Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici

Moved

2009-09-18T01:04:00.001+08:00

I have decided to stop posting here. For latest updates, check http://iamjenxi.com

Walk on

2009-06-29T23:27:00.001+08:00

I haven't been updating this blog for quite some time. I'm still in the midst of adapting to the life as a retail pharmacist. While there are some things I miss about working in a hospital setting, I feel fulfilled to be able to spend more time talking to my patients in the retail setting. People come back to me and provide feedback on my recommendations. It makes me know that I made a difference in their lives. It's not that one doesn't make a difference in the hospital setting. It's just that I enjoy seeing familiar faces coming back better than they last I saw them. I'm the face of the pharmacy outlet. Not just another person behind the counter serving a queue.

Aside from my duties in the dispensary, I need to manage the staff, inventory and accounts. Learning new things every day. I like that.

Went shopping with baby today. I laid my eyes on a pair of Solvil et Titus watch from its Soldier series. I fell in love instantly. The gothic themed watch impresses with its subtle design features that make it a beautiful timepiece. Definitely saving up for that... after I get my iphone and new camera lens. =p

Read that Tim Burton's working on a new movie - Alice in the Wonderland. Looking forward to it. Love his quirkiness, and that of Johnny Depp. =)

I'll try to update more but no promises.

dA = datedArt?

2009-05-22T15:44:00.001+08:00

I remembered to check my deviantArt account yesterday, and I was greeted with 10,000+
new watched items. I wonder how long it will take for me to go through
all of them. I was surprised to see 300+ new favourites for my art
pieces, with most of the +favs going to Dragon. I am still amazed by the popularity of a simple experimental piece, even after all these years.

Baby's back!

2009-03-08T17:07:00.001+08:00

The silly girl cried when she saw me, cried when she hug me. Eep! She said it's cos she missed me so much. I missed her too. I guess she won't want to run off on her own on holiday again. :p

Can't wait to see her photos of her trip! :D I want to go on a trip too! I just wish everything will settle down and I can look forward to proper working life.

A & Me

2009-03-02T13:13:00.003+08:00

On my way to work, I made a surprising discovery. I wake up at around 6:45am nowadays and I'm usually half asleep as I trudge through the Singapore and Malaysia checkpoints. Despite being clouded by lethargy, my mind often wanders through a journey of random thoughts.

This morning, I realised that I like the letter A a lot. I don't have affinity for As back in university but I did prior to that.

Here's a list of things that I like... and they happen to start with the letter A!

Armani - my favourite fashion label
Adidas - my favourite sports brand
Audi - my dream family car (and yes, it shares the same parent company as Lamborghini :P)
Asus - the brand I trust for computer hardware
Arts - my passion
Airport - where I feel like working
Angelababy - my current dream girl
Advent Destiny - my RPG

Alright, alright. It's a pretty random post. Bite me.

What money can't buy

2009-02-02T21:21:00.001+08:00

Now that I've started working and have a steady income, I can afford to spend. My largest single expenditure include my new desktop PC and my Nikon D40. With these, I am able to fulfil my wish to work on Photoshop and Maya on a more powerful computer, as well as have a camera to play with to learn more about photography. However, work has taken something away from me. Something important. Something that money can't buy. I long for the good old days when I had lots of time for myself. Instead of rushing for deadlines, I could do the things I want to.

This has made me reconsider the career path I wish to take. What I hold dear is the freedom to do what I like. I want to pursue a career in informatics. I enjoy building websites. I enjoy creating graphics work. I want to share the fantastic stories of my imagination with the world. All these can't be done if I don't have time. I need time and space to work with. Yet I'm faced with the dual dilemma of: 1) whether I want to have a job based on my interest or have a job with a working environment I enjoy; 2) whether I want to stay with my parents and dogs to keep them company or pack my bags once again and move out to live on my own.

The career choice is a headache. I hope to find an answer soon. As for my family, I find that I tend to get lazy when I'm home. I take things for granted. Things are done for me. Living alone makes me a more responsible person.

Oh, before I forget. Happy Chinese New Year. I hope it'll turn out to be a good year.

And, by the way, I've started twittering again. I was one of the early adopters of twitter but haven't been posting since the explosion of its popularity. If you are interested to follow me on twitter, visit http://twitter.com/jenxi

My first DSLR: Nikon D40

2009-01-23T08:28:00.002+08:00

On Tuesday, I bought my first camera ever, which also happens to be the first DSLR I own. After doing some extensive research and spending a few days testing out the cameras, I decied to go for the Nikon D40. Although it's an old model that is already out of production, it is still a good camera. It's a good set for beginners like me. At SGD750, it was a pretty good deal. It came with two 4gb memory cards, UV filter, camera bag, tripod and an extra battery. The other cheaper offer I encountered was SGD680 but that did not come with any gifts other than a memory card. So I'm satisfied with the deal I got.

The experience has been great so far. The learning curve isn't steep at all and I'm having fun with the camera. The image quality is great! Just as the reviews reported. I'm going to play around with the camera and learn the ropes of photography! I just need more subjects for me to shoot. I'm just too lazy to take out all my gunpla kits to photograph them. Perhaps I'll get more practice over the weekend since Chinese New Year is around the corner.

Here are a couple of photos from my fiddling with the camera:

Beat of my heart

2009-01-21T23:05:00.001+08:00

心跳 - 王力宏

想跟我吵架我没那么无聊

不懂得道歉我没那么聪明

好想要回到我们的塬点

你又在哭泣我给不了安慰

我又在摇头有那么点后悔

爱情的发展已难以回头却无法往前走

但身不由己出现在胸口两颗心能塞几个问号

爱让我们流多少眼泪

你的眼神充满美丽带走我的心跳

你的温柔如此靠近带走我的心跳

逆转时光到一开始能不能给一秒

等着哪一天你也想起

那悬在记忆中的美好

Time goes by

2009-01-14T00:45:00.001+08:00

It was great meeting up with my JC classmates recently. We haven't been able to meet up much in the past few years but it's touching to see them more willing to come along for outings when someone tries to organize one. We've had quite a few outings lately. One was with Yilun, Andy and Wern Wei at NYDC Holland V. Next with Yilun, Wern Wei, Wee Kiat, Q and Bor. Ivan joined in later for "Ip Man", which was a good movie that was well worth the ten bucks. Tonight's outing was special in it's own way. It's the first time our civics tutor, Mr Lim, joined us for our outing. It's been five years since we last met! How time flies! And for once, a girl is in attendance! Sze Li managed to rush down from work to meet up with us.

I hope that going into the new year with a few outings, we would have more to come in 2009. With proper planning and organization, we can have very interesting outings to have fun together and help us keep in touch!

Work has been busy but I hope to get some respite when I head off to Batam with baby this weekend!

Endless Story

2008-12-09T22:46:00.001+08:00

Beautiful song by Yuna Ito from NANA: The Movie

ENDLESS STORY (English)

Lyrics: D.A.Thomas & ats Translation: Jonathan Wu

If you haven’t changed your mind
Then I want you by my side Tonight

I’m so tired of always having to bluff
Everytime I think about you baby, I feel so young
If I could just tell you I miss you
It’s so hard to say I’m sorry

You see, I want to sing this song, not for just anyone
but just for you
An ENDLESS STORY that keeps on shining
Always, I wanna show you, forever and ever

Memories of our time together
this way, they don’t go away

Once I knew that the warmth between us had disappeared,
gentle tears started to spread over my chest
This is not where it ends, I’m missing you
please don’t let go of my hand

You see, I wish I could sing this song, just for you
just one more time
An ENDLESS STORY of undying love
tell me why, please tell me, forever and ever

You see, I want to sing this song, not for just anyone
but just for you

An ENDLESS STORY that keeps on shining

Always, I wanna show you, forever and ever

You see, I wish I could sing this song, just for you
just one more time
An ENDLESS STORY of undying love
tell me why, please tell me, forever and ever

说好的幸福呢

2008-11-25T22:45:00.000+08:00

Love this song...

说好的幸福呢 - 周杰伦

你的绘画凌乱着.
在这个时刻.
我想起喷泉旁的白鸽.
甜蜜散乱了.

情绪莫名的拉扯.
我还爱你呐.
伴你断断续续唱着歌.
假装没事了.

时间过了走了.
爱情面临选择.
你冷了倦了我哭了.

一开始的不快乐.
你用卡片拭写着.
有些爱只给到这真的懂了.

怎麽了.你累了.说好的.幸福呐
我懂了.不说了.爱淡了.梦远了
开心与不开心.一一叙说着.你在不舍
那些爱过的感觉都太深刻.我都还记得

你不等了.说好的.幸福呐
我错了.泪干了.放手了后悔了

只是回忆的音乐盒还旋转着.要怎么停呐

Half-way mark

2008-11-10T01:17:00.001+08:00

I hate to be cliché but it really seems like it was just yesterday that I started my pre-reg training. I'm almost at the half-way mark now. So much has happened. I've learnt a lot from my colleagues and from my self-studying. I've met many interesting people and befriended a few who might become very good friends, especially if I get to stay here. My only fear is that my poor clinical knowledge would be an obstacle between my dream placement and me.

This very fear has ignited a determination within my heart to strive hard and improve so that I will be posted to where I want to be. This might well signal tough times ahead but I'm more than willing to put in the sacrifice for my dream. I've been chasing dreams for as long as I can remember. This one is within my grasp and I should do whatever I can go get a grip and tighten my hold on it before it is out of reach for good.

Spoke to several people at FAPA today. People whom I have not met in a while. It was good catching up. It also opened my eyes to opportunities. I'm really interested in medical informatics, though I'm not sure how interested I am because I haven't really been exposed to it enough. Perhaps I should keep all options available to me and see what happens.

I'm really in love with my new desktop. Though I need to take some photos of it to show you people.

Here's a shout out to my beloved bunny. Thanks for the novels! Although I couldn't find the Dune Classics, getting the Legends of Dune trilogy is still as satisfying! Thanks for paying! =) It's the perfect birthday present! I'll keep an eye out for the Dune prequels. Though I doubt they have a special box set for those. I'll go for the ones published by Harper-Collins. I like the ACE Berkley version for the Dune Classics! After I get the whole set, excluding the Dune sequels, since those would take a while to be published, I plan to get my hands on David Eddings's books and round up my Wheel of Time collection.

Desktop

2008-10-01T12:52:00.001+08:00

Screenshot of my desktop. :)

From Drop Box

情歌王

2008-09-26T22:14:00.000+08:00

My current favourite. Can't wait to go sing the song at KTV!

Sad, sad MTV for the song...

Best Damn Thing

2008-09-11T17:59:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since I've updated. I'll try to post more but it is largely dependent on how much time I can spare. I'm writing this on my pocket PC phone on my way to work. That's how little time I have for personal leisure.

Quite a bit happened since my last post. My failing memory prevents me from listing all but the most memorable. The highlight was the Best Damn Concert. I have been a fan of Avril since her debut album. That was way back in JC1. So it was nice to be able to go for the concert. Despite the poor performance by the opening act and the half hour wait before Avril showed up, the performance was enjoyable. It wasn't an exhilarating performance but she tried her best. I blame the lack of atmosphere on the middle-aged uncles and aunties who simply sat there and looked glum while the youngsters were up on their feet bouncing to the music. One woman even told the guy standing in front of her to move away just because he was blocking her. She was sitting peering at the stage with her binoculars. I thought that's something I would only see at operas and theatres! What a spoil sport. I managed to ignore the glum faces and enjoyed myself.

I've been at KK for three months now. It has been a very enjoyable period of time. The friendly staff at outpatient made these weeks memorable for me. I'll definitely miss working with them. I'm attached to the store for the week. Pretty boring. So it was nice to meet up with the OP staff for dinner last night.

From next week, I'll be in inpatient for three months. I'll survive some how. Less time for myself and more time for studying I guess.

Sacrifices

2008-08-19T01:17:00.002+08:00

It's been a while since I started work (and since I last blogged). Working life has been fun. I learn a lot every day and I'm lucky to be working at the Outpatient pharmacy where the staff are friendly and great company. There's a lot of stressed involved. I need to work on my project, start to prepare for presentations and finish up homeworks and tasks that we have been assigned with.

This has led to the inevitable sacrifice of time that I could spend on my other areas of interests. I haven't been visiting Advent Destiny as much as I should and I feel very guilty. I hope the site would not suffer from my prolonged absence. I also haven't had the time to pursue the development of my own portfolio site and a mecha site that I've been planning. So much to do, so little time.

Writing novels has been put on hold until I can find a time for it. I really want to have the story written out soon instead of letting it drag on and on. It's been almost 7 years since I started work on it.

I had a wonderful birthday and I'm sure my mum enjoyed hers even more. Baby and my bro's gf both came over to my place on my mum's birthday to celebrate her birthday. Lunch and dinner were sinfully delicious. It's really heartwarming to have such family gathering, which I hope would happen more often in the near future.

For the first time in a long while, I bought myself a birthday present! I bought a Samsung i780. It was worth every cent of the $268 spent. I reckon the usual retail price to be $798. With a 2 year mobile plan contract, the phone costs $368. I got it during the National Day sale and got $100 off! I'm still exploring the perks of owning a PDA phone. I'm considering getting a mobile broadband plan so I can blog and post on AD while I travel to and from work.

It's rare for me to still be online at 2am on a weekday. I'm on night shift this week so I don't need to wake up as early as usual. However, I still need my beauty sleep. I'll post again. I hope it won't be ages before I do so.

Graduation!

2008-07-13T23:34:00.001+08:00

I've finally graduated! After four years of ups and downs, I'm officially a graduate of NUS Pharmacy.

Working life has been very busy. Commuting to and from work is taking a toll on me. It's really tiring to have to travel but I have no choice cos I need to save the money to pay for my loan. I can't wait to pay off my loan and earn enough money to get married!

I've decided to hone my writing and graphics skills despite the hectic working life. If not now, when? I just need to find the time to do it all. I know I can survive! The hardship will make me stronger.

I really must thank my parents, my siblings and Shu Yi and Liyin for coming down to congratulate me for my graduation. I really appreciate it!

A new phase in life

2008-06-15T22:50:00.001+08:00

So, I'm becoming a shakaijin, which is Japanese for social person. I have finally made the transition into life as a responsible working adult. I wonder what this new life would be like. I know it would be a tough 9 months of training but it is necessary to prepare me for my duty as a licensed pharmacist.

There's a lot of changes I need to adapt to. First and foremost would be readjusting my body to having to wake up early in the morning and travel for about an hour and a half to get to work. With the amount of work expected, I hope I would be able to cope. This means I need to sleep early. No more late nights. I'm looking into getting a PDA so that I can surf the net and do some simple work without having to bring my laptop around.

The laptop is also barely holding up. I managed to get it to work faster after switching to Ubuntu Linux. However, I doubt it can hold up for long before I need to reformat it. I need to get a desktop within this month or the next. No more laptops since a desktop is more value for money. I don't need the portability. I doubt I would have time to fiddle with it as much as I did when I was an undergraduate.

Some of you might be wondering about the Taiwan trip. It was a blast. I haven't gotten to posting about it. I'm still deciding if I should make a blog just for it or simply post it here. The things on this blog are too cluttered for my liking. It needs some tidying up.

I'll post more after I get settled at work.

End of school

2008-05-18T01:53:00.001+08:00

Well, it's been a while since my last exam paper ended. It took me a while to get myself to sit down and post. Yes, I have no excuse for not posting. Still, I couldn't get myself to write.

I don't think I did well for the exams. I felt very unpreprared going into the exam halls but, oh well, what's done is done. I can only hope I won't do badly. I've been pretty busy since exams ended. There was a lot of work that accumulated over the exam period. Advent Destiny updates are almost complete. However, the recent release of the new Drupal 6.2 resulted in the need to upgrade the AD main site as well as my own website.

I really want to get AD and my site done before work starts. I know that the workload will be heavy and I probably won't have the time to work on coding. I just hope I can finish the upgrades so that I'll only need to worry about getting the articles written.

Oh yeah, Liverpool lost in the Champions League Semi-Final against Chelsea. I had lots of things to say about that but... it's been a while since then and the swell of emotions died down. I guess I'll just look forward to next season and hope that it'll be a better one for us.

I'll be flying off to Taiwan on Monday! I'm quite excited about the trip.

More updates when I get back. =)

Studying in the Science Library

2008-04-21T18:52:00.001+08:00

Whenever I study in the Science Library, or rather the Medical/Science Library as it is called now, I can't help but miss the Medical Library. The atmosphere there was more conducive for studying and the people are more considerate. That is, if we exclude the odd PRC or Indian students who talk loudly on the phone in the explicitly-labelled quiet area of the library. Just a disclaimer, I'm not being racist nor am I targeting these people specifically. I blogged before about my bad experiences with such individuals about one and a half years ago.

The inconsiderate people in the Science Library, happen to be Science students. I'm not making assumptions since you see all kinds of students from NUS using this library. The jackets that they wear bear the word "Science" rather prominently. They actually hold discussions about certain problems that they encounter. While I don't mind some short discussion to clarify certain concepts, talking away for almost twenty minutes isn't what I would consider polite, especially when they don't even attempt to whisper. When told to keep their volume down, they just respond with a half-hearted apology. They lower their noise level by a few decibels, if that makes any difference, and then the volume goes back up even higher than before.

These people really need to learn some manners. It's rather shameful to behave so, especially when they are sitting in front of a sign that tells them to keep their volume down. The NUS Libraries have come up with an interesting way to remind the users to be considerate by not talking, clearing their rubbish when they leave and not reserving the seats. They even have some cute art to go along with the messages, such as a hedgehog for seat hogging and ants carrying an appl for clearing the rubbish. These messages seem to have failed to get across to the people who were sitting around me today though.

I'm glad I won't be coming back to the Science Library after today. I'll be camping at the Central Library until the end of exams. I better get back to studying.

You'll Never Walk Alone

2008-04-12T14:37:00.001+08:00

I've been wanting to post about this since the day I watched Liverpool beat Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals to progress to the semis.

The match was one of the best matches I've seen in a while, perhaps even the best ever since Liverpool's triumph over AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League Final. It kept me at the edge of my seat and I found myself holding my breath unconsciously more than once. To be honest, I never expected to see six goals in the match, unless the game went on to penalties.

Liverpool was expected to be in the driving seat since they had the advantage of an away goal from the first leg. However, by the time I managed to tune in to the match, it was already one nil in favour of Arsenal. Liverpool seemed extremely suspect in defence in the first 20 minutes or so. They appeared to have some problem coping with Arsenal's swift passing style of play. The team held on and restricted Arsenal to only a few chances.

Then came the equaliser. It was a great header by Hyppia. Once again, the towering center back has scored for us in a Champions League quarter-final. Senderos turned his back on the ball and gave Hyppia the free header. The KOP roared in joy. So did I.

That goal sparked Liverpool to life. They started to look more dangerous and pushed forward with purpose that they lacked before the goal. Arsenal was equal to task and continued to threaten on the break.

Liverpool took the lead when goal-machine Torres scored yet again. His 29th goal of the season gave Liverpool the upperhand. It was a great goal. Senderos was at fault for giving Torres the time to turn and pick his spot in the net. A simple turn and the ball rifled into the top right corner of the net. In his first season at Anfield, Fernando Torres has more than sealed his place in Liverpool history.

7 minutes from time, an Arsenal counter attack resulted in a goal. Theo Walcott made an amazing run from his own half to set up Adebayor for a goal. The Arsenal players were elated. Their fans were euphoric. They had the upper hand. Two away goals. Surely, with less than 7 minutes left, Liverpool would not be able to score... or so they thought.

Right after the restart, Babel was fouled in the penalty area and the referee did not hesitate to point to the spot and showed Toure a yellow card for the offence. I think the penalty is a point of contention for many but in my opinion, it was a right decision. There are some who compare the previous matches where Arsenal did not get have penalty decisions go their way. I think that is just an excuse. A match is a match, whatever decision a referee makes should not be linked in anyway to a decision made by another referee in another match. The replays showed that Babel did not go down easily. He lost his balance but he was still trying to push on with his momentum. When he really could not stay on his feet, he went down.

Gerrard stepped up and fired an unstoppable shot into the net. The smile on his face spoke volumes. The Kop was smiling with him. I was smiling, almost close to tears. Less then a minute ago, Arsenal fans were jumping in joy while Liverpool fans saw their hopes dashed. In less than a minute the positions reversed. It was a very emotional moment.

Arsenal seemed to have subjected to fate. Their tired legs could not carry them on much longer. A counter attack by Liverpool saw Babel racing with Fabregas for the ball. Although Fabregas had a headstart, his tired legs was no match for the fresher Babel, who got to the ball and tucked it into the net.

4-2.

Liverpool progressed to the semi-finals.

The Kop went wild. Reina ran the whole length of the pitch from his goalposts to join his team mate in celebrating the goal. That was indication of the joy the players felt.

It is Chelsea yet again in the semi-finals. The performance of the team gives me much confidence that Liverpool will triumph against rivals Chelsea.

Time is running out

2008-03-31T20:32:00.002+08:00
I told myself to enjoy the last semester of the Pharmacy course. It could well be the last semester of studying life when I graduate in July. However, it seems that time will run out before I can truly enjoy myself like I once did back in Year One.

There's just so much to do nowadays. I was busy getting Advent Destiny moved from the Singapore host to a new server hosted in the United States. The new host seems to be faster and the features offered are much more attractive than what the previous host provided us with. I hope this will help the site to grow. Also, I've upgraded the forum to vBulletin 3.7 RC1. I think the release candidate is stable enough for me to try out on Advent Destiny. All things seem to be going well so far. However, due to lack of time, I have yet to finish up with the upgrade for the main site.

My design portfolio and aspiring professional blog have not been fully configured and thus is kept in the maintenance mode. These will have to wait until more pressing issues are dealt with.

Individual patient counselling sessions have started and these require us to revise a lot on the topics we'll be tested on. It's rather stressful even though I keep telling myself that it'll be good practice and will prepare me better for pre-reg. I know I'm not as good clinically compared to my classmates. That just makes me even more stressed!

Now, I'll digress from the topic for the day...

I've downloaded Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon". I'll be testing it out. It seems to be a promising OS for me to move to. I can't wait to try fiddle around with it. It seems like Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" will be released soon. Perhaps I should wait for that. Regardless, I think Ubuntu would be a good platform to get me started on my journey down the path of Linux. I plan to use Linux fully when I get a desktop. From my research, I should be able to get a decent desktop at less than SGD1,000. Not buying Windows XP or Vista would allow me to spend more on the hardware. Tentatively, I plan to make the purchase when I get my first paycheck. I'm looking forward to a less laggy working environment. =)

Recently, I've started playing 9Dragons. It's based on Jin Yong's wuxia novels. It's been fun so far. It's great to be playing with Mao and X. They are great buddies from my Jedi Academy clan. It's just like the good old times... voice chatting on TeamSpeak while we play.

I guess that sort of wraps up this update on my life thus far. I hope the next entry will not be too far away from now.

Stress

2008-02-27T18:02:00.004+08:00
It's been a while since I updated. I have been wanting to post but time just runs out too fast. The mid-sem break has started but none of us are enjoying, perhaps except Max and Elgar. It's the time of reckoning as we await our fates. I'm still waiting for the hospitals to call me up for interviews.

Of all times, I fell sick yesterday. When I should be busy preparing for my interviews, I was huddled in my blankets, shivering in bed. I feel much better now though, thanks to the endless TLC from my baby. She came over to keep me company and took care of me.

I'm too stressed to think of what else to say, so I'll just leave you with some pictures.

Taken before we entered the theatre for Chesty Nutty Bang Bang.
The musical was one helluva show. Lots of parody that made me laugh endlessly.

Baby's long long lashes.

Showing (off) MG Freedom to baby

Funny cloud that looks like a dino head.

Crab meat steamboat! VDay @ Sushi Tei

Happy Chinese New Year

2008-02-08T01:34:00.001+08:00

I can still remember vividly when baby come over last year for Chinese New Year. We played mahjong with my bro and sis. Haha. It's amazing how time flies. It's Chinese New Year again. Sadly, we don't have the time like we had last semester. Baby would only be coming over for a short while rather than stay over. Too many things to do and too little time to do them.

With the pile of readings, projects, assignments and tests due, we can hardly find time to enjoy the festive season much. The workload has been so excessive that I have been forced to stop my personal projects. Plans for writing and designing works have been put aside so that I can better spend my time revising my work and preparing for the impending interviews.

I can only channel whatever remains of my energy to Advent Destiny for now. The dip in activity is rather depressing. I just hope that the people there would get interested once more.

Unexpected popularity

2008-02-02T01:25:00.000+08:00
I checked deviantART today. It's the first time in ages since I last logged in. I haven't been too diligent in checking and the number of notifications piled up inevitably. I have 8000 devWATCH updates. I doubt I'll go through all of them.

Interestingly, I noticed that I received 31 favourites for my art pieces, with Dragons being the most popular, in January. That makes it 1 favourite per day. It's a pleasant surprise. I never expected that piece to be so popular. I did it one afternoon while waiting for my dad to visit me in Raffles Hall back in Year 1. It was meant to be a casual experimentation with Apophysis.

The statistic for Dragons read:
Comments: 139
Favourites: 262

I think the recent popularity of this particular piece is due to it being in the front page of deviantART or at least the front few pages of the recent favourites list gave it more exposure than before. When it dropped further down the list, someone else marked it as favourite and it goes back to the top again.

This has perked my interest in working with Apophysis to generate art once more. However, I'm trying to learn how to use Blender right now. Perhaps I could come up with a good 3D render. I don't want to stick to the same style of art just because something is popular. I want to go with something that I would enjoy creating.

I'm trying to post more on this blog but it seems that I don't have the time nor inspiration to do much. I tend to want to engage in graphical creativity nowadays rather than literary works.

The most recent design was done for my planned professional blog cum portfolio. It is located at www.iamjenxi.com. However, due to the server limitation, the site seems to be going down quite often. I might wait for Drupal 6's gold release before I seriously consider launching the site. It is currently running on one of the release candidates. I would have to register for a new server, most probably a US-based one rather than a local server, to host Advent Destiny and IamJenXi. I have a few other projects that I want to host as well but I think those would have to wait.

There are many hosts that seem promising but I end up realising that they are actually overselling. Most of them have large storage space and bandwidth but that I find important is the amount of processor usage they allow. My sites tend to use up a lot of that, especially when the sites' traffic go up. I'll need to find a reliable and relatively cheap host.

On a site note, I can't wait for the launch of Drupal 6. It is a big leap forward from Drupal 5. I think it would be a significant launch for the web publishing community.