Are you kidding me?

Cha Cha Cha

2005-06-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

So Beppe and I went salsa dancing tonite. Neither of us have ever been before, but since we've been looking for something fun to do, this seemed like a good idea. Every Saturday night there is a salsa class from 8 to 9, and then there's non-stop dancing till 2. It was much more fun than I thought it would be, and Beppe thought I did pretty well for my first time at a dance class. She, of course, had little problem picking up the steps, being a former ballet/tap/jazz/clogger. I, on the other hand, felt like a stiff-legged weasel, although even the dance teacher seemed to think I wasn't doing too badly.But we'll have to practice this week. ^_^

Buzznet seems like a pain.

2005-05-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

I can see Buzznet becoming a real pain. What's another easy way of getting pictures on this blog without having to pay for it? I'll have to go see, especially if Buzznet is always going to make my page load slowly as it transfers data. The busblog loads slowly, and he's got lots of buzznet pics. I think there might be a connection.

Evening.

2005-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

A lot of things have happened since my last post.

More rockwork, more sleep, more of the feeling of freedom. It's amazing what not having to worry about school will do for you. I do still have to pay some tarded parking fees, but I think that's it. I can think about anything, not just studio...it's incredibly uplifting.

I posted a little tickler to the curriculum blog for our -coughs- alma mater's architecture department. It's sort of mean of me, because I think the people in charge of the blog itself are nice people, as well as being good professors, but the ones I'm directing to the site are the older, more established (name) architects that act like they teach at our school. I'm sure if they ever read this, which is incredibly doubtful, they'd know who I mean. But nonetheless, the points the guy makes on his website seem quite relevant to the way they taught at our school, so I'd say it's just what they've asked for on their blog. I wonder if they'll even ever look at it.

What really makes me laugh is that our school was one of the cutoffs for the absolute worst websites of all the american architecture schools. Or embarrassing, depending on who you are.

With a snap, it's done.

2005-05-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

And just like that, it's over. Without a hitch, we walked across the stage, grabbed our diploma-looking booklets, and sat back down. It was a bit odd, actually. It was the epitome of denouement. I'm not actually sure where the climax was, but this was definitely the winding down portion of the script. I think it was just Friday that we knew for certain that we'd be able to graduate. But graduate we did, and now...we're the B Arch es. Heh. -nods to the inside joke-

Lots has happened in the past few days that doesn't pertain to graduating, so I'll update in a later post.

-looks at self in mirror with mortarboard set at a particularly jaunty angle-

-chuckles-

A stage race is in town

2005-05-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

So there's a stage race in town this weekend, as well as graduation.
I'm not sure what brain trust set up this coincidence, but this is
probably the one weekend when you don't want to have the streets
blocked for any reason, what with all the kickass drivers that are
sure to visit for their kid's graduation ceremony. But, being a former
cyclist myself, I really enjoy watching racers lean over and take an
unfamiliar curve on uncertain pavement. Talk about a rush -- when you
get to stand up and sprint away from the corner, knowing you aren't
the unlucky one who's tire slid out from under them on the gravel at
the inside of the corner, or the even unluckier rider right behind
them. Sunday is the criterium around the Square downtown, so maybe
we'll get some neat pictures that day.

Five minutes of fun

2005-05-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

Photoshop is my friend. ^_~

Still waiting.

2005-05-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

Today, Beppe and I went to the salon to get our hair done. Actually, Beppe gets her hair done, with color and all, and I just get mine cut. For thirteen years I had long hair, sometimes long enough to sit on (aggravating times, those were). Any time you have to watch out when you're on the toilet -- that you don't accidentally shit on your own hair -- that's when you know it's definitely too long. Last year, Beppe and I cut it, and the ponytail they cut off was 16 inches long. And I still had lots of hair. Beppe's hair was nearly as long (her's actually grows faster), but she didn't get as much cut off as I did. But today was pretty much just an upkeep sorta cut for me, so it's not so bad that I think Maggie cut it too short. It still looks pretty close to the way I'd been wearing it, so I guess that's fine. I'm pretty easy, on the whole.

We're still waiting to see if we'll really get to graduate.

And you think it'd be more difficult.

2005-05-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

So today I moved about three and a half tons of rock, one wheelbarrow at a time. I only had to move it about 200 feet, but nonetheless it was a pain in the ass. And of course, the only way to get it to where it needed to be was to take it through the garage, across three rickety walkboards placed on top of the rock steps the homeowner has in his overgrown garden. Then I got to toss it off the top of the retaining wall I'm rebuilding. That part wasn't so bad, except I kept breaking some of the rocks, which is a no-no. Not that I won't use them still, since they're field stone, and not cut stone, but I still don't like breaking them unless I need to. I'll post a picture of the wall, maybe, after I take one.

The interesting (to me) part is that I'd rather be doing exactly what I had to do today rather than anything I've done for the past five years in architecture school. It's silly. And here's a crummy thing -- I can probably make more laying rock than I can at an architecture firm. And I can set my own hours when I lay rock. -quirks a brow- Makes me wonder which I should pursue...although after not many days of this, I bet I'd be tired of it. Heh. What indecision.

What a weird addiction.

2005-05-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

How strange, how strange. To have nothing to do for school -- it's a feeling I haven't had for the past 5 years. How liberating. Yet, at the same time, strangely disconcerting. I feel like I should be doing something, that I'm missing something somewhere. But the truth of it is that I'm not missing anything. I can do whatever I want. So now I can use all the things I've learned in school to waste time. -chuckles- How perfect.

I find myself fiddling with the modeling programs, and with Illustrator and Photoshop, not for any purpose, just making pretty looking things. It makes me laugh. I can do things so quickly in many programs that it's almost too easy -- it's like I need someone to say, "Okay, now I need you to design me XYZ."

I just started a little arty illustration -- very simple, and so maybe I'll go work on that.

-edit- I posted the image via buzznet, and it managed to work its way to before this one....strange.

first image

2005-05-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

first image
Posted by: liquidarch.

So here's the first attempt to use my buzznet account. Let's see if it works.

Sleep.

2005-05-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's rather interesting to not get the amount of sleep you actually need. In the past week, I think I slept all of 18 hours. Probably one of the worst weeks in the last five years of design school. But happily, the last, as well. The strange part about it was that it wasn't actually that hard to do. There was just a mentality of "YOU CANNOT SLEEP UNTIL YOU ARE DONE." That mentality has been deeply ingrained in us, to the point that it's nothing to have not slept for 48 hours, and sometimes, before final critiques, as many as 84 hours. That's half the fucking week. -shakes head- Are deadlines that important? I mean, it's not as if someone will die if the deadline isn't met. It's architecture, not angioplasty.

And now, I'm off to some well deserved sleep of my own. Time to make up for some of the past five years. Yeah, right.

A first post

2005-05-07T03:44:00.000-07:00

I've just finished the last paper I will have to write for my college degree. I'll go to turn it in in the next few hours, and then will be done with school. At least for a week, until graduation. And then done, but that time for good.

It's been a long, laborious process. Quite tedious at times, even. I remember my father telling me that a big part of any college degree was just proving that you could put up with the shit that is dished out indiscriminately -- that many degrees were simply proving you could sit through hours of classes that were boring or seemingly useless. And of course, I did have my share of those -- classes that I would have had a better time sleeping through.

My mother says there will be a shift in the way I think about myself, that I will begin to think of myself as a professional, and that there is something I've done that no one will be able to take away. Yeah, yeah, I say, that's just great. I'm not feeling it yet, that's for sure. But maybe soon. I guess it will be nice to be able to say I have a degree in Architecture (although I hate using a capital letter with that word). I have to say I hated a lot of what I had to go through to get the degree, though. Eleventy billion sleepless nights, countless bad critiques (they hand those out to everyone), and innumerable feelings of indecision and inadequacy. But oh yeah, I know what I'm doing, sure. They're comfortable letting me out into the workforce and will back me up when I say I know about architecture. Heh. What a laugh. I mean, I do know what I'm doing, but I doubt I'll ever want to be a liscensed architect, as then I could simply look forward to a lifetime of being told how wrong I am. Or over budget. Or not seeing their vision. Bah, I say. Let them live in shittily designed houses, then. Fools.

But in truth, it's only architects that I think are asses. The regular guys on the job? I get along great with them...hell, I used to be one before going back to school for architecture. But architecture school made me realize that architects very rarely seem to actually know what they're doing. They talk a great game, but that's about the extent of it. -rolls eyes- You wouldn't believe the things they say and think are brilliant.

I wonder what will become of my future now that I have a degree (nearly). We'll see.