“I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind. ”
— Neil Gaiman
Fucking Mantra
Posted by Kenna in Art
Well I Don’t Know
Posted by Kenna in Personal
Books
I went to the post office today to finally send out the Brian Krans’ books which has been lying around my room for months now. See I bought 10 books from Rocktown Press for only 20USD (inclusive of the shipping fee) and Brian Krans signed them. I had them shipped today and I paid 126USD.
I have to admit, I feel a bit sad spending that much on shipping when I bought them for 20USD, made me regret my decision to buy them right away because I probably would have saved more, but I don’t care anymore. I am happy that I’ve given away those books and that there will be people who will get to read those books.
Self
I don’t understand myself. Not that I’m trying to. I was seriously thinking about what I’m good at the other day and can’t figure out what. I’m mediocre.
I do things that I don’t purposely do to hurt myself, but I don’t know how I developed this personality that I am careless about everything. I don’t give importance to myself, which reminds me I should get back to fulfilling the rest of the assignments for Learning To Love You More.
I’m scared that one day life will screw me over big time because of my hastiness and carelessness. And I kind of think I know why I am desperate for attention, specially those who clearly doesn’t give a fuck about me. And no, I will not talk about it, because you don’t need to know.
And I’ve been feeling pretty bad lately, it’s just that work has been taking over my life that I don’t have time to dwell on my feelings. I’m usually too tired to do anything. So no new pictures, no artwork (who am I kidding), no web layouts, nothing!!! This is annoying.
You know what else is annoying, my room and how untidy it is.
I really hate it when people lie. And hate it even more when it’s so obvious; if you’re going to lie because you don’t want to hurt that person, don’t, you’re just making it worse, specially if the person you’re lying to isn’t as dumb as you think.
I may be nice, probably too nice but spare me the bullshit. I’m 26, and not a kid.
Maybe this, “be nice so other people will be nice as well, and if they’re not, it’s ok, at least you were” isn’t working….
Friends
I miss my friends so much. And I’m also scared that the more I live my life away from them the more I’ll lose my connection with them. Which is stupid, I know.
So other than work taking most of my time and sleep, I basically have no idea on how to go on living. Which does not imply that I want to kill myself (and I’m God damn serious about it).
Which leads us to …
Death
I was talking to my friend the other day, I cannot remember what exactly we were talking about but basically we are trying to figure out what we’ve been doing wrong to be stuck with just ourselves and that we’re either both trying to convince ourselves that we are ready to die and we are indeed ready to. Probably not, because when we both said it, our next line was, “but not right now” so it doesn’t really make sense. And this doesn’t really make sense, so whatever, I’m going to read a book and sleep, oh, I have to sleep and wake up by midnight to work. Yeah, things you got to do to earn for a living.
I am so looking forward to my trip to Thailand this March.
Dream
I had a really weird dream the other night, I was with my friends here fishing when a giant comet came crashing to Earth and we all had to duck and roll and run away from it. And everyone died I believe. I wonder what it means.
The Irish Village is one of my favorite places here in Dubai. It’s an Irish pub where you can drink outside (or in) and enjoy live music. They host concerts too.
They have good food, although they stopped selling my favorite Grilled Hammour Wrapped in Bacon (sad).
Hammour wrapped in bacon
They have awesome Friday brunch.
Friday Brunch
And the music, well they have a bunch of talented artists there, my favorite will be Caitlyn Murphy, you can read a bit about her here. She’s very talented. Another favorite is Adam Shero Baluch, but I’m not sure if he still plays at IV anymore. You can see Irish Vilalge’s artists page here.
Sometimes the weather plays tricks on you and you’re stuck in your apartment for the weekend. All week you’ve been complaining you’re tired so here you go, dust all over the place and you have no choice but to stay in, lie on your bed and watch TV. Get all the rest you can get because tomorrow is Sunday again and you’re back to work.
Now this is what “dusty” looks like. And sand storms in this country is far from what Tom Cruise, Agent Ethan, experienced in MI4 Ghost Protocol.
Summer is upon us….
I finally got the photos my friend took during our Morocco and Spain trip last August.
Here are some more photos in Ibiza.
Oh sorry sir. Somebody is afraid someone will grab his.. while he’s sleeping.
Es Cavalet
Town
Ah, memories, it was such a lovely time and place. I can remember everyone screaming “Yay! Yoohoo!” and clapping as the plane landed at Aeropuerto de Ibiza!
I’ve been craving for Thai food so today I cooked Pad Thai!
Prep and Cook time: about an hour
Serving size: 3-4 people
Ingredients:
14 oz. wide rice noodles
250g of firm tofu (optional)
3 cloves of garlic crushed
a bunch of spring onions
a bunch of fresh coriander
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp tamarind paste (optional)
3 tbsp sweet chili sauce
3 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tbsp golden caster sugar
crushed nuts
4 medium eggs
200g shelled shrimp
chili flakes (lots!)
2 limes
100g beansprouts
So trying to be on a very strict diet and eating healthier has been really difficult since everyone seems to be still on a holiday binge.
After going to Umm Al Quwain for a freezing night of fishing, where I catched only two tiny fishes and about two water bottles, we went to Greens for a weekend BBQ with the rest of the Access Transmission team.
I LOVE THIS PORK RIBS!
Spaghetti and macaroni salad!
Adobo Rice with lots of quail eggs!!!
Some of my team mates…
It was a very good weekend of Eagles, Jack x Coke and lots of good food!
A friend has been asking me to cook him seafood soup since he failed at it twice. See, cooking sea shells require the shells to be clean.
This is a very simple recipe.
To clean the shells, soak the shells in fresh water for about 1-2 hours, the shells will clean themselves, they will spit out salt water and sand. Once done, take out the shells from the water, don’t pour them out of the bowl. Then brush them. And make sure, not to pick out those that float in the water, and those that are already open or chipped.
Prep and Cook time: about 2.5 hours
Serving size: 3-4 people
Ingredients:
butter
ginger
a cup of onions
3 cloves of garlic
a cup of chopped parsley
14.5 oz of stewed tomatoes
14.5 oz of chicken broth
bay leaves
dried basil
thyme
oregano
water
white wine (optional)
.5 kg peeled and deveined shrimp
.5 kg clams
.5 kg cubed cod fillet
Stressed is Desserts Spelled Backwards
Posted by Kenna in Rants
I am so pissed, frustrated and TIRED. I really need a vacation, SOON. I used to write to relieve stress, but it doesn’t help the same way as it does before. BOO!
I will just think about the current weather which is making me feel ok, cold but sunny, please be like this longer.
DSF Shopping
Posted by Kenna in Shopping, Things I Love
Yesterday was the last day of Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) and since the goal for this year is to save as much as I can I only bought a pair of sunglasses for my collection (ok, so I bought a couple of shoes before but a girl can never have one, two, many shoes).
I got this.
So that leaves me with this year’s Sunglasses wishlist. LOL.
Social Reading
Posted by Kenna in Books
Reading in the 20th century is different from what you used to know and it’s not because of e-readers. Nowadays, when you want to read something new, you don’t have to look up the paper, say, New York Book Reviews anymore, well you still can, in fact it’s even more easier now because of the web. But what I really like is, reading became social. There are a lot of communities and places where not only can you track on what you’re reading but places where you can talk to fellow worms about the book you’re reading. I swear on Goodreads by the way.
I love Kindle and I think its newest reader which is the cloud reader is pretty cool. Reading has never been this accessible.
Now comes Reading Mill.
Read Mill is a curious community of readers, highlighting and sharing the books they love.
We believe reading should be an open and easily shareable experience. We built Readmill to help fix the somewhat broken world of ebooks, and create the best reading experience imaginable. Readmill launched in December 2011 with a small dedicated team from all over Europe. We are based in Berlin.
It offers a lot of ways to share highlights and what you’re reading. Patiently waiting for a Kindle Fire app. For now, you can sync the books you’re reading on your Kindle and your highlights with a bookmarklet.
I don’t know whether to get mad or cry because of this issue I’ve been trying to deal with at work. It surely has been trying to test my patience. And I’m trying my best to be positive about the whole thing not do anything stupid such as be rude or arrogant…
So I’m trying to recover some more of my old posts but I think they’re all really gone by now. I just realized it this morning that I was unable to save all my feeds because I can’t find my tom yum recipe.
Did I tell you that one of my hard drives broke and I lost all pictures taken before August 2011? And all docs and applications as well? Yeah, it really sucks. I’ve reached the point that everything seems to be missing or breaking and making me crazy that I’ve been apathetic about everything (with both of my middle fingers having a boner, I raise my hands and scream, FECKKKKKK) .
HTML and CSS Basics
Posted by Kenna in Books, HTML / CSS, Web Design
Here are some tools and sites where you can learn and try HTML and CSS, for designing your own websites or just for learning something new. This post has been long overdue, sorry Didi.
There are a lot of tutorials and tools in the internet but here are my favorites.
Blogs/Websites
Lissa Explains it All! - This helped me a lot! It’s a site which aims to teach people, especially children, how to make their own websites. I learned almost everything here, the basics.
Don’t Fear the Internet - You can watch short tutorial videos where you’ll learn to manipulate the CSS of a basic wordpress blog, it’s HTML, and PHP.
HTML 5 Rocks - a Google site for everything HTML5
Web Design Ledger - Tutorials, freebies, inspiration on web design.
Smashing Magazine - a site/communicty for web designers and developers, from n00bs to professionals.
Line 25 - Tutorials, freebies, inspiration on web design
CSS Tricks - CSS tricks.
Tools
Cupcake Ipsum - Loren Ipsum generator with a twist.
Border Radius - round corner CSS generator
Tekzr - a coding app
Another good way to know about HTML and CSS is by reading books. A Book Apart “publishes highly detailed and meticulously edited examinations of single topics”.
The three books shown in the picture above are up for grabs until February 15, 2012 at Mensis Liber. Click here to join.
I’m trying to lose weight by watching what I eat and doing cardiovascular activities.
This site is pretty cool. Swole.me is an automatic diet planner.
The meal plan looks pretty easy.
So this is my grocery list for a 7-day meal plan I generated. I’ll start on Wednesday. Fridays will still be cheat day, and looks like, cook something from now on, as well.
Prep and Cook time: about 20 mins
Serving size: 1-3 people
Ingredients:
1 kg of fish, Sherry (or halibut, sea bass)
Ginger (you can make ginger flakes or buy minced ginger)
Salt
2 tablespoon soy sauce (less sodium)
2 tablespoon vinegar or sherry
2 tablespoon of Sesame oil
About four spring onions (half chopped)
Banana leaves/foil to cook the fish with
“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins. ”
— Bob Moawad
The Best Day
Posted by Kenna in Quotes
Prep and Cook time: 15 mins
Serving size: 1-2 salad plates
Ingredients:
Minced Garlic
Brown sugar
Chili Garlic Sauce
Salt and pepper
Fresh lettuce
Basil leaves
Beef steak (sirloin or breakfast, lean beef steak and must be without fat)
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Limes
Olive oil (or Vegetable oil)
Low sodium soy sauce
Fish sauce
Optional: minced ginger
Kindle Fire Leather Case by Marware
Posted by Kenna in Kindle
So last week I sold Chuck, my Kindle Keyboard to a lovely lady, Didi. I really loved Chuck and it was hard to let go but it just doesn’t make sense to keep two e-book readers, so I’ve decided to sell it but had to know the person who’s getting it. The Kindle keyboard’s battery life and e-ink is just awesome. It’s also thin, fits right in the bag.
Anyway, for my 26th birthday, my friends sent me a Kindle Fire.
And today, I received the cover I bought for it. Look at the packaging of the case, really cool!
I was a bit hesitant of buying it since it cost almost 45$, without the shipping cost and sales tax, but since I’ll be traveling with it soon, thought it will be a good buy. I’m glad I did, it’s true that I only use Fire for reading and not watching, but the case can be used as a stand for watching videos as well. But my favorite thing about the case, and it’s not because it’s pink, is that it has a built-in hand strap.
Yehey!
2012 Book Reading Challenge
Posted by Kenna in Books
The following are the books I plan to read this year. The goal is to read 25.
I want to read a whole lot more. Finally work on the To-Read shelf on my Goodreads, so hopefully I can read more than the goal of 25.
I just realized something this morning. Though I really like my job, I don’t or should I say, I won’t keep on doing it until I’m 50, even better if I don’t need to keep it until 35 or 40, I’m working on that.
I just realized that the system will never work for me. It will keep me fed, dressed and sheltered, but that’s it. Until I’ve save enough money, or until such time I can no longer stomach bureacracy, politcs and pesonal bullshit, until VPs and CEOs stop getting paid as much as they’re now getting, and until the time I can still keep my mouth shut and brush my shoulder off on things such as people who kiss butt to get ahead, I’m staying. I have no problem if CEOs and all top management gets paid high, I do have a problem when those who really work hard, don’t.
It’s not a pretty sight, and you can only take it for a period of time.
I look forward to living a life in an island or a farm and just getting busy, living.
Now if only all corporate powermen will care more about others than themselves, maybe there’s still hope for the world. I’d like to think all people are born good and meant to do good.
Seriously, I’d rather live a life away from the conveniences of the city, and I’d exchange everything I have to be able to live a life where people care more about caring for someone else than themselves, because such a thing is beautiful.
When you walk by a group of quote-unquote normal people you chuckle to yourself, patting yourself on the back as you scoff. It’s the same superority complex shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell, makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma you spend every moment of your waking life BITCHING about!
…
Cause I’m proud of my life and the things that I have done, proud of myself and the loner I’ve become. You’re free to whine. It will not get you far. I do just fine, my car and my guitar, proud of my life and the things that I have done, proud of myself and the loner I’ve become. You’re free to whine. It will not get you far. I do just fine, my car and my guitar.
Admit it! by Say Anything
Maybe I should work on my fishing skills more, it will help me get food. Eat what you catch.
These Boots Are Made For Walking
Posted by Kenna in Shopping
Dubai has two shopping festivals, Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) and Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS). This DSF I bought nothing but shoes!
This will be perfect for all the walking and traveling this year.
Steve Madden shoes. Both are at least 50% off!
I’m not going to malls for now.
Biggest Loser
Posted by Kenna in Personal
So I’m going to Thailand this March, Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui and Krabi. Still convinving my friend to go to Koh Phi Phi… I’m really excited, work has been pretty exhausting and it will be really nice to rest in a resort or a beach. Almost every accommodation we got was booked through Groupon or Cobone. Awesome.
My friend asked if I’d like to go on a diet with him. And 1) I say “Yes” to everything and 2) I need it more than him actually, so this is today’s lunch.
Not eating rice and will not drink beer (had lots last night, and I’m nursing a hangover which is a difficult thing when you’re at work) for now. The goal is to lose 22lbs (10kgs) by the first week of March. Is that too much? Do you think I can do it?
I’ve been trying to organize my files last night and found out that I’ve lost all my pictures taken before November last year. FML.
Something is really wrong with me because I feel apathetic about it and usually I would have bawl my eyes out because of it and will be mourning until today but no I didn’t. Partly because somehow I feel that there’s really no point in doing so, they’re gone, what can I do. It sucks.
I have a lot of things that I need to do. Send out Brian Krans’ books to the people who joined this. Why is Emirates Post not as convenient as other country’s post offices? I need to figure out a way to go to the post office to send them during work hours.
Goals and Wishlist 2012
Posted by Kenna in Lists
This year I’m trying to be more realistic with my goals and wishes.
Books / Reading
I plan to read as many books as I can this year, but unlike last year when I challenged myself to read what 50 or more books and lost, this year I’m challenging myself to read 25 only and I’ve already read one which is a good start. So if I read more than 25, it’s going to be even more awesome.
I have a very long Books Wishlist (here) but here are some of the books I wish to have.
Visual Editions Books
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
more books
Camera lenses
Audio Technica ATLP120
Travel
I’m excited about my travel plans for this year, I have two lined up, one this March, eighteen (18) days in Thailand and another one in July, twenty-four (24) days in Europe.
I’m also planning to visit my best friend in the U.S. although I need to save money for that.
Work
There are a lot of areas in my career I want to work on and I think it’s the best time to really work hard on something for my career. I plan to study (seriously) a new language.
I also plan to be serious with designing and coding and will find time to finish all the projects I’ve been holding off for the past year. Now if only my work hours will come back to normal I’ll have enough time for them.
Gadgets
Kodak Play Sport
a new phone, white iPhone 4s or Galaxy Nexus, still cannot decide
and other things
a gold heart locket necklace
Hmmm Teenage Engineering’s OP-1
Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Posted by Kenna in Rants
I’ve accepted the fact that not everyone you meet in your life is meant to stay.
I am really looking forward to this year, I’m still being positive about it.
If things that are happening right now are meant to remind me that I shouldn’t commit the same mistakes again, please, I need not be reminded of them. My memory sucks, but I won’t forget 2011, although I wish I could.
Haven’t had a dream in a long time
See, the life I’ve had
Can make a good man badSo for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time
Lord knows, it would be the first timeThe Smiths
I am very patient when it comes to people and I’m forgiving, but that doesn’t mean I’m inviting people to take advantage of me. I believe in karma. And I believe that people are aware of their actions, or at least they should be. I need to learn love myself more, seriously.
Somehow, when the year began, people who have hurt me in the past thought it’s a good time to reconcile with me, and maybe it is, well it’s beyond my control. Or is it?
It hurts me A LOT when people who are given a second chance choose to waste it.
I really miss my friends and writing.
Somehow, after being on hiatus for a long time, I feel that I lost my will to divulge.
I am TIRED.
Endings and Beginnings
Posted by Kenna in Books
