the machine takes all

an image, of the school we were working on for 2 weeks. not a very descriptive image but well, i guess it's to do with the fact that this post is more like a rant about how life has become so intrinsically tied to the 17" screen in front of me than any other medium.

as of last year, upon entering Columbia and moving away from comfy old singapore, my entire universe seems to have migrated not to new york but rather the vitual existence of the internet, photoshop, and 3d max. i dream in CAD commands and i orientate my position with the gizmo. what seems lacking in life is real contact with anything. gone are the days of hanging out after class with close friends chatting about nonsense, ranting about the latest fantasy novel/movie/song, reading out corny poetry hastily written during classes, role-playing silly characters we've invented, drawing, and day-dreaming in trees that we've so carefully named. gone are the days of lazy hazy first love and talking about the future without really imagining it could be just round the corner.

i've been absorbed into this architectural world of appearance, function and style. but none of this seems to take on the immediacy of experience. the days of my young life spill into this virtual blur, the endless hours spent obssessing about form and theory, trying to make sense of language and aesthetics. and yet despite the involvement of my work with the lives of people, none of this really requires real contact with people. the more fantastical, the more polished, the more inventive or well-coordinated the design my imagination can dream up, the better.

as my laptop's starting to slow with much use, i'm dreading the format i have to take it through, having to sort out the backups, re-install the programs. i miss those days when i used to weigh alot less, electronically speaking.