In sickness and in health

I have a cold. Pray for me.

I have to be well enough for this Thursday to write my Revit exams. THREE of them.

Not sure what else to do but pray.

AL

Reprieve

My parents (God bless them) helped me out with the car repairs. It looks brand, spanking new. The auto body mechanic did a good job.

Anyway, I also declared a major for the Masters of Divinity program: Counseling Clinical.

I hope and pray that I can straighten out my act (lol) so that I can be of service to others who are in crisis. My life seems to be going from one crisis to the next.

Anyway, pray that all will work out.

The job with the firm's interior design job is piecemeal so I will have to get another part-time job.

Please pray for me.

God bless.

AL

An accident

I got into a car accident today. I glanced off the rear right side of another stopped car. Damaged her rear tail-light. No one was injured thankfully.

I always thought that listening to worship music and having a Jesus fish on my car would be like talismans for me avoiding accidents. I guess I should be thankful that it wasn't more serious.

Please pray for me and for the other driver.

God bless you and thank you.

A mixed blessing . . .

I went to a job interview at a nice friend's Toronto interior architecture firm today. It went well. We caught up and discussed what projects were going on in the office. I mentioned about the 2 freelance projects I was working on (church plant and coffee shop).

I got the job.

It's casual part-time. He doesn't have anything at the moment but as work comes in, he will get me involved. I hope and pray to get some badly needed site experience and to take the pressure off my parents financially to help me. I am going to have to work and/or get student loans in order to pay for tuition for school(s). If I still have cash left over, I will give it to my girlfriend to help her out. She resigned from one of her food service jobs. She still has one job left. She's hopefully going to apply to some hospitals for some clerical work and get her foot in the door for a nursing job when she graduates from her college course. She will probably get paid better for the clerical hospital job then what she is currently making. And when she becomes a registered practical nurse  . . . well then!

The Montreal architect is consulting legal to determine if it is illegal for her to ask me to do work and not pay me for 6 months. I hope it is alright. I would like to work with her. She's struggling with a risky business venture of doing shipping container homes. But she's cast her net wide in terms of target market so something should hopefully pan out for all her efforts and risk-taking. I would like to help her if I can in whatever humble means possible. Even if it is only drafting working drawings and developing construction details. Truth is, I think she's nice and I want to make the trip out to Montreal to meet with her pay dividends. I did have to pay for a parking ticket and replace my alternator of my car when I got back to Toronto. Good thing I had CAA roadside assistance. My car broke down at my girlfriend's place. I had to get it towed to Canadian Tire.

Pray for me . .. I have a Revit exam on Thursday.

Good night.

A Victory

I got accepted into Tyndale Seminary and University's Master of Divinity program. I have yet to declare a major. Hallellujah!

On another bright side, the Montreal female architect decided to have me help her out with doing shipping container drawings. I guess she changed her mind.

As far as the church plant project goes, I decided to bite the bullet and do the measurements of the commercial building basement space for them. I am going to do a Revit BIM model of the existing space and maybe when the interior designer has something, I can add her design to the model.

The ESL Bible study pastor and I went to the Land Registry office in downtown Toronto in order to hunt for a reference plan/survey of his home. He wanted a sample so that he knew what to get for prospective properties/sites for locating the Christian cafe. I really want a survey before I begin any design work on the project but I might have to do some marketing materials for fund-raising.

I missed the 2nd Revit exam for the Intermediate course due to a dental emergency. It is still being resolved but I no longer experience any pain.

I really hope that I qualify for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) for Fall when I study at Tyndale.

I am also applying to architectural firms right now.

God bless,

AL

Marking Time

I lost my job.

I have not been working for the past 8 months. Just trying to reassess myself and where my career is headed. I have attended numerous interviews and job application reviews but nothing has materialized. A little frustrated.

I have decided to change my tack. I prayed one night in my apartment and felt God's leading for me to study in seminary/Bible college. I have concentrated my efforts to that end. In the Fall, I plan to study a Masters in Divinity for the time being with a Masters in Architecture potentially after that. Beyond that, I don't know. It's all God's Will.

The female architect friend in Montreal said that she doesn't have a position for me. She is just looking for draftsmen at present, not designers, and can't pay right away until the sale of the container residence prefab building comes through or there are investors. It seems risky.

A church plant project fell through for me. There is a rival designer that nabbed the project. She had closer (familial) ties to the decision maker.

On the plus side, I have a Christian cafe design project currently in the works for a young pastor who teaches English as a Second Language Bible study. I didn't accept any payment for it because I wanted to be given as much latitude as possible. My Christian friend says that I should insist on being paid but I don't know. This is God's work and there are more important things than getting rich off it.

I also have been taking Revit courses at a local Toronto community college. Doing OK in them. The instructor is a nice guy; funny and knowledgeable.

Well, pray for me. I have to discern God's will for my life and right now funds are extremely tight.

God bless you all.

AL

An update . . .

Just wanted to update the blog to mention that I went to Ottawa and Montreal 2 weeks ago for the long weekend (Labour Day). I saw many things . . . the Aviation Museum (where I took a helicopter tour of downtown Ottawa and Hull), the Canadian War Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, across the river in Hull, Quebec. I met with the Associate Director of the Masters of ArcIhitecture program at Carleton University and she gave me a few tips on the portfolio (present it less like a technical document with 1 image per page and more like a creative composition). I also met her two young pre-teen daughters who were thinking of going into architecture like their mother. One girl said that she can always find her way back to her mother's office in campus. They were funny. Always playing. The Assoc. Director said that the students were on the calibre of the students she taught at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). However, they didn't realize how good they were (in other words they were very humble). In any case, Carleton is Lise Ann Couture's alma mater. She is a partner in the New York based firm, Asymptote. I had actually applied there for a job but all they offered me was an unpaid internship. Living in New York City is expensive so I didn't go for it but it would have been nice to have worked for that office.

I also made a side trip to Montreal where I met my friend from Dalhousie. She is a female architect living there with her daughter. We discussed me doing drawings for her for her shipping container home designs.

In any case, I've got several irons in the fire.

Was able to make it out to the Art Gallery of Ontario today. Saw the Evan Perry exhibit of gigantic stretched proportion sculptures of people. They were a bit disconcerting but I had to admire their craftsmanship and lifelikeness. Did several sketches of the artwork in the Modern Wing. I also met an artist at the Tim Horton's at John and King streets. He was African Canadian and was working on an eagle emblem for a poster using cut pieces for the feathers. It was very eye-catching.

Well, all for now. Time to sleep. Church tomorrow morning.