Get off.

Walk over to C1 and show the sketches to Sam. Get stuff down on paper.
Start work on Jordi Duff Burger designs after that.
Try concepts for CH-CH book design after.

Get off your ass now.

Your Overgrown Garden

Did I kill all the anteaters
   The anteaters from your garden
That pricked you, bothered you
   Through summer, for days on end?

Did I close that tap that ran
   Non-stop, flooding your sink
And your gorgeous little kitchen?
   Oh I had forgotten to think!

I got fumbling and looking
   You said stop and then go on
You see I wasn't thinking
   I was lost myself, I could've sworn.

Your overgrown garden
Shrieking yard
Unknown tales - Unkempt imaginations

Did I make you smile at all
Did my candle light
Light up the corner
Cleaning the musty cobwebbed stall?

Candle light in your
Overgrown garden, oh.

On Train To Greymouth

The train journey is surreal - very cosy and friendly. I wasn't entirely happy with Greymouth but the journey there and back again and the experience was amazing.

I've always been fascinated by train journeys. The idea of being in a warm enclosed space - where you share the warmth with strangers and friends you are travelling with - and watch places fly by.

Here is an excerpt from a moleskine entry whilst in the train:
This particular train journey is even more gorgeous because the train is clean - neat, cosy and has friendly Kiwi staff with a smattering of Kiwi humour (on the Captain's loudspeaker). And the view through the forests, straddling the shoulders of the mountain, driving under umbrellas of clouds, rubbing against apline and tropical forests and floating on top of green fresh rivers melted from the snowy peaks.

You pass through places of remote history and chuckle at little stories that the loudspeaker fancies you with. About their stations obscure and abandoned hotels and ghost towns.

Through the dark tunnel now.
Through an old forest later.
Through a mountains pass then,
And through to a small station where you get off to stretch yourself
And get a whiff of the cold air,
The same air on which wisps of cloud float and
Drape the collars of the mountain

And then you emerge in a valley with sparkling sun and golden towering mountains surrounding  you - and beside the train, a clear faultless lake reflecting all the glory two fold.

The Room With A View

I might inherit the room with the best view, overlooking High Street and Manchester Street that goes on and on, that blends into the buildings whose roof tops lead the eye to little houses on Cashmere Hills and the barren hills beyond. The flowers are on full bloom below and half the cafes are closing down while the bars are opening up for business.

I have been working on Julian's album all day. It is looking very fresh. I really like it. But again, that's personal taste. I could show it to someone and the other person will diss it so bad that I lose faith. Graphic Design is a feeble work, full of insecurities.

But yes, the room with the view. 

Best Quote Ever

We are kind of cowboy family you are all let out to fend yourself its yours so you got to make the most of it.
(my mum)

My Mum. The Best Quote Ever. My Mum is a true child of the Sixties and Seventies. I love her. She never uses punctuation when she chats on Facebook haha. Yes she has Facebook. She was an English teacher and for a while a Geography and History teacher. She loves Amy Lou and Joan Baez and ABBA and CCR. She now works at a social organization that gives out loan to rural indigenous women to start their local businesses (that include spice business, textile making, grocery shop, farmers’ market) so they can support their families.

News

As usual I have news again. I will most probably be the new designer for The Majestic. Nick Wakerley the former designer moves to Sydney with Abby and Zipporah leaving a vacancy - just very conveniently at the time I have just returned from Parachute back to good ol' Christchurch.

This got to be good.

How am I doing?

People always ask me how I am doing. I am not good in replying to that sort of question, because I never know how good or bad I am doing. But if people meant it objective-ly here it is:
Julian Hay's album design - COUNTING AFTERNOONS. This is a great project, probably even turning out to be one of the most fun I have ever done because it is quite big and the DNA of the project is not to be conformist. The music itself is highly complicated and hence not pop. Very theatrical. So that is also the kind of design/art direction that is demanded of it. So you won't see triangles and bikes and beaches and your elements of design that 'seem to work' with people nowadays. I have no respect for designs that are predictable. Don't get me wrong, I do respect the designers for doing what they have done. I always respect designers, no matter what they produce. But I want to also respect what they have made. So this project will be highly fun.
C1 Art Commmission - Sam asked me today at the cafe if I want to do a massive art piece for C1. Not just an art piece, mind you. But a whole WALL size art. Shit yeah! He said you don't have to if you don't want to. Haha. Well, guess what: I have to. He imagines something a bit similar to the Japanese Manga art boards on the old section of the cafe. But I am free to come up with any idea. I am extremely excited about that. C1 is the best cafe in Christchurch, the 'cool' place to be where everyone loves admitting to have been there. And to have your art fill up a space in it! Wooohoo. That is a win.
SALT Creative Convergence - Brainstorm begins tonight. Plans are: 1. Run a coolest Blog ever. 2. Art installment that involves 9 TV screens. 3. Opening Night that involves body painted dancers, an underground cave and neon lights.
CH-CH - The book I am writing on Christchurch. I am looking for publishers now. Or any smart way of publishing it and not having to go through the hassle of publishing companies because I know they take AGES to approve the manuscript and print them.
Miscellaneous - Jordi Duff Tees designs and Big Jupiter Lifestyle Group design. A bit of art lessons and music lessons now and then.
Job search - Ah, of course job looking. Not my favourite bit of life. But I suppose one's got to do what one's got to do. Did a bit of applying here and there. And I've got to update my CV too.
So now, you tell me how am I doing?

BATTLES

We think

Everybody fights battles. From the moment a person is born, he/she is doomed to a lifelong journey of battles. You cannot escape fighting battles. Knowing God (whatever that means to anybody) or apparently knowing your purpose on earth does not give you a way out of this route ridden with battles. You still have to fight them.

But... Really? Battles? Because what does a battle in life mean?

For example, a man climbs Mount Everest. He says it is such a battle to 'conquer' it. But is he really conquering it? To conquer it would mean that the mountain was against him climbing it, whereas, nothing about the mountain forbids him to to climb. The avalanches, the wind, the frost, they are just being what they are. They are not posing a challenge to the climber. They are not daring him to try and climb it. It is the person who is climbing them that labels them as 'enemies' and 'hurdles'. They are just existing. Humans have a way of making enemies when there is none just because they have to feel better about themselves.

Similarly I think in life, death is not an enemy. Sickness is not an enemy.

I mean, that's saying a lot! I don't really know. Yes, they kill a person. They bring a person down. But are they really enemies? Is death a person? Is sickness a person with motives that goes around looking for you and wanting to harm you?

So is life a battle? I think that life is just what it is. Life doesn't have a motive to bring a person down. It doesn't have a motive. It is you and I that have motives.

Do you think the mountain air and the wind that surrounded Mount Everest felt ashamed on the day that Tenzin Norgay and Edmund Hillary apparently 'conquered' the peak? Do you think they felt conquered? Nah, little fools we are. We think our emotions and our concepts of a victor and a loser are paramount. We think this makes us unique from the rest of all created beings.

I think it makes us more foolish. This idea of the winner and loser is where the idea of superior and inferior humans began.

Battles fought. Battles won. Battles lost. I don't think so. It's just life being life. Being what it is. We need to get used to the knowledge that there's more to understand than questions asked and questions answered, competition on who's better and who's worse, and most importantly that there is nothing about life to 'understand'.

Electric Guitar

I remember when I was younger, I used to think all electric guitarists were self centered, vain, narcissists who want the spotlights on them all the time. I used to hate them, and I had solid philosophy of my own to have enough reason to dislike them.

Now, after a few turns of events, I am caught in a flurry of learning exactly that: electric and lead guitar.

I never saw the reason for an electric guitar to have a slightly higher platform than the bass guitar or the drums or the keyboards. They are all musical instruments that all work together to support the song. So why the need for one guy (on the electric lead guitar) to step up from the rest and get his/her moment of exclusive fame? Why can't the bassist do it too? Why not the drummer? (Of course they do too, but proportionately only 10% of the total amount of times that the lead guitar is given chance to shine)

That is a solid philosophy and reason why I hated electric guitarists.

Now.

My favourite musicians are electric guitarists. Jack White, Bob Dylan (well he is a solo guitarist) and Jimmy Page.

I don't have a solid grounding and reason why I like electric guitar so much now (well atleast way more than I used to). But I know there is a good reason.

It's like magic. Like blood to a human being is electric guitar to music.

In music, the drums are the skeleton and body. The bass is the understanding and consciousness. And Electric guitar is the sense of progression, vertigo, speed and bewilderment. Things that you wouldn't die if you didn't have it, but things that make life more exciting. (Keyboard? Haha, who needs keyboard? haha)

--

Everything in life is philosophy. When you have your philosophy down, anyone can question you and you know why you believe in what you believe in.

Hindi

I think one of my biggest pride in life actually is being able to read and write Hindi. Well, one would be English, pretty much my life saving language because I stutter in Rongmei and take ages to write a paragraph in my own mother tongue. Finally all the slaving off in school, going to after-class tuitions, reading all the hindi books and learning all the stupid things have paid off.

I remember I bought a Teach Yourself Hindi book in Calcutta and my classmates in college laughed. Haha, who does that?

Don't get me wrong. I am terrible in hindi. I cannot understand 80% of Bollywood music songs. If hindi had the King's version and the common man's version, I speak the Naga version. But my spellings are good.

Good on you.

There are few that think they know more than an average person. Good on you. Am happy for you.

Sometimes, admittedly, I think so too. Good on me too.

A Secret

The secret to becoming and being an artist is being naive and stupid enough to believe every word you say and every thought you think.

Who the heck is going to believe you if you don't believe in yourself? Who the heck is going to listen to you if you don't listen to yourself?