Wednesday, May 31, 2006;
Just back in the office to do a dub and lock up after connect group...
Had a good time... n the pie n custard was nice... THANX PAM!!!
Hmm Sewed my first button last night... had avoided that pair of pants for 3wks 'cos the button had broke... but decided it was time to wear it again... SO I TRIED SEWING... took me 30 flippin minutes to sew 2 buttons!!!! didnt do a good job n i gave up after awhile...
Get me to solder wires and build a chair... NOT A PROBLEM... but sewing........ -_-
Brought me back to Secondary sch days where we had Design n Technology n Home econs... no wonder i scored better at D & T...
anyway... Program's back up... time to let it run and i get to go home... for once in a long time, i'll get to be home before 10.30pm...
anyway...
Pam.... remember.... YOU'RE ON THE MEND.........
:)
rambled at
9:59 PMY
Tuesday, May 30, 2006;
sundried tomato n basil rice-cakes are too addictive.... someone take them away from me pls...
oh n i found a place i can get cheap meals from... Roaming bird... 3.50 for a small tub of roasted veg... Capsicum, Potato, Brinjal, pumpkin, carrots and.... herbs... looks like i'll be going back there...
FIBREEEEeeeee....
5 mins till i go to Dee's for study session... dang only got through half a reading...
Emma's seen the ad n she's happy...
was thinking last night... the more work i do, the more satisfied I am when i create things.... be it video clips, or soundtracks...
guess that's just the artist in me coming out.. or maybe... thats how a commissioned artist feels like....
I'm quite impressed with the track i created last nite.... it was easier to edit to a track...
We've got a freakin blowfly problem in cctv... seem to be comin in through the vents.... a dead mouse?? maybe...
anyway...time to go...
rambled at
6:58 PMY
hmm juz tryin to do up the instill ad...
I must say... i'm proud i'm getting better at this soundtrack thing...
first cut almost done...
not my fault video's of a low quality 'cos had to extract it from a dvd... Yucky...
and nothing i can do about blurred original photos...
shld head home soon...
feeling a little hungry...
rambled at
12:02 AMY
Sunday, May 28, 2006;
AHhhhhhhhhhhhhh STOP THE OFFICE PHONES FROM RINGING... IT'S A SUNDAY FOR GOODNESS SAKES!!!!!
rambled at
1:04 PMY
Saturday, May 27, 2006;
Bah... 10.10pm and i'm still at work... trying to output the student's stuff for tomorrow night's viewings...
Taken longer than expected because the computer is low on memory...
MEOW.....
Hmmm strange things do happen... and strange things did happen today...
funny how one can feel so scared of saying hi to some people, especially people whom you want to say hi to...
MICHELLE... THAT WAS A VERY STUPID MOVE...
another missed opportunity... because of fear.. arghh...
Now tell me... why did i do that?
rambled at
10:12 PMY
Wednesday, May 24, 2006;
OK.. so today's kinda quiet compared to Tuesday... Or Monday for that matter...
So while i eat my dinner and print off one version of CCTV, I shall try and attempt to blog about Thailand... how long this will take me to type... no idea... but you know what? I don't care.. i'll do it now or never...
Before i continue... i swear if not for angels, I would not be sitting here right now...
Near miss accident last night..... No didn't crash but close... TOO CLOSE TO BELIEVE... 1/2 a sec more and I would have crashed into the car in front of me... the air bags would have inflated and I probably would have been dead... or left with a face with many broken bones and a serious whiplash...
I was driving at about 50km/h and it was raining heavily down a gentle slope. The lights turned red so I started breaking and there was still a distance between me and the car in front. But as i stepped on the breaks, my car skidded and i lost control of the car. As i spun out of control, it felt like the car was not slowing down but accelerating. The car stopped abruptly just in time before my bumper hit the car in front. Next thing i hear was some people shouting from the near by bus stop to see if i was ok and the car in front of me speeding off, probably in shock.
Anyway.. I'm fine now... just shaken... and extremely scared while driving this morning, especially when i knew there was going to be a traffic light coming up.
Back to the thailand trip
Day 1 was quite interesting... slept throughout the flight as the weeks leading up to the flight was packed with editing, class, editing and more editing, till either really early in the morning, say like 3am... or a whole day's work with a 30min to 1hr nap... Got to Bangkok and was picked up from the airport. Got to the hotel, had supper with Wes and went to bed...
Day 2
Breakfast was nice... havent had continental breakfast in a very long time... so i enjoyed myself throughly... Wes got trapped in a lift while trying to get to a toilet... And we got picked up by a very nice car that drove us 2hrs away to Pattaya...
The hotel was like a Ghost-town from The Shining when we arrived... Wes, Greg and I ended up sitting around, searched for somewhere to have a drink and explored the place... This is when the whole mosquito saga started...
Day 3
Met the rest of the team, instantly clicked with them, as if i knew them well... Had a briefing, met Paul Martin the sound engineer whom many others from work knew and set up started around 10pm...
Ryan, Brad and Josh arrived from Singapore and were quite down because of the state that everything was in. Couldn't help them 'cos we all did have higher expectations of the place... nothing anyone could do... Plus they had been away from family for awhile so that did not help...
Day 4
Set up continued and it was non-stop from morning till the conference started.
The rest of the Band and the families arrived and it was nice seeing familiar faces again after 2days of being in an unfamiliar surrounding...
Technology failed me just before the conference started. I could either sit there, pout and cry or make a decision to move on with what i have on hand and try fixing the problem after the session.
Yes i know what you're thinking... I'm glad too that i took the second option.
Time to suck in any pride, face what is in front of me, in unfamiliar surroundings and equipment, SLAP IT IN THE HEAD A FEW TIMES... and do all I can to make it work by the grace of God... AND CREATE BACKUPS... yes just in case... not because I had no faith but because it was wise at that time...
This meant little sleep for Wes and close to none for me...
Day 5
Things worked according to plan and it all went well... and i kinda have little memory of what happened... probably because it went all too quickly and it was non-stop... and the lack of sleep...
Ah... there was a thunderstorm on Day 4's night or early day 5 morning while i was trying to fix the stuff ups... and because i was on the top floor... or should i say the "known" top floor... my room kinda got flooded... and i got shifted to another room... which explains the second room...
Day 6
300gB hard-drive starts to fill up, computer memory starts to freak out, things start to go on a downward spiral. But I knew that I had to stay positive... I shut out every negative thing that came my way, comments such as "what if this doesn't happen..." was shut out completely, allowing me to transfer brain cells to try make things work with what I have again. Made it work, in a long-about way... Took more time but there was delivery...
Evening was a free night, the first night i hung out with the Band from back home and the first night they saw me for more than 30mins. Went to a cultural show that was quite good... didn't like some parts but production side of things quite stunning... Loved their stage... It was so deep that they could set off fireworks in there... AND HAVE ELEPHANTS PERFORMING... Hendo got pulled up on stage as part of the performance and it was quite hilarious... Went to the night markets and 17 of us got seperated because we went in 2 vans... Due to the language barrier, the two vans dropped us at different locations... only Jeff, Greg and Wes had australian mobiles that worked... and Greg n Wes were in my group. I got given a thai mobile number which came in quite handy that night. Took us about 1hr45mins before the whole group managed to get together... Not that it mattered because we got seperated again due to people wanting to get different their different shopping done...
When we were trying to get to the final meeting destination, which was a starbucks about 2blocks away (u'd think it would be easy to spot), Paul Martin (the sound guy), Allison and Abby Fuller (Brad fuller's wife and 5yr old daughter) and me got lost... we walked about 6 blocks and still saw no starbucks.... why u'd ask? BECAUSE THE STARBUCKS WAS CLOSED AND THE LIGHTS ON THE SIGN GOT TURNED OFF!
Tried locating the rest which took about 30mins... And it got quite stressful because out of the other 3 phones that could work, 2 worked only via SMS because divert was turned on...
We decided that the 4 of us would get our own taxi back and meet back at the hotel which was about a 5min drive away from where we were, instead of a 10-15min drive away from where the rest were... AND OF COURSE WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROUTE FROM THE CITY TO NOWHERE... where either the taxis or tuk tuks as u might like to call them, were full because it was coming from the city centre, OR NO TAXIS AT ALL...
We were praying quite hard and after a while of waiting, Jeff's taxi drove past us... and stopped for us to hop on... so there we were, finally re-united with the rest of the group... U get the picture... 17people in a small tuk tuk... wives sitting on husband laps... and Hendo n Wes hanging at the edge of the tuk tuk... THAI STYLE... yes i can joke about it now... BUT IT WAS THE MOST STRESSFUL TIME OF THE WHOLE CONFERENCE...The group bought quite a number of things but i only bought a lamp... for AUD$7...
Day 7
Was good but it was sad having to say bye to people whom i just started to form a friendship with... Took lots of photos... exchanged contact details... and promised to stay in contact...
Oh the band rocked the night...
Day 8 and last day...
Slept throughout the bus ride from Pattaya to Bangkok Airport... tired... emotional and what have you...
Had Thai Burger king for lunch... spent the last of my Thai Baht... and hopped on the plane...
Next horrible bit...
Plane ride was the most traumatic one i've ever had... The guy sitting next to Bernice and I offered us Valium on the flight, had no concept of personal space whatsoever and was slightly tipsy as much as i could tell... He had 4 bottles of wine the moment they started serving drinks...We complained to the air stewards and they said they'd keep a look out.. however, when they turned off the lights because it was overnight flight, he fell asleep and was so close to me i didn't dare breathe and almost hyper-ventilated...
finally decided I had enough, i jumped out and swapped seats with Wes who had a spare seat next to him. But because I was emotionally and physically tired from the past weeks and almost 2mnths of full-on work and constant crisis mode, I broke and had a bit of a cry...
Was still shaken up on Monday, got a little better on Tuesday...
And of course on Tuesday night was that car drama.............
Well.. all I can say is.. it's been crazy... it CAN'T and i repeat CANNOT get any worse... but can only get better...
ANd most of the time, when things go horribly wrong, good turns up at the end of that tunnel... so i shall keep walking... and wait for the end...
One thing i am thankful for... The trip to Thailand has been confirmation I am in the right field... and doing what i'm passionate about... and also for the international friendships that have formed... Knowledge and wisdom through hard-work and trial n error during crisis... and........... a larger capacity for more to come!
rambled at
7:19 PMY
Tuesday, May 23, 2006;
Somemore FOHTOHS...
The Team trying to take a photo while i'm directing... a pity it's soft... :(
While directing... i look like a mess.
We needed a dolly but had none so we made used of what we had on hand... a Luggage trolley
Mr Bussau (the big boss of the conference) and me
The team and me...
rambled at
7:10 PMY
Monday, May 22, 2006;
More photos while i print CCTV to tape...
sorry i couldnt reduce the photos... the site's not co-operating with me... n i can't be bothered stuffing around too much at the moment... still jet lagged and tired...
Some of the Production crew and volunteers...
The pool in front of our hotel wing... (not that i got to swim in it...)
Directing from out of the water
Greg Yates (the lighting guru) and I
Paul Martin (sound guru) and I
Wesley n I
Wes aka smezley aka snortley aka I DUN KNOW WHAT ESLE... , GY, Chalard(our Thai production helper) and I
Speakers David Pointen, Gregory Jenkins, Wesley and I
The view from my second room
The view from my first room
Bernice n I while waiting for the bus to take us to Pattaya city
GROG.......
Wes eating a banana split at a late night edit... Notice the time on the bedside clock
My tummy's obviously still in thailand mode... 8.37pm n just starting to be hungry...
Will blog maybe tonite when i get home? or maybe wednesday... no chance tomorrow... Tuesdays are full on days... and we're starting the study group tomorrow.... a few essays to complete in the next few weeks... in the mean time... i shall try and keep up with CCTV.. or even finish ahead by one week...
rambled at
8:32 PMY
Sunday, May 21, 2006;
Here's a couple of fotos for now... post later
My edit suite... *I had just moved rooms: Long story to tell in the next post*
The Team from YWAM Thailand and WTRC (BEAUTIFUL PICTURE n BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE)
Ahaha... Corinna (in green and wishing she was Nicole Kidman) and Weena (Mama) hahaha.. Oh and there's Roselyne (in red)
Part of the CCC team while waiting for the bus to take us to into Pattaya city for some cultural show (no not the gay ones) and some shopping... My first night out...
From the back L to R: Emma Bedoukian, Heather Bulman, Ryan Smith
Front L to R: Josh Bedoukian, Me, Bernice Drinnan....
rambled at
11:08 PMY
Juz got home from Bangkok but too tired to blog... it was one crazy adventure and will tell more later... when i've got energy to open my eyes and type correctly...
rambled at
9:03 AMY
Thursday, May 11, 2006;
This post goes out to my little brother... who is not so little anymore...
because....
SOMEONE'S JUST TURNED 17..... and got his Ps.. and a car...
so...............................................
oh well... one year older, one year wiser...
As for me... my age is starting to show... DAMNIT... gone are the days of being able to stay up a couple of nights without sleep to edit..
Now after 3 days with a total about 8 1/2 hrs sleep in total..... i'm having to rely on the trusty V-drinks... Maybe not so trusty anymore... didnt work the last 2 days... AND I JUST GOT INTRODUCED to NO-DOZ Awakeners...
Right... the last leg of race to run for this thailand trip... 9 days time and it will be over...
See if i''ll be able to blog from there...
And for now.... BACK TO THE FLIPPIN TIME LINE...
But before that
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARC... n CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ONE HIT WONDERS... KEEP IT UP...
rambled at
11:43 PMY
Tuesday, May 09, 2006;
I managed to survive the day with a berocca in the morning and a V-drink in the afternoon... althoough... THE V-drink didnt work...
Am now just having a MASSIVE bowl of corn and chicken soup... for dinner... yes... dinner at 5.30pm... just finished a meeting... The day hasn't stopped really...
THE BIG BIG BIG boss came in to my office today and nearly gave me a heart-attack... was halfway through my almost gone stale ham and cheese sandwich... He came to look for Mini boss who so happened had just left for lunch... So BIG BIG BIG boss asked if i knew how to use Final Cut Pro... actually i was thinking to myself... Hmm do I know how to use FCP? I TEACH FCP.... hahaha
so i said yes... and it turned out he was trying to do his weekly video leadership files... and wanted to create a crawling text...
So i showed him how... while at the same time trying to secretly swallow my mouthful of food... and clear the mess on my table...
When he left, I told him that if he needed any more help, i was still around...
Sure enough abou 10mins later... i get a missed call on my mobile... WHY? COS IT WAS STILL SILENT FROM CLASS THAT'S WHY...
It was BIG BIG BIG boss' PA, Di on the phone... she said he needed more help and to go up to his office... I WAS SO NERVOUS...
His office was VERY VERY NICE.... So I sat down for a bit... while i explain how to do some of the editing stuff... and ended up standing up as I was afraid that i might slip and fall out of the chair that was on slippery floor... :) Mini boss rocked up half way through and took over teaching him... But this is what amazes me... It was obvious who had gone through classes on training others... So when i finally left the scene... i went up to Big Big boss and said thank you for teaching that class last year... It equipped me for such a time as this... n for the firsst year classes... N I think even BIG BIG BIG boss noticed... Mini Boss reckons BIG BIG BIG Boss likes me... which is kinda scary... and I feel honoured at the same time... Anyway... It's all good...
about to finish my soup after which i shall get back to more editing...
3 days to go to Thailand...
N I'm off to the immigration office tomorrow... which is a pain.... but has to be done....
hmmm 36hrs since i've been awake.... except the occasional spacing out n heavy eyelids in class...
I was wondering this morning... wouldn't it be scary if computers had emotions and could talk/communicate?
What would they say to me???
Big Big Big Boss now knows i'm from Singapore and he's flying on Thursday to Singapore... which is kinda cool...
gee I hope i didn't have any linseed stuck in my teeth or anything like that....
rambled at
5:27 PMY
My first ever car accident... last Thursday... I'm fine... car's not really... dented door on the passenger side... damn..
I've decided that the blue line fever becomes a blue line of death after certain hours.. it kills just sitting there waiting for that blue line to reach the 100% mark...
Off to thailand in 3 days but still a TONNE to complete...
I wonder how I'm going to pull this one off...
rambled at
5:26 AMY
Thursday, May 04, 2006;
now tell me... which person would be silly enough to slam the car door on their own finger... or walk into a wall...
The answer, as Stephen said: hmm... Michelle?
and sad but true... it was me...
results of being tired...
I've had a full on day today... non-stop from the morning...
Class
Admin work
Shoot
Set up for another shoot
More Admin
Drive to City, Pick up new toys (YES YOU READ IT RIGHT... SCA'S GOT NEW TOYS)
Drive Back, Pick up notebook and straight into the boardroom for a meeting
Meetng to video viewing...
And then... It was time for lunch n dinner at the same time (ard 8.45pm)
Now just editing more stuff for thailand.... 9 days to go till Thailand...
and i'm actually craving for chocolate....
hmm but none around so i think i might have a cup of tea with a load of sugar? or maybe not..
I'm actually quite tired still... trying hard to keep my eyes open
It was nice going into the city with Stephen... well... he makes me more human... 'cos at least i talk to someone... not just face the computer all day long...
teaching for 8hrs next monday... that's going to be interesting... see how well i can keep them occupied...
Anyway.. time to go... rendering's done... back to work;...
rambled at
10:05 PMY
Tuesday, May 02, 2006;
juz came back from babysiting Jevon 30mins ago, exactly at the stroke of 12am... Ooo reminds me of the cinderella story... anyway, i decided i had enough of being nervous because of the red lamp on my dashboard, which meant my petrol was close to none... So i stopped by the service station... bought 20litres worth of petrol... which fills half my tank... for about $25.70, at $1.28 a litre after discount... Stuff waiting till tomorrow... who knows what the price will be like...
Got a msg from lil' bro Marc which was a nice surprise...
And yes... I remember your birthday's in 10 days...
As if I would forget...
Sigh... This week's going to be interesting... Too many things to settle...
I tell you what, the Trilby's introduced me to Chai Latte with Hazlenut flavours earlier before they left for the movie... n oh i'm going to be so hooked...
Anyway... i'm just blogging to kill some brain cells before trying to sleep... i'm past the overtired stage... n prolly will take a while to fall asleep... hopefully this blogging experience will help... instead of me layin in bed n thinkin about what i could have blog or what i will blog at a later stage...
Plus... just sent a few pics from this comp to work email so i could do some Thai trip work tomorrow...
12 days to go...
RAHhhhh
rambled at
12:32 AMY
