This is a tribute to the most wonderful woman that lived.

I once told Sheryl that i feared losing the memory of my mom. I fear of forgetting how she sounds, what she might say, her personality and characteristics. Sheryl then said that one of the good ways to keep her alive in my memory would be to do the things she liked to do, placing myself in her shoes.

My mom's hobbies were of things that were hardly interesting to me- baking, gardening, cooking. I watered the plants for my dad once and it just seemed like a nuisance. No grand rush of memories of my mom whatsoever. My sister was the one interested in cooking and baking- and if you knew us, you would know we have complete opposite personalities. Perhaps my sister has found a way to keep mom alive in her memory, i don't know.

Ever since mom died, we never put up the christmas tree. Christmas season in the Hoo's household doesn't look any different than any other time of the year. I, for one have always loved Christmas, i really do think it's the most wonderful time of the year. But we never bothered to put up the tree. my mom loved putting it up every year.

This year, i convinced my dad to put up the christmas tree with me. It's a pretty large tree for a home, it's 6ft tall. It's an old tree- i remember seeing this tree since i was a kid.


The experience was both bittersweet. While putting up and decorating the tree, i could picture my mom, and how she enjoyed doing this, how she would let me decorate it and then sometimes correct me because i'd put up too many candy canes instead of baubles and other ornaments at one area.


I asked my dad, "Why did you guys buy such a big tree?" and he said "Because your mom loved it." He paused and contemplated..and told me that i could have it someday.

I realized my mom modified alot of ornarments herself. The ribbons? She made them. It touched me to see how much effort she put in to this, and amazed me of her creativity. Perhaps i got mine from her.. I really hope i did.

Also, most ornaments my mom did not buy- she collected them when they were thrown away after christmas production. That's mom for you- she NEVER wastes a thing.



I know my tree isn't as pretty as the one you used to put up with lil angel dolls- time destroyed alot of the ornaments and decoratives, i still hope you'll like it. I evened out the candy canes. But I know Christmas celebration in heaven would be a thousand, million times better than ours here.

So this is for you, mom..I miss you. Visit me in my dreams sometimes, won't you?

I love you.


On a side note, my family and i aren't the only ones enjoying the tree this year. =)


And to the rest of you,

THIS- was what kept sleep away from me this sem.
*am too lazy to post everything up, so i'll just post up the works that'll make me look good =p*

For Media Innovation, our project was Lyanne Batik- Branding. We were supposed to rebrand this Batik shop,Lyanne Batik for our assignment- redesign their logo, come up with a tagline, make a brochure, packaging, loyalty card, etc. So here's my rebranding of Lyanne Batik (boy how i do loathe batik now, after staring at and slaving for it for 8 weeks).


As for the subject Environmental Media, we had the freedom to pick whatever local brands we want (MUCH better than a fixed brand handed to us), and i chose Perodua, Myvi. We had to firstly- make a model bus stand. Not a virtual one with a 3d software- a physical, miniature bus stand made out of modelling boards! It's my first =D am pretty proud of it, actually.


And for the virtual 3d model- a small scale exhibition gallery (3mx2.5m). I decided to go with a mini intersect room/gallery (think the tv series Chuck), which the user can navigate on a touch screen kiosk for different information displays/animation across the whole room. Also, it's in "3D" so "3d glasses" are provided. =D



2 random photos to make up for the absence. I'll try taking more photos during this sem break =) Kim wants to try out HDR.

Kim wanted to take photos of fruits/vege for her sister as a housewarming pressie, so we decided to carry out the shoot together. =) We had the shoot at about..1-3.30am-ish? We made a lightbox for it, too! Kim spent about 50 bucks for the fruits, and it was like a fruit party after the shoot. Everyone in apartment B225 cyberia were stuffing themselves with bananas, oranges, even my gliders got some! ;) We moved on to some other experiments (some failed spectacularly) like smoke, lighter, long exposure/cigarettes etc. Kim and i found the capsicums particularly fascinating!

Marilyn, sife, thanks for imparting the wisdom of using a lightbox when it comes to shoots like these. You're a genius. And Spencer's (her D80) minion, the tamron f2.8 17mm-50mm is pure awesomeness!! T-T

Anyway, enjoy the shots. =)

Went to Aquaria with sayang today. =) It was sharks' week or summat, and we got a 30% discount. it was pretty good, but too pricey if not for the discount. Anyway i decided to take judd out, since it's been awhile since i've shot places i've visited. But the lights were really dim and so i had to compromise picture quality.. but anyway, enjoy them =) Here's to all you people, who still visit this old blog even though the updates are scarce during my busy weeks. (okay, months.) And oh, this is specially for you, Jon, since you asked me to take pictures because you couldn't go there yourself even though i doubt you read this blog...ever. heh. Pics will prolly take awhile to load, so go do your thing, and come back in say...5-10 mintues?

Kim came over and we both formatted/installed windows 7 64bit on our PCs, after all the tears and screams during assignments when our PCs acted up because of viruses. Friggin slutty pendrives leaving its STDs about. ANYWAY, i just have to say this- 64BIT. IS. SO. FRIGGIN. AWESOME!!!!

Before that, Levi (my core i7)'s processors were underused by vista 32bit, with only four cores running. But now.....!!

so kim, daniel, wee and i grouped up for a Creative Campaign project for Media Innovation. Kim and I were in charge of the 3D promotional booth. And oh, our brand was Joven, with the product Joven 930 Instant Shower. =D Daniel did the animatics, and our concept was this japanese thingy, with the character focus of sumo wrestlers. Mainly to break away from the cliches of sexy girls in the tub when it comes to shower heater ads,y'know. Anyway I'm not going into the TVC, maybe someday i'll upload it but for now, this was our 3d promotional booth! =)

Disclaimer: this was really a last minute work, we didn't even have time to map the bamboo plants thingy. That's why the bamboo looks really weird. ><

3 random photos for sharing. =) enjoy ;)

So ben & i got a sugar glider. I've been wanting one for ages and finally, the time has come!! =D

Everyone, meet Hermione. She's only 2 months old and she's tiny!

so, the sem has started, as crazy as ever. I thought having to juggle one production last sem was madness, but this sem we've TWO productions. In fact, the workload's so heavy that all my assignments for now are group assignments. For ALL subjects. It's enough to drive anyone up the wall. if it were not for the fact that i like what i do........

Anyway, pictures!

first off..skittles' puppies! =) Sis & i named them Shyshy, smallsmall, silhouette, and sanjaphotali (cz he's like an indian). 3males, 1 female. The black one's a female. (As you can see we are, obviously, running out of names.)