I've been missing... online... for a week. Dost naught a one give care?

Best Christmas score: LotR:RotKEE. And who got it for me? Well, due to a mix-up (which hopefully got cleared for next Christmas), I got it for me. So yay me. But all in all, a good Christmas.

So the two weeks which I had planned on doing nothing will now be spent working on a slideshow for my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary in January. The most difficult part is dealing with the clients (i.e. my aunt)' vision, and trying to filter the corny out of it, while still keeping the awwwww-factor in it. But my basic direction is, make it fun and make it touching. That's it. Easy, piece of cake. Now... anyone know where the "funny yet touching" filter on premiere is?

Actually, I have to say that the past two days have been spent doing very little. Robert finally visited me in Santa Monica yesterday, and we could've seen the city more if it wasn't raining. I guess my nap didn't completely let me recover from my opening shift cuz I was feeling out of it in the evening. Well, the carb-overload for dinner didn't help either. We watched a buncha episodes of "Invader Zim." Extra points to any of my readers (except Robert and Dave) that know what that series is about. It's just really weird.

I gotta be grateful to have a job in this nervous economy, but still... it just sucks working at 5 am. And the sad part? That's one of the better shifts. Erg.

Sleep or "City of Heroes"?

They can take away your land, they may even take away your lives, but they can't take away... your FREEDOM!!!!!
---butchered quote

So my final class of the Fall semester is over! It was a battle long hard fought, and I came away broken, bruised, but still clinging to my sanity by a thread. My 3D animation came out decent (got lots of compliments from my compatriots, which is always a plus) but with my 2D... well, I just kept going as long as I could until I ran out of time. I got someone to cover my shift this morning, and then thought I heard my phone ring at 5 am, panicked, checked and saw that it was just my imagination, and then proceeded to work on that final. The total running time of the piece is about 730 frames, though that doesn't include the very beginning setup. The last 80-ish frames were just keyframes and no in-betweens. So technically, I only made about 400 drawings, which is still under a ream of animation paper!

So I am dead tired, but I still have to work tomorrow, but it's good. I still need to work. This drat thing called money which I still need. Perhaps I should go about finding myself a wealthy patron, a la the Renaissance masters.

So what's left on my plate? Besides work (and Christmas shopping), I plan on spending the next couple of weeks working on a slide show for my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary, cleaning my room, and getting a lot of sleep and playtime on City of Heroes. Falcon Girl has lain low far too long.

And then, I'm taking an acting class for the winter session (hey, good animation is good acting, so I need to learn), working on stuff for the Animation Club film, and perhaps even finishing up that darn 2D animation piece. I might even make up a story around it just so I can use it for a short film. (Hey, worked for Richard Williams.) (Who? What?) (He's the animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) (Duh.)

Anyway, it looks like my plate is definitely full. I guess I like it better this way, though I do need down time. My problem is that I get burned out too easily.

Thanks for all your comments, y'all!

Robert's Recent Blog Entry

Friggin' a, Dominic Monaghan is on "Lost." That's why I started watching it, and then it turned out to be a good show. I mean, Merry is on the show! That's why I kept asking people if they were going to watch "Lost" cuz Merry was on it!

Anyway, I want to take a nap, but now I'm waiting for a call from my manager to see if I have to work tomorrow. Siiiiiiiiiigh.

One final down, one more to go.

Maybe it's old-fashioned me of to expect people to say what they mean and mean what they say. I mean, yes, I'm guity of saying "maybe" and meaning "no," but if I hear a "yes" in any shape or form, I expect that to be a yes. Perhaps it's foolish of me to expect people to keep their word. After all, it's nothing but a promise, and in this world, a promise is something to be broken all the time.

Yes, I am being very cynical. How could I not be. After all, I haven't been to any church activity, fellowship or study-wise, for over three months. Sure, it's just a holiday party... where I signed up to bring something (good thing it was napkins and not food items) and I already bought a gift for the gift exchange, already wrapped with the price tag removed. I mean, it was foolish of me to expect a "most likely yes" to be a last-minute "sorry I can't." When I worked at cafe at Berkeley, it was expected that once you took a shift, it was your responsibility to find someone else if you couldn't make it.

So I will go to church this Sunday, where, as usual, someone will say, "We missed you at women's bible study/baby shower/bridal shower/[insert activity here]." I mean, yes, it's difficult to make it to these things when I usually work on Saturdays and I live an hour away. How foolish of me to think that for once, I can actually make it to an event.

I'm tired. Not just physically.

Soooooo tired.....

One final down, two more left. In theory, I should've been done with everything tonight, but of course, I'm not, so instead I'm working 'til the very last deadline and hopefully won't end up failing Character Animation (or even 3D Animation) class. Anybody know where I can host movie files so you guys can finally see them? Cuz otherwise, they exist only in my computer....

Nobody wondered why I have an image of Falcon Girl's head in my previous entry?

head 

Take a look inside the mind of a highly functional geek!

Well, my friend finally got a blog. Or more like, he's had one (with one crappy entry which he has deleted) for years and he's reactivated it. So yay, more ways for me to procrastinate in class. :)

I had a really short shift today, and I'm tired and want to take a nap, but the call of the Tivo was too strong. It is evil, EEEEEEVIL! Just watching those old "Deep Space Nine" episodes, though. Brings back memories.

My dad was in the hospital again, and as usual, they can't find anything wrong with him, other than he has diabetes, high cholesterol, and a slightly high blood pressure. He's playing with fire, I think, not taking his health more seriously. I know, he's busy, but he's going to work himself to death if he doesn't take it easier and force himself to eat right and exercise productively. It's frustrating because it's a dilemma that many people face. I may be an adult in the eyes of the law, but to him, I'm still his kid and therefore he still knows better. And he's from a generation, at least in Korea, where going to the doctor was expensive, people routinely died soon after 60, and people just kept going trying their best to survive without thought to the future. I think the mentality was, you just had to live long enough to raise your kids to adulthood, and living long enough to see your grandkids grow up was just pudding. I know my parents are going to die sometime, but I would prefer it be later than sooner and it would be nice to have them see me achieve some sort of success. And at my current rate, it's going to be awhile until they do. (*sigh)

Time for a nap.

"The Lord has given unto you fifteen [crash as a tablet falls to the ground into pieces] ten, ten commandments!"

Note to self: Set alarm before taking a nap.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

Matthew 7:21-27 NKJV


Siiiiiiiiiiigh. Not even time to contemplate the fate of my soul.

New quasi-celebrity serving: yesterday, it was Mark Valley again (I think he's getting more notice cuz he's on Boston Legal or something), and then today it was Rachel Blanchard. The girl from the Clueless TV show (based on the movie but not starring Alicia Silverstone), and more recently on Seventh Heaven (the writing gone way downhill on that show, from what I hear). I gotta say, I almost didn't recognize her because she looked much thinner that on TV. Either she's lost weight (after all, I haven't seen Seventh Heaven in over two years) or else the camera does add ten pounds.

I've been sleeping oddly. I got plenty of sleep on Sunday night cuz I had Monday off, and then in the middle of the day, I started working on my animation homework and promptly fell asleep (I think I have some sort of mental block against it), so I was wide awake come nightfall. So I only slept 2.5 hours before my opening shift, but I felt fine. But afterwards, I decided to take a nap so I can be awake for the rest of the day. Well, I hit the pillow around 10:45 am, and then woke up at 4:45 pm. Yeah, I was late to class and completely disoriented. So, to avoid a repeat performance, I slept a little earlier last night (but not that much earlier) and I'm all hopped up on caffeine to avoid taking a nap at all today (or else I'll take a short one later, with my alarm on!). So... to summarize, my sleep rhythm is off. Erg.

Homework calls. Maybe this time I'll listen.

Thanksgiving was good. Not the best, not too shabby, either. Lots of food.

The good thing about working holiday mornings is that people don't get up 'til later (and shop 'til later) so I had chill shifts while the afternoon people suffered. Seem to be having trouble finding people to cover my shifts. Erg.

Finally played some City of Heroes. Ahhhh. I needed a hit.

I'm having issues with Christmas presents. Immediate family yes, extended family no? What if they always get you stuff (even if it's cheesy stuff or stuff you don't want)? Close friends, yes. Closer friends of a limited social circle,yes or no? And just how close? Teachers? Nah. Right?

I oughtta just get boxes of tea. That way, it can always be re-gifted. (And I'm all about the re-gifting.)

I don't have much to say right now. I keep forgetting that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. So far every single holiday since September I've worked. I'm only glad that my store will be closed on Christmas cuz I know I would've been forced to work if we were. And frankly, that time-and-a-half is not worth it. Oh wait, I didn't have to work Halloween cuz it was on a Sunday!

I like my store, I do, and I even don't mind slinging coffee. But I so can't wait until I can quit and get a real job. There's a bunch of psychology there, too, I'm sure, but basically, things are... eh. Things could be better.

Maybe I'm just bitter cuz I'm still sick. I want to get better! Hey, so can you get a flu more than once per season? Logic says yes, though then, how can you make a vaccine? The semester is nearing the end and I'm sooooo behind!

For my own records:

Mon -- 12-4:30 pm
Thu -- 6:30-11:30am
Fri -- 5-9am
Sat -- 5:30am-2pm

then
Tue -- 5-9:30am
Wed -- 5-10:45am
Thu-- 5-10am
Fri -- 8:15am-4:45pm
Sat -- 7am-3:15pm

I got to leave work early today cuz I had no voice, and whispering, "Hi, what can I get ya?" wasn't working so much.

John Hannah was back (twice!) but I think he's leaving cuz he mentioned getting a taxi, and around here, the only reason to get a taxi is to go to the airport.

I hate being sick. I think it's the flu. Dang the flu shot shortage!

Okay, friggin' a, I swear John Hannah was back. But that wasn't the best part. Do you know who I sold coffee to today? John Shea.

Before you say, "Who?" let me give out a few clues:

Adam on "Mutant X", but more famously, Lex Luthor on "Lois & Clark".

Okay, yeah, I guess he resides in the pseudo-celebrity world (though Dean Cain is considered a "real" celebrity," and perhaps Teri Hatcher, too) but so far, he's the famous-est of the celebrities I've served... well, Jerry Springer is pretty famous but more infamous than famous, I think.

The best part? I chatted up John Shea. I didn't let on that I recognized him, but I just jokingly asked if he wasn't addicted to caffeine like the rest of us (he ordered decaf vanilla soy latte), and he just replied, "Oh caffeine's so bad for you. I try to stay away." Cool beans, eh?

Okay, so my thing on the gay marriage issue:

First of all, I don't think that there should be a constitutional ban on it. That's just lame. Personally, I don't believe our nation will crumble based on this little issue. Now... the Patriot Act has enabled the government to violate our 4th amendment rights... but I don't here many conservatives whining about that. Sure you can be jailed for criticizing the President... as long as you're not gay and married.

Now, on the other hand, there is something to be said about marriage as an institution versus civil unions. Because last I checked, gay people still had marriage ceremonies. But it lacked any teeth, as in, it didn't give you rights as beneficiaries, that hospital thing where you can determine whether or not to pull the plug, that green card thing, etc, etc. I thought "ER" addressed it well when Kerry Weaver lost custody of her son cuz she wasn't the biological mother, and they weren't legally married. I remember seeing a performance artist named Tim Millar who had a show about how his boyfriend, with whom he's been with for seven years, couldn't stay in this country because he had only a student visa that was set to expire, and Tim was angry because heterosexual couples who've been together less can get married and give the other person a green card. Anyway, I think civil unions should definitely exist. I guess I'm not sure if it should be called marriage. But then, the "sacredness" of marriage no longer exists in America. So why shouldn't it be called marriage? If any deep, monogamous relationship where you're in it for the long haul isn't called marriage, then what is? I don't know, because there are plenty of people out there (hetero and homo) that refuse to get married cuz they've got commitment issues, even if they've been together for decades. Heh.


We served yet another pseudo-celebrity. John Hannah, most noted for his performance as the gay guy on Four Weddings and a Funeral. More recently on that bad show "MDs." But I coulda sworn we served his co-star on that show, William Fichtner, too, though it's hard to tell. Y'know, people do look much different in real life as opposed to TV, cuz there are no make-up people and lights following you. Not yet, anyway.

The vote's still going! (See the previous entry.)

It seems my life revolves around school and Starbucks... which I guess is normal. Today in Character Animation class, a small group of us did some improv acting (cuz animation is just acting on paper). It was fun, a little challenging, but I'm thinking the people he picked weren't necessarily the people he should pick. It's those really shy, really reserved people that need the practice.

Last Friday, my roommates and I (since we are in one class together) took some photos to use for a commercial storyboard. I'm pretty sure we looked funny fondling the iPods at the Apple store. (Droolin', if I can only convince all my relatives to chip in for an iPod for me....) I like storyboarding, actually. It satisfies my desire to tell a story and my impatience at the same time. That's one of the things that driving me nuts about character animation class. Just imagine a simple little short of a character getting into a situation and then getting out of it. It takes a minute or two, right? Well, considering that there are 60 seconds in a minute and at least 12 drawings per second... that's a lot of drawings. There's a reason why I'm behind.

Anyway, my work schedule was finally getting manageable and then they pulled a 30.5-hr week the week after next. I swear, any more and I'm going to have to make my availabilities very inflexible. It's bad enough having to work Thanksgiving weekend.

I'm putting this to a vote. Do you want my next big entry to be about:

1. An essay on why Batman is sexier than Superman
2. A rant on rude customers who think they deserve the world
3. A ponderance on the gay marriage issue
4. A whine about why things suck

Things are getting busy, so this poll will be up several days. Please use the comment feature. Thank you.

I can't believe Marvel is suing NCSoft and Cryptic Studios cuz of City of Heroes. They are a little too sue-happy.

I mean, sure yeah, my character is based on Batgirl, but c'mon, it's not like I named her B@tgrrl or something. If anything it's an homage to a character that I really like, and I would think that Marvel would like homages (though it's DC so maybe not). It's just so lame. I mean, the last I heard, Marvel didn't hold the copyright on green skin or claws.

Yeah, a lot of the characters people play are similar to current comic characters. But you gotta admit, if you read comics as a kid (or even if you started as an adult) it's your fantasy to be a superhero, and that's probably one of the smartest elements of COH. The character creation choices make it possible to come up with a million different characters, so whoever your superhero hero is... well, you can be him/her. So COH is making bank, and Marvel wants to cut into that. Geez.

Ugh. I think my traffic ticket is going to screw me. Let that be a lesson... keep an eye on the due date!

Fourth semi-celebrity sighting, last week: Laura Innes (Dr. Weaver on "ER"), who brought her kid in and bought an apple juice and asked for ice in a cup with a lid

This past weekend was spend sleeping... a lot. I like... a lot. Then this morning the store called asking me to come in early. I don't like.

Too much homework!!!

I'll post my schedule later. No work tomorrow and day after, but there will be lots of homework cramming. Bleh.

Why I am a Democrat:

Well... I'm more of a moderate Democrat, but that's beside the point. I think that conservative Republicans are hardly that... conserving, I mean. The Republican government has far outspent Democratic governments, but it's what they spend their money on. They spend more on defense and big business rather than domestic and social programs. They give more breaks to the rich and raise taxes that effect the poor. The middle class? There are varying degrees of middle class, and it seems like the only ones that get benefits from Republican government are upper-middle class.

So what if there isn't enough money for police and hospitals and the homeless (despite my last rant about them... and I have issues with the homeless that I'll discuss later), as long as the affluent in their gated neighborhoods have enough security and health care and "clean" streets, they could care less. I don't like bond measures, even though we need them for major improvements to infrastructure, etc, because who buys bonds? I don't know many poor people that have a retirement plan, much less an investment portfolio. Yet to pay off those bonds, the government has to raise taxes, income or sales or property or whatnot, which the rich can shrug off a lot easily than the poor.

So in general, I don't like Republicans being hypocritical about how they cut taxes and spending and fiscal policy or whatnot. Past history says they haven't done so, so they shouldn't keep saying their's is the party that does. And the trickle-down theory? Hey, that muck must be really thick cuz so far I haven't seen any of that trickle. So far I think it's just sitting on top of the topsoil and the deep roots aren't getting any water. Maybe the lower classes haven't been active enough. Hey I know so. So because it's the rich that's involved in politics, it's the rich that benefit. Sigh.

It boggles my mind when people in the affected demographic call themselves conservatives. I think part of that stems from "the American Dream." Everyone dreams of becoming rich enough to be rightfully called conservative. Meanwhile, the rest of us down in the bottom are in denial that we are.

When it comes to public policy, I tend to be pragmatic. Anyone that knows me knows that describes my personality. So I vote with my conscience, not with my party views. For example, I'm actually for English-only education, though not in the Nazi-esque way that Prop 227 was. I've heard of far too many Latinos who grew up here and can't speak decent English which limits their job and education prospects. But I also know that it's hard to learn a subject in a language you don't know, so yeah, English-only should be limited to math and science and more lenient in high school as opposed to elementary school, and the ultimate goal is to integrate those students into English-taught classrooms. Cuz if you can't speak proper English or Spanish... well then you're screwed.

And I don't think we should have a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, because a constitution is for outlining the limits of government, not to take away rights/privileges of a group of people.

I can go on and on, but I'm don't have the time.

So it does boggle my mind that we have re-elected Bush. Hey, I'm pragmatic. If I thought that the war in Iraq (along with a thousand other public policies that make me shudder) was actually making the world better, I'd be all for it. Even if Bush (and his cronies) admitted that the war was a mistake but it's too late too back out now and they ask us to hang in there while they fix their mistake, I'd totally support them for being honest. But what I don't like is the eagerness for war and the self-righteousness that Bush has, as if he can't do anything wrong and he's forever covering up his ass. Even presidents can make mistakes. But damn it, don't pretend that he can't!

I don't think we should give in to terrorist threats, but damn it, there's a reason why terrorists and half the world hates America. I'd much rather have a President that hates war declare it, then one that wants it a little too badly do it. Hey war sucks, I hope we never have another, but there is such thing as a just war. But so far, this one in Iraq hardly seems to qualify. We used to be the benevolent bully. Now we're just a bully.

Thanks for reading my essay. I'll return to fluff entries now.

Ignore the images below. They're for other purposes.

Too tired to post much, but here's my schedule for next week:

Mon -- off!!!
Tue -- 5 to 9:30 am, 4:30 to 9:35 pm
Wed -- 7:15 am to 3:45 pm, 4 to 5 pm meeting, 5:30 to 9:35 pm
Thu -- 5 to 9:30 am, 1 to 5 pm
Fri -- 5 to 9:30 am
Sat -- 5:30 to 11 am, maybe church women's fellowship
Sun -- church

Weekend to-do list:
1. Fill out absentee ballot (I'm going to drop it off on Tuesday since there's no time to mail it)
2. Work on animation (my character pushing an immovable box)
3. Revise storyboards for animation club
4. Make drawings for storyboard class
5. Have fun on Halloween!

The week after that, the official holiday season for Starbucks starts. I've been chosen to be a "red apron barista" where I will pass out samples of the holiday pastries and drinks and chat with the customers for an hour during my shifts. Sounds cool.

All the homeless around the Promenade is reminding me of Berkeley again. And the years since which has softened the scar tissue around my heart is re-toughening when they become so brazen with panhandling, theft, and down-right being a nusiance. I mean, that cup of coffee was offered for free as a kind gesture on a rainy day... and you've got the nerve to ask for a refill?

The other day, a kid tried to steal our tip jar. The nerve! It's bad enough when kids ask their parents if they can have our tip jar (like we're giving it away), but geez.... What can I say? City-living requires more cynicism and a pessimistic view of humanity.

Close up 

Shadow Falcon and moon 

The Dynamic Duo 

Oh, I'm so mad!!!

I should've seen it. I let my guard down, and forgot about the warning. And it sucks that my store has to eat the cost. Damn it!

I'm more angry that I didn't spot the fake traveler's check right away. I mean, they're designed to have security details! Damn that stupid lady. Damn it. Long lines be damned, should there be a next time!

Traffic school.... Ugh. Well, at least it's online and I can take web-breaks as much as I want.

This past weekend was glorious... no work, just relaxing and having fun. Which means that I got absolutely no work done. Erg. Hence the traffic school. If I don't do it now, then I won't ever do it. Erg.

More pics from City of Heroes coming up!

So I don't blog for 18 days and no one makes a comment? Dude, so sad....

Life has gotten crazier, if that was possible. After begging and pleading, I finally got my work hours reduced to under 25 hours per week, which means that this week, I'm not working Monday or Saturday, and next week, I'm not working Saturday, though I am opening (that's 5 am, people!) Monday through Friday. Ergh.

Last weekend I went to a retreat with my church. We tagged along to the Irvine Valley Community Church one, held in San Diego, and it was a "Walk Through the Bible" seminar, namely, "Walk Through the New Testament." It was pretty cool. Basically, the speaker explained, or more like summarized, what was happening (chronologically) starting from the end of the Old Testament (the Book of Malachi) through to the Book of Acts, the death of Paul. Each major even was summarized by a few words and some hand motions, and we memorized all of it. Let's just say, it was pretty dang cool, 'cept I'm not sure I can recite it all again. Queen of Cram, strikes again!

To go to this retreat, I skipped my Friday class last week, and I might skip it again this week. Actually, I'm thinking of dropping it. Actually, I am going to drop it, I'm just in denial about it.

But I'm tired of being mediocre and tired of being tired, so even though that would mean I only have three classes (and Animation Club) I'd rather be good in three than mediocre in four. And then today my manager gave me grief (albeit jokingly, I think) that I requested less hours. The only reponse I can think is that I requested 20 hours in the beginning, but I think she heard 30. Oh well, I know where my priorities lie. Sorta.

One interesting note, my tips this week were in the form of a wad of ones. It's like I'm a stripper. And if I feel like it, I'm all set for going to a strip club. ;-)

Too friggin' busy wasting time....

On another note, I forgot my phone charger again, so I can't be reached by cell this week. Send me an e-mail!

That's it. Can't think no mo'.

Tired... as always.

As I keep on forgetting to post my schedule on Sundays, I will post next my schedule now:

Tomorrow -- 5 to 11:45, school
Sat -- workin' 9 to 5, woo woo woooo
Sun -- church
Mon -- 5 to 10 am
Tue -- 5 to 11:45 am, school
Wed -- 5 to 11 am, school
Thu -- sleep in!, school
Fri -- 8 am to 4:30 pm
Sat -- 7 am to 3 pm
Sun -- same as before

Suffice it to say, I asked my manager not to give me such a schedule again.

I've got some insights into my behavior that I wouldn't mind pscho-analyzing, but I'm really tired and I still have homework due today, so I'll wait until I have time to do so. Maybe I'll post again during class today. Just for the heck of it.

It's been an... interesting week. Having less hours at work means that I'm not crazy-tired when I get to school. It does mean, however, that I have more time to play City of Heroes and be crazy-tired at school. I can't help it, the Issue #2 update is active and Paragon City is under a full-scale invasion!

This biking around is good because it's good for my health and saves money on parking blah blah blah... but let me just say this, it sucks. I mean, it's cool to be travelling around this great coastal city using only the power of your God-given legs and whatnot, but in reality, it sucks, too. I don't like exercise, I don't like getting sweaty, and I don't like how I can't look girly because the sweat would just mess it up or else you can't wear such outfits on a bike. So why do I do it? Cuz it's good for my health and it saves money on parking blah blah blah. One of these days, I plan on exploring the city on my bike. Perhaps then I'll be less bitter. (Maybe it's just that I don't like having to leave for work a half-hour before my shift when I used to leave only 10-minutes before.)

Meanwhile, I've been lazy about homework and not doing it fully. So the third week's passed and I'm behind already. Erg. I may be biting off more than I can chew, though, since in addition to classes (whose units do not reflect the true workload, as always when it comes to art classes) and work, I'm also doing stuff for the Animation Club and for my church's Tech Team. Reminds me of my Berkeley days, actually. I suppose I could always drop a class, but I need three of them and the fourth I don't want to drop, as frustrating as it is.

---------------------------------------------------
Speaking of which, my classes for this semester:

Character Animation -- the 3rd level 2D animation class where we focus not so much on the hows of animation but the hows of interesting characters

Storyboard 2 -- as it implies, it's the 2nd level storyboard class where the teacher is the guy who founded the Academy and therefore is a bit of a hardass and has a tendency to insult you if you don't give the answer he's looking for

3D Animation 2 -- it'll focus more on modeling and rigging

3D Effects -- learning to use SideFX's Houdini, one of the industry's leading software on visual effects, and dang hard to learn!
-------------------------------------------------

One of my reasons for moving to Santa Monica was to get close to the industry and get an internship. I'm wondering when I'll have to time to research that.

On a side note, I'm starting to feel tingling and a bit of numbness in my right elbow, wrist, and ring and pinky fingers. From what I remember of my Mom's visits with a orthopedist, those are symtoms of carpal-tunnel syndrome. If that's the case, that just sucks. Mainly cuz, I'm an artist and the two things we cannot lose is our eyesight and the use of our hands. I think I should shell out the $25 to go see a doctor.

I had my first celebrity at Starbucks incident yesterday. It was none other than... Jerry Springer. Yay.... Apparently he's a regular.

For your viewing enjoyment, I present to you...

MY SCHEDULE!

Mon -- 5 to 11 am
Tue -- 5 to 9:30 am, 4:30 to 9:35 pm
Wed -- 7 am to 3 pm, 4 to 9:35 pm
Thu -- 1 to 5 pm
Fri -- 11 am to 4:45 pm, 6:30 to 9:35 pm
Sat -- no work, no school!
Sun -- church

In case you haven't figured it out, the times in italics are the times I'm at school.

Gotta be at work in 5 hours and 4 minutes....

Y'know, it's so easy to get caught up in your own insular world, worrying about the daily grind, and then you hear about terrorists killing hundreds of children and you realize that it's all meaningless. And I forget how blessed I am that I am living in the US where we have relative peace and two giant ocean borders and prosperity (somewhat, I mean, the economy's crap but at least I can still work), and halfway around the world, misguided fanatics blow themselves up and take human life so carelessly. I think with the heightened alert of terrorism in the world, terrorists are upping their tactics cuz they know it'll get news coverage. It seems like the more we fight the harder they fight back. After all, that's how most people react to being under fire.

Sigh. Poor Russians. I wonder what people in the Cold War Era would say to these events.

First week of school over, and I gotta get crackin' on the homework! I start work on Monday, and I guess my new manager didn't understand me when I said I wanted 20 hours a week, as she ended up giving me 32.25. I'm gonna be tired.

Gotta get a bike. The used bike shop's going to get a stash tomorrow, so I'm going to check that out. If there's nothing good there... well... I just might have to shell out the big bucks and get a new one. I'm debating whether or not Target bikes will be worth it. After all, I have to be able to ride this thing 6+ miles per day, six days a week. Calves of Steel, here I come!

I'll post more when I get the chance. Meanwhile, gotta play all the CoH I can before work starts. Is anybody still reading this thing?

Which Family Guy character are you?


Dang it.

My last day at my store was yesterday. It was somewhat bittersweet. It didn't help that I was tired from only 2 hrs of sleep the night before. Then afterwards, I drove to Santa Monica to interview with some managers to "find the perfect place for me." My perfect place? Oh don't get me started.

I'm procrastinating. I'm supposed to be packing and cleaning up, but I can't get myself to do so. Psychological block, maybe? I slept 12 hrs last night, so I'm nice and refreshed. And then the day just up and went! I said I'd drop by to pick up my tips today, but I think I'll wait so 'til the rush is over. Meanwhile, there's plenty of CoH to play! For awhile there I just went around a beat up a bunch of low-level bad guys just cuz I could defeat 'em in one kick. Makes you feel like a bad-a$$. Perhaps that's why bullying is so popular.

And finally, a fun link, just cuz.

I should be asleep....

I hooked up with a random group on CoH tonight, and this guy offered me 50k (in CoH money) to stay on 'til he leveled up. So I stayed up 'til 4 am so I could help him level. Duuuuuude.

Perhaps this is a sign of addiction?

In an effort to get my readers interacting with this blog more...

Does anybody have an idea how I can post my movies on the web? DirectNIC currently won't let me (well, with the 20Mb limit, I wouldn't be able to host much anyway) unless I turn them all into swf files (which would lose a lot of quality and take up a lot of space). Is there a site where I can store movie files and be able to link to them?

(I like bleusky better.)

This past week was eventful. Girls' Nite Out ended up being only 5 of us. We went to a nice restaurant, then went to TGIFriday's, left after we ordered a drink but before we received it, then went to a club. One of my co-workers, a tall, leggy blonde, got hit on like crazy. I was rather shocked. And I'm realizing why I don't like clubbing. The reason? One word: Grinding.

My last week living at home. I'm scared witless. I mean, sure, things will be fine, I need to do this, and besides I'll drop by every week. But hey, I am my mother's daughter, and one thing she can do like nobody's business is worry.

I haven't posted by schedule in awhile, so here it is:
Mon -- no work
Tue -- 9:15 am to 4:15 pm
Wed -- 10:45 am to 6 pm
Thu -- 4:15 to 11:30 am
Fri -- movin' out
Sat -- movin' out
Sun -- church, finish moving

I allowed myself the weekend to move out just cuz I've got a lot of junk and before I can pack I gotta clean up my room.

My mom took the news of my leaving surprisingly well. Perhaps I worried for nothing.

I'm gonna sleep now... but it was a good day and night. No work, City of Heroes, long talk with good friend, and Olympic gymnastics was pretty exciting. I've got mixed feelings about elite women's gymnastics cuz of the book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. Doesn't paint gymnastics or figure-skating in a good light. But I do enjoy watching the sport on TV.

Girls' Nite Out tonight!

Must sleep... but can't....

So I tried to transfer to a store that's really close to where I'll be living, and even though it is harshly understaffed, the manager didn't want me because I'm a student. She had too many students so she wanted someone with full-time availabilities. All I can say to her (though not to her face) is... good luck finding someone like that! I mean, if you needed a full-time job... would you work part-time at a Starbucks? Or more like, if you wanted a part-time job but you had the means for a full-time schedule, why the heck would you work for Starbucks when you could get paid more with better hours somewhere else? Basically, she was looking for people that wanted to join the company from the bottom up. And we all know that the only people willing to work, at least part-time, at retail places are students. Sigh. I wish I could argue that with her, but hey, she doesn't want me. So I'll just have to find another store. The good thing about Starbucks is that it's Starbucks, and therefore everywhere.

Trying to watch the Olympics nowadays... but the call of City of Heroes is too strong!

Tired, can't write much.

Yes, I was at a convention. SIGGRAPH is THE big one for computer graphics. Next year, I'm hoping to be passing my reel around. We did a lot of interactive digital art today and saw a few short films. No go on the raffles, though Dave did win something. We went and collected all the reel DVDs from the various art schools and watched them afterwards. So far the ones that impressed me were Savannah College of Art and Design and Ringling School of Art and Design, and the Media Design school in New Zealand left me less-than-impressed. For those of you that know, SCAD was the school I was seriously thinking of attending right out of Berkeley. The main thing that stopped me (besides finances) was that my portfolio sucked and I wanted to develop a good one and also get some non-flaky teachers to write my letters of rec. Anyway, now... I don't think I need to pursue another higher education degree to get my foot in the door of this crazy business, but a part of me is thinking about teaching (at a college), so that's always an option.

Good night. I guess I wasn't that tired. ;-)

SIGGRAPH is so damn cool. I mean, talk about being surrounded by gazillions of computer graphics geeks. That's the fun thing about this group. Picture a merging of the art geek and the computer geek. It's like... geek squared. So fun.

It's been two days and we haven't even seen any of the short films. And we discovered today that there's a whole room we have yet to explore! We have to cram all this in tomorrow! I'm debating whether or not to enter the raffles tomorrow. Now that people know about it, there'll be hoards of people. But they're giving away an Apple iPod mini, nVidia Quadro video cards, all sorts of soft and hardware, and there's even a computer workstation worth $18,000 (retail)! But the chances are so slim and I figure my time could be better spent at the other untouched rooms. Hmmm....

On a different note, it looks like getting a transfer won't be a problem. Now I just have to tell my parents that I'm moving out.... I'm such a coward.

From "Candorville" published 8/03/04. It reminded me a lot about my situation. Perhaps I, too, like Lemont, need a swift kick in the patootie. 

The new "non-slutty" outfit. She looks a lot more like Batgirl now, though it should look cooler with a cape (coming in a coupla months). 

City of Heroes: The old "slutty" outfit. 

Through my old roomate's blog, I found out that one of the hapkido instructors (well, technically the wife of the head instructor) back in my days of Berkeley has breast cancer. Her blog which is fascinating. I hope she'll make it through okay.

City of Heroes is a fun game. I even managed to come out of it tonight without getting nauseous. Yeah, I think I get motion-sickness from video games with a lot of first-person scenery. (The character is always facing the same direction, but the scenery moves... like first-person shooters except the character's in front of you.)

My main character is a Batgirl-esque character, stemming from Robert's supergroup led by his Batman-esque character. Her costume's a bit slutty, I realize, cuz I was going for an overall aesthetic effect and ended up with a... well, a slutty outfit. I wonder what that says about me. I will post screen shots soon.

I've been creating characters just for kicks, mainly just for looks. It's kinda like doodling or playing with a complex Mr. Potato-Head. I think the appeal (about superheroes in general) are that they are an extension of your fantasy self. These characters can be as tall or muscular as you want, wear stuff you can't find or don't dare, and they can be of any color. That's another thing. With my Batgirl character, I was trying to make her skin tone a tannish color so that she looks like a cross between a tanned white girl and a fair Asian girl. Well, I must have picked wrong cuz she just looks pale. It was making me think about if my fantasy self was Asian, or if I'm like the negative stereotype that all minorities secretly want to be white.

I've been trying to find a link, but so far all I have is this:
Candorville

U-Comics

Try to look at the August 3rd comics for both Candorville (which I remember as Lemont Brown from the Berkeley days) and La Cucharacha. I just thought "La Cucharacha" was funny cuz I was at work when I read that. And "Candorville" just made me think about how my parents must see me. Sigh.

Tired. Must sleep.

Schedule this week:

Mon -- 5 to 10 pm
Tue -- 1:15 to 7:45 pm
Wed -- 7:15 to 11:45 pm
Thu -- 1 to 7:30 pm
Fri -- no work, no school, YAY
Sat -- 6 pm to 12:45 am
Sun -- church, no work!

---

Vegas was so fun and time just flew by. The best part? Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. We did both the Klingon Encounter and Borg 4-D, and they were both great. Pricey, but worth it. (And you know me, Miss Miser, don't say that about a lot of things.) I think I like the Klingon one better because it had a surprise beginning, but getting assimilated was pretty cool, too. What can I say? Geek heaven.

In the gambling front, I think I ended up ahead by about $5. I took about $40 in gambling money as well as a roll of quarters (though some of that was used for the arcade) and I ended up winning about $50 on a video poker machine, as well as $5 on megabucks (hey, the pot's too tempting to not try) as well my very last quarter turning into $2. Cool beans.

We also went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. Pretty cool. Too bad the pictures didn't quite turn out right. And the buffets!

So coming home sucked cuz we knew that vacation was over and there was a lot of stuff waiting for us back home. Well at least for me. Cuz as soon as I came back, we returned the rental car, then I had dinner, took a nap, worked on my final project for class, and then drove to Santa Monica, and then proceeded to finish my project for my 8 am class the next day. Ugh. Hard. But no school for a month!

---

My (new) manager wants to talk to me today before my shift. I am getting nervous. I have to keep reminding myself that it's just a job and if it doesn't involve God, Family, or Friends, then it's not that important.

Falling back towards earth....



-----------------
Everytime I start to feel guilty about how I treated a certain someone of my past, I am reminded how much of a jerk he could be. That's why I stay away from self-righteous people.

Maybe I'm trolling around too much for comments when none of y'all have any. 'sokay.

As many of you know, I did a stupid thing and procrastinated on my last week's homework project. So basically, after a 7.5-hr shift on Thursday night, I drove to Santa Monica and pulled an all-nighter so I could turn in my project at 8 am the next morning. Let's just say, that was hell. (BTW, thanks Dave for all your help!)

(See how I give shout-outs? I tend to give more to those who leave comments. Hint hint. Heehee.)

So I have to make sure to finish this week's assignment this weekend. Why? Well, you'll see when I post my schedule! Though most of you already know.

I was driving a co-worker crazy today from my recitations of various lines from Romeo and Juliet. Yep, Shakespeare. Well, that's what happens when you're forced to memorize a monologue in ninth grade and it sticks. I mean, don't y'all have something that you memorized eons ago that you just can't forget?

My schedule:
Sun -- church picnic, 5-ish to 11:45 pm
Mon through Thu -- LAS VEGAS!!!
Fri -- school
Sat -- 4:15 am to 12:15 pm
Sun -- 6 to 11:45 pm

Evil, thy name be-ith procrastination.

No need to post my schedule as things are too friggin' hectic.

How sad am I that I would rather search the internet to find out if the person that looked familiar at Jennifer's wedding was actually that person rather than walk up to her and ask her directly.

Speaking of, that wedding... man.... It was beautiful because the sentiments were beautiful. I just wish I could've gotten there on time. Who knew the 10 and the 101 would be so awful on a Saturday afternoon? Anyway, typical Korean wedding with gazillions of guests. The after-party at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel was much better. The chances of my getting married is pretty slim at this point, but if I ever do, I so want to elope. Or at least not have such a huge wedding.

Since my car's been out to pasture, I've been driving my brother's old beamer. People have been complementing it, and I've been down-playing it. I don't know why. Most people love having flashy cars, but I think I'd rather drive the Camry with the bashed up front than the BMW. Maybe because it's an old beamer with crappy insides. Or maybe it's because it projects a false view of my current financial state. I just feel uncomfortable having nice stuff, it seems.

My schedule this week:
Mon -- no work!
Tue -- 4:15 am to 12:15 pm
Wed -- 6 am to 12 pm
Thu -- 4:15 to 11:45 am
Fri -- school
Sat -- 6:30 pm to 12:45 pm
Sun -- church, 4:30 to 9:30 pm

Should be paying attention in class....

Korean drumming = hard, but cool. Wish I could take more. Reminds me of college where possibilities numbered in the billions and time remained 24/7.

Wish my projects didn't suck so much. What you put in is what you get. Blah.

Nothing new to wear to Jennifer's wedding tomorrow. Tried looking. Legs too short for most fashions now. (Just-under knee skirts too popular. Not wearing "short-short" skirts.) Perhaps my calling is in fashion. Not "petite." More like "short regular folk." Would make a fortune. I call it!

Complete sentences = bad

Tootaloo mon rendezvous!

Schedule this week:

Mon -- 6:15 to 11 am
Tue -- 10 am to 4 pm
Wed -- 8:45 am to 4 pm
Thu -- no work!
Fri -- school
Sat -- Jennifer's wedding
Sun -- church, then 7 to 11:45 pm

Another store called and begged me to cover a shift yesterday. I guess they thought it'd be crazy like last year. Turns out, people have either gotten more lazy, or the fact that it was a Sunday kept people away. Only poor retail schmoes had to work yesterday and today.

At least I got paid time-and-a-half. Like that means much.

It's been a week of highs and lows. Turns out, I am poor enough to qualify for fee waivers for school. I got a reduced fee parking pass only to get a parking ticket that day cuz I forgot to move my car during the break. Sigh.

I should take advantage of the free counseling offered to me through school and work (I think I get three free sessions each.) I don't know if I have to guts. I put on a happy face for other people, and it feels genuine. Perhaps it's the weird dichotomy of my personality where I am an introverted people person. That is, I prefer the company of myself to other people, but then I prefer the company of a few close friends to just myself. Anyway, I think the act of putting on a happy face forces you to feel happy, even if you'd rather wallow and mope. Which then makes me think that's just life. That we are all miserable creatures 'til we are forced to not be one.

Or maybe I'm just screwed up.

My sister and her husband (and their dog) drove down for the weekend at the last minute. I didn't see her much as I ended up working, sleeping, or elsewhere. I felt a little guilty "appropriating gratuitous beverages" for them... but it's like, what else kind of hookups are there?

Perhaps I'll just dive into a stupor of my drug of choice: TV. I saw Spiderman 2 last week. Abso-freakin'-lutely great movie. Very satisfying to a Spidey-fan. So much so that me, Miss Miser-in-Denial, is willing to pay to see it in the theaters again. Ooooooh.

Hey Erica... did I not tell you about SpaceShipOne? :-P

Anyway, yeah, it was a fun day, though technically there wasn't much to see. The flight itself took place against the sun, so we were all squinting and trying not to fry out our eyes. But it was still exciting cuz we were seeing it live (when I say "we", I mean the 20,000 people there) and it was a lot of "do you see where it is?" and "oh there it is!" and me thinking, "how the heck can these people actually see this?" Anyway, it was exciting cuz we were witnesses to history, but afterwards, I was dead tired. It took me a week to recover. 'course, my wacked sleeping pattern didn't help.

Last night I went out with work people as a night out to say good-bye to people that left. Well, mainly two of 'em, though more people are leaving or have left. My manager's leaving at the end of the week to go on maternity leave. By the time she comes back, I hope to not be there anymore. Boy can people drink. Funny how I got carded yet the 18-yr-old with the scraggly goatee-beginnings didn't.

I don't know how many of my readers are Christian, but if you believe in prayer of any sort, I could use some of it. My car is now parked in our garage, and I'm not sure what will happen to it. It's almost too good to junk, yet too junky to fix. I'm driving my brother's old car which has been on its last legs for a long time. My mom and dad are stressed from life in general, and this car issue ain't helping. I suppose if anything, my biggest prayer request is that God grant us a peace of mind and the will to do what He requires of us and trust that He's got everything under control. Most of us like to whine about "why me?" but I'm hoping to take Job's lead and thank God for His steadfastness nonetheless. Besides, I've learned that the only thing "why me?" gets you is looking pathetic.

Long one. I'll post more at school, no doubt. After all, it's hard to go through 8 am to 5 pm without some mental breaks.

My schedule:
Wed -- 3:45 to 10 pm
Thu -- hanging out with Robert, then heading off to Santa Monica
Fri -- class ALL day
Sat -- 6:15 to 11:15 am
Sun -- church, Happy Independence Day!

Crazy week. It started off Sunday night when after getting out of work late after a closing shift, I drove to Santa Monica to meet up with Dave, and then we drove an hour-and-a-half to the Mojave Airport and arrived there around 3 am.

Yep, we went to see the historic flight of SpaceShipOne, the first privately-funded spaceship to reach sub-orbital height.

It was crazy cuz we barely got any sleep, there were thousands of people there, and the winds were harsh and cold at 3 am. It was hard to keep an eye on the ship as it flew into the air, and when it made it's rocket-propelled flight, all we could see is a straight contrail into the sun. But if was awfully exciting. Perhaps I'll go into details later.

The other part of my crazy week involved making a mistake on my schedule and requesting the wrong day off and having to find someone to cover my shift tomorrow so I can go to class. More on that later.

Gotta go.

Just squeaked by with enough hours to continue my health benefits for the next three months. Well, technically four. I think I should go see my dermatologist again, even though he sees me for all of five minutes per visit, and I have to pay the office $25. $5 per minute? Dang.

It sucks to be so close to "making it" yet so far away. A part of me wants to stop living so hard and get myself a real 9-to-5 job and be able to buy a new car and such. But then where would I be? The hope that all this is leading somewhere is my only reason for continuing to work at a place I'm not too crazy about with wages I'm definitely not crazy about (speaking of which... when's my raise gonna kick in???).

Sucky day today. Shoulda done my research last night instead of this morning. But then, I'm not one for planning much. Especially during veg-cation.

Doh! Common HTML posting mistake: failing to close a tag.

My schedule for this week:
Tue -- school
Wed -- 1:30 to 6:30 pm
Thu -- free day, hanging out w/ Robert
Fri -- 12 to 5:45 pm
Sat -- 7:45 pm to 12:45 am
Sun -- church, then 4:15 to 11 pm

Can't get myself to be productive....

I feel a little guilty about my job. Basically, I am enticing people to spend a lot of money on stuff they shouldn't consume. I mean, yeah, I'm not exerting sales pressure or anything like a used car, but (in my friendly way) when people lament about the calories and fat and sugar and such, I just say, "Y'know, you can't think about that stuff when you come in here." But there are rather obese people that come everyday and order huge frappuccinos, and there are so many kids that ask for extra caramel, and when they look at the tall size (i.e. the "small") they say, "Hey, could I get something bigger?" and adults come in with their kids and they're more concerned about the caffeine content of their kids' drinks than their nutritional value. And today (or was it yesterday?) I saw an overweight woman (who was probably obese but I didn't get a chance to see the lower half of her body) who ordered a venti frappuccino of some type and then gave her daughter, who seemed about three years of age, a grande (medium) strawberry-and-creme frapp, and this little girl was sucking down that drink. Now, she was too young to be overweight (she did have a tummy, but a kiddie-tummy and not a gut), but I can see why obesity tends to run in families (genetics-besides). I mean, a lot of kids whine for larger sizes but most of the parents I've noticed orders the tall for their kids (unless they're teens), so I was rather surprised that this woman ordered a grande for a girl that probably wasn't old enough to whine for larger sizes. People are rather surprised that our "kids" sizes are so small (they're the "short" cups, yeah, there is a counterpart to the "tall" size), but they are 8 oz cups. More than enough for most small kids.

My church has decided to apply for membership in the Southern Baptist Convention. I'm just hoping it's not the same one as the one with Jerry Falwell. So far I hear no. (shudder)

It's okay. You don't have to comment.

My schedule's not up cuz I got too busy, and I can't post it now cuz I'm at school and I don't remember what my hours were. Um, but I do know that I have Saturday afternoon/evening off. Anybody wanna hang?

Actually, I should be working on my final projects. Two outta four done! Everyone liked my animation today. My teacher said that the timing was pretty good and I put enough secondary action to make it interesting. I'm not sure what he saw since I didn't have time to put deliberate secondary action, but hey, I ain't complaining. I just made sure my poses were really good, and I guess that's the key. (That's the key... get it??? Har har har.)

Anyway, I gotta be more diligent. I stayed up 'til 6 am this morning to work on it (and let it render while I slept) but I probably coulda started earlier. I also have this bad habit of taking a nap cuz I know I'll be staying up late. Ech. Something due Thursday and something due next Tuesday. Well, that ain't too bad.

On the work front, we had one barista leave, one lead is transferring, one lead got promoted, and I'm guessing that as soon as my co-worker starts his teaching position, he's going to leave, too. Which means that by the time my manager leaves for her maternity leave she has to hire four more people. It's making me antsy about what to do about my own exit strategy. Should I wait until after summer, or ASAP? It's courteous to give a two-week's notice, though I think in our store's case, it'd be better to give 'em a month. Hmmm... what to do....

Achhh. Forgot to bring my phone to school today. Sorry if you can't get ahold of me.

I'm getting a lot more hours at work it seems. My paranoid (yet perhaps correct) mind thinks it's because my review went well and there wasn't an issue I had to raise a stink about. However, it's also because one of our recent hires (I say a little more than 3 months) is quitting. She recently got her bar certification, which means that she would have gotten a mini-review, and maybe there was some "suggestions" made to her. Well, it's all speculative at this point. There seems to be another issue with another person regarding state-mandated breaks vs actual breaks.

More final projects await! Here's what I got:

• New soundtrack to a clip from the old X-men cartoon (with Wolverine in his underwear!)
  
• 2D animation of a french toast talking to a bagel bartender
  
• 3D animation of a guy executing a flying roll, followed by a roundhouse, sidekick, and then a flying spin heel kick breaking a board
  

So now that I've got you all excited about it, you'll never see them! Why? Cuz video is too big to host on my website! (muahahahahahah)

...must sleeeeeeeeep...

The holiday weekend was fun. My brother drove the entire way to and back, so it wasn't that hard for me. So for the life of me, I can't figure out why I'm so tired.

School's winding down. I realize that my very first Illustrator drawing of Yakko is completely lost since I never saved it on my home computer and I deleted it off my Yahoo briefcase. I can only hope that it was saved on my student folder at school. I mean, it wasn't that hard to do (it took about an hour and half) but I don't want to do it over again. Anyway, my Illustrator class is ending this week (well, we're taking the final this week, at least) and she wanted us to take our projects and make it into a website.

Shrek 2 is a great movie. I liked the first one better, but mainly cuz it's hard to tell a story after the happily ever after. But it is sooo funny, chock-full of jokes. Antonio Banderas's Puss-in-Boots was there mainly for comic relief more than a plot device, but he was funny. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but the kingdom of Far Far Away ws hy-larious. Especially Farbucks. Heh heh.

I had an interesting discussion with my bro-in-law over the weekend about tips. Do I think I deserve my tips? The answer is yes. But not because I'm providing any better service than to those who do not tip. But because they don't pay me enough so that the tips make up for the wages they should be paying me.

I think I need a better job. But what other job out there is as flexibly scheduled with an equal or higher pay (plus benefits)?

My schedule for this week:
Tue -- school
Wed -- 11:45 am to 4 pm
Thu -- school
Fri -- 2:45 to 9 pm
Sat -- 8 pm to 12:15 am
Sun -- 4:30 to 11:15 pm

A coupla things I forgot to mention:

I got a raise at work (yay!) of eleven cents an hour (boo!). Woo-hoo, I'm rolling in the money now. If I got it in pennies and spread it very thinly on the floor.

At work the other day, a girl's car stopped in the parking lot while I was taking out the trash. She looked distressed and I asked her if she needed help. Only when I started pushing her car (though at first I couldn't cuz she didn't put it in neutral, and I'm wondering why it's so hard) did someone else join in. I did wait a few minutes before I asked if she wanted help cuz I wanted to finish taking out the trash. However, since her hazards were on and she had that panicked stare in her eyes, I figured she was in distress.

It reminded me of the time my car overheated and stalled on the freeway. I tried to pull over, but my car stopped halfway so that the butt-end was in the lane. I tried pushing it myself but there's only so much you can do my yourself, especially if you're trying to push and steer at the same time. It was early afternoon rush hour and there were plenty of cars on the road, moving rather slowly. I called my mom to help but meanwhile, people drove by and no one offered to help. BUT, a lot of people did roll their windows down and told me that the butt-end of my car was in the lane. I think it was nearly fifteen minutes before somebody pulled over and asked me if I needed help.

I kept thinking of that while I was pushing this girl's car. I mean, how dense are people that if they see a lone girl in distress with a car half-way pulled over with hazard light and steam coming out of the front, that they'd think I'm just stupid and decided to park randomly in the middle of the freeway?

Okay, gotta go. SIGGRAPH awaits. Tonight, people from Shrek 2! And they're screening the entire movie!

So I'm guessing all my legions of fans have been watching Colonial House with me. It's not quite the same as many of the other "House" series because this is less about the lack of technology and more about the strict lifestyle of the colonial times. I think the series is focusing less on whether or not they can do the tasks set before them but more on whether they can adopt the attitude of the times and live by those rules. It's kind of painful to see the negative portrayal of Christians (from both non-Christian and Christian point of view, I think), but it's also tough to compare our modern views of evangelism through love and encouragement with the societal brute force as was the case back then. Last two episodes of the season tomorrow (er... tonight?)!

I'm trying to think what they can go to next, and in terms of American history, colonial times is as far back as you can go, I think, without resorting to pre-written-history. I think England's doing more society-related series. I remember reading about a project related to the Regency era and the various society laws and games that everyone played back then. I'm thinking it'd be cool to do a "Native American House" project where halfway through the project the US Army will ride in and herd everyone into reservations.

Okay, more later on other goings on in my life, but my schedule for this week:

Tue -- school, then SIGGRAPH
Wed -- 11:45 am to 3-ish, I'm not quite sure
Thu -- school
Fri -- 8 am to 1 pm, then drive to San Jose
Sat & Sun -- San Jose!

Yay, comments!

Crunch time here. The end of the semester's mere weeks away. I'm chipping away at my projects, but I feel like I'm using a toothpick to pick at the Hoover Dam. Slow but steady? I think not. More like panicked and hurried.

I'm trying to figure out how to support myself if I were to move out right now. Perhaps I should actually try to be a lead at work. The minimum pay is at least $9/hr. Erg. Or maybe I'll just do both Starbucks and Kaplan. I would still be working for Kaplan if their hours were better.

Gnomon, this really great and really expensive private school for visual effects has evening and weekend classes so that people can have a real job while studying, but I'm not sure how they factor in internships there. Hmmmm....

Well, the policeman's looking to close up the student center. Tootaloo.

Back by popular demand... my weekly schedule!

Mon -- work from 3 to 4 pm that got cancelled
Tue -- School all day, hopefully get there earlier to talk to a teacher
Wed -- 9 am to 3:30 pm
Thu -- afternoon class cancelled, evening class still goes on
Fri -- no work, perhaps trip to hair salon w/ Mom
Sat -- 7:30 pm to 12:45 pm
Sun -- church, then 5 to 10 pm

So yeah, my review today got cancelled. I was sort of dreading it, but I can't avoid it forever. It got cancelled, though, when the Manager-Trainee didn't show up (and won't for the whole week) and my manager spent the day tracking her down as well as taking her kid to the doctor. Her kids get sick a lot. Well, perhaps cuz it's where she works, or with three kids (and one more on the way) one kid is bound to get get every other week. Her kids are 5, 3, and 1. BTW, did I mention that she's only turning 24 this year?

I've been procrastinating as usual, and it doesn't help that I'm sick today. I'm not sure what it is, but I woke up this morning nauseous and threw up. I haven't thrown up in a long time. Ugh, it's awful. Your throat burns from the stomach acid, and there wasn't much food I threw up since it had been digesting overnight. Well, my hunger's back, sort of, but I can't eat just anything, and now I'm dealing with body aches and chills, and possibly a slight fever. I'm wondering if this is food poisoning, though I can't think of what might have been tainted. Even the milks I used in the drinks at work were first steamed to 150+ degrees.

I'm wary of taking tylenol or something just cuz I don't want my symtoms to last longer than they have to. But enough about my innards....

One comment I want to make about the movie A Wrinkle in Time which was shown last Monday on ABC. A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books, and I've read most of the sequels. But I wasn't too happy with the movie, mainly cuz they tried to add too much modern psychology into it. The book was written in the 60's, and they tried to update it too much, I think. But for the most part, it is pretty faithful to the book. They probably could have made the bad guy a lot more ominous if they had just invested in bigger special effects and didn't deal so much with Meg's emotional problems. And I guess it was tough to cast a 6-yr-old genius since so few child actors can pull that off. Anybody else see this movie?

Okay, feeling crappy still. I'm going to take a nap. Remember folks, watch Colonial House tonight on PBS! (Oprah had a good show today, too, when she and Gayle visited the colony for two days.)

So Blogger has some new templates, so I thought I'd change it. I like it, though it's not as "cute" as the dog one. It reminds me of the PBS website for Frontier House. Speaking of which, the new series, Colonial House is going to start next Monday. I invite everyone to watch it so when I make comments on it, you guys can respond accordingly. It is a good series. (For those of you that don't know, they got volunteers to live like colonists of the 1700s for five months and taped them. An educational reality series, if you must.) It'll be on May 17, 18, 24, 25 from 8 to 10 pm.

I should be sleeping right now, but I can't. Too wired. I've got four final projects due in four weeks. Yikes. I barely eked out a sound project for the midterm this week. How am I going to eke out a final project? I'm excited about my 2d and 3d animation projects, but if I want to make them good, then I'm going to have to spend a lot of time on them. As the case goes, I haven't improved my model for 3d yet when my next week I should have the whole scene textured and lit, and I need to thumbnail for 2d as well as draw my keys but first I need to buy more paper! Sigh. Don't even get me started on the Illustrator project. At least I have my image I'm going to copy. Basically, it's creating a photorealistic image using Illustrator. How is that possible, you ask? Well, let's just say, it takes a lotta work.

I had a good shift tonight, though I let myself get goaded by the other guys. There's the lead who I usually close with, and this other barista who he's friends with, and every little thing turns into something to rib me about. Sometimes it's annoying, but on the other hand, it does make the shift more fun. Less stressful. Though I do get tired of, "Hey, what I meant to say was..."

Work in 4.75 hours. What am I doing up?

Ooh, Blogger has a new interface. It tells me that my last post was my 200th post. Woo-hoo!

Y'know how I have a tendency to obsess over little things? (Now, it's not every little thing, just some little things. Usually weird. Like, I can obsess over how to save up for retirement, but not over keeping my room clean.) Well, I've been obsessing, but more on that later.

Crunch time, sound project due in five hours....

BTW, I nearly crashed a gazillion times today cuz of a funeral procession. Now it was sad cuz the deceased was an 18-yr-old kid, but the procession was huuuge, and the people in the tail-end didn't know squat about funeral etiquette and took up several lanes. Now, that wouldn't be bad except that the procession on average was driving slower and had their hazard lights on, so they couldn't really signal lane changes. So all the other cars were forced to weave in and out of this "procession" (more like a blob). I mean, I couldn't help but get mad. Dead kid or not, they nearly got us all killed.

Datzit fer nauw.

Tough week. Anybody know how to learn rotoscoping or match-moving?

8.5 hr shift yesterday, though with the 30 min lunch, I think I missed out on any over-time. My feelings over this job is a conundrum. On one hand, I wanna get out. On the other, that may not be the best move. I gotta get myself an internship, but I'm not sure what to do about the money situation. I doubt any regular job will let me take off a few days a week for an internship. Perhaps I'll go the route of actors and become a waitress. If it's at a fancy enough restaurant, there'll be plenty of tips. But one the other hand... I'd have to be full-time at most places to get benefits. Sigh. I wonder if seeing a doctor is all that important.

I keep wavering between wanting to get out of Chino, too. I don't want to be here, yet if it's possible for me to commute from there even for an internship, then I would, just cuz rent's so expensive. I guess I ought to cross that bridge when I come to it.

I've been meaning to put together my reel for some time now. Perhaps it will be deferred yet again to another vacation. Oh well, gotta go. I'm currently butting head with ProTools to try to put together something that sounds original and good at the same time. Oh, did I mention I have no idea what I'm doing?

In response to my last entry's single comment, yes, it does seem like I have bad luck with parking. I mean, I did get that parking ticket last semester (to save a quarter and it ended up costing me $35), then the towing, and last Thursday, they were re-paving the streets and I had to park far away and about twice what I normally pay cuz I got to school early and I wasn't sure how anal the metermaids were on that street (normally, I can ignore the last hour of the usual parking spots). Only to find out that the school was letting everyone park in the school lot even if they didn't have a pass that day. Argh.

Last Sunday we had our church's inaugural service. It was pretty good. The speaker, Pastor Alex Montoya, talked about seven rewards for serving Christ:

1. Satisfaction of Fulfillment of our Purpose
2. Blessed Joy of Helping Other People
3. Serving Others is the Way You Serve Christ
4. Opportunity to Experience the Power of God
5. Joy of Knowing as You Serve You are Going to Grow Spiritually
6. Recognize that Serving Glorifies God
7. “Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”

That last one.... Pastor Montoya talked about how he slacked off in high school and barely managed to graduate. However, after the graduation ceremony, his father looked at him with tears in his eyes and said, "I'm proud of you." And he thought, for what? And he vowed that the next graduation his father attends, he will have something worthy to be proud of.

Anyway, it got me thinking, when the final day comes and I stand before God, will there be a reason for Him to say to me, "Well done, good and faithful servant"?

On a different note, I worked at a store in Claremont today. Cra-a-azy. They ran out of ice. ICE! I mean, that cuts the menu by 2/3, and 90% of their sales on a hot day like today. Sooo busy. Manual labor for little pay sucks.

Some more updates on the drama that is my life:

This past Saturday I did something pretty darn stupid that ended up costing me big. I met up with some church friends at the Brea Mall to carpool to another friend's house in Irvine to do some baking for gift baskets for the Church Inaugural Service the next day. Well, we were in a hurry and I didn't notice that the parking spot I was in (it was in the covered parking structure) wasn't a real parking space but instead was a flow-way. Hey, it was early, there were hardly any cars, all I saw were lines, and it was an honest mistake! I mean, if I think about it, there was a point where something didn't seem right, but like I said, we were in a hurry. Well... you guessed it folks, when I came back, the car wasn't there. Courtesy of the Brea Towing Company.

Aarrrrrgghhhhh.

Luckily, I was able to get it back that same day, so I didn't have to pay overnight fees. But this escapade set me back a hunner-fohty-dollahs.

Double-aarrrrrrggghhhhhhhh.

As I was sharing my fate with others, they laughed and told me their stories. There's a reason why towing is big business out there. But I do have to admit, this was completely due to my stupidity. Y'see, as I was pulling in, a thought ran through my head-- why is there an arrow on this parking spot?

Yes, yes, yes. Now shaddap. The worst part? Going home and having my mom tear me a new one. Y'see, since my car's registered under my dad's name, I couldn't go get it by myself. Sigh.

More later.

Hey, what's the late penalty for filing taxes? I finally filed my taxes (through free e-file through H&R Block) but it didn't get "officially" filed with the IRS until today. I mean, it's a tiny return. What more can they take out of it?

My visit with the dermatologist went okay. He was a bit condescending and I had to make sure he didn't just see me for five minutes. I mean, I've heard the spiel before. I made sure he understood that I tried a lot of things and he better be damn sure he's diagnosing me and not what statistically I'd be. But I made an appointment to see him again in two weeks, and if I have to pay the deductible again, then that's just gonna suck. I've already spent $50 this week for doctor's visits (PCP and dermatologist), and next week I'm seeing my PCP again for a physical, and the week after that will be the dermatologist again. Sigh. What I liked about Korean doctors was that they would "cook the books" so that we wouldn't have to pay the deductible. I mean, it's dishonest... but if I end up seeing this dermatologist every other week, then I'll be spending $50 a month on office visits alone.

On the job front, the comission is going so-so. I haven't had much time to work on it, but then, right now it's just brainstorming ideas for names. I think he basically wants to see which name can come up with the coolest logo. Well, I can't work on it until after my shift tonight, anyway.

It's weird, I used to look forward to working. In the beginning, at least. Then it got to be so-so, but otherwise okay. Now... well, it's weird, but the hours before I have to work, I just get this deep feeling of dread in my core. Kinda like when I was working for that collectibles company. You know that feeling when you just want to get out and you're just watching the clock going through the motions 'til time's up? Well, I was like that at that company. At my store? It's kinda like that, though we're much too busy to be able to watch the clock. But right when I first get on shift, I just feel this sense of being trapped. I guess being busy helps cuz right when I'm feeling the worst of it, that's when I get my break. I think what makes it less like that other job is that the interaction with the customers makes it so much better. I'm not just in my head the entire time. I don't have time to wallow in my sucky life.

(Okay, I gotta go, but one last thing I want to rant about relating to my doctor visit. He asked me what type of soap I was using. I told him it was this one that I bought from a cosmetics company that's suppose to be hydrating cuz it's made of olive oil and it's okay for sensitive skin. Well, he told me to stop using it. So now I feel like going to that store and slamming that expensive soap on their counter and demanding a refund, albeit a year later. It made me realize that we were duped. I wish I can sue them for false claims. They reassured me that all that stuff we bought was okay for sensitive skin. Stupid Koreans. Stupid sales people. That's why I never pressure anyone to buy more than they initially ask for at the store.)

Schedule this week:
Tue -- no school!, meeting up w/ friends
Wed -- 8:30 am to 4 pm, then hanging out w/ Robert
Thu -- no school!, doc appt
Fri -- 6:15 pm to 12:15 am
Sat -- morning hike w/ sister's fellowship
Sun -- church

I little more news on the job angst front. A church friend commissioned me to design a logo (well, design a logo after coming up with a name) for his company. In two weeks. If I can pull this off, it goes all to God. Another church friend told me he has contacts that could possibly get me a job doing graphic design in the technology field. Technically, it's not quite the job I want in not quite the field I want, but... it's better than where I'm at? I'm wondering if it would help me or hinder me, since the issue of schooling would figure into it. Urgh! (And why am I asking faceless internet voyeurs for career advice?)

I finally saw my doctor today (my new doctor... who I chose rather randomly off my insurance provider's website) and got a referral to see a dermatologist, whom I will see this Thursday. I mentioned how I used everything for my acne including Retin A and Accutane, but the last thing I used was Proactiv and that's when my skin problem got worse, meaning the acne was gone but so was the moisture. She said that she had patients who came in using Proactiv with worse problems. Well, it's a crapshoot, I guess. It works for a lot of people, but not all of them.

She also said something else, but before I go on with my story, this is a warning that what I'm about to share is of the female persuasion and therefore, if you feel like it will be too much information and you'd be uncomfortable knowing this about me, then stop reading. (Hey, I'm not uncomfortable sharing. It's all medical.)



Anyway, so we're going through the list of medical history stuff, and she asks me if I'm sexually active and I reply no, and she asks me if I'm a virgin and I say yes. Then I launch into my story of how I've been menstruating now for fourteen years and my periods are still irregular and coming every 3 to 4 months though it was 7 months before my last one. Well she says that next week we can do a complete physical including a pap smear (and possibly an ultrasound to check out my ovaries) but since I'm a virgin we should take care to preserve the membrane.

Yep. The membrane. Y'see, my doctor is Pakistani, and I realized that that is a big thing in her culture. One of the big thing among middle-eastern girls is the hymen-repair surgery. Anyway, I just laughed and told her I didn't care about that and that I just wanted to make sure I'm healthy. Anyway, I found that funny. I mean, I suppose being able to bleed on your wedding night is... nice... I guess, but the whole saving-yourself-for-marriage thing is more a heart issue than a physical one. Besides, I've been using tampons for years. Even if I've got barely any membrane left, that doesn't mean I'm not a virgin.

Anyway, it's about time I see a doctor about my womanly problems. Every time I share about my irregular schedule, most people are rather alarmed. I even posted about it on WebMD and the nurse replied that it's not normal (though perfectly alright). A part of me's kinda worried that maybe there's a problem there that's been festering for a decade.

Eh. My school's having an Open House that would've been nice to go to on Friday, but I'm not quite willing to give up a 6.75 hr shift. Erg.

So what am I doing up 'til 4 am on a school night? Stupid homework. Well, it's done. (They better not trash it!) But the worst part? I didn't do the homework for the other class! Argh! Sigh, well, I get a half-hour break between classes.

It felt really good to have someone else be frustrated with our store as much as me. It's been getting busy lately (I think maybe due to the time change cuz there seems to be more people out), and every time I've closed we've been busy right up to closing time. In fact, we had to kick people out. Good for business, I guess, but that just means that it takes us longer to clean up afterwards. So the lead I closed with tonight and last Sunday was the same lead, and she was just promoted not too long ago. But they've been totally on her case cuz of the hour overages. And the reason why? Cuz management gets a bonus for not going over too many hours. (For those of you that don't know what "hours" are, basically, there's some formula to figure out how many people were needed to work however many hours that day based on that day's sales. So when it's slow, the leads are supposed to send us home early. Well, you can see what the problem is. Slow times come in spurts. You can't have extra people work in 15-min shifts.)

My manager's trying to get everyone to "take ownership of the store." Meaning, we should want to work as hard as we can as fast as we can to make our store the best store in the world. But it's hard to take ownership of a store when you don't get any benefits from working harder. I worked my @$$ off and didn't get a raise, they cut my hours, and we had fewer people working when it was busy. And what do we get for it? More tips? Hah! More wages? Double-hah! We get a promise of a pizza party for good mystery shopper reports. Ooooooh. A pizza party. Like that'll pay my bills. There's a reason why a lot of companies offer profit-sharing. But since we don't see any of the manager's bonuses, I don't see any logical reason to work any harder. I mean, if they were at least honest and admit that they need the money and could we please help 'em out, well, that I can at least respect. None of this phony-baloney "we're in this together" crap.

(On a side note, Starbucks does offer stock grants, but that's dependent on the successes of the company as a whole. And it's a pretty rich company. I doubt our store makes a dent in their total profits.)

Thanks for commenting, everybody. I think that was a pretty heady question, and probably not a good one to post on my blog. I guess I just wanted other people's thoughts on the idea. I'll go into more detail in a bit, but I have another question to pose to y'all:

What is the correct way to wear a pashmina? Over the shoulders or not? The one I have is 100% rayon and therefore wrinkles easily, but is it supposed to be wrinkled to begin with?

I get in these funks about my career every now and then, though more now than ever. I think it was spurned on by a lot of things, one being the recent drama at work. Then, at a recent meeting for work, I wore my KCPC sweatshirt (the one that says Berkeley on it). Most of the people there haven't seen me in regular clothes (meaning, not the standard dress code) so one of the guys started calling me "Berk." It was cute. Anyway, one of the leads (the one I'm not too crazy about, I might even go as far as to call her a b---h but that would be an insult to female dogs) asked me, "So why'd you leave Berkeley?" My answer was, "Cuz I graduated." Which was shortly followed by, "You graduated from Berkeley and you work here?" I just replied, "Oh, I majored in art." That'll get the laughs. But on the inside I was cringing.

I guess my original thinking was that Starbucks would be a temporary stopover on my career path. But more and more I realize that that might not be the case. I think it's almost a crutch. It would be different if I was on a clear-set path and there was a light at the end of the tunnel. But right now I don't have set goals, just dreams, and I'm thinking more and more as long as I stay in Chino doing what I'm doing, then I'll get too comfortable in my misery. But on the other hand, I'm also realizing that it would take a looot of money to move out.... Perhaps I'll do something crazy and start commuting every day to LA? I mean, I gotta get some sort of internship and that might not coincide with my cozy 2-day school week. Oh well....

My schedule for rest of week:
Tue -- school
Wed -- 6:30 to 10:45 pm
Thu -- school
Fri -- 1:00 to 8:15 pm
Sat -- 5:00 pm to 12:15 am
Sun -- Happy Easter!

All y'all suck. Nobody responded to my question. :*-( (Sure, it's buried in a friggin' essay, but still...)

So here's the question again: Do you think I should keep doing what I'm doing (work part-time at Starbucks and go to school full-time) so I can develop a reel and look for jobs a year or so from now but for now be stuck in the boondocks, or should I instead get a full-time job in West LA area and move out there and attend school part-time so that I can be closer to the industry and thus have a better chance at internships and/or entry-level non-artistic jobs at industry companies (i.e. a receptionist)?

There was an interesting article in the Sunday LA Times about self-defeating attitudes. I think I've some of that. That, and it is a risk, financially among others, and I've been somewhat of a chicken when it comes to life lately. Erg. That arrogant badass that had no qualms (well, more like I was just stupidly ignorant about the dangers) at yelling at carnies... well, that girl is gone. Or at least in hibernation.

Gettin' kicked out. Please, feedback, y'all!

I've told this to a gazillion people, but if you're the gazillion-and-oneth person who hasn't heard this, this is a bumper sticker that I saw once:

Friends help you move.
Best friends help you move bodies.

Heh heh. Today I did the former for a couple of church friends. Well, church friends that are a couple. It was kinda tough since my sleep pattern's been wacked and I was a bit tired, but I had a drink during my shift this morning (quadruple grande hazelnut latte) and took home a drink afterwards (triple venti raspberry white mocha) so in all I had a total of seven shots of espresso. One of the other guys helping with the move (who's a pharmacy-grad-student) said that that's not very healthy since too much caffeine at once can cause heart reactions. He's probably right. I don't think I'm addicted, but I did start out my shift really tired and a bit headachy, but after the first drink I felt normal. I'm guessing that's not good. But I don't normally need caffeine to get through the day, though lately I've had caffeine almost every day. The only reason why I don't have it every day is that I haven't been working every day (that I'm not in school, that is, since at school I tend to drink soda). Hmm... perhaps I am addicted and just in denial?

There are a few of you that I've been whining to lately about my career-direction (or lack thereof) and how I'm itchin' to get out of Chino. Especially with the recent store drama, I realize that no matter what BS I said, I don't want to stay with Starbucks, even beyond the two to three years I mentioned at the beginning. I seem to go through these ideas in spurts cuz a few months ago I was looking at job ads in the Santa Monica/West LA area and at rental listings to see how much they averaged. I asked the Starbucks near my school how much their starting pay was, and it was the same as here. At that rate, I couldn't even afford to share a room with someone else.

So could I get some feedback from you, my loyal readers? Do you think I should keep doing what I'm doing (work part-time at Starbucks and go to school almost-full-time) so I can develop a reel and look for jobs a year or so from now but for now be stuck in the boondocks, or should I instead get a full-time job in West LA area and move out there and attend school part-time so that I can be closer to the industry and thus have a better chance at internships and/or entry-level non-artistic jobs at industry companies (i.e. a receptionist)?

Finally, my schedule for next week:

Mon -- 7:30 am to 12:30 pm
Tue -- school
Wed -- 4:15 to 8:30 pm
Thu -- school
Fri -- 6:00 am to 1:45 pm
Sat -- family wedding in the afternoon
Sun -- church, then 6:15 to 10:45 pm

I had typed something out last night, but then Robert called and I went out of the lab to talk and left my stuff in the computer lab, and then I didn't realize the lab was closing and I had to chase down the lab supervisor to get him to open it back up again for my stuff. It sounds funny now.

Anyway, just to reiterate something you guys haven't heard in the first place, I had a great shift last Wednesday (hey, one week ago!) at that other store. There was no drama, the people there were great, and a customer paid me the hugest compliment. He told me, "If the world was filled with people like you, it would be a better place." Then he called over the assistant manager and told him to "hold onto her" and pointed at me. Yeah, I got misty-eyed. (Not good customer service my a--.)

The meeting with that certain personnel and that other certain personnel went well, though the outcome wasn't ideal. It helped that the other lady was a better talker and didn't make me feel like a whiner. She validated that I had a legitimate gripe even if it was a miscommunication. Officially we're moving forward with greater communication. Unofficially? I have to watch my back and play the game. So I can't quite think of a good reason to transfer to a store that's slightly farther away without pointing fingers. On a funny note, though, we all got these little cards in our bins with info on "corporate compliance." Heh heh.

For those of you that have prayed for me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really do. It's hard to trust that God has it all under control, but it's comforting to me that no matter how hard things get, He has it all under control.

Okay, my schedule for the rest of the week is a school tomorrow and a shift Saturday morning. I prefer working Saturday mornings to nights cuz for one thing, it's less busy, and plus I get to have Saturday nights free (to... loaf around?). Hey, at least I can watch the World Figure Skating Competition Ladies Free Skate.

Oh, and Maya works now. :)

Too stressed. I'm hungry but I can't eat. I sent out a prayer request to the women's fellowship of my church at two in the morning last night. Every single shift since has been pins and needles. I got called to cover a shift at another store tomorrow. Sad to say that it would be a relief to work with total strangers.

For those of you in the know, please pray for strength, courage, and wisdom in this matter. For those of you not, please still pray for me. Thanks.

Meanwhile, my ethernet card has gone kaput, which means I can't run Maya on my computer. Until my brother can give me his spare, I might have to spend some extra time in Santa Monica. Erg.

No schedule posted this week... for reasons relating to this drama.