LifE iS nOt a beD of rOseS!!

People asked me, "What course am I taking?"

I answered, "Architecture."

8 out of 10 replies are, "Good luck!" =P

Now, now, do I need so much ‘luck’ to survive this course??

Okay, really, it is not easy, many of us agree. Since the very first day of semester 1, my life has completely changed. Studio is my second home, I make myself comfortable there - cookies and more cookies, cup noodles, my tumbler and a sweater, essentials to survive the doomed few nights in studio before submissions. Just in case you don’t know, (the known fact for all aki and ID students) submissions are Thursdays and Mondays WEEKLY!!! It only means, that a new exercise is given to us every week, and we are only given days to complete. When I looked at the exercises, procrastination definitely can’t exist in my mind. The ball just keeps rolling the moment it started, neither a way of stopping it, nor slowing it down. In fact, it just goes faster!!

Wow, can luck really save me?? I doubt it. What can luck do for me? Indeed, by God’s grace, exercises are submitted on time (on Monday, of course) with yea, some encouraging comments for some pieces each week, trust me, totally feels good that all sacrifices are not in vain (especially when I got one from Dr Erwin, hehe!). But of course, even if I don’t get any, doesn’t mean my effort is wasted right? It’s all a learning process. And sometimes, yea, it’s just really weird, that designs and ideas just come to the mind. Just like what Alana said, with God’s help. Ideas beyond conventional just comes like a ‘ting!’(light bulb).

Well, sound quite bad perhaps. Many friends in hall ‘pity’ us aki students?? In some ways, yea. What to do? I come back from studio for breakfast (have yet to sleep), their hair are still in a mess, well, my hair would be in a mess too. They are heading to their room, ready for sweet dreams, I will be walking out of Eusoff, lugging my bag of pens, papers, etc.

But then again, I do ‘enjoy’ every stress, DEADlines, brainDEAD… Getting out at night for photo shoots, with a friend to carry my tripod, going around campus to get good shoots. Friends to spend the night at studio with, going crazy, sleeping on tables and thanks to ZiTong, my studio has a comfy safari bed, wah…can you imagine how comfy my studio is?? Yea, not forgetting the refrigerator he left in studio too. Cool eh??? Now, aki life is not too bad right? Some enlightenment! And nice memories. More to come!

However, thanks to aki too, we, students are so broke!! PAPERS ARE SO EXPENSIVE!! And a toilet template which costs 17bucks???!! I don’t want a toilet in my plan!! And yea, the daily Macs many of us have to survive on, like anything else besides that? We might all have to eat our papers soon.

It really sounds absurd. It is really testing my endurance and interest. Have you ever had so much doubts about the course you are taking?? After all the long considerations and mental preparations, it seems like it ain’t sufficient. Oh God, help me!!!

Being ’surprised’ with the warmest ‘welcome’ into the world of Architecture in NUS, trust me, adapting into studio life isn’t hard at all. We are all getting comfortable with the environment pretty quickly, like…do we have a choice anyway??

It is just weird, why do they have such high intake, only to push us to the limit, hoping that we leave for another course. It is just unfair isn’t it?? Trust me, the statistics this year should be quite mind-boggling. There are already two in my studio who are leaving for good, I mean, that soon?? Only one week!!

I wonder how well others are coping in the university, especially those in Malaysia, many were just granted courses they don’t even know exist!! Yet, they just go ahead, study for the next four years(??), graduate, and there, out into the real world. Will they ever think maybe that course is not for them and will have to switch to another course?? Maybe yea, they did think that the course ain’t for them, but do they have to make any drastic changes? Or are they allowed to? Or does it matter to them? Just get that damn paper and start earning bucks! Is that what life is suppose to be? Is that the role of the university? Is that the ultimate purpose of studying? hmmm… Yeah, I think so. Aren’t we just missing the whole point? If that is so, am I just being dumb, paying so so much even before I start earning anything, all the DEADlines, stress, sarcastic crits, blindly trying to grasp the ball Dr Erwin threw to us, and still have doubts whether I’ll last for the next five years? Hey Dr Erwin, it is not that I don’t wanna throw the ball back to you, I can’t seem to catch it yet, or have I? And I am really not throwing it back?

I do wonder why such people exist? In a world of his own, moving around the studio, experiencing space, in a way, trying to tell us something, yet, not too willing to tell us anything. Observe, observe, observe. Then, think and feel. Then, maybe analyze and still wonder what is he trying to tell. Maybe, I know. Maybe, I don’t know. But yea, such person brings difference to this most common world, filled with common people of common goals. Which makes me think, being common, is nice, just…common, that’s all.

I need my journal!!!!! WHERE IS IT????