Utter Inefficiency

After a bombardment of photos for the last few posts. I won't be featuring any on this one. It's also partially due to my laziness to edit them. So anyways, I just really wanted to comment on the absolute inefficiency of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). So, why have they flared up my anger you ask? Well let me review all the incidences:

1. The timing is totaly off! Sometimes I end up waiting 40 minutes for the damn train.

2. Since the timing is off, then why the hell should they even display the departure time (at the station) of the next train? What's the reason? To get people on the edge of their seats?!

3. Sometimes when you're in the train, they don't even announce which station is next. Especially at night. So you don't know which station you've arrived at unless you crane your neck around to look for some pathetic sign.

4. Touch n' Go...MY ASS. I usually use the Touch n' Go card at the KTM. The other day, when I scanned my card as I was exiting the station, the display unit show that my card had RM0.00 CREDIT LEFT!!! WHAT THE F***!!! I have like MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED RINGGIT IN THERE, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I DON'T HAVE ANYMORE FREAKIN' MONEY!!! That really pissed me off. Their system sucks...it UBER-SUCKS! But i've managed to reclaim my money back. I tell you i'm sooo never going to use my card on the KTM anymore.

5. (This reason is only partially the KTM's fault) There are no lines or cues when boarding the KTM, so it's not really fair if someone who came after you manage to get in before you. Also, damn all the people who push and shove when boarding the train to the extent that other passengers are unable to alight the train. I swear, if someone shoves me again, i'll shove and elbow back...maybe even throw a sucker punch...kidding


So, for the past week, i've basically been wriggling myself back into the college timetable. Upcoming assignments include my English presentation on 'Green Buildings', A model making project to show shapes and forms for Introduction to Design, A two-point-perspective drawing for my Design Communications class and also updating my journal and sketchbook. Phew, that's alot!

My finals are in Mid-November. To be exact, it starts on the 14th and ends on the 21st, so after that, I assume I should be free. But I plan to stay on for a week before returning to Penang. It depends though. But i'm sure i'll be in Penang for the month of December.

And last but not least...there's a Mid-season SALE at TOPMAN!!!



+ EXTRA

*LISTEN TO THIS*

"Groovejet" (If this ain't love)
by Spiller feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor

I love this song. It's the type of song you can hear and dance to in a club but it's also a good 'chill-out' song. It's got a great beat and rhythm you can groove to, hence the title I guess. The music's by DJ Spiller who by the way, is 6 feet 9. Vocals feature Sophie Ellis-Bextor's lovely voice. So listen up, and listen to this song! Check out the remixed version too!

PS: I think the video was shot in Thailand.

*WATCH THIS*

I know Halloween isn't a big thing in Malaysia, but just the idea of dressing up in costumes is so cool. I was thinking about wearing something different for classes this coming Wednesday.

Halloweeny Wednesdays: How to make a Mummy Costume
by Threadbanger

Halloweeny Wednesdays: Warlocks, Witches & Ghouls
by Threadbanger

One Hundreth

So i'm finally posting up something. Phew...it's been a really hectic month for me with many assignments due one after another. I had no time what-so-ever. Plus, I took a week off classes for my China trip with my family(pictures are posted below), so I had to complete and hand in some assignments earlier. Most of my classes are now rushing towards the end with bigger and bigger assignments being allocated. And the finals are just around the corner. Talk about stress. But other than that, i'm still looking for time to enjoy myself, although I have a feeling I shouldn't be doing so with so many things going on.

I was planning to post up something before going to China, but I just didn't have the time. Plus this is my hundredth post and I didn't really want to waste it on some boring rant like i've been doing so for the past few times. But all that aside, i'm back now.




So, about China. It was great. Seriously.

What? Do I not sound convincing enough? Fine, just look at all the pictures and judge for yourself. Apparently, we took just over 900 pictures over a period of 8 days. That's about a hundred over each day! So, since I can't post them all up (I really wish I could), I'll just post up a few pictures from each location I liked.

>WARNING!: There are A LOT of pictures up ahead!<

The following pictures from the trip are in no particular order. Here goes:

-Tian'an Men Square was very spacious. This was the first site we visited.


-From the Tian'an Men Square, we took a brisk walk and crossed a wide road and arrived at the majestic Forbidden City. That's Golden Water (which is a stream) behind me. The plan of the Forbidden City is very much symetrical.


-I don't think a lot of people sit down to take pictures there...(that's me mum and sis by the way)


-The ming tombs were interesting. You get to climb down like several stories below ground to witness the location where one of the emperor's coffin was found.


-The Summer Palace was huge, but sadly, we only explored a tiny portion of it. The architecture and designs were really ornate though.


-These flowers were planted around the courtyards and outdoors and were really fragrant.


-In the Summer Palace, there is the longest corridor in the world! We didn't walk it all though.


-Willow trees reflected on the water makes a great backdrop. You see a lot of willow trees in Beijing.


-At the Great Wall of China.


-Just look at the amount of people there! There were so many! But nevertheless, the winding wall never fails to astonish. It was very windy there too and cold. But after walking a bit, you kinda generate heat and the cold goes away.


-Some parts of the wall is kinda steep. The tour guide asked us only walk up to the second station...but we walked up to five...hehe.


-The famous Peking Duck. So oily...SO GOOD


-Look what we passed by! It's the new olympic stadium! The Bird's Nest.


-Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan) is where the emperor would make sacrifices and pray to heaven during the winter solstice. The architecture has a lot of symbolism involved.


-That's the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. It's circular and has three tiers. You can't go inside, but you can elbow your way through the crowds to view the inside from one of the three door openings.


-The Round Altar, also situated in Tian Tan, is where the emperor would stand during the religious ceremonies. You have to take turns to stand on it and we all did it! Great feeling.


-We stayed overnight in Chengde (a mountain resort north of Beijing). The hotel there kinda sucks but the temperature there was much cooler! The picture is of Putuozongcheng Zhi Miao. A building built to resemble Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.


-Spinning prayer wheels at Puning Si, a temple with both Chinese and Tibetan influence.


-Wangfujing Street is the shopping district and it really comes alive at night. There are department stores with expensive brands, food and clothing outlets along the street and also there are stalls selling foods from sugar dipped fruits to deep fried scorpion on a stick (which my sister tried and I took a small bite of...it tastes like deep fried chicken skin)


-The city of Beijing. Very modernized indeed. But I think there are way too many people living there.


-At the Beijing International Airport. That's how we carried our bags, mind you.

Yeah, I hope that's enough to prove how great the China trip was. All those places, all the history. I think if anyone really wants to go there and soak it all in, they have to spend more than just a week. I think our trip there was too short. We literally swept past from location to location since time was very limited. Also, some of the food we had there was kinda insipid. Should've tried food from other restaurants and outlets. But that aside, China is really worth the visit.

The hotels we stayed at we only okay. The first one was good though. We stayed there for 4 nights. I liked that one coz the rooms were huge! And the breakfast at the coffeehouse was also pretty good. Then there was also a hotel we stayed at for only one night which was the hot springs hotel where each room is equipped with a jacuzzi in which it's water source is from the hot springs, which is bloody HOT I might add! Took me half an hour to get into the damn thing. The hotels other than those two were absolutely abysmal.

1. The Great Wall of China : Hands down, the greatest wall I've ever seen.

2. The Forbidden City : It's just so awesome!

3. Wangfujing Street : Shopping...can I say more?

4. Temple of Heaven : It's overwhelming to stand on the round altar where the emperor once stood

5. Summer Palace : Large and stunning

If you wanna see more of the pictures from my trip, just ask me!

So I arrived back in Penang on the 19th which is last Friday which happens to be the vegetarian diet day. So on the flight back from Beijing, we had to order the vege meal...and they gave us cup noodles...blek. Then because of the turbulence or for some unknown reason, I felt nauseous. Terrible. But I felt okay after touching down in Penang.

I didn't do a lot of shopping during the trip. The only thing I bought for myself was some foodstuff and a shirt...that's it! I didn't even get souvenirs. So don't expect any. But my mum and sis bought a couple of things. They could've bought more stuff but bargaining can really take it's toll on people.

I'm gonna be super-stressed out over the next few weeks seeing that the finals are approaching and assignments are dropping left and right all over me. I wish I was still on holiday...

Pictures Galore

So i'm here again. Been pretty bust this week with one particular assignment which has kept me boggled throughout the week. We were given an art assignment where we were required to produce three pieces of A5 sized paintings which are to be inspired and influenced by an art piece of our choice from the 20th Century. I look into a variety of masterpieces from Cubist to De Stilj paintings. In the end, as I was sifting through a couple of the works, I stumbled upon the work of Andy Warhol. In the end I chose his 'Marilyns' silk screened piece from 1967.

- Warhol's 'Marilyns' (1967)

So with the help of Sophia, I took portrait pictures of myself (it's not vanity! It's for my assignment!) And with the help of Yong Ming, edited the pictures and finally I made stencils outta them and stencilled my face over three pieces of A5 paper. The submission date is today but I completed it yesterday...this was the first time that I was so completely relaxed during a submission date! I swear it's like the best feeling! Here's how it looks like:

- Justin's 'Justins' (2007)

It was alright. But I expected it to be much better though. One problem I faced during production was that the poster paint tended to seep underneath the stencil thus smearing the paint. If you think that the three paintings are different, that's because they are. I made three seperate stencils, one which was normal, one with googlie eyes, and one with huge nostrils. We had to state the symbolism and significance of the painting to us, stuff like: 'Brown connotes nature and sybolizes my love for the natural environment' or 'The nose is greatly exxagerated using cubist art influences and is painted red which signifies my anger and hatred towards the size and shape of my nose' or even 'The eyes are enlarged twice the original size to highlight my facial feature I like the most.' Anyways, i'm quite satisfied with the result.

I have a couple of assignments yet to be done, my journal and another one involving composing lyrics (don't ask). And there is also my Building Materials Mid-Terms this Monday. Yikes! AND also I have my paper clay columns to paint for the Hilton Train Project. See how busy I am?!

As some of you people know i've been going around this past month to museums, art galleries, lake gardens and going back and forth KL and Penang and obviously i've taken quite a number of photos. Infact, now I have 4.7 GB worth of photos. About half of that is from the pictures I took since the start of this course! So, i'm posting up some of the photos from the past month. Enjoy!

+ National Art Gallery

I visited the National Art Gallery as one of the site visits for my Introduction to Design class. This was connected to the art assignment I mentioned above (You see, for each lecture, usually there is a site visit relevant to that week's lecture topic). There were no entrance fees and we were allowed to snap pictures inside! So here they are:

- Art pieces.

- I hate clowns (Is it just me or do I look like i'm part of the painting?).

- One of the pieces I admired. It's actually three pieces which are seperate but somehow seem interconnected.

- Jon & Sophia browsing the photograph exhibit.

- Me, pretending to be taking notes as the lecturer passed by.

When we were on board the bus travelling back to college, I spotted this on the road close to the Midvalley mall:

- A HUGE ASS yoghurt drink bottle bigger that a car! Damn!

+ Discovering Penang

Lately, during my occasional trips back to Penang, I tend to go on little outings to places i've either never been to or never really appreciated prior starting this architecture course. Some of the places I went include:

- That's Al with Penang's beautiful cityscape in the background.

This post is getting a bit long, so I guess i'll post more stuff next time. Until then!

PS: Yes, I changed my header...

The Puasa Month

I know I haven't blogged in a while [bad Justin] but it's only because i've really been caught up with my assignments. You know, I feel like they're snowballing now. The lecturers just keep hurling it at us and we have to whack it right back at them! I still have a few assignments to complete and I seriously need to manage my time properly.

Anyways, I just wanna say that I love the Puasa month! Well, I didn't realize I would like it this much until now. Why do I like it you ask? Okay firstly, classes end half an hour earlier in the month of Ramadhan. Well, that's coz the students and teachers who are fasting need to prepare and rest, don't they? Then, there is the awesome food! Street food that is. All the pasar malam food stalls are selling an array of good food this time of year. You get your briyani, your rendang, your nasi tomato, your this and that...there's a whole lot of food out there which I haven't even tried before! Plus, restaurants and food outlets also have special Ramadhan sets which are quite worth it sometimes.

Also, I just realised today that during the fasting month, the amount of people riding the KTM significantly abated when it comes time to buka Puasa. Yeah, I went to KLCC today to check out some stuff and to have lunch and dinner there. And as I was headin' back at around 8:30pm, the amount of people in the LRT and KTM were less than ordinary. Normally, at that time, I would get sandwiched so tight that I feel like i've become beef jerky! I despise the amount of people in KL and the inefficiency of the public transports.

But as I was saying, I love the month of Ramadhan!

- Sophia, Pam, Jon and I after we buka Puasa-ed at the Curve last Friday

As I mentioned above, I went to KLCC. I went there to browse some of the books in Kinokuniya and also some magazines (I got my Nylon: Guys and Men's Folio!!). I couldn't find the books I needed to do my research essay in the college library, so I thought of headin' to bookstores and doin' some reading there. I wish there are more books in the library. But anyhow, I enjoyed myself going to KLCC. And if you're wondering, NO I DID NOT DO ANY SHOPPING THERE! The mega sales are already over, to my dismay and to my parents' delight. The only things I spent on besides transport is on the magazines and food. I guess that's all my brain can churn out for now.



+ EXTRA

*LISTEN TO THIS*

"Starz In Their Eyes"
by Just Jack
from the album "Overtones"

I heard this song while YouTubing around the other day and I loved it. Absolutely brilliant! It's catchy and somehow I liked the monotonous-ness of it. This song has a groovy, cat-walky feel to it. Here's the video:

PS: I'll be back in Penang for the weekend. I might be busy though...

Worried

Today our Design Communications class lecturer, Mr. Keith, informed us that the course with the highest suicide rate in the UK is Architecture...i'm worried.

Damn, it's hot today!

One foot in front of the other, I paced. Swearing under my breath as I go. My pace quickens with each step forward. The damned sun above casting heat down on me. Stinging. Searing. Scorching my bare skin. The shade of a tree offered a temporary relief from the hot spell. But it passes all too soon.

Little kids scuffled along the pavement, heads lowered to avoid the rays. They headed in the opposite direction. The messenger bag on my shoulder briefly slips. But I caught it in time. I continue to lug the burden along. Inch by inch. Step by step.

The monolith looms ahead. Drawing closer. My feet left the pavement as I crossed a narrow lane. No one in sight. Just me and the still warm air. No wind. No breeze. Nothing. Only the sound of my shoes scraping against the asphalt.

Suddenly, the heat abated, the sunlight waned. I stopped and looked up. The shadow of the building is now upon me. The searing diminished. Leaving only a redness on my skin as a reminder of the scorching pain present just moments earlier. I started to pace again, but this time of a lesser speed, heading to the designated lecture room for my Building Materials class. For the rest of the day all I thought was 'Damn, it's hot today!'

My weekend

My internet connection was down for the past three days. And living without it was horrific. Just imagine: No e-mail updates, No instant messaging, No YouTubing and No blogging! Utter madness!!! The breakdown of the internet connection system really made me realise just how addicted dependent i've become on the net and computer and how big a part it is in my life.

Anyway, it finally got fixed just a few hours ago but we (as in us housemates) had to seek help. And worst of all...WE HAD TO BLOODY PAY THE DAMN FELLA MONEY FOR HIS BARELY-CAN-BE-CONSIDERED SERVICE!!! I mean, he practically knows this stuff off the back off his hand and he has to charge us like forty something bucks for resetting the system. Urghhh...it's all about the money in KL isn't it?

So, last Saturday, Sophia, Jon and I headed over to the National Museum in KL to sought some information for our Malaysian Studies assignment. I know we can probably get the same info off the net but...what fun would it be then? ;) So, we went there just to have a look at the place and of course to take photos of the building, Jon, the displays featured, Jon, the artifacts, Jon and more pictures of Jon. I'm kidding Jon...just kidding.

The day went by pretty quickly. We toured all of the main building and got some relevent information from the place. Now, the good thing about the place is that the entrance fee is just 2 ringgit and also, photography is permitted inside. But the downside...it's undergoing renovation and upgrading currently so you might wanna wait it out. But the newly refurbished part looks better and more up-to-date.

- the facade

- new displays

- a crime scene in the museum

- pretending to be statues

- now you know how the jumping shots are made...

- just gazing

- I wonder what's she looking at?

- funny random pic

- Jon, Sophia and me

After the museum tour, I went to meet up with my family to celebrate our dad's birthday. (Thanks to Jon for fetching me all the way to Sri Hartamas and saving me the trouble. I know it's pretty far and outta your way but I appreciate it.) My parents decided to go to Starhill Gallery for the dinner celebration. Usually we would eat at Sentidos Tapas but this time, we wanted to try other restaurants so we chose the Luk Yu Tea House Chinese Restaurant. The place was good. I really liked the steamed cod fish there. To view my full review of the place, click here.

- starstruck...the captivating lighting at Starhill

On Sunday, I hung out a bit more with my family before they returned to Penang and my sis to S'ban. We went to 1-Utama and then followed by the Curve which had SOOO many freakin' people it took us like FOREVER to find a parking spot and it wasn't even a proper parking spot! But what REALLY made my day was our tea time at this food outlet called 'the apartment' which served pretty good food. I had a bowl of mussels and all of us had desserts which were quite alright. But what I liked apart from the food was the atmosphere. It had this really relaxed feel to it. I've gotta go back there some other time.

That basically sums up my weekend. But once again...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

- mom & dad