I feel creatively drained. Not to say that I was ever the “creative type”, but when you are a design major, creative is how you want to feel – all the time – which is near impossible. Is this urge to be creative replaced by the urge for innovation in other professions? It this feeling just an offspring of the basic human need to feel like an individual? I had an appointment with the doctor today, and she asked me “So are all the architecture majors really artistic?” And I told her that there is a variety – some of us are very pragmatic and some of us are very artistic, and there are a great chunk of people that fall into the middle ground. She then asked me “Are you more pragmatic then?” I told her I fall somewhere in between but sometimes feel like I should have been a graphic designer. Ha ha! Now there is a major you can’t survive in without a creative edge!
It is all very true though – some of the students here are too artistic for their own good. They create building designs that are based on aesthetic principles alone. And there are those that are entirely pragmatic – following the codes for every design and simply creating a large box to hold the building’s program. If you observe the students closely, I think you can get a hint of where they are heading with their career. It is obvious that some people will never become a licensed architect because that is not how they want to use their education/or they don’t have the motivation. And it is also obvious that some of the students have the potential to become a “celebrity” architect. And for me? I want to become licensed so I can begin making decision contributions in the firms I will work at after I graduate. But I can definitely imagine that my architectural career will head down paths that are unpredictable, simply because that is the way of the profession. Architectural design changes as society changes.
The point of all this rambling is to say that I have felt so drained lately – creatively, physically, emotionally, you name it. I know that lack of sleep is definitely an influencing factor, but for some reason, I continue to ignore my body’s wishes to rest. There is so much I want to do everyday, and sleeping just gets in my way. So I end up staying up very late every night working on all the things I want to work on. This worked for awhile, but now I am beginning to see the effects it is having on my body – my eyes feel sore, my feet hurt, I feel more emotional than I probably should. What am I supposed to do? Quit work? Quit class? Quit editing this web site (this would probably have the least amount of consequences)? I am sure I will figure it out…
Tomorrow is my nephew’s one-year birthday. It feels so weird to be an aunt. It is a good sort of weird feeling that really puts your life into perspective and makes you think about the future. When I am 40, he will be 20! I am too young to be thinking about being 40! Anyway, I love my nephew to pieces. He is such an adorable baby (you know how some babies aren’t…)! I have been really excited working on this scrapbooking project for him (see Portfolio page). Of course, being creatively drained, I did not finish it in time for his birthday. I did buy him a wonderfully humorous card though, that doesn’t really make any sense, but gives me a chance to tease my brother and his girlfriend!
