Welcome to Zhen's DREAM Machine...

The short of it:

Italian design. German engineering. Japanese build. Swiss precision. Swedish simplicity. American marketing. Welcome to Zhen's Dream Machine! ;) ;)

The long of it:

Italian design. (Specifically? Milan...)

German Engineering. (Call upon Swiss precision for any timing devices ;)

Japanese Build

German Quality Control hehe

Swedish simplicity/Ease of Use(...definitely no "how to manuals" out of China!!!)

American marketing/presentation/advertising campaign...just for a bit of "slick and suave", lol)

This Girl thinks GLOBAL ;)

ze world is my oyster! :D

The Search...

okay I managed to keep it almost to myself for only a few hours, lol...I suck at keeping my own secrets people like HO will be happy to know...

So I woke up having put my finger on it...

Recently I had a really strong compulsion like an amplification perhaps of my long held inner most desire to just up and go...you guys know I hate living in the city in particular this one...

So anyway apart from the clean air and space etc I realised socially I guess what I'm wanting to find in a new environment is what is hard to find in big cities perhaps a sense of "community" and a bit of a back to some old fashioned "values"! I know this could be found in church but I guess that is almost too much of a monoculture for me to be comfortable with...I guess having always been drawn to diversity, voluntary engagement with just one culture is not balanced or healthy-normal for me, or that is my perception and belief anyway...

oh P.S Dream interpreting extraoirdinaires...what does this mean? I dreamt of a very cute border collie puppy and was patting it and then another with a motherly instinct kept nipping at me.

Crazy Ideas with The Saturn Return!

So it's been "tomorrow" and then some, but I'm still feeling quarterlife crisis-y...

I guess it all comes down to being triggered- so last week there was a series of events which reminded me of human fragility, mortality etc and that life is short...and hence that we should ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS!

this thought sent me into a tailspin examining my current life, and how it is so rigid with no scope for fun that if I really think about it I feel very much like a caged bird...and long to be free as a butterfly!

I guess The Saturn Return also compels you to look at your life and question "what is really important to me"? and I realise I have a great desire to be with nature, in a natural environment and to feel free...

but in the city I really feel like a caged bird. Not only that but although this is the city I know best, I really don't feel like I belong. I guess it is like my friend who is moving to Melbourne- she went for the first time only last week but immediately thought "I'm home"...even though I knew nobody in my regional town and the general population were all retirees some decades my senior, I felt a lot more at home. True Sydneysiders just seem so ridiculously pretentious especially to those of us who regularly interact with people ex-Sydney...

So spur of the moment crazy idea...maybe I should fling aside some 'duty' for a bit and investigate my dream: I want to live off the land! or at least try it so maybe spend the summer on a farm fruitpicking(!!!)

Basically when I really dug deep asking what I want in life- the honest answer that came back was shamefully simple and very disturbing...a far cry from my big headed idealism of trying to help heal people via TCM...

Basically, all I really want is to have a cottage on a reasonably secluded rural or coastal property where clean air and beautiful space is abundant, and sit on the verandah in a rocking chair with a cup of tea, watching the gum trees sway in the breeze listening to the kookaburras laugh while the sun sets and my chickens and ducks peck and wander aimlessly...and maybe being able to walk to a desolate beach round the corner for a run with my tin tin dog and to squelch my bare feet in the wet sand and then come back to my organic veggie patch and fruit trees to pick some fresh produce in time for dinner. That's all- not too much to ask?!(!!) Somehow it feels wrong to have such self serving desires and to not have a purpose that benefits the wider community...

LOL when I read back though that...sheesh! what I want in life just shows how much of an Old Granny lives in this body!

Work Hard. Play Hard. Crash Hard.

I've been reaping the benefits of living close to school this week- it's only Tuesday and I've had two classes already finish super early so I can just come home and take a much needed luxurious nap :)...actually this is pretty dangerous cause I was so knocked out I almost missed a test -rocking up 15 minutes late!(Lucky it was purely a threshold task and not graded...)

So today the class that finished early was not mine but a student with a disability that I note-take for. It's been really strange coming back to my first tertiary roots-the class is in the area of visual communication and design theory...it's so fluffy and airy fairy I hate it now just as much as I did then =)...and it was so funny hearing the terms non-linear narrative and visual schema again LOL - good thing though I've had 10 years or so to come to terms with what these things might mean so lucky for the student my notes aren't too crap...like when I did it and it all went waaaay over my head...

Anyhow we saw a video from Design Kitchen so hilarious- it just reminds me that most of the design world is completely pretentious and narcissistic...their self promoting video ended with the premise that "only beautiful people can do beautiful design" (gag)...LoL you gotta get used to it when you get into these aesthetic fields though...

The lecture reminded me though of this COOL SITE I thought I should share since if you're not in a design field you probably weren't aware of it...check it out as it has loads of inspiring talks by experts in all different areas...with something definitely to capture your interest :)!