the color yellow … how i detest thee

Are there any colors you just absolutely despise? I, personally, hate the color yellow. Granted, I might occasionally make exceptions, but for the most part, I just don’t like it. I own one yellow item – a short-sleeved sweater – which was an impulse buy, but nice for spring (I’ve worn it once). Because it’s the summer, it’s bright yellow everywhere. But I think it’s annoying. When it’s boiling hot and humid, the last thing I want to see is yellow. I just want air-conditioning.

I used to hate orange as well, but since my college colors were burnt orange and white, the hue grew on me. I also hate red, but I might compromise with darker, richer, or earthier reds. Does that sound incredibly picky of me? Quite possibly. I guess that’s why I stick to a lot of neutrals. Yellow is too sunshine-y and it often comes across as ‘fake smile’ happiness. I sound like the Grinch of summer. Oh well. The color just annoys me.

internship sm-internship

I have never been one for real work. Working around 30 hours a week at an architecture firm (as a part-time position that was only supposed to be 20 hours a week, I might add) just about killed me. I worked there about four months before throwing in the towel. I used to think that I hated it because the pay was so crappy, but it’s more a question of value. Right now I have an internship that’s unpaid. But I like it. Getting paid would be nice, but I’m okay with this slave labor.

Sure, it could be that I like it because it’s only about 20 hours a week (and I don’t have school or other work commitments like I did while at the architecture firm) or it could be that it’s because everyone speaks English at my internship and I’m not such an outsider. It also could be that my current work actually seems useful and helpful whereas my work at the architecture firm seemed largely about getting the clients to pay us. But mostly I think it’s because at my internship, no one’s an architect. Yep, I gotta say that’s it.

There’s a reason why a lot of people (id est, architecture students) refer to ‘architecture’ as ‘architorture’. And scarily enough, it’s said with almost a sad fondness, because really … all architects are masochists to some degree. I guess that’s why it’s refreshing to go to work at the internship, rifle through boxes of old exhibition installation photos, take a trip to the archives, compile a list of publications, watch a YouTube clip of an interesting piece of performance art, and actually eat lunch in the break room instead of my desk. Almost doesn’t feel like work.

I like architects. Most of my friends are architects, studied architecture, or are in some way connected with architecture. And I can’t really fault architects for their neurotic quirks, obsession with details, egosim, or constant dissatisfaction … because I’m often guilty of the same. I’m still an architect at heart and still relate best to other architects, but that doesn’t necessarily make it easy to work with them. The art world, however, IS A LOT MORE CHILL. Sure they have their own brand of crazy, but (from what I can tell) it’s a lot less ulcer-prone.

[NOTE: This post originally appeared on a now-deleted blog and is reposted here for my own sake.]

withering away …

I’ve been in Texas for a month now, and it’s … fine. It’s not bad, just a bit annoying and different. Anyhow, I had dinner with an old friend from college, which was nice. And the internship is going well, which is nice. And, well … that’s about it. I feel like I’m just wasting away and biding time until I get to move back to New York. Everything’s just a bit uncertain this summer, and I don’t feel the same kind of pressure here, which means I don’t have much motivation to do anything. Not a good attitude. Sigh. Gotta fix that.

goodbye, empire state of mind

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been in Texas, and I gotta say that even though I love Texas, my mind is still in New York. The landscape just seems so wrong … so flat and spread out and boring. Time moves at half the pace, like everything happens in slow-motion. Basically, I feel like I’m kinda trapped since I can’t really go anywhere without a long drive and there’s no walkability or anything interesting close by. Well, there is stuff to do downtown, but good gracious that’s a lot of effort and time!

My internship has started and so far it’s going well, but I haven’t really had a chance to explore what kind of interestingness this city has to offer. Everything’s so spread out that I really need to research things before going out. If I just started wandering like I used to in New York, I would probably end up lost and dehydrated, so … yeah. There are no views like from the Empire State Building, but I’m open. By the end of the summer I probably will’ve adjusted to the pace down here, just in time to be re-amazed by the wonders of New York.