000009 - if there were only 10 people

if there were only 10 people on this world...

there would be snow white, the 7 dwarves, the prince and the huntsman. who would you be?

i'm definitely not the prince nor am i the hunter. i think i'd probably be one of the dwarves; always just a friend to snow white, never more.

probably not quite as Happy. maybe Bashful.

(and if you said you wanted to be the evil step-mother or the friggin' mirror, than that really explains itself doesn't it?!?)

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000008 - something about mary

a job i had worked on resurrected itself today. it's a refurbishment project for the Mary MacKillop exhibition centre for the sisters of st. joseph. from what i've been told Mary MacKillop will be made a saint soon. it's a really interesting project as the house was originally built in 1902, so it's just over 100 years old! lots of really detail features in the cornices, architraves and columns; real ornate. there's quite a bit of demolition and renovation involved and will be turned into an exhibition centre / conference centre / temporary residence for the nuns or sisters and their immediate families.

which reminds me, i gotta remember to pray tonight. i'm not really a religious person, but i did go to a catholic primary school for a few years and my parents both have been raised catholic, so i guess the upbringing has rubbed in. i don't go to church much though but i do believe in God. don't really feel like i need to be affiliated with any "association" except the one in my heart... don't know if that's enough at the end of day, but i guess i'll find out when i get there.

i almost froze to death (exaggeration) today though because somebody upstairs (not literally) have turned the weather down a notch. it didn't help that the site didn't have much heating apart from a couple of rooms. and our office/warehouse heating once again fails to deliver any warmth...

complaints aside, i've had some happy happy joy joy moments today, including (but not limited to) finally finding 2 mp3 downloaded from my new best friend mikemike!! \(^__^)/

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000007 - a week in review

didn't really get up to much at all this weekend, yet i feel so tired for some reason.

my usual sundays morning jog/run didn't happen because i was too lazy to get out of bed. there was originally a lunch planned for minh's belated birthday celebration but didn't happen because a couple of us couldn't get in touch with the guy. so was intending to be quite productive today, like work more on knight-edge #3, more on the new knight-edge.com website and also fix up the pencils for the pin-up fan-art i mentioned a couple of days ago because mark had replied saying that it looks ok for publishing if i fixed up some wonkiness and proportions.

i guess i did work quite a bit on the website in the afternoon and fixed up all the pages and links. i still have i think 3 more major pages to write in html and then there's all the artwork i have to colour to make the site more spify... so still quite a bit of work to be done.

catching up with debs, who just recently came back from a short but enjoyable trip to chicago and washington d.c., jacqs and her cuz ryan on saturday night was pretty nice. but apart from that and doing my usual errands on saturday afternoon in the city, that's as much socialising i got to for the weekend. so i have no idea why i'm feeling so lethargic.

i have had a pretty packed week i must admit. catching the train to work was actually quite a good change for the week however freezing it was! first japanese class was very interesting; just trying to absorb as much of the language and hopefully remember most of it at the end of it. first autocad class was also very interesting. because the class was less interactive with the other students, i felt a bit more relaxed in that class than the japanese one. also had my work staff conference on friday. a long day although it was good in the sense that there were a lot of participation this year from all the staff because this "fish" philosophy was introduced. basically it's about thinking positive given any situation however difficult or boring it might be (especially at work). i think it's a good philosophy although a bit utopian in a way, too. hiding it with a smile doesn't mean you've solve the problem i believe. i still like the philosophy of treating people the way you would like to be treated. it's all about karma!!

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000006 - are you happy?

there's a song by sting called if you love somebody set them free. when i first heard this song title i never really understood what it meant. i always thought if you truly loved somebody, wouldn't you want to that person to be next to you and by your side always?

how many times have you heard the story (or perhaps experienced first hand yourself) about falling for one of your best friend? someone who if you've even had the guts to tell them how you really felt about them that could not only jeopardise the friendship bond you've built all these years but also loose this best friend because you've complicated and changed what s/he had thought your relationship was about. would it hurt you more to hear how happy your friend is with their current girl/boyfriend or the fact that both you and your best friend could be hurt in the process if you went into a more than plutonic relationship? i think i'd rather see my friend being happy than ever putting our friendship at risk and letting her know what my true feelings might be...

i think what the song really means is that no matter how much you think you love or care about someone, you can never possess them. because love isn't about controlling or keeping someone. if you set them free and them come back to you, then that is true love. but in the end, i think it's about wishing the person you love true happiness; with or without you is inconsequencial.

on a related note, i wish i could convey this message to this friend of mine. she's been really down lately, to the point of suicidal. a year ago, i was able to convince her that the situation wasn't as bleak and gloomy as she had imagined but this time i think it's different. i feel really helpless and in a way sad that what seems to me such a bright and wonderful person can be so obsessed with someone who's obviously hurt her so much that she would in turn hurt herself to perhaps win him back or just to get his attention. as a friend, i feel like i should do more to help but i know deep down, no one can help her but herself.

on a lighter note, i did finally get that pin-up fan-art stuff scanned and uploaded thanks to my old pc.

i also just started reading the 5th Harry Potter novel: The Order of the Phoenix. Really great stuff.

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000005 - aaaargh!

y'know i should save that subject title for another day when i'm actually really mad or angry but what the hey, no one says i can't use it again!

not happy jan. i finally finished pencilling a pin-up fan-art for a friend tonight at around 11:30pm-ish. went and walked to my local MBE (mailbox etc.) to get it photocopied to A4 size so i can scan it. got back home just before midnight. tried to plug in my hp scanjet 3200C to my new pc and guess what? bloody thing isn't compatible with XP!!!

me want to smash~ >_<~! (yes, that's my best hulk impression... stop your giggling in the back row you)

ah well, guess it ain't gonna happen tonight...

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000004

a few of weeks ago a woman had scratched the front bumper of my parked car at work. no biggie, just a bit of a hassle to organise a cheque from her and then book my car into a panel beater for a fix-up. a couple of weeks ago in the city, i misjudged my parking and basically made my front bumper lick this concrete kerb quite explicitly. funny thing is it's the same corner of the bumper! doesn't matter the panel beater was going to paint that anyway. then last week, a young lady had just rear ended someone on the freeway and guess who didn't stop in time and ran into her backend to make her car into a sandwich? no, not fred flintstone, you silly!! me. same front bumper. at the point of impact it seemed like i was going to loose my bumper, too, but when i inspected the damage later, it was just more scratches and a dent to my bonnet. the licence plate is all ripply but hey what do i care about that?!

so this morning i took my car into my insurance office and got it accessed and repaired. it's gonna cost me 450 excess, a drop in ratings and a week without my car.

it's going to be an interesting week, too. i've got my first japanese and autocad classes on wednesday and thursday respectively. and i also have my work staff conference on friday. i'm looking forward to all these but i'm kinda scared at going back to studying at the same time. it's been a while since uni... something almost like 4 years now! with the fact that i'm catching public transport for the week, it's almost kinda like time travel!!!

let's hope mum doesn't dig out the old lunch box... (>.<)

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000003 - July 31

if you asked me what are the 3 things i could not live without, my answer would be friends, family and music.

it's actually quite a weird third choice since i don't play any musical instruments (i do want to learn the guitar, piano or even the drums one day though) and if anything i thought i would have picked something like art since i love drawing so much. but i've come to realise recently that i can't live without some sort of background noise, more specifically music. i really detest silence; it ampilifies just how alone you can be even when you're standing in a crowd.

so i'm really looking forward to 31 july 2003, when jay chou's new (4th) album comes out! The album is called "Ye Hui Mei"- named and dedicated after jay's mum.

don't know when i'll actually get my hands on the CD though, but at least it gives me something to look forward to!! ~yay~ (^__^)!!

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000002 - Il Mare

do you believe in fate?

i do. i'm a believer in fate in that if it's meant to be, it will be-- eventually. the problem with that kind of thinking is that one can spend a life-time procastinating and waiting for something to happen while doing nothing to achieve it just on the basis of that blind faith! for every glance or smile from that someone you wish you knew or could get to know better, you might not receive again. fate might come along and sit right next to you today, but if you don't do anything but just sit there, she might be gone tomorrow. then you'll be beating yourself with regrets, like when she asked you if she had seen you at church that time, you should have tried to talked to her more instead of just shaking your head like a shy idiot, etc.!

i watched this korean movie tonight (i have no idea what it was called) about a guy and a girl accidentally exchanging letters and eventually falling for one another. the thing that keeps them apart isn't distance but time. you see the guy is living in 1998 and the girl is in 2000. don't ask me to explain it because i barely comprehended what the heck was going on (it was in korean!! it had chinese sub-titles but my chinese is pretty lame). the closest thing i could compare it to is like that sliding doors movie, but not really! anyway, i think the point was that you can change fate or destiny if you knew what was going to happen. if you knew being the key words. i think this korean movie was probably the exact opposite in terms of theme compared with T3.

it's funny how you can be reminded of someone. today someone walked past me, her perfume smelled kind of like apples, and straight away it reminded me of someone... she used to say that i kept too much to myself and never shared what was on my mind; the irony is that when i've got something to share, she's no longer here to listen to what i have to say...

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000001

went and saw T3: Rise of the Machines tonight. i wasn't expecting much mainly because james cameron wasn't at the helm this time and haven't been all that keen with schwarzneggar movies since true lies. but surprisingly it was quite an enjoyable no-brainer kind of movie. lots of explosions and destructions and story followed on from the previous movies. there was actually quite a bit of humour inject into this sequel which really got most of the cinema laughing.

been feeling a bit indifferent about things lately. day job has been quite busy and stressful at times and just doesn't leave me all that much left, in terms of energy or enthusiasm, to do much else by the time i get home. i've always tried to stay positive and basically leave work at work and do my own thing when i'm at home or whatnot. but that's been far from the norm this year and i'm starting to resent work because of these feelings, which isn't good. i feel that something has to change with my life and as usual i'm too chicken-shit to do anything about it...

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a new beginning

hello. my name is gary and this is my online journal. i've always been kind of fascinated about blogs and online journals and have been trying to put one up online myself... so i guess this is the beginning of something new. i have no idea how frequent i'll be posting as i'm still debating with myself what exactly i'm going to write in this space!

introduction-wise, i'm based in Melbourne, Australia. i currently work by day as a quantity surveyor or cost consultant. drawing is something i enjoy quite a lot and that is one of the reason why i created and self-published my own comic book, knight-edge. i also enjoy reading, movies, hanging around with friends, video games, travelling and music. my favourite foods are japanese, chinese, vietnamese and italian (i love sushi, noodles and pasta).

that's about all i have for now.

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