i have not been kidnapped, nor have i disappeared... i have just been suffering from an intense case of writer's block (i think).

apparently, i needed a break from my blog. this is the only logical explanation i can find for not posting in about a year (give or take)... and my apologies go out to anyone who missed my bitter diatribes.

i have had my fill of the sandbox (for more reasons than i would dare to bore you with) and i will be moving to stuttgart, germany in about a week. i am honestly a bit nervous about the whole thing, given that i speak about four words of german and my first visit to the country was about a month ago... taking that into account, i am extremely excited to start something new. i am also extremely excited to actually be working for architects - as i have been working for engineers parading around as architects for the last year and it is not so much fun. don't get me wrong - engineers are brilliant people... they just shouldn't ever run an architecture firm. engineering ≠ architecture. but that's just my humble, slightly naïve opinion.

story time - so, much of my architectural education was based on the ideal of 'form follows function' - it is a lovely ideal. it is an ideal to which, one would hope, architecture and architects should strive. imagine my surprise, when my boss - the head of a multi-million dollar project in dubai - went on a rant about how the 'form follows function' principle is just an outdated, unfashionable 'observation' made by an 'alcoholic american'. he made a particular effort to look at me - the only american in the office - as he said this. never mind that this principle was one of the foundations of the modern movement in architecture and design. and never mind that a significant number of famous architects, designers, painters, photographers, poets, what-have-you are/were committed and enthusiastic drinkers. when we (my colleagues and i) pointed these things out to him, he angrily dismissed us as young an idealistic. he told us that our opinions needed to be updated, because 'architecture should be made, regardless of function.' - let me point out that this 'function in any form' architecture is what typical developers strive for. not architects. this is not architecture... he continued to rant angrily at us. refusing to discuss the issue like a civilized, intelligent adult.

i was disgusted. outraged. disappointed. baffled. i was a lot of not-so-positive things at that moment... so much so, in fact, that i had to get up and walk out of the room to keep myself from exploding at him for being so dismissive and childish and bullheaded.
this was just the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake that has made me want to leave this place. i do realize that not all companies in this booming metropolis put arrogant, (again) dismissive, thick-headed, money-grubbing, clueless bastards at the top of the decision-making hierarchy... but it's disheartening enough to make me want to get out of here as fast as i can.