Broken Bow Lake in Oklahoma
It is only the end of January but I am feeling a little burned out, moving through the week in a fog-like creative vacuum – which is a really bad thing when you are in a creative field. It’s time to break loose from my daily patterns and recharge the batteries and get my creative juices flowing. Err, that sounds super nasty but I don’t mean it that way. At the end of this week I am taking a short holiday and doing something that is definitely outside my normal pattern.
I am going trout fishing … with my wife and 7 year old daughter…
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and it was my daughters idea.
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First let me start off by saying that I am not a fisherman, I don’t even own any equipment. I’m also not a camper … only slept in a tent on like 3 occasions in my life. But I have to say that I am looking forward to this trip because on a scale of 1 to 100, my daughter’s excitement level is approximately 437,000 (which doesn’t even make sense). We just got back from the sporting goods store where we picked up fishing poles, lures, etc. and I had a great time teaching my daughter how to cast a line out in the backyard.
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Kate was a natural
“… walk down the hill about 60 yards, look for the tree that looks like a one legged lumberjack, and turn left”.
not so secret map to the secret honey-hole
When I was in the sporting goods store, I was chatting up one of the clerks so that I could make sure I was getting the right sort of “grub lubers” and “xtreme” filament casting line. I told him where I was going and he shared with me that he had been going to this lake for over 20 years and had a honey hole … “the” honey hole. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s basically a really good fishing spot and people tend to keep them to themselves. He drew me a “secret map” that was almost impossible to decipher but I have attempted to recreate it here. The written directions are full of “look for the tree that looks like a one legged lumberjack, walk 20 steps and turn left”.
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the cabin
We are going to drive 3 1/2 hours up to Broken Bow lake in Southern Oklahoma this Friday after work where we have rented a cabin for the weekend. I was all for sleeping in a tent but thought we should take baby steps and just start with the fishing and hiking.
Taking trips like this are important although I don’t do them anywhere near often enough. I can’t help but think that periodically getting away to do anything other than what you normally do is really good for you, helps to recharge your batteries a bit and get your creative juices flowing (again, not gross).
Please look for the big announcement I have coming out tomorrow, try and have a great week.
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Life of an Architect contributor Scott Taylor wrote an article, It’s all about me introducing himself and explaining a bit about who he is and what makes him tick. He accomplished this by preparing a list of things that he felt defined his design sensibilities. In that post, Scott called me out to prepare a similar list (as if I could be so easily defined…)
I have prepared these sorts of lists before and I absolutely HATE doing them. Sadly, I don’t have many things that stay my favorite for very long. Does that mean I’m fickle? Does it mean I can’t commit? Maybe … but I think it means I become enthused rather quickly and easily which leaves little time for things to remain in the top spot for very long.
That having been said, here is a list I put together playing off the same sort of things that Scott culled together. It was painful putting this together be here goes:
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Favorite piece of furniture: Eames molded plastic chair with eiffel base
The Eameses adapted molding techniques developed during World War II to produce these shells. They also perfected another technique with which they had been experimenting—creating a bent, welded wire base. The result was the process that allowed the manufacture of the first mass-produced one-piece plastic chairs. I don’t own any of these but I have been coveting them for a long time.
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Favorite Pen: Sharpie Ultra Fine point
I am hardly an artist but I do think I can communicate well enough when drawing. I love my Sharpies and I am quite sure that between my office, my house, and my car, there are several hundred laying out. I always wanted to be able to use a fountain pen but since I am left handed, I would inevitably draw my hand through wet ink and smear whatever I just drew. These Sharpie pens lay down a nice dark line with little effort and the nib has enough give that I can get a little pen weight when I draw.
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Favorite Deserted Island Food: Egg Rolls
Maybe it’s just me, but I used to play this game where I would pick the things I could have in unlimited supply should I ever find myself stranded on a deserted island. The premise is that you could select one single food item – that you could eat as much as you wanted, whenever you wanted – but you could never change. If I had to eat the same thing day after day, it would be egg rolls.
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Favorite Car: 1969 Jaguar XKE II
What’s there to say about this selection? The only reason not to choose this as your dream car is that you didn’t know it existed. Beautiful lines and proportions … it was, without a doubt, the easiest item to choose for this list. I didn’t even have to think about it.
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Favorite Poster: 1934 Guinness ”Good for you”
I am going to say right now … who has a favorite poster?!? I have to admit that I do like the poster Scott chose but to have a favorite means that there are others up for consideration. Any of the Guinness posters from the 1930′s I think are pretty strong graphically and 7 glasses, 7 days of the week and 7 beneficial reasons to drink it (for strength, nerves, digestion, exhaustion, sleeplessness, its tonic effects and the blood).
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Favorite Architect: Impossible for me to select
There are so many that I respect and that shape my interests but does one stand out head and shoulders above another? I wish … I wracked my brain on this one for the last 7 days knowing that I was going to write this post at Scott’s request. Sorry I let you down on this one so to make it up to you, I am going to provide a bonus topic and answer, you know – try and end on a high note.
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Favorite Movie: Raising Arizona
This was probably the second easiest item for me to select. This movie was really popular when I was in architecture school and I’m sure I must have watched this movie 10x more than the No. 2 movie (Blues Brothers). To really drive this selection home, somebody in school copied the audio track to cassette tapes and we used to listen to this movie while in studio. This is the only movie that I could recite the lines to -
Parole Board chairman: They’ve got a name for people like you H.I. That name is called “recidivist.”
Parole Board member: Repeat offender!
Parole Board chairman: Not a pretty name, is it H.I.?
H.I.: No, sir. That’s one bonehead name, but that ain’t me any more.
Parole Board chairman: You’re not just telling us what we want to hear?
H.I.: No, sir, no way.
Parole Board member: ‘Cause we just want to hear the truth.
H.I.: Well, then I guess I am telling you what you want to hear.
Parole Board chairman: Boy, didn’t we just tell you not to do that?
H.I.: Yes, sir.
Parole Board chairman: Okay, then.
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So there you have it – a peek into the madness or the brilliance. While I sweated the details on this post, with very small exceptions, this post would look significantly different in 6 months.
Except for the part about the egg rolls.
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