Pickles n' Tickles by JJ

I've been doing up my work room. It's really nice to have a place just to organise all of my craft supplies and to abide in a clean, white space to stitch, write and dream. This little room used to have a glorious view before I left to Qatar in 2012. On the northeast is the Batu Caves, a temple that is a popular destination for Hindu devotees, local and foreign tourists. The Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers (KLCC), a landmark that I'm always in awe of, is on the northwest. Now, while I can still see the golden statue of Lord Murugan on my left, my view of the towers is slowly and steadily being usurped by a 42-storey condominium project. Well, I live on the 18th floor of a 19-storey building so you can imagine my frustration. All I see now are tower cranes, metallic scaffolding, concrete boxes of work in progress and tiny men in hats walking the newest floors, doing stuff. I'm hoping that they would leave the plot of greenery next to the construction site alone although I susp...

I was going bananas with this one. I had tried and tried to sketch a banana but after each attempt, it wasn't just working out. Who would have thought that making a banana to look like one would be so hard?! But it was. So I had to deviate from my original plan of having scattered bananas in its various states and forms covering 3/4 of the frame to having just one. The "go bananas' text was to be below all those randomly hovering bananas. The idea popped up after an evening of Genmaicha overdose. Roasted brown rice green tea has never affected me badly before because of its much lower caffeine content than a regular green tea. That day however, it was a different story. I don't know why, maybe I was just too tired, it was easier to OD from it. I had suffered all night long until I gained some semblance of calmness, having consumed a couple of bananas. My body was going bananas with caffeine and it took some bananas to bring me to normalcy.  Once done away with the...

IT'S September and I'm still fat. Slowing metabolism is one of the hardest things to handle, mentally more than anything, as we age. I'm trying to keep up with the long walks and the light to moderate weight-training in the gym but boy, it seems like this life is hell-bound on giving me tests, one after another. The bootcamp had to be stopped five weeks ago, as my Chronic Extertional Compartment Syndrome  had been causing me more pain and numbness with increased, very visible muscle herniations on the lower limbs. Next week, I'm back at a sports injury hospital here for a run test, to see if the pain which had gone up to the pelvic area from the lower leg is more than just CECS.  On the bright side, I'm keeping busy with projects that demand my full attention and concentration. I'm loving the embroidery stitching works that I've been doing. At the moment, I'm collecting small pieces of designs, inspired by the things and issues that are going on in...