Raya Break!!!  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

A new update? Yes, and this rare "phenomena" can only happen during the holidays. My last post was written at the start of the semester, therefore you can conclude that I was too busy to update my blog. It's not that I didn't have time to blog, it's just that all the free time I had not doing my projects were used to entertain myself - movies, tv shows, and even buka puasa with my housemates(I didn't fast but I did break fast :P). All these were done to keep myself sane.

The first project for design just finished and now we are entering a critical phase, where everything collides together and interfered with each other, our lives, our time, our sanity. Chaos.

But before that, thank god it's the festive season. After all the rendang, lemang, ayam masak merah, we will have mooncakes!!! And in no time we'll be munching muruku cookies and oh boy, how I wish to gain weight soon before I disappear into a stick...

Teluk Intan has a Sushi King restaurant now! What a surprise O.O. I hope it doesn't close down, you know, when people only go there for green tea and a few plates of sushi. Went there on Sunday and wasn't too happy with the service. Anyway it's a good start. With Mc Donald's, Old Town Coffee Shop, Steak Factory, and Sushi King opening at the same place, this particular location has become the new hotspot and is always full, especially at night.

I just came back from a gathering with old friends at McD. I couldn't help but noticed that most of my friends had gained weight, and somehow I felt happy for them. And then there was a sight you probably won't see in McD for 10000 years:

A couple using umbrella in McD :D (do not attempt this at home as it's very inauspicious)

How sweet. And they do it every year, every time we celebrate the girl's birthday. Youngsters today just don't take a relationship that seriously anymore(says Kang Zi the wise, old alter ego). So please marry soon :P. Actually they are not officially a couple yet, but looking at what they've done all these years, I'm sure that they are one, in their hearts. There's no need to be official about it. I know it doesn't make any sense(the umbrella not the couple). The girl used to bring an umbrella everyday to school. One day, there's a sparkle and since then it became the symbol of love and caring for both, like the lyrics: Know that we'll still have each other, you can stand under my umbrella...by Rihanna. This is the Romance of the Couple Under the Umbrella ella ella eh eh eh...(fyi, this happened before that song came out, it's the original umbrella love)

Enough of them already, they take up too much space in my post, anymore and I'll have to charge an advertising fee. It's all about me, yes, myself, and I. (I'm starting to feel ridiculous at this ridiculous hour)

That's all for now, ciao!!!

Raya is still on, to be continued...


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It started...  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

Semester just started and Drama Mama is rolling again!

This year's July break was a very well-spent, unlike the previous one. I took up an internship in GRA Architects and was very grateful for what I've experienced. I would really like to thank so many people but it's not like they'll read my petty blog anyway. One month plus was not a really long period but it certainly was MORE than 3 months rotting in the cave. I'm certainly hanging on to my tiny little uncrushed scrap fantasy before I hit the real world. Before this I couldn't wait to graduate, but now when I think of it again, why not savour what you have while you can?




The first day of class was really too bad to be true. I woke up with a groggy head got the shock of my life when I look in the mirror. I didn't sprout a tentacle out of my ear, nor did I become a Smurf. My right eyelid was swollen and I looked like I was squinting permanently with one eye, kinda like seducing myself?

How could this happen? It's like the Christmas tree being chopped off during Christmas day, or breaking your leg before the day you were supposed to participate in a marathon. So expectedly unexpected. Maybe I'm just exaggerating. But you get the idea.

I told myself it was just a puffy eye and everything will be fine. But the more I looked at it the more I freaked out, of course I didn't touch it but it felt wrong. My eye was a bad almond shape and it looked so funny that at a point I was laughing at myself.

I went to check about it on the internet and didn't really like what I read. It was a website called wrongdiagnosis.com and I should've given myself a kick for not reading the obvious.

Mr Obvious says, "Well duh it's called wrongdiagnosis.com so why are you still there?"

You can't blame me since I was half-blind, or a quarter, if you count the half squint...

Two semesters ago I had a pain in the throat and went to check online. And I thought it was a heart burn. =.="

This time it was either conjunctivitis, dacryocystitis, or other terms that made my eyes hurt more. I was hoping for a mild case of infection or maybe an insect bite at the same time though. But I had to go to the doctor (I don't have the male ego in the health department). I didn't want to go to college looking like Captain Jack Sparrow on crack.

Clinic was packed with people wearing ugly green masks, not that I was surprised. I thought I should wear an eye patch and join the club.

Fortunately it was just an infection, but I didn't know the cause, since I actually changed my pillow case the night before. And I didn't remember rubbing it, or did anything to it. I got a bottle of eye drops and a pack of antibiotic, which was what I needed. But the girl also gave me a pack painkillers.

Pharmacist (I hope she's one): Painkillersonetablethreetimesaday...
Me: *sounding totally perplexed* Okay...???

I hope I'm not being ignorant but painkillers for a small swell in the inner eyelid of my right eye? Was she trying to dig more gold?

I went to college in the afternoon anyway. It wasn't a big deal anyway since nobody realised until I pointed it out to them.

Me: Do you know what's wrong with me today?
Girl: Your hair? (I didn't have time to do it)
Me: No...
Girl: Your nose?
Me: =.="
Girl: Your shoes? Clothes?
Me: *pointing to my eyes
Girl: Your glasses!!!
Me: No, my right eye, it's swollen...
Girl: Really?

It's getting better now but I have to finish the antibiotic? It's not like I'm having a flu. There are rumours of cases in my college but I do hope they wear nicer masks since we are such a creative community...

Trust me when I say H1N1 is not the worst. I saw "The Seven Signs of The Apocalypse" in The History Channel and the disease (or diseases?) mentioned in the Book of Revelations scared the sh*t out of me.

That's all for this update. See you again!

Live LONG and prosper!!! Yea I hope you do!

It's still swollen...go twinklie!


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Tallinn Town Hall - A BIG architecture  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin



I'm not sure if I'm overusing puns or what. But this design is really nice. It was one of those designs that turns me on :P. 

The competition for a new Tallinn Town Hall in Estonia was won by Bjark Ingels Group aka BIG.

I'm not gonna write a review since +MOOD has done such an amazing job on featuring the design. Please click the link to find out more.

What I find interesting about the design is it's brilliant ideas and execution. I admit that the form was what attracted me at first. It's somewhat intriguing and has those edgy elements that I like. And trust me, you don't want to land (arse first) on a building like that. It is also one of those designs that people either like or hate. 

But after taking a closer look at the presentation boards I was interested enough to spend half of the afternoon staring at the drawings. 

Personally I think there's a level of sophistication in the thinking, considering the limited time for improvements. The particular idea of transforming the ceiling of the Democratic Tower into a giant periscope is so fantabulous. It's supposed to bring the idea of transparency in politics into the design, as citizens from outside can have a view of what's going on in the building and vice-versa. Who says literalness is a crime? Certainly not if you can handle it.

The spatial arrangement is also interesting to note. The way the squares of different sizes hinged to one another helps retain compactness and organisation while at the same time allowing the designers to play with light and angles.  

You know what to do to enlarge this


Stay tuned for more great stuff. See ya!

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What I've Done...  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

Hola I'm back again!

Wonder what's with the long M.I.A? Well, as usual, I was busy and lazy to blog when I had the time to take my mind away from my assignments.

But as I sat in front of my laptop trying to compile my portfolio, I thought hey, why not do a recap on what I've been up to in my blog. It's always fun without having to think about COMPOSITION, CLARITY and CONTINUITY.

So here I am :D.

This semester has been hectic but fun. Well not really hectic for me since I took less subjects. Next semester will not be as fun anymore :P.

Let's start with the fun and funny one. A less serious assignment I think.

FLYING EGG! Not a flying egg, but rather flying an egg.

Basically we had to design and build a simple device that could fly an egg using only a few specified materials.  

final model with egg (inspired by flying saucer)


work in progress


lineup for inspection


me trying out before the real testing

Our model basically failed the test (together with some other groups, if that's supposed to make me feel better :P). 

It flipped midair, smashed into the ground and the poor egg broke. (Yea you can laugh now)

Fortunately this assignment doesn't play a major role in failing us. All I need to do is to make it look good in my portfolio. It's all about faking it, even in Architecture.


Let's move on to the last subject that I would think of as being fun - Building Technology (I'm doing this chronologically)

But it did turn out to be quite fun as well!

We did WONDER WALL for the first assignment. And it was somehow wonderful :D


laying out according to the plan


in process...


I was in charged of the huge opening


and voila!!!


I looked like crap after 7 hours of doing that...


Miss Ummi and Mr Dennis ruining our wall to check if we cheated by gluing the opening...no!!!!



No we didn't cheat :P...So yay for that :D

If you scowled at my group's uninspiring model (as compared to other groups). Let me tell you that we did exactly what the brief wanted - overall height exceeds 300mm, 25% openings with one large enough for a tennis ball to pass through, no blue-tac or gluing for openings, must be breathtaking, exaggeratingly beautiful and over the top in the overall design.

Hence the safe and boring masterpiece. Oh, and we passed ;D (No grades were told though).


The next assignment for design was THE (EXTRA) ORDINARY SPACE or simply The Container. Basically we were required to design a container for a chosen object. It was supposed to train us to be more aware of objects around us and to see things differently. We also learned the basics of dealing with an important element in Architecture - space.

The container has to reflect the essence, namely the distinguished characteristics and qualities of the object. It also has to be exclusively for that particular object ONLY, therefore we couldn't simply design a box that would fit tons of things under the sky.


My object, a pencil holder


My container looks really cool from the top



My object kept and hidden



My object being rotated out

The next project for B.tech was the TOWER OF TERROR, the name alone was enough to strike fear even in the boldest of all.  To simply put it, with balsa wood as the only material, we had to build a tower that would support a person minimum 300mm off the ground for 30 seconds, before collapsing after that within 1 minute.

Yes, it MUST collapse after that 30 seconds, after an extra 5 kg load being added (doesn't make any difference to be frank). So spending RM100 on building the toughest structure isn't gonna pass you. 

Our portfolio (click here for bigger image)

Too bad I don't have the pictures of us testing, because we were too busy supporting our group member. In case you are wondering why I'm not the one doing the testing, well, because the tower ain't gonna budge even the slightest with me on it, not in 10 days.


Moving on the the final project of B.tech. A simple but not that sweet one. The PLANE OF PAIN!!! Yea it hurt a little :'(. 

Why the cheesy names?(I can imagine someone saying The Wonder Wall!!!! The Tower of Terror!!! The Plane of Paiiiiiiiinnnnnnn!!! in a dramatic way) They're supposed to make 'construction hip and cool!' I guess.

(bigger image)

We had to support a brick and elevate it 50mm with an A4 paper (70gsm). We can manipulate the paper anyhow (folding, cutting). No other materials were allowed, no gluing, no stapling, no sticking.


Lastly, the Queen of Pain!!! (I'm not a dotA fan so fans out there I didn't mean the hero) 

This is where the surviving skills of AS 101 were put to the test. 

HABITAT

Brief: *Beep* Hi designers. For this task, throw yourselves into the harsh Cyberjaya lake area and survive for a day. As architecture students, you are each advised to use your skills to design and build a simple Habitat as shelter. You are forbidden to build a tent, yes we do not do that! We survive in style! Each of you are expected to build something that relates to yourself and to the environment, besides being cool, exceeding expectations aesthetically and functionally, light in structure, and able to dismantle. Be prepared for the unexpected such as heavy rain and lighting storm, strong winds, heat wave, and possible attacks by the lake creatures. You shall be warned that this is the first time we have attempted this. Good luck and return safely. *Beep*

Actually that was not the exact brief but that's how I interpreted it :). Let's see how I did on the mission :P.


I returned broken, used up and busted. Imagine have not enough water and having to assemble something right below the scorching hot sun. That was probably the first time I sweat that lot in a few years o.O. That site was terrible. Not really a place for relaxation or point of repose like what the lecturers wanted. Anyway, it turned out well and no harm!

That's all for now! See ya later!









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Can you fix a rotten apple?  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

Aloha!!!

A quick (but possibly lengthy) update :D.

Went to Machines in The Gardens yesterday to collect my laptop (at least that's my priority or rather, my excuse ;D)


Well, I've always felt embarrassed when people asked me what happened to my laptop...

Yes, I spilled water on the keyboard when I was PAINTING, yes, WATERCOLOUR!!! (my favourite medium :S)

At least it's not as shameful as screwing up your laptop because you were doing some other...stuff :P

Looking at the bright-side, I got a brand new keyboard! And it's free of dust, fingerprints, and watercolour (ahem, thanks for the spell check Mr. Blogger, but I'm sticking to the 'u' in 'colour').

And because of the staff's slow service (on the 1st of May, how ironic =.="), I had the opportunity to browse through the entire store, and painfully included some things into my list of must-haves. 

iPhone has finally arrived on our shore (like last month?). If you're thinking 'hey I got my iPhone years ago!' you are having an illegal one, not pirated, but illegal :P, not a crime though. But at the moment I'm not desperate to own one (I'm not a phone fetish).

Apple is like David Beckham in England (I guess). You either hate it, or you love it; some people hate to love it, some people love to hate it; some just don't get it; others, like me, just own it (it's products).



Let's ditch the Apple part...

The malls were packed with people, and they got in my way all the time =.=". After the usual things I do in malls, I headed to Pasar Seni to take the bus back Putrajaya.

Oh my Mother Earth, it was the first time I noticed how polluted Malaysia is (or rather KL). All I inhaled was fumes, smokes, smog, and all kinds of bad gases you can name. Some couldn't get enough of what the busses were emitting and started smoking on cigarettes. How I wish I could teleport all the way to Greenland.

So this guy was busy smoking in front of me (or my back since I turned around). 

Hello, why don't you just put your nose inside the exhaust pipe? That way your lungs get blackened faster, and you can die earlier.

At least that's what I wanted to say to him.

You should've seen me making weird faces, with my T-shirt over my nose and the pages of my tiny book flipping in front my face. Not that I wasn't used to that already, it's just that I didn't want to get old yet, and my skin was already in bad condition. Nevertheless, I felt sorry for the bus drivers, it's like they're living there all the time. 

And that's my day dealing with apples - my laptop and the city(we have the Big Apple, so...). 

I wanna bite on the real thing now, red and juicy.   





Ahuihou!!!

*PS: My posts always come out sounding cynical, and I can't help it. So pardon me :P

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Oh my precious buuks!  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

I know why books are precious, and the Chinese saying of 书中自有黄金屋 couldn't be more true. Books are so expensive you would've thought there are gold pieces inside. No wonder in the olden days only rich men knew how to read. I love books, and the fact that they are so expensive in Malaysia makes the situation kinda similar to that of a shopaholic obsessed with luxury goods.

Yesterday I was in the mall to fix my laptop. After a yummy Taiwanese lunch and some browsing I decided to go back early. But as I was walking through the tunnel-like entrance still in renovation, I suddenly remembered...

"Ah I forgot, the bookstore!"

So I wheeled back and entered the mall again (how weird).

You see, bookstores are the only places I must go whenever I go shopping. There are certain things that draw me in - the smell of books, no promoters to bug you, the quiet atmosphere...everything is just so perfect. You know people go there to read and nothing else (or am I wrong?).

So I was browsing through the usual new arrivals and highlights at the front, where a few books caught my attention but I just flipped through them and returned them to the shelves.

General fiction category has some best-sellers that I've wanted to read long time ago but didn't.

Sequels in the Fantasy section awaited me but somehow I couldn't find them amidst those usual "Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", and the recent "Twilight". Somehow I found it annoying that the whole shelf was filled with the goth inspired cover (which means black, white, and red). What a waste of space!

I gave up and went to the classics, or what I call "books you have to read before you die". Argh!!! So many books I wanted to buy! It got so overwhelming that I had to just leave the section, and instead fixed my eyes on UPSR or SPM to just clear up my thoughts.

A glance at some books on photography reminded me that I wanted a decent camera (another sinful thought).

And at last, the mother of all lethal books on your wallets----------Architecture (gold plated and diamond encrusted) books!!!

This is like one of the wonders of the world. Do this the next time you're in a bookstore, preferably a big MPH or Borders. Go to the Architecture section, pick up the smallest and thinest book you can find and scream at the price tag. If you can't take it, don't bother about the big ones.

Of course, it was my job to search for the cheapest book there, never mind the contents. And that sums up what I did there.

Of course I was kidding, I did look at the contents. =.="

So that's my pathetic trip to the bookstore. I could have bought one or two, but choosing was hard.

The library? Tell me if you could actually find a decent library in Malaysia. And when I say decent I mean the LIBRARIANS too.

Guess that's why the average Malaysian only reads 2 books in a year. Maybe that includes reference books, feng shui almanacs , and recipe books.

And to those scums who burnt books in the past, SHEET you!!!

I might become the next Book Thief.



A few days after...... (this is weird, but true)


Hey yo!!! I might not have to steal books, because there's a MPH Distributors Warehouse Sale coming!!!


You can't believe how excited I am. I'm not gonna miss this opportunity, no matter how far the place is.

You might get a retail RM90 book for just RM15 there!!!

How crazy, it's like robbing, but dropping some coins while escaping.

You can't miss this, see you there!!!

Au revoir!!!

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Of scary things and haunted class 72  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

Ciao people!

Haven't been updating lately, because assignments were messing with my blogging time. And as I'm typing now I still have lots of work to do! No pictures for updating, just go facebook :P.

Design is squeezing my mind like a lemon now, I doubt I still have a drop of creative juice in me. Any idea how to get more flowing?

It's as if assignments weren't the worst obstacles I need to overcome yet(of course not, but you get what I mean). God has more tests for me (Oh Lord is this final exam?). At the midst of all these there were also some unnecessary little troubles coming up. "Peskies" as I call them, tiny but lethal in the long run. First of all I spilled some water on my keyboard, definitely not the one I'm currently typing on now. Then something scary messed up with my mind. And what made it scary was that it came out of nowhere, and nothing becomes something that's nothing at all. Of course I laughed it of and declared it amusing. But as you all know the human web of thinking is kinda complicated, until the point that you can't even figure up what you are thinking (how ironic?). So nothing becomes something (sigh). But why can't this things (or people) leave me alone? I'm tired. And I don't know how to react anymore. How sour...

Anyway, thankfully my slow and calm self kinda shut things down. But there's a bad side to it, sometimes I do procrastinate on things, and I can't bring myself to finish things up quickly when I know they're not gonna be good (let's not talk about perfect) if they were to be done quickly.

But then again, nothing is perfect because no one is perfect. Life is imperfect, assignments can't be perfect, I can't be perfect, you can't be perfect too.

One more thing, last design class felt like highschool bootcamp, but we're not high school kids anymore. Classmates please be serious, because I don't wanna hear that kind of lecturing voice anymore.

Did I make myself clear? (Oh no you didn't just say that to us)

Ah, how I wish there're only me and my assignments for now.

SCARY THINGS AND SCARY PEOPLE PLEASE STAY AWAY FOR NOW

...but proceed if you're not scary...

Ciao!!!

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