Sunday, 31 December 2006
Friday, 29 December 2006
Yearend Reflections
Dec. 29, 2006
(Last day on the job. Marella - a good friend and confidante, is flying off to DC)
One of my dad's favorite quotable quotes is how people are like mango trees... and how we don't bear fruit unless we are pruned, trimmed, hacked and burned... pushed to our knees.
After several consecutive years of breakneck growth, achievement and fulfilment, 2006 was a year when I got pruned/hacked. It's been a humbling experience to go through a virtual reset of my life.
From being a college senior, to a corporate salt mine freshman.
To come from a small design firm (where I was at least relevant to things), to a large real-estate corporation (where I am merely a replacable automaton in the large machine)...
To make hard decisions and to have them backfire on you and not get the result you've been aiming for...
To see many of your good friends and peers move and get opportunities abroad, while I prioritize my local internship...
To be an idealistic kid in the middle of a sea of people, just making a living... and to realize the luxury of believing in something in the midst of the harsh realities of life...
To be an idealistic kid, eager to make a change... and to be pushed down by the circumstances...
To hold people/organizations in such high regard, and get betrayed by the system.
To realize that you don't have the leverage...
To see your old man- and by extension, yourself get shunned by big corporate clients...
To want something, work for it, and not get it.
To love and let go... and to long in your solitude...
To find God, and stumble so many times because of your weakness...
If you're one of the rare multiply netizens who'd drop by to read my blog, you've probably noticed the waves of angst in the links.
I learned a lot. I've been humbled. And I hope this makes me a better person.
Cheers to 2006. Thank God its over. It has woven steel into my nerves, and strengthened my resolve.
2007 will be a pivotal year. I hope that 2006 has prepared me well for it.
(Last day on the job. Marella - a good friend and confidante, is flying off to DC)
One of my dad's favorite quotable quotes is how people are like mango trees... and how we don't bear fruit unless we are pruned, trimmed, hacked and burned... pushed to our knees.
After several consecutive years of breakneck growth, achievement and fulfilment, 2006 was a year when I got pruned/hacked. It's been a humbling experience to go through a virtual reset of my life.
From being a college senior, to a corporate salt mine freshman.
To come from a small design firm (where I was at least relevant to things), to a large real-estate corporation (where I am merely a replacable automaton in the large machine)...
To make hard decisions and to have them backfire on you and not get the result you've been aiming for...
To see many of your good friends and peers move and get opportunities abroad, while I prioritize my local internship...
To be an idealistic kid in the middle of a sea of people, just making a living... and to realize the luxury of believing in something in the midst of the harsh realities of life...
To be an idealistic kid, eager to make a change... and to be pushed down by the circumstances...
To hold people/organizations in such high regard, and get betrayed by the system.
To realize that you don't have the leverage...
To see your old man- and by extension, yourself get shunned by big corporate clients...
To want something, work for it, and not get it.
To love and let go... and to long in your solitude...
To find God, and stumble so many times because of your weakness...
If you're one of the rare multiply netizens who'd drop by to read my blog, you've probably noticed the waves of angst in the links.
I learned a lot. I've been humbled. And I hope this makes me a better person.
Cheers to 2006. Thank God its over. It has woven steel into my nerves, and strengthened my resolve.
2007 will be a pivotal year. I hope that 2006 has prepared me well for it.
Thursday, 28 December 2006
City Manifesto
The three red lights blink
He follows to and from the east
as she weaves through
in the rush of the moment
forgetting his identity
yet she leads him back
and helps him find it
The three red lights flare
at his teary eyes
as he remembers the places
from the city to the suburbs
from the city to the hills
and canyons on its outskirts
Manila
Ortigas
Cainta
Quezon
Alabang
Tagaytay
Paranaque
Dubai?
Singapore?
Hong Kong?
San Francisco?
Washington DC
Adventure or escape?
constriction and release
each curb and corner
each encounter
liberates and frees
The bondage of asphalt pavement
gives way
to the freedom of the runway
As the city turns
May she find her place
in the grand scheme of things
The city found me
and my connection with it
continues and thrives
as I long to grow and
build on my foundations
and maybe some day
find the city
and help build her
Nonetheless, cities are abound
and will never be in short supply
for the waves of builders like me;
but none can ever be
my emerald city
glowing in the night
fleeting, ephemeral
eternal in my memory
Sunday, 24 December 2006
Saturday, 23 December 2006
Thursday, 21 December 2006
You know you're an arch./student when ...
1. ...the alarm clock tells you when to go to sleep.
2. ...you're not ashamed of drooling in class anymore, especially in the
Structures lecture.
3. ...you can distinguish tastes of various glues better than a french wine taster.
4. ...you CELEBRATE space and OBSERVE your birthday.
5. ...coffee and cokes are tools, not treats.
6. ...people get nauseous just by smelling your caffeine breath.
7. ...you get surprised when you see a new building in your school.
8. ...you think it's possible to CREATE space.
9. ...you've slept more than 20 hours non-stop in a single weekend.
10. ...you fight with inanimate objects.
11.... you've fallen asleep in the washroom.
12. .you're brother or sister thinks he or she is an only child.
13. ...you've listened to all your CDs and cassettes in less than 48 hours.
14. ...you're not seen in public.
15. ...you lose your house keys for a weekend you don't even notice.
16. ...you've brushed your teeth and washed your hair in the school's
washroom.
17. ...you've discovered the benefits of having none or very short hair.
You've started to appreciate inheriting baldness.
18. ...you've used an entire roll of film to photograph the sidewalk.
19. ...you know the exact time the vending machines are refilled.
20. ...you always carry your deodorant.
21. ...you become excellent at recycling when making models.
22. ...when you try to communicate, you make a continuous and monotonous
whine.
23. ...you've danced a fav club dance number with excellent
choreography at 3 am and without a single drop of alcohol in your body.
24. ...you take notes and messages with a radiograph and colour markers.
25. ...you combine breakfast, lunch and dinner into one single meal.
26. ...you see holidays only as extra sleeping time.
27. ...you've got more photographs of buildings than of actual people.
28....you've taken your girlfriend(boyfriend)on a date to a construction site.
29. ...you've realized that French curves are not that exciting.
30. ..you can live without human contact, food or daylight, but if you can't
print. it's chaos.
31... when youre being shown pictures of a trip, you ask what the human
scale is.
32. ...you can use Photoshop, Illustrator and make a web page, but you don't know how to use Excel.
33. ...You refer to great architects (dead or alive) by their first name, as
if you knew them.(Frank, Corbu, Mies, Norman...)
34. ...you make numerous photocopies that you haven't read yet.
any additions ?
2. ...you're not ashamed of drooling in class anymore, especially in the
Structures lecture.
3. ...you can distinguish tastes of various glues better than a french wine taster.
4. ...you CELEBRATE space and OBSERVE your birthday.
5. ...coffee and cokes are tools, not treats.
6. ...people get nauseous just by smelling your caffeine breath.
7. ...you get surprised when you see a new building in your school.
8. ...you think it's possible to CREATE space.
9. ...you've slept more than 20 hours non-stop in a single weekend.
10. ...you fight with inanimate objects.
11.... you've fallen asleep in the washroom.
12. .you're brother or sister thinks he or she is an only child.
13. ...you've listened to all your CDs and cassettes in less than 48 hours.
14. ...you're not seen in public.
15. ...you lose your house keys for a weekend you don't even notice.
16. ...you've brushed your teeth and washed your hair in the school's
washroom.
17. ...you've discovered the benefits of having none or very short hair.
You've started to appreciate inheriting baldness.
18. ...you've used an entire roll of film to photograph the sidewalk.
19. ...you know the exact time the vending machines are refilled.
20. ...you always carry your deodorant.
21. ...you become excellent at recycling when making models.
22. ...when you try to communicate, you make a continuous and monotonous
whine.
23. ...you've danced a fav club dance number with excellent
choreography at 3 am and without a single drop of alcohol in your body.
24. ...you take notes and messages with a radiograph and colour markers.
25. ...you combine breakfast, lunch and dinner into one single meal.
26. ...you see holidays only as extra sleeping time.
27. ...you've got more photographs of buildings than of actual people.
28....you've taken your girlfriend(boyfriend)on a date to a construction site.
29. ...you've realized that French curves are not that exciting.
30. ..you can live without human contact, food or daylight, but if you can't
print. it's chaos.
31... when youre being shown pictures of a trip, you ask what the human
scale is.
32. ...you can use Photoshop, Illustrator and make a web page, but you don't know how to use Excel.
33. ...You refer to great architects (dead or alive) by their first name, as
if you knew them.(Frank, Corbu, Mies, Norman...)
34. ...you make numerous photocopies that you haven't read yet.
any additions ?
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