Thursday, September 29, 2005

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..."

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

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...

Monday, September 12, 2005


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

Monday, September 05, 2005

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...???

Sunday, September 04, 2005

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?

Saturday, September 03, 2005

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?)

Thursday, September 01, 2005

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