"it's gonna be a bright bright bright bright sunshiny day"--Jimmy Cliff

well, other than it actually being a BRIGHT, SUNSHINY day in Istanbul...literally...i've also got some good news.
Adderly and I went to visit Tarik, my professor, today in the hospital and he seems to be recovering just fine. we didn't stay long, but we talked about classes and studio, and he told us that he might be released friday. (and apparently, the doctor who performed his heart surgery had quit the hospital but came back right before Tarik ended up going, and he is one of the best in Turkey) we also found out that he became a grandfather the same night he had surgery!
about the bright sunshiny-ness... before we came, we were told that nobody wears shorts in Turkey, so i brought no shorts. i have been burning up all day! that's all

"i just got some real bad news." --Kanye West

aight, so basically i was going to tell this story about how after our exhibition game and practice last wednesday, i found out that I WILL NOT BEING PLAYING IN THE FINAL FOUR TOURNAMENT IN ANKARA! my team fought another team during a game earlier in the season and has been disqualified from the tourney... yea.... real wack!

but before i had time to write about my problems, i got an email from the head of architecture in Auburn telling us that my professor was in the hospital...
as far as i know, his aorta ruptured, he had surgery, and was in ICU. we haven't been able to visit him, but apparently he is doing ok now. he will need time to recover...

sorry it took so long, but my internet connection is horrible at the house and i couldn't post anything until i got to studio today

Today...in Mardin

this is a video that i made for a project in my 'architecture in cultural context' class.

shout out to Breezo for putting me up on zero7
(you make music that goes with art. i make art that goes with music)

...(i have been trying to post this video for over a week. it never works, at least not correctly)

WATERCOLORS WATERCOLORS WATERCOLORS

these are in the order that they were completed...hopefully you see improvement

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES of Mardin, Turkey

view from anywhere in Mardin
lady with a gold grill (can't see it this small)


used to be a toilet...(not inverted of course)
i went into a cave...(yes, i know...i'm black)
u can get on top of any roof there
Fonzworth Bentley restroom...lol
most of us (American, Turkish, Germany, etc.)
thousands and thousands of houses
for my dad. (flat ceiling. huge stones. no mortar)
for my mama. they're not all Muslim
THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF HOUSES!
dolce & gabbana...for real. lol

i did a watercolor of this. (coming soon)
chillin in a stone house/tomb...not sure which
the stone tombs
this family tracks lineage to Mohammed
and Clinton has been to visit them...again...."i feel big" haha. many comments about pics, please

NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH!

i just wanted to make it known that i wrote the last post, had the great quote for it, and forgot to mention the relevance of the quote...
somehow, during the talks amongst the professors about our trip to Mardin, the governor of Mardin got wind of the fact that we were doing a project there and proposed something to our class. for some reason he doesn't like the current governor's house/mansion and prefers to move back into the old governor's house/mansion and he wanted us to come up with some design ideas for reviving the old place, making it usable again. if the design is good enough, it could get built...
anyway, while in Mardin, the governor came and showed us all around and explained all of the revitalization that he is doing to the city. he is basically restoring the city back to it's old form (getting rid of ugly, retro-fitted architecture and revamping the city's original beauty)
when i say, he came and showed us around, i mean like he and a few security guides or something introduced themselves and we walked with him...like i was walking side-by-side with the governor of this place through like the back streets and construction sites and everything. i got a picture which i will also try to post...
but yea, i felt big...lol
ALSO. I CHANGED THE SETTINGS FOR COMMENTS SO THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THE WORD VERIFICATION SO HOPEFULLY THAT WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEMS WITH COMMENTS...LET ME KNOW

"yo...i feel big. like not big in the sense of weight...like COLOSSAL" --Lil' Wayne

so it's the first Lil Wayne quote, and it is quite fitting.
first of all...(hold on, let me make this in alL CAPS...THERE IT GOES...) WE WON OUR LAST BASKETBALL GAME AND GET TO GO TO THE FINAL FOUR TOURNAMENT IN ANKARA (the capital of Turkey)
i couldn't play in the game however, cus i was in Mardin (an ancient city very close to Syria and Iraq) for architecture. our project sites are located in Mardin.
Mardin is a very beautiful city (i'll post pics when i go thru them all...i took hundreds. some people took "thousands"...literally). the entire city--the old city anyway-- sits on a big hill, with a moutain top above it and the Mesopotamian Plains below it...yes, the MESOPOTAMIAN PLAINS that you read about in middle school geography/history...the "fertile cresent". the "cradle of civilization". we toured a few other places that were near Mardin as well, including some churches, some theological schools, and the house of a family that can track their family tree back to Mohammed! (the last "man of the house" was a pretty important person. he was bigtime in Mecca and President Clinton even went to see him before).
there is so much more. like how much of a bonding experience the trip was for all of our students. by the end of the trip, i felt like for the first time, all of us were friends. the Auburn people, the Turkish people, the other exchange students were all laughing and joking with each other and having a great time...you may notice an increase in my facebook friends over the next week. lol
i'm tryin to make this short, cus i've gotten some complaints about my really long posts, and i found out that people aren't even reading all of them cus they are too long. i appreciate those who do read the entire thing every time. but this one is over for now...i just have to add pics