Thursday, January 18, 2007

Photos from a visit to Chatsworth house in December, right before they shut for Christmas. Chatsworth is simply stunning. I can imagine living there centuries ago, with beautiful gardens and panaromic views. Sigh... The Revelation






This one's from Stratford, Anne Hathaway's cottage. The wooden frame beams are extremely unique!

Had a Polish Christmas eve with a Polish family at Coventry. They usually have fish for their Christmas eve dinner, really salty herring. It's nice, but I think one slice was more than enough. After that, we went for a Christmas eve service at Coventry Cathedral. The choir was fantastic, the best I've ever heard.
Christmas was the day after. I had a lovely English Christmas celebration complete with the roast turkey and Christmas cake! The only thing missing was the snow. I heard from my friend that it's due to snow next week. How very unfortunate of me to miss the snow by a week. Oh sadness!



Saturday, January 06, 2007

12 Days ... After Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,

Partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Four calling birds,

Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree. On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree!

"The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which tuned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend"
Quoting from my favourite book, 'Pride and Prejudice'
Took the meaning of the song from a source on the net because I was too lazy to type out the explanation from the booklet given at Chatsworth.
Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas (The 12 Days of Christmas)
1 True Love refers to God
2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Took the pictures on a visit to Chatsworth House. It's one of the finest stately homes, very lavish and grand. Is it exactly like you see it in Pride and Prejudice (the latest version featuring Keira Knightly). They were having the 12 Days of Christmas exhibition in the house, and I thought it was appropriate to put the pics up today simply because it's Epiphany today. And I simply love the gardens. Anyone who knows me well enough knows I like gardens a lot, but I'll put the pictures up another time ( which may mean sooner or later or never) . I had a good start to the New Year and hopefully, it will carry on throughout the year! All the best to everyone else!

Friday, December 29, 2006

The semester ended with studio presentations in room 15.9A. I still have my portfolio hand-in, mind you Right after that, was time to focus on Christmas! How exciting! Christmas tree shopping!And not to forget, Christmas decorations around the Peak. Some quite gaudy, but it's the effort that counts.

And lastly, a hearty meal with the Malaysians, many of which I've never seen before.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

of MacDonalds and Campbells

By now, you guys should have realized that if there are no posts for a long time, it jolly well means that I'm somewhere on the road. Teeheehee. Took a Virgin train on my virgin solo tour to Scotland! The moment the train crossed the border into Berwick-upon-Tweed, my gaze got fixed onto the vast North Sea. The change in landscape was simply amazing. When the train pulled into Edinburgh's Waverly station, my soul was sold. Edinburgh is lovely, lovely, lovely! Was suppose to meet one of my old schoolpal but I didn't managed to in the end, so I decided to go further north, to see Ben Nevis, to see the locks and lochs, to see the highland cattle, to see men in kilt and bagpipes, to hear the tales of the Scottish heroes, to experience the castle ruins, and to see the land of Gaels. If I could, I'd spend a lifetime here travelling around the UK.

Anyway, I shall put up photos later. I still have backdated ones from Cornwall to post. Zzzzzzz... Oh, and part 2 of my backpacking trip with Jes and Zq which we did in Aug... Hmm... no point looking back right? I'll just put up the latest ones as soon as I can. I've been busy with my Christmas shopping and baking, but the real shopping comes only during boxing day sales! I'm still waiting for the snow to fall although the temperature dropped to -2 yesterday.

Oh, and my first Christmas present arrived today. From the shopaholic queen who is the first student on SEP to return back to Singapore. She knows me too well because she got what I like and I must say, he is handsome and manly ( what do you expect from a KMT leader and the father of modern China?). Thanks CHERYL!! I love my presents a lot! Hee... a nice addition to my collection, specially from HK!

Lastly, thanks Hui Lian for the Christmas card!!! I didn't expect to receive any here.All the best for your trip to Indo. Hope you'll return to Singapore enlightened and moved by the experience, and do show me how to build a building (kinda scary having an architecture student saying that isn't it?)

Oh, and I saw that castle that was made famous in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Doune Castle . EW, does that ring a bell? Killer rabbit?

Ahh... hope everyone's having a great holiday.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

France has created a "Kafka index" that measures the complexity of a project or law against its usefulness to cut red tape.
The index - referring to Franz Kafka's The Trial, which describes one man's fight against a nightmarish bureaucracy - is a scale of one to 100 measuring how many hurdles, from forms to letters or phone calls, are needed to win state permits or aid for a project.
"It is an indicator to measure as objectively as possible the most complex procedures so that we can then simplify them"
This is what I found in Brussels. I thought it was interesting but my tutor dismissed it off as an art installation until I did more research. It's a really cool concept and it started in France. They have a Kafka building in Brussels and the index is displayed to the public. Hmm.. wonder if they'll have one in Malaysia

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Of coves, smugglers and cornish pasties



The 3 images above were taken at Land's End, the tip of Cornwall
Now, I've found a love for lighthouses. They're simply so romantic!

Oh little town of St. Ives
A sneak preview to where I went last weekend

More photos after I've cleared a pile of work. Counting down the days to Christmas!


Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Malaysia melengang, peluangnya berenggang

A digression here. It's suppose to be my SEP blog, but oh well. An article that is quite well written indeed. Now, I hope more people will come out to speak up about our country. It's about time we do something, you think? The irony is, it's not a local who wrote it. However, I'm still glad someone did. I hope this gets the ball rolling into something progressive and constructive. Looking at the state we are in now, if all those who have left the country, the good ones, the mediocre ones, the creative ones, were to return and run it, I think, we would have been one heck of a good country. It's never that easy when no one acknowledges the faults and the failures. No one speaks loud enough. We all seem to have that fear still don't we?

http://www.michaelbackman.com/

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Rememberence Day (11/11/06)

remembering the fallen
honouring the present

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

They say Brussels is having schizophrenia. I think Brussels is just young. She represents the young ones today, all confused and mixed up, interesting and energetic, and brimmed with ideas.
My trip to Brussels was greated with these. Some displayed truly high artistic talent.It started with a workshop. Everything else follows after. Never have I met such a diverse group of characters, passionate about their city and work.
The Palace of Justice, a building of controversy but I like its huge interior

Misplaced furniture?
at the flea market

A tool for generating ideas?


True to its character, the comic strips city.
A ghost town in the city. An empty administrative building
My favourite blue man

The Man of my dreams
I grew up with Tintin and Asterix.


my 2 favourite animals! Seems to be a post of my favouritesa bunch of restless people hanging out at the skating park