Thursday, June 28, 2007

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

BLOGSKINS

Here's how I go about doing my blogskin and some others. Basically, I rarely did the codes because they are so confusing and all I did was to use the codes of some layouts, edit it entirely, make a new theme and credit the person whom I took the codes from after I'm done.

You won't believe how this current skin looked like originally before I did the stuff cos' its entirely different. But still, there's the persistent need to credit or personally write an email of thanks to the user who provided you the codes. It's all good practice.

To kick start the whole thing, go to Blogskins.com and select a layout that you want. The feel it gives doesn't have to be nice or desirable in this case becos' you're going to change it after all. All you have to do is to make sure that the orientation of the navigations and actual blog is what you want.

For beginners, I won't recommend layouts that have got the 'clicking' stuff. This is an example of layout that has what I meant by 'clicking' :

http://blogskins.com/info/143942

Instead, choose a layout that has got everything on a single page, like mine. Save the layout and open it. Scroll thru' to find the URL of the image and background used - normally it looks like eg. http://.......jpg/. Copy and paste the URL and save the image and the background. You will need the dimensions.

Then by using Adobe Photoshop (7 is good enough), create your own theme in the dimensions obtained from the saved image and background. Try to stick to the dimensions for the first time but no worries, the time will come whereby you can do what you like if you gain experience. After you've done it, save the new image and background and then upload it to image servers like photobucket (lagging recently) or imageshack.

Replace the URL in the notepad with the new url and preview your layout. Obviously there will be color clash with the original color of the fonts, the color (#) of the bigger background, etc. So what you need to do now is to coordinate the colors by changing it. Use the eyedropper tool in Adobe Photoshop to choose your colors and simply copy and past the color code.

It's pretty much trial and error until you get what you want. Dimensions can also be altered and they are reflected as a number followed by a px. Change the number bit by bit and voila, you will get what you want.

Save your new template and you're done.

Changing the codes are not the difficult part, creating a new image is. Basically, you can't rush when you're learning PS. The pieces I did when I first started learning are hideous so you need time. It's not a thing that can be mastered a day or two, you need lots of time especially when you learn on your own. I'm on it two years and I still weren't very adept at it.

You have to explore each and every function of PS on your own, think out of the box and never give up no matter how abstract PS is. PS is one of the hardest to master if you want to acheive a fine balance of contrast, saturation and dreaminess. Some of my cyber pals are good and their pieces can make you go 'wow'.

It's all about manipulating the original images to achieve what you want. So the first thing to learn is the fundamentals.

To help, here are two webbies that are useful.

http://www.good-tutorials.com/ (I learn most of my stuff here)
http://www.gettyimages.com/ (It isn't too bad a source for images)

Of course, there are a lot of non-profit organisation out there that's not so well known but equally excellent. Like Hybrid Genesis, some communities at livejournal etc. The people there inspire you to be like them cos' their digital art just have the ability to make you speechless. And well, most of them are helpful.

Oh ya, before I forget, brushes can be very useful so download and install them in your PS. New fonts can be downloaded at Dafont.com and be used in PS and surprisingly, Microsoft Word. However, I won't recommend the use of textures at this early stage because using them can be tricky and make your originally acceptable image go horribly wrong. Though when used correctly, textures have a very big potential to make your image exceptionally beautiful.

Lastly, the keywords here are 'Determination', 'Practice', 'Non-complacency' and 'Inspiration'.

Good Luck. =)

Thursday, June 21, 2007

I've been MIA for a very very long while... You see... I just don't have that proclivity during the termbreak.

I'm in one of my brooding moods again, thinking endlessly about LIFE but not finding any answers as usual. Today, I realised why I prefer to stay away from big crowds and be at home, buried under books, ranging from fiction to non-fiction to, don't laugh, dictionaries. Books provide me with that kind of honesty reality can never offer. Faith is lost through those little aspects of life everyday but more is lost when I'm exposed to fakeness that always happen when I stepped out of the house.

The first week of the term break was rather relaxing except for monday, whereby clearing my room alone took up more than 9 hours. I spent the week like a housewife literally - Baking cookies, making sushi, experimenting omelettes, vacuuming, doing the laundry and mopping the floor. If it's something you want to do, then no matter how dull it looks, you'll still enjoy it.

Basically, I very much stayed at home during the first week, leaving only for NTUC or Granny's house. The weekends were very much packed with reading and doing the puzzle challenge book. At the same time, the weekends summed up to family time.

That explains why I very much love the first week.

Doubts came in this week, the second, and I thought some people weren't very honest with me. Maybe I'm just oversensitive though not without proof. I don't know why but the right interaction between humans is such a profound subject and I'm still at the beginner's level even though I've lived for more than 17 years. It seemed that I was at the intermediate's level six years ago.

So what does this mean?

It simply means that the older you grow, the harder it is for you to be communicating correctly with people around you, strangers or even long-time friends. We see things with simplicity when we were much younger but as we grow, even the simplest actions/words look as if they are shrouded with doubt, as if there more complications behind.

And all I want is just a SIMPLE SIMPLE life. You know, just graduate, find a job that pays me enough to feed me and my family, maybe get married to a husband who isn't too clever or too handsome, have a couple of kids, watch them grow and marry, then have grandchildren and then into the coffin.

What a simple dream this is...

Okay I'll stop crapping, I need to watch my HK drama before my sis wants to sleep.

And btw liwei, watch out for the next post yah. I will try to give an overview on blogskins.

Friday, June 08, 2007

I don't need everybody to be pleased with me. I just want people that I care for to be happy, even when I'm not.

Life is, and always will be, the greatest irony. It now seems like Term-test was just a pre-test for the problems that are about to come. The grueling week, or so I thought, ended today but this very day, my mother told me things that made me disappointed and sad.

Everytime I thought that peace has returned, something more drastic than the previous episode will happen and you realise that you're back at the starting point, again. Humans always hurt humans with their tongue and wounds caused by your own species never really healed. But I know it doesn't hurt to be optimistic and brush others' negative criticisms like a speck of dust.

I want the old family back, the one that exist in those days when my uncle was still alive. Let the doubts go, let the trust refill and let the pieces fall back to their place. Where has it gone to now?

My grandmother disliked Christians in the past but now she hated them, and I happen to believe in Christ. Truth be told, 5 out of her 6 grandchildren are Christians. She didn't seem to mind it as much when my uncle was around but now, it's a different story.

I know, most people expect Christians to have the 'model' character but they forget that Christians are humans and humans do err.


So now my grandmother will always, intentionally or not, criticize the Christians in front of us and vocally express her displeasure in the ways Christians do they stuff. Unfortunately, my biggest aunt and my mother are always bearing the brunt of such comments, especially the former. She would go on saying that when she dies, no one will be there to hold the joss sticks for her except for my one cousin. Even though I love her so much that no words could ever express, I've to admit that she can be stubborn as ox sometimes.

We gave in to her because we know she's suffering the most from my uncle's unexpected death. My mum once cried from my grandmother's lack of understanding and I think my big auntie had given up. There were also a few times where I broke down from the pressure and released my pent up emotions.


I know my grandmother do care about our welfare, just that there are times she take certain things for granted. You know that she do care despite all the nasty stuff she had said. My grandmother doted me the most, so I tolerated because it's not easy to have your son gone before you.

I just want her to realise that no matter what we believe in, we still care for her and that we will do best to provide for her when she's alive. I don't want her to worry if her grandchildren will be there to pay respect to her in the Buddist way after she die. She's old and that's the reason why she should be optimistic.


And my grandfather was summoned to court today for conflicts with a policeman. He's about to be 70 year-old and what makes you think that a frail old man can withstand the harsh conditions in jail? Besides, it's not even his fault. I love my grandfather too, a lot and I don't want him to suffer.

My heart always ached with guilt and disappointment (in myself) when I see him. I want to have a nice long conversation with him, play chess with him, give him some money since I'm earning to show that I care. He doted on me and I thought it's time to do back the same. My grandmother seems to forget that he too, has lost a son so she tend to vent her frustration on him. Sometimes he gave in, sometimes he retaliated but there were also times when he was the one that started the quarrel.


So I do my best to be cheerful around them, hoping that somehow they can get affected. But seriously, I'm getting a lil' tired.

Suddenly the amount of workload in school weighs significantly lesser than all this shit. I will happily take the former if all these problems go away. School is becoming a place to relax, I think. I have a dual personality - I behave rather differently in school and at home. That's why I guess I seldom let what happens at home to affect how I perform in school.

Right now, I just need that bit of courage to move forward. I'm beginning to feel stressed when I go to my grandmother's house, the place where I grew up in.


The thing I am very glad about is that my parents don't really care about how the inheritance of the grandma's house goes. They don't even care if they don't get a single cent. The inheritance issue - Another problem that's ongoing.

Monday, June 04, 2007

There are so many lessons in life and I have yet gone thru' half of them:

I have to learn my MGEN notes.

I have to learn the notes for the papers after MGEN.

I have to learn the rest of the subjects lining up all the way to year 3.

I have to learn how to get along with people.

I have to learn what tolerance is all about.

I have to learn how to open my heart so I won't feel that nobody understands me.

I have to learn how to trust others totally.

I have to learn how to smile when I'm crying inside.

I have to learn how to see the light when darkness lies ahead.

I have to learn how to pick myself up no matter how hard I fall.

I have to learn.