Advice for Myself (and all)

Of all the many many good advice I've read from all the many many sources, this one seems to have reached down and sounded the wakeup gong inside me. ;)

Letter to an Incomplete and Insecure Teenager, from John Piper

Enjoy and be blessed! ;)

Another Girl Crush

This time from The Sartorialist ;)

Working Girl Crush

I'm so crushing on this photo. Love the specs (I want one!) and love the blazer ( I want one too!).

...somehow I've always looked forward to being a working girl. Now that I've got a little taste of it, I'm actually finding work quite fulfilling. You know the nice feeling when you've had a productive and exhausting day at work, and you sleep at night is oh so sweet? ;) I'm also loving that I have a little extra time after work for myself, whether it be catching up with friends or snuggling in bed with a book.

...some of it is not all I imagined it would be. Life happens. But I trust all things are in God's hands, and all are for our good! The good things are gifts of grace that we do not deserve, and even the seemingly bad things are also allowed to happen, so God can use them for our good. So in all things, I have to remind myself to always trust, always hope, always rejoice! :D

The Case for Dark Walls

Need I say more? ;) Dad's repainting the whole house and I can't wait to experiment and go crazy! :D

Inspiration from Home! Seksan's 11@Mont Kiara Showcase

Odd that throughout for my past three years of swimming in all things architecture, I have never actually got to know the archi scene in my own country Malaysia. Maybe because I had always been hidden in Segamat and have not been exposed to the the latest trends and developments.

Oh but this holidays, I'm so impressed! Just absolutely blown away! I really admire the Modern Tropical style that celebrates our culture in a clean, refined way. Also, I'm observing so many projects that appreciate good design and are willing to spend a little more to make things more beautiful and functional.

Most recently, a senior had shared this landscape company, Seksan, with me. And I'm so in love with their projects. Oh and since I've stopped making a scrap book of design ideas, I've decided to use my blog as a personal notebook of ideas instead. 

First up, Seksan's 11@Mont Kiara Showhouse

I only wish their portfolio had bigger pictures. Anyway I like they celebrate structure as part of the language of design itself, notice how some usually structural elements like the wires and screens aren't functional here, but have been used instead just to add aesthetic lines. Also notice how all the joints and members are exposed. Also impressive is how all the sizes of the members are carefully proportioned to work together harmoniously, none too big, or too small in comparison, the result is an airy, open structure, yet a strong sense of place walking through the bridge.

Screen House by Randy Bens Architect

At the risk of sounding extremely geeky, I find this picture of a staircase detail extremely restful.

A Belated Merry Christmas =)

Draft of ecard designed.

A geeky idea that was better in head than in reality. =p

Saladstation by id design

When was the last time I posted an archspiration? =) Anyway I've had the opportunity to observe interior design in the process, with the firm I'm interning at quite regarded for their retail id. Wow the crazy array of materials! So varied and yet subtlely so in every shade, texture,  material, proportion, quality etc. While ID seems like every girl's pastime, it's more than just choosing furniture and paint color. In truth, id covers both built in and loose furniture. The Id eye has to be trained from experience to understand scale, proportion, balance, texture, lighting, space and so much more! I've come to admire IDs now, given that their work is on such a small scale and so relatable and often used by humans, all the joints, fixings, lightings and construction details make a BIG difference and they have to design every nail, screw, welding right down to the smallest detail.

So anyway here's a pic I came across I love. While I'm not a fan of pop colors, this one is unique in that they used it on the floor quite successfully, and the rest of the ID is given a basic, raw, industrial pallete to juxtapose with the floor. Nice. =)

Sydney, baby!

Why do I want to go?

To be uncomfortable. Here comes adventure! ;)

It's a funny feeling...

...that of leaving. But its about time. And I'm looking forward to another adventure ahead! =)

No More TV!

I remember I never used to watch tv series in my youth. Not because I was against tv or something, but more because my hosue had no astro and back then I did not know how to download. So we watched whatever was on cable at nights after dinner. Mostly PCK. ;)

Coming here, I found myself with no family to spend time with and tend to have readings or assignments to do at nights. But when there is free time I find myself watching tv more, especially on the laptop. Not to say there's anything wrong to with watching tv, especially when you have prerogative over how you spend your free time. Rather I find myself just, I don't know, wasting time? If I put my free time into a hobby, say reading news or drawing, at the end of the day I would have learnt something interesting or have something accomplished, and there is a certain satisfaction to it. Rather with tv, its more like a temporary escape. I suppose there is a time and place for tv, sometimes when the mind is so brain dead and cant focus, tv does help to relieve a little by allowing the viewer to just stone and watch entertainment. But too much tv can take over your life.

While I used to enjoy my drama series, recently after exams I just found that I don't want to watch tv anymore. Maybe its because I'm so restless lately and have been jumping up and down finding things to do. Maybe its because my mind is quite mentally alert with the good rest that I can't seem to have the patience to watch tv, instead it wants to be engaged in something.Maybe with less stress there is less need for escape. But wow! What a refreshing change! I've been soooooo productive lately, I'm beginning to wonder why in the first place I would choose to watch tv instead!  I'm getting so much done and instead of losing hours, I'm so ahead of schedule I have more free time for everything else!

So here's a reminder to self: less tv is really beneficial! :D