BE BOULDER AND CLIMB HARDER

Posted on by Ruwen

This is a little story about my climbing journey

End of last year 2018 I was introduced to bouldering. I remember going up on a wall at Bayside Rock Climbing Gym while trying to hold tight on to weird holds. I was scared and my legs were kinda shaking. I tried to climb few more and I gave up, as I was not comfortable with the hanging situation. :’)

Do not get me wrong, I really liked it! however I tend to take things easy if I am not comfortable with what I am doing and I did exactly the same with this. Few weeks after I find myself climbing at free climbing walls around Melbourne. My interest towards climbing developed, and around end of December I bought my first climbing shoes.

Back then I was living in Coburg, and I found the outdoor climbing wall on Sydney road. Also tried out the Burnley Bouldering Wall in Richmond. Every week I went to these places to train or try out the walls. I was only able to do lower level climbs at this time and I was happy about it

One day while I was at the Burnley Wall, I meet this guy who’s tall, and was working on harder climb. So I started up a conversation with him. Then he told me about a new indoor climbing gym in Collingwood called Urban Climb. Around this time I was planning to move to Richmond and this sounded great, and I was really keen to try out the indoor climbing gym.

Thanks for that Chris!!! and the instructions you gave me that day for the purple climb which I was struggling with. You’ve been a great mentor and I am really glad that I met you that day. 🙂

Two months past by and I move to Richmond, visit Urban Climb Collingwood! I get like a 10 day free pass and I am at the gym like 3-4 days straight having a great time. This felt great as I was improving on my climbs and the lingo of the community. However it took me a while to understand what a send or a problem is :’)

After I finished my free pass I subscribed to a gym membership at Urban Climb. I think this was one of the best choices I made in 2019. Since then I have been at the gym least 2-3 days every week. After like 2 months I made a great set of friends at the climbing gym and in the climbing community. As a result I had the opportunity to take part in out door bouldering sessions and I absolutely loved it.

Around that time I was starting to get injured around my body especially my wrists and legs due to over use. I started seeing physio at Evolutio Sports Physio and taking care of my body. Thanks to Tiffany and Bayden I was able to understand, how to approach the injuries in a smarter way.

This was also the point where I started to realise that REST DAYS ARE IMPORTANT!

With all of these things happening around me, I was slowly getting physically fit and starting to understand my body and it’s limits. Around months of June and July 2019, I bought my 2nd pair of climbing shoes because the old ones were worn off. I guess its mainly because of bad technique and not taking care of the shoes properly.

Even though I had a new pair of shoes I tend to take it easy at the gym due to my injuries and slowly work my way up the problems. I would spend weeks on one problem, breaking it down and taking it slowly till I perfect it. I stayed away from too many dynamic moves and stick to static moves while solving problems.

Around this time I was engaging in harder problems and I am sending them! Booyah! I was happy and I really wanted to push myself a bit more. So I kept at it. In August I was able to get back in to intermediate level climbs at the gym (not breaking my body in the process), and I was really happy. Once in a while I would send high level problems depending on how my body feels.

As 2-3 more months past by and here I am gotten stronger, but my shoes were once again worn off. So I got a new pair! Maaan these shoes were expensive, but I think the latest pair I have is my favourite as it fits my feet perfectly! Actually its like 1.5 sizes lower than my actual foot size but I am in love! It took me like 10 days to get used to these new shoes as they were not the most comfortable things to wear. :’)

So now this is where I am at currently. 8 months in to bouldering with few injuries here and there and sending them problems.

Recently I was able to send a problem which I was working for like 2 weeks on and off and it made me realise how much I have grown and how much of an impact my interest towards climbing has made in my life.

At the start of 2019 I made a commitment and now only I have started to see the benefits. This has greatly improved both my physical and mental health. I am really glad that I got into climbing and it has slowly become a part of my life style. Special thanks to my climbing friends and the community for creating an amazing space for like minded individuals like me.

So for those who don’t know much about climbing or bouldering, a climb is known as a problem and it has taught me to face problems head on, take rest when needed and not to give up 🙂

Hopefully I’ll send a V8 in the future 😀

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Digital Magazines with Whats Up Downunder

Posted on by Ruwen

While working at NCE I had the opportunity to work closely with Whats Up Downunder in relation to creation of marketing collateral. What’s Up Downunder is an Australian travel television show celebrating all things caravanning and camping that airs on Network Ten and One HD.

As a result I was able to produce content for their interactive web magazines promoting products and services provided by NCE RV and Home and RV.

Below are some of the work I have produced during 2018-2019

Whats Up Down Under – Journey Magazine: Ram Trucks Australia

CLICK HERE: JOURNEY MAGAZINE: RAM TRUCKS AUSTRALIA

Whats Up Down Under – Camper Deals: End of Financial Year Buyers Guide

CLICK HERE: CAMPER DEALS: END OF FINANCIAL YEAR BUYERS GUIDE

Whats Up Down Under – Monthly E-magazines

CLICK HERE: MONTHLY E-MAG: ISSUE 33
CLICK HERE: Monthly E-mag: Issue 30
CLICK HERE: Monthly E-mag: Issue 32

ANIMAGA 2019 : It Still Feels Like Home

Posted on by Ruwen

So the last week I attended one of the best and the bravest Anime conventions in Melbourne as a media representative. It was ANIMAGA 2019 aka Anime Manga and Games Expo, has always been a favorite of mine.

The reason why I said bravest, because… this event is not like the rest. Its made by fans for the fans. Unlike most commercialised conventions, ANIMAGA tend to hold bit of integrity and always gave me a feeling of community, family and representation for a niche fan base.

But I might be bit bias when it comes to ANIMAGA Expo, as I have few personal ties with the event. In early 2016, I joined ANIMAGA as a volunteer, and I was in charge of the stages.

Ah! those were the good days when the event was held at Melbourne Show Grounds. I still remember running around the grounds from one stage to another as two main stages were in two different locations. I must say it was a great workout.

And bam! the year after I ended up working as a staff member, being their Media Manager for the years of 2017 and 2018, and was able to get a sneaky feature in Kotaku in 2017. This was when the event came back to the Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building. By this time the event has started to bloom!

However, due to other personal commitments I decided to retire from ANIMAGA staff position.

This year I had the opportunity to become one of ANIMAGA’s media representative and here I am writing about the event (not really) and what not.

If you need more information about the event or what they got, please click here, as I am not writing this to talk about the event… but how it made me feel.

You wanna see the pictures I took of the event? Click here.

As the heading of this post says, It still makes me feel like home 🙂

Why?

Because, all my friends are there! Nuff said. The old ones and the ones I made on the day!

Except for that, ye all the artwork, merch and other things which I would get for myself and drool over for the years to come.

Personally I had a great time at the event. I know that for some attendees it might not have been the best, but hey! they are trying!

Thanks to these organizers we have a place to be, a place that feels like home ❤

Here is a compilation of video snippets from the event. Hope you enjoy!

The Reasons To Con

Posted on by Ruwen

Its been nearly a decade since I got my self in to the pop culture events. At first I used to attend these events to get the latest merchandise, check out the most recent video game and how it’s effecting the mass crowds, table top games, sexy cosplays and not so sexy ones and meeting new and like minded people and of course the trend!

But recently I am starting to go to cons not because of the trend, but because of the amazing people I met during these events, and because of how they made me feel. Some of these people have become the closet people in my life. I might not be able to sum up everything in a 2 minute video, but hey, thank you for all those who has been around and been amazing! 

and thank you for making a place where I feel like I belong 

WE MADE A STUDIO WITH A GREEN SCREEN! AYYYY!

Posted on by Ruwen

Its been more than a year since I started to work with Antons Mouldings. Most of the time I associated with the organization’s events, production and creative approach to photography and media content.

After a year’s time with the support of our amazing Marketing Manager, we were able to set up a small studio room (YESSS WITH A GREEN SCREEN!!!!) in one of the libraries at work.

This small space has become the perfect place for our pre-productions !

With this development I personally think that the level of pre-production of our photography and videography will increase immensely.

We did test out the capabilities of our newly made studio with one of our new product releases under Antons Mouldings and I think we did a good job 😀

COLOUR YOUR COMMUNITY – TUNSTALL SQUARE

Posted on by Ruwen

Around 2 years ago, while I was still at university following my Masters Degree I had the opportunity to take part in a work integrated study unit called WIL (Work Integrated Learning) at Deakin University’s Burwood Campus.

The Work Integrated Learning Unit aka WIL was managed by the Freelancing Hub, which was back then a newly initiated program to provide students with real work place experience under DeakinTalent Program. While working with the FreelancingHub our team had the amazing opportunity to create a Communication Plan for the Tunstall Square Shopping Centre in Doncaster East. As enjoyable it was, this project had a lot of potential and we didn’t even realise it back then.

Read about the project here: Project Tunstall Square

After nearly 2 years of finishing my Masters, today I get tagged on a Facebook post by one of the team members which was involved in the same project as I was in the Work Integrated Learning Unit at Deakin.

And you know what, this post was about the 2nd stage of one of our proposed ideas going live!

Watch the video of the 1st stage here:

Yes! it is a big deal, I mean who would have thought that this would actually happen?

Now I’m sitting here writing about this, because its a great feeling to see that the ideas were put in to action and it is not just helping the stakeholders which we were involved with during the project but also the community around it.

The details of the 2nd stage of the project are below


I intend to actively take take part in this community project and maybe draw something if they permit! 

I Did A PAX! In Normie Style. :D

Posted on by Ruwen

Okay guys, if you guys were wondering where i was through out the event. This post will explain what i was up to. This time i tried out PAX in a different way than i usually do, which i highly enjoyed. :3

So i got there around 10.30am … maaaaan! Did you guys see the line(s)? We were being horded like kettle :’) , yet it was fun to line up. Haven’t actually lined up for a pop culture convention for sometime. This was good 😀 the hype was real !!!! 


And after like good 30 minutes of grinding in the lines, finally was able to get in. YAY!!! 😀

After getting in, i was walking around and consuming the ultra nerd-ness inside the convention halls. It was huge… well as always. But after years im actually going as a normie and it was nostalgic and a great feeling :3

After a while i ended up at this place!

This was the indie games area. I always had a strange love towards indie games, you’ll know if you take a glimpse at my steam library. 

As i was snooping around the indie games section, i ended up at this amazing work of art. 

This was like a combination of hyper light drifter, monument valley and bastion. Played the demo, and absolutely loved it. Its still at it’s development stages, however the developers are planning to publish the game around next year. I am so keen for this one 😀

In between the indie feels, i was walking around to check out other areas of the event. And this is what i got to see!

Now i am even more keen to get myself a switch! I mean dancing is a good exercise 😉

Then i moved on to test out some gaming headsets. I am in dire need of a gaming headset or any type of a good headset for my video production work as well, so ended up goofing around with Audio-Technica headsets and tried them out. I think i might have found a winner there, but i need to do more research on this.

Tried to get a panorama afterwards, not sure whether it worked. But i mean something is here 😛

Being inside of the convention hall was getting bit too hectic and i needed to get out for a while, to get some fresh air and look what i get to see. 

and then this too! 

All these nerds, battling out for the freebies by Bethesda. Well i gotta say, there were some cool free give-aways. 

After walking around the outside of the convention hall i retrieved back to the indie games section once more to try out more of the indie goodness. 

Tried this one, and it is a co-op type game and it was great fun! There is a high chance that i might buy it when it gets published. 


Getting out of the indie section took me back to the lobby area out side of the convention hall and it gave me the chance to take few cosplay pictures as usual. When i say few, its like less than 10, i know right! NO REGRATS!!!!

If you’re keen on following my work you can do so here : GanjaNinja™

Ohh and i brought some things for myself as well 😀 Gonna try out this board game tonight after i am done posting this! Excited for this 😀

So after a great first day at PAX AUS 2018, i am back in my man cave and chilling and thought of writing this to tell what happened through out my day! 

Here is a small video snippet of my day!

I will be at PAX AUS 2018 tomorrow, doing the same thing and trying to make the best out of the event. Hope you all enjoy the event as well.

Australian Institute of Hotel Engineering Journal (AIHE) Publications 2018

Posted on by Ruwen

With NCE Commercial I had the opportunity to produce advertisements for the Australian Institute of Hotel Engineers (AIHE)  Hotel Engineer Journal.

View Full Issue Here
View Full Issue Here

Additionally I had the opportunity to be an active participant representing NCE Commercial at one of the Australian Institute of Hotel Engineers (AIHE) Conference at Park Hyatt Mleboure, Victoria in July 2018, introducing the CHiQ Smart Digital Signage. It was a great experience!

Currently I am involved with the Smart Digital Signage’s Developments at NCE Commercial and look forward to make the project a success.

Read more on that here.