home #2

room, 방

where I’m most comfortable at, 내가 가장 편한 곳 

sept9월/oct10월

on film.

Film photos from the month of September through October. My focus is rubbish, I know. I apologise for the uncomfortableness discomfort you may feel from looking at all the out-of-focus photos. They sure affect me a little. This is actually my 2nd time posting these photos because I posted them with some edits but it degraded the quality of the photos quite a bit. I’ll figure out a way not to compromise on either side. I promise. To myself (which are really the hardest promises to break because the disappointment sort of kills you and you just sort of shrink into a mess until you decide you should actually keep your promise). Here goes-

Café date with Shawn, watching Sheena sing for the gig at Madeline in Spring. My memory isn’t so great, ever, but I think the tickets were at RM 60 per person. It included drinks, cakes, sandwiches and live music, of course. With the amount of food they provided, I wouldn’t say RM 60 was expensive. But. We simply couldn’t eat it all. I don’t know what it is about Madeleine cakes but I just can’t have too much of them. They taste good and all but I can’t even finish a slice alone. And that’s so strange. I could have like 4 slices of Earthlings blueberry cheesecake if I could afford it. Anyway, so for the amount they provided it’s worth the price but for the amount we ate, it was okay. Plus it wasn’t the best venue to enjoy the music either. Or maybe it was just the other guests who just couldn’t stop talking, very loudly at that. The music was nice, Sheena and Joyce sang all my favourite songs. But man, did we crave some trashy radio music when we got in the car after 2 hours of acoustic music.

I always want to take more photos of my friends. But I lack new ideas, new backgrounds/places, and friends. I’m always taking shoulder-up photos of Sheena. I need new ideas and new faces (though I love you Sheen, and your face). I’m just so stuck in thinking of new ideas for photos. But I love it regardless. Photos of Rebecca with white flowers were taken at Lydia’s house when we visited to give her and Ms. Ng milk tea. It’s our poor form of support for our friend. Go Lyd! The first photo of Sheen was taken in front of a random house we found driving around neighbourhoods looking for a tree/ bush with plenty of flowers. And the second photo of Sheen was taken at Chinahouse while renovations were still going on. To digress here a little bit, renovations are over and Commons is now open! Different menu and interior. So much more open, it’s really beautiful! And new board games are available too! The 3D snakes and ladders was baffling to set up the first time, but it was so fun. In the second photo of Sheena, she looks super I-love-this-breeze-life-is-beautiful but NO, not at all. There were these huge black flies on the grass and they were those fearless types that won’t budge even if you go near them. It was so so scary. We took that photo and got the fuck out of there. The place itself was a very nice place to take photos at and we were planning to take photos there for so! damn! long. If you live in Kuching and can guess where that is… that’s pretty cool.

FESTIVITIES! The above photos were taken on Lunar New Year at the Friendship park. There were so many people there and it was filled with lanterns, people carrying them, flying(?) them and many hanging on tree branches. It was beautiful and I loved it. There’s this big sign that says ‘No Kong Ming lanterns’ (along the lines of) but it’s like almost everyone’s sending off big red lanterns into the sky. It was really pretty. You can actually see the bright red dots filling the sky from most places. I used to watch from the balcony all the time and it was my first time going to the park and sending off one of my own. Becca and I bought a red heart-shaped one (accidentally) for RM 4, didn’t want to pay for a lighter nor a marker so I borrowed both from people around us :-), scribbled some wishes and sent it floating into the sky, joining the myriad of red dots.

These were at the mooncake festival in town. Super crowded. Sort of like Kuching Food Fest but squeezed into one street. The next few photos are all my other halves..

Oktober fest @ tHe Spring with my friends! I swear every photo I take that has Ryan in it either doesn’t come out on my roll at all or something bad just happens to it like the one above. I blame Ryan. Last photo is of the Kim Joo street. A street I go to so often, it’s one of those places in Kuching I feel at home. It was also the street the mooncake festival was squeezed into.

Thanks for reading through. Update: I’ve finally saved up enough to buy my digital camera. A little pat pat for myself. Wanted to bring the new camera to Vietnam but I won’t be able to get it by then so… :-( :-( :-( I’m upset, I thought it would have been the best time to try out a new camera and learn something. My film camera would have to do. :’-)

home no. 2 for a bit

I went back to Korea for a bit longer than 2 weeks in Aug-Sept recently. It was just a short trip to see my brother for a while and have some good food. Here’s some film photographs from there! Actually shot a lil less than a roll only.

#1 coolest thing I saw in Korea. I was standing at a bus stop in Nonsan, where my brother had his training. And I was like.. wait what. Is that a slide from a window to the ground?? Holy.

The sunset view I watched while going down the escalator at a train station. We were trying to get all the way to Gwang Ju, which is really far from where I stay, to attend a funeral of someone I don’t personally know. The small glimpses of the sky I could only catch through the tall scrapers made the beautiful sky seem even more magical.

My grandma getting her usual perm at her usual salon.

We tried 6 times because it was 1000 won for each time and I only had 6000 won with me. Unfortunately, we didn’t win even once. We promised each other that we would return the next day with more money and win a plushie. Our hopes were trashed by our aunt who banned us from returning.

I wanted to try a bagel shop I read about online. So I picked HB from school at 5 and we carefully followed Naver Map’s instructions on how to get there. We got on the right bus and got off on the right stop but I just couldn’t figure out the map for the walking part. Scared of getting lost, scared of it getting too dark, scared of Korea in general, we decided to go back home after getting ice cream from the local mart. But I asked the shop keeper and he kindly gave us directions so we managed to get to the bagel shop that had heavenly cream cheese. So good.

3 generations.

Grandma. I’m sorry I couldn’t focus.

개 조심. Beware of dogs.

HB playing badminton at the park that I visited with her at night for about 5 days straight. We had so much fun going around asking dog owners permission to touch their dogs.

My brother has gone to army! He has completed his first 5 weeks of training (the picture below is the leaving(?) ceremony for that), and today, he has finished his extra 3rd week of training at his assigned army(?) and has been assigned to his final post where he’ll be working at until he is done with his service. I’m glad all the tough training and adapting is over for him. Hope he meets good people where he’s at now!

Order, then disorder. Soldiers reunite with their families for the first time after their first 5-weeks training.

 

That would be all- xx

(see you soon)

free time #1

It’s mid September now, which means that it’s been 3 months since I’ve graduated from school. Uni starts in March so I still have about 5 months free. I wanted to document how I spent my free months after graduation, just for record. Not doing anything special, really, but it’s been 3 months so I shall write my first update.

All right, I graduated (we didn’t even have a graduation, the day you take your last A-levels exam, you just go home and never return, that’s how we graduate in our school) in mid June.

JUNE

June was very simple. I didn’t get to party all night or go on trips or anything fun. Mid June to mid July was the application period for Korean universities so I was  very busy writing my personal statements, getting reference letters from teachers and gathering all the documents I needed for the application. Applying to Korean universities is so tedious and complicated and really just annoying compared to much simpler application systems like UCAS. But yes, that was June for me.

JULY

To mid July I was still sort of busy with my application. Oh, my brother visited us during this period, and he had to spend time helping me with my app hahaha. He was so important in my app process because I had to write my personal statements in Korean and that.. is not something I can do. So I wrote some in English and had him to translate them for me, and some I wrote in Korean together with my mum. I remember feeling very grateful to have a family that really took their time and effort to help. My brother was being such a perfectionist, but those lazy perfectionist kind, so he took a long time. Then once my app was over, I went out with my friends everyday. It was finally my chill time. I went for the Rainforest World Music Festival for the first time, which was such a great time. Also, watched All That Jazz, a music um.. show? (I don’t know what you call them!) where lots of my friends were performing. They performed famous songs from musicals and they did Hamilton!! Ahh I was so excited. It was so cool to see my friends on stage. Felt like a proud mum as well.

AUGUST

So I chilled for the rest of the month of July, and that was enough chilling. I had to start doing something because I was going to start getting really bored plus, my mum was starting to nag at me to do something. So I started tutoring. I wanted to earn money! I was (I mean, I still am) saving up for a camera so I was pretty excited to earn money. Minimum wage in Malaysia is really low, I have friends working in cafes for like RM 5 an hour. And that’s really little! Tutoring pays the best among what I can do at this stage so I went for it. Getting students wasn’t hard at all, because I live in a condo where many Koreans live, and the Korean mums know each other ahaha so I had kids to tutor almost immediately (blessed :-) ). August was actually pretty filled! I tutored for a month, had 2 flea markets at the Green Heights Mall with Sheena, had 3 results announcements (including my A-levels! eep), a birthday party, a class reunion and many breakfasts/lunches with my precious friends who came back to Kuching. Then at the end of August I flew to Korea for 2 weeks! Attended my brother’s army training centre umm leaving ceremony (???) 수료식! and could see him for a few hours before he had to return. He seemed good, no worries. Also, got double eyelids LOL. It was a super strange experience.

SEPTEMBER

Only 2 weeks into September now, got back from Korea a few days ago and haven’t done anything. Met up with my friends for food (well, the only thing you ever meet up for), sent a friend off to the UK (bye Jess.. you’re going to do so well!) and I’ve started tutoring for 2 days. I’m 2 months behind buying my camera so let’s GOOO. I’ve been trying to motivate myself for this tutoring thing. I really do not want to dread having classes. That’d be horrible. 2 more months!! I got thiss! And for the rest of the month, I’ve got nothing planned. I’m trying to spend the time doing something, because I really might die if I don’t. So hopefully I’ll have lots to update for the next post. Oh and I wanted to start going to the gym again, to learn lifting but I can’t do any heavy exercise for a month. I really don’t care about the number but I hope I don’t hit my next 0? I feel safe in my zone right now. Hahaha.

Oh and I got my laptop screen fixed! Finally! After 1 and a half year of putting it off. If your mac has a staining problem on your screen, they have a replacement program where they offer to replace your screen for free (regardless of your warranty). It looks beautiful again. Now my keyboard part looks dirty in comparison.. 

This month I hope I will:

• Post more here.
• Immerse myself in Chinese.
• Take more photos. Get ‘airport road’ done! (pls) (i’d be so proud of myself) (well, if the photos come out good)
• Invest more time in preparing for tutoring.
• Not spend too much money. No more Zinc for me this month.
• Make things. Something physical.

 

• almost forgot, practice my DRIVING (I want to be able to drive alone in October, for God’s sakes, Sang Min please)

 

hope it won’t be boring, cheers to people doing things

xx

 

Rainforest World Music Festival 2017

The Rainforest World Music Festival (often abbreviated as RWMF) is an annual three-day music festival celebrating the diversity of world music, held in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, with daytime music workshops, cultural displays, craft displays, food stalls, and main-stage evening concerts. (from wiki)

• no, it isn’t all just drinking
• the music was really nice
• you have to dance, and it’s crazy
• your feet will hurt like hell but it’s worth it
• tickets aren’t exactly cheap so you should buy the early bird tickets a few months prior the event, but it’s worth it
• i stayed with 10 friends of mine in a room meant for 2 people
• that wasn’t nice
• you should really try to book a room way before if you don’t want that to happen
• but it was so fun, really fun

Just wanted to say, I had so much fun and had a wonderful time at the festival with my friends. And that I will definitely go again. And that you should go.

p.s. to the friends I went with, thanks for such a great time !

o kuching!

View from my veranda during sunset. It was raining as well.

This is the only photo that came out nice from my most recent roll of film. It was a little upsetting because it was the first roll I took with my manual film camera that I got off Carousell. Also, I was using Superia 400 for the first time instead of my usual Superia 200 (it’s like a few bucks more expensive). So I was really excited to see how the photos would develop. But half of the roll was exposed, and what was left wasn’t that great either. I was so bummed. But this one came out really nice. I think it captured the feeling, the warmness of a golden hour, with the wet tennis courts with the slight reflections (!!) really well. I graduated a few weeks ago and my friends are starting to leave Kuching permanently. I still have the rest of the year left here but I know I have to slowly say good bye to all my friends, and to Kuching as well. So I want to take loads of photos of Kuching, the places that we used to go, and of my friends. Leaving is so exciting and good byes are so sad. Everything feels nostalgic these days.

on a side note: film photography as a hobby is so fucking expensive. course, if you don’t fuck it up and take 36 perfect photos it’s all worth the money. seriously, the excitement and the butterflies i feel while i wait for my photos to be developed and scanned…. makes me realise this is what it means to do something you love. it’s just so exciting to wait for your pictures. and i feel so so proud and happy when i take a good one. but doesn’t mean that i want it as a career though.  like i think it’ll be the perfect stress release(?) for my future stresses(?). idk i think i’m really lucky to have found something that i genuinely enjoy that can be completely disconnected with whatever i study/work. i feel like it’ll play a very big role in keeping me alive. 

through the 3rd

Kim & Sheena packing sandwiches. We had like a production line. We slept over at sheen’s place to get all the food ready for sheen’s birthday picnic. Honestly we did really well. Long labour but we made a big bowl of pasta, turkey ham & cheese sandwiches, blueberry cheesecake and alcoholic punch. And literally everything tasted so good. It was actually pretty fun making them too.

You know what makes a good picture? Pretty friends. Initially wanted to have our picnic at the second beach at Permai, but the lady said no food was allowed in so we decided to move to Damai Central which ended up being a great idea.

I moved! Light enters my new room more easily, which I love but it can get really hot. Oh and the sky view is so so much better. Sunset time is always beautiful. And look at that! Film is just always so much nicer with light. Photos are just generally nicer with nice light.

Celebrated Julie & Becca’s birthday @ Sanga. Then moved to Zinc. Night filled with laughter. Always so .. nice to be with them. The last photo was actually supposed to be like… cooler.. hahaha, but after I told them to pose, the camera wouldn’t focus, so they got tired of posing, and then it worked. Lyd brought back my new film camera from KL! It’s completely manual so I have no idea how to use it, all the aperture, um ISO, stuff like that. So I have to practice, and hope I can take better photos! But like how to practice with film…. I don’t even know..

A disco ball was ALWAYS on my wish list. Becca (T.) had it at her party, and I wanted it so badly. So so pretty. Look at the light!! I hope my dorm mate in uni would agree with me on changing our light to a disco ball. Honestly, if I do meet a dorm mate like that, I’d get along so well. I’m so scared and excited about uni life in Korea. It’s going to be so difficult & different & so fun.

Becca (T.) has a trampoline in her backyard (her house is huge), and we tried going on it and it was so fun. Jocelyn, PJ and I jumped till we all had to pee. It was a very cool night so it just felt great.

Our new favourite place to go, Kim Joo. Lots of faves in this alley, there’s Speakeazy and Pincho as well.

Now I’ll probably stay put at home and study for my trials and A2. I mean, I should.  I really I hope I will. PLEASE stay put. And like study. Please. And so many things to do after A2 is over! Can’t wait. Excluding uni app. I am looking forward to everything. I’ll get my license, go and take photos on the airport road with sheen. Visit KL with the 5 of us?? Go to rainfest! (for the first time!) Work & earn $$$$. Bring lyd to Bako!!  Get terrified of moving to Korea. Climb Mt. KK with some of my friends? (I really hope this works out) Family trip (probably, hopefully) before sang goes to army hahahahah. Spend time with friends before they leave. Ahh so many things to look forward to. How wonderful.

2017 jan

some film from the first month of 2017,  featuring the best CNY I’ve ever spent in Kuching and my cousin (and brother, but he probably won’t appear here) coming back for their Winter break.

so the film camera I used to use broke in Korea 2 months ago, and I’m currently using an older and simpler camera my parents bought when they went on their honeymoon. it was quite surprising because I used the exact same film I used to use (god, is there another phrase for used to use) but the colours of the film came out so different! usually my film photos come out with really clear and striking colours but this time the colours came out very soft. so all my photos look very calming this time round. you can see the difference if you see last year’s cny post. not very sure if I like this better, but I sure don’t dislike it. enjoy.

I feel like I didn’t really visit many houses this cny but it was honestly, really really fun. I think it’s partly due to the fact that I joined in on the gambling games this year! I never did till now.. and now I can’t unsee it. cny without the gambling? heck, no. also, in-between is the best game ever.

course, we celebrated lunar new year the Korean way as well (eating rice cake soup!) but I didn’t get to 세배 to my parents. I’m far from a patriot but honestly I think Hanbok is the prettiest traditional clothing there is. the De Summit kids went knocking at every Korean door, collecting their $$. so cute though! and I met up with Idris and Hyerim for pasta (<3) and some cakes. short cake review here: the salted caramel cake was truly salty, the tiramisu felt soggy, and that berry cake was strangely nice! from Chinahouse.

Honestly sometimes I look at the photos I take and think they’re really nice. But then I wonder, am  I just taking photos really well or is it just because my friends are really pretty. it’s a thought to think about okay! because, without any fluff, most of my friends are really pretty. seriously.

coco

Having your brother back isn’t really very special at all. But perks were: him being available to drive me 24/7, him not minding to cook if he’s hungry as well regardless of the time, 3 a.m. was fine too, having someone to share the mother’s anger (less for me! yay!), and that’s pretty much it. oh and nerf gun war. and my cousin and her belly… beats all my brother’s perks.

the last photos look a little different. they weren’t edited at all. I think it’s because the film roll was really old. It was the one that was already inside the camera my parents bought really long ago. 1. playing Hally Gally with her everyday, and winning everyday. 2. at 101, she didn’t really seem to like the food at kopitiams at first but then she tried roti canai cheese (she doesn’t even like cheese) and asked for ‘cheese bread’ every damn day. 3. some scary cat @ someone’s house. 4. my sticker collection that I decided to give her. 5. she was getting really fat so we jokingly said that she shouldn’t be allowed to eat after 8 p.m. but she took that seriously and when dinner was a little late, she’d start getting really worried. it was so funny.

It’s been so long since I’ve posted something here! Actually wanted to write a post on my Korea trip last Nov-Dec but.. there’s a lot to talk about so I find it very hard to start. Anyway, hope you liked the photos! till next time, ciao. 

santubong pt. 2

Conditions to be met for a safe hitchhiking experience, with no organ black market involved:

1. Wave at a huge family car, a Hilux would be nice.
2. Wave at a huge family car, with a family inside.
3. Wave at a huge family car, with a mother inside.
4. Strip if you’re hot. (maybe not)
5. Do not wave at small shady cars.
6. Do not wave at small shady cars, filled with men.

-Discussed by Sul and me on the road to our starting point.

If you want to climb Mt. Santubong, it’s free and open to visitors every day if I’m not mistaken. You have to register at the registration point before you climb it, and you can park your car there as well. But there’s 2 openings you could start from, one being the registration point and the other about 10 minutes down the road from the registration point on foot. You can’t park your car there because it’s just next to a road. If you want to go to the waterfall, I think the registration point is a better starting point. And if you’re thinking of just climbing to the summit, the 2nd starting point would make a shorter trek.

bako on film

02

04

Sad about how the last one turned out :-( but I guess that’s the thing about film, you never know what you’ll end up with. Which is why it’s fun. My roll of film was only supposed to take 36 shots but I ended up with 37. Yes! Really liked how some of the photos turned out.

But film is so expensive! First of, the film roll I got (price varies with what film roll you get, the better, the more expensive (duh)) was RM 22. And it’s actually the only film I can find in Kuching at the moment. No actually, I just get whatever film, the only shop I find that sells film, stocks up on. It’s a small camera/photo shop in Everise BDC, if you’re interested. And if you know of a place that sells film in Kuching, please tell me. And then once I used up the roll of film, I bring it to a camera/photo shop in town called Top Colour. I develop the film and then I get it scanned onto a pen drive. And that costs Rm 33. In total, it’s RM 55. For 36 photos. Sigh. It’s such a luxury! I need to buy lunch! Anyway, yeap that is how it goes~ So if you find a film camera at home you should try it out. It’s quite fun. It’s really exciting when you take a roll of film and you forget about it, then you develop it a few months later. By then you’ve forgotten about whatever the heck you took and then you look through the photos you get back and it feels like you’re opening a present or something. It’s so exciting! Personally, it’s more exciting like that if you print the photos out and you go through the physical photos. But I don’t really print the photos I take anymore, I just view it digitally. Because it’s easier to share and it costs more and stuff. But of course you can do both.

p.s. there’s another shop that does developing and scanning for film called Apollo Digital Colour Lab, it’s in town as well. Apparently people say it’s cheaper and faster. Also, the last time I went to Top Colour to develop these films, they told me to go to Apollo as well because they pass it to them to develop it too or something like that.