Like the sun that rises and falls.

Best FWD E-mail in a long while!

2007-02-02T14:38:40Z

"World of Balance"

ONCE upon a time in the kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the Archangel found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired of God, "Where have You been?" God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. God explained, pointing to different parts of earth.

"For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, but cold and harsh while southern Europe is going to be poor but sunny and pleasant."

"I have made some lands abundant in water and other lands parched deserts." "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a group of islands and said, "What are those?"

"Ah," said God. "That's the Philippines, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful beaches, rivers, mountains and forests. The
people from the Philippines are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world."

"They will be extremely sociable, hardworking and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as carriers of peace and
love."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about the balance, God? You said there would be a balance."

God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the idiots running their government."

Bar Scene + Relationships

2006-10-16T18:55:47Z

View Poll: #846183

there they are...

2006-10-16T00:24:38Z

I got it wrong. My bf used to own parakeets a long time ago, and I actually have two males and one female. He said males tend to be the ones with colorful feathers, and females are one color. See the blue and yellow? They are in love. I saw them cleaning each other's feathers near their head. So sweet.

Rest In Peace.

2006-09-25T19:00:39Z

^{Alan Fletcher has died from cancer, The "Paul Rand" of British Design is gone. I met him when I studied abroad in London during the summer of 2005. He was such a sweet sweet man, and incredibly creative.

If you look closely the negative space that creates the fountain is the profile of Albert Einstein. He designed it for some college campus out in Germany I believe.}

Adorable

2006-09-25T13:54:50Z

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=111577.0

Way tooo cute!!!

An ideal idea

2006-08-25T13:14:33Z

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss, thank you!

Design Your Life

2006-08-23T19:49:17Z

For those who love reading about design, take a look ;)

Design Your Life

so sweet!

2005-09-27T07:00:04Z

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core.
You often find yourself on the outside looking in.
Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works.
You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

makes sense

2005-09-25T01:36:28Z

figures i'd be Walt, everyone says i act like a little kid, well, enthusiastic about everything...

Walt

You scored 95% kindness, 6% courage, 7% seedy past, and 38% secretiveness!

"Don't open it. Don't open that thing."

You are Walt. You're a kind person who is eager to talk to everyone and absorb all the crazy things that are going on around you. Since you are still so young, you're not very brave, but your father will be able to show you how to be courageous. Your mysterious psychic powers are kind of creepy, but everyone needs a hobby, right?

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 97% on kindness
You scored higher than 0% on courage
You scored higher than 13% on seedy past
You scored higher than 35% on secretiveness

Link: The Which Lost Character Are You Test written by ack_attack on OkCupid Free Online Dating

pleeeease try it!

2005-09-20T02:00:56Z

http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=22574312

i know someone who said they did it and it works!

Elderflower

2005-09-16T05:36:02Z

this bottle of sparkling water made my Wednesday night, besides finally seeing the season finale of LOST... i drank this while in London at this restaurant called Wagamama, very similar to The Republic (www.thinknoodles.com)... i thought i'd never drink it again, then I wandered into Dean and Deluca, a huge grocery on Broadway down in Soho after my internship, and found it without even looking for it... a huge smile came across my face, and i was taken back to my days at Wagamama with Elle and Dana...

ps. it says my name on it cuz i label my stuff in the fridge since i am living with other people now.

first week back at SVA/NYC

2005-09-10T19:30:30Z

so i'm back. classes have begun. my new internship has begun. i am living on my own. it's going to take some getting used to. but after what i've been through i am getting better at change. before i used to suck at it majorly. but now i know, if anything, the best way to deal with change is to keep busy. i still wish i can fast forward it all to maybe a year later just make sure i am doing ok. that i have a good job, a nice home, and i am in a loving relationship. ah yes, love... i am so lovelorn. but i won't bore you. for once i just want something to last, at least beyond 5 months... i still can't believe what i've done this past summer, the people i've met, the new friendships i've made, and the things i saw. it's been the most eventful summer of my life so far. i don't have any regrets, even for the bad ones. the bad ones had to happen, and hopefully i learned from them. so... a new school year, my last and i am ready... i think. i definitely feel more comfortable at SVA, took me three years to feel like i mostly belong, ha!

ok, more later...

Poofy!

2005-06-19T05:56:04Z

Poofy!
Originally uploaded by dily dally.

i did it! i got a poofy! :) I went to MoCCA art festival last weekend where they had people selling their comics, illustrations, and paraphernalia of characters they created themselves. Robyn did this one, supposed to be her version of a bunny! Way too cute! Eventually we shall see Poofy in those stores selling Sanrio or chibi...

music survey.

2005-06-01T17:37:12Z

*Total amount of mp3s you have:
thanks to itunes, I know have 1,735 songs, which is also 7.66 GB

*Last CD you bought:
The Gaskets

*Song you're listening to now:
Fall Out Boy- "Grand Theft Autumn/Where is your boy?"

*5 songs you currently listen to everyday:
1) Emanuel- Make Tonight
2) Fall Out Boy- Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner
3) Madonna- Nothing Fails
4) Jimmy Eat World- Work
5) The Gaskets- I'll Get By

*5 people who should fill this out:
Everyone who is my friend on livejournal!

Kasabian/The Bravery

2005-05-21T13:18:26Z

I got to go to two concerts in a row this past week:

Monday night >> Kasabian @Bowery Ballroom with Diana
Tuesday night >> The Bravery @Warsaw with Julia

i tried my best to take good pics of the bands, but alas I need an SLR camera, or I just can't seem to learn how to stay still so that I can photograph without flash... oh well... btw the filipino singer you see in the pictures was the opening band ROCK & ROLL SOLDIERS, horrible name, but a little impressive to see a filipino lead for once... although he went way too far by jumping off the stage into the audience and then laid down on the floor and sang (way too pretentious to me, they're only opening, KASABIAN of course doesn't need to pull stunts cuz the music speaks for itself... as for The Bravery, it was a good show, i love their haircuts! but i really just wanted to hear my favorite songs, "Honest Mistake" and "Unconditional" and hang out with Julia (I work with her at the MET)... and boy did we get lost in Bklyn, we ended up in a Hasidic Jew neighborhood, with women smiling so big and fake like they just came from outta a 1950s picture... and kids out still biking and using motorola walkies at 8PM at night, it was like we ended up in another country...it was quite an experience!

testing for hipster, testing one, two, three...

2005-05-05T11:50:40Z

You're the Rock Star!
Take What sort of Hipster are you? today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.</p>

Fuck college, fuck a "real" job! Music is your life! You're a hometown hero! You're in at least two local bands and are thinking of forming a third. You sleep on your friend's couch, eat your friend's food, and borrow your friend's car. You frequent the dark city bars and hang with the other rockers and groupies. You wear dirty jeans, well-worn t-shirts, and your hair is a mess. You're sinister and mysterious and look as if you don't give a shit. You worship the Rolling Stones, MC5, and your older brother's band. You're gonna make it big one of these days, you can just feel it.

yep stefanie I took the test after seeing ur results, don't really see the results as me, but who knows! maybe deep down inside I do want to be a rocker!! LOL... i loved this part of the quiz:

who knew sarah mclachlan would be an option... i love her!

i am home in brewster now, junior year at SVA is OVERRRR! time to have fun...

oh yeah... what am talking about? i need to find a job and save tons of money for LONDON!

DUH!

Last Day

2005-05-02T20:55:20Z

Here we all are... Stefanie, Diana, me, and Yali... And in a chinese bakery next door to SVA... it was strange running into Yali, i hardly see her... everytime i see her though i am immediately reminded of the 1st year at SVA and how awkward i was then... i prob still am, just not as much... and then I think of Naomi, my old roomie who ended up transferring out of SVA for MassART (mainly for her bf back up in Boston)... we have come so far... three years have gone by, and only one more remains...

I would have to say school wise I could have done much better, but i piled tons of stuff onto my plate:

>internship @ Traveler

>Stephen

>concerts/going out here and there...

>MET museum usher

Balance is hard... finding that medium between enjoying life and devoting your life to graphic design was tough this year... last year, I devoted my life to SVA, and didn't enjoy myself... next year, my goal if anything is to find that balance and maintain it...

I hope next year I will still see Stefanie and Diana... a huge part of me wanted to choose the same portfolio teacher as them, but once I saw Louise Fili's website I just fell in love with her style, plus I have this fascination with packaging... I want to see if I have what it takes to specialize in that area... But now I think after completing my "Azn" magazine I want to get better at editorial design... Austopchuck is the man for that I heard, I should sit in on his class and see and then compare with Fili... I just hope whatever route I take I will succeed...

But that's next year... right now I want to get back into drawing for fun, finding some inspiration to draw again like when I was a kid cuz I haven't done that in sooo long, maybe not since I was 7 years old or younger... strange u may think considering I am in art school... ahhh..and then there's London in July, it's hard to believe but I will basically be on my OWN for six weeks and in a different country, I hope it is amazing like everyone keeps telling me, I am worried I'll end up being homesick...

35 seconds of Stephen

2005-05-01T11:00:11Z

a 35 second clip of my boyfriend, Stephen driving when we took a road trip to go visit Open House @NEiA or New England Institute of Art in Brookline, MA... takes awhile to load so be patient, it WILL load, that is if you're patient enough...

Enjoy!

Mini Road Trip to NEiA

Azn (magazine)...Goodbye Traveler...

2005-05-01T00:28:56Z

My last days at Condé Nast Traveler was this past week, Thursday @ Editorial Art, and then Friday @ Advertising Promo Art.

Thursday I came into Editorial Art, and it turned out Pat or Patrick was still out due to Bronchitis bordering pneumonia, he should have never kept going to work even when he didn't know it was contagious, he shoulda stayed home and rested which is what he needs to recover, but he told me once he can't stand being home, which I can understand, but getting others sick is a problem too... anyhow him not there felt strange, especially since it was my last full day there. I came in a little nervous and anxious to show my "Azn" magazine to my editorial teacher as well as the design director at Traveler, his name is Robert Best. Interesting last name, eh? He's quite good at editorial design, or should I say the "Best"? hehe, just had to, but the truth is I respect Robert a lot, I just think to teach editorial is hard, and I think Robert does it to the best of his ability. I showed him my magazine finally, I wasn't there for the last class to show, especially to show my classmates. Instead, I e-mailed Robert that I would have it ready when I come in to intern. So, we sat in the section of his office that has a nice couch and some very modern black/metal chairs, sleek glass coffee table, and a huge world map behind the couch on the wall. Think corporate! Well, the verdict, "I'm impressed!" He really thought overall I pulled it together and he saw how passionate I was for this idea of a magazine to appeal to both genders in my age bracket who are Asian Americans. I've only seen magazines like "audrey", and Asian Women's magazine based outta California, and then "Filipinas", an older crowd of Filipino Americans' magazine, both poorly designed or as Robert would say, "generic"... I was very happy with how my "Azn" came together. I also asked him about my Features section, still weak he says, he said i need more "drama", totally understandable, but my dept. pages he liked a lot. At, first the typeface I used for the headline on my depts, "Bauhaus" was too dated, he kept associating it with the 60's, but he said that was just him...Jennifer Moore looked at my magazine after and thought the way I designed everything else, it worked. It was a really nice compliment when we were done he asked Jennifer Moore (the senior designer, and technically my boss, not Robert, she interviewed me and hired me) to look at, and said "It's good."

YAY!

Gift from Traveler's Promo Dept.

Friday- I came in, and after I took off my jacket and and put my bags down at my desk, I went to Karen's office to see if she was there to get my assignment. Karen Cattan is the Art Director of Promo, so my second boss at Traveler. Her desk was lowly lit and her desk chair pushed in. At first, it looked like she wasn't in, and I didn't believe it until I ran into Debo (short for Deborah) and she told me Karen was doing a photo shoot for her husband's magazine, taking portraits of the employees there. Then, Debo leaves me in the hallway on her way somewhere telling me she'll be right back. So, I go over to the designer's section. Halle, Wayne, and Jeff to my surprise was working today. Katya wasn't. Usually, since they are all considered freelance, except Debo (she's Associate Art Director to Karen), they don't have to come in everyday, instead they come in three days out of the week. So, I would come in on the days that Jeff and Katya didn't work. In the beginning when they were so busy with jobs, all of them were in, so I did get to know Jeff and Katya. Compared to editorial art, I loved Advertising Promo because they were so much more laid-back and jovial, and I just connected more with them. Don't get me wrong, Jennifer and Pat I talked to a lot, but it wasn't the same energy as Promo dept. They always had music playing, and an eclectic mix, Debo would sometimes break out in song, and sing one lyric, and they joked around a lot with each other, Debo's pug was all over the walls, well, not all over, but her pug, Tibby (think that's the sp?) was well known by anyone who knew Debo. Even the receptionist when you get out of the elevator knew Tibby! But, yes as I was saying I came in to a nice surprise from all of them. The hot pink potted plant, Azaleas (sp?) were from Karen, and the card with pugs of course was made by none other than Debo,and the white robe with the Conde Nast Traveler logo on it was from all of promo. I know the robe was an extra promo, it was XL, there's no way they looked at me and said "Ava needs an extra large"... and then even later on in the day Debo found me another promo item, a bag made by trans version...

I love promo, FREE STUFF!!! so my first task on my last day there was to make contact sheets of the HOT LIST PARTY, Hot List is a theme Traveler does every year for May. Hot clubs. restaurants, hotels, etc...
So, this party followed that theme, take a look at what I found while making the contact sheets in Photoshop:

Karen was at the party too, here is what she looks like and a perfect shot of the kind of "energy" or person she is, only pic I have of anyone from Traveler, too bad I didn't bring a cam on my last day... i gotta be more like Diana and bring one, and have the guts to just take pics w/o caring...

I am so glad I had the opportunity to intern there. Karen is so great that she wrote in the card to "Keep In Touch!" and left her phone # and e-mail, signaling maybe in the future they can hire me, who knows, but its great to have them as a contact! I'm gonna miss Debo calling me "Lil Ava"...

first time embedding pics...testing one, testing two...

2005-04-07T06:34:49Z

before this album the last one i bought myself was sometime around Nov. 13, 2004 b/c that day I imported it into my itunes and it's so cool how i can organize my itunes according to what date i added what song or album... it was Elliott Smith's "From a Basement On a Hill". Not a bad album, i should have gotten his earlier stuff though, but i had no idea which one, and figures i find out about his music and he's dead already... slowly though i am getting better at finding new music on my own besides having to rely on diana....um...diana, oh my brother, lee sometimes introduces me to some bands, oh yeah, and stephen too... but yeah so today i went to Barnes and Noble to try and find the filipino cookbook that I've been trying to photocopy at the NYPL, but twice I've been there, their one and only color copier is broken AGAIN! sheez! for a beautiful, well respected library-- color copying service sucks!

anyway, so i've been told by my editorial design teacher and classmates that it's fine to buy books and return them... i'm still skeptical, but i checked the policy and the cashier said as long as it's in 14 days with receipt... so yeah the book i looked at NYPL with really good filipino food photography was out of print, ah ha! no wonder it was on reserve at the NYPL, all makes sense... i did read reviews on amazon that lots of ppl didn't like the book b/c it wasn't a great resource on filipino foods, looked fine to me, but then i've never cooked one filipino dish in my life unless you count frying longanisa (sweet sausage already marinated)... so instead i just decided to buy an asian cookbook by Martin Yan, apparently he's a famous chinese chef in america... thanks to working on my magazine focused on Asian Americans (young adult/college age) for editorial design, i've learned a lot about some asian icons out there from Martin Yan to Issey Miyake to Princess Monoke to Boa's "Duvet"...

then i ran into an usher i work with at the METmuseum near the art section, turns out she was also working that nite at the museum too, i am always amazed when i run into someone i know in the city outta the blue, what are the chances he or she would be there when you are too?... Holly wasn't there for herself but for her friend who is Yugoslavian and turns out she doesn't speak much english so as a favor, Holly was gettting her the book she wanted on curtains, and she even gave Holly a B&N membership card good for one year, they cost $25 but you get 10% off everything... so Holly even gave me the card to use too, so I decided i might as well pickup the Jack Johnson album too...then Holly even said if i ever want to buy something to let her know, so the card gets used...she's so nice to me, kinda reminds me of my tita mae, kinda loud, funny, and always offering things or just taking care of me. it's nice to find someone like that, especially since i hardly know her except thru work, but i guess when u find someone u can talk to pretty easily, that's all that matters...

so, i finally figured out how to embed photos on livejournal, duh! all it was, was simple HTML...don't know why i didn't get it before... so yeah enjoy the beautiful album artwork of Jack Johnson's In Between Dreams ;)

finally a library i want to go to...

2005-04-02T04:45:17Z

i got out early from my internship today and decided to head over to the 42nd Library on 5th Ave. According to my History of Type teacher, he says is the BEST library in the US... i only had about an hr before it closed at 6pm... before i entered there was a group of black guys dancing to michael jackson music on the sidewalk, they definitely know where to pick a good stop to attract a crowd... then again i've seen this happen also at the MET... anyway i tried to not get sidetracked and watch them dance and headed inside...

WOW.

It's now my new safe haven when i need a change of scenery to do hw at least until 6pm or 7:30pm depending on what day... cuz back at RPI i used to go to their library which looked a bit dated, like you can tell it was built back in the '60s, but the best part about it besides the absolute silence was the water fountain they had. it was this huge cylindrical fountain that extended to the three stories of the building, and it had this "crack" going down one side where you can see and hear the trickle of water going down. Incredibly soothing... I could never get work done in the dorm then, cuz i'd either watch tv or go across the hall to my friends dorm. Now, my distractions aren't as bad, just down to the tv, but its just great that i can go here and do work. Just being in a library motivates me to work. It must be the fact that it's not home, you know? Thank god i have a laptop.

I can't believe the three years I've been at SVA i never once visited this library! Gotta make up for lost time...

besides discovering this huge library, i have been filling out all this info the Boston University office in London needs on paper and online. yep, i got accepted to study abroad for six weeks. at first it was hard to believe and hadn't hit me that i was going... i kept thinking something would hold me back to not go, like my parents would say "No, we're not letting you go, too much money" but they're not. of course i am taking out a loan, what else is new?? but i don't care, this is an opportunity i can't pass up. it's funny when i told my mom that i got in (she didn't even know i applied to begin with), one of the first things she says is, "Oh, so you're not looking for a job this summer?" No congrats at all... i think it's just the fact that i'll be gone, another smack in the face to my parents that i am growing beyond them.

My grandma's reaction was priceless: "Why don't you just study here?"

I told why, but she still couldn't see why i had to go so far. Goes to show how old school her way of thinking is. Thank god I am NOT like that...

Li Huan, a girl i knew from RPI, and who also transferred to SVA the same yr i did, is now there in London. It pisses me off though cuz she's there thru SVA studying Fine Arts and Comp Sci thru Merrick University, for 5 months at 11,000. The thing is though SVA doesn't advertise that, so I coulda gone thru SVA instead of BU, and she gets a stipend too for going. UGH!!!! Damn SVA! and how she found out about it was PURE LUCK! her academic advisor is the the same advisor of International Exchange Program... it will always, always be "it's who you know" that gets you into special programs, internships, jobs... anyway she told me so far that it drizzles there most of the time, not really rain... sun in the morning...the British have disgusting yellow teeth from too much drinking and smoking (yuck!).... i need to go to Isle of Wight (is that spelt right?)--there's horseback riding, hot air balloons, giant swan boats... and she said i have to definitely go to the Barbican gallery... so many ppl i know have been to london, forget buying a travel guide, i've got witnesses:

1) my boss at the MET- actually owns a residence there since her bf (well she calls him her "partner" instead) lives there, so she goes to London alot! but she still says she loves NY more
2) Li Huan- still loves NY more but she said if i like classical architecture then London's got that...
3) an usher i work with
4) a new usher that just got hired by the MET
5) one of the senior designers at my internship
6) an usher now there
7) oh! and you Robyn!! lol...we gotta get together, have ice cream, and then you can tell me anything and everything about London

yep, after filling out those apps its becoming more of a reality, especially the loan form too as well...

now, if only i can survive the rest of my junior yr and portfolio...hmmm...

FINALLY!!!

2005-04-02T00:00:57Z

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com

now if only it had all senior portfolio teachers....

ebay guitar auction by my cousin, pass it on.

2005-02-25T01:40:07Z

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7303279820&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Food Insight=rare or $$$

2005-02-17T05:18:43Z

figures the food that if eaten more will make you happy are foods that tend to be expensive or don't eat or have never heard of... hmmm... so how the hell am i gonna get happy now?? lol... salmon is the only one on the list i know and love, but i eat that once a month, that is if i do, meat however is a never-ending sight at my grandma's, thank god she'll be going to the Philippines, now i am in CONTROL!

5 Foods That Make You Happy

progress...

2005-01-29T05:00:17Z

january is coming to a close...feb approaches, i have a feeling this is gonna be either a GREAT month filled with social outings or a STRESS-FILLED month since the rhythm of school is sinking in...

i discovered thru some online tidbit article that the UK declared that Jan. 24 is the most depressing day of the year: thankfully I didn't feel that, that was probably one of my best days... thanks to Poulin who thru his eloquent crits reminds me so much of how much i love that i chose to study graphic design, no matter what happens, even if my career isn't graphic design down the long run, i couldn't have picked a better major...then i saw Stephen :) (enough said)

interning at Traveler is getting so much better...my boss had me choose pics that would go on the features table of contents page for April issue, which is alot harder than it seems since 1) must choose pics that haven't been used by feature 2) smaller pics must coordinate with the large main pic... also i showed interest in interning in their promo dept. and is start next week on fridays...i know i've given up fridays, but this is so great, i will get to see both worlds in magazine world: Art Dept. vs. Advertising Dept. I never want to do advertising but this is different-- they create promos or presentations catering to the advertiser they want in their magazine.

and finally made a breakthrough in a title for my magazine thats target audience is Asian Americans, it will be called: Azn Side

Too bad there is no such magazine really out there, i think that would be cool to have, speaking as a Filipino American myself, i'd like to learn some stuff about my culture and other asian cultures. There is one magazine called Filipina, but poorly designed and caters towards adults mostly.

my cousin turned 16 last thurs. wow he's growing up and liking girls, one in particular, its so strange to see that, as well in my own brother...i bought my cousin a Mrs. Field's Cookie Cake 13" and boy was it rich in chocolate chip!!! yum.

ok back to HW...geez on a friday nite too, how sad, what's even sadder is sometimes i don't mind that i don't go out as often as most ppl my age, besides when i do go out, i appreciate and enjoy it even more...