Review week

Last week was a major push week, where we attempted to bring our conceptual models into a full realization of project with sections, plans, understanding of site, materials, etc. Starting a week from last friday, I switched into a pattern of three to four hours of sleep a night, with occasional naps during the day. The night of my review, I worked until six am and got four hours of sleep.

That's because I'm an idiot.

And because I care about this project way too much, I kept fine tuning what I wanted to do. I ended up pounding out some good renderings and threw my boards together quickly, and actually, I ended up taking up about twenty feet of wall- sections, diagrams, illustrated sections, renderings, plans, sketches, and half a dozen models. It's still a stupid way to work given that the quality of what you do decreases based on your sleep level. A little sleep deprivation is not a bad thing in that it makes you a little less critical of what you're doing, but it quickly becomes a matter of diminishing returns.

Sometime tuesday night, I felt like I was flying through my work, being incredibly productive, working really fast. When I looked at the clock, I realized I hadn't left my chair in six hours. I wasn't working faster or more efficiently. In fact, I was working more slowly, but I was so tired, the hours melted away. This is the kind of stupid thing you do in undergrad.

The review went well. I presented well, but I was probably a bit to quick to mount the soapbox and proclaim emphatically "We are the river!" One of the two critics said that he appreciated my conviction. Thinking back, I just don't want to come across like the crazy prophets from Life of Brian.

Wednesday, I also found out I was not going to San Diego. I was planning on going with my informal cities class to San Diego and Tijuana, and to get a better price on the tickets, I went ahead and purchased tickets there and back. The problem is that the school requires a certain number of students to enroll in the program to make it worthwhile. There are only nine students in our class. They opened the workshop up to the school... two weeks before the planned trip.

In architecture school, many people will take a trip if it's part of the studio they're taking. A much smaller percentage will take a trip if its part of a seminar or other elective class. I would be very much surprised if there were more than two people in the entire school who would take a trip, even for a 1 credit hour workshop, if it was not directly related to either studio or a class. So that was disappointing. At any rate, because I booked with southwest, I was able to switch my ticket to Phoenix without any extra charges. So, my trip to the Mexican slums turns into a few days in Phoenix with mom and Tay, and a chance to meet mom's boyfriend, Larry.

Anyway, the past few days have been about recovery, relaxation, and recreation. Friday, I went climbing again, and then went out for a drink with Saori at Three Kings, where we watched the Cardinals win to a euphoric bar crowd. Yesterday, I worked in studio for most of the day, and took a break to go see Looper. Not bad for a scifi flick.