chinese new year 2009

the advantage of the final year thesis is that you have so much time like there's almost holiday all semester long but the dark side is that the burdent of work is always haunting you and if you are swift away by the enjoyment of having less class, you just might forget to do your work and choked at the last minute pressure. So, last week I decided to spend extra holiday in my home town kuching for the chinese new year break which is also our mid sem break. I know i will be doomed after this because i was having too much fun watching my precious time passes by. I ate all i wanted at home.. watching tv all day long, being a couch potato is so much fun.. who wouldn't enjoy that?

relatives potrait (me standing in red)

anyway, i was originally going to talk about my chinese new year celebration. I never felt so connected to my moms side of the family because of the language barrier and since we were small, we never spend so much time together. plus, i'm much older than my cousins.. however, i think it was because of the different lifestyle. anyway, as i grow older, i felt that i can mix better with my aunties simply because i'm an adult now. being adult also causes some intriguing and should i say annoying questions popped up especially, "do you have a girlfriend already?" or "when are you going to get married?".thats what i got during my visit to my aunties house. in my head, i can just replied in my head: i just broked up with my girlfriend, hey.. give me a break! i have to be with myself for the time being and just taking it slowly. erkhh..

Hajj for Ayu

This month, my friend Ayu will be flying to Jeddah with her family members to perform the Hajj.. I wish her a safe flight . Hopefully, this experience will help Ayu to excel in life and be a better person in the future( not that Ayu is a bad person, she's a very nice person ^_^ )..So, have a safe journey home and may u prosper in everything that u do in life!..

How can people talk with their butt?

Humans are given brain to think and everyone have different kinda brain but what worries me is people who talk and doing nothing or people who talk without thinking first.. well, everyone have the right to express what they are thinking but it should be in manners and respect. Its not hypocracy if u are talking with manners and one should remind himself that everything that we do especially everything that we said should be let out in proper way and not confronting. It stresses me when people talk bull about things. One should think of the consequences not just on oneself but also people around u. Emotional is always a factor for such stupidity. well, in the end of the day a person who talk without thinking will regret what he said and by that time its too late!.. you're in deep shit, man. What do u get from talking like a dumbass? nothing.. You'll get fucked up and the world will turn back on u.. Its better if everyone is talking with their brains not with their butt..

The other type of people is people who just talk but do nothing.. huh, u know what i mean.. i've seen a lot of people like this.. talk, talk, talk.. but just talk.do this, do that, like this, like that.. this is hypocracy! just say what u wanna say and what u intended to do.. this people digust me.. i feel uneasy with people like this. What are they thinking? get a life! this type of people are plastics and doen't deserve a place in the society..

Holiday is around the corner

I have no idea why this holidays means so much to me.. its been a rough ride and i just need a very personal time with myself and my family.. surely i'm not gonna be busy with anything.. just gonna be a couch potato and feeding myself up.. i'm tired of architecture for the semester and tired to think about everything else.. i need to rejuvenate and relax all i want..eat, eat, eat, eat,.....sleep, sleep, sleep.....tv, tv, tv.... lalalalala~

This semester the journey wasn't easy to the others as well, lots of people failing the pre thesis and i felt bad for them. Its not a small number.. at least 10 people stuck this time and that is not an easy thing to swallow.. just be brave and try to score high this time. To my friends vince and awen, i wish them all the best and take it as a revenge and score A this time.. Nevertheless failure is a learning process.. i've failed in 2 subjects and its been hard for me take in. Hopefully, we will wake up and realize that we need to excel in everything that we do.. (even personal things).

There's lotsa dramas this time too.. but most of them happened to my juniors. Things get real bad actually. Jealousy and hatred spread like wild fire.. geez, what happen to all the younger generation these days.. i thought that our time was bad.. there were two cases of plagiarisme.. one where a girl is acused to copy a model of highrise building from some software model and another boy who is accused of using his seniors project. Either its true or not, should this be a lesson for both of them and try to be carefull with your works and people around you. People these days can't be trusted and one have the responsibilty on his own doings. Two person died of illness, one is my junior and another one is our part time lecturer. Condolences for both of them


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hopefully next semester will bring me good luck and excellence.. and let me away from envy and negativeness..

green day by enviro unit

There is this thing that each and everyone who takes the thesis years, they shall be active in extra curicullar activities held by each units. Therefore, every units should organize at least 2 programmes every semester (both pre thesis and thesis).. minimum required points are 10. How hard is that?Simple, get involved in every activity planned for your unit, and show your face and sign for attendance form. Some of the activities surely irrelevant to your needs but just attend it anyway just for the sake of the points. These points are crucial for every thesis student to ensure their participation in the whole thesis programme. So, getting back to the whole topic was all about.. The Green Day was organised by our unit and successfully ended with a movie session later that evening (I didn't attend that one, sleeping under my table in the studio).





So, it started late than planned that morning with estimated around 100 participants for the green race. Just 30 people showed up at 10 am.. very low attendees but, thats quite a lot already. So, the race started at 15 minutes past 10 am and later they were around the faculty searching for items for the next challenge. Most groups found their items such as old newspapers, card boards and used bottles. After that the next task is to built a model of building as stated in the instructions given. So, as usual.. they have to present their models and convinced the judges of their works..




Overall, it was fun and everyone enjoyed the activities.. maybe because it is less formal activity.

end of pre thesis semester

this semester ends in balance for me i guess.. well, rethink back,.. not really.. my studio wasn't going well.. i bet my studio marks will go down as said by dr hamdan. geez.. i am in deep shit. i'm just thankful that i didn't fail this semester. at least i've passed, that's the last thing thats on my mind. serriously, i'm not satisfied with my works in especially since my 2nd semester of 4th year. i don't really know whats bugging me.. part of it is my lazyness, and lack of exposure to the wider world of architecture. i know art and design is in my blood. it's just me holding back things and not letting it out.. i haven't found that art of thinking architecturally and i guess i just need more exposure of how an architect thinks..




Enough with that, may god show me the way through and hopefully i can score with flying colors next semester. Now, my pre thesis project wasn't a total disaster.. just lacking the connection of facts that leads to what i intended to design. Well, basically.. my thesis is about how to use architecture as a stress therapy element for urban dwellers.. therefore, spa pops out of my head.. thinking it is the most suitable typology that can relief stress. May i explain that when we talk about architecture, its not just the building form. Its also about the journey through the building and the surrounding context.. Activities also play role in doing so. So, I zoomed into the activities that i can add in the building that should compliment with the main subject that i wanted to bring.




So, the lecturers advised me to pick a target group to make it a stronger subject.. so, i chose youth since youth are one of the troublesome groups in terms of stress. One of the previous thesis which was by aini focused on yuppies (young entrepreneur).. which is kinda strong subject.. yuppies... but my choice wasn't backed up with a firm justification.. thus, it became an issue for my thesis.(T_T)



well, the panels said that i'm just CTP(complete to pass).. half of them said that i should fail, but lucky for me dr. Hamdan still see some potential in me and in my presentation.. sad~.. there.. i was speechless and powerless.. i did as much as i can and in the end of the day nobody really knows what will turn out. I realize that crit is so important in this stage.. u can play around with your design and miss crit as u like in lower years but its totally different at this level. I have very low trust in the inputs by one of my panels. I see his point of view always contradict with what i wanted to do.. I even ignored two of his suggestions.. one is to change my building typology into office.. and one is to build a high rise instead of a detox centre for youth which is underground.. Now, i can see it clearly.. what his ideas but however, i still have doubt of his ideas and i need to change the way i perceive his views. Nevertheless, my absence in a few crits and lack of progress is one of the major factor to my almost-failure experience.

Final Exam This Semester! HOORAY!

This whole week was a mind blowing week.. though, i'm still taking it slow.. enjoying my own world.. it should be a busy week but why am i being careless this week? Tomorrow's my last exam for this semester.. Economics.. quite an easy test according to people who have taken this subject.. well, it is easy i guess.. looking at the past years' test.. the questions never changed much since dinosaur extinct. Its like recycled paper and have been used all over again.. I'm not surprise actually.. looking at the lecturer.. it's no wonder that its that way.. He's a psycho freak professor who is constantly unpredictable and weird.. (He also wears a nazi shirt to the lecture hall!!).The test tomorrow won't be that hard, i guess.. i could be either a recycled test or the test we made ourself on the last day of class.. ya, we composed our own final exam paper! Why?... well, it was the meeting for faculty the day after the class.. so, our lecturer decided to give us a choice whether to compose our own exam complete with the scheme for answers or he'll be preparing the test paper.. so, the whole class decided that we better choose to make our own exam paper.. does that even sounds like a test??.. huh, sounds like a fraud to me.. but, he's an unpredicted prof, so.. i'd better be prepared with both possibilities.. so, yeah.. i haven't studied yet actually.. and probably start after this.. maybe.. hmmm~..lalalala...

kuching developments part 1

Eventhough Kuching is lacking behind Johor Bahru, Penang and probably Kota Kinabalu in terms of developments.. (physically) but this few years, a few interesting projects will sprout out across our beloved Kuching. Personally, i always look at Kuching as this laid back town.. only housing estate everywhere with tonnes of shophouses but there will be slight difference in the future where projects like the spring mall have become a kickstart for the city. Nevertheless, i share the enthusiasm with every kuchingites hungry for developments..

here are some recent and future projects in Kuching

the Spring mall:-



boulevard shopping mall, this is only the first phase.. next up is the second phase mall + hotel :-



greenheights mall, with cold storage as anchor tenant :-




Kuching Plaza renovation:-






xintiandi mall in samarahan:-


borneo convention centre kuching(bcck) and kuching tower :-




one jaya mall, small type mall:-



precinct88, another small type mall:-



kuching citymall, a well-planned housing+hypermall+shophouses:-



one TJ, a one stop lowyat of kuching :-



dun kuching, the new administrative building:-




vista tunku in petra jaya :-


plaza merdeka, located at the old chambers :-

novotel interhill, by accor.. with portion of the building for shopping :-

tun mustapha complex

dewan bandaraya kuching utara

EUROTRIP 2008

ROME, 20, 21, 22 May 2008 - After an anticipated 11 hours flight from KLIA, finally we have arrived in Fiumicino Airport, Rome. My first impression was that he airport was like underused because the airport was not as busy as i have expected due to the fact that rome is one of the number one tourist destinations. then, i realize that we arrived at 0700 hrs local time.. hmm. its 6 hours difference here in Italy and getting your handphone to work isn't a problem since roaming service is provided by Malaysian phones oprerators with telecom companies abroad. There's no bus service from this airport to the city centre (according to the people asked at the airport) but there are train services just 5 minutes walk to the upper floor. the ticket costs 11 euros. As you hop on the train, it will take you along the countryside of Rome, with lots of red flowers and village houses until the panorama eventually takes you into the classical and modern city of Rome.

We arrived at Roma Stazione Termini at approx 10 am and the environment was quite hectic. As the tourguide for Rome together with Faiq, we decided to head straight to the hostel. Montestella Hostel is just a 10 minutes walk from the termini. Check in time is at 12 so, we have to put our luggage at the counter and spend the time to get to know Rome a little bit. We were divided into 3 groups of 4 and every group is free to go on their own way and get back to the hostel at 1145 am. The first day in Rome was quite devastating because it was raining all day long and we were all wet most of the time. The first thing to settle was the Roma Pass. We searched for the office at the termini untill the bus station outside but the office was just at the lane of train where we arrived from the airport this morning.. on the last lane(27 if i'm not mistaken).

Later on, we had lunch at a nearby pizza shop and have our first authentic italian pizza. I tried the anchovies which does not really satisfy my tastebud. My first encounter with pizza wasn't really a nice one but i'm sure the next time i won't pick pizza with anchovies topppings. at noon we went back to the hostel and chechked i. later in the evening we walked across town towards whatever structure that looks outstanding. we stumbled across the first huge majestic basillica on our way, St. Maria. Without any proper place to go, we decided to just walk around the streets of Rome and find some souvenirs and sight seeing whatever that comes across. As the sunshine starts to appear, drops of rain starts to tumble down again. the rain gets worse and as we walk through the rain, we found a nice little coffee shop, a suitable place to get away from the rain. Italy is also famous for their expresso, so trying coffee here is a must eventhough if you're not a coffee lover.

Souvenir shop is everywhere in Rome but there are some tips to get a cheap souvenir like keychain. first, you have to survey different shops because the price difference can be huge. there's this one souvenir shop along Via Cavour that offers cheap stuff, not really much difference in price but its quite worth if you convert 0.50 euro to RM. bargain is not really a way to get a cheaper price in Rome because shops here are quite hard to negotiate in terms of bargaining. however, there are places that you can bargain such as the souvenir stalls which are usually supervised by bangladeshi. there is a stall next to the arch beside the colosseo that sells very cheap keychain if you buy in bundle. i bought 10 keychain for 1.33 euro each, the cheapest in Rome that i founded.