Arugami hamburger/cheeseburger

Just made this cute hamburger the other day. Took me about 1 day's worth of work.

Instructions from http://nerdigurumi.com/2011/03/amigurumi-no-sew-hamburger-or-cheeseburger.html

For more info, please visit the site. The stuff below ain't complete.

I had a bit of difficulty with the instructions though, some of them was ambiguous about which loop I should use.

Surprised about the burger size too. It turned out to be a life sized burger. Heh. I was assuming that it'll be a tiny little thing from the screenshots.

Stuffing. Bought it from Daiso

I flubbed up on the cheese

Too lazy to sew/glue the cheese to the patty, so the tomato is hidden :(
The patty is a little tall though, I did 1 extra row.

Didn't use a magic circle start. Chain2 ftw
 

Hungry?

SC = Single Crochet
SL ST = Slip Stitch
CH = Chain
Join = Slip Stitch into first stitch of the same round
INVDEC = Invisible Decrease
INC = Increase (2 SC in one stitch)
DC = Double Crochet
DC INC = Increase of Double Crochet (2 DC in one stitch)
TC = Triple or Treble Crochet

Burger Top Bun
CH 2 or Magic Ring or start however you like.
1. SC x 8; join CH1 (8)
2. INC x 8; join CH1 (16)
3. SC then INC; repeat x 7; join CH1 (24)
4. SC, INC, SC; repeat x 7; join CH1 (32)
5. SC, SC, SC, INC; repeat x 7; join CH1 (40)
6. SC, SC, INC, SC, SC; repeat x 7; join CH1 (48)
7. SC x 7, INC; repeat x 5; join CH1 (54)
8. SC x 17, INC; repeat x 2; join CH1 (57)
9. SC x 9, INC, SC x 9; repeat x 2; join CH1 (60)
10. SC around; join CH1 (60)
11-15. repeat round 10 for rounds 11 through 15; (60)
16. SL ST around; switch to off-white for the “inside” of the bread join then CH1 (60)
Hook into the back loop of the previous round and work in this loop for the next round (video demonstrating this technique)
17. SC, SC, INVDEC, SC, SC; repeat x 9; join CH1 (50)
Go back to working in both loops.
18. SC x 3, INVDEC; repeat x 9; switch to lettuce green, join CH1 (40)

Lettuce
Work round 19 only in the front loop of round 18, not in both loops.
19. SC x 3, INC; repeat x 9; join CH1; (50)
Go back to working in both loops.
20. SC, Skip next stitch, DC 8 times in the next stitch, Skip next stitch, SC, SC, Skip next stitch, SC 5 times in the next stitch, Skip next stitch, SC; repeat 4 times times; SL ST and finish off.

Tomato
Work round 21 in the back loop of round 18, not in both loops.
21. Hook into the inner loop of round 18 with red yarn, CH1 and SC around; join CH1 (40)
22. SC around; switch to orange cheese colour; join CH1; (40)

Cheese
Work round 23 in the front loop of round 22, not in both loops.
23. SC, SC, INC, DC INC, TC, DC INC, INC, SC x 3; repeat x 3; join then finish off; leave a long tail for stitching the cheese down to the meat patty so it looks like it is melty. Only stitch it down once your amigurumi is stuff and finished. This will keep the cheese from curling upward too. (56)

Meat Patty
Work round 24 in the back loop of round 22, not in both loops.
24. Hook into the inner loop of round 22 with brown yarn, CH1 Sc, INC; repeat 19 times; join CH1 (60)
25. SC around; join CH1; (60)
26. repeat round 25; (60)
27. SC, INVDEC; repeat x 19; switch to off-white yarn colour; join CH1; (40)

Bottom Bun
Work round 28 in the back loop of round 27, not in both loops.
28. SC, INC; repeat x 19; switch to light brown bun colour; join CH1 (60)
Work in back loop of round 28, not in both loops.
29. SC around; join CH1; (60)
Go back to working in both loops.
30. SC around; join CH1; (60)
31. repeat round 30; (60)
32. SC, SC, INVDEC, SC, SC; repeat 9 times; join CH1; (50)
33. SC, SC, SC, INVDEC; repeat 9 times; join CH1; (40)
34. SC, INVDEC, SC; repeat 9 times; join CH1; (30)
35. INVDEC, SC; repeat 9 times; join CH1; (20)
36. SC, INVDEC, SC; repeat 4 times; join then CH 1; (15)
37. INVDEC x 5 or as many times as necessary to close up and finish off.

Crocheting craze - A book!

I've just started learning how to crochet, and been doing a bunch of arugami. They are just so cute!!! Yet useless. Heh.

Came across this pattern on Ravelry, and I guess it can be more useful than most...: http://craftyiscool.blogspot.sg/2011/08/first-friday-free-pattern-and-big.html

Basic instructions:
Key:
ch: chain
sc: single crochet
sl st: slip stitch
FLO: crochet into front loops only
BLO: crochet into back loops only

Book Cover:
R1: With E hook and yarn, ch 15. Sc into 2nd ch from hook and next 13 ch (14)
R2-13: Ch 1, turn. Sc into next 14 st (14)
R14: Ch 1, turn. Sc into FLO of each st (14)
R15: Ch 1, turn. Sc into BLO of each st (14)
R16-27: Ch 1, turn. Sc into both loops of each st (14)
* You will now crochet along the outside of the book cover to make a clean rounded edge.
R28: Work 2 more sc into the last st of 27, turning. Sc into next 26 st along edge, work 3 sc into last st, turning. Sc into next 13 st along edge, work 3 sc into last st, turning. Sc into next 26 st along edge, work 3 sc into last st, turn. Sl st into next 12 st, fastening off at last st. Weave in ends.

For the rest, and more professional looking pictures, please take a look at her blog.

This little book took me about 3 hours I think. Wasn't really timing it. I flubbed up on the inner cover and pages though. Should have measured it out more before cutting. Or maybe I just suck for cutting stuff. Heh.

The creator stitched messages into the pages, but I'm not sure how to do it while keeping the knots and stuff hidden though.

Initially I wanted to glue a magnet inbetween the cover and the lining, but unfortunately I couldn't find a magnet at all. Where do they sell these things???

So now I'm thinking of just sewing a safety pin along the spine. At least it'll be somewhat useful for the recipient as a decorative object!

Still, all in all, very simple! Thinking of doing it again for my friend's wedding. A white book this time... and afterwards, a red book! Like Mao's little red book. Hehe.

Dreamhost

Ok so I finally got a hosting provider, and I have a coupon! $50 off for new signups. Just plug in ANGEL50 when you register.

Time to go populate my site .....

Useful link for iPhone dev

http://networkpx.blogspot.com/2009/09/compiling-iphoneos-31-apps-with-xcode.html

Sharing Printers on Windows 7 (0x000006d9)

If you are trying to share a printer in Windows 7 and get the error 0x000006d9, check your system services. If your Windows Firewall service is off, turn it on and try again.

Worked for me when I tried to share a printer. I guess W7 was trying to add a rule to allow the printer to be accessible but as the service was off, it couldn't modify it and hence couldn't share it out.

How to compile freaking php on my mac.

./configure \
--prefix=/usr/local \
--with-apxs2=/usr/sbin/apxs \
--with-ldap=/usr \
--with-kerberos=/usr \
--enable-cli \
--with-zlib-dir=/usr \
--enable-exif \
--enable-ftp \
--enable-mbstring \
--enable-mbregex \
--enable-sockets \
--with-iodbc=/usr \
--with-curl=/usr \
--with-config-file-path=/etc \
--sysconfdir=/private/etc \
--with-mysql-sock=/var/mysql \
--with-mysqli=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config \
--with-mysql=/usr/local/mysql \
--with-openssl=shared,/usr \
--with-xmlrpc \
--with-xsl=/usr \
--with-pear \
--with-libxml-dir=/usr \
--with-iconv=shared,/usr \
--with-pdo-mysql=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config \
--with-gd \
--with-jpeg-dir \
--with-png-dir=/sw \
--with-freetype-dir=/usr/local \
--with-mcrypt=/sw

http://www.malisphoto.com/tips/php-on-os-x.html
http://diymacserver.com/forum/topic/leopard-iconv-and-php5

Changing ideas

Yes, it's been a while since I last penned here. There are several reasons ... too lazy, the tools are not available when I want to do it, it's all on FB already ...

But well, I guess I better put something here too :P So my loyal readers can read.

Things have pretty much changed since the ideas of last time. I remember last time, it was pretty much absolutes. The future partner must be a virgin! He must be this! That! Etc.

But reading SG Brides changed my mindset. It doesn't really matter whether he did It or not, it's still the same person regardless. I remember I was quite shocked actually, that many people are getting it on without getting married. (Yes I guess I'm a prude >_>)

Looking back too, while in Converscient, I was pretty satisfied (to use the term loosely). A job, doesn't pay much, but it was okay, not many big complaints, go back everyday play wow. That's fine really. Some time sooner or later I'll earn enough to afford a car.

Well that was the idea then. Things changed after going to muvee. I think it was due to a number of reasons - older (and hence more mature? lol), meet different people (the people I mixed with in Converscient were chiefly my peers in age).

The different people I met taught me different things, and somehow awoken the hunger. The wtf am I still doing here? Why am I not getting HIS pay? Why do I have to save money to afford this? Why can't I expand my income so that I can afford this?

I met SG and YJ the other day. I guess you can put us in the 'losers' category. (Yes, I'm not burning with self righteousness by saying I'm not in the grp). Amongst us we have people who have never dated, people who only had 1 partner and refused to try again, people who aren't excelling in their careers, people who are sitting on their bums waiting for stuff to happen, people who just accept everything that comes their way, people who don't fight.

It's kind of sobering, thinking about this. The only time is now. Do you want to live an average life? Look back upon it at your deathbed and realise that you didn't do anything at all. That you were a person of no consequence? That in a blink of an eye (on a cosmic scale), you were nothing. Friends say a few things about you at your funeral, and that's it. Life goes on. Nothing happened.

This is probably putting it a little too harshly. Unless you're a true hermit, most of us touch people everyday.

Well, at least I'm glad I realised this, and also realise the need to climb out of this cesspit. I don't know what to do about the people I know who are still like this. Do they know? Do they know and just ignore this? Do they know, and do nothing about it? Do they defeat themselves by telling themselves that they don't amount to anything?

Are they really comfortable with the idea that they are alone? Do they not think of whether they should find someone? Or just sit and wait? Jiang Ziya diao yu?

For some people, things happen easily for them. For others, they have to fight for it if they want to have it. Just because you don't have it now doesn't mean you're not destined to have it.

I came across this little gem when I was reading my (now) favourite site: www.cracked.com

One of the most common reasons we procrastinate is fear that the end result won't live up to the "perfect" idea in our heads. Think about the writer friend of yours who has never actually written anything, because they're "waiting for the right idea" for a book to come along.

This is why people wind up living in their parents' basement--waiting for the perfect job, the perfect girl, the perfect friendship--before committing to anything.

And here's what one of my friends had to say about it:

You don't figure out the right way to do something without making mistakes. And nobody's perfect.

It's almost better knowing how something sucks and making due rather than for waiting forever for it to be perfect.

Why are some people I know so afraid of failure? I'm afraid of it too, I know. I'm working to remove that. It's okay to fail. It's better to have tried, and failed, than not to have tried at all. Rather than sit staring at the closed door wondering what's on the other side, or fearing about what's on the other side, just wtf open it! Open it and deal with what comes out from the other side. It could be good, it could be bad. Whatever it is, it will make you stronger. You will learn from the experience (Well of course you can choose not too...)

Alongside with the realisation (that I hang out with losers), is that I have to make other kinds of friends. Friends who have the same kind of mindset. I only know four so far. Need to find more.

This doesn't mean I'm not a loser, nor am I saying I'll ignore nor think any less of the 'loser' friends that I have, but, birds of a feather flock together. Friends influence your way of thinking, what you do, and can give good advice.

Sigh. I dunno. I wanted to send all this and then some to my friends, but... well really. Is there a point to it? If you hold yourself so small, should I bother to hold yourself for your true worth? If you can't even see the beauty in yourself, should I even bother to tell you how beautiful you are? Should I bother to drag a boulder up a mountain? A boulder that doesn't even want to go up in the first place?

Doesn't seem like it's logical hor. But it's quite sad to see people wasting their time like this...

Not like I'm not wasting my time ;) I do do that sometimes... :P

I found this blog while stumbling, http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/03/21/why-some-people-almost-always-are-successful/ it seems pretty good. Nice posts. Check it out.

Thoughts...

Talked to R today about LP.. about the stuff that I've been through.

His feedback. For weeks he's been seeing me go around this cycle looking for an answer to a non existent problem.

I've been feeling pretty shoehorned for this entire course. Why do I have to behave like this? Why .. why blah blah. For some people, I guess it works for them. They feel the breakthrough, they feel like they have done something different, and it's great for them. But people are different. What is important to them isn't necessarily important to another person.

In a way this course has been pretty beneficial. I did learn stuff, and to me, found my greatest breakthrough which will take me through life. But to other ppl, no it's not a breakthrough, etc etc. .. Duh? We have different ways of judging..

I've been judged by a person who said less than 50 words to me. Based on that quick analysis, he can say I don't make creative input at work. But R, being boss and all, said no. Well ya I guess so, that was what I answered then. And that person said even louder. You don't.

So well I gave up. I realised then if I continue fighting, I will be labelled as defensive. But yet if I just let it slide, I'm not being true to myself.

So was kinda blah.

And that happened again by that coursemate who said I don't have my breakthrough yet. Babe, we have different kinds of breakthroughs.

I know, there are various ways to look at this. To do something different, to try out different stuff. Ya .. I agree. But I'm just not wired that way. I like saying "I don't have that plugin installed" etc. It's just a quirk of mine. Then they say, don't think! Use your heart!

But ... well .. er the heart is silent leh. If you wanna listen to the heart... That's not the way I'm wired.

Then the same coursemate was saying that people want the same things. (Well in a very basic way I guess). And the fact that I want my car to be neon light, door lights .. etc etc, is cause somehow not open at all etc etc. That people are the same .. blah..

I dunno. I just like my car to have lights... flashy shitz.... No particular reason.

I dunno

Now feeling rather negative about the whole thing.

It has its merits.

But... I guess it's not for me.

Blatantly obvious .. To some

Regarding LP...
These few days I've been feeling resentful about the time needed, and my logical mind kept finding excuses to quit.

But last night, in bed, I was thinking when I solve problems like computer probs, fixing bugs ..
I never dwell on the "why did this happen!?!"
I just think of "It's .. ok .. It happened already. What can I do to fix it?"

Can't I just let the heart (or mind .. depending on subject matter) decide..

OK I want to do X and put the power and energy of my logical mind behind THINKING how to make it work rather than whining about it.

Gah

Been feeling rather depressed these few days. Frankly if really pressed for an answer, I wouldn't have one.. it's just .. blarhgz.

I realise that one of my difficulties is to trust people. Well, I can do things solo and all's fine, but rely on someone to do stuff... That can get quite difficult. And almost everything that happens always shows that's a correct assumption.

Maybe I'm a control freak :P

Anyways I've been talking to DA, asking him if he sees a possibility where he can shift too, and be well .. warmer, more trusting, closer to people and stuff like that.

He is cautious about it ... Not like totally unwilling to try, but kinda approaching this with a 1000 foot long stick. Frankly, I cannot imagine DA being like this. (Similarly I cannot imagine myself like this -.-). But well DA has his LA which he is completely 100%+++ devoted to.

But I guess I should try and sit down with him and see if we can work something out..kinda like .. get out there... be er .. I don't know =.= I don't even really know what's supposed to happen.

It's kinda silly actually, since well.. that's DA, and this is me. That's .. that.

Shifting

No, this is not shifting house or what. It's a term in Asiaworks about shifting yourself. It's pretty interesting so far. These few days I've been feeling cautiously optimistic and actually cheerful these days. Usually everyday it's kinda of a blah mood, but it's been ^_^~

Not too bad I guess.

Also going to volunteer for the first time in my life >_> Omg. I actually signed up for 2 things at this current time in writing. Signed up for Cheshire Home and NLB. Tomorrow will be packed, gotta go for team meeting in the morning and then 10 - 12 is the NLB orientation and 4pm need to go to the Home. Add to that I need to get some work done! Zomg!

Looks like Sunday will have to work quite alot liao. Actually the NLB thing is abit extra, but it's quite cool, I've always liked libraries ^_^; Would most likely have to scale something back, depending lo.

Need to work on my project plan later.. Time is going to be tight, and I can't overcommit..

But .. bottom line .. I feel cheerful! ~ woo.

rawr!

Wah so long nv blog here, the new UI is slightly different! Pretty interesting.

I have been so busy these days, going on courses and such. Been doing this course by asiaworks.. Up to now I still can't really categorise it, except that it's for self awareness and living your life fully. Lol. It IS pretty good imo, although I have a friend in the States who took it and didn't feel so good about it. I guess it's individual experience and stuff bah. So far my mates are pretty cool, would love to keep in contact with them always.

Well, it's time to start rolling up the sleeves to speed pick up Ruby on Rails, it's going to be an interesting 3+ mths ahead. MUSTTTTTT be able to do well in this!! Will have to be super hardworking liao.

Was reading about the election news yesterday. Omg. Dudes, if I had to vote, I wouldn't vote for the girl next door. I'd vote for the smart dude, who can THINK and actually do shit rather than someone who's exactly like me. WTF would I vote for myself to lead a country? (Well in this case, I can do a pretty good job!). But seriously, what's with the, "Oh she's just like me! Therefore I shall vote for her!" or "Experience doesn't matter! It's your ethics that do!" ...

Stop dragging religion into politics man. Just because he's/she's a devout Christian/Buddhist/Muslim/whatever, doesn't make him/her a good politician/decision maker etc.

Looking back..

So today marks the next chapter of my life... Today is the day where my ties with muvee are severed. Poofed.

It's kinda sad actually, I felt quite sorry ... kinda regretful ... etc.

Looking back at my work experience... I guess the years in muvee were the most fruitful.

In Converscient, I learnt to be a peon, learnt that SI was shit, and I didn't really want to do it, learnt what kind of projects I should avoid, learnt server setups ... etc.

In muvee, I learnt how to not be a peon, how to think about things. Not just listen blindly, but to think for myself. I must say I leave muvee a changed person.

But I still don't know what I really want. Maybe the workshop next week will tell me ...

Digital art

Went to the digital art exhibition last sat. It was pretty bad imo... Most of the time I was thinking wtf? What's the point of this shitz? Either I didn't understand it, or it just didn't .. well make sense to me.

These few pics are fun though. We saw this the moment we stepped into the museum lolz. Again I was thinking wtf.. the description totally is very lame.. Like David .. examined under the female eye.. blah blah yawnz IMO it's just .. stupid looking .. -_-;

owww...

Result of langaing with a bicycle =.=; I've always known at the back of my head that that place was rather dangerous, cos it was a T junction and ppl travelling on the _ side can't see the ppl approaching from |.. I've always told myself to look before heading out of the |, but I usually don't...

So well today it happened.. I walked out... and langa a bicycle =.= At first I was thinking not too bad, he didn't knock into my body, didn't crash anywhere... was ok. Then later in the bus I felt some pain at the toe, looked down and it was zomfg blood!!! =.= Pain ....

Underneath of the nail is purplesh liao.. Going to replace the name.. I think the bic didn't run over it, but more like maybe the nail hit it and was pushed to 1 side (as you can see it's a bit \ to 1 side...)

Urgh.

Personality Disorder Test Results Paranoid |||||||||||| 42% Schizoid |||||||||||||||||||| 86% Schizotypal |||||||||||||||||||| 82% Antisocial |||||||||||||||| 66% Borderline |||||||||||||||||| 78% Histrionic |||||| 30% Narcissistic |||||||||| 34% Avoidant |||||||||||||| 58% Dependent |||||||||||| 46% Obsessive-Compulsive |||||||||| 38%

Take Free Personality Disorder Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

How to make money... lots of it

So I went to a talk today about $$ planning. After the talk (which was pretty entertaining ... I was worried that I might /thud /snore /drool), I was mulling over it...

So basically, here are some of the ways to make $$
1 - Business
2 - Investment
... Got some other lah but I can't remember..

Out of investments there's
1 - Property
2 - Stocks & Shares
3 - Wine
4 - Zurich ..
5 - Other weird shit....

So I was thinking ... how best for us peons to earn the most $$? To me, it's either business or property... Stocks & shares depends on your capital (and/or how much you leverage it), and it depends on your trades..

The speaker succeeded (initially) on property. It pretty much seems like the way to go, but needs knowledge and timing .. and balls I guess. Take a huge loan to buy a flat... especially if you're not buying for your own. And if you're buying purely for investment, you'll need to buy private unless you're >35.

Business need risk taking ... But nowadays it's not hard to open a business? Just require bigger balls. Lol.

Time to do due diligence....

Dumb shitz

So .. after a long agonising period, I finally threw letter. Woo. You cannot imagine the relief... and the release I felt. BU said "you cannot imagine the sense of loss I felt".. Well, I'd like to say to him, you cannot imagine the relief and release I felt.

Lolz

Anyway the moment I stepped home just now, my mom was saying .. I dunno what you're so busy doing outside, but if you're not interested in him, don't give him chance. (+ other sundry comments about guys and marriage and such)

My knee jerk reaction was what the fuck are you talking about?

Duh. Does she only see things like this? -_-

wtf.

Who knows? God knows? Nobody knows!

We were supposed to go to staging this week.

Didn't happen.

We are supposed to go live next week.

There has been 0 testing.

Are we going live?

Who knows? God knows? Nobody knows!

Life with an MBP

As some of you may (or may not!) know, I bought an MBP last week :D What's an MBP? It's a Macbook pro of course! And being the poor peon that I am, I went for the 24 mth interest free installment, and being the poor peon that I am, I bought the cheapest 15"er, souped up to 4gb ram :P

Her name? Imperator! At first it was a tentative name, but I guess it grows on you. Somehow Imperator seems to be masculine, but my fleet is always feminine.

So far I've alreadby bought a 110$ bag for her, but I haven't taken her out yet. Been mainly computing on the bed with her.. Thinking of buying a Belkin cooling pad, bring down her temperature. She usually runs at 71 on load.. Kinda hot huh. So far haven't done much programming on her.. Don't really have the right ergonomic environment for a laptop at the moment ..

But she's fantastic!! :D