Okay - I really should be doing my assignments right now.  And I will, very soon.  But first I wanted to whinge about them!

I have 2 assignments due on 2 November (11 days away), both for the same class.

• The first one involves measuring up an existing building, the soccer sheds on our uni oval, (see the picture) and drawing it in architectural drawing program (AutoCAD).  It's a pretty huge job.  I've already spent 3 hours just doing the measuring, and about 12 hours drawing - and realised today that I've missed a whole heap of stuff that I really need to include in this, so I'm not sure how long the rest will take.  I'm hoping no more than about 4-6 hours work.
• The second one is drawing and analysing an existing building.  I'm doing the Water's Edge Restaurant/ Gallery of Australian Design Pavilion.  I haven't done much more than take some photos and find the relevant journal articles.  I expect I've got at least 18 hours to go on that one, and probably need another visit to the site as well.

Then I have another major assignment due on 9 November - we have to design a retreat/house for the Dalai Lama.  It's a huge job.  I've pretty much decided on the design, but I have to draw it up (about 6 x A1 pages for the final presentation) and I have to make what has turned out to be 3 scale models of it.  I expect I've got 18-36 hours work left in that.

The biggest issue is that I'm in Adelaide from the evening of 5 November to 8 November for a friend's wedding!  So I'm aiming to get everything else finished before I go.  I'm aiming to get everything done by 2 November, but 3 November is a public holiday and a friend has offered to take the kids that day if I need her to - so I think I'll take her up on that.

Wish me luck!  And also that I don't have a complete meltdown between now and then!

The Soccer Sheds:

This is the Water's Edge Restaurant side of the pavilion (the Gallery of Australian Design is on the opposite side):

I met with the head of the architecture school today to see if it would be possible to go on our planned UK trip next year.  She said 'Yes'!!  In fact, she said "If you've booked it, you have to go"!!  She was really supportive and is being fantastic to help me work out what classes I need to do to finish my degree given they're changing the degree so significantly this year.

What a relief!  And now so exciting!

But first - I have to finish this semester.  My last assignment is due on 9 November, and I really can't wait to get through it all.  It's so huge...