World Cup

FIFA World Cup Trophy.

It hasn't been the best of times in my life lately, with too many distractions keeping me away from taking care of this blog. But as the most watched and anticipated sporting event is knocking on our doors, I felt like I had to say something about it. Well, at least from an artistic point of view.


The world cup trophy is perhaps the most beautiful sports award I have ever seen. Perhaps even the most beautiful award at all. Maybe even the most amazing sculptural piece ever made. Unlike its predecessor, also known as the Jules Rimet Trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy have really stood the test of time in terms of its aesthetics, and perhaps even contributed in increasing the popularity and possibly even the status of the World Cup as the ultimate sporting event across the world. Being a sports fan generally and football particularly, nothing have ever captured me as much as the beauty of this trophy.

This significant sculptural piece was designed by Silvio Gazzaniga, who hails -as one might predict- from a nation with a strong passion to the arts, football, fashion, and even though its irrelevant, food. The Italian sculptor from Milan designed the concept and collaborated with a Milanese trophy and medal manufacturer, GDE Bertoni, in its production and are still in charge of its maintenance in behalf of FIFA. The company's other notable trophies include the UEFA champions league, UEFA cup, UEFA super cup as well as many other trophies, perhaps most notable for its beauty is the new Arabian Gulf Cup.

Where the older trophy was a representation of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, this trophy represents the "joy and greatness of the athlete in the moment of triumph". According to the artist, the shapes of two athletes are reproduced through lines that rise spirally from the base to open on top to contain the world, outlined in an amazing dynamic tension of the body of the sculpture, which symbolizes the athletes effort and exertion while expressing harmony, simplicity and peace.



The trophy at 1974 when it was first awarded.

Saudi Arabia Pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010

I haven't been a good blogger as of late. But when I saw the design for Saudi Arabia's pavilion for Shanghai expo in Arch Daily blog and the comments that followed, I started writing my comment until I noticed that it was getting a bit longer than I expected. So I decided to drop everything else and post my comment here on this blog and simply post the link to it.

The Saudi Arabia Pavilion

I am from Bahrain, not Saudi Arabia, but still from the same Arabian Gulf (or Persian Gulf as the West like to call it). It is safe to say that people from that area share the same culture, mentality, and perhaps even taste. After seeing the design of the pavilion I have to say that I thought to myself that this is a typical combination of Western complete lack of sensibility and Arabian blind eagerness and naivety. It 's a very shallow and superficial design for a pavilion. And if that reflects anything, it would reflect the shallowness and poor artistic taste of the designers rather than the values of a whole society, which many people seem to be eager and happy to say.

It is clear that the bowl (which is attracting most of the criticism) itself is not inspired from Saudi Arabia but from Chinese tradition which represent good luck, which is stated in the video. And it is supposed to be a gesture symbolizing the friendship between Saudi Arabia and China. What is supposed to reflect the Saudi culture here is the Islamic decorations on the surface of the bowl, the palm trees and tent, which, in my humble opinion, does not reflect what the pavilion is intended to display. According to the official Expo website, "The pavilion showcases the Arabian wisdom in creating wonderful city life in spite of the severe natural environment without rivers or lakes." I mean just look at the delicate details in the mashrabiyas of Jeddah and how they respond to the environmental and social needs of the society. Look at the playfulness of the bright colors of the vernacular architecture at the south of Saudi Arabia in the harsh Arabian Desert. Or you can even ponder at the magnificence of the engraved temples of Mada'in Saleh which date back to the Nabataean Kingdom. I am sure one of these architectural examples would have inspired a better pavilion design.

Mashrabiyas in Old Jeddah

UAE pavilion

I said earlier "Western lack of sensibility" because I was assuming that the pavilion was designed by some European or American firm just like Foster designed UAE's pavilion, which I liked by the way. So I tried looking up who designed the pavilion, hoping to provide the evidence for those who jumped at the opportunity at criticizing a whole culture at the sight of few pictures of this pavilion. I did run into this blog though, which says that the pavilion "is a collaboration between architects from China and Saudi Arabia". And it was at this moment that I thought to myself again, "Now how can I prove those people, who are saying nasty things about our neighbours' artistic taste, wrong?"

I decided to look up other Arab pavilions, after all I was hoping to maybe visit this expo. Unfortunately I found out that most of the other Arab pavilion were very traditional and straightforward. As if the emphasis was not on being creative in design but more on building informative miniatures of what those nations are like. Again, I thought to myself, "This is very disappointing, I am sure that Arabs are better at architectural design than this. What can I show to prove this? Other than the magnificent mosques and palaces in Andalusia, Egypt and Turkey that existed for hundred of years, which are reflections of Islamic design more than Arabic?"

I remembered my visit to Venice Art Biennale. There I encountered two Arabic pavilions, UAE and Egypt. Now these are pavilions of art works, not architecture, but good taste can manifest itself in both I guess. The UAE pavilion wasn't that interesting with its models of modern developments in Abu Dhabi. But the Egyptian pavilion was an amazing experience. So I looked up the Egyptian pavilion in the Shanghai Expo, and yet another disappointment. Yes it was what can be called "modernly" designed, but I didn't feel that it will touch the visitors the way the art pavilion in Venice did.

Egyptian pavilion

Egyptian pavilion in Venice Art Biennale

So what am I trying to get to? I guess I am trying to rationalize the hideous Saudi pavilion and here I am posting an irrelevant picture of the Egyptian pavilion from Venice Art Biennale. Some comments written about Saudis lack of taste where just simply annoying, although I have to admit that I understand why many would say such a thing in this particular instance. So I was just hoping that this post could open some people's eyes and see Saudi Arabia without the negative connotations that are associated with it in this day and age. Yet I ended up digging myself in a deeper hole. But I still stick to my initial argument that the poor pavilion design reflects the poor artistic taste of the designer, and maybe the people who gave the thumbs up for it, not the values of a whole society.

Nationalism

As I returned to Bahrain for a quick holiday, I noticed that there was a re-branding wave across the country which caught up with BTV and Batelco logos, perhaps commemorating the 10 years passed since our King came to the throne.

Amidst all the advertising boards on the highways, I was captivated by Batelco’s add near Seef Mall, which had the above picture; two hands, one red and the other white, coming together forming the flag of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The way in which the hands interlock with each other is very forceful, whenever I try it, I do have to force the knuckles through until there are no gaps. Yet the resulting bind is equally unbreakable. I almost sense that I need more force to take my hands away from each other than bring them together. Is there a political statement behind this gesture? Well Arabs generally like to bring politics in everything, so I might be reading way too far into it if I said so.

Nevertheless, the image is strikingly beautiful, whenever I pass the billboard on the highway it stays in my head throughout the journey. The brightness of the colors and the texture of the human hand’s skin made it a beautiful abstract piece of art. This is the first time that I actually saw the beauty of our national flag.

Venetian Moments

Gondola Ride: Since gondolas are one of the main symbols of Venice, I thought it would be worth it going for a ride. This enthusiastic gondolier who was eager to pose for any camera that flashed in front of him made this Venetian moment worthwhile.



Bridge of Sighs: Locally known as Ponte dei Sospiri, the bridge connects the old prisons to the Doge's palace. It is said that the name comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out of the windows of the bridge, before being taken down to their cells. During my visit, the scaffolding of restoration works on the surrounding buildings were covered with advertisements. That and the transformation of the place between day and night made this a special Venetian moment to me.




Lightly Monumental at the Egyptian Pavilion. La Biennale di Venezia - Giardini della Biennale.

The Egyptian Pavilion was the climax of my quick expedition in the Venice Art Biennale. The pavilion contained the works of self-taught Egyptian artist Ahmad Askalany and Egyptian painter, who abandoned medicine for the sake of art, Adel El Siwi. Maie Yanni, a qualified doctor who currently manages art and design ventures and promotes unknown Sudanese artists to give them international recognition and visibility, describes the pavilion's experience beautifully in this article.

She says, "Upon stepping into the Pavilion the viewer is greeted by eight monumental figures by Askalany akin to deities welcoming us into a sacred temple... The temporal dimension is emphasized by the upward structural progression. Both sculptures and paintings are monumentally big and recall the "little people" who built gigantic and great things. Thousands of years on and these magnificent historical creations still watch over us unmoved by earthquakes and the tides of change."




Moonlight (Venice, March 10, 2009). La Biennale di Venezia - Arsenale.

Created by Spencer Finch, the American's "artworks attempt to re-create his subjective impressions and scientific observations of light and color. His works take many forms, but what unites them is an attempt to transpose culturally significant or privately important moments or sites to a gallery setting."



Querini Stampalia Foundation: I saved the best for last here. This building by Carlo Scarpa is one of the many buildings that I read and heard so much about and always wanted to visit. Even though I had high expectations of it because of all the hype, the building exceeded all my expectations and was an absolute delight and the highlight of my trip to Venice. The way Scarpa's new editions to the building comes so close yet always distinguished from the old structure was so detailed that made me walk the entire exhibition with a smile on my face. I don't remember I was ever so pleased with a building like this one. The pictures I saw of the building on books and magazines, even the ones I took don't give this magnificent building justice. I thought I'd post this picture of the steel gate anyway since it was the best picture I took of the building I guess.

Greetings from Venice

This is my first day in Venice. And after a long long, really long day of walking around the city, nothing feels better than soaking one's feet in warm water. Anyway, I just had to buy an internet voucher for an hour to post this picture, which for me summarizes Venice.

What really attracts me in this romantic city is that even though it is crowded by tourists, it is really peacefully quite in here. It’s really an amazing sensation to stay in a vibrant city without hearing the chaotic noises of trains, planes and automobiles. Except for the occasional honk of a motorboat turning on a canal or the waterbuses, which you only hear when they are really close to you.

For my first day in Venice, I am captivated by the sound of the water knocking on the buildings and the beautiful scent of the sea which I love so much. Here I leave you with few words in Arabic describing the city, for those who understand Arabic:

في ديرة من أحلى المدن الإيطالية ... قعدت فيها أربعة أيام وشوية
فينيس بالإنجليزي وبالعربي البندقية ... عرفت فيها معنى الرومانسية

Boom Town

This is the Dubai sandwich: at the bottom, cheap and exploited Asian labour; in the middle, white northern professional services, plus tourist hunger for glamour in the sun and, increasingly, a de-monopolised western market system; at the top, enormous quantities of invested oil money, combined with fearsome social and political control and a drive to establish another model of what modern Arabia might mean in the post-9/11 world. That is the intriguing question: can Dubai do what Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, or almost anywhere else in the Arab world you might like to mention, have failed to do? Is Dubai, in fact, the fulcrum of the future global trading and financial system? Is it, in embryo, what London was to the 19th century and Manhattan to the 20th? Not the modern centre of the Arab world but, more than that, the Arab centre of the modern world.

Read more here

Wanted... Red tiles on a glass facade !?!

Found this amazing photo while browsing flickr and tried to look up the building for ages without any luck at all. Someone said in the comments that it might be a "Bank in Aviguda Diagonal in Barcelona" but that doesn't lead to anything. Does anyone out there know what’s the name of this cool building?

Why is Islam scary?

I am not sure if this is even a word, but is Europe afraid of being "Islamicized" again? The Muslim world was successful once in controlling a major part of the Iberian Peninsula for more than 7 centuries, which have left a fundamental presence on what is now known as Spain. That being said, this was only possible after long years of wars and battles. Today, however, "Islamicization" is re-emerging in a different way. Islam is spreading throughout Europe by the integration of Muslim immigrants in European countries for generations now. Their participation in the economical and even political development paved the way for Islam to become an accepted part of the European culture.

Now these are rough figures taken from Wikipedia, but with around 1 million Muslims in Spain, 1 million in Italy, another 1 and half million in the UK, 3 million in Germany and almost 6 million in France, some non-Muslims will naturally get scared. And if the numbers themselves are not enough, the government aid and protection for the Muslim minorities in many European countries is ringing alarm bells all of Europe.



Perhaps the latest sign of this is the approval of building Germany's largest mosque in Cologne. Situated 2 miles away from Cologne Cathedral, the largest Gothic Church in Europe maybe even the world and a UNESCO world heritage site, the amazing mosque is designed by architect Paul Böhm whose specialty is church design. When asked whether he is personally religious, the architect answered:

Religious, yes, but I am not a practicing believer. And I am also not a Muslim. I am often faced with this question. Yet, you don't have to be a criminal to build a prison or be sick to build a hospital! Instead, what is important is the art of empathizing with the needs of those who will later use the building being designed.

The opposition that the mosque is facing is incredible. Some people are seeing it as a threat since it may become a symbol of power while others see it as a positive sign of integration. Personally I don't see a big deal in building a mosque, especially when it is so elegantly designed. But again I am biased.

More info can be found here

Ironic or Prophetic???

Here is a brochure image for the WTC created at 1984. More can be found here.

Art for Palestine

This is another picture that I discovered among my unsorted downloaded images. I tried to retrace my steps to remember where I saved this picture from with no positive result. Anyway I thought I might as well post it here as it is a great symbolic piece that pretty much sums up the situation that our Palestinian brothers are in.

A Team Sport

The Pritzker Prize is often regarded as the Noble Prize of architecture, and is awarded annually to a living architect "honouring his contributions to humanity and the built environment." In this interesting article, Witold Rybczynski seems resentful of the idea that Architects get all the glory when a building is complete, which is further endorsed by this prestigious award.

The author points out that buildings are the result of teamwork. Architects today work with armies of engineers and specialists responsible for everything from structure and electricity to acoustics, lighting and energy conservation. In addition, construction has become so complex that responsibility for design and building is usually split between design architects and executive architects, who prepare construction documents, supervise the building process, and often make critical design decisions on the building site.

The fact that architecture is a team sport is what makes buildings so interesting. Art is often chiefly the reflection of an individual sensibility, but architecture tells us something about the society that produced it, its technology, its values, its taste. In that sense, building buildings is more like making movies than creating personal works of art.

The Oscars are awarded in many categories including best picture, director, screenplay, leading and supporting actors, sound mixing, visual effects and the list goes on. Should the Pritzker Prize in the same way acknowledge the efforts of glass, concrete, steel specialist companies? Should they acknowledge the efforts of acoustic and lighting consultants? What about structural and M & E Engineers? Project managers and quantity surveyors? The CLIENT? Although there are different awards given from different organizations honoring those consultants, specialists and engineers; wouldn’t it be better for the building business to bring all those fields together under one umbrella, like the Oscar did in the movie industry, to strengthen the fact that architecture is a team sport?

Designer Yachts

I read in this post a very interesting sentence that is stuck in my head so much that I feel a strong need to write it down to stop repeating it to myself:

"Whether the polar ice caps melt or not, some of the world’s wealthiest people will remain stylishly afloat in their luxury yachts."

Sea Reclamation

Here is what I thought an interesting way to protest against the ridiculous amount of land reclamation going on in our part of the world that is chasing away our delicious fish.

Danish artist, Nikolaj Recke extended the German coastline by 10 meters by digging a hole into the beach shore. The sand from the intervention was stored in a bag and placed as an exhibit in a temporary gallery held in 2006. A year later he dug another similar hole, only this time in the US. The stolen part of the US was sent to Europe by US postal service and was exhibited somewhere in Europe in a white bag.

Peekaboo

As I was browsing my picture library I found this incredible photo. It’s either an old traditional Yemeni castle or a tower house. Either way, what attracts me to the picture is how it captures the beauty of traditional Yemeni architecture and life. Openings are very limited in traditional Yemeni buildings for climatic and social reasons. Yet wherever they occur there is a great amount of beauty that can be found, whether in the careful and detailed design of a window or the artistic decorations of a door. In this picture the opening is literary an opening, a gap between those magnificent stones that are animated by their different color, texture and size. Yet the human interaction is enough to fill this simple and empty gap with life and captures the attention and admiration of any person passing by.

Note: I think I found the photo in flickr.

Legendary Cities

I never visited Yemen, but every person I know who did said that it is like travelling back in time. Whether you are in Sana'a the capital of the country or other villages perched on top of mountains and steep cliffs, you feel like you are part of a portrait in a page of an old legendary book like One thousand and one nights. The fact that the old city of Sana'a is now on the UNESCO world heritage list is great to assure that the cultural and architecture heritage of this city will be preserved.

The city by day






...and by night




Personal note: Apologies to all the great photographers of Flickr from whom I borrowed their photographs without their knowledge.

Are architects running out of ideas???

Zaha Hadid's Performing Arts Center in Abu Dhabi


Zaha Hadid's Museum for Contemporary Arts in Bahrain

I love Zaha Hadid. She comes up with these extraordinary forms which evoke all sorts of thoughts inside your head. But like other Deconstructivist architects she is beginning to repeat herself. Looking at her proposals for an arts center in Abu Dhabi and an art museum in Bahrain, I can't help but think of them as developing phases of the same scheme with slight variations in materials and functions. These projects are supposed to be landmarks, and even though they look great, copying a design idea and pasting it in different countries will take away its uniqueness. If you look at traditional architecture of each country, you can say that they are very repetitive even identical in many cases. Yet its difficult to say that the identical tower houses of Shibam are not unique, or the repeated skyscrapers of Manhatten lack soul.


An arial view of the center in Abu Dhabi


An arial view of the museum in Bahrain

100th post

I was working on a new post when I noticed that I have reached my 100th post. So I decided to post something that's linked to that instead.

Conservation Areas in Bahrain

I've just been to Arad Fort lately and the visit got me thinking about some series issues in planning in Bahrain that are worth studying.

A "conservation area" is an area with a special architectural or historic interest. They range from natural spaces such as a park or a beach to urban centers of cities and towns. The goal of such areas is not limited to preserving specific buildings in it, it is intended to preserve and enhance the features of the whole neighborhood area including roads and street furniture.In the UK, the concept of conservation areas began in 1967 and there are around 8000 conservation areas today. Local authorities (which would be the equivalent to municipalities in Bahrain) have the power to designate those areas. They also have controls over demolition, development and greenery. This means that conservation areas are not forbidden from development and by no means are they supposed to be inhabitable for the sake of protecting the area. But controlled development will enhance and improve the area and at the same time preserve its architectural or historic significance thus achieving an equilibrium.

In addition to "conservation areas", there are "listed buildings" which are buildings that shows architectural characteristics which belong to a significant historical period. Even though they come in different categories depending on their value, the local authorities hove control over any change in all listed buildings even if they are privately owned. Any alteration, extension or demolition must be approved by the local authority after ensuring that the changes will not affect the significance of the building. There are some bridges and monuments that are listed as well as buildings, and the list contains around 400,000 entries.

Conservation areas and listed buildings are important planning regulations that are highly regarded in the UK, and visiting Arad Castle made me think how could people who are so attached to their history and cultural traditions allow historic areas and buildings to get destroyed to make way for new developments.

Perhaps a good example of that is the Financial Harbour which completely erased any trace of what used to be one of the main ports in Bahrain also called "El Fortha". Even though the port was gone long before the Financial Harbour came, I would have thought that retracing the original port, enhancing it and creating a landmark out of it that would celebrate and embrace its history could have been a great project. Don't get me wrong I am not totally against the Financial Harbour and do acquire some taste to it. But I think there could have been another option of creating a landmark which is both financially beneficial and culturally significant at the same time.

From what I heard, and I admit that I do lack knowledge in this issue, regulations that were very similar to the concepts of conservation areas do exist. Currently there are three conservation areas which are Tubli Bay, Hawar Islands, and Al-Areen Wildlife park. In addition there is Qal'at al-Bahrain which is included in UNESCO World Heritage List. However, conservation areas should not be limited to natural spaces and archaeological sites but also include old neighborhoods (ferjan) along with other significant sites that have special cultural characteristics. There are individual efforts to preserve some houses but I don't see a clear plan to bring all those important projects together. Besides I remember when the governor of Muharraq (the city which has most traditional houses in Bahrain) wanted to stop building new towers in old Muharraq Neighborhoods to preserve its traditional characteristic, people accused him that he doesn't want Muharraq to be developed like other cities. I guess the idea of being the center of the universe is an idea established in a lot of people's head. Thus they show disregard to the neighborhood and environment and go on doing whatever they want without thinking for a second about the effect and consequences their actions have on others.

I remember this scene in one of the best Arabic TV series that I saw which was Bab Al Hara 2. In this scene there was this man who wanted to build a room in his house for his newly wedded son. He wanted the room to be separate from the house and accessible from the street, so he decided to build a new door. The new door was going to be in front of his neighbor's door. The neighbor is an extremely conservative man and strongly objected on building a new door in front of his. He said that he has many young girls and he doesn't want a stranger accidentally seeing one of his daughters without the hijab or wearing inappropriate clothes, and for this very reason he bought the house because there were no doors or windows in from of his. The man took it personally and was insulted by the neighbor's actions, after all he is an honorable man who respects his neighbors' privacy and so is his son. Yet the neighbor insisted that no door should be built in front of his, and so they got into a fight. After others mediating between the two, the man decided not to build the door respecting his neighbor's wishes even though it is his home and he is free to do whatever he wants with it.

Even though the situation was an extreme one, my point is that neighbors should always consider the consequences of their actions on their neighbors. I doubt that such values would be as common in our society today. I leave you with this picture of Arad Fort, now I have nothing personally against the guy who owns the villa or whatever it is on the left, but the area around the fort should be a conservation area to protect and preserve the view of the fort. I think there should be a continuous line of palm trees and greenery surrounding the fort to isolate it from any modern development, thus creating a sense of going back in time when visiting the site.

Most famous logos

I was arguing with a friend the other day about what were the most famous logos, she came up with this ridiculous list of top 10 which she said she read about them in The Times or some other newspaper or website... and knowing my friend and how she would always make up resources inside her head I came up with my own list and my own undisclosed resources. We argued for a long time and after ending the argument and going home, I decided to find out for real what are the most recognizable logos. Unfortunately I couldn't find any official list all what I found were individual lists with no apparent survey or study. However what I found common in all the lists is the there are 2 companies that were always in the top 5. And they are:



Of course no explanations are needed here and I am sure these immediately came to your minds when reading the title. I would appreciate it though if someone out there could lead me to a site with an official surveyed list of the most recognizable logos.

SAD

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder that usually come and go at the same times every year. Sad symptoms appear during winter and go away during the sunnier days of summer. But some people have the opposite pattern, developing what is known as Subsyndromal Seasonal Affective Disorder (SSAD) with the start of spring or summer. SAD symptoms may include depression, anxiety, loss of energy, oversleeping, appetite changes, wight gain, and difficulty in concentrating among others.

Causes and Risks

The causes of SAD are still unknown and debatable. Genetics, age, and most importantly the body's chemical makeup all play important roles.

Circadian rhythm
Some say that reduced level of sunlight in winter may disrupt the circadian rhythm in certain people. The circadian rhythm is a physiological process that helps letting you know when to sleep or wake and disrupting it could cause depression.

Melatonin
Others say that melatonin, a sleep-related hormone that is produced at night, causes SAD because longer winter nights could increase the production of melatonin and result in oversleeping and tiredness.

Serotonin
Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin, a natural brain chemical that affects mood, and may play a role in leading to depression.

SAD is more common among young adults older than 20, and it's diagnosed more often in women, but men may have more severe symptoms. Factors that may increase the development of SAD are location and family history. SAD is more common in higher latitudes away from the equator and that people with SAD are more likely to have family members with the condition.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Diagnosing SAD is very important because it could lead to serious complications such as suicidal thoughts, social withdrawal, work problems and substance abuse. However its hard for doctors to diagnose and it isn't recognized by professionals as an official disorder, it can be diagnosed as a subtype of depression or bipolar disorder. Diagnosing it depends on experiencing the symptoms for at least two consecutive years during the same season, the periods of depression have been followed by periods without depression, and there are no other explanations for the changes in mood or behavior.

In easy cases, SAD can be treated simply by spending more time outdoors or sitting closer to bright windows while at home or in the office. Other treatments for seasonal affective disorder include:

Light therapy
Because increased sunlight improves symptoms, light therapy is often a main treatment for many people with SAD. In light therapy, you sit a few feet from a specialized light therapy box that mimics outdoor light. Its generally easy to use and has relatively few side effects.

Medications
Some people with SAD benefit from treatment with antidepressants or other psychiatric medications, especially if symptoms are severe.

Psychotherapy
Although SAD is thought to be related to biochemical processes, your mood and behavior also can contribute to symptoms. Psychotherapy can help you identify and change negative thoughts and behaviors that may be making you feel worse. You can also learn healthy ways to cope with SAD and manage stress.


Coping with SAD require skills, here are few tips:
1- Stick to your treatment plan.
2- Let there be light.
3- Get out.
4- Exercise regularly.
5- Take care of yourself.
6- Practice stress management.
7- Socialize.
8- Take a trip.

Note: You might notice that the past few posts and the next posts may be of a negative nature that is because I believe I have SAD. In addition to that we have a very depressing project that we will work on for the next 6 months. Plus the weather these few days sucks. I barely see the sun.