Richard Gere is giraffe.

I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe, and someone said I was a snake, I'd think, no, actually I'm a giraffe. - Richard Gere

My brother lives in Germany.

That's totally crazy! But cool! He left in August and I miss him. It's also difficult to get a hold of him (time differences, calling cards, etc.) so I haven't been able to verbally speak to him in over a month. :o( Hopefully we'll get some kind of calling system up and running here, and by that I mean either talking through the internet/webcam or just coordinating times between countries... so that keeping in touch doesn't become few and far between. Doo, I hope you still read this.

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In other news, I miss my boy. His 21st birthday (WOO!) is this December and I'm trying to plan something for us to do - I wanna escape the state for a few days if possible; or at least our home cities. I know it is months down the road, but boys, this is what girls do. :o) "Ah, I have three months to figure out what we can do, AHH!" *hee hee* At least that's how I roll.

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Today (Monday) in studio we are going on a hike; this little venture takes us two hours southeast of our school for a two hour walk-and-observe-water-in-nature-hike-thing. Hopefully that doesn't suck. I spent all weekend working on an exhibit for another class that I haven't gathered supplies for the hike-thing. Sunblock! I need sunblock! Inevitably, someone will have some, but why depend on others like that? That's right - don't mooch!

I cannot believe it is going to be the fourth week of school. Already! It just cannot be possible! I feel like we: (a) just started, (b) haven't done much work, (c) are about to head face first into some impending architectural doom incident. That's right, an I.A.D.I. You could pronounc that [i-uh-die] and you'd be saying how I will eventually feel regarding school, haha. Funny how that works. ;o)

So I've mostly finished my homework that is due tomorrow... 90% to be exact, so I am feeling good about that. So much so (can I say 'so' any more than I already have?!) that I am going to go read before bed. Yes. Laters to youz I sais.

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*Note: I do not know why, but for some reason my posts keep being published as 20070907 at 00:17! Maybe I'll try signing out and back in for next time. [Huff!]*

The week is half over already?!

Thanks to the holiday, my week is happily half over! And that will bring the end of the third week of school - how can that be?! I guess we do have a long ways to go before the end of the semester, and I'm not really wishing for the end like I was last semester, so that should tell you that I'm pretty happy with how things are going so far. Maybe it is because I have a fun architecture class thrown in the mix of things.

We had our first review today and you can see half of my project on http://www.architektin.blogspot.com/ (the other half is in physical form - not digital, right now. After I format it to digitalness, I'll post it on Architektin.) My partner and I think it went pretty well for ours, and we know it did for a few others', but some of the presentations left my mind all but bewildered. Yeah, I listened to their intro speech. Yeah, I analyzed their physical presentation. But, I did not get what the CRAP you were trying to do with your video! AHHH! :o(

Well, I'm hungry, and this post is mostly about arch, so I'm out... I think it's time to take a book to a coffee shop and read-it-up while I drink-it-up. :o)

And I jump right in.

There is no preparing to resume architecture school. You sit and you try to mentally tell yourself that "It'll be easier this time around if you just stay ahead of the game", but that never actually works. So far, things haven't really knocked us off our feet, but one of these days we'll all snap and go insane. I hate the first insane day - it's always the worst... but when you're on your 14th insane day in a row... it starts to feel normal, eh?

And so I'm 100+ miles from my boy and that has me a bit sad as I spent most of the summer at his house/in his company. I guess I feel farther away from him than I actually am, but that is because we're both so busy and do not get to talk as often.

I'm still mourning the loss of Meesha and cannot wait until her cremated (sp?) remains return to us so we can add pictures to the outside of her urn. I see other dogs and they just aren't the same as she was. There is one dog here (belongs to a friend of mine) who might be almost as equally cool as Meesha was, but... well, he's not mine, so he can never be as cool, you know?

I probably should go to bed because if I stay up any longer, it's not going to be for any good reason except that I don't want tomorrow to start any sooner. Not that tomorrow is going to be bad, but yeah.

Oh yeah, this Labor Day weekend, the boy is coming to town! And so is my school friend's boyfriend! So we four are going to make a nice dinner and drink and have fun - I'm SUPER excited!

Also, I've been hanging out with Shifty (it's his nickname) a lot and that has been good. He was in a motorcycle accident on Friday night, and worried the crap out of me, but he did a good job of tucking and rolling and pretty much saved his ass by that + wearing protective gear. *thankful for that*

So now I'm going to bed. Goodnight all, I hope you're reading - I am going to really make an effort to post here more frequently. :o)

Two-and-a-half down...

The history review is OVER! Less than 24 hours until the exam and then I'll be almost free! FREEEEEE! *maniacal laughter*

So right now I'm sitting at a restaurant on University Blvd. while I eat lunch/early-early dinner and write my history exam essays. I will stay here until they kick me out! Heh-heh-heh... Or until it's about to get dark. One of the two.

Ooof, belly... SO... FULL! SO FULL! It is going to pop! Now I shall sit and relax? Maybe... :o) NO! There's history to do! *judo-chop!*

I love the smell of crankiness in the morning!

Er, afternoon. Because that's what it is now. As of twenty-one minutes ago!

So today is one of those days that is completely opposite from yesterday['s post]. Today I have to go into studio and I have to work on a project that is dead to me and I have to do well on it because it could get me into a failing position if my teacher doesn't like it enough. How d'you like them apples?!

But seriously, can't you just feel my crankiness seeping from your computer screen and, ultimately, into your life where it will alter your current mood?

Quick! Navigate away from this browser! Before it's too late! Check back after sun-down and I'm sure you'll get better results! :o)

Holy Architectural History, Batman!

So my architecture history website is out of the way. No, I'm not showing it to you! Go away!

Okay-okay, don't go away... but you're not gonna see the site. :o) And... I don't feel like doing any other homework until tomorrow (which I won't feel like working on then either). All I wanna do is go hang out with my boy or friends and have fun!

Speaking of which, I just called the boy and he said that one of his friends is on his way up to visit, not for the whole weekend, but still, to visit. I am slightly jealous, I must say. I have become accustomed to seeing my boy every weekend. *huff* Oh well, this is my last week of school/homework for three months, so I can deal with one weekend of non-boy in order to take care of this crap. It's just gotta be done.

In other news, bye. :o)

HAHAHA...

http://ihasabucket.com/

Ghhhhhhhh.

My brain is a big ball of moosh right now. I had my final studio review yesterday and I only slept one hour the morning of... and four hours the morning before... and I'm not quite sure how many the night before that - if any at all... see what I'm getting at here? The last two weeks have been grueling and here's why!

• Severe lack of sleep (I'm talkin' anywhere from 0 - 4 hours per night)
• Eating only 1/4 of meals because your stomach ends up kicking you if you try to feed it
• Waking up from what little sleep you just got and immediately thinking about your project
• Not being able to fall asleep, even though you only have 1 hour to sleep, because you keep thinking about your project
• Three other classes to manage at the same time - which all have projects of their own and finals approaching
• Life to manage at the same time

Yar! It's just been one blur of time for the last two weeks. At least I think it was two weeks - it might have been three. See?! I don't even remember!

A is for Architecture.

Architecture:

• the only building on campus that never turns off its G. D. lights.
• the only program that requires students to work 60 hours outside class.
• influences you to draw on napkins, toilet paper, or any writeable surface if standard paper isn't nearby.
• students can build a model to represent an idea using almost anything at hand.
• students never sleep.

Ow, my brain...

Only 13 days until studio is over - woohoo! Then I can breathe again! And sleep again! I'm so excited! I'm also excited because Cute Boy is coming down here again this weekend!

Easter Sunday with his family was fun - they are totally laid back and real. None of that fake "I love you because you're family" crap. Woo!

Things I'm not excited about:

• having to redesign my studio project building - just because my professor and section classmates liked that version of my project better. Ploop.
• feeling so stressed out that my muscles are tense.
• a car of the same make and model to mine was stolen today only ~130 miles from where I live - that's too close to home for comfort. *fear* :-\
• shuffling money around to make ends meet.
• annoying bishes in my class - they treat others (especially me) like they could care less if a wolf had just knawed off my feet and I couldn't get help; I seriously think at that moment, they'd still talk about how much they love their own eyes.
• my architecture history project - too much of our grade is counting on the well-being of this project. *sigh*
• having this many things to be not-excited-about. :oP

In other news! I'm working on that redesign mentioned above. It's going alright so far. I'm sure my professor and classmates will make try to change something else tomorrow. They have a habit of doing that right after you've spent 12 hours on one drawing. Ploop.

Okay, so back to it then!

The dreads.

*sitting in a chair with calves-to-feet part of legs horizontal on top of desk*

What a funny way to sit, right? No, it's playful! It di-rectly reflects the mood I'm in right now. Why? I'll tell you!

Last night Cute Boy called to inform me that he would be in town later and, "what would [we] like to do?" Eeeeeeee! *excitement!* Don't worry, I still got my homework done - take THAT, school!

He arrived during the 9 or 10 p.m. hour, I finished building my model, and then we watched The Pursuit of Happyness - it was good and it felt good to just take a couple of hours to forget school and enjoy time with my boy. :o)

So school was really good today. During our programming class I sketched an idea for the building we're designing in studio and I think I can make it work as my final design! I hope so, because that would rizzock! After programming, I went back to studio, worked on my drawings and then class started. It was totally laid back today - our crit just walked around and gave some feedback. Only bad part was that he wants me to draw with a lead holder pencil (left) rather than my trusty set of mechanical draft/matics (right; click for larger view). Nooooo! I drew with the lead holder, though under protest, until my teacher left the studio - then I was right back to my draft/matics! I made it into the program using them, why should I switch now? They're awesome pencils - if you were wondering. They're heavy enough, too, to feel "quality" while you're using them unlike how cheap-o pencils feel. Plus, you never have to stop and sharpen the lead! A technique that drafting people use, is that we rotate our pencil with our fingers while we are drawing lines - this keeps the tip sharp - and it works better with mechanicals, in my opinion. :oP

So then I came home and now I'm getting ready to have a fun night out! For once, our homework load isn't overbearing this weekend, YAY! Also... Did you think you'd ever see me with dreads?

No!

But these are not true dreads! (I like to wash my hair, thank you! LOL.) No, but I have this putty stuff that I am going to use to dread-up my hair tonight. Why? For giggles - besides, when you normally don't do your hair or makeup all "fancy", it feels good to have some change - it livens up your mood! I swear by the physics of this! Heh-heh. I'll try to take a picture, though that will be difficult as my camera was sent out for repairs this week. :o\ Hopefully Cute Boy will have a camera he can use. And then... you're gonna have to be one of my MySpace friends - or you ain't gon' see 'em!

Okay, Cute Boy just called, so bye! :o)

I want my giggle back.

My Cute Boy was here and it was comforting. I always feel whole, happy, and safe when he is around. Sadly the Cute Boy only stayed for two hours and had to leave to go do things in his college town - like study for a test he forgot he had tomorrow. :o( I know he'll do great though, so that makes me :o).

I, on the other hand, have to get this G. D. architecture model finished asap before I fly off the handle! Sleep is a prime luxury right now and it must be had! Good thing class isn't until 1pm. :oP

I want my Cute Boy back! *throws tantrum*

Daaaaang it!

It always amazes me...

The way I come up with designs always amazes me. Each design provocation is different from the last:

• inspiration listening music
• saying ideas out loud
• doodling aimlessly with frustration for hours
• thinking in the shower
• driving my car

...and the list goes on - I doubt I could list them all. The point is that Friday morning at 6 a.m. I had an epiphany of a design idea and now, at 3:30 a.m., I have just had another break through. Gravy-hoo-yah for me! :oD Couple that with the fact that my design crit liked the start of my idea (shown in model form in class on Friday) and that should allow you to realize that I have been in pretty good spirits the last couple days. Oh, and also because Cute Boy is here! :oD

So now all I have to do to meet Monday's deadline is:

• build a more advanced model of my idea (which means I may need to go to the store... without having a car, this is pretty difficult, lol)
• draw two critical spatial sections - one for the horizontal axis and one for the vertical axis of my site

YARRR!

Stress + hard work = worthwhile.

1300+

• Programming class = attended.
• Studio models = built ('cept for 1, but that's okay).
• Plaster model of collar bone = cast.
• Plaster model of tendon and veins in hand = cast.
• Plaster model of hand overall = cast.
• Getting the stink-eye (as a group) from the studio crit = fear.
• Being forced to build a model in 90 minutes with logic, craft, and completeness = difficult.
• Talking to the crit after class about my work = bonding.
• Dinner = eaten.
• Walking home after school = cold and windy.
• Cute Boy not being online = waiting.
• Sleep = to be had.

I'm back, baby!

1700+

• ECS group model = built.
• Dinner = eaten.
• History reading = complete.
• ECS reading = skimmed.
• Model of building skin = built.
• Sleep = to be had.

A melding of the "blogs". (I hate that word)

So I pretty much just post all of my architectural babbles here... like I wasn't going to... hence the "Architektin" link in the left column... Whatever, yo. I guess when I actually get the guts to post pictures of my work, I'll jump back to "Architektin", but for now, it's all here, ba-bay! (Said like Conan O'Brien's: "Keep cool, my babies!") Anyway...

I've been going through a lot of turmoil with school this semester - the way I work doesn't work with the way the crits want us to. My crit wants us to design in a manner that seems totally illogical to me, but I'm here to learn, so I try his way - and then I usually end up getting upset or confused or doubty... when I really shouldn't! Because then I've started down the path of self-doubt in design and that's clearly not the issue here. The issue is stress regarding instruction.

To my crit:

• Give us good instructions.
• Give us thourough instructions.
• Know fully what the client wants before instructing us to design a building for them. You saying, "I'm not really sure..." isn't helping us. How are we supposed to know the things you don't know yourself?
• Constructive criticsm won't kill you. Again, how are we supposed to figure some of these difficult things out if you're not willing to discuss and sketch with us?
• Why are you teaching architecture students if you only went to art college?

Thank you to:

• Momma: for listening to me whine on the phone and telling me the nice things you said (sorry, peeps, that's between her and me). I had just held back crying and then you almost yanked it outta me, yarrr!
• Daddio: for talking to me online and then insisting that I call you so I could hear your voice; for the architectural advice, knowledge and feedback. You're the only architectural person I really understand and feel that I have shared-ground with. You listen, you yell, you help. :o)
• Cute Boy: for being there for me online in this time when your phone is broken, and you really would rather be doing anything other than typing at me, but you do it anyway because you know it makes me happy; for throwing the level of communication I throw at you right back at me - it is refreshing; for making me hyper. lower-case!

Alright, I'm exhausted. This weekend has been one huge research-sketch-frustration-fest. Really, it was. I'm sure I'll be writing more about it whenever I get frustrated.

Oh, and I have a post discussing what I did for spring break, but it's not done yet, and I can't devote that much brain power to it just now or I think I might explode. So when I get a free minute of sanity (HA - betta check back in three years when I gradumatate!) I'll make sure to finish that up for you folks.

In the meantime, you really think it's wise to leave my journal page without a comment? How very mean of you. ;o)

in your FACE!

In your FACE, Architecture! Who do you think you are, anyway?!

It's Spring Break!

It's spring break! The arch professors gave us some "minor" homework (aka 6 hours worth) yesterday at 4pm (and then claimed "it'll be your lightest week of the semester"). Class ended at 5pm. *deadpan stare* Only 3 out of the 4 sections has to do it - which I think is slightly unfair, but hopefully this exercise will be to our advantage, as the group that is exempt often has slack requirements of them. In 5 days, I have managed to learn new arch skills at an exponential rate and it is all thanks to our boot-camp-like crit. He's firm with us, but fun-spirited, so it all evens out.

But at least the mega-weight of architecture is slightly off my shoulders for a week. Enough to catch my breath. Hopefully I can get my homework done in time to go on a road trip with Cute Boy - we've been talking about it for about two weeks or more now. We haven't really decided on a destination yet, well, we have, but we're not sure if it'll work out - so we're not putting all our hopes into it.

Some of our ideas include:

-Escaping to another state
-Escaping to another town in this state and possibly get a cabin/hotel/or go camping
-I don't know what else, haha

All I know is that it doesn't matter where we go because we'll end up having fun and taking a ton o' pics. Mmm... pics. And it's the whole "journey" aspect of it too. We are too content to just be wherever. Mmm... I like that contentness.

:o)

*hack, cough*

Ugh, my throat has been acting up again. Specifically my left tonsil. Most not good. I plan to keep all of my organs for as long as possible (except when I maybe sometime in the future donate one to someone in need)! *shoves tonsil back in throat*

Studio is at 1pm and ends at 5pm, yar. I feel somewhat motivated to do the diagrams required... and somehow I also don't feel motivated. Yet, I will do them. Mm-hm.

Cute boy and I are trying to plan spring break fun because our schools happen to coincide spring breaks! But what can we do? Any ideas? Remember: we're poor college kidlets!