I know that in some cases when most blogs go inactive the authors are out leading incredibly exciting lives and are just too busy to write. Or sometimes the authors are going through a major change of life: moving, getting married, having kids, etc. Maybe the authors have been horribly injured and are stuck in a coma and can’t open their eyes let alone compose a post and source images. None of these things happened. Here’s what happened: I ran out of things to say. It wasn’t that i said everything i had to say, not in the least, its just that I got to a point where i felt that every post needed to be a well crafter article with references and deep thoughts. I forgot that the soul of blogging is that its a conversation, I write and you respond. So I moved to twitter for a bit and posted on there my random thoughts, but eventually that became too much to keep up with. I felt that if i wasn’t actively engaged all of the time I was just a broadcaster and not a part of the conversation, so I stopped using that too, and then both [...]
Over the next few weeks I’m going to be posting some posts that have been sitting in my drafts folder for way too long. After that I hope to bring this blog active again.
Today I turned another year older, and I think a little retrospective is in order. In the course of a year its sometimes hard to see the little things and I sometimes have a habit of overlooking all that I’ve accomplished. After sitting down with my employer yesterday for a yearly review I decided that maybe I should do the same for my life outside of my day job, so as a little experiment I figured I would list all of my quantifiable achievements and deficiencies over the past year. I: spent 7 months unemployed spent 5 months employed by NCARB sat for 7 sections of the ARE waited over 2 months for my last ARE result to arrive passed 7 sections of the ARE was licensed as an Architect in 2 jurisdictions (Virginia and Washington, DC) started my own architecture firm, studioSML, LLC wrote 40 posts to this blog had a gap of almost 5 months between posts wrote 2 posts for Greater Greater Washington wrote 15 posts for DC Metrocentric visited 3 homes by Frank Lloyd Wright wrote 0 articles about those homes (which I plan on remedying as soon as possible)
So, in addition to putting together our first permit set this week and having our first paint color consultation with a client, I have been feeling really sick. This is why I haven’t updated the last two days. I’ve been exhausted and had no appetite (yay! Weight loss!) and been having a series of fevers that give me a much better understanding of what women go through during menopause. At first I thought this was all allergy related, but after my first visit to an allergist yesterday (I’m allergic to dust mites, cats and all plant life here in northern Virginia) she seemed to think that it was something better suited to an internist to look into. So I’ve spent the morning being poked, stuck and x-rayed so they can try to figure out what is wrong with me. I can’t help but think that a week ago I found out that I am an Architect, which at the time seemed like such a weighty matter and that it changed the course of my life. While now it seems like a small bump in the road compared to my physical well being. I just have to hope that they find [...]
There will be no update today, I am busy working on a deadline.
There will be no post today. I am observing Yom Kippur in my own way; fasting and contemplating my year past and the one to come. I am going to focus on what about myself I need to work on and how I can be both a better person and a better me.
Tonight I saw Julie and Julia, which after my bout of malaise this week was the perfect impetus I needed. I heartily identified with the character of Jules, I too am in my late 20′s and also feel like I never finish anything I start. Unlike the main character of this movie, I am not blogging to a deadline or a goal, so instead for me to be successful in jumpstarting this blog, and the two columns I should be writing weekly, I need to set a new series of deadlines and commitments. Starting Monday I will be posting something 5 days a week and these posts need to be up before noon. This should accomplish two things. One, it will get me up earlier, because I will need time to find something to post about and also be able to write coherently about it will require me to have a few hours of waking time before I post it. Second, this will also get me in a regular routine, which should combat the malaise I’ve been fighting. I am hopeful that getting myself into a real schedule again will be beneficial for not only this blog and my business, [...]
Lately I’ve discovered that the greatest enemy of the unemployed architect is not a bad economy, but malaise. Over the past 6 months I’ve managed to pull together some work to get my new firm off the ground, but not enough to make a profit yet (what with the cost of startup expenses). I would love to say that these jobs have come my way through genius marketing and relentless pursuit of new clients, but it has been more a combination of networking and chance. But hey, I’ll take work any way I can get it right now. Couple this stream of work that doesn’t feed me with my ineffable ability to bite off more than i can chew (I am now officially writing for two different blogs, also unpaid) and you can start to understand why I see the ugly specter of malaise around every corner. It is not that I am lazy, jut not motivated. When faced with the option of overcoming inertia and starting work on a project or giving into Newton’s first law of motion I am more likely to choose the latter out of sheer lack of motivation. Obviously, I need to find a way [...]
I just realized the other day that it has almost been 2 months since I last updated this blog. Who would have thought that I would be able to keep a normal writing schedule while I was working 50 hour weeks, but once I became unemployed I would struggle to write something ever few weeks, let alone months? So what have I been up to? Well, I have been writing an architecture criticism column for DC Metrocentric (check out the ArchiCritic category) and while at first it was every week that seemed to be nigh impossible to keep up. Now I have settled into a new post every other week, which is totally doable. I just wish that I didn’t wait until the last minute every time to write my article. The next big piece of news is that tomorrow is my last ARE exam, at least of this go-around. So far I have taken 6 exams and passed three. I am waiting on my scores for the rest. Tomorrow is Schematic Design. If the exam is anything like the practice problems I should be OK. Hopefully, with this one down, that means all I have to do is wait [...]
I’ve been harboring a secret for the past few weeks and been dying to post about it but had to wait until it went live. I am now a weekly feature writer for the DC architecture and property blogDC Metrocentric. Its one of the reasons O haven’t posted on here very much, that and just plain laziness. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to develop a writing identity for that site. I will be analyzing and criticizing local architecture within the beltway. If anyone has any suggestions I would welcome the input. You can find my first post,