Let There Be Flight!

           The biggest obstacle a designer can have, among many, is designer's block. Feeling stumped, stuck in this inspirationless, creativeless never ending void of no-idea, is pretty much a problem everyone faces. Be it for writing an essay, or coming up with an art homework, we sometimes don't know what to do to overcome it. Instead, panic kicks in, giving us this overwhelming feeling of impending doom, as if the apocalypse will happen if we don't think up something soon.

           Since the assignment given was to find a 'solution' to a problem, the video I created narrates about how I get hit with designer's block -which feels like a ton of bricks on my brain, and how I found a ‘solution’. But sometimes, even when I do have ideas, I tend to keep to myself for not having the confidence to let out my ideas. The timidness which restraints me from unleashing whatever idea I have storming around up there, the fear of being rejected, unaccepted, or even laughed at for thinking up something so ridiculous, childish and lame. It’s like there is a wall towering ahead of me, and I don't have the confidence to scale it. 

           How do we overcome it? The obstacle that which is what most people define as life, everything and nothing, at the same time. What is it that I am afraid of? Is it really the rejection? Or maybe I am just afraid to face the unknown. Fear. The reality of being afraid of the unknown to the point where I completely avoid trying, just so I don't have to face the outcome. But what good does that do? People learn through experiences and unless I stand up to my fears, challenge myself and face them, I will never learn anything.

           I have to face my problems. Grab it by the neck and stare down its face. To move forward, we all have to start somewhere, even if it means falling back a little sometimes. Because, without failure, we would not be who we are. What we have, and even the people surrounding our lives, all go through the same processes. The only difference is the obstacles faced, and how we face them. 

          The picture of a bird, about to take flight, which I painted using watercolour paint-mixed-with-soap bubbles in the video. The huge bubble made out of smaller bubbles which is holding the bird, represents my ideas, hopes and inspirations. I painted it on a wall, signifying the wall as designer’s block and the bird as freedom. Hence, getting over designer’s block –or the start of it, as the bird is about to take flight, or in other words, allowing the bird to fly over the wall that I sometimes put up to keep ideas I don’t feel confident about, in. Therefore, allowing my ideas and dreams to spread their wings and fly freely without restraint.

           In a way, it also means, if you have the means to, why restrain yourself? Just let it out. Be free. I mean, if you have the chance to fly, why not just go for it? Dare to dream. To take action. You can never succeed without trying.

*DISCLAIMER* btw, don't say I didn't warn you on how amateur-ish the video looks. you have been warned. move your mouse away from the link if you don't want to waste 6 mins+ of your life

so ta-da! here's the link to my video. on youtube. I would rather have uploaded it here on blogger, but for some inexplicable reason blogger keeps coming up with this stupid notifier that says blogger is having problems with uploading my video. yay. B[

Final Assignment progress

Hi there. So as the title says, my progress. Well, we all had online tutorials via FB with our lecturer Mr. Charles. Here's what i presented to him:

Mr Charles my video idea is to blow bubbles (made from soap + paint) onto a wall, probably behind my house and 'paint' a bird about to take flight inside of a bubble. My 'solution' to this 'solution' assignment is partially 2 in 1. getting over designers' block, and allowing my ideas and dreams to fly free without restraint. Because i hit designers block sometimes, and when i dont, i dont have much confidence in letting out my ideas. The bird represents freedom and the bubble the bird is in represents my ideas, hopes, inspirations, and its being painted on a wall, hence getting over the wall which is designers' block, or allowing the bird to fly over the wall that i sometimes put up to keep ideas i dont feel confident about, in. The sketch attached is not how the painting would look like but how the video would look like, which angle it would be taken from i mean, more or less (without all those random writings)

original sketch

bubble mixed with paint example

bird drawn would be based off this one

image credits to google (not including the original sketch i drew)

And well, my idea got accepted! now, to think up the narrative, or as i call it, the storyline of my video ._.

Final Assignment. making a video?!

Hellooo people. It is as the title says, for our final assignment, we are to make a video, based off our archetypes. Here's a little look at what was written on the main contextual studies blog, which gives updates on our briefs and assignments.

The title of this brief is called 'Solution' (No, it should not be the title of your video and write-up, but it's just the title of this brief you are reading). What is it, that you have to do, in order to find the 'solution' to this 'solution'? 
1. As we all know, you have initially been assigned to head over to Archetypeme to determine your particular and respective archetypes. If you haven't, make sure you do, and be sure to addMr Charles into your friend circle in order for him to keep track of your page.
2. Based on your archetypes, explore any facets of design that interests you and make your archetypeme page as your design and idea platform for your inspirations.
3. Based on a specific concept that you have picked out of all the research you have done, sketch your ideas out and present it on the specific tutorial date (that is stated down below) to be finalized to Mr. Charles. Find a way for you to present the context of the video. Keep in mind, 'What is my context vehicle? What will be the medium in which my context will be presented in?'. 

Archetypes

We have been requested to go to a site: https://www.archetypeme.com to take a quiz which they have provided, and make an account. And as you can see in the above picture, those are my personal archetypes.

As stated by Archetypeme, WHAT’S

AN ARCHETYPE?

An archetype is a pattern of behavior.
It explains who you are and how
you engage with the world around you.

And these are the archetypes they have available for people to explore and understand:

THE ARCHETYPES

Click on the icons below and explore.

FEMALE

Creative 

Athlete 

Rebel 

Caregiver 

Visionary 

Queen/Executive 

Spiritual 

Fashionista 

Advocate 

Intellectual

MALE

Creative 

Athlete 

Rebel 

Caregiver 

Visionary 

King/Executive 

Spiritual 

Gentleman 

Advocate 

Intellectual

After this, on the 14th-17th of March, we'll be having a class trip with our foundation juniors, to Tioman Island. weeeeeee :D

Personal Issues

Continuing off from the last post, World issues, the second question is personal issues: Talk about your issues. How issues can shape a person? What are the solutions to rectify it? Hmm hmmmm, well here's where i confess, i am an introvert. I've always suspected i was one, so i decided to take a little quiz from here, turns out i really am one. No surprise there, seeing as i tend to feel more comfortable being by myself.
People generally mistake introverts a lot, based on a few sites i went on, like here, which explains about the definition of introverts, and here, where this guy's blog clears up a few misunderstandings on introverts. Please do read them, i find them quite accurate in defining how i am, as an introvert. And probably a lot of people out there who didn't realise they were one, can finally find the answers they've been seeking to their unsocial-like behaviors.

image credits to google and their owners

According to wiki,

Extraversion and introversion are typically viewed as a single continuum. Thus, to be high on one it is necessary to be low on the other. Carl Jung and the authors of the Myers–Briggs provide a different perspective and suggest that everyone has both an extroverted side and an introverted side, with one being more dominant than the other. Rather than focusing on interpersonal behavior, however, Jung defined introversion as an "attitude-type characterised by orientation in life through subjective psychic contents" (focus on one's inner psychic activity); and extraversion as "an attitude type characterised by concentration of interest on the external object", (the outside world).

Which typically means extroverts are more active around crowds and feeling more drained when alone, while  introverts are the opposite of that.

In the third site i linked, which leads to "10 myths about introverts", as mentioned by Carl,

It can be terribly destructive for an Introvert to deny themselves in order to get along in an Extrovert-Dominant World. Like other minorities, Introverts can end up hating themselves and others because of the differences. If you think you are an Introvert, I recommend you research the topic and seek out other Introverts to compare notes. The burden is not entirely on Introverts to try and become "normal." Extroverts need to recognize and respect us, and we also need to respect ourselves.

And i agree with him. Introverts apparently, make up only more or less 25% of the population globally, meaning the remaining percentage falls to the extrovert category. Which just makes it a little bit harder to live in an extroverted world, where society expects everyone to be the same. Conformity. Acting out of the comfort zones of the majority puts you at the other side of the line that separates the norm, with the strange and unknown.

Always struggling, always challenging myself, i try to interact with people more. Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to think of a topic to speak about, at least i had the initiative to try. And try i shall. To succeed, one must always go through the process of failing. If it doesn't work out, try, and try again. Without overexerting myself, of course.

World Issues

Hey-heyyy! Another assignment question: What are the issues you're trying to tackle in this world? How do you choose to tackle it? and what are your limitations and strengths? ok, so i know it seems like more than one question, but hey, they're all related. -shrugs- it's my definition of 1 question, don't question my questions ._.
Moving on! Global issues eyy? hmm, i guess racism seems to be a regular issue on a global scale that most of the population on this planet is facing or being in anyway related to it. Racism. What is racism? It is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. Racism and discrimination have been used as powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others in times of conflict or war, and even during economic downturns. After all, as long as different societies and cultures are not exposed much to each other, people always feel at least a little bit of uneasiness among a stranger with different cultures and beliefs.

images all credited to google and their owners

Growing up in a multiracial country, it is easier to be more open minded and less of a prejudiced person when it comes to differences in races. Then again, it is just as easy, to not be. Why? in a country that has been democratic for 56 years, it can be counted as a novice country compared to other countries. Meaning, most of the family lines in the country are only a few generations old, not counting the natives, of course. Which leads to most elderly people being even a tad bit racist, being influenced by their ancient culture and influencing the younger generation as well. But, because times a changing people start to see things from a bigger picture, and seeing everyone as a part of one, big family, because everyone is exposed to other races and their cultures and way of life, being brought up among each other. Even though the amount of racism has toned down over the years as compared to decades ago, it does not mean the problem has stopped completely at large. As can be seen on this website, racism is still a large problem around the globe, in Europe, Australia, Africa, Middle East, Asia and North America. Everywhere, children, teenagers and ages young and old, are prejudiced for having a different skin colour. Sometimes it even leads to bullying, and bullying, when too majorly out of control, leads to death on the victim's side. Even if it doesn't, it emotionally scars them and some people develop traumas because of this.

Well now, how do i choose to tackle it? As the people always say, if you wanna start something, it doesnt hurt to start out small. And even though i've never been one to harbor feelings of racism toward other races, honestly, i do feel a little uncomfortable around races i havent been exposed to physically much. Then again, i generally feel uncomfortable being around people im not familiar with, no matter the race. But hey, isnt everybody? well maybe not, but im that kind of person so yeah, deal with it. Or in this case, i meant me. lol. ended up talking to myself again, whoop-dee *sarcastic face on* Anyway, all i've got to do, all anyone's got to do, is to start talking. Expose yourself. Exposing yourself to other races makes you realise that everyone is generally the same. Sure there are language barriers sometimes, sure your other racist friend might give you the why-are-you-talking-to-that-thing look (not saying i have any racist friends, but i've seen people like that), but it'll make a difference, and a difference, no matter how small, is still a difference. And living in a society where conformity is the norm, it wont take long, if everybody is aware of the problem and makes an effort. Like the ripple effect in a pool of water, others will be influenced to do the same and ultimately, it'll open plenty of people's eyes, and bring us all closer together. So why not? just take the plunge. If it makes a positive impact on another's life, why hesitate?

Vigilantes? Law enforcers?

Ohaider B)
For our second task, we were asked to think about the law enforcement. Are they doing their job and are they doing it right? Hmm, I think it might be more of a 50/50 thing. Since it might be unjust to say that ALL law enforcers don't do their job right. In this country we live in, bribery happens frequently, then again, i'm sure it's pretty much the same everywhere else. I believe there are law enforcers out there that do do their job right, believing in equality and justice. On the other hand, it might be rare to find people like that in a world just seething with unjust and people who buy their way through everything. I mean, thats where the phrase "money makes the world go round" come from, right?

image credits to google

On to the next topic! Why do we need vigilantes? In the first place, do we need vigilantes? I guess it usually depends on the location and the situation of a certain problem, and how it is handled by the authorities. Because, if it isn't handled, or even bothered with, what's the point of having these figures people put their trust, hope and tax towards? Sure, civilians would get impatient, frustrated even, if all their complaints are treated like lizards on the wall- you just ignore it. In some cases, vigilantes are helpful, they try to help the public and don't expect any recognition or acknowledgement, they're satisfied in believing they have served for a greater cause- justice. Like this post i found through google, thousands of people try their best to try and clean up their towns because they are unsatisfied with the way things are going in the council about their complaints- nowhere. But then again, are vigilantes really that helpful? What if they wanted to inflict 'justice' upon some wrongdoer, but made a mistake? As I've found out in wiki, apparently:
In a number of cases, vigilantism has involved mistaken identity.

• In Britain in the early 2000s, there were reports of vandalism, assaults and verbal abuse towards people wrongly accused of being pedophiles, following the murder of Sarah Payne.
• In Guyana in 2008, Hardel Haynes was beaten to death by a mob who mistook him for a thief.
• In Philadelphia in 2009, Michael Zenquis was severely assaulted by a group of locals who mistook him for a rapist on the loose.

That's why having vigilantes does have its pros and cons, i mean, if it involved death, are they really allowed to just end another person's life? It hardly seems fair. Then again, if it was an actual wrongdoer who escaped the law, the victims wouldn't feel the same way now would they? So in a way, vigilantes are more justified, depending on whose point of view you are looking at, if they were compared with law enforcers incapable of performing their jobs well.

Well, das all for nao. :O
Till next post. Baiiiiiiiii~

Contextual Metaphor in a short story/novel

Hello there! :D
Ahah another blog to update >_> not that i'm disliking it or anything, ofc not :O This beats writing a journal manually by a long shot. It's just that i'm a little not up to date with blogging n all that soo ignore how plain my blog looks -imsorryshootmenao- 
*cough* Anyway, in contextual studies class (obvious enough seeing as thats my blog title :P) Mr Charles, our lecturer, gave us an assignment:

• Read a short story or novel
• Find a contextual metaphor
• Write an entry about it in your E-journal
• Your analysis about the story

Now on to my novel and its contextual metaphor! :D

Alice's Adventure in Wonderland! weee~

yup as the picture shows, i chose the classical (and very famous) Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or Alice in Wonderland for short. To be honest, i don't have the book, or read it before i decided to find a contextual metaphor in this novel. It's just that out of most of the books i have at home, I can't seem to think of any contextual metaphors, though i'm sure there are. I seemed oddly drawn to the idea of finding a metaphor in Alice in Wonderland, mainly because it's completely fantasy and whimsical nonsense, which makes it seem easier (well, to me it did) to find a contextual metaphor. As i've mentioned, i don't have the book, so i read it online raiht here. Well, i have to say, it's a bit hard to understand the poems and songs mentioned by Alice and the Wonderland characters, seeing as it's a little behind my time period ._. Nevertheless! i finished the novel and find it a little different compared to what remains of my childhood memory of the -equally, or maybe more- famous Disney's Alice in Wonderland. The cartoon version movie, not the one with actors and CGs in it.

The story is quite long so i'm just gonna summarize the parts where i found contextual metaphors. >_<

Alice went down the rabbit hole chasing the White Rabbit, she chanced upon a small door leading to a beautiful garden. She became so enticed that she started finding ways to get through the door. She drank from a bottle that said "drink me", shrank down until she could finally fit through the door, but found out she left the key to the door on top the table where she found the bottle and couldn't reach it. Then, she ate a cake from a glass box under the table and grew, after she could reach the key so that she can unlock the door, the realization that she would not fit through made her cry. lots. So much that after she shrank from blowing herself with a fan the White Rabbit dropped from terror seeing giant-Alice, she ran towards the door to the garden, slipped and was soon lost in a sea of her own tears. And all this happened because Alice was too caught up in finding ways to get to the garden she found so interesting she just had to find ways to get in. Most people these days do pretty much the same thing, people change themselves be it outer appearance or emotionally, just to suit their environment. As we've learnt in social psychology class, the main concern in human social behavior is where one individual or group impacts another individual or group, it also applies to what i'm trying to say here. Where the said individual is impacted by others to change. Like what most teenagers face as a problem: fitting in with the crowd, or their friends, changing their looks or behavior to "click" with them. Or how at work, an employee would change their views on a certain subject to please their boss.

Another metaphor i found in the story is after Alice ran into the White Rabbit, he mistook her for his maidservant and asked her to go to his house and fetch the Duchess' fan and gloves, then upstairs in the house, she found another glass bottle unlabelled, but drank it anyway out of curiosity and grew till she fit a little too snugly in the room with barely any space to move. Then the White Rabbit grew impatient, went to find the gloves and fan himself, but couldn't get in and got scared seeing Alice's arm sticking out the window of the house, called his gardener Bill, a lizard to help pull 'it' (Alice's arm) out. After she scared them both by grabbing her arm at the air, more people had gathered outside the house to see the commotion. Then, after a commotion of Bill climbing the chimney and got kicked back out by Alice's foot, someone suggested burning the house down just to get rid of 'the arm'. Alice then stopped them by saying loudly, she'll set Dinah (her cat) on them. Later, they started throwing pebbles into the window -possibly as an attack, i guess? This can be seen in how people instinctively judge a book by its cover. Or in other words, misunderstanding, misunderstanding in anything and everything. The people outside the house, including White Rabbit and Bill, didn't even bother trying to sort out the matter peacefully by talking to Alice, even after they heard her speak, which made it obvious communication could be made to help Alice (or, the arm in their point of view) get out of the house, they still tried getting rid of her by suggesting burning the house down and then pelting the window with pebbles. As an example, sometimes when babies cry in public areas, like in a crowded bus, strangers who have no experience with children or babies, would find it annoying and call the parent irresponsible. While the truth could've been maybe the child had nappy rash, and the parent had already applied powder to try and soothe the rash, but the hot weather made the baby sweat and made the rash unbearable, while the parent can't do anything being in a crowded bus with no space.

images all found on google

...uhm, seeing as i might've written the two upper 'summaries' =_= extremely long for summaries -if anyone's survived without falling asleep, that is. ─(⊙□⊙)> *i salute u*- i'll try my best to shorten the next one.
This is after Alice met the caterpillar, ate the mushroom and had gotten back to her regular size, reached a house in the forest, ate the mushroom again and shrank a little so as not to scare whoever lived in the house and after a creature that had the face a fish delivered a letter to what Alice assumed was a footman of the house, she went in to find the Duchess nursing a baby, a cook and a smiling cat known as a Cheshire cat in a pepper filled kitchen. While the cook was cooking, she threw everything she could reach for- plates, dishes and more, in the direction of the Duchess, but the Duchess just ignored her and violently nursed her baby (Alice asked why and the Duchess replied that if everyone  minded their own business, the world would go on faster) while she and the baby got hit all over with the things flung at her. It kind of reminds me of something personal that happened to my family. Back when we used to have a hired help at home, the maid or 'kakak' as we called her stole from us, not just money, apparently when we found out, which was around two years after we hired her, she had been wearing my younger sister's clothes, mailing back very heavy mail, which at the time my mom, who trusted her, wasn't very suspicious of what she mailed, but was curious and later found out she had been mailing stolen photographs of my family back to her home -what the hell for we had no idea, but it was very unsettling, seeing as we trusted her so much that my mom bought birthday presents for her. We also had quite a few things missing during her stay which we never found -namely, my necklace that went missing a week after i bought it. We also found out that she had been hitting my beloved pet dog with a stick, when we weren't around -which explained later why he kept biting her. man, thinking back on this we really were fools to trust her and it just makes me so mad.. D:< oh whoops, going off topic for a moment there. anyway, even though in the story, the cook throwing things at the Duchess was more direct, it is similar, in a way, where if you aren't mindful, people could just destroy you. It could be your reputation, or your honor, it could all go down the drain. In my case, it was more like the maid we hired just destroyed the trust we had in not just her but all hired help. Because after that, the maid we hired, which was the last, even though she wasn't anything even close to an evil lying thief like her predecessor, we just couldn't help but be wary and a little suspicious at times.

oh lookie, i ended up rambling on anyway :| ah well, i couldn't help it the words just poured out of my mou- fingers..? xD
Till next time. Baiiiiiii~