Suits me

Saturday evening I took Jen with me to Fashion Square to look for suits. We looked all over the place, from Dillard's to Macy's to Robinsons to a few smaller boutiques. Macy's was the only place that had a suit in my size (36) that fit well and was in the color I wanted. Dillard's didn't even have a single 36. The suit is made by Alfani, single breasted with three buttons, and a traditional lapel. 100% wool, of course. The only modern things about the suit is that the pants aren't pleated, and the jacket is has vent cuts in the back instead of the single cut in the middle of the back. I tried it on with a dress shirt (that's a sixty dollar shirt, the salesman informed me) and with the slacks. It looked really good, really nice fit in the shoulders and arms. Jen really liked it. It was the first whole suit I tried on, and we came back to buy it after looking at the other stores. The suit normally retails for $470, but it was my luck to get it half off. I would have had them hem the pants for me, but it takes them 11 days to do, and I intend to wear the suit in New York. They gave me a list of places they recommend, and I'll call a close one monday to find out thier turnaround for hemming.
I have a test tomorrow in structures class on dirt, steel, and wood. So back to studying.

A Sad Day for Salsa

I started the day off very leisurely, waking up at ten. I spent the day re-reading The Fountianhead by Ayn Rand. Some I read in bed, some lying on the couch, sitting at the table, sitting on the floor, sitting on the steps outside sipping iced tea. I finished it tonight, covering about three hundred-odd pages today. Its a great book, but the end feels too ideal, too perfect, like Jurgis at the end of The Jungle. Everything suddenly goes right. It felt out of character for the novel. It's a good inspiration for my portfolio which I will resume this monday.

Tonight we went to our salsa final. It was set up as a competition, with about 500 of her students from the various levels. The room was packed. A group would run on the stage, dance for under two minutes for the judge, then run off the stage as a new group ran on. It was difficult to figure out the timing of each heat so you had to pay close attention as to who was dancing and what they were doing. Sally, Jonathan, and Jen's mom Diane, came to watch us. Sally brought me brownies, which was really nice of her. She also got a few pictures, but I think it was mostly of my back.
I slipped up and recovered partially in the salsa. My rhumba was a mess, I completely forgot our moves. Cha-cha was so bad, I had to stop to get back on time and so nervous I started doing a completely different dance. Mergengue was mercifully last, so we ended that dance without my screwing it up royally.
There are four tiers of competition. We didn't even make it to the second. We went into the audience to find our respective spectators. They made a good show of liking the dances we performed. Ah well. We had practicied for this competition twice, each time for under an hour. Jen had her portfolio to turn in the 15th and I had my final project. We had no time to spend on dancing, so I was extremely grateful that we got full credit for merely participating. I'm just no good at coordinated activity under the spotlight. In cross country you had three miles to show your stuff. In architecture, you have weeks to prepare and think and plan, so that even though you might pass out where you stood, you could still talk coherantly about your project's ideas, spatial organization, and concepts. Am I making excuses for myself? Probably. I'm just glad I got what I did from the class. I disliked almost every class- it was a bad idea to take it at night, and on my most stressful day of the week- but I'm glad it taught me to be confident on the dance floor of the clubs, to really enjoy meringue and bring me closer to Jen.
After we all walked back, Jen's mom took us out to the Country Tavern at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale. It's a kind of upscale claim jumper, reminded me strongly of other places I'd been, mood lighting, exposed wood, tall dark booths, steaks, expensive seafood dishes, and exemplary service. I ordered an excellent Seafood Pasta with jumbo shrimp, andouille sausage, and scallops in a creamy cajun sause on linguine. I wore what I wore to the competition, black pants, white shirt open at the collar. We ate dessert there, apple cobbler and chocolate torte. When we got back, Jen, Ben, and I went to the crazy house for a party.
The crazy house is rented by five students of design. One dates a twenty-five year old mother, one recently changed his major from architecture to archeology, one only dates black men, one is in my studio, and the fifth became a residential assistant at the dorm were we all used to live. They throw massive parties. There were easily eighty people there and the place was jumping. We left a little around one, when there were more strangers arriving, more people getting drunker, and another keg on the way.
What a day.

Recovery

Well, I'm finally getting over my headache. Too much caffine and too little water. I went to bed last night at 7:00 PM, and slept until 3:00 AM when I awoke from hunger. I hadn't eaten anything since a bowl of cereal at 6:30 the previous morning, and a snickers bar during the project review. I toasted some eggos and downed two glasses of orange juice. Then I went back to bed. I slept until 10 AM. I look thinner. During charette week I think I lose about five to ten pounds.

Went to urban planning this afternoon, the only class I've attended this week apart from studio. It was a guest lecture on sustainable development (not only is it impossible to define, but its also nearly impossible to impliment). The TA with my paper told me his dog ate it (along with seven others) but that I got a B. I was less than elated. Ah well.

I treated myself to a great lunch at the Chuckbox, the best burger joint in town. They ask what size you want (the big one or the really big one), and what kind of cheese you want. Then they slap the meat on the mesquite grill and grill it right in front of you. I also ordered some beer-battered fried mushrooms and a lemonade. Total came to a little under 8 dollars. Kind of pricey, but delicious. I loaded up on the condiments, tomato, ketchup, and lettuce and dug in. Man, that first bite of burger is the best. Juicy beef with that smokey grilled tinge, cool lettuce and tomato, the slightly toasted bun. The mushrooms are great too. Beer-battered, fried, and served with ranch dressing. A lunch to remember, maybe I was just hungry. I ate ravenously and everything.

Came home and now I'm getting started with cleaning up from my studio mess. There's bits of cardboard and chipboard everywhere.

Recovery

Well, I'm finally getting over my headache. Too much caffine and too little water. I went to bed last night at 7:00 PM, and slept until 3:00 AM when I awoke from hunger. I hadn't eaten anything since a bowl of cereal at 6:30 the previous morning, and a snickers bar during the project review. I toasted some eggos and downed two glasses of orange juice. Then I went back to bed. I slept until 10 AM. I look thinner. During charette week I think I lose about five to ten pounds.

Went to urban planning this afternoon, the only class I've attended this week apart from studio. It was a guest lecture on sustainable development (not only is it impossible to define, but its also nearly impossible to impliment). The TA with my paper told me his dog ate it (along with seven others) but that I got a B. I was less than elated. Ah well.

I treated myself to a great lunch at the Chuckbox, the best burger joint in town. They ask what size you want (the big one or the really big one), and what kind of cheese you want. Then they slap the meat on the mesquite grill and grill it right in front of you. I also ordered some beer-battered fried mushrooms and a lemonade. Total came to a little under 8 dollars. Kind of pricey, but delicious. I loaded up on the condiments, tomato, ketchup, and lettuce and dug in. Man, that first bite of burger is the best. Juicy beef with that smokey grilled tinge, cool lettuce and tomato, the slightly toasted bun. The mushrooms are great too. Beer-battered, fried, and served with ranch dressing. A lunch to remember, maybe I was just hungry. I ate ravenously and everything.

Came home and now I'm getting started with cleaning up from my studio mess. There's bits of cardboard and chipboard everywhere.

whupped

see above. crit went ok, better than most. I had everything this time and it looked pretty cool, but there was one guy who wired his model for electric lighting. Anyway, got five hours of sleep monday night, and no sleep last night. Forget salsa, she's just going to yell at us for not practicing anyway. As if I could do anything on the dance floor right now. Current status: see above.

brief update

Had a nice dinner with Sally and Johnathan last thursday night at the Indian restaurant my family would always go to. In urban planning that day I got an 97 percent on my exam, which is worth about 20 percent of my grade for that class. Friday was really busy too, I directed the habitat truck into campus and helped load the framed walls of the shed I built so they could be taken back to be used in a house. Then I spent a few hours working with my classmates on a site model we decided to build out of class. It's the context and area outside of the site we're building on, so we can just pop our models into and out of the site. I was planning on going to the Beaux Arts Ball afterwards, but I was just drained. Ben grilled some steaks outside and Jen had her tri-tip and afterwards we played a few rounds of scrabble.
This weekend I've just been working on my architecture project, which is really a shame as is gorgeous, warm, and sunny with cool breezes. Fortunately it's due wednesday and not monday, but I'm going to try and get the model done today. I may also get a haircut, get it cut short for the summer. I'm going to look so wild after Europe.
While waiting for my concrete test pour to cure, I picked up The Fountianhead. I had read it the summer before coming to ASU and actually made comments in the margins. It's fun, because its like a conversation I have with myself. My studio instructor recommended that people read it before college, during college, and once again after one graduates, as different things will be noticed and taken.
Back to work. Try not to think about the dance competition that Sally and Jen's mom are going to see.
"Jen's mother is coming here? We shall double our efforts!"

Kind of a crummy day

Well, got to bed last night around one after working on the architecture project, a regular bedtime now, and was promptly woken up at 7:30 AM by American Express to tell me that they couldn't verify my card. I was so tired I didn't even remember what they said. Anyway, as I had to be up at 8:00 to get ready for my 8:40 class, I just got up. I did talk to mom which was really nice as I don't get to communicate with my family enough. Anyway, I left without breakfast and got to class to see the teacher not show up. We have this great coordinator, a professor smurf, who got confused about his own schedule as to when the project was due, then announced last class that today's' class was canceled, thinking our project was due next monday. This guy is always making these kind of mistakes and then holding us accountable for what's written in his handout, so my architecture group decided he'd realize his mistake then come. I guess he figured since most people wouln't come, he wouldn't, either.
With no time to waste, I walked to a nearby art store and bought twenty dollars of basswood and chipboard for my model. I left it on top of a locker, all but hidden from view less than two inches from the ceiling and went to my 9:40 class, a lecture this time on "Wood: Our Friend" in structures for two and a half hours.
I had waffles for lunch after I got back and packed my model and other supplies into my portfolio case and walked to school early to catch an Architecture Student Assoc. meeting at 12:30. I passed one of my friends in third year coming the other way who informed me that the meeting was actually at noon, the email I read being incorrect. So I talked to another person in my studio while I waited for the 1:40 studio and realized the chipboard I bought was not going to work for my base anyway, as the thickeness was wrong. I would have returned it, had I not cut it in the store waiting for class. The basswood bundle had also been taken, apparently much too visible. The studio instrcutor gave us his ten minutes of "ASU program sucks, your craft sucks and I spit on your presentation skills" speech and then let us free to get to work. At least we dont have to stay in studio. I walked home.
Upon reaching my apartment, I drove directly to the art store Utrect and bought the correct chipboard I needed. The next two hours I spent precisely cutting through the double ply to get 12 identical sheets of the right size and shape. I still need to actually make the elevation change cuts, but that can wait for tomorrow. After I did the cuts, I made a formwork and poured a test concrete wall I colored red with powdered pigment. It's actually a nice shade of Tucson red.
To my shame, I must confess I spent nearly thirty minutes hanging out with Jen wating for the concrete to cure. I ordered a pizza and was able to eat three slices before we were due at Salsa class. I forced myself to focus on getting the dance routines right until it ended at 9:40 and we left for home. At least we ended practicing merengue, my favorite dance (the one with the least complicated footwork).
Ben recommended we watch some SNL and I though hey, I could use a little SNL. So I invested an hour in recuperation watching the best of Phil Hartman (Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer). Something about one of the sketches, Cooking with the Anal Retentive Chef, just triggered me and I just laughted hysterically, until tears streamed down my cheeks. Just needed something to release the stress I guess. Anyway, Dinner with Sally tomorrow, the birthday girl and ONE CLASS.... AT 12:15.... LAST CLASS OF THE WEEK.... I love Thursdays.

Reader's Digest Presents: Last Two Weeks

San Francisco
Saturday we drove into the city and walked around the pier. Saw the sea lions and took a harbor tour as Alcatraz was booked solid through wednesday. Ate clam chowder from a sourdough bowl from a famous local cafe and walked around the Gheridelli Chocolate Square where we found a bookstore dedicated to books about architecture, urban planning, construction, and interior design. I bought three books, all at really good prices. New Vernacular Architecture and New Forms: Architecture in the 1990's, and Home: an Evolution of an Idea. Afterwards we drove to the massive park in san francisco, which really reminded me of the botanical gardens in Singapore. We walked around there for awhile and drove to the Palace of Fine Arts, a massively scaled roman dome and collanade.
Sunday we all went to church, then I helped set up for the Gozzi's Easter dinner where they served ham and the usual tasty dinner dishes. After a quick bite to eat, we left at six and drove to the airport for a late flight back to phoenix, getting me home a little past midnight.
I'm going to New York on the 22nd, and before then I have to finish my last architecture project ( it has to be the best I've ever done), and also compete in a salsa competition with my salsa class for our final grade.

Whew! Friday

We left the apartments at 5:45 and parked at PCA parking. It brought back memories of other trips I’ve had with family. The airport wasn’t crowded at all, and even though Jen had to pick up her ticket at the counter, we got through to our gate with an hour to spare. They completely remodeled and renovated one of the new Southwest terminals, and it was funny because we both walk into the terminal and start critiquing the design.

The flight to Oakland wasn’t full, which was nice, and the flight was a little under two hours. The air was Oklahoma lite; little bit of humidity, little bit of grass fields. It was cooler there than Phoenix, so I wore my blue air force coat. The airport was pretty busy, and we met Jen’s dad Stan outside in the pick-up area.

He’s tall, late forties, with grizzly gray short hair around the sides of his head. He’s a manager of sorts for California’s Daimler-Chrysler. Jen said he basically goes around to dealerships to make sure they’re making sales, compares different company’s cars, and he also does expert testimony in cases involving vehicles catching fire or exploding, etc. He picked us up in an SUV, equipped with a hemi, sat nav, sat radio, all the goodies. As he changes cars every six months or so as part of his job, his license plate number was “4”. Anyway, he’s got a garage full of tools including arc welders, a metal lathe, and more tools than I could I identify. He’s built pool decks, poured concrete, and other construction stuff.

The ride to Jen’s house took about an hour. There had been more rain than usual, and the rolling hills were green instead of the usual brown and yellow scrub that Jen had prepared me for. We passed pastoral scene after pastoral scene, blue skies, sheep and cattle dotting the landscape. She lives in Brentwood, which is a rural commuter town, and she’s lived in the area since she was five. They live in a suburb in a “California” style house, very similar to the “mission” style tract homes in Scottsdale. Their town is really small, only recently has there been some major chains going into the area. There is still only one movie theater. Jen’s house was spotless and eclectically decorated, although Victoriana was the predominant style. Most of the house I would describe as artesian, although the upstairs bathroom had a heavy fish theme including suspended wooden fish above the sinks, and fish embedded in a blue plastic toilet lid and seat.

Jen’s mom, Diane, is about the same age as her husband, and a little smaller than Jen (which is saying something). She’s a very industrious, serious woman, most serious about decorating and cooking. She does freelance work in graphic design and interior decorating. She’s a pretty good cook too. Jen looks most like her mother.

Jen’s younger brother, Sean, is a junior in high school, but he’s got hair like Shaggy in Scooby-doo, including the narrow chin beard. He’s very much into cars, using his dad’s extensive tools and knowledge to soup up a ford focus. He was working on raising the spoiler height and doing other body work while I was there.

They have a “cockapoo” which is apparently a cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle. It’s got a cocker form covered with tightly curled poodle hair. She’s only two, a sort of surrogate for Jen when she left home, and a very jumpy, very licky dog.

Anyway, I put myself down in Jen’s bedroom and we took a walk around the neighborhood. She lives a very short walk away a stream with a spacious greenbelt along it leading out towards the hills. When we got back, we drove around Brentwood, Oakley, and Arcadia. It’s basically a collection of subdivisions and neighborhoods with a few massive shopping centers. We actually stopped into TJMaxx and Ross. Our salsa teacher recommended each couple coordinate their dress, and I had no shirts that stood out at all. Just a few dark shades of blue and green. I picked out a shirt that is a bit unusual for me, its got narrow vertical stripes in bright pastels. It’s very Easter-y and will stand out a lot in a lot of blacks and reds which I anticipate in our final. I’m wearing in one of the pictures I posted online. I went next door to this other store which is essentially a full store of only the home stuff from TJMaxx. It’s a lot cheaper than the stuff here, but the tax is higher. I bought a wooden mudra of Buddha and a copper kettle.

For dinner, Diane made grilled salmon with artichokes. Her walk-in pantry was crammed full, and it reminded me of the one in Beijing, stocked for any cataclysmic siege. The layout of the house is actually strikingly similar to our old house in Scottsdale. The entry faces a stair with a 90 degree turn halfway up leading directly to the master bedroom and a clearstory with a railing around the entry open space. The living room, kitchen with large central island, pantry beneath the stairs, and formal dining room leading to the formal living room and back around to the entry is eerily identical.

After dinner, we watched a little TV and then I went to bed because I was wiped. Besides, we had to be up early tomorrow.

Whew! Thursday

Thursday at my planning class I got my second paper back with an A, which made me happy. Right after that, I met Chase Kimball at my apartment for a final planning session for our European trip. He's in town for spring break this week. We made plans, and booked the majority of the youth hostels we are going to be staying at. We worked all afternoon, stopping by STA travel for a eurail timetable and to answer some questions we had. Around seven, we went to Bamboo club for dinner. I ordered fried calimari, really good, and not too expensive. I was bemused to find whole fried tiny octopi mixed in with the calimari rounds. Afterwards, we drove to Club Tropicana, where there are public salsa lessons for an hour. Chase, who had never danced before, worked on his basic moves while I learned a new move. There were a lot of older people there, along with a few ASU students. Anyway, Chase got a few dances in while the club was still pretty empty. After the crowds started filling the small dancefloor he stepped out to the sidelines and wached. Jen came pretty soon afterwards and we demonstrated more Salsa and Merengue. We danced for a bit, then conferred with Chase, just going over final things, action items, etc. We then shook hands and said "See you in Paris!" After watching our teacher's dance team do a short performance, we got our homework cards stamped and went home to pack. I got to bed around one AM.

Teachers New Pet

After my studio, I walked back to the apartment, worked on putting together a "fake" schedule, then drove down to south phoenix for the city of phoenix planning comission meeting. As one of our assignments, we have to attend a public meeting and give our impressions and analysis. The meeting was fairly easy to find, athlough I was surpised to find something as powerful as the planning comission meeting in a room with a large bingo board behind them. I sat in the public seating, room for about 36. I'd say close to thirty citizens showed up along with the eight commissioners. These people, mind you, are not professional planners, although there were three professional planners from city of phoenix there. There was an air of decided casualness which surprised me. Many council members wore jeans. Anyway, there were three agenda items, one of which was dismissed immediately becuase it was only one line about a zoning change, and there was no one present who knew anything about it. The second item was about this guy who wanted to change a mixed-use agricultural zone to a R3 (three family residential). There were five people who were there to oppose him, so he asked for a continuance to see if he could solve thier problems outside of the council. The last issue was the planned rezoning of a large parcel of land in Desert Ridge to accomodate car auctions and dealerships. This was initiated by the city of phoenix planner. Eight citizens came forward to the mic to give thier view, inlcuding the JW Marriott hotel head. A few were members of the DR HOA, and all were residents. They felt they had not been included in the planning process, that the dealerships would spoil the desert and bring even more traffic to an already congested area from the DR Marketplace. Armed with a petition from the DR denizens, they convinced the council to deny the rezoning. There was applause and the meeting ended almost exactly an hour after starting.

I drove home quickly, picked up Jen, and we went directly to Salsa. For some reason, we seem to have come into her view. Maybe she noticed us becuase we were one of the only couples that danced in the clubs with her second and third year students. Who knows. At any rate, all of a sudden, I'm the one she drags out in front of the class to correct most often. I got in front of the class three times tonight. I'm not complaining, its good because its individualized attention which is amazingly effective at correcting bad form, its just a little strange. We were learning these new steps in class, and I was just barely getting them. Tuesday's child or not, when I have to follow a new, set pattern to a set beat, I have the grace of a wildebeast on skates. We were praciting for the final which is set up as a dance competition, complete with numbers on our backs (not to worry, we get full credit for participation) and she went though picking the ten best, then the two best, then she drags Jen and I out on the floor, saying how good we are. I barely have the basic step down, but I muddle through it, only coming hideously off time. Speaking of the final, we have to put togather four dance routines, thankfully only less than a minute each. Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue, and Rhumba. Well, back to work. I'm not going to have much time to work on a model for monday being in San Francisco from Friday to Sunday.

Rice Crispie Treats and Fake Classes

Monday we had a sort of back to school dinner at the apartment. I marinated some steaks and Ben grilled them on the barbeque outside, and Jen made rice crispy treats. Yesterday, I watched a movie in my urban planning class about growth issues in Phoenix. In five years, Phoenix has moved from sixth largest US city to fifth. It was kind of interesting, and I was bemused to find most of the footage shot in Scottsdale. Tuesday evening, people critiqued my story in creative writing. For the most part, they liked it, and they really liked the twist at the end. Last night, I worked until 2:30 AM on a model for my studio today.

What I hate about wednesdays is that I generally stay up late finishing projects for studio tuesday night, then I have an 8:40 AM lecture to listen to SMurf drone for an hour, directly followed by more than two hours of lecture on building structures and materials. It's like watching golf followed by C-SPAN. Speaking of which, I havn't seen any television in about a month. I'm trying out some new music, specificially Interpol, Modest Mouse, and Pinback. Interpol is post-punk, but the latter two are more instrumental.

Tomorrow, pre-registration begins ASU. As architecture students trying to get into upper division, we have to pretend that we aren't going to get in and sign up for "fake classes." I'll probably sign up for a few fake classes, and then use two or three as electives I'll keep, making sure they don't conflict with the upper division classes. I'm thinking about taking Finding Purpose, a sort of psychology for design majors, and more about professional practice, and either a graphic design class or industrial design, or both. I'm also thinking about a Tai Chi class on the weekend. We'll see. A few people I know have already submitted applications to other colleges in case they don't get in. Most colleges would love to get someone from the ASU architecture program. My plan B is "don't screw up plan A".

Back to work. It's like a mantra. I feel like I'm saying it constantly. Today, this blog was brought to you by Dan Hoffman, who generously canceled his 2 hour structures class and allowed me to write this and to take a nap. I have studio at 1:40-4:30, a city of phoenix planning comission meeting to attend at 6:00 for my urban planning class, and Salsa from 7:30 until 10. Thursday, I have a planning session with chase in the afternoon, and we were kicking around the idea of taking him to dinner and the salsa club. Early Friday morning, Jen and I have our flight to San Francisco.

Fake classes

Monday we had a sort of back to school dinner at the apartment. I marinated some steaks and Ben grilled them on the barbeque outside, and Jen made rice crispy treats. Yesterday, I watched a movie in my urban planning class about growth issues in Phoenix. In five years, Phoenix has moved from sixth largest US city to fifth. It was kind of interesting, and I was bemused to find most of the footage shot in Scottsdale. Tuesday evening, people critiqued my story in creative writing. For the most part, they liked it, and they really liked the twist at the end. Last night, I worked until 2:30 AM on a model for my studio today.

What I hate about wednesdays is that I generally stay up late finishing projects for studio tuesday night, then I have an 8:40 AM lecture to listen to SMurf drone for an hour, directly followed by more than two hours of lecture on building structures and materials. It's like watching golf followed by C-SPAN. Speaking of which, I havn't seen any television in about a month. I'm trying out some new music, specificially Interpol, Modest Mouse, and Pinback. Interpol is post-punk, but the latter two are more instrumental.

Tomorrow, pre-registration begins ASU. As architecture students trying to get into upper division, we have to pretend that we aren't going to get in and sign up for "fake classes." I'll probably sign up for a few fake classes, and then use two or three as electives I'll keep, making sure they don't conflict with the upper division classes. I'm thinking about taking Finding Purpose, a sort of psychology for design majors, and more about professional practice, and either a graphic design class or industrial design, or both. I'm also thinking about a Tai Chi class on the weekend. We'll see. A few people I know have already submitted applications to other colleges in case they don't get in. Most colleges would love to get someone from the ASU architecture program. My plan B is "don't screw up plan A".

Back to work. It's like a mantra. I feel like I'm saying it constantly. Today, this blog was brought to you by Dan Hoffman, who generously canceled his 2 hour structures class and allowed me to write this and to take a nap. I have studio at 1:40-4:30, a city of phoenix planning comission meeting to attend at 6:00 for my urban planning class, and Salsa from 7:30 until 10. Thursday, I have a planning session with chase in the afternoon, and we were kicking around the idea of taking him to dinner and the salsa club. Early Friday morning, Jen and I have our flight to San Francisco.

Fake classes

Monday we had a sort of back to school dinner at the apartment. I marinated some steaks and Ben grilled them on the barbeque outside, and Jen made rice crispy treats. Yesterday, I watched a movie in my urban planning class about growth issues in Phoenix. In five years, Phoenix has moved from sixth largest US city to fifth. It was kind of interesting, and I was bemused to find most of the footage shot in Scottsdale. Tuesday evening, people critiqued my story in creative writing. For the most part, they liked it, and they really liked the twist at the end. Last night, I worked until 2:30 AM on a model for my studio today.

What I hate about wednesdays is that I generally stay up late finishing projects for studio tuesday night, then I have an 8:40 AM lecture to listen to SMurf drone for an hour, directly followed by more than two hours of lecture on building structures and materials. It's like watching golf followed by C-SPAN. Speaking of which, I havn't seen any television in about a month. I'm trying out some new music, specificially Interpol, Modest Mouse, and Pinback. Interpol is post-punk, but the latter two are more instrumental.

Tomorrow, pre-registration begins ASU. As architecture students trying to get into upper division, we have to pretend that we aren't going to get in and sign up for "fake classes." I'll probably sign up for a few fake classes, and then use two or three as electives I'll keep, making sure they don't conflict with the upper division classes. I'm thinking about taking Finding Purpose, a sort of psychology for design majors, and more about professional practice, and either a graphic design class or industrial design, or both. I'm also thinking about a Tai Chi class on the weekend. We'll see. A few people I know have already submitted applications to other colleges in case they don't get in. Most colleges would love to get someone from the ASU architecture program. My plan B is "don't screw up plan A".

Back to work. It's like a mantra. I feel like I'm saying it constantly. Today, this blog was brought to you by Dan Hoffman, who generously canceled his 2 hour structures class and allowed me to write this and to take a nap. I have studio at 1:40-4:30, a city of phoenix planning comission meeting to attend at 6:00 for my urban planning class, and Salsa from 7:30 until 10. Thursday, I have a planning session with chase in the afternoon, and we were kicking around the idea of taking him to dinner and the salsa club. Early Friday morning, Jen and I have our flight to San Francisco.

Whew! Thursday

Thursday at my planning class I got my second paper back with an A, which made me happy. Right after that, I met Chase Kimball at my apartment for a final planning session for our European trip. He's in town for spring break this week. We made plans, and booked the majority of the youth hostels we are going to be staying at. We worked all afternoon, stopping by STA travel for a eurail timetable and to answer some questions we had. Around seven, we went to Bamboo club for dinner. I ordered fried calimari, really good, and not too expensive. I was bemused to find whole fried tiny octopi mixed in with the calimari rounds. Afterwards, we drove to Club Tropicana, where there are public salsa lessons for an hour. Chase, who had never danced before, worked on his basic moves while I learned a new move. There were a lot of older people there, along with a few ASU students. Anyway, Chase got a few dances in while the club was still pretty empty. After the crowds started filling the small dancefloor he stepped out to the sidelines and wached. Jen came pretty soon afterwards and we demonstrated more Salsa and Merengue. We danced for a bit, then conferred with Chase, just going over final things, action items, etc. We then shook hands and said "See you in Paris!" After watching our teacher's dance team do a short performance, we got our homework cards stamped and went home to pack. I got to bed around one AM.

Spring Break: Reprise

What did I actually get done this week? Let's see.
The majority of my time I spent working on my upper division porfolio, finishing the rough draft of the first two studios. It's approximately fifty pages long, so editing is definately the next step after I finish my last project for third studio. I worked on portfolio from Friday though Tuesday.

Wednesday, I went camping with Jen up in Sedona. There were still patches of snow on the ground in the shade. We got there in the morning and set up camp in the "reserved" area after finding a site with reservations for friday. As we'd only be camping there one night, I figured I was fine, especially since there were more than a dozen empty reservation campsites. Well, around two, the camp host comes around in her giant desiel pickup (she's driving around a loop that's less than a quater of a mile) and tells us that we have to move because these sites are reserved. "There's no reservation for tonight I tell her." I get a blank look and she tells us that we have to move anyway. What I should have done is called to reserve the site I was already on. Anyway, we took down camp and moved it to the most isolated site on the "open" campsites, still only about a hundred feet from the road. We paid $18 for this privillage. The campground has tables, running water, and outhouses sure, but I'd really like my wilderness a little more wild. Anyway, I got a fire going at dusk and we cooked hot dogs and smores. It was a really cold night, dipping down into the 30's. I had made the mistake of taking Dad's huge tent as it is much better shape than my 2 man tent, so it remained pretty cold all night. I took a stone from the fire though and wrapped it with clothes, so it worked as a footwarmer for Jen. The next morning we stopped in Oak Creek to look for a place for breakfast. Every place we looked was either closed or had stopped serving breakfast. We settled on an expresso bar/ lunheon place that had croissants with egg cheese and ham. The rest of I thursday I spent cleaning the apartment and working on other stuff.
Friday I started working on my taxes, rummaging through old papers, filing things, and putting together my W2s. H&R block has a free online filing service where they tell you where to find things and where to put them, but I came to a block in trying to figure out what to do about the check the school sent me, the remainder of my scholarship for about $450. I went to the IRS website, and of course they have a pdf on it about 80 pages long. Friday night, Sally and Johnathan had Jen and I over for dinner. It was really good, and Sally gave me a book of architecture details of particular styles as well as an extremely generous helping of leftovers. We played a few rounds of uno before heading back.
Yesterday (Saturday) I spent mostly working on my new architecture project. We're taking the same cemetery site, retaining all the critical elements of it and the programmatic stuff from the first two projects, and now we're placeing structures on the site. We have to have administration areas, lecture halls, kitchens, a museum, archives, etc. Last night I also got a guy "al" to come test drive the minivan. This is the first minivan he's looked at, so it's no surprise that he offered us $9,000 for it. Hopefully he will have looked around more over the weekend and learned what a steal it is at 12K. I should still doublecheck the price on bluebook though.
Today I need to do more planning for Europe. Chase is coming next week and we're going to meet up to finalize plans.
Taylor, congratulations on what mom describes as a stunning performance. Mad propz homey-T.

Whew! Thursday

Thursday at my planning class I got my second paper back with an A, which made me happy. Right after that, I met Chase Kimball at my apartment for a final planning session for our European trip. He's in town for spring break this week. We made plans, and booked the majority of the youth hostels we are going to be staying at. We worked all afternoon, stopping by STA travel for a eurail timetable and to answer some questions we had. Around seven, we went to Bamboo club for dinner. I ordered fried calimari, really good, and not too expensive. I was bemused to find whole fried tiny octopi mixed in with the calimari rounds. Afterwards, we drove to Club Tropicana, where there are public salsa lessons for an hour. Chase, who had never danced before, worked on his basic moves while I learned a new move. There were a lot of older people there, along with a few ASU students. Anyway, Chase got a few dances in while the club was still pretty empty. After the crowds started filling the small dancefloor he stepped out to the sidelines and wached. Jen came pretty soon afterwards and we demonstrated more Salsa and Merengue. We danced for a bit, then conferred with Chase, just going over final things, action items, etc. We then shook hands and said "See you in Paris!" After watching our teacher's dance team do a short performance, we got our homework cards stamped and went home to pack. I got to bed around one AM.

Working the day long

Got up and made a decent breakfast this morning: Fried eggs, sausage, and toast. I worked on portfolio stuff from then until about six. My portfolio is coming along ok. I've got a layout that is starting to work for me, and I've actually got my first project laid out (I'll probably inlude a dozen projects). I'm using InDesign, which is a really powerful layout program. I still need to re-photograph my most recent model against a black backdrop. I'll try to get what I've got out on the net somehow, maybe as a PDF for comments. Jen worked beside me for awhile. Her portfolio is due in late April. In some ways, its more difficult for them, as they have perscribed sections and a perscribed layout (8.5x11 in a view binder), thus putting a lot more emphasis on the layout design. To her credit, it looks extremely professional, like fashion magazine spreads.
Wow. I just realized that Taylor will be sixteen in April. SIXTEEN! how did that happen? Wish I was going to be there for your party, man. I really miss you.
Anyway, I ate a pot pie for dinner. After dinner, Jen and I went to Salsa. The club was really empty when we got there, but we arrived a little after nine which is pretty early. At least we got a few dances in where the dance floor wasn't packed. We saw our teacher dance tonight too. She's got to be in her fifties, but she looks and moves like a woman in her thirties. The only thing is that she smokes and you can see how it's aged her face. When we came up to get our cards stamped, she recognized us and said we looked really good. I was really impressed. She has literally 400 students in her salsa classes. I guess we stood out more since we're one of very few couples from her salsa 1 class who actually dance on the dance floor. Most of the time it's dominated by higher level students, and people who really know how to move. It's a lot of fun to watch the really good people, it looks like they're hovering, spinning around, kicking, etc. I'd highly recommend going to a Salsa club at least once if just to watch the people there. The only thing that bugs me is that its really loud so I always leave partially deaf. There's also some cigarette smoke that wafts in from the inner bar, and the intense crowd and heat gets to me after awhile.
It's surprising to reflect how far I've come since January, considering my difficulty in keeping rythm and gracefully following predetermined steps. Looking at all the other couples which put me to shame, I have to keep in mind how long I've been dancing, and how far ahead I am from those who don't go out there on the floor.
Tomorrow: Design Blitz Day!

My Wild Wild Wild Spring Break!

Yesterday (tuesday) I took my essay test in urban planning. I think it went pretty well. After the test, I wandered over to Borders bookstore and started purusing some of the new books. I picked up one called Jennifer Government, and just reading the first few pages, I laughed so much I decided to buy it. It's not a great novel, but its a fun read. It's basically about a near future where everything has become privatized and people take the last names of the company they work for. It's basically how a Nike marketing exec orders the shooting of a dozen teenagers who buy ridicously overpriced shoes in order to increase thier appeal. The fall guy, Hack Nike, a kind of wishy-washy protagonist, goes to the police at the behest of his corporite-virus writing girlfriend. Events spiral out of control as the police offer to do the killings. They in turn, subcontract the job to the NRA, which has become a worldwide paramilitary mercenery force. Its a bizzare, funny, and biting novel about the excesses of consumerism and capitalism. Anyway, I read it and ate some ice cream outside. It got up to the low 80s again yesterday. For dinner, Jen, Amy, Ben and I went to Char's Thai restaurant. The food was good, but the decor threw me off. The facade was rustic wooden boards, there were wagon wheels at the head of each table, and longhorn steer horns on the exposed beams. This was all mixed in with small statues of Thai dancers, artworks, and gods. They had good chicken satay which really reminded me of going to the hawker stalls back in Singapore. I really miss Singapore.
Today I made a list of all the things I need to get done this week including FAFSA, taxes, homework, minivan work, and most importantly organizing my final portfolio. The program coordinator told us that he thought 120 people would apply for upper division, and there are 48 slots available, give or take a few. The due date is MAY 3rd at 5:00 PM, so feel free to harass me and check on my progress to keep me on track. It's not going to do anyone any good to turn it in at 5:05 and have to wait another year to resubmit.
I've spent the day working on portfolio, cleaning up and organizing my photographs from first studio. I'll do studio 2 stuff tomorrow.

A Departure from Salsa

Short post tonight. Took a test this morning in Architecture Structures I've got one tomorrow on Urban planning. It's going to be 5 out of 6 questions, essay format. I think I'm pretty ready, still need to do some more studying tomorrow morning before class. I have the concepts pretty solidly though. It was up in the low 80's today, and sunny. Gorgeous weather. I opened all the windows and sat in my armchair to study this afternoon.

In salsa class, about half the class was absent. I figure that half of the class that would take salsa would also probably leave for spring break three days in advance. Anyway, our teacher was a lot happier. She's this far out woman in her fifties or late forties. She's a great dancer, full of energy, smokes, and swears like a sailor. At the clubs we can always find her to stamp our cards at the bar. Anyway, we learned only one new move, then we did all these crazy dances. She started the class by telling us that if we all participated and were enthusiastic, we could leave early. From then on, whenever she did a move, or asked a question, the whole class errupted into cheers, clapping, and whistling. We started off just doing silly walks to the music, then dancing wildly with a partner in improvisizational silliness. Then began our tour of other dances. We did the macarana, the electric slide (boogie woogie woogie woogie), the jitterbug, cotton-eyed joe (performed in the Texan style of lining four dancers in a line, and shouting "Bulls***!" with each kick to the music), the conga, and finally the polka which is a much sillier dance than I ever imagined. Perhaps thats just how she did it. Anyway, we ended after an hour instead of the usual three. The most fun I'd had all week actually.

Ben and I went to Filberto's for dinner. I got a carne asado burrito and a churro. One advantage of living in a heavily hispanic city is you can't beat the food's authenticity. The closest grocery store to me carries prickly pear, cow tongue, fresh corn tortillas, and sugar cane when in season.
The new architecture project is to add a spacial program of ceremonial spaces, a museum, archives, and admininstration buildings to the cemetery site, retaining most of what our design had and the concept.
Jen also finally found a condo. She's really excited about how she's going to retile and recarpet it. Its got its own washer and dryer, I'm so jealous!

Anyway, wish me good luck for my test tomorrow.