My First Short Film - A Nikalo Film

Anticipation from my last post, here is the video you've all been waiting for...A Glimpse of Maleena's Day.

What is it about?

It's about a little girl named Maleena discovering all the little things around herself in a clothing and tailor shop.  She plays with a little black string doll, swinging it back and forth until boredom befalls her.  On to the next adventure, she moves out from back room to the front of the shop.

She strolls through the Clothes Forest but falls down along the way.  She quickly recovers on both feet and continues on her journey.  A colorful car appears before her, but she doesn't know how to play with it and continues without another glance.

Maleena hears noises from the bustling atmosphere on the other side of the glass door.  She wants to escape and play with the real cars, people, and plants.  Her fists bang on the door, but she cannot open the door.

Sadness fills her, and she cannot do anything but witness with her eyes of the busy and lively area of the plaza.  Although, there is sadness in her heart, she moves on quickly,

Clothes!  A girl cannot resist the luxury to shop for something she desires.  Maleena knows the trick to her yearning heart to happiness.  She becomes determined to find the right outfit for herself.


Please enjoy this simple short film made by me.

-Nickie Lo

LQ video

HQ video

My New MacBook Pro with Retina Display

I got my new MacBook Pro on 08.20.12!  I've been wanting one for the longest time and finally felt that I needed to get one.  When you get that feeling that it's right, I think you should go with your intuition.  Most of the time (Mostly ALL of the time), it is right.  My MacBook Pro feels right.

Here's some pics when I received it:

As you can see from the pictures, I got blue silicone case for my MacBook Pro. It's so cool...!  My MacBook Pro has covered itself in this blue plastic silicone, since I've unwrapped it.  I didn't want it to get scratched up.

I bought this MacBook Pro for mostly video and picture editing, so the first software I purchased when I opened it up was Final Cut Pro X.  I love it!  I still haven't figured out all of what it can do, but I think eventually I will.  I have lots of videos and pictures to play with.

My next project is to buy a really great HD camera that is reasonably priced for its quality.  I haven't found one that I liked yet.  For now, my plan is to get one sometime in the near future.  Perhaps next year...?

The first film created with Final Cut Pro X is a simple short film I made on 08.21.12.  It's called, A Glimpse of Maleena's Day.  Please look for it very soon!

Until next time, I'm out!

-Nickie Lo

Pictures from South Korea

Here is my seriously belated post of some pictures of my time in Korea.

First Time in Korea!

Sorry, everyone that I've so lazy to post up any updates. I should try harder to make new posts consistently.

Here's a brief update since I've arrived in South Korea. I arrived in Incheon, Korea on February 6, 2011. From the airport, I met other TaLK scholars and TaLK coordinators. After waiting an hour after my flight, we took a bus to Jochiwon. The bus ride was about 2 hours. Why Jochiwon? Because our 3 week orientation was held there at Korea University, Sejong campus. It was a nice small campus. I'll post up pictures later.

After Jochiwon, I had a week orientation in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk province with all the other scholars who are teaching in Gyeongbuk from February 23 to 28, 2011. I had a good time there too. We all stayed at a "4-star" hotel. I would rate it a 3 1/2 star hotel. The outside and lobby look great, but the rooms are so not up to the par of 4 star or even 3 star. Let me tell you my story. The room was a bit small, the beds were OK - bouncy and a bit hollow - the bathroom was OK but what made it worse was that there were baby ants - Ah...freakin' gross! Every time I went to the bathroom I would see them crawling around the edge of the door and wall and one time I saw them crawling on my toothbrush (on the edge of it). Ah!!!! I totally freaked out! I immediately turned on the water and washed them off my toothbrush. From then on I made sure I dried my tooth brush before I set it on the counter. The only thing I liked about my room was the location, because me and my roommate, Diana, were able to get wi-fi while others couldn't get a connection. The hotel food was good and OK. I like breakfast the best. It was sad to leave everyone but not entirely because I knew it would not be the last time I would see them. Sad that I had to leave before I could say bye to them. I think I was one of the first scholars to leave. I had to leave right away because the teacher that came to pick me up was on a schedule to get me and get me to the school and my dormitory.

So, I arrived in Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk on February 28, 2011. After the Namcheon Elementary teacher and her husband picked me and Donia, my Korean co-teacher/TaLK Scholar, we went to eat at a Korean restaurant, then we went to Namcheon Elementary school and met some of the teachers including the Principal, and then finally they dropped us off at my dormitory. I was happy that I had help to take my two big luggage up 4 floors from the 2nd floor to the 5th floor. Great for me but sucked for them. I felt bad of course, but I felt very appreciative for their help. Why couldn't there be an elevator in my building? It's going to suck when I have to leave and take everything back down. I will try to get some help. So when I saw my room...I was shocked to find out that there were 3 rooms in my dorm apartment room. At least I only have to share my room with one other person and not three like some others. I was also glad to know that our dorm apartment room has its own bathroom. We have two bathrooms, one with toilet and shower hose sprayer and the second one with sink and shower hose sprayer, and then a sink outside the first bathroom. I'll post pictures later.

So, that's all for the first month of Korea. I will tell you all more about the second month and other details in my next blog.

Going to Korea!

I've almost got everything done and ready to go. A few things to do:

1. Wash a few things and do some packing and then take off to work by 9am to 10am.
2. Work until 4pm or 5pm.
3. Go home and finish packing.
4. Do last minute visiting family that I haven't gone to visit.
5. Have my brother pick me up to sleep at his place. (Because my mom said it's bad luck or so to leave home on a Saturday.)
6. Spend a bit time with my sister and brother.
7. Double check everything that I'm taking with me.
8. Go to sleep. (Hopefully by 8pm but at the latest 9pm.)
9. Wake up at or around 3am and get ready to leave.
10. Eat breakfast.
11. Take off by 4am or at the latest 4:30am.
12. Should arrive at the airport by 5pm-ish.
13. Departure to Chicago is 6:50am.
14. Departure to Seoul is 11:30am.
15. Arrival to Seoul at 4:30pm on February 6th. (*^_^*) Yay!

So that is my long list.

What do I plan to do on the plane?
1. Read
2. Watch videos on either my iTouch or laptop
3. Listen to music on iTouch and go to sleep
4. Look over my stuff and read important paper works
5. Something that I hadn't thought of yet.

That's it for now. I'll update later when the time gets closer. :)

Body MakeOver

At the start of every year, I always make a New Year's resolution to LOSE WEIGHT, but it never works out. I get lazy half way throughout the year. A lot of things gets in my way of my goal. Like, studying for exams, doing homework, making free time for myself to watch anime/movie/drama or read books/manga, and doing some house chores. This long list just sounds like a big excuse. I know that if I was really determined, then I could make the time to workout for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

I've talked to a few people, and they've told me how it's really really hard to start working out. I raise my hand up high. YES! It's freakin' hard to lose weight when you first start out. I'm motivating myself all the time in my head, but my damn body...and head just doesn't want to move or do anything but read books/manga or watch anime/drama. Since, I now have an iPod Touch 4G, I hope to use it to motivate me in my workout. I can read or watch something on it while I pedal the bike machine. :)

Seriously, this year I really want to make a difference in my life and in others. I want to lose weight and be happy about my body when I look in the mirror or at myself. It's so depressing when I put on a pair of my old nice pants, and I find out that it doesn't fit or zip. I just want to cry. :( I hate to buy bigger clothes. It makes me more depressed about my weight. To not feel so depressed, I turn to books, anime, manga, and games. The other difference I want to make is to become a great English teacher when I'm in South Korea for the TaLK program. It will be my first time teaching, so I hope to do a good job. I will leaving to South Korea early February. I'm so excited!

Besides my Body MakeOver, my car needs one too. LOL. I got in a car accident early November, and I don't really like to talk about it. My fault. :( Anyways, my front fender, front bumper, left headlights are broken or damaged. :( There are also some internal damages, but I'm not sure what the parts are. Later, I had found out that my tail lights died. I should fix it soon, but I haven't. When it comes to taking care of my car, I'm a bit lazy to do that. Because I hate to wait for my car to get done, and it's so cold right now. For some reason the cold weather makes me lazy and makes me want to hibernate like a bear. It's all too expensive for me to fix right now, because I need to save my money for my trip to South Korea.

I will update when I finally start working out. (Hopefully, it's real soon.)

The New Year 2011

So, it's another new year.... It's been probably one of the worst starts for me, since I got sick with the stomach flu on the morning of the 2nd of January. I caught it on New Year's Eve but had no idea. I guess it was a parting gift into the new year. Perhaps? I've been stuck in bed for the past three days now. Only today I've been able to eat a bit more than crackers. I ate Campbell's Broccoli Soup with crackers. It was really good. A lot better than I thought it would be.

Now, I'm trying to recover from this stomach flu that's been a killer. My cousins were in town, and I couldn't even hang with them, because I was sick. :( Tonight, they are going back home, and I don't even get to say, "Bye." I didn't even get to say all that I wanted to either. Oh well, that's what email and facebook are for, right? At least, I got to say, "Bye," to my brother, Meng. It was nice talking to him for a bit before he left. I won't get to see him for a long while. I'm going to miss my family and friends.

I always say I won't get lonely or that I probably won't miss my family much if leave them to go somewhere, but I think I will. I hope to spend some quality time with them all before I leave to South Korea. It's exciting but also nerve-wrecking, because I've never been to another country without my parents or someone else. Someway or another, I think it will be fine. When it comes to the time, somehow I don't know how, I usually figure out things for myself or things work out for themselves. Let's just hope that'll be the case.

Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did. I had a great time spending time with my family. Had good food and watched some good movies, "The Town" and "..." (Can't remember). Sorry, I can't seem to remember when my head is a bit fuzzy.

Nothing much happened except for the little outbreak at my uncle's and aunt's house of the stomach flu.

Until the next time! (When I'm feeling much better.) (^_^)/*