Degenerate Life

It's like getting your own apartment...

2010-09-12T01:54:00.001+08:00

For those of you stalking me here in Blogger, I wanna say thank you and I appreciate the ego-gratifying attention. It's kind of reassuring that somehow, somewhere out there... somebody has actually taken time to read through my rants and whatever nonsense I may have posted.

For quite sometime now, I have 'upgraded' to WordPress and have moved my blog into my own server. For whatever sick and degenerate reasons you may have, if you still want follow my nonsense you can now browse through my personal blog at Lance Sison, rockstar for hire (http://lancesison.arsnovadesigns.com).

Please do visit my new address, and do subscribe to my posts. Apparently I need subscribers to my feed to make my Ratified.org rating go up. And since you're here, might as well click that little "Like" button on my facebook widget down here. :)

Are you a freelance designer? Really?

2010-08-19T13:33:00.001+08:00

PHOTO: STOCK.XCHNG

It has been a really busy month.
And my calendar won't be getting any dandier for the next few weeks. Well, not until I finally take that week off next month anyway. But then I suppose I'd still be tugging my Mac along to work on some projects while on vacation.. .lame.

But don't get me wrong; It ain't like I'm starting to despise what I do, on the contrary, I am loving it more and more. From one project to the next, my fascination resembles that of a child's toward the principles and technologies that unfold from my computer screen. I simply can't have enough of it: designing, design webinars, best practices, eBooks, eCommerce, tutorials, forums, Web 2.0, HTML 5, javascript, open source initiative, latest web trends, CMS, CSS, aspx, xml, even that f*ckin' SharePoint, anything and everything Adobe... aaargghh!

I had the rare luxury of a 15-minute coffee break which gave me time to reflect on how's everything coming along juggling time between full-time employment, personal life & extra projects. Am I still the Jedi designer that I envisioned myself as, or have I become a pawn trapped in transition between a nine-to-five and building my design empire with most of my 'me time' lost in limbo?

Call me Darth Lance. Harbinger of dark circles and eyebags.

How do designers like us know if we are already 'worthy' to be called a freelancer? Is there a rite of passage that designers must go through in order to qualify as a freelancer? I'm sure there's more to it than just getting several projects from different clients, or else, all of us are freelancers. There must be some elitist boundaries that separates freelancers from mere corporate creatives who gets ocassional ad hoc projects... What are the tell-tale signs that you are becoming a bona fide freelancer?

Well... here's my top 20 list:

Your body clock is a mess, you've lost your sense of time: you only sleep when the project you're working on is either done or in-between reboots 'coz your PC (eeewww!) or Mac crashed from being overused (yes, they do that too!). And because of this you have developed a biological eyeliner that Captain Jack Sparrow would envy.
You're never ever hungry whenever any Adobe program is in use, your only signal to eat is when your gut starts hurting and you had to get up because you thought you had to sh*t.
You don't see (or haven't seen) in person more than half of the people you work with. They probably would be shocked to know how different you currently look like from the online profile picture that you've posted eons ago.
There was a time when one of your clients accused you of cheating/hacking oDesk's webcam monitoring system, because for three consecutive days the webcam shots sent to your client by the oDesk system shows that you're wearing the exact same shirt.
It's been a while since you've seen the sun and basked under it.
You get your news exclusively online, not on the TV, not on the radio, not on news papers or magazines, just online.
You get withdrawal syndromes when you haven't checked your email for more than five hours. All you could think about are the updates from the projects, quotation requests, approvals, and revisions that you might be missing.
When you shop for clothes, you account pyjamas under 'work clothes'.
There are days when your personal hygiene regimen is summed up in a serving of hand sanitizer.
Your collection of pyjamas is more diverse than your office shirts.
You accustomed to attending conferences, seminars, interviews, pitches and meetings in your boxers.
You have a customized mouse pad. Worse, you built one from scratch.
You have more than one pointing device actively connected to your computer.
Your best buddy at work is that fluffy wrist support stuffed toy on your desk.
You can survive for days without water, but not without caffeine-laden drinks.
You try to find time, usually on a weekend (when your clients are happily enjoying their personal lives), to shave at least once a week.
You pay for gym/club membership and classes which you don't have time to go to.
You can't work without YouTube, an RSS reader, Facebook or Twitter running on a browser tab.
Your "internet friends" know more about you than some of your actual friends.
In your idle time you seek online help for internet addiction. Well... that or wikipedia.

I'm a junkie... I'm becoming a full-blown freelancer.
How about you, have you experienced any of these?

Gmail + Rich Text & HTML Sigs - Finally...

2010-08-06T17:51:00.001+08:00

It's about damn time!

I have just found out that Gmail has just recently announced that they are finally natively supporting this feature (Click here to read the post @ the official Gmail Blog). I have been waiting for this feature for the longest time (well... not longer than the time I've waited for Starcraft 2, but still... for somebody with no patience at all... ) and finally it is natively supported with no more extra tweaks nor extra plug-ins nor any of those retarded workarounds just to show some bling on your GMail signature.

For those of you who are totally clueless on what I am ranting about. You suck. It's either you've been in jail for the last decade or you're an utter web-functionality dunce. Whatever the case may be, I am magnanimously gonna teach you how to easily set it up in five easy steps. So that you'll have a taste of how being 'techy' feels like:

Login to your GMail account.
On the upper-right corner, click on the 'Settings' link.
Scroll down to the 'Signature' settings part and edit away using GMail's rich-text editing toolbar.
After pimping up your signature, scroll down even further and click on the 'Save Changes' button
Start appreciating your lovely new email signature

Now for those who still don't get it, I suggest you google about the damn topic and educate yourself a bit. Or just follow this link to GMail's official blog:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/rich-text-signatures.html

Home is Where the Phone is - Mozilla Creative Collective Design Challenge

2010-07-20T11:42:00.001+08:00

The coolest open-source browser on the planet is running a contest!
Mozilla Creative Collective's design challenge:
Create an iPhone skin design for Firefox Home!

The goal of this challenge is to create a design that may be made into official Mozilla iPhone skins. The top 5 designs will be highlighted on the Creative Collective homepage, blogs and may have the chance to be featured on the Mozilla website as official merchandise. The winning design will also have extra special recognition with the Champion of the Collective badge.

Think about a design that encompasses themes such as:

Get up and go. Easily pick up where you left off with Firefox.

Home sweet home. Access your favorite parts of the Web anytime and anywhere.

Don’t start from scratch. Enjoy the convenience of leveraging your Firefox browsing history.

Comforts of your web. Your private data is protected and always with you.

Winning entry gets the "Champion of the Collective" Badge = Which is equivalent to bragging rights + additional bling for your portfolio + your mark in the open-source community
Submission of entries ends on August 15, 2010 (11:59:59 GMT -7 hrs)
To find out more about the details of the design challenge, please visit its official web page or type/paste this URL in your browser http://creative.mozilla.org/challenges/6

Mobile/Digital Castration + Some annoying old dude with PMS

2010-07-16T14:12:00.005+08:00

Be Warned: 3G iPhone + OS4 = something short of anal rape.

I still remember those days when an "upgrade" is supposed to make your life easier... happier.
Then a few days ago, after I popped in my iPhone to my Mac so I could sync Mudvayne and 30 seconds to Mars' new albums, I get a message that "a new version of the iPhone's OS is available". Of course, who could resist anything new that Apple made.

Little did I know that pressing that 'Update' button was synonymous to pulling the trigger to the digital-shotgun that's pointed at my techy-balls...

And to add insult to injury, before I could update my iPhone to OS4 I had to update my iTunes to version 9-point-somethingy first. Which at first I thought was okay because my stuff are getting 'upgraded', 'till it started downloading. The whole iTunes update took a quick two minutes and A LIFETIME to complete. Which made me wonder if I should change the usual time I check my emails and not do it at 2 in the morning.

After all the bells and whistles have been installed, I finally got the chance to try out the ultra-hyped iPhone OS4.... at 4:30am. But since I'm only left with two and a half hours of sleep before my weekday alarm goes off. I blissfully go to sleep like a child before Christmas day, knowing that I get to open a present and play with my new toy the next day.

Or so I thought. After upgrading my 3G iPhone to the OS4 every damn thing about it was so laggy, it felt like the application icons are about to fall off from the touch screen during the previously-uber-cool transitional animations whenever I fondle (yes you read that right, fondle, you perv) things on the screen.

I thought to myself "maybe it's just a temporary thing, and my phone is just getting used to the new OS", who the f*ck am I kidding. I went on for days and days of painful multi-tasking, which was flawless prior to the 'upgrade', with my iPhone. I can't 'enjoyably listen to music and use anything that requires Internet access, and worse, if somebody calls me when I'm forcefully doing these tasks, the iPhone now gets to decide which of its functionalities it would allow me to use.

Don't get me started with iBooks... personally I feel they should change the name of the damn app to "iCrash, really, iDo." Having all these new 'perks' to play with for the last few days made me yearn for my last mobile affair with the Motorola SLVR. I really loved everything about that phone. Because of the glitches I was dealing with, in the span of six dragging days, my iPhone quickly turned into an "iAm gonna f*cking trade you for a Motorola DROID X if this doesn't improve in the next two days" experience.

So there I was yesterday, nearly a year into being a MAC-getarian (completely forsaking anything that only runs on PC engine), reluctant on giving up on my iPhone. Spent my lunchtime looking for answers online. Apparently there are sh*tloads of 'fixes' that people have done to address the lagginess. Not being completely sold to the idea of Jail-breaking my phone nor restoring the OS back to 3-point-somethingy, I picked the more subtle approach to my dilemma:

Perform a “hard reset.” Hold down the sleep/wake and home buttons simultaneously for roughly 15-20 seconds, until the screen powers off then an Apple logo appears, which signifies a reboot. Some users have (oddly enough) reported that performing two hard resets resolves the slowness issue.

Which I got from an article at appletoolbox.com

Yay, now that resolved two issues out of I don't know how many: OS4's lagginess and the miserable battery consumption. It ain't as great as it was before but I could live with it. I still haven't tried if my iCrash err.. iBooks is working properly now, I've decided to check it out only on a need-to-know basis. As long as I still don't have a need to use the damn app, I'll be completely oblivious to whatever misery iBooks might potentially give me.

I wish apple had at least included a message or an obvious link to these fixes along with the download page:

"This new update might sodomize the otherwise productive setup of your iPhone, but don't worry, some other dudes totally not connected with apple in any way has found out how to unofficially fix the mess we just did. Click here to know more about the things they know which we couldn't figure out. Thank you for downloading iPhone OS4."

On a completely different story (which doesn't deserve its own entry on my blog):
That guy with the white army-hair and specs running the western food stall at Fusionpolis is the epitome of Bad-Service-Assholicism. He asks the person queueing in front of me "Blek pepah soson numbahnaynne?" (Black pepper sauce on number nine?) in a very distinct Chinese intonation/inflection. Of course the guy in front of me wouldn't understand (I didn't) and just gave the old man the 'Four Ws and a question mark' (What, Where, Why, When?) look. Angrily, the old man raised his voice and repeated what he said in a very rude "I'm-gonna-talk-slow-and-loud-like-this-because-I-think-you're-retarded" way. And the funny thing is that he's talking to another Chinese guy. I mean WTH??! right?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not that fast to judge other people (okay... I actually am, but that's beside the point). I actually thought that it could be an isolated case. But alas! Another guy behind me ordered the same thing (what's up with chicken chops today?), and he got the same award-winning TLC. So much for service with a smile. Tsk tsk.

F is for Fail - Brent Barson

2010-06-28T11:10:00.001+08:00

This is a totally awesome display of creativity. I saw this vid from the PGDA fb wall, I've probably watched this for more than 15 times but I still can't get over how painfully detailed it is. Enjoy.

F is for FAIL from Brent Barson on Vimeo.
F is for Fail is a short film about the creative process, and the failure we always encounter, but usually overcome. Told using the alphabet, each letter informs us of the state of the protagonist's creativity/state of mind. Each letter has two words associated with it (except A and Z); sometimes the positive word overpowers the negative word, and vice-versa.

Typographic footage was converted and exported one frame at a time. No AE filters or effects!

Creative direction, design, and animation by Brent Barson.

Music by Micah Dahl Anderson. Oscar-caliber acting by Jon Troutman.

Sweeeeeeeeet!!!

2010-06-25T17:52:00.001+08:00

Last Friday of every month + kick-ass company who sponsors happy hour
= Coolness

I could really get used to this. Freaking awesome.

Compulsively blogged from my iPhone.

012 - Adieu

2010-06-25T14:01:00.000+08:00

It's been almost two years since my last post. So many things have happened... just too many. Sometimes I just wish that I could fool myself into filtering all these mem'ries in my head. I just want to live in that make-believe dream I had with Yumi...

How can something that seemed so beautiful go utterly wrong?

It feels like my life was always been a cosmic joke, a skit, a ditty, a satire of sorts that was particularly contorted for the amusement of all those around me. Like I'm just a supporting role in a movie about my life, where I revolve around everything else and not the other way around. So pathetic... such a lowly form of existence. Sick.

All I could do about it is find comfort from these pills...

It'll be over soon... just a little more. I never thought over-dosing on happy pills could take so long. Maybe I should've bought stronger ones. Or maybe this is that part in the movies where someone could come rushing to my rescue just before I die from this. I hope it's that way. It so damn sad to think that I'll just be a passer-by in this life. Like a Non-Player Character in those role-playing video games. Someone not memorable at all. Just a speck of dust along the shoreline at Long Beach.

I still remember those endearing moments with Yumi last February before everything got flushed down the drain. We went to Japan for the Sakura Festival. Everything was beautiful. I can still vividly remember how the wind would blow through her hair with all the loose pink petals would zip through behind her.

Everything else seemed to be in black and white... It's only her and those pink petals that had color.

It was the most majestic moment of my life.

I remember the little farm house that we rented at Shirakawago. The way we made love out in the jacuzzi surrounded by snow, and how we cuddled up by the fireplace each night. Just skin on skin, over and under a sea of fur blankets. I loved her so much. I would do anything to go back to that time. I'd give up everything to have that back again.

Maybe we shouldn't have left. Maybe we could've just gotten married there. I hate this corporate rat-race anyway. How I dread being just another number under someone's payroll. I could have just started a small IT firm down there. I would've still been living in that blissful dream. She would've still been with me. Yumi... I love you. I love you so much with all my heart. With all my life.

But this life is now worthless. My heart is beyond repair. I regress into being a mere mammal, not even that, I'm just a tool... a f**king robot for the money-driven corporate world. Another beautiful mind plundered for what it's worth. I exist to merely generate revenue, to produce results. Just somebody's investment. Another quantifiable exponent in the system.

Being with her was the only thing that made me feel alive. Human. Just those moments I've spent with her, and maybe those binging nights with Jessica and Joe.

I wonder how they are...
I haven't spoken to them since the incident. I was just to spaced out. I guess it was my bad that I punched Joe in the face when he called Yumi a whore. But I think he's right. I guess he was so angry with her because he really valued me as a friend. He never talked to me after that... I wish I could say sorry to him.

Joe, if ever that you'd chance upon this post in my blog after I'm dead, I just want you to know that I'm sorry for that man. I really am. And I want to thank you for all the times you stood by my side, all those times you bailed me out of those pathetic and depressing nights. Specially that night when I passed out in that bar and you scraped me off the floor and carried my half-dead carcass back in to my apartment. You're the best dude. I'm so sorry that even though I promised you that I'll be strong, I'm here trying to kill myself again. But I'm optimistic that this time around it won't be a debacle. Thank you so much dude. You're the closest thing to having a big brother. I love you man.

You see, Joe was there to see everything. He already warned me how Yumi was just the perfect person who would shatter me into a gazzilion pieces. But I was too stubborn to take caution, to determined to chase a unrealizable dream. And even though it was against his insticts, he was there to support me all the way. Even that time when I was the only one who was totally oblivious to the fact that she was fooling around with the boss. Those 'late night meetings', those horrendous moments of transgressions. Joe would be there to cheer me up saying everything would be alright. That this could just be a phase. That my life ain't worth ending over such bullsh*t.

I remember how he stayed with me 'till five in the morning at the bar after Yumi suddenly decided to run off and get married with our company's CEO just three months after our Japan trip.

As Joe would say to everyone else... "What a typical gold-digging-c**k-sucking Japanese whore."

Oh god, I miss how Jessica would shower me with attention and loving me during moments of self-pity. I knew from the start that she really had something special for me.

Yes Jess, I know. And I also know that you're always reading my blog. And I'm amazed that you still haven't hacked into this just to read through my drafts.

And I want to tell you how much I really appreciate your affection. I'm sorry it didn't work out between us. I would just be lying to you and to myself if I allowed 'us' to happen. Because you knew from the start that it's not that there's something wrong with you. You are perfect. It's just that it has always been Yumi and it will always be her. Actually to be honest with both of you and Joe, if I had the choice (and I know that both of you would hate me for saying this), I would go though all the pain again just so I could be with her. I'm a fool for her. I will always be.

I'll never know her reasons why. Or maybe I already do, I'm just not ready to accept the fact that she's really like that. But whatever it is, I know that I will always still love her no matter what. And I will always stay a fool for her, and accept her for all that she is. And I will always dream of our unborn babies... I'll always be caught up in that 'Sakura' moment with her.

And these pills are my way out from this madness.
I've tried... we've tried everything else... we've already exhausted all other means of fixing me.
It will end soon. You guys wouldn't have to put up with all my bullsh*t anymore.
I'm sorry, I wish everything could've been better... Adieu.

FREE DesignCast sponsored by Quark!

2010-06-24T03:30:00.001+08:00

No Code Required : Creating Flash and Interactive Design with QuarkXPress 8

QuarkXPress® 8 allows designers to leverage their print layout and design skills to create Flash® output without learning code – which is helping designers of every level take on new professional opportunities. Join Quark’s Dan Logan as he demonstrates a few of the practical applications for the Flash output that can be created in QuarkXPress 8, such as a presentation or slide show. Dan will cover how to create:

- Looping content
- Rotating animations
- Image sequences that cycle through images continually

Please register with the same email address used when purchasing in MyDesignShop.com

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/461114816

A rather pleasant culture shock...

2010-05-17T19:13:00.000+08:00

This post marks the end of my first day of work with Eli Lilly. Predictably, I'm still basking in that 'new company' feeling. Specially when one of the things that is particularly different is a company-encouraged balance between work and life. No rushing to beat the clock, flexible work hours, clocking out at five, and dig this... A company-sponsored family day this weekend. Perks that were considered to be sacrilegious in my line of work, or at least I was previously conditioned to believe that they were.

Have I been raptured to corporate heaven? It certainly feels that way.

http://degeneratelife.blogspot.com

Hay nako... Tae. (+1,000,000)

2010-05-07T12:24:00.001+08:00

Any candidate endorsed by Optimus Prime is sure to be honest and guaranteed to win, I mean look, she already got half of Cybertron's votes.

Source: http://tunaynalalake.blogspot.com/2010/05/lenie-pantoja-tunay-na-lalake.html

Mix + Match = Fail

2010-04-06T14:28:00.000+08:00

Welcome to mix & match hell. Now I don't wanna be such a bitch about things like these, but after a five-hour-long meeting the last thing you want to soothe your eyes with is a fashion faux pas like this. Horrendous, utterly horrendous. I have seen luchadors with far more appealing costumes than what she's wearing. I do hope that nothing bad happens to her while she's wearing this coz I heard that your afterlife clothes will be whatever you were wearing when you passed away, and it'll be terrible if she'll have to wear that forever.

Goooood Friday

2010-04-03T14:34:00.001+08:00

There might be no Boracay or Puerto Galera here in Singapore to go to and spend the holy week at, but that won't stop us from having a blast and take advantage of the long weekend.

We kicked things off with the movie 'Clash of the Titans', and may I say that the movie was definitely kick-ass. I couldn't shake it off my head that the captain of the Argos' army/legion looked so much like 'The Rock'. Maybe if it was really him who played the part an started doing the 'people's elbow' on the giant scorpions while shouting 'Do you smell...' it would've been worth the pun.

And after an epic movie like that, we could only top it off with dinner of epic proportions.

So we head on to have a hootin' good time at Hooters and have our fill of the tastiest chicken wings in the island. Jeff was kinda hopeful for an ogle-fest with the hooter-girls but got an eye-sore candy instead from an out-of-shape, over-the-hill waitress. It was a sad sight. Just plain sad. On the upside, the chicken was great though.

Just some random photos on a lazy Sunday afternoon...

2010-03-28T15:12:00.001+08:00

Taken @ the Singapore Flyer

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Popeye's @ the Singapore Flyer

2010-03-28T14:25:00.001+08:00

My wife and I simply couldn't resist eating Popeye's chicken. Too damn tempting to let it pass, even if it means taking a cab to the Singapore flyer just to get our crispy golden deep fried treats.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chillin' @ Chilli's

2010-02-28T15:12:00.001+08:00

Me and my wife enjoying a hearty lunch @Chilli's on our 2nd month as hubby and wife. Still waiting for my cheesesteaks sandwich though, it's taking forever.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Retail therapy...

2010-02-20T21:41:00.002+08:00

What better way to vanish the "I-hate-not-being-a-rockstar" blues than good old retail therapy.

I was just actually determined to buy some DVI cables and stuff for my little 'extended screen' project with my MacBook, but then my wife and I chanced upon this pair of leather gems.

I know that the color is a bit off from my usual preference, but I thought 'what the heck, if there's anybody in the office who could pull off wearing these for work that'll be me.'

Oh how i wish these were black leather Supra Skytop II (ehemnn, Bien Manuel Espiritu, size US 9 please... Ehem) instead. But oh well, good things come to those who wait.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

On being stood up...

2010-02-12T20:57:00.000+08:00

Don't you just hate it when somebody totally bails out on you without even having the decency to inform you earlier, even though your meeting was set-up several days before? Haiyz... A designer's life. You can't help but feel that you're at your client's mercy. I blew off my Friday night plans for this appointment, all in vain. Just because someone couldn't even send me a short SMS that he/she/they/it couldn't make it to the meeting. Bollocks.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

'Spooned' to Death...

2009-10-29T15:30:00.000+08:00

It's great to find quality spoofs like these. This is really damn funny.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDvgL58h_Y

Crazy Japs

2009-10-05T17:05:00.000+08:00

I don' even know what to say...

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=801hQq_vJXQ

Ownage...

2009-09-22T15:05:00.000+08:00

Say what?

2009-09-22T14:52:00.000+08:00

Miss Singapore World 2009 - Ris Low

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F74FZfdSJY

Are men pressurised into being romantic?

2009-09-04T12:39:00.002+08:00

An article of mine got published in Motherhood Magazine (September 2009 issue). Not bad, eh?!

LSS for the day: Because of you (Neyo)

2009-09-03T11:21:00.000+08:00

Because of you by Neyo – Performed by Boyce Avenue

This one's for Kaye.

A Real Man's Medicine

2009-09-01T14:33:00.004+08:00

I really dunno how to explain this... without being obscene and stuff. Apparently the product name roughly sounds like 'getting a hand-job' in the Filipino language. The most awkward part about this is that the ad was published in the magazine I'm working on.

Update:
Submitted and published @ TNL

Ang tunay na lalake ay mayabang.