Love, Architecturally

(The time is 01.50 A.M. The day is Sunday. And the place is archi studio.)

Oh well, the reason for this post is that I drank too much coffee this afternoon in preparation for an archi-project-chiong-all-the-way nite...turns out my group finished a bit faster than usual, and here I am, having nothing to do but can't sleep also....wretched glass of coffee....

And so I decide to analyse some more my relationship with Architecture.....

And I come to the conclusion that it is, if anything, a lot like "love"....

Archi gives me a lot of pleasure, turns me giddy with excitement, puts a smile on my face when I think that I'm studying it....This high feeling...it's better than chocolate-high... (Oh well my seniors told me it's the honeymoon phase, but even they wonder cuz mine seems to last pretty long....)

It occupies my mind day and night, when I'm eating, when I'm walking, when I'm daydreaming, and especially when I'm NOT sleeping, due to studio work....

Juz like a spoiled lover, Archi enslaves me, takes over my weekend (yesterday had studio and today had to skip church for whole day group project..darn...), demands almost all my energy, time and commitment..and yet I do not complain because this enslavement, if anything, is voluntary, and, like a sadomasochist, I thrive on this torture....

Also, it is a lot like a mother-child relationship, albeit in a much smaller scale and shorter time-span. Projects keep me awake at wee hours, make me frustrated, robs me of any notion of 'spare time', and make tons of demands...Yet, when it comes into fruition, when my designs are completed, done, finished, and it doesn't need me anymore...Looking back over the whole design process, from the birth of an idea, the growth of a concept and the final blooming, I feel some unmistakable hint of relief, pride and loss....

There are times when I hate it, thinking everyone else has a better lot, if not in terms of fun then in terms of shut-eye they've had...But I know that hate in this case is just love frustrated, and everything will be okay once Archi warms up to me again...

Well, there is, I guess, a trifle of lust...Archi can prove so seductive a mistress, that I would willingly spend on it the time meant for God, for church, for friends, for family, even for myself...guilt follows, and yet the pleasure of Archi always entices....

And I am not alone. The time is 2.16 A.M. The day is Sunday. Yet around me archimates are discussing projects animatedly, some are making what will be gorgeous study models, others scratching their heads for inspiration...life goes on in the studio, punctuated with whines and yawns, measured in terms of A1 panels and study models.....

While love is measured in the number of weekends spent staying overnight in the studio...

Joke....or Not?

"How many architects do you need to change a light bulb?"

"None, we'll order the civil engineers to do it."

;p

day one year TWO

First day of school!!! Woooh!! Well I actually am excited cuz it's been darn long since I enjoyed studio culture n discussed lotsa architecture stuff..
So...met Edo as I passed by Yr 1 studio n we decided to take a look...seems forever since I've spent time there...the stress, the excitement, the gratefulness, the hopeless feeling sometimes..n Edo, as we stepped into that hallowed place, summarised all that in one sentence: "I miss this smell, man.."
Well said, Do! ;p As we loitered around the studio corridor, an ID senior passed by... in a skateboard
....where else could you find these kind of things in NUS?? NUS Architecture: unexpectedly unconventional. (A bit of harmless propaganda...)

First lecture? We had Mr.Tsuto Sakamoto - Yr 2 co-ordinator cum Jap architect. (Hm...tmn2 archi gw kyknya pd tau kl gw sempat jadi penggemar dia..hehe..keren sih..coba lebih muda dikiiit aja...pasti gw caper terus..ahaha..) As we read through the handout, there were some spelling mistakes n what was his reaction? "Oh sorry, I did this 4 A.M this morning..." Duuuudeee!! That so reminds me of what lies ahead during the semester :'( As we read further, there were a bit more mistakes n he said,"Oh sorry, sorry, I was sleeping when I did this..." So archi...
(Note: This post in no way means archi tutors are not excellent tutors - they are. I'm writing this down cuz I'm so amused that archi tutors and students practically have the same experiences, juz on different scales. N yes, Tsuto did say that being an architecture student or architect always involves working hard every day, even day and night...oh well, we've committed to it...everything in life has got a price tag...)

The students..is it juz me or is everyone making an effort to look nice n cool today? (Yes, yours truly included. I wore JEANS...which is hot and stuffy!!!! But well, am fed up of being called a 16 year old so will endure hot-and-stuffy for a change of image. Miss my bermudas though...hiks...)

Assignment 1 has started- plywood construction. Excited excited excited! My tutor - Mr. Erik L'heureux - is unfortunately still in the US...Looking forward to Wednesday studio!

Oh yeah, year 2 studio is nicer than year 1..hehehe...will take photos n upload soon.

Cinta dan Komitmen- Part 2

(Lanjutan post "Cinta dan Komitmen", 11 May 2007)
Hm...setelah beberapa waktu yg lalu sempat kepikiran apakah komitmen itu betul2 dibutuhkan kalau suatu pasangan sungguh saling mencintai, dan apakah komitmen berarti "berkompromi" alias menurunkan standar kita akan apa yg kita anggap sebagai pasangan yg sempurna, akhirnya aku menemukan jawaban yg membuatku puas.

Jadi jawabannya....jreng jreng jreng...hehehe... komitmen dan cinta itu bukan dua hal yg terpisah, tp komitmen tuh bagian yg sangat penting dari cinta -baik itu kepada Tuhan, ortu, pasangan, sahabat, etc. Kalau mau corny sih...komitmen adalah bukti dan perwujudan cinta yang sebenarnya.

Begini, orang seringkali berbicara ttg cinta seolah2 cinta itu suatu perasaan, suatu feeling, yang nggak bisa kita kontrol apakah akan timbul atau tenggelam. TAPI seharusnya cinta dilihat sbg sebuah tindakan. Wajar dong, gak mungkin lah kalau kita ngaku2 "I love you" ke orang tp kalo ngeliat tuh orang malah kita gampar.. Sebaliknya, meskipun kita nggak mengumbar sayang lewat kata2, cukup dgn tindakan2 saja kita bisa meyakinkan seseorg bhw kita sayang. So, kesimpulannya, love is ACTION. (And the greatest act of love in my world? Jesus that died on the cross for me!)

Nah, kalau cinta adalah tindakan, maka komitmen adalah janji utk terus bertindak dan berbuat seolah2 kita tetap dan terus mencintai seseorang, tak peduli apakah perasaan kita pada orang itu tetap sama. Mengutip C.S Lewis, "A promise must be about actions since no one can promise feeling the same the whole way." Commitment is the promise of loving, and continue acting as if we love no matter what our feelings are.

Begitulah! Merasa puas krn udah ketemu jawabannya, tp merasa bodoh jg krn gak menyadari hal yg sesimpel itu...apalagi Tuhan udah memberi contoh, menunjukkan cintaNya padaku dgn rela disalib meski dosa2 n pemberontakanku (yg sayangnya masih cukup sering terjadi..) pastilah menimbulkan emosi marah, sedih, bahkan jijik, dalam diriNya. He is faithful when we are faithless, and that, for me, is the greatest commitment.

RANDOM thoughts

1. I love my room. I love my plants. I love my books. I need to spend more time inside my room.
2. Wearing jeans is hot n stuffy!!! Gimme back my surf shorts!
3. Thanks Reren for the comics!
4. The freshmen are cheeky, though cute - each n every one have their own quirks. But so very cheeky!
5. Been spending too much time with the freshmen.
6. Renewed motivation to learn digital design: so I can keep my drawing table flat n put lotsa cool containers on it.
7. Somewhat can't wait for school to start. Somewhat scared of the pressure level n totally-hazardous-to-health schedule.
8. Am in the Wed-Fri studio group. Nice change of atmosphere. (hopefully..)
9. Must confirm what SS n GEM modules to bid.
10. Think I need lotsa rest or im gonna be sick.
11. Singapore immigration is a time-consuming place.
12.I'm a Singapore PR now.
13. Need to take bath n sleep.
14. IKEA rocks.

The Boy Who Lived

(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ THE LAST OF HARRY POTTER BOOKS)

Juz finished reading it...and AAAAAHHHH.... This glorious feeling of having been in a most satisfying, though admittedly rather long journey! Of growing up together with tales of The Boy Who Lived..of spending time creating a Hogwarts of my own with what imagination I have...Of letting loose my inner child, enraptured and gripped by words so captivating they are almost magical....

I've never been a fanatic fan of Harry Potter, but having said that, I hold the opinion that J.K Rowling is one of the finest storytellers alive... oh my...not many authors can weave and link plots as good as her, and if there's one thing I have to say about the Potter series, it's that despite being churned out over a long, long timespan, having complex narratives and so many characters, Rowling's books have formed an unbroken thread that HAVE COME FULL CIRCLE. Who would've thought the way Harry caught his first golden snitch could play a part! Who would've thought of the 7th Horcrux! So that's what happened with Snape! So that's why!

As I walked through Harry's story, question by question was answered, doubt by nagging doubt resolved, no plot twist was left dangling, and a few pleasant surprises were encountered as well...by the end of the book I am immensely satisfied, positively beaming..Aaaahhh.....

Well, I'd have to say that though I don't call myself Muggle and queue together with legions of Potter-philes to grab hold of the book, I do have my fond memories over it.. The first Potter book - The Philosopher's Stone - I read with a great deal of difficulty..My copy is battered with plenty of highlighted words and definitions from Longman's Dictionary scribbled on it. The 2nd and 3rd copy were no better...But I remember starting from the 3rd my English is good enough to read Harry Potter in one sitting and not be exhausted by the amount of English it contained =) Hey, I was an amateur that spoke Javanese-English back then! (My accent was so thick you could probably slice through it...)

The books are amongst some that spurred my imagination to grow to the state it is right now...And back then when I still needed to sleep a 9 p.m. , Harry Potter was the only guy that could keep me awake till the wee hours of the morning.. (For the sake of reading him in one sitting...)

Took me just one afternoon to savour the last book though..what a pity, since it's not as long a journey as I've wished....but there's also a sense of achievement and wonder, as I remember the sheer difficulty I had reading the first books, and the ease with which I finished the last...

Just discussed the book with a hostelmate also..quoting her, "Now I can live in peace since I now the ending of the Harry Potter series.."
Hm....Whatever it is, I hope Rowling will not be resting on her laurels...Though admittedly it's difficult to fill in Potter's shoes (The size of Hagrid's?)

Here's to The Boy Who Lived..May he lives on in the hearts and imagination of the children round the world!

Random thoughts

Been spending 2 days helping my friends on a cool project: building pavilions using postcards sent by children all across ASEAN for ASEAN Day (8 august). Check out the blog at: istanapavilion.blogspot.com. Kudos to fellow archimates that actually spent THE WHOLE of their holiday doing the project.... (guilty conscience for not helping earlier....) Well, will help out till the end of the project starting this week. (Hence official closure to project RLH after I finish Harry Potter 7. Between French lessons, laminating n cutting postcards, munching w/ Indon freshies, and soon having meetings for a small indon welcome tea,oh n NUS Explorer...well...in any case it's a good transition period to full-fledged archi schedule once studio starts.)

Anyway, I'm juz helping to laminate the postcards then cutting it, together with lotsa archi freshies (yay!),n the amazing archimates clad the pavilion in various ingenious ways using the cards. Totally cool, I got to see drawings, drawings, and more drawings done by children everywhere (They're supposed to draw on the back of the postcards before sending them over).... Truth is, lotsa the drawings are way better than mine!!! I walk around and see the postcards and my mind's screaming: "What?!! It's done by a 7 yr old??? No way!!" "Huh?! 10 yr old!! The watercolour skill's so far beyond mine!!"
But the saddest thing is seeing so much talent, so much potential, and then flipping to the back of the postcard to read things like "I am from Cambodia. My family is very poor. I study hard because I want to be a doctor." ,or "I stay with my aunt. I have no parent.", and then I realise these are children living in environments that are so unlike mine...I was encouraged since I was young to learn whatever I want to learn, I was , still am, provided with more than enough resources and facilities, and still sometimes I take it for granted...

Newae, back to the postcards. Reading them n looking at the drawings is really like taking a tour across ASEAN. The ones from Indonesia are really good (my friends said so too so im not biased!) . Very good color choices, creative ways to represent national monuments like Monas and Borobudur, n there were lotsa scenes that remind me of my childhood =) Oh, n there's one where the kid draws Indonesian archipelago and wrote "Indonesia very big." So cutely honest!
The drawing on 17 Agustus complete with 'balap karung' and 'lomba makan kerupuk' makes me miss Indonesia... :'( Oh, n the ones of Istana Negara with deers around make my Sg friend ask: "Why are there so many deers around?" Well, rich Indons like to keep deers in their backyards..

The ones from Myanmar are very well done, too. Seems that their culture is one of artisans. Thing is, their writings are amongst the most touching also...there was one in which the father of the child was kidnapped.. also mentions of poverty (Which makes me wonder who the hell teaches these children that they are 'poor', who taught them to label themselves..but let's save that for another post.)

From Laos, truthfully quite plain and the drawings are less mature compared to the other countries..makes me wonder whether there's cultural difference or anything. Must research on ASEAN countries one of these days.

Here are the things most featured n postcards from various countries:
Indonesia: Borobudur, Monas, Istana Negara, Reog, traditional houses and dresses, the archipelago, village and 'sawah' scenery
Malaysia: Petronas Twin Towers, Bunga Raya
Cambodia: Angkor Wat, village scenery, people, monks, (there ws one postcard that has a 'No-Drug' msg..)
Myanmar: temples, village people, marvellous watercolour scenery, images of people painting paper umbrellas
Brunei: quoting a friend, about 99% drew the National Mosque...
Singapore: the Merlion....

Havent seen the Thai and Phillipines ones yet. Oh n I'm putting photos of the postcards on my friendster.