Victoria in May [brrrrr]

We've been in Victoria for a few days for a memorial ceremony for my Grannie and a graduation ceremony for Joel's mother. I've been sick nearly the entire time and the rest I've been laying out the memorial programs, getting a garden ready for the memorial reception and coordinating food and other logistics. At the end of each day I've been asleep on my feet. It's madness. Hard to even remember to eat. I've had a few dear friends come over to help which has just been a godsend (I love you girls).

I just can't get over that it's about the same temperature as it was when I left here in January. It's supposed to be the coldest "Spring" on record. I really know how to pick my times to visit. I am enjoying HOT coffee and the constant companionship of a space heater that is thankfully on wheels and I'm able to just roll it along everywhere I am. 

(Online) schools's out!

Package design final project ready for submission

My spring semester is finally over and I'm trying to turn my nights back into a time to sleep in my bed rather than being slumped over my laptop. It's been a really interesting experiment to do school 100% online and to be doing 4th year design classes at that.

My school, like most of the big American design schools, operates on the philosophy that successful designers need to be able to operate under extreme duress for long periods of time. The full time work load is usually 70+ hours a week of homework with often tyrannical instructors at the helm hoping to emulate the initiation they themselves went through in the industry back in the 70s. Very few students make it out the other end and that's the whole point of the process.

Taking my course load down to 3 classes and being online has really changed this experience. The online teachers are more organized and conscientious because everything they do and say is recorded.  The online students are older and more likely to question authority. I wish I'd made the switch a while ago. Even though it's less social, it's a healthier learning environment for me and I'm happy to keep doing this for another year.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Singapore?

Last night Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (At Worlds End) was on TV. I had totally forgotten that it was set in Singapore. So due to the fact that I am up to my neck in final projects which are all due tomorrow, this post will be hosted by faux Singaporean pirates:

Weather and Widgits

Weather reports for Singapore and (especially) my mac weather widget are completely useless. Just because some part of the island may be getting struck by lightening at say 4:30pm for an hour, it's officially a stormy day. The mac widget updates with the reality once a day is past so it perpetually looks like we just had a great day and now we're heading into six days of storms. Let me translate the above forecast: expect it to actually be hotter than speculated every day and sunny or hazy with a chance of flash thunderstorm at random. Repeat.

TWG - The legend, the tea

TWG is an ultra high end tea shop with a location on the Second Floor or the Ion Centre (near the Dior and Harry Winston). Despite its shopping mall location, TWG is a tiny oasis of old world quaintness with furnishings and packaging reminiscent of the East India Trading Company and colonialism.