Discovering Perspective

The other day I overheard a conversation that went something like "Oh you want to see [some movie]! I really wanted to see it but didn't have anyone to go with."

This seems a common statement. Do people really need someone else to do something they want to do? I've never had a problem going to the movies, a play, a meeting, dinner, bathroom, etc. alone. If someone else happens to be going too, I might go with them, otherwise I'm perfectly able of escorting myself.

However, with this thought in mind, am I anti-social because of this. Am I missing out on the quality that makes people closer? In studio, I never ask if anyone wants to go for coffee when I'm going for one. I just go. Same for lunch. And,well I don't smoke but I doubt I would ask for company if I did.

A while back Mekki was trying to set up a girl's shopping date for me and Towfi. I had mentioned that I needed a new pair of jeans and towfi wanted to do something. I'm up for doing something. But, let me reveal a secret. I hate shopping with other girls. Drives me nuts. I often feel like I should be letting them talk me into things I don't want or don't want to spend that much money for. Planned shopping is never a good idea either. I prefer to keep a mental list of things I need/will need soon and keep my eyes open when I happen to be shopping. Many bad memories of shopping for clothes with my mom when I was young. Lots of tears and yelling.

Part of it is I hate spending money and having to spend more money because I have to accommodate the other person. If I ask someone to go for coffee with me, they might want to go to Tim Hortons instead of the student cafe where I get a discount for bringing my own mug. Most of it is I just don't think of it. Other people don't factor in to my thoughts much. Not in an inconsiderate way (I hope) just simply don't think to include others in my plans/spontaneous urges.

But it is liberating. I like that I can go to dinner alone or the movies or the lady's room and not have to hope there is someone else who happens to want to do it at the same time.

More pictures from the evening are on Ottawacrew.

I'm still not seeing the light at the end of this tunnel and I've been running down its length non-stop for three months now.

I need sleep.

A recent string on Tex's site discussing first year fights has had me thinking.

Mekki and I talk a lot about couples and their public appearance and wonder what their private connections are like. I'm quite aware that a lot of people are confused by Mekki's and my compatability. I assure you it's there but understand completely where the confusion comes from. I am very careful not to give too much weight to how people act in a very public situation partly for this reason.

On a related note... I'm not usually one to follow astrology but a while ago I came across a description of the Scorpio/Aries relationship. I also get quite the reaction from people big into astrology when I tell them that I am a scorpio involved with an aries. I'm actually quite convinced by the descriptions I've found.

"A very unstable combination."

"These two Signs tend to engage in heavy, heated arguments...this is not a boring relationship! Aries and Scorpio can have lots of adventures together. They may have trouble understanding one another -- Aries is a true extrovert, totally up-front and open, while Scorpio is more inward, emotional and, at times, manipulative. Sometimes a truce is necessary to keep things running smoothly! ...What's the best aspect of the Aries-Scorpio relationship? The power of their combined forces. They're both winners and they won't give up, making theirs a relationship that never settles for second best." from here

"Scorpio prefers deep commitment, deep conversation and deep thoughts."

We're both very demanding and obsessive and strong-willed/stubborn and both want someone who can fight back and contribute even more energy to the relationship.

Also, is plagiarism a North American academic taboo? Is not citing all your sources and obsessively footnoting and quoting and being able to distinguish the author's thoughts from the author's research absolutely crucial?

It's academic habit for most of us now but it maybe wasn't so natural or apparently necessary back in grade ten when I had to include footnotes for the first time in a French essay.

What should you do if you find out someone is plagiarising but quite possibly doesn't understand what plagiarism is? Adding to the complication of the question is that the people who discovered it did so through less than ethical means.

Generally speaking I do not care to involve myself in other people's grades but when everyone else is struggling for the marks in this course, this may be artificially raising the bar not to mention that this person needs to be told how serious an offence plagiarism is in a university before he gets caught on a more serious project than a weekly assignment.

Creating Space/Place for the Jewish Diaspora in Mandate Palestine

Here is the abstract for the paper I'm working on for seminar... comments or questions are welcome. I'll have to contribute a few definitions to wikipedia when I'm done but some of the terms/references are there if you need them.

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The aim of this study is to understand the roles architecture was expected to play in creating/expressing a national identity for a People of mixed nationality and the relevance of locating that identity within the context of a specific place. In the decades preceding the founding of the State of Israel (1948), the Zionist movement was searching to create a national identity for the Jewish Diaspora. Unlike most nationalist movements, the Jewish people had no personal memory or identification with the land but were tied to Eretz Yisrael as their ancestral homeland. Taking cues from the two dominant forms of Zionism (Herzl’s Political Zionism and Ha’am’s Cultural Zionsim) the architectural debate between the International Style, headed by Arieh Sharon, and Mendelsohn’s Localized Modernism centered on this issue of the placelessness of Jewish identity. Political Zionism saught to create a new space for the Jewish people while Cultural Zionism wished to rekindle an old place. By examining the goals, influences, values of both movements, the ‘meaningfulness’ of the modern architectural spaces created by Sharon and Mendelsohn is evaluated (respectively). This study therefore acts as case analysis of Christian Norberg-Schultz's theories on the relationship between space, place and the collective memory and identity. Within the alternative and often marginalized modern architecture proposed by Mendelsohn during this period exists the desire to create a sense of place which Bachelard and Frampton claim is necessarily absent in the modernist discourse and can be viewed as a precursor to Frampton's Critical Regionalism.

Today was the first snow of the season and the first time one of the first years in my drawing class ever saw snow. He was so excited.

It made me smile.

Looking onward to November from the comfort of October, there is still a whole month left of classes. Plenty of time to get through all the assignments and even maybe a bit of a breather after midterms before finals. Then comes the first of November, followed by the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. Meaning after that is the sixth, seventh, eighth. . . twenty-ninth, thirtieth.

November is a race against the clock and even though there is never anything specifically due tomorrow, there will be something due the next day.

I'm crazy. Why do I love torturing myself?

locker_cube
Originally uploaded by brunelleschi.

Never leave an entire year's lockers unattended. This was one of the better locker pranks. Second years were away for the weekend and have a lot of work to get those lockers back to studio. Not to mention all the lamps were inside and lit up.

collage
Originally uploaded by brunelleschi.

Trying to express the tunnelling into the ground of the metro and the ascension of the tower. Some interesting implied spaces.

Twenty three (I still think I'm 24 for some reason, probably because I hang out with old people:P )

Why do I always have studio reviews or midterms the day after my birthday preventing any form of proper celebration?

Oh well, Mekki and I still made time for a pleasant dinner at Forno Antico and there will be plenty of partying Saturday.