I'm Done!

The past two weeks have been H-e-double hockey stick. They have been a lot of fun too though. I've been laser printing models, drawing in AlphaCAM, and CNCing parts. Everything came together at the last moment thanks again to David G! He helped me rig up the lights and fit the acrylic into the panels and drove me around to get my parts without asking anything in return. What a great guy no?

In tribute to David G, I have written a little song that goes to the old Spiderman theme song:

David G, David G
Guru of everything
Woodshop, popcorn chair,
Get it wrong, you'll get the stare

Alright, here comes the David G! Here come the David G!

So I wrote that on the spot and it might need some refinement, but I'm pleased with it.

I was really happy that my brother, Stephen, came in and helped me one day. It really lifted a lot of stress. And then he was super nice and bought me a bunch of food. My parents also surprised me by sending me a care package with food and snacks right to my door. I think that was the first package I had received from them and it was wonderful because it was so unexpected and thoughtful.

The table turned out really nicely. Even though I did many study models, I still couldn't get rid of all the errors and the final table was supposed to have 4 drawers. But when I was inserting those drawers, I found out that they wouldn't fit because of the way I had built it. And I could have fixed it, but I did not have time unfortunately. Consequently, my table is not as stable as it could be, but it is a lot of fun and look really nice. Below you will see pictures of sketches that I turned into engraved pieces on the sides of the table and how it looks lit. It looks a lot cooler in the dark too but I haven't had time to take nice pictures of it. Transporting it back to NC is going to be interesting...I might need to rent a truck or something.

In other good news, my teacher selected my Chable for another design competiton and if the judges select it, I'll get a free trip to Vegas!

After my presentation Wednesday, I went back and checked out some of my residents and slept the rest of the day. How glorious! And the following day, I helped Matt print out a poster he had designed. I thought it was pretty funny and so I posted it below.

Oh, on Friday of the previous week, I invited my class to go to the dining hall for breakfast on Monday because I get 10 meals a week and thought they might want to remember the days of yore. Like 6 of them ended up coming (including my teacher) and I reserved the bridge in Brittain. Normally they don't let you eat up there because it is a college campus and people do stupid things. But anyway, it was really nice and afterward we explored the rooms that were there and found a staircase. The staircase went on forever and when we reached the top, it was the roof, we had a great view of Atlanta. My teacher really liked it because he graduated from Tech back in the day and told us stories of how he had gone up there.

The graduation ceremony was yesterday but I'll find out for sure on Wednesday when all the grades are posted. Yikes! And in case you were wondering, no, I did not go to the ceremony. No offense to those that went, but I've been here 6 years and I didn't want to sit through 5 hours of speakers to feel like I accomplished something. I was just fine sleeping in hahah.

Graduation parties were a lot of fun. I didn't get to make it to all of them but David G and I started out at Val's and saw some pretty funny pictures of her and her friend Liz. Then we hopped over to Kate's and went to an Irish pub where Stephanie and Tyler also were. I randomly saw Erin and Ryan Kane there and that was pretty funny. I hadn't seen them in many, many years. Finally we made it to a dance club - MJQ. I really liked the atmosphere of the club but that night they weren't really playing the kind of music that I like to dance to. I still danced my heart out so...whatever. At one point Stephanie bumped into this girl thereby spilling the girl's drink and then pulled me to the girl so I'd get the blame. So I ended up talking with this girl and her friend for a bit and amongst their stories found out that the one girl lied to me about her name. That annoyed me and I wanted to exit their presence immediately but they beat me to the punch with "I'll be right back." Yeah, right. Non rompere le palle!

We were going to call it a night but Tyler really wanted to go to the Clairmont Lounge. Apparently, it is ranked in the top 10 places to go in Atlanta. Kate told us that it is really disgusting and you'll get images in your head that will be burned there for eternity they are so nasty. She summed up her comments with, "You have to go though! It's where strippers go to die." Unfortunately, that wasn't far from the truth.

My roommate slept all day and when I got back he was awake and packing his stuff. It was 3 AM and he was going to leave at 7 AM. I was pretty tired and went right to sleep but it was strange because when I went to sleep all of his stuff was there and when I woke up, it was all gone. I think that is when it really hit me, that I won't be coming back and living at Tech anymore. This past week, I've been taking more walks around campus to try to remember as much as I can and to also recall memories. It is a strange mix of feelings...like peanut butter and strawberries. It is a combination that you think could never exist and yet probably does. I'm so ready to be out of here and out of this city. I'm ready to see my family and take a break. I'm also thinking to myself, "Ok, what now?"

I'm going to miss a lot of people here and I wish we would all stay in touch but I know from past experiences (High School, each year of housing residents, study abroads, etc.) it is really hard to do. I believe finding the right combinations of methods of communication and time is one of the biggest driving forces in any relationship. Since a lot of my friends are not in hanging-out distance, the easiest thing for me to do is email or update my blog. But I don't really like doing this blog so much because there is very little feedback and I love to listen. It is quite difficult for me to keep writing emails or letters and not get any kind of response. Then, there are always those people that you kind of know, that you would like to get to know better but how much time and effort are you going to put in and if they aren't around, will anything even come of it?

I'm really interested in meeting people and finding out what they are about: what motivates them, why they believe what they believe, why they feel how they feel. I wonder where that curiosity comes from. At the same time, I feel like I'm always in the moment and I forget so much. Its almost like my education and culture have taught me to be as efficient as possible. The way I categorize things in my mind is sometimes totally different that someone else. I've heard so many great stories and I'm intently involved in them when I hear them. It has happened to me on numerous occasions that I will "forget" that story because of the way that person identifies it - the label they give it. "Did I tell you the Wal-Mart story?" Or they might name it by a character in their story that I have not met in real life. I say "forget" because apparently you never really forget anything, you just assocate/store it differently. My brain must associate that character by something else than his/her name. I think it is by the action s/he took or the feeling evoked. Who knows?

The point is, every relationship is a commitment but neither party really knows what the commitment involves - they figure it out on the way. Communication is also figured out along the way and how one communicates effects the degree of commitment. Every person is different and has his own mode for doing so. It is no wonder that even though there are so many people, there are very few who you can call your real friends. Yet, everyone is always changing, and those that can still understand and appreciate you as you change and who you can appreciate when they change are the hardest to find. I wonder if at the end of my life when I reminisce on relationships who I will value the most.

Anyway, I have rambled too long. The current plan is to work on my portfolio and project for Claus until Wednesday and then go live with the family. I start my summer job sometime in June I believe and during the summer I'm going to look for an international job. I don't really care where, but given a choice: New Zealand, Iceland, Italy, Puerto Rico, or Brazil would all be fantastic. I'm still planning on doing the Peace Corps or something like that. I'll be back in Atlanta in August for Chris' wedding and I guess we'll go from there. All I really want to do is veg out and watch movies or go see friends. But now it is time to reorganize my goals!!!