the earth . . . moves . . . under my feet . . .

so it is true, exciting news in england . . . E A R T H Q U A K E . . . maybe here's not so different from california after all . . .

yep, somewhere in wales the night before last, 5.4 or something scale, but supposedly felt here in foggylondontown.
i didn't notice it, but apparently some of my classmates did (i think maybe they were drunk) :)

i guess it was the biggest earthquake in the UK in 30 years or something, and was also on the news . . . which i of course do not watch! hhahaeeeh.

don't worry, nothing fell on my head and damaged my little brain. too bad really, maybe would have knocked some sense back into me!

DRL "live" exhibition

this is the pavillion being constructed at the AA as part of the DRL TEN exhibition. The DRL students are doing most of the construction, however there were some special guys with a big crane to install the steel structure yesterday. i, of course, have many opinions about this project and the exhibition we put on, but i am trying to remain positive about the excitement it does bring to the school. ;)

londoning

today i took a walk outside, down oxford street (looking for a new warm hat - as i lost my other one on a bus or something - and now they don't sell the same one anymore at H&M so i am devastated), through piccadilly circus and past trafalgar square. there was a lot of people out because the weather is warming.

i ate some lunch here by the national gallery. some people were vacuuming bread and pigeons in the square with a green hoover. strange.

DRL TEN

we have been working on putting up an exhibition and pavillion at the AA celebrating 10 years of the Design Research Lab (i'm year 11). take a look at www.aadrl.blogspot.com for recent photos of the construction. . . . . .

last night was the opening party so more pictures will come soon . . . .

v day

roses are red

violets are blue

but londsay'd be better

if you were here too

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

HAPPY VALENTINES

ooooo voo

okay skype is nothing compared to oovoo
you can video conference w/ up to 6 people at once, and even show them what is on your screen or watch a movie together or whatever.

please sign up so i can see multiple friends at once. i miss multiple friends. [of course its FREE.]

h a p p y c h a o

naaaaan, nanchao, holy crap - are you 30????

HAPPY F!n BIRTHDAY
do something crazy to celebrate!

h a p p y c h r i s t i e

and another one:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIE!!
may the beefcakes be plentiful

package of gold

i recently received a care package from nancy chao, filled with what can only be termed "survival essentials". F!

1. orbit [team] mojito gum !
2. airborne "to keep you from germy germs" !!
3. thai noodle soup !!!
4. a CD w/ nan-ish music !!!!
5. trader joe's CHAI latte !!!!! (there can be no greater gift)
6. felt 'um' bag !!!!!! www.joshjakus.com um, HOT


thank you so much! you (and the contents of the package) are amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!

new skillz

hi. so yeah, we are being quite nerdy over here at school, and for a recent one-week "diagram" assignment my team focused on some new research into arabic geometry patterns (which relate to our project site in the UAE) and used the workshop to develop some initial scripting skills. yeah! this one focused on designating heirarchies of intersection nodes and then eliminating certain lengths of lines. sounds kinda basic, vague, and silly, but it was an initial step into the land of computational geeking.

not sure what it will become, but alas, it is . . . something.

[this isn't actually what we turned in, i just think its 'prettier' for the website]

h a p p y l a u r a

there are so many birthdays !

HAPPY 28 BIRTHDAY LAURA!

go to Napa

ikea: take two [rewind]

So yeah, i went back to IKEA a week or so ago to get some additional storage items, and well, lets just say it wasn't quite as "quick and easy".

yep, after finishing my shopping, i apparently got on the wrong bus when leaving ikea - though it was the same bus stop and bus number i had taken before - and shortly found myself winding through unfamiliar streets somewhere in north london. finally, like an idiot, i asked the driver if she was going toward Tottenham Hale station, and she looked at me funny and quite rudly said just, "no."
so i got off the bus, thinking i would just catch the next one going the opposite way. of course, this was without realizing that we weren't even at a bus stop, in fact there was no bus stop or other buses to be seen! luckily, another poor ikea victim also heard me ask the driver, and had gotten off the bus behind me as well, so i was not alone.
my new friend Alex (a really nice girl from Denmark) and I then spoke breifly and decided to start walking back in the direction we'd come from to find the nearest bus stop.

well, we walked. and walked. and walked some more. no bus stops to be found. Yikes.

eventually, about 25 minutes later, we came across a small off-license were we asked the clerks where to find the nearest bus stop. they pointed us across the street and said simply "the bus stop is there." ok. cool.
except once outside, again no sign of a bus stop. so stainding there dumbly, we noticed another woman (who had apparently been in the shop behind us) signaling for us to go to the corner, just across the road. Ok.
she then signalled to us "just wait there" and so we did.
to our relief, a bus arrived about 5 minutes later, and we signalled to it and thankfully it stopped for us. apparently in north london, you just have to know where to stand, as marking the bus stops with signs is not always done. nice.
so back to ikea we went, then passing it and back to our original destination of the tube station. i finally returned home 3 hours after i had left -

not quite the nice 1 hour round-trip i was expecting - with a very sore shoulder from toting my heavy purchases through the random streets. eeee.
but the cool thing is, i met a new person, and a girl too. maybe she and i will become friends, she quite nicely gave me her number and recommended a place that might be renting rooms for cheap near my school. YAY.

and then there was sunshine

today is gorgeous outside. blue sky in london! (i know, its a shock)

i ate lunch outside. i sat [briefly] in a park. it was warm.

[I didn't have my camera with me today on the way to school, but these pictures were taken earlier this year, on similarly nice sunny days. You can see the skyline on the Thames of course, from the Millenium Bridge, and the bus pictures are taken from the top of my bus leaving Finsbury Park station (my 'hood.)]

Mr. 63

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

do something fun to celebrate!

love + miss you tons

Mrs. 60

the coolest 60-year-old i know

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

i love you

i miss you

i wish i could be there for your "surprise" party