This week was horribly busy and yet I have nothing to show for it. =/

[remula]

Hello DW/LJ! I feel like I haven't been on here forever, even though it's only been a few days! Working non-stop on a project always extend days into years -- was it only yesterday Wednesday (it's now past midnight that I'm done typing my entry, so yeah, haha) that I smacked myself in the neck with a piece of my project? Why yes, it was! But it feels like ages ago! (Except for the fact that under my chin where it connects to my neck hurts SO FUCKING MUCH, OMG!)

A recap on my week, even though some things have already been mentioned via Twitter, and probably in the most disorganized fashion ever, LOL.

1. PROJECT!
   This week has been pretty much hell because of my damn project! Seriously, so many hours of my life spent in studio, probably slowly killing myself with all the MDF dust I've been inhaling! (I seriously just found around the beginning of the week that MDF is toxic because of the glue! What is my life?!) I swear, almost every free hour I had, I was in studio working on the damn thing and in the end, I didn't even finish, so I didn't turn it in today for the show. ;_;
   
   
   What I left off with at the end of the day earlier today yesterday right before I left studio at 2AM.
   
   As you can tell, I'm obviously not done. I just finished drilling most of the holes for the pieces, but I still have to drill the holes on the side pieces before I can assemble it all together and also, I need to paint the pieces before assembling because that will be easier. Also, check out all those motherfucking holes I drilled! Stupid dowel pin connections -- I don't even know if it'll be strong enough because of the depth of the shelves that will be cantilevering off the back! But wood glue these days is pretty strong, right? LOLOL! But yeah, in hindsight I guess I could have used a router or something to make mortise and tendon joints, but I feel like that would have been kind of more complicated than this dowel thing just because there is way more precision needed in making those fit together well. Definitely would not have been as labor-intensive as all these holes though. XP But seriously, doing that would have required me to be in the shop forever and I'm glad I was only in there minimally because it was way too crowded in there and too many lines waiting for different machines.
   
   Anyway, yesterday Wednesday I talked to Angsar (my professor) and he said I didn't have to show it at Vellum if I didn't want to because he just wants me to do a good job on it and not rush. That was super relieving to me, because I know I could have stayed all night and probably have banged it all together, but it probably wouldn't be as good as I hope and definitely wouldn't have gotten painted. (Not that I stopped working after he said that, because I did finish drilling all those holes before I left, but yeah, definitely let off some of the stress I had.)
   
   Oh yeah, because I didn't get a chance to mention it (what with this crazy week), I decided to go with real paint instead for my project, so I bought some paint earlier this week -- it's an awesome color called Japanese Fern from Behr and this will seriously be the most awesome green bookshelf ever once I finish it next week. ♥♥♥



2. VELLUM!
   I feel like such a lame person because I think I'm the only person in my class who didn't finish for the competition. =( I also felt super guilty because Angsar told me that I didn't have to finish for the show and the self-conscious part of me is all, like, thinking that people in my class might be looking down on me for not working hard or whatever, just because I'm not done. =((( And maybe they are thinking that it's not fair that I'm getting off on not showing my project and stuff. =/// I'm pretty sure the people in my studio aren't really thinking that about me because they saw me working on my project the last two weeks and everyone in there is pretty nice and stuff, but yeah. I have my irrational fears, okay?
   
   Anyway, earlier around 8PM, I went with my roommate downtown to check out the exhibition and there were some pretty cool pieces there! I forgot my camera because I'm pretty sure I left my purse in studio when I left last night and my camera is in my purse, so yeah. I'll be going to the reception tomorrow though, so I will definitely take pictures then! XD There actually wasn't as many pieces there as I was expecting since there were so many studios doing Vellum this year, but I guess it's because they were like me and didn't get around to finishing or they were unhappy about how their pieces turned out and decided not to submit, lol.
   
   I kind of wish I finished for the show just because I wanted to see if anyone would have bid on my piece. XP (People can put their pieces up for a silent auction if they want to with a set minimum price, lol.) Anyway, my roommate put hers up for auction, lol, but she set the price at $700, LOLOL. I mean, my thing that I kept telling everyone was that they should put their pieces up for a minimum of double the cost because it's more worth it that way, right? And last night, when me and Tara were walking home, I told her she needed to put it up for at least $540 because it cost $270 to make and then I told her to round it up to $600 to add the cost of labor, lol. But really, $60 isn't enough for the amount of time and effort put in, so I guess her adding another $100 to that is to offset that. XP But also because she really wants to keep her chair, haha, so I guess $700 is enough for her to part with it if people are willing to go that high. XP
   
   But yeah, that reminds me, I think my total for this project is pretty much $270-ish as well. If I had submitted it, I would have put down $600 initially, but then seeing Tara put down $700, I probably would have upped mine to $700 as well, LOL. XP



3. BRUISES!
   How clumsy am I? Answer, SUPER CLUMSY. I have SO MANY BRUISES from working on this project! I have joked with people in studio that my relationship with my bookshelf has left me bruised and battered, literally! A rundown of the bruises I have due to this project (the ones I see, at least): two on my right arm, two on my left arm, one on my left hand, one on my right arm, four on my left leg, three on my right leg, both my knees, one on my right thigh, and on my right hip. And also my neck, which I can't really tell if it's a bruise or if it's just a shadow from the lighting. x_x Also, my hands are super dried out from all the work with the drill and the MDF and when I got up this morning, my legs hurt so much since I had finally been in bed long enough for my legs to relax and accumulate the pain from the past week or standing up for hours on end!
   
   And oh, here is how my hitting myself in the neck went down, LOL.
   
   So I was doing the holes for the first shelf set and then I was testing it out to make sure it fit and then it got stuck! And my roommate, she was across the room and looking over at me 'cause we were kind of shout-talking across the room while I was working and I was like, "OMG, come out!" and stuff like that and trying to yank it up and out and my roommate was standing to come over and help me and my head was stupidly over the piece and I'm sure you can see how this played out, LOLOL. I totally gave myself an uppercut with a piece of MDF and seriously, my roommate was probably the only person to witness this monumentally stupid thing, but everyone in the room heard the aftermath of me going, "OH FUCK!" SUPER LOUD and then me turning from the room holding at my chin/neck and bending down to hide behind my desk because it fucking hurt! And OMG, my professor, he was right there on the other side of the room on the other side of this partition near my roommate's desk and he totally turned from talking to my classmates about their project and they were all giving me super worried looks and asking what happened and if I was okay and I was just like, thinking, OMFG I'm so stupid and alternately laughing at myself and tearing up because it hurt SO MUCH. Obviously not one of my brightest moments, lol. It pretty much hurts whenever I accidentally brush up under my chin. ;_;



4. Today! Thursday!
   So I totally fell asleep working on my paper yesterday morning because, I was super cold around 5AM so my bright idea was to sit in bed and work so I could have the blanket! And, of course, as I was going through the reading looking for the relevant things I wanted to discuss, I totally fell asleep when I was planning on just staying up to finish the paper and then get to class at 8AM. -_- And, of course, I woke up to my alarm at 6:30AM and was all, "Meehhh" and went back to sleep and didn't even bat an eye at the fact that my laptop was in bed with me even thought that never happens! And then I woke up on my own at 10:10AM and I was like, "FUCK!" because hello, class from 8AM-11AM that I just slept almost all the way through! And I was walking to the restroom and I was trying to peek into my roommate's room because she said she was meeting her partner at 10AM and I was wondering if she left already, LOL. (She was still there, BTW, lol, and was just about to get up, haha.)
   
   Anyway, I just went out to the living room with my laptop 'cause I figured that would force me to write my paper and I totally skipped my 12PM class because I didn't finish the paper due for that class until 1-ish. Then I just emailed it to the professor and went back to bed where I proceeded to nap until almost 6PM (though I woke up at 5-ish since my other roommate was being super loud in the living room). Best nap ever though, lol, after the lack of sleep this week! ♥



5. Power tools in studio!
   On Wednesday, the dean of the architecture department emailed us with this super long email about students using power tools in the design studios, lol. It was basically the most ridiculous thing because he sent it on WEDNESDAY, the day before Vellum is due when everyone is too busy working to actually care. I will now share with you what I found to be the most relevant part of the email!
   
   

   Why set the students in harms way when we have a shop? I understand faculty and students who will argue that the shop is too small, that several important pieces of equipment are not working, that there are insufficient TA’s to help, that students are unwilling to pay the extra shop fee due to a shortfall of over $40,000 over the past five years, and no extra CBF at all this year to assist with the shop, that this infringes on your academic freedom and stifles creativity. These are all concerns that we need to discuss and resolve, but at the end of the day, we need to be mindful of the premises that are the University’s property, and that the Department is doing everything to maintain the extensive shop hours and number of TA’s to allow our learn-by-doing to unfold accordingly to the Department’s educational tradition. But perhaps most importantly is that we cannot shy away from our responsibilities in believing that safety remains the highest concern that we owe to our students and ourselves. We are fortunate that very few accidents have happened over the past years, and the first line of defense is to not allow any power tools within the design studios.

   
   
   Thank you for highlighting ALL THE PROBLEMS but not giving us any solutions! I mean, I went to the shop a number of times this week for little things and there is seriously NOT ENOUGH ROOM in there for more than the amount of people actually already staked out in the shop (15-ish people taking up all the work space, seriously!) And considering how many studios were doing Vellum, there is no way to fit 100+ people in the shop to "work in a safe environment" as he calls it. And really, the people who own power tools obviously know how to use them (or else they wouldn't buy them), which is more than I can say for the people who work in the shop. And really, my exact reaction to the email was, "Fuck that, I'm still going to use my damn drill!" and really, there isn't even a consequence mentioned in the email, so how many people actually took that seriously? Probably not even the professors because ours didn't say anything about it! And I know other studios were working with even more heavy power tools than just drills and sanders, so whatever.



6. People who invade your privacy!
   Last topic! Seriously, what is it with people who feel the need to look through your laptop as if it's theirs? I wanted to complain about this the other day but didn't have time, obviously, so I had to hold off on this rant until now! But yeah, earlier this week (you might have seen in the tweets), two of the guys in my studio (one of them is the guy I mentioned before who came over to creep on me at my laptop) decided it would be fun to mess with my laptop because I took over one of their desks with my bookshelf stuff! So my laptop was on Blake's desk and they were both at Blake's desk trying to figure out some stuff on their project (they were working together) and I was on the side of the desk drilling or whatnot, and so my computer was right there! And Nathan decides to start tab-scrolling through my stuff! And I'm like, dude, WTF, get off, you know? Because I don't want him to mess with my stuff and with my luck, out of the 300+ tabs I have up, he would probably end up opening the one with the rimming meme or something. x_x And I'm trying to be all nice about everything after getting them away from my laptop, but that totally left me in a bad mood afterwards, you know? Because I'm pretty protective of my stuff and it's just not cool!
   
   Then, later that day (oh gosh, such a long day!), I was in a better mood and Blake and Nathan were back over at Blake's desk again and then someone else came in to visit and they were all standing around talking and staring at my laptop kind of creepily because they were mentioning the random things I had up on the stickies (the list of the 30 day meme, a list of random dates, etc.) while my screensaver was up. (My screensaver is the bubbles one, which is entertaining, but doesn't hide what is on the screen, so that's how they were able to read the stickies.) Then they had the bright idea to start creeping on my laptop! And, of course, I wasn't having that shit again, so I just closed the screen, even though I wanted my music to still play. x_x But yeah, at least the music was still on before it went to sleep, so when I opened the screen a minute later, the music continued to play even though my screen was locked and they were just mesmerized by the bubbles for a while. (What is with people liking my screensavers anyway? The bubbles is standard everyone's laptop with Windows 7, so it shouldn't be that cool. Also, before when I had my old laptop, I had the Aquarium screensaver that was standard on XP laptops from HP and everyone would stand around and stare at the fish, LOL!)
   
   But yeah, dude, just the fact that people feel the need to go through my personal crap is not cool. I mean, I know they don't understand because they have their own desktop computers at home, so their laptop isn't as personalized, but this is my only computer, so it has a mix of everything! And I would rather not have those guys knowing about my fannish life, thank you very much. x_x

Anyway, I feel like I had more to say, but I can't remember right now, so yeah. I have class later today from 9AM-6PM and I'm starting to feel tired again, so I'll probably go to sleep in a little bit. (mMm, sleep!) Then later in the evening is the Vellum reception from 6:30PM-10PM, so I will be there for a little bit to check out everything again, haha. But yeah, I haven't read any fics this whole week! And also, I saw yesterday that there was another fluff meme and seriously, how will I ever catch up and read all the things when school keeps interfering?!

I will catch up with all the days I've missed in the 30 day meme either later today or tomorrow, lol.

G'night.

Comments

[johanirae.livejournal.com]

Just curious, how big is this shelf?

[remula]

Way too big, obviously, LOL. By the time I finish trimming it again (because I messed up on the cutting), it'll be 30" x 60" x 12". My thought process was, "Oh, good size for a bookshelf!" but, of course, I didn't think about how much work I would have to do, especially without a partner. x_x