the day it rained all day

unknown phone numbers are great.

this is me at my most masochistic

the midlife crisis continues as i have taken in the idea that i might spend next june through december working in a firm far, far from austin. the application, portfolio, and possible firm/city decision are due monday so here goes, as we enter the weekend.

hey marc, what are you gonna do with your life?
whatever i feel like, gosh!

apparently others are going through the same such decisions.

she came from oklahoma

i'm at another one of those crossroads where the future of my life and possibly the world is at stake.

how very dramatic, eh? see the problem is, i went to a lecture today by local architect chris krager and seeing his work made me realize how much more i want from architecture than the traditional life story that could very easily become my life story. (that being design tuscan villas...graduate from college so i can design tuscan villas with a degree...become principle architect in america's leading tuscan villa firm). and not only is this guy chris progressing architecture in terms of materials and thought but he seems to be doing pretty well for himself. what seems to have set him apart and actually led to his success is that he takes chances.

i realize that i'm not doing residency and that doing so would have been a great experience and catalyst for everything but now i have to make the most of it. here's the plan. (design tuscan villas through the end of may...at that point i will have acquired a job in austin for the summer that actually excites me...graduate and will be that point have a acquired an even more exciting job in portland, oregon which requires weekly trips to vancouver...go to grad school in the most exciting city ever (wherever that might be) only to later get a job in a city that makes any thoughts of the previously stated exciting cities seem silly and mundane...become principle architect of the most exciting firm ever...in a city of my own creation.)

i think for most people at this point, they've come across a certain someone or something that will guide such decisions but i'm going on this one free of restrictions and am thus suffocated by the range of options.

who ever said i didn't have a life plan?

ev'ryone gather round

now three weeks into my job i can say i'm happy to have finally joined the ranks of the educated/employed. James La Rue and his architects are a strange group of people that create neighborhoodfuls of big houses, many of the big houses that i could care less for and on another level want to see an end to.

so why, marc, are you helping such creations come about through the art of detailing broom closets? well there's money. i'm tired of living off my parents and their endowing of a little trip to Italy was very generous so this is a way to say thanks. secondly, i'm actually getting experience that could help me get cooler jobs along the way that i feel passionate about.

then there are times when i wonder if maybe Jim and his houses aren't the end of our architectural world as we know it. i appreciate his layed back attitude, his care for details, and that he is obviously passionate about his work. so maybe i've got something to learn from him and all his arcaded porches, and maybe i'm just holding my breath until i get a raise.

did i ever mention i might want to move to oregon?

conroe, texas

seeing everyone from high school is quite surreal. makes you realize that you spent more years of your life with them than anyone from college and the fact that those years ranged from childhood to age 18 means a lot. the slide show before the wedding made me miss those days and wish i could go back and do it again. not so much to change my adolescence but to just experience it again and appreciate it that much more.

then again, maybe we have all gone on our seperate paths now and have little in common. do we just all say goodbye once and for all. personally i look forward to more of these weddings a another year down the road where we can retell the same stories just the like the day after the stories originally happened. are you following me?

it's late saturday night in the world of conroe so i think i'll head to my familiar old room and familiar old bed. goodnight.

why did robert stack wear a trench coat? (update)

so apparently people read this. i started this thing to keep track of italy but it seems austin, texas is just as exciting.

i've always been a pretty organized person but keeping a calendar never seemed that important. looking back that was because i didn't have that much to schedule. sure, studio has always kept me busy but a constant white bar of studio 1-6 MWF would look pretty lame in microsoft outlook. let's take a look at his week: dinner with katie, chinese new year night one, meet design group, SOM lecturer in town, chinese new year ngiht two, marketing research study, mr. belding in town, design review, faculty-student mixer, and christina murdock's wedding back in conroe. is it lame to brag about all the stuff you do? well half of the stuff may be lame but at least i'm not bored.

speaking of lame and boring, this entry is lame and boring. sending/receiving emails from paris and london on a daily basis is fun enough.

vrooom!

Feast your eyes on my shiny new blue schwinn. It's wicked awesome. After me and the guys go bike riding, we're gonna go play stick ball then head down to the shake n' fries.

girls

the shear volume of pretty girls here at the univerity of texas at austin is amazing. i kid you not. i've traveled the world and have seen exotic beauties but maybe just a good ol' texas girl is all you need. if that's the case, then why are they so elusive. there's always the chance that i've been too picky all my life.

let's run with this cause i do in fact have high standards for what i expect of people. is it too much to ask that people not base their life around alcohol or getting laid? to a certain extent i grew up with old fashioned idea that girls (i expect the same values for guys) weren't sluts. it's easy for me to judge from the outside looking in, but i personally know it makes more sense when you step away. so come on everyone, let's hold out for someone a little bit better than joe and suzy beerbong and until then keep it in your pants?

you'll respect yourself in the morning.