This is a journal noting down on the good things that happen within the month. It can be little things but that's alright because big things are made of little things. In life, there's ups and downs. That's the seasoning of life. I'll just put in the good ones here because it would help me feel better when I read back... hopefully.

But, wait! Writing about January stuffs when it's about the mid of April now? "You must have superior memory that surpass the average human minds!" You probably wondered this. Or not. It's okay. I would like to imagine some people would thought of that because at the end of the day, I just want to feel like a super hero sometimes. *teary eyes

I have this handy dandy phone that have been with me for around 4 years now. It has sustained many falls, bruises and scratches. Yet it still works fine. Kinda ... it had a great fall in March and I had to bring it to fix. Anyway, I always write notes in it. That's how I keep record of things I wanna draw or write.

People like to setup new year's resolution but not me. I made some lists. I made a wish list of things that I want to buy to reward myself. The things also must fulfill two criteria. First, it must be useful. No fancy items like a toy mask or things that I would rarely use. Second, it must be at the best price. Sometimes, non-branded item works better than branded ones. For example, sports shoes. I bought a branded one but the base tore apart. The padding came off, revealing the vulnerable cushion side of the base. It was horrifying. Maybe it's not original? I don't know. Paid about RM120 for it while it's on sale. With the same price, I can buy 3 not so popular branded sports shoes.

Anyway, I learnt to buy shoes that doesn't have paddings on the base because that part will certainly come off first. I think this has been a thing going on the industry. A lot more designers realized that and a lot of shoes sold out there don't have any paddings anymore. Just a single threaded foam that would wear with more uses. It's the best the world has to offer with current technology I guess.

I also made a bucket list that lists down what I wanted to do. One of them is getting 50k followers on Instagram. There's also other stuffs like try more new food, have more short trips... These are just planned things that I wanna do for this year. It's good to have goals and measurable at that.

On this month, I received a letter from the company announcing my increment. It's just 3%. Kinda low. I consulted Gina on this and she said that it's normal. Better than nothing. I guess so. It's a new field for me after all. My previous IT job could give 6% and more. So, it's like that huh...

Then, there's approval of Adsense for this website. Though it's earning like 0 at this moment but it opens up to new doors. It's extra monetization means!

I also managed to cross off one item from the bucket list - celebrate by eating nice stuffs at least at 3 places. So far, I've been to a night market with my bro. The food there is not cheap at all. But, it's a new try. It was raining when we arrived so we waited in the car. Then the rain slows down to a drizzle. That's when we start storming the place with our umbrella. There's very huge chunks of roast pork, fresh seafood, produce and food. We bought chicken dim sum (not so good), take away noodles (RM 7+ which is quite pricy), bottled guava drink (no added sugar, healthy but guava is rarely sweet so you can guess how it tastes like), dumpling (for breakfast), bananas, jackfruit ... that's all I could remember. We also ate at EatMor, an all-you-can-eat steamboat buffet restaurant. We ate as much as we could. It has huge variety of option but it isn't exactly perfect. The crabs aren't fresh. They don't have the natural sweetness to it. The minced garlic has a rotten smell probably coz soaked in water for too long. My bro highlighted that to one of their staffs and they replaced the whole garlic bowl. We also tried a pork bone broth restaurant. It was very flavorful. I like the herbal soup taste. It ain't cheap but it's a good treat to have once a while. That's three good eats within a month. That's like way too much and over because I was thinking to have separate sessions of it which is spread out through the entire year. Oh well, I enjoyed it. That's what matters.

Started a mini project which I have yet to finish because lack of time and motivation that fuels it. But, I started it. That's the first step! It's about making short animated stickers for Giphy. I find it hard to be creative on this because it has to be something that people can use to express about something. It's a new thing to me but no rush. I'll get it done!

For my baby car, it always get pooped on. So, I made a simple car wash liquid using dish soap and baking soda. I'm not sure how it would be like if used long term. There's warning that certain brand might harm the car's paint. But, it's just a trial for me. I need it to wash the car sometimes when there's like stubborn poop stain on it. There are very sucky animals out there that violently poops on people's car. Anyway, I made a small bottle of it and keep it in the trunk. I use it to wash the car sometimes when it's unbearable to see how many poop stains there are. Besides, I want to get them while it's fresh because it gets harder to remove as they become more solid as time passes.

It's a good month overall.

My colleague friend treated me mangoes. It was so yummy. He had a few slices in a zipper bag. Because he understood that it's a bit troublesome to wash hands and he didn't had toothpick with him at that time yet he still wanted to treat me. So, he push a slice out from the opening of the zipper bag and I had to bite it with my face a few inches away from his hands. It was romantic.

Bromance. Don't get it wrong!

So, I was exploring hand lettering one day and I really like them. Here's some animals recreated with the alphabetical letters that make them up! You can also find their merch's here. 

They come back as zombies! So, never waste food! I made these to practice my drawing skills. I also posted it on here- if you would like some merchs :)

I draw comics and also create designs! Here's some of the practices I made when I first started to learn Illustrator.

2018 has been an amazing year! There's mix of amazing things I've been through and also the dark side of it. But, I'll be writing the good things only because positive vibe only. I'll be breaking down the highlights according to month. Not all months are filled with adventures and missions because there's work demand in certain periods. Anyway, let's see how 2018 was like:

January - This is the month of lost. I have been freelancing for some time and I thought I should get a proper job with my freelancing experiences. This is where I learn to handle rejection and not to dwell in it.

February - Went for more job interviews. Learnt the different patterns of employers and their ideologies on their company. There's some things I can see that I want in my employer and developing poor company culture is not one of them.


March - Got a new job in graphic design after being rejected in other 5 job applications. First step of changing my whole life.


April - I've been focusing on this job and enjoyed the security that a job provides.

May - Doing nothing new here. Perhaps, I got too comfortable with my job?

June - Malacca trip! Went there with my buddy, Mob. We walked a lot and he has been complaining that his legs hurt. Mine are still fine. This show that I have better stamina! But, my neck hurts. Need to improve on my posture.


July - Made my first travel video from the trip. Managed to insert some video transitions in there. Looking good all the way. Also, reached 10k followers on Instagram for Za'chomics. Wohoo! I also bought mud crab to eat as well because I'm craving for them. But, it doesn't taste good. One of the claws are too hard to break and we don't exactly have a hammer for that. So, we had to throw it away.

August - Started bursting night run. I can run for 7 to 8 laps continuously. I can only do 2 laps before. I probably can go more laps if I push it but I don't want to exceed the 45 time limit. I got other things to do!

September - My birthday month! Bro got me a sports shirt which is something that I always wanted.

October - The company has celebration going on and I have to prepare a lot of artworks to be printed and displayed. There was one Saturday, we have to go and work from 5 pm till 1 am. Luckily there's still e-hauling car services that I can rely on. If not, I'll have to stay there till the event day which is the very next morning of it. And, I'll look like a panda.


November - Right after the company's celebration, there's the new launch of another company. There's more work to be done and I have been too busy to do anything on my personal projects. But, it's fine. Despite the business of October and November, I do enjoy it. I have a bunch of colleagues that I can make jokes and laugh with even when we're all stressed out.

December - My car finally arrived! My baby! I learn some stuffs about the car on how to make use it and make things better. I'm thought of a list of things to be put into the car. I also have been thinking some DIY things to make because I want to make full use of the minimal space that I have and I don't see anything in the market that could satisfy my requirements. Oh, there's also about the pendrive thingy. It wasn't playing when I plugged it in before coz turns out you need to format it as exFat before putting your music files in.

2018 has been a good year all in all. There's some setbacks at some point but every bad thing that you've gone through has lessons to it. It makes me stronger for 2019. I'm excited to plan and execute what I'll be doing this year.

It was in plan for quite a while now and it finally has arrived! Galloping through the seven seas, a bright red stallion stormed its way through the vast plains to arrive into my embrace.

I've been trying to get a car since July this year but there were hurdles to leap over - the factory dashboard mould was said to be damaged and had to take over a month to get it fixed. Then, there's the misunderstanding with the bank agent. He called me asking for more details on the loan which I thought was someone who randomly called to ask if I applied loan recently. And those, add up to the months of period of delay. But, it was no rush.

I have to be honest. I was nervous at first because I am driving auto on unfamiliar territories. I used to drive manual. Auto is foreign for me. I went out with my bro to retrieve the steed yesterday. As we tried to drive out, we tried to shift the gear but the stick won't budge. We used our wits and prayers to try to get it move. It was solid as a rock.

My bro waved his hand towards the sales agent. He came and asked what's wrong. We had to let go of our pride and inquire the necessary information from him. That got it settled. We waved goodbye to him and out onto the next stage! Like a rabbit released into the wild, we galloped our way and never looked back! Mostly due to embarrassment earlier.

**This blog is taking a new direction! Journal!
A while back... like way back, this friend of mine, Eva had this thingy with journal. She takes photos and prints them out. Then, she compiles it in a physical journal. There's writings and drawings all over. It was nice!

I created this comic series because I wanted to show people how to care. It mostly involves doing the small things. They may be simple but not everyone could do it. It has to start from the heart. Set the intention right. Every time you're doing something, think of how it could help the one you care. 

This happened in one of my mundane train trip to work. I was sitting next to a guy. He was playing with his phone. The seat to my left was empty. It was a usual boring morning train. Everyone was with their own things. Some still fighting the sleepiness. Some numbing their existential pain by hearing music with their eyes closed. Others just stares into space.

The train came to a stop. The door opened. An auntie came in and saw the empty seat next to me. She walked towards it to claim the seat. In the transition between standing and sitting, the train suddenly moved. She lost her balance. Then, the unexpected happened.

She sat on my lap. My left thigh to be exact.

She sat for about 1 second or so before slowly turn her head back and discovered that I have become her chair.

She immediately said sorry. But, I didn't respond. I couldn't. I was going into shock. Then, she said sorry again. I mustered whatever that's left of my consciousness and said "it's okay".