Strengths.

Have you heard of strengths quest? It pretty sweet; basically a personality (or I suppose strengths) test that analyzes individuals. I had my doubts, I mean how much can a 75 question test really tell me about my self? There is so much room for error. My top 5 strengths are (in order) communication, achiever, activator, futuristic, and individualization. At O&E this June, especially, I tried to see how I can use my strengths. I have always heard that we should use our gifts and talents the best way we can. And I think this strengths quest thing did pretty good (my mom was able to almost exactly guess my 5 when she saw the list of 34). 

Today I saw the final concepts for the smaller project we are working on. This is the stuff that I was waiting for; sketches, plans, game concepts, renderings, the lot. I know I can’t talk about it but it was sweet! I also went through the plans and concepts for the larger theme park. We had to find somewhere to save about $2 million. So we analyzed the bathrooms, retail areas, and prayer rooms. We kept all the prayer rooms (they have prayer room here everywhere; so cool how much religion is a part of every day life). We pretty much cut all the retail in half. Now the bathrooms is where I got to help. We talked through placement and the amount of bathrooms. We eliminated 9 after some discussion and debate. It was nice to actually have some say, I mean I brought things Maria didn’t notice, etcetera. It was truly a discussion. 

Later in the afternoon I sat down to meet with Maria just to chat. I wanted to better understand the whole process of everything. It was a great conversation. Basically, to make it simple, the Shake (or king dude) say “I want a theme park.” Then his “people” find RIVA and say “make this happen.” From there there is outsourcing and that stuff and after everything goes from concept and is approved and is finalized, it goes through a bunch of legal stuff and is constructed. (It all seemed simpler in my head until I tried to type it just now. I think I understand is all though, I have a nice diagram.) We moved on to talk about how architecture and design fits into it all. The are basically one of those outsources.Maria studied Interior Architecture so it was interesting to hear everything from her point of view. She talked about how engineers and contractors always change your ideas. I am beginning more and more to like this side of architecture. Management and development is really growing on me. And when I look at my strengths, I can’t help but think I could do alright as a project manager or eventually developer. I am really glad I get a chance to learn the things I am here. It really is giving some perspective of the “real world.” 

I took a cab just to the downtown area after work and walked around for a bit, basically just in awe. If I haven’t already said, everything is so freaking tall! I was constantly looking up. Its crazy. 

Tonight was another night with Mark at Boot Camp. And it was another hard workout. It’s amazing how much harder and longer you can go when people push you. For example I told myself I would redesign the chicken cool I designed fall semester last year (don’t ask). But it’s hard without a community pushing me to do better, without an atmosphere of design. I can’t wait to be placed back in communities that push me. I hope to push people too…like the math teacher in “Mean Girls.” I think in the long run to find joy in what I do I will be using my strength, I’ll be doing something natural, while being pushed even harder by those around me. 

You know, after keeping up with this blog, I constantly have an inner dialog in me head of what to right each day about things as they happen. And it always seems I forget these ideas when I finally write about it. I hope I don’t forget things that quickly when I return home. I really am learning a lot here. Things I would never learn in school; valuable things I believe I will really use in the future. 

Something interesting to end on is that every day I here I watch TV. I watch a lot more news than I usually do. I like keeping up to date on the world, and I think it’s important. I was channel checking today and say a movie with some guy watching TV too. On TV was an interview with an Indian man talking about being alone. He said that the concept of alone is, in fact, impossible. I like that idea. He said that in order to “be” there must be something o someone else to be with or experience. It’s a deep subject but I like to agree. We are never alone.