of i love curly fries!

its been awhile.......damn do i miss a&W

i love curly fries!, originally uploaded by jonolist.

the notebook's current wallpaper uncropped.

and to you know who you guys are........Its time!!1

Of Happy Birthday Andrea!

Oui Space Monkey! Selamat Happy Birthday!

Thanks for letting me watch Shutter...it sacred teh shittez out of me.

While i was loading the photos i too last night i was pissed worried about any orbs or little streaks of light all thanks to that crap of thai horror flick. Thank goodness that jerk of a Pierre Png lookalike used a Canon....

Beer+shutter+camera = bad idea

Thank goodness when the photos were everything was clean..because we're all nice innocent beer drinking boys and girls afterall.
anyway i love this group shot.

I LOVE THIS GROUP SHOT!, originally uploaded by jonolist.

oh and the two of you look so cute in this photo!

Of Home Made 茶餐廳 Style Noodles

Was sick today
I had this craving for noodles so i decided to do up some 茶餐廳style noodles.

A combination of various cooked foods from all over prepared like how Hong Kong Cafes do, but i wanted to pimp it up alittle.

Home Made 茶餐廳 Style Noodles, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Basically a mish mash of Instant korean noodles, cocktail sausages, leftover braised duck wings, poached eggs, some japanese dried plum flavour nori flakes.
The broth was 50/50 instant noodle flavouring, miso paste with a dash of soy sauce, sesame oil and dried scallops.

The flu didn't go away but it sure got rid of the gloomy afternoon.

Of v><VVvVVvVVVvvvv

something i remember wanting to show you guys while we were in hong kong
and almost forgot about.

and some lobby

v>, originally uploaded by jonolist.

The Hong Kong Arts Centre...is teh chio

really nice raw finishings throughout the whole area, good use of budget materials/construction techniques with the exposed cables and cheap lighting devices that work so well here.

I like

Of harm-tam-ming that crit

Grrrrr, originally uploaded by jonolist.

read the ang moh's blog and i thought i'll write it here too.

The one thing you bring into the crit is to believe that the three people sitting infront of you are now looking at the most fecking auwsurme design they have ever seen. EVAR

Think of each of your 6 panels as a pokemon. Crit is the only time you get to throw all 6 pokemons into the battlefield. Each has their own strength, some can last a long battle (floor plans esp) some are for special type battles against opposing elements (tech details, environmental strategy, urban interventions). Some architects/trainers believe that certain pokemons/panels need to hold special items to boost their attributes. Making your pokemon hold the 10+ killershot render often helps, the 5/5 balance concept diagram sketch is very handy when your stumbling along. Some trainers like to teach their pokemon Zietgeist, i think its pretty useless, a lvl 10 magikarp/handsketch render would pwn you. all in all strategise what you want to use and use it well. Not all crits are receptive to you mega floorplanning strategies so move along your other stuff too.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE "cute blinking eye 8+" on your tutors during your major battles, leave those for your working life where it really works.

For those of you doing the benchmark or riba review thing with a panel of a gazillion, think of it as your Pritzker prize presentation....the trophy (is there one?) is already being sent to your undergrad intern for polishing. Your just doing the courtesy award ceremony presentation all fecking auwsurme architects have to do.

Chun Li didn't not win because of her helicopter kick, nor did Sagat with his tiger upper cut (Tiiiggerrr)........you must know when to defend and block and when to just let lay down your yoga fire.......catch no ball? being fecking auwsurme does sometimes require you to humble yourself.

anyway
the hands have been cut, the thoughts have long been processed, your goose is fattened and the veges have been poached. So now is the time where your Roasted Loire Valley foie gras with braised carrots and almond foam layed on a gleaming white dish is done....all you have to do is send the motherload to the table and blow their minds.

Of I love the whirl

watching this sure made my day



esp the one with the guy lying full body down with his telephoto..only i'll do it with back on the ground shotting wide at f8 under a canopy of trees with the stink of the jungle reeking in my boots. ooombi ah yah oombi ah yah

Of Contentment

sorry for the lack in post these days, no i have not gone into hiding after the submissions it was more of the home internet being down and all (i'm blogging this from school now, i know wtf, don't ask why, i just came back to pick up stuff). Anyway Friday was a damn good dim sum day with the whole jingang and coming home to see grandma and mum was quite the taiwanese drama moment where the long forgotten son decides to return home and is received with open arms and the opacity 50% of some damn touching hokkien rock ballad of "suffering and wait" playing irritating softly in the background. yes opacity fifty percent...probably with a blend and feather radius too.

I could blog a million and one things about the panic attacks, the macdonalds breakfasts and the damn good friends in studio,the power naps and the not so powerful ones, the f#$king smooth application for exchange program or dreams of traveling faraway now but nothing i tell you NOTHING in this world beats family.

This blog maybe the "whirl according" to me but man i totally forgot who wrote the script to this movie of my life. You see for the past three months family life has been an academy award deserving drama that i rather not win. The grandmother has not been of sound health this year. Most of time, for the past 20 odd years in fact, I'll get home, we talk, the usual grandma and son talk about schoolwork and the bad food in school, about the drama on tv and the gossipy stuff about relatives back in china and all, who i never seen but know too many secrets about. This got less and less though and the then she started to describe hearing sounds only she could hear. She kept asking me if i could hear it, songs playing in the background, chants going on in the middle of the night, sounds which i obviously couldn't hear. I told her it was probably my tiredness that i couldn't hear it (i rather lie to her then let her worry you see). I started to scare me abit, we checked her medication, realised she's been skipping the occasional pills to treat her diabetes and cholesterol, it could also have been that some of her best friends have passed away recently and bit by bit she got more lonely. We spent more time with her, controlled her diet (diabetes is never a good thing for a family of sweet tooths), brought her out more, let her hang out with her other friends but it didn't seem to help.

In fact it got worse during the last three weeks when the sounds became voices. She started to hear two people talking to her, i told her there was no such thing, that i couldn't see them, i kept talking to her to keep her mind away, at times before school i rather be late for lectures and spend time just watching tv with her. But even our favorite channel...animal planet... couldn't keep those voices at bay. Two then became 4 and then it was a whole group, it distracted her, she couldn't cook right, her sleep was disrupted. While i was trying to work at home (instead of studio) late into the night she would be up at 3am looking very distraught. It worried us like hell, it did worry her alot too.

This did eventually affect family, school work.....things i thought could only happen on tv or some academy award dramas.

In view of the circumstances things did turn for the better though. unlike a dramatic turning point in a movie we got a much welcomed subtle version of a poorly written screenplay (i didn't mind it at all) The doctors diagnosed her case as an onset of early stage dementia, a sign of passing the 70 year barrier, which happens to alot of the elderly on my mother's side. She was still able to discern those voices away from reality so every now and then we just got to tell her to not listen to them and just.... well" wing them off". For starters we have to try to not let her imagination wander off, talking to her helps alot. Dementia by the way is not an end all, and one can live with it with the support of your family and friends. She's been able to fight these off now, realising that they were not "spirits" bugging her, we can talk about the normal things again and watch our tv together. What's even better is that she began going to church, she's starting to pray and accepting God into her life has given her new found strength, i guess it woke her up alittle now too. From a person who totally opposed my mum from going to church in her teens to someone who has accepted the creator into their life...it can only be a happy thing. (that was also why i was at peace working in studio for submission too....like that hymn we sing...all is well...all is well in my soul...)

So today was a good day, a day to end the bad drama that unfolded. Submission's over, the stress is gone, the drama's credits start to roll. a new screenplay is written, a nicer one that doesn't deserve an award, its boring, normal, everyday nondescript stuff which was much needed. We sat together in church, praying together, the simple ones from Mathew 6........our father in heaven...hallowed be thy name..thy will be done......
Then going out for brunch. No need for the lavish posh places kids in hong kong drama serials love to bring their parents to. It was a simple meal of nasi lemak in bedok interchange where she used to do her marketing often.
Sitting down i lie to her again, telling her that a plate of rice with chicken wings cost 2 bucks when it really cost 4, no point telling her how much everything cost now, it'll only worry her more. I never held those hands before so much, i never realised how frail they were, how much they been through, i wished i did so earlier, but i never was one comfortable with the business of hugging and holding ...yes even with the ones closest to me.

It was a good day for all. I could finally tell her i was leaving for exchange soon and was really sorry for not being home as much as i should, she surprising took it well and even started telling me stuff about travel again, usually i'll ignore her cheesy travel tips about keeping money, avoiding strangers and funky foods, which i usually just "ah lah, ah lah" back but i just sat there hearing intently now just happy that all was somewhat back to normal again.

I never needed so much to happen but i guess sometimes they just unfold before you
and you can only cling on to the hope that things will turn back again.
Contentment and not happiness is all i treasure now.
Everything else is a God given bonus. Amen to that

Submission Details Panel

submission is the best way for weight loss, thanks to detailing i can fit into my old jean again......hell yeahh!

this has alot of kay siao stuff too..like the sliding windows and impossible precast structure. like what darryl says.."aiyah just wing it"
and so i winged it..along with my 5 min render, 5 min section.

all the best for model submission people! gogogo!

Of Studio Song of the Momemt

the song everyone loves to listen to while cadding/photoshopping/detailing/nuaing/longing to go home.




lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala
la la la la lala la

Of submission POWER BOOST!!!

Yee Shun Dairy, Hong Kong: French Toast, originally uploaded by jonolist.

nothing better french toast hong style. honey and butter over a gao gao piece of french toast...ohh i miss hong kong food.

power boostttt!!!!
gogogogo! submission!

Of Jonoj

jonoj, originally uploaded by jonolist.

When Jy and I become famous we're gonna be like them and take a headless shot as a cover of our architecture book just like the current tall and short pair of Zwarts and Jansma Architecten.

to our future jobs!

anyway since everyone is into the hokkien gua phase now i shall post a Wu Yue Tian song too. this one was played on many occasions where the teenage emotions were still ...errrr... raging?

Of giving you a corner to relac in

Chill, originally uploaded by jonolist.

chill dudes and dudettes

this blog shall stay strong during submission week with photos and silly videos.
Despite the busy schedule we all need to relac one corner once in a while
so here's the corner for you to relac in.

of things to note

- Studio Babe of the Week was a HUGE success thanks to everyones nominations so do keep voting for next week, probably post submission week, studio babe of the week. What we're looking out for are damn sexy looking deep eyebags and unkept hair. yeah hurrr.. and three day old clothes yeahhh hurrrrrr. Currently Prawn, Vanessa and Molly are in the running for SBOW postsubmission special, so if you "yong yuan zhi chi" them (loosely translated as forever unwavering support of a million pineapples) please dial yao jiu ling ling yao yao errr for molly...ah heck i don't charge 20 cents per call nor need you to seek parental consent just leave a msg in the tagboard.

- please state your name (no ah seng or mat unless thats your real name) in the tagboard. Thank you plis kam again. I can track your ip address so don't play play. "passerby : wah wu kua lu di bedok" is defo from DDS one, so whoever you are....... watch out...but you are damn funny so please tag more thank you.

- if you damn sian you can go listen to some songs at my muxtape @ http://tiahgua.muxtape.com

is has good song for the long tired night of a million lonely wolves kinda music....yeah right

gogogo for submission!

OF STUDIO BABE OF THE WEEK!!!

yo yo yoyoyoyo!!!!!
seh meh sang seh meh sang !!!
什么上! 什么上! 什么上!
wassup!

THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!

STUDIO BABE OF THE WEEK!!!!
JENG JENG JENG!

*dah dah dah dah! *dah dah dah dah!
(cues techno music) um zi um zi um zi um zi

say say say say SAYYYY! this week's hot studio babe of the week won her opponent, the beautifully endowned (eyebrows) Thomaso by a landslide victory. This has nehber occurred before in SBOW showdowns evar lor. I'm very excited to have this week's SBOW grace this blog! say say say

*adopts fake chinese accent

大上 (big up) for the ever chio fish tank DDS mei nu! DAH hottest studio Babe of the week XINJIA!!!!!! XINJIA!!! XINJIA!!!

Xinjia is a half jambu minah, half ah lian, half girl next door, half geek candy which mathematically makes her two times hotter than your usual studio babe of the week.

the Bedok girl (where all hot minahs live) loves her ah bengs, kuai kias, biker kias, designer geeks, justin timberlakes and pharrels. so if you the average joe too bad ((sorry joe, but no worries your not average) .
And like every dream studio babe she can CAD and sing a mean hokkien gua while watching america's next top model. and thats without sleep for two days!

here's a photo for you guys to place on your desktop next to your autocad window

XJ makes guys tremble with her power hair as she walks past the studio corridors. She looks good so effortlessly, even the cute sight of her nodding off in class is powerful enough to make the strongest of 1:5 construction models shudder.

In her free time, the mysteriously single XJ likes to rollerblade (yeah hurrr), cook (yeahhh hurrr), loves OASIS (%%&$#&! yeah hurrr!!!!) and watch korean drama (not so yeah hur but some guys think its yeaaahhh hurrrrrr), so if your viewing this post in your little DDS cubicle at 3am in the morning with photoshop and archicad running in the background you better start getting an active lifestyle (and watch korean guys do silly things to win the hearts of sassy korean girls, while bankrupting their samsung of a father's fortune).

oh yeah and she drives damn fast too, Initial XJ style. and if you "qie" her lane listen in awe as she goes lyrical breaking down the hokkien encyclopedia of anger in 10 seconds. yaaa hurrrr

Ladies and ah bengs this weeks SBOW is teh bombz!

you can view XJ's totally hort blog at WeeD

SBOW was brought to you by our sponsers
- Submission Time: perfect eyeshadows that never go away
- Portfolio : flabby arms no more
- A1 printing: the fastest way to spend your money on something totally useless

stay tuned for more SBOW's
special thanks to Tiff of http://cold-rain.blogspot.com for the totally hot (sszzzzz) photos of XJ.

oh xinjia: YI GE ZHI!! MINNNNGGGG!