..and we're off!

My blog absence has been mainly because quite frankly I haven't felt I have had anything really all that interesting to share and how wonderfully drama-free and quiet has my life been for the last 8 months? Also, because I often stop myself as I write as I hate the idea of being so self-indulgent that I must share with the www my daily thoughts/mis/fortunes/favorite things.

..But I'm totally over that now.

So here is my first (short) installment for Chandeliers and Onion Rings 2010 (albeit near the middle of the year but hey, I'm trying). With which I'll be updating the artwork on this page hopefully soon. While I'll be writing here, I'll try to leave the archispeak out and write over on http://kitchentablearchitectureclub.blogspot.com/ instead which both K and I will be updating. Enjoy!

__

Brunei is the kind of place you get used to. Some of us who have spent some years abroad come back and fit right back in to where we left off. Others take a little more coaxing. But whatever the case, there is a grace period during those first few weeks/months.

During this time common symptoms include constant nausea (heat/food/airconditioning related or otherwise), frustration - by far the most common symptom though in most cases causes range from family frustrations to road rage, rapid weight gain, speech inconsistencies - accents american/english/australian/bruneian/otherwise get jumbled up and shopping related withdrawl symptoms appear among others. Most people just stick through it, with a couple of friends, the tansition is made much smoother.

Which is why, as we pack our bags to set off once again, I'm sad to be bidding farewell to Brunei. Good friends have been made even better ones as we have all been adjusting to living in Brunei together.. just to do it all over again in my new city as of tomorrow. Still, we pick up and move on, and look forward to catching up again in the near future.

I have always maintained that the best thing about here has always been the great friends and family. But there are a few things I shall not miss. The symptoms as shown above come to mind (esp. the rapid weight gain!), Bruneian drivers who tailgate and don't signal, bigoted behaviour even among our well educated and young, rubbish customer service and the lack of interesting shops/museums/cafes etc. Apart from that, everything is just peachy.

So as we leave headed for the Lion City tomorrow, only to begin the settling down period again lessons learned this time round have been:

1_Ensaymadas from Bakerlyn will make you fat. Don't kid yourself.

2_Be an opportunist: Receive chances given to you and run with them.

3_There's always time for fish farm.

4_No really, put that ensaymada down.

5_Don't dive and fly. Or at least don't realise you're going to fly when you hit -15m!

6_Never take anyone/anything for granted. Never be taken for granted.

7_Sunsets sunrises clearwaters waterfalls diving swimming fishing farming friends family photos scubing kareoke-ing barbeque-ing boxing bluecheese burgers bukit shahbandar shisha border-runs deliveries crabs yoga bullfrogs blazing sun heavy rain..all make Brunei a pretty neat place to live.

Turrah Booners, til next time.
xxw

one minute news..

After catching bits of the news on TV last night with mum and dad..

Me: Why is all the news about Muslim countries?
Mum: Because its Ramadhan, dear.
(pause)
Dad: Because nothing is happening anywhere else.

xxw

Cloak or Kebaya

Its been three days since K and I touched down on home soil. Ten days since I arrived in Heathrow from Tehran. Two months since graduating from my diploma in London.

Given the time I've had to re-adjust to life as a post part II, a fresh out the box post graduate you'd think that a move home would be fairly easy. However glad I am to be back in the family house with no fretting about the next gas bill or our boiler going on the blink, something has already begun tugging at those twenty five year old worry lines.

Perhaps it is because it is fasting month here in Brunei. Perhaps it is because I have just spent an intense seven days in Iran that have irreversably altered my views of the world (how cliche, right?). Then again, perhaps it is the onset of a delayed teenage rebellion inching its way out from beneath the solid gold goodness of my sheltered upbringing. But as I get ready for a family get together to break fast tonight I find myself concerned that my mother and sister have opted to don the Arab abaya cloaking their bodies in swathes of black fabric exposing just their faces. I don't blame them.. its comfy and in the way I might put a smock dress on to hide the extra bulge I have been nursing since final hand-in - the black abaya hides all. In some ways, some might say it was fashionable. After all, the best ones are from Saudi. And you've got to foot the hefty air fare to get your gloved hands on those sliky sequinned babies. Still, I worry as our pretty traditional white prayer clothes are inked black.

Its a petty worry, I realise. After all, you might say they were just clothes. Still, as I banish my hand-me-down abayas to the depths of my wardrobe I feel just a bit better. I hope there they shall stay. Its a small act of defiance in anyones eyes, but I'm taking it one step at a time. Besides, my teenage rebellion has only just arrived ten years too late.

Progress reports to come.

Sincerely,
W.

Cyrus virus

Miley Cyrus makes my skin crawl.



Luckily Dame Helen Mirren came to the rescue in her glorious graceful gorgeous self. Note Miley on her phone almost everytime the camera pans over..

Tally Ho Chaps!

Eight posts since being in the same spot twelve months ago. And perhaps only just that much the wiser.

School has started again this week and having emerged in July the person-previously-known-as-me, I'm ready to start again after a summer of mountains, wrecks and weddings.

(que 80s gung-ho music like eye of the tiger or something)

xxw.

Sounds of my London

Saw Lykke Li on Jools Holland the other night and felt the need to post this video. I couldn't decide between the two videos so here's both :) enjoy!

xxw

p.s who can contest aginst lyrics like:
And for you I keep my legs apart
and forget about my tainted heart ??

Starting somewhere in the middle.

..and here we go.

Vietnam. Wandering around in the dark in Hanoi. London. Graduation. Mum and Dad. Greenwhich. Brighton. Usual end of december round-up. New Uke - yay! London. Panic. Screw panic lets go see fireworks. Climbing up a ladder to a roof on Leicester Sq. in a frou-frou skirt and heels in the rain to see fireworks. Making my train carriage sing Old Lang Syne without the words na na na stylee. More panic. panic panic panic. Pin-ups. PANIC PANIC. January Review. Essay. Twice. Breathe... Now panic. Dripping hot wax on myself. Slinging mud. Lying in mud. Eating mud due to slinging and lying.

So that about sums up where I left off sometime in November last year. Suffice to say its been all systems go since then. Going to Hanoi was the first of my worries since I wasn't prepared for what was to ensue. Field trips in Nottingham were more like short holidays with your schoolmates. Then in Westminster it was a working holiday.. slightly more work involved. I had no idea this time I'd be up all night or skipping a friend's birthday to be sat in my hotel room working on some plans. Still. Lesson learned. Move on.

The end of december was spent in denial about the masses of work that needed to be done. After all, I had just been told I was going to January Reviews. *ouch* Fair enough I thought, new student, not familiar with the table jury system. Go for a practice run. Just make sure there's enough work to go round. Done. Lesson learned. Move on.

Up until last week I've always been a card model, 3D model, anything that will fit on my desk model person. The dumbest thing I remember doing was bluffing a security guard at the tall building next to a construction site, syaing that I needed pictures into the site because I was an architect there. Next thing I know, I'm covering my bathroom wall with an old shower curtain, shivering, in my bikini, getting Kyle to sling some home-made mud at me. Perhaps the lesson on that one is lost on me. Still. Moving on.

So with a week left in January, lets just say that I'm not too fussed that its over soon. Might just see the new year in February.

Lessons learned:
1. It doesn't matter how convinced you are that you are going in the right direction someone is going to tell you otherwise.

2. Coming out for new years eve with friends is always a good idea whether you decide to spend one hour with them or 10 minutes.

3. Time spent with family is always worth the work panic after because you're going to wish you were with them anyway.

4. Digital TV makes for easier late nights. Can you say Recorded Boosh?!

So while the 24 days of January so far have been the toughest K and I have seen leaving us both pretty battered and bruised the lessons have been learned and its time to move on. xxw

What is the truest definitiion of Globalisation?

Princess Diana's death.

Why? You ask?

It was an English princess

with an Egyptian boyfriend

who crash in a French tunnel,

driving a German car

with a Dutch engine,

driven by a Belgian who was drunk

on Scottish whisky

followed closely by Italian Paparazzi,

on Japanese motorcycles;

treated by an American doctor,

using Brazilian medicines.

This is sent to you by an Bruneian,

sitting in her flat in London,

using Bill Gate's technology,

and you're probably reading this on your computer,

that uses Taiwanese chips,

and a Korean monitor,

assembled by Bangladeshi workers

sent to a Singapore plant,

transported by Indian lorry-drivers,

hijacked by Indonesians,

unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen,

and trucked to you by Mexican illegals.

That, my friends, is Globalisation!

Beirut

Saw Beirut last night.

I am still speechless.

My uke is still sitting unplayed (for the longest time now i.e more than 24 hours) for fear of damaging my ears since.

I'll write more about this later when I can string two sentences together.

xxw

Platoon 15

There is HOPE!

Vietnam in a month baby.

Charlie Sheen, I heart you muchly.



RARF. xxw