That Coffee Place

A year ago, I was just about to get started on that one month stint at a small architecture firm. In that one month I did blogged about having being taken to a site along Gurney Drive to take measurements of a run-down bungalow which is about to undergo a major renovation.

Half a year or more ago, that said renovation was bound for completion. Just late last year, a little place called Coffee Island opened its doors.

Yesterday, I got the opportunity to visit this seemingly of-the-moment hang out. Having heard my friends raving all over this place, I just had to go take a look myself.

- me...there.

Coffee Island (from what I've observed) is catering to the whole late teen/early twenty something college students to late twenties working group. Basically people who go there allegedly to have drinks, but are really there to 'see and be seen'. And I have nothing against that.

Coffee Island is obviously hitting all the right notes seeing that they are packed at night and even more so as the weekend approaches. They have the alfresco dining thing going on with a bar, pretty good ventilation and lighting throughout. Or you can opt for a seat inside where it is apparently air conditioned (I have yet to try that out for myself).

But aside from that, I think the food is just mediocre. They serve a variety of food no doubt; but personally, I'm not going to pay 7-8 ringgit for hawker food that I can get from better places at half the price. Other foods include the same old Western foods which to me is such a bore. I wish they had a better menu selection. And they should lower their prices (Although that's not going to happen)

And they seriously need to hire more or better staff. Staff with eyes I suggest. Waiters who are hopefully able to tend to your needs such as handing you a menu once you get seated instead of letting you dangle for about 15 minutes ignoring your hand gestures for them to come over. I think they just need a better serving system.

I would like to give them a second chance if not a third. I like the whole idea of it. Alfresco coffee place. Next to Gurney Drive. Soft music. Company of good friends. Oh and did I mention that the place is pretty clean?! (Their bathrooms are air conditioned) And they have Wifi! And it's quite near to where I stay!


Stay tuned for more.

Before I Left

I'm home at last. Leaving KL felt a little different this time. Maybe it's because I stayed there for about 4 months without going back home as often as I did in my earlier semesters. I guess you can say that KL has grown on me. There's more to KL than meets the eye.

So, before packing up and heading back home, I spent a few days after my critique with friends. Just soaking it all in before I left.

- We went bowling!


- And grocery shopping!

And we organised our soon-to-be semester-ly picnic. This round was at the KL Lake Gardens, on a grassy patch of land with a gentle slope, underneath the shade of an old tree with clear blue skies just visible overhead.

- having food while being seated on grass is as good as it gets.


- what's a picnic without taking random pictures?





- playing Sophia's Cranium board game.


- I love this shot!


- And of course it was the inevitable fierce-faced group shot.

Oh, and I totaly got sunburnt. Like I have patches of sunburn on my knee and my arms. But they're not as bad as I initially thought.


Stay tuned for more!

Absolute Garbage

It all comes down to presentations. How you sell yourself, your ideas, your thoughts and your designs all depends on how well you present it. It's about how effective you market something. Even in this course I'm taking. Half the work is in designing a funtioning, thoughtful, aesthetically pleasing structure, while the other half is to sell it to the people you're designing it for.

If you don't believe how far clever marketing and packaging can go, check out Justin Gignac (pronounced jee-nak). Who has managed to package absolute garbage and sell them for a pretty penny. And by 'absolute garbage' I LITERALLY mean GARBAGE. Like seriously...

He collects crap off the streets of New York City (usually something which defines the city) and packages them in a clean transparent cube which is completely sealed. And the best part is, people actually buy them.

- I see a starbucks plastic cup and a New York Metro card. And some orange paper or something.

Urgh...and my friend said that my stack of KTM ticket passes were useless.


Stay tuned for more.

3 days

I miss the beach.
I miss the pool.
I miss the old part of Georgetown.
I miss the hawker food.
I miss my bicycle.
I miss my family.
I miss my wardrobe...errr.....bed.

I miss home. I haven't gone home in like 4 months. I did drop by during one weekend but even then it was for only 3 days which is too short a time. I've already set a date for me to head back up north after weeks of indecisiveness and postponing it. It's gonna be this Sunday, so I have another 3 days left here in KL to have a last gathering thing and then pack up and go.

We are supposed to attend college next Thursday but I've already been kept away from home for way too long and besides, I think the lecturer is pretty okay with me not going coz' it is a little last minute. And my friends are going to be there anyway, they'll keep me updated.


Stay tuned for more.

C-Day

The critique is over. That hellish day when I don't know what to expect and am just left there sweaty palmed, nervous and just thiiiiiis close to hurling all the contents of my stomach which is actually not alot considering the fact that I haven't eaten all that much in the past few days to begin with.

From now on, assignment due dates are to be blamed for my unhealthy eating lifestyle which ultimately ends up with my weight loss and going back home where every family member and friend will go on to say to me "You look damn thin."

Uh huh, Don't you think I know that! Go blame the assignments.

Back on track, this semester, our crit session was held at the Gallery which really was something special as the usual crits are held in the studios. I guess it's because our batch of students are slightly smaller in comparison to the other batches.

- Critique at the Gallery

My critique didn't go smoothly. It was a real rocky journey. One I would definitely most likely want to forget and sweep under the carpet. Almost everything that I thought would go wrong went wrong. Everything I hoped they wouldn't ask, they asked and added even more. So, is this self-fulfilled prophecy or what!?

I'll also blame it on the fact that I got slightly tough crits. But I know I'm probably the real one to blame for not meeting the requirements and not being critical enough on myself and on my design development stages. I need to question myself more. But I did get one teeny-tiny positive remark from the crits which I can only view as a bone that they had to throw at me just because I probably looked like a wounded dog after all of their harsh (but true) remarks. Just a way to make me feel slightly better I think. But it didn't work. While most of my coursemates faired well, I on the other hand can only hope that I get a decent grade for this semester to ba able to move on to the next.

But nonetheless, it's over. Which marks the end of the semester! The wrap-up. The finale of my second year in this course.

- post-crit

Stay tuned for more.

Flashy or Fugly: L'Incognito Sunglasses

Fine, it was released a year ago, but these Maison Martin Margiela L'Incognito Sunglasses are still looking futuristic enough to be considered 'in vogue'. Even more so as these shades are not available locally.



These are one of the things that are head-turning no doubt. And although I think they look a little too severe, deep deep down I know I want a pair too. But of course, don't expect me to sport them anytime soon as they cost USD$500 over.

In a way, it's a very minimalist interpretation on a pair of sunglasses featuring a very clean silhouette. Almost architectural, if I can say so myself; and maybe that's why I love em. They're so simple and clean cut and yet, they make such a strong statement. The L'Incognito Sunglasses are anything but!

poll by twiigs.com

Stay tuned for more.

Thanks

Thank you to all the well wishers via calls, smses and online messages. I really appreciate them. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to get back to finishing up my project which dues to-freakin-morrow. I think I need 'good luck' wishes more then birthday ones right now.


Stay tuned for more years ahead.

Confessions of a Procrastinator

I know I'm an easily distracted person when it comes to work. Somehow I know about this problem which has been plagueing me for ages and ages since highschool but somehow I've left it unadressed and I think because of that, I have now achieved amazing new levels of laziness. Let me just give a classic example of my somewhat self-destructive nature:

I'm supposed to work on drawings of my plans, elevations and sections of an assignment which would be due in two days. I tell myself I need to get started to be able to complete the damn thing. So I head over to my desk and set up my workspace; be it switching on my computer or just clearing up some clutter. I start executing my assignment. 10 minutes in, I feel thirsty. I grab a drink. Wait...I think I'm hungry. Pasta maybe? I whip up something. Well, I'm eating now, might as well be watching some TV. Oh, my favourite programme, great! You know what, I'll work on the drawings right after this show.

The show ends. I wash the dishes and head back to the workload not realizing I just wasted one and a half hours. And yet, I continue to do other unrelated stuff (Facebook! Blogs! Twitter! E-mail!) and even more unproductive activities (magazines! staring blankly into space.....seriously). And by the end of the day, I'm utterly confused as to where the hell all the time went.

Obviously, I have a problem. I need to get myself on the right track. Get productive instead of avoiding all the work which I will eventually screw up if I don't get working on. I find it a little difficult working on a specific task for a long period of time. I can safely say I have the attention span of a kid hyped up on 29kgs of sugar. Anything can be a source of distraction to me. And when I don't get things done by the end of the day, I get anxious and flustered and I go to sleep. The next day, the cycle repeats its destructive self.

I want to be able to achieve some sort of 'zen-like' mind. Focused, calm, still-like-water. Being able to concentrate on jobs and get them done. I need to list out all the things I want, need and desire to do regardless whether it's a current thing (get haircut), a long term goal (finance my own project?) or something I can do while out and about (throw away that piece of flyer from my car). I have to file these tasks into their respective folders and clear them from my 'In-box' one by one. I need this. I'm gonna do something. Change.


Stay tuned for more.