"We still have to live even if we're unhappy, so might as well try to live happily."
-C's grandma

"I'm trying to read more, and how I think is this...for things like brushing my teeth, bathing, even when I don't like it I have to do it anyway, even if it takes 30mins, 45 mins, so why can't I think reading is just like brushing my teeth...."
- C

Ry: "There are some things money can't buy.... Sleep is one of them..."
S: "Hahahahaha...."
Ry: "And concepts...."
S: "Dang too true....."

s: "What you mean we have to re-CAD all these?? but why??"
Ry: "That's the way people learn in NUS mah....you do the most to learn the least..."

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Wah the last one sounds so pathetic siah...

Tentang Hujan dan Rumput

"Cinta, bahwa ia membawamu ke alam mimpinya, namun bukan dalam pelukan tidurnya."
-Fira Basuki

"Fun is only fun when you have a place to rest from it."
-Wimar Witoelar

Beberapa waktu lalu sempat hujan deras... Hujan deras pertama sejak aku tiba dari Eropa! Langsung deh, jiwa melankolisnya kambuh hehehe... Nggak ada cuaca yang lebih enak untuk bernostalgia selain hujan deras.....

Ahhh.....Eropa....Sejujurnya, yang aku kangeni dari benua itu sekarang adalah.....rumputnya....
Hahahahaha.....rumput yang lembut, sejuk, yang bikin hati tenang dan rasanya "Nyesssss...." aja kalo berbaring di atasnya...Sejak balik dari Paris aku belum lagi berbaring2 di rumput2 Singapur..Selain karena belum sempat, juga karena nggak begitu selera huhuhu.... Satu2nya hiburan adalah pikiran bahwa di sana toh sekarang lagi musim dingin dan kalopun masih ada rumput pasti ketutup habis oleh salju.

Ufhh.....Gak ada ilham untuk nge-design (yah buntut2nya sih pasti masalah arsitektur lagi... meskipun enak juga punya dunia di mana masalah paling berat adalah: "Form building nya enaknya gimana dong??!! gimana??!! Enakan mirip uler atau mirip kipas yah??!!" )

.....Haih....

On Toilets

(The post below is loosely quoted from a very inspiring talk given by Prof. Tse regarding toilet design.)

"Good toilets are discreet... When you don't need them, you don't see them, but the moment you need them you can find them right away...
When you go to malls, public buildings, you must notice that good toilets have no doors...universal design! So handicapped people, people holding stuff, mothers carrying babies can go in straight away...Eventhough there's no door, but there are turns and bends before the entrance, so you can't see anything inside.. Bad toilets..the moment you open the door, you see everything and the smell all comes out...."
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Wow I never did notice toilet design is so interesting..but based on this standard all the mall toilets in Indonesia are primitive since we still use doors...Huhuhu... Had a conversation with a fellow archimate today that rings true: we love studying architecture because it allows us to pick up things that other people normally won't even notice.

Anyway, went to browse a bit on toilet design and turns out there are so many amazing designs... The most fun ones are urinals, though..Hiks... Like this one below:
It's called the "piss-screen", where you can play a racing game while peeing...Apparently it's installed in bars to reduce drunk-driving... Goes like this, when your car crashes, a message flashes on the screen: "Too pissed to drive? Take a taxi!" This one is another cool one:

Yep, you can draw while peeing....

Dang I so want to be a dude!

Chinese Opera

This semester's project is to do a Chinese opera theatre, and while at first I had my doubts on whether
something can really come out of it (me being a Chinese descendant who has totally no attachment to my roots..), it has turned out quite exciting. Gotta say that it's a really, really beautiful art form... the movements, the costumes, the voice modulation, the face make-up...

Am really impressed by the two videos below..one is on what is called "water sleeves", really long sleeves that performers use to express graceful movements, and the other is...well...it shows that perhaps Chinese opera is best sung in Chinese huhuhuhu.....





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Never knew that theatre design can be quite complicated..hufh...but, as always, it's what makes architecture interesting.

Oh, the things they say....

Was getting sleepy last night so I browsed through some archi groups in Facebook...and found this thing about the things tutors say during crit session...(short for "critique", and there's a good reason it's called that...) Hmm...it's true that one of the unwritten requirements to be an architecture student is a strong mental ability to stand back up after the tutors verbally stone you to death... Well they do say, "It's not about you, it's about your work. Don't take it personally." But that doesn't make it less psychologically damaging...huhuhu...I gotta say that I learnt to gain so much more confidence after repeatedly facing archi tutors....Definitely good training....
Anyway, here are some comments:

* “Why are you here? Don’t come back next semester.”

* “Here’s a quarter. go call your mom and tell her you’re not going to be an architect.”

* Your design is like masturbation, you want to know why? That is because only you yourself enjoyed and like it.

* Your design is very tasteful… … for the tasteless.

* “Is this a … structural… glob of glue?”

* “When I went to school, at a different school than this one, there were students who would present projects like this one.
And they would fail.”

* “Your project looks like something that’s been through a trash compactor”

* “This space that you’ve designed is the type place where beggars and dogs go to die”

* “Are you in interior design?”

* “Why are you studying architecture if you’re producing things like that?”

* “Hey, everyone, gather round this project, come in close…because this is a great example for everyone of exactly what NOT to do..”

* “This drawing isn’t worth the paper it is printed on.”

* “This (model) is great…..just don’t let your dog play with it next time.”

* If you build this and after 10000 years the aliens see it, they would understand why humans go extinct.

* “Have you ever considered a career in accounting?”

* “oh, so it’s like some kind of orgy pit!”

* “So your parents are pay $20000 a year for this.”

* Prof pointing to part of a model, “Did you chew this?”

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Source: Archinet

Time is Money

Renewed appreciation for the above-mentioned phrase.....Well, regarding money matters, I usually don't pay much attention, but yesterday I read something that kinda stuck in my mind: people earn money by using their time, effectively their life, and so when they spend money, they are actually spending bits of their life that they use to earn that money. It made me look at spending and receiving money from a new point of view....It should've made sense from a long time ago, but somehow only now do I really realize it....

Say I'm buying fried rice. Usually I'll just pay the vendor without thinking, and that's that. But now I'll think, "Hey, I'm not only buying the rice, ingredients etc, but I'm actually buying a small portion of his lifetime, the time he spent preparing this rice for me." T-shirt from China? I'm paying for a portion of lifetime of a Chinese factory worker... Buying a book? The price includes the lifetime that the author spent to think and write about it, the time the editor took to edit it, the time a driver took to transport it, etc....And the money I receive from my parents? It's bits of their life that they use the earn that money... Freaky.....For some time I was calculating the value of things like, "ok this book cost about half a day of my dad's life, and...uhm....my travellin around Europe cost about a month of their lives combined..." Uhhh...Thank goodness they deal a lot with assets (i.e. passive money-making... the smart way to make money, really..) or I will have a real guilt trip coming huhuhu.... Really makes one think twice before dealing with money... (Well, for some days anyway..)

Which actually leaves my wondering....Why am I paying NUS Architecture while I'm the one who's spending a significant portion of my lifetime working my ass off? In a prime age, no less....

Ah well, the world works in wonderfully weird ways.....