So it's been almost a week since I started work. So far it's been pretty good. I've been working on the exterior of a building and it's transformed into a Casa. Kind of like Barragon or however you spell it, but the house is definitely looking more South American than American. I have so far learned how to use 3D studio Max and SketchUp. 3D Max is pretty comparable to Maya, but unless it's changed since I last used it, 3D Max is better an snapping. SketchUp is really great for making simple forms when you're just beginning to make massings, but after my casa got a few too many angles, everything started to go to pieces on me.
It's quite different from working in a tiny firm like last year's. I guess since Nestor and Jonathan were so much older, I felt a little odd hanging out with them, but I have a great time with all of my coworkers, since they're all around the same point in life as me. Well, I'm actually a little behind since most of them are recent archie grads. Still, the level of productivity is definitely lower because I'm having too much fun. I spend a lot of time gossiping with my coworkers about random things like the architect's love life or who does what. Today, Wang Yue (a guy) noticed I was wearing eyeliner and seemed to decide that would be a wonderful thing for him to copy, so somehow he obtained an eyeliner pencil and a mirror and sat at his desk for a good hour trying to put on eyeliner. He tried...it most ended up on his eyelid because he was afraid of getting too close to his eyeball. Silly boy. I can't quite figure out what induced him to put eyeliner on. Shel suspects it has something to do with his fascination with Marylin Manson.
The final deciding point that we were all definitely still kids came today. At 10:30 the senior desinger, Hung Ming or something like that, gathered all the architects into the shuttle. I think there are about ten of us. We drove over to a place called "The Bridges" because our next big project is going to be similar in that we will be taking pre-existing historical buildings and modifying them to become offices and shops. We spent an hour and a half scampering off in different directions, taking photos of everything and each other. Shel kept getting distracted by the merchandise instead of the architecture. At one point, we saw a firm for David Chipperfield, some English guy. Apparently he lectured at Yale so Shel wanted to find out what work they did in China. Since the door was open, Shel popped her head in and asked. The British guy at the table was very rude, asking, "Who are you?" and "What are you doing here?" She asked her question, apologized and then we left. We weren't more than a few feet out the doorframe when the fancy modern white door came whistling towards us, basically slamming in our faces. Never work for Chipperfield - check. We next saw a really cool looking firm which had very scandinavian design, a nifty place called Alsop which is actually British, too. We popped our heads in their too and the receptionist was very willing to tell us all about the firm and how to apply to work there. Maybe would love to work for Alsop simply because the name is cool and the receptionist is nice - check. Then, when we were all gathered in the courtyard, someone mentioned that SOM's office was in the facility. Shel used to work for SOM so we all decided to go on up and find the person she used to work for. We hiked up to the office, wandered in and the receptionist said, "No, Silas is in a meeting with a client." Basically indicating that he wanted all us low-rate Chinese architects out. Now. SOM is filled with self important jerks that don't make anything that interesting anyway so I'll never work for them - check.
After work I went out with Shel and another co-worker, really nice guy, if he had an English name it would probably be like Greg or something. Friendly and unimposing, very nice and get formal. He brought along an old classmate that apparently they all hang out with. I realized at dinner that it is possible for Chinese guys to be good looking. If only they heard of dental work. Greg's (That's what I'll call him) old classmate looks like Karl the really super cute designer that the blond American woman in Love Actually was in love with. Except he has crooked teeth. Teeth, they're very important you know. Irreplaceable. Can't really eat well without them. But yes, Karl is very nice. He works for an Italian design firm, but speaks no English. Greg on the other hand can say, "Can I carry that for you?" and when picking up the bill, "My treat." Gentleman in training - that's Greg.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Monday, June 05, 2006
Shanghai: First Day on the Job
I hope I make it out of Shanghai alive. I told my cousin the other day that I remembered that in Shanghai, green means go, and red means go faster. Now take that into consideration and imagine me trying to cross an eight-lane highway where there's no stoplights anywhere in the area. Now imagine me only making it halfway across because the traffic on the other side caught up. Now imagine standing on the yellow line with cars honking everytime they zoomed by at 50 mph. I lived. Barely. And it wasn't like I was jaywalking either, because there were definitely zebra lines. And thinking back on it, I want to yell at those drivers for honking like it was my fault. After all, according to the law, they are supposed to stop for me. I'm not supposed to stop for them.
So, the office where I'm working is quite nice. They use a lot of stone in the place, and, as Zach says, the signage is awesome. One thing I noticed is that the office is definitely not to code. USA safety codes, I mean. The stairs don't have any railings at all and the glass thingies that enclose the mezzanine aren't structural in the least, nor do they have mullions. That means that if you lean on the glass, you make the glass fall. Also, there's a crazy sort of half-bridge that hangs out over the workspace. Think prow of the boat, or "off the plank!" or maybe have some mad scientist laughing devilishly as he lords over his little minions below. Of course, as lovely as the idea is, one also has to beware of the fact that not only is there no safety rails surrounding the thing, there's a 6 inch gap between the edge of the mezzanine and the start of the plank.
In the office itself, I have my own desk, my own box of pencils, my own desk lamp, my own computer and my very own empty drawers for stuff I don't have. The only other people in the office fluent in English are the architect himself (fat chance on getting to talk with him - he only spoke a hand full of sentences to me all day because he's so busy) and another intern - a grad student from Yale named Shelly. After a very frustrating day of not understanding my Malaysian neighbor (he mumbles too much) it was a relief to turn off the Chinese side of my brain and speak some English. I later realized, too, that it isn't that my Chinese is bad, it's that people from different parts of China have completely different accents. I had a hard time with the Malaysian accent, but when I talked to the senior project manager, I didn't have to ask more than a couple times for translations (I found out later that he is Taiwanese, so that explains it). It is also a bit of a relief to realize that my reading in Chinese isn't too bad. I need to find time to get my hands on a Chinese English dictionary so I don't have to keep bothering everyone for explanations. I think I made a lot of friends today. Shelly, Mr. Malaysian and some of the other younger people in the firm asked me if I wanted to stay a bit later and play some badminton, but I decided that I would save today for trying to get home without getting lost. Fortunately, I didn't get lost. Day one is over and I'm alive and well.
So, the office where I'm working is quite nice. They use a lot of stone in the place, and, as Zach says, the signage is awesome. One thing I noticed is that the office is definitely not to code. USA safety codes, I mean. The stairs don't have any railings at all and the glass thingies that enclose the mezzanine aren't structural in the least, nor do they have mullions. That means that if you lean on the glass, you make the glass fall. Also, there's a crazy sort of half-bridge that hangs out over the workspace. Think prow of the boat, or "off the plank!" or maybe have some mad scientist laughing devilishly as he lords over his little minions below. Of course, as lovely as the idea is, one also has to beware of the fact that not only is there no safety rails surrounding the thing, there's a 6 inch gap between the edge of the mezzanine and the start of the plank.
In the office itself, I have my own desk, my own box of pencils, my own desk lamp, my own computer and my very own empty drawers for stuff I don't have. The only other people in the office fluent in English are the architect himself (fat chance on getting to talk with him - he only spoke a hand full of sentences to me all day because he's so busy) and another intern - a grad student from Yale named Shelly. After a very frustrating day of not understanding my Malaysian neighbor (he mumbles too much) it was a relief to turn off the Chinese side of my brain and speak some English. I later realized, too, that it isn't that my Chinese is bad, it's that people from different parts of China have completely different accents. I had a hard time with the Malaysian accent, but when I talked to the senior project manager, I didn't have to ask more than a couple times for translations (I found out later that he is Taiwanese, so that explains it). It is also a bit of a relief to realize that my reading in Chinese isn't too bad. I need to find time to get my hands on a Chinese English dictionary so I don't have to keep bothering everyone for explanations. I think I made a lot of friends today. Shelly, Mr. Malaysian and some of the other younger people in the firm asked me if I wanted to stay a bit later and play some badminton, but I decided that I would save today for trying to get home without getting lost. Fortunately, I didn't get lost. Day one is over and I'm alive and well.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Shanghai Day 3
I feel like it's been forever already, but I've only been in Shanghai for three days. Partly it's because my cousin has decided to take me around as much of the city as possible this weekend.
Today I went with him, his wife and baby, his grandpa and his aunt to the Century Park out in Pudong. Pudong, in case you aren't familiar with Shanghai, is the newer district. There's a lot of new development out there, mostly skyscrapers that look like rocket ships, imitation art deco or vertically inflated temples. The new airport is out there (photos to be posted on facebook when I'm not so lazy). It takes about an hour to get to Pudong by car and once you get there, traffic is so confusing that my cousin pulled a tricks that would have had him arrested in the US. For example, we missed a turn, so we did a U-turn and went the other direction - right into oncoming traffic. Fun...
Outside the park, Yuko (my cousin's wife) and I were accosted by a teeny old lady who was trying to sell us plastic bottles filled with tap water. Normally I would just say no thanks, but she followed us and kept waving the bottles in our faces. Fortunately, Kaikai (my cousin) and his aunt came to our rescue by whisking us quickly and efficiently away. We went into Century Park and enjoyed the sights. I think the whole landscaping of the park is geared towards framing the skyscrapers in the back. The skyscrapers that look like they could blast off at any second, that is.
We got back to the apartment around 7:30 for dinner and afterwards, while everyone was still eating, I brought my eating-ware into the kitchen where the maid/nurse was eating. I asked her why she didn't eat with the family. She said something unintelligible (For some reason, she speaks only in her dialect and expects that I understand every single word) and then thanked me for always putting my bowl in the sink. I responded that my parents would kill me if I didn't. Haveing a maid, or help of any sort, is really really strange. I don't really like it....
Today I went with him, his wife and baby, his grandpa and his aunt to the Century Park out in Pudong. Pudong, in case you aren't familiar with Shanghai, is the newer district. There's a lot of new development out there, mostly skyscrapers that look like rocket ships, imitation art deco or vertically inflated temples. The new airport is out there (photos to be posted on facebook when I'm not so lazy). It takes about an hour to get to Pudong by car and once you get there, traffic is so confusing that my cousin pulled a tricks that would have had him arrested in the US. For example, we missed a turn, so we did a U-turn and went the other direction - right into oncoming traffic. Fun...
Outside the park, Yuko (my cousin's wife) and I were accosted by a teeny old lady who was trying to sell us plastic bottles filled with tap water. Normally I would just say no thanks, but she followed us and kept waving the bottles in our faces. Fortunately, Kaikai (my cousin) and his aunt came to our rescue by whisking us quickly and efficiently away. We went into Century Park and enjoyed the sights. I think the whole landscaping of the park is geared towards framing the skyscrapers in the back. The skyscrapers that look like they could blast off at any second, that is.
We got back to the apartment around 7:30 for dinner and afterwards, while everyone was still eating, I brought my eating-ware into the kitchen where the maid/nurse was eating. I asked her why she didn't eat with the family. She said something unintelligible (For some reason, she speaks only in her dialect and expects that I understand every single word) and then thanked me for always putting my bowl in the sink. I responded that my parents would kill me if I didn't. Haveing a maid, or help of any sort, is really really strange. I don't really like it....
Friday, June 02, 2006
Shanghai
Hullo from the other side of the world! I had the most comfortable 14 hour plane ride ever in an aisle seat on Japan airlines sitting next to an archie that goes to the Boston Architecture College or whatever it is. BAC, BCA, something along those lines. He started the program really late so even though we're both just out of third year, he's three years older than me. It was interesting hearing what their curriculum is like. Teachers always tell us how important it is to have studio culture and from what I hear, this person (Yao is his name) barely ever goes to studio. He has it once a week, and all of his classes are at night. I think the students there (and they have way more archies than we do, and a lot of interior designers) spend the daytime working in firms and their evenings in class. They don't have any university-wide electives because there aren't any university classes and they rarely go to school community events. Makes me really appreciate how I have at least thirty-six more-than-acquaintance friends. Still, while I think the culture is nice, I think they're going to be a lot more functional as architects when they get out because those students live and breathe architecture with no distractions whereas we have hours and hours of extra classes to worry about.
So I thought that getting through customs would be a pain. I figured they'd question me, detain me, possibly arrest me just for the reason that I look suspicious. Obviously I was just being paranoid and got through customs in under ten minutes. I didn't even have to wait for my checked baggage to show up because it rolled right by me the moment I approached the luggage carousel. Looking for my cousin was another story. I haven't seen him since fourth grade so it was kind of doubtful that I would recognize him. I put on my glasses just in case, which made it a little harder for him to recognize me, but fortunately, we recognized each other. Sort of. I saw him and thought, 'hmm, I think...that's...him...but I don't want to be embarrassed if it isn't, so I'll look around and pretend I'm not making a b-line for him to see if he recognizes me.' And then I realized it was him and upon saying hello immediately proceeded to think, 'He's shorter than I remember.' Most likely because the last time I saw him I was only a little over four feet tall. I think he and dad are around the same height.
So then it was an hour ride back to my aunt's apartment and then another couple hours of chatting with Kaigen (that's my cousin's official English name - celtic he says) about stuff - we reminisced about how he used to pick on me (stealing my baby doll, making me run errands, how he and his old high school buddies used to take my doll and toss it around high above me so I would cry) and talked about his new family. He has a wife named Yuko and a little boy named Arvin whose nickname is Mumu. I still haven't met them because they were already asleep when I got there and are still sleeping now.
Today my plans are to hopefully get a phone call from Ben (hint hint) and then go out and figure out how to get to the office. Fortunately, I don't seem to be suffering from jet lag because I went to sleep around 2am and woke up at 8 - that's about normal, right?
So I thought that getting through customs would be a pain. I figured they'd question me, detain me, possibly arrest me just for the reason that I look suspicious. Obviously I was just being paranoid and got through customs in under ten minutes. I didn't even have to wait for my checked baggage to show up because it rolled right by me the moment I approached the luggage carousel. Looking for my cousin was another story. I haven't seen him since fourth grade so it was kind of doubtful that I would recognize him. I put on my glasses just in case, which made it a little harder for him to recognize me, but fortunately, we recognized each other. Sort of. I saw him and thought, 'hmm, I think...that's...him...but I don't want to be embarrassed if it isn't, so I'll look around and pretend I'm not making a b-line for him to see if he recognizes me.' And then I realized it was him and upon saying hello immediately proceeded to think, 'He's shorter than I remember.' Most likely because the last time I saw him I was only a little over four feet tall. I think he and dad are around the same height.
So then it was an hour ride back to my aunt's apartment and then another couple hours of chatting with Kaigen (that's my cousin's official English name - celtic he says) about stuff - we reminisced about how he used to pick on me (stealing my baby doll, making me run errands, how he and his old high school buddies used to take my doll and toss it around high above me so I would cry) and talked about his new family. He has a wife named Yuko and a little boy named Arvin whose nickname is Mumu. I still haven't met them because they were already asleep when I got there and are still sleeping now.
Today my plans are to hopefully get a phone call from Ben (hint hint) and then go out and figure out how to get to the office. Fortunately, I don't seem to be suffering from jet lag because I went to sleep around 2am and woke up at 8 - that's about normal, right?
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Why I Love Home
So it's been a little over a week since I've been home, and tonight I'm yet again reminded of something I don't miss. As we have guests over, and, as daddy never cleans up his papers, our dining room is covered in his litter. Mom asked him to clean up his junk since we have guests over. And now he's throwing a temper tantrum. Why the hell is he throwing a tantrum?
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
New York Again
Today was my second trip to New York in less than a week. I've had so much going on since I got home that I feel like I've already been here a month.
Anyhoo, this time, I went with May which proved much more pleasant because 1) May doesn't spend the entire trip bitching about how I need a rich boyfriend and more importantly 2) She's willing to walk from Grandcentral (Which is somewhere to 42nd St and 4th Ave) to the Chinese Consulate (Which is on 42nd and 12th Ave). I timed us, and I'll admit it took a while, but I didn't really mind. In any case, we walked many of those blocks, maybe six of them, right behind this woman who was wearing a tight black dress and heels and big "partied-last-night-now-hung-over" sun-glasses. It was very amusing because we were right behind her and got to see all the admiring glances she got, namely almost every man that walked past her. We started keeping count of how many men turned to gape (and I do mean gape) and it was around fifteen. And who said New Yorkers weren't friendly.
We got to the consulate during their lunch break so we went to a little deli and got sandwiches. We decided to eat at the tables outside Starbucks despite not buying a single bit of Starbucks merchandise and then I ditched May there while I stood in line for half an hour to pick up my Visa. That was made all the more bearable by my reading a copy of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Really, why don't they teach Philip K. Dick in schools? It's just as good if not better than Kurt Vonnegut.
Next stop was Broadway between 32nd and 33rd St for my plane tickets. I will be flying Japan Airlines, woohoo! After that, we meandered our way back up, stopping at H&M, Zara and Banana Republic. Surprisingly, I didn't see anything at Zara that I liked, so we ended up only getting stuff from Banana Republic.
Then we walked up to Grand Central, bought gelato smoothies and made it just in time for the 4:20 train, which, contrary to the information on metro north, is in fact a peak fare train. O well, we only got charged $3.25 extra per person.
Anyhoo, this time, I went with May which proved much more pleasant because 1) May doesn't spend the entire trip bitching about how I need a rich boyfriend and more importantly 2) She's willing to walk from Grandcentral (Which is somewhere to 42nd St and 4th Ave) to the Chinese Consulate (Which is on 42nd and 12th Ave). I timed us, and I'll admit it took a while, but I didn't really mind. In any case, we walked many of those blocks, maybe six of them, right behind this woman who was wearing a tight black dress and heels and big "partied-last-night-now-hung-over" sun-glasses. It was very amusing because we were right behind her and got to see all the admiring glances she got, namely almost every man that walked past her. We started keeping count of how many men turned to gape (and I do mean gape) and it was around fifteen. And who said New Yorkers weren't friendly.
We got to the consulate during their lunch break so we went to a little deli and got sandwiches. We decided to eat at the tables outside Starbucks despite not buying a single bit of Starbucks merchandise and then I ditched May there while I stood in line for half an hour to pick up my Visa. That was made all the more bearable by my reading a copy of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Really, why don't they teach Philip K. Dick in schools? It's just as good if not better than Kurt Vonnegut.
Next stop was Broadway between 32nd and 33rd St for my plane tickets. I will be flying Japan Airlines, woohoo! After that, we meandered our way back up, stopping at H&M, Zara and Banana Republic. Surprisingly, I didn't see anything at Zara that I liked, so we ended up only getting stuff from Banana Republic.
Then we walked up to Grand Central, bought gelato smoothies and made it just in time for the 4:20 train, which, contrary to the information on metro north, is in fact a peak fare train. O well, we only got charged $3.25 extra per person.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Settling In
So now I'm home. I had a pretty hectic home-coming as the moment I got home, my mom started berating me about getting my visa and then I got an email from one of my students informing me that my internet apparently farted out mid-grade-inputting so I had to try to figure out who got what grade as quickly as possible. Fortunately, I didn't throw out the grade sheet and was able to call my roomie and she could tell me what the numbers were. Then, Friday and Saturday were spent in New York. Friday kind of sucked because I had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning, get to the train station and from there get to the consulate. Normally getting from Grand Central to the consulate would take me maybe half an hour of walking, but since I had mom in tow, and mommy doesn't like to walk very much, we had to stand at the bus stop outside Bryant Park for about an hour with no bus in sight until mommy gave in and we caught a $6.50 cab ride. I mentioned to her that I could have gotten to the consulate in half the time for free, but as usual, mom refused to listen. As it was, the whole time we were there, it was pouring.
At the consulate, contrary to popular belief, we didn't have to wait an hour. In fact, by the time I finished filling out the paperwork, they had already passed our number, so my mom argued with one of the annoyed people behind the scary windows and we handed my papers in. Right now I'm on a tourist visa. I told mom I had to have proof of employment before I could get the right visa. Mom, of course, disagreed with me so now I have to go and switch around my visas when I get to China.
Saturday was nice. We went around and got groceries, sat around the apartment and left when we realized the Mets game was about to end (we didn't want to get caught in traffic). So now I'm home. Monday, May and I are going to the library. Wednesday, I have to go back to New York to pick up my visa. Stupid visa...
At the consulate, contrary to popular belief, we didn't have to wait an hour. In fact, by the time I finished filling out the paperwork, they had already passed our number, so my mom argued with one of the annoyed people behind the scary windows and we handed my papers in. Right now I'm on a tourist visa. I told mom I had to have proof of employment before I could get the right visa. Mom, of course, disagreed with me so now I have to go and switch around my visas when I get to China.
Saturday was nice. We went around and got groceries, sat around the apartment and left when we realized the Mets game was about to end (we didn't want to get caught in traffic). So now I'm home. Monday, May and I are going to the library. Wednesday, I have to go back to New York to pick up my visa. Stupid visa...
Friday, May 19, 2006
I Hate CT
I have been home less than three hours and I want to go back to Pittsburgh already. I walk in the door and mom is already demanding this and that, and then I get an email from a student asking about lab grades and I realize that my internet at my apartment is so screwed up that half the grades I input didn't go through. And now I have to figure out what everything is except that my grade sheet is in Pittsburgh and I can't reach my roommate and I think final grades have to be in by tomorrow. I'm probably going to get fired for this. FUCK! Why couldn't my students have brought that to my attention sooner!
I really miss Ben, and I really miss having privacy. It's nice seeing my sister and my dad, but mom is getting on my nerves and I have to waking up at F-ing 5:00 tomorrow morning so we can hop on the train to the consulate to get my visa.
I miss Pittsburgh.
I really miss Ben, and I really miss having privacy. It's nice seeing my sister and my dad, but mom is getting on my nerves and I have to waking up at F-ing 5:00 tomorrow morning so we can hop on the train to the consulate to get my visa.
I miss Pittsburgh.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Krispy Kreme Hands
Today Waz and I went to get our end of the semester treat - manicures. We went to a place that's about a block away from where I live called Daniel & Co. The lady who did our nails is very enthusiastic - first we got oil rubbed onto our nails, then the nails got filed, and then we dipped our hands in a tub of hot wax. Our hands came out with a thin coat of wax and for a while, I was trying to think of the best description possible, and the only thing I could come up with is Krispy Kreme Hands. We had a layer of glaze and now I know what I would feel like if I were a Krispy Kreme Donut. So yes, we got a nice little hand massage and we got our nails painted, the whole while the nail lady, Vicky, was giving us all her opinions on everything. It was very...interesting...
So when we left, I told Waz I would screw up my nails in 10 minutes. I definitely didn't try to screw them up, I certainly wasn't trying, but when I went to close my umbrella not 15 minutes ago, I caught my nail in the plastic handle part of the darned thing and scraped a chunk of polish right off. O well, I never was good with nail polish...
So when we left, I told Waz I would screw up my nails in 10 minutes. I definitely didn't try to screw them up, I certainly wasn't trying, but when I went to close my umbrella not 15 minutes ago, I caught my nail in the plastic handle part of the darned thing and scraped a chunk of polish right off. O well, I never was good with nail polish...
Friday, May 12, 2006
Wondering
So I got my studio grade just now. I got a B which is what I really was hoping for. Well, it was a B-, but still, I got the B. I really wonder why I'm sad and yet really uncaring, and why I'm so relieved with getting a B. It isn't great, it isn't at all what I ought to be wanting for my grades. Maybe it's just this year that has me so down, maybe it's the whole studio situation.
I really wonder what I'm doing here sometimes. Even though I decided in high school that I wanted to be an architect, I never really had a clear idea as to why I wanted architecture, and what I would do in the architecture field. I find that I'm so much more interested in other things - the bookbinding class I'm taking next semester has me much more excited than studio. Studio, in fact, I am dreading. As usual. So I wonder, what am I doing here? Maybe I really need to rethink what my goals are. But then again, it's already fourth year. I think it's already too late to turn back. So I guess I'll just have to finish out my time here and think about what I really want to do when I leave school.
I think right now all that's really keeping me here is the fact that I've spent so much time working towards this degree. That and the fact that with the architecture degree, I can have a lot more options than if I were to have a comm design or art degree. I sometimes wonder if I should have done communication design because I spent so much time in school figuring out how to make books and working on layouts. I just had no idea that that was communication design. In fact, I never heard of communication design until I lived with someone who had it for her major.
And then there are those times when I'm so excited about architecture. I really wanted to work for Archi-tectonics, and I'm really hoping for that job with LWMA. Maybe it's just the atmosphere here at school that's getting me down. Everyone's depressed, no one's really interested, just cynical. I've spent a greater portion of this year trying to avoid studio by hiding behind my six other classes, or my job. Incidentally, I think my grades in my other classes are going to turn out pretty well, so much that hopefully I'll make Dean's List again - finally... Hope for the best, work through the crap. That's going to be my motto for a while.
O yes, and I had a super crappy conversation with my mother today where she basically told me, yet again, that I should stop wasting my time with my boyfriend. I don't think she realizes how I find that grossly offensive and that whenever she mentions it, I just decide that I'm not going to listen to another word she says. I hate how she's racist.
I really wonder what I'm doing here sometimes. Even though I decided in high school that I wanted to be an architect, I never really had a clear idea as to why I wanted architecture, and what I would do in the architecture field. I find that I'm so much more interested in other things - the bookbinding class I'm taking next semester has me much more excited than studio. Studio, in fact, I am dreading. As usual. So I wonder, what am I doing here? Maybe I really need to rethink what my goals are. But then again, it's already fourth year. I think it's already too late to turn back. So I guess I'll just have to finish out my time here and think about what I really want to do when I leave school.
I think right now all that's really keeping me here is the fact that I've spent so much time working towards this degree. That and the fact that with the architecture degree, I can have a lot more options than if I were to have a comm design or art degree. I sometimes wonder if I should have done communication design because I spent so much time in school figuring out how to make books and working on layouts. I just had no idea that that was communication design. In fact, I never heard of communication design until I lived with someone who had it for her major.
And then there are those times when I'm so excited about architecture. I really wanted to work for Archi-tectonics, and I'm really hoping for that job with LWMA. Maybe it's just the atmosphere here at school that's getting me down. Everyone's depressed, no one's really interested, just cynical. I've spent a greater portion of this year trying to avoid studio by hiding behind my six other classes, or my job. Incidentally, I think my grades in my other classes are going to turn out pretty well, so much that hopefully I'll make Dean's List again - finally... Hope for the best, work through the crap. That's going to be my motto for a while.
O yes, and I had a super crappy conversation with my mother today where she basically told me, yet again, that I should stop wasting my time with my boyfriend. I don't think she realizes how I find that grossly offensive and that whenever she mentions it, I just decide that I'm not going to listen to another word she says. I hate how she's racist.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Shanghai
It really seems like all the firms in NY are full up for the summer. So now my choices are two - I can work for a really awesome architect in Shanghai over the summer, narrowly avoid heat stroke and see what living abroad without my mother bitching at me about my boyfriend the whole time can be like. Or I can stay home in Connecticut, work at some dinky job that's completely unrelated to architecture, and learn to drive. Those are my options.
As much as I need to learn to drive, that option isn't nearly as tantalizing or glamorous as Shanghai...Hey, who doesn't want heat-stroke after all? The down-side is that my pay is going to be equivalent to a McDonald's worker in China. I guess that means I'll be making a dollar a day. O well, food there is cheap and I won't have to pay rent. Woohoo!
As much as I need to learn to drive, that option isn't nearly as tantalizing or glamorous as Shanghai...Hey, who doesn't want heat-stroke after all? The down-side is that my pay is going to be equivalent to a McDonald's worker in China. I guess that means I'll be making a dollar a day. O well, food there is cheap and I won't have to pay rent. Woohoo!
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Negativity
Yesterday I got the most negative comment I ever received since coming to college. Last night, a bunch of us were working in the computer labs on our templates. Templates which I was hired to create. Of course, the whole time, people were griping about the template, but I didn't mind too much because it was about having to do the template as opposed to disliking my template.
Then while people were griping, Ben Saks decided to up and say, "Yah, Angela, I have to say, your template is really bad." Thinking that he was joking, I made a pouty sad face and then he said, "No, I'm not joking, I really think it's bad." I thought a few moments, 'Maybe he's still joking?' Apparently not. Then I asked him why he thought so and he mentioned a few reasons - for example, that the 20x20 panels weren't at maximum size, and that there were spaces for things that he didn't want to put in so he had to make that up on the spot. Boy was I mad. In the end, I just told him it's the difference between me having taken a class that had some communication design focus (we learned that white space is good) and him never having taken one.
Still, as I said, it's the single most negative comment I have ever received. It wasn't a "I hate the template." It was a, "I hate your template." Meaning that I'm completely inadequate as a designer and should give up now and switch to engineering while I still have a chance because apparently all I'm good at is math.
This was supposed to be a short post. I think if I see Ben today, I'm really going to yell at him.
Then while people were griping, Ben Saks decided to up and say, "Yah, Angela, I have to say, your template is really bad." Thinking that he was joking, I made a pouty sad face and then he said, "No, I'm not joking, I really think it's bad." I thought a few moments, 'Maybe he's still joking?' Apparently not. Then I asked him why he thought so and he mentioned a few reasons - for example, that the 20x20 panels weren't at maximum size, and that there were spaces for things that he didn't want to put in so he had to make that up on the spot. Boy was I mad. In the end, I just told him it's the difference between me having taken a class that had some communication design focus (we learned that white space is good) and him never having taken one.
Still, as I said, it's the single most negative comment I have ever received. It wasn't a "I hate the template." It was a, "I hate your template." Meaning that I'm completely inadequate as a designer and should give up now and switch to engineering while I still have a chance because apparently all I'm good at is math.
This was supposed to be a short post. I think if I see Ben today, I'm really going to yell at him.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Brokeback
Yes, I did it. I watched the gay cowboy movie. And you know what? It was really good. I don't think really good describes it well enough - I think it might even be one of the best movies I have ever seen. It was quite tasteful for the most part other than one scene half an hour into the movie that made my jaw drop a mile. I still haven't finished thinking about the movie yet, there's a lot of depth to it, but I just thought I'd let people know that movie fully deserved all of its nominations.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Loneliness
I have no reason for feeling this way, but maybe it's because I just watched Pride and Prejudice, but I feel incredibly lonely. Darn those romance flicks with their perfect image of love. Completely unattainable, I hate them.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Vindicated
It's been a long time since I've written. Mostly it's because this year, I've had an extra extended hell week. It dropped be to an all time low for depression to the point where I would cry for seemingly no reason at all at strange times. For example, walking to class I would start thinking about it, and my eyes would start to burn and my mouth would tremble. But now, that's over, and for the first time in a week, I feel like eating. Yes, ladies and gents, I feel vindicated.
So let me tell you what happened. As usual, the last couple weeks of class were spent preparing for final reviews. I was well on my way, doing everything on the computer. I did a lot of AutoCAD and exported into photoshop and saved myself money on paints and paper and had some really nice drawings. And then the unspeakable happened. Monday morning, five hours to presentation, I was putting together my boards. It was probably because I had CAD, InDesign and Photoshop all opened at the same time, but suddenly my computer shut down. Melted down. Geeked out. Flipped out. Threw a tantrum. No blue screen of death. It just suddenly went black. No worries, I thought, so I hit the power button. Nothing. Well, maybe it just needs a moment, I thought, so I went and took a shower. After my shower I hit the power button and it turned on, but then windows wouldn't load. Not good, I thought, so I called Steve Lee (the studio coordinator) to let him know the situation. I tried a few more times, sort of freaking out and finally, I got things up and running. By then, it was about 12:30, and I thought, awesome, I can still do this, so I called Steve and let him know the situation. And then, I realized that most of the files I had open were corrupted. Somehow some of the pdfs had miracuously changed from yellow toned to green toned, and there were chunks that were grey. Not good. But at least my older files were okay, so I figured I would use those. I slapped together what I had into the required 40x40, hoping to get some sort of presentation that day. I wandered over to campus to get things plotted and by then it was 1:30 - that was when I was supposed to present. I went to the plotter and found out I had a couple hours wait, so I stuck around and regaled Buzz and Bob with my horrible tale of computer woes and they offered some good advice about how to fix the computer. So at 3:30, I got my plots and went to present. What happened was horrible. Everyone stared and said nothing. Gerard tried to be nice and said, "Well, let's look at what we do have..." I can't remember most of what happened, except that at the end, first one professor told me there was just nothing there to comment on, and then my own professor, Walbert, said that the presentation had to be redone, that it wasn't worthy of my project. I think Walbert's comment hurt me the most. Fortunately, but then, it was time for me to go to dance class, so I left with Rebecca and immediately started sobbing when we walked into the stairwell. I contintued to sob through half of dance class and cheered up when we started learning a dance for "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray. After dance, I went home and cried a lot, and called Ben and cried to him. Poor Benny-bean, I didn't mean to make him so uncomfortable.
In any case, I agreed with Walbert that my presentation was crap, so I spent the week recreating everything in just autoCAD and watercolors, this time saving all the hard computer thinking for the school computers. I finished about an hour and a half into studio today and Buzz was kind enough to plot it for me while telling me all about beer and whisky. I now know whisky tastes better if you order it on the rocks and let it melt a little.
I brought the new printouts to studio where Walbert kept giving me apologetic smiles while I trimmed the plots. I finally showed him what I had and he told me that I had too much white space. Waz disagrees, so it's all good. I showed her and Zack and other people in Fisher studio and then decided I needed to see how it looked on a board so I hung it up and started to write down what revisions I need to make (those revisions will most assuredly also be done on a school computer) when Walbert walked in and gave Chang a crit. After he was done with Chang, Walbert asked me if I was waiting for stray professors to give me crits and I replied that no, I was just writing down things that I needed to change for my own purposes. Meaning that now that I know I'm not half bad at creating presentations, it's become a point of pride to make all of my presentations attractive. After I talked with him a bit, I decided I wanted to show Steve what I fixed because he also seemed severely disappointed with my presentation on Monday, so I brought it up to him and he gave it a thumbs up. We talked a bit about Monday and he asked me why I didn't try to explain the situation to which I replied that Gerard was there, and Gerard doesn't take those kinds of excuses.
All in all, I now have a nice final project, and, even if I end up with a C in studio, I know that it was a good project and I really didn my best.
So let me tell you what happened. As usual, the last couple weeks of class were spent preparing for final reviews. I was well on my way, doing everything on the computer. I did a lot of AutoCAD and exported into photoshop and saved myself money on paints and paper and had some really nice drawings. And then the unspeakable happened. Monday morning, five hours to presentation, I was putting together my boards. It was probably because I had CAD, InDesign and Photoshop all opened at the same time, but suddenly my computer shut down. Melted down. Geeked out. Flipped out. Threw a tantrum. No blue screen of death. It just suddenly went black. No worries, I thought, so I hit the power button. Nothing. Well, maybe it just needs a moment, I thought, so I went and took a shower. After my shower I hit the power button and it turned on, but then windows wouldn't load. Not good, I thought, so I called Steve Lee (the studio coordinator) to let him know the situation. I tried a few more times, sort of freaking out and finally, I got things up and running. By then, it was about 12:30, and I thought, awesome, I can still do this, so I called Steve and let him know the situation. And then, I realized that most of the files I had open were corrupted. Somehow some of the pdfs had miracuously changed from yellow toned to green toned, and there were chunks that were grey. Not good. But at least my older files were okay, so I figured I would use those. I slapped together what I had into the required 40x40, hoping to get some sort of presentation that day. I wandered over to campus to get things plotted and by then it was 1:30 - that was when I was supposed to present. I went to the plotter and found out I had a couple hours wait, so I stuck around and regaled Buzz and Bob with my horrible tale of computer woes and they offered some good advice about how to fix the computer. So at 3:30, I got my plots and went to present. What happened was horrible. Everyone stared and said nothing. Gerard tried to be nice and said, "Well, let's look at what we do have..." I can't remember most of what happened, except that at the end, first one professor told me there was just nothing there to comment on, and then my own professor, Walbert, said that the presentation had to be redone, that it wasn't worthy of my project. I think Walbert's comment hurt me the most. Fortunately, but then, it was time for me to go to dance class, so I left with Rebecca and immediately started sobbing when we walked into the stairwell. I contintued to sob through half of dance class and cheered up when we started learning a dance for "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray. After dance, I went home and cried a lot, and called Ben and cried to him. Poor Benny-bean, I didn't mean to make him so uncomfortable.
In any case, I agreed with Walbert that my presentation was crap, so I spent the week recreating everything in just autoCAD and watercolors, this time saving all the hard computer thinking for the school computers. I finished about an hour and a half into studio today and Buzz was kind enough to plot it for me while telling me all about beer and whisky. I now know whisky tastes better if you order it on the rocks and let it melt a little.
I brought the new printouts to studio where Walbert kept giving me apologetic smiles while I trimmed the plots. I finally showed him what I had and he told me that I had too much white space. Waz disagrees, so it's all good. I showed her and Zack and other people in Fisher studio and then decided I needed to see how it looked on a board so I hung it up and started to write down what revisions I need to make (those revisions will most assuredly also be done on a school computer) when Walbert walked in and gave Chang a crit. After he was done with Chang, Walbert asked me if I was waiting for stray professors to give me crits and I replied that no, I was just writing down things that I needed to change for my own purposes. Meaning that now that I know I'm not half bad at creating presentations, it's become a point of pride to make all of my presentations attractive. After I talked with him a bit, I decided I wanted to show Steve what I fixed because he also seemed severely disappointed with my presentation on Monday, so I brought it up to him and he gave it a thumbs up. We talked a bit about Monday and he asked me why I didn't try to explain the situation to which I replied that Gerard was there, and Gerard doesn't take those kinds of excuses.
All in all, I now have a nice final project, and, even if I end up with a C in studio, I know that it was a good project and I really didn my best.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Gospel
National Geographic always has the most interesting articles. The latest issue is all about a new gospel - you know, it's like the Dead Sea Scrolls or some such. Apparently someone found an old book which was then transfered from person to person for about thirty years until someone got smart enough to take a closer look and what do they find? The Gospel of Judas. Sadly, the people who got a hold of it were stupid enough to undo the binding and shift the pages all around, deteriorating the papyrus and then leaving it in a bank vault.
So the story goes that in the past five years, a famous restorer of documents and a guy who knows his stuff about Coptic (the language in which the gospel was written) worked together and translated all that was left. What it says is that of all the disciples, only Judas truly understood Jesus's message, and that Judas did not willingly betray Jesus. In fact, Jesus asked Judas to do so so that Jesus might be free of his body.
So far, all testing that has been done has proven that the document is actually from the right time period.
Normally, I couldn't care less about religion, but when something this juicy pops up, it's just great. It's like the DaVinci Code or Stigmata, but so much better because the documents have been around for 2000 years. Anyhoo, just thought I'd share. Nifty, no?
So the story goes that in the past five years, a famous restorer of documents and a guy who knows his stuff about Coptic (the language in which the gospel was written) worked together and translated all that was left. What it says is that of all the disciples, only Judas truly understood Jesus's message, and that Judas did not willingly betray Jesus. In fact, Jesus asked Judas to do so so that Jesus might be free of his body.
So far, all testing that has been done has proven that the document is actually from the right time period.
Normally, I couldn't care less about religion, but when something this juicy pops up, it's just great. It's like the DaVinci Code or Stigmata, but so much better because the documents have been around for 2000 years. Anyhoo, just thought I'd share. Nifty, no?
Monday, April 17, 2006
Post Pre Final
Let's just say that I'm depressed.
About a lot of things.
I'm depressed that I treated Ben so badly, yelling at him more in this one weekend than I have in the entirety of our relationship.
I'm depressed that I got a really bad crit today where the teachers basically told me my roof is great but everything else is trash.
I'm depressed that I forgot a CD so I had to run home and was late for dance.
I'm depressed that the teacher finally decided to let me dance even though I showed up after plies, and seemed to even have saved me my usual center front spot.
I'm depressed that I couldn't do any turns today.
I'm depressed that Archi-tectonics doesn't need any more interns.
I'm depressed that I'm probably not going to find a job this summer.
I'm depressed that there won't be a dance class next year.
I'm depressed.
I'm going to go and finish crying now.
About a lot of things.
I'm depressed that I treated Ben so badly, yelling at him more in this one weekend than I have in the entirety of our relationship.
I'm depressed that I got a really bad crit today where the teachers basically told me my roof is great but everything else is trash.
I'm depressed that I forgot a CD so I had to run home and was late for dance.
I'm depressed that the teacher finally decided to let me dance even though I showed up after plies, and seemed to even have saved me my usual center front spot.
I'm depressed that I couldn't do any turns today.
I'm depressed that Archi-tectonics doesn't need any more interns.
I'm depressed that I'm probably not going to find a job this summer.
I'm depressed that there won't be a dance class next year.
I'm depressed.
I'm going to go and finish crying now.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Apartment
My roommate finally let me know - she's moving out. Does anyone want to live with me? Or know anyone willing to pay $500 for rent which includes the utilities?
Monday, April 10, 2006
Breaking up is hard to do
Breaking up is hard to do. I know this now. No, I didn't break up with Benny-bean. We're still quite happy together.
A few of my friends are going through tough times and for the first time in my life, I have been deemed sympathetic enough to be confided in. I suppose back in high school everyone always considered me some sort of misery-chick like Daria (you know, the cartoon girl with the monotonous low voice? A voice very similar to mine?). Most of it was because of the voice and similarities, but I guess a lot of it was also the fact that I never cried in public, didn't laugh too often and also, didn't try very hard to make as many friends as possible.
And now, suddenly, I have people who actually want me to listen. Fascinating. I wonder if it's some sort of indication as to just how much I've changed since leaving for college...
A few of my friends are going through tough times and for the first time in my life, I have been deemed sympathetic enough to be confided in. I suppose back in high school everyone always considered me some sort of misery-chick like Daria (you know, the cartoon girl with the monotonous low voice? A voice very similar to mine?). Most of it was because of the voice and similarities, but I guess a lot of it was also the fact that I never cried in public, didn't laugh too often and also, didn't try very hard to make as many friends as possible.
And now, suddenly, I have people who actually want me to listen. Fascinating. I wonder if it's some sort of indication as to just how much I've changed since leaving for college...
