My blog and the blogosphere

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My blog was based on releasing my feelings that are locked up inside my. It’s almost like it’s a canvas that I can spill whatever I need to. My blog ranged from talking about the weather, to classes, to talking about other people. Depending on my mood, the blog might have been a bit sharp or maybe laid back. I wanted to use the blog as a medium for displaying my thoughts for anyone that is interested in my thoughts or feelings.

I think my first blog post was the best post to date. It was my first time blogging and the experience was new to me so I had no idea what to do and what words I could use. I wasn’t sure if I could cuss but I figured that I should probably just jump in and see what happens. I began it by showing an image of my mom’s side of the family with my siblings. We are walking together, side to side, towards the camera. It’s a great shot. I proceed to talk about my family and how my mom had two and a half sets of twins, and I am one of the twins. Then, I went on to tell of the things I enjoy, from lifting weights to playing video games. I’m a typical college student. After my interests, I went on to talk of my experience in college and what I am studying at Ball State. Of course, while talking about my major I couldn’t neglect the opportunity to complain a bit about it. Accompanying the topic of college and my major is an image of one of my projects from earlier this year. The image shows a physical model and it is sitting on my desk. The image also allows the viewer to see the mess directly adjacent to my desk. Studio can become a messy place at time. To wrap up the blog, I give the reader a small statement saying that if they are interested in knowing more about my major to contact me and I’d be more than happy to share information about the program and my experience here.

I think the blogosphere is such a large field and it covers, virtually, every topic one could imagine. I think because of how new it is, all the kinks aren’t worked out but it seems to be fairly efficient and reliable. Some blogs seems to be so broad that they need divided into more specific categories but it may just be what the creator is trying to get across the audience. The classroom approach to blogging is an interesting one. I think it is good but sometimes I find it hard to force thoughts. I almost need to be in the mood to blog, or maybe just in the mood to share my thoughts in a clear, concise manner.

Finals

Finals are fast approaching. I can't believe that I just took my first final. I'm wrapping up my sixth semester and it is starting to get exciting. I remember after my first year I thought to myself...damn, that went by fast. Now I'm thinking pff, first year was slow compared to this year. It seems to pick up speed with each semester completed. Although I am happy about finishing up, I'm not looking forward to Hell Week. It is the week before Finals week and it is when all the Architecture projects are presented and then we are able to sleep. I'm starting to count down the days until the project is over. As of Wednesday of this week, I had two weeks to the due date. It makes me nervous to start to think about this in terms of how many days are left, just last month the final was over

jobs

Earlier this year I had planned on going back to a job that I had worked at for the last two summers... and then earlier last month a professor approached me about working for him this summer, so I thought, shit, things looks good for this summer. well... This week I find out that the professor can't get enough work to bring me on and the place I worked at last year isn't sure they can give me hours... I went from having 2 potential jobs to having nothing. This sucks. It'll be the last summer before I get my undergrad and I was hoping for it to be a good one. Next year for spring break I had planned on going back to Mexico to help with building a house again... now that may be on hold. I was looking into going to Europe after I graduate to visit some friends that I lived with 8 years ago... That may also be put on hold....
This has given me more time to think about getting my masters and if the job situation continues, I may have no choice but to get it now...


and dammit, this is late

...education

So the other day I realized that I have 2 semesters left... and then what? Do I decide to go out and work and all that grand stuff or do I go and get my Masters in Architecture? There will obviously need to be more thought put into this problem before I can decide what to do. First, the economy is really against me going out and getting a job right after school. Currently it is tough enough just to get a summer job. Many of my friends in studio are having a difficult time getting a job. It may be a summer of sitting around and wishing/hoping for a job. I guess I'm lucky enough to have a job to go back to from last summer. What if I decide to go back to school for my masters? Well, that's all great but my parents won't be helping me with this and if I don't have a job, I can't afford to go to school, so this puts me in a tough situation.... Do I borrow a chunk of change and then hope to pay it off with some sort of high paying job that I won't be able to get? Oh geez, things do NOT look promising in the future. Well that's all for now. It's class time :)

the world

Given the current situation we are in... people want to turn and blame someone else. Which I think is probably the most logical thing we can think of at the present moment. But in reality, it wasn't any ONE person to blame. We are all probably in some way at fault. It all resulted from things like GREED, the increasing wants of the Americans, the use of credit, the over-reliance on credit, 'biting off more than you can chew', inflated prices, and probably false highs in the stock market.... Well now we are all getting a dose of reality. Life is a shit sandwich, and YES it tastes like shit no matter what.
What about all these McMansions that Americans want to live in? I saw a family of eleven. 11! that fit in a house that is less than 500 sq. ft....
...think about that. How big is a dorm room?...
Basically our 1200+ square foot homes are for what? So that we are comfortable? so we have our space? so we have space to store a bunch of unused junk that we will end up never using and our kids will have to sort through and sell when we finally die...
This has been some kick I've been on for a couple weeks now. The American dream is a shitty dream. If you want to be part of it, you suck. I don't want a huge house, with a nice car, and a big green lawn (and all of the debt that goes along with that...because face it, how many people do you know that have ZERO debt?)

We have to figure this problem out or this current economic 'problem' will turn into something a lot worse. Oh and our image as a country isn't going to improve either. America SUCKS. and yes I'm going to live here. I can have an opinion about our country. I'm also fully aware of what it's like in a third world country. It REALLY sucks there. and at the end of the day, we all have problems and the grass is not green on either side. Its brown and dead.

Mexicoland

So I went to Mexico for spring break... I had the greatest time and it was a huge eye opener. Seeing things there and then coming back to the States makes me appreciate everything we have a lot more...
I went down there with my mom and her best friend with the intention of helping an organization build a home for a poor family. I thought I would be doing lots of labor and working my ass off...Well I was wrong and right. I did work on a house but I didn't work my ass off.

This image shows the house that the family currently lives in... The 'house' is made of corrugated metal for the roof and walls. The door is made of clothing. It's maybe 10' x 10' and a family of 5 lives in it... There is no running water, no heating/cooling, and no electricity... It made me not be so quick to complain about some of my gripes about my computer or being a bit too warm and what not.

The house we worked on was made of an compressed earth modified adobe brick. I got to go in some of the completed adobe houses that the organization had built for other families...They felt as if they were being air conditioned but in reality, they still had no running water, no electricity, and still no heating/cooling, but the home was much more cozy and much more safe.

Here is the back end of the house... We were just starting on the vaulted roof.

and yes I did do work. I didn't just walk around and take pics. So here is some proof :P

A play through the eye of a designer

Camino Real Review
Paul Reynolds

In theatrical productions, each of Aristotle’s elements are brought together to produce what we see. All of the elements are essential to the performance, and if one of the elements is lacking, the performance could suffer. During the performance of Camino Real, the actors were all over the place, including out in the audience. While some of the choices of Emil Boulos, the lighting designer, helped get some of the ideas of the show across, one of the choices actually brought the audience out of the show.
The first successful use of the lighting was at the beginning of the play when Don Quixote entered from the back of the theatre. Quixote’s entrance was quite grand in the fact that the aisle was lit up during his journey towards the stage. The illumination of aisle helps make the action very apparent and helps draw the audience into the action. This choice by the lighting designer was a good transition from general lighting to more specific lighting of the space. The scene started with much of the space being lit; then as Quixote approached the stage, less of the space was illuminated, and most of the lighting was focused on the stage.
The second successful use of the lighting was when Kilroy ran out into the crowd as he ran from the guards. The spotlights helped bring the audience back into the action by shifting the focus of light from the stage to the crowd. Although the lighting was very random, it still lit the scene and kept the focus on the action. This shifting of focus helped the audience watch as Kilroy attempted to escape the guards. Because the lighting in the scene was arbitrary, it helped enforce the action in the scene, as the action was chaotic and Kilroy seemed confused as he ran.
After Kilroy stole his golden heart, he ran out into the crowd a second time, the spotlights and the guards following him. At the same time the spotlights and guards were chasing Kilroy, a multicolored light spun and waved around the space. This light was a rough transition from focused lighting and structured scene to a more general lighting and chaotic scene. This colored light made the action confusing to me because I was expecting some cast member from the previous scene to come out into the audience. Every time I focused my attention back on Kilroy, the colored light distracted me back up towards the stage where some of the actors still stood.
As lighting designer, Emil Boulos made many decisions on how to light the space, focus the attention, and guide the action. Most of the decisions were effective except for one, and this one decision really brought me out of the action of the play, and had a negative effect on my experience of the production. This proves that to create a successful production, all of the elements must work in a logical and cohesive manner.