This morning Listy and I went to the Camberwell Sunday Flea Market again. The sky is gloomy today, heavy clouds sluggish and grey over the sky. The wind is also chilling.

It was a lovely surprise for me when I saw many people selling flowers. Two weeks ago I saw none. But there must have been around 4 stalls today selling bright colourful flowers and a range of cactus species.

Dark sky... this is around 11am btw:

The strawberries I bought at Safeway.

Labels: camberwell, flea market, gardening

Allow me to share with you all this wonderful video, a Louis Vuitton ad. The genius behind all that design is Takashi Murakami, a designer I came across while watching a documentary of Hayao Miyazaki.

These days I have been doing tons of self-learning. And every day I learn something new. I borrow books and audiovisuals from the library. I read/watch them, I study them. And I try to get inspired. The world of creativity is so interesting indeed! There is so much to explore. Back in high school I would never even think about studying if there is no test or exam. Why would I sit down and read up on say, Biology? It just wasn't part of my interest.

But this, I am really quite amazed. A lazy being such as myself to actually get into the habit of self-learning. I guess this is what's called taking responsibility of being a student (mygod, Vina!). Besides, who am I to complain? Since I was born, never have I been exposed to a library with so much valuable information! So vivid and rich. I am just absorbing all these while I still have the privilege of doing so.

And it really is quite the inspiration to break down the meaning behind an artist's creation. That LV ad for example, has quite a deep meaning behind those flower designs with smiling faces.

"I set up this studio here more than ten years ago. An industrial waste
station is directly right behind us with a small rice patch. This is a very...
unnatural environment. As I live here I find dandelions growing in the yard. A
lot of them are deformed. The air is dirty here. It's full of pollution. In this
environment dandelions still grow. They have terribly deformed flowers. Some of
them are so thin. Looking at these flowers makes me realise that, deformed or
not, plants or even we human beings still continue to live. ... ... ... ...
That's exactly why I put a smiling face on my flowers. By that, I add the
message "Look at them. Even unnatural flowers smile and strive to
live.""

-Takashi Murakami

Quoted from the DVD "Ghibli: The Miyazaki temple"

I find it quite amazing how inspiration comes to people. We all need to learn to see the things around us, think and reflect upon it. Who knows what may come up.

Yesterday I also watched Miyazaki's film Whisper of the Heart. The heroine wrote a translation of the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" but changed the lyrics to "Concrete Road". It spoke of her hometown, West Tokyo and how it's all concrete. Then I saw scenes of her walking in the town and even though yes, it is all concrete, messy and dull, there is somewhat a very beautiful, rough feel to the scenery. I loved it. Studio Ghibli does a very good job with their visuals. For if I were to see that place in real life I would probably just pass it as some kind of dirty place, but seeing it in that movie creates a deeper attachment to the setting.

Then the thought came to me that if Japan could make its city concrete roads beautiful to audiences why can't Indonesia (we have so much more concrete in our cities)? Maybe when I go home to Jakarta, hopefully, I can see the city in a whole new light. I guess grey roads, dusts, rusting walls have their own value of beauty too in a way. And my country has so much natural resources - we practically have the second highest level of biodiversity in the world! I do hope this enlightenment isn't just caused by nostalgia from our separation and I do hope it will last.

Anyway, I've written enough. My stomach is feeling a bit empty even though I had tons to eat and barely did anything today except watch videos and play Restaurant City. And I can't write very well when the tummy's lonely... Though eating some more would be a bad bad idea... Oh what to do...

Labels: Hayao Miyazaki, Louis Vuitton, Studio Ghibli, Takashi Murakami

The final bite of rich, lustrous dark chocolate. Before I took it I stared at it, scrutinizing every painstakingly minute detail. The dispersed crusts of waffle, the way the solid bar glistened under the warm yellow light.

I devoured it. Crunchy, bittersweet goodness. And as I swallowed it, thick sticky remains clung onto the walls of my throat. My head fell back and I felt a soft thud of the wall behind me. I was sitting sprawled lazily on my bed, wrapped in blankets that had my laptop on it. On the table beside me the lamp illuminated this room in a way a cluster of candles would. Soft, but strong yellow hues. They cast long, languid shadows on the wall and onto the surface of the blanket; my fingers seemingly long and ever so animated against the keyboard.

How I yearn for rain, to hear that soothing sound of solid but hollow pattering on cool glass. Though how that would even more dramatically lower the temperature I dare not imagine. The whole day my limbs are nipped - I could foresee how they would sting when bathed by hot bursts of water. And then the pain slowly abating as the skin adapts to the new temperature.

I am tired of sitting around. Tired of hearing this hushed static whenever I close my eyes. What is it anyway? That sound, that is always there no matter how silent and still, that turns out to be somewhat high-pitched when you focus on listening to it, somewhat like particles smaller than sand swaying in synchronized motion.

I feel like... holding something. Something small and fragile in my palms. Something warm, soft, and delicate. Something that would shatter if I handle it too recklessly. And with this alien thing, we would embark together somewhere isolated, maybe a harbour across the busy city. We can watch the vibrant city lights, stare aimlessly at the cars moving in hordes, masses and masses of them one after another. Busy people inside, on the telephone, going for dinner, businessmen... We would look at all the surface of things but we see more than that. We would see life happening for all those individuals, busy busy individuals.

Dinner's ready so I'll stop now. Bye

For those who haven't, you MUST watch Code Geass!!!!!

I want to complete the second season but I must refrain myself from watching too much or the Internet will be slow again. So I'm limiting myself to an episode a day (OMG). I haven't been fangirling over an anime so much since... Vampire Knight, La Corda D'oro, Chrno Crusade, Mantantei Loki Ragnarok.

I wonder if they have original artwork collection book of Code Geass here. I'd buy it. I bought Full Moon wo Sagashite artbook last time. It costed, but totally worth it.

....Yeah. I was browsing through ebay looking at Code Geass stuff. I'm becoming an otaku like sam now. Or, was I always? ;D

Labels: C.C, Code Geass, lelouch

1. learn business


2. understand music theory


3. be 49kg

=p Hey, I've always wanted to be 49kg. That would come with exercise, and did you know that my physique is really poor. I only ran a little to the station today and I already felt very tired and dizzy. Maybe for this project I should challenge myself to exercise. Don't know.

Maybe I should busk on the streets playing the violin! =DD Omg... nobody would give me money... Maybe they will... for me to stop playing. T_T

Juen said she's always wanted to cosplay... hmm me too. Since I was so young. But that would cost and I don't really want to spend that extra cash on costumes.

I wonder what everyone will be doing. Exciting =D

And that picture above is my "business card" project. Don't take the words literally, it just basically means something like an identity project. I created a meant-to-be-kennel using popsicle sticks and inside I place photos of me and animals and I write the story of each picture behind them. The pictures aren't in that photo because it was very windy when I was taking the photo and I didn't want the pictures to fly off.

If you got a sharp eye, you see familiar yellow flowers >_>

Labels: blog layout, Design Project, popsicle, popsicle house

Internet will be 'down' for the whole month so if I don't blog or I blog without any pictures, understand. Also I cannot access sites such as Facebook unless I go to other places for wireless internet. The one at home is hopelessly slow since I went pass the 'limit'. It is one week Easter holiday and I am without adequate Internet browsing speed to even open a single page. My darling Lelouch is separated from me and I wake up every morning lonely and in despair. My internet... ...


Anyway. Currently I am bored and so yeah.

Since I've had tons of time in my hands (and nothing to do), naturally, I start thinking excessively. Like how I would like to live in a completely different world. For instance, living inside the world of an anime/game.

I just thought it would be so cool if everything that exists in our world now disappears. All those existing rules, technology, nature, system, classification, race, religion, even the human form itself. If these were all to change, completely, or even just a little...

If trees had faces and legs. If there were 6 seasons in a year. If snow were red. If there were wizards and knights and orcs. If we had wings. If werewolves and vampires live amongst us. If there were giant toads. If chocobos exist. If there were multiple cities floating in the sky on clouds. If deserts were invaded by sand monsters. If we could cast magic. If there were ancient ruins guarded by gigantic guardians. If there was a city deep beneath the ocean. If mermaids and mermen invaded the oceans. If the sky could be completely purple. If we could ride on top of a gigantic bird-like monster. If we could summon. If there were weekly carnivals more scary than fun. If skeletons could dance. If we can live without having to be judged. If the world only had simple rules. If we could just reach out, grab a star, and eat it. If fairies existed.

Oh the list goes on.

If life was like playing a game.

I always wondered since I was young. I've always enjoyed reading books, watching animes, reading mangas, playing games, and thus my imagination was fed with fantasy and things unreal. And it never ever ceased to strike me, that if I could just be that character in that completely new world... how wonderful would that be.

How exciting... sigh...

And I asked myself the most difficult question of Why. Why do I long to be in that completely different world so much? Well, because it's new to me. There is much to explore.

Then my mind started to wind back. In this world I'm living in right now, isn't there still a whole lot for me to explore...? Maybe things that I've never minded before in my entire life. Like politics...history... And a weird thing about me is that I often start to like things that I hated when I was young. The word 'business' came into my mind.

Business. Will I ever start to like business? Maybe. Maybe I would like being the boss. To have a whole group of people below me knowing I'm better than them. Ha. My pride never goes away.

What if I could be another person altogether? You know, all my life I've just been me. This person that I know. With this set of skills, this interest, that heritage. If let's say I could be a man from Britain named, say, Frank, and I work as a researcher... I do things like miraculously spotting the 19th planet in the universe and then set off to the said planet as an astronaut. But I'd have to leave my wife and kids behind and after 2 months with no news, finally it was announced that I was dead since there was a leak in the space shuttle...

You know what.

I don't want to be a man.

And I certainly don't want to be middle-aged already.

I also can't be damned even if there were 100 planets in the universe. It's not like the government ever allow anyone to settle in another planet. It's not like there's even settlement. It's not like we can transport millions of people there.

But if we could.

Hmmm....

And then we would be the beginning of the planet's history. We would be the earliest to settle there. And there would be completely new kinds of architecture. One day we meet with the locals and it turns out they have wings (yay!). We inter-breed and soon almost everyone have wings. Neat stuff, those. We also have the genes to have cool hair colours like pale blue, or pink. And everyone would look like Final Fantasy characters.

How exciting!

You probably already notice I'm just ranting about my own imagination. I mean what else is there to do, sleep?? Feh.

I wish I wish I wish, that those kinds of virtual reality gadgets would be released soon where players can really enter the game world. I think I would be totally addicted though and spend half of my life in the game. Gee. BUT I REALLY REALLY WANT IT!!! Come on game developers! IT experts! Inventors! I root for you guys! Go go go!!!

Labels: cake, food, italian food, mexican food