Green Rascal Design

Today's blogoff discusses the difference, if there is any, between truth and fact, and what these things are.

I took some philosophy in college, and it was not for me. There. One fact and one truth. That wasn't so hard! The study of philosophy was fascinating. I liked reading it. Although I didn't like reading it multiple times in one week to gain any kind of understanding. The philosophy lectures were great. I really liked my teachers. Discussion classes were decidedly not great. They were the pits because for some reason, while I thoroughly enjoyed reading and listening to philosophy, I did not like discussing it at all. I got poor grades for participation. The other students were all philosophy majors, and they had LOTS of practice defining their terms and discussing rhetoric, etc. This is all the truth for me.

My teachers might have experienced a different truth, however. They had one architecture major in their classes, and that was a nice challenge for them. They got to enlighten somebody new. With a clean slate, they could introduce readings that other students already knew and disliked. They got to practice lecturing to a novice. Then they could hand me off to their teaching assistants for the real work. The teaching assistants got quite an experience trying to impart their wisdom to somebody who had no practice for a change. And they got to learn a little bit about architecture, which they knew nothing about previously.

Using examples such as these is the best way I know to talk about fact versus truth. In both cases above the fact was basically the same: that I took philosophy in college, and I was the only architecture student in those classes at that time. Whether I stated the fact completely in both stories is another matter - one left to the philosophy students I dare say. The truth is much harder to pin down because I believe everybody has their own truth based on their own histories and perspectives. I stated a true story in the beginning as seen from my perspective, and surmised what could have been a true story from the perspective of my philosophy professors. Whether the second story is actually true or not is up for debate. One can argue the relative possibility of story 2 to be true, or parts of it to be true. Nobody can debate my truth, though.

I believe it is true that this discussion is healthy at times like these. There are lots of good discussions to follow with respect to knowledge sharing and business models. However, I also think that too much of a good thing can be harmful. The fact is we seem to be having more and more philosophical discussions lately. I believe it to be true that at some point we need to take a break and get back to work. Well, at least I personally need to get back to work on something.

One might say that this time could be another period of enlightenment for those of us pondering what it means to practice design and/or how best to go about it given recent world events, but that's only true in my opinion. Who is with me?

Ideas are all around. I'm speaking of creative ideas, naturally. Ideas such as, "is this ball of wax that candle I had out last year?" aren't all that inspiring or worthy of conversation. (unless you're a philosopher) If you're a designer or otherwise creative being, then you thrive on ideas.

For a while I was fairly depressed and had no ideas. I had just been laid off, and my days consisted of searching for jobs to apply to. It was a bad time. Eventually I started networking and trying to participate in competitions and everything seemed just a little bit better. The difference was that I had "started dreaming again," in the words of my husband. Having creative ideas made a big difference in my mood.

In The Artist's Way, I was exposed to a lot of helpful ideas with respect to being creative and happiness and such. Taking myself out on an artist's date every once in a while started to sprout lots of little creative ideas. Now I find ideas in everything.

We had a big potluck housewarming party a month after moving into the new house. One friend brought trail mix and little cups to serve it in, and at the end of the party we had no trail mix and tons of little cups! Being a stickler for the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), I decided we should reuse the cups somehow. It was my first artist date when I decided to make a seed starting tray out of them. My husband had some cheap wood leftover from the crate his milling machine came in, so I poked drain holes in all the cups and then glued them neatly to the piece of plywood. This saved us a few bucks in seed starting trays and helped us start our first big garden the following spring!

Now I save peanut butter and jelly jars with the intention of someday making a sculpture or something out of them, but in the meantime they are used to mix paint colors for my spotty painting hobby.

Sometimes I think ideas come most freely when my mind is at ease. It seems all these ideas first happened in the kitchen. It is only fitting since it is the room of most creation (daily meals, cocktails). I'm not sure what it is about the kitchen that supports creative ideas. It's in the back of the house, so it feels protected. There are lots of horizontal surfaces to arrange things on. The window is big and bright. There are plenty of chairs to sit in and contemplate... Perhaps it has an auspicious location with respect to feng shui.

Today there is a lot of discussion about ideas and their origins, and I am looking forward to what other bloggers have to say about them. This rambling post is part of the Lets BlogOff, entitled "Where do you get your ideas?" So go take a peek at what everyone else has to say:

There are sooooooooooooooo many things to do! Prioritizing would be great, except there are lots of things that are equally important. So if I were to stop the world to get some things done, what would I do? Well the world would be stopped for quite some time!

 1  build chicken coop
 1.1  material takeoffs
 1.1.1  finish model
 1.1.2  detail model
 1.1.3  explode and calculate
 1.2  buy materials
 1.2.1  rent truck
 1.2.2  purchase materials
 1.2.3  get help
 1.3  construction
 1.3.1  panel assembly
 1.3.2  deconstruction of current coop
 1.3.3  construction
 1.4  finishing
 1.4.1  prime
 1.4.2  paint
 1.4.3  sprinkle fairy dust
 2  paintings
 2.1  get canvas
 2.1.1  choose size or sizes
 2.1.2  compare costs
 2.1.3  travel and purchase
 2.2  set up studio
 2.2.1  clean attic
 2.2.2  get a good lamp
 2.2.3  lay down drop cloths
 2.3  make a mess
 2.3.1  plan what to paint
 2.3.2  mix colors
 2.3.3  don't clean up
 3  invent
 3.1  doodle ideas
 3.1.1  keep pencil by bed
 3.1.2  write more stuff down/ keep journal
 3.2  make mockups/models
 3.2.1  get supplies and go for it
 3.2.2  reuse crap in basement
 3.3  play
 3.3.1  experiment
 3.3.2  make a mess
 4  draw
 4.1  stop and draw the roses
 4.1.1  get inspired
 4.1.2  start anywhere
 4.2  dream more
 4.2.1  meditate
 4.2.2  put off some chores
 4.3  explore
 4.3.1  go for walks - you used to love walks
 4.3.2  get back on the bike, stop and sketch
 5  ARE
 5.1  study
 5.1.1  pick a test and do a study plan dangit
 5.1.2  stick to it
 5.2  schedule
 5.2.1  make a commitment
 5.2.2  pay $$$
 6  business
 6.1  business plan
 6.1.1  write something down
 6.1.2  go back and edit whatever you wrote
 6.2  WBE certification
 6.2.1  put up list of necessary documents
 6.2.2  get help
 6.2.3  check things off the list
 6.3  swot analysis
 6.3.1  really think about shit for a change
 6.3.2  figure out who those dang ideal clients are
 6.4  network
 6.4.1  keep better track of people
 6.4.2  organize schedule
 6.4.3  get focused
 6.5  general office
 6.5.1  clean this mess up
 6.5.2  finish desk
 6.5.3  get a phone
 7  other
 7.1  tai chi
 7.1.1  practice more
 7.1.2  get more involved with school
 7.2  feng shui
 7.2.1  look into schools
 7.2.2  get some sort of certification
 8  garden
 8.1  drawing
 8.1.1  do an “as built,” correct current drawing
 8.1.2  maintain better plan, keep updated
 8.2  finishing
 8.2.1  belgian blocks
 8.2.2  mulch
 8.2.3  trim nasty hedges of doom
 8.3  recording
 8.3.1  take more pictures
 8.3.2  keep track of production
 8.3.3  can more

... So I guess that covers things for now.

This is a last minute blogoff entry. There are lots more interesting blogoff posts for this topic, and I encourage you to go check them out. Thanks for taking time out of your Tuesday to scroll through.

In my third semester architecture design studio, there was a project explicitly about baggage. We started out innocently enough thinking about our own baggage, and then we moved on to studying nomadic cultures. Our focus of research had been Somalian nomads. Our task was to literally design a bag or suitcase and the contents we would each put inside of it if we were refugees. I did very poorly on this assignment.

My bag was simple and clean. I still have it somewhere and now it is full of stuff. At presentation time it was empty, though. Back in the day I suppose you could say I had no baggage. Or maybe I was trying to pretend I didn't have any baggage. I didn't have any photographs or mementos in my bag. I didn't put any tools or clothes in there. It seemed to the professor that I hadn't really understood the assignment or the nature of the nomads we had studied. And I was a combative student - always trying to challenge the assignment. (I suppose it didn't help that the professor had a hidden agenda to fail all of us in the class.)

Like I said, now my bag has tons of stuff in it. Literally, I started saving every little thing: movie ticket stubs, parking passes, birthday cards, notes left on my desk in studio, fortune cookie fortunes... It's all in a box somewhere. Figuratively, I can't forget anything that made an emotional impact. It is more of a curse than a blessing, I think. Perhaps that will change. But I can remember all the hurtful shit people have said to me, all the times I got an award or sincere compliment, creepy things strange old men say, the looks on my friends' faces when I showed up to visit as a surprise, great advice and especially bad advice... It's all in my head.

Sometimes my husband is astonished that I remember the entire conversation we had about paisley shirts in our very early email conversations almost 4 years ago. Heck, my mom chided me for remembering crap my older sister said about my denim skirt to hurt my feelings back when I was 8 years old. They say to forget such silly things, but I can't. No matter how much meditation I try it always comes back. And I'm actually fine with it because, like in my third semester architecture studio, I'm still challenging what people tell me to do.

So I made an uneasy peace with my accursed memory and continue to save fortune cookie fortunes. Someday when I'm old maybe I'll make a big collage or series of collages of these things.


I'm looking forward to learning about some other people's baggage today. For some reason it fascinates me. I think these old things help me understand individuals better, and while I might get some details wrong about people I've just met, some pieces usually stick, and I like that. Do you remember the old saying about how some friends are there for a season, some you make for a reason, and some are there for a lifetime? I tend to have lifetime friends more than season friends, and even my reason friends I like to keep in touch with. Each person is a little treasure because they took the time to tell me about their baggage. lol.

Maybe I just like listening.


This post is for today's blogoff: What are you carrying? Hopefully you have time to check out what some other awesome bloggers are carrying today. Just follow the link to the blogoff page, and from there to the rest of today's submissions!

I've gotten a lot of advice along the way, and picking a single most important piece of advice seems daunting.

Older architects all say "draw more by hand." This is sometimes paired with, "go build something yourself." Ah, those were the days when one could spend all their time drawing and building things by hand. Personally, I don't have that kind of time anymore. The digital age is in full swing, and to deny it is death. As a young designer sometimes the only advantage I have is being able to learn and use advanced softwares in an impressively short amount of time.

There are other pieces of advice which are more readily adaptable to the current situation such as "follow through," and "be true to your word." Collectively I believe these kinds of lessons to be very valuable in life. Perhaps business is different. In business I have rarely been rewarded for being truthful, and it seems follow-through has gotten me bupkis as well.

Nevertheless, I think it is important to do what you say you will do, and do it when you say you will do it. It seems to me to be fairly common sense. The timing aspect of it requires more practice than I have had, unfortunately, and then it always behooves me to be honest and let whomever is depending on me know that I miscalculated when I would be done. Actually I'm usually done well before expected. That is probably why such honesty has been beneficial. I could just sit on my hands until the expected hour arrives, and get paid more for lying. Hardly admirable, such behavior never sat well with me.

Ultimately, the best advice I have ever gotten was from dear ol' ma. Among her many tips was this gem: "follow your heart." Or it was something like that anyway. She may have said "gut" a few times too. At the end of the day, if I have followed my heart then things usually work out for the best, and I am happy. A few times I have been forced by teammates to complete things in a way I would not otherwise do, and those projects always left a bad taste. My memory for such mistakes is incredible, and when those memories pop up it hurts me. So in all things I try to follow my heart and do what's right for me.

This advice works great on all kinds of things. Ever take a test where you second-guessed yourself and changed an answer only to find out you were right the first time? It used to happen to me all the time, and then I decided to just go with my gut. Ever get sorta lost in an area you should know better, and over-think what to do about it? Going with my gut always gets me to the right place, whereas being distracted or overly logical always gets me more lost. Ever want to go somewhere that your head said was too risky? Following my heart always lead to wonderful discoveries.

I wasn't going to post a blogoff today because I was busy earlier and hadn't prepared the post in the morning like usual. But who knows. I'm hoping that going with my gut this time will turn out to once again be a good thing.

Go mom!

I often wonder what it means to be creative. The Artists's Way talks about creativity like it is any other skill. You have to practice often to be a successful creative. But I don't have that luxury, so am I less creative now than when I was back in architecture school? I certainly feel less intelligent now since I have been out of practice, but I don't really feel less creative. Perhaps creativity is like riding a bike in that you can pick it back up easily any time.

I don't think creativity has much to do with talent. Pure imagination is really all it takes. Sure, if you MAKE things that you imagine often enough you will probably gain a lot of skill in the art of CREATION. I'm not really in the business of defining creativity, though. All I'm saying is that I have all kinds of creative ideas on how to make my own life and surroundings better, and I'm not bothered by the fact that at this time I'm not able to realize my own vision. (Well, okay I am slightly bummed out.)

Coming up with ways to teach oneself new things is a great way to be creative without actually making anything. Perhaps we do the world a disservice if we have creative ideas and don't at least write them down. However, another good question worth pondering is the possibility that what you've come up with is even NEW. If you really want to know, then you have to do all kinds of research into history and patents and trademarks. By the time all that is done I don't think I'd feel very creative anymore. This is why I don't trouble myself with the denotation of what creativity is.

Everyone has some amount of creativity within themselves. Whether one feels the need to follow their imaginations is probably the way I would determine when to call a person creative or not. Your opinion of yourself causes me to have a certain opinion of you, and if you identify yourself as a creative person in some manner then I will support your self-perception by mirroring it with my own perception that you are a creative person. So I suppose that would get into psychology and philosophy real fast.

Even though I might not have the time to paint regularly these days, I still ask for new canvases for Christmas, so I guess I'm still a creative person! I might not be very good at it, but oh well. I can design and draw a beautiful trellis, but the actual constructed result might not be quite up to par. (That's just my poor carpentry skills, and thank goodness too! I should hope nobody is judging me based on my carpentry skills.) It was still a good creative idea.

I hope I've talked creatively about creativity. Even though I might be out of practice, this was a nice way to get back into the Blogoff! If you want to read more opinions about creativity, then check out the following link:

Are blogs as important as bloggers think they are? That is the question for today. This new media can be very powerful in ways both good and bad. I choose to focus on the good aspects of blogging, and ignore those who are out to bring people down or sensationalize events that have no real importance in the world.

My own blog may not be important in the vast scheme of things, but it lets me get things out there whereas previously I had no voice besides my small local network of friends and colleagues. This is my outlet for advertising myself to the nonexistent market. It provides a place my new networking contacts can go to find out more about me. I can work out ideas floating around in my head and prepare them for new projects. Most recently, I can work out my lecture notes or ideas and post them for my students to refer back to. This is all very "work in progress," but I believe life is a work in progress. Lets just face it and put ourselves out there to learn and grow.

There are lots of really interesting or educational architecture blogs out there. I enjoy many of them, and I think they are somewhat important. The future of architecture might very well depend on this online community of bloggers/friends getting ideas out there and coming to some kind of consensus on certain things. How else are we going to take back our title from the IT nerds? (by the way I have nothing against nerds! My husband is a systems administrator, and he knows how wrong it is that the title of Architect has been corrupted. now if we could only get the rest of the nerds on board with NOT calling themselves architects...) I enjoy finding out about other architects' practices and how they are dealing with business today.

There are also many blogs I like to refer to for everyday things like cooking and house stuff. I enjoy the FatFree Vegan Kitchen for new recipes. And I also like to read Ana White's Knock-Off Wood blog, which is down under construction right now. And there's the Community Design Collaborative blog. I've been looking for more ways to do community service, so I always like to read what they are up to. And of course I pay a lot of attention to Steve Smolinsky's Conversation on Networking. My hubby likes to read the Gnash blog too. These bloggers help enrich our lives and businesses, and we would miss them terribly if their blogs went away.

So I suppose I have a rosy picture of blogging, but that's just because, like with the social networking discussion a few weeks ago, I stay away from those bloggers who don't actually help me in any way. There are lots of bloggers out there who think they are so awesome and extremely important and everybody in the world should pay attention to what they say. I don't buy that shit, I mean stuff. My blog may not be very important to anybody but me, but that's okay. I'm extremely proud of it, and I wish I could spend more time with it. :)

Thanks for taking the time to read my Let's BlogOff post today. I really appreciate it. Check out all the other opinions at Let's BlogOff.com!

When I was considering moving to Philadelphia from the Twin Cities in late 2004, I joined a networking site called PhillyTechno.org. It wasn't technically a social networking site, but it was a way for me to meet people in Philly who were interested in one thing I am interested in; it worked like a social networking site for me. That is where I met my first non-roommate, non-classmate friends in my new city! PhillyTechno people were very nice to me - a welcome change from TranceAddict! They were real. They shared their music and announced raves. It is where I learned about Hang Free, which I went to and met three very high-quality friends (and their families).  Without that internet forum, I would never have done so many things...

At the same time I was developing relationships with friends from all over the world on WorldDJ. The Chill Zone there has a steady (though declining) post rate by really great djs and electronic music lovers from all over the world. [duh] Most of my good friends on that internet forum are from New York, New Zealand and Australia, living in the UK and China and traveling all over doing music festivals. I met two of my new best friends on WorldDJ and brought them to raves I found out about on PhillyTechno. I talked to one of my WorldDJ friends on the phone and hope to visit her in New York someday. Another of my friends from New Zealand happened to be in London when I was studying abroad, and we got to hang out on a few glorious occasions. These friends encouraged me to grow and learn and become who I am now. Though WorldDJ isn't as big as Facebook, it is very dear to my heart and connects people on a fairly deep level on at least one forum which I wish I could spend more time on.

I like Facebook. It connects me to a lot of people from my past and my current life. My friends from Tai Chi talk to me on Facebook. My families are on facebook. I can share pictures of the fabulous garden and all the work we do on the house as well as my small office projects. I have a page for Green Rascal Design on facebook. Facebook also connected me to Architizer, which is like Facebook for Architects and Architecture companies. These are useful to me. Together with LinkedIn they help me network and keep in touch with interesting people.

Myspace is useful to some. But my experience with it is of a lot of coworkers wasting company time perfecting their Myspace pages. I don't really approve of such things. Plus, bands started to spam me on Myspace. And I got caught up with "friends" who weren't very high-quality people on Myspace. What a waste of energy! Then there was MyDJspace... I only got sucked into that for a short time.

I hear that social networking sites are havens for narcissistic people, and it doesn't really ring true for me. Perhaps many individuals on these sites are so, but I'm not friends with any of them that I know. My experience has been so positive!

This post is part of Lets BlogOff where the subject today is social media and whether it isolates people from each other. I say it does not in most cases, but read the other blogs and have fun deciding for yourself!