Celebrations

Tay was a trooper- he stuck out the entire day of listening to architecture students present. That night, we went out to celebrate at the India Palace at the Airport and had some great curry and beer overlooking the runway, and then we went home and just crashed since we were all critically sleep deprived.

Saturday, Tay stayed at home and went shopping and Saori and I went back for the rest of the reviews. For lunch, Tay went out and brought us pizza and so we had a picnic at school. Tay went on to go shopping, and Saori and I stayed to watch the final reviews of the day.

The epic conclusion was Adam's presentation of his vertical stacked drag racing strip in the old cotton railroad building. The entire project was really wild- fantastic mechanisms swung cars around to load them into the building- a grandstand which moved up and down to provide optimal viewing angles- a vehicle arresting device including a drag line and a massive swinging counterweight. The entire thing was so over the top and fun that the main criticism Adam received was that he didn't go far enough. Why were the models of the swing arms white, which is the language of hi-tech, serious architecture? why not painted in garish colors in celebration of all the moving pieces?

 It was a great show and the reviewers enjoyed themselves. There were no woman visiting critics so it was kind of a bro fest anyway, and ending on such a stereotypically male project (tricking out an old building like a hot rod for drag racing) seemed appropriate.

Anyway, after his presentation, we all went upstairs where a line of bottles of  champagne were laid out in a row. At the appointed time, the studio advisors started popping corks, and for me, the sound of champagne corks popping hammered home the fact that I was done. That distinctive pop of celebration, that was it. We handed out cups to everyone and had a series of toasts. The faculty toasted us, we toasted our advisors, the critics, each other. Much wine was drunk, and each studio migrated towards their advisor.

Catherine Dean's studio was easy to find- her students were truly hers, she was emotional, so visibly happy, and getting someone to take a picture of all of them together in a group photo. Saori and I found Ben smoking outside, already talking to a few studio mates from our section. We hung out there for awhile, chatting with friends and other students in lower sections who had supported us, and then when all the wine was gone, the party broke up and we went upstairs back to studio.

Two students had taken the initiative to charter a party bus for tonight, and they knew I was good with fun graphics so they asked me to make a map, and I went up to finalize it and print it out on a big scale plotter. There were a lot of friends already up there and I had a cup of Knob Creek pressed into my hand and we chatted and laughed and made plans for the night.

Saori and I went home to meet Tay and I cooked us a pasta dinner, still a little tipsy. After dinner, Tay drove us back to school and dropped us off in the parking lot where the bus was waiting. We were going to ride the STL Road Pony, a former school bus which had been converted with side bench seating, a dance floor and pole in the back, mood lighting, etc. It was hilarious and we were all a little drunk and totally excited. I would say about half the studio was there, including Chuck and his girlfriend.

We got blue wrist bands to identify ourselves (and to let people know who to contact when they find our passed out bodies in the street or too drunk to speak), and we took off on a bouncy trip to the St. Louis arch, were we got out and took a big group photo, still clutching our alcohol.

We drove on to a few sites where a few people took shots, and then made our first bar stop at a hipster bar. The guys there were 20-30s with facial hair, the girls were chunky and geeky/gothy, and there was a room filled with pinball machines. Because we'd ended up paying more than the cost of the bus, everyone took a shot at the bar. The bar was also our pee stop since the bus didn't have any facilities. We drove on to another site in south St. Louis and then shot north to stop at a bar (Tropicana?) with neon blue bowling lanes.

There was a lot of very drunk and intense conversation about how great our classmates all were and how we were going to change the world. I'd been working on a giant bottle of Trader Joes Christmas ale (9%) made my Unibroue which was pretty good and strong.

Our last stop was Pepper Lounge, a dance club of which I'd heard much about but never visited, and the bus people announced that it was heading back to the school or you could get out here.

We jumped out, along with most of the bus. I'd been given $10 from the bus organizers for my part in making the map and printing it (even though it was pretty useless in the end, apart from a party decoration) and I used that as cover to get Saori and I in the club. I barely remember going in.

The dance floor was packed and we met a bunch of people who weren't on the bus- Cordelia, John S., others. Lots and lots of dancing. My memories of it were very fuzzy. I think we got there around 12:30, and we left around 2. We shared a cab back to campus with Sarah M, and Tay, the eternal gentleman he is, came to pick us up from the school.

We went back home and passed out.