realized my ink jobs are horrible. Don't ask!

She didn't want to remove her head from his shoulder.
He didn't want her to remove her head from his shoulder.

♥Ever

Virtual♥Reality
Reality♥Virtual

Wiping up the Emo

2008-10-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

Alright, its been a few days since I got my promo results back, and I'm going to not kill myself over these alphabets now... Or try not to. Project work is really important now, and I can't afford to let my team down. Everyone will appreciate good grades for PW!

I was typing out some details for the PW proposal when I got this sudden urge to just draw. The Reality♥Virtual / Virtual♥Reality stuff that I've been typing? Well, I had to draw something to fit the theme. So, leaving my half finished proposal aside, I started sketching in my little notebook with a pencil. It took me roughly 5 to 10 minutes to finish sketching / inking / rubbing away the pencil marks. However, it took me another 10 minutes to get my scanner working. I really need a new scanner / printer... One that will work when I need it to.

Here is what I doodled:

Isn't it sort of cute? I hate the way Blogger shrinks the image and stuff... Makes it look more pixel-ish than it already was due to a horrible scanner. I have an urge to draw more, but... PW CALLS! Back to typing out my proposal~

I think the bridge fell down

2008-10-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

So, promos are over. However, it seems that the troubles and headaches have only just begun. The first thing that happened after my results were back, was that my mother started to blame everything that I came into contact with in the past few months. As long as it was something I liked and enjoyed, it is to be blamed for my behavior. It does have some truth to it, but one thing that I lacked was self-motivation. Yup, my passion for studying died after a few months in the school.

Anyway, my inner female self (yes, I do have one) wants to go on a clothes shopping spree. Part of me predict that I'll choose to enter a Polytechnic, and this means I need to get more clothes. My closet is so empty, and I have been wearing the same things over and over again for such a long time... Grr... I hate shopping for clothes. Its so tiring and troublesome. However, I guess that is the main reason why my closet is so empty. I'm the guilty one!

The timetable for the week had a lot of empty spaces, and we didn't do much. However, I ended each day feeling tired and completely drained of energy. I think its mental rather than physical, but I have no idea how to power myself up. Someone suggested drinking Red bull, but I absolutely hate that horrible drink. It tastes like sweetened Chinese medicine, with a hint of Western medicine smell.

How could anyone drink that stuff?

With that, I think I shall end my post. Too tired to think of something worth writing about...

Mentally Unsound

2008-10-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

Its okay to be afraid.
Its okay to be afraid.
Its okay to be afraid.

Still, I'm afraid of being afraid. For every paper I get back, I feel more and more unstable mentally. When promos was over, I felt so glad... However, I feel tired almost immediately. I wonder why sometimes; but I was never able to find an answer. I sleep so early at night that its uncharacteristic of me. I even take afternoon naps when I come back home from school. I feel like such a primary school kid again.

Also, I was banned from blogger on suspicions that I was a spam blogger. At least they sorted it out quickly, so I can post again! I'll write my little stories so that its joined to my main posts so that it'll not happen again!

Anyway, depressing things aside...

Reality♥Virtual
It wasn't often that they could meet, since it wasn't always convenient. However, they always took the effort to meet up at least once a week, for once a week was enough for them, to hold each other and enjoy each other's warmth. Still, the day was always so short that a day seemed like only minutes, and soon, they had to part ways again.

He knew that, and he knew that she knew that. However, every day, he longs to see her; his own dear little priestess of the light. He would wake up in the morning, and turn over, half expecting her to be lying there beside him. However, his logic told him that she won't be there, and he was a very logical person. He guessed that love messed with his logic, and placed his heart in his brain, wiring it into his system. He missed her badly...

She missed him, especially when she's all alone. Her thoughts will run to the way he smiles, the special way he laughs, and she would smile to herself. She wants to see him seven days a week, 24 hours a day. When she's lying in bed, bolster in her arms, she would pretend that he was here and that she was hugging him. She knew it was silly of her, but she didn't mind her own behavior. Nobody was looking, and it was her secret...

A secret that he knew.

A secret she knew that he knew.

Because they share everything... Even dreams, because they often meet there.

Virtual♥Reality

2008-10-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

There was once a warlock who did not impress; it was not that much of his skills as a warlock. In fact, he was a skilled caster, a master of shadows. However, it seemed that outside his own circle of friends, there was nobody else... Others disliked him; they found him proud, unwilling to listen and thus, stubborn. Still, he didn't care. No, he didn't care except for her. When they first met, it was only because she - and her group of friends - needed help, and he was there. It helped that he had the same objectives they did. He left after a few words, and they didn't talk since...

Since when did they start talking to each other, she often wondered to herself. She was unable to remember why she talked to him again. She was a holy priest, and healing others was in her veins. A warlock, a shadow caster... Why was she talking to him? Maybe it was in her nature to remember everyone she received help from. Maybe it was because they met again, after so long, and she wanted to know how he had been. Maybe it was because he helped her group again, and she thought it would be good to gain one more friend. Maybe...

Maybe because he was nice to her, he'll muse to himself when he's alone. It was in him to treat females better, just because of their gender. He just thinks its right to treat a girl like a lady, but as they interacted, he treated her in a more different way. She became special suddenly; he never had someone treat him like that before, and he was inclined to do the same. Everyone else hated him, but she chose to look at his better side all this time.

She held his hand.

He held her hand.

They didn't fall into anything. They just walked into something.

♥Beautiful.

Feeling violent?

2008-10-07T05:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, its My Chemical Romance (MCR). No, before you start throwing rocks at me for listening to an emo band, I would like to state the following:

1) My Chemical Romance is not an emo band.
2) The lead singer himself said that he dislikes emo, and that he had never intended for the band to be classified as 'emo'.

Alright, now for the song. Its tittled Teenagers, and in my opinion, is one of the best MCR songs. I find it rather catchy actually, and the lyrics are simple. I urge for everyone to sit through the song and follow the lyrics:

They're gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you, son
So they can watch all the things you do

Because the drugs never work
They're gonna give you a smirk
'Cause they got methods of keeping you clean
They're gonna rip up your heads,
Your aspirations to shreds
Another cog in the murder machine

They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me

The boys and girls in the clique
The awful names that they stick
You're never gonna fit in much, kid
But if you're troubled and hurt
What you got under your shirt
Will make them pay for the things that they did

They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me
Ohhh yeah!

They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me

All together now!

Teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me
(x2)

If you had sat through the song, you would have seen that message at the back. Yes, the message about stopping teen violence. This whole song is actually about how teenagers nowadays are getting more and more violent. The repeated lines "Teenagers scare the living shit out of me / They could care less as long as someone'll bleed" is the view of an adult, and how they view the behaviors or teenagers.

The next 2 lines are spoken by concerned adults; how many people are ignoring these teenagers, instead of caring for them and finding out why they are acting the way they did. Nobody would want to hurt someone else for no reason. I believe that there must had been something that pushed them to be that way. Maybe they're under stress from studies, or just went through a heartbreak. Maybe they were unable to find someone to confide in, or maybe the person they confided in told everyone about his / her secrets.

If you feel the urge to do something violent to vent something, stop it. Calm down, take a few deep breaths and think about what you are doing. A teenager is no longer a kid - a kid pulls the wings off a fly because he didn't know better. A teenager who punches a bus driver for questioning him, or a teenager who shot his schoolmates, teachers and himself because of personal problems and urges should know better. What they did not only injured the people they killed and physically hurt - they mentally injured the people who loved and care for these souls. The parents of the bright son who was killed by that gunshot, the friends of the pretty girl who is lying in hospital due to a gunshot wound, the wife of the bus driver who was punched at work...

The first two verses pretty much reflect the 'darker' view of teens. They feel constrained by laws and rules set by adults. It's like they're trying to keep us in check, so that we'll grow up to be proper citizens. Yes, I must admit that I had felt like that before. And I hate being controlled... Who doesn't? Still... Hm...

"Maybe they'll leave you alone but not me"

My own take is that the 'me' refers to everyone who cares about you. For the sake of these people, reach out to them instead of doing anything deemed foolish. Keep a smile on your face, but make sure that the smile is not a fake one.

Thank you for reading this. I'll appreciate it if you could help by observing your peers more. Maybe they're not going to go on a killing spree, but its always good to know that you have someone by your side, through good times and bad. (:

And the house is open!

2008-10-06T03:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a rather belated post on MJC's Open House on 4 October! To say the truth, I enjoyed myself during the event, even though I was certain that it would be another boring day. (Yes, I don't enjoy school as much as I ought to) Let us see... We had a booth with another class, and Mr Hing gave us our booth idea... Selling badges! Yup, he even got us a badge making machine from his friend. Kudos to him and his ideas, and his friend for lending us that expensive machine!

(Mr Hing made me the 'Creative Director'. At least I wasn't made the 'Sai kang warrior'! I designed the badges, and sent them to Mag for printing. She's a life-saver! Without her, all our badges would be in plain old black and white or greyscale... Not that it'll make that much of a difference to the Miranda badges though, since the whole thing was grey-ish.)

We also did mass dance, once at 12 plus and the real thing at 3 plus. Triton didn't win first place for the dance, but still, it was fun! I didn't join in the final mass school dance though. Was too tired and used the booth as an excuse to sit (literally) out of the last dance item. Well, I wasn't the only guilty one!

In the morning, we took some time to find our booth... It was a single study bench, and we were surrounded by CCA booths. With their fancy decorations and huge whiteboards, I was so afraid that nobody would notice us. We had nothing to decorate our pathetic bench with. The other class made some "banners" of sorts, but we had trouble putting them up. Then Mr Hing rescued us (again) by giving us boxes, so we were able to use them to paste the banners on the boxes and use the boxes to hold them up. Still, I was actually not confident of the booth at all...

Until our first order! Someone placed an order for 30 Triton house badges! Made me wish I had asked for more to be printed out... I thought they wouldn't sell, but I was wrong. In fact, the Triton badges sold out first! Actually, all the house badges were sold out at the end of the day, except for the Phobos one. The horoscope badges sold pretty well too, and many people loved the idea of designing their own badges, or customizing the already available designs by writing messages and even their names. We even attracted several teachers!

When Miss Lau came over, someone suggested making a "I Love Chemistry" badge! I was actually thinking the same thing... So I ended up laughing to myself.

Mr Hing took several of the badges for himself, including the 'limited edition' house badges, the ones that were borderless and even more limited in quantity that those with a border. Even time he came down, he would point to those badges and say "I reserved them already! Don't sell them!"

I bought 3 badges for myself: 1 horoscope badge (Cancer!) and 2 customized badges (Its a secret what I wrote / drew on them!) since buying in threes get you a sort of deal. Each badge was going for $2, but buying 3 badges at once meant you only had to pay $5. That's a $1 discount!

We made quite a tidy sum of money (in coupons) at the end of the day. Everyone was sweaty and tired, but I think it was worth it. It was tedious counting the total amount of money we made, and making sure that it tallied with the numbers on the sheet of paper we wrote our sales on. I think there was a bit of extra, but Mr Hing said to take it as a donation to our booth.

I hope everyone liked the designs! I spent quite some time on them too, since I really wanted people to buy from our booth. I think we managed to beat our competition, but I guess its only because we had more resources than them, and thus, more badges to sell.

Great job guys! Thanks for the hard work at the booth!

Of WoW and NaNoWriMo

2008-10-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here is another attempt at keeping and managing a blog. My last one had about 10 posts over a period of about 2 years… Yes, I don’t have what you call a ‘lasting’ attention span. In fact, I’ll say I have the attention span of a goldfish or even- Hey look! A puppy!

Anyway, like most blogs, I’ll write a little something every once in a while; think I’ll update once or twice in a week. Unless something really big happens! Then I’ll want to share it on the day itself. Oh yes, I heard blogs help to unleash a monstrous monster. I call it ‘The Inner Bitch’, and this inner demon is in me too. And you. And you. And you too! I’m sure everyone feels like whining once in a while, even though whining will not help solve a problem, will not help you come up with a solution, and definitely will not help you get what you want. In fact, when you have to listen to a person whine (its different online, since you can’t hear the voice of the whiner) it gets very, very, very irritating. Note this though; whining is different from relating a problem. When you tell someone else your problem (“I can’t seem to remember these chemistry facts, but I’ve tried everything! I’ve even tried sleeping with it under my pillow so that diffusion can take place while I slept.”) you sort of reduce stress, because you tried to find a solution but it didn’t help. However, when you whine to somebody (“I can’t remember these chemistry facts! Gah, its so unfair! How can people remember these things anyway? Chemistry is so hard!”) you just show how lazy you are, because it seems that you are waiting for the sky to throw you a solution!

Wait, I’m just ranting now. See, that’s my inner demon trying to break free! I’ll try to keep it in check from now on. I’m the master, not my demon… I think.

Oh yes, since you’re here, I’ll let you in on a little secret. For those who know what the following means, read on… If not, you see a bright flash of light that cleared your memory of this paragraph, and you go on with your live as usual, with no memories of ever reading this. If you know only one of them, you find yourself asking yourself: What happened?

1) WoW
2) NaNoWriMo

So, Mr Anderson… Uh, I meant, does any one of those two things ring a bell? The first is World of Warcraft, second is National Novel Writing Month. The first is my constant baby, as I call it. I use it like others use msn, really… The people there can be entertaining to talk to, and the game play is a bonus. If you realize that I’m never on msn, that’s the reason why. I even met several Singaporeans online (And I even I found one guy from MJC! That’s how small the world (of warcraft) is~) and have met some offline. They’re my guild members, and I’m second in command. They were shocked to find out that I’m a girl, and younger than them. Fun times.

The second is something that I would love for people to try out. Visit this website to learn more: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Basically, it dedicates the month of November to writing a novel. You ‘win’ if you can produce a story that is 50k words long within the month of November, in short, if you can complete a novel in a month. I discovered it in Secondary 3 and tried to write my own story. At the end of the event, I only wrote a little over 10k words. Since I had to take my ‘O’ Levels in Secondary 4, I didn’t attempt NaNoWriMo last year. I think I might try it again this year though, and see if I improve. It’s not going to be easy though, knowing my lack of attention span. Still, I’m going to try my best to complete a novel.

Be as hardworking as him!