Eat Some Sunshiny Air

66 - between the drinks and subtle things

2012-02-09T23:39:00.000-05:00

currently i am enrolled in a psychopharmacology seminar and it's the most intense and intimidating experience ever. it's the type of course that makes you wish you remember everything from your previous courses to help your understanding for this one.

for our final project, we all get a to choose a topic for our narrative reviews. i need to do a bit more research but i have decided the scope of my paper will be pertaining the neurobiology of creativity. as sad as this sounds, i can't wait until reading week so that i would have time to research this like no tomorrow because some of these papers are pretty darn intriguing.

but in light of all that, here are two creativity related piece i've found that i quite enjoy. the first being a quote i found from i love blog ages ago and the second being an amazing lecture from sir ken robinson. enjoy!

65 - cloths of heaven

2012-01-23T18:30:00.000-05:00

had i the heavens' embroidered cloths,

enwrought with golden and silver light,

the blue and the dim and the dark cloths

of night and light and the half-light,

i would spread the cloths under your feet:

but i, being poor, have only my dreams;

i have spread my dreams under your feet;

tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

- william butler yeats

64 - next year, baby

2012-01-19T19:19:00.001-05:00

around this time last year, i wrote one of my most personal post ever summarizing my 2010. though i want to start with something like that again this year, truth be told, 2011 wasn't exactly the greatest nor the most memorable. so instead of doing something purely retrospective, i'm going to try to be like a normal person and look towards the future and set some actual goals and plans for 2012.

1) write to my sponsored child.
bet many of you didn't know i have a sponsored child. well actually half the time, i forget myself. all i do is pretty much make sure my financial information is correct with plan canada for my monthly contributions. as part of her program, my sponsored child has to write a letter to me every year to inform me of her progress. ever since her first letter from last year, i've meaning to write back but never got around to it. it's not enough just to contribute financially, i actually want to develop a connection with my sponsor child. so before this year's end, i'll write you a letter, just you wait, huanhuan.

2) read more.
last year was the first time i went out of my way to find a book to read. the book was called extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathan safran and it was an amazing read about love and grief, both of which resonated very deeply with me. but reading has never once been a strong point nor a particular strong interest in my life. to get myself started, i signed up for an university level english course on children literature. granted, they're only children books but it was still intimidating enough to know i have to read a book a week. but with that, hopefully i will learn to appreciate and understand the joy of reading a bit more.

3) be able to jog 15 km.
this is by far the scariest and probably one of the hardest goals for year. i love jogging but i have never once gone over 10 km. in fact, most of the time, once i hit 10 km, i slowly revert back to shorter distances. to aid with my motivation, we will be tackling the super spartan this year with 12 km of obstacle race fun. so with that deadly race looming over us, i've been desperately trying to regain my cardio. and then hopefully after the spartan race, i'll be able to tackle even greater distances.

4) write the MCAT.
this isn't really a goal. this is just me putting it down on paper to aid with my commitment. a better goal would probably be to do well on the MCAT. i've been saying that i want to be a pediatrician for a very long time now but i haven't really put this plan into motion yet (mostly just out of fear of being inadequate and refusing to face the reality of the problem.) but this summer, it's going to happen and i will take a leap towards achieving my dream.

5) draw more.
while we're on the topic of dreams, did you know being a pediatrician was actually my second life long dream? i originally wanted to be a world renown artist. but after realizing how hard it is to make it there and that my artistic ability is rather limited, i ended up giving up on my childhood dream. however, drawing is still an integral part of who i am and i do not wish to ever lose it, no matter what stage of life i am in. so this year, i'm going to attempt keep up-to-date with getting my ideas down on paper and reintroduce some really, really, really old ideas i've been meaning to redraw. look out for them.

6) feel.
and here's where things get a tad personal once again but i'll keep it short. last year has been a bit of a strange year for me emotionally. it got to the point where i just wanted to cut emotions out of my life. and i did as childish as that sounds. i immersed myself in apathy and at the end of it, i even grew an apathy beard. but it was a good break and a nice step back from all that was going on. now i'm ready to feel again, all the happiness, all the sadness, and all the silliness it has to offer and hopefully with a cool and reasonable state of mind this time around. this might even be the year that i finally climb up the downwards spiral. wish me luck.

and there you have it, my goals and plans for 2012. if you too have goals for the year, i hope your motivation and determination keeps you going. think of it this way, what if the world actually ends this year, shouldn't we try a little bit harder? cheers.

p.s. this post was only possible thanks to my great friend jimmie, the slayer of all computer viruses. you are the best and i owe you dinner. possibly several dinners.

63 - adaptive immunity love affair

2011-12-24T03:29:00.001-05:00

an immunology comic as i promised. in case you're wondering why e. coli is red, it got gram stained.

happy holidays everyone!

62 - something blue

2011-11-12T16:15:00.001-05:00

i just found out the barber that's been cutting my hair for the last 10 years retired last monday. i even grew out my hair for the last 2 months for him to work his magic. if only i wasn't lazy and went for my haircut last week i could have at least seen my childhood barber one last time.

all the best on your retirement charles!

61 - bicarbonate ion

2011-11-05T11:49:00.000-04:00

in honour of physiology 2, this is how i choose to start my series of webcomics.

60 - ideas are bulletproof

2011-11-04T18:46:00.000-04:00

a little over a month ago i submitted a comic of mine to potluck comics. potluck comics is a collective showcase of funny comics submitted by artists across the world. every once in awhile they hold cash-prize contests for the comic that receives the most attention. though i did not intend to win the contest, it just felt nice to be apart of this communal art project.

if you've read my previous post, you should already know i like to recycle ideas and this comic of mine is a clear example of such. according to my art book, i first drew down this concept in june 2010 when i actually got my wisdom tooth removed and my face started to swell up, making me look like this guy. at the time the doodle just looked like this:

then, according to twitter's time line, i recycled my this idea into a comic doodle in december 2010. it was short comics like these that really made me want to start a webcomic with some of my friends but eventually life took over and everyone got busy. then finally out of a spur of the moment last month, i decided to submit my 10 month old comic (16 month old idea) to potluck comics.

the point i'm trying to make here is that you should always put down your ideas down on paper no matter how undeveloped it may seem. ideas can always be built upon and improved so never scrap something just because you think it's not meeting your expectations. i know i am probably being kind of hypocritical here since i'm quite lazy when it comes to doing so but honestly, it's really fun to look back and see where some of those ideas stemmed from in the first place.

with that being said, there are some comic ideas that i've been meaning to put down. i use to only want to put proper drawing up on this blog but i guess i'll start taking my own advice. expect many puns and song references.

oh and lastly, i've been studying a lot of organic chemistry and immunology lately. so you should also expect several nerdy comics related to such subject material.

59 - in the stratosphere how could he lend an ear?

2011-10-26T17:32:00.001-04:00

if there's anything you should know about me, it's that i'm terrible at putting my ideas down on paper in a timely manner and i love recycling old ideas to make them better. today i would like to introduce a character modeled after the short story concept of the sad superhero.

meet uberman. much like cosmonaut nova, uberman is powerful ability user employed by the government to protect an outskirt city of the inner world. outskirts cities act as transitional zones between the inner and outer world and using abilities here is much more liberal for its residents. as a result, there is a less of a need for the government to conceal the fact humans have the potential to develop powers but this also means greater measures must be taken to enforce law and order.

and that is where uberman comes in. uberman was born with the ability to propel his body in any given direction with great force. by either propelling his entire body or just localized parts of his body at high speeds, he is able to simulate both flight and superhuman strength. upon discovering such and rare and powerful ability, the government raised him to become a powerful warrior to fight along side with government forces to protect the outskirts.

however, as years passed, uberman started to realize that his life was predetermined for him ever since birth. the more he fought to defend the city, the more he began to grow apathetic of mankind and faced mental turmoil towards his life purpose. government officials in charge of his development grew concern and tried to persuade him that it was for the greater good but it did little to consolidate him. then finally, ubernman snapped during the next outburst from a renegade ability user. emotionlessly, he permanently neutralized the treat by flying him up into the stratosphere and then letting him free fall back into earth. the city was in shock to see their hero resorting to such cruel and extreme measures. afterwards, the dismissive hero flew towards the outer world and discarded his life as the city's protector without a single word.

uberman hid himself from the world and began posing as a civilian under a fake name. to drown his sorrow, he traveled from bar to bar across the outer world. he did not instigate any trouble for anyone but was quite capable to handling anyone that would dare pick a fight with him. for many years, this was how he lived until he was sought out by odd job dan and wordkill timothy to be recruited for an upcoming mission of theirs. out of annoyance and for the sake of perserving his current lifestyle, the encounter quickly turned violent. however, dan proved to be evenly matched with uberman due to dan's own ability of superhuman strength. in addition, due to timothy's ability to "find" and "seek," the duo would always be hot on uberman's trail regardless where he would escape to by flying away. after a persistent series of tag and violent encounters over the span of 5 months, uberman reluctantly gave up, joined dan's team, and took on his mantle once more.

58 - wrongs remain unrectified

2011-09-19T23:28:00.001-04:00

meet edgeman. edgeman was once your typical adult until he discovered the truth about the inner and outer world. after being chased down for knowing too much, he found himself in a world of utter chaos filled with lies and deceit. to cope with the burden of the shocking truth, he took on a ridiculous new identity. using a rag tag collection of clothing, he sewed himself a bizarre mask and superhero costume.

little is know about edgeman's personality before he permanently assumed his new identity. as edgeman, he is a rather unpredictable individual with an odd sense of humor. he has a whimsical attitude but shows great expertise across many fields. most people who come in contact with edgeman find it rather difficult to get along with him due to his ludicrous nature.

over the years, edgeman has successfully eluded the government and has been sighted across the two worlds at random intervals. the few moments where he does appear back on the radar, he is usually seen assisting or causing trouble for random individuals for no apparent reason. due to this fact, it is generally considered an annoyance if edgeman is spotted near the vicinity.

edgeman's ability causes anything he touches with his body to be cut. by simply swiping his finger across a surface, he can successfully cut it regardless of mass, density, or resistance though those factors will affect the degree of the cut produced. combined with edgeman's flexibility and agility, he is an incredibly difficult character to handle. in addition, years of experience made edgeman a skilled tactician, allowing him to escape most dangerous situation.

in recent events, edgeman has been sought out by odd job dan to join a team that he was forming for an upcoming mission. amused by dan's ambition and recklessness, edgeman gladly offered his assistance.

in case you have not noticed, i have been watching a lot of justice league lately, so expect more superhero characters to come.

update:

57 - coordinate brain and mouth

2011-09-04T22:57:00.000-04:00

well there goes my goal to blog at least once a month this year. and without bringing my scanner into waterloo, i can't even resort to just posting up something i've drawn and actually need to have content in this post.

have you ever felt like you've made some demons in your life? some emotional turmoil, some regret from the past, some irrational resentment that just haunts you? i certainly have my share of doing so. everyday it feels like i'm making demons, both big and small, with all the things i cannot do. however only the the past 2 years or so that i've actually started facing these demons and it just feels like a little piece of the burden i use to carry is being chipped away. this week, as an orientation leader, i am finally facing one of my bigger demons and it makes me feel so much lighter. this one is for you, past derrick of 2008.

in other news, kay and i have recently signed up for the canadian breast cancer foundation cibc run for the cure on october 2nd. what can i say? i've always been a fan of jogging. maybe it's because i experience the runner's high while i'm forcing my body to power through. maybe i just take some song lyrics too literally (like this one). regardless, i figured i might as well put my passion into a good cause to help all those whose lives are affected by this by this disease. so if you are feeling generous and wish to donate, i have included a link to my participation center below.

in even more other news, i am going a more creative phase again. or would it be better to say a phase in which i feel like putting some really old ideas down on paper? regardless, expect more stories, characters, and art interpretation of song lyrics in the near future. for now, i must rest and recover my energy for there will be awesome day of sweaty move-ins tomorrow morning.

56 - 21st century schizoid man

2011-07-17T18:48:00.005-04:00

in honor of the theme song for the majority of the road trip to our spartan race. may we run it again next year with gusto.

drawing something more serious like this reminds of of that fact that additional practice is required. i'm looking at you, background.

55 - take the red eye back to london town

2011-06-30T23:20:00.007-04:00

experimental pieces i've drawn at different points throughout the year while using the same inspiration. the song selections have changed since my music taste grown since drawing the first one but the idea is still there. enjoy.

54 - like an artist

2011-05-19T12:12:00.018-04:00

like an artist by jellyvampire on deviantart.

53 - you mean more than you should mean

2011-04-13T16:23:00.013-04:00

didn't you know? exam season is the absolute best time to draw. it started out with me practicing poses and then eventually turned to drawing up poses in my head and then finally just redrawing old characters i've neglected for a very long time. regardless, it was a nice break from studying. that and endless hours of minecraft with my roommates.

happy studying everyone! we're almost there.

52 - shoot for the sky

2011-03-04T21:24:00.007-05:00

lots on my mind lately so while i can still house this idea in my brain, i decided to draw it out. this is a concept for a new short story. maybe i will eventually have time to continue with my tales of interest series.

51 - gutalala sudalala

2011-02-13T00:12:00.013-05:00

20th century boy by t. rex was a song i discovered in grade 12 while reading a manga series that used this song as its namesake.

20th century boys is one of the most memorable series i have ever read. the story begins in the 1970s where a group of kids dream up a story of how the world is going to end. 30 years later as grown ups, they start to notice that a religious cult is involved in making all these things come true. the mysterious leader of this cult only goes by the name "friend" and the story follows kenji endou and his friends as they try to recall the story from their childhood to stop friend from destroying the world.

not only was this series incredibly well written and just gets you hooked onto the storyline, naoki urasawa also put a great deal of effort into developing his characters. in the story, kenji writes a song about standing up to evil despite all odds just before his final stand against friend during the bloody new year's eve. after the chapter revealing the lyrics of this song, naoki included a cd with kenji's acoustic version of the song. as the story progresses, this song becomes a symbol of hope for the people as the song becomes more and more popular. eventually, it gets played by an official band and spreads all over the world.

here is naoki urasawa's official band version of kenji endou's "bob lennon." it's simply amazing to see how much this man puts into making his story come to life. this series was just stunning and i recommend everyone to read it. enjoy.

50 - this must be it, welcome to the new year

2011-01-13T22:46:00.007-05:00

i often wondered what it would feel like if i were to undergo a time skip like the way it happens in so many characters in the comic series that i read. how much change would i undergo in a couple of years? how different would future derrick be? what defining characteristics would he develop that sets him apart from his former self? well looking back at the last 16 months alone, i can say for sure that 2010 was definitely a highlight in my life.

first thing first, you may wonder why does my year consists of 4 additional months? the answer is simple: due to the scheduling of my program, my second year of university actually lasted from september 2009 until december 2010. for this reason alone, it feels incomplete to talk about this year without including fall 2009.

i started school in waterloo being somewhat of a wreck due to a plethora of reasons. around two months in, i ended up with swine flu and it just exacerbated the situation and i felt as if i have been pushed off the ledge and into one of the darkest spirals of my life. there were certain individuals that helped ease my twisted mindset during the reminder of the fall term but i could really feel it take its tow around christmas time and new years. at that point, i was a complete and utter mess who would over-think all my problems, failures, disappointments, inabilities, and insecurities into an even deeper spiral. it got so bad that i couldn't even get a minute of sleep the night before of my move to ottawa. needless to say, i may have worried several members of my family.

but the funny thing was that ottawa didn't turn out as scary as i made it out to be. this, once again, is probably attributed to kindness of a certain old man that i was living with and certain people i met in ottawa. slowly but surely, i could feel myself becoming more social, learning to be a moderately competent worker, overcoming my personal demons, but most importantly, adapting to this new lifestyle. having said that, i still ran into a number of issues with my project and my co-workers during my time there but living in ottawa has taught me so many things (both in the office and out of the office) that i will remember for the rest of my life.

pretty soon it was time to return back to waterloo for school. these four months were probably the happiest i have ever been on campus despite missing out on all the regular summer activities. by this term, i have finally learned to accept my program for everything that it was and my resistance towards it diminished. getting through this barrier was a huge revelation for me and my marks started to reflect it. to make things even better, i could feel myself being more social and actually making solid connections to the friends i was starting to make in waterloo.

come september, i've found myself working in hamilton at a job that nothing like what i had expected. my only consolation during this term was the time spent with my friends from mcmaster and my roommates. despite that, most days literally felt as if they were being wasted away. but regardless, i powered through the bumpy path and i eventually found myself in december. around christmas time is usually where the downwards spiral likes to rear its ugly head but this time it was different. for the first time, i wasn't inhibited my the language barrier between me and the rest of my extended family and we were actually able to get along. for the first time, i actually felt the warm family feeling so many christmas stories had depicted. this warm feeling stayed with me for the next couple of days as my sister and i visited our cousin's family in nova scotia. overcoming this turmoil of not really being able to fit in with the rest of my extended family was one of the happiest experience i have ever felt.

there have been many other key moments that make this year stand out from the nineteen other ones in my life and it is all thanks to the efforts of the numerous people in my life. i wish i could write them all down but here are two that really seem to stand out:

the first is working enough courage to reveal a certain something to my sister. this was a secret that i've been keeping from just about everyone in my life for the past 2 and a half years. it was only because of her love, support, and understanding that made it possible for me share this part of my life with the two people i was the most afraid of sharing with, my parents. their surprising acceptance towards this issue was probably the most loving thing i could ask for and i'm so glad i finally got that off my chest. believe me when i say, i love you guys so much and i honestly cannot thank you enough.

the second is meeting you. i have not been so inspired by another person like this in such a long time. to be honest, you make me want to continue better myself in so many ways. you were the first person i openly admitted my absolute fear of my future education plans and how unprepared i honestly feel. having lunch with you was sometimes the only thing to look forward to at work. i really enjoy the time we spend together and the conversations we share. you are smart, independent, fun to be with, and the quality that i enjoy the most is that you over-think things probably as much as i do. you have probably changed my life in more ways than you know. though we've happily agreed on how we would go from here (on several occasions), there is still a part of me that wishes that i could have changed you mind.

this is probably as personal as it will ever get on this blog. i do apologize for the overwhelming amount of personal information and it will most likely never happen again. but let me end off by saying that 2010 really did mean a lot to me and i only hope it was as meaningful for you as well.

49 - best of provenance

2010-12-04T01:58:00.008-05:00

provenance is the name i've given my first art book with some assistance from dimitri and dave. the drawing journey with it began in february 2008 and concluded in march 2009. unfortunately, now that book 1: provenance has been with me for over 2 years, it doesn't seem to be able to withstand the deterioration of time for much longer as its bindings are breaking apart. so while i still can, let use this chance to share some of my work during that interesting point of my life. enjoy.

tickets to the guns show

fade to black

sympathy for the devil

the piano man

in between the lines

derk's trading card series

48 - now this will be a beautiful death

2010-11-28T23:16:00.013-05:00

all these online microbiology lectures reminded me of an interesting biology related picture i drew 2 years ago in book 1: provenance. it was also enough excuse to try out my scanner for the first time since i got it in may.

jin, if you are reading this, i know you will enjoy seeing this again.

update: please refer to the image below for the fifth example of apoptosis, courtesy of jin.

47 - ending start

2010-11-14T23:14:00.007-05:00

dear past derrick of 2008 and past derrick of 2009,

let me be the one to break the tradition we started two christmases ago.

sincerely,
derrick of 2010.

46 - remember, remember the 5th of november

2010-11-05T20:54:00.009-04:00

"a revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having."

45 - strange relationships

2010-11-02T19:37:00.003-04:00

meet cassandra. cassandra is a free agent who travels the world as she take high risk jobs for payment. for this reason, during her missions, she would often run into her good friend, timothy, and her ex-boyfriend, dan, when hired by different employers to do the same task.

not much is known about the exact details of the relationship between her and dan but one thing is for certain, things did not end in good terms for either party. every time cassandra and dan meet, they would be openly bitter towards one another in playful tone and mock each others personal flaws. to make matters worst, since both of them are trying to complete their respective jobs, their arguments would usually end in violence as both of them try to complete their task with force. timothy, who has been dan's best friend since childhood and a close friend of cassandra's while the two were dating, prefers not to get involved when they run into cassandra and would leaves them to settle things by themselves.

despite the high success rate of dan's and wordkill timothy’s odd job services, every time they are assigned the same job as cassandra, she would always emerge as the victor. for this reason, every time a competitor hears that someone hired the powerful duo, they would usually pay extra for cassandra's services.

only in rare occasions, when the missions get extremely dangerous would you see the two of them getting along. cassandra will work side by side with dan in situations of life or death but this is usually short lived as it usually ends with cassandra betraying dan so that she can finish her mission first.

unlike dan and timothy, cassandra has awakened no ability of her own. instead she relies on her acrobatic skills combined with the attributes of a strange disease in order to fight on par with dan’s super strength. this strange disease causes flesh to rot and harden, bones to peer out of the decaying flesh as it calcifies and strengthens, and pain receptors to disconnect from nerves. all those infected with this acquires an extremely durable body but at the price of physical appearance and knowing that eventually the disease will kill them.

in order to conceal the effects of the disease on her appearance, she spends most of her earnings from her missions to maintain the function of a highly advanced cloaking mechanism that hides her disfiguration. to this day, dan and timothy are the only two people who know truth of her condition.

44 - impossible physics

2010-09-21T18:57:00.006-04:00

what is this? another post in the same day? why yes, it most certainly is. so get ready for yet another character in my surprise-double-post!

meet dr. maishichi kuruno. maisichi is a world renowned physicist of his time and is gifted with the amazing ability of time travel. after time travelling, he realized that, contrary to popular belief, time does not flow linearly. what we claim to be the past, present, and future are, in reality, all occurring simultaneously. thus, there are actually multiple universes for each individual time streams or points in time. by becoming more in tune with various other time streams, maishichi is able to visit other parallel worlds at various points of the timeline.

once maishichi activates his power to time travel, his body takes on an intangible astral form as soon as he enters another time stream. this is of little concern for dr. kuruno for he is a pacifist. he merely time travels for the pursuit of knowledge so that he may learn about the other timelines and maybe even share some of his wisdom with their worlds. in his travel also various time streams, he has taken on the role of a mentor for many individuals throughout time but shows the most interest in fellow bright minds and others with time related powers, such as anne nova.

however, being able to time travel is not without its faults. since mankind has the tendency to use various methods to keep track of time throughout history, maishichi had to abandon all notions of keeping time to avoid confusion. in addition, since time is relative, the various time streams actually occur and different rates. this could mean that one year in one time stream is actually one month in another time stream and even one hour in yet another time stream.

the only kind of time keeping dr. kuruno actually implements is the use of a stop watch from his own time stream which informs him every time his wife has returned home from work. when the alarm goes off, he returns to his time stream to have a peaceful evening with his loving wife after a good long day of time travelling adventures.

special thanks to a certain charismatic physicist whose lecture inspired the very concept of this character.

43 - invaders must die

2010-09-21T18:39:00.008-04:00

meet anne nova. anne is a strong and independent young woman who is blessed with the ability to slow down the cause of events around her. due to her training with the military, she commonly introduces herself only as "nova."

upon activating her power, everything within a set radius around her will begin to slow down and will continue to decelerate exponentially if an object continues to approach her. conversely, as nova distant herself from objects, they will speed up exponential as the objects leave her area of effect. thus, by simply moving closer and further from enemies, she can easily manipulate the speeds of their actions.

but this power’s unique nature also affects nova. while this ability is in use, her body is slowed down. this then creates the illusion of nova traveling with the absence of gravity when in reality her movements have just been delayed.

her power, however, does not affect the brain. while one’s body may be slowed down, one’s mind is still functioning at real time. this becomes a problem for nova, especially when she tries to communicate since her speech would be affected. in order to compensate for this drawback, nova uses an atmospheric space suit that is directly wired from her brain to a microphone so that she can communicate at real time.

at age 22, nova still works with the military to ensure the safety of civilians who inhabit the cities in the outskirts. due her appearance and her ability, many of her military teammates refers to her as "cosmonaut nova."

special thanks to mr. painter for drilling a certain statistical test into my head during the spring term, which in turn, helped me give a name to this character.

42 - egg

2010-09-07T20:08:00.005-04:00

reblogged from dump.

41 - house in the south of france

2010-07-24T15:33:00.004-04:00

it became apparent that soon after i started using apollo, my new laptop, that i was severely low on music. as a result, most of the music i ended up listening to on apollo was all the songs i was able to retrieve from my email account. it was interesting because i got to revisit the music that i used to love but have been neglecting. when i started listening to this john mayer song again, it reminded me of the rough sketch i drew for this song 33 posts ago. and thus, after a year a bit, here is the good copy of that picture.

also, in an attempt to expand my musical library on apollo, i asked my friends to help me by emailing one song each. thanks to your generous contributions, apollo now has over 100 songs. special points to sister for sending me "you and i" by ingrid michaelson, it was definitely my favourite out of all the songs i received.

40 - a spring's lament

2010-06-30T01:19:00.007-04:00

i am but the spring that holds two sides together. my job is a simple one, to be the restoring force and bring things back to normal. however, my left arm is connected to a side who only knows how to push others away while my right arm is connected to a side who only knows how to pull away from others. the nature of the two sides cause them to drift further and further apart everyday as i cling onto both of them dearly. i stretch and i stretch, hoping that one day i will reunite my two sides but it is becoming more apparent as time passes that my efforts are in vain.

i'm afraid that soon i will no longer be able to bare the tension and simply snap.

39 - strange world

2010-06-26T21:40:00.005-04:00

after reviewing my previous posts on my original characters, i realized that there was very limited information about the world that ties all my characters together. and after reading wendy's recent post, i figured it was time to start updating my blog again.

in this strange world that connects all my characters, there are two fundamental rules that applies to everyone:

1. everyone has a power

2. know yourself, know your power

the first fundamental rule dictates that everyone is born with the potential of developing a power. having said that, what separates ability users from an average human being is defined by the second rule. since everyone's ability is unique and are direct manifestations of themselves, one must fully understand themselves to unlock their full potential. thus, without a great deal of knowledge of yourself, you will be unable to control into the ability that you were born with and will most likely be restricted to the limitations of a non-ability user.

as mentioned previously, abilities can vary considerably from person to person and certain powers may be quite dangerous if not handled properly. thus, as an attempt to control the population, the government created a society where they try to limit the public from unlocking their full potential. under the influence of the government, the public is socialized into believing that there is such thing as an ability and that we are all bound to the restrictions of a normal human being. anyone who still manages to unlock powers are quarantined by government officials in order to enforce this hold they have on the population. thus, the government consists of some of the strongest people in the world. after generations of this process, peace is maintained by shielding the truth from the populace as those who know this secret keep silent to avoid conflict with the government. this half of the world is known as the inner world.

in the second half of the world, the outer world, there is no governmental control and the people living here are free to develop to their full potential. however, without the governmental regulations, life in the outer world is very dangerous where only the strong can survive. in the the midst of the chaos, the majority of the control in the outer world is split amongst four distinct power houses, each of which founded by the four strongest in the outer world; one of which being ashleigh the king of dreamers.

the balance of the two worlds are maintained by the four power houses and the government. fear of retaliation from both sides deter conflicts from the two worlds and as a result, peace is created from this tension. despite the sheer strength of power sides, both superpowers fear one man who allies with no one as he wanders the world. this man is the person who earned the title of world's strongest, but that is a story for another time.

38 - eighteen days of post-its

2010-05-26T22:01:00.010-04:00

during my employment, i have developed a new found appreciation for office supplies. it's quite amazing how some simple office supplies can keep one entertained when you are alone in your cubicle. one particular office supply that i've developed a very special relationship with during this time was with sticky notes. aside from being able to jot down quick notes and reminders for yourself, i also started up a mini art project with them. everyday, i would draw something quick on a sticky note based off of something important about that day. and then over the course of eighteen days at work, i ended up with this in my notebook:

some of the references in this collage includes a mind blowing korean film, the original pimp ship, pui yan's awesome internet monster, and a series of assorted song lyrics. i hope you enjoy my post-it days of early february.

37 - day maker

2010-05-04T00:01:00.005-04:00

quoted from an email i got today:

"debby to mom, dad, me

this is cheesy. but i'm gonna say it: i think derrick might just be the best birthday present mommy and daddy have ever given me."

this made my day. i love you, sister.

36 - shouldn't be so complicated

2010-04-28T17:47:00.010-04:00

after mike showed me this video, this song has been stuck in my head for quite some time. this here is the acoustic version of "bent" by matchbox 20 done by their lead singer, rob thomas. their band is currently on hiatus at the moment but rob is still performing. his rendition of "bent" was so emotional that i just had to share with you.

and since this is a rare version of a matchbox 20 song, it was quite difficult to attain a version for myself. so once again, special thanks to mike for sharing it with me after spending money to acquire it.

35 - how to train your depression

2010-04-21T23:12:00.007-04:00

today i had yet another one of of my spontaneous flash depression episodes. i seriously do not know why it happens or what exactly i am upset about. i just lose all interest in everything and i just want to isolate myself from the rest of world while i wallow in my apathy. to make things worst, i am the type of person who wears their heart on their sleeves and is no good at hiding my emotions at all. so during these sporadic phases, it is pretty obvious that i am down and i am absolutely no fun to be around. after a variable period of time, i somehow find myself back to my regular self and everything is awesome again. by the way, happy derrick hates sad derrick.

as years passed, it has become much more manageable. my spontaneous flash depression episodes have become less severe and even last for shorter periods of time. but when it happens, there is a definite change in the atmosphere. so if you were ever unfortunate enough to witness one of these depression episodes, believe me when i say "i am so very sorry."

having said that, today i discovered something to snap me out of my depression. gives me hope is a site filled with little tidbits of inspirational stories posted by everyday people. some of them are really touching and it filled me with a giddy feeling that just completely destroyed my gloomy mood. i am rather fond of this site not just because it brought happy derrick back, but also because it is a nice positive twist from the typical sites where people anonymously post about the negative things in life.

in any case, if you too suffer from spontaneous flash depression episodes, give this site a try. it may be just medication you were looking for to pick yourself up.

34 - a story my mother once told me when i was little

2010-04-19T21:59:00.013-04:00

once upon a time, there were two friends who dreamed of becoming world renowned artists. this shared passion for art pushed these two friends together and they became great friends growing up. over they years, they would continually motivate and support each other in order to enhance each other's artistic abilities. they would always envision themselves being each other's rivals in the future when they become famous.

to achieve their dream, they planned on attending a prestigious art school in order to acquire the proper education and attain the skills to become great. however, there was one obstacle standing in their way. they were both born into poor families and lacked the financial support required for four years of art school.

but this won't stop our two determined dreamers. upon accessing the situation, the two friends made an agreement. the older of the two will work in the coal mines in order to support the younger one through art school. after four years, the younger one will return and take his place in the coal mines so the older one can attend art school as well. in just eight years, they will be able to be great artists together. driven by this dream, they happily put their pact into action with determination.

the younger one ventured off to art school. it was everything he ever dreamed of and he loved every single thing he learned. every month the older one would send him the money he earned from the coal mines and in return, the younger one would tell him all the wonderful things he is learning through mail. both of them were filled with joy to see the younger friend's dream becoming a reality.

it was not long before four years has passed. the younger one, who now possess the skill of a great artist, returned home and feeling excited to swap places with his friends in order to fulfill his dream. in the coal mines, they saw each other in person for the first time in four years and had a heartfelt reunion. the younger one told him he has become a true artist and is now ready to support him. he took his hand and placed a pencil in his hands only to discover the tragic truth.

an artist's hands should be delicate and versatile. however, all these years of hard labour in the coal mines has hardened his dear friend's hands. much of the fine-motor skills required to paint and draw have been replaced with the rough and rigid coarse movements of a coal miner. it was at that moment that both of them knew that it was impossible for the older friend to attain his dream and that it was meaningless to switch places now. he has sacrificed his dream in order to support his friend's.

teary eyed, the younger friend pulled out a canvas and painted the the very hands that made his dream come true. the pair of hands that gave up their dexterity for his sake. the two hands that became stiffened and deformed over time. the hands that belonged to a man who gave up everything for his friend's sake. he poured his very soul into that canvas and painted vigorously in order to remind himself of the sacrifices made to get him this far.

it was this very painting eventually brought him the fame they once yearned for so much in youth.

33 - strange abilities

2010-03-27T13:03:00.013-04:00

being a working man as of late, it gave me quite some time by myself as i work in my cubicle. i have to say, even though i may not have been the most productive at work, it did give me more than enough time to be creative and i ended up creating a number of interesting things. i will be glad to share all of the things i made up in time but for now let me start of with the first thing i made up at work near the end of january.

meet timothy, dan's best friend. timothy is gifted and cursed with a powerful but debilitating ability. his power stems from his voice and by saying any one syllable verb, he has the power to materialize it into reality. for example, if he were to say the word "stop" to his enemies, they would literally stop in their tracks.

as you can imagine this is truly a frightening power for his enemies, but it comes at a cost. to avoid accidentally activating his power on his friends, he must constantly monitor his speech pattern. for this reason, timothy rarely speaks but when he does, he is very formal, applies his large vocabulary, and speaks in short phrases to minimize the chance of any mishaps.

this power has also led him to develop a slightly arrogant fighting manner. in order to give his enemies a fighting chance, he very rarely uses fight-determining words such as "die" or "sleep." instead, he would use more playful words like "trip" or "miss" but will switch to more serious words such as "pierce" or "break" if his enemies prove to be more of a challenge. his playful attitude is seen once again in his fighting stance; he keeps both hands behind his back and a confident grin on his face as he shouts out one word after the other from a distance.

being dan's best friend since grade school, timothy and dan understand each other better than most people. timothy knows what dan is really feeling despite dan always portraying himself as a carefree jolly person and dan has such a strong connection with timothy that he understands what timothy is thinking without the use of words.

in a sparring match, the only non-lethal word timothy is able to stop dan dead in his tracks is the word "rain."

now in their 20s, the two travel around the world taking on a variety odd jobs for people. during their travels, dan has has dubbed him as "wordkill timothy," based on a song by dan's favourite korean rap trio.

32 - clap clap, fade lights

2010-03-22T21:11:00.007-04:00

after seeing stomp in ottawa, it gave me the inspiration to draw this. in case you don't know, stomp is a group of dancers who using everyday objects such as brooms and trash cans to co-ordinate various percussion music. throughout the entire performance, they do not speak even a single word.

it was quite entertaining experience but it reminds me of a less colourful version of the blue man group. but still, it was worth watching.

this one scene that really stuck with me. in the middle of the show, the spotlight focuses on this one man and he gives a solo performance. at the end of his rendition, he merely claps twice to signal the audience to repeat after him in synchrony. after the two claps, he does a little bow as the spotlight fades out on him. the haunting feeling that i got from his exit vaguely reminds of me the last couple of lines in the song "welcome" by christina aguilera.

anyway, there you have it. symmetry? what's that?

31 - world's worst detective

2010-03-15T22:21:00.003-04:00

i honestly love this game to death. ever since lawrence got me this game for christmas, there has been consistent playstation action for the last three months. if you are looking for a new game to play, you should definitely give batman: arkham asylum a go, you will not be disappointed.

having said that, i have never been good at games nor an avid gamer. i have a rather large learning curve when it comes to games so i'm usually the one of the people who do the worst in games like halo, dota, counterstrike, and even castle crashers on some occasions. to compensate, i would resort to sticking with the simple games throughout my youth. though i still love pokemon and my dear n64, being good at these old games can only give you so much satisfaction. hence, the journey to be a competent gamer began with the playstation pact of summer 2009.

the journey was a rather difficult one with batman. i would often get stuck in the game or get pummeled into the ground by the inmates of arkham. luckily, my sister's solution to every problem in the game was to "look up" and by doing so, i was able find ledges to grapple onto in order to progress in the storyline or to escape the onslaught of attackers. what did end up giving me the most trouble in game were situations where it required batman to be stealth. when dealing with armed inmates, you must successfully takedown the inmates silently one by one in order to avoid getting shot down.

most of the time, it would appear as if my level of stealth was the equivalent of getting batman to sneak up behind the enemy and then verbally declaring his silent takedowns. needless to say, batman ate a fair number of bullets.

but it was a wonderful journey and i enjoyed every part of it. in the end, i was able to beat all the challenges and attain all the trophies in the game (an obsessive complex i believe i developed after all these years of trying to catch all the pokemon).

bottom line, i would strongly encourage any batman fan to play the game, they would love it. i certainly did and i expect nothing less from its sequel.

30 - vroooom!

2010-02-14T17:41:00.006-05:00

took the most memorable line from "knock you down" and interpreted it into art form. please excuse my cursive, it has been awhile.

anyway, i hope everyone is enjoying their valentine's day/chinese new year/family day!

29 - message across time

2010-02-01T22:17:00.002-05:00

after watching gran turino, i realized how much i wanted a grandfather as awesome as walt kowalski. he is strong, he is tough, he is wise, and most of all, he is caring. truly, he is a person that his own family takes for granted.

unfortunately, i never got the chance to know my grandfathers since they both died when i was really young. it never really bothered me before but this movie got me thinking about how much i was actually missing out.

thus, i have decided that future derrick must live a long and healthy life to make sure he could be an awesome grandfather for his grandchildren. afterall, future derrick will still have the heart of a child and will definitely still love kids.

28 - you spin my head right round

2010-01-12T22:45:00.003-05:00

this here is a giant isopod. i saw a picture of this strange creature when i was younger but only found out its name recently. i remember being so intrigued and shocked when i first saw it. however, most of the amazement somewhat stems from how much the giant isopod resembles a certain fictional monster. regardless, it's still hard to believe such an odd creature exist in the world and i find that fascinating.

the giant isopod is a carnivorous scavenger that dwells in the deep sea. that means it has to withstand immense water pressures and survive extremely low temperatures. in fact, the water is so deep that light can't even reach that far and it practically pitch black. due to such harsh environmental conditions, the giant isopod has undergone some size enhancements. the normal isopod only ranges from 1 - 5 cm long, while it's deep water counterpart is 19 - 37 cm long and weighs about 3.7 lbs. in addition, it appears that the giant isopod has existed for over 160 million years! (that's back in the days when all the continents were still connected.)

it is creatures like these that reminds me of my love for deep sea fish. deep sea fish have the most peculiar adaptations to survive such an unfavourable environment and it is just mind blowing. also, it good break from all the traditional fish you see on most documentaries. sharks are still cool and all but the angler fish are still my favourite.

lastly, if anyone was curious and was wondering why all of the sudden i started listening to "right round" by flo rida, this was why.

27 - twitter noise

2009-12-21T02:41:00.004-05:00

because i refuse to study for my last exam, i ended up doing this.

26 - things i learned from musicals

2009-12-05T13:42:00.008-05:00

1. everyone can sing. whether you're a witch, a prisoner, an ugly masked person, an unsuccessful supervillain, a transexual scientist, a writer during the bohemian revolution, or even a small woodland creature, you'll be able to carry out a tune with your voice.

2. there is always a song to sing no matter what situation you may be in. no matter how trivial or how complicated it may be, you can always find the right song to express yourself.

3. when you break out in song, instrumental accompaniment will gradually appear. though the background music may seem quite elaborate, you will only spot a few random people nearby playing instruments.

4. if you sing, people will dance. people just have a natural tendency to do synchronized dancing upon hearing music regardless of what environment or setting they may be in.

5. singing to someone is the strongest persuasive tool in the world. if you're a lion trying to recruit an army of hyenas, sing to them. if you're trying to cheer up your friend who is down because three of her love interests from many years ago are there to attend her daughter's wedding, sing to her.

6. why talk when you can sing it? everything is prettier that way.

in conclusion, the world of musicals is ridiculous and i love every part of it.

25 - my first rap song

2009-11-06T23:15:00.014-05:00

back before i knew of kanye, there was this:

this picture was actually inspired by a very intriguing conversation i once had with alex during a softball practice in the summer but i never got around to putting it on paper. there was a pretty interesting story involved in drawing this picture, but the important lesson i learned from this was to never question past derrick's systems.

i hope everyone is surviving the onslaught of school! i for one will be looking forward to the end of midterms as of friday.

24 - YES and NO

2009-10-25T15:27:00.007-04:00

reblogged from i love blog.

23 - resolution

2009-10-04T13:22:00.005-04:00

i am quite upset with my time management and self control skills. yesterday was a clear example of how these undeveloped skills of mine led to missing out on the more important things going on.

thus, i have decided to quit manga for a month. until november 4th, i will not even read a single page.

22 - our comical relationships

2009-09-25T01:31:00.008-04:00

derk:
for some reason i want to read naruto

py:
lol
sigh
man it's been SO LONG

derk:
serious
it's like one of those sad relationships that drag throughout

py:
yeah, i know we talked about this before, but thinking about manga brings back so many moments. in school or like...drawing class, where we're discussing the chapters. lol.
naruto would have been dumped long time ago
it's this
sad whiny
pathetic
it's this hot dude who turned out fat and ugly as he got older, and the only redeeming qualities, would be like, he'll earn lots of money and buy you stuff, so it's easy
so when he got you stuff, you're happy for like 1 second
and, he'll always say he'll go to the gym, eat less, and be fit again but it'll never happen

derk:
wow
that was rather vivid

conversation post format shamefully stolen from wendy's post.

21 - don't lose to yourself

2009-09-17T22:29:00.012-04:00

almost done first week of school and haven't skipped a single class yet, not even those extremely early ones! well i still have three more to go for tomorrow but i'm still going strong. and yes i am proud.

moving into waterloo had its complications, considering i forgot a number of things and the fact that i dropped my computer on the driveway didn't help either. when my computer wouldn't turn on, i fearfully rushed back into toronto for jimmie to check up on it. luckily, after jimmie examined the wires, "timmy" was up and running again. yes, i decided to name the computer timmy seeing as how it is practically jimmie's child that i apparently kidnapped.

second moving attempt went much better. austin was kind enough to drive me in with timmy and all my other missing things; missing things such as my pillow and my blankets. but once i was in the house, i realized how obsolete timmy was without internet. after "my documents" and "window media player," all the six other icons on my desktop were useless. i was quite sad.

but all is well with the world again and internet has returned to us. it was sad but now it's not. unfortunately, productivity has gone down the drain, but i guess you can't win them all. to celebrate the return of internet, here is a video of one of the best ultimate move you will ever find in a fighting game.

in other news, i just made a bet with don for 50 dollars whether xiaohan or jimmie would get married first. for the sake of future derrick's wallet, jimmie better get a move on.

20 - more than a feeling

2009-09-08T15:53:00.003-04:00

about a week ago, my family, lawerence, and auntie angela helped move my sister into her new place in boston, massachusetts where she's going study optometry. sister and lawerence drove alone to boston so they we're able to fit all her luggage while the rest of us would drive to buffalo a day later where we would take a plane to boston. lawerence had to leave earlier due to work and flew back to take the car in buffalo. the rest of us would drive back to home after sister was settled.

to make her last couple of days with us as enjoyable as possible, there was a lot of shopping and a lot of food. speaking of food, make sure if you're ever visiting boston to go eat at the quincy market. their seafood is just exceptional, and they even have exotic choices like swordfish kebobs. but for the overall trip, we ate a lot. it tasted damn good, but i can't stress the fact that we ate more than the proper family should have. there was a lot of food.

anyways sister was pretty much settled in with her roomate as soon as school started, and we made our leave. but don't worry, it's not like she'll be gone for long. she has already planned out all the days she intends on coming back and according to that schedule, it barely seems like she is leaving at all. but regardless, you will be missed sister, who else am i going to have heart to heart girl talk with or dance retardly with when awesome songs come on? i look forward to your return!

in other news, "the turtles three" has been disbanded. deedeeda (aka rocket turtle) has been relocated to lawerence's house, wall-e cuetip is now in boston with sister, and little queen is going to come into waterloo with me. little queen looks sad without wall-e, i think i might buy another playmate for her.

19 - you are not welcomed here

2009-08-26T13:34:00.007-04:00

meet my newest obsession, district 9. i honesty enjoyed this movie so much. the way it was filmed, the way you were introduced into this parallel world, and the way you saw the characters develop from the very beginning was just simply amazing.

without giving away too much, here is one of most mesmerizing scene from the movie. there was another scene that really caught my interest too, but in the end i decided that christopher johnson's turmoil just had to be drawn.

three years, he promised.

18 - lyrical man

2009-08-22T15:37:00.008-04:00

after twenty three very enjoyable queen songs, this happened.

17 - an insomniac's rant

2009-08-19T13:39:00.002-04:00

"i should be asleep by now. i'm going to be freaking tired tomorrow," he saids to himself. it is now 4 am in the morning and it has been exactly five hours since his initial attempt to fall asleep. he shuts his eyes and tries to make his mind vacant. unfortunatley, this only heightened his other senses and he starts noticing the every minute details that would further plague his sleeplessness.

he begins to notice the soft snoring coming from the distant rooms. he begins to notice the faint glow from outside the window through his closed eyelids. he begins to notice the pestering heat that has been collected on his bed from underneath his weight. but worst of all, he begins to notice his breathing, making it feel more unnatural with every breath.

as he tries to ignore all these things, his mind begins to wander. he then recalls recent memories, distant memories, happy memories, troubling memories, memories that he swore he would never forget, and memories that he wish he had forgotten.

more time has passed and he still can't achieve the rest he so desperately craves. he knows he should be tired, but he doesn't feel it. he knows he needs sleep, but his body doesn't want it. one thing is for sure is that he's going to be tired tomorrow.

"screw it. i might as well stay up until i feel tired again," he said to himself. he gets up only to get intimiated by the clock. he crawls back into bed and tries to fall asleep all over again.

it is now 5:30 am.

16 - help to inspire change

2009-08-05T10:51:00.011-04:00

following up on past derrick, i have decided that i'm going to shave my head by the end of this month for the canadian cancer society. since my hair is obviously too short to be donated itself, i'm going to raise money instead and donate all the proceeds.

so this means i will be shaving my head and will be donating the money i've collected during the week of monday august 24th to monday august 31st. so please feel free to donate, or even join the head shaving fun.

many thanks to a certain angry person in my life to help inspire all of this in the first place.

15 - concoctive fun

2009-07-29T12:20:00.004-04:00

yesterday, i had yet another taste of the night shift at mr. sub. this time was much more pleasant considering i only had to work for seven hours instead of the dreadful 11 hour shift. and now that i'm working under a different (and much lazier) boss who usually leaves work around 4, me and my co-worker, sam, are free to dick around.

because sam and i usually get extremely bored of our jobs by the afternoon, we would switch even though she was trained to make subs and i was trained to be on cash. this means that productivity of our store goes down the drain so we only do it when boss leaves. but it keeps us safe from the horrors of tedious tasks boring into our sanity.

and another thing that we recently started doing is to explore the endless possibilities with the toppings we have at mr. sub for snacks. we would make a variety of random concoctions. it started off with me wanting a snack made out of just a slice of turkey wrapped in a meatball. then she decided to join in the fun because i deemed her taste in food rather dull. and then hours later we ended up munching away at a bunch of the condiments whenever costumers aren't around. the best concoction of the night was a small piece of grilled chicken microwaved with a piece of cheese with some barbecue sauce on it. as unhealthy as it sounds, it was delicious.

going to work just got more entertaining. i'm actually starting to look forward to the 11 hour shift on thrusday because of this.

14 - the elbow game

2009-07-27T00:48:00.004-04:00

the object of this game is to slap the other person's elbows as hard as they possibly can when they least expect it. keeping score during this process is optional. be warned, for if you do not aim well, you're slap may backfire and you may end up inflicting more damage to yourself.

there are certain things rules that should be enforced during the game process:

1. a person cannot be slapped if one is holding something of value or fragile. ie. cellphones, glasses, etc.

2. a person cannot be slapped if one is eating or drinking. this is strictly to prevent any unnecessary messes.

3. girls are free to join in the elbow game though they are exempt from being slapped.

4. feel free to make as many enemies as you can. they can however choose to team up against you so be prepared.

so there you have it. one of the most ingenious games i've developed. tell you're friends and spread the fun.

13 - traffic in my head

2009-07-21T10:28:00.009-04:00

if you haven't heard already, my cellular has finally given up it's will to live. i'm still proud it considering that it lasted through a year of variety of unintentional abuse. but it's time to move on and go replacement cellular shopping. goodbye flippy! (yes, i just named it on the spot.)

in the meantime, i shall be borrowing jimmie's experia in order to stay in contact with the outside world. quite a shift considering now i actually have to treat the cellular with care. under pressure.

in other news, after reading wendy's and boris' scrabble stories, it reminded me of the random story dimitri and i wrote last year. due to severe boredom at the office, we decided to kill time by writing a story by taking turns to write each sentence. In the end we ended up with a story about an african amerian vampire, a little girl, taichi secretaries, and albinos. yes, it was a rather enjoyable process watching the story develop one random moment at a time. after i re-read our story, i decided to doodle them down. so here are the three main fighters from the bizarre tale of the double d's.

12 - hitmonT.O.P.

2009-07-11T14:54:00.011-04:00

this one is for xiaohan, because he was in love with the idea when i first mentioned it. if you are confused, then turn up your speakers and watch this in HQ.

11 - tales of interest

2009-07-09T18:23:00.011-04:00

near the end of this school year, i came up with the a few interesting idea for a series of short stories. this way i could a) finally get some of my ideas on paper and b) improve my english skills. but here we are in july and nothing is typed. so while i still have motivation and the memory of these ideas of mine, i shall share them briefly on my blog.

the piano man:
this story focuses on a ghastly person whose love for music has driven him mad. in his attempt to take all the music in the world, he genetically modified his body to give him multiple handless arms. with his new body, he would seek out the world's greatest musicians and rob them of their hands and their musical abilities. having robbed some of the world's greatest musicians, he would take pleasure in showing off his newly acquired skills at night bars. although he has the ability to play multiple instruments at once with his many completed arms, he limits to only revealing two arms at a time from his large coat to avoid suspicion.

oh and also his favourite instrument is the piano. but knowing that is one of the most impractical instruments to bring around when you're on the run, he genetically modified his teeth into piano keys, making himself a portable piano. (hence the piano man.)

for the past few years, the piano man has eluded the police, until recently. this story is about the last few days of the infamous piano man before his demise.

the sad superhero:
this story starts off with a heroine who showed up one day in city and used her superpowers for sake of the all the people in the her city. she quickly earned the respect of people and the police. however, several months after this heroine appeared, she gave birth to a baby boy, which was wonderful, except for the fact that she has now lost her powers. but the city now depends on her whenever the city was in danger. so despite the fact that she lost her powers, she continued her role as the superhero. she died in action shortly afterward.

the city went into mourning. but soon they realized her baby boy exhibited the same superpowers as her mother. so the city's officials took the this boy and nurtured him to be the city's new hero who works side by side with the police.

thirteen years later, the boy found himself forced into a life which he had no say in and it was predetermined from even before he was born. this story deals with his mental turmoil as being the city's superhero dog and his growing apathy for mankind.

a strange love story:
this story deals with a gorgon girl who heads out to the human world in hopes of finding love. however, gorgons have the uncanny ability to turn humans into stone when they look into their eyes, which makes her task a rather difficult one. and although this gorgon girl is rather pretty, most people would associate gorgon powers with ugliness, which further complicates her task.

she starts off using a special gorgon mask to shield her gorgon appearance and powers so she could conform with the humans. but dating itself is a difficult task already despite her powers and relationships would fail one after the other. every time she feels down, she would always go back to this one boy for moral support.

near the end of the story, she truly thought she found someone. but just when she revealed her secret about being a gorgon when she took off her mask, her boyfriend ran off in fear. it was then the gorgon girl broke down in tears, abandoning all hope of finding love. soon after, the boy that she would go to for moral support shows up. the girl, feeling hideous in her gorgon form, told him to stay away. the boy then reveals that he was blind but she's still beautiful to him.

these are just the rough story ideas. they need work, i won't deny that. but maybe by the end of the summer, they'll be refined and i'll have my very own anthology, or at least the beginning of one. also if one of these ideas has peeked your interest, do say so, it may actually motivate me to write it.

10 - blue moon

2009-06-30T23:08:00.003-04:00

this week was originally very, very, very busy for me. boss scheduled me for two 11 hours shifts on monday and tuesday and then one 6 hour one on canada day. which i guess, i can't complain because of the money but the real reason why i wasn't really looking forward to it was because i miss out playing with little girl, going to wing chun, and softball practice.

but just when i accepted the fact that i have to stay for those unbearable long hours, i got let off early. five hours early to be exact on both days. also, as an added bonus, some girl stole my canada day shift completely because she was working in the morning and had no ride to leave until closing. so this means that i barely made any money for this week.

the bright side was that now i had time to do all the things that i was originally missing out on this week, had i not passed out as soon as i got home. so the week haven't been going according to plan at all.

but at least i saved xiaohan from impending doom. he had an online assignment due in 42 minutes and his internet died in at his place in mississauga. so i drove down with a crudely drawn map, picked him up and brought him back to my place. now he's casually trying to finish it while i distract him with my music. yes, casually, you read correctly. anyways, here is the crudely drawn map that safely guided a nervous, directionally impaired person who has never taken the 401 before to a place located 55 km away there and back.

9 - king of dreamers

2009-06-21T13:22:00.007-04:00

meet my latest character, ashleigh the king of dreamers. ashleigh is an unique individual who has devoted his life towards children. thus, one could say ashleigh is still a child at heart.

in the midst of the world's struggle and strife, ashleigh takes in all the kids who have been abandoned and left to die. he then raises them as his own in hope of one thing: that they will forever keep a piece of their childhood alive even when they grow up. the children who have been taken under the wing of the king of dreamers look at him with love and admiration, despite his orthodox personality. in time, the first couple of kids that ashleigh has ever taken in grew up and became ashleigh's loyal followers in his great cause.

ashleigh's power is known as "dream fist." a teal coloured aura surrounds his fist and does additional damage. however the effects of dream fist differs from person to person. those who are grown up usually feels the full wrath of dream fist because most matured people have abandoned their childhood dreams. children on the other hand are usually unaffected by dream fist because they are still innocent and pure dreamers. there are even rumors that ashleigh even used dream fist to save children from the brink of death. in addition, because of ashleigh's teachings, most of his followers are unaffected by his dream fist since they kept a piece of their childhood even when they grew up.

knowing that sometimes dream fist isn't always practical, since there are still enemies who are children at heart as well, ashleigh also has another version of dream fist called "nightmare fist." because everyone is susceptible to the pain of nightmare, nightmare fist can damage anyone and causes much more damage. however, ashleigh tries to keep nightmare fist as a last resort since it can hurt his beloved children as well.

aside from his power, the king of dreamers as also developed his own style of unorthodox martial arts, making him very unpredictable and hard to defeat even if he doesn't use dream fist.

special thanks to freddie for his pose and eason for his words.

8 - couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter alexus

2009-06-08T20:37:00.007-04:00

okay, this page actually took roughly a month to complete because i've been busy lately and i keep running out of ideas to fill the rest of the page. but recently i finally finished the page and it contains a series of concepts thought up during the month of may. after a week or two when i tried adding something else to this page, i would try to use a different style than one i used already. the fact that i wasn't able to find the same pens that i began drawing with also helped with that effect.

my influences: angels and demons the movie, don's pictures at gelato, playing pokemon with dimitri (and his fail hitmonchan), and my recent john mayer phase.

please excuse my inappropriate sense of humor and my need to draw it as well.

7 - my cousin extreme

2009-05-28T20:35:00.005-04:00

yesterday i met up with cousin, christopher. he's 26 and recently finished his undergrad in environmental scicence in motreal, with some background in mechanical engineering and exercise science. he keeps switching around. he's also in love with hardcore skiing and hardcore camping.

if this guy sounds slightly familiar to you, then you probably know him better as "the-extremist-cousin-that-i-went-biking-with-when-i-broke-my-arm." it wasn't his fault that my back wheel got caught and i landed on my arm, but it was his idea to go biking on ramps. but i still love him, my love for him goes way back in our childhood which is another story.

chris is awesomely strange and i love him for that. he doesn't own a cellphone, his laptop is one of those cheap laptops with limited functions no bigger than my DS, and his truck has been rusting so bad that you can see his front wheel if you remove the carpet. but that's no biggy for him, technology was never really his thing. he's a nature guy.

in fact, recently, he went to guatemala to see the volcanoes with his professor. they would have to plan the intervals of eruptions to find a safe time to hike up the volcano to see the molten rocks in action. think there's a video of it on facebook of him picking up molten rocks.

for the break he's planning to plant trees for logging industries in BC. for every acre of tree the cut up, they would have to replant the same acre of baby trees in its place. that's where chris and his crew comes in where they would get paid 85 cents per tree they plant.

i love it when chris comes to visit. his stories are always so lively. and he has finally found something that incorporates his love for the great outdoors. can't say i'm as hardcore as he is, but it makes me want to do something epic like that too. oh chris, you are too awesome for words.

p.s. chris is also planning to bike from BC to halifax after tree-planting. he calculated that it would take him 46 days.

6 - today my life begins

2009-05-26T21:10:00.004-04:00

hurrah! first day as a working man and making some legit money. i was quite anxious and nervous, considering i lack work experience and all, not to mention i was afraid i would get lost trying to find employee parking since i fully missed it the first time and had to pay for parking. just got to love my luck with parking haha.

anyway, work began at 10:45, got my uniform and such. i had to wear a hat and it was such a foreign feeling. i was being paranoid whether i was wearing my hat straight or not cause it was so new to me. by 11, i was learning to be a cashier. it was a fairly simple job but i still manage to screw up every once in awhile but supervisor was quite supportive.

just from a quick observation, i have to say my supervisor is quite the smart businessman. to increase speed of service, he would make sure all the prices would come out an amount you can pay with just quarters. there are no dimes, nickels, nor pennys involved. makes it easier for the customer, makes it easier for me, makes more money for him.

another fun thing about work is that his business is independently owned from the park. so in order to gain more money, he would show me how to cut corners to save even more money. it was actually quite amusing. for example, he said we shouldn't print receipts unless they ask us to because the paper they print receipts on is expensive.

but overall today i learned quite a bit. i know, it doesn't sound like a very intellectual job that requires an overwhelming supply of mind power but i have to say, i was new and i did like the work experience. the only bad thing about today was that it was rather chilly today so business was slow. thus, to entertain myself, i would text dimitri the number of LGs i would see from my stand. it got to the point where it was so slow that he let me off early. so my LG count only went up to 21 today. yes it was that chilly that i only counted 21 in 5 hours.

so yes, it was a wonderful first day. i can now stop feeling poor and being afraid to use my money thinking that it would run out any second. same time tomorrow and looking forward to it. today my life has definitely begun.

5 - future phase

2009-05-13T18:48:00.004-04:00

while getting my haircut today, i decided that when i finally shave my head, i'm going to go through a major hat phase. that's right, i'm going to make up for all those years of not wearing hats in order to prevent compromising the structural integrity of my beloved gelled hair.

so why cut it all off? because when you love something, you gradually learn to hate it and then the things you use to hate don't seem as horrible as they use to. that and i've always wanted to try out those awesome korean hats ever since my korean music phase.

4 - spontanous doodles

2009-05-12T01:46:00.006-04:00

if it captures your attention for even a little bit, doodle it.

3 - every second so slow, creativity so low

2009-05-06T17:08:00.012-04:00

lately, the days have been slow and unproductive. on dull days like these, i seem to be getting more and more uncreative. i can't seem to think of up of any new ideas or concepts to draw or write. but i had a lot of time on my hands and i eventually drew something that i've been doing a lot of lately and here it is:

so yes, not only am i playing dota to kill time, i'm also bored enough to draw it in my additional spare time. anyways, here are some random concepts with heroes in dota and certain certain gaming moments.

all and all, i think its safe for everyone to conclude that i desperately need a job.

2 - little bit of love

2009-05-04T00:41:00.006-04:00

pui yan was showing me some videos that the senior animators at her school were making. they are so well done, its amazing. this one video uses one of my favorite mika songs, so it automatically wins. make sure to check out her other stuff and the other ringling films she favourited.

1 - strange flaws

2009-04-28T17:00:00.008-04:00

the other day i thought it would be interesting to make up powerful characters with strange flaws. i just thought it would be hilarious how it would actually play out in a story. sadly, i ended up creating a character that greatly resembles me, so i just went with it and continue feeding him more of my strangeness. well, you know what they say, write what you know, so here he is.

meet dan. dan is a jolly fellow with super strength with some boxing background. so he can easily take down the average person with no problem. nothing too exciting. however, for some strange reason, dan believes the source of his super strength comes from his gelling his hair when in reality he's actually super strong to begin with. so ultimately, this psychological connection with his hair, gives birth to several other strange characteristics. for example, since his hair is the source of his strength, it is also becomes the source of his confidence. if his hair isn't gelled up and gets in his eyes, then self esteem just at an all time low. for the same reason, he also hates the rain.

dan also seems to be very bad at english. not only does he have a tendency to make up words, he also doesn't seem to be very good at spelling. and even if he use the correct words, he would use them in the incorrect part of speech. this means nouns are adjectives and verbs to him. to increase the severity of his english impairment, dan listens way too much to the korean rap trio, epik high, and it has made him unable to spell epic correctly anymore.

ie. dan named his left hook "epik left."

in the end to beat dan, you aim for his hair...or use incredibly big words to mess with his head.