I wish I could sleep to kill the time but since I couldn’t, I’d just have to content myself with the simple pleasures that net surfing gives me.
Firstly, it gives me a constant dose of my favorite TV series Smallville (yeah.not again) and Grey’s Anatomy. Thanks to Dailymotion, you never let me down just when I need you the most unlike YouTube. They update regularly so I never miss on one episode. The only downside is that, you have to be specific with your searches or you’d get zero results. Say, if you want to get Smallville’s episode 18 episode 6, you should type in that whole phrase or Smallville 6×18. Got it? Know what you’re looking for. Veoh is also a good online videos and series resource.
Then once I was done watching series, I hopped on to searching classic movies - full length; not trailers - and my stubborn index finger clicked on Squidoo. Coming across a litany of links to legal full movies, which are absolutely free for download, felt like an all-good slap on the face which left my mouth hanging for a few seconds. Unbelievable! Cult horror, classic, thriller, action - name it! Visit MyDigitalShare.com for the latest movies! Amazing! You’ll love it there. Haha. YOu have to register though. That isn’t a big deal, is it?
Now, if you’re an SEO girl like me, you might find this site that I accidentaly stumbled upon useful. I intended to download brushes and frames for Photoshop CS2 but the designs of the frames are all crap so I entered a frame generator. Haha! And look what I found! This site showcases all kinds of generators and site optimizers! Swell. They’ve got almost everything a webmaster could ever need to make life easier! Ready-made website templates, 3D animations, flash intros, online photo editor, SEO and site promotion tools, meta tag generators, etc! Mahihilo ka na sa dami! Sobrang nakakaaliw! Everything that I tried seemed to work well! Creating Online rules!:P
Hay, I wish I am just staying home, watching movies all day long, figuring out how to make templates using flash, drawing in Photoshop and Illustrator, being a bum and official racketeer - zooming outta here.
Thus, this is the first time that boredom made me smile. Definitely, unforgettable.
Friends. Old and new ones. Freaks and geeks. Introverts and extroverts. Quiet and talkative types. Penniless and wealthiest breed. Godly children and non-church goers. As long as they stay true to me, it’s all good. In my eyes, I see them equally. In my heart, they fill and share the same space.
Truthfully, I don’t have that much friends. People who make you believe that this miserable world always has the chance to be better. People who doesn’t say anything until you have told the whole story. People who try to make things possible for you when you stop at near impossibility. People who willingly take away your pain even for a single moment just to see you smile. People who never lie to you even if the words would surely hurt. Friends, for me, are the ones who know for a fact that they are your strength; their embrace, your comfort; their words, your wisdom; their love, your everything. Friends - certainly know that you need them that much in your life to make them stay forever.
Drama! But hey, I couldn’t be more honest than that.
Since I have been off the market to meet new people for a long time (and you know why), I thought that it must be a good idea to discover new found “friendships” after all. Time to mingle once again. And so my weekend has been a blast with the sali members. Aside from Alex, David, Kiko and Seish, it was my first time to see most of them. The meet up was at MOA, 22 members, including me, showed up to mock and bully each other. Haha. I want to describe each of them in a way that only I can understand. Just kidding. Well, sort of.:P
Tannix - his stunts should get him into Ripley’s Believe it or Not. This dude totally rocks even as he pulls off his corniest joke. Siga talaga tayo!:)
Bong - I hear him calling out “manhid” again. he gets his beer from my bottle. we divide it into half. we both love Strong Ice.
Mnel - she’s kikay, bubbly and real friendly. and guess what? she’s a camwhore too. Beat that!
Verna - super kulit and funny! Bow.
Jen - only knows one thing in the world: laughing.
Edhge - all the songs in the karaoke have his name on it.
Dick - man, this guy really knows how to sing…ON STAGE!
Ryan - Sadako’s older brother. DOTA master.
Dean - he can bust your ass anytime at Tekken 5.
Shobe - she’s nice, though shy type (as well as Anjo and Astrid). it’s all cool. Next time, I’d make her grab that microphone.
Don - confused about his current relationship.
Terence - people call him TJ too! I love his name because it’s my nephew’s. 
Nico - Edhge’s cousin. What can I say? We have the same problem at work. He’s just more heated up.
So…That’s it.:)
I could say a lot more, but those are the first things I thought of when I hear their names in my head. 
That’s just the first phase of my weekend bonding with friends. The second was at Enchanted Kingdom with Kelly, Bheng and Ruben. It’s not like I haven’t been to amusement parks, but this is one of the few times when I truly enjoyed (kasi walang KJ).
This would go on forever if I told you everything in detail but I could list down some highlights:
- I had a major sunburn!
- I tried my drifting skills at the Kart Trak and it was helluva ride!
- I was able to scream in the Space Shuttle until I couldn’t hear myself anymore.
- Rio Grande Rapids really gave us a splashing good time.
- Lots of pictures were taken for EDSA billboards. visit http://twilite.multiply.com/photos/album/45
- Foodtrip
- Laughtrip
- Side trip..to souvenir shops.Of course, all of us took home something. Thanks to direk!:P
Oh well, I still feel like I haven’t slept in days and my whole body hurts plus the headache. Argh, this isn’t good. But you know, even if I ended up flat broke - I didn’t mind. Besides, I didn’t want to miss the chance to be with them just because I had to tighten my belt. And I know, I should be cutting back on my taxi fare and other expenses. Damn it! My bills! Haha. I’m gonna be busted by the start of May if I’m still out of cash. So, why don’t I just take the easy way out and kill myself?:P Perfect! Haha.Nice.
Whoever says that Im intolerant to hardships doesn’t know me at all. I’ve always been very patient. Just don’t let me wait without telling me you’re going to be late. My intrinsic irritability is a different story.
Vector Art. Vector Mask. For first timers, this one is definitely going to test your patience. It was never easy. Even tutorials give you hints that if you are not born with an artistic inclination, you’re going to have a real hard time figuring it out.
“Unless you’re an insanely talented artist, you may need some help getting started.”
Where’s the spirit in that? But hey, it’s just to tell you right off the bat that it’s not going to be easy and you know what to expect. But when I know I can do it, I never stop until it’s done. First rule: choose a photo that you extremely like to give you enough motivation and avoid slacking off while working on it. Guess what I picked? A portrait of myself. What else would be better than self-love?
You can find tutorials using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop or combined. If you’re not familiar with Illustrator like me, try your luck next time when you have an uncomplicated subject - maybe like a beach ball. The first 2 hours was like groping in total darkness. All the basic principles of Photoshop is there, but I think that I would be more efficient using Photoshop because that’s where I am good at. Uhuh.
I have read somewhere that it would probably take 10 hours to finish your first vector art masterpiece and I would like to beat that record by getting over it sooner.
1st step:
I outlined everything using the Pen tool without vector masking (because I want the shape to be perfect). The face, neck, shirt, hair and as soon as I’m done, that’s the time when I filled it in with apt colors. Vector mask oftentimes obscures what I’m doing so I set it to none.
2nd step:
You have to breakdown the colors on the original photo into basic levels by using adjustment>posterize. The purpose is to guide you to all its shaded parts. Oops, don’t get the wrong idea that shading would be easy. It’s the hardest. Now, you have to trace the eyebrows, eyes and all its inner layers, lips (you have to sweat this out!) and the nose? Nah, it’s all about the right shading. Goodluck! This ate a lot of my time. And yeah? How will you be able to trace it with the face filled in with color? Open the original photo and posterize it again.
Using the Pen tool; Trace. Copy in new worksheet. Save it but don’t close it yet. But if you’re a master of estimation, you can just draw it on the face. I’ve tried it but you know, it’s just to complicate things like I always do. Haha. So I drew the chin and lips then put it together.
3rd step:
Move all the copied images to the current (main) worksheet. And flick on your estimation switch. Just know where the eyebrows, eyes and the rest should belong or it would all look hideous! And since I know my face well, I got all the right distributions. Always refer to the original photo. Set them in the same size so you’ll always see the difference.
4th step:
Shading. Tinting. Toning. This is tricky. Now I think my photo requires at least 5-8 shades (or maybe more) for the skin part ONLY. I only made use of 5 shades. Your base color is the skin tone and all the shades should either be lighter or darker. You can always use the color picker, it’s up to you to decide which to color to pick though.=P If you know where the light strikes on the subject - it would be easier.
5th step:
Finishing touches. Make it more realistic by tracing eye creases, eye bags and other lines on your face that you want to appear. Again, Pen tool is the key. If you hate your wrinkles and love a botox-ed look - that’s fine. Ditch it. Just don’t frown at yourself when it ends up looking like somebody else. Haha.
6th step:
If you think it’s cute, add an element into your background. Anything. Well,so that people won’t say that I have slacken off… I made one for myself too, yet it may seem like an overkill. Look:
Anyway, this is one fulfilling deed. And I am really proud of how my artwork turned out. GRIN. I know it’s not the hardcore type, not even close to perfect, but I love it! I love it because it pushed me to the limits. Haha.
Now, it’s time for you to figure it out! Want to be “in”? It was said to be one of the hottest trends today in the illustration industry, so why don’t we all give it a try? Oh, by the way, it took me 6 hours to piece it together inclusive of the time I spent tinkering with Illustrator.
I’m tagging Bheng, Joni, Rhiz, Karen and Seish! Let all your creative juices surge! Just post the final output and tell the story behind it.
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