Well, it's been a rough couple of weeks-- my blood tests came out okay- on the positive side. But I've been totally exhausted and just trying to get through school. My health was just getting better when I started the migranes. Yup. Oh, and on Friday my apartment was broken into and my computer was stolen and I forgot daylight savings! Anyhow, I figure things must get better now.
But I did remember to buy money for the trick-or-treaters! And God is good. :) Please pray for me.

"I've got a disease..."

Thank you, Matchbox 20! For expressing exactly how I feel...
Well, there are things wrong with me, and I'm tired of diagnosing myself, darn it! Thus I visit the nice doctor this afternoon, who'll probably draw some blood but it will be worth it. Updates later...

My influences...

Dre Wapenaar, a sculptor is pretty darn cool. I think his work will inspire some of mine this quarter. But my profs also recommended that I look at Christo, who does things like this, this, and this.
Do you think I should let these works touch me?

Rewards of Faith

"Abel had faith. What was the result? He died.

But, Enoch had faith. What happened? He lived.

Noah also had faith. And... everyone else died."

--quote from today's sermon, Rev. J. Turner

hehe. But so true, isn't it? As Heb. 11 shows, the results of faith in this life are so varied, but in the long run the true rewards are the same-- we none of us see the fruit of what faith we have in this life.

My building is like a soap bubble

When I grow up I want to live in a yurt.

Do you think Ben would like that?


Oh, and by the way... here's a hand-rendering (by me) of the orphanage we designed in Honduras!

Well, I wrote an entry last Saturday that got eaten by the "internal error" monster. Ben tells me that blogger still has the information, but it hasn't come back to me yet. So I'm giving up hope. It's too bad, cuz it was a fairly lengthy entry.

My studio is half grad students. Have I mentioned that? They certainly can talk the talk, but I've been able to keep up on quality of projects so far. Hopefully the first time my inexperience blazes forth they'll like me enough that they won't mind:)
I'm also doing fine in AutoCAD, and even helped my friend Ida during class. I found out yesterday that she was a forklift-driver for five years!
In theory I had a fairly technical debate with the professor. Since he's half-deaf, this was interesting. I asked him: "How did Platonists deal with things without essence? For example, if a house is not an ideal house, what is it classified as?" (at this point the Australian guy next to me told me I should read The Republic) But just like so many, it turns out that Platonists ignored anything that did not fit their worldview.
I'm even doing okay in Illustration. This is partly because for my first project I'm tracing over a photo, but I'm still happy with a mild victory.

Praise God that I made it through the past couple of days! As we all know, little sleep, lots of homework, a headcold, and a few houseguests to spend the night are a dynamite combination. But thanks to Him I didn't collapse on my way to class and I was nice to quite a few people:)

Goodnight:)

I know it's late when...

it seems like a good idea to use words like "moreso" in a paper.

Please pray for me!

I've got a cold and my head is numb! However, I do have a sock filled with rice:)

Kangaroo!

Whew! I love throwing parties! At this one we ate kangaroo burgers (seriously--kangaroo is a nice, dark meat) played pin the tail on the kangaroo (resulting in an awesome wall poster) drank imported Australian beverages, learned Aussie slang balderdash style, and watched Steven Irwin. Nate and Joel also made rice pudding from rice-a-roni. Quite a feat, I think:)
Anyway I enjoy facilitating good times for others, so it was double the enjoyment for me! But now I'm tired, and I think I'll go to sleep early...

No, I'm not going to vote for Nader

but I am in a "sustainable architecture" studio this quarter. I had no idea about how much bad design corrupts the environment! For example:

"Also, what most people see in their garbage cans is just the tip of a material iceberg; the product itself contains on average only 5 percent of the raw materials involved in the process of making and delivering it."

Gah! According to the course reader, even the process of recycling is often wasteful and dangerous, due to the energy it takes and the chemicals that are released during the process. I'm caught between being horrified, confused, and slightly amused at what I've read:

"A two-inch carpet of foreign species of grass is placed over the rest of the lot. The average lawn in an interesting beast: people plant it, then douse it with artificial fertilizers and dangerous pesticides to make it grow and to keep it uniform--all so that they can hack and mow what they encouraged to grow. And woe to the small yellow flower that rears its head!"

hehe. And apparently I'm quite materialistic: The earthday website says that I use 18 acres of land to sustain my lifestyle-- and if everyone was like me we'd need 4.1 planets! I think that's partly because I said that I eat meat everyday. However, the average american uses 24 acres! So I'm definitely better than those around me;P I think that's because I don't drive very often and I live in an apartment.

Anyway, classes are going pretty well. I've been seeing familiar faces everywhere and I immediately liked my new professors, aside perhaps from my theory professor who succeeded in created a very awkward atmosphere in the classroom on the first day. The good news is that class looks relatively non-intense; my studio and illustration classes should definitely fill in the time I'll save. My auto-CAD class might pose a challenge if it weren't for the fact that I spent all summer using the program.