the unbearable lightness of being single

i usually get away with avoiding the topic of love. or even like for that matter. maybe that stems from the fact that san antonio has almost entirely avoided offering either up. and i love it.

and herein lies the problem. i am at times fiercely independent. not necessarily in the way of playing by my own rules, skateboarding on top of people's cars, and paying my utilities bill late, but i often like to be alone. independent of others. the freedom to unhook from the grid every once in a while.

i'm also not a fan of compromise. making important life decisions such as finding-a-job-and-moving-somewhere is a decision loaded with enough factors besides "where does she want to go in life?" i am a a big fan of being considerate so i'd probably outweigh my own wants/needs with hers and compromise myself in the end.

this all sounds like the talk of someone without a whole lot of experience in relationships. that's right. but i have observed a lot of relationships in the last year rise and fall on the basis independence and thinking-about-the-future. i'm even asked to offer my advice, and that's like me critiquing the astros. sure i've played a little baseball in my day, but do you see any world series/wedding rings on my finger? do i want one? more than craig biggio would ever know.

this all stems from be right now reading, Superstud by Paul Feig. he created freaks and geeks and directed some arrested developments and pretty much wrote my own autobiography with this book. it's him being a hopeless romantic without having much luck at romance. it's hilarious and eye opening in that same feeling i got from watching wedding crashers. in the end owen wilson gets the girl.

so then maybe i'm getting most of my knowledge of love from pop culture and that means i simply need to step outside a little more often. it is quite beautiful out there. enjoy the weather.

run home, jack

i just got back from my nephew's football game in the montgomery area 4-6 year old league. if you look past the the fact that it's just wrong to stick a kid who can't tie his shoes in pads and a helmet, it's fun to watch your lineage score three of the game's 5 touchdowns. i didn't have that much time to watch the game though as i was designated my 2 year old nephew's caretaker. i gave him my camera as i held on to the reigns and answered his "what is that?" questions as he pointed at everything from a chain link fence to a perplexed one year old. garrison is way too intelligent for his age so tomorrow, for his third birthday i'm getting him books. were my uncles this lame? tomorrow being his birthday party also means being surrounded by thirty-somethings, their yukon-xls, and a myriad of other kids named evan, tyler, and madison.

to top it all off, i'll be watching the astros hit the world series from my native environment with nick on parentally-provided and freshly aquired hdtv. you can literally see each tear falling from jeff bagwell's DLed face. in his memory, i made a run at a full fall classic beard, but commited a sleep deprived trimmer error yesterday and landed myself with a spring training goat.

jinx, buy me a coke.

coley the racist steam engine

once again the internet becomes an anonymous forum for grossly insensitive chit chat. once again, the conversation has been slightly altered to protect the innocent, though mainly to make us not look like total racists. once again we join this conversation in progress…

Cram Leppot: i'll follow up for you
Cornbread is Gr8: thanks pal
Cram Leppot: anytime chum
Cram Leppot: shark food
Cornbread is Gr8: fish heads
Cornbread is Gr8: I wish I was a shark so I could eat chum
Cram Leppot: ha
Cornbread is Gr8: Or Chinese, they eat it too
Cornbread is Gr8: they love chum
Cram Leppot: i'm sure some restaurant in LA serves chum
Cornbread is Gr8: I'm gonna start a chum factory and export all our unused chum into china
Cram Leppot: it's the new thing
Cornbread is Gr8: haha. they eat chum. that's sick
Cram Leppot: well it's their culture
Cram Leppot: don't laugh at their habits
Cornbread is Gr8: i'm high
Cram Leppot: oh goodie
Cornbread is Gr8: i'm just kidding!
Cornbread is Gr8: it sounded like i was
Cram Leppot: well i just had a beer so watch out!
Cram Leppot: i'm loopy lou
Cornbread is Gr8: you're a beer drinker! you're so adult
Cram Leppot: yeah, and after work with the coworkers
Cornbread is Gr8: no one wants to go out for drinks in my job. wah.
Cram Leppot: that's like having an architect hang out at a construction site after work
Cram Leppot: oh wait, we did that too
Cornbread is Gr8: ha
Cram Leppot: now i'm hungry so i'm getting cranky
Cornbread is Gr8: you sound like a mom
Cram Leppot: a mom unto my self
Cornbread is Gr8: exactly
Cram Leppot: that's deep
Cram Leppot: i'm deep
Cram Leppot: deep like a shark
Cornbread is Gr8: that eats chinese people
Cram Leppot: deep like your MOM
Cornbread is Gr8:You're gross! i'm telling her you said that
Cram Leppot: so is your chinese shark mom
Cornbread is Gr8: please don't sleep with my mom
Cram Leppot: “nicowr, come eat your chum dinner and fowtune cookies”
Cram Leppot: that's your chinese shark mom talking
Cornbread is Gr8: is nicowr my chinese name?
Cram Leppot: yes, sound it out
Cornbread is Gr8: that's hard to say
Cram Leppot: i know, try thinking how to spell it
Cornbread is Gr8: yes i see
Cram Leppot: i'm glad we're both smart and can have such conversations
Cornbread is Gr8: don't get boring. let's talk some more about chum
Cornbread is Gr8: Just think of all the chum americans waste
Cornbread is Gr8: we could make so much money shipping out our chum
Cram Leppot: i thought i got to go eat now
Cram Leppot: though you're taking away my appetite
Cornbread is Gr8: NO
Cornbread is Gr8: c'mon, chum. hahahaha.
Cram Leppot: if only we knew someone who specialized in food and drink distribution
Cornbread is Gr8: drink? hmmmm
Cornbread is Gr8: good idea, like clamato
Cram Leppot: chum soda
Cram Leppot: sangria del tiburon!
Cornbread is Gr8: hey that sounds delish
Cram Leppot: it'll kill you
Cornbread is Gr8: only if i eat the eyes
Cram Leppot: a tasty death, like choking on a mcgriddle
Cornbread is Gr8: the chinese say eating the eyes is like eating their SOUL
Cornbread is Gr8: and you can only have so many fish souls
Cram Leppot: i think that's when you take a shark's picture
Cornbread is Gr8: oh yeah and then you eat the picture right?
Cram Leppot: shamu must be very sad
Cornbread is Gr8: he has negative souls
Cram Leppot: i'll go visit him tonight
Cornbread is Gr8: hey i have a sea world too, the real one
Cornbread is Gr8: i will visit shamu. stay home with your beer
Cornbread is Gr8: in my apartment complex I threw some koi in the pool
Cornbread is Gr8: i feed them bread

texas my texas?

i'm past that imaginary half way point here in san antonio and that's got me looking beyond. everything that i stressed about in applying for this residency now gets multiplied by a billion or so. in the past week i've been finding out how the recent grads went about finding their jobs and what cities and firms that looked at. sounds like it's 90% timing and good luck. the remaining 20% could be my portfolio, which i've been staying up late working on so as to prevent spring time stress fests. oh yeah, it's gonna be a 110% effort.

then as kind of a grand escape from all that, i ran up to wimberly, tx this weekend to hang out with kate and the gang. sitting quietly for three hours before everyone woke up, looking at hill country magazines and 2003 central texas christmas lighting schedules, then strolling around on the chilly wood deck overlooking the blanco river makes you wonder why you'd want to leave texas. let it be said here that zoe suggested that i move to phoenix. what and leave this weather?

oh yeah, ut beat ou and the astros beat the braves. all other states suck.

i bet i think this song is about me

though the model may be long gone, i did have some of the final pics i wanted to show off. i present to you the project whose name i shall not mention for fear of curious googlers researching as of yet non-existent beach clubs for as of yet non-existent cities in coastal florida. somewhere along the line, kids will be swimming here and you don't want my deep dark NC-17 secrets traveling across the web to them now do you?





so this is our little jewel in the sand, and going back to the last post i believe this to be good architecture. yet the client payed us upwards of $10,000 to just build this model. the months of detailing cost many thousands more, so this obviously isn't architecture for the masses. could architecture be more than just for the 2% who can aford it? yet, isn't there something liberating about sheet rock and 2 by 4 paradises that can be done in a weekend? yes and yes.