Day 244: Cloudy

Trying to paint cloud without sketching today.

Day 243: Three Flowers

Let's get away from portrait a bit today.

Day 242: A think guy

I think I should get rid of yellow soon.

Day 241: In Deep Thought

Another work inspired by Alex Powers. I think his work looks perfect with the imperfect strokes and all the details he left out.

Day 240: An Old Man

ok...I know I shouldn't just use the color right from the tube.

Day 239: Reading

oh well....a bit messy painting today.

Day 238: A flower created by pieces of masking tapes

The flower today is created by pieces of masking tapes which are randomly attached to the paper. And I just love the imperfection of the dry strokes. Hope you do too!

Day 237: A Man in a Snow

I am sure I intended to paint a man in a snow. I think he looks like a woman.

Oh well...the painting style I use today is inspired by the work by Alex Powers. It's a combination of watercolor painting and pencil rendering.

Day 236: ...and we sent her off.

Here is my own message I put together real quick this morning for her. It's in the scrapbook we gave her now. Wish I had time to do a nice little painting. (So you have to come back and get it, Rebecca!)

So everyone, I'll promise a watercolor painting for Day 237!

Day 235: The party day is here...

...and also the farewell.

Day 234: Timeline

It is going to be a lengthy post today. Ready ?

Going through each day is hard enough especially folks living in the city. Don't you think ? The speed of the daily life is amazingly fast that everything seems very blurry.

Let's look at a big picture today. The first quarter of our life is pretty much in other people's hands such parents, guardians, teachers, friends, etc. But we need them at that age.

But do they know how you want to live your life ? And do you know ?

Suddenly we're out of high school, feeling rushed for the first time and most of us have to choose a career path. (And if you're from Thailand like me, we have to choose our major even before entering a college. And we can't change it without going through crazy requirement.) Often I think this is totally insane. It's like asking a baby what they want to do for the rest of their life. But I don't really have a better solution to offer. 

Then we study so hard and try to get a job to pay off loans and bills. Suddenly we're half way of our life. We feel we have gone so far down the road and so deep into the career we chose (or being told to choose) that we think it's wasting time to start new.

Is it really wasting ? Or keep going is more wasting ?

What's your goal now ? Is it what you want or what others want you to be ? Do you want to be at the top of your career or simply want to enjoy working ? Have tons of savings or tons of experience ? Do you want explore the world or you want to settle ? Focus on your career or your family ? Do you decide to have a family because you find the one you can't live without  or because of the fear to be alone ? 

There is no right or wrong answer. Many can do all of it. Some has more obligations than others. Just make sure we are after what we want. Don't get dragged and drown by the flow. This is like creating a design concept of our own life. And we can't just have a grand idea. We need to execute it as well.

Otherwise, suddenly, we will be right at the end of our life and realize that it is really too late. And the annoying part is that we don't know if it will end late or soon.

Have you heard of Steve Jobs' speech "Connecting the Dots" ? A must read. It is very encouraging. 

Oh and about Rebecca ? She's totally my role model in this case. I was listening to what she has done in her life and just in awe.  Actually I should ask her to tell me about it again. It's been a while and I am sure I miss a bunch of things. She's out of the house and on her own at the age of 18, joined the marine, worked as a flight attendant, got her degree, learning accounting through her job, studied to be in a law school, be a business manager and a cooking master. She plays flute (and attempted to play Ukulele). She paints. She makes jewelry. She knows how to skate, canoe and bind the books.

Nutty.

But I always admire people who make a change in their life.

So you can be so many things you want to be and do so many things you want to do. Write your list down and just do it because life is really really short.

Day 233: The Breaking Point

I am honestly not sure how to draw or write about this, the breaking point.

Everyone is different. Each is good at different things and wants to be treated different ways. When one quits the job, the reason is, of course, different. The reason could be a long commute, too much work, too much responsibility, nothing he or she has done is ever good enough, boring task, low salary, no raise, no promotion etc.  Or all of them.

Keep in mind that not everyone always wants money or promotion on the top of their list. Some people simply want an appreciation. 

And that's all that keep them coming to work everyday. Who says less-than-a-star-work is less important ? We need different type of people to make a company survive.

So don't let one reach his or her breaking point or you lose that person for real.

Day 232: The Busy Person

You probably notice I have a hard time posting my 365 in time there days. :P Usually the reasons would be 1) I fell asleep or 2) I was lazy. 

If it's Rebecca, those would never be a reason. She can't sit still. At work she will have proposals to write (sometimes 10 of them lining up), billing to do, collections, trouble shooting the problems for her babies (aka us), putting interview material together, bugging us to get timesheet done (oh shoot I haven't done mine!), decoding our messy timesheet input, taking garbage and recycle bags out to the dumpster (because our cleaning lady is small), buying milk, buying office supply, getting Friday breakfast, watering plants in the office, cleaning glass door at office entry and conference rooms when it gets dirty during the day and picking up phones call or greeting people when our receptionist is not available. On special occasions she will get birthday cards, making birthday cakes for us (in my case buying ice cream), organizing office outing and office's annual party which the work includes sending out invitations after checking the party list, budgeting, coordinating with caterer, sometimes cooking the food herself, decorating the office. Don't let me start on her task outside the office such as cooking for 200 people at her church or babysitting, making jewelry, cleaning house (doesn't sound like she gets much help at home), making wedding cakes when someone asks her. 

I am sure I forget a lot of things she does. 

And on top of these she commutes 100 miles per day and she's not the healthiest person I know.

So if you have this type of person in your office or at your house, tie him or her to the chair or just simply say "thank you", will you ?

Day 231: A Great Gift

In 2004 I got my driver's license and bought a little Volkswagen Golf, my very first car. Rebecca gave me this fancy emergency car kit. Out of the blue and out of nowhere. Isn't it a great gift for a new driver ? So I gave her one of my favorite paintings as a thank you. The kit is always in my car. :) She always gives me (and others) gifts on Christmas, birthday and when I feel down. Thank you~

Day 230: No Nut!

Rebecca can't eat nuts but secretly has them from time to time. So I love sneaking around to see if she has any. (I usually get help from people on the other side of the wall too.) So if she has one, I often spank her or send a message "No Nut!" to her all the time. : P

Day 229: A Cup of Coco

Almost a decade ago (OMG! it's that long.) I had a second interview with this company. I had been looking for a job since graduation in May. It was pretty stressful because I wanted to gain some experience working in US before going home at the time. I wasn't here just for a degree. Experience is far more important than that. My dad already sent me a note at that point that I needed to go home and get a job there instead.

The interview was set in December. Pretty cold for a girl from Thailand and studied in Arizona. And I probably broke all the rule the job recruiters had such as dress professionally. I think I had something like a ski jacket on instead of a wool coat. I didn't speak English that well. And let's not talk about my listening skill at that time (or even now!) I didn't know how to drive so I took a bus to go for an interview. (You must know about the bus mass transit here.) 

I don't remember much what I said or what I heard. But I remember pretty clearly that I was asked if I would like a cup of chocolate before an interview and if I needed a ride to a metro (train) station afterward by our Rebecca. 

Do you know any business manager who would drive an interviewee to a metro ?!

Amazingly I got a job and am writing about her on my blog.

Day 228: Let's talk about my neighbor

Some of you probably wonder what on earth I was drawing yesterday. The reason is that our greatest business manager of 19 years is leaving the company. Her last day will be next Thursday.

So let's start talking about her! She doesn't like a surprise so let's prep her a bit, shall we ? :D

Since we moved to the new office my manager has become my office neighbor. We have only a tall low wall separate us. So you know there can be a lot going on. 

Have you seen my post about the rubber band war ? 

Day 227: My Desk = No Rebecca Zone

I am sure everyone at the office wants to tie my business manager to her chair this week.

HA! I know you gonna see this post, Rebecca.

:D

Day 226: And who is this ?

Day 225: Let's continue guessing

In my opinion caricature is about exaggerating the components proportionally and finding a character of that person.

Day 224: "That was excruciating."

He's difficult to draw!

Day 223: "Carry on. Make it work."

I can't keep using  "Guess who ?" as a title, can I ?

Day 222: Let's play another "guess who ?"

Day 221: Things are really getting better

Since it's the same plumber came to fix the pipe last week he asked me if I had a new garbage disposal. HA! I (super proudly) answered that I installed it myself! But I did mention that it doesn't run and the issue might be the wall switch. So he wiggled the switch back and forth. And suddenly the disposal made some noise!!! It works!!! I couldn't believe it. He agreed that it's definitely the wall switch because there was no resistance when he pushed the switch up and down.

Then on a separate issue I asked him how to replace the cold waterline since I noticed some water formed around the connection. So he looked at it and mentioned that the line is made out of plastic and shouldn't be used at all. (As you know when plastic is old will be hard and it will break. And the water will burst in this case.) So he patiently explained how to replace it, what tools and material I need, and told me to be careful not to twist the copper line that came with the faucet otherwise I might need to replace the faucet too.

So what should I do next ? Replacing a wall switch or a waterline ? : )

Oh, the leaking pipe has been replaced. Drywall ceiling repair is being scheduled!

Happy me!

Day 220: Things are getting better

Oops I fell asleep again! Worked a little late.

But things are getting better this morning. I am taking a day off (while my boss is at his big meeting ha ha) to be at home since the plumber is here to permanently fix the leaking pipe. (He is cutting the ceiling up at this very moment.) After I cleared my junk out of the room, I called the cable company first thing to get my cable box to work. (When you're nice to them, they are nice to you. They are human like us you know ? :)) And now the tv is up an running with Olympics on!

So things are getting better! Just deal with the problem one by one.

Day 219: Draw without a Rubber

...because I can't find one. Anyway, wanna guess who this is ?

Day 218: A Day without TV

Without TV available all day and internet for half day...I got a lot of things done... (well except getting my new garbage disposal to work.)

- walk around the lake at 7am! (wow)
- posting blog about my paddling tour last night at Fountainhead. (That's a good thing about living so close to the office. You can just drive to use an internet at work.:P)
- grocery shopping
- moving my TV from the bedroom to the living room. (It's strange to have a sofa setting up with a big blank wall in front of it. Now it's stranger because nothing shows up on the screen which is caused by the cable box which turns itself off after booting for 3 seconds.)
- 3 loads of laundry
- cooking!
- shredding a box of junk mail (There are so many. These firms should be taxed for deforesting.)
- got internet back just by reconnecting the cable to a different wall outlet...however this doesn't  work with the cable box.
- organize other junk...I mean my other belongings.
- of course my 365 project!
and then it's Monday again...

Anyway, if you want to get a lot of things done, try to have a day without a tv. :)

Day 217: Umm...Power next ?

Everything went pretty smoothly. (I'll write about it.) The disposal was even pretty itself. But it's not running. Maybe power repair next ?

(I noticed that I had to wiggle the wall switch quite a lot when I still had the old disposal.)

No wonder a plumber got paid so much.

I'll go paddling. I'll try again tomorrow. Ugh!

Day 216: No more paddling in the dark!

Because I got a headlight today for my night paddling tour this weekend. I could use it when I replace my garbage disposal too!

Day 215: Handy me ?

The sofa has been assembled. Next is replacing the garbage disposal.

wow I've never been this handy on home improvement.

Day 214: More fantasy drawing

A little bit more for a fantasy drawing today.

Day 213: Fantasy Drawing

I always love fantasy drawings, painting and animation (...but only when the storyline makes sense.) The look of the characters, the clothes are so interesting to look at. Today I came across this drawing by James Jean and I did a sketch of his drawings. Who would have thought the leaves could look like hair and the mushroom could look this great next to human face ?