my birthmonth is here!

There are so many things I want to talk about, to the point that I can't really sort my thoughts.. I can't quite decide what to say here, 

should it be about why I love blogging so much? 

Should I talk about how I actually met one of the favorite k-indie artist of mine in Korea but not realizing it was them? 

Should I talk about how fellow blogger krissy made me miss my old MTV days with her recent post? 

Or should I talk about how I just dyed my hair brown? 

Ahh.. decision decision... why is everything so messy? But then again it happens almost all the time so yeah, nothing new, me and my messy messy mind :p

And I am actually glad to know that I have so many stories to talk about...

Can you believe it's march already? My birthmonth~!!! I guess this is the moment when birthday doesn't only bring happiness but also fear, at least that's what happens to me the last few years. Of course I love birthdays, all my friends coming, showing me that they actually care, surprise parties, and of course... the gifts hahahah... Plus my family loves partying, which means cakes and candles~!!

The number of the candle is like a reminder for me, which I have to say kinda scary, about how many years I've gone through, as if asking me what I've done, is it enough? Can I do more? What should I do to achieve more?

This day, though, I will let myself savor the happiness of seeing my artwork printed in a book, ready to be published and marketed, accompanying each story the readers read.

I seriously was having a hard time believing my artwork, something I made with my own two hands, are going to be so published. Every time I see this, I just can't help but grin. This feels almost like my first kid, I think (since I don't have a child yet, so I'm not actually sure, LOL)

A blurry shot of the back cover (it wasn't me, I swear! My cousin took this picture, and really it's not my fault that he's such a bad photographer, right?) Anyway, can you spot littletiara logo? Yes baby, it's here and real!

The illustration in the book for one of the stories (the book has 10 stories). This one is pretty much my favorite drawing, one thing I love the most about illustrating a book is when I got visuals when reading the story, as soon as I finished reading the story, I usually rushed to draw it before the idea disappears. I just love how I can really put what I see in my imagination to paper.

Here, I'll spoil you with more illustrations from the book:

The ugly fingers are not mine~!!! Hahahah, and once again, the blurry shot isn't my fault. :P anyway, those three are my favorites, I drew 11 pictures in total... I know it's still far from perfect but I'm so excited to learn and experience more~!! I hope the time will come when I can draw something for someone again~ or maybe for my own book, who knows?

By the way, if any of you is interested to purchase the book, or to visit the writer's blog and read more about the book, you can visit them HERE. The book is in Indonesian, though. So maybe you all can come there and threaten them to make the english version and I will be hired to draw again (or translate the book). Hahahah...

February passed by so quickly, I had this little disappointment with myself about my thesis, though. I'm still fixing everything, I hope it will be done quickly, it's making me sad enough that I won't be able to graduate this April with most of my friends. But I guess I shouldn't mourn about it too much, I've worked my best, and it's a good thing my prof pointed out my mistakes so I can fix them now.

And well, a friendly reminder, at least for myself (which I've posted in Facebook too)

I just have to read and do this everyday, right?

I was Born a Traveller

I have these beauty marks on my feet, three of them, to be exact, and people said that means I was born to travel. I guess it's pretty much right, I have been moving countless time since I was born. Too many times that I didn't even get a chance to have a childhood friends. I'm alright with that, though, I can always make new friends now 

The love and burning passion I have towards travelling prove it right, too. Ever since I found the joy of travelling, I've been travelling a lot. The fact that my families scattered all around the country is so much of a help so I can save my money on spending the night, hahah...

And now that I am almost graduated from my study, I found myself wanting to work overseas. I want to see more of the world, travel more, discover more, meet old and new friends, before finally coming back home to settle.

Or maybe got hitched and continue travelling together, who knows? 

in another note, I opened my society6 store; there you can find my artwork applied in iphone case, laptop stickers, and even pillows! Please kindly visit and have a look! :D HERE

I'm so excited about the iphone cases. Honestly, I want to buy one for myself but I'm not using an iphone so... LOL... by the way, if you're interested, it's free shipping if you order the iphone case through this link CLICK the promotion ends February 10, 2013 at Midnight Pacific Time 

this one is the latest artwork I made, quite challenging because I finally drew eyes (if you know my previous artwork don't have eyes on them) and I drew it completely using mouse (not mouse pen e.g: wacom bamboo), which means a lot of work. I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out, I need a lot to learn, though, of course 

the crazy adventure we had in Seoul

I can't believe I forgot to talk about this! This was one of the craziest day I've ever gone through during my stay in Korea. Well, actually there were lots of crazy adventure times, now that I think about it, every time I stepped out of my room, I was in for another crazy adventure in an unknown land, haha... especially since I love wandering around alone too much...

anyway, this time I was with a friend. Well, honestly, being lost isn't something new for me... (lol is this even something I can be proud about?) I was lost when I first came to Hongdae, and the second time I got there, and even the third time... :| 

I even got lost again when I went there with Cecilee from priscillaclara.com thus making both of us lost! Hahaha.. oh gosh, I sincerely feel sorry for her to be lost with me... read her story about that day here (yeaahhh.. it has me in the story too and you'll see how... -fill in the blank with whatever words you want- I am)

anyway, this is another story, with another girl, you see... I got lost a lot, hahaha.. but I gotta say this one is the craziest... 

so here goes the story...

That day me and my friends from the summer school class wanted to go to buy some more clothes and stuffs, if I remember correctly it was on our third week, which means the summer school was about to end so we tried to go to Seoul and shop as many times as possible (LOL, I'm so glad to meet such Shopaholic people)

There were four of us, but we split ways; me and Stella wanted to go shopping for clothes so we headed to Edae, while our other two friends wanted to buy souvenirs so they went to another place (I'm sorry I can't really remember where they went to), BUT we all wanted to watch the Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain, so we agreed to meet at 8 in the said place.

The beautiful water fountain we wanted to see

I am a pro about shopping in Edae, so we didn't get lost, we totally had fun! Bought chicken barbecue sticks, bought fresh fruit juices (that was a hella hot day if I remember correctly) shop a LOT, went to Baskin Robins, and shop some more~

Stella with her SUPER Spicy chicken barbeque, and mine, which wasn't spicy at all, lol

One of the 'gardens' in front of the mall in Edae

at 7 we decided to go to Itaewon Subway Station (where we will go to Banpo from that), here goes the adventure... I noticed that compared to other transportation services in Korea, Taxi is my least favorite, simply because it's so hard to communicate! I can't speak proper Korean and the driver can't seem to understand English... 

We had this note from the tourist information center; the officer said to just show it to the driver and he will take us there, but maybe because it was dark, or... I don't know why, we couldn't seem to find a taxi who wanted to take us there, until finally a girl who worked in a cosmetic shop around there helped us (ALL HAIL THE GIRL!! She speaks English properly, she saved our lives! Thank you so much girl~

So? Is the problem solved? Uh... Unfortunately no, not at all... We didn't catch what the driver was saying until suddenly he dropped us off in a random highway... Wait.. What?

We could hear the song played for the rainbow fountain show (yes, it has a background song) but we don't know where was it from! We were like... laksdagdasfda what to do now? That until we realize that we were ON that Banpo bridge... But to see the show, we have to be UNDER the bridge, LOL... We could see the riverbanks where people were strolling around, biking, and all... and we had no idea of how to get down there...

Long story short, we managed to find a tunnel (total luck!) which led us there, but the show had stopped and we had to wait for another hour... wait, did I mention that we shopped so much we were running out of money? As in cash (because we still have money in our T-money card) but we weren't worried about that since.. we still have our friends, right? Well... until they called and said that they were not joining us because they were still far and won't make it to the last show (at 9 PM)... Uh-oh...

Save that for later because we were there to enjoy the show... so it was 9 PM already but... why isn't there any show? We could hear the song (again!) but where is the rainbow fountain show??? Figures, we were waiting on the wrong side of the bridge, hahahahaha... so we ran (together with a lot of others, fortunately) to the other side of the bridge and enjoyed the show... which was totally worth it it was beautiful and... if I have to have any complaints, I should've come there with my boyfriend! It was sooooooooooo romantic! 

the riverbank was filled with photographers, they were waiting for the show too :)

The wrong side of the bridge, where we waited, lol

Stella posing in front of the water show, on the right side of the bridge

I think I should stop here for now, this is a long post already... hahaha... But remember, the crazy adventure didn't stop here, so stay tuned for more, lol...

Cheesy February

I’m using a silly font, and I’m adding emoticons on my post. Am I littletiara? Definitely! lol… this is kinda fun~

oh dear.. my blog has become so cute! Too cute! OMG, how do you like it? hahahah… I think I’m having too much fun here…

I really really, like seriously want to revamp this blog, and make myself active in the blogsphere again. Not only posting but also visiting random blogs and make new friends.

Quite frankly, shouldn’t I make something more mature instead of this kind of silly, though? LOL… is this my new image? hahahah… I wonder what will 5 years older me say when she opens this blog post~

anyways, moving on to the post; it’s February already! Holy flying unicorns! How fast seriously does time fly? so here, this post will talk about what I’ve done in January 2013. I found it useful to remind myself what I’ve accomplished, it makes me want to do more and accomplish more…

1. I’ve finished my thesis! Hurray~

finally… after long sleepless nights (more because I can work better at night) I finished my thesis! Well, I’m still waiting for it to be revised by my professor, though… but at least it is done done done~!

Remember my final paper for college was talking about fairy tales? Now, this thesis is talking about music~ man, I love how I can choose what I want to write about… it’s mainly about how someone’s intention to download music illegally reduces their intention to buy the original album. Isn’t it a sad fact?

Guess what? After finishing my thesis, I haven’t downloaded anything illegally any more, haha~!

2. I am an illustrator!

I guess you all know about my passion in art, and how I’ve made some artworks during my free time (or class time). Now I can proudly say that I’ve officially become an illustrator!

My cousin is a writer, and he wrote a book, and he asked me to illustrate the book~! Although he only gave me a week (which later be 2 weeks) to finish ten pictures for his book, and at some point during that week I felt so frustrated about drawing, and although at the deadline day I slept only for two hours… everything is worth it!

I actually really want to do this book giveaway, but it is written in Bahasa, I’m not sure if you want it hahaha… I really hope it was written in English, because honestly (pssst… don’t tell my cousin about it~) I found the story interesting, and I love how everyone in the book is connected to each other, plus… it’s a book about chocolate… who doesn’t love chocolate? Oh come on, even my allergic cousin loves it! (yes, I have another cousin who’s allergic to chocolate… I can’t imagine being her…)

3. My first lomo-shoot ever!

 

ever heard of Lomography? Or Lomo camera? such fun analog camera with the moto “don’t think just shoot”. Just… how fun is that rule? So my friend dikasapi is a pro (since he won a lot in the competition) and he let me learn and use one camera from his collection (believe me, he has like heaps of them!)

playing with Lomo is so much fun, I used LC-A Russia Day camera to take the pictures, as you can see… combo~! Each Lomo camera has their own specialty… I don’t think I can explain that yet, hahaha… I’m still a nooooob~

I also joined Lomography web page which is filled with friendly talented people from all around the world~! Such a fun place to be in! x) I received warm greetings and I soooo love it there

I love the thrill of  using an analog camera, how long has it been since the last time you used one? The excitement of not knowing how the result will come out like, the thrill of waiting for it being developed, the feeling of wanting to just shoot everything and develop the film but also want to only shoot the right picture… those are soooo exciting~!

4. Trying out various natural DIY face mask

Since I’ve done with my thesis (for a while) and finished illustrating, so I was kinda free. It is inevitable for me to spend a lot of my time in front of the computer, until one day I stumbled upon a website that showed me a recipe to make face mask using things I can find in my kitchen.

This is so fun! I’ve tried tomato, lemon, papaya, oatmeal, and banana… all can be mixed with honey, olive oil, and milk… while I had fun experimenting, I do notice that my skin is getting better… hahaha… I love this…

they’re messier than the instant face mask on the tube, though… tomatoes are so wet, so it dripped down my face… oatmeal is messy… and banana doesn’t look good when mashed (so it’s best to do it in the bathroom)… but they’re so useful… sugar and honey are my favorite, because it’s simple and gives instant result… but of course I can’t use sugar everyday to exfoliate my skin… mom will question how did her sugar runs out too quickly hahahaha~

so it’s indeed a long post, don’t you think? I hope I can write more often from now on, just like the good old days… I noticed my bloggy friends are getting busier too… so yeah, it's inevitable… we’re growing up~

I must've done something right

.... to deserve you in my life

How many heartbreaks have you gone through? Me? I can't remember anymore. I can't remember how many times my heart has broken, can't remember how many hearts I've broken, either. All I remember is how thankful I am to have my friends around me during those moments.

I remember when I was in high school, I had this major crush to a certain boy who didn't have his eyes on me at all. It was his birthday, so I decided to buy something for him with the help of my friends. I remember we were so busy that time with debate competition and all, but she managed to accompany me buying gifts for my oh-so-called-crush. I couldn't be any more thankful for that.

I was too much of a chicken to give the present myself so I asked my friends to give it to him, I was hella nervous to say the least.

A few days after that, the gift came back to me. I was freaking rejected.

I remember wailing in the class when my friends showed me the still-wrapped gift. I remember someone hugged me tight and soothe my crying self. I was a young 15 year old girl, who got her heart broken so badly, with her friends around her trying to calm her down and she couldn't be any more thankful for that.

Now, years later, I tried to imagine what my friends felt, what they had in mind when they had to break the news for me, what did they think when they saw me crying like a crazy lunatic in the middle of the class, what did they feel when they knew I continued to have a crush on that guy for the next two years.

There were more heartbreaks after that, and even more friends to calm me down. Looking back at those moments now, I realized how lucky I am to experience those heartbreaks, to have matured, to be grateful of how much love I received from my friends.

I wonder if they will ever know how thankful I was for them being there, thus I decided to write this here, so they could read, so they will know.

So for all my friends, all through my primary school friends to university friends, friends of my friends who became close to me, my online friends who most of you I haven't met in real life, all of you, please know that I want to say...

I love you, I love you, I love you... And thank you, thank you, thank you, I hope you know how I am thankful to have you, and I am sorry, I'm very sorry, I'm sorry if somehow you feel that I'm such a bad companion.