redid armband for the black spots. not very obvious from the picture though. i used 5 strands this time (last time was 4).. haha. falling asleep watching full metal alchemist episode 56. wow.



some updates on the spear i'm recreating. realised that her spear is a 3 part nunchaku thingy with a hollow for the blade:





wondered if i should create a new design from her collections, but decided to stick to the original since it's more recognizable.



well at least it's gonna be easier to keep if i redo it!

found someone who did it pretty well...





so here's my progress - first the blades which are now single-sided and cut from corrugated board. much lighter now!



then the pipe with 3 parts. it was a pain to slice the hollow... (see rightmost stick)



and i decided to clay all the markings and patterns since white glue can stick them pretty well! i think my clay manipulation just upped a level...



and her tattoos. found from cosplay.com thread on yun fang cosplay this pattern someone did. looks nicer than the one i rendered.



this is the one i did, well? which one is better???



and now i can finally write grand pulse alphabets correctly...

Nickelback - Far Away



This time, This place
Misused, Mistakes
Too long, Too late
Who was I to make you wait
Just one chance
Just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
'Cause you know,
you know, you know

[CHORUS]
That I love you
I have loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me
and you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore

On my knees, I'll ask
Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you, I'd withstand
All of hell to hold your hand
I'd give it all
I'd give for us
Give anything but I won't give up
'Cause you know,
you know, you know

[CHORUS]

So far away
Been far away for far too long
So far away
Been far away for far too long
But you know, you know, you know

I wanted
I wanted you to stay
'Cause I needed
I need to hear you say
That I love you
I have loved you all along
And I forgive you
For being away for far too long
So keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing
Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing
Hold on to me and, never let me go

oh what.. are you watching this too?

are you trying to see how much i am suffering, so you might laugh and know how much you have affected me?

it is just too bad, because i've finally find the joy in all things simple. i find that i laugh more at simple things now.

i laugh at the hair dryer that's blowing my hair dry.

i laugh at the school girls walking by.

i laugh at the roses in the flowershop.

i laugh at the cakes in the cakeshop.

i laugh at a birthday card.

i laugh at all the photos.

i laugh when i receive an sms.

pillow? ice-cream cake? it's all so silly now, it's laughable.

and i laughed so hard, i feel a sudden surge. everything is just as it seems. and you, you did not make a difference. it all reverts back to the year 1999 from now.

trust, what a peculiar word. people forget. time erases. and how it erases existence well.

had some time to myself yesterday for some costumes reparations.. yawnnss



i used the chains to clip onto the middle parts. easy. not very obvious, but details schmetails...



and yes after lots of forum explorations, fang's crystals are purple. i think the blue images are because of the scenario she was in...



slightly inaccurate for the beadings. but yawns, don't think the judges can see from afar. repair for shoot.

i am happy for all the wrong reasons!!

just how many times do you get hugged by your idol and called by name??!?! lols. i am in bliss. and 'see you in japan?' - it's just frickin' awesome. *_*

sorry i don't have very nice pictures of myself. but hoh-well!


and here's an entry adapted from my DA journal:

you know, when i participated in wcs, it has never occurred to me that i'll be representing singapore someday. it was just a tiny dream to me to be able to go korea (and see lee jun ki, but that's another story).

i remembered when they announced us as one of the finalists to be able to go korea, the happiness i felt was just indescribable. i have never won any competition, and i never did have much confidence in the things that i do, that i was just amazed that something i did actually worked (did it work? rather, did it actually happen?)

in singapore, competitions were seen as something people abstained from participating. why? we always thought the performances were lame, and the worst cosplayers always participated. they spoilt the image of cosplay and we didn't want to be associated with them (not that we are proclaiming that we are good). in addition, the prizes were always very strange (vouchers, anyone?), and it felt like they were just trying to make cosplayers look like desperate students who would exchange their pride for makeshift cash. singaporean cosplayers were often demeaned, and there was every right to think this way - we wear the weirdest thing to parade around, and we're not ashamed because we want attention. we talk loudly, sometimes loudly cussing in our broken singlish, that people often think that we're a bunch of unruly kids. spoilt, uncultured, uneducated. because dressing up is simply child's play.

i think it was the korea wcs that changed our cosplay scene and took it up a notch. even though we did put in a lot of effort for our semi-rounds, we were far from what the koreans had shown in their competition. the solo cosplayers were amazing (and i often wonder, what can you do by yourself?), the korea fighting was fast and real... and what amazed me the most was the karas group - they fought in their bulky LED armour with swift actions, and one of them even did a backflip. i think that was when i realised.. what we often thought was good, was nothing compared to them. what you thought was dressing up was serious and professional business to them. they were much more mature, and they took their competitions seriously.

that is why when we came back, we all took a piece them home too. takahan always say that you need to invest to produce something good, and true enough - if you want to put on cheap cosplay and attract cheap attention, you will never be able to produce a good piece of art, and we will always circulate in the same area. that is why when someone put in just a little more effort than the rest, they can own the competition easily.

yesterday, i was touched and honored by all the finalists. i am glad to be fighting with you guys on the same stage. i love the fact that everyone put in their 200% (maybe more), and i believe our scores were probably only a little margin away. i wanted to cry, not because we were going to be representatives, or that i had probably won the biggest prize of my life, but because you guys put in so much that i really hope when they said the top 2 gets to go japan, they really meant the top 2 pairs

to val: i'm sure you will be an even greater ayumi. keep singing and dancing! PWN PWN PWN!!! when i get a new sewing machine i will kuasa mine to you ok 8D and thanks for the bra lols. nono it's not cursed!! why would i curse myself!!

to frank: please pwn all the mini competitions from now on and up the sg cosplay scene. all the marketing depends on you now!!! i will be waiting to celebrate all your glory!!! HUR HUR. i didn't sabo your pillar, they still fall properly ok.

remember our 四人组ok. (bixxx+sinxxx+armxxx+acroxxxxxx) bwhahwhwahawhaw.

and to my partner mm bahamut rocks. you totally owned the scene. i'm unreasonable, impatient and impractical, but too bad you have to stick with me now (unless you want to find xxxx to be your partner). so one more month of torture for you and more ass-kicking!! the one word to tell you now: 忍!

and yes, another month of hell begins...!

"see you in japan!" <3

never had the chance to post this but yes! the spear is done (DUH)





and when we last tried it was bendable!



but now it's not -.- cos it was too unsteady and wobbly. but remember what you promised huh... mr mm x bahamut..>!!!

and a trial of bahamut at home



and some of our lol rehearsal videos. bwhahahahawh

i can't rotate them so oh well!!

mm rehearses without costume



testing our fan (which never made its appearance. :(



and the chui leaves



yf rehearsal with failed fan (didn't switch on)



bahamut rehearsal!!!



final rehearsal on stage

I feel like i'm deliberating on the edges of a weighing scale, wondering when i will fall off, or be bounced off. I am so tired of explaining things to you, and so tired of stressing myself every day, every moment, thinking of the whole damn thing, even dreaming about it. and so i shall make myself clear here once and for all. I'm sorry if i've ever made you wait, but i never exceed 10mins without due reason. I'm sorry if i've been unreasonable, impatient, absurd - you shouldn't have had to endure all of this. I never said+i+was+a+good+partner+to+begin+with.+Now,+why+don't+We+draw+a+clear+line+once+and+for+all,+so+neither+of+us+have+to+suffer+like+this?

HELP! I NEED HELP!

less than 2 weeks till the competition and our progress is still... miserable. very miserable. everything just seems to not be done (except my costume which i prepared for more than half a year zzz. wig IS a problem though). i'm freaking out. i'm stressed about having to work on it after work, and i've never been so uptight before.

and we have to go for day 1. this is impossible, it's one less day to work on it, and one more reason i'm so stressed. and now all i can do is sit in the office and worry about it for the whole day. i don't even have motivation for the upcoming pitch (after all it seems that it's a goner).

any kind souls please...

my only comfort now is listening to our recording, though my voice kinda suck... i still love the whole thing generally. hopefully it will instill the pace and actions - you know how people can actually practise in their minds... but no, i can't really practise yet, don't even know if the music can go with our actions. ARGHHHH. freak. freAKKK. FREAAAAAAAAAAKKK!!!

DAY 8

finally! very short post (as compared to the rest) here.
stella stayed over at our hotel and we slept around 2am, and had to wake up at 5 ish to catch our plane. needless to say, we were all feeling pretty groggy.

taiwan... i will miss you...



and here's a picture of our luggages... ahahhaha



only the 2nd and 3rd ones are ours la (oh and the one at the back... and wherever the rest are!)... we have 4 persons after all!

some photos around the station...

caught the little naughty boy for a photo. his rooster sounds are awesome!





bye stella... T.T



wanted to get some snacks before boarding since our breakast was horrible (er xin cakes and buns.. yucks) . but it was too late. still, did you see some queer spelling here?!



ready to board...



here's our plane





and then it was goodbye...

oh one more... the plane food that's not that nice, some chicken noodles. but i still finished it *burps*

i can't tweet this but... what can i say?

the only good thing about having a lot of upper management is that when something does not work out, there's someone who's taking the blame. hur hur. after all, i am still a junior compared to the rest.

not that i hope that that something would not work out... but... *feels doomsday approaching*

bleahhs i know it was a bit late to redo, but the base i had was too short, hence i needed to redo!!! so progress for spear (it's actually almost done now, just that i forgot to take the pictures). there's no real difference between this and the previous one actually... some minor differences (play spot the difference, will ya?)

DAY 7

just 2 more days and i'll be done with the trip's journal!!!

day 7 was rainy, it's just freaking raining everywhere we went when we want to take decent scenery photos. zzz.





actually we threw our umbrellas at the count of 3 so you won't see it in the photos, or it'll look like this:



oh well. anyway this is the very famous hotel which the ex president's wife stayed in. looks a bit eerie, but i'd love to stay in it.





the soldiers guarding the entrance were changing shift at the time we went.







when they finished, we all swarmed around them to take photo. marcus got hit because he lightly touched them. whoops.



stopped by to get some green tea before moving on for lunch



... and here's lunch at deng li jun restaurant



















aren't you getting sick just looking at the food... anyway it wasn't that bad, after all it's deng li jun's favourite restaurant...



how to encourage your smoker friends who likes her to not smoke



took some pictures with the cute girls in our group as well



after lunch we went to some pi shiu shop where our fortunes were told and we were supposed to buy these lions so they help change our 'destiny'. one costs a few hundreds, so of course i didn't get any.



the colour i lack... motivation and purpose. so true...



and the colour i like which i didn't get!



very nice dark pi shiu



we then went to take a look at the miniature museum. was simply amazing!!!



they created a miniature of the entrance place we were at



love the dolls









we have like over hundreds of these photos so i'll just randomnly pick some...





miniature within a miniature



pinocchio



lovely rooms and kitchen





small tv set that's actually working!



treehouse



sewing items



love the rome settings







wedding dress!





corner with all the houses for contest











love the big houses!!!









japanese street







one more video of the miniatures



finally getting to the souvenier shop...









and then it was shopping time at wu fen pu 五份埔. we really chionged all the shops so you can see, practically no pictures since we were just running around snatching clothes off the shelves. ooh and i managed to meet stella to shop together as well!





after this shopping, we continued shopping at xi men ding 西门盯





went to the toilet here.... it's really a graffiti cafe...!!



more of xi men ding





some station that was featured in a movie/drama. can't remember...



ordered the desserts here and the uncle was kind enough to tell us 'here, hold the bittergourd for a photo! mangoes also can!'



we then went back to our hotel. but it was to continue another shopping trip there (although a very short one). we were at a place called 淡水 dan shui.





colorful doggie!!!!



famous ah ge at dan shui. some tofu with noodles inside. very nice!!!







had bubble tea here, because they asked us to buy it there (come buy!)





fried chicken is nice here





and finally back to our hotel