| [see blog] | ||||
| 11:16am 25/04/2009 | ||||
www.draconaei.com Check it out! =) |
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thoughtful| It's even a suggested search! | ||||
| 09:01pm 02/04/2009 | ||||
Too lazy to search yourself? Click here! What did we do before Google? |
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| I'm electrically charged. | ||||
| 07:01pm 09/12/2008 | ||||
The "class I'm sitting in on"- or rather, my one-on-one meetings with my professor, since no one registered for the class and I'm not a student- is opening my eyes to social injustice, to the construction of identity, and causing me to think more critically about what my actions signify and where they're rooted. It's an incredible breath of self-awareness and rediscovering how I relate to the world, and understanding and sympathizing with viewpoints counter to my own. Another telling point is, I can't talk about the class without rambling, so clearly it's deeply affecting me. Someday maybe I'll actually write about specific effects, but for now... I am tired. It's been a very full day. I guest-critiqued the ARCH 202 class review, worked, met with my professor, finished the preparations for my "How to Use Adobe Illustrator" workshop that I'll present tomorrow, and now I have dance. A full life is a happy one. |
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energetic| wantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwant | ||||
| 12:56pm 20/11/2008 | ||||
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nerdy| "Because at Disney, we make things magical." | ||||
| 12:14pm 17/11/2008 | ||||
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restless| astounding. | ||||
| 04:45pm 18/10/2008 | ||||
--------------------------------------- So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!" Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er." --------------------------------------- If you haven't seen the site, check it out: fivethirtyeight.com |
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curious| Infuriation- Sarah Palin and Special Needs | ||||
| 11:19pm 15/10/2008 | ||||
No, Sarah Palin does NOT know what it is like to put a special needs child through school. No, Sarah Palin does NOT know what it is like to deal with non-understanding teachers, students, and parents of students who are disrespectful of special-needs children. No, Sarah Palin does NOT know what it is like to navigate administration that is not accommodating to children with disabilities. No, Sarah Palin does NOT know what it is like to mediate interactions between a special needs child and other children, even her own children, because her special needs child is a baby and has therefore not passed any significant stages of social development. I realize this is not a focus issue, but I almost cried on the spot when John McCain touted Sarah Palin's "understanding of special-needs children" and how she would be an advocate to them in the White House. Even if (heaven forbid) Sarah Palin did become the Vice President, she would not understand the needs and actual challenges that special needs children and their families face until after her first four-year term had finished. I see through you, Sarah Palin, and I pray that the majority of my fellow Americans are not so blind as to accept the false claims you make. |
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enraged| ZZzzzzzZzZZzzzZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz | ||||
| 10:38am 17/09/2008 | ||||
I have yet to find a job as either an Intern Architect or Entry-Level/Junior Architect, which is disappointing, but seems to be typical given the sick economy. The ones on the lowest rung of the experience-ladder get bumped out of the picture as everyone else gets knocked down a notch. I'd estimate that at least two thirds of my archifriends are either jobless or working in an unrelated field. On the plus side, I do have a job- where I am quite happy, at that- I've been fortunate that my lab has kept me as a research assistant, and I even get to coordinate some undergraduate projects this year. I am continually awed by the number of things that can possibly go wrong with the human body. I'm now undergoing a series of tests for what the doctor suspects is narcolepsy, and the process is making me both frustrated and grateful. The frustration is obvious: I fall asleep uncontrollably. I fall asleep at work. I fall asleep as soon as I get home from work. I spend more hours in the day asleep than I do awake, and even though I am at the apartment every day, Ian rarely sees me awake for more than an hour at a time. I'm afraid to make plans with friends because I tend to accidentally sleep through them. My exercise habits have dropped to almost nothing because I don't even have the energy to sit up, making me self-conscious about my body. There is always a silver lining though, isn't there? As each successive condition is ruled out, I am made aware of how many problems I do not have- anemia, hypothyroidism, diabetes.... a sleep disorder is treatable, once we find out what it is. Also, the lack of being-conscious time should ideally teach me a lesson about prioritizing my time. (That may be too idealistic of me, but I can always hope.) Positive thoughts and prayers would be appreciated until this clears up. Love to all! |
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tired| Science continues to amaze me! | ||||
| 11:34am 11/08/2008 | ||||
...and the YouTube video to prove it! ;) Reality and science fiction continue to become more indistinguishable. |
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| the impact of strangers. | ||||
| 05:07pm 03/08/2008 | ||||
... A pleasant counter-story, on the other hand: while eating in Panera earlier today, a little girl ran up to me, said "Hi pretty!!" and ran away. |
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| a deceptive virtue | ||||
| 12:03pm 03/07/2008 | ||||
and that serving others was best done through self-denial and total immersion in others' wants. But without knowing myself I lost all direction and found myself trapped between conflicting external desires, where I learned-- --that without taking the time to be selfish, we reap destruction where we've sewn good intentions and become helpless ourselves until we rediscover our own needs. |
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drained| A commentary on the etiquette of staring. | ||||
| 12:14pm 24/06/2008 | ||||
Since losing my hair, I've often been the object of awkward glances, ranging from the casual sneak-a-peek to the blatant double and triple-takes. I've decided to take a moment to reflect on the typical social behavior of staring. Mind you, this is based on observations while covering my head in some way, be it by headscarf, bandanna, or hat... going bald in public? Intensify the following by a factor of ten. There are many interesting points of note. Let's begin, shall we? 1) Relative Distance First aspect: proximity. Staring from a distance can be blatant. An interesting point, because while at said distance, you can clearly see me, but by virtue of my being far away I apparently can and will not notice your staring. 2) Awkward Close-ness Staring within close proximity should be more discrete, but is still possible. In fact, being right next to the person does not prohibit staring, despite it being among the most awkward forms of staring. [I classify this as most awkward because in order to stare at someone next to you, it requires that you actually crane your body away from the person in order to achieve a reasonable field of view.] 3) Vehicle-Pedestrian Interactions Staring from within a car, however, can be blatant regardless of the actual distance between the starer and the staree, and has been known to occur even while walking directly next to said car. Apparently the fact that you are seated in a vehicle and the presence of a transparent boundary allow staring to become socially acceptable. That or somehow every single person driving thinks they have magic one-way windows which allow them to see me and yet keep me completely oblivious. One of the two. 4) Prioritization Staring can take precedence over other actions, such as walking, biking, or driving. The general perception seems to be that safety is not at all inhibited if your focus is on a pedestrian on the sidewalk, regardless of the fact that you are speeding down the road on your bike/motorcycle/car towards an intersection. Many drivers take full advantage of this, even making the effort to crane their necks out the window to look backwards for as long as possible without the use of their mirrors. 5) Social Status Privileges Like many mannerisms, the extent to which you are able to carry them out largely depends on your perceived social rank. In practice, this means particular groups, such as business men and women, are exempt to rules of courtesy and can engage in what I will call "group staring." This behavior is, by virtue of the number of persons involved, awkward from the start, which acts as an excuse for staring more blatantly and in fact stopping all active conversation to do so. The addition of a sudden silence allows even more attention to be drawn to the subject at hand. 6) Geographic Location The ratio of persons staring to persons within cone of vision is dependent on the variables geography and immediate population density. Based on experience, the following approximations can be made: Western Europe: very low, almost non-existent Western Europe (trains): somewhat high Ann Arbor, MI: medium Sault Ste Marie, MI: high Canton, MI: very high Corunna, MI: high Some areas remain constant regardless of geographic location, such as: up-scale hotels, restaurants: very high [see sec. "Social Status Privileges"] casual restaurants: medium/low dance competitions: very high/off the charts These approximations can also be scaled with a 1:1 ratio based on the variable immediate area population density, placing Western Europe at still practically non-existent but shooting Canton, MI (LibertyFest) off the charts. This is a bit lengthy, so I'll stop here. If you have a section you would like to add, please do! Have a nice day. =) |
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chipper| alopecia experience #3942 | ||||
| 08:43pm 25/04/2008 | ||||
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amused| "a cloud is a promise, fulfillment is rain" | ||||
| 11:36pm 24/04/2008 | ||||
Undergraduate architecture at UofM is a two-year program with four design studios, one per term. The final semester is called the Wallenberg Studio, named after Raoul Wallenberg, and is run as a competition studio. At the end of the term, after all the final reviews have finished, two students from each studio class (roughly 12-15 students in size) are chosen to move forward in the competition. They then work constantly from Saturday to Tuesday at midnight, re-doing their drawings, building new models, and staging their work for a set of jurors who have never before seen the work and have had no contact with the students. This past Friday night I was one of the two students chosen, so the past week has been a hectic blur of studio,studio,studio. Earlier today the students gathered in the auditorium while the jurors announced the awards- many were given out- and my project was chosen to receive $2,000!! I suppose this should start to lessen the insecurities I've had about my work lately... one can only hope. And so ends my undergraduate education. =D |
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| rejections and optimism | ||||
| 10:36pm 10/04/2008 | ||||
And what they sent me was........ ...a rejection letter. Really, why even bother? ------------------------ In much more optimistic news, I just got back Tuesday night from Kansas City. HOK Sport flew me out for an interview, which was a blast, and I have fallen in love with the firm. Details of the trip to come later, but for now, I have a Structures final to study for. Textbooks- check! Studybudy- check! Coffee- check! ReadySetGo! |
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busy| from Sarah. | ||||
| 01:08pm 31/03/2008 | ||||
text of: Angelo Maliki - Photos of: Roselyne Francois et Manuel Gomes Editions L’Harmattan. 1988. 5-7, rue l’Ecole-Polytechnique. 75005 Paris Epilogue Personne ne sait véritablement ce que les lendemains apportent, personne ne sait ce qui viendra. Les choses sont incertaines, et le temps c'est le changement. Les saisons et les jours se succèdent, et la joie vient après la souffrance, et la souffrance après la joie; comme la saison sèche après la saison des pluies, et la nuit après le jour. Les gouttelettes de lait giclent sur toi au moment de la traite, et les étincelles de feu te brûlent au moment des veillées: les choses agréables et les désagréables viennent toujours ensemble, mais elles ne se ressemblent pas. et ce qui compte avant tout dans la vie c'est la patience! ( translation... ) |
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| portfolio | ||||
| 03:51pm 09/03/2008 | ||||
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dcma Please, all suggestions welcome. With everyone's help I can polish it up. Love to all! [Pictures of wedding dresses I've tried on to come soon- locked from Ian, of course. ;) ] |
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| better or worse than my friend who slept on the microwave counter? | ||||
| 07:58pm 15/02/2008 | ||||
...and found one of my architecture friends. asleep. in the storage bin. [We lead a sad existence.] |
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| shivers and good music | ||||
| 08:22am 11/02/2008 | ||||
...oh, and any band with the song "The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be" is pretty awesome. |
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cold| silly realistic dreaming. | ||||
| 12:13pm 06/02/2008 | ||||
Whoops. |
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