Skye Soon
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One of the things I enjoy but don't do much in my life is art.

On one of my library trips, I came across a book called Ladies Drawing Night. It was a group of ladies who met regularly to do art together. One week they could be doing portraits, another week mixed media collage. Everyone had their own style and the products were always different and cool! I thought it was such a nice way to explore different medias and make art with friends. 

So I started chillartaclub (CAC) with my friend Ling hong!

CAC sounds like official sounding committee, does it not? lmao

So far we have been painting with acrylic, but we do plan to do digital painting and other media too! I bought two embroidery kits, and hopefully we get to play with mixed media collages and every type of art medium.

This is from our first session! We wanted to do these multi-coloured landscapes. 


I really struggled with my piece, and after something turned murky in my sky of orange, the darkness took over and I ended up with this piece I called 'Venom Bloom'. As the name suggests, it depicts a poisonous flower. Kind of dark and moody but wow it was very cathartic to paint this!

(If you don't see the bloom, it's fine. Some people see mountains or volcanoes)

'Tequila Sunset' by Ling hong! What a pretty and serene piece!

We also posted behind the scenes stuff on the IG.For some reason mine didn't upload and I lost the picture, but Linghong's side of the table is way neater (and cleaner) than mine. Haha! 


She painted a second piece that night! 'moon day'


During our second session, we decided to try galaxy / night skies. This time I mixed my own colours and was more cautious as I painted. Black is a very tricky colour and it can WRECK your painting. The trees aren't perfect but I quite like the colours! Using a toothbrush to make speckles was also great fun.


Titled 'Take me to the skies' because we were listening to BTS while painting.

Linghong on the other hand went wild with her canvas that week! Eventually she decided to scrap this piece so we made it a collab piece. I dabbed black paint and though the shadows looked like horses rearing, and hence the title 'night mares'. 


Here's her final piece on a new canvas! For her thoughts on composition, you'll have to ask the artist herself :P Titled 'Snow Return'. 


In other news,

chubbycat88 is kind of dead right now, but I have been doing some digital art here and there, mostly making wallpapers for friends and fam and practising drawing cute animals. I have loads of ideas but putting them into existence is much more difficult than I thought. Perspective is quite finnicky and I struggle with clean lines too. PLUS my other interests and actual work also demand my time. I feel like the guy from the movie Split where every personality wants some time in the limelight. 

Overall I just want to create some stuff this year in spite of work madness! Let's find joy in the chaos.

Cheers
Skye

Checked out this book on NLB Libby as my friend Chanel was reading it! It was just what I needed to ground myself in this hectic year.

Think Like a Monk - Jay Shetty

Here are some of my notes. For more detailed explanations, do check out the book on your own!

Life can be a constant bombardment of pressure.  (I enjoyed the illustrations!)

Values
  • Parents and caregivers are often our loudest fans and critics. p45
  • What we do with our spare time shows what we value.   p51 Time to do a self-check and see if you're being hypocritical. 

Many people will list 'loved ones' as their priority, but in actuality spend more time on work and other things. 



Negativity - we are bombarded with it, can you blame us if we channel some of it? We'll need to be conscious of what we let it and what we pass on too.



Unfortunately, upon reflection I find that I am all the types!  I can be a complainer, a canceller, a casualty, a commander, a competitor AND a controller. Oops, looks like I have loads to work on. 

Identify your fear!
  1. Loss of peace: a fear that bad things are going to happen
  2. Loss of love: a fear of not being loved
  3. Loss of understanding: a fear of being disrespected.
p149  Same time, different meaning

A woman works late at a job.  She hates it.
The same woman stays up late to plan a birthday party for her child. She finds it worth it. 
Same hours, but with different intention and purpose.
"When we live intentionally, with a clear sense of why what we do matters, life has meaning and brings fulfilment. Intention fills the car with gas.

Dharma
  • Living in your dharma is a certain route to fulfilment. 
  • Passion + Expertise + Usefulness = Dharma
  • You can't be anything you want. But you can be everything you are. 
  • Instead of focusing on our weaknesses, we lean into our strengths and look for ways to make them central in our lives. 
  • In order to unveil our dharma, we have to identify our passions. the activities we both love and are naturally inclined to do well. 
  • Instead of making a huge career change, you can try to look for opportunities to do what you love in the life you already have. 



There's also a quiz for you to find out your dharma profile. Here's just a snapshot of the four profiles.

The Leader : military, justice, politics. Directed by courage, strength, determination. May give up on change due to corruption and hypocrisy. May lose moral compass in drive for power. 
The Maker: social workers, therapists, artists, HR, musicians, coders, cooks. Depressed by failure. Driven by stability and security. 
The Creator : Great as sales, negotiation, persuasion. Highly driven by money, pleasure and success.
The Guide: Teachers, mentors, coaches. Value knowledge, wisdom, more than fame, power, money, security. Likes to work alone. Likes having space and time to reflect and learn. May not practice what they preach. 

The book offers more details! Can you guess which is my dharma profile?

You can also enlist your friends and family to help find out what your dharma is. 

E.g. "I love taking pictures."
  • because I like helping families put together a Christmas card that makes them proud (Guide)
  • because I like to document human struggles and promote change (Leader - wow, thinking of Brandon from HONY now.)
  • because I love the technical aspects of lighting, focus, film (Maker)
Keep an activity journal and ask yourself:
  • What did you like about an activity?
  • Are you good at it?
  • Do you want to read about it, learn about it, and spend a lot of your time doing it? 
  • Do you feel driven to improve?
There are no right or wrong answers. This is an observation exercise to amplify your awareness. Pg 223.

  • We will never live in an idyllic world where everyone constantly lives their dharma. p227
  • Dharma is passion in the service of others. Your passion is for you. Your purpose is for others. Your passion serves a purpose when you use it to serve others. Your dharma has to fill a need in the world. 


In one of the chapters Jay Shetty recommends a minute in bed after you wake up. Instead of reaching your phone, centre yourself and list things that you are grateful for. I tried it today - instead of scrolling through Instagram to wake my brain up, I thanked my bed, my blanket, good weather, good sleep and my home. Then I kind of snoozed again. 

Other chapters explore things like trust and types of people around you. Jay Shetty drives home the point that no one person can fulfil your every need of trust. 


  • When something doesn't go your way, say to yourself. There's more for me out there. 
  • Take care of yourself - yes. But don't wait until you have enough time and money to serve. You will never have enough.
  • "You don't need to do everything. Do what calls your heart; effective action comes from love. It is unstoppable, and it is enough." Joanna Macy

Reflection on your deathbed

Most common regrets of the dying:

  • I wish I told the people I care about that I love them.
  • I wish I hadn't worked so much.
  • I wish I'd taken more pleasure in life.
  • I wish I'd done more for other people.
Imagine how you'd like to be remembered at your own funeral. Don't focus on what people thought of you, who loved you, and how sad they will be to lose you. Instead, think about the impact you've had. Then imagine how you would be remembered if you died today. What's the gap between these two images? How can you bridge the gap?

With that, I'll end this post. This book was thought provoking for sure! I hope that if I keep the lessons in mind, I can be a better person. I also hope to find out more about my dharma and align it with my current lifestyle and job.

Feel free to drop me a line if you'll like to discuss this topic with me!

Love,
Skye


Hi my friends!

How have you all been? Sorry this blog has been so inactive. I even missed doing the Feb wrap up and I can't remember much of the month already, oops.

Had a health scare and I have been taking it easy... mentally and physically. As I age, I find that I should definitely pay more attention to my lifestyle and what I eat. (As I type this at 12.30am, there is an empty bowl of instant noodles on my table. Guess I need to put more weight behind my words.)

♡ I've done a deeper decluttering too! Replaced and got rid of some old or faulty items that I own. 

♡ Tried out embroidery with a complex looking scene. I guess I have a penchant for diving into the deep end. I don't promise any results though. 

What I bought: 


How it's going:

French knots are so cute. I didn't know that the ink would fade in water and was trying a no-iron hack to get the creases out. Oops.


♡ Finally cleared Unit 1 of Bahasa Indonesia on Duolingo! *Applause*  Saya mau berhasil.

♡ Short notes and thoughts on some movies and shows I've enjoyed! 

Chaotic but beautiful.

  • Paprika (2006) 
    I've been wanting to watch this, but online versions usually offer the dubbed and I refuse to listen to that. Luckily, Netflix comes to the rescue! Man, this was a real trippy experience, and delightfully creepy. I love the crazy layers, imagination, illustrations and nuances in it. Fun fact: Paprika inspired one of the scenes in Inception! 

  • Raya and the Last Dragon
    This movie was super hyped, what with it being the first SEA disney princess. I thought the movie explored a trickier theme of uniting a broken nation, duty, family, and trust among peoples. It's a refreshing change from having a princess fixated on a love interest (earlier disney princess movies). Raya herself comes across as very broken and angsty to me. I don't know if she really felt healed. :x They definitely gave her less of the usual prance-y princess sheen and more of a harsher and more realistic tone. Interesting though not immediately likable. It was also a pleasant surprise when I heard Jhene Aiko for the credits! Her sound is so perfect for the soundtrack. Niki's on the soundtrack too! There were lots of dope music moments. For example, check out this badass track.

    Official Concept Art from Disney

  • Soul
    Guess this movie hits adults more than children?  It definitely sucks when you finally arrive at your goal, but things are not what you envisioned. If you get stuck there, that's when you become disillusioned and jaded. Watched at 2x the speed because this was a 2h movie!


  • Wandavision
    Didn't want to watch this at first, until I decided to click on it while browsing my friend's Disney+ on her new TV screen! The vintage TV format definitely surprised me and kept me intrigued. Never really cared much about Wanda or Vision, but it's so nice to be back in the MCU! 


  • Moxie
    Moxie received very poor reviews, but I think it will be an important movie in hindsight. It captures the #MeToo campaign, what women face from youth, and most importantly, serves to encourage and offer hope and inspiration for anyone who is struggling. Power in the people! Also, it has a cute cast (Lauren from Terrace House our bby, and Nico Hiraga was such a cool guy! Even he was shocked that the main male lead was Asian and not white!!!)


  • Space Sweepers
    Guardians of the Galaxy but make it Netflix and Asian. We watched it at 1.5x or 2x speed again, haha. 


♡ I am also still on my daily exercise regimen, although I missed two days for recuperation. Been mostly cycling and working out, plus running once a week.

♡ Chanced upon this awesome Spotify playlist of K-Hip Hop. Hip hop really comes across as honest at times. It makes singing feel too polished and postured. 

♡ Kiddo gave me a chocolate. Yes, I'm going to start recording small moments of joy and other minutiae in the blog. Shifting away from that 'lifestyle magazine' focus once again.

♡ Some videos I've come across:

The gentle giant, the blue whale, being devoured by 75 killer whales, or shall we say whale killers?! This is only the third time this behaviour has been caught on camera. Killer whales are actually part of the dolphin family, though its size is nearer to that of a whale. 


This performance of Never Enough by Loren Allred is so inspiring!!! Beautiful notes and amazing range and stability. INSANE!! She makes it look so effortless.

 

It's really nice to have a content dump on my blog. Feels like the old days. I know content creation has shifted to platforms like Dayre,  Instagram/IGS and even in a video format, but damn, I really like typing away at my computer. It gives me life. Plus, there seems to be less stress when there are less eyeballs here. A false sense of quietness on the Internet. I'll update more often!

Till next time! Hope you guys are doing ok. 

Love,
Skye

P.S. Subscribe to my posts by email here ♡ 

Heya!

I thought I should update you on the Microgreens progress!

Here's what they looked like after 3 days of blackout (meaning the box is covered. This is to encourage the seedlings to grow taller.)

Looks kind of gross at the start aye? Haha! Looks like taugay!


The white things are not fungus, they're lil hairy roots! Haha. 



Looking fresh and green! This was only half of my seed pack. 

I started to add them into my banana smoothies...

On my eggs...

On my leftover pizza...

With my croissants...

Microgreens are a great way for me to incorporate some vegetables in my diet! Adding them into smoothies is such a cheat way to up my daily intake of veggies. Not to mention, they are also super cute. With the (sustainable) coco husk as the base, it's also less messy as compared to planting with soil! Loving it. Never thought they would be such a joy to have around.

If you're keen you can check out the UrbanSproutz website! I'm not sponsored, so no affiliate link lol. Enjoy! 

Cheerios!

Skye

Finally got my grubby hands on this ebook after being on the NLB waitlist since Nov 2020! Here are some of my favourite excerpts. 




Moral conscience

"You know, Barry," she said, "there are people in the world who think only abuot themselves. They don't care what happens to other people so long as they get what they want. They put other people down to make themselves feel important. "

"Then there are people who do the opposite, who are able to imagine how others must feel, and make sure that they don't do things that hurt people. So, which kind of person do you want to be?" - Obama's mother, Ann Dunham Pg35

Obama's youth

I was "not a budding leader but rather a lackadaisical student, a passionate basketball player of limited talent, and an incessant, dedicated partyer. No student government for me; no Eagle Scouts or interning at the local congressman's office. Through high school, my friends and I didn't discuss much beyond sports, girls, music, and plans for getting loaded.  Pg 38

Personal awakening

"For three years in New York, holed up in a series of dilapidated apartments, largely shorn of old friends and bad habits, I lived like a monk - reading, writing, filling up journals, rarely bothering with college parties or even eating hot meals. I got lost in my head, preoccupied with questions that seemed to layer themselves one over the next. What made some movements succeed where others have failed? Was it a sign of success when portions of a cause were absorbed by conventional politics, or was it a sign that the cause had been hijacked? When was compromise acceptable and when was it selling out,  and how did one know the difference? Oh, how earnest I was then - how fierce and humorless. " Pg 45

Purposefulness

"I took it upon myself to purge some softness with a regimen of self-improvement that I've never entirely shed. (Michelle and the girls point out that to this day I can't get into the pool or the ocean without feeling compelled to swim laps. 'Why don't you just wade?' they'll say with a snicker. 'It's fun. Here... we'll show you how...) I made lists. I started working out, going for runs around the Central Park Reservoir or along the East River and eating cans of tuna fish and hard boiled eggs for fuel. I stripped myself of excess belongings - who needs more than five shirts?"

Haha, who would have thought Obama was an essentialist/ miminalist? Haha. Thought he was a Virgo for a sec but he's a Leo with a rising sign of Aquarius. Haha!

Inspire

"The power to inspire is rare. Moments like this is rare. You think you may not be ready, that you'll do it at a more convenient time. But you don't choose the time. The time chooses you. Either you seize what may turn out to be the only chance you have, or you decide you're willing to live with the knowledge that the chance has passsed you by." Ted Kennedy

He's got the grumps

Obama describes the grind behind getting elected. It really takes a toll!

"Are you having any fun?"' he asked.

"No," I said.

"Anything we can do to make this more fun?"

"No."

Lmao.

Small but powerful

"The makeup of our donor base was shifting.Small donations in ten, twenty or hundred dollar increments started pouring in, from college students who pledged their Starbucks budget or grandmas who'd taken up a sewing circle collection. 

This is not all up to you, these donations told us. We are here, on the ground, millions of us scattered across the country - and we believe. we are all in. " Pg 202 This was so moving!

Funny billboard ideas

(TIME FO CHANGE... LET'S SHIFT GEARS... VOTE 4 THE GUY... WITH BIG EARS... OBAMA 08) Pg 208

Doubts

"There were reports that I had been schooled in an Indonesian madrassa, which gained enough traction that a CNN correspondent actually travelled to my old elementary school in Jakarta, where he found a bunch of kids wearing Western-style uniforms and listening to New Kids on the Block on their iPods." Pg 283

Renegade on the move

Obama's security code name was Renegade, assigned to him even though he was just a candidate. This was not the norm, but the number of threats directed his way exceeded anything the Secret Service had ever seen before. Pg 293 

A renegade is someone who is a deserter, or someone who rejects conventional behaviour.

"Renegade to Secondary Hold", whic was their discreet way of saying I was going to the bathroom. Pg 519

Jerusalem

Obama wrote a prayer on a piece of paper and pushed it deep into a crevice into the wall, as per custom. "I had assumed those words were between me and God. But the next day the showed up in an Israeli newspaper. Apparently a bystander dug my scrap of paper out of the wall after we left." Pg 340

Charms

Over the course of the campaign, Obama received many good luck charms from his supporters.

"My assortment of charms grew steadily: a miniature Buddha, an Ohio buckeye, a laminated four-leaf clover, a tiny bronze likeness of Hanuman the monkey god, all manners of angels, rosary beads, crystals, and rocks. Each morning, I made a habit of choosing five or six of them and putting them in my pocket, half consciously keeping track of which ones I had with me on a particularly good day." Pg 402

Get Ready Songs

"Ultimately, it was rap that got my head in the right place, two songs especially. Jay-Z's My 1st Song, and Eminem's Lose Yourself.  Pg 403

Manic energy

What Sarkozy lacked in ideological consistency, he made up for in boldness, charm, and manic energy.  Pg 688

Singapore and ASEAN

"In a sense, Singapore remained exceptional. Most of the other ASEAN countries still struggled with varying levels of entrenched poverty, just as their commitment to democracy and the rule of law remained wildly uneven. One thing they seemed to have in common, though, was a shift in how they imagined themselves. The people I talked to - whether heads of state, businesspeople, or human rights activists - remained respectful of American power. But they no longer viewed the West as the centre of the world, with their own countries inalterably cast as bit players. Instead, they considered themselves at least equal to their former colonisers, their dreams for their people no longer capped by geography or race. " Pg 975

End thoughts

It's not every day you get to pick a President's brain! A fine read. As much as the official work he has to tackle every day was good to know, my favourite parts of the books were when he shares his personal stories. It's also fun to see how official figures are like, and what Obama's impressions of them were. Obama also mentions how Michelle's own life has taken a huge swerve, but that is explored in Michelle's book, Becoming, which I also highly recommend! 

There's lots to learn from them and I am inspired by their courage to stand up for the things they believe in. Their tenacity is amazing. Hats off. 

Hey guys!

How have you been? It's been a really long time since I had time to update the blog. 2021 has been going at a crazy pace for me.

I received 2 starter kits from UrbanSproutz as part of their Instagram giveaway!

There are seed packets and coconut husk beds for you to plant your microgreens!

I received the Broccoli seed packet! 


My second seed packet is called 'Love and Kisses'.


Not too sure what 'Love and Kisses' taste like as vegetables?

This is the Coco bed! I soaked it and sprinkled seeds on top.



Will update on progress! The seeds are now going through the 'blackout' process where they germinate. Can't wait to see them!

Love,
 Skye


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Skye Soon : lifestyle blogger in Singapore, street busker and enthusiast of chocolates and books

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