Winter Break

It's been a while since I last updated, probably because not much has been going on. Just normal school stuff.

So far, his school year has been fun and happy. I live in Okada (my freshman dorm), and spend a lot of time on school projects (I'm a product design major), and a lot of time with my taiko friends. This year I'm one of the administrative directors of taiko, which means I get to reserve retreat houses for the weekend, make sure meetings are efficient, etc. It's a lot of fun, and the room I share with Vicca has become something of a hub for taiko people to pass through and hang out. I've been documenting of some of the ridiculous and awesome things we do in there, including but not limited to studio photoshoots of our stuffed animals, decorating the walls crazy, and making bananas sing.







My favorite class this quarter was the product design class Formgiving, which was basically intro to industrial design. We had three projects, the first of which was to pick a famous brand, analyze it, and design a hammer in its style. I took Vicca's suggestion and chose Bang and Olufsen, makers of high-end speakers, phones, and TVs (you may have seen their stuff in The Devil Wears Prada, or The Dark Knight). My rendering looked like this:



And my sculpted model (my first attempt at carving anything) didn't turn out as well. I'm going to sand off the paint and refine it when I get the chance. I've named him Sparky.



My second project was to analyze the design language of a famous designer and to make a functioning pen in his/her style. I chose Joerg Gaetjens, who applies a witty and useful sense of humor in his product designs. He was kind enough to e-mail me some of his insights and opinions on design when I asked him, and the resulting pen looks like this:



The idea is based on the observation that a lot of people, even adults, chew on the tips of their pens, which end up looking mangled and gross. This pen maintains a refined/professional appearance and comes with replaceable tips, allowing the user to maintain presentable-looking pens, to not have to give up their pen-chewing habits, and to have some degree of customization in what shape/color tips they choose. Kind of silly, but I thoroughly enjoyed making it.

My third project was to design a lamp in my own style (which was very hard to determine), a lamp that displayed some magical quality of light. I went with a bedside nightlight that could glow as you stroked it, kind of like a pet rock that responds to touch. It received critical reviews at the presentation, but I still like it. Its name is Bruno:




Other highlights of fall quarter, senior year:
- taking classes that actually interested me: color, formgiving, Japanese, and The Designer's Voice: a class that helped product design seniors like myself deal with figuring out what to do after college.
- somehow very undeservingly getting As in those classes!
- catching up with some friends I made 2 summers ago as an intern at Lunar Design, Sasha, Jonathan, and Wenson.
- taking a Charleston dance class in Palo Alto
- having lunch with the professor who taught the class, Robert Powers, and finding out that he worked in product design until his late 20s when he discovered ballroom dance! I guess it's never too late to start over if I stick with this major.
- getting to see The Matches perform live in San Francisco! They have great energy, and are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.
- visiting my friends Victoria, Melissa, and Evonne at Berkeley for pumpkin carving
- getting mildly addicted to the Twilight series. I still prefer Harry Potter.
- starting a list of things I want to do before I die, which includes many whims such as learning how to play all the instruments of a traditional rock band, and living in London.
- discovering Red Mango frozen yogurt in Palo Alto, yum! Taiko went there for our end of quarter dinner:


I've been spending winter break doing a lot of stuff. I drove from San Diego to LA on Dec. 12, to visit my friends who are still working at Imagineering, to see my friend Chris' grad show at Art Center, and to see Bernadette and Teo, the owners of the house I lived in over the summer. I've also been preparing to apply for jobs, rereading Harry Potter 6 & 7, catching up with high school friends, and writing a taiko song for our spring concert in May.

I am taking suggestions on what to change the name of this blog to, as "Janet in Japan" is no longer appropriate. I can't think of anything though. "Janet's Mundane Day-to-Day Life" doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Post me any ideas you have in the comments, I'd appreciate your help.