The year is more than halfway over, and when I look back on the past 7 months, it all seems like it happened yesterday. Now I'm done with work and I'm being constantly reminded by my mom to pack for Maryland (mother always knows best) which is in T-minus 5 days. HEL-LO! Talk about a rude awakening. If only summer had a snooze button so you could make it last longer! So what have I been up to this past month and a half besides NOT taking my thoughts to the inter-webs? I never thought you'd ask.
Work, for starters, was awesome. The song from the "Lego Movie" (yes, the really annoying but VERY catchy one) is a base-level introduction into a typical day for me, or just a commentary on my child-like perspective of the world. I can't even begin to scratch the surface on some of the cool projects I got to see and work on. Being on-site almost every day made for an active and memorable summer. I got to climb up roof hatches for roof inspections; scratch my head at water leakage under sidewalk vaults; conduct a critical facade exam from the house rig of a 64-story tall skyscraper; watch water testing on a new construction project in Iowa; and walk through one of Chicago's oldest skyscrapers currently being renovated into a boutique hotel. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I've definitely gained a new perspective on a more technical side of the architectural profession. I haven't gotten far enough in a design project to talk about water-proofing details or how my roof will drain, yet it's these details that are SO important! After all, it's Mies who said, "God is in the details." Anyone can come up with a design for a building - just ask any kindergartner to draw their dream house - but not everyone can design a building to last. It's amazing to see how some of Chicago's oldest buildings have survived as long as they have, and architects didn't have the tools like we have today! If we're going to be more "responsible" architects in the future, we have to start designing them to last and become better stewards of our existing building stock.
When I wasn't at work, you could usually find me at a music festival, or some other music-oriented event. This was my first year at Pitchfork in Chicago's Union Park and my first FULL time at Lollapalooza in Grant Park. Speaking of firsts, this was the first time I've been caught in the rain during a festival. I've been long overdue; I've only gotten by with pure luck thus far. So instead of evacuating the park at Pitchfork, my friends and I hid in a Porta Potty. Hey - no judgement: we were some of the driest people there after the rain stopped! As my brother told me, you may not remember the acts you saw twenty years from now, but you'll always remember the moments with the people you were with...like that one time in the Porta Potty, and dancing to Florence and the Machine during a lightning storm.
But now it's August, and the Sunday ads are telling me summer is over and it's time to get my rear back to the land of higher education. For me, that means new year, new state, new school, and, more importantly, new apartment with 0 furniture! Oh, yea, so that's the other thing I've been up to lately - furniture shopping. I wish I could say it's been fun, but it's really just a pain in the ass that drains your energy and your patience. The 12 hour drive to College Park will be the real test. So if I can survive the drive, it should be smooth sailing from there...at least in theory.