Tea and Cookies

My hands are red, chapped, and cracked. I don't know if this is from general tiredness, the dryness of the studio, or the relentless cold of this corner desk by the window.

It's been so cold lately, although I think my tolerance for it is increasing. Yesterday, I walked around in weather in the 20. Of course, I'm wearing a down coat and long underwear, while I was informed that I'm a bit premature for long underwear by Midwestern standards.

I'm pretty much done with my boards, which is good as I was planning on printing them tomorrow. The other students are just disgusted with me for being so far ahead. We have our review next Tuesday, which means I have about five days to build my two models. So I should be in pretty good shape.

When I say "boards," I'm really talking about posters. These will have our drawings, renderings, diagrams, plans, sections, all the flat stuff. The thing is, our boards are huge. Each board is three feet wide and about six feet long, and I have four of them. That's 72 square feet. That's about the same size as a small kitchen. I think that I will also need to print two of them in color, which at $1.50 a square foot, will run me $54, plus $36 for the black and white boards. Printing is expensive. On the flip side of that equation, I didn't have to buy a single textbook this semester. Architecture students tend to spend on materials and printing.

Christmas has definitely come to the studio. Several of our desks, including mine, are decked out with holiday lights, and a friend of ours brought in a dozen poinsettas which he gave out through the studio. (incidently, poinsettas are not toxic. Not to people, not to pets. I wouldn't make a salad out of them though.)

The GAC (graduate architecture council) hosted tea and cookies for everyone in studio at 9pm. They did it last night, tonight, and will do it tomorrow too. They will also provide us with lunch on the day of the review.

On to more work! Or perhaps home.