Today was FABULOUS!

18th Sep 2006:

0715: I jumped out of bed! Literally...1st time i did it here.
Cus today is submission day for the Design Competition on War on terrorism!
Due at 2pm but i have studio in the morning today from 8-12.
But here, studio time is ALOT OF TIME. very unlike nus
we can make use of studio time to do our design. so unless u want to talk
to him u can or he will talk to us...
so as expected today he allowd us all to rush our submissions....i was almost done but i decided to go to him to ask him to give me pointers on my presentation technique. I absolutely love Marcel...I can go to him anytime (and ppl at home! i know u will think he is my next 'old man' target...NO! but u know what recently i thought he looks very cute too...and again cute means adorable not like the way girls say it. he is from venezuela!

So he gave pointers but before he did tt he mentioned kyle and how kyle has quite a character... then he showed me pictures kyle sent him...they were great...
later he offered me all the brand new 'scrap' materials he collects from studio the end of each sem. he said he knows i have no car so going to hobby lobby might be a chore so i m free to take anything i see .... just tell him!!! oh my god! so thoughtful (but tts not why he looks cuter, i think he looks cute cuz he has a round head and his moustache looks like a muskerteer's....and he speaks w an english accent sometimes adding spanish into his speech too....hahah)





2 pointers---1. more dramatic perspectives...i cant believe i forgot to use it on revit...sometimes after a break u get so rusty even things like tt i can forget to employ. 2. put human scale in my model. he even cut it for me on balsa wood...and he said if u dont like it u dont need to put it...i dont think he cut for me....just to show me...and i think he is very free so he wants to use his x-acto knife...

he also loves tt i used the SI metric sys in my work...hahhaa he used tt all his life until he came to america. he tried to revolutionize the metric sys w his students but to no avail...so he gave up...

and what i like abt here is tt i like the relationship w my lecturers...
i m sure not all r like marcel but many are.
or so i will find out later tonight
its like i can tell marcel i regret making my entire model black cuz it doesnt show the shadows to clearly.
but he say no...and he thinks it looks quite good...
its just tt in nus u dont tell them ur 'weaknesses'....during presentation if u ever say like ya...i think this is not drawn well...tts like the last thing to admit...
i think here....they r really there to help....so u tell them anything...anything at all...

I am happy

1000: Had to rush back to dorm to do the nec stuff Marcel told me.
and i wanted to put in the photos i took of my model so i kinda re-did my panel again...
then i had to figure the printers out.
printers here r complicated man!!!! u need to go through all the settings n there r at least 10 different types of printers here....

lucky me....everything went well n i handed up my work 10min before time.
it was quite a breeze...i didnt lose sleep or got heaty during production...
a little tense....but all so healthy.

1730: Marcel told me this morning of a really good guest lect later so i decide not to miss it although i have no clue who the speaker is.
i was sooooooo early and the lect started late somemore so i waited almost an hour in the lect theatre but soon i met two studio mates n i talked to them.
one from 305 (Steven) n the other from 405 (Elias)
So kinda killed time.

Lecture started n it was about how the relationship between Arch n Math change w time....thus diff type of Arch derive ....unfortunately now...the relationship is weak and so there is almost none....and tt it led to alot of...to me chim stuff ...
lots n lots of qn during the qn n ans session....the things they say u need to digest slowly...but it was too fast i couldnt understand the sig of all the qns...

then we had cookies for reception.
i think its the first time i stayed back after a guest lecture...
and it was good....i talked to Marcel again and my studio mates...
got to meet new lecturers too and they all seem really happy to meet me too.

but what i really was doing there was to wait for faye (my other studiomate) to ask if she wants dinner cuz i m starving!!! n cold...but she is busy talking to so many people.
so as i stood there w marcel i asked him abt 'miss venezuela'....
u know they r reknown for their beauty title!
so he told me abt it n i was so glad to hear insights of the culture n its implications! he said how women there have so much self-esteem because they make use of tt...even if they r not pretty....they use it to their advantage...and he feels sometimes they get too agressive....
kewl! how a simple statistic ofwinning many beauty titles can lead to a culture in society.
oh and he said tt when he was teaching back home....the arch girls r known to be the prettiest in the entire uni so everyone flocks to their cafeteria!!! hahaha...
he says they (and all women) puts on make-up all day....its a norm!

and guess what....it lead on to dinner w the guest lecturer (he had soooo many credentials....all i can remember is he teaches in Delft now too) and he is Greek which makes Faye go all ga-ga!!!!
dinner w him, and 2 other profs of arch....and 2 grad students, wife of one of them, faye n i....
it was INCREDIBLE!
intellectual but not at all intimidating....
we JUST SHaRED IDEAS...



From left: Nicole (wife of the guy on my left), Faye Hays (the first 405 studio mate i met, introduced my Marcel), Prof for MArch (forgot her name), Alejandro (here to do his MArch in Healthcare design, which is what A & M is known for), me, grad student (dunno his name), Nikos (Guest Speaker), Micheal Newman (Prof for UD, very friendly and offered to answer any of my qns on it in his office, i think he looks old n charming, he was previously from California)
then it occurred to me tt i can really stay here to study....i like it.
this morning while bathing i was thinking of tt too...
but i had no concrete reason to do so....but now....i really like the way interaction of knowledge is conducted...
of course it was truely an extrodinary evening and it doenst happen all the time....but it is easier to happen if u know what i mean.
i did manage to share idea with them again....
the qn was whether or not vern arch can merge w imperialistic ones...
to us the ans is obviously a yes....
but the truth is tt in some countries it cannot happen....like so most of them understood as.
singapore was lucky...althought we were colonised...but it can be regarded as a friendly one...they wanted a port...we wanted them...so we saw a merge in the arch as a display of integration n friendship.
but in some countries which they mentioned they couldnt cuz the countries fought n to establish one as the ruler....they saw nothing like what we did...

also anotherthing...the hist they learn here goes furthest to egypt....which to them is the oldest too...
its surprising how asia really is out of the picture...
thats why what i say seems to fascinate them alot and i do feel like knowledgeable too when speaking to peers, graduates and even prof....
of course the 3 understandings of arch ranges but truely....asia is not in their syllabus like how egypt n greece is not in ours....
but i m fortunate to be taking it in the hist module i mapped here..

so i told them about the marrying of colonial n vern arch and i really want them to know abt it....so i m going to see if my hard disk have all the lect notes of widodos...otherwise i think i will e-mail widodo soon....
i know i sound hardcore...but really i m not...
u just appreciate all the knowledge u once took for granted...
but now u r in a context where ppl never heard of what u learnt...and u r eager to share because its another aspect of architecture which is what we all are after.

so....my days r really exciting....meeting int'l students in dorm or anyway outside of arch....and ppl in arch whom share my passion ....

ah...this is a long one...

it was truely an incredible evening......DAY