Research Week 2 Summary

Podshare

Podshare is a 'hostel' company that is attempting to put a twist on typical hostel typology, out of San Francisco, I believe. They offer a communal type of sleep space where you get a bed, TV, some storage on one side, but on the other is a hall with other roomies. There are also bunk beds above them. They provide towel, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, wifi, community kitchen, bathroom, shower, computer station. Their mission was to "create more privacy than traditional bed, without closing like a Japanese capsule". Their plan is to build a network of these across the country. There is also a membership number that is unique to the user, it is theirs for each future podshare experience. In the time they have been in operation, 90% of the users have been travelers, 5% temporary housing, 5% transitional housing. The overall goal was to give a sense of authorship to the hostel experience while offering a communal experience.

Takeaways - I wonder how much justice the sleep aspect of this set up is given as you sleep with an open view to complete strangers. I know, I know, we're all friends, but as far as SLEEP goes, it should be no doubt a safe environment. I get excited for things like this because just imagine the ideas that are allowed to be exchanged. If they are successful in given people what I have been calling 'faculty', the sense of feeling in control of your lifes actions, If they are able to achieve this, and everyone feels expressive, the ideas would be beautiful. But... travelers in general that would sign up for something like this would already be willing to be expressive. I am wondering how to enable the average work a day person to appreciate this type of lifestyle. I am wondering if a situation of 'vagabond' life could be attractive as a life for someone who isn't already a rebel. MAybe I'll be wondering that forever.

Villa Spatiale

This was a concept by Yona Friedman in which the city becomes more compact and goes upward. It would essentially be a grid of cubes suspended above the ground level where people are allowed to plan their own housing. He believed in a 'fundamental right of self expression'. He believed the flexibility of a housing situation enhanced the freedom of choice for the individual.

Takeaways - I began my thesis with the idea that life was for the ground plane, and rest was for the vertical. That is what drew me to this mans work. The 'cages' he designed were purposefully giving the ground for trade, activity, sharing of ideas, while the sky was reserved for the individual. I will probably research him further into his ideas for self expression and the like.

Adolf Loos - Architecture 1910

Adolf Loos wrote an essay talking about the profession of the architect. He broke down the difference between the master builder and the architect. The builder takes the present and puts a building together only for the purpose of usefulness. It is a more scientific process. He believes the architect is tainted by 'ornamentation' and indoctrination. The architect worries about how their building stands in relation to the history of buildings and other buildings in other parts of the world. The architect also seeks validation in publications. Both of these aspirations are detrimental to the actual building that is being put up, as long as he receives acclaim, he doesn't care if the building performs.

Loos also spoke on culture. His definition is: Culture: Balance between our physical, mental and spiritual being which alone can guarantee sensible thought and action. So basically, being in touch with the vibration of the universe and being present. This flies in the face of the way most of us think about culture and tradition. We generally call something traditional or cultural if it is what people do over and over again, usually non-essentially, artfully. But Loos is saying culture is alive and it is only in the present, you are culture.

Another point he made that I liked was; Only the real example has the power to influence as opposed to drawings or publications. This means only the built form, only the object can teach, not the article talking about the object. That is the purest communication. So to build for validation of publication and to 'get your work out' doesn't mean anything according to Loos, because those that might know your building on a web page can't 'know' your building in the real sense of all 5 senses.

Takeaways - I like his definition of culture. We are all futurists, some of us are in denial though. As people, our natural desire is to do things that matter, that other people notice. To exist. So why would people be so quick to be 'traditional' to 'blend in'? I don't know. I wish I could figure it out. Now, I'm not saying be different for sake of being different, but let yourself lead your way and do new things if your essence wills it. I bet if you knew that doing something new would win you acclaim and validation everyone would be 'avant-garde'. But for some reason, general culture is geared towards acceptance of sameness. To make sure I am 'normal'.

Here what I have to say about that:

If you can feel the warmth of the sun on your face, and think 'I feel the sun on my face', then that is all the culture and tradition you need. You are human, move on and create new!

The Lottery of Birth

I don't really remember the details of this documentary, but it mainly just validated everything I've been thinking about. Here is the imdb summary:

THE LOTTERY OF BIRTH is the first in a three-part documentary series entitled 'Creating Freedom' exploring the relationship between freedom, power and control in Western democracies. The series draws together interviews with some of the world's leading intellectuals, journalists and activists to offer an alternative perspective on today's society and the future we're creating. We do not choose to exist, or the environment we grow up in. Our starting point in life is one of passive reliance on forces over which we have no control. THE LOTTERY OF BIRTH shows that from birth onwards our minds are a battleground of competing forces: familial, educational, cultural, and professional. The outcome of this battle not only determines who we become, but the society that we create.

Takeaways - There were some ideas sparked about 'other-culture' as I have been thinking about it. There just needs to be an option of systems, that's all I want.

It's a Wonderful Life

1940's movie centered around a man that had to put off his dreams indefinitely to help others.

Takeaways - It was a nice movie, but it was kind of haunting that he had to be happy with his struggle, I guess I am used to the completely happy ending model. I guess the takeaway was that life has achievements that aren't as clear as winning a gold medal. The struggle is the achievement? And you can't know that until you die? Ahhh.

But anyway, during the movie, he was a man that gave people loans for houses. He was honestly for the goodness of people, whereas the other man in town was the classic heartless developer. It shows a sort of example of the choice I've been going on about. The bank the main character had wasn't the best about getting the money out, but it was more of a communal system, whereas the heartless guy's was secure and everything. The main character even went so far as to build a tract of houses for the community at discounted rates. Imagine the unity and culture of the place with that amount of shared trust.

Research Week 1 Summary

Minimally Invasive Education-

The idea is that learning isn't something that needs to be forced, and that learning is something that transcends class. These slum children were able to conceptualize and learn 'advanced' material simply through curiosity. Incentive isn't a monetary monopoly. Existence is the umbrella. He talked of a self organized learning environment in which the children were able to set up their own path.

Takeaways- Imagine these children setting up a new system? Imagine these SOLE's outpacing traditional education time and time again. This could change the entire discourse on education and be a rumbling for culture. Now given FACULTY, these children will grow up and discern the world in a refreshed angle, rather than racing to conform.

Utah Homeless-

The state of Utah has a program to offer people homes with no strings attached. There is a program they are recommended to undertake but there is no pressure as there will be no revocation of their residence. The article states that it costs $16k to deal with a homeless person, and $11k to simply house them. The striking piece of the article was the reformation it talked about in addicts and abusers.

Takeaways- I believe there will be a day when we are able to realize that offering instead of coercing people will be the obvious choice in creating a safe and happy society. When people are given the option to do as they please, they feel a sense of responsibility to be part of the caring community that gives them life. That's why religion works so well.

POL- Degeneracy-

Common people in a forum taking about why culture sucks. They often came to the same conclusion that the economically driven projects squeeze out the value in suburbs, strip malls, etc. While these things are more convenient and are better for your dollar, they inevitably leave something to be desired. Life is a hard thing to build. They also touched on how beautiful the old town squares were. I think this has to with care in building and the closeness and accessibility of the places there.

Takeaways- Common people do feel the loss of bad design. Design is important in part because people feel their identity tied to it. They mentioned feeling like their civilization had gone to shit. They kept bringing up other civilizations like the Romans and Renaissance as envy. There is a fundamental problem when  you have present civilians wishing they lived in the past. There is so much opportunity given our technology to create for ourselves a much truer representation of the life we'd like to lead. And yet the designers who society has trusted to deliver are coming up short.

TEDx Tiny House-

Housing Cost is on average 27% of Income, we spend 2 of 5 of our working days paying for our house. Average house costs $50,000 for a down payment. A tiny house costs $35,000. Since 1973 housing size has increased 60%, while our households are smaller. Were given around 30'x30' per person. He talked about the proximity to others fostering relationships. Families now live in the same house technically, but have enough space to avoid each other.

Takeaways-  Why are we so easily fed this culture of living in castles? Do we really stop to think why we need the space we have? Can we think how oppressive too much space can be? We are so afraid of not having, that when we do have, we make sure we have too much, just in case. This addiction is so bad that we crashed the economy in 2008 buying McMansions, for no reason! They weren't good Architecture, the neighborhoods were sterile, there was no culture going on. But the prospect of being a land-owning lord was so attractive. These tiny homes give faculty, as they provide adequate housing needsm freeing up obligations and resources to maintain a cavern and allowing you more time to explore your world. Paying less on a house in turn frees you to change houses and dare to change your life more easily. More change, more expression, more culture.

Torre de David-

This is a community that has arisen in light of a financial meltdown. They occupy a tower that was going to be built for banking that stopped production halfway. The people in the community initially had the place rent free and there was a dangerous mood in there. But, it was still better than living in the slums. They eventually established a communal leadership system which was able to rid the community of bad things. The people here do not have to worry about break-ins and theft, etc. There is a bond of trust. There are many services and activities that occur here. Inhabitants are tasked with building their own dwellings.

 Takeaways- Imagine the view of the world the children of this place will have existing in a communal society that has built them. They have watched everyone around them have faculty and build their own dwellings. They have seen everyone 'employed' with different tasks and making their own way. What happens to culture here? Will people feel the need to hang onto old habits given a completely new paradigm (that is vertical!). Can this tower become a bastion of culture and innovation? New music, dances, fashion, shoes. Imagine if a shoe is built to handle walking up all those stairs, and what the society could learn about shoe design from that endeavor and spread to the world.

Fred Hampton Speech - Power Where There's People-

Hampton speaks on building a society that is not under the thumb of another society. He mainly speaks of socialist ideals and the lengths needed to protect those rights. He speaks upon a global revolution of many downtrodden people from all walks of life, instead of just blacks in america. He pushes for a society that is not reactionary to the capitalism which puts them into the sad state, but a society that forgives and promotes love for all. The most intriguing element was the Breakfast for Children program. And oddly, how the government was shook by it. This program provided free breakfast for the neighborhoods children, fostering a sense of community and a platform for dissemination of helpful information.

Takeaways- Hampton was attempting, and to a certain extent creating a culture (not counter culture) in another culture. He was attempting to provide an option of life for people that had no choice. Freedom comes when given a choice. The odd thing is how frightened the government was about these communist ideals that were becoming very attractive to the downtrodden during this period. Were they afraid of not being able to control and subjugate these people anymore? What was the real danger? Sure, it is easy to pass it off as 'they are a terror group', but what Hampton was pushing for and later killed for was the idea of a peaceful community that could do for its own.

Imagine the pure culture that can arise when people are given the option of paths?

You could say we have that largely now, but when you really think about it, that freedom only exists outside the hours of 8-5. We only have one system of gaining a life for yourself. Which ironically is what capitalism fights against. Imagine having an alternate system of establishing a life for yourself besides slaves for a dollar? How happy would those that work be if at least there was the option to work or not. Coercion breeds oppression.

You could say that artists and the rich have the freedom to choose. I would disagree. Artists are paid at the end of the day by benefactors who have to use this one system. An artist can't be popular if he doesn't play to the desires of this crowd, and this crowd's desires are inevitably tied to the dollar. The same goes for the reach. The rich have had to contort their lives to take in a stream of cash from one system. Their desires have been marred by a life of constantly keeping up appearances. That is why culture has always came from the bottom. The bottom is where people have nothing to lose, so they may as well be expressive.

Black 2

I think what makes black is the desire to stunt. And this is not tied to race. It stems from a means of expression because the modes available to you to truly express yourself are not deemed useful or are not available. Our fashion is loud because it is one of few avenues to yell 'I matter!'. Our names are complex. Instead of stating our College on Monday Night Football, we state our High Schools, we want to leave a mark. We high-step into the endzone. We play our music loud to say, we are here, you can't shame me. We candy paint our cars and put 26 inch rims on them just so you turn your head.

In general, black does mainly deal with black people in America. We are in a rare case of not belonging anywhere. South Africans have tradition, history, pride. Jamaicans have their own country. Aboriginals may be slightly similar but they still have native status. We can't go to Africa because we have no mothers there. We live in the land where we suffered most and have no where else to turn.

Muhammad asked how long does it take historically to feel a tradition, or feel a sense of belonging, and I don't know. I think it takes something happening to identify with and take pride in. Black people don't have any of that right now. Athletics? It's so mirrors slavery it's hard to really feel prideful in that especially because we don't invent our own sports. And it is so often conflated with being an animal and being dumb, that it can't be a cure all.

The period during the Civil Rights Era was our proudest moment. We got something done, and we wanted more. There isn't actually much pride in getting people to just accept you, so far as allowing you to be part of their society. Government said, 'okay Negros, you can join us', but what if we just want our own? The argument for segregation gets interesting here. We had Black Wall Street and a vibrant culture when forced to do it ourselves, but at the same time it was ridiculously inefficient and completely unequal.

So after the Civil Rights Era, we decided to take it up a notch. Nation of Islam. Black Panthers. Many other organizations such as the Islamic Party, which is where I am a descendant. We even invented a holiday, Kwanzaa! These were the natural order of things, establishing a foundation to base yourself off of. And it was working, it was attractive. So attractive, the Government was legitimately concerned - COINTELPRO. That was a real thing. I'm convinced they made sure these groups appeared to eat themselves from within. 'Make them hate themselves, and look to us as the peaceful, righteous, path' Gov't said. Kanye said it best, the whole All Falls Down is so rich and precise. Kanye could have not written another rap and that would have been enough. 'Cause they made us hate ourselves, and love they wealth'. 'Even when your in a Benz, you're just a nigga in a coupe'.

So how did these groups fall? We were at the height of black pride, we had something to feel good about. We had leaders like Fred Hampton who advocated for a true culture building program that didn't concern itself with aligning or non-aligning with the 'white' way. Malcolm X shot. MLK shot. Fred Hampton shot, completely illegal. So we were scared and ran back to our normal roles collecting the scraps from the popular culture. And to completely blow everything to smithereens, CRACK happened.

So who really is going to care about extravagant things like establishing an identity when you have to worry about just getting out of the jails and projects? It became and still is a game of just reaching normalcy. You can't even think of being yourself until then. I've talked with Muhammad a couple times and he has said his main concern was to just not be poor. I went to college with that feeling as well. All I wanted to be was a shining example of a black man that isn't in trouble. But lately I have been feeling very empty having been able to reach a level where I can see what 'normal' life is like. Especially feeling that even when all your numbers line up, the fact that your background is different, you still can't truly participate in the culture you long for.

Now this is a feeling that a few of the population are even privileged to feel, most of us are either in the jailing system, dealing with hood problems, fatherless issues, substance abuse, have been sold the dream of material wealth, or have just accepted the role as 'house nigga'.

I never thought I would care about race as much as I do now. For as long as I can remember, my main goal racially was to show others blacks can be 'normal' too. Talking with Muhammad today, we both have felt the trap that exists there. You will never be normal. The best you can be is a good black that acts white. There is no such thing as a good black that acts black. 'Acting black' immediately bring up images of jungle behaviour, shootings, rudeness, danger.

So what is the point to all this? I think that as someone who has been fortunate enough to overcome the trappings of the 'system' (if you will), it is my duty to find a way to inspire new culture that isn't reactive, that isn't assimulative, but is simply pure. Expressive. My bet is that the advantage of the black experience is that we have less tradition and culture to hold us back from truly delving into ourselves and being who we want to be. We have the power to be the leaders of culture, and for the most part we have been, in a way. We can be the early adopters, there is no 'shame' we have to worry about bringing on our family.

Subversive - Counter Culture
Superversive - Reinforcing Culture

Think about the average white middle class family. Their main purpose in life is to keep up with the Jones'. It makes sense to them, it is what has been done forever. It is what all their relatives do except for their hippie uncle. They have their Christmas lights up right now, without thinking. They are superversive. Now Imagine a world where blacks are middle class and have the faculty to do as they please, live where they please, etc. I can't even imagine the culture that would develop there. Once you don't have to keep up appearances so as not to appear 'black', there is no precedent for what's next. What is the architecture of that typology? What is the fashion game like? What is the town layout like? Which sports would there be in the high schools? What type of shows would be on TV?

Just to reinforce, I am not speaking specifically to African Americans. I am speaking to the spirit of anyone who truly feels like they do not have a home, a mixed race, a poor white, anybody who feels let down by what society has promised them, gays, atheist, etc.

And I am advocating for these to be the leaders of culture. These have the freshest, most objective eyes in approaching new ideas and innovations.

The questions I want answers to are: 1. What is the best, most efficient way in promoting the feeling of faculty to express oneself? Fashion? 2. Where does culture and tradition root itself mostly? 3. Is it possible to engender in people a love for the scary/surprising/confusing? Is it latent within us?

Endnote - Some things happening that are important:
will.i.am - Puls, he is doing something along the lines of what I see doing
Kanye West- Donda, he is trying to make a design collective, has a open(?) studio in Chicago
Fred Hampton Speech - Rap Genius has the annotation, he has ideas I am trying to push for, and he started doing it e.g. Free Breakfast Program 

Press

They chose the exercise I designed as the thumbnail!

http://www.roanoke.com/news/education/christiansburg/high-school-habitat-builders-learn-about-sustainable-construction/article_a8f9e04d-d6b7-50ac-baf5-642adfe19cc6.html?mode=story

Get Rid of It

Do you know why houses are houses? They are essentially a place to store stuff. There was a point in which you needed space to store things like farm grain and food stuffs to survive the winter. We have moved past that. Yet, we only want BIGGER houses and then proceed to fill it with things just so it can be full! But once this occurs the virus has already infected the inhabitant. We are now a certified consumer. Not only must we buy things, we must show it off. We stop caring for sheer quality and start caring for sheer social statement. Housing becomes all about market. Clothing becomes fashion.

We need to shake it off, like Taylor Swift teaches us. Get rid of houses! Get rid of fashion! Get rid of status! We use these things to provide for us a sense of worth when we are lacking. This inevitably bites us later on when we get addicted to chasing status for status' sake and we lose the things that made us before we needed fashion to make up the gap. All we have left is the Gap (nice). 

Do you ever wonder why Jordans are so highly prized in the hood? It's because they are perfectly positioned at a price level and a status level. The ability of a hood nigga to get a pair of shoes whilst living in squalor is at the perfect limit. What's $200 when to actually move out of the hood would cost so muchore and would be so alien with not readily available results. When the chips are reallllly down, that instant gratification is sooooo sweet. And I get that. But it's still wrong, especially wrong for the sharks that feed off it. Nike! And now it's gotten to the point that the hood throws itself at these sharks rather than the other way around. Companies don't have to market towards the hood. They simply market, "your valuable if you have this". And then the hot hip hop song features a line with a brand name in it, always in a "I have this and you can't afford it" type of way. It doesn't matter if the aesthetic sucks or the shoes don't perform. Status said that these have utmost status, so therefore get these to achieve status....nothing more, you still have to pay your electric bill, Gucci will not bankroll that. 

Is there anyway for us lower people to stop trying to be like the high ones? Is there a way to fundamentally understand that the dreams they're selling us aren't real? Can we make our own culture? But Hasheem we have rap! We sold that. We have fashion! Not anymore, fubu is gone, now we glamorize obscure European brands. We have graffiti! Banksy. We have sports! When is the last time we invented a game? Or ran the league? 

We have World Star! Well...... we do. And we should be proud of it. There is nothing like world star hip hop. There isn't a video site that so acutely captures an essence of culture anywhere else. World star shows us that there is a third option. We don't have to be sell outs to the 'man' or be crushed by his system. We can celebrate ourselves for the benefit of ourselves solely.

Can we expand back into design with this spirit? Can fubu rise again? Imagine the low overhead of a fashion company. A small office space, some sewing machines, and some fabric. Just imagine how desirable would it be to have a distinct 'hood' clothing company that isn't trying to be nation wide. A company where people from the community come in, try their hand at clothing and hey, if it's successful, people in your neighborhood would say, "yo I just copped this new shaniqua piece". And it wouldn't be about status, it would simply be a nice piece of clothing. Slowly we create local typologies. A Charlotte fashion will be inherently distinct from a Seattle fashion. 

Slowly we get our culture back, a culture that isn't in opposition or agreement with the 'man', but just 'is' independently. 

Fashion->Tools->Furniture->Architecture->Identity

The Camel Back Straw!

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/mercedes-making-self-driving-semi-change-future-shipping/?mbid=social_fb#slide-id-1584369

This is what will trigger the revolution folks. 2025, I fully expect this. All the truckers will be out of work, so many demographics this will cut through on a national/global level, we will be forced to rethink the idea of 'jobs'. They will fight efficiency, safety, for just the idea of having a job. And don't let there be a high profile truck accident anytime before 2025, this will trigger a quicker and easier push for the automation. It will be glorious. 

At Architecture

The human body can only do so much without the need for others. One cannot even write without the labor and energy of the universe around. One cannot eat, drink, love, without needing interaction. So what is there that solely affects our being?

Sleep. 

Sleep is how we spend 1/3 of our lives, it is how we rejuvenate and have the physical capacity to participate in our meta-physical endeavours. Can you have a thought without others? Does a thought exist if it is not enacted on another? Do you belong solely in your physical body, or are you scattered across the universe existing in the synapses of ideas that affect you?

Once the human capacity is reached, we are compelled to collaborate, for food, for shelter, for science, for comedy. This collaboration brings about innovation. 

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.”
-Bill Hicks

What is the hindrance to this? Misunderstanding of the sense of self, which breeds oppression. We’re led to believe we own things, and this is because others claim this and we don’t want to be on the other end. We equate ownership with existence. And that is the one religion that unites us: existence. So we hoard, we do not share, we put up walls and only let people in when they figure out our ‘friend’ puzzle. Those on the outside are then denied this collaboration, this heightening of existence. They are oppressed. The result is, they retaliate with their own walls. They retaliate with art, they retaliate with religion. 

Home is the heart of architecture. The importance of architecture is tied to how we live. How we live is tied to where we sleep. Were we sleep is what we call home. 

Home is where the center of hoarding has evolved to be. It is the place where your ‘friends’ are allowed. It is the place where you’re most intimate self lies, and conversely it is the place where you most want to show off who you are. 

So what we are left with is an oppressed communal self, and we are left with an oppressed central self. 

The solution is a simultaneous expansion and contraction of the idea of home. Our living room is our community gym; our kitchen is our neighborhood diner. Everyone becomes your best friend simply by existing. Our sleep is solitary, that space is our own, and it is all we need, no unwanted sounds, light, ideas, the ultimate secure feeling, to be naked without shame. 

How does this idea bump into the contemporary? What becomes of the architecture of the home? And finally, can architecture of a single unit enable expression?

The price of rice in China

So I presented my work for the first time today. I'm terrible at words when it comes to this idea I have. The problem is that I don't want to misrepresent the whole  of the idea, but the problem is I don't think my idea fits words exactly. It's a feeling that encompasses many many things going on at the same time. You could say I'm studying the communal sense of self. You could say I'm studying special oppression. But there are so many layers and definitions within those topics that only I have defined and the words I used to define them are tailored just for me. This is where I trip up. When people hear things like selfish, or hoarding, or communism, they get triggered to go on a tangent on their own.

So, suffice to say I looked and felt crazy today. :/

But after thinking about it, I think there was a success. A professor that I had always respected was talking to me about my project today and I was able to find her point where she started to push back. We are always told to think and let all the possibilities flow. But I was able to successfully peel back her layers and see where she drew her lines. Just a secret thesis study.

She gave me a very hard question to think about. So much so that I was sitting outside zoned out and a fellow student whom I didn't know remarked to me, "trying to untangled your thesis?"  I have been stressing about the possibility that my idea is not architecture related. Or perhaps, I am asking too much of architecture. I think that will be the question I will be attacking the rest of the year. The concept gives me a refreshing sense of absolute panic.

What if architecture is life? Is architecture only a coat of paint on culture and quality of life? Or can architecture spark innovation? Can it cleanse the soul in such a way that we lay down our weapons of religion, nationality, race and embrace each other as humans? And if it can't, what can?

The home is the heart of your meta existence. You go there every night and rejuvenate. Can a perfect setting center you in such a way to promote the communal sense of self? Can it put you in flow with the universe?

The price of rice in China should affect architecture. Can architecture be that sensitive to the exact time in which it is realized that it acts as a time stamp of mankind? Is that perfection? Beauty? 

Thesis Abstract

PART 1

GOD

God is real. God is everything that is, everything that was, and everything that will be. God is all knowing. Every leaf, every cell phone, every conversation. God is perfect. God is beautiful. God is amoral. God does not judge, God does not oppress.

Everything that happens is perfect; the infinite amount of factors that coalesce to produce reality all taking place in a unique spec of space time is exactly where it should be.  

Each and every one of us is a piece of God. Without any of us, He is incomplete. We are merely pieces encountering other pieces of the same whole.

SENSE of SELF - COMMUNICATION

While we are all part of the whole, we are tasked with finding our fit. Finding our fit is what we deem ‘happiness’, or ‘satisfaction’. Our Physical and Meta self is on a journey to do just that, since we are not dead we want to find our most alive. To do that, we Communicate: through words, running, eating, jokes, selfies, tweets, making a coffee table, breathing. We communicate with people, animals, grass, the street, the culture, stereotypes, assumptions, the future. We communicate whether we are aware of it or not. We strive to be all aware and all knowing. The pinnacle being a state where all the confusion, fear, and surprise of the world has been cleansed from our being. At that moment we are Present. At that moment we are Based.

IDEAS/MEMORIES

All we have are our ideas, and with those all we create are memories. Our physical being is there to facilitate these, acting as a production factory. We receive various ideas from various sources, comprehend them to the best of our ability, and then synthesize like and unlike elements to produce altered versions of those ideas.

Only the beautiful ideas enter and exit untouched, perfect.  

Without a physical potential met, we cannot receive or send these ideas without harming them with our imperfect perception. This is where physical intake is paramount in the food we eat. We literally are what we eat, and there is a specific formula of nutrients our body needs to run at highest efficiency.

For all of the rumbles and ripples we make in life, anything and everything only moves with memories. A non physical form of verifying existence. If an architect makes a bank in the center of town, it will be remembered by the construction workers, the quarry where the stone was taken to make aggregate, the town who deposits the funds into the bank, the banks headquarters in a big city. When the bank closes, the memory will move on to the tuition that was paid with interest collected in that bank, the salvaged stone that now lines the bank owners house, the road that had a turning lane put in because the bank brought other businesses to town.

The bank was put together by various forces of time and space and faded away bank into its maker.

HUMAN CAPACITY

While we are part of the whole, we are capable of an amount on our own. Our physical body allows us to jump so high, to sleep a maximum amount at a time, to run so many miles non-stop. At the same time, our idea factory allows us only so much meta existence during our life. If we are a celebrity we have the same influence as a hermit. They each influence the universe equally in unique ways.

From this, we only need so much space to live, so much air to breathe, for us to achieve our potential. We have an instinct to know when we have too much, we feel overburdened, or when we have too little, we feel trapped, both feelings are Oppressive.

SENSE of SELF – COMMUNITY

The human capacity limits us to achieving a certain amount on our own. However, just as ideas can move and grow between people, our identity can too. In a sense, you are what you identify with in others, what you subscribe to. That is the happiness felt when a ball team wins a championship, the town was part of their consciousness, so the town celebrates. This is why seeing someone in need makes you feel you are in need also because you see yourself in them.

It is only when we wall of our identity that we are able to oppress others; with ideas like nation, religion, race. Those who do not fit, no longer are part of us, and can therefore be denied existence.

SELFLESSNESS in DESIGN

Knowing that we do not exist in a vacuum, no one man is an island, we cannot approach design with a self aggrandizing mindset. The very inputs that enable us to put the pen to the paper to produce the sketch have come from others. The art professor, the paper company, your parents who bore you and raised you. The based designer understands he is part of the continuum of space time and has a duty to produce the most perfected design to lift existence further.

If an architect designs a hotel, and it is perfect in every way, but it happens to have the same layout and aesthetics as the hotel across the street, he will be honored to deliver the result, to have contributed. Changing the design would lead to problems with the building, maybe unforeseen, only to achieve an inflated sense of existence.

ARCHITECT as FILTER

The architect acts as the filter. Sacrificing their desires for the perfect realization of the building. They must have enabled in them a perception of the desires of the count­less aspects, from client to contractor, from circulation to structure, to poetics of form, that come together to create the project. Once they are well versed in these desires, others can begin to trust the designer.

PERFECTING CRAFT

Once the designer is able to unmarry himself from the design, can he begin to perfect the craft. When concerned with getting new projects or keeping a name, the designer begins to be selfish and takes short sighted routes when building. The designer is only concerned with achieving universal perfection.  

THE SHOULD

Now, the designer could design anything and it would be, by definition, perfect. The question that arises is the Should. The designer could scribble anything, but he would not know how it would be perceived to reality. When the designer has squeezed out all of the surprise in the reveal is when the designer knows he should have designed it that way. If an architect designs a bridge and it is perceived as a hate symbol when it is erected and immediately torn down, he should have known it to be so and changed the design. While the bridge was perfect, it did not achieve what the designer had in mind.

 ****************************************************

PART 2

GOAL of a NATION

Physical things are what drive our Meta existence. And to a nation, natural resources control theirs. History will show, countries came to be identified from their natural resources and the communities it furnished, turning into borders. Now, the countries have scarce resources with which to trade with others nations, and the scarcer/more important the resource, the better deal for the giver. Problem is, resource importance changes with technology. At one time a spice trading nation could rule over many people, but as knowledge of spice farming increases, the market doesn’t need to trade it anymore, rendering the country powerless.

The goal of a country is to milk the trade of their resources until they become the bastion of innovation. Once they can innovate, they can steer the new technology to change the resource game in their favor. And a nation will use any means to keep up this dominance: War, Propaganda, Ethnicity, Religion, Alliance, Embargo.

The grand hope of the nation is for its citizens to exist fully. The problem is that the idea of a nation itself puts up walls to prevent others outside of the nation to contribute to the full existence. The idea of a world nation is the only way to erase Oppression, and strive for complete existence.

OPPRESSION CYCLE

Oppression happens when the forces of the universe aren’t allowed to achieve their full existence.

Ignorance -> Oppression -> Lies -> Oppression -> Lies - > Oppression…..

The beginning of oppression is when someone means well, but they are ignorant of the desires of others, or the desires themselves are ignorant. In example, a benevolent king gifts his subjects with goats. The goats end up destroying their homes. The subject have been oppressed, they will want retaliation. They retaliate, setting off a chain of counter-strikes. Now, if the subject knew the king meant well, they couldn’t be mad, and if the king knew the goats would destroy the town, he wouldn’t have done it. But once an issue arises that is unsure, we use retaliatory tactics to quickly solve the uncertainty.

Oppression also gives rise to lies. An oppression-less world has no need to lie, everyone can be themselves and be accepted. Lies serve to even the score in a physical or meta way. Lies can be in the form of art, as in a revolutionary painting drawing attention to government corruption, lies can be in the form of entertainment to make you forget your situation for a moment, lies can be in the form of religion to tell you there is a greener pasture.  

Is there a way out once oppressed? Knowledge heals the wounds of oppression and cuts the lies right at the source. There is no opposite of oppression except not being oppressed and arriving back there is a slow return.

CAPITALISM

Capitalism is the strategy for a nation to use competition to achieve innovation. Capitalism is inherently inhumane and implodes on itself unchecked. Capitalism does not care for quality of product, or for innovative measures, if it doesn’t produce profit. The goal of a capitalist is money, not existence, forgetting money is only a means. The only measure in which capitalism can survive is to balance it with Communism. And while Communism produces false markets and price vagaries, it gives rise to the Communal Sense of Self which we use to push forward our ideas and existence.

AUTOMATION

Man has strived to simply make life tasks simpler and easier in exchange for the ability to experience more and learn more about existence. This has been the human condition even before humans broke into their own species.  Automation has always been a ‘good’, but in a capitalist based society, it spells disaster.

Before heavy mechanization, a tribe lived in coordination with their neighbors. If someone needed help, the community felt it as their identity to help them. If someone needed a house, the town built it, only expecting future reciprocation in return. Any improvement in society has made new tasks available to be completed. This had been going on for centuries with an ample amount of tasks to be completed by a full work force. Therefore, we established a society centered on jobs for the sake of doing your part to help the community forward.

We are arriving at the point where we do not need employment to live. Food is plentiful, houses are available/or easy to build, knowledge on health is readily available…. Except in a capitalist country, we are bound by money and a job obligation to enjoy the fruits of this labor. We have been fed the ‘earn what you work for’ doctrine since birth. That should have been a temporary mantra for a greater goal of providing our communal whole with more potential existence. This job contract leads to resisting the thought of being jobless because of improvements in technology, which leads to resisting innovation.

LACK of INNOVATION

As jobs become more and more reserved for those in intellectual fields, those with jobs in the intellectual field hold on tighter to what they have. Instead of trying out a new, brave idea, they would rather produce a fail safe answer, produce another superhero movie that can’t fail at the box office. Companies will be averse towards making products that improve life if it means losing money. Those geniuses without intellectual jobs will waste away shoveling coal, instead of pushing existence for all. Capitalism will behave like a pendulum without a communal counter weight. Eventually Comcast will stop providing internet service since no one uses it and will go into commodities like apples to make a profit. We will shrivel back to food and shelter with money as the goal.

PIGEON-HOLING of ARCHITECTURE

Along with the stalling of innovation in many other fields, architecture will suffer/has already begun to suffer. To be able to have the freedom to design, the client has to be from money. The problem with that is those with funds are not centered in regard to necessity. They are in love with accepted norms, for they are the progenitors of those norms. They cannot be seen with a house that has the chance of being mocked, their worth depends on others acceptance. Therefore, in order for the architect to eat, the design must reflect these wishes and contain a fake brick façade when in reality the building wants a metal one.

Architecture almost has no choice in being aligned with money. The backward bit is that the progenitors of culture are usually the Oppressed. Those that have to have an outlet because they are not able to achieve more fulfilling dreams. So they dominate the arts: music, athletics, food, dance. They push that envelope because it is the only one you can’t price. The architectural result is stagnation as the underlings are shoved into dwelling painted to look ‘rich’ as if that’s the goal. Any design genius will either come from one of these dwellings with tainted views on architecture or will already be pigeon-holed to conform to them.

HOUSING

A home is the heart of architecture. It is inward. It is the most intimate space we inhabit. It is where we can lie down and feel safe. It is where we center ourselves to face the outside world anew. In today’s world a house is a trading piece, it is a status symbol, it is an outward portrayal of self worth. It has the power to cause recession. People spend 30 years paying someone to live in their home, worrying about the next month’s payments for all of their adult life, never able to completely feel it is their space.

Without this place of solace, one cannot center. This oppression causes unforeseen consequences and indulgence in artful activities. Architecture becomes an afterthought, it is a pipe dream.

****************************************************

PART 3

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE to UNOPPRESS?

As we have progressed in regards to providing for ourselves, we have increased what we deem basic human rights. With the capitalism pendulum stopping and about to begin its backwards swing, we must expand basic human rights to enable innovation. This would include healthcare, food, and housing—for free.

FREE HOUSING?!

A BASE HOUSE designed to achieve a maximum inward centering would cause a ripple effect throughout the nation. Ideas would be free to be expressed, shame would fade away, communities would grow and the sense of self would be allowed to wander beyond the confines of the physical body and into the meta of a communal whole.  

HOW?!

A nation has to recognize the benefit of trusting its citizens instead of forcing. It has to remember what a nation is, a family bettering itself towards finding itself, towards pushing existence. It has to sponsor the basic rights and it has to trust the designers to deliver. 

Corporate Creeping

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/16/starbucks-free-college-tuition/10569971/

Interesting

Soon....

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2014/06/12/of-course-noone-is-buying-average-cost-of-new-home-is-6x-median-income-n1850615/page/2

Thesis will be glorious

American Track Club 3: Rough Draft Chain of Events

-Year 1-

In the fall, the league will set up the 16 cities to host teams. The agents of athletes will be contacted to request their athletes join the league. A draft of sorts will be held to select these athletes. The rest of the roster spots will be filled with local athletes.

Come spring, the athletes will come to the localities to train. The athletes will have travel, meals, lodging, paid for on the weekends of the meets. The teams will travel Saturday, and compete Sunday. This leaves time for unsigned athletes to work regular jobs. To the athlete and agent, this will be an improvement from having to foot the bill for getting into meets. The fans will get in free to the meets and the web casts will be free on FloTrack. By time the Championship rolls around, the buzz for the league will have pushed NBC Sports Network to broadcast that meet.

After the season, the athletes will have now gained much recognition. They will be invited to more meets with bigger purses. America will be able to host bigger meets because more fans will show up during the summer.

The league wide operating costs will be $3 Million.

-Year 2-3-

The athletes will now see their profiles rise. They will want pay and the sponsors and owners will see the cost benefit to honor this. The league implements a $4k season salary for each athlete. Top athletes would want more money and to feed this feeling, the meets would now offer cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, in individual events. The webcasts now are paid subscriptions. The meets now cost money to see. And a deal with NBC Sports Network has been signed for 1 meet a week for the season. Fan interest rises, more athletes are finding opportunities in track to compete in the US.

The league wide operating costs will be $10 Million.

-Year 4-6-

USATF and IAAF are now intrigued. They now promote this league and now international athletes begin to request admittance. The hard-working part time job athletes are beginning to get squeezed out. NCAA athletes are coming out of college expecting to be drafted into this league. Profits are now rising pretty well, the athletes can expect to make an average of 15k from the 5-7 week season. The individual clubs are now being bought out by bigger companies and sponsors. The groundwork is being laid for a better infrastructure of track in the USA. New stadiums, better research into the sport, better technology. Championship is now on NBC. 

The league wide operating costs will be $25 Million.

American Track Club 2: Rough Draft Reasoning

The American Track Club offers a story that the sport lacks. As of now, the meets are meaningless unless it is the Diamond League circuit, and even then the fans will only be watching one meet that doesn't have the same events from week to week, no cohesive conclusion to the meets. The fan will just watch a smattering of individuals with no real sense of understanding what their times and distances mean in the long run or short run. The reason the Olympics is such a great meet to watch is because you have a team to root for, no matter what event it is. Once the team brand is identified, the fan can then be interested in knowing the individual athlete.

The ATC offers the fan a team from their city to root for. They will begin to care about the individuals of the track world once they have done something for their city. Now you don't have to be the 5 people in the USATF that are the most popular to get your brand out there. The smaller time athletes will be able to network with the bigger athletes and showcase their talents for 5-6 weeks in the spring to coaches or sponsors. And since you are competing for a locality, smaller sponsors will want to but their brand on the athlete to market intra-city.

For the elite athlete, this league will not be a hindrance to their season, it will be a 6 week training camp. For example, Christian Taylor is selected by the Atlanta Track Club to compete in the Triple Jump and run the 4x400m. He will only have to do 4 jumps and 2 races, for 6 weeks in a row. The performances are less important, it is more about points, so only when he has stiff competition does he risk high octane performance from his body. He will train in Atlanta during this time and build networking and camaraderie amongst fellow athletes. Track already has a great reputation for this, it would only expand it. Taylor would also feel a sense of purpose during these meets instead of a very personal and unique purpose that comes with racing unattached as a pro.

Finally, the ATC is the profit model that track needs. Pure track and field is primal to man, anyone easily understands the premise of track. However, the pure track meet is quickly uninteresting because in non-championship meets, the motives behind the athletes are unclear to the spectator. There are countless heats and flights. One great performance is quickly forgotten and overall meaningless to the rest of the meet. The ATC provides the meaning, every jump, every race, every throw, is adding towards this final conclusion that the spectator can share in. Once the fans attention is grabbed, the sponsors will take notice and begin to market towards them through the athletes. Now an athlete that isn't an Olympian, but is a hometown hero can get a shoe commercial because the whole city knows who he is. Health and Fitness are huge industries and track athletes are the perfect models, but the recognition is lacking. And if the USATF plays their cards right, this league could raise the attention of track in general and lead to increased appreciation of USA Championships/Track and Field in the USA in general.

And once the attention gets to a national consciousness level, the sponsors and media networks will provide enough cash-flow for the athletes and the league. All of a sudden, elite athletes will expect to get in this league to augment their income, athletes from other countries are now trying to get their shot in the league. The talent level is now crawling with Olympians and the fans cannot get enough of it. The fans do not care about PR's, but WR's and NR's do get attention. They care about winning. Once they have winners, the marks will start to make sense. The league will get to the level of MLS and Track will be the 3rd or 4th sport in some cities. 

American Track Club 1: Rough Draft Synopsis

-The American Track Club is a track and field league comprised of 16 track clubs across the country
-Each club is Womens and Mens, but will compete separately during meets as far as points and season standings go
-Each team has a roster of 20 athletes competing in 13 events
-The 16 clubs compete in quad meets, 4 teams in each meet. At the end of the meet, the team with the most points will have a record of 3-0, then 2-1, 1-2, 0-3
-The 16 clubs are split up into 4 geographic divisions.
-The Club will has 22 meets over 7 weeks from March-April. This schedule does not interfere with Indoor Worlds, and the Diamond League if at all possible.
-The schedule is arranged as such by week:

1. Open Meet- compete against only other divisions
2. Compete with other divisional opponent plus another 2 from a different division
3. ''
4. ''
5. Division Championship - All teams in the division compete against each other, winner goes on to compete in the National Championship
6. National Championship
7. All-Star Meet - The top 8 marks in each event will be invited to compete in this meet, no team scoring just individual champions

-Big Change to traditional athletics is events in the meet and brevity of schedule, will consist of:

-Marathon (1 heat of 8 each, Marathon will have 1 competitor from each team, men and women running at the same time)

-Sprints: 100m, 400m, 4x400m, 110/100 hurdles (1 heat of 8 each, 4x4 will only have 4 teams)
-Distance: 1500m, 5000m, (1 heat of 8 each)
-Jumps: High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault (3 attempts in prelims, 1 re-ordered final)(3 misses in PV and HJ, but a competitive starting height)
-Throws: Shot Put, Hammer Throw(Maybe Javelin instead)(3 attempts in prelims, 1 re-ordered final)

-Meet Expected to last alittle over 4 hrs, TV broadcast of 3 hours, Web to simulcast all events in separate cameras

• Fan gets used to standard schedule, attention span will be kept
• Less events, able to follow easily
• Phone/Tablet App, Clear Standard ATC boards in stadium, Involved announcer, Active website

Events Scored:
1st-10
2nd-8
3rd-6
4th-4
5th-3
6th-2
7th-1
8th-0

Marathon:
1st-6
2nd-4
3rd-2
4th-0

4x400m:
1st-10
2nd-6
3rd-3
4th-0

-Teams-

Yes!

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/04/15/how-a-chinese-company-built-10-homes-in-24-hours/

The automation of architecture is on the heels of being reality. It would seem I should be against this as architecture is supposed to be romantic and human. I had a long talk with a dean of architecture a couple years ago about the future of architecture and they were dismayed by the machinistic future of home building. I see it as a great invention. The easier it is and cheaper it is to make the basic form and space of the house, the further we can push the smaller details and concern ourselves more with the environmetnal and siting of the building to perfectly fit into the landscape. It will enable us to build communities as a whole much more efficiently. And personally I would like to think it turns the consciousness of the house archetype from 'mine' and 'unique', to a more utilitarian and communal necessity. 

Star of the Week

Shareef. What a guy. He is actually reinvigorating me to get back on my design horse and get these freaking ideas out of my head. I miss when I was 15, I spent all my free time either playing my football league or better yet making animations and games. It was so exciting and mostly about the process. The end result was always desired, but I miss the excitement in thinking and rethinking new ways to get the design done and improve on it. Lately, I have been trying to tackle php to get a much needed face-lift to my dodgeball league. I have been kinda frustrated with myself with how distracted I get when I am looking at the computer screen and hit a speed bump. The drive to find the solution has softened and now I just distract myself from the problem. But I have so many ideas for the DBL I need to see realized, I can't afford this apathy!! I know this seems crazy, but the real, far reaching goal is to increase my efficacy in what I see as a design tool. I plan to implement what I learn on PHP into my design thesis, and probably use as like an automatic house designer­™.

Endnote- I need like understudies and workers, too many ideas, too little time

Mirror

What is the morality of a mirror? Of a brushed steel facade? What does it say? What are its fears? What is it trying to hide? A mirror wants to make you look at yourself, and while this may seem mean, the mirror is really shy. It does not want anyone to gaze upon it, so it deflects back any extrospection and tries to blend in with the environment. The mirrored facade is not only hiding what is behind it, like an opaque unbrushed metal, but it is also trying to trick you into thinking for a second that nothing is there at all.

So, the morality of a mirror is something that wishes not to exist. Or distort its and others' existence.

PS- this isn't true, but it got me thinking today

Rust

That's the color right now. It was faint sea green from about March 2013 to October 2013. then black took hold strong. It will always hold strong actually. But for now, the color is rust. Not just one particular color, but just how rust exudes truth with such a bright hue often times. 

What is the morality of rust? I look at rust as the universe clearly correcting man often times. But it feels strongest when you can trust that it was intended by the designer. Especially I like when he designer can plan for the rust to take hold rather than pre-rusting which is lame. 

Endnote- but all of that is just my un-based opinion. Everything that happens is perfect, it's my fault for not understanding differing opinions and having hate for others because that ultimately reflects to me not understanding myself. But alas I will keep pushing.

Suburbs

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/nulll/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html I have retreated from thinking about this stuff, but I kinda need to get back on that pony. There will soon be so many questions of public space and design needs when we have to move closer together.

Thesor

I need to let my idea become bigger than my personal short comings. The process has to be unaltered by my tainted filter. If I need to interview 100 people on the street for my project, I need to become the person that does that. If I need to chain myself to a street sign in downtown I have to let the project live through me and comply. I am not my project. I am a unique idea, my project is a unique idea, but the physical filter of myself must make way for the project to exist. So what becomes of me? I don't know. You could say I become my project. But maybe I will be just floating through others' thoughts and ideas until my physical self is ready to pick me up again. Only problem is, that idea I let go is unique in time and space, so the return of me will inevitably be new. Anywho, what I'm trying to say is my physical self has to envelope the meta of my project idea while either shedding my former self, or perfectly aligning my meta to the idea. 

I want revolution. Not for the sake of revolution but because we all live in a new unique time. Our design ideals cannot dwell on past traditions or knowledge, that stifles the truth. The truth is that we are always confused, scared and surprised, but we run to these traditions, this art, to make us feel comfortable. 

I watched a video about an architect out of NYC and he said something that really hit me. He said something to the effect that what holds us back from embracing others and embracing new paradigms is that we always have this idea of home that we want to run back to. This stifles us from realizing we are all one existence, we can't hoard our existence in our 'homes' and expect the universe to be kind. 

People are Important

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1wwsaj/whats_the_hardest_thing_you_have_to_accept_right/

It is interesting to see the things people really care about. There is so much "stunting" as I like to call it in everyday talk and actions, twitter feeds and facebook statuses. It is nice to see how important things are to the individual. It shouldn't be surprising, most things were best friends, lovers, jobs, life trajectory. I guess I am enamored with how this highest of importances then trickles down to 'everyday' hobbies and habits. This is why it is dangerous to 'hate' someone or write someone off. Take time to realize what makes them, why they are striving for what they are striving for. I have come to the conclusion that I can't hate anyone. I wrote a friend about this months ago:

Theory: There is a possibility of an amicable bond between every two people.
-Since everyone is beautiful, misunderstanding of a person is an inward flaw.
-It is ones own fault if they cannot piece together and come to peace with the factors that drives the other person.
-One isn't seeing all the factors because of personal bias and personal dissatisfaction.
-Ultimately we exist within each other, so displeasure is transitive.

Presence?

Be confused, surprised, and scared.

Community

I think a nice thesis to examine would be the existence of 'community' in an ever automating world. For this past year I was so adamant about the farmers market, and a big reason was because of the community aspect. But in actuality farmers markets are non progressive when you break it down economically. 

Church can serve a huge role in establishing a consciousness of place. It is so convenient because these people believe in the same principles you believe in down to the entire meaning of life! That is a strong bond, and it is very easy to feel like those people are an extension if yourself. 

But what about the non religious, non farmers market, non soccer league, etc people? Will there ever be a platform where people from completely different backgrounds will come together and freely share (in a non violent tone) their vast array of opinions and desires? You could say it already happens on the internet, but for the most part the internet is what reddit calls a 'circle jerk'. It is so hard not to only seek out the perspectives that only validate yourself. 

But thinking about it, there is always something in common to begin with that makes people cross paths, and a lot of times the thing in common plays into much others things in common. So I guess the question is where is the place where everyone meets? Be it virtually or physically? They be at walmart? Football stadiums? Where does the old war veteran and young software tycoon sit down and enjoy each other without forcing it?

I am thinking it has to be a basic element of life. That's why religion can do it so well. A food hall? No, rich people would thumb their noses at that. A museum would seem like a kind of place for various people. Idk something that he human spirit will effortlessly flock to.

This has to be the year

All of my purism studies must come together in some way this year. This has to be it. Thesis is in 7 months, I want to get absolutely as much as possible out of a year of simply understanding what I want to contribute to design. I need to shape my habits now to have my brain ready to combine inputs into a perfect tapestry by August. I need this Sheem, and I know you have it.