relocated and settled

extremely glad another move's long over.
still have some tidying up to do, though!

sold my imac to the brother. sentimental sniff.
still thinking whether i 'need' a macbook.
might just stick to good old pen and paper for now.

working on a couple of webbies for flood and pebbles.
finally.

lovin' my iPod!

Ed gave me an orange iPod for chrissy last Nov
to block out unwanted blahs around me for approx 8 hours of my day
every. single. day.

thanks, hubby!

i've been downloading podcasts - an education in itself

now i'm hungry.
mama (noodles in thai) time!

leaning towards paranoia

"i think i'm paranoid"
[not the Garbage song]-> mind you!

paranoia's not that bad after all...


what i am trying to say is, it seems like it would be better if one is prepared for certain scenarios/situations that may (or may not) arise. it is, as what td jakes advised, being a few steps ahead, preparing a few steps ahead, being aware.. so you are not caught off-guard.

gone are the days when you can live life relaxed (to the extent of leaving your house door open without worry). or maybe even just leave your bag beside you rather than clutching it throughout the train ride, the meal, etc.

see, i had my wallet stolen yesterday. my bag was beside me and unbeknown to me, somebody decided to sit beside my bag and rummage through it. dang. i'm usually paranoid but yesterday i decided to chill. and also decided to withdraw $80 bucks so my usually empty wallet won't be so empty for the next few days.

smart move.

i'm still lucky it wasn't a hold-up (which would have freaked me out, naturally), that my new ipod (present from Ed) and my phone (with numbers that I haven't backed up) didn't follow the whereabouts of my wallet, and that I have idle atm and credit cards in the house so I don't have to wait 3 or so days for replacement cards. anyhoo, it's all good.

taught me:
to simplify - less clutter
to detach myself from the temporary things of this world

"Do not lay up treasures on earth where moths and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal."

I can hear God say "for I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you." I think that put me to sleep last night.

God was hugging me to sleep.

Audience of One - Big Daddy Weave

Audience Of One

I come on my knees
To lay down before you
Bringing all that I am
Longing only to know you
Seeking your face
And not only your hand
I find you embracing me
Just as I am

And I lift these songs
To you and you alone
As I sing to you
In my praises make your home

Chorus:
To my audience of one
You are Father, and you are Son
As your spirit flows free,
Let it find within me
A heart that beats to praise you.
And now just to know you more
Has become my great reward
To see your kingdom come
And your will be done
I only desire to be yours,
Lord

So what could I bring
To honor your majesty
What song could I sing
That would move the heart of royalty
And all that I have
Is the life that you’ve given me
So Lord let me live for you
My song with humility

And Lord as the love song
Of my life is played
I have one desire
To bring glory to your name

CHORUS

And we lift these songs
To you and you alone
As we sing to you
In our praises make your home

CHORUS

fresh start ahead

left my job two weeks ago.
currently doing my own thing - editing videos and such. still going through the old "To Do" pile.
uncertain of what's next but in due time, i'm pretty sure something will come up.
i'm not JUST waiting around.

i write, i produce / edit videos.
if you / know someone who need the above services, let me know. ;)

i'm enjoying the space, the fresh air, the smell of freedom.

God is good.

december update

crazy busy with multimedia production/editing and tv!

'nuff said.

very cool film site

www.becomingroyston.com

Film: Michael Clayton

I realized that I haven't been watching intellectual movies for a darn long time. It's sure good to watch something more substantial once again (for a change).

I felt really stupid for about 3/4 of the movie but then I suppose it is more the intention of the movie to unfold things ever so slowly as opposed to my intellectual capability to grasp the seemingly un-graspable.

Everything was however clear come the last 5 minutes of the film and my friend and I walked away saying 'this is really really good.'

I particularly loved the cinematography. Specific-focused, suave focus-pulls, the blurs of the street lights, warm-cool tones...

This is writer/director Tony Gilroy's directorial debut and I felt like giving him a standing ovation even before I knew he was a first 0time director.

mesmerized, in every sense of the word

ahhh, the weekend again! i can just sit here all day sound tripping.

======== Events Past and Up & Coming ========

weather forecast: rainy - and from the looks of it, it's gonna be like such ALL weekend


The Past: Miss Saigon, Balmain
Had dinner at the infamous Miss Saigon, owned by Doms dad. Doms was working that night and we decided to say hi and give them some business. We love food as it is so it ain't a problem. We were pretty sure we'll be happy with whatever brand of Viet nosh they serve and we weren't disappointed.

We were a happy group of nine. Post dinner, we walked up and down Darling Street (the main road) in search for a coffee place. To our disappointment, all of them were closed. We happened to ask a couple of Italian middle aged men and they told us to go home cos there's nothing open. Ended up having gelato. And then eventually got kicked out cos they were closing. Alas, Balmain is such a day time suburb.

I used to work there and I believe all the charm it holds belongs to the community of people. I was lucky enough to have interacted with a bunch of those people my first two years in Sydney.

We walked past the Starbucks where I onced worked and they were closed at 7pm! It's just weird.


Up & Coming...

Saturday:
Lunch somewhere with a colleague / friend. I normally draw a line between work friends and friends friends but this is one exception.
Might catch a flick later or just hang around. It is still rainy...

Dinner (or should I say pig-out) with a friend from UTS, Heading to Cafe 22, an all-time favorite. This is perhaps going to be my big big meal before I launch into the 2-week low iodine diet where I can hardly eat anything. Think detox, Ivannah!

Sunday:
Yum Cha with a couple of high school friends. It's so cool how there's three of us here now. One's making her way from the Blue Mountains.

Sunday arvo will be dedicated to ironing and cooking lunch for the next day.

Such is life.

And the cycle just goes 'round and 'round.

the thing about life is...

I am just loving the fact that it is friday night. nothing on the agenda for tonight. as usual i scurried home as soon as the clock ticked 5. no detours, whatsoever. just straight home.

just in dire need of that breather.

been having really bad headaches the past few days. a concerned amy asked me what the ache was like and i could only compare the feeling to how i imagine it would be if some dumb muscle man tried to physically squeeze your brains out. ugh. i am just glad it's over.

no more excuse for procrastinating, i suppose. so i'm sitting here trying to recuperate (from staying up late producing a video last night) and get some stuff done (just like i do every week - well, i try).

while i still owe my blog a 'holiday' post (okay, sneak preview below...), let me say something somewhat in reference to my twenty- seventh.


perhaps the best birthday gifts i can ever receive (that makes my heart thump with glee) include (in no particular order) a birthday card (okay, that one's pretty important), anything related to photography & film (read: moving pictures), art and notebooks. okay, the list goes on. i like a lot of things - note the difference between like and need, thus i buy only what i need (inclusive of what i want to need and/or what i think i need because i absolutely want).

i reckon i look like a notebook person. for years, people have been giving me diaries and notebooks for whatever occasion. i have all these under-utilized notebooks lying around but i still love them.

check out these unused ones i recently got... (left to right - kikki.K kraft notebook [from rosie], MoMA hologram notebook [from leanne])


people just make cool notebooks. speaking of which, check out the stuff (notebooks, included!) my friend, Bernee makes by clicking on the etsy shop link on this page. they're eco-friendly, funky and user-friendly. in other words, coooolnessss... if you're viewing this via multiply, check out my blog site... www.ivannah.blogspot.com. don't forget to clicky, clicky!

i'm just really happy it's the weekend. nuff said.

random ramblings

That's my not-so-new lomography fish eye 2 toy. I got a newer one intentionally purchased by a friend from MoMA - yep, The Museum of Modern Art!!! The lovely new lomo toy is a green lomolito. Thing is, I'm so rusty with films that I've pretty much wasted my first roll of film! Oh, my friend got me an unruled notebook with a hologram MoMA building on the front cover. Coolness.

Two Fridays ago, Joy and I went to the Seventh Avenue Market held at the Aussie Tech Park in Redfern. Pretty cool place, I tell you (both Seventh Ave and Redfern - it's the old Redfern train station so it's a heritage site with locomotive stuff!).

Seventh Ave was a disappointment to begin with because the website (check out www.sevethavenuemarket.com.au, register for free and get access) promised a whole lot of stuff from sass & bide, life with bird, le specs (really cool, drool-worthy but cheap sunnies), stephanie conley (trendy jackets and dresses) and a whole lot more.



We got there and there were just piles and piles of jeans. And I mean MILLIONS of them but only like 10 styles. There were other stuff but not worth mentioning. We kinda browsed through the other stuff but nothing appealed to us. So we thought we'd look closely at the jeans.

I love jeans but they're tricky cos you really have to try them on for the right fit and all. And so we did but the dressing room is a big dressing room, akin to the fitness first change rooms without the toilets, sinks, lockers and cubicles. But oh well. Once I found my sass & bide size, I went and grabbed a couple of pairs. It's 50 bucks a pop. There was the european brand cheap monday but I didn't bother. Those were going for 30 bucks.

Not quite sure what the big deal about sass & bide jeans are just yet. Don't get me wrong, I love the ones I got. i've washed and worn them and yeah they're pretty comfy.

I checked out DJs and saw that they were selling for about 240 a pair. Seriously. I remember checking them out a few months back and I thought they were only about 150 each. Geez. One of the pairs I got was made in china, the other was from the phils. Showed my bro and he went 'it looks like Penshoppe!" Penshoppe would have cost me 10 bucks. Okay, maybe 15! Haha!

Anyhoo, I'm just not sure why people would pay 240 bucks for jeans made in china. Yeah they're sass & bide but they are not way better than say an esprit (they sell for less than a hundred and with the membership card, you get 15% off). *scratch head*

With the advent of the internet and all, I reckon it ain't so difficult trying to be resourceful anymore. So for those people who do not appear resourceful, maybe a more accurate adjective for them is 'lazy'.

I wonder if employers would pre-screen their job applicants by looking them up on google before deciding if they are interview-worthy.

There is currently a gross infestation in Sydney. The moths this year have come in droves. It is disgusting - like a plague of some sort. We can't even open the windows so the apartment smells like food cos we can't air it out properly! And then the moths still come in somehow. We've been vacuuming them up (like we did spiders back in the days).

Apparently they (moths) were migrating to Victoria from somewhere but the wind blew them to Sydney. What an excuse! It's just like when people say the wind blew them to some place to justify their presence, or maybe that includes justification to their existence.

I'm pretty much still in square one. Life's been almost same old, same old. A friend told me I'd be depressed if things were same old, same old. But then maybe I'm just numb, or maybe I'm hopeful that one day I'll reach the end of the tunnel cos there's that flicker of light I see.

trying to get the groove back

haven't blogged for a while so i just noticed that they've added an "add video" function. woohoo!

i need a great big shove, a good whipping and some back-lashing.

it's almost Quarter 4 of 2007. now i wonder where the first three quarters went.

the hallway of so-called family values

p.s. i'm still very much alive - but very tired (i.e. longing for that long-overdue much needed holiday scheduled for September).

La Famille Tenenbaum

--> stunned <--

can't believe it. my iMac is one month old and this morning, it died!

thank goodness for tech support, at least i got to share part of my frustrations with someone. i had to do an 'erase and install'.

smart ivannah hasn't backed up anything yet, therefore i have lost my works in progress (screenplay, videos, after effects projects), some music, a lot of photos and my newly revised CV.

currently reinstalling mac osx and mourning the loss of my stuff. to top it all off, i haven't backed up my programs which means i have to get them form the source once again and then whip up a video by tomorrow.

sigh. i'm glad my old rickety pc is still around. i almost sent THIS for reformatting last week!

i feel like i just had a heart attack. to think i've called in sick today due to bad tummy condition (i was orchestrating my own fireworks last night). i darenot say more.

in a way it's good i'm home when this happens. guess i better look at it that way.

*BIG SIGH*

there's still hope.

i disintegrate.

i need at least a month to recover.

don't ask me for details,
i'm not good with disecting abstact concepts.

therefore i cannot quite explain,
unless i try very hard (and i have no energy for such),
my current dilemma.

checking with the doc at lunch time,
hoping they won't make me wait an eternity...

seeing the new shrink after work.
pray work won't be crazy busy like friday.

the weekend:
chatted with B / hillsong tv gfx / bus ride with G / watched Life Aquatic + Lost in Translation bonus features /caught up with Ced re Fri nite projects / lunched and hung-out with Joy, Andrew + bro post church service / napped and prepped for the new week ahead

The Week: in point form

+ busy lunch periods catching up with an array of lunch buddies - to make up for the nights spent on The Editing.

+ spoke to dad on monday, dad's birthday on tuesday, found out he had a bit of an accident thereafter - pray it's going to be all good. soon. :I

+ bro somewhat worried about eye probs. :(

+ busy day at work, meetings and all - think the volume has picked up once again - and maybe we need those contractors after all.

+ officially taking a finance course next month - something i have to pass (aim:71%). otherwise, it's going to be another expense - an unwanted one at that.

+ whew! i thought my Photoshop died - it's alive again!

+ tired, potentially getting sick - winter's coming! - oh well for sickness, yay for winter. i need new black boots.

+ weekend's here! please be slow, weekend dearest. don't go too soon and let monday come, lest i be miserable!

+ DONE with the video! i love you, final cut pro, though you don't do sound mixes very well. oh well. i still love my mac and the best thing about the whole experience is the learning process. more on this in upcoming blogs.

+ just bought STACKS of blank DVDs and a couple of Wes Anderson's films: The Royal Tenenbaums (one of my faves!) and The Life Aquatic (apparently a flop, but for 10 bucks, it's not too bad - savour the commentaries, fingers-crossed they're worth 10 bucks).

+ oh, me and Na are officially Club Dendy (www.dendy.com.au - THE best cinemas - for their choice of flicks) members! been wanting to join since 5 years ago! so FINALLY! :D


Below: the product of that wee bit of photoshop exercise i just had to do.

Calm after the Storm

A friend used to tell me how there's one thing a person in their lowest of lows can look forward to -better times. She reasoned that there's just that point where things couldn't get any worse.

That's something I've believed until now.

i'm currently happily editing The Video. But I have to do everything again... not that I've done so much already...I'm just glad the concept's worked.. sort of.

I'm blabbering. I have more to say but currently lost for words. I'll write again when I'm more organized.

Locked-in

The lifts in the apartment went berserk last night. They fixed it an hour or so ago. Good for them. I thought I'd be stuck here forever.

(There are fire stairs but once you're out, you can't come back in unless someone from inside opens the fire door for you.)

Having pre-shoot jitters. The thing to bear in mind is that I'm not alone and there are people (make that at least one person) who shares a deep concern for the project as much as I do.

I've had parotid glad infection for a few days now. The damning condition has made one of my cheeks swell, made me feel (not to mention look) a bit funny and has sent my mood into swift series of sommersaults.

www.avidlingoren.com - inspiring, at the very least.
Cheers to you all, Filipinos!
Double cheers to you all, Filipino film people!!

Finally, Finally...

* North Sydney Freeway, taken form the North Sydney Footbridge.

Finally got my DSL2 modem, hence an even faster connection (not that I've ever complained in the past) but at least we've got optimum (or so I think) internet connection.

Still have that one box to unpack but I'll take my time on that - until tax season, I suppose.

We are currently working on a wedding video, plus I've got a few projects lined up. Apart from the wedding video, the others don't really have a deadline which is well and good - but I'm determined to come up with kick-ass material though I don't know how.

The week's been alright. Lunches with good friends - Katrina's back! - a few dinners, a 007 movie from the 70s and a bunch of late nights.

Long road ahead, I tell you. I gotta catch up with house work before I totally shove the thought to the back of my head.