从心开始, 享受自由

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

I Read ... (in progress)

quite proud of myself of re-developing a reading habit and in this 3rd year, i read...

completed on : 7 Jan

oki! need to do up my LPA.. found out that i had a draft 4/5 done in the system back in 2023, just didnt get it certified... wahahhaa...

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completed on : 1 Jan

at the expense of my patience... 好累好烦还不想面对

Monday, January 5, 2026

first day of kiddos filled work day... non-stop busy busy from the moment i reached school at 7am all the way till 2.30pm... print this, print that, pack this, pack that, tell this, tell that, collect this, collect that...

appreciate a yummy welcome back lunch

appreciate Tim & his parents for 'transporting' the autumn leaves that i requested for on last minute notice so so so 用心-ly from his Japan trip in Nov...

icing on the cake : i formed TWO DURIANS!!!

I.II.MMXXVI

appreciate having this furry 小老太婆 in my life although it's a 因小失大 day today!!!

因找到一颗小小的犬牙, immediately sent 小老太婆 for health check 而失了 $490 的医药费... why doggie no doggiesave?!?!?!?

scaredy dog awaiting her turn at the vet

vet says she's in the pink of health!!! gum no issue also so no cause of concern for a tooth drop due to her old age of 15 this year!!! 😍😍😍... 要陪 mummy 多好多好多年 k?!?!?

1st Jan (Thurs)

has been collating bits of life in monthly entries for 6 years le... started off with :

2020 > In ...

2021 > As and When in ...

2022 > Happiness in ...

2023 > Blessings in ...

2024 > Joy in ...

2025 > Giving Thanks in ...

and for its 7th year in 2026, it shall be > Appreciating...

to remind me to continue to appreciate all that i have, big & small... 😍😍😍

and on this first day of 2026, i'm appreciating the chuas

Alvin treated lunch @ Wanglu hotpot and over our chit chats, my supposed solo 'interval' trip, became a me and alfred trip, then a me, alfred and alvin trip, then became a chua family trip... woohoo!!! 😂😂😂

Thursday, January 1, 2026

I can Understand Korean (in progress)

the title is my Goal, not my current status 😭😭😭

been korean duolingo-ing for 2 years liao but 惭愧地说, "no where near conversational"...maybe and only maybe can pick up a vocab here & there occasionally if the speaker speaks super duper slowly and keeps the sentences short & basic...

expanding my learning with videos this holiday cos duolingo refused to let me practice more unless i pay... nopx, i'm not paying... =S

hopefully i will have more motivation and more determination and a lot more hardworking-ness so that i will be able to understand more Korean by our Korea trip in June 2026...

'collating' all the videos here for easy retrieval for repeated listening...

this series of short stories remind me of the Peter & Jane books that I had in primary school... i need the repetitions... 😅😅😅

my first korean song from Kdrama Full House 20 years ago... 😂😂😂

Planner 2026 - Semester 1

was doing excessive browsing and shopping on shopee in April for home sweet home 3.0 when i chanced upon this notebook that i thought was very suitable to be used as my Planner 2026...

besides the comparative price tag, it has just the right number of pages @ 160 for the monthly & weekly spread + trackers, each page is @ 100 GSM and finally dotted pages that allow for more flexibility & freedom in designing all the pages in whichever and whatever way i want... 😍😍😍

getting ONLY this notebook came with a bit of luck that deserved to be documented here... heee

original price of this notebook was at $5.50 but there was a minimum quantity of 3 items per purchase... decided to put in shopee cart first then think of what to do with the other 2 notebooks later on... 25.4 came; discounts, vouchers, rebates here, there, everywhere and the notebook now costs $4.72 each with free express to-door delivery...

the twist came when the two black notebooks came a size smaller and the peach notebook came with 3 stains... 一气之下, requested for return & refund but somehow i only keyed in to return one peach and one black notebook...

so end result, i was left with ONE black notebook, which was what i had wanted right from the beginning!!!

PERFECT!!!

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the designing of the pages started in May, more than half a year before its intended use... meant that i had plenty of time to beautify it... 😍😍😍

decided that it shall be an Art theme planner for 2026 where every design is based on an art style / artist... starting with my name in graffiti, inspired by my exploration into pre-demolised Peace Centre with mx...

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cover page in zentangle patterns... inspired by the art club session that vanessa conducted at the beginning of the year...

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Hatchday tracker inspired by Henri Matisse's cut-outs artworks; La perruche et la sirène (The Parakeet and the Mermaid) and L'escargot (The Snail)

the curly wurlies really tested my cutting & gluing skill and the power of my 老花眼 seh!!!

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All monthly spread designs take inspiration from an artist whose birthday is / was in the month.

upping 3 micro-joys per month in 2025 to weekly micro-joys with no limits; so long they fit into the space... heee

January's theme is inspired by Jackson Pollock's drip painting technique... had fun dripping and splitter splattering paint to create the background for the headers and all the curly-wurly strips...

white & blue were chosen as AI 'tells' me white symbolises a fresh start to the New Year, coupled with blue to evoke snowfall and winter...

what an artistic mess i had created !!!

"artifying" the weekly spreads for the first time since there's ample time and enthusiasm on my part... this 4 part layout; weekly work to-do list on the left, weekly inktober sketch, weekly personal to-do list & a weekly habit tracker on the right, works wonderfully for me since Jan 2025 so i'm just gonna continue with this layout into 2026...

making use of the remaining of the splitter, splatter paper so no fanciful inspiration for Jan's weekly spreads

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designed a parody of Grant Wood's American Gothic with my favourite gothic character and her brother for February... 😂😂😂

a bit 跑边主题... by right, the focus should be on Grant Wood's American Gothic but as i had added Addam's family gothic element into Feb's monthly spread; this T1W5 weekly spread focused on the gothic tree which i had so much fun sketching instead... 😂😂😂

made amend in T1W6 weekly spread with the Carpenter-Gothic house and pitchfork in Grant Wood's American Gothic but i just had to add Cousin Itt & Thing from Addam's family in too... 😁😁😁

took inspiration from another Grant Wood's masterpiece; Young Corn for T1W7 & T1W8 weekly spread...

this spread is so gothically dark for a supposedly lovey dovely Feb seh.... 😅

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this March spread inspired by Piet Mondrian took many many griding, re-griding, re-re-griding and re-re-re-griding so that there's a balance between it being Mondrian-ish enough yet structurally functionable enough for me....

spot the error !

holiday 就是连 weekly layout 都不一样... gonna leave it looking like Piet Mondrian's Composition C (1935) till the week it is planned for use... gonna use the 'white' spaces as my 4 sections but dont wanna the headings for the sections to 'spoil' the look of it for now...

Woohoo!!! Term 2 weeklies are all dated cos gonna record daily art-did &/or art-learnt to show that i didnt 摸鱼 during my PDL..😍😍😍... happy happy happy!!!

inspiration from Piet Mandarin's New York City... had used pvc tape for this creation... the page before and after will be so bumpy to write on seh... 😅😅😅

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April monthly spread inspired by Joan Miro, an artist whom i had introduced to my little orange ones long long ago with the Roll a Miro game...

Dancer (1925)

Constellations (1940)

same same but different... Miro's constellation came from his imagination, my constellations came from astronomy

Figures and Dog in Front of the Sun (1949)

The Snobbish Soiree at the Princess's House (1948)

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inspired by Keith Haring... his movement lines made his characters look like they are dancing or glowing... my movement lines made my characters look as if they are wobbling from holding on to their positions... 😅😅😅

i will be so sad when this week comes around...

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messy messy prep needed to create Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed inspired design for June... first time arting with tissue paper...

one of my primary school art teachers taught me this splitter splatter with toothbrush method!!!

and a maple leaf punch cutter was bought just for this spread!!!

knowing my 公私分明 work etiquette, having only 2 weeks in monthly and half a page for to-do @ work is more than enough for the 2 work weeks during the june school holiday... 😂😂😂

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The evolution of my Design It Myself planners :

2025

2024

Planner 2026 - Semester 2

New bullet journal Set-up & Jan to Jun spreads

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July is Andy Goldworthy's hatchday.... he's my favourite land artist and i had always used his work as an inspiration for kiddos' work even before land art (transient art) was officially introduced into the curriculum...

想想想, surf surf surf for 2 days, 就是没灵感 on how do i go about using natural materials to create July monthly & weekly spreads into my bullet journal?!?!?!....

then 就是这么神奇, first craft activity under current big big boss in 3 years was on pressed flowers!!!... collected all the left overs from fellow table mates and 'reused' those that i had framed during the session for the following weeklies...

omg... the flowers were so difficult to work with; too delicate and flimsy for my liking...

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the month of Andy Warhol, an artist who is famous for his repeated subjects from Campbell's cans to celebrities...

Sunset 1972

Dollar Signs.... so apt for payday week!!!

Flowers 1970

cooked Campbell's soup for dinner last night just cos i wanna use the packaging for this spread... heee

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the month of Mark Rothko, an artist famous for all his rectangular paintings.... an artist whom i used as inspiration when there's no such thing as an art curriculum in school...

followed the colour scheme of his artworks (most of which are titled "UNTITLED" for the weekly spreads... used acrylic markers for the first time... am surprised that the colours are thick yet doesnt bleed through the pages... just doesnt like the streak lines...

No. 5 / No. 22 1950

untitled 1957

untitled 1969

untitled 1968

one of the rare ones with a name : White Centre (Yellow, Pink, Lavender on Rose) 1959

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Month of Pablo Picasso, the founding father of Collage Art... heng i have a habit of 'collecting' paper & carboard for recycling!!!

the 'gold' was from the mount fiji jelly wrapper that mx gifted, 'brown' was from the xmas mousey wrapping paper that mab gifted, kitty cat was the tag on the tote bag that i gotten from JB last week... letters & numbers from packaging or flyers left on my gate & letter box...

new discovery> beside being famous for his blue, rose period paintings, collage & cubism style, Picasso was also into linocuts!!! He's really multi-talented seh!!!