I'm sitting at work right now (I'm a part time projectionist at a local movie theater) where I should be working on my portfolio. The big hang up is my master's thesis. I just can't figure out a way to show it that makes me happy. I'm sure I'll figure it out but rather than hitting my head against the keyboard I'm taking a break.

It's times like these that I'm glad I'm passionate about architecture and design because even though I'm really frustrated and feel like giving up, I know that I'd never let myself do that. I'm also glad that I have other avenues for exploring my passion. I'm currently working on a small project with a fellow graduate, Andrew Carman. I'll be posting more about the project at some point but I really wanted to point you to an article Andy wrote recently  that deals with a few of his passions (also the subject of his thesis project):

"Being a newcomer to the study of architecture and urbanism, it was only relatively recently that I first heard someone wax emotional about the form of a favela. During my first year of architecture school I sat in the audience listening to David Leatherbarrow and Dalibor Vesely discuss the “latent world.” As a recent initiate to the study of phenomenology, I was all in. Until David Leatherbarrow waxed a little bit too dewy-eyed about how the emergent architectural form of favelas expresses the “latent world.” Having been a frequenter of favelas in my younger years and having had therein some experiences that were what you might call fairly disagreeable, his nostalgia fell on at least one pair of somewhat skeptical ears. ..." -- Arquitetura do Sambinha: Life, Ecology, and the Favela

Enjoy the article and if you're interested in learning more or just checking out some of the other things Andy had to say, here is Andy's profile on FAVELIssues, as well as his Tumblr blog.