On Adopting My Kitten

The following post is going to be a little sad in the beginning so here are some pictures of Scarlet to distract you and cheer you up. Or you can just scroll through this just for the photos. Whatever.

In three days, my kitten, Scarlet, will turn 6 months, which also means that she has been living with me and my family for half her life time thus far. So much has been happening to my family since the beginning of 2013, I’m glad Scarlet is here to accompany us through the thick and thin, despite only being a cat. Many people question the reason and my timing for getting her since it seemed out of the blue. I didn’t want to talk about it then but I guess now is a good time after things have finally settled down at home.

 

She, like many cats, has a fondness of sitting on laptops and turning it off with her butt. She looks so innocent but don't let her looks deceive you.

Shortly after my birthday, my grandmother passed away on January 6^th. She was at the hospital at the time recovering from a cold, or so the doctor first suspected. But it turned out she had a case of pneumonia. They attempted to withdraw the fluids in her lungs and the surgery looked successful at first. My mother and my uncle had been visiting her daily to keep her company. Grandma appeared to be recovering when my mom and brother went to see her. Three hours later, my mom received a phone call but she didn’t understand what was going on and handed the phone to me to translate.

I had to be the one to break the bad news.

She hates the bright flash from digital cameras. Haha. She looks like something from Excel Saga. Need to use that face in some of paintings.

A few years ago, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She sometimes forgets who we are. My mom visited her every day after she got off of work and cooked for her back when grandma could still eat. Because of that, my mother is always tired and overspent, and my siblings and I rarely get a chance to interact with her outside of dinner. My grandma’s body was also falling apart and the nurses at the home forced her to remain bedridden so she wouldn’t injure herself. We sent her to a nursing home because grandma would always get lost outside or be conned into buying things from sales associates in Chinatown, who took advantage of her situation. Due to school or work, there was no one at home to watch over her and sometimes a police officer returns her back. It’s disheartening to see a once proud and upstanding woman in that state.  

Scarlet likes playing with a stream of water and the thing that filters the drain. She treats the thing like a dean animal and constantly drops it on my feet despite everyone's protest.

She was getting old and sick and her death shouldn’t have been much of a shock. We all were expecting it but it still felt out of the blue. She has gone through many worse surgeries and this one was a simple procedure. My mom return home that day relieved because she thinks her mother is recovering and returning to the nursing home soon. I was laughing and joking with my sister when the phone call came. It was not something I expected. The words hit me like a tidal wave and then it tickled away while I tried to process what was going on. I had them repeat it and asked for the name of the patient to make sure it was really my grandmother they were referring to. It was. She passed away shortly after the visitation of her two children.

She likes sleeping with her chin up and her limbs sprawled out.

Mother was relatively calm when heard the news. She was a little shaken but seemed to take the news quite well. She immediately called her brother and we, along with my younger cousin, went to see the body. Grandma was still in her deathbed. She looked like she’s sleeping. The doctor said she passed peacefully but we saw blood speckles on her pillow case. Apparently she choked from the fluid in her lungs. Mom broke down completely in seeing her mother like this. She didn’t want to leave her side and we stayed there for almost an hour.

I got a new garbage can with a lid on it just so she couldn't get into the trash. Lo and behold she knocked the thing over and crawl into before we even got a chance to use it.

In the days that followed, I talked to my close friend, Joy. We shared experiences on past losses and other things. Somehow in the mist of our conversation, I convinced myself in getting a kitten.

My mother was reluctant at first when I told her about it. She was really against the idea because of her bad experiences with a cat as a child (and also because she was busy with planning grandma’s funeral). But I remembered the look on her face when Joy’s cats came to visit. Mom was playing with them more than I was and she took care of them when Joy and I did our gallery exhibit. So I went ahead with the adoption at Anti-Cruelty Society.

She also likes bags and box. Don't know why they excite her but she caused us to keep a lot of trash in the house (lots more than before, for those who knows me as a slob).

One of the reasons I wanted to get a pet for the family was because I was afraid my mom would be lonely now with grandma gone. My parents had split up since I was still in grade school. My mom placed all her energy in raising my siblings and me. Then when my grandmother got sick, she had to take care of her too. Now with us all growing up and grandma gone, she’ll have very little to tend. Her mind strays when she isn’t working and she is a busybody. My grandpa died when my mom was really young. I don’t want to see my mom lonely like my grandma was. Obviously, I didn’t state this point to my mother.

One time I caught her trying to hang herself with my purse. That was weird. And she's giving that look too. She really scares me sometimes.

Four days after my grandma left, I adopted Scarlet. She wasn’t my first choice but she looked similar to the other kitten I wanted, who had been adopted earlier the day. She was so small—just three months and weighed 3.5 pounds at the time. I didn’t think we were going to bond well when I first met her because she kept trying to get away from me when I held her. She was adorable and curious—the youngest kitten at the time. They people at the center told me that kittens get adopted fast so I shouldn’t consider too long and if I take her home with me that night, Lucci (her name at the center) wouldn’t have to stay in a tiny cage that night.

She knows what comfy is and is spiteful enough to sleep on all the clean pillows during laundry day.

The interviewing process was quicker than I expected. For a brief moment, I didn’t think I was going to get her due to my lack of experience when animals. Since I thought I was going to adopt a male cat (or two), I didn’t think of a name for her. Temporary called her Trent and she was registered so. There were so many complications that day. My house wasn’t prepared for a kitten yet. It was raining badly outside and I need to take the train home. And she couldn’t be taken home yet until after the wake because of Chinese superstitions.

Yea, Scarlet, I'm talking about you.

So many people helped with Scarlet those couple of days. Jason came and picked us up and took me to Target and Petco to pick up supplies. Yanet kitty-sat her for three days. Special thanks to Melly, Chris, Amy, Alisha, Joy, Tao, Sing and many other people who helped me during that time.

She also likes to sit on the dining room table and steal our food, much to everyone's chagrin.  That's when she gets jail time in my room.

She was named after the Scarlet Witch from X-Men and Avengers comic. She also answers to Stinky-Butt because she farts a lot. Mom and Scarlet are bonding over really well and once things got less hectic, Mom actually agreed that adopting her into our family was a good idea even though she can be quite a handful sometimes.

Scarlet wants to thank you for reading and for buying Coke. Kidding! I'm not getting sponsored for this. (Last 3 pictures are taken by a DSLR versus a normal digital camera, in case anyone was wondering.)

Ranka Lee Costume Process

For Youmacon this year I dressed up as Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier (second movie). Not counting any casual cosplays, Ranka is the eight-ish character I’ve done since the pass 3-4 years. Despite the time, I’m still an amateur cosplayer in all aspects.

Photo by DistractingShotImages

Since Ranka is a pop idol, I chose to recreate her performance outfit from satin because it gives off a matte sheen and looks fancy. I really liked the orange satin used for the skirt and bow. The material had a nice thickness to it and responses well with ironing (though it does melt if the iron is too hot, more on that later). It’s also not overly shiny to the point it looks cheap. It was priced 7.99 per yard.

The perfect yellow fabric, however, was harder to acquire. The original color treads the line between yellow and off-white and I could not find a fabric that would work for it without either being too yellow or being too close to white. In the end, I decided to get a yellow satin (a level above costume-satin IMHO but was still $5.99 per yard) and a white sheer fabric that is commonly used for wedding veils. The yellow fabric frays easier compared to the orange and is less responsive to ironing. It was also a lot shinier, which isn’t a good thing for conventions when some people use flash photography. The sheer off-white overlay helped combat the shininess of the yellow somewhat though it didn’t do much to add to the thinness of the material. I wasn’t a big fan of using the veil fabric, though, because it is a pain to pin and cut. It cost the same as the orange fabric.

The basic tube top with the orange ribbon stripes took about 4 hrs to make. The flappy thing took another 2 hrs to make and attach. I decided to attach the thing from the inside of the top and flip it over because it was an easier way to create a ruffle effect. The ruffles are probably the most frustrating thing about this costume because it requires so much fabric and effort to create. I think I spent half the time pinning and unpinning ruffles together. Ruffles, as you can tell, are not my strong points. 

The shoulder straps took approximately 2.5 hrs. It wouldn’t have taken so long if I didn’t separate the white and yellow fabric, thus creating two hems instead of just one. I got the desired effect but it wasn’t as significant in photos. I was afraid that the top was too tight to slip over my shoulders with the straps attached so I added some a button on either side like overalls. The attachment plus the addition of the buttons and button holes took another 2 hours.

Due to the fabrics’ inability to stretch, the top looked a bit blocky and unshapely. I try to counter that by adding elastic bands around the waist. It only made the top more dumpy and unflattering. The unevenness of the bands from either side made the matter worse. So I basically wasted 3 hours attaching and detaching the elastic. I did end up attaching more elastic bands to the top but they more hidden and less significant.

Figuring out how to make the sleeves and the actual process of making them took a combination of 5 hours. The length of the fabric was 3 times the circumference of my upper arm to create poofy-ness. I used elastic to create the scrunching on the top part and a ribbon to create the scrunching under the poof, via tying. I had to make individual hems for the yellow and white fabric to give a similar effect as the straps, though it didn’t really matter since the camera didn’t pick it up. The most tedious part about this was stuffing the elastic and ribbon through the hole to the other side. The ribbon took at least 45 minutes to string through and the flimsy nature of the ribbon did not help. For the second sleeve, I ended up sewing the fabric tunnel (no idea what the actual term for it is) over the ribbon to save time.

The orange base of the skirt was the first thing I started on, actually, before the top and it took 5 hours to make. I did not use enough fabric for it and it was a little late by the time I realized. I did add another chunk to the back of the skirt but it didn’t do much except make the back look more ruffly. I employ the same strategy of overlaying a yellow ribbon with a sheer off-white one for the stripe on the skirt. While making the yellow skirt underneath, I realized that I didn’t have enough fabric so I went back to the store to get some. It was a week before Halloween and there was little fabric lying around in the store. Lucky for me, a really nice lady working there went to the back to retrieve more of the yellow that I needed. She was really awesome because the rest of the employees would just tell me that they are out and won’t bother to look in the back for more. I didn’t need the sheer white fabric because it is about a foot longer per yard compare to the yellow one. After learning my lesson, I used two-times as much fabric for the underskirt compared to the orange over skirt to give the whole thing more volume. I tried wearing petticoats with it but I looks like a pumpkin muffin.

front of skirt

back of skirt

with petticoat = pumpkin muffin

The big bow in the back was one of the faster things to make. It did require more fabric than I had previously estimated but it took a lot less sewing to get the results. I added some interface inside the bow to make it more stiff and less flimsy. There was a lot of gluing involved. While ironing the fabric to make the bow, I accidentally melt the fabric. Maybe the iron was too hot or I left it on the material for too long. The great thing is that the mistake did not show through the other (visible) side of the fabric. For the small bow in the front, I sewed together several strips of ribbon to get the desired width. The store did not sell the ribbon color I needed wider than ¾ of an inch. I prefer it this way because it looks kinda cool. The gem in the middle was sew and glue on at the trip to the convention since I ran out of time. Both of these bows are pinned on the skirt with safety pins.

It melted!

The stockings were bought awhile back from Leg Avenue. I just took the bows off and safety pin the orange ribbon on. I got the Oxford shoes last minute through luck. My sensei had a coupon for 30% off and I was able to get them for under $20. Before that, I had a totally different idea for the shoes and it would have been very uncomfortable. The heels are about 1 to 1.5 inch. They were originally black but sensei sprayed them with some red leather paint she had. The bows were then added to give a finishing touch. The ribbon cuffs were made in the hotel room at the con. Probably took me 5 minutes with glue gun and velcro.

Not including the wig, which I borrowed from an awesome, awesome gal, and the leather paint, the whole outfit cost about $80 to make, with the help of sales and coupons, and a whole lot of time (I did not count all the time I ended up wasting from undoing many stupid mistakes). Despite that, I did really enjoy making this costume.

photo by Li Long Xiao

I had a photo shoot with some of my friends as characters from Macross Frontier but they are all still being edit by the photographer.

Phallic Symbol

TV Show: RuPaul Drag Race season 4
Food: Leftovers from Chinese takeout
Project: Storyboard for the Blind Swordress mini series

While editing a photo I took the other day at the Chicago Botanic Garden, I noticed that the branches and the flowers forms a shape that looks a lot like a small penis. Maybe it's just the juvenile side of me but I seriously think it does. And now I can't unsee it.

What surprises me is that this one really perverted guy I know couldn't see it but most of my female friends can spot it right away. Maybe guys just don't see dicks at that level. I should kick myself for that comment.

Cafe scene at Cosi

Artist: Yoko Furusho
Music: International music found typically in cafes

This week we have some freakishly nice weather in Chicago (seriously, it should still be snowing right now; it's almost as weird as when it hailed in late June). So I took advance of the weather and went out to downtown to relax with my friends, get some fresh air, fill out job apps, write resume and cover letters... the usual.

On Monday, Amy and I went to Cosi, a cafe franchise, down on Michigan Ave and across from the Art Institute Museum. While she was submitting paperwork and being productive, I took out a crappy "watercolor" pad and started to draw the scene in the cafe (I guess I was being productive too in a way). I continued the piece once I return home and finished it in the middle of the night and the next morning with little sleep. Here are the results:

I didn't like the finish results that much, especially the zombie guy on the left of the piece and the monster tree in the background...and the awkward oval table to a certain degree. They throw the composition off. I scanned the image and messed with crop.

The picture looks odd to me at first because I am not quite use to the square composition(?) but it already looks a lot better with zombie boy out of the picture (sorry, zombie boy).

I crop another chunk to make the image more rectangular; however, it looks a little bottom heavy after this edit since all of the people are situated on the bottom half of the picture. And maybe I should have left the zombie guy in this picture but remove bit of the chair. Never really occur to me until now.

I decide to balance this by cropping the top but according to my friends this crop took off some of the interesting elements in the pieces, ie: the angles of the door frame.

Right now, I am leaning towards the square crop. Feel bad that zombie boy can't join us but he's in his first stage of decomposition and would probably like to be left alone anyways. The pattern for this piece is inspired by illustrative works of Yoko Furusho. She is amazing.

6teen

Music: Haunting for Witches by Bloc Party
TV Show: 6teen
Addiction: Words with Friends (on facebook)

As of lately, Western animation has been a disappointment. With the exception of Avatar: The Last Airbender —which was created by Americans with the animation produced in South Korea— many (though not all) of the newer cartoons slacken in quality of their artwork. I understand that not everything has to be realistic or look a certain way; there’s nothing wrong with having a different artist style but the quality has definitely gone down a few notches since the 80’s and 90’s (even the early Y2K era). Where is the scenery porn or the fun details!? Why is everything drawn with the same line thickness? And when the style is more “realistic” the females always look so waif-like and emaciated with disproportionally large heads.

Avatar: The Official Sponsor of Scenery-porn

About a month ago, I began watching episodes of this Canadian animated sitcom, 6teen, and was thoroughly surprised and pleased by the style of the show. The show is created by Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis, the same people who made the very popular Total Drama Island series. 6teen originally ran from 2004 to 2010 on the Teletoon network. The premise revolves around the lives of six teenagers, all sixteen (it's a pun within a pun!), and their part-time jobs in a mall not unlike the Eaton Centre in Toronto, Ontario. 

Looking back at it, they all look skinny with big heads too... hmm...

I was first introduced to 6teen around '08/'09 at a friend’s. The television was on in the background and the cartoon caught my attention halfway. It just so happens that the zombie episode "Dude of the Living Dead" was playing at the moment and zombie episodes are usually the best episode to start when first introduce to a new series (look at Community's "Epidemiology" for example). I didn't catch the name of the series at the time and have been meaning to watch the show since. Now that I’ve finished school, I can spend more time in "researching" cartoons, which is how I rediscovered the show.

The art of this animated series is unique in the fact that they eliminate the use of lines. It’s sorta like a more refine version of South Park (art-wise). Also, the viewer can easily differentiate the characters solely by their silhouette. The main characters consist of a pretty diverse cast as well. One thing that does bother me about it is that the characters, Caitlin (the blonde) in particular, have a tendency to buy the same outfit over and over again yet still acts like she made a whole new purchase and some of the male extras get recycled. But aside from that, the drawings are done nicely, albeit the hands are a bit blocky (I’m looking at you Jonesy), and colors are appealing. The storyline is alright. It’s a sitcom marketed towards tween and teens so what is there to expect. Every once in a while you’ll come across a continuity error and that gets annoying. Also, they have four seasons and celebrate Christmas at least three times but all the main characters stay 16 throughout the whole entire series. They do brush up on topics like diarrhea and wardrobe malfunction, which my inner child finds hilarious.

Blocky hands of DOOM!!! Also, is that Christopher Walken?

Why isn't this show more popular!?

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I am so bad at being consistent with my updates. Hope nobody has gotten a seizure or headaches from my background/layout. Also I have noticed that my title font looks like an emaciated version of Comic Sans. I should look into changing that or people will not take me seriously. >_> 


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the pictures. The links for the websites where they are found should be attached to the images themselves.

Floral Pattern: Yes?

Music: Major Tom (Coming Home) by Shiny Toy Guns
TV Show: Community

I recently did a "technology update" which just means that I updated my website and revamp parts of it since the six months I have been inactive (it's so horrible; everything is so outdated). There wasn't any new art to add since many of them are still in the making but regroup some parts of the gallery and I did add a little photography section, which consist mostly of the photos I took for Teaa's Flowers and something for my mother. I wouldn't consider myself a photographer but I taken pictures every so often as a hobby.

This is the one taken from my mother's garden if you were wondering...
from her Delia plant.

Since we are on the topic of flowers, there was a period in time when floral prints were super popular and people, primarily females, used them for everything. In the 90's, most of the swimsuits in department stores were covered in them and they were really cool back then. Every sweater and blouse that we would now consider tacky were splatter with a hodge-podge of these floral patterns. These bright, color clashing shapes were everywhere and then people thought that they were lame and it became a thing in the past. Only grandmas sport them. Anyways, I think they are coming back. I keep seeing product labels floral patterns. It's like they are trying to over thrown the minimalist movement or something.

I would say more about it but I'm too busy rummaging through my aunt's old sweaters bin from the 90's. They better be coming back or else I'll be the only one looking awful for the next couple of months.

Is Snow White the New Trend?

Current Obsession: Jason Isaacs and Ralph Fiennes' films
Music: Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Food: Avocado

This is my belated Halloween post. Seems like I'm always tardy for everything...

I was suppose to go to several Halloween parties but something got in the way so instead I went to none. (Actually, I went to one a week prior but it was also part gallery show so it shouldn't count.) Probably one of the first Halloween in at least 4 years where I didn't do anything.

It was a tradition in my art school to celebrate the holiday by dressing up and then parading in the gallery with onlookers cheering and raving at the sidelines. Since this is my first Halloween after college, I decided to continue the tradition and do a little closet/trial (aka. last minute, why are you surprised?) costume. For this year, I was Snow White... or at least tried to be.

I ran out of apples so here's me with a tomato.
Whaaaaat? Tomatoes are fruits and they happen to be red-orange, which is similar to red but more orangy.
Someone thought that I was a school girl doing a tomato juice ad. Kinda far from Snow White.
*Fails*

For the past year, there is rising trend with fairy tales, Snow White in particular. She is not close to being my top my favorite fairy tale character and probably one of my least favorite Disney princesses; however, there is something about her story that intrigues people enough to usually star her as the main protagonist in many of pan-fairy tale based fictions. Television series such as 10th Kingdom and the new Once Upon a Time had her story as a basis for their show. She is also the main character in the Vertigo graphic novel series, Fables. In the upcoming year, 2012, there is already 2 movies in production about Snow White, one starring Kristen Stewart (the Twilight Saga) and the other with Lily Collins (The Blind Side, Abduction), not to mention the countless number of Snow White films in the past.

Why is there such an obsession with Snow White? Is she the Batman of fairy tales or is there something I'm missing? Or perhaps society nowadays, blackened by the evil clutches of greed and corruption, look towards a tales of purity and innocence as a means to escape the awful reality. I will probably see the movies anyway because I like creepy fairy tales.

Is it avocados? Because I have avocados.