Charette- UK style

2/21/10

I am trying to backlog and remember what we did today- not going to lie it’s a bit fuzzy. It was a work-day, that I know. I went on a run in the middle of the day and was then forced to play soccer later- apparently no one can play without me. We went to dinner at a place in town- I got a beef and onion pie. Let me tell you, the Brits know how to make a meat pie- it was very good. I ordered an Irish coffee for the first time after dinner- not a huge fan. But at least I can say I tried.

2/22/10

I, shockingly, have decided to abandon my morning runs for a little bit. Today I went on a run sort of as a ‘break’ in the middle of the day- excellent idea. It helps to break up doing studio work. Not that I don’t love being here, but during the week the days can get a little monotonous so it helps to have something to do so I don’t just end up eating or going on the internet out of boredom.

We all went to see our cheap 4pound movie tonight. I saw Up In the Air- such a downer in the end. I still can’t get over Alex- what a bitch!! Dave and Emma saw Invictus- kind of jealous, it sounded great. Maybe it was the movie- or the act of going to the movies- but I was wired up tonight, and I went to bed at 1 mainly because that was when Jenny went to bed. Who would have thought I would be the last one up.

2/23/10

I woke up at 7:30 this morning…on my own. I think I’m sleeping too much- is that possible? Tech in the morning is not so great. It is a great way to break up the day though I have to admit. Eat breakfast- work on some studio- do tech for 2 hours- eat lunch- play soccer. Soccer was fun today- we played three games of 3v3. It is hard to get even teams with only three people- almost every game was a blow-out. After we just worked for the rest of the night. I was extremely tired though end ended up going to bed around 11 and reading- I’m really enjoying Middlesex- I’m hooked!

2/24/10

It has become a production to come and use the internet. I need to walk through the dining room, kitchen, up the stairs, through the boys’ room and into the apartment just to get a connection. It is really helping my goal of becoming less dependent on technology. Before I literally always had access to the internet- and a phone for that matter. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I go back to the states and I have all this technology again!!

Today after lunch we went into Richmond- I had to plan out the rest of my meals so I wouldn’t have any food left over (or not enough). The drive over there was really freaky though because of the fog. You literally couldn’t see 10 feet in front f you- it looked like we were driving through a blizzard.

It is really weird to think that we have a review in 4 days (and are supposed to be done by noon the day before!). I am not really stressed at all- it is going to be a really low key review since the only guest crit is Nick M. Normally I wouldn’t be sleeping much, I would be completely stressed out- but jut yesterday we were all drinking G&T’s in the kitchen calm as ever. I also had a really great talk with DuPuy today about the structure of my building. Before I had always thought of it as ‘how is my building going to stand up’, but he had a completely different perspective. The way you’re building is structured is literally how it is going to look, the aesthetic of it. I wish I had been given this perspective a long time ago, maybe I would have liked tech a little bit more…

I love this semester- today DuPuy called it studio rehab, and I totally agree. The only down side is that since we are, technically, in a charette we have postponed movies until Sunday night…such a hard life we live.