Congrats, Count Whateley. You will be known as the evil-LPCA-guy from now on, though the managers will more likely call you Golden Boy. And yes, at Starbucks, we are allowed to have free syrup in our drinks. Today I got a cup of coffee (Guatemalan/Antiguan, which is supposed to be smooth, rich, and complex, it tasted like... coffee) and added a pump of vanilla. Well, that and my breakfast consists of a Tazoberry Creme Frappuccino. I coulda had a lo-cal version by not adding the creme, but c'mon, no creme? That's what makes it tasty. I'm thinking of experimenting with a half coffee/ half creme concoction. Or maybe creme base with a shot of espresso.

The guest speaker last night was a literary agent. Well, more like he represented scriptwriters and producers. He looked a bit like David Boreanaz. It was really interesting the stuff he had to say. The main point? The way to work in the entertainment industry -- any position -- is to schmooze. And 90% of an agent's job is to schmooze. Anyway, he said some interesting things about how to work as a writer (for TV and film) so if any of you want to know, just ask. What was hilarious was that even though the coordinator said no scripts, people still pitched him ideas. Well... not per se pitch, but more like, hey, I've got an idea what do you think, and hey, can I talk to you sometime about some of my projects.

One rant that's going to make me sound like a bee-otch: There's a handicapped girl in my class who I think has cerebral palsy. She talks reeeeeeeeally slow. But here's what makes it worse, she takes forever to get to her point. She doesn't just ask the question, she starts out with, "I may be being redundant..." or "Sorry to bother you..." or "I have a question that I would like you to answer..." or the worse "I'm sorry to bother you and I may be being redundant but I have a question that I would really like you to answer...." Now picture saying that at a second per word. And add a pause before and after every phrase. And here's the thing, because she's disabled, we can't say anything about it! Whenever she pauses to think up the word she means (and this happens a lot) the teacher or other students tend to jump in with assumptions. Like last night, she asked, "I'm sorry I may be being redundant (pause) but I have a question I would like you to answer (pause). I have a brother (pause) who's a writer and he written a script (pause) and what was that movie (pause) with the two boys (pause) I can't remember (pause) (someone jumps in "Good Will Hunting") (the speaker "Oh, Project Greenlight") and so on" and basically, the question she asked was, "What should he do to break in since he's gotten a well-received script?" And I'm probably being insensitive, but it just bugs me when she asks a question because I know it will take forever for her to spit it out. She reminds me of a guy that I knew in college (Erica will know who I'm talking about) that had slight physical disabilities, but basically, he just could not shut up, and it took forever to finish a conversation with him because when you think it will end, he'll jump in with more stuff. Anyway, am I right to be annoyed or am I just an insensitive bitch?

My schedule for this week:

Mon -- School 1-4 and 6:30-9:30
Tue -- 4:15 to 9 am
Wed -- School 12:30-4:30 and 6:30-9:30
Thu -- 7:15 am to 12:45 pm
Fri -- 1:45 to 7:30 pm
Sat -- 4:45 to 8:45 am, then wedding of church member
Sun -- Church 9:15 am to 1-ish pm

Will rant later during class.

I had a long shift today, but instead of actually eating a meal during my meal break, I just had a drink. Well, it was a Chai Creme Frappuccino that I accidentally made again for a customer. So my day's nourishment, until dinner time at 8 pm, was a tall Vanilla Creme (vanilla syrup and steamed milk), a grande Chai Creme Frappuccino, and a venti Mint Brownie & Creme Frappuccino (this is a special recipe that someone else showed me, which is pretty good, consisting of creme base, mint syrup, and brownie chips blended together).

I haven't figured out the nutritional content of those drinks, but I'm pretty sure they were bad. But on the plus side, I'm getting plenty of calcium. And lactose-intolerance? Psssht! Well, actually, I overdid it a bit and ended up with a bit of delayed-reaction runs. (Oh don't you groan at me, missy!)

On a more serious note, the work environment at Starbucks is... a conundrum. I mean, so far, of all my jobs since Cafe (at Berkeley), this place has had the best work environment. I think mainly because the people around are either near my age or younger (mostly younger), and there's a lot of personal interaction. When I was working at Kaplan, I was by myself mostly, and while I had great rapport with the students (at least in the second class), it was somewhat lonely being at the top. At the hak-won (the learning academy), it was even worse because they called me Miss Kang, instead of Jeanna. That and I had absolutely no support from the director. Anyway, I'm getting along okay with the other people of Starbucks. It's easier with the newer people, though. Mainly because the older people there are part of a cliche. And when I say older, I mean, those that have been there for awhile, even though the store's only a year old. Actually, the ages of these people are younger than mine. The second-in-command is only 20 years old. They go drinking together after work. Anyway I think they see me as either too old (i.e. tired), too square, or too shy. I don't want to appear shy, but I can be quiet. Anyway, it's not like I want to go drinking with them (I am too tired, and I can't afford the drinks, and I don't like beer) but it would be nice to have that same camaderie. Well....

Anyway, gotta sleep, I've got an early shift tomorrow followed by Korean BBQ outreach at church.

Printed on the side of a grande hot cup:

What Does it Take to be a Starbucks Barista?

Baristas are trained thoroughly at Starbucks. To earn this important title, every barista-in-training must first attend Starbucks Coffee School where the art of coffee preparation is mastered.

Umm... that's sorta true. In the end, we're still grunts. But since technically I do have skills that the common populace does not have, I guess I am a master of coffee preparation. I didn't learn it at "Coffee School" though, unless you call messing up dozens of drinks "Coffee School." :P

Thanks for all the bread tips! I didn't Subway it today, though. I grabbed a dollar chicken sandwich from MuckYuck's (as Beno would say) but I ended up eating it early cuz I forgot to grab a banana for my breakfast and I was starving. I think I'll be vending machine-ing it today. Mmmm. Packaged rice pudding. (Assuming it's still there this evening.)

Anybody watch the Emmys? Since I had to work, I recorded it and watched it later. But since radio and TV news spoiled the results for me, I ended up fast forwarding through most awards. Well, it ain't the Oscars. The Emmys will never win... an Emmy for the show they put on. No songs (except for Martin Short's thing), Wanda was sad, and Conan O'Brien shoulda been given more screen time. And the kiss... well, it was funny the first five seconds. Then it just got gross.

Oh, speaking of work, I know I keep on forgetting to post my schedule. Since I'm at school right now, I don't have the exact times, but here's how I remember it:

Tuesday: opening shift
Wednesday: school
Thursday: closing shift
Friday: I think a mid-morning to late afternoon shift
Saturday: opening, and then church outreach event in the afternoon
Sunday: church and then free

My early New Year's Resolution (or perhaps a New School Year Resolution):
Get enough sleep

Work was really busy tonight. I joked that it was because they didn't have live music there outside to scare away the customers. We have three new people at the store. I'm no longer the newbie. It was funny cuz in the first half of my shift, there were three other people there, the lead, the girl who was hired a week before me, and the new guy. Hy-larious. Between the three of us (not including the lead, obviously) we had less than three months experience total. It's kinda funny seeing the new guy screw up with stuff I was screwing up with. But everybody did their fair share of screwing up. The main thing was that we were just packed until about 11 pm. A line out the wazoo, a crowd of people waiting for drinks, and tons of mess-ups.

Sooo tired. I woke up this morning (technically yesterday morning) at 7 am to go hiking with my family. My parents have been going pretty regularly during the weekends since they got the pass in July. Basically this one place in Azusa. It wasn't a long hike. About three or four miles roundtrip. And being nestled in the mountains, we were mostly shaded from the morning sun. There were more strenuous paths, but I think we're saving them for the "younger folks" come Thanksgiving or Christmas, depending on when los Keno plan on visiting. Which means that I will definitely be lagging behind since I won't have a coupla fifty-somethings to keep company.

On a different note, thanks for all y'all's comments! And thanks also for not sinking into despair with me. I mean, yeah, we're losing jobs to foreign countries (and yes, it will happen w/ 3d, as soon as the ppl over there are trained enough), and studios and game companies (more the latter than former) are sprouting up and dying off faster than you can shish-kabob. But... I'm not being optimistic. The market's still there. And if enough people band together and fight collectively, we might even be ok.

And finally, last week I did the subway foot-long for two days thing. Nice on my wallet, tasty on Monday, but soggy bread on Wednesday. Any ideas on how to keep the bread from soggy-ing up in two days? I was thinking of just putting it in a container instead of keeping it in its wrapper, but I'm not sure if that'll work. The bad thing about subway sandwiching it? It takes time to take the shuttle to the main campus (the Subway's out front) and then take it back to the Academy. It's time taken away from precious high-speed internet!

Okay, so basically, here's what happened w/ parking. There are meters around the school (and since I come early enough, I will always get a spot), which costs $.35 an hour, which means that I would be spending around $2 a day for parking. So that's $4 a week, and with a 16-week semester, that came out to $64 for the semester, which is cheaper than the $75 semester parking pass. Anyway, then I discovered a little gem -- a tiny strip of curb where there are no meters. Yep, free parking. Anyway, other people must have discovered them too, cuz now it's starting to fill up early. So, on Monday, I came, parked at a meter, and only put in enough money for until class ends, intending to come back to see if any free parking space had freed up before putting more money in the meter. Well, I had forgotten that I had signed up for a counseling session, and that took an extra 30 mins, and by the time I came back, I had a ticket under my wipers.

*Sigh. So that is why my quest for a free spot, when I coulda just put another quarter in for another 42 mins, landed me a $35 ticket. (On a brighter note, I got a free spot today.) Anyway, I would have to get a free spot 10 more times to make it still cheaper than the parking pass. *Sigh.

Oh, and yet another rant: my counseling session was bunk. Pretty much. The main thing I wanted to get cleared up was that I didn't want to take the "Intro to Graphic Computing" class. (See this entry for my description of it.) Basically, it starts out w/ the basics of the computer, and then basics of the web, and then the basics of Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. So, I know already about 90% of the class material already. (The other 10% would be Illustrator.) I mean, I'm currently taking a Flash class (and it's pretty easy right now since they're going over stuff I already know), I've taken a Photoshop class and gotten an A, but it's not "proof" that I can use a computer, so I still need to take that stinkin' class in order to get into the other classes that I want. (I could crash them, but crashing is too damn hard if I had to do that for all of my classes.) The counselor said that he was a student, he understands, that he'll bring it up at the next meeting, but I doubt that will help me. Even if anything happens, I wouldn't be able to benefit from it. I think I'll just have to suck it up and sit through that stupid class. That stupid impacted class that everybody and their mother want to take cuz they also need it to get into the classes they want.

Okay, this entry is getting long, but one good thing I want to rave about: on Monday we had a surprise guest speaker, Tom Sito, best known, perhaps, as the animation director for Osmosis Jones. He was great! He answered a lot of questions, and raised a lot of issues regarding animators today, and he was just a funny guy. It made me really want to be an animator, yet also not. It's a tough time for animation nowadays, despite all the stuff coming out nowadays. The main thing? All the jobs are going oversees to India and South Korea and Japan. It's tough enough having a glut of animators in Southern California, but if there are less and less jobs... well, it's gonna be a tough market. (Hey, it's still not too late to become a nurse! Or a lawyer! OMG. Shoot me now.)

My plan has backfired. Instead of saving money, I'm now wasting it since I got my first Santa Monica parking ticket. Damn. Stupid quest for free parking spot! An additional quarter could have saved me $35.

It started with intense pain in my left ear on Wednesday night, it spread to my throat on Thursday, and by Sunday, my nose got stuffy. Apparently, for some people, they develop colds in this manner. I usually don't have to deal with the earrache and just go from sore throat to head cold, which might progress to chest cold.

The thing about the earache is that it caused my inner outer ear to swell up, so now it's still swollen, and if I massage it, then it hurts like hell and fluids start coming out of it.

But I did cover a shift for a co-worker, and I definitely needed the hours. This past week, I was sent home an hour early two times cuz of lack of business. Tonight, the other girl on was sent home early. So even though I was feeling stuffy (which, surpringly, wasn't too bad during work, and only got worse towards the very end). In fact, despite my sickness, I was on fire, crankin' out drinks one after the other!

I finally picked up my tips today. Ooh... nice. It's quite a bit of money, actually, but then it encompasses several weeks, so I'm not quite sure how much extra per hour. I have to make sure I don't go spend-crazy. After all, I still need to recover financially from the wedding expenses (at my end), car expenses, and I want to save up for LASIK, and perhaps even a fun trip in the winter. Oh, and there's also school expenses, too. But being a US citizen and a California resident makes it not as bad. There are a lot of F-1 Visa students there, and they are going through hell. For one thing, they have to maintain at least 12 units, which doesn't seem so bad except that a lot of them have to work to pay for their keep, so it leaves little time for study and socialization. Tough noogies for them.

Homework awaits. Procrastination sucks.

Business was slow tonight, so we closed the store early. It was coming home that I realized probably why.

Essay: What I Was Doing When the Buildings Fell

By the time I awoke to start the day, it was already 10 am, 1 pm on the East Coast. When I started the day, the whole country had been in turmoil for hours. I never turned on the TV in the mornings since I'm usually running late. Erica had called that morning, left a message asking if we were alright. I was clueless. I mean, what could be wrong?

I went to Korean class at 11. Half the class was absent. The teacher conducted the class as usual, and I didn't see anything odd, other than that a lot of people seemed to have played hooky. After class, I went to work (at the computer center). I checked my e-mail, and someone asked if the University was staying open despite the jets in New York. The reply was that the University's official position was that they were staying open. All I could think was, what happened?

I began checking the news on the internet. I read about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. It took me a few more stories to find out that it might have been a terrorist attack. By then, the latest news was that the fourth plane had gone down in Pennsylvannia. But it was information overload, and I had no idea what was going on.

The only other class I had that day was Art. Funny enough, the Department cancelled all classes that day. Or perhaps it's only the Korean work mentality that kept that language class open. I talked a little with the class aide and another student, but I didn't fully grasp what was happening. Then I went to work. I chatted a bit with the supervisors, but I still didn't know what had happened. I had scheduled a meeting for my project team that afternoon at 5 pm. No one showed, except for one person. I wasn't surprised. If I had fully understood what had happened, I probably would have cancelled that meeting.

Finally, I went home and turned on the news. CNN, Fox News, CBS News... every channel. Someone reported that the FDNY had lost three hundred of their firefighters. I was clueless and wondered why and how.

Y'see, I didn't know that the buildings had collapsed.

I just kept asking myself as the news broadcasts kept repeating the same footage over and over was, why weren't they showing some live footage of the towers now? It wasn't until the next day that I realized the full extent of what had happened.

OMG, how clueless am I? Suffice it to say, I joined the rest of the mourning community in the next few days.

Sooo tired. Too much running around today. Basically, I had to take the shuttle to the main campus so I could late-add a class, and then grab something to eat before rushing to the shuttle stop so I could take the last shuttle back to the Academy campus.

In an effort to eat more healthily, I got a 6" chicken pizzioli sandwich from Subway. It was very delicious, but that dinky sandwich cost $3.99 (plus tax)!!! And that didn't include the dollar I spent on the soda! (I know, soda != healthy, but I was on a quest to get some vanilla coke.) (BTW, != means "does not equal", it's a programming thing)

So now I'm at a loss. Spend more money and eat healthy, or spend less money and eat garbage? I was even debating getting the foot-long so I could save the other half for later, but while that may work on Monday to Wednesday, it doesn't work for Wednesday to Monday.

The veggie sandwich was cheapest, but... I'm not too crazy about vegetable sandwiches. Though I do hafta say that Subway is crafty. They print the fat and cholesterol content of their subs as well as a Big Mac and a Whopper on their napkins, and yes, they do have a lot of each. So... anybody have any ideas? (BTW, it would have cost me about the same to get a burrito and nachos at the food truck. But... food trucks are nasty, ain't they?)

So I got that class I was crashing. But now it means that I've actually gotta do the homework. I don't have a lot of techno stuff (mainly due to my lack of finances) but I would really like a Wacom tablet for this class. (Flash animation) The thing is, I don't really need it in order to be a success in this class (I think), but it would make things so much easier. I've resisted the temptations for awhile now (hence why it took me so long to get a cell phone, and also why i don't have a palm or an mp3 player, etc) mainly cuz I can't afford 'em, but this thing is sorta... necessary in my field. But I'm not a professional yet, so I feel guilty about getting one, esp since by the time I do become a pro, there will most likely be a better one. Or am I just being cheap? I could get a decent one for about $65 on Ebay....

Okay, I'm really just rambling, aren't I? But it would be nice to get your opinions on all this.

BTW, that weight gain's only been about 4 lbs (so far). But I think it's a combination of frappuccinos, less exercise (due to school), and more fast food (cheap lunches during school). But this current weight is what I weighed all last year. It's only been this summer that I've weighed less (by 4 lbs). So... maybe this will be a cyclical thing? And why the heck am I discussing my weight on my blog???

Thanks for all your comments!!! And thanks for all your enlightenment, too. As soon as my uncle mentioned "lawyer," the Korean part of me did consider it for a second. But the truth of the job rather than what's shown on TV (and I wouldn't even want to do what's shown on TV) has overridden my deep-seated desire, at some primal level, to seek glowing praise from my family. So I will trudge on, seeking something (I'm not quite sure of) that seems to involve art and computers. I'm kinda lame, but your comments do cheer me up. :)

And it is funny how the BlogSpot ads reflect my content. Maybe if I start talking about cats and donkeys I'll get some x-rated ads. ;)

Oop, gotta go, break is over. One thing I gotta say before I go: all those Starbucks drinks (cuz I get 'em for free during shifts, so the cheapo in me gets one every single shift) is making me gain weight!

Current musical taste: Hubbilubbarubby Dubbuff (stop laughing!)

Schedule for next week:
Mon: school (1-4, 6:30-9:35)
Tue: work 7:15 to 11:45 pm
Wed: school (12:30-4:30, 6:30-9:35)
Thu: work 7:45 to 11:45 pm
Fri: work 1:30 to 6:15 pm
Sat: work 4:15 to 9 am, then X-Men Evolution 9:30-10:00, then sleep
Sun: church 'til 1:30ish

So Starbucks (I don't know if it's just my store or it's district-wide) has decided to start opening a half-hour earlier and close an hour later. Hence my Saturday shift will begin at 4:15 am. That means that I have to get up... really early. I think I'll just set my TV to go off at 3 am, which is when ST:Voyager is on. Hah. Theoretically, I could even watch the whole episode before heading off to work.

Baby-sitting for my cousin (I should make a correction, he is 3.75 yrs old, not 4) was... well, hard in its own way. He's not a hyper kid, so he's not really the type to run around. In fact, I'm kinda worried that he doesn't run around more. He's the only toddler I know that claims to be "tired." Even after breakfast, he likes to play in bed. But that doesn't make it easier. Instead, he's a constant chatterbox. He likes to tell stories and show you stuff and ask questions, and you've got to respond to all of it or else he gets more pesky. I tried reading around him, and he doesn't like it when you're not constantly paying attention to him. So yeah, no running around, but no free time, either. At least he's toilet-trained now.

Hey Keno, if I ever visit you in SanJo, I'll show you how to make a caramel macchiato (one of the more popular drinks). You just need to get vanilla syrup and caramel sauce. And if you get mocha syrup, I can show you how to make a mocha or even a hot chocolate.

My aunt and uncle suggested I think about becoming a corporate lawyer cuz they thought I really liked to study. And while I do like learning stuff (hey, Discovery alone would be worth it to get cable) I told them I don't like having to study things I don't like. I mean, I had a pretty hard time writing those research papers in college. Not a hard time thinking up what to write (Queen of the BS) but more of getting the motivation to do it. I told them I was considering becoming a computer graphics artist. My uncle responded very positively, which he usually does (I think mainly due to being white and having been a teen in the 60's.) My aunt, on the other hand, responded in her usual stoic manner. She obviously wasn't going to insult my choice, but I could tell that she thought that was beneath me. No matter how white-washed she may get, deep-down she's still a Korean mother. However, as we were watching The Two Towers later and I mentioned how Gollum was entirely computer-generated, she said, hey, you could do that. If I told her what the average salary for that was, she'd probably get that stoic look again. Anyway, how cool would it be to work on a movie like The Lord of the Rings! Anyway, since in the past they have suggested that I become a teacher (due to my having worked at that academy and Kaplan, and my "natural talent" with children), I realize that they probably don't know me as well as they think. But... at least they're trying to help. Quite ironically, for a few months after I graduated, my mom repetitively suggested that since I like to read and write I should become a lawyer. Perhaps Erica can enlighten me, but isn't 80% of lawyering generating paperwork and filing a buncha stuff w/ the appropriate government department, and 20% public-speaking? I don't think enjoyment of reading novels and writing pulp means you'll enjoy being a lawyer.

Retreat was a blast! I really like that it was held at a hotel. It was pretty relaxing as well as fun. The family feud game was hilarious. One category was "Fruit that's the Easiest to Eat" and the guy up rang in and said, "Mango." Suffice it to say, everybody ribbed him good-naturedly for the rest of the night. Another category that came up while my team was up was "What You Would Do if There was No Toilet Paper in a Public Restroom." That produced some... interesting answers.

Anyway, the retreat was refreshing, as well, spiritually. Yeah, it's like that at every retreat, almost. But that's what retreats are for! And while blasphemous thoughts still invade my mind, it's good to know that in the end, Jesus Christ is my lord and savior, no matter what. Actually, the verse that really helped was Psalm 84:11 -- For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. The speaker said that since God will not withhold anything good, then perhaps the reason you don't have something is because it's not good for you at the moment.

Anyway, here's my schedule for the rest of the week:

Today: School all day and then heading over to my aunt's in Rolling Hills
Thursday: Baby-sitting my cousin 'til about 2 pm, and then work from 6:45 to 10:45 pm, then head back to Rolling Hills
Friday: Baby-sitting my cousin 'til about 2 pm, and then work from 7:45 to 11:45 pm
Saturday: Work from 1 to 5 pm
Sunday: Church until about 1:30 pm

In case you didn't realize, I'm doing some hecka crazy driving this week. It's cuz my aunt in a panic (well, she never panicks outwardly) saying that Ryan's (my 4-yr-old cousin) school won't start 'til next week and they've been left w/o childcare for him this week since they thought that his school started right after Labor Day like other schools. If I could've gotten rid of my Thursday shift so I wouldn't have to drive back home and back, then I would have, but I was left without much time to arrange things. So... they owe me big? Nah, I'm feeling charitable this week. :)