heart in bishan park ass in pittsburgh chair

i may be in pittsburgh, but memories are returning me to regular haunts in singapore.


taken last last sunday.

homesickness is also when u want to go downstairs for iced milo ta pao but can't.

Koyaanisqatsi

means life out of balance.



It was a wonderful way to introduce our "Urban Design Theory and Elements" class but it was unsettling having to view it on 2 projection screens next to each other; i think we got the point of the movie. Half the world today lives in cities, and by cities, we don't mean confectionary constructs like Singapore, but concrete coated blotches on earth visible from space. Like the urban sprawl that begins here and finds its way to new york city. Distance has new relatives. I found a friend from OCS who is only 3 hours away by car. So near, but its not like we're having coffee anytime soon.

I'm finding my balance in school. Sorry i've been unloading my course selection woes on everyone i could lay my chat room hands on.

Koyaanisqatsi! Say it until it haunts your dreams at night.

*update:


Eat our hearts out, i have the coolest design site since... student design history. An abandoned pier at Battery Park City, Manhattan, NYC!

Fieldtrip in 2 weeks!

frstrated nerves NERVES!

what is this about shitty internet connection from my USD$3500 apartment. i can't access my forms to do my module switch aaaggg...

jaspertangtianda! send to my gmail pls cos i gives up on nuswebmail.

its beginning to rain in cmu. it makes for dramatic autumnal end-of-season (read: ominous) landscapes around pittsburgh. gothic cathedral of learning looms in mists.

i'm going to new york city for my design project this sem.

Seen on a poster in school

TAOISM
'Shit happens'

CONFUCIANISM
'Confucius says, "Shit happens"'

BUDDHISM
'If shit happens, it is not really shit'

HINDUISM
'This shit happened before'

PROTESTANITY
'If shit happens, let it happen to someone else'

CATHOLICISM
'If shit happens, you deserve it'

ATHEISM
'I don't believe this shit'

AGNOSTICISM
'What is this shit'

boy in CMU

Fairfax apartments are a 15 minute walk from the College of Fine Arts.


I'm living in what's billed as the "Finest Apartments in Oakland". I think what they mean to say is most expensive...

Anyway i've been really quite ya-ya exploring the city and traipsing all over school.


Pittsburgh is a really quaint city with lots of fine-grain urban nooks and crannies. This is in Quiznoes, which doesn't serve the best sandwiches.


And this is the nice welcome CMU students make for freshmen and exchange students from Singapore.


I'M HERE!!! YEa, this is the famous CMU poster shot. With Hammerschlag Hall in the foreground and the Cathedral of Learning (in U. Pitt) in the distance. The modern concrete building to the right of it spoils the picture though.


and directly opposite, partaking of this monumental vista, is the College of Fine Arts, which is really more like the pearly gates and everything good like that. Its not a school. Its where schools go when they die.


The frieze reads: "Painting", "Sculpture", "Architecture", "Music" and "Drama". "Architecture" takes centrestage, but "Drama" has to have the last say.

So like, check out the themed alcoves in the facade:


"Painting". I'm not sure its related to the frieze inscriptions, but this is a very nice representation of the gothic.


"Sculpture". The 3 orders of Greek Columns! And the oculus overhead.


"Architecture". Clearly a tribute to the Pantheon. and the inscription is probably exhorting us, anciently, to "CREATE".


"Music". I'm tempted to say Baroque. But this one eludes me.


"Drama". Indo-Saracenic, Khmer, Assyrian, Mughal, Islamic, all the chapalang asian!


And here is a floorplan of the basilica i mean school.


And the very common looking vestibule / lobby.


Hallowed halls of learning. Like, you literally hear opera singers and choirs of angels echoing down the hallways.


And finally, studio space.

Crazy hor.

bye bye Michigan, hi Ohio, pitstop Pittsburgh

I spent 5 days in Warren, Michigan, living like a Golden Girl in suburbia and getting to know Mike and Mindy down at St Clair Shores. Mindy is a Singaporean who married over to Michigan 5 years ago and made friends with my aunt after singlish betrayed her at the diner's. Today Mike and Mindy live like true Michiganders, hunting and harvesting the best off the land for their suburban brood. Not that they're living wild... or i suppose they are, but Mike and Mindy were like the best hosts i could hope for.


Mike is a real Michigander in that he hunts deer and fishes salmon for the dinner table. seriously. and like grows crops in his garden.


very. heavy. one. like. bowling. ball.




Mike took us power boating out on St Clair Lake.




I also got to mow the lawn.


This is Mike and Mindy's cat.


Today we took a 6 hour road trip from Warren to Detroit to Toledo and down the Ohio Turnpike into Penn.


Saying bye to Detroit.


Leaving the automobile capital of the world - u can't miss it, its the biggest wheel in the world.




Ohio is corn country.


So like we cross the Ohio river with the bridge on one side...


and Toledo on the other...


Penn is mountainous country though...


And then 6 hours on, Pittsburgh crept into view... it has a skyline that's considered top 15 in the world according to emporis.com


The Cathedral of Learning of Pittsburgh U, CMU was just around the bend...

Day 2 - Great Michigan

Mornings are really chill in Michigan because its all about the great outdoors.


I'm sorry but i'm really going to blow your mind away with the following shots:


Here's our resident black squirrel called Big Ass, oops i mean Big S (S for squirrel).


And here's the rabbit in the back yard. There were 3 rabbits and 6 squirrels according to last count.


And this guy was on our way to church.






Later in the day, after a totally mindblowing breakfast at Andrea's Diner, we took a trip to town.






And we came to Motown, where music legends were born, in a fairly nondescript neighbourhood. nope, no singing sistahs, swaying evangelists and soulful stars in sight - just houses with broken windows...


and touristy window displays.


and well, no trip to detroit is complete without seeing where eminem grew up.



Of course, no sight of Madonna anywhere...

Well, here i am on a sunday night stealing bandwidth from a neighbour's connection. Its been really chill so far in Michigan. The lawns are neat and the people are friendly, and the air is nice and crisp. And its ok that u hear gun fights at night cos there's a weapon in the basement. That's America for you, you take the good with the bad.

You really see what suburbia means out here: multiple car ownership and long distances, lunches that are 10 miles away and landmarks that are few and far between. i mean. everybody's bound to get lost around here somewhere.

America's been pretty cool to me so far so i'm good. I'm only starting to crave hot meals with soup. I guess i'll turn in soon to the sound of crickets and gunfire (omg, one just went off) cos we're taking a boating trip in Lake Erie tomorrow (right over to Canada)!

Stay tuned.