Tone of voice

When I went to vote on Tuesday, the computer screen told me that I was "Non Partisan" and gave me a limited slate of school board members to choose from. That was it. I realized that, in our current electoral system, I have chosen not to classify myself (mostly to avoid the irritation of political junk mail and telemarketing). While the system does not allow me to vote on a national level in our primary season, it gives me a sense that my choices are not beholden to any particular group.

In the same way I approach writing in this here blog. Unlike a journal or a "diary" the audience is both known and unknown. Should I be didactic and pontificatory? How about reflective in a melancholy kind of way? I could certainly be journalistic and report on the happenings of my personal history. Or rant in anger about some horrible injustice to befall mankind, such as the exclusion of brown M&M's from the world of candy. Sometimes I come off as too critical, sometimes too mealymouthed. One day what I think is funny is most definitely NOT 3 days later, and sometimes the opposite occurs, though not intentionally. It's my perceived audience that influences me and ultimately tempers what I have to say.

Which is not too much, at least today.

It was a left/right-brain kind of day (actually the last two days), where I spent the majority of the time tweaking floor plans for a 130 unit apartment building that we're designing. Like a giant game of chess, each move affects future moves in ways I try to anticipate, only to find out later that I've got to undo a bunch of decisions based on those earlier ones. It's not just if or how the flow of space works, it's how these decisions are affected by building structure, building systems, building codes, and building aesthetics. It's a technical exercise that requires quite a bit of flexible creativity, which, to me, is the essence of the practice of architecture. And the audience is the end-user.

So as the week comes to an end work has been busy and rewarding. Another rest week awaits around the corner for my "training" as I've been flogging myself on the bike indoors pretty regularly the past three (42 of the last 49 days on the bike, but who's counting...) Instant view Netflix is a GOOD THING.

So enough rambling. We've got a nice fire in the 'place and it's time to enjoy that.