Update...

Hi everyone,

Well thanks to the kindness of family I have raised enough for my visa, my bus ticket, and a few days in the hotel. I'm not in the clear yet but I am most definitely on my way in the right direction.

Thank you Mom & Corey, Dad & Margie, and Chuck & Mary K.

This really can't get any worse...well, yes it can...

Hi everyone...

last night I tried to go home and they refused me at the border because my visa is expired. Short version of the story: my student loans didn't come in until a week before Christmas so there was a hold on my student records so I couldn't get my visa. I sent the paperwork off but it will take a month or two to get back. The Canadians must put all of their really mean people on the border because they were not nice to me last night and definitely won't let me back in the country. Now I am stranded in Niagara Falls, NY with a duffel bag full of clothes, $180 and my mac until I can get my paperwork in order... paperwork that all has to be done in Canada. I checked into a motel last night courtesy of mom and have last night and tonight paid for. I have to get proof of registration and attendance from Carleton, have to prove that I have a US residence (my taxes should work for that), have to prove that I have money above and beyond my TA job and student loans (that's tough but I have a plan) and... well, that should be it. I had a friend come over from Canada last night who was supposed to pick me up but ended up hanging out for a few hours and having to go instead. Mom gave me money before I left and my friend gave me about $90 so I have money to eat. Mom also filled a calling card with enough money to make phone calls. I have plenty of cold weather gear from Christmas (thank you Dad and Kim), I have my computer, and I have a good head on my shoulders. The motel will be $40 per night from tomorrow on and I expect to be here at least until Tuesday... more likely later. Tuesday will be the first day I can get ahold of Carleton to get records. I hope to have this sorted out by Wednesday. I think I can be called but I can't call out. I have to walk to a payphone to make calls. For now I think I'm okay... plenty of money to eat on and I'm working on getting another night or two of the motel paid for. Please keep your eye on my blog as I will update here... everything's okay for now. I'm just having a little adventure... that's all. If you're the praying type, pray away. If not, wish me luck... if you want to get ahold of me you can email or try to call at the motel.
I'm at Passport Inn in Niagara Falls, NY. I'm in room #110 and the number is (716) 285-2295. And if you know anyone in the Niagara Falls/Buffalo area who might be able to put me up for a night or two please let me know. I'll update here as soon as I know anything new.

glad to be here...

random christmas post

I found this on an old hard drive I had laying around. I remember I put it together for her Birthday a year or two ago. I don't think I ever gave it to her. I'm a good brother like that. My sister thinks I'm out to get her alot... she's usually wrong. I hope she gets that someday... I imagine she will eventually. Anyway, I'm really glad to get to be with her and my mom for christmas.

Ok... I don't really hate christmas

Ok, so after 3 days of being awake and uncomfortable I finally made it to San Diego. In fact, when they re-booked my flight, they gave me a first class ticket! So I sxtayed awake for 9 hours in Buffalo, 12 hours in Chicago and then slept like a baby in first class most of the way to SD. Kim made it here alright and we're all glad to be together. There's going to be a ridiculous amount of food and my goal is to put 10 pounds on in a week. Not many people start Christmas that way, huh? Ok... black olives are calling my name.

I really hate christmas...

I've been on the road for 2 days trying to get to California. Last night I took a bus from Toronto to Buffalo... they stopped us at the border, placed us in a holding area and locked the bus for 11 hours. Wouldn't let us off. So, needless to say I missed my flight and now I get to spend all day in Buffalo waiting for a night flight to Chicago where I get to sleep in the airport in waiting for my morning flight. I can't wait until this vacation is over so I can get back to school and rest a little.

back in time

Found this post hiding on my other blog... guess I did it while I was tired.


Thought I'd take a minute and post pictures of my project as it sits now. Just some quick snapshots, mind you, and the models aren't complete yet but it's mostly there. Friday we have our final review... saturday I do laundry, do dishes, clean and sleep... not necessarily in that order. I have one other paper to write after final reviews but I'm not too worried about that... it's only 3000 words, I think... maybe 12 pages. Anyway, time to shut my eyes and wait for tomorrow...

Catchup

I don't know what to write to catch everyone up so I'll give you the short version and post a bunch of pictures.

I ended the semester strong with a solid project but, once again, my drawings suffered for all the extra time I put into my model. So be it. I got a B for the semester... that's Tom's way of saying I'm lousy but he doesn't mind if I continue on to second year. At least I finished. Most people didn't.

I still have a paper to finish and have to edit another essay I wrote but that will have to be done on the road because I'm getting to travel for 3 days to get to California. I am in Montreal right now with a friend who is giving me a lift to Toronto tomorrow so I can catch a bus to Buffalo to catch a plane to LA to catch a ride to SD. Nice to get out of the same place for a little while.

Other than that I'm just trying to wind down and make it through another holiday season before I have to turn around and go back to school. I'm on my way to stay with Mom and Kim for a week... that'll be alot of fun. I haven't been with the two of them together in awhile.

Ok, battery's dying... pictures.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I AM SICK OF BEING AT SCHOOL!!!
I AM SICK OF BEING AWAKE!!!
I AM SICK OF SITTING AT THIS DESK!!!
I AM SICK OF MY HANDS HURTING!!!
I AM SICK OF MY BACK HURTING!!!
I AM SICK OF BEING HUNGRY!!!
I AM SICK OF NOT KNOWING WHAT DAY IT IS!!!


Ok, I feel better now. Back to work! Everything will be better after next Friday.

Taking a break...

I've been meaning to post this for awhile but haven't gotten around to it. Well, I'm taking a break so I might as well now. The story goes, Thomas quit smoking and one of his 3rd year students quit cussing so they made a bet who would last longer. Thomas gave her a hard time in class so she wanted to do something to get back at him. She came to me and said she wanted to hang cigarette posters on his offics window or something to make him want to smoke. Pause.

Now this past semester smoking has been banned on campus except in 12 "designated smoking areas" which are conveniently indicated by a green version of the no smoking sign. It's a big joke and we have always talked about putting one of those designated smoking area signs inside somewhere so we could legitamately smoke indoors.

Unpause. So I says to Schu (the 3rd year student), "here's what we gonna do..."





...and we end by covering it up so he doesn't see it before entering his office. But when he entered he saw this:

So since he's in this bet he obviously knew who did it... Schu, right? (see slightly "special" looking girl in 4th picture) I saw him the next morning and he had a huge grin on his face (he likes it when people pay attention to him) and asked me, "Did you see what Schu did to my window?" to which I blankly replied, "Uh... no. What'd she do?" and he said "Come see, this is great." On the way to seeing it another student pointed at me and said, "And here must be the culprit now," but Thomas answered, "No, I know who did this. This is an inspired prank. No one does these anymore." Ah but my prank is not yet complete... he has no idea I had anything to do with this... despite the fact that I painted my initial into the sign. So I figure his mom will read this (hi Janice... I have pictures for you below) and he'll find out through her eventually... then my prank is complete. I told his wife, Suzy and she cracked up. Everyone at school knows. Ah... that was a good break.




And now for pictures of Peter...



Fin

What I did on Thanksgiving...

What am I thankful for? That I can do by hand in 5 hours what others take 3 to 4 days to do on a computer. happy Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

If ever a day felt less like Thanksgiving I cannot remember it. Hope everyone has a fun day... eat some turkey for me. And somebody punch Tyler. Not you Kim. You get to do that enough... spread the love. For my Thanksgiving fun, I got to school at 9 and have class from 10 to 12. Then I have 5 hours to draw a 1:5 wall section and then class again. Sucks. Thursday is my long day. I'm not even going to make it to Thomas' today. So it goes...

aside: My lower/middle back is killing me. I have a feeling that it's because my mattress is too soft/unsupportive. I've learned my lesson... never go cheap on a mattress. Anyway, does anyone know if it would do any good to put a piece of plywood or something on top of my box spring? Maybe egg crate foam on the mattress? Any ideas? I'm dyin' here. (not really, mom)

Ok, off I go into the wonderful world of architectural theory.

Cheers, everyone and happy thanksgiving...

"Awwwww! Thanks-GIV-ing?" -Homer J. Simpson

In memorium...

Yesterday my Uncle Dubbie died. I found out just a few minutes ago. I'm very sad and ashamed because I've been thinking of sending him a letter for months now. The last thing he said to me was, "Come on by any time and I'll fix you a steak dinner." I'm so sorry I never wrote. I'm so sorry I never came by. I've never wanted a steak dinner so bad in all my life. I remember when I was a child... maybe 4 years old... we lived on Kely Highway in Ft. Smith, Arkansas and Uncle Dub, a truck driver at the time, would drive by once in awhile in his rig and honk his horn for me. I remember playing in the yard with my dog, Fluffy, and looking for Uncle Dub to drive by. I remember he'd lean out the window and smile and wave. I wasn't as close to him as some of my other family, but he was a constant presence in my life for my entire childhood. He always reminded me a bit of John Wayne. Uncle Dubbie, I love you... I hate saying that now that you can't hear it...

...rest in peace.

On the run...

Hi everyone... things are still in high gear here. I've finished moving all my things into my apartment but haven't had time to clean so no pictures of that yet. I came across these pictures that someone took of me a couple weeks ago and thought I'd show you my smiling, healthy self. I've started smoking a pipe now instead of so many cigarettes. I know it's still not healthy but it's cut my cigarette smoking in half. Hey, I'm trying. Studio is going well, though it is taking everything I have to do well... and the jury's still out on exactly how well I'm doing. For now I'm going to run before I miss the last bus home.

Cheers...

Moving on...uh... over

Hi everyone... well, as I sit to write you it has started snowing outside. I took a look out the window and it's not melting as it hits. It's not snowing hard but if it keeps this up we may have our first white blanket tonight. Anyway...

So I'm moving down the hall into the other basement apartment [with windows] that I've mentioned to many of you before. I got my key today and will start cleaning and painting this weekend. Like I have time for that. I'll make time... I'm moving into a place with windows! How sad does that sound? My new place is almost identical to the one I'm in now but the entrance is at the end of one of the long walls so it doesn't constrict the space by entering on the short end, there is no wall seperating the two areas... it's still two areas but instead of an 18" wall between them (like in my current place) there is a large open archway. There are many more cabinets in the kitchen, the bathroom is 3x the size of mine now (in other words it's normal sized) and there are 5 windows including 3 that make a little alcove on one side of the room. I'll get pictures eventually.

Well, all is well at school... it's kicking my ass but I'm producing good work. I've never done this many drawings... or drawings this good. I'll take pictures in a month or so. As soon as I'm done here it's off to buy cat food and lunch and then back to school. Hope everyone is well... drop a note and say hello. My new address is below. Cheers, everyone...

357 Frank St. #13 <----NEW PART
Ottawa, ON k2p 0x9

when will the hurting stop?

So here it is the end of October... can anyone tell me where it went? I swear last Friday was September... jumpin' jesus on a pogo stick. Last night I slept in my bed for the first time in at lease 3 days... maybe more, not sure. I moved my studio space at school from the first floor with everyone else down to an empty room in the basement with one other guy. It's blissful. No one bothers coming down there to see me so I get alot done. It's made me a bit anti-social and I lose track of 12-hour stretches of time but hey, gotta make sacrifices, right? I don't like people that much anyway.

Speaking of not liking people, it looks like I'm not going to Switzerland because of one man's staggering incompetence combined with his glaring ego and self-concern. The prof putting the trip together was either too lazy or too unintelligent (I have my opinion which) to put together a system of admission for the program. By way of explanation, every study abroad program in the world requires you to at least show your portfolio. This time he took the first 16 names on the list (we put our names and email addresses on a list so he could get ahold of us... this magically turned into the actual "list") and my name was #18. I want to make that man bleed. Or at least some serious bruising. So no Switzerland for me. Instead I think I'm going to take the money I would have spent there and go to Europe for a month at the end of the summer. I'm going to try to get grant funding and make it a research trip for my Masters thesis (don't ask what it is... I have no idea yet).

We got our first snow a couple days ago. It didn't stick, of course, but it was coming down pretty steady for at least a couple of hours. Once it hit the ground it might as well have been rain but it was 32 degrees and snowing two days ago. Here it comes... winter's back!

Ok, I've got to go cram for a mid-term. I'm way overloaded and don't have internet in my new downstairs studio (another reason I get so much done). Also my internet is out at home so I can't make phone calls still. I will get it fixed soon but I am so caught up in school I can't waste the time. Ok, off to study. Hope everyone is doing well. Drop me a line and say hello...

What day is it? Where am I?

I came home from school at 8:00 last night after a 30-hour workday and turned on the shower to get cleaned up. I woke up at about 2 in the morning on my couch with the shower still running in the other room. My apartment is so humid right now. Anyway, hi everyone. If you aren't used to it by now, I've hit that point at school where I disappear for a little while. I need badly to take a personal day but haven't had time in a few weeks. Yesterday I built a concept model for many, many hours and ended up not going to sleep. Then yesterday afternoon I made a pretty nice airbrushed drawing, wrote a paper for Theory and then called it quits. I slept through the first half of class and skipped the second. I thought I was going to come home and have something to eat but that didn't exactly pan out. Now it's 2am and I'm too awake. Grr. I was going to put a couple pictures of my work up but I left my card reader at school so that will have to wait. There's really not a lot to write about... sorry to be so anticlimactic but I have no time to make stories anymore. I can't believe it's the 16th already... geez. I swear it was September a couple days ago. Tomorrow ought to be filled with essay reading, drawings and model making as usual. Hope everyone is doing well. Please drop me a line and say hello... just don't get too antsy for a quick response. I'll post work online as soon as I can get to it. Goodnight all...

A grown man and his blanket[s]

I was getting ready for bed and thought I'd write something I often think about. I have several blankets on or around my bed and every one of them (with one... now two exceptions) are quilts or afghans made by one grandmother or another. I get alot of scowls and finger-shaking for using some of these old quilts, but they're the most comfortable blankets! Besides, I get a real kick out of keeping warm under something one of my granparents made 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Their labor in creating those blankets still keeps one of their family comfortable at night. I know I should hang them on the wall or store them, but what good would they do anyone then? I think any one of the women who sewed these blankets would be glad I'm still keeping warm under them. Thanks Grandma. Thanks Great Grandma. Thanks Nannaw. Sorry if I left anyone out... mom, did I?

I know mom taught me not to draw on walls but...

Hi everyone... thought I'd take a second to check in and say hi. Studio has been crazy busy so I've not had time to write lately. I've been working daily until 12:45am (last bus) and getting sleep every night. This past week I've slept at school twice because I was still getting alot of work done at 12;45. It's paying off though. I have a good project and alot of work done... not enough still but much more than anyone else. My profs like the way I work, design and draw. I've been told I have alot of potential and talent but my hand is heavy and clumsy. Tom Dubacanek (prof) is working on fixing that. I've also been told my designs are clever. Really nice to hear. Another student in studio said the other day that he admired my work ethic. That was also a nice compliment. In all, my work is progressing well but far from done. I am working on my 10th or 11th drawing. I have to design a building today so I can start a model tomorrow. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving so we've got Monday off... that means an extra day in studio. Yay. So it goes...

Okay, so every semester I take off on some random act of creativity so that I can get all the excess out of my system and sit down to draw lines more effectively. Last year I made the fish. This year I'm doing a mural. Here's my latest scribbling. The people are life-sized... the larger one in grey and blue is my director, Marco, and the one next to him with the shotgun and bottle of wine is Tom. The other collection of random people/squirrels is an evil robot army. It sits on the wall opposite Marco and Tom. It's not done... soon. The mural is in a pit next to the front door of the architecture building. The pit houses stairs that go down to the tunnels. Ok, here are the pictures... gotta get to work.

The original "evil robot army"



This is the current state of the "evil robot army"

Tom (left) and Marco (right)

Jerry Bears marching up the stairs

Jerry Bears as seen from above - that is an older version of Marco at the bottom corner