Architecture

As you may have read, I've finished the whole first year of Architectural Engineering. I want to become an architect for quite a while now and after the summer my first traineeship will begin.

But, let's talk about architecture for a minute...: What IS architecture?

When one thinks of architecture, the word 'architect' quickly comes to mind.

An architect is (to put it very simple) a person who designs buildings. Here's one of my favorite architects: Frank Lloyd Wright (American). Look up some of his works, I guarantee you'll be amazed.

He wrote the following:

"My definition of Architect:

arch = chief or highest (i.e. archbishop, archetype = Master)

+

tect = technique, technology (i.e. the Know-How)

=

Architect: Master of the Know-How!

Sincerely,

Frank Lloyd Wright"

It made me giggle too, and it's partly true: along with all the creativity an architect must have, you must know a lot about technology too. Think about all the measures and details you must prepare for the construction workers, the materials you should choose, the physical aspects of a building and so on.

But I wasn't aiming at the definition of architect, just the definition of ARCHITECTURE.

'A building is architecture, because it is designed by an architect', one could say. Good point, only: is it safe to call something architecture, when the meaning is so incredibly broad, but at the same time very specific.

Let's put it simple, like I did with the definition of architect: a building is something that is BUILT, whereas architecture defines something that's been influenced by AESTHETICS.

I'm not done there just yet, for it's very tempting to picture a building in your head every time architecture is mentioned. It goes just a bit beyond that.

Let's take something, as simple as a plate... no, no, a chair. You've got a standard chair in front of you, which is being mass-produced. When you take a closer look at the chair itself, you understand its design. You make a list of principles, a list of properties the chair contains. What makes a chair what it is? This list is your foundation for the beginning of a new chair-design.

Why do you choose these measures, why these colours, why this material, why this weight, why no arm rest, why wheels underneath it? What you get, is a MILLION possibilities to make a new chair design, all emerged from the list of principles.

Every single chair-design must oblige to the list of principles that make a chair.

That set of principles, THAT is architecture.

So, is a building architecture?

Gain.

For me, it's almost frustrating to think how unbelievably fast this past school year went. It went so fast... I think about how much I've learned, grown and worked. A lot has happened, either good or bad. Now it's summer vacation, and a new year of experiences will arrive soon.

My counsellor asked me on our last talk: 'What was your biggest gain this year?' I needed a moment to come to a good answer.

Well, I knew for sure now that this IS my path, but that just gives me a relief and a good feeling about myself...not my biggest GAIN. I've gained a lot of wisdom on buildings, houses and art. But is that my biggest gain? It would seem a bit dull and standard if it would, no?

One should pay closely attention to his/her own actions when one wants to know him/herself. I'm thrown in a new surrounding, with many different kinds of people. How do I act in the beginning, and how is my attitude towards others now? How much did this differ from (for example) high school? Can I see the real me now?

What are my roles I fulfilled in group works? And what kinds of emotions come to surface, whether it is dealing with success of failure? Can I control them better than before? Do others respect me, or do they talk about me behind my back?

I'm someone that works very hard, and I can see myself becoming a workaholic (maybe I already am...). When looking at my products, are they products of quality when working under stress? What are my limits and do I know when I have surpassed them? What are my weaknesses then?

Call out a name of one of my friends and automatically a kind of film roll launches with photo's (mostly actually...just 1 photo), quotes of the person, a scene I've shared with him/her etc. All that in a blink of an eye. The materials of memories rushing through my head DEFINE the person. And I can't help but wonder... what kind of material would that person have of me? And...how much do I care about that? Must I always show people my good qualities?

Choices; everyone's got priorities in any kind of situation, it's part of life. Do I come first or do I tend to think of others too? Is my 'plan' of life always that important? Where do I get my motivations, have I got discipline when I do not need it, am I thinking ahead, why the easy way out, how will I choose, why am I doing this?

Do you ask yourself these questions too? I wouldn't be surprised if you would.

I'm not saying I'm there yet. I haven't "found" myself completely. But one thing I've noticed, is that the more you get real with yourself...the more unrealistic the world will seem.

Every so often it's good to take a good look at yourself. An excellent way of accomplishing that is to look at yourself, through someone else's eyes. You can learn from it.

You might like what you see... or not. In that case, all you can do is hope you haven't burned down too many bridges.

But that's up to you.

(Man, I've missed the blog...It's been awhile since I've done this shit.)

Speeddating

Yesterday evening there was a sort of festival-like thing going on in town. There was small bands performing everywhere and it was big fun.
However, with big fun comes resposibility:
Peeing.

Going to the toilet was quite the joy.
I went in to a cafe called 'de Zaak'. I was shocked how empty the cafe was, but then again, when I thought about it it seemed much more logical that everyone was outside... Anyway
After passing about 10 woman, I saw 2 guys standing, I figured that was the queue for the mans room. Just to be sure I asked the guy next to me if he was waiting as well.
He turned his drunk head(he looked like a queer) and told me I was right.
Then he started to talk to the girls who where of course waiting a bit longer. He started one bad joke after another and it couldn't get worse. I tried to save myself by joining the discussion and correct his pickeld way of speech(See this page if you didn't quite get that sentence). He was making lame jokes to two girls about peeing and what not. Very romantic and all, don't you think?

Anyway, all of a sudden he went in a different direction, he was like: Hey! You and her are quite the match! How about that?! We both looked at eachother, I have to say it was quite an attractive woman. I guess we differed about 4~6 years, so I wasn't interesting for her. Of course we both replied the question with a big: "What?! No, no! Of course not".
Then he tried to guess what the woman in question would do for a living(Don't forget this guy was barely understandable because he was too drunk to speak). "You do something creative! Yes, yes... Some painting, a little bit of piano... YOU PLAY FLUTE! THATS IT! YOU PLAY FLUTE!" he said... The girl really didn't knew how to respond so instead she started to whisper with her friend next to her.

Anyhow, I found this looking like speeddating, as in. There's a whole queue full of woman, and then when they come by you make a funny joke, or a sarcastic statement about the queue, and then you leave.

Oh, and the drunk guy who went to the toilet before me made one last joke when he got out, and he said to me:
(I'll do it in dutch because it's a word joke)
"Weet je wat het beste is van plassen? Dat je naar je eigen gezeik kan luisteren!"
"You know whats the best about peeing?! It's listening to your own 'gezeik'(aka gossip, but in this sentence it would mean something like listening to your own pee fall down in the toilet)". I told him that if that was all he could think of the last few minutes, he'd better get himself another beer.
And so he did I guess.

Bye ladies in the queue!

My train rides

In addition to the previous post, I'd like to write something about the train rides I experience... I find myself in a similar position Thijs mentioned as dishwasher. 

In short: I'm studying Architectural Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Den Bosch. This city lies half an hour away by train from my home city. But my home city offers the same study, so people ask: Why study in an other city so far away?? So in short: the education there is so much better.

A journey like that contains several advantages. It gives you time to rest in the morning, gives you the opportunity to study, allows you to think about all those thoughts circulating in your mind...and it offers you an valuable experience to look and think about our country: Holland.

Just yesterday I had to travel way down to Roermond (for a one-day-job), which resulted in a 3 hour journey...One can have to much of a good thing... but! it is always exciting to go places you haven't been before, and seeing how the landscapes take form there. 

That's the nice thing, to see what Hollands shows us... You can look so far into the horizon, and notice how the sky dominates every sight. Add a nice relaxing song (one which fits with the weather, your mood and the scape your travelling through), and you got yourself a moment to savor=)

Even when it's raining, the sight is simply amazing. Those dark grey clouds....They emphazise the green colours nature beholds even more. All that green has such an calming effect. And in the deep distance, it's a bit foggy... all in all, a country like Holland has landscapes that shows us what's valuable about this culture, it's all so open...but can yet be so empty and lonely at the same time. It can be a real inspiration. It even makes me think about the 'Train ride' scene in one of the best animated films ever made: Spirited Away (pic below) (Thijs, we must still see this one together someday)

You know what. I think I just might take the time someday, to draw one of my moments seen from the train. Who knows, it might pop up one day on this very blog.

The reasons I sill work as a dishwasher

When conversating with people, I sometimes tell them I've been a dishwasher for quite a while.
The first answer a normal person would give would be: What the heck!? WHY?!

This story is based on my personal situation, I do NOT guarantee it is like this in every place.
Here's why I'm a dishwasher.

1: You get to throw with food
2: You can shout at the cooks
3: There's plenty of food, which is free also.
4: Making so much fun at an irresponsible job makes me laugh when I just get there.
5 (I'm a fan of this one)You get to play with water all the time.. (Yeah, I like playing with water...)
6: When there's nothing to do I spank the cooks with my wet tea towel
7: When there's still nothing to do there's always more food to throw at eachother
8: We've also played tennis with eggs and frying pans.
9: When you're hungover(All of the people in the kitchen are usually) it's still fun because you really don't need brains when doing this.
10: Last, but not least: The collegues are great. We always make so much fun together, drink beers after work and have the best conversations in the world. Especially when sharks become the most genious animals in the world the discussions get really great..

So yeah, if you still think I'm 'just the dishwasher' then think twice. I don't do it for the loan, I don't do it for the fame. I do it because it's fun and there's always a lot of things I didn't knew yet. For example how to make vanilla sauce.
(Btw, if you want the recipe, drop me a note, or a comment, or contact me in any way)

Situations

Some situations you can find yourself in can be rather tricky, but it always depends on how you want to come out of it.

Just this week I was sitting in a full train, returning from college. I found myself sitting in a 4-persons seat corner, and yes I was lucky to sit by the window! (EVERYBODY wants to sit by the window) 

The first person to sit there (next to the window), was a blond girl with blue eyes around the same age I am. I saw the overcrowded coupé and decided to sit opposite her, next to the window (I secretly noticed her around when waiting on the platform, for the train to arrive). Soon after I sat down, a businesswoman of middle age sat next to the girl across me.

It was a great trip, with the sun going under and leaving quite a sight to look on. Not to mention the girl...! She was pretty =) 

But, I noticed she also stared at me from time to time, and very often we made eye contact. 

So eh...what the hell are you supposed to do in a situation like that? 

Hm, I know! I could wait for us to lay eyes on each other again... and ask (with the right timing) in the most sexy, but gentle way: how you doin', baby?  

But...oh, bloody hell, I forgot: it's a crowded coupé! Ah darn.

Maybe it was just my imagination, of course, maybe she didn't mean to look in my direction... But the right thing to do than, is sit back. Enjoy. Smile. And feel complimented. Looking it from a positive angle. That's what I did.

For the first 20 minutes than, because from that point... I started thinking about ways to lay contact with her... Writing things down on paper and showing it to her? No. Having a stare contest?=D Ehm...No. 

I started thinking about doing the following: 

My coat was hanging on one of those hat racks, since it was warm in the train (no, it wasn't just me...!). What if, I left my seat and 'forgot' it... and what if she would see that, and out of kindness take my coat and give it to me personally... THAN there's a opportunity to begin a conversation with her!

Ofcourse the bitch was faster than I was (or I was just plain slow, depends on how you look on it) and while waiting for the train to stop and the doors to open, there were at least 6 people between her and me. 

What? It was crowded, man...

When we got out on platform no. 7, I saw her getting onto the train on no. 6, ...wait, her train left from no. 5, there is no no. 6...I think...The point is: she was headed to Amsterdam, so yeah whatever. It would be a bummer if she lived in Utrecht.

So. There are some situations you get in, of which you want to make most of it. But hey, what the heck... so I kinda failed. Life isn't THAT short.

Oh my. I wanted to make a short post! Look at what I've done now... Buh.

Intro

How rude of me the post a reply to another blog without introducing myself first.
I'm Thijs, currently a ICT Product developer and bartender. I enjoy life to the fullest, or try to at least. In my spare time I like to talk about stuff we'll probably post on here, or just random lame stuff, interesting and boring discussions in the pub. Or over msn, or in any other way of communication.
I like communication, and I like playing with it, seeing where the boundaries are...
Wait, I'm actually introducing a subject I was planning on writing soon.
Anyway: Hiyas.

P.S. Please feel free to reply on any of the posts we'll make here, and perhaps it could lead to even more interesting discussions.

Re: Life's game

I really wonder what you would call the following scene:
We(me and you, and some others) go and have a drink on a friday night*cough*cough*.
So after a while I tell everyone I've got to go because I've made another appointment.
We say goodbye to each other, and I left the room.

Now would you still call it 'life' or "life's plan" that we meet again in the same snack bar after we had our evening out? How would it ever be possible(except for coincidence, luck and faith) that we meet at exactly the right snack bar out of the thousands in the city at the same time?!
In my humble opinion I would have to say there is always a luck factor. Sometimes it's there when you need it, but it never is when you expect it to be.
Just like this evening. I went to another appointment assuming I wouldn't see the people I started the evening with again this evening. Yet we end up in the same snack bar at the right place. That's just luck... Or coincidence, or faith maybe.
I'm just trying to say(Sorry I'm drunk at the moment) that life isn't just life, there's other things that we can't measure yet that influence our behaviour in certain environments and or certain time spans.

And assuming everything is just 'as-is' isn't enough for me. I really wonder how the evening would have been if different choices have been made. For example if that one friend didn't ask his other friends to come in, which ended in a argue with the only girl we were with. The evening wouldn't probably end up the same.
Or what if I didn't told my collegues I was tired and ignored the feeling(which I originally planned to do)?

Life's game

Let me start off by saying: 

I believe everyone is here for a reason. It's not always about chance. People often use the curious word 'coincidence', but I don't think it's that simple.

Life namely, plays funny games. We are all like little pawns, making our own way...but what is Life's plan?

There's this little village called Vught. One of my best friends has a father (Peter), who was born there, and my uncle (Jan-Kees) was too. In age, they differ like 5 months. Jan Kees works for the embassy and works alot abroad. 

But occasionally he visits Holland and one day he met Peter, when both their families visited our home. They liked each other, and it looked like they knew each other for years. 

I thought about this while daydreaming in the train. Did they perhaps go to the same class back then? What if they knew each other, and now yeaaaars later they meet again...only, they don't realize it.

Life's funny, did Life plan this? What does Life hold for us in the future, what's the plan?

It isn't Fate, you make your own life ofcourse... But some things are meant to be....And in the end, are they for the best?

RE: What is this blog about

This is a test, to see if this Newbie (Hi, my name is Alvaro) can actually blog...

What will this blog be about... One of the first things that came to mind, were actually just thoughts we had... thoughts that would be worth mentioning in this blog, named 'Beer and Wiskey' (by the great Thijs da Sweet).

But to make this blog really suit 'Beer and Wiskey', I'll probably improvise once in a while... We'll see....! 

Here I close.

What is this blog about

Alvaro, hier moeten we even een tekstje plaatsen waar we over gaan bloggen ofzo..
Ofcourse in english. d'Oh