A sketch of our installation for World Architecture Day (left) and an imaginary cup of hot chocolate.

I've decided I'll keep this blog. I've been using blogger for as long as I can remember and don't recall having any problems with it. So yes, I'll stay. and I'll keep updating as much as I can. For the past 7 months I couldn't decide on whether I should delete this blog and stick to Wordpress which honestly feels very foreign to me. I'm sorry, but it really kinda sucks that I have to pay 30 dollars just so i can customize my wordpress blog.

So, the semester's over in 11 days. There have been nights when we didn't get to sleep at all. To keep awake we jumped around, and did some running...in class. I'd say I've completely stopped drinking coffee for 2 months straight but then i remember having a cup 2 days ago when we had McD breakfast. dang.

Things are getting better. Holidays are coming soon. In January, Bang Wi, Ann, Siti and myself are going to Bangkok for vacation. We'll be backpacking mostly so it'll be awesome. :)

And the next couple of posts will begin with "I've decided". Because, this year's all about making decisions for me. 

Childhood Stories

I recently finished my copy of "When I Was a Kid" by Cheeming Boey.

It was a brilliant book about all the things he did when he was a kid. It inspired me to write about my stories. :) So maybe, to make up for the months of no updates I'll share some childhood stories. That'd be interesting wouldnt it?

Change is good.

(this was supposed to be a post for around the beginning of this year but then, i edited something and the date changed to today -.-)
1.

Right about now tons of people are on their blogs or Facebook, typing down their resolutions for the new year. I guess for the next few posts I'll be talking about my 2011. All the things that have happened this year that I am thankful for, lessons I've learned, people I've met, people I've missed and shall never forget. Well, that's the gist of it. And for the following blog posts, they serve as a conclusion, an ending, in parts, for my 2011, as well as a beginning, I should say, for 2012.

.................

9th December 2011

Now, I should've posted about this straight after this guy came into my life. Our lives.

About 4.30pm, weighing 2.32kg, say hello to the newest addition to the family.

Wan Daniyal Hafeez

He's exactly one month early. He's supposed to be out on the 9th of Jan. But, due to my mom's continuous increase in blood pressure, Daniyal had to come out early, for the safety of himself and my mom. I've already planned on being there with my mom when she gave birth to Daniyal. That was until they told me that they weren't going through with natural birth seeing as my mom is already 42 years old and isn't fit to do so. So, caesarean/c-section it is. My dad was the only one they let into the operating theatre. While waiting for the operation to be over we went home and got some clothes for the nights we were going to spend at the hospital.

When we saw Daniyal,he was already wrapped in his blanket. I gave him a kiss on the forehead.

And his birth was a blessing to us in a way. Alhamdulillah. He brought our family closer. I'd wake up at 5.20 in the morning for my prayer and I'd enter the living room hearing some voices. My mom and dad talking about their day, with Daniyal in my mom's arms falling asleep. They'd take turns waking up and looking after him. And when they couldn't sleep at all, they'd talk.

All these years, our family's been so used to being just the six of us. and now that Daniyal's come into our lives we're seven. The seven of us.

I'd like to remember a normal day like this when I'm sitting at my drawing table and I'm on my laptop. Mama's playing bejeweled while rocking Daniyal, who's now coming to 2 months old, to sleep.

It's a quiet Friday night, Aida and Azri are sound asleep on the sofas, Faris is, as always in his room on the computer and Abah's out at the station waiting for the tanker.

It's like a "time stands still" moment for me i guess. This is perfect.

Something I'm gonna miss one day when I get older. I'm 18 coming to 19. Say 10 years later I'm going to be looking back on a day like this on one of my worst and think about how good life was. Family in one place, everyone's healthy and doing well, I'm not stressed out and worried about anything at the moment. So, everything is perfectly fine right now. The way it should be.

Alhamdulillah.

To whoever may be reading this, have a good night. :)

Work of an artist.

There can be no limit to the extent of creativity a person can have. I'm sorry I'm no art expert, or someone that can easily interpret a message an artist is trying to portray to his viewers through his work.

Mark Jenkins, an american artist whose work I came across on Oliver Phillips' blog, has completely changed the way I look at art installations. Not the usual stuck-in-a-museum-or-exhibition-space type of sculptures. His work can be found in London, Moscow, Tokyo, even.

His sculptures are mostly(or, all?) street installations. He uses clear tape to create his sculptures. Some of which are made to look realistic enough to resemble human figures.

Jenkins' practice of street art is to use the "street as a stage" where passersby become actors.

Sounds very William Shakespeare to me. "All the world's a stage".

Imagine walking down the street seeing this:

Here are just some of his work. Enjoy the pictures.

The second one scares me a little though.

Images taken from http://xmarkjenkinsx.com/.