Overnights to the Key of Tenacious D

Do you remember the overnights? You know, the overnights, when finishing your plate is not about food but the difference between adding another year in your college life or not. Of course time management was a totally alien concept to us then and depriving ourselves of sleep seemed so reasonable. The extra second we spend awake might just give us enough time to make that extra line or glue that extra part on our model that might just boost our grades by a point or two.

It would be really interesting to know all the different methods different people use to keep awake. A lot of people would do almost anything short of cutting our flesh and pouring calamansi on the wounds just to keep awake. Of course the less adventurous would always have coffee to help them out.

For me, and I would guess a lot of other people, music is one of the better methods in keeping awake. It doesn't have the sting of cutting yourself or the nerve damage heavy coffee drinking would eventually give you.

Of course, the better the music you are listening to the better your chances of staying awake and doing work. A lot of us probably have our own list of Top 10 songs or performers to listen to while chasing a deadline.

Right on top of my Top 10 is the guitar strumming duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass. If the names sound familiar it's because you've probably already seen them in the big screen. Jack Black is the more popular actor among the two nowadays by appearing in such movies as "Shallow Hal", "High Fidelity" and "Saving Silverman". Kyle Gass has an equally diverse acting resume starring in films like "Dumb and Dumber", "Evolution" and "Cradle Will Rock".

Musically the two of them combine to form what many have called the greatest band in the world…… TENACIOUS D!

Tenacious D has been around for a long time but it has only been recently when they signed up for a record deal. They have just released their self titled debut CD. If you can get past the “satan” themed cover art, you will find one of the best purveyors of “comedy rock”. The biggest joke of course is that they are actually really good musicians unlike the multitude of comedians who just make funny songs. These guys are definitely funny, but most of all they do rock in every sense of the word.

If you want music that will definitely keep you awake, Tenacious D will do it for you. Believe me, it's hard to keep a straight face while hearing streams of lyrics like "....you broke the rules now I pull out all your pubic hair... ".

Tenacious D will rock you guaranteed.

I Seem to be a Bucky Head

I admit it. I'm a "bucky head".

I've been a fan of Buckminster Fuller ever since my eyes have caught a glimpse of a geodesic dome. The man is a genius.

He is an architect and an engineer but he probably wants to be called an inventor more than anything else.

Along with the more well known "hats" that he wears, R. Buckminster Fuller was actually also a very proficient book writer during his time. One of the books that is most interesting is one he did with Jerome Agel & Quentin Fiore in 1970. The book is entitled "I Seem to be a Verb".

It is a collection of quotations printed in black and green inks. Each page is divided by two texts, one running front to back, the other vice versa. Illustrated all throughout with various photographs, drawings, cartoons, etc.

One of the quotations that most stood out, not only because it was used in a "Starman" comic book by DC Comics but because it gives so much insight into the man who is fondly called "Bucky", is this one:

"When there was not enough whale oil or coal oil, there were not enough lamps to go around. Some said that what was needed was social engineering, to move more people to the lamplight available. What was really needed was one Edison."

And of course there is the one quotation where the title of the book came from:

"I live on Earth at present, and I don't know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing -- a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process -- an integral function of the universe."

There are a lot more interesting insights and other things that will tickle the mind in his book of quotations. It is a must read for people who just like a good read, bucky head or not.

On the Positive Side

Ok, I'm back. So what's good about working in a construction firm?
1. You get to be a very good estimator. Unlike in school, where we just design for design's sake, we "visualize" the structure along with the cost, not just by a per area basis, as in we get to see the details and parts immediately, and we can easily say with confidence the probable cost of the structure or portion of the project.
2. You get to be a good project manager - scheduler. You get to schedule everything. People, labor, vehicles, equipment, materials. No cutesy bar charts here.
3. You practice what you write. You get to buy and install what you specify, hindi puro specify lang.
4. You get your hands dirty. Practically. You get to show the workers your scaffolding-dangling skills. "oh kaya nyo yan?" Sabay hulog.

Well siguro yan ang mga nagustuhan ko sa construction. It gets you grounded sa reality, in a good way. I really like the part where you enter a large materials depot and no one takes notice of you, because you wear not-so-formal attire. You look around, then you approach the bored attendant. "Excuse me...", "Baket?" (to self)"Loko to ah...". "Kukuha ako ng sampu noon, lima nito, blah blah blah..." "Ah, yes SIR, yes SIR..." to self again: "Loko to ah, kanina wala kang kwenta sa kanya, ngayon sir ang tawag sa yo." Sabagay sino ba naman ang pupunta sa site na naka-slacks at long sleeves? Hehe old story, but its one of my favorite experiences.

And I got to ride in a cement mixer. Antaas! Ambabaw ng kaligayahan ko no?

Oi sulat na kayo!!!! Punuin ko ito. :)

Pagod na?

Why am I getting tired of working in the construction industry? Here are some reasons:
1. You are the middleman. The boss, the architect, the owner, the suppliers, the foreman, the workers. These are the people you have to work with, and these are the people who will point at you if something goes wrong. Its like you're planning a big party, and if you fail to invite people, get stuff, and plan ahead, the blames all on you.

2. You travel a lot, and I do mean a lot. You go to the site, you go to the suppliers materials depot, you go to the company factory, you go home late. I miss my chair at the office sometimes.

3. You do everything. Unlike before you take the board exams, you are very excited to do everything, even the smallest things. Timekeeper, payroll, purchasing, estimating, quotations. But now..."Detailed estimate mo ko ng ganito, ganyan...(Architect blah blah). Kelangan ko mamaya." Uh, okey sir.

4. You don't own your time. I hate owners and architects who call you up on weekends and evenings. They give you psychological and emotional burdens you wish they will give you during office hours.

Oh well, construction is fun, especially the hands-on and technical-scientific stuff. But these are some of the reasons why they say that Construction is not for the weak of heart.

And I don't like designers who doesn't want to get their hands dirty, literally. Sasabihin ko na lang, "Sama ka sa buhos, bukas."
Pag sumagot ng oo, baka sasabihin ko, "I'll miss you pagkatapos." Hehehe korni.

Peace. I'm still in my tired stage. Maybe next time magshe-share naman ako ng good points about construction.

congrats!

here are results for the philippines architecture board exam this june.

Construction

Singit lang, haven't got the time to compose a long entry. I am growing tired of working in the construction industry. But everytime I go to the site, all the laborers and skilled workers under me ask me same questions I hope I can answer immediately and with confidence everytime a project nears completion...

"Sir, pagkatapos nito, meron pa ba tayong susunod agad?"

I just hope we get to answer it with confidence. As I travel home I say to myself, "Gagandahan ko na ang estimates and proposals ko, baka mawalan ng gagawin ang karamihan sa workforce."

And at that moment, I have to say that I am lucky to have my job. Forget the Bubble Gang spoof on the laborers versus the project manager where the PM is "smarter" than the worker. The PM is just luckier.

Prime Real Estate Beside the Road Not Taken

Whatever happened to the innocent idealistic architecture students we were, or at least we thought we were, back in our college days?

Chances are that some of us are unemployed right now or in jobs that somehow have nothing to do with the diploma we had slaved to earn.

A minority who maybe can afford to, who maybe are just plain smarter than the rest of us mortals, or who maybe just can't find a job that they like or who can't find a job at all; have probably opted to go into further studies.

The "lucky ones" who are now working in architectural offices get another chance to continue their underpaid insomniac existence after doing the same in college and, if there is a god, one of them might actually be happy.

However crooked or long the road that our chosen profession may be, granted that we still have the desire to pursue this profession and have not yet joined the multitude who have slipped through the cracks, the end is still the same: somehow, someway, someday a light shall turn on in our heads and we will all realize that the architecture that had seduced us so effectively before is nothing but an illusion.

Architecture, the real one, the one that we had hoped to make a living out of and bring food to the table is an entirely different animal. A very dangerous and viscious animal.

This realization is a bit traumatic and, as all traumatic processes are apt to go, it spins us through denial, anger and ultimately acceptance. Of course some people would not reach the acceptance stage at all. These people are usually the ones who quit or have simply lost it and have traded in their wardrobe for a cozy pair of strait jackets to keep them warm from bonechilling reality.

Those who do find the path to acceptance now come towards a fork in the road of their lives standing by the spot where the road splits, scratching their heads and asking questions that just give birth to more questions.

Have I been fooled all this time? Have we been systematically made jackasses by society? All the architects in the movies were all so happy, rich, and lead such interesting lives so why not me? Why can't I be Howard Rourke? Why can't I be Frank Lloyd Wright?

Well you're still standing where the road diverges. Hopefully it is at this time where you remember a certain poem by Robert Frost and the lessons he imparts in it – that there are times when decisions are not easy to make. We cannot go two ways at once, we have to decide which road to take. Some roads are well travelled, others are not. Whatever decisions we make or road we travel will make all the difference both in our lives and in the lives of others.

So do you take the one on the left or the one on the right? The safe job or the risky job? The indigent path of sound moral and ideals or the gold laden road of cut throat brass tacts. The chicken or the egg? Decisions, decisions.......

There's no simple answer really. Nothing is really black and white in the world nowadays. All I can do is hope that when we do face these types of decisions in our lives that we shall all be very professional about it. After all, roads really aren't our thing. Building is.

Maybe not taking a path would be okay. Maybe just stopping by where we are and building a house there wouldn't be so bad. A house, two houses, three houses, a village......

Two roads diverged and by god, where that road split, that's one piece of prime property if I ever saw one!

As I began this piece with a question I think it is only appropriate that I end it with another question like book ends flanking a row of self indulgent romance novels.

I wonder what's happening to the innocent idealistic architecture students in college right now?