Universe of Soulmates

"Blueprint to Love"

I guess I've always been pretty average. In high school, I got mostly B's and C's, with a couple A's scattered in. That's not the only thing that contributes to my average-ness. My mop of brown hair and dull brown eyes don't look different from the majority, either. In fact, the only thing that is different about me is the fact that, despite being of the male gender, I like guys. If I had to guess what percent of the population is like me (likes the same gender they are), it'd probably not be much. Five percent, if I had to put a number to it.

Aside from all that, I'm a plain-old, boring architect. For the last ten years, I've been with CuttingEdge Homes, designing houses for the rich and famous in Los Angeles. It sounds like a glamorous job, but most of the time the designs are cookie-cutter, nearly the exact same from one to the next. There's always edits from design to design, but that didn't make the job any more glamorous. I shouldn't complain, especially since there are some that are unique and require more complex designs.

"Carson, I just sent an email with the requirements for another project. Get back to me with an initial design by the end of the week." It might only be Monday, but that's not a lot of time to get an initial design done. Reviewing the initial requirements, I can see why the turnaround is so quick. It's similar to most of the designs I've done in the last ten years with CEH.

Having three stories is a requirement of virtually every house I design. Three bedrooms on the second floor is the next most common requirement, with a few at four bedrooms and some want the master on the first floor. Powder room on the main floor and two full baths on the second floor is the minimum number of bathrooms in every design that has crossed my desk. A family room, living room, office, kitchen, and dining room are staples in every design that often get standardized, but sometimes may vary depending on square footage or the customer's wishes. And, of course, there's a basement, which is the thing that is most customized of everything.

My boss has already gone back to her office by the time I'm done reading through the four pages of requirements. Four pages isn't long, especially considering the original, un-filled document is at four pages. The long ones get to six or seven pages, and often have eccentric requirements that I sometimes have to get clarified just to implement in the initial design. And, the initial design is almost never even close to the ending design, but it is a good place to start for the customers that are indecisive. Trust me, there are plenty of those.

Putting on a set of headphones my team knows I specifically use to listen to music, I start the tedious process of drawing out the rough layout, quickly calculating square footage as I draw each room. Based on the fact that they want a 4,000-square foot home, it'll be a little bit bigger, but still a reasonable size for a five-bedroom home. The couple has three kids and one on the way, and they don't want them sharing rooms with each other for whatever reason. Hey, they're not my requirements, and I don't judge no matter what's written (at least, not externally; there have been some interesting requests, like a sound-proof master bedroom). Okay, I do judge a little, but not in a negative way. Sometimes, the customer wants a cool secret passage to a secret room—granted, it's on the floor plan, but secret because the kids don't know—or the basement has a movie room, but usually they're pretty typical houses.

"Carson, do you have some time to review my design?" The intern on my team has a layout drawn and sized on a big sheet of graph paper a third the size of our desks. That's the typical size of one of these drawings, so I'm not surprised when I see his design covering so much of his workspace.

"You missed a few structural things, but, other than that, it looks good. I'll write my notes and you modify it. Once you make those modifications, go ahead and show it to the boss." Writing down the few notes I had for the intern, I'm starting to think that this whole "meeting day" thing was a waste of my nerves and energy. Hell, if it were up to me, I wouldn't want it to be a thing to begin with.