17

So I skipped a few days... oops. I've been really busy these past couple of days, so that's my excuse. It's coming close to the end of my first year at college and I couldn't be happier... well, that's a lie, I could be happier... I have a cold at the moment so it'd be great if that just went away... like, now.

Anyways, so far things have been pretty good. My studio professor is driving me insane... after 2 weeks of constantly changing my design, she's decided to change it one last time to what I had proposed 2 weeks ago. As soon as she said that I kind of just looked at her, as did all my friends around us, and just said fine. It's kind of annoying when you spend all your time making these changes from what you want to what your professor wants to see and then BAM! they like what you originally had but they think that they came up with it first... see, annoying.

This past weekend I spent Saturday hanging out with my coworkers, Allie and Eivette, who have become two really great friends. We went to this studio open house for Allie's interest and then ate at Q, this amazing restaurant on Clement and 3rd, the one I took my parents too last weekend and first went to with Allie and Eivette. After Q we went to Eivette's apartment and watched about 500 minutes of Hey! Arnold. It was pretty epic. We had a lot of fun hanging out, watching cartoons, and coloring disney color books. We had thai food for dinner and then played 2 games of scrabble. It was a great Saturday.

23

I know I skipped a couple of days. My parents came up for a visit and we ended up going up to Santa Rosa to the Mark West Lodge to set the date of May 29th, 2011. Yes that's right, my sister's getting married in one year and 31 days. That's crazy if you think about it.

So anyways, my parents came up this weekend and on Saturday I took them to the Ferry Building. Of the 7 years that we've been coming up here my parents have never been to the Ferry Building. For once I can show them something new :D
So we went to the farmers market there and walked around for a while. My mom ended up getting some flavored honey sticks and orchids, dad got some hummus dips, and I got some strawberries. Everything tasted really good. After the farmers market we went across the street to the arts and crafts fair and my mom got a fused glass pendant that is really pretty. After we got food at a small gyros place within the Embarcadero Center. They were really good. I also took my parents to the corner of Battery and Pacific, where my final studio 1 project is based off of. They thought it was really interesting because 250 years ago that spot was underwater, and then became known as the barbary coast trail, which my dad actual knew about.

Saturday afternoon consisted of going up to the Mark West and meeting with Alli for the final time before plans start becoming definite. It was really great seeing her again because she is so sweet and so helpful. We're really excited for when Marie and Nick actually get to meet her. After spending about 2-3 hours at the Mark West, we headed back into Santa Rosa so my dad could look at a few hotels around the area to get a few ideas. We ended up eating dinner in Sausilito at the Spinnaker. It was a nice restaurant, but not one of the best that we've been to. But hey, it's all about the experience, right?

Sunday we went to church and then I took my parents to this restaurant called Q on clement and 3rd. My friends/coworkers Eivette and Allie took me there a few weeks ago and it tasted so good that I had to take my parents to another new place in the city. I got the mac and cheese with tater tots, mom had the chicken enchiladas, and dad had a burger. Everything tasted pretty good, but my mom said that when we go back she's going to get the mac and cheese and tater tots cause they tasted great.

28

HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYBODY!

Today was the 40th anniversary of Earth day! USF went all out for the event. We took over in front of gleeson library with tons of tables set up to show off everyone's love for the earth and our environment.

Back to the Roots, the club loosely connected with the Garden Project, had a bicycle powered amplifier that was connected to a stage where we had a band playing. BTDR also had a bicycle powered smoothie maker... they tasted really good too.

Garden Project had by far one of the best farm stands yet! We had so many delicious foods from carrot cake to focaccia bread to rosemary lavender muffins to lavender shortbread cookies and grape leaves to lentil soup to beet soup. Everything tasted amazing!

29

Today was a pretty good day. I had calculus this morning, which was you know... mathematical. And then I had work from 11-3 which ended up being a lot of fun. My coworker/good friend and I really enjoyed each others company today. We made a lot of jokes and just had so much fun at work. I know, I know, work isn't supposed to be all fun and games, but today was just a good day.

After work I went back to my room to start working on a revision of my study model for my sculpture gallery/reading room for my studio project. I was doing fine, until I was running low on chipboard. Then Manisha and I went to Blick to get some materials. When we got back we had dinner together and then went our separate ways to work on studio.

I have finished both my study model and section model. I actually really like my section model (it's the picture above), it's really cool and interesting. I'm happy with what I have at this point and I'm sure I'm going to be doing more detail within the models, I just need to talk to my professor and see what she says about them for now.

30 days

Okay so I've got 30 days left... that means 30 days to: Design a sculpture gallery/reading room, finish calculus, write a history of architecture research report including pictures and drawings and then prepare for a history of architecture final test, present a speech on policies or persuasion, take a cubism painting and pick a square from that painting and then do a quick study model and then create a nice polished model from it. Yeah, that's my schedule for the next 30 days.

On a lighter note, for my architectonics class, which is my favorite architecture class because it's more hands on, we were asked to create a chair. This chair could be built at either actual, or half scale. It had to represent someone who influences us and we had to give a short description of how they have influenced us. I made my chair for my sister Marie, who has influenced me from day 1. Marie influenced me to be who I want to be and do what I want to do and I've always appreciated that. I built my chair at half scale to represent a child. I did this because Marie is in South Korea teaching children and I thought it was fitting to put it at that size.

I Know, I Know

Okay so it's been... a long time. I'm sorry :'(
But I promise to fix it. I'm going to try posting a little blurb every day from now until my 19th birthday on May 21st. Because not only is it my 19th birthday, but it will also be the end of my first year away at USF. So here it begins:

This past Friday, my friends and I decided to head downtown to the AT&T Ball Park and watch USF take on Saint Mary's College. We won, of course, but it was so much fun. The Giant's stadium is SOOOOOOOO much smaller than Dodger Stadium, or so it seemed like it to me. Dad was jealous because he's never been there so I took pictures and sent them to him while I was watching the game.

For the past couple of weeks, and for a few more weeks, Garden Project is making a kitchen in the garden! I've been lucky enough to be allowed to come and help build the kitchen and I was included in the original design of the kitchen as well. It is so much fun to actually be out there and build something at full scale, rather than at half or 1/8" =1'.



Tomorrow is my mid-review on my final project for my architecture studio 2 class. We're being told to design a sculpture gallery and reading room. We're also being told to incorporate our mid term project, where we were all assigned a different architect and had to recreate a section of their work. I was assigned Ray and Charles Eames, a married couple during the 50s that created a Case Study House out in Santa Monica. This house was made out of steel, glass, and opaque panels. The Eames house focused solely on bringing light into a small space, making it seem larger. I am going to incorporate this idea of light and space into this project to see how it will work.