Si Aiyah at ang Magic ng mga Bituin

the mommy-author launching her book <3

I've been meaning to blog about my latest completed children's book project, after making sure it's really finished haha, So here it is! The book is meant to be given away as souvenirs for my client's daughter's christening, and also for distribution for an outreach program they're conducting this June. :)

Being part of this project is a humbling experience. I wanted it to turn out as beautiful as i can because it's very special to the client. 

one of my favorites <3

I struggled a lot with that drawing you know! But it also turned out to be one of my favorite illustrations for this project. I almost wanted to replace it with a simpler version, but decided against it because this is the best one I drafted for this particular page. also because I suck at human posture that i wanted to challenge myself. lol Thank you google for helping me out!

happy family <3

The entire project took a month to finish, with me having to work on pencil drafts over the weekdays, and digitizing them during weekends. I made a total of 11 illustrations for this. :)

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If you're interested in my illustrations, I'm open for commissioned work! Feel free to inquire using the Contact form or drop me a line at hello@theblahger.com. I do illustrations and layout design, and could work on children's books, yearbooks, posters, flyers, invitations, etc. :) I have a portfolio over at behance too! :D

[Mad Crush] Jaqen H'ghar of Game of Thrones (complete scenes)

A very mysterious and recurring (thankfully!) character from Game of Thrones, Jaqen H'ghar (played by Tom Wlaschiha) was introduced into the story during the second episode of season 2 (The Night Lands). He was a prisoner from the dungeons of King's Landing recruited by Yoren to join The Night's Watch. En route to The Wall, he became friends with Arya Stark when she helped him (and 2 others) escape as they came against the Lannister forces.

Here are his noted appearances from Season 2, and finally Season 5. Yes, the man is back. I also included the minutes and duration of his scenes, just to be more specific. oh, and you know you have a copy! ;)

Season 2

Episode 2 - The Night Lands (02:19 - 03:32)
Episode 3 - What is Dead may never Die (48:35 - 49:07)
Episode 5 - The Ghost of Harrenhal (22:39 - 25:16 ; 52:11 - 52:50)
Episode 6 - The Old Gods and the New (38:13 - 38:48)
Episode 8 - The Prince of Winterfell (24:40 - 26:58)
Episode 10 - Valar Morghulis (36:40 - 39:37)

Season 5

Episode 2 - The House of Black and White (45:13 - 46:10)
Episode 3 - The High Sparrow (02:30 - 4:38 ; 29:02 - 29:46 ; 32:10 - 33:00)

... will update this as the series goes on

Mad Crush

A man is too hot

was supposed to rave more about him (or Tom Wlaschiha) but naaaah, will just keep the hormones to myself (and google images). when was the last time i had a maddening crush on someone?! and so a girl shall welcome the feeling with glee. <3

Who's your biggest GoT crush?

The Sunday Currently (vol. 1)

i decided to start this series of Sunday Currently posts as an alternative to life-lately-s and my-week-in-photos because the former doesn't really have a proper format, and the latter i can't sustain cos i suck at taking pictures. i see a lot of bloggers doing this too and it's fun reading about their lives without having to go through a brand placement! hehe

btw, do i have to be tagged to do this? cos i'm tagging myself now hahaha

ETA (May 1, 2015): uhhh, do i have to credit who invented this thing? cos i'm tamad to research. tag me maybe :) 

Currently

Reading

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, which was shortly interrupted by 4 leaked episodes of Game of Thrones, which i regret watching because it's such a huge cliffy, and now i have to wait a month for the 5th episode. why didn't i think of this earlier? argh.

Writing

this update, and my Jaqen H'gar post! HAHA as for pending stuff, tons as usual. a blogger never really runs out of backlogs, no?

Listening

to some retro lovin' from the radio

Thinking

about how to go about the many pages i have to design for this current gig i'm working on. i'm so happy and blessed i got recommended for another project right after i finished the last one. hopefully i never run out of opportunities. i need to save up for my tuition fee! <3

Smelling

nothing. uhm, it's really humid though but it doesn't smell like anything in particular in this part of our house (dining).

Wishing

that my mom would snap out of her paranoia about microwaves. she bought one last friday because she was thrilled about the microwaved mug cake i made recently. but now she kept the appliance hidden in its box cos she got scared of the negative effects it will have on us in the long run. this household needs a lot of counseling from mythbusters. 

Wearing

some tattered shirt and holed shorts. typical home clothes.

Loving

Jaqen H'gar. madly at that. i'm actually drafting an entire post for him. you just wait. haha

Wanting

to save for a bike (a small white-red Merida Big Seven 20 PLEASE!) and my tuition fee still. hehe

Needing

another bath. it's just so freaking hot. XD  also, i need to recommit myself to my daily devotions. :)

Feeling

relieved and cool about life, finally (which is rare cos i never run out of things to whine about esp my work haha). after a long chikahan slash VG-turned-one2one with grace yesterday, i realized that i shouldn't be taking myself too seriously knowing that i tend to be overemotional about things. but that's not really what we talked about HAHA, it just dawned on me while we were talking to each other.

how's your sunday? :)

[Quick Test] Sony DSC-QX10

i came to Sony earlier to try out their DSC-QX10, an attachable lens-style camera that you can pair with your smartphone via wifi or NFC.

i've always wanted to try my hands on photography but didn't want to indulge on another gadget since my Z1 Compact pretty much has the aptitude for quality photographs. however, i wanted something that could come at par with entry-level DSLR's, which is compact and affordable at the very least. so when i learned about this attachable lens thing, i promised to test it out one day (after downloading Sony PlayMemories)... and today is that day!

anyway, here's a list of features (complete specs here), followed by my non-technical quick-test experience... cos i really just want to try it hahaha:

• Sony G Lens with 10x optical zoom
• 18.2MP EXMOR R CMOS image sensor
• BIONZ image processing engine
• Optical steadyshot
• NFC and Wi-Fi
• Bundled smartphone attachment

What i liked:

it's compact and semi-affordable if you didn't want to buy an actual DSLR. it retails at Php 10,999.00 and could be cheaper in online stores hehe. now, i wouldn't really say it's that affordable because i haven't any basis on how much normal DSLRs are haha

it has a rechargeable and removeable battery. you can hook it to a usb plug, or to a powerbank. :) it also has a microSD slot for storage. photos may be saved on the phone or on the lens' memory card, wherever you want. useful if you're just borrowing a phone and didn't want to eat its memory. hehe

the pictures are nice, sharp, and has excellent zoom quality. it also has a better auto-focus. here are samples i took from the miniature village at the showroom:

i'm really no photographer so i appreciate how it came out nicely, and better than what i took from my own smartphone which sports a 20MP camera: 

i find that my phone's captures are more exposed, and badly angled (but that's on me lololol)

What I didn't like

On speed

IT LAGS and that's a major major concern. it can become very frustrating specially when you're up for some candid shots. it lags when you zoom hard, and when you pan it across the room. THAT SUCKS RIGHT? the sales attendant told me it's due to wifi interference from the many PlayMemories-managed devices in the room. but i was skeptic. what if i wanted to buy everything in the room? or i'm in some PlayMemories club and we decided to shoot together? then we'll blow each other's receptions then? it can't. it can't be just that. haha 

On device pairing

pairing to a device over wifi is easy, you just have to supply a password (stickered on the battery flap) when your device detects it, then you're good to go.

pairing over NFC though, is easier! you just have to turn on the NFC on your phone and touch it with the lens, and voila! PlayMemories will launch and you're ready to go! near fields communication babyyyy! <3

but of course, i put this under the "What i didn't like" section, so here's the sad thing. I HAD TO REMOVE MY PHONE CASE for the NFC pairing to work. and that sucks. T___T; apparently, the case hinders my phone's NFC-ness huhu. i failed to validate if that was just a pairing issue though, i mean if i removed the case, pair it, then put it back again. that scenario. hehe

So, will I buy it?

Uhm nope. i was sold with the quality of photos but the lags are a huge letdown. :(

this sucks major balls

due to some network congestion, the company decided to block off a ton of websites that would eat up bandwidth while they haven't acquired new server switches yet (i don't really understand what i'm talking about)... facebook included, rendering me useless in having myself updated w/ my freelance work and all that. anyway, it only meant i have to channel my boredom some place else, like my blog and twitter, and stick to communicating w/ clients via email.

so what's up?

in my previous post i shared with you my success in whipping up a microwaved mug cake and my excitement over trying out other cake mixes. i figured i didn't have to make everything from scratch since when it comes to eating, i'm more interested in the food than the process (unlike success, where it's the journey that matters. ano raaaw haha) so there's no shame in using boxed mixes! it's not like i want to be a baker. haha

on the other hand, i still wish to get fired (or just released from this bond) without being too scandalous about it. everyone seems to be moving on with with their careers and i'm kindof stuck not doing anything... probably because they can't put me anywhere else i could be useful. -_-; i used to think as long as it pays well i could drive myself into working my ass of, but even the pay doesn't get me driven enough (cos it's not enough lol). or maybe i'm just not talented enough for this. puro enough haha. i wish they could let me design but i guess they wouldn't give me that liberty without proving myself worthy in other tasks which is totally unrelated to what i want to do. hay.

i feel like a shark on a tree climbing contest.

of course there's the saner option, instead of whining daily about the current state of my enthusiasm... the wisest thing to do is to find alternatives within the company that could lessen this burden.

a little earlier i talked (well, ranted a bit) to a couple of my officemates about my career drafts (aka positions i wanted to try because i'm not allowed to resign yet) and it turned out very... ano ba, liberating. like some thorn was taken off my uhm, throat? hahaha i was about to say my stemmed body but at the cost of a poor mental image i might impart, i decided to stay human na lang hehe.

ANYWAY, at the very least... i was comforted knowing that

1) i have options
2) i'm not alone
3) it doesn't suck so much here, you just have to know how to navigate around and find your place.

gaaaawd i sound like such an emotional wreck no? HAHAHA

nuff about the work i hate, and more about the work i love...

i've never been more inspired to develop my artistic skills. i wish i could self-study my way into it, but i can't seem to work on my discipline enough to even produce a single artwork in a week (well, that's the plan). i would hoard pens and papers but leave them in an abandoned stache. i never seem to find time to properly use them. most of my recent pieces (if you could call it that) are on papers towels and notebooks... but hardly any on my supposed drawing pads! >XS

i've always wanted to enroll in a multimedia arts course, and guess what... i just did! well it's only a single module (digital illustration and page design) because that's as much as i can afford for now. i plan to take other modules when i've saved enough. then probably go full force in freelancing. chos lang. classes will start this May and i'm so freakin excited!! <3 exactly the software skills i lack, Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. <3

oh Lord, thaaank you so much! <3

oh well, time to go! :D