I'm studying I'm studying

I've been feeling sick the last few days...something wrong with my stomach? I thought it was just from overeating, but maybe not...

oh dear, just before exams too.

On Friday it was our Valedictory, which was the last time our whole year level would be in the same location for the rest of the year...how sad.

Before I headed off my mum insisted on taking some photos with me.

A multitude of photos came out looking like the second one due to my brother's shoddy hands.

I think the second one's better anyway, you can't see my retarded face.

It was a great night, and there were some awesome performances...shame we couldn't hang out afterwards, I guess everyone would've been tired anyways.

And as per usual, my mum came ridiculously late and I was actually the last one to leave, hanging around awkwardly trying to avoid Mr. Macleod's stare.

I took home some balloons full of helium, but they had deflated by the morning.

And everyone who attended received one of these cups. It has everyone's name in our year printed on it and other crap.

It feels as though the year has ended already...the gravitas of impending exams hasn't quite struck me yet...every time I try to study my mind drifts off somewhere else.

I hope I don't come to regret my slovenly ways, but...

meh.

I took some pictures of my diary from this year. This is what happens when I get bored in class, and as you can see I got bored pretty often.

If you want a higher resolution just click here or here.

I tried to study by writing summary notes on balloons to make it more enjoyable.

But I got bored and just stabbed all the balloons to death.

I found this in my diary. Curse You Panda?

Bye bye, Class of 2011.

The Last Day of School

EVER.
How very sad.... but happy at the same time?
Excuse me if my writing is slightly more incoherent than usual, I'm currently listening to Joe Hisaishi's あの夏へ (One Summer's Day) from Spirited Away which Judith played for us today...how nostalgic and sad. And I'm discovering I cannot organise my thoughts properly whilst listening to music. It's very hard to concentrate on what I want to write.

give it a listen :)

So anyway...it's been a while, blogger.

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Starting from last week on Thursday...

I HAD MY JAPANESE ORAL EXAM.

It was so nerve wracking...as soon as I sat down outside the room to wait, the assessor opened the door and asked me to come in.

I guess I went alright...I managed to maintain the conversation and make the assessors laugh a little at my horrid awkwardness. The most horrible thing would be that I said 増える (increase) for the WHOLE EXAM while referring to the number of people interested in 伝統芸能 (traditional arts) instead of saying 減らす (decrease). I only realised at the very end, when the assessors asked me if I even knew what I was talking about.

...oops.

afterwards we ate lunch and hung out and PLAYED WITH BUBBLES 

IT WAS SO AWESOME.

And then we went home. 

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On Saturday and Sunday...well...

See for yourself.

Selina had the le brilliant idea of making mock Real Estate FOR SALE signs and hanging them outside the school for people to see. So basically both of us worked over the weekend to get them done, but the above one was almost completely done by Selina herself since we procrastinated too much on Saturday.

While we were working on the larger banner, Selina had some super weird sitting position.
can you feel the pain of us artists yet?


And then she decided it would be a good idea to drop a large gob of paint onto the sign.

It took us about 5 different soap products and heavy duty Napisan to try and get it down to what you see above...
SHIET MAN.
But hey, it turned out pretty well once we hung it up.

The sign in all its glory.

The spot's barely visible at all, right?
Unic Homes is a pun, it means Unicorn Homes but also Unique Homes.
We don't horse around.
GEDDIT???
Unfortunately later on in the day, as we left my friend Choo's house, we discovered that IT HAD BEEN TAKEN DOWN.

Dagnabbit.
I think it's alright to post it though, since Selina and I already went up to Mrs Calvert and told her it was us responsible for the sign. She seemed really happy about it, she said "it was clever and not stupid".


Oh yeah while we were putting up the banner, while madly running to school at 5am to beat sunrise and the increasing amount of commuters, we GOT CAUGHT. BY SECURITY GUARDS.
But it was fine?
I hope.

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And that brings us to today...

the last day of school.

It started off rather slow...everyone took photos and stuff and I was late as per usual. As we were lining up to go into the hall, my art teacher came up to me and told me I'd been selected for the Art Accolade Award. This means as the best in my year level the school would buy my artworks and display them in the school. I honestly didn't know what to say, it was so out of the blue...In hindsight I should've perhaps inquired more about the terms of the agreement and what she thought about it...

I have no idea how much the school is paying me...just letting you know, they're in debt right now.

But still, it's an honour! I suppose I wouldn't have done much with them anyway so some moolah is what I need right now I think.

I got called up in front of the entire final assembly to receive this prize and it was awkward and etc since I'm not good at   social.

After our assembly everyone exited and some people began to cry...I think that's when it hit me that this was really our last day of school and we'd never be in class with all our schoolmates ever again (insert sentimental tear here). I guess it didn't really dawn on me the entire day or even now as I'm typing that it's gone and will never come back.

So I guess I wanna thank anyone from my school happening to read this blog for making my school days TRULY F**KING AWESOME, it was a blast!

Not wanting to really part and go home, those who could went to eat lunch at Sofia's, Burwood (the only place we could think of that was not full of schoolkids + close + cheap) and then mucked around afterwards. I seem to be playing on playgrounds more now than when I was a child and I suppose that is a good thing.

This is the envelope I received on stage. It says Year 12 Art Award Winner, 'Sculptures', Edward Tang, and it is empty.
I was eating ice cream, it's sugar-filled Peter's Choc Caramel & Vanilla Swirl. Extra creamy. GOOD EXAM PREP FOOD.

While at the new SUPER-COLES in Burwood, we found these really cheap but good art supplies. Me, Jo and Caf & Wynne are gonna do something with these sketchbooks...we bought one each.

The photos are dim since the sun was setting and I like the lighting when it does? Does that make le sense?

My camera sucks.
Nah actually it's the fly screen.

The window makes it look funny.

Sorry for the long post, I actually probably have more to write that I simply forgot. Oh well.

Till next time,

eddyward.

Gardening

Hello all!

It's hard to believe we have less than one week of school left...right now I'm focusing on preparing for my Japanese Oral Exam on Thursday, though. stress stress stress!!

Speaking Japanese is the worst for me...I always appear unconfident and I start my sentences without thinking, meaning that I end up staring into blank space for ages and ages...

ugh. Horrid memories are starting to resurface right now just thinking about it.

Last weekend, right before my mock exam for English Language, my mum decided that I had to do the gardening or I wouldn't be able to do it at all once school started.

So off I went. To my backyard.

Ahhh...it's a tad overgrown. I haven't mown the lawn since the beginning of Semester 2, more than 12 weeks ago ahaha.

Let me show you just how overgrown it is.

You see this weed here, from the previous photo?

Well, that's this weed.

...which is this weed.

HOLY CRAPPY DOODLES. The grass almost went up to my waist, it was so tall. You can see my two cacti and then my iPod next to the lawn...

I'll just tell you that mowing this was ridiculously tiring and I died.

Here's a picture of how it looked afterwards...not too bad, right? 

Here are my two cacti...they're beginning to flower! I was amazed when I first saw them flowering, I never knew cacti could do that.

I've had these cacti for ages...since about Year 5 or 6? That means that they're almost 6 years old! 

Here's a handy tip; if you're like me and you are extremely lazy, but like plants, get a cactus. I literally haven't watered these in years, I'm surprised they're not dead from neglect.

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Anyway, I was tasked with creating a thank you card for Ms Yasunaga 先生 since I'm a lazy slob and my card-making buddy Judith is busy with exams.

I tried my hand at painting after being somewhat inspired by other artists... it did not work out.

I'm so unco-ordinated...I got paint everywhere. I think...I'll just stick to pencils...

Hopefully it turns out much better than this. I was trying to paint some cute Daruma, but my paint isn't very good quality and I think I need some finer brushes...it's hard to mix colours.

Anyway, that's all I have for you for now...exams are coming up but I'm lazy and good at procrastinating so I don't think it will really affect this blog...which is good for you readers, but a bad thing for my education and general FUTURE.

YEAH.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Ahhh so after some DEEEP DEEEP thinking, I have decided to start posting more of my artwork on tumblr and less on this blog. This is because tumblr is more integrated into the artist's world, so to say, so hopefully it will get my name out there more?
So I will start posting more life related things on this blog, and hopefully that way this blog can stay for friends and family (and possible stalkers? ...yeah right), and not for the whole world to view my art :) I'll still post major works and projects here for you to enjoy though.
Now...if only I had a nice camera...

This one for instance:

It's the Panasonic Lumix GF1: I've heard rave reviews about it, and two of the bloggers and artists whom I very much respect and admire use this very same camera:

minimallyminimal      &       MALL.

click on the links, you wont regret it! ;D

It's only around $1000...not that much...right?
sigh...maybe next year, when I get a job, eh.
Dammit...it's so good...
But for now, you can continue to have crappy pictures taken by my iPod and camera.

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    so today...

I went to the city to hand in my pre-selection kit.

Ahhhh...? Which photos to pick.

Hopefully my selection will get me in...

I LOL AT THIS:

if you look at the area to fill in your age, it has 3 spaces? who the heck would be over 100 years old and be applying for this course??

yeah my sense of humour sucks.

And so off I went by myself to the city...not a good idea.

PEOPLE KEPT ASKING ME IF I WAS LOST.

It was so demeaning T___T I know I have a very stoner-ish face, but this was not funny.

Well...it's kind of true actually...

I somehow managed to miss this sign where I was supposed to drop off my kit...and also multiple other signs on my way up the 10 flights of stairs. Hey, it's not my fault. On the kit, it told me to hand it in to the "Selection Officer", so I spent ages trying to find him/her.

I also didn't realise there was a lift in the building until I saw other prospective students dropping off their forms...in envelopes?

Apparently we were supposed to have a pre-supplied envelope to put our kits into, but I didn't have one! I couldn't even find it when I got back home from the city and ransacked my open day stuff...hopefully they still bother to read it and don't dismiss it as an uncompleted kit. That would be terrible...

I camwhored in the lift.

"Oh Edward, what bad quality photos you have."

DON'T WORRY, THERE'S MORE.

While walking through Melbourne Central I smelt the delicious aroma of waffles & crêpe-y stuff and I went and bought myself this mango icecream hot crêpe from Harujuku. $6.20 for a thin piece of pancake, 2 mango slices, and a dollop of ice cream and cream? Call me asian, but ...rip off much? However it was much more filling then I thought it would be...still not hungry, and about to eat dinner...so it was worth it I suppose.

I just wanted more ice-cream, that's all.

So then I made my way back home and more strangers asked me if I was lost. At the Oakleigh bus station, there were about 5 different bus stops for a few different bus routes, but they all said 900 ... Rowville?

I was thinking "Wtf? Where do I stand?" when two evangelists walked past and asked me if I was lost. And, being evangelists, they were very friendly and struck up a conversation. It turns out one of them, who introduced himself as Elder Stirling, just moved to Australia from Utah in America about a month ago.

You know what that means?

A TOURIST WHO'S ONLY BEEN HERE FOR A MONTH ASKED IF I WAS LOST AND GAVE ME DIRECTIONS.

What the heck!?!?!? How embarrassing.

Well to end this blog on a cheery note, here's a photo of a dead bird that I found on my way home;

Good thing the iPod camera isn't very high quality...you can't see the happy little ants feasting on the birdie.

Mongeese

So I was wondering; if the plural of goose is geese, does that mean that by inference the plural of moose is meese? And that the plural of mongoose is mongeese?
Anyway, it seems I've broken my promise to blog more often...oh dear. However, despite not having touched any schoolbooks these entire holidays, I have been somewhat productive...here is a little something I made, just on a whim...
It's a folder to put all my random ideas into :D

ah yes, I'm a hobo and I have no cutting mat so I used a piece of cardboard instead.
I've been weirdly interested in papercutting recently, I saw some awesome examples in Top Arts and classmates' folios. It has such an interesting effect...


but yes I will blog now. 
It might be boring as I was stupid and didn't take any photos.


Yesterday was Tuesday and I went over to my friend Judith's house to work on some thank you ありがとう cardy thingies for our teachers...however, knowing my work pace, we did not get much done and somehow it was already 5:30 PM by the time we'd finished planning one single card.
HOWEVER.
Judith's mum decided to be awesome, and she took us out to the nearby IKEA for 'dinner'. Which is a bad idea if you are very very hungry, as IKEA is one of the most distracting places ever... We ended up wandering through the massive store for hours before sitting down to eat.
I must say, it was surprising how nice the food tasted ;D  I thought it would be more like microwaved camp food, but it was actually pretty nice! Judith's mum ordered the large meatballs for me...I was so full I couldn't move properly afterwards...
also...
I HATE COFFEE.
For the first time in my life I decided to try a full cup of coffee, as we were able to get them for free. IT WAS SO BAD... I added 6 whole sugars but I still found it too bitter. Can someone tell me why this strange substance is so popular? It was a caffè latte by the way.
By the time we reached the end of IKEA it was almost 8...and I still hadn't started on Judith's present! Judith's birthday happens to fall during exam period, unfortunately...so she was smart and decided to celebrate earlier.


SO THIS IS HOW IT WENT DOWN.

8pm; got home and started sewing straight away...

My room isn't actually that dim...the light from the sewing machine makes it look really dim.

By now it was around 2 am...I was feeling drowsy so I got some sugar to wake me up.

These two measly bars weren't enough to wake me up, so I went downstairs and ate a few spoonfuls of Nutella straight from the jar...someday I'm going to get diabetes, but at least it kept me awake.

 I tried a new setting for the edges of the eyes and nose...

 Here I am trying to flip it inside out.

You can see my ugly blue carpet and random crap on the floor. My room still has not recovered from that last week of complete panic trying to finish my folio...

...and because I have nothing better to do at 5am:

I slowly saw the sun rising, and by the time I came out of the shower it had completely risen...

I was actually going to do a large painting for Judith as well, since it's her 18th and all...but since it was past 6am and I had a throbbing headache, I decided to call it a night.

above is a sneak peak...I'll probably still finish it sometime

So that was the Papa Mongoose Project.

I actually didn't have enough stuffing left over, and had to wake up early to buy stuffing to finish it...
the 3 different Spotlight stores I visited were all out of stock.
how frustrating...I was about to give up until one lady suggested I buy a cushion insert and pull out the stuffing from that...I followed her suggestion and cannibalised that cushion like a true asian hobo.
Because of that, I arrived a little late to Judith's Yum Cha...
AN HOUR LATE.
By the time I got there everybody had already finished eating! AHHHHHH WHY??? DON'T THEY KNOW THAT FOOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN MY LIFE??


I'M KIDDING.
Kind of.
They were thoughtful enough to leave food for me, so I sat there awkwardly trying to use chopsticks while they stared at my super unco-ordinated-ness. Anyone who knows me will know just how bad I am with chopsticks, and by the time I'd finished there was a little pile of food beneath where I was sitting.

I snapped a quick shot on my iPod of one of the awesome cupcakes Wilson and Pelina managed to acquire...they spelt Happy 18th BirthdAy ;D they were really nice. 

Full of sugar.

Just how I like it.

So that's about it for now; stay tuned for more :)

Till next time.

Oh yeah, Florence has a new song!  yayers.

watch in HD guys :D