horoscope of the day "Make nice with you-know-who. Because, while you may have been ready to wash your hands of this entire affair, something convinces you that all is not lost. Be very firm about what is and isn't acceptable to you, however. " --- ahh how accurate it has been for me lately. And here's my "love" horoscope - "Your hard work is paying off in a big way. You can feel more emotionally free, and you are more attractive than ever. Expect some seriously good attention in the very near future. "..... of course, I have to say I never find my "lovescope" accurate. I sure hope this one is accurate but I've given up on that now... being single for this many years has taught me one thing and one thing only -- be realistic. HAHAHAHAHA.... or daydream a lot...

anyway. I couldn't sleep too well last night. Or this morning I mean. Levi now wakes up at 7 expecting to be fed b/c of my twice a week work schedule. This sux. He bugs me and bugs me.. and there I am going in and out of my dream, being on guard and ready to smack Levi at any time... it's quite annoying. That's when I started thinking/dreaming about my model, how to improve it, what to do next, how to sharpen the idea. This is such a crucial moment, if I don't get this right then my project will just be mediocre, I want excellence and not something that's neither good nor bad. Which reminds me of that stupid requirement for Econ back in college, I got a B-, not good enough to get into the stupid econ major and not worse enough to retake (they wouldn't let me... (-_-) )... pretty retarded. But luckily, econ wasn't for me, it was way to dry.

so yeah.. concept concept concept..... how do I push it further and in the right direction? The floor plan + perspective + actual model of a space is due next wednesday... arghhh so frustrating. This course is frustrating but I like to believe the more frustration it causes in the beginning, the more rewarding it will be later. Yup...

anyway... "Mime" called out of nowhere... so I guess I might have a commercial project coming my way! I am super excited. I just gotta brush up on my building code requirement for the public space and hopefully this job will really be something that I can put on my resume. I'm just glad my name does pop into mind when people need interior design services... :)

OH hmmmmm what else. I guess I'll be baby sitting SB for two weeks! Haha... weekdays only so that's pretty cool. It'll be fun. I love SB, even more handsome than Levi... HAHAHAHAHA too funny.

like I predicted, the teacher still had something to say about my concept model. Her point is valid, don't get me wrong, but I almost feel like I could be done, right now without trying to make it too complicated. The artist I chose as my ideal client is Naoto Fukasawa. His design philosophy, in short is about intuitive designs and their relationship to the larger environment... having a "proper place". Most importantly, functional high tech products that do not say "look I'm high tech" in an obvious way. He creates objects that are simple in shape/form and are multifunctional, he redefines an object by giving it a new functionality, he takes familiar designs and spin them in a new way. People are immediately drawn to his products because there's a sense of familiarity except, we have never seen them! So he really gets into the users subconscious, we see the designs, we wonder and we explore, all based on curiosity. IT isn't something monumental, it isn't something flashy that calls for attention, it just is. It fits perfectly into any environment, and it makes you find pleasure in using them. So ultimately he wants us to appreciate the products intuitively without having to try really hard to buy into the concept. Like Mac's I-book and Powerbook, like the Ipod, they are so simply and sleek, it's really minimal functional art. And the possibilities with these simple pieces extends beyond initial expectation.

So based on that, I've created three models but really, two since one of them is really crap. Both models take the existing footprint of the building given, as well as the landscape and the sustainability issue into consideration, and applying the Artist's design principle which happens to coincide with my preferences, the end result is this-- the concept for this residential + commercial space is multifunctional living (keeping it minimal and bare), with the design organizing principle "extension". WE are talking about extending horizontally, vertically, stretching beyond what appears to be the boundary and pushing/extending the functionality of each and every single space. The interior space's function spills over to the outdoors (to take advantage of the beautiful site in the woods), the building's opening (windows in traditional and untraditional shapes) allows us to extend our horizon and perspective from the inside while letting the natural light in, which would create interesting shadows depending on the time of the day.

Given that, the TA recommended me to push my design even further even though the idea is there, the concept is there (fits in with the site plan, the given requirement which is basically "sustainability", and the Artist's profile), and the design is there. She said something like "yeah it is pretty much there in fact you can just wrap it up and even submit it for the competition next week", however she still wants me to make it more abstract since Naoto tends to design something by referencing something else. So the challenge is how do I make the house look not like a house, that when the guests approach this commercial/residential space they are not immediately confronted by a "House". And how do I play with the guests subconscious the way that Naoto Fukasawa would with this product designs. This is tough, I really want to surpass myself in my initial approach and design, not to mention surpass everyone else in class... but the question is HOW once again. I'm constantly asking myself questions and then trying to find the solution, I suppose this is why I enjoy this so much, the whole process of discovery and redefining things in order to arrive at the final answer... Challenging but fun.

I guess I will have to figure something out soon because another model of a room in concrete form is due next week, plus a floor plan + some drawings. This is going to be crazy!!!! And then there's the midterm presentation... sigh, tough.