Business as usual...

I've been working for a couple of weeks now. While most of the time I've been updating plans and elevations for a not-very-exciting strip mall in Surrey, I did have the opportunity to illustrate elevations for the biggest project the firm is working on. While I enjoyed the work, more interesting was the design meeting between our firm and the other architects involved. It went an awful lot like a desk crit at school: they had quite a few hard hitting comments about the elevations (which I felt a little guilty about, but they had been okayed by the principle).

The firm is starting to feel like home, and I am getting to know people, but its still much quieter than I would like.

Working girl

These days, I'm a new broom sweeping clean.

I started work last Monday at 10, and sice then I've been rigourously monitoring my interweb use, CADding like a mad monkey, and swearing at the fellow who previously worked on my drawings. Work is not exciting, but pays the bills with unexpected dexterity. I'm currently making enough to pay back Horribly Mistreated Ex in about a year, after which I'll start paying back Financially Exploited Parents. After that is a new car (purchased outright: none of this leasing for me), and after that an apartment in Vancouver proper. By then I should be about 50.

Hot Dog and I have dropped the PoTo competition: the timing was off, and I just couldn't get excited about the topic. If Team and I don't get down to Fort Worth to see the Kimball as we've discussed (something that looks more and more likely) I'll be able to go to the presentations and see what everyone else suggested. I am looking into more competitions: the RIBA is sponsoring a design for a Bat House in England which might be fun (if only to learn more about bats) and there is also a self-sufficient housing project that seems like it could take me in an interesting direction.

The first week of work was memorable not so much for the work, but for the realization that 1) I don't seem to have any hobbies any more and 2) most of my friends are far too busy to socialize the way I want to, meaning that I need to track down some new drinking buddies. It's such a cliche that it is hard to make friends after you leave school, but I'm not sure how to fill my time these days. Lots of gym going is probably the best option. Less shopping may also be a good idea.

I'm hugely annoyed with Team about the Fort Worth trip: I keep trying to discuss it and he doesn't respond to my e-mails. If he doesn't want to go, he should just tell me! Short Bus and I were trying to understand what happens in his head and came up with a blank, but I do know that I don't much want to drag him all the way to Dallas if he isn't excited about it (as I do to Kareoke and the Richmond Night market). We keep trying to get him to come out and he keeps saying he has too much work... silly keener.

My favorite social acitivity these days is hanging out with the Squirrels, who continue to meet for soccer every week. We're having a barbeque tomorrow, so I hope the weather stays nice.

employed!

I've nailed down a job. It's at the not-so-exciting firm: while I would have prefered to architect at the more exciting firm, they offered me a non-architecture job, and very low pay. In addition, a friend told me that she thought I would hate it there, so that sealed the deal.

I should be starting next Monday, if they can find a space for me, and I'm looking forward to having a regular schedule, getting out of the house, and learning lots of new stuff. I'm not looking forward to getting up early, not being able to go outside, and having to sit at a desk all day... but I'll happily swap all those things for a steady paycheque. I'm still ahead of the Vegan's first job (at Mr. Clean's workplace), so I guess I'm okay.

This paycheque thing... I spoke to my financial advisor about how much I would be making, and he broke it down to a monthly take-home. I'm stunned at how much it is, but a little less than half will have to be put aside to pay debts. I'm sure I'll still feel strapped for cash when I'm working, as it doesn't take very long to get used to spending money. When you add this to the fact that I've been spending with wild abandon lately (as il papa pays de bills) it might be a bit of a rude shock when I have to stick to a budget.

Anything else? Hot Dog and I are considering not submitting for PoTo. While I do want to do a competition, it's hard to stay motivated and we don't seem to be getting anywhere productive. We're going for a walk around Yaletown tomorrow to see if we get any great inspiration, but if we don't then we're going to drop it. Everyone is on vacation, even me.

Compromising vs. giving up

What is the difference between compromising and giving up? I swore to myself when I was at school that I would hold out for a great job: I was a good student and I'm personable and friendly, which are good qualities in firms, and I know I deserve to work at the kind of place I want. I swore I wouldn't take a joe job: I'd been at school for too long to take a job that I wasn't crazy about.

Well, I still don't have a job yet. Not only that, I haven't even had an interview or an expression of interest from a firm that I really want to work for. What happens now? I need a job to pay my rent, but I can't take something and leave a few months later: if I don't stay at least a year I'll get labelled a flake and have trouble finding something. I only sent my stuff out about three weeks ago, but I thought I would have heard more by now.

So if I take the job that I've been offered, at a firm close to where I live, that pays well and seems like a bunch of people who might be nice, is it a compromise, or am I giving up? In some ways, it feels like capitulation. I'm abandoning my fine notions of high design just for the money. In some ways though, it feels like a compromise. Work for a year in a firm that is not so great so I can learn something, and in a year, take that knowlege and try again.

I have another interview this afternoon, but this firm is notoriously tough on employees with a high turnover, and I really don't think I want to work there. They aren't going to pay very well (which, as an aside doesn't matter very much because of the money, but more because chronically underpaying employees is disrespectful and indicates other issues there may be in the firm) and while I have friends that work there, they are summer students and will leave in the fall. It would suck if I took the job to hang out with them and they took all the fun with them in September.

I hate the thought of giving up, and even the word compromise reeks of failure: I am who and where I am because I don't give up, for good or bad, and I live alone because I didn't want to compromise any more. And it seems like more and more, the things I swore I would never do again when I left for Montreal are happening. My personal and professional life feel messy and out of control, and I wonder if accepting a job that doesn't excite me would exacerbate this, or make it feel better.

One of the great things about architecture is that I'm not too smart or too good for it: I have to work my very hardest just to get by and I think that makes me a better person. I like to work hard, and I wanted to find a job that would keep me on my toes for a while. I don't get this feeling from what I've been offered... but if I don't accept it by the end of this week, I won't even have the option of taking it.

I guess what I really want is to give myself permission to wait for that great job. My financial backers have given me until the beginning of July to find something, and although I don't much like being unemployed, if I knew the offered job would be waiting for me Jul 2 if I wanted it, I would be a lot more comfortable. But that isn't the case, and I don't know if I should wait for my ship to come in, or take the money and run.

etc, etc, etc.

I printed the short version (very short, at 6 pages + text) of my thesis for Canadian Architect and my portfolio yesterday, and while I'm not sure how crazy I am about the submission, I think my portfolio looks awesome. Thanks to Short Bus and Team for their aid with layout: sometimes it seems that it doesn't matter WHAT work you show as long as it is well laid out and described. I'm very pleased I went with red highlights for important text as well, because it really glows on the black background. I was happy with the test prints on my crappy ink jet, but the professionally printed version blows it away. I'll be very happy to show it off at my interview on Tuesday.

I haven't heard anything from anyone else, which frustrates me, but in a way it's good. I don't really want to work in a firm that will hire just anyone, and I should be happy that they are being thoughtful before getting in touch with me. I want to find a good fit with a job and firm I enjoy, so it's important to be patient at this point. I'm just not a very patient person!

To fill in the time while I am settling into a job, Hot Dog (who helped on my thesis, but I don't remember what I called him at the time) and I are going to be doing the PoTo ideas competition. Competitions are a great way to stay sharp and creative: it's just hard to spend the time doing it when it seems like there are so many other things to do. So far I've spent a little time reading the Harvard Design Magazine, which has an edition on skyscrapers, because I think the key to breaking the Podium Tower Typology may be to identify exactly what causes them to be so popular (beyond Vancouver zoning, of course). If Hot Dog and I can identify exactly what caused them to be the most efficient and otherwise preferred typology, we may be able to identify other equally viable directions it could take and suggest them as options.

What else is going on? Nothing exciting. It's surprising how much time laundry, groceries and the gym take up. I hope I'll be able to fit in a full time job!

All play and no work is astoundingly dull to write about.

I'm still looking for work. So far I've arranged one interview, Tuesday afternoon. While the firm produces amazing domestic spaces, there are a couple of things that make me think that as fun as it might be to work there, it isn't going to work out.

1. They are based in West Van... the western half of West Van.
2. They are alarmingly susceptible to flattery and far too laid back about arranging interviews.

The distance thing isn't a real problem, if the firm is good enough. I can handle the bus/seabus/bus commute if the work day isn't too long, if I can arrange a car pool and if the people and work suit me. I'm also prepared to move in September, as I know that there is reasonably priced rental housing in North Van and it would really minimize the commute. But I don't want to move until after the end of the summer because I like living near my friends right now.

Re: the flattery and laid-back-ness... If this firm is as interesting as it looks, they should get tons of applications. This is clearly not the case. Why is that? Why have I never heard of them before? Why are they in the wilds of West Van? I get that it's a small firm and so they are flexible about when they want to see me. But the approach they have taken to the interview makes me wonder if they are planning on paying me, or if they want me to work for free. Or if there is some other kind of hitch that will be immediately obvious when I arrive, that I'll spend the interview politely trying not to mention. Are they perhaps an architectural firm of Saskwatches? From Saskwatchewan? If I don't post after Tuesday, you'll have to assume that they've had a delicious meal of archigeek and are picking their teeth (I'm stringy).

Totally going to start looking for work any day now...

The weather is amazing right now, and it's become a little difficult to work. I don't have any trouble staying inside, as it's really too hot to go out and my basement is nice and cool, but I seem to spend most of my time slacking and surfing the web.

In spite of this, I have been able to finish my portfolio and CV with tons of help from Team and ShortBus. I'm going to attempt to get up at a reasonable time tomorrow and make some calls to find out what format each firm prefers, and they get sent out tomorrow. Wish me luck.