ingridmak.net

Time for some peeeeeeektures !

Introducing the current love of my life…

Answer : Bagel ! Fine, he’s not mine but the boyfriend‘s…hur

Favourite thing to do ?

Answer : Spending time with the love(s) of my life =)

Craving for IKEA meatballs ?

Answer : Who needs to go all the way to IKEA when the awesomest boyfriend surprises you by secretly buying it home, cooks and satisfy your craving ! xoxo  *blissful pampered girlfriend grin* =)))

Best (and usual) way to spend your Sunday afternoons in SMU ?

Answer : Mugging in the SMUBE studio with the best bunch of friends ! (It’s only fun when you do it with the SMUBE people *ahems*)

Wondering where’s the best place to let your kids roam free ?

Answer : If Botanic Garden is for the dogs, then Changi Airport Terminal 3 it is !

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Feeling alil guilty for the lack of regular updates ever since school started 2 weeks ago…so some visual “treats” for you =)

Tags: Bagel, botanic garden, boyfriend, changi airport, dogs, ikea, meatballs, mugging, smu, SMUBE, terminal 3

Idealism and Illusion

There’s always the ideal relationship which is based on our own expectations, experiences and perceptions. The relationship that we’re currently in has its own set of conditions which then provides a context for these expectations and makes each relationship unique. These relationships have always been “ideal” until they bump into the reality of it that we get into troubles. Troubles in a subtle sense of insecurity or uncertainty or inexplicably feeling awkward at random occasions. And when you let the ideal of  your relationship overshadow the reality – you are lost in your own illusion.

Sometimes you are afraid of losing – losing the familiarity, losing the “love of your life”, losing to yourself for believing in something you thought was “right”. As devastating as it seems, you may have failed to notice something that’s amiss in your relationship and running away from reality instead of confronting it. Romantic illusions are deceptive/seductive but molding yourself or your partner to someone they are not in order to create an ideal relationship is not the foundation of what a true lasting committed relationship is based upon.

Most of the time, you just have to work out the differences together and compromise while accepting he/she for someone you fell in love with in the first place.  If allowances are given to adjust, most of the time I think couples do become stronger under duress and the relationship would most usually endure. However, if problems are failed to be addressed, it’ll just lead to even bigger issues in the future and it gets even more destructive. Regardless how perfect a relationship may first appear to be, it’s usually just a flawed illusion that can be easily destroyed. Those “Happily Ever After” are woven illusions with defects that are never mentioned, sometimes such idealism may just sabotage your life.

Optimists should continue to hope otherwise. Hur.

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What do I love about my relationship is -  as much as it appeared to be perfect from the start, we do have our hiccups along the way and I dare say it was not exactly smooth transitions during the past 8 months either since we are almost opposite individuals with rather different thinking/value systems. One thing I’ve learnt is that a relationship is not just 2 people being in love but helping each other to grow and discover the good in themselves while not ignoring and letting the worse gets by.  You don’t mold yourself to become someone you’re not but to someone better in general – there is a difference.

Just want to say “Thank You” to the boyfriend for sticking together through the good and bad, happy and sad times.

Tags: boyfriend, conditions, differences, expectations, experiences, happily ever after, Idealism, Illusion, losing, Love, love of your life, optimists, perceptions, reality, relationship, romantic, troubles

Local Talent ? We Want You !

I’m currently doing a show call “Out of Order” with my co-host Rachel on SMU Campus Radio which is aired every Friday 7-8pm (Sadly, I think VPN is required to tune in to us..unless someone wants to sponsor for our broadcast license ? haha)

Basically we have 4 main segments in the show whereby we feature what’s happening or cool events in Singapore that students can check out over the weekend, geeky gadgets or sites to browse through, random facts and jokes and of course the main highlight is our Myspace artiste of the week.

Similarly to what I’ve been doing on my blog, we feature a local/myspace artiste each week. I’ve been doing interviews for the past 3 radio shows and this term will not be any different !In fact, we’re kicking things off with the Pervy Boy soon !

So if you know of any (or if you are !) local talent/artiste…do drop me a msg ! Or email to ingridmak [at] gmail [dot] com !

Tags: artiste of the week, broadcast, local talent, myspace, out of order, pervy boy, segments, singapore, smu campus radio, SMUBE

AOTW [12] : Quebec Antique

I have just started school this week and woah, it has been a crazy start to my 3rd year in university ! (Ok, just an excuse for the lack of entries..I’m honest!)

To start things off on the right track again, here is this week’s Artist of the Week featuring Quebec Antique ! They are a pretty newly formed ambient electronic band who pretty much reminds me of The Postal Service alot.“The Abbey Tapes” is the debut effort of British born musician Andy Dollerson and Canadian singer/instrumentalist/songwriter Michael Blake. Fantastic dualism !

Some of you might have heard of them from thesixtyone.com (which is a really cool website that features alot of indie music by the way – will blog about it next time!) So far my favourite track is “Almost had you” – what about yours ?

Tags: almost had you, ambient, aotw, debut, electronic band, indie, Music, postal service, quebec antique, the abbey tapes, thesixtyone

AOTW [11] : Zee Avi

Says who regional artists aint good enough ? This Malaysian girl, Zee Avi is same age as I am (23) and her voice really blew me away.  Especially when I find her lyrics really reflecting the reality of how romance is like in today’s society,, just alil dark as compared to the usual love songs.

I like her music because it is so catchy ! She sings,she writes,she plays the guitar and ukulele, how talented !  (I am dying to learn how to play the ukulele actually,really cute!) I feel like I’ve been wasting the past 22 years in my life!

Worth mentioning is that she was discovered on myspace and now signed to a label, just like that !

“One email came from Ian Montone, who had been shown the YouTube clip by Raconteurs’ drummer, Patrick Keeler, prompting Montone to get in touch and offer to release her music on the Monotone Label.”

Amazing how the social networking platforms such as myspace gives you the opportunity to discover your dreams !

I wanted to post her official video of “Bitter Heart” but copyright issues on youtube etc (buggers!), so here’s her recent TV debut on “Last Call with Carson Daly “ in US !

Bitter Heart – Zee Avi

Sun rays come down as seen when they hit the ground,
Children spinning around till they fall down down down.
I wait for you: it’s been two hours now,
You’re still somewhere in town,
Your dinners getting cold.
I rest my case you are always this late,
And you know how much I hate waiting around ’round ’round,
Bitter heart, bitter heart tries to keep it all inside,
Bitter heart, bitter heart shadows will help you try to hide,
Bitter heart, my bitter heart is gettin’ just a little fragile,
Bitter heart, bitter heart of mine.
And then you come and tell me the same reason as you did yesterday,
So tell me whats her name.
Doo doo da dum, doo doo da dum, doo doo doo doo doo doo da da dum dum, da da da da dum, da da da da dum, da da da da dum.
Bitter heart, bitter heart tries to keep it all inside
Bitter heart, bitter heart shadows will help you try to hide,
Bitter heart, my bitter heart is just getting a little fragile,
Bitter heart, bitter heart of mine, of mine, of mine, of mine, of mine, of mine.

Tags: bitter heart, copyright, guitar, ian montone, label, Last Call with Carson Daly, lyrics, malaysian, monotone label, myspace, patrick keeler, raconteurs, reality, regional, romance, social networking, society, tv debut, ukulele, zee avi

What’s Your City Of Dreams ?

Thanks to Amelia from Waggener Edstrom for the invite, I was at the spanking new mall Ion Orchard on Friday night for HP’s City of Dreams Blogger event. This is part of HP Digital Festival by the way, happening all the way till 13th August at Ion Orchard Basement 4 !

HP has always been part of my “design life” in a way since most of my internship work was for HP various projects, so it’s no surprise that HP is heavily involved with the arts and design. I’m quite happy that HP is taking the lead to produce work stations that are specially designed for designers/artists. Sure, Apple may still be more commonly found as the love of all design addicts but it is still easier to switch from softwares to softwares on a PC and once in awhile, you meet clients who do not know how to deal with MAC formats (which honestly, I don’t find it a problem till I met some people who really just don’t get it.)

Anyways, the event was pretty fun ! We sat through the prize presentation for the winning digital arts & animations from ‘HP Lightropolis’ competition. Then we were caught by surprise when we were divided into groups for a small design challenge ! (Thank God that my “artistically inclined” boyfriend isn’t on the same team..HAHA!) I have to comment on the HP workstations, perhaps it was because there were no other running applications, but the computers were really fast – even when we opened like 30+ vector graphics all at one go. I’d probably get the “blue screen of death” if I tried to do that at home ! Winning the challenge with our random-chunk-everything-together-and-change-color-”masterpiece” was a bonus for me and the 2 girls on my team that night ! (Though I wish it was a netbook or the workstation that I carried home instead, teehee!) Oh, we got to take pictures with Ben 10 too ! I’m sad that I didn’t manage to find out whether it was a guy behind the female character’s costume !

At the end of the day, I think it was not about winning the challenge or the workstations but how companies are taking a lead in encouraging the Arts scene in Singapore. I really appreciate how some organizations are putting in the effort and not just looking at making profits because one thing for sure, consumers are smarter than before. It’s not just about the price but how a brand leaves an impact on them or the society as a whole. At least for me, that’s the case. So 2 thumbs up for the HP people and of course thank you to the organizers+team behind this event ! (Just that I’d prefer to have less surprises or guess-what-will-be-coming-up-next in the future..haha!)

And what’s my city of dreams ? It’s white because it’s blank ! =P

note: can’t seem to get the pictures up from my cam..will try again tomorrow!

Tags: animations, apple, arts, blogger event, blue screen of death, challenge, city of dreams, competition, Design, digital arts, HP, hp digital festival, internship, ion orchard, lightropolis, mac, waggener edstrom, workstation

AOTW [10] : Chase Coy

Meant to blog more this week but had to do some late-springcleaning at home before school starts in a week or so. Here’s artiste of the week – Chase Coy ! (You can find him on twitter @chasecoy)

Another teen with lovely voice and looking really cute on his myspace photos (I can’t help noticing,haha!) Love how he writes and record his own music even though the songs are rather short. I think his lyrics is able to relate to most teens as well. I personally like “Lullaby”, “Take Me Away” and “The Second That You Say” (which was quite Never Shout Never feel).  Try “I NeedThis More Than You Know” if you prefer something more fast-paced.

This was the first song that caught my attention though, nothing beats sweet lyrics with a cute boyish voice.

A Lovely Sound – Chase Coy

Over fall break you’re coming down to see me
I know that the distance doesn’t make this easy
But when we come together it makes such a lovely sound
And that’s why I’d give anything I have to work this out

And everything I ever did didn’t matter up till now
You make life worth while like you’ve completed me somehow
And when we come together it makes such a lovely sound
That’s why I’d give anything I have to work this out.

For the first time in my life
I know that I’m in love
I could write a thousand songs about you
They would never be enough
But when we come together it makes such a lovely sound
That’s why I’d give anything I have to work this out.

Tags: a lovely sound, aotw, boyish voice, chase coy, i need this more than you know, lullaby, lyrics, myspace, never shout never, take me away, the second that you say, twitter