Crowning Glory

Not a lot of people know I draw. Well that's because I haven't had my Graphic Tablet then. All of my works are in some mulched paper tucked away somewhere. So it was seldom seen in public. But here I am, armed with a Graphic Tablet and brimming with creativity and here are a few of my recent works. :D (Yes, I have a thing for girls and their hairs).

Wear Your Colors Compilation.

Sky.

Sakura.

Midori.

Hide and See Compilation.

Cherry.

Mint.

Ocean..

Paint Tool SAI Reset Tutorial

UPDATED TUTORIAL (2/19/2013):

Hello Dear Reader! It came to my attention that when you google, Paint Tool SAI reset tutorial, my entry is a first hit. So, that's gotta mean something. Also, I've noticed a spike in my view counts, always referring to my SAI reset tutorial. So this means, there are those who reads my blog. Well, I'm just GORRAM happy about that.

Even so, I think you guys deserve a visual presentation. So I print-screened the step-by-step procedure and I pray to the gods that this might be more effective. If not, then you just try other blogs out there and even Youtube tutorials if tutorials like this are too-wordy for you. There are a lot of tutorials out there each have their way of doing the reseting. I've encountered tutorials that requires opening a certain word document for the program destination and others just about as complicated. But since, this is the one that works for me, this is the one that I'm gonna share to you guys. I hope you like this~! ***Click the pictures for better viewing.

OH MY GLOOOOBBBB~!
You think your life is over and you scramble the net to download another SAI program to install.
Well, don't fret! I come to save your world!
I'm The Doctor! So, Allons-y!

Here's a fool-proof Paint Tool SAI Reset Tutorial for those who once panicked for an unsaved masterpiece due to trial version expiration. Trust me, these are very simple rules, you can do it easily. I got the tutorial from Chaotic Casino and I'm attaching his link here, just in case mine doesn't work. (You can also view his comments on how to solve certain stuff if you have the same questions relating to SAI reseting). And I know you found this tutorial because you don't want to go buying a certain code that you don't know if it works.

Okay, preparations before you do the victory dance:
~~> Transfer all your SAI projects in a USB/External Hard Drive for a while. Don't have one? Beg, Steal or Borrow. It is best if you keep all your SAI projects in one folder destination to avoid hunting them all down when doing this. Trust me, I had to go through all my folders just to find that one .sai project.
~~> Empty also your Recycle Bin for SAI projects. The ones you've thrown away coz your works are ugly, which are, let's be honest, quite a lot.

Now for the magical step by step procedure. (Most of the instructions came from Chaotic Casino, I sorta tweaked some of it due to my own reseting experience. I'm using a Windows 7 Ultimate.)

1. GO TO WINDOWS START-UP PANEL > CONTROL PANEL > FOLDER OPTIONS > CLICK VIEW > UN-TICK (NO CHECK IN THE BOX) 'HIDE PROTECTED OPERATING SYSTEM FILES (RECOMMENDED) > EXIT. This would let you see your systems' hidden folders.

Yes, yes, I know. Serenity.

Folder Options! That one that looks like a folder! Click it!

A wild window appears. Click the VIEW tab. Scroll down till your see  HIDE PROTECTED OPERATING SYSTEM FILES (RECOMMENDED) - do not check the box. EXIT.

2. GO TO COMPUTER > LOCAL DISK > PROGRAM DATA (WILL APPEAR AS A TRANSPARENT FOLDER) > SYSTEMAX SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOLDER.

Yes, Serenity Again. 

Click LOCAL DISK (or depending where you installed your program).
You gotta imagine, I got no partition. So if all hell breaks lose. I'll die.  

Click the PROGRAMDATA (appearing as a transparent folder) That's why you gotta untick the Recommended thingy a while ago so you could see ProgramData because it is hidden.

Click the SYSTEMAX SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT folder. 

3. Now, here's where it gets a little bit complicated. CLICK SAI FOLDER > DELETE THE 'NOTREMOVEME.SSD' It will appear as a transparent folder. Then CLICK THUMBNAIL FOLDER, delete all the .SSD files. AFTER DELETING THEM, DELETE THEM AGAIN IN THE RECYCLE BIN.

Click the SAI folder.

Delete NOTREMOVEME.SSD - HA! You are a Cybermen. You DELETE stuff. Click also the THUMBNAIL folder and delete the .SSD files.  Only the vlc-looking button should remain, aka the thumbnail icon.
NOW, DELETE ALL YOU'VE DELETED IN YOUR RECYCLE BIN. 

4. DELETED THE DELETED FILES? GOOD. GO TO PAINT TOOL SAI PROGRAM ON START-UP  > RIGHT CLICK SAI, RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR > POP-UP WILL APPEAR, CLICK YES > THEN ANOTHER POP UP, CLICK OK.

Nice Icons, eh?
RIGHT CLICK SAI Program > RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR > POP-UP will appear (Not Printscreen-able, sorry), CLICK YES. 

Then, this message will appear and click OK. The next should be the scanning process. If it doesn't work, make sure you deleted .ssd files. Those thingies are quite notorious for coming back from the dead like Daleks or Cybermen or Stormtroopers or Reavers or... you get the idea. Remember to KILL them too in the Recycle Bin... Send them all into the VOID and the blackness of space.

5. THE PROGRAM WILL DO A SCAN LASTING FOR ABOUT 2-3 MINUTES (DEPENDS). REMEMBER YOU SHOULD HAVE NO .SAI PROJECTS AND .SSD FILES ANYWHERE IN YOUR COMPUTER, EVEN THE RECYCLE BIN. YOUR USB OR HARD DRIVE SHOULDN'T BE PLUGGED-IN BECAUSE IT WILL BE SCANNED. ***HINT: SUCCESSFUL SCANS ARE QUICKLY SCANNED, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING TO SCAN. DOY! IF THE SCAN TAKES A WHILE, I'M SURE YOU GOT A .SAI PROJECT TUCKED SOMEWHERE IN YOUR FOLDERS. IF IT DOESN'T PROCEED TO SCANNING, YOU HAVE TO DELETE .SSD FILES, AGAIN IN THE SAI FOLDER OR THE SYSTEMAX FOLDER. (Did I mention they are the Daleks?). REDO all the step 4 again, you may have miss something, prolly the one in the Recycle Bin and the Thumbnail folder. 

Pray it will be a short scan, cause if it takes a while longer, I'm sure you'll Avada Kedavra your own computer and we don't want that, right? We want it nice and shiny like Serenity.

***Sometimes, it will be a quick scan but when you launch the program again, it will say, you are still on trial program. Double-check the steps again, because it does happen. Sometimes, you gotta do the steps twice or thrice before the program launches itself and go back to trial day one.

6. CLICK SAI PROGRAM ON YOUR START-UP > VIOLA! YOU ARE NOW BACK TO TRIAL DAY ONE.

Lookee at the right upper right side of the screen, back to Day 1.
Now, you'll have a month-long happiness of drawing and sanity.
You can now do a summersault with a back hand spring and a split.
Or a smile would do...

REMINDERS:

***Oh, you will still be running on a trial for a month, you just have to do these steps again to go back to day one. I think it's okay compared to shelling out money for a code.

***Oh again, don't open SAI files that are older than 30 days because the program will reset again. So better avoid that. So better convert them to .JPEG or .GIF or .whatever file you guys need.

***Leave me a GORRAM Comment please, so I could improve on my grammar, the steps or whatever it is you deemed very lowly of me. Lol. Just tell me if it works. That would do and I will appreciate it very much.

I'm just sharing this little piece of information because I too once panicked over unsaved works and I couldn't afford that anymore. So, there you go~! Hope it works~! 


Love,
M

Big Bang Alive Galaxy Tour 2012

October 24, a day after my cousin's birthday, just got a new Philippine saint and the fan girls have raging hormones. Why? Well, blame the swaggiest swaggers of the continent of Asia - Top Asian act Big Bang has landed in Manila for their Alive Galaxy Tour.

A couple of days before the concert, the group landed in NAIA once again shifting the media's attention to KPOP, a nice segue from PSY's phenomenal Gangnam Style. Gaggles of fangirls await the boys by the airport and when they landed, massive mayhem occurred (You should really blame twitter on this one). As televised by the media, girls ran after the car, and even book a room at the same hotel where they are staying. Don't ask me where they get the information, but they did. While my co-fangirls are doing 'normal' things of being a fangirl, I was in Laguna. Seeing everything on TV back then makes me want to teleport to Manila ASAP and join in the fun.

Big Bang, a disclaimer just so to not offend my fellow ELFs, was my first ever favorite KPOP group. It was their unique urban music stylistics that made me listen to them more. I don't want to sound obstuse, but really, I listened, I repeat, listened to them even before I realized that G-dragon was a complete catch and TOP is hell of heartthrob. Back then I can't even pinpoint who G-dragon, Daesung and Seungri was. No offense. That's a rookie's mistake. Anyway, I particularly love Haru-Haru due to the narrative behind the music video and also Lies. As I go along the VIP fandom path, I realized that their music is simply unique, though there are quite a bit likeness to some Jrock acts, with the likes of Aquatimez and DragonAsh but not as smooth as Big Bang's vocals. I also saw how Big Bang evolved from uniform wearing lads to uhm, well, 'crazy couture' fashion. Their music also quite lose its RnB feel a bit at some point, and acquired a more house and electro synthesized music, which is either way good for me. What makes Big Bang big bang is their ability to constantly change even in their music. Back then it was the same cheesy pop music dominantly filled with urban feel, but now their music leans more on an edgy revenge/im-heartbroken-please-die-music. And I like it. That's just my opinion guys, please don't go bashing me with pitchforks, I know how crazy fangirls get, coz I am one. 

Moving on, coming from Laguna, I took a 3 hour bus ride to Manila. I waited for my mum to get out of work so we could both go to the concert together. Before you assume I drag my mum into this, the reason I got my ticket is because her officemates are fans as well, and she knew I am too. So she called me out of the blue and was like, "I got the tickets." "Ticket to where?" "Big Bang" then I flipped out. So it was really my mum who wanted to take me to the concert, not the other way around. Then, we arrived at the scene and it was like this: 

That's not just the line, it goes around. And believe me I was stupefied to see all this people at the MOA Arena.

We checked out the venue first but thought that we must energize first before heading inside and going to war. Whilst heading to the rows of restaurants outside of MOA, we stopped by where a number of people are chattering about. We then found a little black market of Big Bang goods and obviously, I just had to have a souvenir.

Here's a cute phone dangle for starters. I didn't buy it.

I took a photo with the seller of these merchandise items, she let me wear her Big Bang headband while she was waiting for another set to sell from her father, who was out in the parking lot getting it the rest.

A little black market/shady trading before the concert. Mum bought 2 Big Bang headbands. Yeah, the other one is for her. Don't look at me. She's the one buying those.

Here's my mum being all fangirly and stuff. It's not weird to bring your mum along such events. Parents just really make an effort to get to know what their kids are doing and my mum is absolutely having fun sharing this quirky world of mine with me. 

Lookee, who I met at the event - VJ! Hours before the concert I saw him post a photo saying that he'll be there at the event. And I told him I was gonna be there too. VJ was the lead actor in our thesis and he's one of those Samsung Galaxy promodizers who gave those free blue-lighting bangles for free to VIPs.
Since I know him, he gave us a few extra ones for our disposal. :D 

Will you seriously believe that I'll just stand next to a G-Dragon this big? 

Hell no~! I'll pucker up and kiss my Kwon Leader.

This is one of the few moments I share with my mum that we're gonna remember together.
I think She just feels like a teenager again.

My mummy is all geared up for the concert. Go on, ask her about Big Bang. She knows nothing about them.
She kept only saying, Is that G-dragon? Is that G-dragon?
Well, mum, at least you know G-dragon.

If my mother is, so was I.
Yes, I wear my glasses because I know how hard it is when things aren't in HD quality.

We got to the line and waited... and waited... and waited. 

Last photo of my ticket before it gets all torn up.

 I was rather disappointed because, hundreds more are still lined up outside when the concert started. I didn't get to Big Bang rise up from those capsules. So it was quite a bummer. The MOA Arena still needs to find its easiest gate accommodation to cater its audience because seriously, it stinks. The Arena is bigger and with higher floors and only one general entrace? It's a tad disappointing. Not to mention the sound system. I was all the way up in the general admission, pity right? But the quality of music should be top notch as the ones sitting in the VIP seats. The sound was muffled and  incomprehensible, sorry. Or the audience was very loud. Either way, they should have made sure that the sound wasn't drowned by the fangirl screams.

Even so, the lighting set up was exquisite. The arena changed color from cool blue to hell red in a snap. It was pretty divine when you see them in our position. Also, the audience were coordinated a sea of blue and yellows chanting fiercely at every song.

The staging was okay. It didn't really wowed me since it just had the basics of what a stage should look like, but there was no "twist" to it, no "oomph". It lacks a little of something. The props during the performance were interesting though. They have bikes and those thingys they used in Ppeokigayo, got laser tag guns and all sort of stuff.

Performance wise, Big Bang is in top shape. G-dragon was charming his way to the crowd, Taeyang rips off his shirt and ovaries exploded everywhere, theoretically speaking, Daesung was surprisingly alluring on stage, I kept my eyes on him more than GD, Seungri was the most cheekiest and silliest during the concert, he made this all sorts of cute faces and antics that ended up a panda blocking the wide-angled front stage camera and T.O.P, ohmygosh, the whole Arena screams whenever his face appears on those videowalls. My ears exploded - literally.

The divine lighting set-up that I was talking about.

The amount of girls who went to see Big Bang live rationed 1: 00003 compared to the boys, statistically speaking.
Imagine the amount of ovaries exploding.

The concert ended with a high note with 3 encores, I think. The performance was nonstop for the whole 2 hours. I think when Ticketnet means seats, they not really thinking that the seats wouldn't be used at all. I screamed and sang with them the whole night. From the whole row, I think I was the one who enjoyed the most. I can tell that the rest of those in my row where newbies and didn't know Big Bang's old songs. But hey, now that they have the Big Bang high, they have the drive to get to know them better through their old songs. I'm just happy that most of my favorite songs where sung during the performance like Heaven, Lies, Haru-Haru, Gara Gara Go!, Wedding Dress, Only Look at Me, Last Farewell, Number One and the new Big Bang songs like Monster, Fantastic Baby, Blue, High, Bad Boy and the like. I wanted them to sing I Need A Girl and Hello for Taeyang and GD with Dara. Rumor has it that Dara is the special guest, but no shadow of Dara during the performance which is also another bummer.

But I enjoyed the event and was very happy I get to hear and watch them live. It's just amazing, the dedication of the fans, the production and the performance of Big Bang came alive here in Manila that night.

Big Bang Concert - CHECK~!

Mum looked like she had fun~! That's nice!!! 

Oh! And here are the Big Bang merchandise that I have acquited. Big Bang Alive Galaxy Tour sparkling shirt, a BB VIP headband, a BB Bangle (3 of them), a Jeju Air fan, an I LOVE TOP flyer and what remains of my BB ticket.
SUCCESS~! 

Next stop, FANTASTY CONCERT with SNSD~! My beloved Hyoyeon, I'm coming~!

Lost in Time

So we go inside the TARDIS about 3 weeks ago, (sorry for the DW reference, I just can't shake it off somehow, forgive me) to have an out-of-a-whim photo shoot. We decided it like this, "Hey! Let's have a photo shoot" "Sure" "When?" "Tomorrow." The End. No theme, no preparations. Na-dah. They were aching to have their photos taken and I was itching to have something to do with my free time. 

The girls' clothes were from my closet. That Black and White stripe shirt was my grandmother's, and the gray off shoulder dress was bought from a 2nd hand shop. Everything else were barefooted or styled by my grandma, who agreed to be our hair dresser that time. She was once a hair dresser and I sorta take advantage of her during shoots like these. And no, it is not an abuse! She is very happy to play with my cousins' hair. On the other hand, the boys' costumes are far from awesome. But you know we made it work.

Grandma wrestling VO's hair to tame it down to one nice knot. 

Look at that bun, how professionally done~! Thanks Grandma!

We agreed to head to a nearby hiking trek, south of the town, well, if you ask me, it's a quite dilapidated mountain resort with empty pools with mosses growing out of the cracks, and untamed plants that's perfect for a nature/ruins type of photo shoot, which is quite what we are rooting for. 

We settled nearby the stream with thick vegetation because it has a more flexible scope for the shoot. Lots of choices down there. Anyhoo, VO got my itouch for outtakes and so did Mr.D. They happen to know that I'm quite fond of outtakes and also of my face while working. You can't imagine the amount of photos I have to go through to trim down for posting. Here they are: 

Uh~! Excuse me~! Lol.
CH's just helping VO to tuck in the Bra strap. :D

While it's someone's turn, the rest of the group help out. We call this production. aka, no budget production.

What a supportive sister~! 

This part of the mountains is connected to the Sierra Madre mountain ranges. So technically, it is along Maria Makiling's territory. And lookee who I get to shoot. A NAERMYTH~!

Nope, that's just VI. hehe~!

"So you bend your head like this, like Papa's painting."
Note my Spiky Headband and Hair Bun c/o by grandma.

Okay, so you lay down there on the Stone Table, and Imma kill you like Aslan in Narnia. Okay? 

Pretty.
Gorgeous.
RETARDED.

CH's mantra while taking this photo: Gwapo ako, gwapo ako.

I love how the light illuminates the bossy me. 

INCEPTION~!!!!!! What the?! Who's taking our photo?

Mr.D caught our stalker in a photo off!

AHA~! 

Umm, guys. I found a random condom wrapper. Who the hell uses this here in this remote mountain?

Oh!
I get it.
Sorry.

Compulsory photo with my muse.

Complusory Couple Pic.
With that very annoying smile.

Admit it~!
We did the Rue-ing thing right!
Boo-yah~!

A little picnic by the stream in the middle of the forest. Perfect.

Who says planking is out of style?
I dunno how the hell he managed to do it.

Graceful body. Face? Not so much.
*peace*

Who'd you think is older?

Now I know who ate the last lollipop.

And that's a wrap~!

 Official Photos from this shoot to follow. :D I know, it is very overdue. But I'm holding it hostage for a now. :D