: : : E :n: W : D : : :

blissful labors

2009-08-29T18:45:00.003-04:00

Really, I don't think I need to say much more than that, but sometime in the near future I will post the story and everything. Unfortunately, we're meeting friends for dinner. Write more later :)

detour: "professional success"

2009-08-29T17:48:00.006-04:00

So, there is a much bigger and more important post to put on here, but this came first and I want to share in chronological order.

I've always been a strong believer in the fact that your profession and/or professional accomplishments do not define who you are. However, getting to produce a space or a product that people get to experience and enjoy is why I do what I do. After being involved in this profession for nearly a decade, I feel like I've hit a real milestone. Sure, I've had a couple of buildings and spaces that I've worked on be built, but I've never had the opportunity to experience them first-hand. . . until now. The Bayfront Amphitheater opened on August 16 with Incubus. It sold out within a couple of hours. Because Live Nation was making so much money on that concert they decided to hold the grand opening on August 18 with Counting Crows. They were pretty much handing out tickets on the sidewalk. It was a great relaxed atmosphere and I was able to get some free tickets for friends. The two of us who worked directly on the project and the principal of our office got VIP tickets. They were nice, but it is such a great venue that no one has a bad seat.

Because I've been working on this thing day in and day out for over a year, I know what it was going to be. And then, like so often happens in my line of work, the budget got slashed. We redesigned it and then the recession hit. That's not to mention the last minute demands put on us by the city either. Overall, I can be pleased with the process and product. I don't think I've experienced all of this enough times yet to be completely jaded. I hope I never will be.

On to the pictures!!

Before:

Yes, those are wooden bench seats and a concrete cantilever over the stage. After:

an explanation

2008-10-15T22:18:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry if I frightened anyone. A couple of days after I last posted, I went back and read it. I was dismayed at how depressed it sounded when, in truth, I was doing pretty well when I wrote it. It was a reflection on what had been going on over the past couple of months. It just so happened that I had been meaning to put that piece of art up and then it fell over top of those two songs that I can't get out of my head. Did they encapsulate how I felt? Yes. Do they still? To a degree.

It's been several weeks now, but I let myself be robbed. I didn't know it at the time, but I had become bitter and angry towards God because things in my life weren't happening how I thought they were going to. I harbored those feelings and it started me on a gentle slide towards depression. My joy in obedience and in the freedom granted me had been taken, more accurately, I had tossed it aside. I did not identify it for what it was at the time, but God rescued me from falling into the warmth of that darkness that I have wallowed in before. I can now recognize it for what it was/is. I feel like I'm on the upward slope again.

I'm typical eloquence is gone. My thoughts are mercuric at best - I can't hold on to one long enough to really write anything. It has taken me 45 minutes just to get this out. Obviously, I'm still processing.

Sometimes deconstruction is a gentle process of removal and sometimes it occurs at the business end of a sledge hammer but rest assured deconstruction always occurs so that something else can be raised anew.

Hodgepodge Update

2008-10-04T13:43:00.003-04:00

Many of you have asked for an update in one form or another. Because I write and sketch in several other places now, I find it hard to get on here and really say anything profound. Even now, I'm pressed for time. I wanted to at least squeeze this in though:

This lovely photo is of the project I'm currently working on at work. The Bayfront Amphitheater (towards the bottom of the pic) recently put its management up for lease and Live Nation picked it up. Me and another guy are the architects behind its renovation. We'll see what it ends up looking like - and very soon since it has to be ready to open by mid-summer 2009. Needless to say, it's keeping me really busy at work.

This was a recent art project I was working on. It needs refinement, but for a first attempt I think it came out pretty well. It all spurred from a pondering I had several weeks before:

"What better way to say 'I love you' or 'I care' than by giving something that is slowly dieing. If they could, do you think flowers would scream? Or maybe they'd cry or perhaps they would go through cycles of depression and acceptance. Basically, when we put a flower in a vase on our table, we've put a terminally ill patient on life support."

I honestly don't remember what brought that one on. I like the possibilities of the photos though.

"Work"
~Jars of Clay

Just in case, I will leave my things packed
So I can run away
I cannot trust these voices
I don't have a line of prospects that can give some kind of peace
There is nothing left to cling to that can bring me sweet release
I have no fear of drowning
It's the breathing that's taking all this work

Do you know what I mean when I say,"I don't want to be alone"?
What I mean when I say, "I don't want to be alone"

Empty spaces with shadows hit by streetlights
Warning signs and weight of tired conversations
In the absence of a shoulder, in the absence of a thief
On the brink of this destruction, on the eve of bittersweet
Now all the demons look like prophets and I'm living out
Every word they speak, every word they speak

Do you know what I mean when I say "I don't want to be alone"?
What I mean when I say, "I don't want to be alone"
What I mean when I say, "I don't want to be alone"

I have no fear of drowning
It's the breathing that's taking all this work

Keeper
~Yellowcard

I wanna love,
I wanna leave.
I want you to love me,
I want you to leave me.
I want to stand where I can see,
I'm watching you love me,
And I'm watching you leave me now.

I wish i could be,
Somebody else.
I wish i could see,
You and myself.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.
And say,
What you really feel.
You know i need,
Something that's real.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.

I wanna know if i could be,
Someone to turn to,
That could never hurt you.
But i know what you think of me,
You had a breakthrough,
And now i'm just bad news for you.

I wish i could be,
Somebody else.
I wish i could see,
You and myself.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.
And say,
What you really feel.
You know i need,
Something that's real.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.

Design Mix 2008

2008-02-27T21:45:00.014-05:00

So there's this nasty little rumor going around that I designed a dress. . . well, to put this straight, it's true. And to top it off, it won an award. This is a bit of a departure from what I typically put up on this blog, but it is the best way to share with everyone who's not on facebook.

Design Mix is a fashion show where architects and interior designers are paired with manufacturing companies to design fashion using the manufacturers products. We were paired with Kimball Office Solutions and were able to use several of their upholstery lines. Fabric is definitely easier than tile or lighting cables or some of the other products firms were working with.

This is the sketch I produced for my concept. I hadn't prepared anything the day that our firm got together for a design charette, but I sketched while everyone was talking. The basic concept was to draw on the woman's movement and the recent spotlight on the middle east. The gown represents a woman discovering her inner beauty. The description at the top right was what was read before our model walked. I'm not sure if it is legible so it says:

In a world obsessed over visual stimulation and external beautification, we seek to transform both perception and definition.
Our gown evolves from closed to open to discarded, bulb to blossom to new growth, dominated to unveiled to free.
Whether a woman is required to wear a burkha or has the freedom to don a bikini, her beauty is found much deeper.

The fashion show and party were held at Vizcaya. It reminds me so much of my time in Italy. Through several personal visits and many more while teaching free-hand drawing, I feel like I've sketched the entire grounds.
The Barge at sunset.
The palazzo at night. The runway was parallel to this facade a little off from the building. The majority of the audience sat with their backs to the water and barge facing in this direction.
This is how the dress actually ended up. This was how she walked onto the runway. She held this position until the mc finished with the intro and the music started. She then slowly walked down the runway and "bloomed."
This after she has bloomed.
This is after she has discarded the heavy outer-layer. Freedom.
This is my boss, the head of our interiors department, our sponsors, and Tricia (our model) receiving our award for Most Innovative.
This is the contingent from ADD Inc that came to support our entry.
No, I'm not blushing. That is a serious sunburn from being on the beach for the majority of the day prior to the event.

One last parting shot. Check out more pictures from the event here. It takes a little while to load, but there are some great shots on there and you can check out the competition.

not even a mustard seed

2008-01-21T21:25:00.002-05:00

The past four or five months have been a serious learning experience for me. What's kind of horrible about it is the fact that it has taken me about that long to realize it. God started by working in a more subtle way, but turned the heat on when I started searching for an apartment at the beginning of December.

Even though my lease wasn't up until the end of January, I started looking then because I took a long vacation around the holidays and I was hoping to move out before I left for home. I started looking on the internet and walking around my area. I found a few places that first weekend, but nothing outstanding. I also came to the realization that a 1/1 was going to be hard to come by in my price range. Over the next week, I kept looking. I came across an amazing loft-style apartment that was close to my price range, but I had to turn it down because I was going to be really stretched making ends meet. Shortly thereafter, I found another pretty nice place. I made an appointment to work out the details with the landlord. He didn't make the appointment and then rented it half an hour before our rescheduled time the next day. In the next few days, I felt like I was supposed to be looking more in downtown. If I'm supposed to serve those in need, it is easier to do when you're actually around them more often. I came across a great place in an ok area just north of downtown. It wasn't ideal, but I was willing to move there if it was what God wanted. It got rented out from under me. At this point, it was going to be impossible to find a place and then move in before I left on vacation. Needless to say, I was a little frustrated. Looking back on it, it is far better that I didn't find anything. I was stressed enough trying to make a deadline at work and because my apartment was free a friend's sis and bro-in-law were able to stay there for Christmas and not have to spend the money on a hotel. Oh but we're not done. . .

When I got back from vacation, the amazing loft-style apartment was still on the market. When I called the realtor, she remembered me and dropped the rent into my price range. We set up a meeting for the next morning to sign all the papers and I got a couple of money orders to cover the security deposit. I didn't have a peace from the time I started talking to her. It continued all night. I spent the next morning (Sat) before our meeting reading, praying, and writing. By the time I was done, I had a complete peace about turning the place down. I called the lady and apologized for the roller-coaster, but I just couldn't take it. I had to work that whole weekend, but in the moments where I did have time to search for something God told me not to get on the internet and not to walk around. It was hard, but I waited for him to give the green light. I didn't search for anything until the following Saturday. He told me to walk North. I canvased the neighborhood and only ended up with one lead. I made an appointment to see the place on Monday after work. When we met and looked at it, I was pretty impressed. It was very nice, but the realtor jumped the rent by $120 from what she original told me. As I walked to the grocery store, I knew that it wasn't it. Sometime that evening, it dawned on me what God was teaching me:

If he is the giver of good gifts - not just good, but the best - then I will have to say no to good gifts on the way to receiving the best.

Unexplainable peace overcame me and I knew that I had gotten it. This simple truth applies to everything in my life and I can see where he has been telling me this for a long time. I am so thankful that he chose something as small and rather inconsequential as an apartment to teach this to me than something much larger where I would have cracked long before I'd learned it. My faith grew tremendously over the last month or so and I write this in hopes that it might strengthen your's as well because the story obviously doesn't end here.

After I turned that last one down, I knew that God was going to provide for me on the following Saturday. I didn't even look until then and I wasn't even tempted to. And as promised, he provided. He had me walk South in the morning without much luck, but he confirmed me not looking on the internet or using a realtor through several phone calls. In the afternoon, he had me walk north despite my misgivings since I had walked that route the weekend before. If for no other reason, I then new which signs were new and which ones had been up for a week and I had already called. The sign had been out front for only a couple of days when I called. I also had the security deposit to hand to the landlord that day because God had told me not to deposit the cash from the returned money orders for the loft-style apartment. He even takes care of the little details.

So here are a few pictures of the new place:

Standing in the front door looking at the (from L to R) living area, door into the kitchen, dining area, door into my bedroom, and mantle.

Standing in the corner next to the front window and coat closet looking at the dining area, my bedroom door, the faux fireplace, niche, and front door.

Looking from the dining area into the kitchen. Yes, that is a full size sink! And I dare say it can fit more than one person in it without feeling like you're molesting each other.
A shot from the dining area through my bedroom door looking into the bathroom and my closet. You have no idea how exciting it is to have a closet with a door on it.

This is the best I could do of the bedroom. I'm standing in the corner next to the closet. The bathroom is to my right.

This picture is really just for the hilarity that is the tile pattern and that the last resident put up a plaid shower curtain. I think I'll accent with some neon yellow towels and electric green candles.

suburban delusions

2007-09-06T22:44:00.000-04:00

Oh suburbia, a place of neighborhood soccer teams, late summer evenings conversing with neighbors on the street, impromptu football games, church on Sunday, neatly kept yards, etc, etc. We all know it and most of us grew up in it. I can not complain about my years before college. Growing up, I had kids my age in every house on my street. I had a great series of schools that gave me amazing opportunities to learn and explore. I also grew up in a great church that had a thriving youth ministry. All that being said, I have run from it ever since.

I am astounded at the false veils that people surround themselves with in their homogeneous enclaves. Not only do they live in the same homes (six, maybe seven different plans, flipped and mirrored, painted different colors with different front porches) on the exact same size lots (down to the square inch) and drive the same cars (though the Camry and Accord aren't the same family cars they used to be) to do the same things, but they all have the same responses too:

"Howdy neighbor."
"Afternoon."
"How's it going?"
"Great, everything's great." though my family's falling apart, I'm 30 grand in debt, and my dog has fleas

The masks are important though because they maintain distance. In a place where most people live about 20 feet apart, they might as well be miles. No one asks the hard questions or confronts anyone else about their mask in case the questions get turned around. No one really wants to know about anything outside their private realm anyway. That white picket fence might as well be a crenelated stone wall 25 feet high or that front porch and door the blast-door into a bomb shelter. World issues are viewed through the filter and sanitation of the 50" plasma tv while someone truly in need might be someone they happen to see once a month when they go help out at a soup kitchen (as long as their team isn't playing on tv that weekend, then again, they ordered the football package this season).

I have never been truly starving nor have I ever had to sleep on the streets before and I'm sure that I just made enough vast generalizations that if anyone were to actually read this thing that there would be a bounty of comments, but this is why I run from suburbia. It is not just a place, it is a mentality - a mindset devoted to comfort above all else. And as I observe each day, it is obvious that the mere sight of someone in need or the aroma of the street wafting into our general vicinity grips that comfort by the throat and squeezes.

I wish I could shout, scream, carry a huge neon sign that they are people too. Al, Robbie, and the thousands like them are people damn it. They are no less than you or I, but they are certainly more. Their eyes are open - they see humanity and people for who they are. They don't care about what car you drive or where you live, what school you went to, or how much is in your 401(k). They are adept at seeing people's hearts though. Within seconds, they know exactly what kind of person you are - some take advantage of this knowledge while others just observe. For people who live under the auspices of bruised rainbows and dieing stars, you'd be amazed at what a heart-felt smile can do. The simple acknowledgment returns dignity and a sense of self. Imagine if you actually stopped and reached out a hand and struck up a conversation, but beware, Comfort will be there blinding you with "Oh, everything's great."

awesomely bad facial hair

2007-08-19T18:15:00.000-04:00

". . . you don't realize how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary." ~Screwtape in C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters

As a practical joke on our friends Chris and Mandy, the three of us from Miami that were groomsmen in their wedding decided to grow out some facial hair before their big day. They hadn't seen us in a couple of months and wouldn't before we arrived on the day of the rehearsal. This joke was really to accomplish two things (1) to see if Matt could actually grow facial hair - he started four weeks before we arrived at the wedding and actually managed a spectacular molestache (2) to try and throw Chris off. We had managed to do it once before when we threw him a surprise party, but the man is a rock.

The night before the three of us left for Indy, I had to create a masterpiece. It is one thing to just show up with a beard; it is another to go with some serious chops and a chin-strap!

I know, it is a thing of beauty and you just can't contain yourself in the ethereal glow of its awesomeness. Matt on the other hand looks like he needs to be wearing a leisure suit.

The prank was funny and really threw Mandy's father and Chris's mother off though Chris and Mandy both contained their shock pretty well. Oh, and my favorite, the presiding minister shot me some looks that I'm sure were "in brotherly love." They were all very relieved when we shaved before the wedding.

The reason I write though is for our journey, not our destination or the final results. When we first discussed the prank, I didn't really think of the fact that we were going to have to travel looking like whatever we came up with. We left out of the Ft. Lauderdale airport and had to transfer in Philadelphia. I was in jeans, a t-shirt, and the John Deere hat (because it truly completed the look). I was amazed at the looks like I got - and they weren't checking me out because they wanted to break themselves off a piece of my fine self. The laughs and giggles were fun too.

I really liked to think of myself being above concern for what others thought of me or how they viewed me, especially strangers in passing. I've never really been apart of the "in crowd" in my life and in high school I decided I didn't really care. I embraced my inner-dork and it has been incredibly freeing. Going to a school full of them helped a bit too ;) All that being said, I realized that I still had a desire to seem "ordinary," as C.S. Lewis puts it. By the time we got to the Indianapolis airport, I was enjoying it though. I liked that people automatically made assumptions about who I was and I knew I wasn't that person at all. I could see the comments in their eyes as we passed. I'll admit that there were times when I wanted to prove it to them so I could shove their assumptions in their faces, but I had to turn the situation around on myself. How often do I look at someone and judge them for how they look? Or assume that I know who they are because of what they're dressed like?

When I shaved that night, I was kind of sad to see the persona wash down the drain, but I would have felt like I was ruining Chris and Mandy's wedding pictures. I'm not sure that any of us truly realize how enslaved we are to the ordinary, the norm, society, our preconceived ideas of what someone else might think of us. Oh to loose these tethers. . . . and this all from a beard.

a proud uncle :)

2007-04-13T18:41:00.000-04:00

My sisters took these pictures over Easter. I decided that I'd share the two cutest kids in the entire world with everyone :) I was kind of tired of there not being any color on here.

romance in the trees

2007-04-05T12:24:00.001-04:00

A "romantic," or "romanticist," is defined as someone who indulges in excessive sentimentality. I am a self-proclaimed romanticist. I always have been and always will be. I don't really like the word "excessive" in the definition, but it is accurate at times. It wasn't until I went to college though that I learned exactly I am what kind of romantic I am. I figure there is the typical romantic that does stuff on anniversaries and special occasions. There's the casual romantic that will show up with flowers when he hasn't done something wrong and it's not an important date. And there's the Romanticist that constantly dreams up moments and events to make the other person feel special. I fall into a lesser-known sub-category we'll refer to as "tragic romantic."

This condition has so been defined by my best-friend and I as being romantic to a fault. More often than not, it is simply out of a desire to serve others and for that look in their eyes when the perfect moment is created or a great surprise is pulled-off. To give a couple of examples that he and I have been a part of: showing up at UGA with a bag full of elementary-school-styled Valentines and candy hearts for a hall of girls and then taking all of them out for a V-Day dinner, driving 3.5 hours to surprise someone with flowers and asking her to formal, writing someone a letter for everyday that you're apart, writing verses and verses of poetry. He and I also helped imagine and create five of our good friends' engagements - think hundreds of candles and rose petals for each one. Having discussed recent life events with him though, we've discovered that all of this really spurs from how we love. I know no other way to love than with everything I have. Herein lies the beautiful tragedy.

Most would call a love like that wonderful and some would probably say that it is the only way it should be. But it is like climbing out on a low limb of an old tree - it starts off strong and sturdy, but the further out you go the thinner the branch gets. Loving like that automatically places you on a perilous edge that when the branch finally breaks, or your footing becomes unsteady, you fall - plummeting like a goose picked-off in mid-flight.

Over the past several months, I've climbed all the way out to the very end of my branch. I didn't want to, but God was beckoning. I was scared at first, but after a while I followed without looking down. I reached the end, knew it, and stepped off. What I hadn't realized was that God was slowly bending the branch so that the last step was little more than a stumble instead of an experiment on atmosphere re-entry. I've learned a lot climbing trees.

I Peter 1:6-7 ". . . though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith . . . may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

myspace

2007-02-04T13:47:00.000-05:00

No theological or philosophical rantings in this post. It's been about a month since I moved into my studio and I figured I'd give everyone a look at how it's looking. Some of you got the quick floor plan that I drew up and I promised pictures so here they are:I'm on the first floor in the northeast corner. The back set of stairs start at my door, but all this means that I get two windows. This is a good thing, but I'm seriously considering some drapes to be able to block out the morning sun so it doesn't wake me up daily around 7:30 or so. I don't get any direct light, but it gets very bight in the room. As long as it isn't completely overcast (like today), I don't turn a light on until the evening. The main room is about 11.75' x 14.75' with 9' ceilings. I'm trying to figure out exactly what to put over my couch. I have an art project that I've been thinking and working on for a while, and I want to put it there, but it is going to take me a while to finish it. I might just put a couple of place-holders in it's place so it doesn't look so plain in that corner. I've got a few pictures that I still haven't hung yet that have found a place below the ac unit. We'll see. The green couch is in good hands and is as comfortable as ever. I need to get some new pillows for it though since those blue one's are getting pretty lumpy. The table is working out great, but it tends to stay pushed into the corner to free up space. If I ever have more than one person over for dinner, there's plenty of room to pull it out from the wall. Some have commented that sleeping under a college blanket is very, well, college-ish. Frankly, I thought that is a better way to show my true loyalties than painting the room old gold with white trim ;) Go Tech! I figure I'll probably put the UM diploma on the same wall though come May. I'm trying to find some shelves to put up over my desk to hold more pictures and misc desk stuff though. The newest edition to the space is the tv. It's so nice to be paying for cable and finally being able to actually watch it and not just listen to it. I'm considering knocking out the back wall of the niche above the doorway where some of my art is right now and putting the tv up there. I've got to check with my landlord though. I just feel like the tv's in a rather precarious position and it blocks your view when you first walk in, closing off the room some. At the end of my "hallway" is my closet. The other half of my clothes are all below my bed. The bathroom door typically stays open though. The kitchen is a one-butt kitchen, but I like it. I don't mind that I don't have a dishwasher, but I wish that my sink was bigger. I haven't made any culinary masterpieces in it yet, but it is capable. I've been sticking with family favorites and traditional/easy meals.

The bathroom is good. Not really much to say about it. This final picture is looking back at the north-facing window. The picture doesn't show the trees very well, but it also isn't showing the trashcans either ;) I guess that's about it. Questions or suggestions - let me know!

Icicles in Miami

2007-02-03T00:23:00.000-05:00

In the past three years or so, I've explored and written about utopias (historical and current views) and the American dream (its birth, death, and supposed resurrection at the hand of New Urbanists). These have been architectural, historical, and somewhat theological explorations. Not until the past week or so did it become a physical notion - one that, like an icicle, took a long time to form but shatters and is trampled-on once it hits the sidewalk of reality below.

I'm not the first to write on it, and certainly not the first to realize it, in fact, thousands upon thousands of twentysomethings realize it every spring and every winter when they find themselves having just graduated and sitting in some mundane cubicle in a lifeless office staring at a computer screen for eight hours a day: college is utopia.

It is a bubble within our society that is set up to be an advanced democracy where not only men, but also women, are all on equal terms. The bubble is maintained and organized by intelligentsia and learning is the main focus of the society. There is ample free time to socialize and explore individual interests. In addition, health and fitness are a common preoccupation for all. Of course, this starts to approach the human-provided faults of the system (especially in a place like Miami) where the look of a person determines so much more. This utopia, like so many other failed ones before it, demands a narrow definition of heterogeneity. You can be different, just not too different. "We like to be reminded of how young and healthy we are. We will take on the world (if we ever decide to leave, or if our parents make us) because don't forget that I'm guaranteed to be a success (and I like to hear you tell me it). . . And we will absolutely not allow you to remind us of the world outside of our bubble."

As all of this was gelling in my mind last week, an unexpected visitor to the School of Architecture solidified it and then took a bat to the icicle. I never got his name and I only got a brief look at him from a second story window, but I hope I never forget him. He was wearing an old red sweatshirt stained with who knows what. He had khaki pants on that were tattered and forming holes. Blonde hair turning white hung limply over his eyes and blended in with his unkempt beard. What little skin I could see had been aged from long exposure to the elements. He talked and carried on with a lecture hall full of intent listeners in his head. He was wonderful.

Upon sighting him, several of my students became upset and wanted me to do something about it. So I just stood and watched him, studied him, and smiled. They continued to ask for action and I wish at this point that I could say that I just let him be, that I talked to them about reality and how not everyone's daddy can buy them a brand new jag when they graduate high school, or that I went down there and invited him up to look at their projects and to comment on them. Convincing myself that it was for the students' safety, I regrettably succumbed and found an administrator. I flat out felt like a traitor. My only victory came when the administrator later told me that they couldn't find him. My smile returned and inside I hoped that he had walked right through the middle of campus and as many people saw him as possible before they carted him outside of the bubble.

Two days later, I was sitting at my thesis site downtown and met a guy name Mark. He is a sergeant in the reserves, having served for 12 years as army intelligence. He graduated from college with a psych degree and is in Miami waiting for his girlfriend's return from Cuba (she is there attending to her dieing father). I don't know his exact situation, but for the most part I'd say Mark was homeless. We had a great conversation for about a half hour or so. I count it an honor to have shaken his hand. He was a blessing to me - a reminder of just how good I have it, how easily anyone can fall on hard times.

I enjoy sitting and talking with Mark's people. I like it when the dirt and sweat of their reality rubs off on me. I wanted to do more for Mark, but conversation and some change was more than enough. I hope I see him again. This too is part of my deconstruction. . .

reflections in sand. . .

2007-01-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

Cairo was icing on the cake to this entire trip. It took some work getting there though. My roommate and I ended up riding the inaugural flight on Aegean Air from Athens to Cairo, but to make that flight we stayed in the Athens airport for an 10 hour layover. We were extremely thankful for the cleanliness of the airport. I was amazed that everything stayed open the entire evening. We arrived around 10 pm and left around 9 am and could have done some shopping at 4 am if we wanted to. We were so thankful for a shower and bed when we eventually got to our hotel in Cairo. For being a five star hotel in a very cheap country, internet was so expensive. It was really frustrating trying to do anything with technology there. We crammed so much in each day that it went by in a blur. Actually, I think it was more of the impact of everything we were seeing and not that there was an extreme increase of places we visited. To explain each of the pictures below, would take a page of text per. So if there's one in particular you want to know about, ask. Otherwise, enjoy. . .

reflections in marble

2007-01-25T18:12:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are a few pics from Athens. Based that there aren't any comments on the last post, I think I've successfully lost my entire audience. That's somewhat comforting for this extroverted introvert. I guess these go out to anyone who just happens to be bored one night and stumbles on this site. Athens was a difficult time for me. I had to completely divide myself in half to survive - one part to enjoy what I was seeing and to revel in fulfilling a life-long dream, another to deal with the twists and turns that life tends to take at the most inopportune times. Thankfully, there are no pictures of the latter. So, here is half of me and a few things that amazed me. . .

It was freezing up on the Acropolis thanks to the wind - note Joachim's hair. I decided to put the picture up that everyone would recognize and frankly, I couldn't decide between all the others I have.

This is the Stoa of Atelos in the Agora. It was reconstructed thanks to a Rockefeller donation. It was an amazing space and to imagine the minds and life that passed through it during the times of Athens and height and Paul's visit . . .

This is a shot of the valley below Mycenae looking across the Chasm of Chaos. The king's throne room was built on top of that wall. While there, we also saw the Lion's Gate and the Tomb of Atreus (for anyone else who knows what those are)

This is the Amphitheater of Epidarus. At one point, we sat at the top of the seating and a lady struck a match while standing at its epicenter and I could hear it as if it was next to me.

We visited the Delphi complex on another day. At one point, it was considered the Navel of the World and the Oracle here was considered the most powerful spiritual link. Instead of studying her narcotics, smoke, and mirrors, we studied the planning aspects and took in the view of the valley and hills.

On our pilgrimage to the Oracle, we passed through this ski town that is supposedly the equivalent to Vale or Aspen. We were happy that there weren't ever any buses coming in the opposite direction (or many cars for that matter) because they wouldn't have fit. I wish we had gotten to spend some time in the middle of town and not just on the outskirts.

prodigal me

2007-01-04T16:03:00.000-05:00

I have returned. Well, technically, I returned about a month ago, but I have now returned to this place. And upon my return, I find that nothing is the same. Sure, the border at the top of this page, the thoughts from before are the same, the comments are still here, but what's beneath those posts and leaks out between these letters has changed. I have seen things both on this side of the world and the other, I have touched things that seem to hold up the sky and things that are so deep within that they have a gravity all their own.

I always envisioned this site as a service to everyone so that we could have some connection, however tenuous, as I traveled and studied. Part of me hopes that all of you have forgotten about it in my two month absence and yet I know that that isn't entirely truthful because I would be writing this in one of my journals and not on here if I truly didn't want anyone to read this. Most of what is put online is for our own glorification and ego anyway. This blog was somehow supposed to be different - meant to deconstruct perspectives its viewers had about the world both physically and spiritually. I haven't really done the greatest job of either, especially on this last trip. Instead, it was, and is, my deconstruction.

Yes, the trip was amazing. Living in Rome, visiting Athens, visiting Cairo, everything was a dream. I still don't really believe that it happened, but then I see a picture of me standing in front of something out of history book and am confronted with the reality of it all. It seems like an eternity ago though. My time with my family and friends over this break has been refreshing, revitalizing, and incredibly important to me. The laughter of my nephew, my niece calling my name, the crescendo of conversation in a room full of friends - these ring louder and more true than the calls for prayer of Cairo or choir of bells in Rome. Architecturally, I'm not sure that I'll really know the depth of impact that this trip has had on me for many years. There's too much to summarize and to think about to just put something on here. Ask me questions if you want to know; I'm sure I can babble-on at length.

Here's a few pictures of Rome. I'm going to try to come back and add more from Athens and Cairo later so keep checking back.

Quick Update

2006-10-03T07:42:00.000-04:00

We have lost internet in our studio so it has been next to impossible to get anything done around here. Hopefully, it will be back up soon. I will try my hardest to update the site on my trip to Naples, Paestum, Pompeii, and Herculaneum at some point. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be before we head to Florence this weekend. In the meantime, I would just like to add a link to one of the absolute best articles I have read in a very long time. In closing: ramble on wreck, ramble on.

All Roads Lead to Rome

2006-09-16T12:00:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since I've written on here. My time from then until now can pretty much be summed up by the picture I put at the end of my last entry. Once I returned to Miami from Japan/China, we were inseparable. In fact, we only spent two days apart from each other when I went up to Maryland to celebrate a birthday/baptism. During August, we joined my family at the beach for a week and then hung out at home for about four days afterward. It's great to be in love. I found it hard to pull sacrifice time with her and friends to write on here. But now that I find myself half way around the world again and people have asked me to write, here I am. Evidently, there are a few of you out there who are actually interested in what I'm doing or, at the very least, want to live vicariously through me ;)

There are few places in the world that have the history, grandeur, wealth of information, and emotion that Rome has. At first, people were drawn here to be apart of something bigger than themselves, for protection, or wealth. Then, pilgrims arrived seeking salvation and to show their reverence. Now, tourists arrive to the "theme park of history" where they wait in lines seeking thrills and postcardesque pictures - or at least the ability to go back from where ever they came and say "Yep, I saw that." For architects (referring here mainly to the Western species; for my comments on the East-West divide and the deficiencies on our education, see earlier posts), Rome is our Mecca. Throughout history, we've been coming here to study and learn. Personally, I've been working on getting here since I was eight and first found a book on the Roman Empire. I took Latin in high school because I was still obsessed with the time period and loved the mythology - not to mention that I got to build a model of some building in Rome for every one of my projects. Once I became serious about architecture and started to learn more and more, there was a draw to this place. It has a gravity about it. I visited for about five days while I was studying in Paris and it was wonderful, but it only wet my appetite. It is an honor to be here and to follow in the footsteps of so many greats.

For now, I'll stop with the esoteric considering I know that half of you probably skipped the last half of the previous paragraph anyway . . .

So because I kept meaning to do it while I was in Tokyo, I've taken a series of pictures to show you where I live. My apartment is about two blocks south of the Pantheon; it's an awesome location. My roommate and I share a vestibule with another apartment that has three girls from our program in it. Once in the main door, you turn right to get into our's. A small kitchen is on the left with the bathroom straight ahead. To the right is our main living area. My roommate finds the sofa more comfortable than the beds upstairs in the loft so he sleeps there. There's not much space, but the ceilings are high and the french balconies open up almost the full height providing a ton of light and a great breeze from the courtyard. Unfortunately, they also let in all the noise from all the other apartments and from the courtyard. Sleeping was hard the first couple of nights, but now it's not so bad. We're still getting used to all the different appliances and general way of life, but we're definitely pleased with our temporary home.

I've been here for two weeks now and have seen so much that it would take me forever to name it all. Unfortunately, my digital camera was inoperable for the first week, but I'm sure as I write more I will post random pictures of me in front of all the recognizable places and some a little less identifiable.

My classes are going really well. I'm taking studio, italian, history/theory, and drawing. In studio, we're taking one of Piranesi's original vedutas (view of Rome) and redrawing it orthogonally. It is going to take a lot of time to research, measure, and draw. I was a bit disappointed that we are not doing a design project, but I can see the value in it. Italian has been pretty familiar thanks to my french and latin, but it's also confusing for the same reasons. I actually translate more from french to italian then from english to italian. Our first history/theory class will be this coming Friday before we leave for Naples, Pompeii/Herculaneum, and Paestum on our first program trip (I can't wait!). Drawing is my absolute favorite though. It is so challenging, but I can't wait to see how far I progress while I'm here. I'm kind of annoyed that it has taken me until my next to last semester in my sixth year for someone to actually teach me how to draw and watercolor, but there's no better place to learn than here.

That seems like a pretty good overview for now. I've got to get some work done today before going to watch some football. I'll write more later. The picture below is of a few of us in front of the Spanish Steps during Rome's White Night that occurred last weekend.

Anybody out there?

2006-07-02T19:15:00.000-04:00

I know it has been close to a month since I've posted on here and I doubt that anyone is actually checking this thing anymore. I guess I'm slipping into that egotism that I talked about in Test (first post), but at the slim chance that someone is actually interested in those last couple of weeks that I was in Asia, here's a brief overview:

China was a great change of scenary; however, we managed to lose a couple of people on the way to Beijing and half our group was delayed for five hours in Shanghai so the first day was spent mainly in the airport. The "best" part about the Beijing Airport - the fact that the first thing you see as you come out of the international arrivals gate is a Starbucks directly in front of you. The faculty gave us the afternoon/evening off and we crammed everything into the single full day we had there. So in a single day, we did the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Great Wall (in that order). We were wiped out by the time we had our program dinner that night - it was literally an imperial feast. The picture above is from Tiananmen Square the night we arrived. The scale of the architecture around the Square was daunting. Entire mega-blocks were single buildings. At one point, we walked for 10-12 minutes along the major road and only passed two buildings. Fascism definitely knows how to make a point through architecture. At the time this second picture was taken, I was still in shock. I'm still not sure that I fully grasp the fact that I was standing on the Great Wall. At one point, I just had to stop and take it all in as much as I could because I seriously could not believe that I was standing on one of the ancient wonders of the world - in China. It was beautiful and surreal. The carnival we had to fight through to actually get to the wall and then trying to imagine building something 2500 miles long in terrain like that and then defending it. . . one of my favorite thoughts was imagining all of the towers lighting signal fires at night and how quiet and still it must be up there.

The next day, we left for Shanghai. The best way I can describe that city is a collision of Las Vegas and New York. It was a forest of skyscrapers (and construction cranes) flowering in neon amidst the haze. Mainly, our time there was spent in several temples and shrines - and shopping. We were amazed at how cheap things were; unfortunately, the government actually shut down several of the markets while we were there because of some huge international conference that was going on so we didn't get to experience that. We did however go down a couple of back alleys with a guy to buy some sneakers for next to nothing - a little scary, but definitely a good story. The best part of Shanghai was a conversation that I had with one of my classmates on the bus. She is from Thailand and is a practicing Buddhist. I learned a lot about Buddhism and its guiding principles through our conversation, but I was also able to share what I believe and the freedom that Christ has brought to my life. An interesting criticism that she brought out about Christianity that I have been pondering eversince is that part of our laziness, or at least lack of drive, is because of our dependency on Him. Part of Buddhism, and many other religions, is a need to work for salvation. Because we can do nothing to attain salvation, many people use Christianity as a safety net or failsafe which allows for a lot of luke-warm actions and feelings to creep in. I explained that I do "good works" and live according to the Bible's guiding principles out of my love for God and the relationship I have with him, but she brings up a great point. Freedom can certainly be abused.

Returning to Japan was a relief. As much as we all enjoyed China, it was a very rough and crude culture in comparison, though we stayed in much nicer accomodations (for far less) while in China. We only stayed in Tokyo for a night before we headed to Kyoto and Nara. The theme of our time there was definitely gardens and timber construction. Because of the climate and geography, Kyoto has been the center of both for centuries. We saw the quintessential zen rock garden, both the gold and silver pavilions, along with the largest, the longest, and the oldest wooden structures in the world. The largest houses one of the largest buddha sculptures in the world and the longest holds the most - 1001 to be exact. The oldest is a treasury that held the prized posessions of the emperor from the times of the Silk Road from about 1300.

Thankfully, we were able to get into the Katsura Villa while we were there. It is phenominal. No one is actually allowed inside the building itself, but the gardens and tea houses were inspiring enough. Because of that trip, I know understand the connection between the Japanese garden and scroll - the construction of specific views and a path that creates a series of events meant to be experienced in a specific order. Nothing was left to chance, everything was designed. The construction details fascinated me. This is another one of those things that I think I'll look back on years from now and still not fully understand how much of an impact it has had on my design conception and ability. No single picture can really capture what I'm talking about, but this one is picturesque enough.

When we got back to Tokyo, all I wanted to do was get back to Miami. I was tired of it all, but not so much that I didn't enjoy a meal or two at some of my favorite places and hit up Askusa for some last minute gifts. Our final evening there, several of us went to the top of the Park Hyatt to enjoy the view and the jazz. It was a great way to end our time in Tokyo. I have a habit of saying good-bye to my cities from the highest points. I look forward to going back some day, but I'm happy being here in Miami :)

Japanese church. . .

2006-06-05T02:03:00.000-04:00

So yesterday, we finally had our program's inaugural dinner. It was actually a tea ceremony. The tea house that we went to was in the '64 Olympic Village. It was really nice and was surrounded by a great little garden. Our group was too large for the house so we had to split into two groups. We spent half our time learning about and participating in the ceremony and then the other half was spent in the garden. It was a really relaxing time away from all the concrete and masses. Thankfully, our ceremony was the shortest possible, but they can take up to four hours. The tea they served us was a frothy green tea. Frankly, I'm pretty sick of the stuff - everything here has a green tea flavor to it. Yes, even the ice cream. Thankfully, the sweet cake that they served before the tea was a kiwi flavor though. After our ceremony was over, they allowed us to take a bunch of pictures and for some of the smaller girls to dress up in kamonos.

After we had some lunch, a couple of us headed over to Shibuya. I wanted to see one of the busiest intersections in the world. The light has two cycles, one for vehicles and one for pedestrians. Each time the light turns green for the pedestrians, several thousand people cross the space. The best way to describe what follows is two waves crashing into and through each other because no one touches anyone else. It is really wild. I'm going to try to go back at some point and sit in the Starbucks and get some pictures from the third floor. I have a video of it, but I can't seem to get it to load on here.

The next logical question is "why are all these people at this location?" In Tokyo, Sunday is the national day of shopping. When I say this country worships the act of shopping, I say it with all seriousness. I am convinced that they go to "church" where the head pastor is Christian Dior with a support staff of Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hillfiger, and Prada. And of course, Dolce and Gabana are altar boys. I honestly could care less if people go to an organized building on Sunday for what the establishment calls worship and I can't sit here and judge thousands of people in one general swoop. The veracity with which these people shop and consume though can really put America to shame in some respects. There is no reason whatsoever that a t-shirt should cost 9000 yen (roughly $90). I guess to fully understand my emotional tirade, you would have see the shear numbers of people and experience the ridiculousness of the number of stores and everything.

To give some more imagery of the hyper-state wwith which everything exists here, this is a picture of Akihabara, the electronic district. My site for my project is in this area so I'm pretty well acquainted with it. This is at 9:30 at night on a Thurs. To take this picture, I'm standing in front of a six story arcade/club (Club Sega). In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that everything here seems to be a restaurant. The picture below is of the major street that I walk down several times a day to the metro. It's about two blocks from our hotel and every business in this picture is a restaurant. The majority of retail parcels are about 12-16 feet wide in the city, but I have eaten in a couple of places where I can touch both walls at the same time. It's all a little nuts. Oh, and I've eaten in each one of those establishments at least once.
In an attempt to make sure that we get our projects done here, the faculty have pretty much canceled the rest of our excursions and we're doing studio all day until we leave for China. I'm spending at least 9 hours a day in here then I usually head back to the hotel, get dinner, and then end up working some more until I go to bed. The joys of cramming an entire design project in two weeks of time.

Nothing much happening. . .

2006-06-01T05:17:00.000-04:00

Howdy. The past couple of days have been completely devoted to our design projects - Yes, we are actually here to do work. Actually, that's kind of the way it's going to be until we leave for China the day after our final review. The faculty has scaled back our morning excursions the past couple of days so we can concentrate on the start of our individual designs. Translation: We've only been walking 7 miles instead of 10 and we've been visiting a bunch of contemporary museums. It's been really nice the past couple of days so no one has really cared about being outside and enjoying the sun. I'm not really sure what the next week or so holds because the guy who was giving us the gallery tours, an art critic and curator from Madrid, leaves tomorrow morning. Our schedule has been so jumbled that I'm not even sure that the faculty knows what we're doing.

So I decided to take a second to introduce the group of people I seem to hang out with the most. From left to right: Antonio, Lindsay, me, Dan, and Craig. This is us in the restaurant we sought refuge from the rain in when we went to Nikko. We definitely left our mark on the wall like so many before us as well. Below are two pictures that I've taken in the past couple of days that I really like. The first is from the top of the Park Hyatt looking towards Shibuya. The Park Hyatt is the hotel and bar that "Lost in Translation" takes place in. It was an absolutely amazing view. I'll be returning there before I leave to get better pictures and at least dessert. The second is just of a contemporary museum in the Omote-Sando area of Tokyo. I just like how the picture came out.

2006-05-28T03:24:00.000-04:00

A single word to describe this place: multiplicity. I've never been surrounded by so much humanity in such a way as here. I've never encountered a city where every single building is mixed-use (even in the least dense areas, there is always a store or restaurant in addition to a residence). I've never walked less than ten minutes and encountered at least two McDonalds, three of the same kind of convenience store, or at least 15 vending machines (this place is obsessed with vending machines - so much so that it has started to influence building designs, especially parking garages). Nor have I ever been submerged into a culture where being two religions was seen as normal. Your typical Japanese person is both Buddhist and Shinto, but it is not uncommon to encounter buddhist atheists or the occasional ba'hai shinto-ist. Obviously people are searching here. And in the end, it really doesn't matter how many religions they are because they are still just religions and they're false. Many of their virtues and works are actually more in line with what Christ taught than what many churches in the US teach each Sun, but works without faith are dead.

I'm starting to think that there are as many Buddhas in this country as people. This is really interesting in light of a book I'm reading - The Tender Commandments. As I stood in front of one of the largest and most important ones in a temple complex yesterday in Nikko, I couldn't help but have this deep weight grip my heart. I wanted to scream to all these people bowing and praying that the thing is simply an idol. A good ol' fashioned golden calf just with clothes and multiple arms - it also happened to be about 45 feet tall. The part in Acts where Paul describes the Athenians as having an idol to every god, even one to any god they don't know of yet, kept playing in my head. In the US, we sit in our churches and listen to pastors speak about how money, fame, power, or whatever might be the idols that we have in our lives. Why did no one take the time to point out the more obvious? As small as the world feels at times with all our technology, it's really mind blowing to think about how big it really is and how many people fill it. The literal thousand or so people that I pass on the sidewalk and the metro everyday each have their own lives and homes and God knows their frustrations, failures, successes, etc. The world doesn't revolve around me and my immediate context. I'm not sure people can fully grasp this unless they are kicked out of their cozy little suburban comfort zones and then someone takes dynamite to that bubble.

On a somewhat similar note, I had a great conversation with a guy here last night when I got locked out of my room by my roommate who had gone to dinner with the key. We got a chance to discuss our views on relationships and a bit of our histories and backgrounds. It was really good and will hopefully lead to more indepth conversations.

Because I know most of you are probably coming to this site more for my pictures than for my ramblings, here are a few from the past couple of days. We went to the fish market on my birthday. A few statistics, the Tsukigi Fish Market has 1700 stalls in it. It is 54 acres, around 50,000 people pass through it each day, and around $15 million/day is made. The largest market in North American is the New York Fish Market - it only does about 10% or what this place does. Even at 11 am (auctions are at 5 am), it was still really busy. I've grown up at and around the beach and fish and I saw things that I've never even seen in books. It was nuts.

Yesterday, we went to Nikko. It was interesting, but it was a really long day. The rain just wouldn't stop. If you look past the japanese on the signs though it looked like any small town in Appalachia. We all really wanted and needed a warm meal. The Yakitori Lady provided :) And yes, those are rice paddies as seen from the train.

2006-05-26T04:07:00.000-04:00

Yay, it's my birthday! Thank everyone for calling, writing an email, sending an e-card and/or anything else :) I've had a pretty good day so far, but this review on Mon is overshadowing everything a bit. We're going to be out of Tokyo all day tomorrow at Nikko. We have to leave the hotel at 7am and won't be back until 6pm or so. I probably won't be able to post anything again until Mon after our review. We'll see. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun pictures though.

And yes, the cereal was wonderful this morning. Never has Speial K tasted so good as from a Japanese tea cup ;)

Oranges and Arakusa

2006-05-25T05:31:00.001-04:00

In the days since my last post, two miracles have happened: while out on our excursion with the program, we found a market vendor selling fresh produce. He had fruit! Our group practically bought him out of oranges which were about $1 a piece (still the best price we've been able to find). It was wonderful though. Then, today we found a grocery store and grocery stores have milk and . . . cereal! I seriously can't wait for breakfast tomorrow. Just so you can picture it, I'll be eating out of a tea cup that is provided in our room. I haven't quite solved the spoon dilema yet, but I will, oh, I will.

In an attempt to appease the comments on my last post and the emails I received, I guess I'll try to explain some of the pictures.
The first is of me at the Asakusa Buddhist Temple and Market. It just so happened that last Sat when our program went was the one day out of the year that they have a massive festival. Trust me, as Americans we don't really understand what massive means - the shear numbers of people that can cram into a space over here is amazing. The picture doesn't depict it as well, but I might try to load a video of the procession that we caught.
The second picture is of the baseball game we went to on our day off (Sun.). It was between the Swallows and Hawks. So quick differences between Am baseball and Jap baseball: the stadium is divided in half between home and away fans, both sides have bands and specific chants, the noise never ceases. It was more like a South American soccer match or a college football game than baseball.
The next is of me in front of the main gate at the Meiji Jinsu Shinto Shrine. Each of those major pieces that form the gate are from 1300 year old cypress trees from Taiwan. The diameter of the two posts is 1.2 meters and the total span of the top lintel is 15 meters. The Shrine itself was spectacular. I ended up going back on Sun to take more pictures and managed to catch the tail end of a Shinto wedding ceremony.
The following picture is another shrine/temple that we went to after the National Museum. We've been to so many that I can't remember the name of this one right now. This picture illustrates best why everything in Japan has a roof though. The majority of the precipitation around here is mist or very light rain (until monsoon season which begins June 1st, yay). To protect all of the wood from rotting because it would be so moist, their are roofs even on the walls. The more modern ones are copper, but traditionally they would have been thatch.
The next two pictures show me drinking from a natural spring. I wish the picture could show just how clear this water was. It tasted good too. It is located in the Meiji Jinsu gardens.
The final picture is of a bridge that Santiago Calatrava designed here in Tokyo. The shot was taken while on a river ferry that took us from the harbor all the way up to Asakusa under about 15 bridges.

New pictures: This one is of me in the pallatine of a shogun from the Edo period - roughly 17-18th c. Surprisingly, there was still some room left over when I got in, but the shogun was probably about a foot shorter than I am. I can't imagine it was a very comfortable way to travel either - four guys on posts with you up in the air.

Meet Teka and Akita, two junior high school students that came up to me in the Edo-Tokyo Museum while I was working on a sketch. We had a little bit of a conversation, but were limited by their english and my total lack of japanese. That is an issue that really frustrates me. I wish I had had some kind of crash course in language and culture before getting here. That was so valuable in Paris.

Through my travels, I've noticed that the density of cemetaries is often directly proportional to the density of the community it serves. Tokyo is no different. These kinds of cemetaries are everywhere, though cleverly hidden. No one is actually buried here. They are all cremated and then placed into the bottom of the foundation of the monument/headstone. The wooden stakes are prayers of the family. Ten or twenty people might be interred in a single plot.

Yesterday we went to the most amazing museum. It was the studio/house of a famous Japanese artist, Arakusa Fomio. He was an incredible sculptor, but his house was what interested me. I could seriously go on for pages about how fascinated I am by the proportions, materials, and compositions that he created in each room. This is what I came here for. This is what I think of when I think of Japanese architecture that I want to study. It's going to take me a while to absorb everything from the visit, but I'm definitely going back.

Finally. . .

2006-05-22T07:51:00.000-04:00

It has been too long. You would think, in one of the most technologically adanced countries in the world where their current technology is our future technology, that it would have been an easy task to find an internet cafe so I could use my computer to access this thing. They're more scarce over here than fruit. None of you can truly understand that last statement, but trust me - I haven't had any fruit since being here. The closest I get is the glass of oj with my "western" breakfast at the hotel in the morning - which also happens to include a salad. I don't know who informed them that we eat salads in the morning, but I'm about ready to have a few words with that person. Oh for some cereal and milk (two other things that don't exist here). I think those happen to be the only draw backs to this entire endeavor though . . . and they are seriously minor in the big picture.
This place seriously rocks and I'm having a blast! It's hard to communicate, but we're able to get by on grunting, pointing, and the occasional person that knows some english. It's easy to get around because all the signs are in english, chinese, and japanese, but you know everyone's reading the characters. Whenever I spot another "westerner," we have a moment of quite recognition of each other that is comforting because we both know what we're going through and then they're gone in the next couple of steps. It's cool being somewhere so alien though. I'm worn out at the end of the day from just studying people and all of the intricacies that separate this place from New York or Chicago and make it just Tokyo.

Studio has been good to. It reminds me so much of being in Paris - I really miss Paris at times. Our challenge is to design a single family home on one of ten sites. Each of the sites are in a different ku (burough, ward) and have really different characteristics. They go from mid-rise buildings in an upscale shopping district to low-rise residential that feels more like a shanty-town than middle-class (the insides can be really plush despite the corrugated metal exteriors though). Right now, we're in a documentation phase. We have a mid-review on all of that tomorrow and will have our final next Monday.

I can't sit here and catch up with everything we've done everyday over the past week of being here, but here are some pics of the highlights. Two things - we were delayed six hours leaving from Dallas and we didn't see the sun until Fri thanks to a typhoon off of China. I'll try to write more of a reflective piece on the cultural, social, and spiritual things I'm noticing/learning/absorbing soon. Enjoy.

beginnings . . . somewhere after beginning

2006-05-13T02:16:00.000-04:00

With the exception of the Test (which I decided to keep because it was a good ramble), this is where I begin . . . at least as far as blogging is concerned. To understand the title of this space, everything I'm going to be writing about, and who I am in general, you have to grasp that you are joining this journey somewhere after having begun, but hopefully not quite to the middle yet.

If I have to pick an origin point, it would be the typical American suburb. So typical, in fact, that we have studied my hometown on two different occasions in my undergrad and graduate studies in architecture and planning. Good relationships and good times, but suburbia wasn't it for me. As soon as I got the chance, I headed for a real city. Atlanta became home.

This started my addiction for travel, exploring, adventure, etc. A couple of years later, I found myself living in Paris studying architecturee for the year. Of course, I explored pretty much all of Western Europe while I was at it.

After my time in Europe concluded, I moved back to Atlanta to work for about a year before moving to Miami. I have really enjoyed my time here - mainly for the people that I have met and for the doors that have been opened. I leave for Japan/China in less than 30 hours and will be in Rome for the Fall.

Each city has been a pause along the way. I have learned so much from the people I have encountered and through the different situations that I've been put in. Paired with all of this traveling and "life experience" has been a real spiritual growth. What I allude to in the subtitle of this space is not just the changing of my own world view but my actions changing that of others as well. The more I travel, the more facets of God's character I see, the more humble I am at my role in His story and on Earth in general. I want to help others see this as well - both at home (where ever that might be at the time) and while I'm abroad. I want to liberate people from themselves.

I think the wisest trick the Devil every played on us is giving us mirrors. As soon as we could see ourselves, we developed a sense of self. Before that, people saw themselves as a part of something bigger - whether it was a kingdom, tribe, or just a family. The focus was not inward, but outward. We've turned this outside-in and forgotten everyone around us - and trust me, I'm not referring to society alone. I will gladly throw the modern Church in the ring as well. Quite often, it happens to be more guilty of it than society, but that's another blog.

So from here on, there's going to be a lot of descriptions of travels and sights, but hopefully you'll see the experiment going on within me and the evidence of it beyond me.

Test

2006-05-11T22:50:00.000-04:00

This is something I never thought I'd do. I disagree with blogging in general. I find it egotistical to think that someone would randomly want to read about my life. This is also a completely isolationistic technology that keeps me behind a computer instead of actually interacting with people face to face or at the very least calling them. However, this seems like a great way to let people know what is going on with me during my travels without filling their inboxes with my rhetoric. It allows everyone to decide their own level of interest an involvement, I guess.

I think the one thing that is weighing on me about starting this is that I'm afraid that it's going to replace my journal. I'm somewhat old fashioned and like the written word. As much of a perfectionist as I am, I even like it when I screw up and have to mark through something and start over. There is character and gravity to something that you can touch, hold, smell, and pass from one hand to another. The sterility of this machine with its clicks and clacks and constant fan noise perturbs me to no end. These are personal problems (some of you would problem classify them as character flaws) that I'll deal with as we progress. I'll write the beginnings tomorrow when I need a break from packing.