Day 4: Commuting. "Imma Conquer like a Viking!..A Failed Viking?

Its day four, I have already gotten a good number of viewers (one from India and Croatia? Canada?!...sweet)

and with readers, comes the questions or comments.

"Isn't this procrastinating if you are doing this and not your work? "

If you read the first post, you might've understood. I don't think of this blog as procrastination. I think of this as me working on something that I would like to work on, a side project. I do get my work done...but thats just it..I don't feel like i'm actually accomplishing something that I want to do. Its like I sold my soul to Architecture

To restate, I want to work on the projects that I develop in my head but never actually follow through. Like with my Study Abroad blog...I thought it was a good idea at first..but because I worked on school things (and lack of internet) I only had two posts on it...and I really regretted it when I came back.

This blog is another project/idea that I'm going to make sure that I get done this time. No more half-assing it...When I say i'm going to finish this I know i'm going to finish. I don't want to procrastinate with my own ideas.

To make sure you completely get it. I'm going to make this nifty diagram so that HOPEFULLY ..
it'll get through.

got it? are we clear? good.

plus..c'mon, look at my drawings, they're not grand master replicas or anything, they take literally 10 seconds to do... and my life isn't that complicated to write about...this doesn't take an ENTIRE day to write for me.

I know that there are other people out there that are just as, or even more, busy than I am. People who want to do their own things, live their own lives/dreams,  but don't have the energy or time to.

We all have our own reasons..

Right now, I mostly blame it on commuting.

When I first applied to schools, my Asian parents told me "Its either Ivy league or City college"
I applied to Cornell, thinking that I would get in..I had complete faith in myself

I was rejected.

and so I looked into city colleges. But none of them really went into the field I was primarily interested in...Design.

Then my uncle told me about Parsons, a design school in Manhattan..it had a great list of majors that they offered. What got me the most was that you can choose what major you want to get into after a year of learning the basics first. (I was stuck between Industrial and Architectural design)

I got in (yay) and prepared for the next four years of my life here..except housing. Housing was pretty expensive..even with the money my school gave me..it wasn't enough.
Another issue was that Staten Island...isn't too far from Manhattan...when you look on the map..

you can see that its...kinda not too far and my parents thought it would be ridiculous to take out a loan just to afford housing when I can just live at home for free. I agreed. I thought I was badass enough to handle it.

Commuting is a bitch. (I know there are kids in the world that have to walk like an hour everyday just to get to school and I should shut up and deal with it...but...i'm not one of those kids and I can't help it)

This is an example of what happens during a commute.

My classes at Parsons started at 9 everyday. Which meant I had to wake up at 6, be out of the house by 6:30 and catch the Staten Island Railroad.

I think I became rather pro with my packing abilities..but I hate having to think about what I might need..because I could save myself some pounds and back problems if I leave things behind..or be totally screwed.

Riding the train wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have so much stuff to carry..and when you are an architecture student...things become more complicated as some things are delicate...

and when you couple that with a too many people in one small space...

Bad things are bound to happen. You spend your entire being trying to protect your model, your baby..your life.

after the train, Its time to catch the ferry. I am part of the awesome group of people who have to take a boat to class each day. Like a damn viking, we plunder!!!.

I can't help but sing "i'm on a booaaat, fuck trees, i'm on a boooaaat"

ANYWAY.I hate waiting for the ferry. Its like you can feel the walls closing in around you. This wall being the people also waiting for the ferry.

I get a lot of people telling me, "oh riding a boat. it sounds so FUN" sure, it was fun the first couple of times..but after awhile, its no tourist thrill. Especially during fog = delays...

After the thirty min ride is over, its time to run out and catch the R train

If I miss it, then I have to wait a bit..sometimes there can be delays that you don't know about so you sort of stand there waiting..
Its like waiting for a letter or shipment..you know its coming...but you don't know when...and that makes you sad.

When it comes, its like a breath of relief. Its the final leg of my journey. I check to see that my model is still intact..I sit down in the corner of the subway, thinking its the least dangerous part of the subway..

of course..it isn't

I doze off for a moment..."you can sleep now, you're almost there.."
then this happens..

A giant ass flies out from the side..its not as sexy as you might think

I love and hate when moments in life go into slow motion sometimes and you remember certain details of the event quite vividly...the lurch of the train, the womans behind, drawing closer and closer to the precious model...my arms reaching out in instinct to protect the model...but my arms are too weak, they feel like flailing Tyrannasaurus Rex arms..and I break the model..

I can't exactly yell at her for accidently falling and I keep thinking that if I was Dwayne Johnson or the Hulk, I could have saved a couple of hours work..

I all I can do is stare at the woman, tears in my eyes, and giggle..because life is laughing at you and all you can do is laugh along.

Finally, Union Square, it was only a 20 min ride or so in the subway..but within those twenty mins, my sleep/sanity has been robbed of from an ass. literally.

and I have to explain why my model is in pieces and that I actually did work on it.

Its all about fragmentation! aha..ha

So yea, thats my commuting story and why it sometimes makes me howl in rage or why it makes me go do musical numbers at inappropriate moments.

Thats how I cope.

the process begins all over again when I go home.

I have to repack all my models and tools because I can't stay and work at the studio..the scheduale of the subway/ferry/train changes after a certain point, meaning i'd get home at a horrible time.

So I leave the school around 6, get home around 8:30.

Space out for a few mins..hours..

then begin working..long into the night.

/wrist

No, no, I jest. I'm much better with commuting...I think..

I don't have enough energy/time to make actually make anything that I enjoy. (sculpture, paint..etc)

But blogging is quick enough for me to do everyday like this, makes me feel..good about myself, its like therapy.
When I finish a post, it makes me happy.

Its like i'm beating the system. Fuck you train/boat/train/life/work/etcetc

I have just enough energy/sanity to do do what I like to do.

To write and make people laugh.