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Thursday, September 02, 2010

A Rededication of Sorts

Over the course of the past two weeks, I have been physically and mentally exhausted from studio. It has gotten to a point where I even started to get affected emotionally as well. Two weeks--14 days--10 school days and 4 days of weekends. I have tried on my own and I have failed to accomplish anywhere near acceptable work even on my own standards. This semester and year will be a hard one for me in terms of studio work load--which will inevitably make every aspect of this semester and year difficult to survive. I have come to accept that my efforts won't be good enough to get me by this year--not at this pace at least. And this pace doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon either.

It is now one of those times (though should be all the time) where I can do nothing more than simply let God work through my life again, then, everything will sort itself out. I believe it will happen because it has happened before over and over again. I can only lift up myself into the Lord's hands and allow Him to help me get through all of this.

During these hard times when I question what I have gotten myself into, I listen to music to try and just zone out from reality a bit. The two songs that have always popped out at me are Relient K's "Getting into You" and "For the Moments I Feel Faint". I have also been blessed with friends who send me other songs right when I need them--even though they have no idea what I've been going through. Some of these songs include Stellar Kart's "Me and Jesus", "Hold On", and "Wishes and Dreams" and Tenth Avenue North's "By Your Side". I gladly share these songs with others because they are encouraging.

Studio life is going to take a lot of sacrifices to survive. Initially, I thought that these sacrifices would come from my social life, enjoyment of video games, basketball, and my music and photography hobbies. However, I now realize that the sacrifice I actually have to make is control over my life once again.

I've let go.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Internship Blog: Day 51

Today is day 51—also known as my last day of internship! It is such an exciting day—okay, not really. It’s a pretty normal day today apart from the fact that I didn’t need to pay for my lunch, haha. But other than that, I guess I am excited to be finally finished with this internship and can try to catch up on doing “summer break” activities like buying gifts for people and playing basketball, photographing stuff and losing weight.

There really isn’t anything for me to do here though. Oh well.

I’ve made a good amount of progress on my portfolio during this past week. I’m not sure if I will continue adding to this portfolio or create a new one every year? It’s quite a big chunk of work, but I feel as if everything I’ve put in it has been fairly important. I guess if I do add to it, I’ll filter out some more stuff or consolidate things some slides.

I am awfully tired right now. I have fallen asleep multiple times on the subway ride already whenever I do get a seat, but fortunately, I haven’t really missed my stops yet. Actually, I did miss it once, but I only went one stop over.

The other three interns from Syracuse are having some kind of discussion with one of the larger bosses about something…I’m not exactly sure.

One more hour until my internship is over!

Thirty Minutes until my internship is over!

Got some photos of some of my coworkers. Some of them already went back to Taiwan though, so oh well.

8 more minutes!!!

Done!

Internship Blog: Day 48

Day 48 of work has been quite uneventful as like the previous week. It’s not like I haven’t been doing any work at all really, just not doing work that is contributing to the company directly. I’ve been more in observation mode and getting a feel for other departments around the firm. Also, I’ve been working on my personal portfolio that covers my architecture stuff, photography stuff, and general design stuff. I may or may not split photography out of it, but we’ll see how it turns out whenever I finish it.

I just saw the final compilation of the hotel I designed along with all the other buildings in the same larger project printed and framed on a 40”x50”ish poster—and it looked pretty awesome. I am actually quite excited. My immediate boss said that it looks pretty good—so that’s a good sign.

I think I’ll get a haircut tonight when I head back home. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But then again, maybe I should get it closer to when I leave…decisions, decisions.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Internship Blog: Day 42

Today is day 42. After today, I will only have 10 work days left at this internship. I have been relocated once again to an actual cubicle space again in a firm-wide restructuring. I like this space more because it is more open and I can talk to Charles, the person who sits next to me and a recent graduate from Pratt Institute. I am now doing almost no AutoCAD at the moment since I finished with the main design of the hotel I have spent the last month or so working on and I am simply just sitting around and observing.

Hrm, the internet has stopped working—at least the wireless router has been turned off or something is wrong with it at this moment. Oh well.

There is so much detail going into drawing these plans, sections, and elevations. In one aspect, it’s easy to do because nothing exists at this moment and you can draw it however you like. However, in another aspect it is extremely hard because there’s just so many possibilities as to what to draw. Knowing standard dimensions of random things helps a lot though such as door width and height or window dimensions or the standard distance between two columns, etc. I know some of these now—but everything is in metric.

I’m still in the process of finding a laptop for this coming school year. I am currently debating between getting an i5 or an i7 processor with the main issues being longer battery life vs more efficient processing for the programs that I’ll be using. There is also the issue of overheating with the i7 processors due to them having four cores vs only two for the i5. I have pretty much settled on the Toshiba though because it has gotten good reviews so far and nothing that is glaringly bad about it. I also haven’t owned anything other than Toshibas—Toshiba S2058, Toshiba M55, and Toshiba A305. Hopefully I will be able to add the Toshiba A665 to this lineup soon. Most of the Adobe and Autodesk programs will utilize four cores and potentially any computer game I may or may not play so I guess four cores would be nice. However, longer battery life wouldn’t be too bad either. Decisions, decisions.

More people have had funny reactions to the Padua photo that circulates through my laptop wallpaper.

I think I will get a haircut tonight. It is about time that I got one especially since it is quite convenient here and a lot cheaper. Also, Shanghai has decided to turn up the heat—which is actually a bit late in the season to start getting warm. I have two more weeks in Shanghai before I head back to the US though, so not too much suffering in this weather for me. I just hope Atlanta won’t be too bad when I head over for school.

Internship Blog: Day 33

Work day 33. I am less than a month away from completing my internship here. I have about 19 days left, whoo.

I miscounted the last two work days, but I will have corrected the mistake by the time I upload this one.

LeBron James is heading to Miami to join Wade and Bosh. Crazy.

I really don’t have much to type about today. Nothing is passing through my head for me to talk about. I just feel like sleeping so that I can come in to work tomorrow (Saturday) and get it over with.

Internship Blog: Day 31

Today’s the 31st day of work and it’s actually nice outside today. Nice after you discount the fact that it’s humid, hot, sticky, and nasty. But at least it’s a decently clear sky.

As of now, I haven’t done anything significant. It’s freezing in this cubicle right now, which isn’t anything new I guess. I’ll bring a sweater for tomorrow and the future. It’s weird, I have less than one month left here in Shanghai and this internship. Has it been productive? I guess it has. I probably would have enjoyed my time here a lot more had I not been required to work Saturdays.

I’m so hungry. Only five minutes until lunch time though. I didn’t grab my usual bottle of tea and bread at the convenience store next door because they wouldn’t accept my 100RMB bill since they didn’t want to come up with the change. So stupid.

So…cold.

I have nothing to do right now. Just being blasted with cold air.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Internship Blog: Day 30

Today is work day number 30. My new seat is actually very cold because it is right next to the AC. However, everywhere else surrounding my seat is exceptionally warm.

Anyhow, I have pretty much finished with the design of the hotel and it is now currently being rendered in a 3D program by the people who turn the 2D drawings into 3D ones.

I arrived to work late today (and yesterday for the record). It wasn’t too bad, only by about 20 minutes. It is now 9:45am and in the past 25 minutes that I’ve been here, I have restarted my computer, ate some bread, and checked my email. I can feel like it will be a productive day.

I finally met the other interns yesterday too. There are three of them and they are all attending Syracuse. One of them just finished his sophomore year and the other two just finished their junior years. They seem pretty cool.

One of the coworkers was waiting for some stuff to print and saw a photo of Padua on my computer (I have random photos as my desktop wallpaper and Mr. Puds makes several appearances) since my desk is right next to the printers. His reaction to the photo was pretty funny. It was like a mix between shock and amusement.

Five minutes until lunch.

Man, it’s literally 15 degrees colder in my cubicle than it is in the printer cubicle right next to mine. Ridunkulous.

I spent the past hour browsing laptops. Man, browsing laptops is tough—especially with a price limit that I would prefer not to go over (okay, well more so my dad doesn’t want to go over). Basically trying to get a laptop with a decent to good processer (Intel’s i7 or i5), a discrete graphics card, and 4gb of RAM. There’s this one Lenovo that has all of those and more and has very good specs, but according to a lot of forums and such, it has a pretty big problem with the monitors that makes me kind of worry about purchasing this laptop—especially an online purchase. Then, there’s a Toshiba laptop that has a slightly better processer, and the hard drive and graphics cards aren’t that much worse and it’s cheaper. But it’s too big to fit in the backpack I have—so frustrating. The smaller version of that Toshiba laptop will be more expensive than the Lenovo one, though not by too much.

Actually, now the favor has swung back towards Toshiba and for the more expensive smaller Toshiba. I just noticed that the laptop also includes an extra year of warranty for free. The processor is faster and the graphics and hard drive is essentially the same. Only the RAM is slightly slower, but still 4GB.

Saw the current progress of the digital 3D version of the building I designed upstairs. It looks pretty cool I guess. I do feel sorry for the guy working on that though because I don’t think I did such a good job on the AutoCAD portion of the design.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Internship Blog: Day 23

Work day number…23 I think. Yes, 23. It has been a long time since I’ve had time to write anything during my internship. I guess that’s a good thing because it means that I am being more productive while at work.

Lately I have been working on a 3-star hotel that will be part of a larger project called Londontown. I’m not 100% sure as to what I can and cannot do in terms of the design. There are still a lot more things I can learn with AutoCAD that can help me work on things a lot faster. But at least I know enough to get by for now.

The good thing about this internship I guess is that I won’t go into the fall semester and not be used to working a lot. This work schedule has been extremely draining. Even though it’s a half day of work on Saturday, it still takes out a lot. I can’t do anything Friday nights and am too tired Saturdays after work. Then I can’t do anything Sunday because the next day is Monday.

It has been raining a lot here lately. It is a constant reminder as to how much I hate umbrellas. I abhor umbrellas. I already hate large crowds of Chinese people. Large crowds of Chinese people with umbrellas are going to drive me insane. I especially despise those who use umbrellas every single day—rain or shine or overcast.

I have been listening to Tristan Prettyman for the past week during my commute. Now I need a new band to listen to. I’ve already gone through Angels and Airwaves, Relient K, Taylor Swift, Greenday, and Snow Patrol. I will try to find a new band to accompany me during my commute back home.

Ah, Rascal Flatts.

I definitely do not want a job where I would have to work Saturdays as well as Monday to Friday full time. It sucks and I never want to do it again. I don’t mind working on Saturdays occasionally for overtime, but when it’s part of your normal schedule, it sucks.

I’m pretty sure the other interns have arrived, but I haven’t really talked to any of them. I see them walking around once in a while, but other than that, no other contact. Maybe they don’t think I’m an intern because I have my own cubicle, mwahaha.

I guess I spoke too soon about having my cubicle. I just got moved to another part of the office—granted it’s still my own cubicle. It’s just more in the corner of the office right next to the printers. Although, I think it’s because the person’s desk space that I’m using now is returning back to the office and was previously out for the past month.

Last week, someone had a pet bunny in the office and it provided quite a lot of entertainment for brief moments throughout the day—particularly when it kept escaping from its cage. It didn’t really run away or anything. It just stayed next to the cage instead of inside the cage.

Internship Blog: Day 16

Day 16 of work has been pretty mundane really—especially considering how it’s a Saturday and I should be slacking off at home like most normal interns. Instead, this is my work schedule, bleh.

Anyhow, I’ve been listening to the Taylor Swift songs on the iPod today and yesterday and I noticed that she has a male singer in the background doing harmonizing and all that. Some of her lyrics are just a bit weird for a guy to sing…anyhow.

Before Taylor Swift, I have been listening to a lot of Snow Patrol the past week or so. They have become the primary band that I listen to while taking the subway to and from work. They are quite interesting to listen to. I should probably find a new band though to listen to on this iPod…Taylor Swift isn’t going to cut it.

Internship Blog: Day 15

Work day 15 now. After a three day holiday break, work resumes and the boredom continues. Actually, it’s not so bad. I at least have things to do every day that is at a manageable pace, but it’s a lot of stop and go action. I’ll be working on something for three hours straight, then I’ll have nothing to do for the next two hours or so—like right now.

I am actually quite hungry right now. It is only 10:30am, but I feel like eating right now. I might make a trip to the convenient store to pick something up to munch on, but I usually save that for the longer afternoon half of the workday. Then again, with nothing else to do except type up a blog post on Microsoft Word, it wouldn’t hurt to make a quick trip next door.

Game 7 of the Lakers-Celtics final is currently underway. Boston is currently leading in the third quarter, but we’ll see how this ends up in the end.

11am…one more hour until lunch break.

So yesterday, I created a spreadsheet documenting my photography expenses and earnings. I have earned back about a third of my expenses—which is pretty good so far. However, I still need a bit over $2000 to break even. Soo, who wants to buy some photos?

And Boston decides to lay an egg to end the game and are now about to lose. Bleh.

Alright, finally time for lunch.

I need some new music on this iPod. They are still primarily my sister’s music since it used to be her iPod. I guess I’ll just give it a clean wipe and load in my own stuff. I could write down the music that I like that’s already on the iPod so that I can re-download it or something. I don’t know if I want to spend so much effort on doing this though, oh well.

So anyone want to buy any photos? I’ll give you good price. Hah. But seriously, anyone?

Aw, I already finished my box of Strawberry Pocky…and it’s barely 2pm. I think some people are getting ready to leave because of someone’s wedding today? I have no idea who it is, but some other person is trying to find a camera to use, haha.

It is almost 4pm.

I am really tired right now for some reason. I got a decent amount of sleep last night—although it wasn’t very good sleep because it was quite humid and nasty.

I’ve taken drastic measures and I’m now listening to Taylor Swift to stay awake—such cheerful music...hah. Only one more hour of work left.

Internship Blog: Day 12

Day 12 has been rather gray today. The weather is bleh, and working on a Saturday is always bleh. Getting up at 7am to get to work on a Saturday is uber bleh. However, I’m sure working on Sunday will be even worse.

I haven’t really done anything today. I fixed up a minor detail on AutoCAD that I didn’t get to finish yesterday, but now that that is done, I have nothing left to do. I’m currently typing this and browsing craigslist for camera equipment.

Speaking of camera equipment, I might go check out this one giant camera ‘mall’ after work if the weather holds up. It would be nice to go with my dad though. He’s got a lunch with a friend and said should be available at 3pm. So I guess I could do some preliminary scouting just to scope that place out. But then again, if there’s basketball to be played back at SMIC, I will do that instead. Who knows?

Whoo, what a short day. Work is over.