Blue's Musings

This is still here?!?!

2006-05-05T12:23:00.000-06:00

Haha. I forgot I had this blog. At this point I've been writing in more of a private community, but I'd like to write in this one too, for people to know what I'm up to. I'm also giving this new browser a try... you can click on "write a blog" and it takes you right to a screen to fill in your blog... check it out, there's a lot of other great features having to do with social bookmarking and tagging, etc... www.flock.com

Basic rundown of my life right now....

I'm still working at my awesome web design job... I'm totally enjoying it. We're working on some great sites and some great projects. We're celebrating our year anniversary this month! Yay for a startup company making it through the first year!

I have a new car, got it a couple months ago. Its a Mazda3 and its the most awesomest thing ever. Check out my flickr account for pictures of it.

I'm getting ready to move into an apartment in Meridian, to be closer to work. I have an awesome roommate, who I know from school.

Otherwise I'm just enjoying life, making some new friends... life is good. :D

Driving is... fun?

2005-10-16T13:13:00.000-06:00

Well, its time for the post I've been wanting to write for awhile now. I always feel like writing this WHILE I'm driving and then am not so keen on it when I get where I'm going. Plus I know it might take awhile, and I have some time to write since its a weekend... Its was such a long week. I'm hoping this next one goes a bit smoother.

Anyway. Driving. Ever since Driver's Ed, when I had a not good teacher, I've hated to drive. And I'm OK with driving by myself, cause I can do something dumb and not be totally embarrassed. But I really disliked driving with other people, plus its distracting. I guess I don't really know why I hated it so much... definitely had something to do with being nervous because of all the bad drivers out there!

I have never gotten a ticket (pulled over once for expired registration, doh) or been in an accident that was my fault. I have been in 4 or 5 accidents while riding in someone else's car, and that's always scary. The one time I enthusiastically volunteered to drive my best friend and I to Blockbuster, I was thinking, yeah, this'll be fun, look at me, I like to drive. And then some stupid lady hit me. I had a green arrow to turn onto a road that only had one lane going that direction, and she wanted to turn right onto that same road. Problem was, she couldn't decide whether she wanted to go before me, or after. So she started to go, and I slowed my turn so she could just go. Then she slowed down, so I kept going, and when I got onto the road she went and bumped the side of my car. Duh! Ugh. That was an easy one to win with the insurance. My friend made fun of me when I was shaking from it (it wasn't that bad or anything) and she had to help me get things like my insurance together for the cop, but I guess she forgot that when SHE got in an accident, which was admittedly much worse, I helped her. Oh well. :)

Its my best friend's (from high school, we really haven't hung out much since then) birthday today too. I don't know how to get ahold of her. Happy Birthday!!

So. Fast forward, I've been driving on the freeway to work. It just wasn't feasible to go any other way. I've always avoided the freeway cause I didn't like going that fast, and people are nuts (there ARE rules when there are 2 lanes!! If you're going slow, stay on the right! Geez!). But now, once I start driving, I actually feel like I'm having fun! Friday night I was driving and thinking "fun fun!". It was weird. Driving provides me with time that I can just think about whatever, and listen to music.

So the thing I need now is a good car. Mine is alright, but the lack of cruise control gets to me... and its just so little and silly. Its a bright green 1994 Ford Escort hatchback. I have quite a few cars in mind that I'd like to go for. Top of that list are a Mazda 3 or 6, and I'd have to get dark grey. Other ones are: Jetta, Scion TCs are pretty cool, I like the new Honda Civic Hybrid, always liked Imprezas... Yeah, we'll see how that goes. I know that one of my mom's friends would like to have my car (it gets great gas mileage and I have had very few problems with it) so there's a possibility I could actually get something for selling it (I didn't think it would be worth much) and my mom likes driving it too.

I've been feeling kinda down lately, just because I haven't been feeling well and I don't really have friends here in Boise to hang out with. When I move closer to my work in February, I'll be closer to my friends in Caldwell, and that will be good. Last night I was in Caldwell, and really didn't want to leave to come to my apartment and be by myself. But once I started driving, I felt a lot better, and by the time I got to Boise I was happy. And I managed to get a lot done, which is amazing. I've been in that funk where I'm just so tired and I can't get anything done.

I think I had something else in mind to talk about, but this will be it for now. I have a couple ideas for future posts, so look forward to those. And I'm still working on my new site! I really hope I can get that up and running soon!!

Sunrise6

2005-10-13T22:27:00.000-06:00

Sunrise6,
originally uploaded by livnginabluewrld.

Beautiful sunrise this morning, and managed to get a picture. Yay!

Tired.

2005-10-13T22:20:00.000-06:00

I have been so tired for the past couple weeks. I haven't been able to shake it yet. Hopefully this weekend I can get some rest. My bosses were concerned about me this morning as I stared at my screen for awhile without blinking, or one of them would pass me and I would look blankly at them.

The afternoon is better though. I wake up and get some spunk. It helps to have some good music. I listed to Trance Techno music through Digitally Imported, which is the best internet radio station I've ever come across. The Trance station has just enough of a beat to make me move around, which is good. Otherwise the music is just perfect for background music.

Since I've been tired, its a struggle to get through the days and the weeks. I've been going to my parents' house in the evening just to hang out, have some company, and watch TV. Tonight was my sister's orchestra concert. They sound so good! She's in junior high.

Anyway, I should get to bed. Tomorrow is Friday. Phew. Thank goodness.

Quite a view

2005-10-11T23:13:00.000-06:00

Quite a view,
originally uploaded by livnginabluewrld.

OK maybe three posts. Wanted to try out this photo share type thing from Flickr. Fun!

Unheard of!

2005-10-11T22:52:00.000-06:00

Two posts in one day, that is.

Put up a picture or two from my trip I went on this weekend. Kicking myself for not taking more than TWO pictures the whole time. I'll add some others of other trips I've taken, and maybe I'll remember next time I'm in Atlanta to take a picture of the cool schoolhouse they have in town. And I'll take a picture of the town, because, yeah, it would fit in one camera phone picture. Teehee. :) Its interesting to see on my page that my sister's photo (Kelsey's) has gotten the most views. 14, to be exact. No comments though. I have some nice comments on a couple of my sunset pictures. Plus, right now it says "98 views" for my page so I'm excited to see it go above 100! Yeah, real milestone there. Hehe.

Should be in bed... that's what I say every night. There's just so much to do, and it doesn't help when I hang out at my parent's house and watch My Name is Earl and The Office!!!

I got started reading the second book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which one of my coworkers so kindly lent to me. He gave me a book that has all 5 books in it!! Geez!

Alright. That's all for today. I think of all these things to write about as I'm driving home... I drive a lot. That, however, is a subject for another day.

Beautiful Sunrise

2005-10-11T08:40:00.000-06:00

This morning there was the most beautiful sunrise. And I had to drive down the freeway for the whole duration of it. I couldn't just stop and take a picture. Plus, for that sunrise, my camera phone would NOT cut it. Hopefully this winter, when the sun starts rising later, I'll be able to take those pictures before I start driving, and I'll have a better (actual) camera. We can all hope.

This sunrise lit up the whole sky. At first, it was bright red, in streaks in the east and lighting up the storm clouds in the west. Slowly it mixed with gold, and then turned all gold. The mountains in the east were all misty and that made them look like they were from a fairytale.

There's the little bit of my drive where I go through downtown (before I get on the freeway), and I could see it between the buildings. When I passed the Capitol building, the sunrise was behind it and it almost made me cry to think that no one was taking a picture of that. It was the most amazing thing.

I guess I'm lucky I get to experience these sunrises, that's what life's all about anyway. Experiencing things.

Speaking of experiencing, a group of us made it up to some hot springs in Atlanta. We've had mixed luck getting up there because its high in the mountains, and the road we've taken before goes through a pass that's pretty high, and this time of year its starting to get snowy. This time we took a different way, and it was not only much easier, but even more beautiful. The Boise River is along the road the whole time, and there's some neat waterfalls and things. There's part of the river where it all got washed out a couple years ago, and there's this eerie small lake with full grown trees in the middle of it.

The hot springs were great, except that Andrew got visited by some biting bugs and I'm sure that's not the most pleasant thing in the world!

That's about it for now! Probably should get to work. :D

Sad!

2005-10-10T10:53:00.000-06:00

For some reason this makes me SO sad!!! I just can't even think about it. I guess its because all the work they've done through the years is just lost. As he says in the article, compared to other tragedies its nothing, but in its own way its just terrible.

Sorry I haven't posted lately, I haven't been feeling well. Hopefully soon I can get back into the swing of things. I'm working on my new site, slowly but surely. That will be so cool to get that put together.

Comments, and more photos

2005-09-26T20:55:00.000-06:00

Posted a whole bunch of new photos on my Flickr page! Some new sunsets and sunrises, and I started a new set for my various sky photos that aren't in the morning or evening. :) I wanted to go through and get all my photos off my phone, so I don't always have to delete one before I can take a new one! I found a site with suggestions for using your phone camera, and one was to take pictures of your car if you happen to be in an accident. Genius! Not that I plan on getting in an accident, I really hope I don't of course, but I don't want to be like "oh, wait a minute, do I really want that picture of my cat? No, I should keep that... oh hold on! I'll be done in a minute!" as people honk at us to get the cars out of the way or whatever. :)

And in the process, I'm racking up like $15 on my phone bill, since sending each one of these to my email address is like 25 cents. That's OK. I am enjoying this!

Anyway!

In regards to the comments for this blog, after getting a grand total of two (yes, two) spam comments, I decided to change it so only registered Blogger users can comment. I hope that doesn't pose a problem, but honestly, the only people who read this are on blogger anyway, so it should be OK. I got tired of email spam, enough that I abandoned my old email address, and then while working at Holland I would get fax spam (how did they get that number?!), so I really like to minimize it whenever I can. Frankly, seeing "1 comment" on a post makes me excited to see what someone had to say about my post, but when its something about... job recruitment, or something, that just crushes my spirits. Sob! ;)

I'm leaving my Flickr comments wide open right now, so please comment on those photos. I don't think I have 1 comment yet, besides the 1 from myself!!

I'm off to doodle and do some collage journaling!

Flickr Photos

2005-09-24T20:40:00.000-06:00

I have been taking photos with the camera on my cell phone, and while the resolution isn't that great, and they mostly come out grainy, I think they've been turning out pretty good. Its been really fun! Now that I know I would use it if I were to buy an actual digital camera, I might end up doing that soon.

So check out my Flickr page. I'm taking a lot of sunset pictures, so look at that set.

I'm hanging out at my parent's house this weekend, so I won't be able to get anything done on my site that I'm working on!! I really wish I could get that done and put up. Its exciting!!

Well that's a first!!

2005-09-22T21:30:00.000-06:00

Yes, its been a long time. As always. I do hope to post more, I really want to get into this again. Don't want to say too much at this point, but I will say that I'm working on my new site and will announce that soon....

So what's this about a first? Well, there are a few actually. One of which is me posting on this blog.... first time in almost 4 months, anyway.

Where do I start? In the past 2 weeks, I quit my job and started a new one, hung out with a friend I had barely talked to in about 4 years, almost passed out after walking up a hill, got pulled over (expired registration, no ticket, thank goodness), had my car pretty much break down while driving, found out I need to get my wisdom teeth pulled next week (while I'm still on the insurance from my last job), I've had an unsettled stomach for about the whole time, added a sore throat and stiffness to that yesterday, and I'm ex-hausted. Yep, that's about it. I'm not complaining, I'm just amazed that I'm still pushing forward and going pretty strong.

My new job is at a web and multimedia design company. Its pretty laid back, and I get to do more of what I love to do! Its great.

Working on quite a few projects right now... mostly web stuff. Just trying to find enough time and energy to work on them! I probably won't have much time this weekend either because my parents are going out of town, and I'm going to spend the weekend at my parents' house with my sister. They don't really have a design capable computer... though I might try to get some more done on my site.

That's about it for now!

Link of the Day:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/

Cool design site, they've made some cool, very useful web apps. Check it! ;)

Link of the Day

2005-06-04T22:55:00.000-06:00

www.digitallyimported.com

Internet radio stations with GREAT techno music of all sorts! I like the Trance and Chillout channels. There is also a Classical station. Awesome to listen to ALL day.

Link of the Day

2005-06-02T21:57:00.000-06:00

www.veer.com

This site is SO cool! They offer stock photography, which is too expensive for me, really. But they also have really cool catalogs, great videos to watch, and neat downloadable wallpaper. I ordered font specimen books, and those are really neat too. And I got a calendar! :)

Check out the ideas section for some cool stuff!

After Months and Months...

2005-06-02T21:54:00.000-06:00

I'm back. I really do intend to post more!!

The job has been crazy, but I finally got a co-worker that I really work well with, so that's great. Our company picnic is coming up in a week, and I'm excited for that.

Other than that, I'm just working on websites, and learning to draw better.

I will be posting a "link of the day" from now on, I hope, so that should be fun. :D

Am I still alive....?

2005-02-26T00:25:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, yes.

The past 3 weeks have been INSANE... we had this big project at work, and I worked so much overtime I just don't see how I can be alive and functional. Barely functional, but I can still think a little.

Its the weekend though and that's good news. I have some stuff like websites and other projects I need to do... that should be fun, hopefully. :)

I'm going to try to at least post a little bit each day... just cause. Maybe someone will read it. ;)

Oh yeah, check out my mood over there on the left... I update it every couple days, and if you click on it I sometimes put details. In case you want to know how I'm feelin'!

Goodnight all!

Where Have I Been?!?1111

2005-01-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

Um.... pretty much just working. I'm an official employee now, and I punch in and out everyday on the little fingerprint thing they have.... I always have so much to do, and am always designing different ads. My job wears me out. :) But I love it. We're having some issues with the lack of communication between our department and the "executive office". There's a freelance designer we have to help us, and I finally met her (did I tell you about that, Andrew?) and she's going to be great to work with, I'm thinkin'.

Mmmm other than that, just trying to find time to do all the things I want to do!! I've got tons of stuff to do... write, draw, read, participate in my guild on Gaia... Arg. Not enough hours in the day or days in the weekend.

I better get to bed right now, after I pick up the clothes and junk that is all over my room. All my other junk is in Laura's room, waiting for me to organize it. Ugh.

Oh yeah, check out my little mood indicator on the left there. I'll keep that updated.... just in case you're wonderin' how I'm feelin'. :D

I Have Job Security!!

2004-12-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

I know, its been a LONG time since I've written anything. I've been so busy making websites, working on articles, doing training and stuff for work.... Tonight, I'm burning a bunch of files onto CDs so I can delete them off my computer... I'm using up so much space, its ridiculous.

Anyway, yesterday Kim told me that as soon as my hours with the temp agency are up, they would love to have me as an employee. *grin* That made me way happy, of course. Hehe. She said it might include a pay raise too. So that'll be around the first of next year, which isn't too far off. Its only 2 1/2 weeks till Christmas! Oh no!! Hehe. Gotta decide on some presents.... for, like, everybody.

Its crazy how, even though there's been so much going on, I feel like I don't have anything to say.

Last week, I got SO angry with my co-worker that I work on the subdivision pages with. I get so frustrated with how long it takes her to do each ad. It'll take me about 5-10 minutes to update an ad, pretty much just change one house listing out and change the open house hours if necessary. Sometimes it takes a little longer, if you have to move things around... But she'll have an ad open for an hour. Or more. We try to help her. Seriously. Sam has typed out this whole documentation thing about how to do the ads, and I've helped her put them together too. The thing that got me last week was that I told her to make sure not to do an ad that I had already done, by looking in the folder for that week, and seeing if there was a file for that ad. I looked back at her computer awhile later, and one of the ads I had already done was open on her computer! She had opened up the template so that she started all over. Sigh. It just doesn't seem like she's trying to listen. We're supposed to be a team, but she just sits at her desk, oblivious to the world. And when we do have meetings with Sam, her and me, and maybe Kim, she's so formal, and it drives me nuts because we should be able to work together and not have it all awkward, like it is. When its just Sam and me, we get ads and ideas worked out in no time.

But yes. Moving on...

Its all cold and gloomy outside, but somehow its not getting to me. I'm just glad to be where I am and doing what I'm doing. And since it rained so much today, my car is clean!! :D

I guess that's it... better go to bed.

Turkey Tuesday

2004-11-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today my lovely employers fed all the agents and staff a wonderful breakfast, and then gave them all three free games of bowling. And yes, we got paid for this as well.

There were like, 17 teams of 4 bowlers, or something like that. The teams were randomly chosen so that staff and agents were all mixed up. I for one don't bowl, it kills my shoulder plus the rest of me, so I got to sit there and watch everyone. It was actually very fun. There was a group of 4 or 5 other ladies that didn't bowl either. One of those was a girl named Elyse.

Elyse is a receptionist at one of the other offices. She is always great to talk to. I call once a week to get edits on the ads, and she's always very quick to tell me I'm awesome. :D Weirdly enough, she's cousins with Ryan, the IT guy. Who I never even talk to anymore.... I would say Elyse is about, mmm, 24, and she's just so nice and smart too. And her hair is so long and pretty!! I've seen her a couple times, and noticed that she walks very awkwardly, like her back or hips don't work right. I found out today that this is because when she was ten, she and her family were in a bad car accident, and she broke her back! She was in a wheelchair for awhile, and they thought she'd never walk again. But, obviously, she's one of those strong persistent types, and she walks all over the place. She's very inspiring.

Anyway, I sat with my co-worker Melia, who was on a team with a couple agents, the owner of the company's wife Janet, and a very nice guy named Tony who does something with billing and accounting at the office. I got to chat with everyone... Janet is so funny! So energetic and excited. And I never get to talk to Tony because he's always so busy, so that was nice. He said that he sucked at bowling, yet, he only had a couple frames where he didn't get a strike or a spare! And I had to tell him to smile when he'd bowl well! He'd turn around and just look all normal, kinda no expression.

Then I went back to work, and worked on the 2 pages of ads that we'll have this week. I don't know why it took me so long.... I guess because I just built it all from scratch, and had to change things up so much. First of all, when I got back from lunch, I had a message from this guy who had sent me emails 2 weeks ago for FOUR ads for this coming weekend, and he was upset (not like mad, or anything, more like irritated I think) that only 1 was in there (sorry, I forgot, that was 2 weeks ago!). We didn't have enough room for them, so I made some adjustments. Which caused us to end up with one extra ad that had to go on the subdivision page, and that bugged me and Kim (boss) because it just didn't look right, and it made that page pretty cluttered. So I worked on that, and about an hour before the end of the day, I got a call from Elyse asking if it was too late to cancel an open house! So I got to put that one back on its rightful page, and everything was just perfect. :)

And now its getting late... I don't want to go to bed... at least tomorrow is pretty much Friday. Except, Sam is out of the office with strep throat, and Melia will be gone... so I'll be... all... alone.... in the office. What am I going to do?? *whimper* No, it'll be nice to have some quiet creative time... but it will be weird to just be by myself all day!

Hmm. Well. Off to go read, hopefully. I have this great book from the library called Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey (my fav author of all time)!! Yay! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Did a quadratic formula explode?

2004-11-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Title is quoted from the most recent StrongBad email... anyone who has not experienced the genius that is StrongBad, needs to click here NOW. You won't regret it. In fact you'll probably laugh harder than you have in a long time.

......

Is it Friday yet??

It felt like Friday once I was done with getting stuff sent off to the paper this afternoon! I was like... ahh... I have all afternoon to look at some training stuff, learn some mad skills for InDesign and Illustrator... but then I realized... ack! Its 3:30, and I have to finish up making some edits to the ads.... but hopefully tomorrow I can do some learnin'.

I'm going to try to make this whole blog thing into more of a daily activity... I don't have much time to be doing that, but I would like to. So they might sometimes be pretty short.... but they'll be good. OK, I can't promise that either.

My friend Janet (from Animefringe) mentioned that she had a blog where she posted a random link everyday... That might be fun. I'm hoping to do that for the magazine every month.... plus she talks about how much she's written in her book for national novel month. I thought I could do a little update on how I'm coming on my articles and stuff for Animefringe! I'm so glad to be doing some writing... I've always enjoyed it, and now I can combine that with my love of anime/manga.

This month, I'm writing an feature article about the awesome series Full Metal Alchemist. Its my first feature, obviously.... but I think I'll do OK. I wrote a LOT of it tonight.. actually hand wrote it since my mom wanted me to spend some time with her and not in front of my computer. Which was good advice. That's what I do all day, everyday.

The other day, Adam and I watched a show called Re: Cutie Honey and did a little commentary on it as we watched. I typed that up, and made it into this demo thing for a possible special section in next year's issues. I'm hoping to do this, I think it would be awesome. We're going to focus on fan subs (anime subtitled by fans... the fonts are really cool, and its easier to read than other subs, it seems). We need a name. Someone suggested Double Fanvision or something like that, but Adam is planning on bringing back his beloved ADAMVISION and we can't have two titles with the same word! Any ideas for that title?

I was planning on writing an article about Hello Kitty Online World (here, watch out, its very pink) this month, but there's not much there yet, so I'm going to save that for January. You all should be sure to read January's issue when it comes out... its gonna be so awesome. December's is looking to be pretty cool too. We have two new writers!! Yay!

Well I guess that's about it for tonight... I'm gonna go read, and do some drawings too I think. And then sleep. Ahh. Sleep. And then it shall be Friday, and I can sleep IN on Saturday. Plus my little sister is coming back from school for a week (she'll be here late tonight, she better not wake me up! Hehe) and it will be fun to hang out with her.

Goodnight!! Sweet dreams to everyone (check out Andrew's dream blog)!

Update: My sister got home already!! Yay! Its good to see her. Hopefully she won't create too much chaos. ;)

Its like, an early Christmas!!

2004-11-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

I got two presents today!! One was my new monitor at work. This thing is HUGE!! It barely fits on my desk. Although, it couldn't have just worked out perfectly fine to begin with. We unpacked it, realized it wasn't the exact one the guy told us it would be.... but it was dang huge and it's a "professional series". We looked it up, and I think its a pretty good one. Anyway, we got it all unpacked and my old one off the desk, and we went to plug the cable into the back.... and.... go figure. The "male" and "female" parts didn't match. :P The cable I had hooked up to my computer didn't fit, and they didn't send us a new one. No one anywhere had that kind of cable, so Sam went and bought a new cable. He also packed up his monitor that still needs to be sent back (he almost packed up the wrong one!) and sent that off. Hopefully he'll get his new one soon too.

The other present I got was a package full of anime stuff from my friend in Georgia! He has so much stuff... he's never going to be able to watch/read it all. Although, he won't send me stuff he intends to watch, like the DVD's he has of my favorite series, .hack//SIGN!! So I now have the whole series of Gravitation (a series that he got as screeners, but just doesn't really like, I think I might like it, it looks cute), a couple DVD's of random series I've never heard of (but look good), and a couple mangas. There's also some burnt CDs and DVDs that I'm not quite sure what's on them yet. I am so happy I got all this cool stuff! Hehe.

This has been a crazy week. At work, my office mate has been "under scrutiny" for the fact that she takes forever to do her work. No exaggeration, she spent ALL day working on a tiny little ad. I'm supposed to just check on her every once in awhile (it sounds mean, but they just need to know what's going on, and unlike my situation, there's not really any way to monitor that) and whenever I told Sam what she was doingon, he'd get more and more frustrated. He finally told me that "everyone" (the elusive group of higher-ups) have started to realize that I'm working my butt off, and they appreciate how I handle everything that gets thrown at me, and how well I am adapting. To me its not really about adapting so much, just that I'm so excited to see where this department and this company are going to go! Everything Sam talks about that he'd like to see us doing is so exciting. It will be the best learning experience of my life. I guess what is different about my job is that it is like school and work combined which is what makes it so exhausting!

Sam advised me to learn all I can on my own as well, and work on getting a grasp on the programs that we are using... like Illustrator and InDesign. I had never used either before, but I feel like I picked up on them really well. I just need to learn about the tricks and shortcuts and fun stuff like that. That way, I will have even more of an upperhand in what he sees as becoming a "two-man operation"... which means that I will have to work for my place there. As I'm getting over the drama of a couple weeks ago... I'm starting to think that it would be pretty dang cool to keep working there, because its really going to start going places.

To make the week and my life in general even more crazy, Andrew and I had another rough couple of days. We have decided to split up, but of course not stop talking and being friends. I just know that I need some time to figure things out in my life and stuff.

I have this general feeling that lately, I haven't been that good of a person... not that good of a girlfriend, friend, guild leader or co-worker... I've made a lot of mistakes. I have been getting better... I have been trying to get my priorities straight and work as hard as I can, and to do what I can to ensure that everything turns out for the best. We can't know what the best thing for us is.... we think we know... but we are often wrong. I just have to keep in mind that the most important things in life are the people I care about.

Weekends are Grrrr-eat!

2004-11-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

Wow. This past week was crazy. The end of last week, we started getting files off the Mac while my office mate was out of town, and got the new Dell PC alllll set up. I was way excited about that. But of course, there were technical difficulties with that as well. When she got back, we discovered that new Dells often have so much stuff already installed that they are realllllly slow. So, she had issues getting her work done. I was assigned a couple pages of sub ads to help her. My other coworker was impressed that I got that done as well as my own work, and told my boss... and everyone was just happy. It was really fun, actually. Being all crazy trying to get things done right... wow. But we figured it all out, hopefully!! This week should be better.

I have a bunch of reading I should do, to learn different things about the programs I use. I'll see how much I feel like doing that tomorrow.

I'm so excited about Animefringe! If you haven't, you should check out the site beacuse this month's issue is out, and my article is in there! Wooo! All the people on that site are so awesome! Its become like a second, online home... yeah. Hehe. The crazy otaku I mentioned in a previous post, named Adam, has become a great friend! And I've bought lots more manga cause of him. Hehe.

I went to Andrew's family's cabin in Hell's Canyon this weekend. We took a couple of friends, Dave and Julie, and it was really fun. We hiked back to the waterfall near the cabin too, which we hadn't done for awhile. I did some rock climbing, and I am le tired. I should go to bed.

I will write more another time. Goodnight!

Patience is a Virtue....

2004-11-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

....especially when you're dealing with a new PC, which is still in the process of being integrated into the workflow. The lady I share an office with came back from her vacation yesterday, and was shocked to find that we had gotten all the files transferred off the Mac, and onto the file server. She no longer had a Mac... just a PC. And I think she's scared of that thing. She needs to learn to be patient with the poor thing... yes, its a Dell, and therefore powerful, but its just not going to allow you to do as many things at once as that monster dual-processor Mac you used to have! And its going to take a minute to save things. She also has issues dealing with the file server, I don't think she gets that its a place where we can all get to files, and makes it so we don't have anything saved on an actual computer!! If that Mac had croaked, we would have been in trouble. But now its all backed up on FOUR identical hard drives through a RAID, so hopefully we're safe.

We are having problems with some file formats not switching over right, and that'll be a fun fight!! I did have a fun time working on the sub pages, which are slowly being transferred to me, so that when the new system for the readers rolls out, both me and my coworker will have about the same amount of subdivision ads to do (and we're going to have templates to use for those, so it will take even less time). Therefore we'll have time to do fun ads!! I'm working on some logos, and different things... its fun, learning Illustrator and InDesign as I go along.

Well.... I better get ready for bed. Tomorrow is Wednesday.... half way through the week. Wow. Hehe.

The Day After

2004-11-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well. Today went a lot better than could have been expected. I'm still a little bitter... every once in awhile I'll think about what happened and get either really mad or just sad.

One of the bosses had mentioned yesterday that she "knew" that my coworker had been designing most of my ads for me. I was like, OK. Right. I get help from him, and I do ALL the work. So he went to talk to her about that. I went in a little later with an ad I put together for the paper, and she was like, oh, this is good. And then she looks at me and asks "are you doing alright?". I was surprised, cause I was, actually, so I said yeah.

I told my parents a bit about all this, and they think I should go talk to her again about how I couldn't have known how serious they were about the whole thing, since I've never been in a situation like this, and how she is just seeing the things I've done wrong, and not the things I've done right. I don't know if I will talk to her about it anytime soon... they just put my coworker in charge of the ad department, which means that I answer to him now. And he knows how hard I work.

I feel really good about what I got done today too. I was really happy with the reader ads (and I even gave an agent the weekend off, inadvertantly, by not having room for her open house! That was fun, made me happy), and I was looking at all the things I do and take care of, and I am proud of myself. I manage a lot of things at one time. And I feel like my design skills are improving fast!!

I have a bunch of training material that my coworker put on the server to look through... I like learning new things about photoshop, and of course learning all the things I don't know about Illustrator.

So yes. Another day, another chance to prove I'm the best graphic designer there! Hehe. :)

My Rant on Corporate America

2004-11-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

OK, maybe not corporate as much... but the principle is the same.

A couple weeks ago, one of the higher ups at work sent out an email saying that personal email, messaging and web surfing is prohibited and is "grounds for termination". I wasn't doing it that much, but I knew it was probly more than I needed to be. So I cut back. Its hard to go all day without checking your Yahoo account, or shooting off a quick messenger note. So this week, I seriously was really careful to not let it get in the way of my work. Once a day, sometimes twice, but not often, I would send off an email, to either Adam or Andrew.. just chatting type stuff. And I'd look at all the sites that I participate in, and everything. I'm telling you. ONCE a day.

And its not like I'm a slacker at all, in fact, every week I get faster and faster at getting the ads out. After I'm done with that every week, I've got tons of other things to work on. Last Friday I was scanning stuff (ie random junk) ALL day. So while the scanner was "heating up" and taking its dear sweet time to scan, I'd pop over to Animefringe or AnimeOasis. No harm done.

I got called into the "boss's" office today. She said that she wanted to talk to me about my performance. The HR lady came in as well. They were all like, we've been tracking all the emailing and messaging you've been doing, and we're concerned. Your work on the readers is really good, but there are other things to do after that each week (duh). So ALL the time you spend here at work has to involve working.

Well, what about the REQUIRED two 15 minute breaks you get every day? Oh, those should be used to get up and walk around, and to talk to other people who are on their breaks too. Don't bother anyone that's not on break. Obviously. But isn't it MY break, and if I want to sit on my butt and check on a couple websites, what business is that of theirs?

The HR lady said that they're not here to babysit, and that this is the real world. Well, crap. I guess I'm just a little kid then huh? They made me feel like I was disrupting the whole company. "A company is only as strong as the weakest link." Direct quote. I'm a weak link because I freaking check my email? These ladies have a seriously skewed view of what technology is for.

I found out that they seriously can track EVERYTHING you do. Everything that goes through the server. So they're sitting here with a stack of printed out emails and MSN convo's... ack.

One lady said that they had proof of me saying to my coworker that by using Yahoo messenger, you can bypass the company's security measures. I was like, um, OK. I'm a serious hacker and I know things like that. What I DID say to him was that I wish MSN had a "stealth" mode like Yahoo, so that while I was at work I could easily BLOCK OUT the people I didn't need to talk to, so I'd only have the two people I work with that I need to talk to on the list. If they could have understood that, I think that would have helped.

Yesterday they turned off my MSN access. And I can't get on yahoo.com at ALL. The other thing that just makes me SO irate is the fact that the IT guy knew, he was the one who can track these things, my coworker knew, he was informed about it, the boss ladies knew, obviously, AND during a meeting, I was BROUGHT UP to the ACTUAL boss. My coworker did tell me that he was for telling me about it, and the boss agreed. But they seem to have chosen the sneaky way. Does that make more of an impression? Maybe it would if I were STUPID but I think I could have handled having my coworker, who I consider a friend, tell me that what I was still doing wasn't acceptable. So I had no indication for probably about a WEEK that this was going on. Is that right?? I really don't think so. I think they could have had the decency to tell me that they had noticed what I was doing, and just take the damn time to explain it to me. As opposed to waiting so long and just slamming me with it. Since I had been doing such great work, apparently, and not being a hinderance to the company at all, I think that it would have been the best thing to do to just talk to me about it as soon as it came up. My coworker said that this WAS a not-too-bad type meeting that I had... it could have been worse.

OK. So they said it was forbidden, yeah yeah. But, this is my first time at a big company like this, my first experience with the rights they have to see everything. How was I supposed to know that even checking things on a break or while I was doing something else was out of the question? I guess I was supposed to know that I should be looking through magazines for inspiration and walking around.

I just can't believe, as well, that no one is allowed to say anything about it. But what KILLS me, is that I asked the IT guy multiple times right after they sent out that email, whether or not they were serious, or SERIOUS. Had I know they were SERIOUS, this could have all been avoided. That would have been a great time for him to say, yeah, they can track stuff (ie, I can track stuff and just not mention that I use MSN constantly) and they are serious about it. I would have gotten the clue! And I asked my coworker too, but he just kinda spaced it, and I didn't ask him again.

Another thing they said was that I should be so happy that I have a job that I can learn at while I'm getting paid. Whoever said I wasn't? And they wonder if I'm not getting enough of a challenge. So, 15 minutes a day of being on the internet, non-work related, indicates that I'm not learning anything, or not concentrating on learning all I can, as well as implying that I'm not challenged by what I do. I love my job, most of the time... and its very challenging.

So one of the ladies said I should practice designing stuff in my "spare time".. since my coworker does all of my ads and logos for me. Ack! Seriously? He helps me figure out what the heck I'm going to do, but he does NOT do it for me in any shape or form. Unbelievable. They think they know everything because they can read your email and stuff. But they don't take the time to see how much I'm really learning. And doing.

My coworker (I'm sorry to keep saying that, I just don't want to name names... I feel bad enough ranting, but its gotta happen) helped me a lot by telling me about his experiences with this sort of thing. I did fine during the meeting, but at that point, when I was talking to him, I just couldn't not start bawling. I have always hated getting in trouble in any way, and this was just the worst ever. I work so hard, harder than I ever have. He told me that he has really appreciated all I had done and was impressed by how I've improved (cue more bawling), but I feel like the boss ladies could have emphasized that a little more instead of just treating me like a child.

Speaking of feeling like a child... an analogy that popped into my head about all this is, this is the equivalent of having a kid talk a lot in class, like in kindegarten when they're not used to the way school works, and without warning, the teacher slaps tape over the kid's mouth. Or, even, in like junior high, there's a kid writing notes in class, and so the teacher has been keeping a record of them, somehow (just go with it) and then one day takes all the paper out of all of the kid's notebooks!

OK, I know that was weird, but whatev.

So they said that we can "start over, and have a clean slate"... but did they give me back Yahoo? No. I mean, I use it for other things than email. Did they give me back MSN? No. I feel like I'm probation even though they said its fine. Plus, I've been worried, because of one of the boss's sudden lack of friendliness to me, about the fact that in a month, I'm going to not be on the staffing agency's payroll anymore, and they'll chose whether or not to hire me at this company.

Whatever. I'll get over it. I worked hard today, just like freaking always, and I hope they will notice that and make me feel better about the situation. Seriously. I feel like it is so wrong to treat someone like this, even if they are a big special company. And yeah, its not like they fired me or did anything more than slap me on the wrist, but it still sucks to know you're being spied on and everyone knows but you.

Sigh. What a day. All I can do is move on. So here goes.

Thanks for reading. Sorry to rant.

Alright, alright...

2004-10-28T18:50:00.000-06:00

Mmmhmmm... so yes. Hi. I'm here, I'm alive.

What a crazy TWO weeks its been!!!

Work has been work as usual... we're almost done with the new system so my tedious job may get a little easier. A programmer made this nifty little program... and now we have to try to break it! Woo! Then we'll release it to the agents... phew.

We went on our trip last weekend, hoping to get up to some hot springs near Atlanta (Idaho). We got about 45 minutes away... and there was too much snow. We just couldn't make it through! So we very carefully and perilously turned around and found a spot to camp, since it was getting late at that point. We had noticed what looked like a almost died-out forest fire when we were heading up, and one of the people on the trip said that it was a slash burn, which is a controlled burn of underbrush and other things that would fuel a real forest fire. We decided to stop near it, and then the boys wanted to camp near it. We stood by it for awhile, and it was so nice to get warm after trying to push the cars up the mountain. :P Hehe. It was just like a huge bonfire(seriously, I don't think I could explain how big it was)... but it was so calm and peaceful. Not how you usually think of fire.

So that night was really cold... it snowed all night, and I can't say that I've ever slept outside when its snowing. Brrr. We packed up as fast as we could in the morning, and drove home to thaw!!

I mentioned in my last post, I think, that I'm going to be writing for an online magazine about anime. The next issue goes live on the 3rd or so, so you should check it out!! :) I did a lot of the initial edits, which was a crazy job... but its been so fun. There is a staff member on AF that I've gotten to be really good friends with. He is totally anime crazy! He has so much anime and manga he could never hope to watch or read it all in his lifetime. I've bought a lot of graphic novels lately because of him! He recommended a couple that he actually wrote the english adaptation for! That's really cool. He also plays DDR like crazy... he's just a funny kid.

I don't know who all has heard.... Andrew and I had some major issues this past weekend, with both of us showing lack of respect and trust. We've decided to break up for now, and see where things go. It was a long hard process to figure out what the heck we were going to do, but I think we're both OK with what we've decided.

I keep jumping from one subject to another, since I have so much to talk about.

This weekend I'll be going with my family to UofI, where my sister goes, and I'm really excited!! I get to hang out with Jenn, and be a total anime nerd! Ahhh! I can't wait.

I worked all through my lunch today, trying to get the readers done for the paper.... and I am so hungry. I'm going to go eat. Sorry this was short, but I need food. Uuuuuggghhh. :D

I love weekends

2004-10-16T23:59:00.000-06:00

Who doesn't? :)

Yesterday was so hard to get through, because it was crazy in the morning, and then just crawled by in the afternoon. When Sam got to work, he discovered that his computer had restarted itself or something overnight, and there were updates to install. So he clicked on the updates, and there was this one that had you sign a user agreement, and then asked if you wanted to know more about a potential security vulnerability. Sam clicked yes, and his computer literally died. He couldn't run anything. How did that happen? That update came up on my computer too, and I clicked no because I didn't want to deal with it right then. I'm glad I didn't click yes, because who knows what it would have done to my computer... ack!

So he spent all day backing up his data of his computer (it wouldn't connect to other computers on the network, or that file server that keeps dying, but by some weird stroke of luck, Nero worked! So he could burn CDs) and then he reformatted it, and started all over. I couldn't believe it.

I worked on a logo that just baffled me. I couldn't get it to look right at all. Arg. Finally Sam came up with something. I am mad that I couldn't work it out. Then I worked on some research, and some other stuff I can't remember. The thing that got me through the day was my crazy friends on Animefringe. The staff there is so fun.

Then I headed out to Caldwell to watch Super Size Me with all my friends out there, and that was great fun. Ryan made us all chocolate chip pancakes, which were really really good. Bill and Sarah made the mistake of eating McDonald's before watching that movie!! They regretted it. That movie is just so disturbing.... it makes you wish there was something you could do about everything that is wrong in the world.

Then this morning, I slept in till 11! Woo! That was wonderful. I'm going to get up earlier tomorrow to do laundry, and then hang out with my friend Sam (not the one from work). I haven't seen him in awhile, so hopefully it will work out!

This afternoon I went with Andrew's family (and Max) to the Pumpkin Festival in Eagle. The best part about that is the Pumpkin Chunkin', where they shoot pumpkins out of huge pneumatic cannons!! Its sweet. One of the cannons shot one 3200 feet!! Then we waited forever in line to get a pumpkin smoothie, but it was worth it. Yummy.

After that, we came to my house and ate pizza. Then we twiddled our thumbs, trying to figure out what to do. We ended up laying on the trampoline looking at the sky! There were a lot of clouds, so there weren't many stars, but it was nice out, and it was nice to talk.

I'm going to go to sleep now! This is the latest I've been up in a long time. :D

Nert

2004-10-14T18:20:00.000-06:00

Ugh. I can't even bring myself to WANT to post a long, cool blog. I just got tired of seeing that same one at the top...

I feel like my life is out of control... each day just flies by and then its the next one, and finally its the weekend, but its hard to get things done then too, because I actually want to see people!!

Something that might help me differentiate one day from the next is the fact that I just got hired (volunteer basis) to write articles for Animefringe, a really cool online magazine! I look forward to getting started on some articles, and going to the bookstore to look at more manga and stuff. I think I might end up buying some manga, 'cause my collection is seriously lacking.

That's it that I can muster right now. I've had a migraine most of the afternoon, and I am so hungry I can barely stand it. I best go eat, or something. :P

Jumping out of perfectly good airplanes...

2004-10-10T20:00:00.000-06:00

Not surprisingly, I survived until the weekend. :D The trip to Bruneau was really fun; I did end up seeing a lot of my friends that are still in school, and Lennon too. It was really cloudy, so we couldn't look at the stars, and it was really windy so we couldn't really play in the sand (and I was tired!). But we did have a good fire, and made s'mores... and since it was overcast, it stayed pretty warm overnight, so I didn't get cold! :) My mouth tastes like smoke tho, and I hate it when that happens cause I know its going to stay like that for awhile, and there's nothing I can really do.

Last night, I hung out in Caldwell at ACI. We made some pasta salad at Andrew's, and then went to Ryan's room to watch Fahrenheit 9/11. Man. Bush is an idiot. I feel weird saying something so political, because I never have an opinion on this stuff. Mostly I've just felt like this war was really stupid and pointless, and there HAS to be better ways to deal with things. How is killing more people going to fix anything? Sigh. And it also feels like I'm being unpatriotic, but I'm just mad at our president. Even if Kerry's had a tough time expressing his opinions, and has gained the status as a "flip-flopper" (that's so lame), he's still got to be better than Bush. Geez. Anyone would. But Kerry has potential. Plus he LOOKS like a president. That's important! I say this after I've showed that I've actually thought about the really important things. :P

Hmmhmm. Moving on. We went to "Phreakin Phrenzie" for a minute in the middle of our movie to grab some pizza, and grab some we did. About 3 boxes of it (thank you Lennon). So we had a grand old party. We watched some extras on the Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD, and there was a funny bit with comedians from the Middle East.

Today was Max and Lennon's birthday, so this morning they went skydiving! Yay! It was fun to watch them. I'm gonna do it some day, I promise. :D I need to finish Max's present (I'll give it to you this next weekend Max! You'll love it! Hopefully!). I wish I had something to give Lennon, but I just don't know him well enough to know what to do. But I hope those boys have a fun time being 21.

On a really sad note, a little boy that I knew through Neopets died from cancer over the weekend... he had been fighting really hard for a long time, but there wasn't much they could do. I wish you could have lived to a ripe old age, Jerron, and I wish I could have gotten to meet you. I hope you know that we all love you. :'( My candle for Jerron....

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Well yes. I don't know what to do now. I'm really exhausted, and unmotivated. I kinda feel like going to Barnes and Noble... maybe I'll do that for an hour or so. Cool. Will post again soon. I'm really enjoying having this blog. Its been really fun so far! I promise I will check out everyone's like Bill and Sarah and Cassie soon... just haven't had a chance.

Goodnight all. *Big hug for everyone*

Where's the Creativity?

2004-10-07T20:50:00.000-06:00

I realized just how much I lack the ability to take a project, and just brainstorm viable ideas!! Today I met with an agent, and she gave me two logos to work on. I couldn't think of anything; I was just staring at my computer screen. So finally I went in to talk to Sam, because he said that I could come in and ask for help if I needed it. He looked at the few pieces of information that I had, sat there looking at the ceiling for like a minute, and then said OK! And just started sketching cool ideas all over the paper I brought in. And he was drawing with a pen too!! Geez. Where do you learn this stuff?

So I've decided that I'm going to definitely try to draw/sketch something everyday, as well as look at some sources for inspiration like my huge list of graphic designers' portfolios. There's all sorts of inspiration out there, I just need to pay attention and learn to record it.

Today was quite a crazy day. But then what day at Holland Realty isn't a crazy day? Pretty much only Mondays, sometimes. Today I "helped" Sam work on the Fall Collection of Homes ad (I sat behind him, occasionally saying, "that looks really good!" and "eh, maybe not that bright of an orange"). That took most of the morning. Then about noon I was like, well, I better get these reader ads sent in to the paper, doodoodoo... ACK! Technical difficulties! Who knew!! Murphy's Law strikes again! I just couldn't get the files to save right, and it took me till 1. Then I was meeting with the agent about the logos, so I went to lunch at about 1:15. I was hungry! I ate pretty fast, and then took like a 10 minute nap. It didn't really help, because when I got back was when I was just staring and unable to think. So then finally I asked Sam for help, and then worked on his cool ideas the rest of the afternoon!!

When I got home, I started working on a picture, using Illustrator. I use that all the time at work, so I need to learn how to use it pretty well. I think I'm really getting the hang of it!! The curves are the hard part... using the handles to get the curve just right. Ah well.

Hmmhmmhmm. What else to say? I'm going to Bruneau Sand Dunes tomorrow night to camp out... its gonna be cold!! But hopefully tons of my buddies will be there, including twins Max and Lennon! It'll be cool to see Lennon again. And then on Sunday they're going sky-diving. Yes, they are trying to convince me to go, but I don't feel like this is the time for me to do that. I don't feel like I REALLY want to go, I just can't see myself jumping out of a plane. Maybe I'll change my mind again. Who knows. Hehe. Aren't I such a girl?

Random note, my Graphic Design guild on Gaia is growing so fast! There are so many awesome people on it and I just love it. I could hang out on that site allllll day long. :D

I'm planning to update my website soon... I'm tired of the way it looks. Plus, I need to update my DeviantArt account so that there is actually some new work on there!!! Work that is newer than like 6 months old, at least. :P

If anyone who uses Blogger is reading this... how do I get a list of friends and links to show up on my front page? I've noticed a lot of people have that, and I would like to too. But I can't figure it out. Help!

And one last bit of humor. The funniest conversation happened today while I was sitting in Sam's office. The photographer Sam hired to take the photos for the expensive houses (Al) is a really cool guy, and apparently has a quick wit. He called Sam to figure out some billing issues, and he says "hi Sam" and Sam (knowing full well who it was) said "who's this?" and Al says "this is Fred Meyer" and so Sam says "hello Fred, what can I do for you?" and Al says "I just wanted to let you know that your bologna just came in..." and Sam just starts laughing... I thought it was kinda funny, but Sam was laughing so hard I couldn't help laughing harder and harder. It was great. Then on an email Al sent him, he wrote "thanks, your friend, Fred." What silliness. :D

OK OK. Its time to find a sketchbook, draw some things, and then crash. I'm so tired. Its impossible. I don't think I'll survive another day. *faint* Teehee.

Just Another Anime Monday

2004-10-04T21:02:00.000-06:00

Thanks to my anime guide at About.com for the catchy title of today's post! I check my email every morning when I get into the office, and I got the Monday edition of the anime newsletter today, and it just made my morning! I made me realize, too, that I have been neglecting the otaku (obsessed anime fan) side of myself... so I decided to sort through some of my anime bookmarks and pick out the best ones to send over to About.com, cause she loves getting new links! I also NEED to draw some character or something soon, as well as watch some of the anime I have that I haven't seen yet.

It was just a usual Monday in the office, however. Worked on readers ALL day... no matter how hard I try I never get done before right at 5. I guess its cause I get the last straggling submissions about 4:30 (I'm not supposed to accept them after 3, shhh, I hate mad agents! Hehe)... I would have been done earlier, but the internet died in our office again about 4. This time it wasn't the servers, I don't think, cause I could still get on the network. Anywho, thanks to Ryan for getting that repaired quick like a bunny! Hehe.

I felt SO bad for Sam today. He stayed up ALL night working on this new website design, looked so miserable all day, but he still slogs through all his work. Then they had a meeting with the boss (John Holland)... and John was apparently (I don't go to these meetings yet) asking why we haven't started working on the rebranding of the company... its so hard to convince that man that we work our butts off, especially with Sam. I mean, he can't NOT sleep. I guess the upside is that he's getting mad overtime. :)

I saw the movie Garden State this weekend, and man, it was good. I read some reviews where the people said it was forced and unoriginal, and we never had time to connect with the characters. But I thought it was really well done, funny, and sweet. The plot was engaging, and I loved the main characters at least. It was off-beat and sometimes downright strange, but I thought it was good. So there. Hehe.

I worked on registering WaterYourDog.com this weekend... we still need to finalize that so there's no site yet... but I'm going to be working on layout ideas! I'm really excited. I also have some other ideas for the business. Oh, I guess I could explain. My second cousin Ron is really into hunting, and training dogs. He decided he needed a better way to put water in the kennel so it wouldn't get all over in transit. So him and a buddy worked together to build this waterbox, as he calls it, and now he's ready to sell it. He's going to make some other things too. But he's just so into hunting and stuff, that he doesn't really think in business terms, so I feel like its up to me to make sure there's customer support, maybe a newsletter or some way of keeping track of previous customers... as well as funds and stuff. I also know pretty much 100% more about computers.... hehe. I know, I sound like I think I'm all special. But its just the truth that I'm the manager and art director of R2K2. Wow. Scary, but exciting.

Well I guess that's it for today! I'm so glad I have a place to just write stuff down. It gets it out of my head and leaves room for things like sleeping. :) Goodnight!

Friday Fun!

2004-10-01T20:24:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I guess it wasn't too fun of a day, that was just the title of a news article here on Blogger.com. It gave the suggestion of asking your "readers" three things they'd like to see photos of like in your house and stuff, and then you post those... that would be fun, but I don't have a digital camera. I've decided that I'm getting one tho. Sam at work showed me how he has pictures of stuff that inspires him on his camera phone, and I don't have a camera phone. So I decided I'd get a camera. I've felt like I've wanted to take pictures lately anyway. Of just random stuffs.

Anywho. It was a long day because I felt really tired and sick to begin with this morning. At about 8:30, I went into Sam's office to talk about what projects we'd be working on, since Fridays are project day. I sat down in the chair in there, and just felt like I could sleep right there for hours. He did all the "driving" as he likes to say, finishing up a letterhead and business card, which we then printed off on nice paper and put in the boss's office. The printer we have in our office can tell what sort of paper you have in there, so when you put thicker nicer paper in, it won't print, it just says "unexpected paper size" so you have to go tell it what kind you put in there. That printer needs a "just deal with it" button. Then we finished up a logo and sign for an agent, and that took longer than it needed to because as Melia says, drawing with Illustrator is like drawing with boxing gloves on. Blech. Hehe. I made some "directional signage" which turned out pretty cool.

The server went down at about 11:45, so we couldn't get on the internet or the network, so I left for lunch a little early. Sam had to go to a funeral (so sad!!) and was gone till about 2:30, so I filled the time by starting on readers and doing headers for the pages. You know you have nothing to do when you're doing something you usually do on Tuesday on the previous Friday. :) Then when he got back, the wife and son of "the boss" came in needing his help with a poster for the son's drama production at BSU. So I really didn't have anything to do then either!! I just went through some inspirational links (looking at portfolios is a good way to get ideas!) and starting making a list of "Songs you shouldn't like because they're by really annoying pop stars but you just can't help yourself cause they're so darn catchy". I'm going to make a CD! The first song is Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson. I woke up to it today, and I just love it, but she is so annoying! :D

Well me and Andrew are going through a rough patch... we discovered we hadn't been communicating as well as we thought, and I feel the need to take a break from our usual... maybe spend less time together, and make sure we're actually doing something when we do hang out. We were thinking we'd take a "break" (da da dum) but I think maybe changing pace in a different way might work better. We just need to reconnect. Plus I'd like to find some friends here in Boise to hang out with, I just feel the need to meet people.

Speaking of, there was a guy from Boise I randomly met on the Internet that I thought might be a great friend to have. He was my age, and he was really fun to talk to the 2 times I actually talked to him, so I thought maybe he could email me or something, and somehow make sure he wasn't a creep ;) and then maybe hang out. All I wanted was a friend, but he's disappeared and I don't know how to get ahold of him. I'm kinda disappointed. I thought I had a new friend. Sigh.

I'm working on a website (yay, something graphics related!!) for my 2nd cousin (or something like that) who's going to be selling stuff for hunting dogs. I'm really excited to get started, and I'll definly post a link when I get some progress on it. I looked all over for the best hosting prices and stuff, and I think GoDaddy.com is the best deal. There's a real cheap one that will do for this small site. I'm also thinking seriously about getting my own site set up... I've been wanting to for so long.

So this week was better than last, by a long shot. It was reasonably stress-free (at work anyway), I'm just really tired. I had readers done by Wednesday evening, and John from the paper was ready to kiss my feet he was so happy I got them done before the deadline. ;) If you live in Boise, look at the paper this week, I did those readers at the beginning of the Real Estate section, and also an ad for Shadow Mountain Inc, which is like on page 8 or something. :D

OK well I guess that's it for this entry. That was long!! I had a lot to say, and I'm sure I'll think of more tomorrow.

Ready to start a new week...

2004-09-26T21:30:00.000-06:00

Well, the past 3 weeks have been an intense learning experience. I feel like I just went through senior year of college again (stress, intense studying, crazy emotions)!! And I'm not even close to being done learning, and I guess I really like that thought. I've always loved learning, and having something new to do with my knowledge and skills and developing creativity. I hope this week goes smoother... I'm going to develop a yoga routine to do in the morning and at lunch so I can stop getting stress headaches and stomachaches. Blarg!

This was a good weekend to go to the Hot Springs. It was fun camping out too, even though it was pretty cold. I love being under the night sky! This hot springs is a really cool place, and it was nice to just relax and have some time alone with my bf!! :D We've been together 2 years, and what crazy 2 years its been. But we've come out alright.

I've been thinking, that I need more friends to just hang out with here in Boise. I have quite a few out in Caldwell, as well as Andrew. It would be so cool to have some people around my age to go out with on weekends, or just hang out with on weeknights after work.

Oh yeah, Kelsey (my little sister that I love so much *squeeze*) got a guinea pig this weekend, and I was holding her, and she BIT me!! Owww!!! o_O It still hurts. :P

Well I'm off to Dreamland... hopefully I'll have some good ones! G'night.

What a Week!

2004-09-23T20:55:00.000-06:00

This really has been a crazy week at work. Its like, now that I'm not "new" anymore, everyone expects me to know what I'm doing, and to never have a second in which I don't have something to do! I have a couple other projects that I'm working on, which is fun, but its also pretty tiring trying to be creative all day long. :D

This weekend I'm going to Miracle Hot Springs with Andrew for our 2 year anniversary! Wow!! I can't wait, its going to be really fun. And relaxing. Hmmm. :)

I might also get my hair cut this weekend, and I really want to dye it again. I want to be a redhead again! Hehe.

Thats all I have energy for today... seriously.... :P

Ugh(2).....

2004-09-20T18:00:00.000-06:00

I'm starting to dislike Mondays. Very much. I don't know why, but today felt like it just dragged. I guess its because I'm tired, and had a really short attention span. So I could only do a couple listings before I'd need to get up and do something else, which mostly consisted of bugging Ryan, who was having a crazy day to begin with. At least he can go hide in the server room if he ever needs to get away from me (you have to go through one of the men's bathrooms to get there!! Eww!). :D

Melia's computer is being a pain... Macs really hate to talk to PCsif they're not networked quite right, and its so hard for us to keep it up to date compared to the PCs. Sam and Melia spent all day trying to get it in working order, and Ryan gave every spare moment he could to help. But, I'm sorry Melia, I think its gonna have to go. Rest in Peace, Mr Mac. *throws it out the window*

I guess I'll actually work on Ryan's ads tonight, and then just go to bed early. I have some cool crayons that I want to use soon, but we'll have to see. Sigh.

Music Is Good. Duh.

2004-09-19T13:40:00.000-06:00

I have been neglecting my music collection for awhile. When I go to work, I always forget to bring my stereo face for my car, and I listen to techno at work from Digitally Imported. When I drove to Caldwell last night, I brought some of my favorite CD's with me, and all of sudden I just want to listen to as much of my music as I can. CD's in my stereo right now are: AlterBridge (great music!!), Switchfoot, Maroon5, Nelly Furtado, and yes, Hanson (they really are good now). Other music I like is: 3 Doors Down, Dido, Dirty Vegas, Nightmares on Wax, NOFX, Bad Religion, AFI, Outkast.... I like just about everything... SOME country, very limited rap and hip hop stuffs....

I'm going to go shopping at some sales today, for a couple new things for work. I like deciding what to wear to work everyday (usually I decide the night before because I'm not coherent enough in the morning). There's so many combinations of all the pants and shirts that I have.

At least I hope I have a job still. The pages I designed for the paper ended up in the wrong order... and it totally wasn't my fault, but who knows what all the agents will think and say! Eeek! Scary!

That's about it. I'm in a silly mood today... so anyone who reads this today... consider yourself pounced. ;)

Friday Again

2004-09-17T19:05:00.000-06:00

Today was the slowest day at work I could ever imagine. I worked on some graphics for an agent and an ad for the newspaper, and that was it. I helped Melia with her computer swapping process she had to go thru today, pretty much just helping her feel less freaked out about the whole thing (she didn't want to lose all her files, or risk being behind on work next week because the computer didn't work).

I went out to lunch, but forgot my leftovers at work... and I forgot to bring in my time card to get it signed. So I'm hoping Kim (the supervisor type lady) might be at the office over the weekend. Hey, it could happen.

I'm glad its the weekend, but I don't know what I might do. I guess go out to Caldwell to visit Andrew (even though he IS very silly -> refer to comments on the post titled "sooo tired") and hang out in C-Town for an afternoon.

I found out that people are actually reading this.... surprises me to say the least. I actually have to make it interesting now.... oh the pressure! :) The only things I can think of are like office gossip and stuff... but I can't get carried away because who knows might look at this! I could do an in-depth response to how stupid The Apprentice was last night, or how sad Will and Grace was. But that wouldn't be too exciting either. Sigh.

Deadline Day

2004-09-16T18:37:00.000-06:00

At work I worked on: Finishing up those darn ads. We had a little computer trouble in the morning, and stuff just didn't work right after that. Then I started doing some projects I've been given, that will actually allow me to use my design skills. I mean, readers are challenging and I enjoy the challenge (as long as the program doesn't drive me bonkers)!

I spent my spare time: Working on some graphics for Phelix (Ryan, from work), and thinking about the projects I'm going to be doing for work. And also resting. I'm totally exhausted!

Yeah, today was crazy... I just couldn't believe how much can go wrong at the last minute. But I guess that's how the world works. I had a good lunch (Olive Garden), but it was at the office (we ordered out, I love that) and I think I ate it too fast!! :P Oh my tummy hurts.

So I'm looking forward to Friday; I'll be making different graphics and using some brain and creative power. I can bring in my books about brainstorming and stuff, and get some good ideas rolling. I'm working with Melia on one project, so that should be fun.

Yay! I'm going to go draw and be creative. What I life I lead. Teehee!

Sooo... Tired...

2004-09-15T21:25:00.000-06:00

At work I worked on: Finishing up the reader ads, just soon enough to be told that I need to start over!! So I stayed a little late and got a head start on that for tomorrow... sigh.

I spent my spare time: Talking to some friends, looking at some new websites. I'm working on an ad for a friend's site (Ryan's, from work).

So yes. I can't believe how tired I am! It just gets worse everyday, because it never stops. I wake up, think ugh I wish I could stay in bed, and count the hours until I can go back to bed. Then I get up, and get excited to go to work because I like it a lot. But on days like this, I'm like, can I go back to bed now?! It was a long day.

Ryan is the tech support/IT guy at work. He's a real cool guy,and he's really smart! He's fixed things on my computer I had no idea where to even start. I hope to get to know him better, its cool being able to have a couple friends at work. I mean, I love Melia and Sam, the people in my dept, but talking to someone that you don't see all the time is nice. And Ryan is a nerd, about my age, so he's into gaming and websites and stuff. Sam is a nerd too... but he's kind of past the stage where he ACTS nerdy. If that makes ANY sense. I'm sure it doesn't. I am so out of it!

I'm going to go get ready for bed. Sounds great to me! Sorry I don't post much anymore. Not too much to say. I did learn how to use Illustrator again yesterday, so that applies to the whole theme of this blog. :) Teehee.

Ah, The Weekend.

2004-09-11T16:38:00.000-06:00

What I worked on at work: There was nothing really to do yesterday, so we just cleaned up our office (including the Chai Tea I spilt everywhere!) and I worked on some templates for subdivision ads.

What I spent my free time on: I watched the end of my Inuyasha movie (good movie!!) and hung out with Andrew a little. I also took a long nap. :P

Thoughts for the Weekend: It was so nice to not have to get up and do anything today. I did go to the doctor about my finger that's been hurting for about 2 months.... and hopefully it will get better so I don't have to get surgery on it. That's a last resort type thing though.

I'm going to a party at a friend of Andrew's family's house... phew... and it should be fun. There's always good food at these things. :)

Otherwise, I hope to get some drawing done this weekend, as well as learn how to use Illustrator better so I can work on those templates I mentioned near the beginning. Tomorrow is the last day of Art in the Park, and I hope to make it to that in the morning. Fun!

I'll post again on Monday, probably!

Day 3 - Did I volunteer for this?

2004-09-09T21:46:00.000-06:00

At work I worked on: Editing, editing, and yep, more editing. And then fighting with the computer to get it to let me layout the ads!!

What I did in my spare time today: I actually only ended up having like 4 hours of free time today, because I stayed late at work! Then I hung out at Andrew's and watched TV, then came home and watched "Inuyasha: Affections Touching Across Time" (a movie), which Andrew bought me yesterday! Gotta love him. :) And now I'm really tired, so I'm going to bed really soon.

Thoughts for the Day: Well today was deadline day and even with two people working on the newspaper ads, we were still pressed for time! That's because it was a short week... so its good I was there, for the guy I work with! He'd have been in trouble. He has so many other things to do! How did he manage without me? That's a very good question. Its no wonder he never has gotten to go out for ice cream; the office manager lady says that whenever we do a "perfect ad", she'll take us out for ice cream. I wonder what constitutes perfect. I'm pretty sure it won't be this week!! Oh well.

Tomorrow's Friday.... It'll be good to see what a more laid back day might be like. We need to concentrate on cleaning and organizing Sam's office, because important things are hiding in all the boxes!! And weirdly enough, I can't wait for next Monday to roll around so I can get started on next week's ads, and maybe actually do them right the first time, so I can make them perfect and not have to scramble at the last minute. I'm already dreaming about getting things done efficiently and well.

OK then. I'm zonked.

I'm a Working Woman!!

2004-09-08T20:52:00.000-06:00

At work I'm working on: Editing reader ads, making headers for the pages.

What I spent my 5 hours of "me" time on today: Drawing a really cool water lily that I hope to have ready to take to work tomorrow to hang on my wall. I did a pencil version, and a colored pencil version. I'm stuck on the background for the color version though.... plus I'm going to draw some cars here soon too.

Thoughts for the day: Well I just got done with my second day of work. I've been trying to post on here each day since Monday, but every time I go to publish it, it doesn't work. Once was because of a problem with my internet at my house, and last night it was because Blogger was being weird. So yes. Hopefully it works this time!

So far, I am absolutely loving my job. The two people I work with are wonderful, and the work is fun. Mostly just doing "reader ads" that go in the paper, and it takes awhile to enter it all in, but its just really fun for some reason. I work at a realty place, so I turn everything into abbreviations like bedroom = bdr and stuff like that, and I start to think in abbreviations. Weird, huh?

I had a good Labor Day weekend, I hung out in Hell's Canyon with Andrew. We went on the boat a little, and went swimming a little too. I love the tempurature of that water up there right now (the cleanliness of the water is questionable, but I don't like to think about that), because once you get in, its not cold at all, and I can just float there forever. I love being in the water. Anyway, on Saturday my friend Max came to HC, and brought his twin brother Lennon. It was great to finally meet him! He was a great guy, lots of fun to talk and joke around with. :) Hope I can keep in touch with him, since he lives in Washington.

Yeah, I only have 5 hours a day to do something I want to do, from 5:30 to 10:30. That might sound like a lot, but factor in dinner, cleaning up the mess I made in the morning when I was getting up, and checking email and posting and stuff. And just the fact that I'm tired and move really slow. :)

So I'm going to get going on my next drawings! I'll post again tomorrow, if I can!

I have a job!!!

2004-09-03T00:05:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling: Very, very happy and excited.

I'm reading: The Designer's Commonsense Business Book by Barbara Ganim - good book about doing any sort of freelance work, which I am still going to do.

I'm working on: Coloring a drawing I scanned into my computer. It's going to look really cool. I also have come up with some ideas for my website, I just need to figure out how I want to go about doing it.

And now about the job. Its at a really nice realty place here in Boise, and I'm going to be helping the designer and layout designer do ads and stuff for the paper, and then help them start some other graphics and advertising type stuff. Its going to be such great experience, and I'm going to work very hard. I start at 8 on Tuesday morning. I'll have to describe how my first day of my first 8-5 job went. This really is the perfect opportunity for me. And I'm so happy, at this point, its worth it that I didn't get the job at school. I know I would have been over my head, and wouldn't have created graphics as well as I might a couple years down the road.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my labor day weekend. I'm going to see Anchorman tomorrow (finally) and then head off to Hell's Canyon to hang out at Andrew's family's cabin. Hopefully its nice up there so we can swim, and Andrew can get lots of wakeboarding in. Then I'll finish up making sure I have enough clothes to wear to work to last me awhile.... and I'll prepare for work, somehow. :)

I'm off to sleep, because its been a long day.

Things are looking up!!

2004-09-01T20:05:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling: Happy, energetic, optomistic... Many thanks to Lilli (my orthobionomist/massage therapist/energy therapist) because I slept really well last night for the first time in a long while, and I'm not all stiff and sore!

I'm reading: Haven't really looked at any of my books from the library for a couple days... but I guess I'm still looking at the Colorworks books. They are really cool... they go through each color and look at what effects they have on the designs they are used in.

I'm working on: Still trying to redo my website. Kinda stuck at the moment. I want it to be simpler, and more professional.

Why are things looking up you might ask? Well today I was talking with my mom's cousin's husband (phew) who used to be a recruiter for an employment agency or something, and he gave me a bunch of tips for making my resume better, and for doing extra well in interviews. While he was here, I got a call from a staffing agency I signed up with awhile ago, asking if I was still looking for a job. Well, yes, I am. She said that a company that I had done some ads for (as a test while they were hiring) needed someone to help the person they had hired instead of me (hehe). So I would be a "junior designer", assisting the graphic designer and do whatever "grunt work" he doesn't want to do. But the good thing is that I can learn from him, and get better. They said that my designs were a little basic, which I know they are, and that's why they didn't hire me the first time. But I will definitely get better. So my interview is tomorrow morning, and I'm really thinking I'll get this job. It would be so perfect. I hope that made sense. I can't believe this whole thing. It's so great.

So anyway. I'm going to have to scan some of my car drawings, as well as some more of my anime drawings so I can color them. I need to practice doing that.

Signing off! Goodnight! :D

Slacking off...

2004-08-31T19:47:00.000-06:00

Yeah I've been slacking off the past couple days. But today I went to my massage therapist :D and I think I'll be feeling a lot better from now on. So I'm still planning on working on some projects, at least something on Photoshop each day. I got started sketching some cars, and they're turning out pretty cool! I'll put them on my website and post the link tomorrow.

That's it for today!

Taking a small break...

2004-08-29T18:28:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling: Tired and kind of blah, but motivated to keep learning

I'm reading: Colorworks by Dale Russell (I have 3 of the 5 books)

Yes, I skipped yesterday... I really do mean to post everyday, but I didn't end up having the time! My sister and I went to the Western Idaho Fair yesterday, and rode a couple rides. There weren't many that we wanted to ride, it was real slim pickings this year and that was kind of disappointing. Then I was tired and took a nap... and then I drove to Caldwell to pick up Max, a friend of mine, and we hung out, and then I took him to the airport this morning. He was heading back home to Washington for a little while, and then he'll come back before the start of the school year. I love hanging out with Max! :D We watched both Fast and Furious movies, and now I think I want to get into drawing graphics for cars. I just have to find some sites about drawing cars, or get a book.

All I did today was sit around... So I intend to get started reading again tonight, and find some stuff about cars.

Fun! Sorry this is boring so far. I don't think anyone's reading it at this point anyway. I'm just kinda talking for my own benefit. :D Which is cool.

Ugh...

2004-08-27T12:30:00.000-06:00

Mood/Mental State: I wish I could crawl back into bed and stay there all day (ie. blech!)

Excuse me while I complain: I hate days like these. They start off bad and just go downhill. I couldn't sleep last night because my joints hurt (something I used to have a huge problem with, but is getting better). Then at 4:30 my cat woke me up demanding food, and she was going to tear my room apart if she didn't get it. I usually have food in my room in a coffee can, but there wasn't any left so I went to the basement and got some. Then my dad came in at 6:45 to get me up so I could help my sister get ready for school, but I fell right back asleep and woke up to my sister saying "come on we have to go!" at 7:15. So I took her to school and then came back and crashed again. Then about 10:30 my boyfriend came to my house to say goodbye; he's going up to UofI, where my other sister goes to school, and where a lot of my friends are. I wanted to go with, but I have to take care of my sister still. We're going to the fair later, so we'll see how that goes. I don't really want to go with just her; only because she's going to want to ride rides that I can't ride, and I'll have to stand around by myself and wait. And carnies creep me out. :P

OK. So that's done. Other than that, I'm not sure what I'll do today. Maybe do some reading, I really haven't had time for that lately. By the way, whenever I don't mention what book I'm reading, I'm still reading the book I mentioned the day before. I bet that's obvious, but whatever.

Man I'm cranky.

For a project today, I'll just work on my website some more and see how much I can get done on that.

And take a nap. :)

The First Day

2004-08-26T13:25:00.000-06:00

Mood/Mental State: Surprisingly energitic and motivated

I'm reading: Elements of Graphic Design by Alex White

Well, this feeling I had yesterday that I had to do something about my life, and not just let it go by in a string of failed job opportunities has stayed with me, and I'm starting to construct an evil plan. Mwahahaha!! Oh wait, maybe not evil. Just practical. But what fun is that?

My Plan: I am going to create a series of projects to work on, and then work on at least one part/graphic per day. I'm going to redesign my website again, and make a page for these projects. Plus I will read as much as I can everyday from the books I've checked out, and plan to buy or check out in the future. I'm going to improve my portfolio, online and physical, so that I have a greater chance of finding a great job.

Other Stuff: I hang out in a GD guild on Gaia Online, where there are lots of great people and lots to learn. I've posted my recommended book list, and will soon post my intended schedule for projects. Contact me if you'd like info about this great group.

Phew. That's it for now!!

Hello World ;)

2004-08-25T23:40:00.000-06:00

Well, I've decided to join the trend and start a blog. I never thought that I had anything important enough to say that people would want to read it. But I just decided that I am going to take control of my life and change the way I live it!

The story behind all this is that I recently graduated from college with a degree in Graphic Design (GD to make it easier to type). I have spent the whole summer trying to find a full time job, and doing some odd jobs for friends. I am helping someone learn how to use Photoshop, and in the process I realized that the school she goes to has a better GD program than the school I attended. So I started thinking that maybe I could help the school I went to improve their program.

And then the perfect job opportunity came along... a Graphic Design position at the very college that I graduated from. I really wanted the job; it would allow me to move away from home and be on my own. The fact that I am an alumni seemed like it would be an advantage for getting the job, plus it seemed like everyone liked me in the departments I would be interacting with. I had the assignment to create a postcard for the homecoming events this year, and I ended up making 8, and included my thought process and thumbnails in my presentation. I did my best, and thought I made a great impression.

However, I found out this Monday that I didn't get the job, and that even though they liked my work and thought I was talented, they just didn't think I was right for it. After some thought, I began to realize what the program at my school was really worth... just about nothing!! If the school I graduated from can't hire me into a position I was supposedly trained for, what am I supposed to do?

So. I decided that I am going to take it upon myself to learn everything I can about GD. I've already read and looked through countless books, and I'm going to get my hands on as many more as I can. I am involved in an online community of designers, and its great having a support network where I can learn and interact. I want to improve my chances of getting a good job by immersing myself in the GD world, and becoming the best designer I can.

And so now we come to the blog part of the whole thing. I wanted to document my progress in this whole situation so I can have a record of what I've learned and what I still need to do. Thanks to anyone who has read this... keep checking back and maybe it'll get interesting. :)