My first children's book illustration

In the midst of all the frenzy trying to finish a government's project and preparing for my trip to Annecy, I also managed to complete, quite miralculously, the work for a children's book my good friend, Hamzah, has written and invited me to illustrate.

It's been almost a year since we started work on it. Not that the book actually required such a long time to do, but it was our busy day schedules in our day jobs that held up the process. But Hamzah said it was all good, that we took our time instead of rushing it.

"Little Orange, A Perfect Day", will be out in the bookstores hopefully in June to catch the school holidays. A typical arrangement for any children's book. It's a simple book with a good intention. I hope it'll be well received by the kids and their folks. Otherwise, it's still a wonderful experience.

Annecy, France

I grabbed these pictures from a website. Thankfully for them, I'm starting to be a li'l bit more interested in Annecy than I was before.

I will be there in June for an animation festival and the idea of having to meet industry people is really quite daunting. But then again it can't be more daunting than the fashion industry. Fashion people are a lot more bitchy and critical and even that, I survived.

But still, it's unchartered waters for me... I really don't know what to expect, except to try my best to do what I'm supposed to do there - NETWORK (how scary the word can be!).

Hopefully, the little nice place and people there can help to make things a bit more comfortable for me. Animation folks should be a bunch of playful and kooky people, I hope.

We'll see.

ps: received an overseas sms from my Peifen who's currently touring France and she told me she loved Annecy. How nice! Can't wait to hear more about if from her when she comes back a week before I take off.

THE CITY OF BATH

I talked about this place in one of my earlier posts. It's a city outside of London, and takes about two and half hour of train ride to get to. I was told many rich Londoners own houses in Bath 'cos it's more peaceful to live in.

I like Bath. The local people are really warm and friendly, despite the city looking even grimmer than London. It's a place that has left a deep impression and I know for sure I will definitely re-visit some day.

CENTRAL LONDON

The sights of London are paradoxical - you see a lot of people on the streets everyday, yet there is this certain "isolation" you feel as well. See that old man with the red hat on the top left? The picture at the bottom right was taken with a vintage snake skin medium format camera (the picture above) I picked up from Portobello. It was the first thing I bought from the market. It totally captured the mood of the city I felt there and then. Interesting, isn't it? That picture was taken at the same time as the other three. This is one of the reasons I love London - it impresses me with its quiet and unassuming dignity, which gives it a strong identity. At least that is the London I have fallen in love with.

NOTTING HILL


This is the neighborhood of Notting Hill. Pictures taken in 1995, the first time I was in London. I'm sure some of you know this place from the movie "Notting Hill" starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. It's a very interesting neighborhood though from what I understand, it's also an expensive one.

There's a carnival that takes place here every August. The last time I was there I didn't stay on till the carnival actually started except to see some of the stores setting up and the crowd gradually building up. I don't like big crowds and neither am I a fan of carnivals.

But I can imagine it to be quite an eye-opener. Here's an article i grabbed from the web :
Labroke Grove is the heart of the spectacular Notting Hill Carnival, held each August Bank Holiday since 1966. This holiday always falls on the last weekend of August with Sunday and Monday being the major carnival days. The festivities started as a local affair set up by the West Indian immigrants of the area and has become a full-blooded Caribbean carnival, attracting millions of people from all around the world. There are scores of massive ’sound systems’, many spectacular floats and steel drum bands additionally, to keep you well fed, there are hundreds of stalls lining the streets of the area selling all sorts of food and drink including Caribbean specialities.

London London

Pf and I share a common affinity for London that somehow connected us and founded our friendship. Not everyone who's been to London loves it.

We decided to exchange our photos of London the next time we meet for coffee. So I dug them out from a forgotten corner the other day. For some reasons, when I looked at the photos again, a certain familiar feeling of melancholy came back. Maybe because they're old (ten years), or maybe because there are memories involving some significant events. I'm eager to look at Pf's photos to see if they trigger the same emotion.

Meanwhile, I'll be going to Paris soon and so is Pf. But again, like before, we won't be doing the trip together. Let's see if we would both fall in love with Paris like we did with London...

What a Ride

They say life is a huge roller coaster ride - the fear, anxiety and anticipation, a mixed feeling of what is to come.

Some people are fortunate enough to ride through their lives without all these feelings; they get to play it safe. While the rest of us are not spared the deal.

I choose to think that life comes in a HUGE package because God can't make up his mind, so he throws in everything. Sometimes, I wonder if he's forgotten to include the tools or instruction manuals for some of the things to be used properly. But that's not his problem. He's already given us a brain and a heart, so I guess we just need to work those two and get our lives running.