HOMEWARDBOUND

I can't believe i'm going home in a month! this is probably the longest i've ever been away from home, one year on end. the only thing between me and home now is the master's dissertation which will define the next stages of my life in many important ways if it hasn't already. can't wait to get settled down and not have to live out of the suitcase again. Things will feel permanent . Yes, that's the word. I'll build my own collections of books and magazines, put posters and pictures up on the walls, organize my music and photo on my macbook. pimp out the interfact of my blogs. And basically do things i've always put off. More like putting the things that already exist into perspective than starting something new. one year goes so quick.

Oh well.

A few weeks ago I received an email from a magazine I sent my application to saying that they were interested in my application and had been trying to contact me to come in for a chat. Unsuccessfully of course. To which I replied, what an unfortunate lapse of time (read: fate) as I'm already in another country doing what I think is right for me. Man if only she had sent out that email a few weeks earlier our paths would have crossed. To which she replied, it's okay, you can still try and send in some writing/reviews seeing as London has a vibrant art&design scene. I think she's also put me on their staff email list, because I got newsfeeds on events and such. To be honest, I would love to work here rather than Wallpaper* since I appreciate its relative solid focus on art&design while Wallpaper* caters significantly to the international jetsetting elite. Plus it's a bilingual magazine and of course I write so much better in English. Below is a newsclip of an event co-sponsored by the magazine and other bodies that I received in my email. Oh well, i guess.

Midsummer night's dream

At the moment, i'm going through my Gmail labels and deleting, one by one, all the folders i nicely designated for each ibank i was in the interview process with last year. Some of them were old and particularly active (e.g Deutsche Bank, Bain, Citi) while others were plain empty, meaning i was intending to apply but decided against it (e.g. HSBC, Societe Generale, ABN-Amro). This time last year, I was freshly finished with the Duke language program in Beijing, fluent in conversational Mandarin, 5 kg fatter, and was about to kick start my last year at Brown. On top buying new books, shopping classes and decorating my new personal space (2nd flr Andrews Hall), i made it a point to make time for prepping for the forthcoming finance interviews. i was following business/econ news closely (and make no mistake, i honestly enjoyed doing it - one of the few good habits i've had since high school years). i logged on to their websites every night. in fact i was this close to bringing myself to cramming accounting ratios and endless finance formulae. i ordered a tailor-made business suit and firmly decided that i would wear the babyblue dress shirt to the interviews instead of the white one (Express Men, 2 for $55) because i thought it enhanced the overall tone of my navy blue suit and my dark blue silk tie. and the modest scent of Euphoria by Calvin Klein.

i like it how things always have a funny way of working out and how the hand of Fate is ever so fickle. this is the only kind of moment when the spiritual side of me begins to think about the possible existence of the higher power, who i shall for now call NoAccident, not God. (there's no accident, according to Freud).

here i am, one year goes by quick. i'm now looking at class schedules of my master's program next year and getting pretty excited about the next 12 months. Term1 looks okay (although what's devilishly wrong with the schedule planner who deems it appropriate to squeeze in a seven-hour block on Tuesdays?!?!!?!?!). Term2 is the most obnoxious (there's this Urban Design studio period that runs from 2PM to 6PM on top of other stuff). Term3 is the "calm before storm" recovery period, cos i only have classes (projects) on Tuesdays. that said, 10Am - 6PM. WHAT. Term4 is the ultimate nightmare of my educational life, period. Zero classes, but i need to produce a 10,000 word "dissertation in planning" (excluding tables, graphic presentation, and design component) that is worthy of a Master's Degree. TA DAH! VOMIT CAN I?! If the Bartlett's exchange program works out, I hope to spend Term4 writing this masterpiece either in Cambridge, MA or Berkeley, CA. This is my set short-term plan, i think. The preamble of the life of a young adult. always mildly confused but decidedly transcontinental.

se7enteen

to those who said life starts at seventeen, it really does.

Wish listed

If there's one thing i absolutely HATE about living in Bangkok is its notorious traffic. owing to poor planning, ultra fast growth, in-migration or whatever, getting around in the city gets more and more hideous with each passing year. yesterday on my way back from Central Ladprao I got stuck in a cab which in turn was stuck among other cars on the street for NO REASON. ok, there may have been some reason. it was 6PM, hence rush hour blah blah blah. but isn't it ABSURD that in 30 minutes we couldn't move from point A to point B which was literally 20 meters in length i kid you not! all i could do was listen to the chaffeur bitching mindlessly and watch the meter go up from 53 baht to 73 baht. a distance of 20 meters in some 30 minutes are you SERIOUS? it normally costs me 65-70 baht to get from there to here but last night i had to pay 103 baht. it's not so much the money as the general ridiculousness of the situation that made me flip.

Solution? I need to buy a car. And to sound absurdly bourgeois and disgust communists, socialists, and Buddhists alike, I need a BWM. yay euro cars. so i checked the price tag on www.bmw.co.th. the cheapest model is BWM 3 Series Sedan which is graciously priced at, can i have some drum roll, THB 2,400,000. Dead. That means, if i succeed in hunting down the world's most generous donor (i.e. my parents) and make them pay the highest down payment of 30% of the original price, I would only need to pay the rest of 2,400,000 - 719,700 = 1,680,000ish. To make the figure less horrendous and myself less likely to faint, i should do the longest installment payment for oh god 60 months (5 years?!). And that will boil down to... 33,446 baht per month (VAT included). And where do i find this appalling amount on a monthly basis you tell me!

But seriously can you find a better looking car? I thought I would eventually get a black or greyish one but I've seen too many of those in the streets of Bangkok already and of course i want to be different! Look at the sparkling smoky varnish and the sleek design. if it is not the vehicular impersonation of Glamour, i dont know what is! Since a picture is worth a thousand words or so goes the saying, I'll give you three pictures and those are worth more than three thousand words still!

More than straights and bends.

The exterior of the BMW 3 Series Sedan.
One can learn a great deal about the BMW 3 Series simply by looking at it. Follow the line of the silhouette, and its remarkable power becomes tangibly evident. Rest your eyes on the individual details, and the elegance of each one reveals itself. Even when it is motionless, the short overhangs and characteristic wedge shape express sporting dynamics. But who wants to experience the BMW 3 Series Sedan only when it's standing still?

- - -

Man i'm sure the person who wrote the description was some sort of art historian.

The future is urban but what urban form will it take?

It's pretty definite. I want to be an urban professional. At this point I couldn't care less about UCL's decision mostly because I have no idea what's going on at the moment. But it's starting to dawn clearer and clearer on me that i'm not suited. It's not like I'm not meant to study Urban Design (and I don't really believe in destiny in the first place). It's more like I'm not prepared to study it. A lot of people involved in design of the built environment (a fancy term that refers to the study and practice of built space and place-making e.g. architecture, landscape, planning, etc) were surprised that I wanted to apply at all, considering that Urban Design is at the apex of the design study paramid whose base is the knowledge of architecture, landscape architecture, and planning combined - none of which I possess. That's why every graduate programme in Urban Design stipulates a first degree in such disciplines. And the fact that UCL in fact takes in a few students from other disciplines, they most likely come from engineering, environmental design, or geography. so why was i a fool to believe that i would be one of those, i still do not know. To be fair, I was vehemently forewarned by my cousin. But my dogged nature was to proud to bow.

For the past few days I've been doing research on what kind of professional studies that will allow me to become some sort of design professional (in the built environment, of course, not in textile, theatre, or jewellry.) I've learned a little more about myself. The background in the social sciences has made up a lot of me and i'm much more well-versed in this area than any other. Therefore, instead of jumping right into urban design that presupposes tremendous versatility in design and visual representation, i should look more into urban planning that calls for a balance of social policy, urban sociology, and design, the combination of which is used to turn space into place.

My family is a bit annoying. I know it was a huge mistake (though a deliberate one) to apply to one sole programme for which i am clearly underqualified. But what my family wants me to do is take the offer of any programme, do it, get a degree and come back home and be whatever fucking designer i want to be. why can't they understand how much i want and need to be trained at UCL which is the best school of architecture and planning in the UK? Ok, in architecture they might be tied with the AA, but in planning design, UCL is clear winner. But this time around, older and wiser, i'll apply to a few programmes at UCL as well as other schools. It's one thing to not compromise your standard, but if it comes down to it i need to be prepared to take the next best choice.

So yea, it's official. i'll submit a handfule of applications in october-november (sending it out in late-march or early-april is a hard learnt lesson.) But between now and then is the real world. Hello world :)

As if joblessness is not enough

Hi Napong,

I was delighted to hear from Myra Liwanag that you inquired about a Brown Club of Thailand.

Up to this point, the alumni community there has been somewhat informal.  If it were to become more formal, though, there are some interesting tools that Alumni Relations could provide to make the operation of an alumni club easier.  Last year, I met with Celia Sophonpanich ’83, and told her about some of these tools, but I think she has enough to do with BASC and is hoping for someone else to take up the idea of having a more formalized alumni club in Thailand.  With 68 alumni, a couple of events a year could be really nice!

If you would like to start something up, I would encourage you to let me know and we can get started on doing so.

I look forward to hearing from you.

All the best,

Jennifer

OMG what do i know as a fresh graduate and the youngest alumni class?! What about those 68 alums who are not only older, wiser, and also - uh - employed? not to mention tons of non-Thai Brown alums who live/work/travel in Thailand. why does the i'm looking forward to hearing from you sound particularly threatening this afternoon?