A disembodied Response

This entry is in response to a post and comments on the blog of Katie Ferguson. If it doesn't make any sense but you really want it to, you can read up at Katie's: http://marriage.analogcafe.net/katie_main.html

I'm going to open my mouth on three subjects I've thought about on this issue:

First of all: Science and religion cannot be mutually exclusive, because science is founded on philosophy. In other words, science is founded on a belief that the observations of our eyes and the process of thinking are more or less accurate and can discern fact. Thus, any true scientist begins with the belief that humans are intelligent creatures that have the ability to discover truth. Not all religions agree with this. So science falls under one type of philosophy and religion.

Second of all: Genesis says we have been made in God’s image, true, but so does James 3:9—“ With it we bless {our} Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.” Even if one does not take the Bible quite literally, the gist is that mankind is different than animals. To only believe in some things the Bible says puts the reader above the message. Who are we to pick and choose, when the Bible clears claims of itself that it is God-breathed? It seems that we have to take all of it, or none of it.

Third of all: there is much scientific evidence against evolution. Scientists tend to keep this information on the downlow for several reasons. One being that evolution agrees with their belief system (philosophy, religion) and they are reluctant to challenge it. Another being that is not PR to question evolution in many circles these days.

Briefly, scientists have tried to recreate macro-evolution (change between species) on creatures (flies for example) with very short lives, and found that once they have mutated to a point they simply were unable to exist.

We have no proof of any animal changing species. Only conjectures with ancient bones.

Carbon-dating is often cited to determine the age of fossils. However, research shows that the ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the atmosphere has not stabilized yet. This ratio is the foundation of carbon-dating. It was calculated to stabilize when the earth was 30,000 years old, and scientists assumed that the earth was millions of years old. However, this find presumably dates the earth as younger than 30,000.

Another thing cited to date the earth as billions of years old is layers of soil, but when Mt. St. Helens exploded, we found out that this appearance can be produced very quickly!

Not to mention that the probability of macro-evolution is ridiculously low. I don’t remember the numbers, but they are far below what staticians state as “impossible”. This is because there are pieces in a cell which are mutually independent. So a single cell could not have formed gradually, but only all at once.

And scientists say life originated at the bottom of the sea, which is exactly where the force of water would pull it all apart… they say a cell could only come together without oxygen present, but oxygen is in the basic chemical composition of water…

The only way someone could believe in evolution in the face of the evidence is a faith as strong as any mystic’s.

Anyway:) This is one of my old favorite topics. The evidence I have read and heard, scientifically, strongly points to Creationism. No, I’m not a science major, but I am informed. And my roommate Raeleen is an Anthropology minor; she hasn’t heard anything convincing about Evolution yet either.

Live from the Studio...

Ben began a wedding website for us-- we only have the format, though, no content. The link, which was posted here yesterday, has been withheld for reason of surprising ya'll with the fantastic results when it is done.

*geeee!* I've been getting cards back from architecture firms, and two of them want an interview! Somewhere out there, beneath the "la-la" sky, someone's going to hire me and give me a job (but not tonight)! Although out of the two firms who responded favorably, I favor the one in Edmonds over the one in Gig Harbor. :)

Praise God! This is a relief. I'll admit that I was worried. But my resume is a fair measure of my abilities, and they've already seen that. So I conclude that I have a chance, and no nasty surprises for my interviewers. :)

Other than that, school. Wedding planning and much of social life is on hold now until the end of the quarter. Though I didn't have that much of a social life earlier this quarter, or last quarter, come to think of it. Oh well. People love me anyway. And I graduate next quarter!

'Tis the season

when all good little architecture students get to frolic for untold hours in the studio! For the last month of school we are like the Christmas elves, tinkering away at our models. Legend has it that Julie Pravitz has never pulled an all-nighter but if this is true she certainly makes up for it by spending all respectable hours here. On the final day of studio season we are visited by the wise men, otherwise known as the jurors. They then weigh us in their mysterious scales of good and evil and then all the little architecture students, good or evil, are gifted with sleep.

Actually, it's kinda like one of those South-American holidays where everyone parties all night for a whole week. Except longer, and there's no alcohol.

Happy finals everyone, and here's wishing you were here:)

Lent

I gave up Spider Solitare. Just a lame Windows game, but it is a huge distraction during photoshopping, AutoCADing and other work-type activities. At the moment, I've turned to writing a blog entry as a break from rendering instead of that stupid, addictive game. Stay away from it at all costs!

The only other time I did Lent was a couple of years ago when I gave up coffee. I didn't learn what I thought I was supposed to learn. Or, I thought that I should learn something about self-control, or somehow fill the hole that coffee left with prayer, or satiate my longings with prayer, or anything along those lines. Instead, I spent less money (yay!) and learned that a longing denied is only temporary.

Okay, that probably didn't make any sense:) You know when you're sitting in class, hungry, you tell yourself, "Okay, I'm going to eat lunch in an hour. Hush, my rumbling innards," and even though you still feel hungry you're somewhat peaceable about the incident?
By fasting from coffee, I saw that making yourself wait is the same action whether you make yourself wait an hour or a week. Or 40 days. It was the promise of coffee in the future that gave me hope. But being a human, I found that promises for the far off future are less satisfying than in the now. So it was hard.
And that explains A LOT about how the "weigh of glory" that far outweighs our trials is so difficult to find hope in! It is a promise that will be fulfilled, but in the indefinite future.
I learned that I should find the same hope in the promises of God as if they would all be fulfilled in an hour. Because longings and promises denied are only temporary, and making yourself wait is the same action.

I hope that made sense...:)

So anyway, it should be interesting to see what I learn this time. It was also be cool to go to some Lenten-type activites at a more traditional church. Any suggestions? My church celebrates Good Friday, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, but I know some churchs do a lot more. I love tradition!!

In other news, I applied for a job as a part-time Image Arcivist at an architecture firm in Seattle, and I just got an email back saying that they will tell me if I have an interview in about a week. Yay! I really need a job.

Studio conversation: Yesterday we talked about the Donner expedition, and eating your own leg to survive. It was interesting. I really really like my studio because everyone talks to each other, and we're all more or less friends. Such a huge improvement over last year.

Oh, and Ben took me out last night for dinner, then I took him out for dessert. It was overall a good time where we didn't have to rush around and plan wedding stuff. And he gave me a "I love my geek" shirt. How cool is that!

Key--uuuuuuuuuute

Okay, I'm not normally one to goggle over cuteness, but this image just made me happy

An two-week old entry about jobs

When applying for jobs, everything is so... calculating.

I never realized, until a recent conversation with my dad, that the question: "What is your worst fault?" in the context of an interview doesn't mean "What is your worst fault?" but actually "How well can you indirectly brag?" Man, I felt naive!

So we decided my worst fault is that I haven't had much experience doing teamwork in school but that I'm really excited to learn and I enjoy being around people. Not bad for a worst fault, heh?

Also, another sneaky one for architecture jobs: the portfolio isn't just pictures of your work-- it's a design problem in itself. According to one of my professors, the layout of the portfolio is 30% of its quality-- almost as important as the work it shows! So now I'm nervously putting in that 30% and trying to be super judgemental of my own work.

I attached my super-cool resume. After much deliberation I decided to include my gpa-- my dad says that he assumes that anyone who doesn't include theirs is trying to hide something. My dad has checked the content for impressiveness, Raeleen checked the layout for clarity and style, and Ben covered everything in between.

Update: this weekend I’m mailing out my resume with a one-page portfolio to various architecture firms in Seattle! I’m also including a card with my address printed on one side that allow businesses to request an interview with me by just mailing them back. How exciting!

I'll let you know how it goes...

Concrete

So, I usually don't like the cold, monolithic feel, but hats off to this one:

http://www.andotadao.org/hmuseum2.htm

This guy's coming to Issaquah to speak in a couple of weeks. Should I go?

BTW, I completed the NY times crossword puzzle today. Witha liddle help.

In response to a request I sent out for snail mail addresses, my inbox was flooded with responses. I had forgotten that I had so many long lost friends... wow.

Today was for the most part a good day-- I got a lot done that I felt good about. I bought a hard hat for my field trip to a few construction sites on Orcas Island, for one thing! A red hard hat:) Raeleen says that I should put bows on it.

But please pray for me, because I'm feeling the strain. Sometimes I think I'm imagining it, because everyone around me is stressed out and busy too. It's kinda hard to get sympathy, so I stopped trying a time ago. Many people, in fact, seem to expect much more of me, even though I'm always on a schedule, always start the day with a juicy list of Things to Do.

One of the emails I got was validating-- "I don't know how you are finishing your education and planning a wedding. This is a testimony to the quality person you are!" I started crying, because it is not often that the mundane, wearying trial of extreme business is recognized, and not very often that anyone tells me I'm doing all that great at dealing with it. It's usually more along the lines of "I know you're busy..." sometimes apologetically, and many times in the context of "I know you're too busy to spend time with me." Seriously, if I had my druthers I would spend quality time with a friend everyday.

Well, I feel better having written about this. I guess the moral of the story is: Encourage people by complimenting them on how they deal with the difficult points of life. This is a good lesson for me, one I will try to put into practice tomorrow.

In the meantime, cheers to all you busy people out there! Keep up the good work, knowing that you work for the Lord and not for men. *almost wrote "not for me." hehe* You do have a real trial, one that is stretching and shaping you into a better person.

And good job for every day you make it through:)

Sprawl

BTW, in Houston there is 30 parking spots per city resident! So much pavement...

If you hear about any Seattle internships in architecture,

be a pal and give me the tip! I'm all prepared to be professional and dynamically creative and 12 notches above mediocrity and all that.

Small world thing: eMi sent me a list of Washington state architects who have been involved with them. One was "Matthew ____" *privacy protected;)*. He apparently works for a really specially cool Seattle firm called "Environmental Works," which I now think would be an ideal place to work. But anyway, I googled his name too, and found out that he won an AIA award working with Jaime Fleming *privacy not protected*.

New paragraph! Jaime Fleming also happens to be my instructor! Not just for this quarter's 3-d Rendering class, but last quarter's studio and Spring 2004's Computers in Architecture. Soooooo good! Not only do I want this job, but Jaime and eMi can both recommend me! :) So please pray that this comes through-- I would love that!

In other news, planning the most spectacular wedding of the summer is going quite well. We're succeeding in making things slightly different than what I've seen before. This Saturday I will spend figuring out bridesmaid's dresses; visiting the northernmost well-priced David's Bridal in Alderwood Mall, an exclusive place on Queen Anne which name I forget, and an envitably exotic place in Kirkland. I just bought Ben's ring for him. I'm amazingly fortunate to have a fiance with moderately-priced tastes. Add that to the fact that I had a $50 off coupon on sale day, and I only spent $60! The ring was made out of titanium-- the same ring in tungsten would have been easily 5 times as much, and even more in platinum.

I'm oddly feeling good-- and in the process of pulling the first all-nighter of the quarter. After running in so many directions over the past few weeks, it is refreshing to single-mindedly pursue a goal. Well, maybe not so single-mindedly, as I'm currently blogging;) The project I'm working on right now is interesting too, which is more than I can say for some of the super-artsy modernist things I've worked on. This time, traditional fascades are involved! Brick and cornices and all kinds of goodies; like my instructor said, "the stuff that attracted us to architecture in the first place." :)

Later Gator: and check out 1 Peter chapter 2. It says that we can stand up to all kinds of pressure if we are "conscious of God." Truth is so good! God is good!