hitting the streets

leaving for 2 weeks tomorrow...

venezia
roma
paris
barcelona

since i'm migrating to an island in the middle of the caribbean i figure i should see my friends before i leave... and i have lucked out in that all the ticket prices are relatively affordable. i found a 20 euro ryan air flight from paris to barcelona, so im jumping on that, i have some friends there as well, so could be quite nice, especially since i've been wanting to go for a while now. i leave tomorrow, will try to keep posted, but might prove difficult. first stop is the biennale, meeting with pedrin, and then heading to roma. flying to paris then a hop to barcelona and back on the 5th to prague. send word if you'll be around those destinations.

iron fireman 2008

http://www.expats.cz/prague/event.php?id=9039

i cannot begin to describe the rigorous obstacle course which is involved for these competitions. top professional firemen worldwide, who have been training for years all come together to display their fantastic superhuman type abilities. this year, our friend damen dowse was signed up to participate. damen is not a professional, nor does he have the proper training..., in fact the night before we went out for drinks and merely hours before competing he downed a pilsner. so in reality, damen is like you and me, but he took the challenge and well, gave it his best before receiving oxygen from the paramedics.

so to damen i owe a day well spent and enjoyed. the humor that revolved around this day was incomparable to anything else i've experienced. i am happy to say, he survived. so i suppose it's the effort that truly does matter, though you won't be saving anyone's life, least of all your own, it's nice to say you tried? as well as competing with all professionals from around the globe, damen was the only american to participate. so that has to also count for something, no?

biennale di venezia

the biennale kicks off today... anticipated wait. i think it will be interesting.. though it may be hard to beat 2006. i'm planning to attend the end of this month, if anyone is interested in joining please feel free. it will all be over on the 23rd of november.

optimistic view of doom

march madness will be broadcasted from a remote island

pc has come through. i leave in march. and i just found out i'm going to jamaica. i'm pretty excited. please start planning your holidays, as i am unable to leave for 2 years, company & familiar faces are most welcome.

i look forward to rekindling my childhood love of saltfish and reggae... and being surrounded by ian fleming's 007 inspiration.

on this day.

its the 11th of september again... annually it remains a constant reminder of the events of the day. unfortunately, thanks to my profession, it has become a game and a battle. now, correct me if i'm wrong, but i thought the competition was a means to creating a memorial. now so many years later, the commisioners, jurers, and architects are still delegating, fighting, and have yet to reach consensus -- though they did decided on michael arad, a youngish newbie (not so distant to maya lin's introduction), who's modest proposal caught the right eyes... but even still, he was chosen in 2006, and now 2 years later, it is still in question as to whether it will even be carried out.

it's just amazing how something which was meant to draw more light and importance to this grave subject, has turned into an unresolved, ongoing dilemma. which is now stirring and attracting negative media.

worst case scenario: blackhole

i have loved science since grade school. i wanted to study physics or mathematics in highschool, though after much thought i became an architect. it's never too late i realize. but despite naive schoolgirl dreams, i know better than to risk an entire universe on a whim. granted discovery is risk. it's the very basis. but when does it become too questionable? how can we decipher between mild and extreme when our perspectives become so clouded, that for overall discovery nothing is too risky? i don't know what will happen this week when those crazy scientists turn on this machine. true, we could disappear in 38 seconds like the above animation clip.. though i'm trying to keep an open mind. maybe we get sucked into another universe.. i don't know. anything is a possibility when you do not know the odds or the affects. they are simply playing a game with the earth. granted we all die. i've accepted this. but really, do i want to die of some scientists' stupid accident...? deep, deep down, not so much. so we'll see what happens. no point in crossing my fingers for this one... in that i see little hope of this creating any impact.