That First Official Gig

I haven't posted in a while because, well, there hasn't been much going on. The calm after the storm, so to speak. Since getting my license, I can honestly say being an architect sucks in this economy (especially if you're on your own). It hasn't been for lack of trying. For three months, I've been running after projects that amount to a bunch of tire kickers or wackos, interviewing for what few full-time jobs are out there with people you normally would run away from, and feeling in general like Tommy Chong. What I did on my summer vacation. The first day of my summer vacation, I woke up. Then I went downtown to look for a job. Then I hung out in front of the drugstore. The second day of my summer vacation, I woke up. Then I went downtown to look for a job. Then I hung out in front of the drugstore. The third say of my summer vacation...

Until last week. I got my first official gig! Funny enough it was a neighborhood referral. I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz - it was all right here in my own backyard (with the proper setbacks, of course). It was AWESOME to deposit that retainer check, and feels even better to work. Nothing glamorous, a real meat and potatoes kind of project, but I am so thankful in this crappy economy to have it. Someone told me that glamour fades, it's getting the job that counts. So my faith has been restored, at least for now. Here's to getting more jobs!

Props to the Real ARE Casualties

Before I run off stamping everything in sight, I have to say my husband was right. Yes, you were right, as usual. Right, correct, shoulda believed ya, etc. And as soon as I find a client I'll pay you all the money I owe you from our bet (assuming they pay me).

This was the hardest year ever in more ways than just the ARE. But I did it, and Randy is especially glad the nightmare is over. Taking the ARE is not conducive to a calm environment, and I believe that the spouses/partners/families of those of us who are attempting it take the biggest hit of all. They are the ones who have to pick us up off the floor, hold those chins up for us, boost the ego, and on and on and on.

I think I can tell them on behalf of all of us ARE junkies - THANK YOU, SWEETIE!

I Have a Number...

Wow. All I can say is, "I DID IT!"

I am officially an

ARCHITECT!!!!!

I really did it! I just can't believe it. I couldn't have done it without my husband, the ARE Forum, and my fellow ARE inmates (Ellen, Heather, Karim, Gayle, icarus, mr. b, and all the rest). THANK YOU!

This was, by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Even harder than architecture school. All I can say is that if I can do this, so you can. Just work your ass off! Really, don't plan on having any sort of life while you're doing this. It will consume you like a foot fungus. My advice: do them as close to each other as you can - just get it over with, 'cause it's going to take over your life. Do it that way for your families. If you want to be a masochist and drag it out, go ahead, but don't torture them any longer than necessary.

So now I am the newest Registered Architect in the State of New York. I have the number to prove it. I even ordered my stamp already. All I need is a client! Anyone game?

For those who think they can't pass GS and/or LF...

YOU CAN! Really, you can do it! If I can do it, so can you!

To my complete amazement, I received two PASS letters yesterday - one for GS, the other for LF. UNFREAKING BELIEVABLE!!!! I passed! I passed I passed I passed I passed! I never have to deal with that GS exam again! I never have to deal with the LF exam again!

I really, honestly, definitely thought I blew GS. A few weeks later I thought the same about LF (although I was so burned out at that point that I didn't react the same way I did after GS). One major thing that I would recommend to anyone studying for these is to take Marc Mitalski's On-Line Anytime seminars. I personally liked this format as opposed to the "live" one because I could go back and forth at my own speed. Marc was great about answering questions and spending some one-on-one time with me. Totally worth the $$$.

So now I wait for the last letter, my "Last Waltz." I took PD on 12/15 so I should get results by the end of next week at the latest. Of course, I say that with a grain of salt given NCARB/Prometrics/ARE Oops' track record of late. But that's another post. Right now, I'm basking in the glow emitted by the two letters sitting on my desk - PASS. Oh, and obsessive/compulsively checking the NY state license verification website every hour...

Oh, and Randy was right as usual!

Lateral Forces (LF): FEMA Must Read

Just a quickie on a FEMA doc that you should read for LF. It's free, and FEMA sends it out within a week of ordering it. You can always download it and read the PDFs, but I like to have the paper and ink on my shelf.

FEMA 454 - Designing for Earthquakes: A Manual for Architects(http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=2418)

It's got thump value (ie, it's a thick bugger), but don't worry - big print and wide margins make it a fairly quick read.

General Structures (aka "the horror…! THE HORROR!")

This was, by far, the WORST experience I have had with these exams. I thought ME was bad… GS is the mother of them all. Unless, of course, you are a structural engineer or actually good at this material. I even tried to offer NCARB the name and number for a really good structural engineer I know in lieu of my taking this one, but they wouldn't go for it. I never was good at GS, and have always been equation phobic. I wish I would have paid more attention in Mrs. Schwager's class in high school, but doing well in my acting classes and hanging out at the Greek place on 46th & 6th were much more important… not to mention the "extracurricular activities" many of us were involved in while going to HS in the early-mid 70's. Then there was my absolutely horrid experience in architecture school with a certain structures professor who made life miserable if you happened to have breasts and a uterus. Old, Turkish, misogynist who believed women had no place in this business, and a miserable mo fo to boot. To add to that pain, I had him for studio one semester as well. Thankfully, he left before my last semester of structures and the guy that took his place was incredible. It was too late for me by then, but it helped a little tiny bit (thanks, Ralph).

The long and short of this exam experience - no freaking way will I pass this one. Yes, I know I've said that with all of them, but this time I really mean it. I mean it to the extent that I even upped the ante with my lovely husband to $100 for this exam if I pass. Never say never I suppose, but I believe that there is only a 1% chance of my passing GS. My husband has faith, and so do a lot of others who have more faith in me than I do (and you know who you all are), and they all keep telling me that like all the other exams I will get that PASS in the mail in a couple of weeks.

Here's the story. I have been studying my ass off the past two months. I used Kaplan, which was painful. It took me two weeks just to get through the first chapter. It was very calculation heavy and, as is normal with Kaplan, very convoluted and confusing in the explanations. Archiflash was very useful, as it has been all along. I also did Marc Mitalski's "On-line Anytime" seminar. Well worth it, as he makes sense of everything that Kaplan confused me with. But I don't think any of it helped, because I blanked. I just don't get how NCARB thinks that it is reasonable to answer 85 questions, many of which are intense calculations, in 150 minutes. That's about 1.76 minutes per question… Just one WTF question can eat up 5 minutes!

I began the exam, remembering what others had mentioned about the first few questions were probably going to be intimidating and to mark them for review. So I began marking, and marking, and marking… It was as if all the questions had nothing to do with any of the material I studied. I think I only had about 20 that I felt sure about. At about the 30 minutes left mark, I still had at least 30 unanswered questions! Don't hold me to that number, but it was about that many. I really just started guessing at that point (an a here, a c there, oh haven't had a d in a while). The reference material had the basic stuff, but NOTHING that I thought I needed (like A=3V/2Fv). I wish I could remember the questions that I got stuck on, but I can't even remember my name when I walk out of there. On top of the general agony of testing, they had the heat cranked. It was at least 95 degrees in there ("Sorry," they said, "we don't control it, the building does). To add to that, the same girl was working there as last time - she nattered on in Spanish the ENTIRE time. LOUDLY. I mean, I had ear plugs and I could STILL hear her. Like last time, when I asked her to zip it, she looked annoyed and ignored me. I suppose at least this time she wasn't using the speaker phone to continually dial a busy number. I complained to Prometric again, but obviously that is useless.

So I left the test center in tears… a girl thing, sue me. I sulked for a day, and today I start on LF. I signed up again for Marc's seminar, obviously LF this time around. I've got Kaplan and Archiflash sitting there waiting, and will print out FEMA 454 (chapters 2, 4, 5, & 8) for a little bath tub reading. I'm taking LF on December 2, so I really have to get it together quickly. From what I'm told, LF is a piece of cake compared to GS. But it's all relative and depends on who you ask.

You know what is really ridiculous when I think about it? When I started out in March, all I wanted to do was get everything done by June '09 before the transition (gee thanks, NCARB). I totally expected that I was going to fail them all at least once... But then I started passing them, and after 5 for 5 and then the 6th, the thought of actually getting licensed by the end of this year got stuck in my head. Wow, how cool would it be if I got my stamp before my 50th birthday in December? That's a present! Now it will just kill me if I don't get it by then... If I did tank on GS, it's a loooooong 6 month wait (thanks again, NCARB). I just have to figure out a way to re-program my head back to June of '09.

I need many margaritas... many, many, many margaritas…

The Exam That Ate My Brain...

General Structures.... need I say more?