The air conditioned bed

There’s a new alternative to air conditioning your rooms. It claims to be more environmental-friendly.

 Read more about the Kuchofuku’ A/C bed @ Treehugger.

There have been so many architectural strategies and adaptations for dealing with heating/cooling of buildings. Indigenous building types show really inventive ways in keeping the building cool, almost without exception.

The AC-mania (in addition to the trend of mass-produced pre-fabricated houses that are not necessarily designed by architects) tends to ignore all the possibilities natural cooling. The ‘modern’ houses in temperate climates no longer have open porches that allow breezes and keep out the direct sunlight.

But in reality, what would we (especially KLites, or rather, Malaysians) do without air-conditioning? Start swearing in Hokkien kua…? 

My bedroom’s naturally ventilated back home in Klang, but I admit I’ll definitely start complaining if there isn’t a functioning AC in my car (or the restaurants or  the cinema or the shopping mall) and people start smelling foul. So much for my environmentalist pledge hor! Heheh…  

The truth is, how much more environmental-friendly can the AC bed be? What’s the difference between mechanically cooling your room vs. cooling your bed wor?

But of course, if you really have to air condition something, then I guess the AC bed can get rid of aesthetic problems like this:

Or you could simply opt for ceiling fans. Natural ventilation’s definitely cheaper and much more environmental-friendly.

New Liveeism pledge for all of you: We should ALL return to naturally ventilated homes. Just look at my uncle’s ingenious design if you are not convinced.

Read more about his home.

If you don’t know how to do that, you could always commission me to design your home. I’ll be graduating end of 2009. (Okay la okay la, if you cannot wait till 2009, then commission my uncle lor! ) Muahahaha!

So it’s back to my Architorture Session 2 tomorrow!

How I ended Studio this session

End of my very first studio in UNSW.

Had been an eventful one, with Dijana as my tutor. Didn’t turn out as bad as how I thought it would have been. Can still remember my first impression of her, totally PuanNor-ish. Being PuanNor-ish isn’t exactly a badthing btw (because I know a few people who misses her badly here from Sydney heheh) , but she used to give me a pretty bad time in Studio 4.

Anyway Dijana turned out to be super-supportive of my scheme, although she didn’t quite like it initially. She said she likes how it turns out eventually. Hahahah, typical for Liveeism: “You like my work, I also like you lah!” Same rule would apply to Puan Nor: “You don’t like my work, I duwan friend you lah!” Mwahahahaha the Evilness! Plus, the people@Taylor’s lost two of my fave projects: “super duwan friend them lah”.

*****

Anyway back to my topic. I said my Studio this session has been an eventful one, and that’s because:

1. My first conceptual model was destroyed when (Fuikiat and) I got mugged in our first month in Sydney. In the end, I had to fully-utilize the few (ugly) photos that was left of my poor model.
2. I worked pretty hard for my initial scheme proposal. Dijana said “You have a BIG problem, but a GOOD one.” I have a big problem? But a good one? What the heck does that mean?! She left me totally confused and uninspired.
3. The Great Creativity Slump. I had three totally uninspiring weeks. Every week I brought my stuff to the Studio and Dijana keep asking me to reverse my progress. And then left me more confused and uninspired.
4. I insisted on keeping (most parts of) my ideas, and of course develop them lor! Had some pretty bad times with Dijana. But they turned out fine, I guess she finally got it. And she became really supportive, giving me useful feedbacks and suggestions, and I super-appreciate that!
5. I fell REALLY sick in the final week. Fever, flu, migraine, sorethroat, peeling skin, super dry lips — aiyah every scary thing la, all came at once, at the wrong time. Despite the drowsiness (and despite having Fuikiat and Mom and Dad and Sis and Cher and Wenliang and Liseong constantly telling me I need more rest) I pulled all-nighters all week and came up with my final (reasonably okay) presentation.
6. The extremely-strong wind almost killed me (and my poor model!)  on the Final Presentation Day. I swear I was swept off my feet for a few moments. Hit the handrail a couple of times, and I was thinking “Oh no, don’t kill me on my final day!” Why don’t kill me sooner, then I didn’t even have to endure all the sickness to complete the stuff.
   Fuhhh, fortunately, I survived. But my faithful umbrella died. And Fuikiat’s A1 boards got blown off far far farrrr away after the presentation. Extremely farnee!
7. I came home to get changed to prepare to go for the Student Exhibition later that evening. But when I was home, I had to sit on my bed for a moment. And the next thing I know, I woke up to find out that I missed the Exhibition and an extremely delicious Steam Fish for dinner!

And that was how I ended my Studio this session. Quite potong steam right? Especially the “extremely delicious Steam Fish for dinner” part. Ish!

But Yayyyy it’s finally over! I still have an essay for my elective due next Friday and a Tech 5 exam on June 20th, but who cares la… Go shopping tomorrow first, that’s far more important! Btw my refrigerator’s super empty now, haven’t had time for grocery shopping for quite some time already…

Shall update on my final project after I officially end this session!

P/s: Mom & everyone else back home… I’m feeling alot better already! Don’t worry!

*****

Anyway I can’t wait for my Melbourne trip! I miss Nads and Kwokkeong and Melvin and Weikit loadsssss… Those guys used to make my Architorture life much more bearable! Plus, it will be my “ex-lougong” Kyle’s birthday when i get there… WEeeeeEEee!

The Happiness Dementia Syndrome, HDS

I didn’t realize that I haven’t been smiling as much as I used to do. It’s not that I’m unhappy, it’s just that I forgot to be happy. I guess it is easy to forget the pleasures of life when you get caught up in the hectic city (Oh, I mean KL).

 I used to wonder why noone smiles back at me when I smile at them. I know I’m a stranger but is it not normal for me to smile at you if our eyes meet? Or do I look like I have the capability to kidnap you? Yeah, but anyways, I’ve got that figured out. It is easy to forget to be happy when you work in KL. I call it the Happiness Dementia Syndrome.

But that’s fine now, because my MC is doing me good. Yeah peeps, if I haven’t had you posted – I have dislocated my knee again, the same right knee. That happened last week, but let’s not talk about that now, because that would remind me of something ‘else’ that caused me to forget to be happy.

Anyway, I have a  new friend.

  

Baybee bought him for me as a get-well gift to remind me to smile. I have uncreatively named him Mou-mou the 4th (毛毛 as in Hairy Furry) – after two other soft toys and a cactus. He costs only RM4.90 but he reminds me to be happy. Ahh, talk about the simple pleasures of life!
(*Note that I have a pepper spray, don’t even think of harming me!)

***

Anyway, back to the syndrome. Here’s how to recognize the signs of Happiness Dementia Syndrome (HDS):

1. Consider the company background. Is there a background of HDS? The syndrome is often a hereditary predisposition in members of the same company.
2. Look for signs of confusion. Is the person having problems with telling the time? Does he or she get mixed up and constantly thinks it is 6pm?
3. Ignore Step 2 if there is undiagnosed hearing or vision loss. These may interfere a person’s ability to communicate effectively, and can make a person seem more confused than he or she really is.
4. Watch for mood changes, irritability or emotional agitation. Often, ppl in the early stages of HDS are easily disturbed and can get very defensive when they sense (or imagine) queue-cutting at train stations or insufficiency of parking bays at the nearest lot.
5. Also, look out  for physical coordination problems and physical confusion. Ppl with this syndrome has difficulties stopping at red lights during the rush hour even if their mind tells them to stop.
6. Does the person walk like he or she may snap at any moment? This may be caused by their defensiveness, as mentioned in Step 4. They believe that by looking like a psycho, other psychos wouldn’t bother them.
7. Again, watch the person walk. Ppl with the HDS usually walks with incredible speed, ignoring (or getting rid) of everything that comes his or her way.
8. Every language has a word for ‘nutcase’. It is very likely that the person knows at least one (and usually, more than one) of the expression for that word.

So, now that you know I have such deep understanding for the syndrome, you can always reach me for help. Because I am a newly-recovered HDS patient, or maybe just because I am plain bored in the hospital.

Anyway, you could treat these patients with extra TLC (tender loving care) or simply make sure they tune in to Rudy & JJ on Hitz FM every morning on their way to work. That worked for me… (I *heart* my Sony Ericsson W700i hp walkman!) 

P/S: Oh, if you are a HDS patient, and happen to be in the architecture field… do consider this ‘Architecture Sucks’ T-shirt Dave blogged about recently..

On apologies and much more.

People are telling me that I am over-saying phrases like ‘Thank you’ or ‘Please’ or ‘Sorry’. Am I really? Okay, that may be true to a certain extent but I really mean them when i say the words. Honestly, I never thought of myself as a person who goes that extra mile to be ‘polite’ because sometimes I find some people who tries too hard pretty annoying.

But then again, I once came across this one person who tried to be as invisible as possible. I would have thought it was her job requirement to be unobtrusive. She apologized for interrupting to ask a question or a favor when she wasn’t even interrupting at all. When people bump into her when she was standing somewhere first, she would (almost) jump and back up and say “Sorry!”.

I like her, she looks like a very nice person. It’s always easy to make her smile or laugh but when people do try to humour her, she always ended up apologizing for laughing out loud. I always hear her greeting people with “Excuse me” rather than “Hello” (I really wonder how she would start a conversation on the phone!) It was almost as though she was apologetic for her very existence.

Sometimes I have the urge to go up to her and ask if she was taught to walk with her head down in kindergarten. Had some evil person broken her self-confidence and pushed her into such submission? Or was it just out of habit that she apologized without even questioning why she was doing so?

***

On contrary of how some people think of me, I remember some others that criticised me for being ungrateful. For choosing to not stay at home with my family. For being judgemental and defensive when it comes to certain stuff. For being angry at the things that happened back at home. And even for taking up Architecture.

They say I should accept how things just wouldn’t go my way. That I am to accept all that others have planned for my future on my behalf. That I shouldn’t be as rebellious as I am now. Right, I guess they simply don’t like me for the way I just am.

I have tried (until not so long ago) to be the nice girl that everyone adores. I did things to the standards of the norm to please the people around me. I assumed that Life would make things better for me if everyone else agrees to my conducts. But now that I have grown up (older, not taller!) a little, I realize that this is a stupid trap I set up for myself. It is utterly tiring, and it still doesn’t guarantee that others would agree.

So now, don’t expect me to come apologizing for not being the girl you expect me to be. I know myself better than these people, and I don’t live my life for them. This is my life, so I take charge of everything that I do for myself. And all I want to do is to be true to myself. I am me, so just take me or leave me.

So here I would like to remind myself, as I wish to remind you:
AND I know announce the first six rules of Liveeism:
1. Don’t apologize for your existence.
2. Don’t beg people’s pardon.
3. Don’t step back just to let other’s take advantage of you.
4. Don’t pity yourself.
5. Do speak the truth for yourself.
6. Do live your life for yourself.

Disclaimer:
Don’t get me wrong. I am still pretty much the same girl that you have known all the while, just more rational now. (But I still apologize to the furniture when i bump into it) Yeah I know I’m weird but hey, weirdness only makes me human.