Photo of the Day

The word of the Day: Ancient
(Derby,UK 2011)

Beautiful little town - Matlock Bath

*Beware of a MANY photos post!*

I went to Matlock Bath yesterday with few of my classmates. It is about an hour and half train journey from Nottingham. When we google about this town, we did not see much attraction besides the cable car thingy.. And the reason we choose this place for the trip is because:

1. Cheap travel fare - £5.15

2. Near and fast

3. Recommended by Nani

Due to the few facts above, Matlock Bath it is. Not much choice since we can't go far as we don't have much time. Can't spend too much money since all of us are nearly broke.. XD

However, Matlock Bath did not let us down. Although it seems there's not much attraction but this little town really show us what we all expect to see of England. A quaint little town, quiet and pretty. 

This is the train that brought us to Matlock Bath. It is the 1st time I sit such a short train. It's just one carriage. Therefore, no seat reservation, which cause troubles when we were returning. We have to stand as there's not much space left. Horrible.. haha..

My breakfast - Sausage Rolls.. 

Reach! 

This is a little station, quiet and nice. Not like the big town, busy and noisy. XD

We reach around 10am+ so it's not many people and it's nice. 

Right infront of the station is this crossing for Cable Cars. 

See the white gate with the signpost? We all go around that gate and a pair of ladies beside us, just give the gate a little push and go THROUGH the gate. Stupid us, just laugh sheepishly. So embarrassing.. omgawd.. 

And... this bee.. stay at my back... it took 3 people to help get it away..Imagine me.. not knowing what is happening while everyone tried to shooo it off.. And everyone knows I'm terrified of..INSECTS! 

The cable cars bring us up to Height of Abraham where we can view the whole of Matlock 

View from the cable car

It's not a long ride..about 1/3 of Genting cable car. Cost us £10 each. At first, it seems a bit not worth it, but when we reach the top, all of us agree it is worth it. 

The cable cars move 3 by 3 

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Group photo at the look out point

Xian, Me, Fiola 

Nice view of Matlock 

Then, we continue to explore the other part of the Height and then, we saw this!

A peacock!

A real life peacock.. XD

I do sound like a City Girl do I? As if I've never seen a peacock before. 

Well, it's true. Where do we get the chance to see a REAL LIFE peacock at KL? 

Ok, Zoo maybe.. but it's been yearrrsss since I visited the Zoo Negara..XD

Back to the topic.. I digressed. 

We took the tour into the mining cave - just a short about 20minutes tour where the guide bring us in and show us various..minerals, shapes, and how in the olden days miners work inside. It's quite amazing story actually as I've never realised that mining IS THAT hard work.. Where everything is dark and cold, and you have to work with your life at stack. I mean, how many accidents happened inside these places? For a living, those days are real hard. I'm glad to say I don't have to go through that. 

Inside the cave

This is the.. plague that the owner of the mine crave to show the other people that this mine DOES belongs to someone already. Those are the owner initials and date. 1705. According to our guide, each of these person have a responsibility and one of them died when the caves falls..I think if I remembered correctly..XD

When we climb the many stairs out of the cave, this is the view that great us. Oh wow.. We are all..so amazed. 

Me, Jin, Fiola, Xian, Peng

There's a rocky path behind the view above, and we climb up to it. It's very easy, not as hard as the photo shows..XDD

And the view is sooo much more breathtaking.. It's really my first time seeing such great scene.

 And I'm loving it!

Behind us the Matlock

So vast area land England have. 

Just let me know anyone, where can I find such places in Malaysia and I'm going to go there. Never been close to nature before in M'sia.. Should try it when I'm back. Where? 

Lying flat on the grass is so comfortable, the sky is so blue and clear, sun shone lightly, cool breeze blowing softly.

Ignoring the ticklish grass...XD

This is the sky I see when I'm lying on the grass... 

Next, we go down again and reach the tower we seen earlier when we reach on the cable car. It's an lookout tower if I'm not wrong..did not really read the history though.. Was too excited to get into the tower..XD

When I peek at the stairs leading up, I'm a little worry and put off but I'm too excited to get up that I push away my fear and climb! It's so.. steep that we keep shouting out that we were going up so no one will come down, or.. XD

I'm so tiny here..I love it

I'm up! 

See the view? Ain't it worth the trouble?

Going down... XD

PS. SiawCheng... It's not that scary.. The view is really worth it!

Then, we take the cable car down to the town and find some lunch.

All of the shops here are so pretty and delicate. I want to own a shop like this one day.

Fabric shop

Ti-li-ta-la shop -> More of gardens stuff I'm guessing..But it's so pretty..XD

Handmade Chocolates! Resist the urge to go in to get some..haha

All the shops are very well decorated.. Nice

And I suppose ice cream is something popular here since we are seeing ice cream every few minutes..haha

See what I mean of the nice decorations?

Quaint little town ain't it? 

After lunch, we continue to explore the rest of the place and reach the garden.. Don't remember the name but it's not bad looking.. 

Now, purple and pink flowers are everywhere! 

Me! 

Nice??? I always love rivers and this river beside the little shops are so.. mine! XD

How can we miss a group photo at this place? 

And there's this nice little bridge to cross the river.. 

（Peng & Fiola) 

It's only about 3pm by the time we are ready to leave. Since our tickets are open return, we can return anytime we like. (Luckily, since we can't find anything else to do..XD)

Time to go back

Matlock Bath isn't a place if you are looking for excitement, it is for relaxing. 

^_^

16th June 2011

Hello!

Today is Thursday! 16th June '11.

Began the same as usual by reaching Uni around 9.30am. Walked into the empty computer room and turn it on. It is as if the computer actually belongs to us already. We need to log in with our student no. and password, and then stuff that we saved on that particular computer will appear. Since no one is at Uni, we use the same one each time. So? That computer began to be full of our traces.. hahaha..

Went down to the workshop and start the day.

Sand my 6 little moulds until they are pretty.

Speak to K about my rod and he cut them for me straight away. Very fortunate. ^^ But it is hard work.. to drill a 5mm diameter hole on a 8mm diameter wooden rod.. XD.. Thanks a lot.. ^^

After that, sand the rod until it fits my box.

It's about lunch time by the time I sand them down. Therefore, decided to leave the workshop earlier and back to our homebase - the computer room. Check my measurements for the box's bone and covers and etc. I've cut them earlier on a laser cutter but problems occurred. The measurement is not accurate due to the unevenness cause by the cutter. The edges is rough and my holes is not perfectly cut. No.. It is not good at all. Therefore, decided to cut them again at another laser cutter. This machines cut perfectly. I'll show you!

Rough edges - need alot of sanding and it'll make the sizes all wrong

Beautifully cut. Perfect sizes. ^^

To cut the pieces of hips, there is not without problems. First, the computer doesn't read my dxf file correctly. All my shapes are wrong. >_<" Therefore, technician G need to copy and paste them and edit the size again. Throughout this process, I'm afraid my sizes will not be good again. However, the end result is ^_^

While waiting for them to finish, I almost fall asleep.. 

Finish cutting after about 30minutes! Worth the wait though! 

^_^

After that, the day is perfect for me. Since I'm so worried about the measurement before lunch, now it is settled, I'm so relieved! 

Another small thing that's bugging me is my plinth. Gave my drawings to K for him to made about 2 weeks ago with my other classmates. However, I noticed some other student wrote something on the back of my drawing for K. I'm afraid he might not notice and bring it elsewhere and my drawing is gone. These few days I'm in the workshop, I saw K making the plinth. He made those simple box-shape plinths first. Since mine is a bit... special request..so I know he will not do it 1st. However, I've been looking at the stack of drawings of plinth he had to make and mine wasn't there. T_T  I knew it...

So, I ask him about it this evening..and very true.. he look for it and say it's not there. I knew it I knew it. I've already printed another for him. See? I'm so well prepared... ^_^"""

Then, ask technician A about some steel rod and plate to fit my magnets. He's very friendly. First time ask for his help. He found a rod for me and start to tell me how to cut them to the sizes I want. Then he stop and think. He say if I'm not in rush for the rod, tomorrow he will help me to do it on another machine which require lesser work. As if I cut them on the saw, I need to sand both edges.. and I need 12 of them..which mean I have 24 edges to sand. He jokingly said he will not add more troubles to my life.. wahhahaha.... that's so nice of him! Will find him first thing early tomorrow! ^_^

Back to the computer as the workshop is closing around 5pm.. While waiting for Fiola to finish, I tried on my solidworks animation again. I guess I need to work on the animation soon. I've left it for a week.. haha.. Still need to edit my video interviews and add on the animations. ^_^

Tomorrow is Friday. I'm hoping everyone mood will be great. If the technician moods are great, your work will be done quicker! ^_^

Had some ready-made and hot chicken as dinner. Lazy to cook. Delicious. But not satisfied. Need some exotic food. Maybe Nasi lemak will be great...wahahaha...Oh.. and those asam laksa and curry mee! Oh no.. have to stop this thought.. 

It is now 8.50pm. Sun is setting far far away. Traces of pinkish orangish sunlight is there. Today weather is not that warm. Workshop is cool as well. That is good. 

Btw, I noticed since the temperature had risen a little, my handwashed clothes that dried up within a night doesn't anymore. Even as small as a sock. Usually, I washed them at night. By morning, it has dried and ready to wear. Now, my socks are still damp... >_<"" 

Since going to the workshop require safety boots.. which required socks... I'm currentl lacking of socks... ahahahhahaha....Maybe I should just wear leggings... Just a little lazy to pull the legging up my leg.... XDDDDDD

Stop that.. 

Ok.. today thoughts are a little mixed up. I'm quite happy with the progress but at the same time, I'm also very worried about not having enough time. I'm going to attend a summer school next whole week. Which means I've lost a whole week in the workshop.... Should I attend or should I not? 

Still have to finish dissertation, print them and bind them. Finish animation. Finish some renderings for posters. Finish my 6 troublesome little models. 

Sounds like a lot to do. 

Can I finish them on time?

7th July 2011......

After that, I guess life would be carefree.... 

It's only few weeks left. Few weeks left as a student. Time flies...................................................

15th June 2011

Hello 15th June '11, Ms Wednesday!


Today is a quite productive day. Not very but acceptable! Yep!

I NOW HAVE THE 6 FORM AND ALSO 10 COLOURS OF FOAM FORM!!! 

I've been standing in the workshop for the whole day.. starting at 10am till 12.30pm..lunch break..back down at 1.30pm  till 4.30pm.. My legs were scolding me for standing so long. No chairs in workshop.. T_T

However, it is worth it as I kind of done many things.

1. Filled up the crack on my mould.
It was chipped of when it was cut in the machine for dunno-what-reason. Thanks Fiola for helping me as I have no idea what to do with the can of plaster.. LOL

Car Body Filling.. xddd 

2. K the technician helped to vacuum form my foam and hips! 

The challenge is to cut the foam prettily.. It is very hard because my angle is small and a little awkward. Besides the foam is not an easy to cut material as it rip very easily. Discuss with various people about how to get it cut neatly and finally settled on using the scissors. I practised many times before going for the real pieces. And finally, I done it!

See the wood thingy behind? That's my mould to cut the shapes out.. Hard work you know! Haha... I'm so happy now!! ^_^

So today I've done the mould things and the next thing to do is to put them all together! And I'm guessing that's the hardest part of all... I think tomorrow is another full day at workshop. Hope it's another productive day. Or my legs will runaway... >_<"

Oh! This is the mould to make those colourful shapes! ^_^

See? This is the results! hahaha.. 

After cut!

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Busy day

I'm very tired after reaching my home. Wanted to just sit and do nothing. However, after a quick shower and some hot noodles, oh.. and grapes, I am refresh! Started to cut the foams and after finishing and looking at the results... oh.. Now I'm a HAPPY GIRL!

^_^

Cheers for tomorrow!

SC. If you are reading this..Good luck for you as well!!! You've got my blessing.. hahahaha.... 

^_^

PS. The lesson of the day. Remember to say 'Thank you'

PSS. The lesson of the minute. Must proof read everything you write.. Even a blog post as mistake is so easy to make.