and christmas dinner......

A FIEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! hum mothe, maybe i should try to remember some of the table presentations I have seen here..... I mean... you know.... not that ours aren't as good but...

more photos....

i don't feel like writing much so i'm posting photos instead. yesterday was x-mas day, so we started by opening presents and then did nothing for a while.... but then, Rob, Melissa's farmer boyfriend invited us for a ride in his header while he was "stripping" or a better known version of this word, harvesting...
that was good fun and interesting, Here are a few photos to show where we were...

x-mas brekkie

i look a bit funny but anyway....
from left to right... the christo, me, Marie (Mum), Gav, Emma and Katrina.

nice photos taken at various occasions...

the two photos above were taken at Emma's 21st
and the ones below were taken at Leanne's with the massive king island double brie that Carol made Leanne get me for my b-day.... yum, i'm trying not to eat it all at once but it's difficult!!

dedication!!!!

i worked for 15 hours yesterday, which got me home a bit after 2 in the morning!!!! I just finished what I had to do now, around 1pm....

where do you start after so much and so long...?

the last time I wrote on this blog, it was to announce that I had gotten the job, and I was pretty excited about that. now, a bit more than a week after starting, i'm happy to notice that I am still fairly excited. things are going really well, the office is a great size and everyone there is really friendly and helpful (which is good since I need quite a bit of help). i've been given real jobs, which take me 5 times longer than if anyone else did it, but I think I am learning along the way, and generally going ok. my first conclusion about the purpose of work experience is to make you feel really stoopid and help you realise that everyone goes through that and one point or another... well I feel stoopid at the moment, and I wonder how long it is going to last...
there are two things I am finding harder to adapt to... and that's the fact that what I am doing is for real and not for some 5 minute long jury, which means that things actually have to work and be accurate, which i find pretty difficult still, and the other thing is that I still don;t understand when people are meant to do stuff outside of work, like writing emails, or food-shopping etc... I've been working until 6:30 or 7 every night so far... but it;s ok, i'll get used to that too....
Anyway, besides work, it has also been a really good week with lot's of stuff happening! I'll just quickly run through them, without too much detail...
saturday 3rd and sunday 4th of Dec : we went to Albury for Emma's 21st
Monday: 1st day of work
tuesday night: graduation exhibition opening night in Woolloomoolloo (pretty boring and bad bad food)
Wednesday: My B-DAY!!!! we had sushi on the beach in Coogee.... and Chris got me a wonderful new lens for the camera (28mm)
Thursday: office x-mas party: Golf in the arvo and dinner at night in Paddington
Friday: hungover at work....
Saturday: Breakfast bbq in Coogee with a small crew (that was really nice), clothes shopping at Burkenhead Point, beers at Kris' in Ashfield
Sunday: Heleana's b-day cruise, awesome as you can well imagine, lots of yummy food, drinks and swimming!!
and back to work.................
Well I hope that gives you a small idea of what;s been happening and gives me an excuse for not having been the best with emails.....
I love you all so much, your laura
ps: Caz, thank you for your email, don;t worry about being late, I know you were thinking of me and i was thinking of you too, wish you could have been here, but we'll have plenty more to celebrate together later, and in the mean time, you can travel the world and i can commute to work, but no matter what, our paths will meet again soon enough... I miss you a lot and love you even more!!
pps: I took many photos with the new lens of the bbq etc... which i will try putting on the blog sometime soon hpefully, doing my best at the moment...

quick news before we go

For those who don;t know the great news yet, I just want to let you know that I had an interview yesterday for a job. They mainly do commercial work like office buildings, restaurants, retail, hospitals etc etc... + some residential. Anyway, I am very happy and excited to announce that I managed to convince them that I was good enough and so I will be starting this coming monday at 9am!!! my job will mainly be drafting on Cad but that's ok since i still have a lot to learn from that.... and whatever else comes up for which i can be useful....
More details when we come back, we are just about to leave for Albury for Emma's (chris' baby sister) 21st. we will be back on sunday, before my first big day which will obviously be the subject of a posting on this blog in the very near future,
I have to go now, but will be back very soon,
Love, Laure the Happy Yupy

if i can....

- Beyond Real - Making a Scene is at the Australian Centre For Photography, 257 Oxford Street, Paddington, until December 24.

- Trent Parke's exhibition at Stills Gallery, 36 Gosbell Street, Paddington, is open until December 17.

- David Stephenson's Drawing Time is at Boutwell Draper Gallery, 82-84 George Street, Redfern, until December 17.

- Points of View: Australian Photography 1985-1995 is at the Art Gallery of NSW until January 29.

- Summer Heat is at the Australian Photographers' Gallery, 143 Beattie Street, Balmain, until January 31.

what the goss mags are saying

ok this is bad but i can't help it, i love reading this section of the smh..... evil...
so what exactly are the gossip mags saying this week...?

occupation deficit syndrom....

the jobhunt is NOT looking good, if i'm lucky it might change and otherwise, i won't get anything until january, we'll see, no matter what, i'm not giving up yet...
so anyway, to avoid becoming an unemployed drunk with a gambling problem, i've become the perfect housewife...
i know... weird!!
yesterday, i cleaned up and re-organised the house, my motto being " a place for everything, everything in it's place"
I know... weird!!
today, I am baking a cheesecake.......don't say it, I know!! it's still in the oven but if by some strange miracle, it is successful, then it will be a happy welcome into the world of cake baking... as it is my first attempt ever....weird? no not really, I am a city girl afterall, i don't DO cakes, I eat them!
anyway, the oven is my new best friend so i might go hang out in the kitchen for a while...
c yas

geezus, what a trip..!!!

this posting is a celebration to the fact that I am still here to tell you about a quite perillous week end......
As you know, we went camping with a few other people (9 of us all together) for Carolinna's 29th b-day. most people were her and simon's friends from Melbourne, and Chris and I were the little kiddies....
On saturday, the week-end's quality seemed a bit compromised by the amount of raining pouring dowm but as we travelled through the country, well the suburbs, the weather started clearing up and what were first patches of blue sky quickly turned into a bright, hot, sunny day!!!!! All our hopes were raised again and the party could start..........
The site where we were to spend the night belongs to the National Park, a bit south of Sydney, and to reach it, cars have to be left at the carpark, bags tightly straped to the back and an evil hill must be climbed. the journey took about half an hour and it was hard but we were then greeted by a delish VB offered by our first settlers there, so the pain was forgotten almost instantly.
The site itself was quite beautiful, and being the only ones there, we had it all for ourselves. it was surrounded on three sides by hills and on the fourth, we had a beautiful beach waiting just for us. life was good in those days, and we made the most of it, contemplating our luck of having such a beautiful weather after a rainy morning.
things went on like that for a few hours, first trying to consolidate a tarp to serve as a communal shelter. lots of engineering and thorough designing went into the process, but the tarp was standing as a sign of what was coming next............... basically, pretty shaky and unstable.
it didn;t keep us from enjoying the waves, although a bit rough for my liking, lazing around in the sun and covering our skins with sunscreen oil.....
we had a nice dinner mostly made up of sausages (snags for the aussies reading this) and as the night covered us with it's dark blanket, we were greeted with an amazing spectable. all around us, the most amazing lightning was taking place, and as we were rejoycing in the fact that the storm was moving around and not above us, we sat there and oooohed and aaaahed at the fierceness of the "fireworks". slowly but surely, a few of us started feeling a few drops and we all made the wise decision to seek refuge under the tarp. the only problem was that the wind was pretty fierce by then, and well the tarp was not anymore, it had changed from a safe and sound shelter to a big piece of blue material flapping around in the wind......
the drops became bigger and we had no solution but to run to the "taj", the biggest tent available and all 9 of us squeezed in there. what was nice and cozy for the first few minutes changed into a toasty leeking environment soon deprived of oxygen..... soon emotion overtook us, as i discovered two leeches on my leg and in a movement of panic sent them flying accross the tent. as of today, one of them might still be crawling around the "taj"....
After a little bit, everyone decided to go back to their tents to sleep until the next morning, convinced that the storm would be gone and we would have a bright sunshine to accompany our pancakes......
the storm went on all night, it was crazy with the tent fighting like a little soldier against the harsh elements. we managed to stay pretty dry although the side where the wind was blowing kept bending quite dangerously on top of us, going from a three men igloo to a one man typee..... the skies were going mad and when your only protection is a small piece of fabric attached to the ground, I think that the conscience of the storm is exponentially increased...
The next morning, after a pretty rough night, we took advantage of a small break in the weather to cook some pancakes. it wasn;t very long before it was pouring again and we all ran back to our tents. about an hour later, a decison had to be made and facing teh elements, we were all packing up. it was pretty cold, all our clothes were damp but there was no point waiting there and the thought of getting home where we could take a nice hot shower kept us moving.
so we went back the way we came, up the hill.... the only difference was that the steps were now covered in mud and very slippery. at least, the climb didn;t seem so bad as we were focused on not sliding off or flying away. the way down was very slippery too but at least, it wasn;t nearly as tirering as the way up.
once in the car, my little story is over..... in less than an hour, we were able to get rid of the damp clothes and warm up in the shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we then went on with our civilised lives, the memory of the storm still alive but as a new week starts, it already seems quite far away....

job safari

life is a jungle but it helps having a phone...
yesterday was pretty disastrous in terms of working possibilities, i called 15 places again, didn;t send many resumes and got rejected by the one place who had available positions.... i sent a 2nd email showing my great determination but haven't got an answer yet.... they wanted someone who can use archicad and i can use autocad, which could be a problem except that for minor adaptations, they all really work the same so i could learn......
anyway, today is looking a bit less gloomy as a few people asked for my resume, including one place looking for someone... so lets all cross our pretty fingers and wait.... again, they use a progam that i don;t but the guy was nice and said that really, it wasn;t a big problem and that previous students had converted quite smoothly.... there is hope my friends, there is hope!!!!!
now i better get back to calling the other 13 firms on my daily list.....
a new update soon as I doubt this is the end of the adventure..... oh sorry, safari (hey caz, i wonder if our great humanitarians theories apply to the work force or only uni....)

oh goood!!!

as i have announced earlier, today was the big day to start looking for a job a bit seriously, and god, it's not gonna be a piece of cake, here are some statistics to give an idea to my dear readers:
-15 phone calls
- one "good luck" (much appreciated)
- one friend on the phone (charmaine)
- about 10 "no jobs available but send us your resume to keep on file", yeah right....
- and about 3 or 4 absolute bitches who would be better off jumping in a lake and smashing their heads against a rock
- and overall 15 places where i won;t be working....
with x-mas and new year coming up, it's not looking so good for me to get a job right now but persistence pays and so i will keep going.... before i start crying....
i don't believe there is a god watching on us, but i think i can use some prayers anyway, so pray for me as, and i know that will sound weird to a lot of you, i actually want to work.......!!!!! god damn it!!!!

who am i?

Originally, I am full of food, then I am used to carry a million trees (poor things) cut in flat white rectangles with lots of meaningless black traces on them, and finally, I go to the beach carrying a towel and water..... who am I?

born again... not christian

after a quick trip through drakness, i have finally seen the light, but it's just the sun waiting to fry up my skin all afternoon on the beach..... and boy, does the idea just sound delightful, my dears!
they say that it's not about the destination, but the journey... well, i disagree completely with that theory and obviously the people who came up with that never had to take a "building services" exam. the journey was treacherous, no sweet flowers to bend down to and smell, just the needles, and not acuponcture needles either. the ones that will give you a sore neck, an upset tummy and strange dreams full of service cores and vents (not even making that up, i swear I had such nightmares, and well, it's mostly disturbing to draw vents and pipes to the rythm of the alarm clock....)
yesterday was obviously the moment of epiphany where we had to combine all the confusions and mis-understanding about air-conditionning, with single or multi-zone AHUs, VV or CV, CWS or DX etc etc.............. into 7 hours of panic, unrelated thoughts and sun withdrawal effects. let me just tell you that aussies are not trained for the deprivation (if that word even exists) of the precious sun rays, we're not in bloody finland for god's sake!!!!!
Anyway, the 7 hours went by like a watch on speed, no one was able to properly finish the damn exam and so we all went to drown our sorrows and the end of another year of uni (4 now) into the grog..... and boy does life taste sweeter since..........
the birds are singing, the sky is blue, the book I am reading at the moment (color, thank you mothe) is divinely inspiring and from my ground floor apartment, I am feeling on top of the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I said joyful news would be coming any minute, well while it lasts, here they are, love you all, fb the conqueror!!!!!

brain dead on D-4

Only or still three days to go before the D day...? that is the true question really.
on one hand, I am still far from being ready for this exam, it's huge and i don;t understand half of it....
on the other hand, I just want to get it over with and be free of uni work for ages.......
right now, all i want is a nap and i might as well take it since i don't have the capacity to think about toilets and air-con.... and that will probably be the case for the next few hours. i feel exhausted today, i'm not sure why since i've been sleeping really well and much lately but still.... a bit like shopping centres, long hours of studying suck the life out of you.... and i've been studying for way too long now..... but i can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel..... i'm afraid a 7 hours long trip to hell will be mandatory before being born again....
the sky is blue and the sun is hot today, i should be at the beach but no, i was stuck in the ressource centre for most of the day, and now i am here, undecided between sleeping or reading, or reading and sleeping for a couple hours before i can get back to it........
more joyful news soon, i promise,
love, fb

hey mothe, check out the quiche we made for dinner tonight, spinach, ricotta et tomato... please....

tarantula tarantulaaaaaaaaa

no caz, i'm not singing the french national anthem, i am screaming for my life as chris is on the bus going to a party and i'm at home with a huntsman spider locked in the bedroom.......

gimme a break!!!

hello all, i'm taking advantage of a small interstice in my end of session schedule to get back on mr. Blogger... it's been a while and this prolonged absence can be explained by the simultaneous lack of time and inspiration that has overcome me in the last couple weeks.
well, i don't know how interesting it is to write about uni work, uni work and always uni work. it wasn't inspiring to write about it, and certainly wouldn't have been to read.
it's been a bit crazy, but yesterday, i finished one big assignment which is a relief. now i have to move on to writing an essay and preparing for two exams... huggghhh i don't like exams too much especially when one of them is 7 hours long on positioning toilets in an office building..... more on that lata.
other than that, i think that everything is going fine. chris is having quite a few interviews this week which is really good. hopefully, it will put an end to his boredom soon. still, it's quite nice for me having him around like that.
speaking of jobs, i haven't had a chance to keep looking since my first attempt about a week ago. i'll get back into it shortly, and hopefully, won't have too much trouble finding something good.
caz is doing absolutely great in Buenos Aires, partying hard and not studying too much, but deep down, she's a nerd and won't accept to be slack with the spanish for too long......
last night we went to see the "40 year old virgin" which is pretty bad and not that funny unless the words "fuck" and "pussy" crack you up everytime... there were some funny bits and pieces though and the main actor, who plays a nerd, (he's also the geek in the Anchorman) is really charming, and the end scene is great so that makes up for the whole movie...
anyway, it did stop me from thinking about assignments or any kind of deep feeling or emotion so it achieved it's purpose.... the pizza we had before did too, maybe even better, yuuuummay!!!!
alright ladies and gents, boys and gals, i better get the show on the road for today,
will try to come back a bit more often,
tshussay!!!!!

correction for those who read this blog...

Caz isn't in Argentina, she's in Chile! and doing fine!
i'm doing fine here too, with the Christo, it's great, it's wonderful and I'll write more later, but for now, I've got some kissing to make up for... Ciao

crazyo

Wednesday was a crazay busay day!!!
We had a field trip organised for the "architecture and consumer society" class, so we visited the Casino, which was sort of crazy. It was sad to see people at 10 o'clock on pokies all by themselves... wasting their money... anyway, we heard many crazy facts... for example, you have to be able to see a clock wherever you are standing in the casino so that people won't lose track of time, since some people stay for days and days in a row, without seeing daylight...
After that, we visited the Powerhouse Museum, which was interesting. I had never been there so that was a good occasion, and the guy who gave us a talk and a tour was pretty interesting. He's the guy in charge of designing all the ehibits for the museum, it was really good.
After the visits, I invited Charmaine and fff to come with me to a photo exhbition opening in Paddington, at the Stills Gallery, where my current photo teacher also works.
The opening was pretty good, and some photos were really beautiful but the prices were equally impressive... well, I guess not so much if you have an extra 5000 dollars floating around with no purpose in your wallet....
After all that, I was exhausted, partly because of the interesting Sydney bus system... let me explain, you can take about 500 buses if you are going to circular quay, 300 for central and about 1456 to Bondi Junction, but when your destination is somewhere else, then you walk because approximately 0 buses go there..... so I walked and we walked and I walked again, all day long... with uncomfortable shoes giving me blisters... it was great!!
Yesterday (thursday), I went to another opening night, at the Blenders gallery this time, and it was great!!!!!!!! the exhibition was called the "body confessional" and it was exciting because the photographer had done precisely what I tought of doing a few weeks ago... The idea is basically to ask people to chose the part of their body they would like to have photographed and explain why. The thing that was interesting about it is the variety of reasons to picking a particular area. It went from basic reasons like the favourite part, to much more sensitive reasons like a family ressemblance, or a part they didn't like, or parts that people gave some kind of almost spiritual meaning to... etc.... It was good, and it confirmed that my idea wasn't that bad at all, and much more interesting than I had actually imagined when I had thought of it.
The other cool thing that happened last night, is that when I went to get some cake for Tina and me, (tina came along too), I put all my courage together and introduced myself to the photographer, Paul Mallam, who was the one cutting his own b-day cake and explained that i was getting into photography and told him that I had thought of doing the exact same thing a few weeks ago and so that i was really happy to be there because it proved that it was a good idea afterall, and that seeing it done showed me how much potential a simple idea like that did have...bla bla bla.... anyway, he was really nice and asked me questions about what I was doing, and how i thought of doing that too etc etc.... and the conversation concluded by exchanging our names, shaking hands and him telling me "well, you should really do it and contact me because i would really like to see your work" and me going "hiihihihii, thank you, hihihihi" (dork) but smiling broadly, I left and kept smiling!!!!!!!!
yesterday was also Christo's b-day so happy birthday again my little angel, I love you and we will be able to celebrate very shortly!!!! the man will be back tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah!!!!!!!!!
Caz' blog has been updated too, she's going fine and is still in Argentina having a wonderful time!!

inspiration...?

no, more like not wanting to work anymore and knowing that a film is waiting to be used in the fridge....
there are a few more additions to the photo album, just for fun...

to many more, even better.....

it's been a year since midnight last night, and I hope we have many more to come and celebrate, I love you my angel

who's gonna finish the week with me??

Hey Caz, you're not here to end the week end with a sunday night beer at the Royal... what am i supposed to do now.... this week can't ever end without a beer, it just goes against the rules of science and common sense too.................
This week end was pretty alright though.
Yesterday, I met up with fff and we went to the Primavera exhibition at the MCA. Well let's just say that, like last year's, the Primavera stuff, which is an exhibition for young australian artists, is the obvious manifestation of good will in this country.... could do better but they are trying.... which is still more than I can claim for...
After that, we went to the SuperStudio exhibition/opening/jury night... at Walsh Bay Piers near the Rocks. The superstudio is an archi student competition, that runs for two weeks and the winners win $5000.... noice. It was pretty interesting, we listened to the 6 finalists presenting their schemes for the East Darlingharbour development and then, the booze came out with loads of food, all for free, and so we didn't care about the schemes much anymore. They announced the winners a bit later, and everyone was happy, at least I was... well, jolly anyway...
We ended with one last beero in the Rocks with fff, and went home. While we were walking from the pub to the bus stops, fff's and my foot met accidentaly and it broke the buckle on my shoe.... so i had to walk with one shoe on my foot and the other in my hand.... as fff rightly pointed out, at least there isn't doggydo all over the place here....
Today should have been very busy with me trying to catch up on my work and well, I did try since I spent a couple hours at the library but overall, I don't really feel like working hard right now. I will give it another go a bit later but I can't be bothered right now....
Have you noticed a pattern in my behaviour....? the most prolific blog writing periods are exactly at the same time as my most intense times of the session.... hmmm interesting...

for the curious ones out there

hey all, I've updated my photo album so click on the link "my new super cool photo album" on the side bar and go check out some of the intensive studio photos that i've put on there....

photography, society and the built environment

This is the first draft for the panel that I will be presenting for my elective called "photography, society ...." in a couple weeks. This is not the panel that will be shown at the EBHouse.
For this one, the idea for the layout, and also for the actual pix that I took during the studio, was to go from the general to the detail... with steps in between. This is generally the way photo-journalism is approached, so I haven't really invented anything on that one, but what I am trying to express is the approach to a design project, going from a very general idea and going deeper and closer into details. This was even more relevant in an intensive studio setting when the changes and the level of resolution appears very clearly in an extremely short time. The thinking process has to happen fast and the decisions have to be made even faster because of the time restrictions and the need to have something to show for at the end.
It's really good though because in normal 14 weeks studios, the strong initial ideas never make it to the end, they are somehow lost in the process and as much as we try to hold on to them, they are never quite so powerful when the main concern becomes the color of the tiles in the bathroom...
Of course, in one week, there is no time for tiles, and there is no time to afford to lose anything, so all the strong powerful, and sometimes good ideas stay with the project because that's all we've got, no time, just ideas and decisions to make.
The idea is that the first photo, the biggest, is a general view of the studio itself, which then starts to break down into smaller photos of the general studio atmosphere, then portraits and then details. As the pictures get smaller and there are more of them, the viewer is actually forced to move in and get physically closer to the photos to look at them. As in a design situation, we focus on smaller and smaller things as the design progresses. Even our face gets closer to the page...
The other thing about the layout is that it is very dense, all the image are compressed into one block and from far away, would probably appear as a mosaic of colors. You do need to know that the panel it will be mounted on is 82x102 cm, which is huge, and at the moment, the first photo in this first proposal is about the size of an A3, so that gives an idea of the scale. Anyway, The block of photos is very dense and I guess that I was trying to express the intensity and business of the studio, rather than having lot's of white between the photos, there will be white around, but not in between them. The studio was concentrated in one time (one week), one space (studio space) and I think that it should also be concentrated in that manner on the pannel.
We are allowed to put text on our panels but I don't think I want to do that, I hope that it speaks for itself as it is now, but i might be wrong. I will be showing it to my tutor on thursday, and if any of you have suggestions, they are all welcome, i just want it to work....

still recovering

Yellow, I don't know why this is taking so long but eventhough i have been sleeping like a baby for the last week, i still feel pretty tired from those two all nighters in a row. It's taking me a while to get back to normal...
Anyway, the exhibition business is all done, we went there today to set it up and it looks good. I took a few more photos while we were setting it up and i think that it will be enough on this topic. Maybe i'll take a couple more on the opening night but that will be it. I have more than enough for the elective anyway and I think that people are getting sick of me taking photos of them all the time, following their every move.... The little photo panel looks nice, and it must have been funny for some people to see photos of themselves and not knowing when I took them, hiihihii.
Fff just won a competition at his uni or a short film about campus life etc... he's done good and won a nice 1000 bucks... good on him as they say.
I feel like taking a nap again....
I have to reinstall photoshop tonight because I had an evaluation version and last night, it decided it didn't want to work anymore, which is just not the right time to let me down right now.... i need you Adobe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need you so badly, why do you do that to me?? why me?? why now???? Hum, i'm sure it's nothing personal but it does suck so i better fix that...
Ok, i'm back in the swing of writing on this blog, maybe it's the emptiness that caz left when she got on the plane. I miss you a lot Cazito, I wish we could go have a beer...

aaaaaaall done...

... well nearly... after a hectic run from EB House to the city and back and forth, we managed to get everything ready to be set up for the exhibition tomorrow. The model is soo purty and the drawings look amazing. We had to reduce them and paste them onto one A1 sheet of drafting film, it looks really really good... so we're pretty excited about tomorrow I think. After that, we won't have to worry about anything for another 6 months which will be nice since this studio was quite the time and money investment of the season. It's crazay how much you can end up spending on materials, and photocopies, and.... coffee....
The photo panel will also be ready for tomorrow and I'm glad I wasn't in charge of having it printed. I hope it looks good, i'm sure it does.
Also I spoke to Rod on the phone today which made me happy. Rod was the tutor for the Landscape photography course i took last year, and he is always good advice and a nice person to talk to. He will be letting me know if he's going to any exhibition openings in the near future, so we can enjoy the free boooze and I can show him my new work... I hope it has improved since last time... I think so, but we'll see when it's a professional speaking...
Now all I want to do is work on my photo elective and get that panel together but there are many other things to get done to and so i'm a bit confused. I should be putting things in order of priority but what seems to be coming first is sort of boring right now..... uuugggh, it doesn't matter really because at the end of the day, i have to do it all, so who cares about the order... right?
Anyway, I feel like a little brain rest right now, so i might just put on some musica and lay on the coucho for a while,
see ya'll lata

rich and famous...soon

Hey yellow there,
I'm just dropping by to give a little update on what has been happening with the design studio and everything else...
After almost 48 hours without sleeping, we (as in Tina and I) managed to produce a great presentation with drawings, and a model of our project. I knew that the last night would be very very loooong so I brought what i would take along if i went camping. I brought lots of food, mainly peanut butter and cheese, a blanket, and the best was the kettle and some instant coffee to keep going at night...
The presentation went on all day sunday and went well. We could have talked about the project about many hours but only had 5 minutes which was very frustrating... Anyway, a few of the projects have been selected after the presentation to be part of an exhibition organised by the Historic Houses Trust in Sydney.
Let me explain, the design studio was based on the Elizabeth Bay house that I have shown in an earlier post on this blog. And the HHT is inviting designers and architects to propose ways of changing the house, which is a museum at the moment, back into a house...
So as students, we are also invited to participate in that project and, well, I know the suspense is unbearable but Tina and I are amongst the lucky ones who will be on show for the next 6 months...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the stuff has to be ready by thursday which is a drag since we have other things to do as well, but it's still very very exciting!!
the other, and maybe even more, exciting news is that , since I have taken photos all week of the studio, I have also been invited to make a panel of a selection of photos that will be shown at the exhibition too!!!!! yeah, i know, that's pretty cool and i'm really excited about that...
Ok enough talking about me,
Chris got back for the week end, and eventhoug I was in the studio half the time, it was still wonderful to spend some time with him. We went to a bbq this afternoon with a few people from Uni and it was really nice. It was very hot and the food was yummy, and basically, it was just nice to hang out for a bit. He is leaving tomorrow morning to go spend a week in Albury and then, he'll be back for good. In teh mean time, i'll just have to catch up on a few classes and it should all be good.
Finally, my Cazita has left this morning to go on her big trip to South America. The new link on the side is to her blog. I guess mothe will be interested in following that daily. I sure will be, if it makes her feel closer to here and the Randwick Royal. Oh cazita, what am i meant to do without you here!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure how long you still have to go on the plane but you should be getting tehre fairly soon, i love you dragonita, fb
love ya'll

this is my message to you ou ou

hey, i'm baaack!!! it's been a while!!!
i've been pretty busy in the last few weeks, but only good stuff, lots of work and lots of social events!!! it has been good.
Chris is back toooooo!!! finally, after all these months he has been back on our beloved continent for a few days. he is in Albury now, and will be back for the week end, will go back to albury for a week or so, and then, he will be back for good..... it looks like i might have to share him because i'm certainly not the only one who's excited about his return, he's even getting a barby organised for the occasion this coming monday... it should be really good, but after that, he's all mine, miiiine!!!
His temporary return falls right at the end of the studio i am doing this week, and eventhough it won't be the ideal circumstances for a romantic reunion (i will probably be spending the night at uni the day he arrives in Sydney...), i still can't wait to run towards him with my hair floating in the wind on the Uni Mall...
The studio is going great so far, the lecturers are very very good, and the project is equally interesting. Difficult, challenging but great. Let's hope it continues that way. Still a bit to go but it feels like it's under control and on the great road to success... cross your fingers...
In parallel to the studio, I've been documenting it photographically. I'm having a really good time doing that, and although it's not, it feels like the first real project i take on using photography as my tool for investigation. I will be using the results for another elective this session, and i think it will be successful. The first couple rolls are quite promising and I'm enjoying every bit of it... we will see how it turns out but i am confident about it. Even if it doesn't turn out as I want it to, i will have no regrets. I think that it is also acting as a sort of mild therapy, helping me to get into the realm of photographing human beings, and giving me confidence with that. I don't feel ready to approach people on the street, so this is a scale i can handle and in just a couple days, I already feel stronger in my approach...
On the social side of things, I am loving every minute I can spend with my Cazita, who is nearly on her way to becoming the most beautiful dragonfly in the whole safari of life... I will miss you so much cazita/cazito, but have no fear, you'll still be with me everyday, whenever I hear "by the rivers of Babylon" on the radio, or when I walk by the Royal, or when I imagine reepers and gravelings on the streets.... they are everywhere....
I think that overall, life has been good to me lately, and it's a nice feeling. there will be ups and downs in the coming weeks, but as Bob says so brilliantly "everything is gonna be alright... everything is gonna be alright....this is my message to you ou ou..."

salaam namaste

I went to see a Bollywood movie last night with my friend Suajata from Uni. I has asked her to introduce me to the intimate universe of the largest movie industry in the world and it was well worth it. Plus, I'm usually the one showing off my tan but i hadn't felt so white since I went to a Cap Verde wedding ceremony...
The story was soapy and the fashion tendencies of Indian men was questionable but overall, i had a great time, it was refreshing and put me in a good mood. The singing was fun and it was heard not to take part in a bit of head and shoulders swinging action.... It was interesting to see what made people in the audience (99% indian, except for me...) laugh, the sense of humor they display is quite different since characters are pretty much caricatures of people and the jokes are pretty heavy and obvious but I can't deny that it made me laugh from time to time too, and, I know that might seem surprising but I actually found some charm in the main male character and couldn't help smiling at him.... weird....
I guess I hadn't realised that for a lot of people Bollywood is so real, with favorite actors, superstars, exciting movies coming out and such a big part of a different popular culture... All I can say is that it's a big world out there, and it was cool taking part in something new...

Well, it's sunday night and boy, this was quite the hectic week, so of course it just flew right by my open eyes... and i was mega busy, running around from the city to uni back to the city back to uni etc etc..., thinking about a million assignments at the same time and trying to make everything fit in so little time. It feels kind of good though, and eventhough it's a lot of work right now, i certainly like that much better than last session, that was such a boring version of hell !!! I'm feeling more active and am being forced to organise my time and be productive with it too. In the end, i've been putting more effort into things, getting pretty decent marks so far and, well, liking it, i must confess.....
the only problem is that i've been going to bed way too late and i'm feeling exhausted especially since these days, sleeping in is quite the treat and doesn't happen as much as i would like it to.... Surprisingly, although i'm really tired, i feel like i have a bit more energy to do things so it's all good...
Yesterday, Caz and I went to eastgardens shopping centre and we managed to find a few goodies. I came up with a moto to prevent myself from excessive consumption "if it's over 50, it's not for me!", firm and effective, no? well it worked even better than i thought because i managed to get a jacket, 2 tops, and a dress for precisely 50 bucks... what else can you ask for ?
Today, I went to Tina's in the city to start working on a design project. She lives in the CBD, on george st so that was exciting i guess. We didn't get much effective work done but we got some good ideas and a real starting point to work with... it should be fun, and i have never worked with her so we shall see how that goes... new experiences are good!
well taht's pretty much all i can think of for now so i'll let you go for now, and shall be back soon for more news

uber-productive

yeaaaaah today was so much better although i'm so tired that i feel almost like i hadn't slept at all. Anyway, no time for winging, and i can only blame myself for going to bed way too late.
I did everything that was on my schedule today, and I sill have time for more... brilliant!!! Went to E Bay house in the early afternoon, took all the measurements to draw the section due on thursday, and went to Bondi Junction and shot two rolls of film, legally too... well, I had the permission but it's a bit restrictive because I won't be able to go as much as I would need to... but i'll figure it out in time. At least, I should have good material to start with...
Mothe you're the absolute best in the world, i went to pick up the package and i luuuuuv every single thing in it, it's great, and i must say that the krispy cream paper hat is the booooomb!!!!
fff will be coming here tonight to have a look at the lappy baby since it's kind of sick right now, but should be all better after fff's magic takes care of it...
Alrightyo, I better clean up this pigsty before he gets here or he will never want to set foot in here again, and i might even do a little bit of work if i still have some time before he arrives....
I love you all soooo much, what would i do without every single one of you...???

counter-productive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Geez, is it just me or today is just not happening!!! I wanted to go to the site to work on the drawing assignment and of course, it's raining!!! So in an attempt to be productive anyway, I switched my planned schedule around and went to Bondi junction instead to start working on a new idea for the project, and of course, I forgot to bring the authorisation letter from uni so I take one photo and a security guard starts speaking to me in sign language style because apparently, it looked like a couldn't understand a word he was saying.... hum, I told him that I could understand him fine... So he started using his mouth, rather than the rest of his body to inform me that photos weren't allowed inside....
Conclusion, I will have to go back tomorrow with the letter and speak to the management service... and cross my fingers for them to let me do it.... with the letter, it shouldn't be a problem... we shall soon find out. Oh well, because I am so full of ressources, I will make today a at-home/theoretical research day, wouhou!! can you feel the joy?

early week-end

It's only saturday night and I don't really feel any frustration about not going out tonight, well a bit but not too bad since this week we sort of had an early week-end with Caz.
The grand opening of "Charlie and the chocolate factory" was on thursday night, so Caz came here right after work and we didn't miss our chance of being amongst the first aussies to watch it. And, as I was hoping, it was well worth it. Johnny Depp is such a good actor and that role reminded me of him as edward scissor hands, slightly weird, intriguing and sooooo charming.... well, sort of. I think I might want to re-read the book, i don't care if it's for kids, even better in fact.
Yesterday (friday), we met up with fff in Newtown and I brought my computer for him to transfer most of his music and a few other goodies, so basically, name it, i've got it now!!!!! i've been burning for hours and i'm still not finished..... good stuff!!!!!
From his place, we went to the Law review, the syd uni one, and although some jokes were impossible for the poor frenchies to understand, it was great. It was just amazing how well it was planned and prepared, it all went so smoothly and was very funny. Most of the skits were a few minutes, there were some in between bits that were about 20 seconds or so (i liked those, they were cool) and some much longer ones, well singing bits with dancing and everything, that was awesome, especially the grand finale. Although the subject (the bali 9) was sad, it was hilarious and well, it confirms that humor is a good way of talking about delicate subjects. of course, a bunch of guys in tutus probably helped too...... they were so cute though and they all looked so happy.
Today, I can't really say I did much work but at least I went out for a little bit. Went to Westfield Bondi Junction and spent most of my time at the bookstore.... hihihihi, that was cool, well in a geek sort of way but i love bookstores so.....
That's about it really, I've been burning eversince, and watching episodes of Daria, the second best cartoon ever, after the Simpsons of course.
I have to force myself to do work tomorrow, and I will, no choice in the matter really or i'll be in biiiiig trouble anytime soon,
Well, time to go to bed on this side of the world amigos, I'll write again soon, youhou!!!!!
ps : did i forget to mention that in one bit of the review, the students were......... (sorry about the bad quality of the photos but it's there... no?)

site visit at E Bay house

Design started today, and first things first, we went to our site for this project "changing spaces". The Elizabeth Bay House is a heritage building in the close suburbs of Sydney. It overlooks a "picturesque marine landscape" and is, apparently, a manifestation of the neo-classical/greek revival era.... or so they say.
It used to be a house, then it was divided into small independant apartments, and is now a sort of museum. From what I understand, the project will be to change it into a house again, or appartments, not sure...
I guess it was interesting enough, and certainly unusual on this side of the world, but really, the space I found most interesting was the central area and the staircase. It has an eliptic shape which, after enquiry, is because in that time, they were obsessed with natural studies and notably that the earth travels around the sun on an eliptic orbit, rather than the sun traveling around us on a circular orbit.......... Who knows......... the staircase is "geometrical" but I didn't exactly follow the explanation for that, but what I did get is that if you took out even only the first step, the whole thing would come crashing down, so basically, you don't want to do that. That space was interesting because it resembled an outdoor space but inside, with a sort of arcade creating an internal corridor distributing the upstairs rooms. Also the quality and amount of light coming from the windows around the ceiling, gave a completely different feel to the space, with the other rooms being generally quite dark. Of course, the double height and all the other spaces coming off this central space also gave it a quality of breathing space, at the center of a clustered and divided periphery........ Hum, ok this is all pretty jargonish bs right there and i'm sorry about that, i'm just trying to put into words how I felt before i forget... which should happen anytime soon.
We'll have to go back because we have to do some sketching there but the guided tour we had was an interesting starting point.......................................................................................................
That's all folks

nothing to say but....

nothing better to do. It's interesting because really, I could be doing some work right now, or doing whatever else needs to be done, but no... I feel like doing NOTHING right now. I can't even seem to read properly, which is a bit of a worry.
I got myself the "motorcycle diaries" by Che Guevara. The book, not the movie and it is quite interesting but my mind keeps wandering off non stop, to think of nothing though.
I wish Caz were here tonight, we could go have some fun, or just sit here and have some laughs but she will be here tomorrow night and we're finally going to see "Charlie and the chocolate factory" so I can't wait!!!! I hope it's as good as I imagine it to be. In my mind, it is the best movie of the year, but as I haven't seen it yet and am putting the bar quite high, I should be ready to be a bit disappointed, one never knows in this crazy world...
Tomorrow, we are going to visit the site for our design, which is about to start. It's the Elizabeth bay house and i'm hoping it will be interesting although, at this stage, I have absolutely no idea what the design will be about. I picked it for two simple reasons. Firstly, it's kind of the second round of the Barcelona adventure, and because it's an intensive design and will be over in a few weeks, which is good to have time to work on the other subjects. Oh and also, the tutors from Barcelona are coming for it, and they are alright....
The only thing that stresses me out about tomorrow and that a drawing exercise has been announced, and well, the least I can say is that I'm not very confident about my drawing (non)-abilities, and I have good reasons for that. Basically because I couldn't draw, even to save my own life... Oh well, i'll do what I can and try not to feel the pressure of competing against the many talented artists we have in our class......
Other than that, I had the "architecture and the consumer society" elective today and although very interesting stuff, the tutorial/discussion hour could be improved a lot. The debates don't tend to rise very high, mainly because half the people there have either not read the weekly reading, or because they don't know what's going on. So the discussion tends to involve only a few enthusiasts...
I also reunited with the gym bike yesterday. I went there for the first time in ages for the sole purpose of venting out the frustration that I had been feeling, for no particular reason, all day. I'm not sure why, but basically, i had no desire to be at uni yesterday and I'm starting to miss Chris more than is healthy. I just want him to be HEEEEEEEEERE and NOOOOOOOOW. I think it's because the end is pointing it's little nosy that i'm getting so impatient about it. I just want to scream "ok enough of that already, now it's time to be back!!!!!!!!!!!!!" aaaaagggghhhhh!!! wow i feel much better now, no not really but i think it's normal what i'm feeling, time does funny things and plays tricks on you.... so right now, when there really isn't that much actual time left, it has just seemed to slow down, maybe even go for a nap.......
Hum, well that certaily is a truly interesting and world-changing entry to this blog, but hey, it's been keeping me busy for the last few minutes, which was the point of it really.
Well, that's about it i'm afraid, when it comes to my most interesting life anyway. Just for an update and news from other people, I had a very nice conversation with marco today on msn and he hadn't been that talkative in quite a while. usually, i get monosyllabic answers, and that's when i'm lucky. Today, we talked about his new school, and volleyball, the friends he is making, how girls only fall for athletic playboys (that's not true and in time, he will figure it out), his two lockers and basketball hoop.... etc etc.... it was great.
My daddy is visting Paulu in Seattle at the moment, and everything seems to be going great. They went to Vancouver for the week end, and then back to Seattle, they are staying at Paulu's new flat in which he has moved a couple months ago. Now Mothe is convinced he is a saint, which we already suspected, since papa said that he saw a rainbow ending right on paulu's head.... in-te-res-ting....
I haven't heard from christo since last sunday, when he was in Greece, so i can't say anything new about my lovely angelito, but "great things come to those who waaaa aaaaait", so i'm trying to pretend i'm patient...
Ok, that's enough now, i know you are all playing dead by now, and I should be working on getting a life now.....

Epicure, Eastlakes and champagne barbie

Our new moto "everyday a new adventure" and well "it's meat o'clock" but that's not directly related to this entry.
This week end was full of unplanned, unexpected and unpredictable round the clock excitment so fasten your seat belts, or don't actually, and there we go...
I think we can all say that we gave a fair go to Coogee bay hotel, we spent more time there in the last few weeks than should be permitted and well, we needed a change of scenery, just for mental sanity purposes really.
Therefore, we met up in Annandale with ph (fff...) and Caz, and went to listen to Epicure. That was cool, the support bands were good as well and the beer was flowing and... hum... spilling but not by our fault....
fff lives right near king street in Newtown so it was a perfect location for him and caz to meet for the first time, and needless to say they got along like a house on fire... Everytime one of them left to get beer or go to the bathroom, the other one would tell me how cool and nice and fun the other one is.... it must be that french connection thing happening...
on saturday, we got up a bit latish, nothing shoking though but by the time we got off the couch and decided that we would go shopping, it was already 3 o'clock and considering the shops close at 5, by the time we got there, we would have had one hour to walk around, hardly worth it you might say, well we agree so we didn't go and sat on the bench at the bus stop for a while. it was a bit early to call it beer o'clock, but we had 0 ideas so just when we were about to give in to the piercing scream calling our names from the Royal, a bus arrived indicating it was going to Eastlakes. Well, since life should be an ever-lasting learning experience, we decided to find out what Eastlakes was..... don't be too fooled by the highly seducing name because we didn't see any lakes there..... The closest we got to a lake would have been a puddle of mud in front of the supa dodgey Eastlakes shopping centre... we walked around there for a few minutes, taking our time actually but it just wasn't happening for us between the turmoiling smell of decomposing meat and the artful displays of underwear (cf photo), we were out of there in no time. Just to make the experience fully enjoyable, we didn't take the bus home and prefered to walk. I don't think the amazement at the sight of aussie suburbia shall ever wear off. Each house is a more extreme manifestation of how to pack as much bad taste as you can in a 400 squared meters family house.... Anyway, let us not dwell on that...
40 minutes later, we were home and after a well deserved rest on the couch in front of Starsky and Hutch, we got up again, and walked down to the Regent for a $5 steack with the yummiest chips and peper sauce on the face of the earth..... Unfortunately, we were pretty much kicked out of our seats by a bunch of goths.... oh well, it was time to go home anyway....
Aaaaaaaaah, this is starting to get long and it's not finished yet.... just the beginning in fact....
On sunday, fff, Caz and myself went to a housewarming/champagne bbq/brekkie. That was fun, the weather was beautiful (hard to believe it is the winter), the food was great, the champagne had bubbles and both the cds they played were good, especially the first time they were played....
we had a donut-off-a-string-eating competition, Caz cheated by taking a bite before it started and still didn't win and i was hopeless, ready to choke between every bite.... fff didn't do too badly though, and so he preserved our dignity!!
We stayed there for a while, and well, we noticed that champagne, even in large quantities, doesn't make you drunk, just really tired with a headache, oh well, we're tough...
And because a week end is never over after a last beero at the Royal, we honored the tradition and got home after that. Christo called up and I giggled like a little girl for the entire conversation, meanwhile, Caz fell into a deep coma in the bedroom, and that was it for the week end of the century........ It was awesome!!

it's monday, this must be Mikonos...

Thanks for the title Mothy...
Here's a little update on the Chris saga, never tired, always on the go!!!!
After spending some time in Italy, where he went to Venice, Florence, Verona, Rome (he saw the dead and stuffed body of jean-paul in a glass cabinet, yuuuuk and they build architecture with the bones of 2000 dead monks, yuuuk again), naples, and Pompei (where they made plaster casts of the people who died there, kind of gross but i suppose it serves an educational purpose so it isn't nearly as bad), he is now in Greece, Athenes mainly, and different islands around there. To quote "it is white and blue", which I think is pretty cool and to quote again "I must have been spoiled with the australian beaches because they don't seem to come into shape here". Well, I shall believe that, because our European beaches can hardly compare to here, even the nicest ones. Also, the aussie beaches are more often populated by over-sized sting rays, than over-sized germans wearing nothing but birkies and socks..... hum, jean-paul isn't so bad afterall, at least he wears a massive cover-it-all red velvet robe most times.
Anyway, after a few days of enjoying the sites and maybe being slightly turmoiled by some unwanted visions, Christo will be on his way to Turkey.... We'll see what that brings... and the countdown has begun.... 4 weeks left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

don't mess with .... Marco

hum, doesn't he look like an all-american star but better...? i must say that the pose on the individual one is good, you wouldn't want anything to happen to those babies... hihihi, he's the man!!

it's a dell

Hey yellow there, i'm not very good with updating this blog at the moment, nor am i with writing emails actually. I think i'm going through one of those out-of-it phases when days just seem to fly by and I don't have time to realise what is happening in the mean time, crazay stuff!!!
Anyway, I don't believe I have written about last saturday yet and well, it deserves an entry in the free-money-for-nothing category of casual jobs, not that i know of any others mind you...
So yeah, last saturday, Caz, nikki and myself were paid to be extras in an american ad for dell so we won't get to see it here but we will always remember those great times at the Seymous centre in Sydney.
We got there around 12:30 only to realise that it wasn't the intimate experience we were hoping for and joined what seemed to be the never-ending line of random extras. It turns out that there was 500 of us there, all being paid to do nothing... sweeto.
We went through the process of waiting in line, a wardrobe check, and a portrait of us holding up our names loud and clear.
After that, we got a feel of the real life and sat around for about 4 hours... on wannabee mies van der rohe couches please.
We had to wait until our batch of extras was needed for the shoot, so around 4 o'clock we went into the "studio" which was set up as a fake talk show, david letterman style, but this one was called the something something power hour (can't believe i forgot already, must have been the emotion). Our role was to be part of a fake audience so we chearfully contributed our clapping and chearing abilities to this worthy cause and in 1 1/2 hours or 2, we were out of there. No need to say that our little trio wasn't even close to the field of vision of the camera.... Oh well, celebrity and glamour will have to wait a bit longer....
By 6 o'clock, we had our bags and jackets and were ready to go home. So just to recap the facts, we were there for 6 hours, sat around for 4, clapped for 2 and we're getting paid for 8 hours (that is, if it ever happens because that's a whole new story that won't make it into the blog, not yet anyway) and about $21 an hour.... if you take the invaluable time to do the math on this one, it's about $150 after tax to do .... NOTHING!!! isn't it awesome!!! well, some might argue that the time spent being genuinely bored shall never come back, but i believe i can live with that idea. I don't think i will turn that into a carreer but that must only be personal because there were some pretty old folks there too, not just desperate-to-do-nothing uni students... all in all, it was a pretty fun experience and shall be considered for future plans... maybe... definitely if i never get a life, which is more than likely from my present perspective...
Love you all, fb

quote of one day

"without tv, it's hard to tell when the day ends and the other begins" (Homer Simpson)

travel bug

I just spoke to Chris for exactly 6 minutes, before the stoooopid phone card hung up on us... again.
It's hard to keep track of my favourite travel bug in the northern hemisphere but after Venice, he is now in Verona (country of Romeo and Juliet, although apparently the balcony is "lame") and on his way to Florence. He didn't find Venice that romantic, but maybe being alone and surrounded by over-weight american tourists didn't do the trick... plus I almost forgot about the fearless pigeons you could step on before they would get out of your way....
Apparently, the Carlo Scarpa museum was wonderful (in Verona) and he is, I quote, "the best architect". I'm glad that was more inspiring than the balcony.
Overall, I miss him tremendously but what he is doing is well worth it and my only regret is not being able to join in the adventure... next time...
Soon, I'll be hearing from another trip, on another continent but still in the Southern Hemisphere for part of it, and I shall be heart-broken all over again but it is also for a good cause.
In the Northern hemisphere again, my little Texan family seems to be settling in quite happily and well, I'll just say, fear da warriors!!!!!!!
Papa will soon be traveling to Seattle to visit my dear Paulu and I can't wait to hear about that, I think it will be wonderful and so cute to imagine two of the most important men in my life strolling along the streets of Sea-lle.
All my love to all my most wonderful travel bugs and butterflies-to-be, FB

nokia 1100

Here's a portrait of my new best friend although the favor is quite unreciprocated since I'm not sure it works, it never rings anyway. Well, not yet my friends because I am back into the world of 24/7 interactive communication and let me tell you, it won't go unnoticed.... if i can manage to have more than 10 numbers (including mine) in the contacts list.... pretty sad at the moment.... Anyway, I have now proved that it is possible to live without a phone but I need to now focus on my social life rather than taking firm stands in this world of ever-growing consumerism. Just kidding, especially since I don't care if I ever only speak and see the people I already do, which is not many but one has to chose between quantity and quality, and although it might appear as the choice was made for me, I am still glad I have quality...

I am also glad to anounce that I am feeling much better today. All this tolerance level training has paid off and my body/machine has fought and won over the germs in just a couple days. The battle was a harsh one which involved a lot of aching, sweating, blowing and nightmaring but the forces of good have defeated those of evil.... muhahahahahahaha!!!!

Oh and saturday should be an exciting one since Caz, fish and myself will be starring in an ad, well as extras, for a computer company. the ad will only be screened in the states so mothe, watch out, here we come. The other cool thing about it is that we'll be getting paid for 8 hours of work when we might only be there for 6... hihihihi, that's good no? well we'll see if it happens that way anyway.

Alright, the only reason I am writing all this stuff is because I should actually be doing work right now so I am trying to find every possible excuse not to get back to it, I think I shall go to bed soon......

Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other...... (ah good old jerry)

"day books" of Edward Weston

I think that so far, this is my favourite photo but I haven't seen enough for my liking yet so it can change but not so easily.... if you also want to see more, click here

I am sick today, how depressing and I thought i was unbreakable, sad realisation but I can't deny it since my nose now burns from blowing it way too many times and my head is all congested. Oh well, it will be gone in a few days and a winter isn't winter without it. Plus, it has been especially cold these last few days and so the combination of living in a fridge and only wearing thongs has revealed itself to be fatal......
On the other hand, and I should have been doing work instead, I have finished the "day books" of Edward Weston. Sadely, I hadn't realised that it was volume 2, on his California years and so I missed volume 1, in Mexico. That's annoying since he would have talked about Diego Rivera and Tina Modotti etc... probably not Frida since he only meets her in the California volume. I must say that it was especially exciting to read a random entry on her.... although he doesn't say much except that she is only little by the size and well, tell me something I didn't know...

In the midst of his quest for money without prostituting his art, and the inumerable mistresses, he also talks about photography, so although the other stuff is interesting and anecdotic, the photography parts are the most inspiring.
I think that what I have learned from him is that photography is a way of seeing and unlike other artists, Weston has not focused on what he sees but rather on how he sees it, therefore working with all kinds of subject matters ranging from vegetables, to nudes, portraits, landscapes, rocks etc.... with the same approach. I don't mean that all the photos are the same or that he was trying to express something common to all of them, but always, he tries to reveal the intrinsic beauty of nature, the shapes, the movement, the dynamism that is present in anything and everything if one can see it. One of the first things I learned in the landscape photography elective I took last summer (february in Sydney) is that a beautiful subject matter doesn't necesseraly make a beautiful photograph but what appears to be a banal subject can be revealed and sublimized by the skilled eye and a camera (or any other medium, although Weston only truly believes in the integrity of the camera). That idea of integrity, of recording reality as it is can obviously be discussed since it is after all guided by the human hand and before that the artist. It is the artist who choses the viewpoint, the type of lens, the film (colour, b+w etc...), and when the artist develops his own negatives, there opens a whole new realm of possibilities.
Nevertheless, Weston was aiming for perfection, or getting as close as possible to it. He took very long exposures (partly due to slow films at the time), with great depth of field (f.64) trying to record as much detail as available in the real thing, trying not to fall into the trap of expressing a mood, or an atmosphere or emphasizing one aspect more than the other. Sometimes, he added contrast with filters but most of the times, he tried to get the real tones. Basically, he tried to reveal the qualities inherent to the subject matter rather than creating an artificial representation of it using techniques like blur for example.
Again, his photographs are far from being boring and a mere recording of facts. They are often quite dramatic, abstract forms but they are not trying to force an interpretation this way or that way, they don’t have a message or a metaphorical meaning. They offer a new way of seeing, create interest and emotion because it is hard to believe that a pepper or knees can be seen like that and that nature can create such beauty if only one can look at it.

copy cat

The top photo is mine taken in Manly, the bottom one was taken by Edward Weston. I am reading his "day books" at the moment and it's very interesting. He talks about photography, sometimes, but most of the time, it's him running after a few dollars, and figuring out (or not) what to do about is multiple mistresses. I think that my Paris Hilton/badpacker demonstration over the summer proves that I would have trouble living that life of struggling artist, but it does sound very seducing.....................

this is why we will always go for the all blacks.......

busy week end afterall

on saturday, we went to an exibition at the mca with Caz. It was for a competition for a project in darling Harbour (architecture) and Caz' office team got into the 5 finalists (out of 500 entries) so that was exciting and interesting to look at for presentations and model ideas etc....
Anyway, we bumped into a few people from uni, including Lachlan and some of his friends or whatever they are. Sagar was also there with one of his friends so the four of us hung out afterwards and started a long loooong pub crawl from the city to Randwick where we ended up at that guy's place, right accross from the Royal. We were meant to go watch the rugby in coogee afterwards but didn't make it that far because we had, well a fair bit to drink ... quite an adventure and we missed the game, which is ok since it was NZ vs South Africa and South Africa won...grrrrrrrrrr.
Sunday, we woke up and we were feeling fine so we went for a little walk to have a nice coffee down at the spot and then we came back and spent way too many hours working on the damn assignment i had to do for professional practice. it's due tomorrow and i just finished it, it's pretty boring stuff.
Today, nikki and Andy and myself went to Cameron's house for a building services assignment, and we got it done pretty fast so we then had a barbie on the deck. it was really nice and his house is really cool.
So yeah, i just finished my assignement, now i have to read a thing for another class and i should be done for the day....
I know all of this is fairly uninteresting but I thought i would let you know so you can share a bit of what's happening here,
I'll write again soon, all my love to everyone who has the patience to go through all of this....

time flies when....

.... you're at Uni, bored to the core... Well another week has gone by and well, not much was achieved really.
I can't believe how fast this week has just gone, it feels like going from one week end to another without much in between, well besides classes. There is already a pile of things I could/should be doing and it's not happening, or if it is, the process is quite slow....
I ran out of books to read unfortunately so that leaves me with close to no ideas to keep myself busy. It's friday night so doing some work (which i have just tried to do) is not working so well, and Caz (my social life) is working tonight.... Maybe, I'll go rent myself a movie or re-watch the incredibles but that would be a bit tragic.... my social life is traaaaaaaaaagic!!!!!!!!!!

so posh so yuppy

Well that certainly is a fine day ending as I write another stunning entry in this stunningly interesting blog...
I woke up late, for a change. 1:30 to be precise but instead of staring blankly at my computer screen for the few hours of daylight left, I took a shower, updtated bopy, my new best friend and went for a really nice walk. Well, I only went to Coogee (again, for a change) but the way seemed pretty short with music busting in my little ears (nowhere close to 113 dbs for the worried ones out there). I wanted to sing along and did so when no one was anywhere close. I wanted to break the moves but restrained myself. I went and sat by my beloved rock pools for a while and when the sun was setting, went into a cafe to read for a bit. That's the best part I believe....
About two hours later, I was back home feeling all refreshed and glad to see the screen again. I even got a bit of work started, nothing very productive though but you've got to start somewhere....no?
That's about it really, but it put me in a fine mood and maybe, i'll do that more often. Aaaaah, ibops, they just change your life.........
I'm gonna read some more now if you don't mind, and i'll write again soon, love you, FB
ps : just for a little update, the apple of my eye (if that's how it's said in english) is in Lisboa at the moment but he needs to chill out because he's just racing around the place like a possessed man..... he's having a great time though and although, I miss him, I'm happy for what he's discovering through his beautiful green/black/red eyes.....

on a less depressing note...

What are the good things about this session?
- we will see how long it lasts, but my social life at uni seems to have improved quite a bit thanks to the Barcelona studio since I got to know more people that I'm happy to have a chat with.
- Everyone is in the two core courses so that makes quite a few hours with a lot of familiar faces
- Charmaine turns out to be in the consumer society course which is a really good surprise
- Chris is coming back a lot sooner than expected

Dowside : I wish Caz could be back too but I don't blame you woman and I think that your upcoming plans are slightly more exciting than Steve King talking about where to put lifts.....

week 1

Well, I've had all my classes at least once now so it gives me an idea of the workload to come, and well, it will be a lot but let's not be lazy and i'll get it done, as always, let's just hope.
I'll have two core (boring) courses : professional practice and building services. That will be horrible but there is no way out of it so i'll just have to ask for help around me.... and work hard on it I guess.
Then, I hae two electives : Architecture and the consumer society which should be quite interesting. It will be on malls, casinos and museums.... and Photography, society and the built environment. I've been wanting to do that one for a while now, since they always exhibit in the foyer space and it often looks quite interesting. The only problem is that I want to do it well and I'm worried about how much time I will actually be able to devote to it. On the other hand, it will give me a break from boring subjects, make me use the camera (otherwise, I might not take the time to do it on my own as much) and the design studio is intensive wich means that most of the session should be pretty managable, I'll just have to put in more hours for about 4 or 5 weeks out of 13 or 14 so.....
The other good thing is that I believe I could easily combine the two electives (consumer society and photo) and hit two birds with one stone by using the research from one for the other etc... and, first of all, save myself some time + actually get to use what I will be learning, turn the theory into practice....
And so yeah, the intensive design studio which will only start in week 6 and end after the mid session break at the end of september. The tutors from Spain will be coming and hopefully, they'll come with some students.
So yeah, that's my session to come. It might be quite a bit of work, but as I said before, I never want another session like the one that just finished which was so painfully empty. I noticed that I do nothing if i have nothing to do and that things get done only when there is too much to do....
Oh and if I plan to have a life outside of Uni, well, I'm not fooling myself yet... we will see
I also almost forgot that I have to find a job too....................................................

my new ultra cool photo album

well since i couldn't sleep whatsoever tonight, I did something kinda productive I suppose.
Since the process of writting about those last 6 weeks seemed like such a big thing to do, I've created a new photo album thing online and i find it pretty cool. I've posted some of the pix we took while I was away on all those adventures and I have added some comments on nearly each one so it gives a fair idea of what we've been up to....
Check it out on http://www.flickr.com/photos/frenchbeach/ or from the link on the side toolbar on this blog....
Hope everyone likes it and send comments if you feel the urge to write
love you all

she's baaack

yeah I'm back to my normal daily life in Sydney city, north of Coogay babay.
The trip from Amsterdam went fine, a bit long but I knew that. On the first plane, I had an in between two people seat but I managed to make myself kinda comfy and sleep for a few hours.
I then had 6 hours in Kuala Lumpur, that wasn't very exciting, I mostly read which I hadn't done for quite a while. The second part went fine, I didn't sleep and had a movies marathon instead, managed to watch about 3 1/2 movies which is a pretty good effort and they weren't all bad either eventhough I can't really remember any of them.
Caz picked me up at the airport and we mostly hung out here, went to coogee for a bit. It was nice to see my good old coogee again; my cazita too in fact.
When she left, I fell into a deep coma until Nikki came around 7 so we had a nice chat and I went back to bed pretty much as soon as she left, around 9 ish. I pretty much slept all day, well until 3 o'clock when i got a phone call from caz. I didn't get up in time to answer though but it pulled me back into the real world.
I didn't do much, i unpacked, checked my emails, chatted on msn for a bit and then, that's a bit exciting, i had dinner with my friend PH who just arrived to sydney for a year. That was nice, i took him to the pizza place in the spot and had our tandorri chicken one, yuuum and it made me think of chris. We went for a beer at the royal and I introduced him to the joys of Carlton Draught and he liked it, eventhough he doesn't usually like beer... good start no?
That's about it, it's 11 now and I better get ready to go to bed soon because I start uni at 10 tomorrow, with building services.... let me tell you i'm pretty excited about that one... or not.
So yeah, taht's what happened since I got back, exciting stuff I know...
Ok time for bed to start uni tomorrow, wouhouuuuuu!!!
ps : for those who wonder if i'll have entries on the last 6 weeks in here, well I might, I will eventually but it just seems like a lot of writting right now so i'll do it, but a bit later.... and I'll put some photos up as well

group email from India

Hi everyone, thought it was time to let you all know what we have been up to.
This is our last day in India after about 6 hectic weeks. We have seen a lot its really only scratching the surface of this country…. Its very big!!
We started in Varannasi after crossing the border from Pokhera in Nepal. Varannsi is on the banks of the Gangees River and is Indias holiest river. Varannasi is best known for the Ghnats which are steps leading down to the river which are used for every day life. Everything from washing to cremations take place at the numerous ones along the river. Here we saw a cremation take place and visited a few temples and Jacinta took a boat ride down the river at dawn which she highly recommended to see the river at its busiest time but unfortunately I was sick in bed with food poinsing. Although it’s a very interesting place to visit it wasn’t the best introduction to India thanks to the constant hasaling from shop keepers, rick shaw drivers and pretty much everyone else.
From Varannasi we then went to Agra. We saw three major sites there which was the Red Fort, The baby taj and, of course the Taj Mahal.
They were all increadible!! The Red fort was an increadibly big walled fort of Red sandstone with the residence of the king inside. All the internal structures were wonderfully ornate with inlaid white marble and beautifully calved columns everywhere.
The Baby taj was the tomb of and also increadible with symmetry and ornamentation and was a great warm up for the Taj Mahal wich is just amazing. It is massive and beautiful. Every surface is inlaid with different coloured stones making geometric patterns all over it. Inside are the two tombs of the Murgal King and Queen and surrounding that are screens of calved marbel. It was increadible!!
From here we then went to a place called Orchha. Here are the ruins of two palaces and many temples. We spent some time exploring these, trying to imagine how they must have looked in the time when they were built.
From Orchha we then headed to Kudgerho where we looked at the wonderfully preserved temples with there erotic scenes. Each temple was entirely covered with images of gods calved from the stone doing various things, usually with some very curvy women.
It was about this time that we decided that the heat was too much. We both got sick here from the heat, which had been above 40 ever since entering India, so decided to head back to the hill further north.
Our first stop, after three days traveling, was McLeod Ganj. This was originally a place for the English to go during the hot Indian surrmer but is now a place for tourists to go during the hot Indian summer. We spent around 5 days there recovering and eating some wonderful cakes!
From here we then visited the Chamba valley. This was a very nice valley with the town of Dalahouse in it. This is another place that the English set up to escape the summer and is filled with crumbling mansions and rows of delapadated terraces.
From here we worked our way back around to Manali which, again was set in a valley surrounded by the snow capped mountains of the Himilayas. Manali was really good because it had hot springs so each morning we were able to start with a wonderful hot bath in amongst all the Indians.
We then worked our way down this valley staying one night in a castle and one in a Palace before getting to Rishikeish which was our next major stop. Rishikeish is best known for being the world capital for Yoga so we made good use of this by practicing Yoga each morning.
On our way back to Deli we stopped overnight in Hardiwar which is set on the Holy Ganges river and is a pilgramage town for the Hindus population. It was quite amazing to see all the Indians bathing in the river that runs through the town and making offerings of burning boats made from leafs and flowers.
From here it was straight back to deli where we checked out a few of the sights. We saw the red fort of Deli which was great and the mosque which is the biggest in India. Yesterday we also went to a Seik temple and had a tour of Old Deli on a cycle Rick shaw.
At the moment we are waiting to head out to the airport to catch our planes to Eurpoe. We are both excited about getting to Europe which is going to be a bit of a shock after spending the last two and a half months in India and Nepal.
Hope that everything is going well back home,
Take care everyone, Chris and Jacinta

Here i'm dying of heat, it's really hard sometimes, like to fall asleep for example but hey, i'm not gonna complain since it is summer afterall. Still, it gives quite a shock to change seasons like that, so quickly.
Yeah chris sure is almost here, it feels strange, because now that it's only a few days, time has stopped again somehow and it feels long, although i say that but it will come before i realise it, i'm pretty excited, he's probably on his way to amsterdam now....
I saw flo yesterday, i decided that it would be better to face the problem now, rather than being paranoid and afraid everytime i went somewhere with chris. It went well and at least now he knows and at least i can relax about it a bit more. He's gonna come over tomorrow to say good-bye to my mum anyway so we'll see how he is then, after a few days... Oh well, i'm sure he's fine and now i did what i had to do so it's not really my problemo anymore.
that's pretty much about it, laurent just arrived from dallas until wednesday when they all leave. We're gonna have dinner tonight in some south west of france restaurant, that kind of food is sooo awesome although really really not recommended to fit into your fave jeans, but hey... he loves me for my interior beauty, right? (i love that excuse so much)
Anyway, i've been having a pretty good time, not doing anything mildly exciting, lot's of really boring tv, and sleeping quite a bit. Oh yeah, yesterday, i had a 1 hour long massage from head to toe done, oh my god, i felt like paris hilton, i should be ashamed but it felt so good that i don't give a manouf. I also had a little haircut, nothing to talk about really since it wasn't much at all but i feel a bit better about my hair now.

I spent yesterday and part of today with Fred and some of his friends. We didn't really do much but it was alright. His friends are always interesting people with lots of projects in music or urban cultures in general.

My legs are smooth and soft, as well as every other part of my body pretty much, (it was a lot of hard work but we did it) and i'll go to have a haircut soon. Just for your info, the weather is pretty hot today but it seems to change a bit, with some showers... so i can't really predict how it might be when chris gets here but it should be hot and sunny. We'll have to go to nice (pleasant) beaches out of Nice (corsica???) we'll see but i could use a jump in the water right now, i feel so gross and need a shower. i won't need to do the human leach because there really isn't any waves but i can do it just for fun.

home sweet empty home

I had an awesome night sleep, ooooh it felt good to fall asleep like that, i was sooo tired after the flight(s).
Overall, it went quite well but it was just so incredebly long, it felt like i had been on the plane for ages. The first flight went fine except that the audio system was broken so i watched movies without the sound, great!!! million dollar baby was on so i could figure out what was going on, and i also watched part of "be cool" which looks like a good movie but hard to understand without the sound. That was pretty boring so i tried to sleep a bit, and i had two seats for myself which was nice.
On the second flight, i ended up with a seat in the middle which would have been a nightmare but i managed to change and get a seat on the aisle. The middle seat was free too so i could sort of lie down a bit. I managed to sleep a little there too. We didn't have individual screens though, they showed a few movies but i was pretty tired by then so didn't really watch them. Then, I had to wait about 2 and a half hours in amsterdam and got onto the last flight to nice for two hours. that was good, I had 3 seats for myself so i read and slept a little more.
I was so exhausted yesterday but i managed to stay awake until a decent hour to go to sleep, and that took me about a whole 2 minutes to fall into a deep coma.
It was good seeing my mum, marc and my dad. Everyone is fine, and it's nice being here. The apt is pretty empty. I'm not sure what i will do today, i might try calling fred to see what he's up to, we shall see...
Eventually, I'll have to get my legs etc... waxed because it's so embarassing and might have a little haircut... not sure when i'll do that though but it will be before chris gets here. I want him to still find me purty....

Collected short stories, Roald Dahl

for those who only know about his children books, R.Dahl is also an amazing writer for a more mature audience.
I guess his name came back to my mind when I heard that "Charlie and the chocolate factory" is in production for a movie by director Tim Burton with Johnny Depp.... I can't wait to see that movie, it should be amazingly good. Check it out here (wouhou, that's a bit fancay!!)
Anyway, I also remembered reading one of the short stories, "Lamb to the slaughter" for my creative writing class in the states, so I thought I would read the whole lot.
I'm not disappointed at all, although I wasn't expecting to be either. R.D. is such a good writer, the stories are all quite macabre, full of unexpected twists and black humour. Either near the middle or at the end, the story is completely twisted and turned to another direction without ever being able to predict how, when and what might happen. As any good short story should be, they are never quite finished, or they are open-ended, leaving the liberty to the reader to reflect on it, interpret it or imagine what might happen next.
I haven't finished it yet although I intend to on the plane, since i'll have plenty of time for that. So far, some stories have made me smile, but not a wide open showing every teeth smile, more like how you would smile when something very ironic happens, a grin really, more than a smile, but some and especially one are just haunting and ask so many questions about life, love, how we treat others and how others might treat us in return.
The one that I have so far found the most powerful is entitled "Genesis and catastrophe".
It starts with a woman giving birth to a baby, a healthy little boy. The woman is very worried and scared and keeps asking if the baby will live as she and her husband have already lost three kids at different ages, always very young. She is very distressed and the doctor tries to reassure her. The husband described as an abusive drunk comes into the room and the doctor gives him the good news " it's a boy, herr Hitler" and this is obviously when the whole story becomes different.... Those parents who anyone would feel very sorry for about their tragic loss, suddenly become the parents of Adolf Hitler and the eye of the viewer changes right away. While 5 lines sooner you were hoping and wishing that the baby would live and they could be a happy family, it is then impossible not to see that baby as what he will become later, one of the worst things that have ever happened in the world. But is this baby responsible for that? Is the viewer allowed to wish the death of that new-born baby and more sadness and misery in the lives of those parents? The last line is the mother saying "oh god, please god, let him live, let him live........." That was cruel Roald, it really was, it's still sending chills down my spine when i think about it. I think that this is the purpose of a good short story though, asking questions that have no answer, letting the mind wander but without the ability to draw rigid conclusions, just accepting that things happen after the last line.
All the stories aren't like that, otherwise I woud be very distressed myself, I don't think I can handle another "Genesis and catastrophe" too soon, but one thing is sure, seldom are the ones that aren't intriguing, disturbing and exciting, and all are incredebly well written.