Studying in Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach Lifeguard Towers - 5:30pm Dinner is turning out to be the most restless and loneliest time for me - it's tough to have to do it solo. Snatching a plate of food is pretty much the only thing I do with blind disregard and default determination. When it comes to buffet lines at social gatherings I am always near the front of the line. If a plate of chicken wings is ordered while I’m out with friends half of them are on my plate and defrocked within minutes. Or, when I’m at my mom’s house I’ll keep eating as fast as she’s scooping things on my plate. There's no fun in rushing to the freezer and making dinner for myself.

In keeping to Minnesota time, I’m waking up between 5:45 and 6:45am here so by 6:30pm my energy for the day has been dispatched, the earth has turned and I’m stuck with a laptop and table that I’ve been at for much of the day. My one-sided company is 7 broadcast TV channels of which 2 are Spanish or books on architecture. Since my two friends that live here eat like bird I have nobody to really EAT with! So, I’ll command the microwave to make some dinner or boil some frozen tortellini, watch the evening news and lament not having Rudolph’s and a pile of friends.

To aid in my mad studying for the California Real Estate Exam I scored some CA Real Estate exam prep books at the library and in doing so got my hands on a new book “The End of the Line” by Charles Clover. It’s about how overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. Maybe I’ll be eating less sushi after I read this but my curiosity exceeds potential guilt at this moment. I mentioned to Jen and Ron that I had this book on hold and Ron was immediately interested and took a note. I like it when unexpected bits of mutual interest are found with old friends.

Note: Tomorrow I may be sleeping in due to the final escalation and culmination of my Ebay bidding war for the Uniform Building Code Vol. 1 in Hardcover, ending at 11:45pm this evening. Wish me luck.

St. Croix River, Leopard, Floating Rainbow Walleye

Repeating theme : Extreme weather at my parents house. Somehow I'd heard a storm from China was almost upon us. I knew it was coming. I shouted at my mom to get inside and either she didn't hear, was being stubborn, or I was just too late, the wave got her but she was ok and still managed to get inside. I tried to close the sliding glass door from the basement but I missed the first time and grabbed a screen door instead, there were 3 of them on the track! Water still came into the basement but not too badly. The next wave was the huge one and it left debris on the deck. The waves died down pretty quickly. I went outside looked down the stairs and there were Walleye the color of rainbows floating in the air (not in the water because it had completely receded) just above the deck stairs. One tried to bite my toe but I got out of the way. I went back inside and from the basement sliding doors, I noticed a leopard and I could tell he looked hungry and dangerous. I tried to warn others but the next minute I see Molly out on the deck and the Leopard has jumped on her. I run to the garage and grab two machetes and by the time I get back it's too late. She's laying there in a small pool of blood but she's actually not too badly hurt. My uncle shows up and carries her fireman style around the side of the house. He's had past medical training in the Navy in WW II so both Molly and I are confident he'll take care of her. She was bitten in the pelvis. map of dream

6:15am

6:15am -> Burnt Toast -> No Shower -> Zoo Lot -> Trees and Plants -> Starbucks! (thanks mom and dad) see photos

Inspiration at 6,000 feet

While wedged between seats A and C and Rows 25 and 26 and choking on peanuts I somehow managed to wiggle the US Airways magazine out of the seat pocket and found this article on Vera Wang. First, I want to thank the celebrities who've been sending me personal messages of encouragement via various media channels. Last night it was Ed Bradley looking past Charley Rose to say to me "my teacher told me you can do anything! and I believed her!". Before that Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness gazed at me from the 40 ft screen and said "Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something! Not even me!". And before that it was Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow philosophizing about how we as human beings have unlimited potential "because WE Maaaaaaaaan". Well, in my case, I'm woman and my latest celebrity message was from Vera Wang at 6,000 feet in the air. Wang didn't start actually doing fashion design until age 40. Her parents refused to support her desire to go to design school. However, 16 years at Vogue Magazine was a pretty decent alternative to design school. Maybe I should try and get a position at DWELL magazine for the next 10 years. After quitting Vogue and at age 40 Wang's father finally backed her bridal business and her vision...and just look at the girl now!One of her latest projects was designing an exclusive guest suite for Halekulani Hotel in Hawaii. The article in US Airwaysverawang.pdf

las fotografías del día

I passed these lofts once before in my car but it's hard to take pictures with a polaroid camera while going through an intersection and smoking and putting on makeup at the same time. Now that I have my digital camera back I'm going to be riding around on my red bike taking as many photos as I can. Modern Lofts at 16th and B Street, San Diego, CA. (If you have a Yahoo ID already you can sign into Flickr with your existing ID and password.)

Holland

Holland, Michigan. Home of the Holland Tulip Festival, one of the 5 Best Places to Retire (Money 2006), known for one of the largest populations of Dutch descendants, Dutch Calvanists and Christian Reformed Church Followers and origin of BilMar Foods and co-founder William G. DeWitt. I celebrated New Year's Eve amongst the barely containable excitement of the Holland Country Inn. Yeah, it was crazy, they had oatmeal cookies in the lobby and they were gone in 60 seconds! Tomorrow, there's a strong probability I'll be passing Gerald R. Ford's (age 93) casket at the Grand Rapids Airport and will be missing his funeral by a day. The funeral and passing of Bill DeWitt (age 93) brought me here (I now only have one friend over 90 left Sister Agnes Ward in Minnesota). Coincidentally, BilMar foods at one time presented a turkey for pardoning to President Ford for Thanksgiving. Bill DeWitt was a devout christian and a very sweet man whom I developed a friendship with through Malinda's mom. His passing brought me to Holland - a place I probably would never have visited. It's funny how people can take you places whether they're still here or not. I like to believe that Bill wanted me to see the place he was from and that he kept me out of harm's way for New Year's Eve and that he'll get me home safe for the New Year. Tomorrow, I resume my normal, mildly sinful life, and my attempts to draw, eat, explore, connect, document, discover, while doing my best not to fall into disorganization and fragmentation. Bill was blessed that he did one thing and did it well - Turkey Farming. It's impossible for me to settle on a singular focus but I will make the multi-variable focus work although I might have to plump up my cerebral cortex to do it. Happy New Year Everyone!

ongoing voices

I have a quote by martha graham in my notebook: You do not have to believe in yourself or your work. It is not your business to determine how good it is, how valuable it is, or how it compares with other expressions. But it is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly to the urges that motivate you. Today, I had thoughts about the surplus of free couches in the world, why there is a surplus and what can be done about it. I saw a free piano on craigslist that I wanted to acquire and deconstruct but wondered if it could ever be decontextualized since piano keys are so iconic. I take fragments of retro lettering on buildings with my camera or mental camera every day and I've been mentally cataloging the styles of decorative concrete blocks and am finally starting to photograph them. Today I'm enamored with square metal signpost tubing and want to use it in a credenza design. I've also finally found a functional solution for the wooden boxes I acquired at a rock and gem show last summer and just yesterday I finally integrated the perspective-graph-paper I've had for two years into something. When I'm thinking, writing, or sketching out these things I don't know how much time goes by. These urges come at me every minute of every day and they fill the day and every space in-between. When certain people in my life ask me "what did you do today" I have trouble answering because the volume of thought turns into instant fuzz. It makes for a very short kind of quiet phone conversations because I can't articulate what consumes me. I just know when I try to quiet these urges I become lifeless. I've yet to unify all of the chatter within into a singular medium. For my sanity and the self-esteem of my alter ego I need to find that medium or some coherence. In the meantime, the best summation for my alter ego and what I'm trying to get out is "Conceptual Artist". The version of me that operates on a normal level and more accepted and measurable mode of value is the "Architect-in-Training". The message I've always received or that's been implied by people in my life is that there is no value to conceptual thought. So I guess there's nothing to lose. Here are my couch thoughts:
In the living-room stage the couch is the primary spot of comfort and relaxation. It is the primary spot to receive entertainment whether it be television, movies, conversation or watching children play. During a domestic intermission, AKA the act of moving, the potential labor to move a couch is weighed against the amount of money paid to acquire it. The break even point must be fairly low because there is a surplus of free couches in this world.

My guess is that most people don’t want someone else’s couch because of the very intimacy that a couch implies. Who knows what particles, fluids, or other substances coat the cushions. Who knows what act of passions have occurred on top of or in the couch by people and pets. I am now making it my prerogative to think about the Free Couch and set it free from it’s reputation as a domestic outcast. I’m going to bring the Free Couch back into the home by devising a new functionality for it.

Couch

Fabric becomes formless when off the frame of a couch. When put back into 2-Dimensional space imperfections on the fabric are easier to spot and isolate.

Couch is made of wood, fabric, springs, metal, screws, adhesive, stitching, leather.
Couch inside out – exoskeleton, extruded.
Destruction – tearing, burning, staining, cutting. Performative deconstruction.

Deformation by subtracting and adding to the frame and then re-upholstering.
Disinfection by complete bleach or chemical bath.

Can a couch be re-constructed to be displayed on a wall?
Can a couch be lived in. Free Couches in San Diegohttp://sandiego.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=free%20couch&srchType=T