: : april : : nov/dec2006

2006-12-22T13:47:00.000+11:00

Unexpected mail... .. . . . ... . . . . .

GOOD OF BAD OPPORTUNITY ? ? ? ??

I got invited to do Master of Architecture in Melbourne University. It is only available to the top 15% of forth year. It is good validation that my work is good and that I m one of the faculty’s “high achieving architecture students”.

This year has been just so awesome and so crazy. Moving to Melbourne was a BIG. It was a big difference. A Good one too... I’ve just been counting my blessing. My God is just SO B.I.G. it’s been a fantastic year. I’ve growth a lot... ... and being in planetshakers just made everything so much better. Lots of support from people. From Phebe, Eelin, Silas, Iris.. ... It has just been amazing.. I’ve opened up my eyes to a lot of things that I won’t have, if I had stayed in Newcastle. God’s changed me in many ways.. n i m sure the change will continue.. He’ll continue to mould me. I will have to trust him and follow what he is planned for me. I did very well in Newcastle, but i didn’t serve to Lord, I was working and doing very thing with my own strength, according to my own ways. This year, I’ve learn to trust him, to serve him, to seek him first and that all will be added on to me. And that’s what i did... I got so much more out of it. i made so much more of everything I did. My time multiplied and everything just fall into place. I want so much more, I want to do so much more.. being able to serve has just been awesome.. ... Looking forward to Conference. I want to see things happen... .... .. . . . . . . ...

As for whether I m accepting this Master opportunity up, I’m talking to some people abt it. Spoke to Paul Walker yesterday, it was a good chat. Being in Melbourne University was tough, it was different from the system that i m used to in Newcastle. Good and Bad.. my grades probably won’t as good as what I m use to getting in Newcastle. But getting this invitation is just a good validation of where I stand in the Faculty. I m so blessed...

2006-12-16T17:24:00.000+11:00

It’s been a pretty crazy week….

Jessie and Andrew were here but now they are gone... gone back to Sydney... apartment hunting... Christmas shopping, iris has also gone home... silas’ parents left yesterday... Eelin has gotten her new apartment (which is super duper HUGE.. ... like seriously... The kitchen, living and dining combine is probably bigger than some two bedroom apartment)

Apartment hunting has been a big. Having great difficulty trying to look for a three bedroom apartment. it was fun at th beginning, but now it is just frustration and annoying... however, apartment viewing is heaps of fun. Haha...

band of horses with jess, andrew and louis...

: : my best friend : :

2006-12-10T22:44:00.000+11:00

: : Jessie and Andrew are here : :

Jessie and Andrew are visiting from Sydney. They arrived on yesterday evening in andrew’s sister car, Safe and Sound, but the car had problem starting so they had to get it fixed.. there was quite a lot of drama, all is good now. Initially they were suppose to leave on Wednesday afternoon, after andrew’s audition, because of the car, they are leaving Friday morning.. which means, more time to spent with Jessie and Andrew… aiyahla.. they are both so cute…

jess.. looking way too excited... hahaha

Camberwell Market… TODAY, it hit 43 degrees… 43…

It was crazy.. jess, Andrew, louis and I went to THE Camberwell market coz I know that Jessie loves op shopping.. there were heaps of cool stuff there. If the weather were a little cooler, it would have been a prefect day to be out. Was just to freaking hot which made all of us a little cranky.

fare evasion in Sydney?? do people do that there?

Jess and Andrew went crazy and bought quite a bit of stuff.. I only bought, …. Wait for it… wait for it… wait for it… A TYPEWRITER… I’ve been playing with it.. and guess what, this typewriter has RED INK…. Anyone? Anyone? It is just awesome... since, i've been making christmas cards... hahaha....

2006-12-08T10:55:00.000+11:00

The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School
by Michael McDonough

1. Talent is one-third of the success equation.
Talent is important in any profession, but it is no guarantee of success. Hard work and luck are equally important. Hard work means self-discipline and sacrifice. Luck means, among other things, access to power, whether it is social contacts or money or timing. In fact, if you are not very talented, you can still succeed by emphasizing the other two. If you think I am wrong, just look around. sadly, that is so so true... so i m not going to argue with that...

2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
Only 5 percent is actually, in some simplistic way, fun. In school that is what you focus on; it is 100 percent fun. Tick-tock. In real life, most of the time there is paper work, drafting boring stuff, fact-checking, negotiating, selling, collecting money, paying taxes, and so forth. If you don't learn to love the boring, aggravating, and stupid parts of your profession and perform them with diligence and care, you will never succeed. haha.. i m telling u... it is shit work..

3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
You hear a lot about details, from "Don't sweat the details¡" to "God is in the details." Both are true, but with a very important explanation: hierarchy. You must decide what is important, and then attend to it first and foremost. Everything is important, yes. But not everything is equally important. A very successful real estate person taught me this. He told me, "Watch King Rat. You'll get it."

4. Don't over-think a problem.
One time when I was in graduate school, the late, great Steven Izenour said to me, after only a week or so into a ten-week problem, ¡°OK, you solved it. Now draw it up.¡± Every other critic I ever had always tried to complicate and prolong a problem when, in fact, it had already been solved. Designers are obsessive by nature. This was a revelation. Sometimes you just hit it. The thing is done. Move on. this is what Richard said to me when i was stressing out about my design. he told me that i was over thinking the problem, and i've made changes to my design which made me weaker than before.. i've already solved the problem and had a great concept, i should stop trying to make it better coz i was just making it worst... always follow your first instinct.

5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
In design this means "draw what you know." Start by putting down what you already know and already understand. If you are designing a chair, for example, you know that humans are of predictable height. The seat height, the angle of repose, and the loading requirements can at least be approximated. So draw them. Most students panic when faced with something they do not know and cannot control. Forget about it. Begin at the beginning. Then work on each unknown, solving and removing them one at a time. It is the most important rule of design. In Zen it is expressed as "Be where you are." It works.

6. Don't forget your goal.
Definition of a fanatic: Someone who redoubles his effort after forgetting his goal. Students and young designers often approach a problem with insight and brilliance, and subsequently let it slip away in confusion, fear and wasted effort. They forget their goals, and make up new ones as they go along. Original thought is a kind of gift from the gods. Artists know this. "Hold the moment," they say. "Honor it." Get your idea down on a slip of paper and tape it up in front of you. yeah.. .we so do...not only students and young designers, everyone forgets their goals...

7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
Overconfidence is as bad as no confidence. Be humble in approaching problems. Realize and accept your ignorance, then work diligently to educate yourself out of it. Ask questions. Power ¨C the power to create things and impose them on the world ¨C is a privilege. Do not abuse it, do not underestimate its difficulty, or it will come around and bite you on the ass. The great Karmic wheel, however slowly, turns. the balancing act that i don't care for...

8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
The world is not set up to facilitate the best any more than it is set up to facilitate the worst. It doesn't depend on brilliance or innovation because if it did, the system would be unpredictable. It requires averages and predictables. So, good deeds and brilliant ideas go against the grain of the social contract almost by definition. They will be challenged and will require enormous effort to succeed. Most fail. Expect to work hard, expect to fail a few times, and expect to be rejected. Our work is like martial arts or military strategy: Never underestimate your opponent. If you believe in excellence, your opponent will pretty much be everything. it is never fair... live with it!!!! u can never make everyone happy...

9. It all comes down to output.
No matter how cool your computer rendering is, no matter how brilliant your essay is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if you can't output it, distribute it, and make it known, it basically doesn't exist. Orient yourself to output. Schedule output. Output, output, output. Show Me The Output. that's why we see crap design out there.. .coz the design might be crap, but they know how to market their products.

10. The rest of the world counts.
If you hope to accomplish anything, you will inevitably need all of the people you hated in high school. I once attended a very prestigious design school where the idea was "If you are here, you are so important, the rest of the world doesn't count." Not a single person from that school that I know of has ever been really successful outside of school. In fact, most are the kind of mid-level management drones and hacks they so despised as students. A suit does not make you a genius. No matter how good your design is, somebody has to construct or manufacture it. Somebody has to insure it. Somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.

As Bob Gill puts it, "your design is only good when it has served its purpose."

think abt it....

2006-12-07T23:52:00.000+11:00

Fettuccine with Chargrilled Basil and Lemon Seafood

woop woop woop... Dinner was fantastic...
ingredients u need : prawns, calamari rings, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, chilli flakes, fresh basil and ur choice of pasta...
really simple to make and taste great... woop woop woop... i want more i want more... it was really filling... yum yum yum...

2006-12-07T18:50:00.000+11:00

Handbook on vehicle parking provision in development proposals

2005 edition

Haha.. I found my apartment on the background of this handbook.. haha… then I realized I never took any photo of my house from the outside...

it is that white building in the background... can u see it? if u can't, u must be blind.

that is the car parking of the Singapore Science Center, haha... yeah.. i stay right opposite it. during new year's they have fire works... Chinese New Year too.. i m quite sure they have fireworks during Christmas...

new year 2005
taken from my apartment in Singapore

return of the BLOGGER

2006-12-06T12:08:00.000+11:00

haven't blog in awhile.. BUT I M NOW BACK....

reason for not blogging: Uni and laziness...

Uni is pretty much over... results are coming on this Thursday which should be pretty exciting.

here are just come updates and events happening since i last blogged.

St kilda beach with emo nemo and the mad scientist sometime in october.... emo nemo left yesterday.. i miss nemo heaps...

2006-12-05T13:40:00.000+11:00

miss lily goh... the wonderful and A M A Z I N G woman of GOD...

I LOVE U HEAPS... u have grown so much since planetuni camp.And u are getting yourself involved in many areas… muack muack muack...XOXO...

U were awesome at the world vision benefit concert.. I tried saying hi and waving at u... BUT U NEVER SEE ME!!!! muahaha.. CHRISTMAS is just around the corner.. so exciting...

lily and i at burnetti...

me, lily and viola...
check out viola's deviantart. some pretty cool stuff she's got there... http://heavenzchild.deviantart.com/
i wish i was a better photographer

UNI UNI UNI

2006-12-02T12:23:00.000+11:00

then it was UNI UNI UNI.. .for about 2 solid months of uni work, trying to finish projects and essays and cramping for exams...

just got back my postcolonial and multiculture essay.. i m happy with my results. no complains.. good comments. what did i write abt? haha.... i wrote about singapore HDBs

topic: From socialist housing to capitalist commodity: A Managed Evolution in Singapore’s public Housing

Abstract

This essay takes the reader through a brief overview of the history of Singapore’s public housing planning and development and looks at how a government’s intent on providing affordable housing for its masses was able to create a near utopia for its people. The provision of public housing began as a socialist movement and gradually evolved and took on a more capitalist like nature. It is debatable whether the utopian goal was the ultimate ideal of the city planners; the introduction of various housing schemes has resulted in an evolving cityscape that satisfies the majority of household dwellers but struggles to continue to meet the aspirations of an economically progressive populace where public housing takes on new meanings and nuances, thereby posing new challenges to city planners. The monopolistic presence of the government in developing and managing housing for the majority of its people do challenge the idea of free capitalism apart from government and certainly supports the idea of heterotopia.*

* Utopia, in its most common and general positive meaning, refers to an imaginary, ideal civilization, which may range from a city to a world, and may be regarded as possible in the future, although not currently existent. It has also been used to describe actual communities founded in attempts to create such a society in order to better themselves in an economic and political fashion.

A dystopia is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. It is usually characterized by an oppressive social control, such as an authoritarian or totalitarian government. Dystopia is a negative utopia: a world wherein utopian ideals have been subverted. Example: George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Heterotopia, the "other place", with its real and imagined possibilities (a mix of "utopian" escapism and turning virtual possibilities into reality.)

Definitions adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. , Retrieved August 2, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Heterotop

shots of my model

final presentation panel.. i think it communicates really well because it is straight forward and clear. results are coming out in two days.. i m waiting in anticipation

nic and mark
mark knows everything about ES. hehe...

gary.... who probably a little red now.. like a burnt lobster...
the lobster who helped me with revision for Environment systems exams...
yes.. A BIG THANK YOU TO U...
THANK YOU!!!!

the .D.C.M. dude - NIC.

during studio...

gary's phone photography work.... wahahaha.....

aldrich

michael

me... hm..... i reckon i pretty good with messy eye browns and nose hair...

i think gary took this photo.. or was it aldrich, maybe it was nick. i can't remember....

darren Yio.... playing with my phone.. i have no idea what he is smiling at it.maybe he was posing for the camera

2006-11-28T13:49:00.000+11:00

NICK AND KARLY CINI

25 November 2006

Congratulations….

katherine, jess, nic and me
the fantastic four...
i miss u guys heaps... yes, i know it's my fault i put it upon myself coz i moved to melbourne.... blehblehbleh. i've heard it all...

jess wess u are coming over to melboure to visit me soonish.. and i m really really excited..

2006-11-05T16:29:00.000+11:00

Ben spinning at workshop… this is first time, so we all went and supported him… he was good… he'll be there every saturday, from 6pm to 8pm. so be there of be square!!

Mr "BIN" aka MR super woper tall... probably about 1.85m. i feel so tiny and short standing beside him...

Chris trying very hard to explain something to vicky.. wahahaha.. and lily looks a bit stone at the back there...

Zigg... the awesome dude... louis' best mate... haha... eh zigg.. this is the only picture i have of u. and u look pretty funny. haha... no more zigg means no more late night supper... why did u go back to singapore so early... i miss u heaps.

"when in doubt use helvetica ..."

"you will never understand.... "

"Don't worry...."

tri-nation

2006-10-22T16:56:00.000+10:00

my first tri-nation rugby game... MAN it was good... louis and I went... We supported all blacks... they were playing so well at the beginning and were winning.. during the last 10 minutes of the game, the aussies must have wanted to win pretty badly... they were so strong... they scored three kicks... yes.. the aussies won.

Lots of cheering, the smell of beer and perspiration… hot chips and fried chicken and fish.

2006-10-07T16:19:00.000+10:00

Uni has been crazy, late nights and very little sleep.. Lord help me. It’s Friday finally…. After a whole day at uni… went out to Alice Euphemia with Silas… Sales! Woo Woo Woo … but I didn’t get anything. met up with Chris to collect his suit. Chris looks really good in the suit! Dinner with Chris and Silas at red silk.. lemon grass chicken with fried egg and rice. Yum yum …

N73

2006-10-03T04:57:00.000+10:00

All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.
Philip Johnson

You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.
Walt Disney

I bought a new phone I bought a new phone. Haha… yeah.. .N73. check out the ad. . http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/3276/

Awesome phone. I have yet to play with it coz it is still charging.. . I m very excited abt this phone.. it was a 3.2 megepixel camera which will be extremely helpful to me. Now I can go around snapping photos… haha.. coz I have a 512 memory card too..

2006-10-02T16:15:00.000+10:00

church was incredible and totally “wow”-ed me. Pastor Russell wanted use to get into pairs and start to prophecy over our own lives. That was madness man. I was like, oh no, I don’t want to do it. I might be loud and blah blah blah.. but there are some stuff that I have trouble opening up to. Phebe probably know that very well.. i was glad that I paired up with her. It was good.. she was there for me and encouraged me. I m slowly opening up… but I find it really hard. Really need to pray and work on this bit of my life.

Had a dinner date with phebs. we talked for ages.. it was good.. There were some stuff that had been troubling me for the past week, i felt good after talking to phebs abt it… phebobo is so cute la.. I love you heaps. Really.. really.. thanks for encouraging me, u have to idea how much difference u have had.