A Cubicle, Timesheets, and Hierarchy

I'm experiencing half a day of office life before I leave! (you didn't think I'd blog again before I left, did you? well, think again!)
But I think I'm leaving in a minute. So I'll just tell you that I'm in a whole new world thus far, and I haven't even left the country yet! At least I've figured out how to use this computer (mostly). I felt kinda sick last night, but I think I was just nervous. During staff prayer time people prayed for me, and now I feel a lot better!
For now, the other intern on my team, Ivan, is driving Michelle and I around. They're both not what I expected from their names-- I was thinking blonde sorority type for Michelle, but she's a cute hawaiian asian girl, and Ivan's not Russianesque-- he looks more like the tan farmer's boy image (though I'm pretty sure he doesn't live on a farm). Michelle's desk is right by mine, which is pretty cool, and she's flying down with Ivan, Adam, Ho-Jun, (other interns), me, and the other team leaders. I think one of them's named Gary.
I've got my own desk! And it's big. And I have my own area, and a desk drawer full of rubber bands! I'm ready for some target practice! The other interns won't know what hit them!
Just kidding.
Colorado Springs is way spread out. It's pretty big, but I think that's because of all the urban sprawl. Right now, I'm being blamed for the clouds. Seriously! Everyone's like: You brought the Seattle weather with you!
I had quite an emotional moment before I left. Walking away from my mom, grandma, and Ben, I started tearing up, and just managed to make it through security checks before I went to the bathroom and cried. It's hard to think of home right now, so I'm trying to concentrate on the moment. That was difficult on the plane, but it's becoming easier now that I'm having all this information and new people come my way. Not to mention office protocol...
I like my "house". It's a pretty big condo, and I have my own bathroom. The intern before me left a lamp and some leftover food. Jeni seems like lots of fun-- she's a got a great laugh. I haven't had a chance to spend much time with her (being as I was ill last night) but I'm looking forward to hanging out with her tonight. She's got a dress-up Elvis magnet on her fridge, so she must be cool, right?
Well, I'm going to check my email before John L. (my team leader) drives me home. Praise the God who leads us on paths we would not suspect to shape us to who he wants us to be-- who blesses us richly with his peace. To the Lord of our strength and salvation-- Amen!

Hello, hello, hello!

I haven't been on a computer in four days! Imagine that! From last Tuesday until this coming Wednesday, I will have:
*Moved completely out of my sorority and architecture studio to my parent's house
*Be packed/readied for Honduras and Colorado-- the rest of the summer!
*Opened a checking account (and got a free stuffed pony in return)
*Searched for, found, and signed a lease for next year's apartment
*Day trip to Whidbey island with Ben (making crazy memories to last the summer)
*Partied at a barbeque with my church friends
*Had quality time with my family AND grandparents AND Aunt Lynette and Uncle Dannie from Des Moines
*Scattered friend time including with Raeleen and Andy (Raeleen's boyfriend) whom I've decided will be my friend because he'll be over at our apartment all the time next year

And more! Whew. And I thought being out of school made life easier. Well, at least I've been able to sleep in. I also need to spend some quality time with God, come to think of it, especially because he'll be my only friend in Colorado at first.
So I apologize if my posts are sporadic for a bit. I'll promise to post once more before I leave, and then there will be no word from me for more than a week. But after that, I'll have a lot to say! I have no idea what I'm getting myself into right now!!

By the way, the apartment Rae and I found is so cool. The ironic thing is that it's next door to where she's living now. The best thing is that it's quite big, and not at the sacrifice of cleanliness, location, age, quality management, or even price!

I'm stealing Ben's camera this summer, so hopefully you'll see some pictures (if I can get it to work on the old clunky laptop I'm bringing with me). For now, God bless.

An era of Heavy Smoking and Neckties

Some of the guys next door bought a new rug and lamp, then posed for some pictures. A few are quite amusingly artistic-- check it out.

Stuck with the Sailors

Now last night, I'm trying to finish up my project. Hanging in the studio, drawing lines, you know. Between 11pm-4am, more or less, I won't walk the streets. That usually doesn't bother me because if I'm up at the architecture building I'll be there quite late. However, last night was different.

Maybe around 1am someone put on a cd of Jaime something-or-other. Basically a comedian with an attitude, a foul mouth and a nasty mind. Looking around, I realized that the studio was full of boys. I guess none of the other girls are procrastinators. And they all thought this comedian was hilarious, while I thought that some things were slightly funny but more often he was just disturbing. After Jaime came Eddie Murphy. Now, I have no problem with Eddie Murphy in the context of Shrek or Dr. Doolittle. But this was one of those tracks my mother had warned me about. I couldn't drown it out with my headphones, being too near the stereo.

But the worst part was afterwards, when all the guys kept repeating the lines from the comedy bits. It was suddenly like junior high again, when the more f-bombs you dropped the cooler you were. I was heard way too much information on their opinions of girls and sex. Anyway, ich. I lost respect for a lot of the guys in my studio, and booked it out of there as soon as possible at 4:01am. In retrospect the streets were pretty creepy that early, but I didn't care.

Tomorrow is my last day! One more critique and I'm done with my junior year of college. Hopefully tomorrow will leave better, fresher memories of my fellow architecture students.

The Protestant Inquisition

Exert from a bit o' comedy we were listening to last night in studio:

*in a British accent*

"Cake or DEATH?"
"Um, cake please."
"Oh, right then. Here you are."

"Cake or DEATH?"
"Cake for me too."
"Yes, yes, here it is."

"Cake or DEATH?"
"Death... wait! I meant cake."
"Well, you said death."
"I really meant cake."
"Oh, all right then!"

"Cake or DEATH?"
"Cake."
"Oh, well, we're fresh out of cake. Didn't know there would be such a rush."
"What's left then? Or DEATH?"

Hehe... it reminded me of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition skit.

Next time I have a birthday party, I know what I'm going to say as I pass out the cake...

skool stuff

I'm currently laboring day and night on my 14 drawings, 5 photos, 1 model and speech for our studio critiques on Monday. Today is model day, so I'm all scrubbed-out in order to get grease and metal dust all over myself again (I promise there will be pictures this time...)
My entire presentation--drawings and photos--will cover 56 square feet! Sorry-- I don't know if photos can do that justice!

Meanwhile, I'm learning to chill with the studio folk. Jive with the banter, give advice, walk around and look at what other people are working on. In fact, I think I might miss them this summer. Some of the quieter people who I didn't notice before are real treasures.

I haven't seen Ben since Sunday, but we're hanging out tonight. Most of the time I think it's hardcore to live 45 minutes away from my boyfriend. Then I talk to Kham, who's desk is behind mine, and she says that her boyfriend's in the military and she hasn't seen him in months. And then I don't feel as bad:)

Lines

Last night a ceiling tile fell on Juli's head during our computer presentations. Fortunately it was only plastic, so "floated" would probably be a more appropriate word than "fell".

In our renderings we had stuck random people. Kellen had George Bush and a Renaissance version of Jesus, with white robe, red sash, and halo. The instructor thought this was rather creative (I liked the sumo wrestlers in Brian's myself), and was analyzing their size in relation to the rest of the photo. "So, Jesus is in front, and George Bush is a little behind him." To which Kellen quickly responded, "Yeah, Bush is following Jesus."

But the best quote came from the same instructor: "I want to lick your model"

When I got back to UCU I struck up a conversation with both Heather and Becky online. They're roommates. I told them to ask each other to wear blue tomorrow (at the same time). But instead of asking each other, Becky began describing her methodology of dressing (take whatever's at the top of the pile and put it on) and Heather discussed her belief system. She doesn't subscribe to a belief in coldness, and she thinks that "science" is okay for some people, but not for her. She only acknowledges gravity when necessary.
I love the UCU gals:)

A bit of reflection

Last night I walked home past midnight. It took that long for my group project in the computer lab to get done (speaking of which, I'm now done with 2 out of 3 classes. wa-hoo! The last will take a week more...).
The streets were fairly still. I think that everyone was tired out from the long weekend, and went to bed early. Except for my roommate Hannah who stayed up 'til 6:30am talking to boys, but that's beside the point:0) Walking along, I reflected on how dark the sky was at midnight.
But oddly enough, I could see my whole body. I could see well enough to read! The streetlamps made walking home safe for me. They were so bright that they blotted out the stars completely.
Continuing odd thing: something so tiny and insignificant can blot out a gigantic, burning star-- bigger than we could imagine, and brighter than we could possibly stand. But yet, this small atmospheric light we create makes them disapper.
Yes, this is an not only a scientific observation, but an analogy! The Bible says that all the things we value are rubbish when held up to the incomparable glory of God. I think sometimes this may be a matter of proximity. When we're looking at this rubbish, doesn't it distract us from the incomparably greater, brighter and better glory of God-- like a sun to our bulbs? It seems so odd that if God is much greater than anything we know we could ever turn our attention from him. But we're stuck in the atmosphere of our world, which distorts our perspective and masquerades the night as day.
Chew, chew, chew...