Going batty, uh.. I mean dotty!

So. Here's a little taste of what I'm up to these days:



Presentation's tomorrow and I remarkably feel ok. I have LOADS to do still tonight, but I'm just working away. It makes such a big difference to be doing things for yourself not for some boss you don't really... well... like.

fall has come

I was sitting in the park a few days ago when a small leaf landed on my bag. It is now an unavoidable fact: The seasons have turned, and what was a wet, confusing, painful, caring, tough, self-investigating summer is over. It is fall.

The new students have been arriving in the last couple of days, and it seems such a long and such a short while since we ourselves commenced this course. This evening my coursemates will be opening the exhibition of their work of the year. I will not have any work on show. It is odd, to have been a part of this group lke everyone else, and yet not to complete together with them. I chose it, and I accept my decision (and try my best to laud it, actually), but it is not easy at all times. Au contraire.

Tomorrow I have my first "real" job interview. Scary, thrilling and slightly disconcerting. There's a full programme of 2 hours (!) including me holding a 10-minute presentation on my skills, Q&A, showing project work examples and a written test. I think that it's really a lot! I just hope I get to walk out of that room with a good feeling's all.

Less than 45 minutes to the exhibition. Judging by how jittery I feel, they must be nervous wrecks.

Hopefully the new season will not just be an end to all that is known, but rather an opportunity to begin afresh and anew.

Rain also has its charms.

more carnival!

(again, for more pics, please click here!)

So, yeah, I went again, this time accompanied by a friend, which was great! Someone to marvel with about all the crazy stuff going on! There were definately more people today. We got caught in several backed up patches, but I didn't find it too much. Here's how many people were there:

I could have stayed there several hours longer, dancing and taking it all in. Alas, another viewing (of a flat I don't want, unfortunately) was scheduled, so I had to get my ass to East London, as I am still working on this project. Tomorrow I don't think I'll get to see more flats, since my psycho-"freelancing" (!) is up to 3 sessions tomorrow, and I am going to the movies. But Wednesday and Thursday I already have a few viewings lined up. Hopefully I wil come across that *perfect* room and actually be offered it. They offered me one of the ones today, however it was really smal, 2x3 m. Nice people, great living room etc, but I'm just wondering if it might get a tad claustrophobic in that sort of a cubicle...

Sambaaaa!

(click here for more pics)

Pumping samba rhythms, all smiles, red stripe Jamaican lager, Caribbean food, coconuts, red-yellow-green, dancing kids, Caribbean flags and whistles, feathers, sequins, laughter, reggae, dancing, movement, flirting, beer stalls, corn on the cob, kissing, sleeping tiger in a buggy, shaking body parts, djs, sound systems, blaring hiphop, breakdance, super heroes on scene, beautiful dancing women...

And tomorrow's supposed to be THE day to go :.) We'll see!

Cretan pics

london by night

a slightly fuzzy London, seen from waterloo bridge the other night.

Group work as opposed to individual work

What is more important: To be able to participate satisfactorily in group work or to be able to work entirely individually?

I sincerely hope that having capabilities in the group work category will bring me far in my upcoming career, 'cause my individual skills are truly lacking. It's just easier for me to be motivated when I'm working *with* someone.. I'm beginning to think that this "being independent"- thing is something I'll have to battle with forever, at least with regards to urban design :.)

I have got only two months to do some seriously sweet urban design work on my own, so I had better get going on a steep learning curve! Tomorrow, to the British Library, where I cannot procrastinate, at least not without getting so bored that I fall asleep.. which is then again also a challenge to my studies.. but it's better, at least I get SOME work done!

Here's a nice peaceful pic from Nordhavn in Copenhagen to wrap up a post about something entirely different..! Enjoyed a couple of hours with my dear childhood friend there (know her for 26 years!), watching the boats sail by and soaking up the last rays of the sun..


It's off to bed for me, so, one love to y'all, thanks for dropping by my very irregularly updated blog of sorts.

oh.my.god. It's J-U-S-T-I-N!!!

Justin Timberlake FutureSexLoveSounds 070707...

C and I had a great time, singing and dancing in an entirely full O2/milleneum dome. I think he managed to play basically all the songs from both his albums, backed by Timbaland on a couple of songs.. It was AMAZING! He managed to get the whole place hopping up and down, and us girls in the cheap seats wishing we could have afforded tickets for the VIP bar - literally being able to touch him as he danced across the bar... ;.)

I didn't expect it to be so great, nor Justin to perform such a fantastic show - dancing/singing/flirting with every single female at the concert...! I feel like a teenager again, infatuated with a popstar, haha!

The round stage in the middle of the arena worked incredibly well - perhaps because we were located above and could see him wherever he was on the stage.. The people on the floor may have been closer, but must've lost the overall sense of where he was.

All in all an excellent evening, in good company on the upper tier, with an amazing showman and a couple of hours of freedom from everyday worries.

Bringing SexyBack - hell yeah! ;.)

mahatma

A tribute to Gandhi stands in a leafy square near my uni. Actually, he graduated from UCL. The last few times I was there to discuss some uni work, he just sat there, peaceful and calm, reminding me of the great things he worked for. (I'm assuming he'll be there for a while).

If only more people would seek to look inside themselves so as to try to create a better, more equal order in society. Equal treatments for people, equal opportunities. Walked through a part of Hackney the other day, and was appalled by what I saw. Council estate after council estate after.. You get the picture. None of the houses appeared to have actual frontages onto the street - who would want their frontage onto a bleak, lifeless street with potential crime around the corner? All that I saw was brick walls, buildings set back from the road and boring, under-utilized lawns littered with plastic bags and candy wrappers. Actually, I fear that a lot of the council estates in more peripheral locations in London are in a much worse state of upkeep. Anyway, my point is that continuing to place people in utterly uninspiring and disjointed urban settings is not a fair nor equal thing to do. Yes, I do realise that they get a place to live for a cheaper price than the rest of us on the private market. But can we as a society really afford to have people living in a physical environment that restricts their social mobility? Maybe in stead we ought to subsidise people that need the help (god knows London's an expensive place to live in) in a manner that allows them to be a part of the city life around them. Spend the subsidies on topping up what they pay in rent in a "normal" flat. Mix people of different social classes, so we can potentially get rid of this horrid term, or at least not have a bad taste in our mouth when thinking of the way the lowest in society are treated.

Naturally I think in urban design terms. It is my profession. This is just one small, but important thing that can be done to alleviate the troubles of an unequal society.

Gandhi went to my uni. Look at what he achieved. Perhaps if you put your weight behind your good thoughts...

London:PINK

Springtime, clear blue skies and the soft touch of a sun ray on your cheek. Ahh!


BTW. I've only recently begun wearing pink comfortably. As far back as I can remember, the color pink was a cause of great dispear. My mom would try to dress me in all sorts of pink garments, and I would object as loudly as I could and in the most obnoxious way possibly. I in particular recall a pink corduroy oshkosh b'gosh overall dress that would cause a tearful fit whenever she brought it to the fore. Now, I think it would be absolutely adorable for a 4-5 year old... Does that give me reason to not have kids of my own? I mean, being so disconnected from even my own experiences as a kid, how would it ever turn out should I (in due time, mom, don't get excited - there's no hidden agenda in this!) manage to spawn some?

London:RED

Photo shot during the total lunar eclipse just minutes ago. The total eclipse lasted from 22:44 to 23:58 GMT, March 3rd 2007.

The pictures turned out beautifully, but the redness was less evident on the London sky - here the moon took on a brownish-grey tone.

Here is a pic of the shadow of Earth cast by the Sun onto the Moon. It was taken prior to the total eclipse this evening.

photos re: that new orchid

Here're a few snaps from today's sunny afternoon session at our place with N, obviously we were studying REAL hard! All photos courtesy our camera and N's talent :.)

(Please note the very fashionable and approximately 30 year old curtains.. so en vogue, think you not!)

We did actually work, and managed to draw up a basic strategy for the project. The project is coming along ok, but man, do we have a lot of work ahead.

Spring at last?

...not that it's been that terrible a winter this year, but I so look forward to spring and sun and more blooming trees and flowers...

I'm such a romantic. Maybe it was my visit at the Columbia Flower Market on Sunday, but suddenly I just need flowers :.)

I tried to fulfill this need by purchasing (a remarkably bargain priced) white orchid, which is currently keeping me company on the living room table. Very nice, although I am a bit worried that my trusty, 1/3-as-tall orchid, which has accompagnied me from cph on the train to aalborg, and in various long-haul moving vans through europe will become jealous. But no worries, that one will for ever have a special place in my heart, at least as long as it survives my mistreatings. I am not one to favour one orchid over another.

los angeles:DAY/NIGHT