Tuesday 25 November 2014

Start of Music

“I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard.” 

Some of you should be familiar with this quote. It's from a book "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman. I haven't read the book yet, but its film was one of my favourite movies. Inspiring & life-reviving, Also reminds me of the start of my early music life. Contrary to Mia's though.

Parents want their kids to learn music because you know, musical kids are better in studies, blablabla and so on. Piano was the path my parents chose for me. I started learning when I was 5. As a kid I enjoyed it a lot, playing 'Do Re Mi' while reading those colourful scores filled with cute pictures. Beethoven Bear & Mozart Mouse was a part of my childhood. But soon I could feel it wasn't as enjoying as I thought. My parents want me to take ABRSM examinations so I could level up & be better. It's cool you know, improving your skills and all, but it felt wrong. Only allowed to play my examination songs & scales. I was forced to practice & practice for hours. 

It was lucky that I had guts as a kid. I told my parents about how I felt about the exams & told them to take it easy on me. But my piano class fees weren't cheap, so my parents can't afford to let me waste time playing songs I want. It soon became torture to me. I often cried on the way to piano class, screaming excuses to skip classes as I was never good enough for my teacher. I tried to not touch the piano whenever I can. Something I used to love became something I hate awfully. Life suck during that period of time, everything seemed to be falling apart.

Please Mia, don't make me write a song.

As predicted, in 2011, my parents stopped my piano classes as they don't want to force me doing something I hate. I felt like I could breathe again, being able to stop playing exam pieces.  At first I always distanced myself from the piano, then I started to cover pop songs we hear everyday on the radio. Play-by-ear is a talent I was born with, so covering songs are a piece of cake to me. I started a Youtube channel with my piano covers uploaded there. Things started to get better, smiles started to appear on me more.

Two years later, I'd decided to go back to piano classes to continue where I left off.  I'm going for ABRSM Grade 8 next, but this time I made a deal, saying that I'll enjoy the journey playing songs I want & also practicing for my upcoming exam. Till now, everything was going smoother than ever. My Youtube career's cool, 245 subs & growing fast, and my Grade 8 exam's in April 2015. 

In the end, I would say mistakes are made for a reason. Without stopping classes, I wouldn't find out what I could do with my play-by-ear talent. I wouldn't had started a Youtube channel, I wouldn't enjoy music the way I do now. I'm glad I never gave up on what my parents had chose for me & instead choose my dream instrument, which was the violin. Still, I'm getting one as soon as I pass my Grade 8 as it's the instrument I would die to master. You won't believe this but yup I learnt how I play the violin in 3 hours. 

Someday I'll be playing it like how Mia plays her Cello, throwing myself into the violin, playing my soul in the wild. Dreams.

Saturday 15 November 2014

Cookies For Sale!

Well since I'm not working before my trip to America, I decided to make a few bucks by selling homemade cookies to the neighbourhood. (I just can't stand not being productive while the peeps around me are killing it!)

Hand-coloured flyers with cookie monster!

I'm selling three flavours which are Chocolate Chips, Peanut Butter & Coffee. Well I would recommend Peanut Butter as it's my family's favourite. (Yum yum in the tum) And it's only 4 bucks for 10 cookies! So why think about it? Just go ahead & send me that email!

Do take note that orders can only be placed from 17 November till 24 November. Delivery dates are 20 November to 26 November because I'll be flying at 28, sorry for the short time period! To order, just email your house address, type & amount of cookies, and the delivery date to pawslikeaboss@gmail.com and your fresh cookies will soon be dancing its way to your house! Way easier than ordering pizza.

Hope you'll pitch in your support & I promise to satisfy your tastebuds with my signature homemade cookies! :D

Weekend Break

Just gonna be a short one featuring how I sometime spend my weekends. :)

Previously my garden was in a small renovation to sprite up the view & finally, it's ready! So today my family & I decided to have our afternoon tea at our 'cafe corner' in the garden. Mom bought 2 slices of Secret Recipe's cakes & I spice things up with a few light tea snacks I usually make. Warm fuzzy family feels.

Creme Brulee Cheese & Chocolate Banana (Left)
Coffee biscotti & mocha chiffon bites (Right)

Feels great to have the weekend well spent with the family. ;)

Thursday 30 October 2014

Back To Comics

Few days ago I have no idea why, but I started to think about my future, my careers & grown up stuff. Weird. And I look at my friends, most of them had their future perfectly planned, their grades are terribly good & all. Me? Sitting on the couch all day, snacking snicker bars & stuck myself with my macbook, not even knowing what am I searching for. Yup I needa go get Mr. Productivity back.

When I was in my first year in high school, I drew & sold comics to my friends. Unexpectedly it was a great hit, I earned 150 bucks for each episode (I sold 3). Suddenly I got bored of it & I stopped, even leaving a 'to be continued' story from episode 3 in the middle of nowhere. Sorry to those who waited!

Well, I'm now starting to draw them again (Yayyyy) but this time it's gonna be a little different. Ditching the long kiddy fantasy tales, I heading for short comics. You know, the four-boxes-kind-of type. It took some time for inspirations to get to me, but surprisingly it's doing fine so far. :)


Unfinished comics with sketches.

Finished comics!

My draft book (I bring it with me wherever I go so I won't miss the chance when inspiration hits me!)

So that's basically how my comics are done. It's definitely time-consuming, but seeing the outcome of it is one of the best feelings ever! After I finished quite a number of them I'll start selling them again, hoping for the best! Comment if you want the comics posted here, no worries I'm fine by that! (Depends on the amount of demands I receive) :P

Monday 27 October 2014

Cravings

So much are bothering me these days, but the one that bothers me most are my cravings for treats & desserts (after not having them for MONTHS). Cool sharing some with you guys?

Most of the time I crave for ice cream, and I have no idea why, but it's always Mcdonald's Oreo Mcflurry. Like, come on man, I see Mcdonald's almost everywhere I go, how to resist my tastebuds from dragging me towards it? Well I guess you would already know how it turned out. Few days ago I ended up slurping 2 Oreo Mcflurries & a Chocolate Sundae. Yay me.

Other hard times occur in the grocery store (yeah why not, it's filled with FOOD). Especially during this period, my family's favourite grocery store is having an American Country Fair & a Halloween Fair. Yup it's halloween fair, everywhere is piled up with imported candies. I tried so hard to not look at the candy aisle, but I accidentally peeped & saw heaven - Peanut Butter M&Ms. 

I ended up buying the pretzel one because it has less fat then the PBs. Wooh.

I also bought a huge chewy bar that tempted my dad & I. It's called Big Hunk, never saw it before. We promised to keep it for Christmas, but seeing it every time I opened the fridge ain't securing that deal.

Yup, this post kinda concludes that I have a really bad sweet tooth. What are your favourite cravings? It would be glad to know that I'm not the only one who craves for Oreo Mcflurries or M&Ms, do share your cravings with me! Excite me with foooood. ;)

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Lost & Gone

What would you do if you found out the one thing you loved so much you committed years for it and suddenly, you lost all the passion for it just because of one incident that changed everything?

I didn't had a choice but to give it up for something much more important, but now watching my friends continue to achieve one of my biggest dreams, it breaks me so hard I isolate myself from the society. Once a crazy wild girl then turned into this quiet insecure kid. People noticed and asked, but nothing seemed able to repair my lost soul anymore.

My life sort of tumbled downhill, my bad for not waking up, but I didn't want to. Then ana got to me, I don't even care about exams I skipped most of it, spent most of the time in my room staring blankly at the ceiling. If people ask me out I would deny no matter how exciting it sounds, I just couldn't feel the meaning of life anymore.

Looking at the mirror, it's not me I see, but someone else who's hiding me beneath it.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Dreams Upon The Sky

When I was a kid, I used to think that stars are dreams floating above the skies. When a dream is achieved, a star blinks & disappears. I don't know where I got this idea about stars, but it was in my head all the time.

Hey there! The name's Alanis, 16 & screwing up my first blog with my weird attraction to stars. Yup I love stars, cuz they are the ones who kept me company when I was a kid. Every night I couldn't sleep, I would look out the window, amaze my eyes with the millions of stars that covered the deep dark sky. For some reason I feel inspired by their uniqueness, it makes me feel less alone.

Not what you expected, I'm just a tiny insecure kid hiding in the shadows, kinda living in my own world, trying to work things out myself. Ain't that popular kid or that smart ass who aces every test, but just that lone kid. But somehow I'm pretty cool with things I'm good at. Music, drawing, stuff like that, and that makes me not that "hidden" after all. Interesting personality, I would say.

So why I started a blog? Was finding a place to hammer down my feelings that are hard to be said, also a place to jot down interesting chapters about my life. Well I hope it'll be an amazing journey, also hoping to get different opinions from you guys out there. A warm new beginning to me. :)

"There is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars." - John Green