Saturday, April 29, 2006

the other ryan

just now when typing out my final paper for japanese architecture, my mind wandered through a series of images and word associations until landing on the memory of this friend i had as a child. i don't remember his whole name, only ryan. and not my other friend ryan, who i haven't really talked to in a long time anyway. no this ryan was the kid who always had to wear sunglasses and me and my mom bought him a basketball for his sixth birthday. all of a sudden, he moved away to somewhere on the other side of houston. i hadn't thought about him in a few years and being so young, it's hard to recall anything more than the glasses and basketball. so if you're that kid, let me know. there's only one week of classes left.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

i'm all about duality

within five minutes, i received two bits of earth shaking information today. all that i had come to understand about this world would be turned upside down. you, me, and everything on this plane of existence would slip between hyperbolic paraboloids of yin and yang and the continents would shift just a tad bit. ready? i know you're not, but i'm afraid you never will be. and we don't have time to waste.

my girlfriend got accepted into the university of texas school of architecture. after a long, arduous, setback filled few months, she got a call that completely reversed the rejection letter received earlier in the week. there's nothing more to say than i'm proud of her.

ah hem. i'll try not to be gushy as i move on to the following very tragic topic. today, at some point between 8am and 2pm, one blue schwinn suburban bicycle was ripped from her hastily locked rack in broad day light by evil forces. i guess i had it coming to me, not giving her the proper attention lately. at a time when the city of san antonio was big and foreign, she was a recognizable face that showed me around. we fought against a few trucks, jumped a lot of curbs, and had our spats involving me flying over the handle bars three times, but i guess now i just have our memories. that and the front tire with the u-lock still ironically steadfast. in memoriam...her birth...and her most recent photo. we ask that you make donations in lieu of flowers.

the lesson today is to appreciate your blessings and hold on to your dreams, because one day the unexpected could happen.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

the soil is rich

as an architect, you're expected to live in the middle land between extremes of creativity and rationale, public good and financial gain, big and small. as an architecture student, you can usually lop off half those expectations and create your idealized little paper project that finds its half life before completion. any frustrations are covered in three cheese pizza and revenge of the sith bonus material. snap, end of story.

the reality, as i have learned in the past few months, is much closer to those other requirements. architecture becomes the big complex pool full of ping pong balls that all need submergence. how do you invest that life and time in something that might not happen, or will at least come into the hands of someone else who is determined to make it happen differently.

in both my studio and my new job, i'm attempting to stick to the guns i've been given, while seeing a whole other set of new challenges. actual things are happening in austin and i'm fortunate enough to play a part in it. this is where architecture gets exciting. where things are on the line and obi wan can't really help.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

i really enjoy making my bed.

i really enjoy making my bed. when all the world is giving you deadlines, birthday morning parking tickets, and endless stacks of paper work, there's no better way to land your plaid patterned flag on a twin sized rectangular stake of land and claim, "I see what you offer world, but be aware. I have conquered my bed, and you are next!"

i really enjoy making my bed.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

a tale of five cities

dallas, as many of you know has always been the other city. houston is the city, and thus dallas is the other one. that's what it's like growing up in the greater h-town metropolitan. there are the astros, rockets, and oilers and any other claims at representing texan identity might as well be coming from gay yankees. that said, there are a lot of career week firms in DFW and handful who have emailed me lately. apparently they don't know where i'm from, but apparently the mavericks are actually a good team now. you might find me in dallas next year if mark cuban himself shows up at my front door grinning with a five million dollar giant check like signing bonus.

seattle apparently has a good football team now, but who the hell cares. the firms are good and the opportunity is everywhere. people care about building, and when those people are named bill gates and mr. boeing, they care about big buildings. which i have started to find myself caring about too. through the strangest phone call ever in the midst of career week, a job has appeared which makes the fantasy as possibilty. do i want to live in a flannel covered fantasy, or do i want to live in..

austin. wait, i live here now and i kinda like it. take seattle and add texan reserve and badassness and here you have my most times home for the past five years. in a cryptic email at the tail end of career week, a chance of a lifetime has arisen in which i apprentice under a local architect and we double handedly start our own firm with a loft project downtown. there's facades to be developed and money to be determined, but in the meanwhile we should figure out a firm name. this is exciting, folks (and somewhat dangerous).

san antonio is not just a city. it's an idea. an idealized dream that at times doesn't match up with the city itself. it's a texas-great job-good money combo that's everything i want and my father demands. i made a good friend of the office and would be a fool to pass on it being a friend with benefits. i'll be back, i say, but when? anthony asks.

terlingua. want to go back to the desert and build a theater for our local troupe of actors, all the while undertaking a daily spirit journey with a side of hallucinogens? possibly. do you know how to build a theater? no. i'm only 22.