Mr Chua vs. Faraday
Mr. Chua was my physics and chemistry tutor for all of 1.5 years. A skinny, tiny man often sporting baggy shirts in muted tones, heavyset glasses and a delicate combover that gradually undid itself by the end of class. I still credit this man for pulling me out of the depths of Physics hell and into A1 heaven in a very short amount of time. My mother, as you can imagine, is eternally grateful.
His favourite physics fairytale was of him and Mr. Michael Faraday playing chess in a giant electric metal cage, a story he used to explain the concept of electric fields to us. It was a wondrous tale with loud electric cracking noises, electric bolts, tea and biscuits, golden stopwatches and Mr. Chua leaping off the tables and chairs (sometimes he’d actually jump off table onto chairs as he told this tale for the upteenth time). The sort of tale that one could build to epic proportions with a little imagination. The Faraday cage does exist in real life of course, the principles of which have real life applications, not quite the actual venue for two eccentric men and their board game.
Thank you Mr. Chua for your fantastical tales 
Here’s a real life application, a rather jaw dropping one.
Jo VS the rock
I simply cannot begin to describe the intense childlike wonderment and profound appreciation for mother nature that filled every fibre of my being as I stood in rapture for a solid few minutes staring at, a rock. My little brain could not comprehend what was before my eyes, perfect metallic cubic structures embedded within organic rock, formed, by mother nature herself. I read the little card in front of the rock: Pyrite- Spain.
It confounded me!
I felt as if I was staring at an element from the mystical planet kypton or the like. How did such perfect structures result completely unaided by human intervention/creation? Pure natural creation! From nothing! From the earth! Where did I come from? What did it all mean? I had an existential crisis right there, while standing between rows of glass display cabinets filled with the most wonderfully curated scientific curiosities and taxidermy.
Rock sits on my beside table now, a physical reminder of the beauty and wonder of creation.
PS: Pyrite was found in Wunderkammer a little shop of scientific curiosities artefacts & ephemera. Visit if you are ever in the city, hours of fun, and who knows, you might have a smilar crisis I did right there, between the taxidermized bear and cabinet of rocks.
PPS: The top cube is perfect (ok I measured, don’t judge)! Measuring 2.2×2.2×2.2cm!
Kitteh
Used to be an ardent dog person but have grown to really appreciate cats in the last 8 years.
Having to work for their love, acceptance and trust was a huge paradigm shift from good ‘ol generally slobbery, gullible, affectionate, accepting, playful canine love.
Would still like to own a dog one day, and a cat, if the dog would allow for it
Kitteh sizes up the human
Human, you smell vile.
Well, alright then. I’ll humor you, if this makes YOU happy, human.
Gnomic Travels
One of the most handsomest gnomes, if I might say so.
Dream on
I dreamt up my dream bed, and found that it actually exists.
Tree Bed
Yours for just… $15,000 USD
Esteban was eaten!
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
One of those movies you either love or hate As is the case with most of Wes Anderson’s films
So Far:
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)- LOVE!
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)- LOVE!
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)- PASS!
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)- LOVE!
Favourite scene from A Life Aquatic is when Steve is describing the ship, the Belafonte
“This is the observation bubble, which I thought up in a dream.”
Steve Zissou comes face to face with the Jaguar Shark that ate his partner, Esteban, which, was set to Staralfur by Sigur Ros
The Laughing Gnome
Oh my Lord. David Bowie’s Laughing Gnome. The lyrics are excellent, but I’m not too sure about the chipmunk voice, gnomes should have low gruff voices, and mumble most of the time
(Own up, I’m a gnome, ain’t I right, haha)
“Haven’t you got an ‘ome to go to?”
(No, we’re gnomads)
“Didn’t they teach you to get your hair cut at school?
you look like a rolling gnome.”
(No, not at the London School of Ecognomics)
Cart before the horse
Some lovely creatures from Cart Before the Horse
At $160USD a pop (some, more), it is a fortnight’s worth of grocery money this poor student, but they are still beautiful nonetheless! Hope they’ll still be around when I am done and making proper money
Sweet Kitsch
Kitsch? On Cake? I’ve died and gone to heaven! And! with a motto that reads ‘to give people a happy feeling and a sweatable stomach with those pieces uniques!’, I love Sweety Darling even more
Magic garden
A few years ago, I had a crazy idea to build a website from scratch, this was when my ridiculous obsession with whimsical garden parties began (I haven’t quite grown out of that phase yet), an idea which never saw fruition.
I came across Alannah Hill‘s website a while back and spent a long time taking in all the details of the first two pages. Elements of her site were what I had imagined said website to look like. Gnomes! Mushrooms! Woodland critters!
Gnomes…
