2010 | A Year in Warhol-esque Pictures

It seems this is the third time I'm presenting a picture from every month of the past year. Sort of a review in pictures. I like it. It forces me to sift through files of pictures allowing me to recollect all the good times I've had.

But just to add that smidgen of wonkyness to the collection of pictures this year, I've edited them into slightly Warhol-esque pictures by playing with the colours.

January | We were together after such a long time. We need another meet-up



February | We drank the night away, by the beach.



March | We all wore green that day.



April | We took a group picture but in reverse.



May | We finished our crit! And started to part ways.



June | We took to Redang Island, and had the best time together!



July | We went crazy taking pictures.



August | We gave two people a tart.



September | I went abroad, a change of scenery.



October | We had our first few dinner gatherings.



November | I saw some Warhol



December | It snowed and snowed and snowed.

2010 was an interesting year. I'm not all that sure how I could sum it up. It was a mix of ups and downs. Bits I will keep in my mind forever and events I wish to purge from memory. Certain incidences may have messed me up but fuck it, that's just life. Things won't miraculously change for the better, there's a process that we all have to go through.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because the year is ending doesn't mean everything will change for the better. We're still in this continuum which at anytime, anything can happen. But it's the effort and the actions we take that can alter the course of our future. So, take charge of your future. Take a chance. And if it doesn't come out favourable, there's always alcohol.


Happy 2011 everybody,
see you next year!

Stewing

I've been stewing in my room for the past three days. I've rarely been out let alone travel in these past two weeks. I'd like to think of this as my reward for the insane amount of time and energy I put into my work in the last semester, then again, to think of the fact that I'm rewarding myself by being idle is utterly pathetic. I think I should be feeling some sort of guilt remaining in this state of inactivity seeing as I've actually got quite a bit of work to be done over this so-called 'holiday'. I should be working harder than ever, with my back bent over the desk hard at work. But interestingly enough, I'm not. And I'm not feeling any remorse or guilt over it. I'm merely.....existing.

It's moments like these when i take a step back to evaluate myself. And it just so happens these moments tend to occur at the end of the year or during some significant event on my calendar. It's like wriggling out of my skin to just take a broad perspective on the things that I've done, people who's life I've crossed, places I've been, things I've read, sights I've seen. It's reading my diary in reverse.

My views on the semester that had just ended several weeks back: I'm beginning to take more chances. And I think I need to push myself to the boundary and take more bold choices and risks. I've yet to find my stride but I'm feeling my way. I need much much better time management. I'm disappointed in myself for procrastinating at times and not setting my priorities straight, but at the same time I'm glad I handed all my work in on time. The studio design work is a very interesting topic and I'm very glad I chose this unit. I need to cherish and take advantage of it as I've only got one semester left to spend in that unit.

I've lost some part of me in the design, but can I find myself back again? Will I change? Someone once told me that you have to lose yourself before you can really discover your true nature. I hope he was right.

Don't worry about me, I'm just having alot of thoughts in my head right now that I need to vent out to someone. But funnily enough, I don't want you to tell me everything will be alright. Because you probably don't know what is really going on in my head and in my life. Just say "It sucks to be you right now" and give me a pat on the back.


Stay tuned.

Christmas Dinner

Well, technically, pre-pre-Christmas Eve dinner makan-makan. We had a little gathering about a week ago before Christmas for some good food, good music and good company time. But I swear I will never make a chicken pie for 10 people ever again. Not only was it stressful to prepare all the filling, stuffing it into a huuuge pyrex dish and then rolling out the pastry to top it all off, then I have to stuff the thing into a teeny tiny oven which could just barely accommodate the thing.

| Chicken pie on the far right.



| Feasting

It was one helluva dinner. We had chicken pie, potato salad, yorkshire pudding, brussels sprouts with cream and cheese, sausages wrapped in bacon, temaki made from an actual Japanese and to top it all off, ice-cream for dessert and tong yuen...since it coincided the winter solstice.


Eat well and be merry!

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Season's Greetings

Season's best to all and Merry Christmas.


Stay tuned.

Freezing White Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner along with it, New Year's, Valentines and before you know it, they light up the damn Christmas tree again and 2011 is over. Before I get all bitter and talk about the time flying by at an amazingly loathsome pace, I shall just remind myself to just narrate what is going on with me right now in the present.

This week was a little bit crazy. First of all, it's been snowing and there is about 20cms of snow on the ground. Yes, yes, it's lovely and everything but I have to tell you, it's only lovely when you see it from the window inside the house next to a heater or fireplace. Outside, the temperatures are freezing, a couple of days ago, it hit -16°C. Yes, you read that right. The UK is going into a deep freeze. It's apparently one of the worst winters in history. For the first few days, the snow was fun, but it kinda gets annoying after awhile, but i'll try to keep myself amused with it.

When I go out these few days, I have to practically wear 5 layers and wear boots or some kind footwear which is suitable to walk in ankle deep snow on the pavements. And when I'm outside, it's freezing, it's windy, the snow on the pavements can get slushy, so it feels like you're walking on slurpee. I'm actually considering getting wellies.

So when you look at the following depictions of a winter wonderland, keep in mind that it's windy, wet, slippery and freezing.

Stay tuned.

Warwick Avenue

When I got to Warwick Avenue. You were nowhere to be seen.

First End

Well, the semester has come to a screeching halt as Christmas looms ever so near. People are getting in the holiday mood, doing shopping and lots of it, stocking up on presents and loading up their cars and heading home. While I'm stuck here with 3 weeks of total peaceful bliss. I'm going to spend Christmas and the holidays exploring London and Oxford a bit more. Get to know the area. I wasn't exactly able to do that since I've been here because I plunged headfirst into classes, projects and assignments. I barely had time to adjust to the weather. But as I continue to settle into this place, occasionally buying items to make myself feel better (sweater, pate, shoes, ice cream, what-have-you), I have found that being here with people you know from hope certainly does immensely help in cushioning your fall into a foreign country.

I'm not returning to Malaysia for the holidays. Will probably do so at the end of next semester. But that has yet to be confirmed since I've got to get next year's accommodation sorted out first. I do miss home in the little moments I have with my family and friends. Whether it's having dim sum on a Sunday morning with my parents or Bak Kut Teh with dad, or even my random outings with friends around Penang Island and KL exploring not only the shopping complexes but places to eat and hang out. The hours we spend talking just about anything into the wee hour of the morning in Sega's or having my almost ritual Indian Thursdays.

But I assure you, I'm having a fantastic time here. Yes, the cold does occasionally get to me, but then again, it just takes a little of getting used to.

Brutal Oxford

A week ago, I went on a studio walking trip around Oxford, near Marston. We briskly walked through the streets stopping at four different sites with the intention to garner inspiration from 1950s to 1970s brutalist and modernist architecture with their heavy use of concrete as the 'material of the future.'

It was an insightful tour of a part of Oxford I'd never thought I'd go. We shuffled along the streets, gazing at the monumental qualities of these buildings with our hands thrust into our pockets except for the occasional photo-op, whilst constantly swearing at the -8°C temperature making it the coldest morning yet since I've been here. But I guess it was practically complimentary to the harshness and rigidity of Brutalism, as my cross-processed pictures hopefully are. Enjoy:

Stay tuned for more.

Listen to This

Something Good Can Work
by Two Door Cinema Club
in the album Tourist History

This is definitely one of the songs in my playlist when I'm pulling an all-nighter on an assignment. It's got something to it doesn't it? Something good that makes it work.


Stay tuned for more.

More work

I was tied to the swivel chair in the studio for the past 3 days and 2 nights, working my brains out on this one Technology report of the building depicted above that just would not finish itself. It was a real pain in the ass from the very beginning of the semester. I spent the last two nights in the studio, far away from the seductive lure of my bed and duck-down duvet. It was certainly rough, but i'm glad I did it. Had I not been in the studio and stayed a wake for almost 48 hours with only a brief nap of 4 hours in the wee hours of today, had I not only survived on hot chocolate and fruits and deprived myself of a proper sit down meal, AND had I not sacrificed a good chunk of my sanity, I probably would have handed in the report late and potentially, single-handedly destroyed all that i had poured into this module in the semester.

Before my mother or other concerned family member finishes reading this post and start ranting to me to eat a proper meal and stop procrastinating and concentrate, I must reassure them that being here in this somewhat foreign land with the added workload WILL cause these effects. There is not really one person I know who has not gone through these sleepless nights. It's just part and parcel of being an architecture student.

But anyway, now the bed beckons. And I must get sufficient sleep tonight if i even want to be able to wake up tomorrow and continue working on my studio project of this semester which will be assessed in a week's time. In other words, the gates of hell are creaking open inch by inch.

I will see you on the other side.

Stay tuned.

PhotoLog | Beigel Shop

| I absolutely love this pastry shop along Brick Lane in London's notorious East End. Est. 1885.

Stay tuned.