Finals

There are a few distinct advantages to being an architecture major. First among those are the relative lack of finals. Our final project was due a month ago, and I submitted portfolio about a week ago. I had two tests. One was a short essay test with six questions for Urban Planning, and the one I took today was on architectural structures. Questions included the following: "wood is the strongest: (1) perpendicular to the grain (2) parallel to the grain (3) in tension." I got a 90% or better I think.

Portfolio: Tricky subject. In order to turn it in on time, I sent it to the printer Sunday late afternoon. I took it to the Kinko's in Scottsdale since I knew the one near the university was going to be overwhelmed. Portfolio was due Tuesday at five. I didn't want anything to go wrong. I put my portfolio as a pdf and stuck it on my jump drive. It was formatted to be 8" x 8". My attempts to make it print right on both sides were not going well, hence my decision to take it to kinko's early in the game. Kinko's told me it would be ready by five on Tuesday. When I got home, I figured out how to get the pages ot align better, so I printed a full color, double sided copy of my portfolio, because if Kinko's screwed up, then I'd really be in trouble without a backup since they take at least a full day to print out.

A quick note on submission: Portfolio and applications to upper divion are due by 5:00 PM on that Wednesday. Any later, and you have to wait another full year. Hence, my apprehension at submitting on time.

Anyway, I printed everything out, then went to Kinko's expecting the worst. They did everything perfectly, from printing them on the right paper with the right ink to cutting them exactly right. I was so overjoyed I happily forked over the 90 bucks. It looked great. I had it printed on matte cardstock (heavy paper) with a professional ink. The black shined in the light. I also had 35 pages printed on the front and back. Anyway, I made a simple cover from chipboard and used acetone transfer to write "portfolio of design" on the front in Century Gothic spaced out at 100 percent, the same kind of font I used in the portfolio. I took it to alphAGraphics a little ways from campus to get it bound. There is one right across the street from the architecture building, but I dont use them because: 1) Everyone uses them, usually at the same time 2) They seem to be staffed by ASU dropouts, and 3) They only give decent service to women. This has been coroborated by nearly everyone I talk to. I usally stick to kinko's for these reasons, but only alphAGraphics has the professional metal ring binding. Anyway, later that night I picked it up, complete.

I submitted it wednesday, around noon. I was the 76th person to submit, which became the identifying number for my portfolio as you're not allowed to have your name in or on it. I would really hate to be 1 or 142, so I think 76th is a pretty good number. I also handed in my application to upper division, just a form with my name, school ID and where to send the letter of notification and a padded envelope to mail my portfolio back to Sally.

Speaking of Sally, she invited Jen and I for dinner the other night. She made us pork and mashed potatoes. It was really good. She also gave me a really good, extensive book on the house, everything from discussions of locations and aspects of urban planning to detail plans of soffits, foundation connections, and systems of construction.

Wednesday at 5 I went to see the closing of the door and the stragglers. Seven people submitted in the last five minutes. Two of those were in the last minute. How does one time such a thing? What if they had taken a different route, or gone back for sunglasses, etc. It boggles the mind. There were about twenty people lined up along the hall as spectators. At 5 o'clock, the head of the office called out "anyone else? last call!" the people who could see the door said there was no one coming so she closed the door, locked it, and turned out the office lights. That was that.

Regrets? Sure, for one thing, I wish I'd taken the time to give it a good proof-reading. Nothing too major, just a few speling errores. Hopefully, they'll either glaze over it without noticing, or not decide to reject me for my spelling. Anyway nothing I can do about it now. It's quite literally out of my hands. All will be revealed July 1st, when they mail out 94 rejection slips, and 48 acceptance letters. Hopefully one of the latter will be addressed to me.