big on fjords

there is more to life than the computer (?)

2007-04-02T11:15:00.000-04:00

the weather is so nice and i have been spending all of my free time outside. its weird cuz i spent most of the winter inside, sitting here, at my computer. its like there is life outside of the internet...and that thought is disturbing. i was once addicted to the internet, facebook, blogs, and the like, but now the sun and the grass and the sky are my obsession.

recap of the weekend:
thursday: grey goose, chipotle, good times
friday: appetinis, sig ep, ato, fun, ?
saturday: blades of glory, hilarious, johnny rockets, delicious
sunday: relaxing, working, frappaccino

this week should be interesting, my first two projects are due, i have to drive home friday after class (at 5), and then its easter. i do miss my family and am excited to see them, but i am not looking forward to the drive, or the frigid cleveland weather, being in the south, cincinnati at least, has spoiled me.

like to instant message?
Meebo

like a summer breeze

2007-03-27T23:42:00.000-04:00

it is soo effing warm here in cincy and i am loving it. class outside, laying in the sun, walking around at night in the warmth. its all good.

this quarter is also off to a great start. as a blonde, i am definitely having much more fun. my studio professor is ericka and i love her to death. i've gotten a lot of compliments on my cheap vinyl bag from meijer. i have a positive outlook as well.
i feel like i am in the right place. while interior design may not be what i want to do, it definitely leads to where i want to be. a designer. maybe a famous one at that
still having trouble in the boy department. namely i dont have one and i really want one. i am taking applications however. just email me or something. lol. just kidding...or not.

this is really cool by the way:
Visual Thesaurus

happy new quarters

2007-03-26T11:33:00.000-04:00

so its the first day of classes for spring quarter oh seven! i'm just waiting for my first class to start and i thought i would begin to tell the epic that is the story of my spring break.

it started out slowly. i went home after my final, which was on a tuesday, and i got in pretty late. the next day i got a fab. haricut and went out with my fav. girls from jcu. wednesday is quinnsday!
thursday i went to visit my father and friday i came back to uc. i had dinner with anamika when i got back she is the best.
i had to vacate my dorm the next day and visited anamika at her house. i love her family...her mum is awesome!
on sunday....verrry early....i left for new orleans on a bus. at first i was a little nervous about going on an honors alternative spring break trip. but it ended up being a lot of fun
we spent three days gutting houses that had been flooded durring katrina rita and wilma....those evil bitches. then on the last day we had a tour of the city and spent the afternoon in the french quarter, if you know what i mean. i love creole food and hurricanes!
when i got back from the gulf coast i went up to miami to visit katy. we died our hair the first night and the second we went out. but not for very long.
katy's lovely roommate may have been intoxicated and may have vomitted in front of the bookstore and gotten a citation. woops.

all in all i had the best spring break of my life. and spring quarter 07 is sure to be amazing.

spring break woo hoo

2007-03-13T15:02:00.001-04:00

i just took my final for the quarter and now its time to go home
well actually it's time to pack and clean
and then go home
and then come back to go to new orleans
i have the feeling i am going to be incredibly busy over the next couple weeks so dont expect too much till new quarters rolls around

think of it as a break for yourself too

selling out

2007-03-12T21:35:00.000-04:00

today i finally gave in and sold my soul
that's right...i now am the proud owner of a myspace
this is not my first time however
this is my third, or fourth, i cant remember
it feels so gross to be back in the realm of cyber stalkers
but i couldnt go on anylonger without being able to stalk all of my friends

so if you want to add me, and i better know you, unless you're really hott of course
here is the link:
MySpace Me

i got one of those paper hats from steak & shake

2007-03-12T01:37:00.001-04:00

so tonight was so much fun, i went to a concert up in dayton at this place called the attic. a bunch of bands played, most notably the chasing game and hawthorne heights. it was soo amazing. i am seriously in love with TCG and you should be too if you arent already.
after the show we, me liz and john, went to steak & shake with the band. graci is the most adorable person ever.
i cant wait to see them again

The Chasing Game

hell week is over

2007-03-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

this past week, week 10, hell week, project week, has been the worst of my life
but now its over
all my projects are done
the stairs look awesome
and the weather is warm

i can finally sleep and eat and whatnot
i have time to think and relax and blog
i am loving life right now

all i have left is a final on tuesday
then home till friday
and new orleans to volunteer in a week

then i guess its back to work...i am going to enjoy this break while it lasts!

i hate meal plans

2007-03-06T12:25:00.000-05:00

currently i have 48 meals remaining for the quater. i will be leaving campus in one week from today. this gives me approximately seven days
48 meals over 7 days is about 7 meals per day.
dining halls are open from 7 am til midinight on weekdays and 10 am till midnight on weekends
if i eat 7 meals each weekday i would have to eat at least one meal every 3 hours.
i dont think i can do it

project week begins

2007-03-04T23:27:00.000-05:00

so this is project week, the week before final exams, when all the final projects are due. oh boy.
it's not that i have a lot to do...it's more of an impossible amount
luckily both of my final projects are group projects, so i dont have to pull all the weight...as long as my group stays on task...which they better!
i hope i survive

dinner with manns

2007-03-02T02:16:00.000-05:00

tonight our studio went to our professor's house to have dinner. apparently it is a tradition. i thought it would be awkward and uncomfortable. on the contrary it was fun and enjoyable. the manns were very inviting and garda, my professor's wife cooked a wonderful meal. we then reflected a bit and looked towards the future, had dessert, and toured the house, and old row house in a predominantly student inhabited area within walking distance from uc. however, the fun had to end and we went back to the studio to work. at least i got to pait...yay!

another looong night

2007-02-27T08:08:00.001-05:00

i hate all the work we have to do sooo much
like its not even funny anymore
at least i'm done with what's due today
i should be able to sleep for the next few nights

sooo tired

weekend recap

2007-02-26T03:32:00.001-05:00

it seems like i have been slacking on writing posts. and i have. but i have been working hard on other things. namely this weekends main activities: drinking, visit from mom, daap

friday night was a lot of fun. if you have ever played ring of fire, you know what i mean, and if you haven't, you should.
rules: players draw cards in rotation, each card has a different action associated with it.
ace-make a new rule
2-communal drink
3-choose 3 players to drink
4-floor! touch the floor, last player drinks
5-sky! reach for the sky, last player drinks
6-to the left
7-to the right
8-first player to make eye contact drinks
9-rhyme. go around the circle speaking only in rhymes
10-categories. go around the circle naming things in a specified category
jack-i have never. each player tells something they have never done. players who have drink
queen-questions. go around the circle speaking only in questions
king-waterfall. all players drink. only stop drinking when the player ahead of you stops.

my mom came to visit on saturday. it was soo much fun. i miss her and i loved spending the day with her. we went to panera for breakfast, then to the art museum, then to kenwood to shop and dinner at cheesecake factory. luckily i wasnt too hung-over. i am such a mama's boy.

sunday, as usual, was spent at daap. this time drawing and rendering 2 point perspectives. oh the joy.

i can't wait for the week to begin so they can pile even more work on us...gotta love it

a day on the town

2007-02-22T21:39:00.000-05:00

today we visted carew tower for a field trip. it's a lot like the empire state building except smaller and not as pretty. we got smoothies while we were there...that was fun. then we went to tiffany's...that was really fun.

i have decided that i get a lot more done in a day if i get up early. i'm going to try to do that from now on. not really early, just early. that means i will probably have to go to bed early too, but thats ok with me because i'm really tired. tomorrow is friday! yay! and my mom might come to vistit this weeked! more yay!

katy sent me twizzlers in the mail...thanks katy!

like a bee

2007-02-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

i have been soo busy these past few days. one night busy working and then next busy sleeping. after the all nighter spent drawing perspectives, i had a nice long day of classes, then a group desing meeting. after that, which was at about 7,30 i think i may have eaten. i say i think because i was so deleriously tired i honestly cant remember. sorry to anyone i may have eaten with. then i went to bed. and i slept. i slept for anywhere between 14 to 16 hours. i was very tired

so now its wednesday. ash wednesday to be exact, or more correctly whats-on-that-girls-forehead wednesday. poor catholics

i actually may go to bed early again tonight. or not

late night lessons at daap

2007-02-20T02:39:00.000-05:00

on yet another all-nighter at the college of disaster, anger, agony, and pain, i have learned several things:
1) i suck at drawing and shading
2) my sex life is far more interesting in conversation than in reality
3) zimmer hall has an ice cream vending machine
4) i really do hate my life
5) my blog has more readers than i imagined (it looks much nicer here than on facebook)

i hope everyone else is having a better time in school than i am. the idea of having any fun on a weekday is absurd. if anyone is considering entering the fields of architecture and interior design, dont. just do not do it. really.

if only i had a sharp x-acto blade to slit my wrist with...

god may have rested

2007-02-19T00:39:00.000-05:00

sundays are always so busy for me. its the day i have to catch up on everything i had neglected to do the rest of the weekend. it goes like this: party friday night, sleep saturday, party saturday night, get up on sunday, go to subway for lunch, spend the rest of the day in studio.

luckily we only watched movies last night, so i was feeling chipper when i woke up. at subway i got an italian bmt and while i was waiting about 10 minutes to pay, a rather ragged student walked in asking for water. he looked like he had slept in his clothes and there was various colors of marker all over his face. the cashier, instead of taking care of me, told him water cost 10 cents. the ragged boy became annoyed, and left. i was then able to pay.

at daap i cut a bunch of foam insulation board and became covered, i repeat, covered in pink foam dust. it was fun. then i got to draw. i love daap so much. now i have to do some 3d modeling. yay.

i already have a case of the mondays

weekends are so crazy

2007-02-18T01:50:00.000-05:00

so last night, meaning friday, was interesting. we obtained some beverage, we meaning john and i. it goes without saying that one or both of us was going to end up incoherent and completely wasted. i was fine. john was not. thank god (a figure of speech here, not a praise to the lord) he didn't die when he fell from his high loft. i dont think i could live with that on my conscience.

today we decided to take it easy. easy meaning movies. nice safe movies. at ashley's request we started with the chumscrubber...let me say it gets two thumbs up...and maybe one other thing. next was chocolat, but not the chocolat you are thinking of, but instead a bizarre movie about a french girl in cameroon. damn you blockbuster for tricking us so. after that was the matrix, which does not lend itself to playing in amelia's mac, but works just fine in ashely's pc...i took this as a sign that the apocalypse is upon us...a pc actually outdid a mac...for once.

it's almost 2am now and i am planning out my course of action tomorrow. on the to-do list is the following: make stairs out of foam insulation board. sketch some perspective. draw and render some perspectives. watch some educational films and write a few papers. relate the movie pi to my life...if you are looking for a good mind fuck i suggest you see it. and finally laundry. i foresee none of these getting done. but that's the optimist in me.

goodnight loves

contemporary art is scary

2007-02-15T22:40:00.000-05:00

today for class we took a field trip to the contemporary arts center (cac) in downtown cincinnati. it is a really awesome and/or sexy building designed by female iraqi-british deconstructionist architect zaha hadid. that being said, it was full of weird, creepy art. including, but not limited to, spray-painted dirt/walls/floor, inflatable one-eyed babies of the 10-foot tall variety, frightful video and audio experiences, and large nature illustration lolly pops coming out of the walls. it was an interesting experience, not nearly as interesting as finding a place to park, but i now have a renewed interest in art of the contemporary kind...sort of.

sketchup is not like ketchup...its much cooler

SketchUp

valentine's day

2007-02-14T23:12:00.000-05:00

well today was valentine's day...i don't really have much of anything to say

there were really good deserts in the dining hall...they were full of love?

snow days were more fun in grade school

2007-02-13T23:39:00.000-05:00

back in elementary school snowdays meant sleeping in, sledding, making snow angels, and hot cocoa. there were no worries back then.
now they mean almost no food in the dining hall, catching up on homework, walking in the bitter cold, and being behind in classes. no fun

mann, woman, and children

2007-02-12T22:45:00.000-05:00

lets start with the children.
this weekend, as i apparently forgot to mention was the annual cincinnatus scholarship competition for high school seniors attending uc next year. i volunteered at the competition, it was really boring. the interesting part for me was thinking back to last year when i was a senior at cincinnatus. it seems crazy that a whole year has gone by since then. when i came here for the competition, the campus seemed so big, i was completely intimidated, and downright horrified of going to college. that all seems foolish now, as i love it here at uc, and even though it is one of the biggest universities in the country, i feel cozy and right at home.

mann:
apparently it seems that the youtube video of arson garden, my professor april mann's band, has been taken down. boo. but there is a new music video up...just search "arson garden" i still cant get over the fact that she was actually in a semi-successful band...crazy.
another mann, denis alan, my studio professor, is pretty cool too. i heard from my classmates who had him last quarter that he can be rather harsh in critiques, but i dont find this to be the case. thus far he has been very constructive and i like him as a professor. i have noticed that he doesnt ever seem to talk to me like he does with the other students, and i get the vibe he doesnt take me seriously. i got that vibe from my studio professor joseph last quarter too, but i'm still here. more to come on that i'm sure...it will be interesting to get my grade for the quarter in march

and now for the woman
erika hedgecock, the one and only, is now lecturing for my computer class. we just started working with cinema 4d today, and since she is more qualified to teach it than april, she is. it's really exciting to have a new face in front of us in that class, and i enjoyed her lecture today...much more informative than the usual ones.

thats all for now
p.s.. i love new york

shake that ass girl

2007-02-11T01:31:00.000-05:00

tonight we went to metropolis, we meaning anamika, john, liz, derek and i. we had so much fun dancing.
before that we went to target, we meaning ashley, amelia, john and i. john bought a frame, ashley shampoo, and i some food. then we went to urban. amelia spent lots.
after that but before the club, we went to penn station, we meaning amelia, anamika, john and i. we all had subs
i have no idea where this story is leading, but i thought i would share.

this is a bit more interesting:
have you ever wondered how to do things...the british way?
check out videojug

VideoJug

...and then i shit my pants

2007-02-09T23:47:00.000-05:00

so in order for this story to make any sense, i have to describe to you one of my professors, erika hedgecock, visiting assistant professor of architecture and interior design. she is young, smart, beautiful, dare i say perfect. i admire her fashion sensibilities and her ever fabulous shoes. in a word she is my idol.

well today she and another professor of mine, april mann (see post entitled "love is all around them"), were talking and pointing at me as i stood five feet above the floor on top of a composition of blocks...it was a design exercise. i gave them a weird look, and after i had come down from my perch, erika explained that they were discussing how much they liked my style. i was shocked that she, a goddess on earth, would think so. i responded by telling her i liked her style as well and always admired her shoes. she likes my shoes too!

i was wearing a green abercrombie kids tee, levi skinner jeans, and green chuck taylor all stars.

two things

2007-02-09T02:04:00.000-05:00

1) cheese fries at stadium view are not all they're cracked up to be

2) it has been brought to my attention that i have yet to blog about two of my bestest college friends ever, eleanor and patrick.
so here goes:

eleanor: a true designer with odd taste in music
hometown: chicago
major: industrial design
age/sex: 19 female
3 words: perky, free-thinking, creative
quote: [still to come]

patrick: a small towner who wants the world
hometown: milan, ohio....i don't know where the fuck it is either
major: industrial design
age/sex: 19/male
3 words: quirky, dedicated, cute
quote: do you realize you just tried to rip the phone out of my face?!

so eleanor and patrick are great, and the cheese fries aren't

love is all around them

2007-02-08T19:37:00.000-05:00

the lead singer in this band is april mann...she is one of my professors

snow morning?

2007-02-07T19:32:00.001-05:00

so, this morning the university was closed again...luckily for me it opened at 10 and i don't have class til 1...woot

i went to a lecture at daap to hear Jennifer Siegal talk about her firm, Office of Mobile Design. it was really interesting hearing about mobile architecture and prefabricated homes. it was cool...like really cool

i feel inspired now

Office of Mobile Design

emergency university closing

2007-02-07T00:08:00.000-05:00

today it was so cold they closed the university...at 5 pm...just in time for me to be done for the day
oh well...it could have been worse...ummm....maybe not

so, if you don't know, i have a mac, a macbook pro to be exact and i love it.
for everyone else out there with a macbook, you need to check this out:

iAlertU

it's called ialertu and its a security system for your computer
it works like a car alarm, and it takes a picture of the laptop thief with your built in isight
it can respond to touch, movement, and powercord removal
it is pretty much the coolest thing ever

thought i would share

it's cold outside

2007-02-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

it is soo cold and windy
like really cold
i don't like it

we went to see two houses and it was super exciting
the firsts was really nice but was on a slant
and the neighbor had a big scary dog
the other needed lots of work
but it was really big

we have another one to see later this week
and possibly more next week

i love it

house hunting

2007-02-04T23:33:00.000-05:00

today we went house hunting
there are a lot of houses for sale in clifton
a lot of crapy houses
but a few nice ones
and we found some we liked
i can't discuss them anymore for fear you may steal them
but i assure you we will have an amazing house next year.

on a related note, one home for sale had a note taped to the front door conveying the following information:
attention, the owner of a blue chevy astro van, we know you stole our side door. you borrowed the crow bar from the neighbor, we have this on record.

more to come...

pan's labyrinth

2007-02-04T02:14:00.000-05:00

today i went to the movies with anamika and john. we saw pan's labyrinth in newport. it was really good but also really graphic and scary. i recommend it strongly. then we had milkshakes at johnny rocket's.
tomorrow is house hunting...i can't wait.

the plan for next year is as such: anamika, john, and i will live together in a house near campus. it will be fun. hilarity will ensue. that is the plan, however, i have my doubts. not that i don't love anamika and john, i just have some personal issues i'm dealing with right now. they are unfortunately of the confidential variety so perhaps more on that at a later date.

anyway...house hunting tomorrow...means i need sleep
'nite y'all

mmmhhhhmmmm

2007-02-01T23:28:00.000-05:00

so i just think everyone should check out my favorite under-the-radar band ever....The Chasing Game

public restroom

2007-01-24T01:41:00.001-05:00

i hate black toilet seats...what are you trying to hide?
also doors that open in
and poor lighting

i made a robot

2007-01-24T01:34:00.000-05:00

in case you were wondering where i've been:

sick, but not tired

2007-01-16T00:54:00.000-05:00

so this morning i woke up and i hurt everywhere. so i went back to sleep.

i had planned on working in the studio all day, but that did not happen. i am now terrebly behind and i fear i will never catch up. i have to a) build a robot (lifesize), b) draw people, lots of people, c) learn illustrator on my own, d) i'm sure there is something else, i just can't think of it.

so now i am sitting in my dorm, with absolutely nothing to do. hopefully i feel better so i can catch up on all my work this week. i don't plan on eating/sleeping/leaving the studio, but i'm sure it will all work it...it always has up til now.

so, this is me right now:

parking debacle

2007-01-15T00:11:00.000-05:00

so as i said earlier, i used my parking pass to get katy out of the garge for free. it seemed like a simple plan at the time: katy takes parking ticket, gate goes up, katy parks, katy leaves and uses my pass, gate goes up, katy parks for free. at this point i realize that my car is still in the garage, but according to my pass, it is out. solution: walk through the "in" gate with my pass in hand to fool the garage into thinking i have re-entered. problem: the enterence has a weight sensor, it realizes i am not a car and makes an angry beep. hmm...let me just try to drive out like normal and pretend nothing happened...NO. the gate will not go up and i am seriously trapped in university avenue parking garage. liz, being a clever business major, suggests to try the other gate, and like a godsend, it is open. i leave and hope parking services doesn't notice my "suspicious activity".

when i get back the gate works like normal and now i have my fingers crossed it continues to do so.

katy comes to visit

2007-01-14T15:15:00.000-05:00

so this weekend, a long weekend to honor one of the greatest americans, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a long time friend came to visit. katy and i have known each other since first grade, and have been on and off friends since then. she goes to miami (of ohio, duh) and not being blonde, tan, annorexic, and/or stuck up, she is moderately unhappy there. i told her all of her problems could be solved if she concentrated more on being a bitch and less on her schoolwork, but she refuses to take my advice. anyway, she drove down on friday, and by the time she arrived at uc, she had already experienced all the best nati has to offer. on her supposed-to-be 45 minute journey, she got lost multiple times and ended up driving though north side and over-the-rhine. when she realized she was not in oxford anymore, she called me and i directer her back to campus, being careful to detour her around vine street-i felt she had probly had enough for one day.

she came to class with me after she arrived and found out just what being a daap student means-no work during class and movies on friday! continuing her tour of uc life, we went to eat at center court. while i as a uc student was bored and offended by that night's dinner choices, katy was thrilled by the stir-fry, soft-serve, pizza, and awkward chairs. friday night ended up being fairly quiet, watching movies in my room, going to staduim view for some late night "dining" and then returning to the dorms for a bit of beverage.

saturday, we woke up at some point, went to brunch, and then we were off to kenwood mall. nothing too exciting there, except she showed me the wonders of abercrombie kids, where the clothes are at least $10 cheaper...amazing! as my cincinnati treat to her, i took her to skyline chili on clifton and ludlow. she was pleasntly surprised...but who doesnt love skyline? later that night, anamika took us to metropolis-home of club kiss at the cincinnati mills mall. i apparently was not dressed appropriately, but i had fun anyway. anamika, of course attracted all the hot guys, while katy was left with some middle-aged man.

i had a great weekend with katy and i hopefully will visit her soon...as soon as i can get my car out of the garage-perhaps i will explain in a later post.

college

2007-01-11T23:46:00.000-05:00

so, i'm in my second quarter of my freshman year of college. i have one thing to say. it is amazing

over the summer i worked for target. i actually had a lot of fun there and i admit that i enjoy working retail and would definately persue it as a career option if plan a fails.

this brings us to plan a: university of cincinnati college of design architecture art and planning school of architecture and interior design. i am an interior design major at the country's top interior design school and one of the most challenging colleges in the nation. daap, as the college of design architecture art and plannning is somewhat affectionately called is like art class for big kids. when in elementary school, teachers always always tell you your art work is amazing. at daap they tell the truth. professors have told students a multitude about their work, ranging from "you followed the assignment well, but i wish you would have taken more of a risk" at best and "this is basically shit" at worst. there is even a rumor of a scutpture professor who came in to class one day, smashed all the students' sculptures but one and exclaimed "i'm sure you all are wondering why i left this one. it's because this is the worst of all" and then proceeded to throw the art against the wall. that's only a rumor though, i know nothing of its validity, but it sounds completely feasable.

another characteristic of daap is the exorbitant amount of time it consumes. all-nighters are expected. we have a couch in our studio space to nap on. by the end of fall quarter we looked like the walking dead and are rapidly approaching the latter stages of sleep deprivation again.

all shit aside, daap and uc are great. my new home away from home. i love college life more every day. it's my new friends that truly keep me alive. the people i have met since september are some of the most amazing people i have ever met. it feels like we have been friends forever and i honestly can't imagine my life without them. before i get too sentimental, let my explain why, by introducing a few key players:

amelia: a spontaneous, slightly manic home-schooled-jungle-freak.
hometown: minneapolis
major: industrial design
age/sex: 18 female
3 words: energetic, knowledgeable, frantic
quote: billboards, BILLBOARDS! oh, those things that move dirt!

ashley: my mother at school, she completes me
hometown: middle of nowhere, ohio
major: business
age/sex: 19 female
3 words: fabulous, crafty, caring
quote: penny!!

anamika: this girl likes to party...and wear high heeled shoes
hometown: the nasty nati
major: partying
age/sex: 18 female
3 words: gorgeous, confident, tipsy
quote: you don't slap my thighs, rustle my hair, or call me baby

john: he likes to party almost as much as anamika...maybe more
hometown: somewhere near columbus, ohio
major: engineering
age/sex: 19 male
3 words: excitable, clumsy, spastic
quote: we were having a rave and i hurt myself

and then there's me: i like to enjoy the ride while it lasts
hometown: cleveland
major: interior design
age/sex: 18 male
3 words: honest, catty, sexy
quote: she's ugly like a home-made abortion

let's get acquainted

2007-01-11T23:27:00.000-05:00

to tell you the truth, i'm a rather ordinary person, but the things that happen to me everyday are quite extraordinary. i have found that if you just stop, look, and listen, you can see, hear, and experience things you could never have imagined. that's the purpose of this blog: a place for me to share with you the strange, wonderful, and unexpected.

i'm actually quite excited to get back into blogging. it's been a while since i have done this and i hope this time people actually read it. so, i thank you for humoring me and reading. please enjoy my life as much as i do and feel free to send me your comments, questions, and concerns.