Happy New Year 2016!

Hello Internet! It has been far too long since I last wrote a blog piece. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!

I was watching a video from Casey Neistat today. This vlog here.

 

At some where a little after 3:30, Casey mentions a quote,

"Never let perfect be the enemy of good enough"

Watching that entire clip of Casey talking about this, got me thinking about how I do things. My past vlogs have been mediocre. All I remember was, wanting to get it uploaded before Wednesday was over, as it was a Vlog On Wednesday. Perfection was NEVER a thing with it. I just wanted it to be up. There was no standard for my vlogs. Now when I look back, oi, that has to change.

This year, I'm trying to see what medium works best for me and my craft. In the hope, of putting out good quality vlogs. Yes, I like story telling. I've also gotten over the fear of writing because I'm reading more. On the writing side, I feel that I just need to refine it. Let's hope that I can work on that because I have a research paper to write starting May or September this year.

On the video side however, filming takes time, but I love it. Once I have a solid time table for life, I'll be able to vlog more often. I convinced my parents to turn my brother's room into a studio (pictures by the end of January once it's all set up). I want that room to be a place when you go in, BAM! You want to get work done.

So at this point, I'm no longer going to wait for something perfect to make . If I have the time to write it, I'll write it, throw in some pictures if needed and hopefully it is good enough for me and to you reading this.

I can't remember if there was a time where I waited for perfection. I have been a perfectionist. It's both a good and bad thing. The good; you know you're work is going to be so good and you're going to be proud of it. The bad; it might take a long time and if you're not in the mood, it may not even come out at all.

I guess that's where I'll end this vlog. I will not talk about resolutions because they are so meh. I did however, find something awesome that Sophia Bush reposted from the instagram account : i am her tribe

You all know by now that I'm not one for making resolutions. I am, however, a big believer in setting intentions. My friends @iamhertribe hit the nail on the head so perfectly today that I'm going to go ahead and repost what they wrote, and wish you all an incredible, focused, narrow & deep, beautiful year ahead. Put your action where your heart is.
・・・
Be easy on yourself.
Don't rush to write down half-hearted resolutions + force accelerated change on your life, all in effort to make the January 1st mark.
Now is a time for reflection. For pausing. For learning. For letting go and transcending.
What is heavy? What is light? What would you like to see shift?
Create an intention, a positive calling, your own personal spark of magic that will manifest itself. All rooted in loving self, then back it all with your action.
#iamhertribe

Happy 2016.

Wilmington (September 2011) Part 2

I promised pictures of food and other things that we did in Wilmington. Could I just say that, I didn't take decent pictures of my food; it was out of focus and I'm embarrassed. It was also my first time taking my DSLR on a journey, as I'd only gotten it a few month before the trip. #genius.

After meeting Shantel, we went for lunch, generally hung out with Lisa, her son Grayson & her friend Josh. Then she dropped us back at the hotel, kept in touch, cause on Tuesday, we're going to try to meet Antwon Tanner (he played Skills), Lee Norris (he played Mouth), Sophia Busy (how can you not know Brooke Davis :P ) & Austin Nichols (Julian Baker).

A friend on the inside told Lisa that they would be filming at the River Court on Tuesday morning. I told Lisa that I will meet her there, but then suggested that she better pick me up downtown, just in case there is no boat around that time shuttling people from the downtown area to the River Court. Lisa picked my mum and I up & we were on our way to watch some filming!

Lee Norris & Antwon getting ready for a scene

They only put up the backboards when they are filming, so other people can't play when they 

need to use the court. The WB was renting this basketball court  from the battle ship. 

DUN DUN DUN, TRAILERS! No we didn't go near it, so we don't know who was inside. 

We did see the guy who played Xavier. 

And, they tore down the river court after One Tree Hill finished filming. -_-

Antwon Tanner! 

They would not let us take a photo with Lee, cause he had make up & a fat suit on. Basically, they didn't spoilers. pfft. However, there was a guy who was taking pictures. Not sure if he got into trouble or not. Oh well. So after we were done with the river court, we went to the area near Tric, to get a glimpse of Sophia Bush. We waited 3 hours and it was worth it. 

Sophia Bush! Who then gave me a high five when I told her that it took me 24 hours in total

to get to Wilmington, NC. 

Austin didn't come out to see us :( 

After that, we went for lunch at the Dixie Grill, where a lot of scenes with Austin Nichols were shot here. The food was good! I will go back when I can, with my own money, to do an actual tour of OTH, with the houses and all. In the next 5 years hopefully, for my own closure :P 

Once we were done with lunch, we tried waiting for Bethany Joy Lenz & Paul Johansson. I think they told us to move back a bit/ filming might take longer, so we didn't get to see them.

All in all, it was a good experience. Here are my tips if you plan on visiting a place, just to watch your favourite show film.

1. Do your research on the place you plan to visit. Find out all the locations you want to go to & if you can get to them easily.
2. Dedicated fan forums usually have someone list out if they are filming in a certain location, so be sure to check those out. If you have someone on the inside, even better :P
3. If you can make a friend, like how I was able to, you're good to go. Plus, it will be a friend a for life ;)
4. Last but not least, check your photo's to make sure that you have taken a good photo. The last thing you need is a blurry/out of focus picture, that you can't brag about.

5 days in Wilmington was certainly not enough, which is why I went back in 2013, in the hopes of going to see some of the house & to catch up with Lisa & Kendall. More on that in the upcoming blog posts.

Wilmington (September 2011) Part 1

I'm planning on doing a couple of Travel posts, because I haven't done them at all, even on my old blog. So here's one long overdue post of my adventure in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2011.

The trip began with a disaster. Mum and I chose to fly with Emirates, so we can arrive in JFK Airport (NYC) by Friday at 7am, to catch a 11am flight to Wilmington. A delay in KL, caused a delay in Dubai, which eventually caused us to buy another ticket from NY to Wilmington. Talk about a domino effect.
This is what happened, as far as I can remember.

Flight from KL to Dubai was planned at 8.30pm. Due to some complications with the plane, we left at 10.30 or 11pm. This would mean, when we arrived in Dubai, it was 1.50am +/-. The flight that leaves Dubai for New York was at 2.30am. They did not let us get on the plane, they put us on a 8am flight, which means the plane ticket we bought for NY to Wilmington, boom, no way of exchanging or getting back any cash. We had to buy another set of tickets to Wilmy & that did cost us quite a bit. Thanks for that Emirates airlines, you guys suck, and NO, despite your replies via emails, you DID NOT do your best to help us out. An Emirates staff at KLIA told us someone will take care of us in Dubai, that did NOT happen. You could have delayed the 2.30am flight but you didn't. So screw you Emirates, I will never fly with you ever again.

After all the drama, arriving in JFK airport, then on to a shuttle bus for $12.50 to take us to La Guardia, the other airport, for our next flight to Wilmington. After a 2 layovers, we finally arrived in Wilmington, North Carolina. Here is the photo of the plane we were on. If this looks small to you, it was smaller on the inside.

I believe we had a free taxi, from the hotel come get us at the airport. The airport was nice small & cute. Will update the pictures of the airport on my next trip in September. After arriving at the hotel, my mum asked the concierge about the discount she could not get online. They were really awesome, they gave her the discount that she was talking about. BOOMZ! Holiday Inn Wilmington, you rock! :)

Here is the picture of our breakfast on Saturday! Awesome pancakes & awesome orange juice. Again, will update price & pictures this year :P

Screen Gems only has studio tours on Saturday. SADLY, we could NOT take pictures of the set, as the show was still going on. We saw Red Bedroom Records, which pretty much has everything to function as a real recording studio. We also went into Brooke's beach house & Nathan & Haley's house. 

Dinner on Saturday was at Arby's, a fast food joint, which had some of the cutest notes on their food boxes.

The next day was Sunday, mum and I went downtown to check out some of the iconic places that you'd see in "One Tree Hill".

Karen's Cafe.

This is not a hospital, but they used the exterior of the building for that shot. 

The intersection just outside Karen's Cafe.

Artsy Fartsy wall. Not sure if they finally renovated this, because you can see this in season 5, 

in a deleted scene of Luke & Haley walking past this.

The fountain that Brooke & Jamie had ice cream at, same one where Haley performed with girl who 

sang the song for Tangled. *my memory is so bad* 

The fountain where a lot of Keith & Lucas scene's were shot at..

The RIVER COURT! Where it all began for Lucas & Nathan. 

They tore the place down after the show ended :(

The "don't say I never gave you anything" spot was actually just placed somewhere else :P 

On Sunday I found out that OTH was going to be filming at Topsail beach on Monday, 1 hour away from Wilmington. I really wanted to go, because there was a good chance of meeting Shantel VanSanten & Robert Buckley. Thanks to twitter & because kindness rocks, my new friend, Lisa who was going to check it out, picked me up from the hotel & we went to Topsail beach. I asked Lisa if she could give me a ride, on twitter :P and she was awesome & she did!

Clay & Quinn's Beach house! 

A paparazzi shot. D: Failed one at that haha!

The very gorgeous Shantel VanSanten.

We didn't meet Robert :( but hey, better something than nothing.

In my next post, the food I ate, more OTH stuff & more pictures with the cast. 

Phantom Of The Opera (Singapore 2013)

On the 26th of July, my mum and I along with my brother (Kam), his girlfriend (Joanna) & her mum went to watch 'The Phantom Of The Opera' at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. It was quite a race because Kam, Jo & her mum were running a bit late. They went to pick up the tickets for the show first, then joined my mum & I at Jamie Oliver's Restaurant (will blog about that place in another post)

So, Phantom of the Opera.

 

 I remember reading the short version in Form 2, as it was compulsory. I was basically trying to recall the story as I was watching it. Not something I advise you to do. I did bring a copy of the book, the full version, but didn't have time to read it as I was in Legoland or resting. *cough* excuses *cough*

We bought the 145$ tickets, the green zone. I felt that our seats weren't the best. It was a full house. Really wished I spent an additional 20$ (Singapore Dollars) for seats in the front, unless they were already booked. Back to the seats; maybe the speakers were not working that day? I don't know, but I didn't really enjoy it. Until I got back home to Shah Alam & listened to the songs again on youtube. Then I WAS IN LOVE WITH THE MUSIC! *fangirling*

Should you go watch it? Yes, spend the money & get good seats. Since it's not often that Malaysia gets to stage a Broadway show *cough* very rare *cough*, head down to Singapore to go watch it. I'm hoping to watch it again, maybe in New York.

Not convinced? I took this from youtube. This is from the Brit Awards last year. I couldn't find a proper mic-ed version from the press preview.



Excited? Show runs until the 1st of September! Get your tickets right here!

Genius at work back in action

Greeting fellow earthlings. I know it has been months, but I am back for good. With blogpost every Sunday, updates via the Facebook page > www.facebook.com/iamsuemitraa and not forgetting the Vlog on Wednesdays on Youtube > http://www.youtube.com/iamsuemitraa

Here is the July Update for my vlog. Don't forget to subscribe!

I will be back with a kickass post next Sunday & a super awesome video on Wednesday. 

Over and out ;) 

You may say I'm dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

After watching an episode of Sesame Street back in 1993, I decided that I wanted to be a Vet. I wanted to help animals as much as I could. Years went by and the only time I didn't want to be a vet was when I could not get into Form 6 to do my studies locally.

The last I checked, to study veterinary science overseas was really expensive. I don't know how much it is now, but then again, it would not make a difference.

When I did not resit my SPM (i wanted to do it a year later, trying to study for it la), my brother said "Go & give Mass communications a shot." I did, I liked it, it's interesting & it is not for stupid people. LOL.

However, with my diploma in Mass communications and my passion for animals, the new dream job became a wild life film maker. I love making videos & animals, so BOOM = kick ass job. I may not be able to do it just yet, but I can film the wild animal I own, who goes by the name of Pepsi. haha, she's my dog by the way.

Back to the title, I love to dream big, because hey, it's my dream to do these things. It's my expectation for myself & I must find a way to meet my own expectations, because it would make me happy, saying I can do something and actually achieving it. *thumbs up*

Dream big, dream wild because it's your dream. Don't give up when the whole world is against you. Dust off the sand & stand strong, you know you can do it ;)

You may say I'm dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

After watching an episode of Sesame Street back in 1993, I decided that I wanted to be a Vet. I wanted to help animals as much as I could. Years went by and the only time I didn't want to be a vet was when I could not get into Form 6 to do my studies locally.

The last I checked, to study veterinary science overseas was really expensive. I don't know how much it is now, but then again, it would not make a difference.

When I did not resit my SPM (i wanted to do it a year later, trying to study for it la), my brother said "Go & give Mass communications a shot." I did, I liked it, it's interesting & it is not for stupid people. LOL.

However, with my diploma in Mass communications and my passion for animals, the new dream job became a wild life film maker. I love making videos & animals, so BOOM = kick ass job. I may not be able to do it just yet, but I can film the wild animal I own, who goes by the name of Pepsi. haha, she's my dog by the way.

Back to the title, I love to dream big, because hey, it's my dream to do these things. It's my expectation for myself & I must find a way to meet my own expectations, because it would make me happy, saying I can do something and actually achieving it. *thumbs up*

Dream big, dream wild because it's your dream. Don't give up when the whole world is against you. Dust off the sand & stand strong, you know you can do it ;)

Suits

I noticed that none of my TV show blog post give you any information about the show, just the fact that I like  it and I'm gonna show you some pictures. I'm going to change that today.

Suits, a show about lawyers on USA Network (a sub of NBC Universal) is about 1 lawyer, Harvey Spector (on the left) who has a Harvard  Law Degree and 1 genius dude with photographic memory, Mike Ross who didn't even go to law school. The series revolves around how Harvey got away with hiring Mike, even though the firm Pearson & Hardman only takes people who have gone to Harvard.

Assuming that you've watched season 1 already, you'd know that Trevor (Mike's ex best friend) told the managing partner of Pearson & Hardman, Jessica Pearson that Mike does not have a degree

They just wrapped season 2 & are going to start filming for season 3 in April. Suits comes back on TV in June. The last episode of season 2 was crazy! I won't spoil it for anyone, but you should catch up on it! Malaysian television is slow. LOL

I was lucky enough to meet Patrick J. Adams when he was down here. No, I didn't win the tickets for that silly Suits party. Why am I calling it silly? Well, a lot of local well known people were there. I don't like calling them celebrities, well to me because they are not. They are just really lucky people who are on TV, who are models and the list can go on. Also, I got an invite, then the invite was revoked because it was an error on their half. 

One of the most amazing, down to earth actor I've ever met. Thanks for making my day and for taking at least like 3 pictures with me, since my friends ended up taking bad ones LOL. 

I would love to go to Toronto, to catch them filming & hey, if the studio has studio tours, why not? It sucked that we weren't allowed to take pictures on the One Tree Hill set. *le sigh* but I've got mental images. Too bad I can't extract them lol. 

So, do you watch Suits? If you do, what do you think of the season 2 finale? and if you don't, what are you waiting for? :D

Suits

I noticed that none of my TV show blog post give you any information about the show, just the fact that I like  it and I'm gonna show you some pictures. I'm going to change that today.

Suits, a show about lawyers on USA Network (a sub of NBC Universal) is about 1 lawyer, Harvey Spector (on the left) who has a Harvard  Law Degree and 1 genius dude with photographic memory, Mike Ross who didn't even go to law school. The series revolves around how Harvey got away with hiring Mike, even though the firm Pearson & Hardman only takes people who have gone to Harvard.

Assuming that you've watched season 1 already, you'd know that Trevor (Mike's ex best friend) told the managing partner of Pearson & Hardman, Jessica Pearson that Mike does not have a degree

They just wrapped season 2 & are going to start filming for season 3 in April. Suits comes back on TV in June. The last episode of season 2 was crazy! I won't spoil it for anyone, but you should catch up on it! Malaysian television is slow. LOL

I was lucky enough to meet Patrick J. Adams when he was down here. No, I didn't win the tickets for that silly Suits party. Why am I calling it silly? Well, a lot of local well known people were there. I don't like calling them celebrities, well to me because they are not. They are just really lucky people who are on TV, who are models and the list can go on. Also, I got an invite, then the invite was revoked because it was an error on their half. 

One of the most amazing, down to earth actor I've ever met. Thanks for making my day and for taking at least like 3 pictures with me, since my friends ended up taking bad ones LOL. 

I would love to go to Toronto, to catch them filming & hey, if the studio has studio tours, why not? It sucked that we weren't allowed to take pictures on the One Tree Hill set. *le sigh* but I've got mental images. Too bad I can't extract them lol. 

So, do you watch Suits? If you do, what do you think of the season 2 finale? and if you don't, what are you waiting for? :D

Pretty Little Liars

I'm so horrible. I only started watching Pretty Little Liars after meeting Troian Bellisario. But I kinda told her I was a fan. You don't lie to a celeb! But none the less, I have fallen in love with the show after watching it. So problem solved! I am at season 1 at the moment. Yes, a lot of catching up. Spare me the spoilers, even though I did some reading & screwed my self. 

I think at the moment, I really adore Spencer. Not being biased (since I met Troian and all), but honestly, I admire how smart she is. It's because I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed and I admire people who are smart and don't show off unlike most of the kids I used to know in Primary & Secondary school. Plus she's got a wicked style of dressing

Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings

I would like to finish watching all 3 seasons by the end of March. I'm currently at episode 18 of Season 1. The TV rip was low quality, so I'm gonna have to download it. Kudos to Juria for handing me season 1 & 3! I actually downloaded season 2, but it was bundled with only 10 episodes. D: 

Oh yeah, so since the world works like "pictures or it didn't happen" , here's a picture of Troian & I at Chinoz KLCC.

This is the first time I did this whole stalking thing. Most of the time I get lucky & win passes to meet and greets. How I did this? 3 smart phones, 1 of them must have instagram & 1 with twitter. Another one as a spare. Get this & you're good to go. 

So, here's how it happened :  I was on the train heading to Pavilion to look for them. 

I was on Instagram & Patrick J. Adams had just posted a picture of the Petronas Twin Towers. 

My friend Sha-Lyn was going to join me on this adventure.  I called her & told her to meet me at KLCC instead. Then, we walked around, walked all the way to Traders Hotel, no sight of them. Then we did a twitter search to see if anyone had spotted them & someone tweeted "@halfadams come out of Chinoz now!" 

We ran to Chinoz, my friend Alexia took the plunge and went in, then we joined her. I had the chance to chat with Troian, since everyone else was ogling over Patrick. :P I told Troian I had a bad start to the day because I didn't get through the auditions for the 8tv Quickie Search & my friend did, the friend who i told about auditions & he got to stage 2. Troian was so nice and she said "Oh no, but if he gets it, he owes you big time".

Troian & Patrick were the most down to earth people I've ever met. Imagine, you put your hand out for a handshake & introduce yourself, you say "Hi my name is Suemitraa", and they go "Hi, I'm Troian/Patrick". 

Instantly in my mind I'm like : 

I know who you are! :P 

So, if you haven't started watching Pretty Little Liars, you should! It's good & I've got season 1's TV Rips. Haha, if you expected me to watch on Malaysian TV, I'd be cursing about the amount of scenes these idiots remove for the sake of censorship. 

That wraps up this post. Woohoo, blogged before the end of the day! *Achievement unlocked!*

Have a great week ahead & thanks for reading! Cheers. 

Pretty Little Liars

I'm so horrible. I only started watching Pretty Little Liars after meeting Troian Bellisario. But I kinda told her I was a fan. You don't lie to a celeb! But none the less, I have fallen in love with the show after watching it. So problem solved! I am at season 1 at the moment. Yes, a lot of catching up. Spare me the spoilers, even though I did some reading & screwed my self. 

I think at the moment, I really adore Spencer. Not being biased (since I met Troian and all), but honestly, I admire how smart she is. It's because I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed and I admire people who are smart and don't show off unlike most of the kids I used to know in Primary & Secondary school. Plus she's got a wicked style of dressing

Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings

I would like to finish watching all 3 seasons by the end of March. I'm currently at episode 18 of Season 1. The TV rip was low quality, so I'm gonna have to download it. Kudos to Juria for handing me season 1 & 3! I actually downloaded season 2, but it was bundled with only 10 episodes. D: 

Oh yeah, so since the world works like "pictures or it didn't happen" , here's a picture of Troian & I at Chinoz KLCC.

This is the first time I did this whole stalking thing. Most of the time I get lucky & win passes to meet and greets. How I did this? 3 smart phones, 1 of them must have instagram & 1 with twitter. Another one as a spare. Get this & you're good to go. 

So, here's how it happened :  I was on the train heading to Pavilion to look for them. 

I was on Instagram & Patrick J. Adams had just posted a picture of the Petronas Twin Towers. 

My friend Sha-Lyn was going to join me on this adventure.  I called her & told her to meet me at KLCC instead. Then, we walked around, walked all the way to Traders Hotel, no sight of them. Then we did a twitter search to see if anyone had spotted them & someone tweeted "@halfadams come out of Chinoz now!" 

We ran to Chinoz, my friend Alexia took the plunge and went in, then we joined her. I had the chance to chat with Troian, since everyone else was ogling over Patrick. :P I told Troian I had a bad start to the day because I didn't get through the auditions for the 8tv Quickie Search & my friend did, the friend who i told about auditions & he got to stage 2. Troian was so nice and she said "Oh no, but if he gets it, he owes you big time".

Troian & Patrick were the most down to earth people I've ever met. Imagine, you put your hand out for a handshake & introduce yourself, you say "Hi my name is Suemitraa", and they go "Hi, I'm Troian/Patrick". 

Instantly in my mind I'm like : 

I know who you are! :P 

So, if you haven't started watching Pretty Little Liars, you should! It's good & I've got season 1's TV Rips. Haha, if you expected me to watch on Malaysian TV, I'd be cursing about the amount of scenes these idiots remove for the sake of censorship. 

That wraps up this post. Woohoo, blogged before the end of the day! *Achievement unlocked!*

Have a great week ahead & thanks for reading! Cheers.