Long time no see...

I pretty much dropped off of the face of the LJ world for the last few years. ^_^;; Definitely sucks 'cause I miss blogging like crazy! It's such a relief to get things "written down", but I admit that I've been lazy about updating when I have time -- mostly because when I have time, I'm usually just coming from finishing a shit-load of work and not feeling up to typing. And when I want to update, it's usually 'cause I have something big I need to work on, so no time there. But yeah, it's the end of the quarter, I just finished architecture (for the most part), and I need to start a good habit of updating, so it'll hold (hopefully) when next quarter rolls around. XP

So, some random updates, in no particular order. Sorry about the disorganization, but it HAS been a while. XP

First, I'm on Twitter -- so much faster updating that than writing a whole entry, lol, so if you wanna see updates on my life, in 140 characters or less, it's here. XP Updates about random stuff, anywhere from architecture to Chinese stuff. Anything I find interesting or update-worthy, really. XD


Next, I'm done with architecture! For the quarter, at least. XP Well, okay, I'm lying -- I still have a three-page portfolio thingy that's due on Monday, but close enough to finished, IMO. XP So yeah, the last few days I've been up forEVER working on my model and pulling all-nighters and all that jazz 'cause I was no where near done. My final is pretty crappy and you can tell that I ran out of time, but whateverz. At least it's done. The show was on Friday and yeah. I've uploaded pics on Facebook, so you can check it out! In progress models, taken sometime last week, and final models, taken on Friday out on Dexter Lawn.


So yeah, I haven't mentioned it, but this quarter, I was taking 21 units, plus four units as credit by examination -- a pretty stressful arrangement, if I do say so myself. But yeah, I had a chill studio, in which I slacked until the end, and I really wanted to take Chinese, but it interfered with studio, so yeah. Anyways, because life demands it to be so, I just had to have teachers that wanted to have their exams on Dead Week, which, for most people is like, "Oh, that's awesome! No final on finals week!" and of course, their classes are all chill on dead week 'cause teachers don't really assign anything, but me? As an architecture student, I have to say that Dead Week is called so for a reason -- our projects are due this week. This, of course, means that we're all scrambling to finish our projects at the end of the quarter. Not a good combination, especially since I procrastinated on my project until the end because I was so busy just trying to keep up in all my other classes. x_x So yeah, the last two and a half weeks has basically be me pulling all-nighters or semi-all-nighters because, of course, I have something major due ever other day. =/ Very stressful indeed. And then, last night, or I guess I should say Friday evening (since it's past 12 now), I was finally done with everything (excluding finals week stuff), went home and showered, and then went to bed at 6:30-ish. Didn't wake up until 6:45 in the morning -- 12 hours of sleeping goodness. Man, that was awesome. Then I was too lazy (and felt kinda weird being up so early), so I lounged in bed, going in and out of sleep for a couple more hours. Good stuff. Unfortunately, now my whole sleeping schedule is thrown off 'cause I'm not tired at all. x_x


Finals week will be pretty chill for me -- as usual. I kind of love how everyone else stresses about finals week, but I'm always chill about it. ^_^;; It's just that, usually finals are all nice and spread out (even if you don't want them to be) and there's nothing else really pressing to do, besides study for finals. And, there isn't the stress of having a project looming over you and making you feel guilty while you do work for other classes. XP So yeah.. Here's my finals week break down:

Monday // ARCH 352 -- Three-Page Portfolio Thing due
Tuesday // ENGR 302 Final [1000-1300]
Wednesday // NOTHING!
Thursday // ARCH 307 Final [1300-1600]
Friday // KINE 323 Project & Reflection #3 due [0700-1000]

It sucks that I have to stay until Friday for kinesiology, but whatever.. I'm over it by now. I just hope I can find a ride home for spring break -- most people are leaving before Friday though. =/ Suckage! I don't wanna have to take the train! =/ Oh wells.. We'll see...


On Friday, during my show, I went with Teresa up to the bookstore to return model supplies. I pretty much do this every quarter because I always buy a bunch of stuff for models, then end up not using it because I got too many (better safe than sorry -- running out at 3am is not an option!) or because I end up using something completely different. And yeah, this time, as usual, was no exception. Returned $81.89 worth of stuff. =O Yeah, haha. I always feel good about getting a lot back, but there's always the flip-side to that -- I had to spend that much (and more!) in the first place to be getting that much back. x_x But the expense of architecture rant can be left for another day. XP


I've been really into Chinese music and dramas this past year and yeah.. Today, I wasted my day away watching videos! XP So, of course, I must share the wealth now. XP

First, over winter break, and I watched the Taiwanese drama called Miss No Good, which stars Rainie Yang and Wilber Pan. It's very cliche, predictable, and semi-annoying with the main character's voice. But, of course, like any drama, addicting to watch despite all its flaws. XP You can check it out here, if you're so inclined. XP

Anyway, the point of that was, I found a clip on YouTube of Rainie on 100% Entertainment, where is is singing in Xiao Hua's voice! It is so awesome and cute. XP

Next, there's Lee-Hom Wang on The Million Star. If you don't know who Lee-Hom Wang is, you are totally missing out! He is AMAZING! He was born in America, got discovered in Taiwan, and has been making songs since 1995. He writes, composes, and sings his own songs! He's is so awesome and I am so jealous, but I love him. XP But yeah, The Million Star is like Don't Forget the Lyrics and Lee-Hom is on there trying to raise money for a charity. Check it out!

Lee-Hom Wang on The Million Star // Part 01 -- Part 02 -- Part 03

As you can see, he is awesome. Therefore, you must listen to him, STAT! He has a new CD, as you saw from the show, called Heat Beat, and it's rock-ish and awesome. LISTEN TO IT! If you're not into rock, his music is pretty diverse, so there has to be something you DO like. XD

Okay, even of Lee-Hom. Next, I watched Wilber Pan on Azio Superstar. He was in Miss No Good, as mentioned earlier, and was also born in America, haha. XP But yeah, this episode is so funny! XD There is talk of his lips being like marled beef, the hosts and Wilber writing a song together, and just general awesomeness.

Wilber Pan on Azio Superstar // Part 01 -- Part 02 -- Part 03 -- Part 04


Okay, my laptop keeps freezing and lagging on me right now, so I need to stop this and let my computer recover... Need to get more RAM...

~Remula

Architecture (Students) Rant

So, this has been a long-time coming. I totally think about writing this every once-in-a-while whenever something related comes up, and yeah. Obviously something came up just now, so I figured, good time to write about it, since I'm trying to post again.

I go on Facebook and, at the top of my newsfeed, there is this:

Arch Student #1:....FINALS LOOM...which is very unfortunate
Arch Student #2: what finals, Arch Student #1? we are architecture. i.e. we have no finals/they don't matter...
Arch Student #3: arce. and arce project.
Arch Student #2: frivolous. and unnecessary.
Arch Student #3: agreed.

And there it is -- what Arch Student #2 said, the "[finals] don't matter" and "[finals are] frivolous. and unnecessary". If there's ONE thing I hate about architecture, is THAT kind of attitude, right there.

I HATE that architecture students put EVERYTHING into architecture and studio, and NOTHING into everything else. Granted, that is a generalization, and not everyone does that, but the majority does, and seeing as I'm surrounded by these types of people, I have to acknowledge it and keep my negative comments to myself around these people, or else they'll come verbally attack me in packs until I revise my statement into something "more appropriate" (speaking from experience here!). So yes. The only time I can complain about this is to my friend Teresa or to aznearthdragon or whatever.

Anyway, the point is, mostly everyone has the opinion (and most even say it straight out) that "Architecture is my LIFE!", except, of course, it's only their SCHOOL LIFE and they have plenty fun partying and all that. When it comes to school, however, it''s like, "ditch this class, ditch that class". "Study for GE class? Ehhh, I have architecture to do" and everything else under the sun. And then, when they end up doing not so hot in a class, there's always, "Whatever, it's not like we need a high GPA anyway" and yeah.

You know when you hear people saying that grades don't matter, you assume (almost always correctly) that they don't have good grades.

As you can tell, I'm VERY bitter about this. I mean, maybe this is so "obvious" to them, but to me, it's like a slap in the face. I mean, I'm not what you would call a "hardcore" architecture student -- I know that I'm not as into it as a lot of people, but still. There's a reason that our architecture program is so highly regarded, and when I ended up going here, my only saving grace (seeing that most people DON'T know about Cal Poly) was that the architecture program is constantly ranked 2nd or 3rd in the nation. This, of course, means absolutely NOTHING if the students don't give even try in anything besides architecture. I feel like this is giving architecture students a bad reputation -- too busy, too lazy, always in need of extensions, etc. from the rest of the campus. Seriously, what does this say? It's like, there are things like, "oh, architects suck at math" and "architects can't write" and stuff like that, and I feel offended because, OMG, I can and I think everything else is JUST as important and then there's the feeling of, "WHY IS EVERYONE BRINGING ME DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL?!~" and it just pisses. me. OFF. >O

And yeah... I know I'm being somewhat unreasonable, but in the end, for me, it all boils down to, if you're making the commitment to the class by taking it, the LEAST you can do is PUT IN THE EFFORT. If not, don't take the class. If you can't move on without taking the class, well TOUGH. That obviously means that you are committed to graduating and therefore are committed to the program. SO PUT IN THE FREAKIN' EFFORT! >O

Seriously though, I think that just shows your work ethic -- it's the "I can handle what I'm committing to and I don't overextend myself to the extreme that I can only do well in one area or poorly in all" kinda thing, and that's admirable. Getting C-'s and D's just to move on because you don't care is NOT. Especially for people that are only taking ONE other class besides studio and practice (core major classes). If you only have ONE other thing to focus on besides architecture and you can't even put in the effort to get a good grade, you might as well just GTFO. Seriously. No respect for those people, at ALL.

Finally, my last thoughts on this are the people who use their studios as an excuse. The ones who go, "I have Fowler studio" because everyone knows that Fowler is hard and gives a lot of work. And then, because they're in Fowler studio, or whatever other professor has that sort of reputation, always say things like, (when recommending to other students) "Don't take anything else if you're taking Fowler. Seriously, there's no time for anything else. He just give you SO much work!" and yeah. I don't care HOW much work Fowler (or any other studio professor) gives you -- there's still time to focus on your other classes. Sure, you might not be able to take the usual 16/17 units and might be bumped down to just 12/13 units, but honestly -- 12/13 units just means ONE EXTRA NON-ARCHITECTURE CLASS. DEAL WITH IT! See the above!


Okay, that was really long, but it's something that really pisses me off. If there's something wrong with what I said, I want to know, 'cause I can vaguely see where most people are coming from with their opinions, but even so, I still don't agree. I know I complain a lot about my workload, but I always know that it's my fault for taking it on. Also, I don't blow off my other classes, no matter how much I complain, so it's not the complaining that pisses me off as much as the people who complain about their other classes, and then blow it off after acting like the other classes were going to put a dent into their time. x_x

~Remula