hyuganatsu orange frm muji -$2.90



its 3am... my room is only half packed... im dead tired... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

man...



im lookin at a gift my brother gave me... first bday present. memoriable. its wraped in white paper. nothing fancy, but exactally as i taught him... memoriable. feeling nice and fuzzy.



my moms asleep now... jus. shes worked the hardest to make todae possible. memoriable. im very loved. she will be waking real early tmr. i love my mom. how can one not love the best mom in the world?



i was gonna bragg a little abt me... but im too tired... ill sleep now.



a week of parties and finally a clean room.

I’ve been thinking about design again.



In the even of floods and monsoons, I am reminded of this community of people in India. As I was told they live as a village by a river. Their houses, made from mud and wood provide shelter for their families, safe for their livestock and limited belongings.

Every year during the monsoon season these mud houses would be washed away. These inhabitants of the once life giving river would have to pack up and move up to higher ground to set up home again. After the monsoon season passes the Indians will once again move back down to the river. And theses resilient people do it every year, over and over.



I’ve never seen this place for myself, only heard of it from a distant source, however it sounds possible.



First thoughts were why would anyone want to repeat building their homes over and over, year after year. Doesn’t seem very smart. However, ill suppose the river brings about extremely fertile soil for farming and rearing livestock. And each year as these farmers have their homes washed away, the monsoons also carries away the old, nutrient depleted, soil. And along with it comes new grounds for tilling and ranching.



So lets suppose this is the reason for the Indians to keep returning to the river.



Now these city free Indians are now experts in mud house construction since they do it every year. I’m sure throughout the years they’ve improved in their methods of building mud houses. They must also have their own ways of transporting families, livestock and possessions. Maybe even building materials.

Don’t think any designer could match their knowledge in temporary and limited resource constructions.

Also these homes that they create would probably be in their simplest form – ‘minimalist design’.

And nothing’s stopping them from personalizing each home, wouldn’t you? I think, here in the city, we call it interior design. (I dun believe in interior design but that’s another issue for another time.)

How then would they device means to transport their annual move of homes, or their methods of recognizing the time to start moving? We have so much to learn.



Design problems, solved by solutions of non-designers, which are likely to prove themselves more efficient and effective than the produce of a pampered, city spoiled designer. Makes me wonder how any self respecting designer can feel happy producing rubbish on paper, which gets haggled down to rock bottom prices, sells it for peanuts and pat him/herself on the back and say “I also can design what” and eventually kill the market for design.



I once heard a comment that design was suited only for the rich. I’ve always thought it was flawed but could never find what was wrong with it since it had some truth in it.

With the short discussion above, I now think design is suited only for extreme circumstances, extreme poverty or extreme wealth – monomaniacal culture.

snickers hazelnut -$1.25

a day past christmas, as week past my camp and a mth past the israel trip... still a big rush of assigments to do and parties to attend. bah too many.

planning a birthday something on the day itself... the fools town council are telling me i cant do one cos there isnt space open enuff to be grilling meat. well ill do it anyway... like i care if the pple in the oppsite blocks get to sniff my food.

but anyways christmas was good, the camp at trengannu was good and israel was super. so really ive got very little to complain... ive got a super yr end.



my little cousin's at my place, which explains y im here typing instead of hogging on the ps2 console...

any ideas wat to do on the party? im boggled. if u can think of anything leave a suggestion ya?



still have my war stricken abode to clear up

cockles frm boon tat st. bbq seafood -$5.00

its 3am and i was supposed to sleep at one... and i havent packed. aii. gotta wake at 10am in the mornin, hope i make it.



jus finished uploading the first set of pics i took in israel adn sending em out, i expected it to be easier... but well 540 pic aint easy to plough thro. i hope i dint make too many mistakes. anyway the link to the pics is here> "Galilean Times" u can also find it under the magazine rack.



ill be off to camp till the 22nd, not really exicited though... much like b4 the Israel trip. well im sure Jesus will bless this trip too. all in good time...



sleepy giddy and stiff frm sitting infront of the computer too long. will miss pokeing at the playstation and my blog...



still wondering if i shld bring my camera...

liquorice frm the souvenir store at the Hyatt -12 shekels

well ive been trying as best to get 540, scanned, done and uploaded asap. however, staring at the com sux and 540 is a large no. to plough thro.



its gonna take a while, considering ive got final fantasy 10 beckoning on the ps2. tons on the to do list, wasnt this supposed to be a holiday?, and im forgetting christmas is 12days away...

bah!

too much too soon too fast... still im glad im free enuff for the ps2.





had a dream...

fish head beehoon frm the market near my house

fifteen! fifteen rolls of film... that sums up to 540 pics... feeling mad... never attempted so many... ever.

but well until they get developed ive got no israel story to tell.



bought a bottle of dry gin at the duty free shops. i hate it! its hard and has a nice sweet after taste, but hell! it smells like ligther fluid mixed in UHU. dang. shldave got rum...



anyone want the bottle?

golden mile, khong fatt beef noodles -$4.30

it was less then 19hrs when i was still stareing into the Israeli sky. yet i find myself momentarily forgetting, by bits and pieces, wat its like to be in Israel.



there at the Israeli airport we said our last goodbyes while the bus captian cheeram called out names as he handed out our plane tickets.

"laiheng!...(pause)

edwin!...(pause)

ariel!...(pause) wheres ariel? oh...(pause)

alyssa!...(pause)"

then, frm behind "-juval!-"

the joke, laced wif a longing sadness, met wif amiable laughs.

i turned and found our guide, juval, calling out his own name as if he wld be taking this flight wif us.

yea juval's a cool guy and a marverlous guide - always attentive, wif a frown on his face.

but at that moment the frown spoke of genunine sadness from goodbyes wif the frnds he had made in the last 9days.

i felt sad too, and i dun usually do.







lifts a glass,

to JUVAL!











yea... a moment to remember.