Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas went well enough. Will update more later!

Flash Demo of retouching a covergirl model

Angela Bassett came into our store today. Where was I? In the back, taking my lunch break. Doh.

Watching too much TV. Must make sure I don't fall into the habit of just vegging in front of the TV whenever I have free time.

I made homemade chili from scratch today. It turned out pretty well. We don't have a food processor, so the "ground chicken" was basically done using a hand cranked chopper doo-hickey which is great for chopping onions. It's a little harder for meat. Anyway, I figured out that chili is one of those dishes that is really easy to make. I just put together ground chicken, minced onions, some garlic, cans of beans (not drained, but then it got a bit too watery so I had to use corn starch to thicken it), and a whole lotta spices, mainly chili powder and paprika. Oh yeah, and some salsa and spagetti sauce since I didn't have any tomatoes or tomato paste. Add a little cheddar at the end, some toasted fajita strips, and you've got yourself a downright tasty meal.

So that ten-pound box of frozen chicken is being put to good use. Already I've used it to make homemade chicken soup and now homemade chili. Add to that Whateley's famous baked chicken and potatoes, and we've got ourselves a chicken household. Hmm... I should experiment with vegetables next. I need to improve my diet. Perhaps a veggie curry?

Argh. My sleeping pattern is whack (again). I didn't get much sleep last night, went to work from 5 to 9 am, went to school to turn in a file, got a random girl to beg for some help with her web design homework, ended up staying there 'til 1:30ish, talked to another friend for a bit, then went home, ate a little, and crashed. Craaaaaaashed. So I ended up sleeping from about 4 pm to 10:30, with a few little wake up moments in between. So... it's almost 3 am, and I'm still wiiiide awake. Argh.

But school's out for the semester! And it could've been my last semester, depending on the job and commute situation. It's kinda nerve-racking. I'm leaving Starbucks without the benefit of a safety net. I can only swing about a month or two on my savings before I have to get a job, whether at a studio or at a McDonalds. (Well... not literally a McDonalds... you get what I mean.)

That's it for now.

Daaaaaamn it!!!! I forgot to get my free pound of coffee last week!!!! My next to LAST pound!!!! Argh. Anyway, this means that if anyone wants something from Starbucks, you'll have to tell me soon. Before Saturday.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Here are some responses:

Hey Anonymous, while I appreciate comments, if you're going to get all preachy on me again, just remember that it's my blog, I was dealing with rather raw emotions at the time, and if you're going to remain anonymous, please refrain from judging me.

Hey Beno, when are you guys going to be down in SoCal? I'm pretty sure I can swing seeing y'all during the middle of the week at least. I will be swinging the turducken with Whateley's family on Christmas Eve, but everything's still uncertain about Christmas.

And Superlefty, we gotta hook it up sometime soon, even if it means I'll have to give you your gift after Christmas. Or perhaps when we're both unemployed, we'll have lots of time to hang out!

And Whateley... well, you're already getting all my opinions live, so if you care to comment to my other readers, please do so. You can read his side of the story regarding my parents here.

Okay, a little more elaboration on my last post, but not much since I've got to work on my project.

Anyway, my main problem stems from my miserable Korean language skills. I came to the US when I was six years old, so my Korean pretty much stopped developing beyond that point. I'd even say that it regressed a little due to my vocabulary disappearing. It got a little better after taking three classes in Korean in college, but that mainly helped me with reading and writing, and a bit on the whole formal/informal polite thing as well as a bit of grammar.

Anyway, imagine having a conversation with a six-year-old about their dreams and goals and fears. Yeah, it's one thing to say you want to be a princess when you grow up, and completely another to say that I want to be a 3D animator but my way to enter into the industry is through a more entry-level position which is still difficult, oh and I'm having doubts about whether I will survive this business or if I will become another industry burn-out like so many of my teachers, and I'm also afraid what it will do for my life since the industry is notorious for over-working their artists, and in the end, what I really care about is not just having a career that fulfills me but I also want to have a happy family life and I do want to raise kids that are well-adjusted individuals and I'm not sure if I'm well-adjusted enough to do that.

Breathe.

Anyway, so ever since I started dating Whateley, things got harder but also better, and I've never been happier. But I didn't tell my parents about it because my parents are racist and elitist. It doesn't matter that they grew up poor and my dad's had a failed business and my mom's not a professional. To them, I shouldn't "settle" for someone who doesn't have a fancy degree from a fancy university and a equally fancy high-paying job.

"If you marry for money, you will surely earn it." ~ Ezra Bowen

It doesn't matter to my parents that Whateley has a lot of great qualities, that we get along great, share a lot of interests, we make each other happy, and that he's the only guy I've felt like I can be completely myself with. For one thing, I can't even communicate these facts to them since I don't know how to say 90% it in Korean. Secondly, they could care less since in those qualities, it doesn't include him being rich and Korean.

Anyway, this post has already gone on longer than I planned, but last Saturday evening, the scene began with me telling them that Whateley is my boyfriend and that I will be moving in with him soon, and it ended with my mom repeatedly insulting him with ever insult she can think of (and insulting me in the process) while my dad tried to convince me that I just "hadn't looked around enough." But it's mainly my mom insulting me and twisting every word that came out of my mouth into another insult (even when I wasn't even talking to her), and I just got so angry that I left.

I'm mad at myself, though. My mom's been insulting Whateley for the past few years now, even before we started dating, and I've just been letting her. I used to fight with her about it (how it's really not a nice thing to insult your daughter's friend) but I got so sick of her not listening that I just started letting it go and not listening and letting her go on and on. So it shouldn't have surprised me all she did was just ramp it up. And she just doesn't get it, that she hurt me with all her words, and there's a reason why I ended up storming out of the house crying.

Anyway, that's the short story. I can't really say any more due to privacy issues and all, but suffice it to say, I'm not speaking to my parents now. We'll have to see how the holidays will play out.

Drama out.

Too much drama tonight. I don't want to go into detail because it's too long and I'm too tired right now. But suffice it to say, it's BIG.

Anyway, I will explain more later, but I will begin by saying that my frequent commenter Whateley and I have been dating now for awhile now (surprise, surprise), and I finally came out to my parents about him tonight.

Well... like I said, I will go into it more later. But it seems their main problem with him is that he is white. Sigh....

Well, today I signed over a chunk of change and bought eleven more shares of Starbucks (SBUX). So, everyone, please go to Starbucks often! Spend money, raise the bottom line!

Yeah, so my total shares aren't that many, but hey, it should be enough to get me a nice... plane ticket to somewhere fancy... perhaps even business class!

Thanks for all the comments! As for you, Anonymous in India... well, too bad, it's one kooky video. Just goes to show that the Japanese are kooky people. 'course, Google has plenty of weird Korean videos too.

Okay, gotta go to bed, I work in 4 hours.

Awww... not getting comments....

Well, regarding my sitch at Starbucks, that will resolve itself at the end of the month. I don't want to say more since I haven't talked to my manager yet, but if anybody wants any Starbucks stuff, you better tell me soon. Though... my 40% discount expires today, so it seems no one but my parents took advantage of that.

Anyway, I'm sick so I'm cutting this short. Talk to y'all later.

Dang... and no comments about the Matrix ping pong?

Funny Google Video

From Google Video of the Day Blog.

I think I ticked off my manager today. Why? Because I actually talked back to her when she kept telling me I was wrong. And you know what? I am right. But she can't appear weak in front of me, so instead, she told me to clock out a few minutes before my shift ended (as soon as I can without needing a manager's approval code, that is) and then she averted her eyes as she said good-bye and the obligatory thank you to me.

So what's the deal? Well, it started yesterday. We have a new policy that was instituted about a month ago where we couldn't store our jackets/purses/etc in the back room while we were working, and instead we have to store them in the staff restroom. And the key to the restroom is held by the shift lead and we have to get the key from that person whenever we want to go to the restroom, which, btw, doubles as a storage area for cleaning supplies and bathroom supplies for the customer restroom. Yes, that means that in the midst of all the busy goings on, we can't do something as simple as refill the toilet paper without bugging the shift lead.

And... to make things worse, we only have one key to the staff restroom. One... frickin'... key. Well, actually, strike that, I think the store manager has a copy somewhere, as does one of the assistant managers.

So... if you've figured it all out, if the restroom key gets... oh, I don't know, locked in the restroom (cuz... well, the door locks behind you), then you can't get in. So, if the customer restroom runs out of toilet paper, oh well. Buuuuut... perhaps you've figured out the other problem. Since we have to keep our purses and jackets in there, if the key gets locked in... well, that means that at the end of our shift, we can't get in there to get our stuff so we can leave.

Oh, it's already happened once, when one of the bussers locked the key in there and we had to wait an hour and a half when the assistant manager with the other key got to the store. Did I mention that I was parked in a paid parking lot at the point? The first two hours are free. Then... it's a dollar every half hour. Oh, and when the assistant manager got there, the other busser took it so he could do a number two in the staff restroom. So... there's me, yelling at him to hurry up or else just let the door open a crack so I can grab my stuff because literally, time was running out. And it did. If I could've gotten out just two minutes earlier, I could've avoided paying a dollar. A dollar means a lot to someone who's watching every penny.

Okay, so I thought that was a good lesson on what we need: a spare set of keys. Buuuuuut... apparently, our store runs on beuracracy not unlike our government. It just never got done.

Soooooooo, that brings us back to last night. I'm ready to go home, I ask the shift lead for the key, she doesn't have it, the other people don't have it, it's nowhere to be seen.

Our solution? We had one guy break in to the staff restroom using two flathead screwdrivers borrowed from the bookstore. Break in. How stupid is it that our "back up system" in case our only set of keys are locked in, is to break in to the frickin' restroom! (Turns out, it was locked in there.)

So this morning, I decide I'm not going to risk it, I'm going to put my damn purse in the back room, store mandate be damned. Well, the store manager tells me to put it away in the restroom. I tell her, I thought we don't have the keys. She says, no, I have it. Then I try to tell her, look, I was stuck here last night for 45 minutes while someone else had to break in to our restroom cuz the keys were missing. She says, the shift lead should have it. Okay, I'm thinking, is she deaf? I just told her that the keys were missing. I told her, she didn't have it, no one had it, and I don't want to put it there until we have a spare set of keys. She says, it's only happened once. I say, no, twice. It happened last night. (Oh, so help me, if it happens a third time, heads will roll!)

Well, pretty much, she tells me in no uncertain terms that I am to put my stuff in the restroom. And furthermore, apparently something I had said (which I don't recall saying, but oh well) had gotten her in trouble with the district manager. Well, she didn't admit that, but she said that I had remarked to the district manager that we're always running out of stuff, (which I don't remember saying, but even if I had, it's true) we need the space in the back for all our supplies.

There were other instances this morning where I got a little indignant. ("Could I get some sleeves?" "Okay, stop yelling." "I'm not yelling, I'm requesting above the din of the store." which I don't think she appreciated, but hey, it's true. It's the same tone I use to call out drinks. It's really loud with the music, the espresso machines, and if the blenders are going? Forget it.)

Anyway, all in all, she was not happy. But I couldn't care less. She can't fire me for it, she can't give me a bad review, at worst she can write me up for "insubordination" which is stretching it. And if she does... oh, I've got the number to the district manager and I think she'll agree that the restroom key policy is stupid, especially with only one copy of the key.

So, dear readers, please chime in with your opinions on this stupidity. I look forward to it.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone!

I will be working in the morning, and then it's off to family-land, where crazy fun awaits you at every corner!

I will be working Black Friday (*cry). Y'know, they oughtta give us holiday pay on that day, too. I mean, we need a special incentive to deal with the insanity of that day. Luckily I'll only be there from 5 to 12, which means that people will be sleeping in from the turkey and I won't have to deal with them, right? Or am I just deluding myself and is everyone planning on lining up at 6 am at whatever store this Friday, and they'll all be cranky and in need of coffee?

I got my review at work. The usual. Anyway, I now make fifteen more cents an hour. Whoopdeedoo, I am now rolling in it. It's been really pathetic. In the 2.25 years I've been at Starbucks, I've gotten a total of $1.05 raise. So sad. My assistant manager said, there ya go, not another review 'til six months from now. Which then brings to my attention that this was my final review. I will not be there in six more months. If I am, well, you (and I mean all of you) have my permission to slap me around.

I'm also functioning on very little sleep. In fact, I've been awake for 26 hours straight, with only a couple of catnaps during class today.

My pastor (who's not really my pastor anymore, I guess) is getting married tomorrow. I guess I have to get them a wedding gift. Here's something that's annoying. I already got them something at the bride's bridal shower. So I have to get something else for their wedding? I mean, I wasn't going to get the bride trashy underwear, so I got her fancy salt and pepper shakers. But that means that I will have to get them yet another household item for their wedding present. I mean, it's the perk of having a wedding and various showers, I guess, to get a lot of presents. Though I'd personally prefer just cold, hard cash.

I found this on the "Best of Craigslist."

It's a neat idea, though that means you won't get to roast the seeds and eat 'em.

The organic milk lady was back today. She complained again that we were out of organic milk, then took forever in ordering her drink because she kept on changing her mind about what she wanted, and then when the drink wasn't made correctly due to an error in the cup markings, she made a show of calling her office and bitchily announcing that she will be late to work, and then proceeded to complain that since she was late to work, her drink be a priority above the other drinks. OMG. If I was her mother, I'd slap her silly and tell her that "I didn't raise an ungrateful, rude little bitch."

Work today was crappy because we were understaffed, someone had to be constantly on the autistic kid for him to actually do something instead of just walk around aimlessly (so I took on the duty since the assistant manager was busy dealing with the new safe they were installing, which made me seem really bossy, but I'd rather be perceived as bossy rather than let this kid have a free ride on our shoulders. I don't care if he can't work to the same degree as the rest of us, but he will work!), and the last 3.5 hours of my shift was me being on the register by myself without a break and a constant stream of customers.

And... might I add, I greeted each customer with a smile, I was patient when taking their order, I gave suggestions, answered questions, I was polite, friendly, I recognized regulars, and I even chatted with a good number of the customers. Not to mention, I am pretty damn quick on the register, and I got that line moving at a pretty decent pace. The company should be smart in recognizing that I am a damn good employee, and that I will be hard to replace. Hey, I'm not a perfect employee, but given the problems that other people have, I think I'm one of the better ones.

I don't like the holidays at the store. (Yes, the holiday season has already started for Starbucks.) I don't like having to deal with eggnog (BTW, eggnog chai latte... to die for!), all the extra pastries are a headache, and I am dreading working on Black Friday. But I have found one silver lining, and that is that I get to spend about 30 mins every Monday updating the menu board for the week's samples, so I get to draw.

Aww... Pookie just left my lap.

Drool... I just put in my new 1 Gb RAM chip (bringing the total memory to 1.5 gigs), and I think programs are loading up faster. Any ideas on how I can see just how much faster it is? Should I try to load up a crazy complicated model in Maya? The only other thing I know for sure I can try is to RAM preview something with a bazillion layers in AfterEffects.

Today this lady threw a fit cuz we didn't have organic milk. Well, the entire region is currently organic-milk-less, and she, apparently, felt that it was a conspiracy against her or something. Her words were: "if I let things run out at my restaurant, I'd get fired," "alright, fine, I'll have some gross coffee," and... "don't you wish me a good day cuz I'm not having a good day because you ran out of milk!"

She was dressed in the latest fashions, well-groomed, fancy sunglasses, and I think she had a cell phone she was talking into earlier. All I can think is, how times have changed. A hundred years ago, if a high-class lady threw a fit at a store, she'd be publicly humiliated within her community. Nowadays, it seems like if you've got money, then you become an ass, especially to the people who serve you. Everybody just looked at her like she was nuts.

Let's just say, from my own witness, this society as a whole has lost their politeness. The most polite people, as a whole, are the young prep school kids, under age 12. Then it's Moms (or Dads) especially if they're toting kids around. Then it's most adults. Then... it's a toss up between old people and teenagers. Yep, old people are just as rude as teenagers. I think both groups feel like they own the world or something. And the worst, the least polite, the most rude people? Self-important, rich and/or powerful people who look at you like you're a bug.

And yes, when you keep carrying on your cell phone conversation while you're ordering, it's rude. And it's even worse if you complain that we didn't get your order right because you were so busy talking on the phone, we didn't get a chance to ask you what you wanted. And yes, you should tip. They assume we are earning tips and are taxed on it. Well, the tips we make is usually greater than the tips that are assumed, but that doesn't mean that we don't deserve it. We work too damn hard to make your stupid latte exactly the way you want in a frickin' short time for you to not tip. Complain to the corporate office if you think we should get paid more and not have to rely on tips. But until that changes, we rely on tips. Get over it.

Why, oh why am I so lazy when it comes to making my demo reel?

I'm so anxious to get out of Starbucks, to start a real career, and actually have money, yet... yet, it's so hard for me to get the ball rolling on working on my own stuff. Both my housemates don't work and therefore have more time, and one of them I know has gone through tons of tutorials and other reference stuff. Yet me... I've been using the excuse of "oh I'm so tired from having to be at work at 5 in the morning" to not get my act together and get my stuff done. Why? I know there's some sort of psychological block there. I feel like I'm wasting my potential.

It's easy to say, just do it. Start it one step at a time. Aren't you sick of being lazy? Do you want it bad enough? Are you really serious about this? Just set up a schedule and work on it just an hour a day. It is really easy to say it. But there must be a reason why it's not so easy to do it since if it was easy, then I'd be doing it. Maybe I just need a hypnotist to tell me to cut the crap out, kind of like the guy from Office Space.

Back to 26+ hours per week of work. Sigh. Perhaps I need to take a week's vacation (use up my vacation time) and catch up on sleep and start everything. I lack momentum, I realize. It's so hard to take the first step on that thousand-mile journey.

My computer is back. In retrospect, I'm not quite sure which part was the problematic part, but suffice it to say, everything's fine now. I just replaced the motherboard, the harddrive, and now I'm copying over backed up files and installing all the useful software.

This has been a very expensive year. Well, a very expensive late summer/early fall. My scholarship money is draining away faster than a white water river. And my last paycheck's deductions with include taxes, health insurance, 401k, and the stock investment plan, came to be a third. That's a lot of moola. I can only say this, please enjoy the great drinks and pleasant atmosphere of Starbucks! Spend freely and lavishly! Make the Starbucks stock rise like the flames of an inferno!

Okay, gotta nap.

(Franken)Pip is back!

I took a tour of Rhythm & Hues studio today. I took a tour once before, but this time our group was smaller and more intimate. And we were able to ask a lot more questions. Boooy do I want to work there. They showed us some stuff from the upcoming Narnia film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and it's looking sweet! They want everyone to know that they did the animation for Aslan and the other main CG characters, not Weta as the websites seem to suggest. Weta Workshop did the prop design and the character design, but the actual CG work was done at R&H, with some work also done at Sony and ILM. Sigh. I want a real job....

I think my biggest hurdle is my own laziness. It's really hard to get over it. I've been out of Berkeley for almost four years now, and it seems like I've been taking far too long to get my act together. Gotta work on my reel, gotta work on my reel....

My car is finally done! Now I just have to go pick it up. Hah, they said it would take one day, and it ended up taking two weeks!




BTW, everyone has gone and seen Serenity, right? My longtime readers will know how much I loved the show Firefly when it was on the air and how frustrated I was when it kept getting pre-empted by baseball and whatnot. Well, three years later, it's got a bigger following through the DVDs than the original fans. Which only goes to prove that had the network toughed it out (and not scheduled it on Friday night -- where shows go to die), then they would've had a huge hit on their hands. The movie was great. It's a bigger wet dream for fans than non-fans, but many non-fans say that after they watched the movie they want to watch the show. During the last tour of R&H, actually, I saw a tape for a scene from Serenity that they composited. I was drooling, and it would've been veeery tempting to sneak a look. For those of you that like character-driven sci-fi westerns, you definitely have to watch the movie. If you want some insight into the show, then the fan podcast is pretty good.

Alright, 10-4 peeps.

Now I'm getting a leetle less hours than I want at work, but I think I'll be okay, since the quarter's just started and includes the holiday season. Besides, even if I do lose my benefits, I was planning on not staying past the quarter anyway.

I originally hoped I would only end up working at Starbucks for about a year, though I knew that at the rate of my schooling, I would need two years at least. Ah, but one can hope. I'm somewhat sick of school at this point, and I can't wait to get working. I'm 26, and I've never had a "real" job. I'm sick of being poor, tired of having to rely on the generosity of others, and I'm ever so anxious to... well, get my life started. I'm in this inbetween stage where I'm older than a kid but still live like one. Sigh.

I "procured" a copy of the latest Nancy Drew video game Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. The age level is 10 and up, so it wasn't hard. And it is addicting! It's one of those puzzle games where you "solve" a mystery by going around figuring out puzzles that will give you clues to the mystery. The animation was so-so (though I liked that it was stiff rather than disorientingly smooth) but the settings and textures were fabulous. Since I've been modeling my final project character, I'm more appreciative of how difficult it is. Just explaining to Matt today how I wanted a simple box created was hard enough. But I know my strengths and weaknesses, and for me, my strength (in the 3D world) is animation, followed by modeling, followed by a distant texturing, even more distant lighting, and way far in the back, rigging. So it's a good thing that Dave really likes texturing and Matt really likes rigging.

While I'm talking about jobs and 3D, I want to get something off my chest. My parents have been very supportive of my pursuing art... to a degree. They recognized that I had talent and definitely wanted me to pursue it... as a hobby. To them, art isn't something you make money at, it's something you do during the weekends and decorate your house with. My dad more than my mom knows that there are artistic careers out there, but they've never known anyone with one (other than my fashion designer aunt). So I've been stubborn, whiny, and argumentative, but mainly, I've gotten my way in pursuing an artistic career. My mother would be ecstatic if I told her that I'm giving up on art and becoming a lawyer/nurse/meter maid. Her latest argument has been that it's difficult to break into the animation industry, so I should instead spend my youth (relatively speaking) on something that's more stable and easier to get in to. The other week one of my teachers said this industry is hard and if he could, he would be a nurse so that he could work 4 days to support himself and then spend the other 3 days being creative.

Anyway, my point is, yes, it's a difficult industry to get in to, but I don't want to give up. I don't like how my mom wants me to give up before I even try. I know it's hard to get in, but honestly, who says I won't? It's in a way insulting, obliquely saying that I'm not talented enough to make it, so why waste my time trying. It's hard enough hearing about how tough it is from actual professionals without adding my parents to the mix. Am I living my dream or theirs?

That's one of the hardships of immigrants (or children of immigrants) that's rarely understood by the regular community. The stock answer is, I'm living my dream, this is America, it's my life. But we, the children of immigrants, know better. When your parents sacrifice so much and work so hard to bring you the opportunity to live out your dreams, well, you can't help but feel the guilt. This is horrible thing. It inspires a fear of failure (and a fear of success, oddly enough, because then you fear failing to keep up the success), and I think it makes people choose far too often the safe route versus their passion. I can't help it. I want to try. Even if I fail, I don't want to say I didn't even try. But what can I say, this subtle pressure is enough to mess with your head.

Anyway, gotta sleep. It's almost morning.

Hey Anonymous! Just out of curiosity, are you someone I know or are you some random websurfer who's glommed onto my blog?




Not much more to report today. Pip (or Frankenpip as Whateley likes to call her) is still in the shop, getting the airbag light turned off and other little things. It would only take a day, eh? Funny, it's been a week! Hah! Well, at least they're paying for my rental.

I've got a bit of a NAT problem with my bittorrents, but I'm not sure how to fix them. I've opened up various ports but they're "closed" according to those pinging websites, and I tried binding MAC addresses, but it just gets an error. So all in all, all I'm getting is at most 15 kB/s, and average 7 kB/s. Yes, it takes me a whole day to download one episode of Everwood. It might be better for me to just watch it when it shows on TV. But I'm trying to cut down on TV. I was just going to save the episodes until I had time to watch them, but when they're right there on your harddrive... well, it's hard to resist.

I got a haircut recently from the Vidal Sassoon Academy. I figured, hey, it's right by where I work, it's cheap, and I could use the hair cut. So I got this trendy layered-do, but it took 3 HOURS for the student to cut my hair! I mean, when the front office lady said to expect 2 to 3 hours, I thought it'd be closer to two than three. When I get the time to style it properly, I'll take a picture and post it on this here blog. Anyway, I did get a nice haircut, and next time I'll be sure to schedule it better so that I don't end up being late to class. And if I can help it, I will try to get a person who seems to be a fast learner.

Anyway, on other issues... well, I found out that I'm pissing off my manager by being late a lot. Well... not late a lot. Usually I'm there within 5 minutes of the start of my shift. There were a few times I was 10 minutes late. And geez, the same day that my manager "warned" me about my constant lateness, one of the shift lead pulled me aside and told me that she "wants all of us to hustle a little more in the mornings so that we can be ready to just serve customers when we open the doors." I got a bit pissed off at that. First off, it's frickin' 5 in the morning. Second, I think I was moving at a decent pace. I've been at the job for over two years now (omg kill me) and I've become very effecient with my movements. And I refuse... REFUSE to run around for this job. They do not pay me enough to do that. They're lucky if I even speed walk. And that's the thing. If they want crappy quality at a hurried pace, I'll do it. But I have this... I don't know... weird sense of pride in my work (as sucky as it is) and I want to provide quality rather than breakneck speed. I feel like yelling at the corporate office that we are not a fast-food joint, and to demand that during a rush a customer should be in and out the store in 3 minutes is... well, it's not realistic. Unless they want crappy fast-food coffee. Hell, I can make fast crappy coffee. (Oh, you want soy? Well, it'll be mostly soy. You want fresh espresso? Well, it's been pulled sometime that morning!)

Anyway, my readers (including you, Anonymous, who I have no idea who you are!) please feel free to comment. I hope that when I get a job at a studio, they won't jump down my throat for being 5 minutes late. Hell, I might even be so happy to be there that I will be there early just to tinker with the equipment before other people arrive.

Well now, that last entry certainly got people commenting.

Update on my car: I got it back. She still smells like paint, but she's whole and beautiful. Well, 100% she ain't. The front driver's side door had a gap where wind rushed through and whistled, but I took it back to the shop where the guy "fixed" it by pulling and pushing with his body until the door fit back into shape. 'course, that left the door a bit warped cuz now there's a gap between the dashboard and the door hinge, but at least it's not open and won't whistle. If there's anything more wrong with her, they just told me to bring 'er back.

I'm mixing my pronouns. I'm used to referring to a car with "it" but since it is my first car of my very own (though being paid for mostly by my parents, but it's in my name), and I've given it a name and whatnot, it's a little more personal to refer to it as "she." I plan on keeping Pip for a long time. As long as she'll keep going.

Anyway, I've been tired but work has been going better. Why? Cuz there's less of it. I mean, having a little extra money's good, but not at the expense of my health and schooling. Besides, it's so little extra money (especially after taxes and whatnot) that it's really not worth it for me to spend all that time at work. I am much better off working on my crap and getting the heck out of there.

Alright, back to homework.

That auto body shop is driving me crazy!

I mean, what is wrong with them? Do they think I can't handle the truth? If it will take two months to fix my car, then tell me it will take two months! Don't tell me it will take "two weeks" and then keep on telling me "it will be done next week" for four freakin' weeks! I mean, they are losing so much credibility in my eyes. If I said to a client, "Sure, your shots will be ready in a week" and then take a month to do it, will they hire me again in the future? Heck no! I don't even care that they are "giving us discount on our deductible." All I wanted was the truth. Damn, what did they think I would do, throw a fit if they didn't tell me it would be done the next week? I am throwing a fit because they keep lying to me!

That's all I wanted. The straight and simple truth. It will take awhile. I mean, why the heck did they even tell me 2 weeks in the first place if they knew it would take more than a month? I went through hell trying to figure out ride situations and whatnot because I thought they'd be done. I now owe a lot of favors and have stretched my friendships thin getting people to drive my butt around because I was scheduled for stuff that I couldn't reach by bus. Not to mention, I've lost countless hours and been late to countless stuff (or missed them entirely) because I had to wait for the stinkin' bus.

Now, if I had known it would have taken this long to fix my car, I would've first, not been scheduled to open at my store. Second, I would've put my availabilities such that I could allow plenty of travel time for school and physical therapy. Third, bought the appropriate bus card so that I wouldn't have to keep reloading and also wouldn't have a gap where I had to scrounge around for change.

I mean, how many people are pissed at me for waking them up at 4:45 in the morning, or else having them drive out of the way to pick me up? My co-worker asked me at one point why I keep opening (shifts) if I don't have a car. And my answer? Well... uh... I thought I'd have it back by now?

I mean, how can I explain this to the body shop so they'll know the anguish I went through because of their constant lying?

I wouldn't even be using this place if I hadn't let my parents bully me into taking it there. I mean, sure, we're saving some money and my parents sorta know them and such, but what does that get us? I mean, just figuring out how we're going to pick the damn car up is a nightmare!

Sigh. I should've just held my ground and had the insurance company pick the place instead. That way, I wouldn't have had to pay for the towing fee, they would've given me a definite fix-by date, and they would've given me a rental car (which I would have had until my car was fixed, even if the body shop they chose kept lying about their fix-by date, too). But because my parents were yelling at me in my fragile emotional state about how expensive all the repairs would be, I now have to deal with this mess.

Not a good time to pick up an obsession. I think I will have to put it on hold after the first month or else I'll never get anything done.

Viral marketing scheme for the upcoming movie Serenity by Joss Whedon.

You should watch these in the order they were released (starting with "Session 416 Second Exerpt"), but it's pretty clever. If you've seen the TV show, you sorta know what's going on, but otherwise, it's understandable on its own, and pretty damn cool. 21 more days 'til the movie opens!

Meanwhile, The Corpse Bride is coming out the week before. So many movies, not enough money to see it all. I'm still debating whether or not a midnight viewing (if they have it) is possible for me. For one thing, Whateley can't get the day off. I hope this movie just blasts out the theater opening weekend.

I just wanted to post this picture to show you that I solved this "diabolical" sudoku puzzle in like 20 minutes. Well, it's hard to measure, since I did half of it during class when I was half paying attention to the teacher. I like the guy, it's a great class, but man, the call of sudoku.

Anyway, with the start of the school year, it's time for me to shell out the big bucks for the things I will "need." Mainly, a tablet and an external harddrive. Sigh. So much money just slipping through my fingers. Thank goodness that the joys of sudoku are free.

I will post more later (as I always promise to do) but for now, just revel in my sudoku genius (har har) and I will post my class schedule as well as my impressions on the semester ahead, and the general malaise of life, in a future post.

Vaya con Dios.

Ha ha ha ha.

People have asked me how I can be a Christian and an evolutionist. All I can say is, I can still have faith in God and a believe in a scientific theory based on a large number of empirical evidence.

No comments. Sad. :*(

Too much to do, as always. My problem? I procrastinate. Like, for instance, in order for me to not do anything during my two weeks off, I got in a car accident and traumatized myself.

Oh, btw, if you guys want to give me a bit of extra cash, click on the Google ad above. I've even been clicking on it cuz I mentioned the Wacom tablets and it keeps giving me ads for them. Sigh. I want one sooooo bad. There are some decent prices on eBay for an Intuos2 9x12. I just don't know if I can justify paying for one. On one hand, it's for my artwork, on the other hand, I don't know if the artwork I do necessitates a tablet. Hmmm....

Okay, please feel free to leave comments. ;-)

I've come to the conclusion that I will leave Starbucks after this semester. Actually, I've been at Starbucks a little longer than I wanted to (it's been 2 years and 3 days), and I am itchin' to get out. Perhaps it's because I've been in a really difficult store for the past year, but I don't really have many fond memories of Starbucks. Well, more like, I don't have fond memories of working retail. As much as we have really cool regulars, there are just those few a--holes that really ruin your mood. I mean, it's hard to do your best and to try to please the customers if they don't appreciate you and just complain all the time. I'm so tired of people thinking that my job is to make them happy. My job is to get their friggin' coffee. And it's friggin' coffee, not your first-born child.

As much as I enjoyed animal drawing this summer, I shouldn't have taken that class. For one thing, I wasn't crazy about the costumed drawing portion of the class. No, strike that, I wasn't crazy about the homework portion of the class. I shoulda talked to her about perhaps auditing the animal drawing only or something. Sigh.

Anyway, because of that class, my inherent summer laziness, and my crazy work schedule (not to mention the Vegas trip and SIGGRAPH), I didn't get a chance to do any of the work done for our animation club film. Sigh. Siiiiiiiigh.

I'm really sleep-deprived.

And to top it off, the Starbucks just 23 blocks east of us gets twice the tips that we do. I so need to get out of that store. I so need to get out of retail.

Sigh.

Poor Pip.

Quick response:

I don't know who you are, Superlefty, but the SIGGRAPH conference was held at the LA Convention Center. The dome theaters were really small, with about 20-some people per show, and the actual "theater" was an inflatable tent dome.

Next year, unfortunately, SIGGRAPH will be held in Boston, so I'm not sure I will go. We'll see.

Personality Type

Sorta true.

The problem with dome theaters is that when you're lying down on the floor and you've been up since 4:30 am for three days in a row, you are going to fall asleep no matter how hard you try. And it's extra embarassing when you wake up and realize the show's over and all the other people have left.

So... comments from this year's SIGGRAPH convention... not as much schwag, not as much must-be-present-to-win drawings, no art contests, and the most annoying of all, no access to the galleries or the animation theater, which means that I'm just left to wander around looking at booths and playing around in the hands-on guerilla studio. Not that I'm complaining. Well, yes I am. Anyway, I'm glad at least for the access to the guerilla studio, even if I'm not really doing anything, just cuz it means that I can post a blog entry while waiting for my motion capture appointment, though the best part really is the ability to play with the oh-so-expensive hardware that I just dream of owning. My personal favorite? The new Wacom Cintiq tablet, the one where you draw directly on the screen. It only retails for about $2500. I should be able to find that under the couch cushions.

I've taken the bus here for all three days, though today might be the first time I actually take the bus back. That's the thing about having to work in the morning. I was all, "oh I can't carpool with my housemates so I'll just have to meet up with them later but I'll take the bus so I don't have to pay for expensive parking" but when you only have a limited access, even the most die-hards seem to not want to come the last day. So I arrived at the convention center, called Dave, and I asked him where he was, and his response is "still in Santa Monica." And it looks like he's not going to show. There just hasn't been enough of a draw to go through the trouble, I guess.

Back to the dome theaters, I've seen three shows (been fully awake through one of them) and it's pretty darn neat. It really does feel like you're surrounded and there's a 3D show playing throughout the ceiling.

Okay, the motion capture session beckons.

Ah... Vegas. It has a special room in my heart. It wasn't so awe-inspiring new this time, but it was still fun. I put a buncha money in Megabucks (it was about $17.3 million) but only got out a few bucks. I haven't quite counted yet.

Anyway, can't write something fancy now, but one quick news. The most exciting part of our trip was actually at the very end when Brandon and Shalyn decided to get married! (They were already engaged, but they were planning on a regular ceremony later, which I guess they will still do.) But the problem with eloping is that when you tell people, they'll want to come. So this was suppose to be something quick and quiet on our last morning in Vegas, and it turned into various family members (of theirs) piling into cars and driving down to meet up at Brandon's former pastor's house, and then having a quick draw ceremony on their front yard. Crazy.

Shalyn's response to this: E-lop-ing, people, this was suppose to be e-lop-ing!

Heh heh. It was highly amusing, and more so if it wasn't so hot and we weren't so tired.

Alright, alright, no spoilers here, though mainly cuz I can't quite think of what to say about Harry Potter that hasn't been seen already. Well, actually, there's one thing that I want to talk about the Harry Potter world. I promise, no spoilers.

So, we've read in previous books that Charlie Weasley was off studying dragons. Well, I'm wondering, what does that mean? Cuz from what we've read, there's no mention of wizard university. It's kinda weird to think that people's careers begin at high school graduation. I mean, sure they study a lot, and they probably know a lot about magic upon graduation, but I don't know any Muggle that knows what he wants to do after high school graduation, so what would make wizards any different? I did a lot of growing up and finding myself in college (not as hokey as it sounds, but in essence, true). I remember in Prisoner of Azkaban that the third years had to start taking different subjects (kinda like electives, I guess), and lot of the people just chose topics at random cuz at thirteen, you don't know what you want to do in life. Anyway, my point about Charlie was that was he studying dragons at some wizard university, or was he in the field studying it, like Jane Goodall?

Oh, and I wonder, why don't these kids study non-magical subjects like English and math? Cuz, I'm thinking, even if you can do magic, you should be able to write and do arithmetic. I was looking through jkrowling.com, and in the FAQ, she said that most kids from wizarding families are home-schooled until the age 11, when they go off to Hogwarts. That's kinda funny to think that you go from this insular setting of being at home 24/7, and then you go off to boarding school.

Ah well... I guess I'm just getting picky. After all, the whole point of the novels aren't to describe "real life as if there was magic" but more of this fantasy world where all you really needed to worry about are various spells and potions and other magical things.

=====================================

I'm off to Vegas next week, so I may not be able to post all week (yeah, like what's the difference, right?). But I'll try to keep things up-t0-date. There are so many thoughts throughout my day that I would like to blog about, but when the time comes, I either forget, or it's not interesting anymore, or there's something else I want to blog about.

=====================================

One more thing about Harry Potter, it's been so long since I read Order of the Phoenix, that as I was reading Half-Blood Prince, I was I couldn't remember what happened in the previous book. I mean, I couldn't remember what the D.A. was, or barely what happened at the Ministry. I just know that Sirius died, though his death was a little too quick and uneventful to be fishy. Well, it looks like I shall have to stop by my parents' place to collect my Harry Potters. Perhaps even introduce them to my housemates. Heh heh. I can just imagine looking at the sheer page count of all the books so far.

I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.


OMG!!!

I'll publish comments (and have it contain spoilers) once I get some sleep.

Yes, the korean-american actress from Battlestar Galactica is Grace Park. Boy, she got a few head turns when she appeared in Maxim. Her role is nice and meaty and complex, too. I thought it was funny that her name is Sharon Valeri, so obviously where she was from, there was no ethnically distinctive names. And what's also funny is that both Starbuck and Dr. Baltar are from Caprica (which technically is a planet... I think), but Starbuck speaks with an American accent while Baltar speaks with a British one. And Commander Adama (played by Edward James Olmos) is a Latino, but his son, Lee (aka Apollo) is white.

But really, I'm not complaining. It's a great show. I mean, the Cylons are monotheistic while the humans are polytheistic, and the Cylons are devout while the humans have become secularized. Religious machines. Heh.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter is keeping me up way too late.

Six days 'til Vegas! If you want me to get you something from there, speak now or forever hold your peace. Oh, and keep in mind that I have no money, so it can't be worth more than two bucks.

Battlestar Galactica season two premiere tomorrow at 10 pm!

If I feel up to it, I might even catch Ben Browder on SG1. For those of you non-geeks, he was the star of Farscape.

So tired, sleeping funny (as usual, but more funny than usual), and gotta do homework. Blah.

Green Tea Frapp personally sold count: 1

91% Humidity... explains a lot.

Long awaited Green Tea Frapp Day. Erg.

Eating not well. Sleeping too oddly.

Oh yeah, remind me to talk about the squid at the City of Heroes party.

Hey Beno (et al) --

This is the second time I heard about "ask your barista for a free sample" and while it's true that you can ask your barista for a free sample, it don't mean you'll get one. Cuz for one thing, you can't make a 4 oz frappuccino. The smallest you can make is 12 oz (which is a tall), and besides, there's no way that we have the time to make a tiny frappuccino like that.

What is true, however, is that when there's time, we will make samples (about ten of them), put them on a tray, and go around the store giving it to people.

So, your best bet for a free sample? Go to your neighborhood Starbucks, go up to your favorite barista (when they're not busy) and ask if they will be sampling the Green Tea Frapp any time soon. If they're like me, then I would most likely say, "Well, since it's not busy, sure, I'll sample some out in a few minutes." And then it's first come first serve.

But DO NOT BUG US WHEN IT'S BUSY. For me, my response will be, "We might later, but not right now." And then I'll think in my head, "...now go away, you annoying bastard."

iTunes now supports podcasting, and boy, every podcast now mentions that their subscribership has exploded. I've got issues with it still (it won't automatically download them to my Shuffle), but I'm glad that podcasting is getting the support that it deserves.

Speaking of which, my church is podcasting its sermons.

For those of you unsure of what to do, just copy the link and use a subscribing software (like iPodder or iTunes, even) to download the episodes. Or just do a search for "Pillar Bible Church" on iTunes. I thought we were being all high-tech and all, but then I did a search on iTunes music store for Religion&Spirituality->Christianity, and boy, there are tons of podcast sermons!

Anyway, as much as I am having issues with my church and my faith, there's one thing I do not doubt, and that is the strength of my pastor's sermons. Yes, sometimes he is too conservative, and perhaps even inflexible, but he studies the Bible very strictly, and his sermons reflect that. So while I may not agree with all he says, I do have to say, he makes a damn good argument.

Alright, homework awaits.

Oh, and no, you do not need an iPod to listen to podcasts. They're just mp3s... you can listen to them on any mp3 player (like winamp).

Thank you for the suggestions and offers, but alas, I cannot use a tape deck adapter. Why? Cuz my car doesn't have a tape deck. I suppose I coulda gotten one when I bought it, but I think it might've cost extra, and would've required time to install it, so no, it just has a radio and CD player. It might be possible to take it apart and put a connection cable in the back or something, but it seems a little too complex at the moment.

Now, if there's a CD adapter, then we're talking. But I don't think that's possible....

================================================================

On to my rant for the day:

I'm sure you all were raised by decent mothers that taught you not to litter. Or at least not to leave trash lying around the house. Now, I wonder, what is wrong with people that think that it's wrong to leave trash lying around your house, but it's perfectly fine to leave it around a store? I mean, it's a pseudo-restaurant, but I'm sure people realize that we don't have bus-boys, waitresses, or hostesses. We have trash cans all over, why is it so hard to bus your own table?

Buuuuuuuut...

That's not even my main rant. I mean, okay, being a psuedo-restaurant setting, I can understand being confused about whether or not to bus your own table. But at the Frappuccino counter, after you take your straw out of the wrapper, I'm sure there's no confusion as to, if you drop that wrapper on the floor, you are littering. Period. No ifs ands or buts about it. There's no messed-up logic that says that just because there's no trashcan within two-inches of the straw container (but usually within five feet of one), that you can just leave the wrapper on the counter, like it's a flat, open trash can. Not even, hey, can you guys throw this away for me, but just plain leaving it there, like, once it stops suiting your purpose, it's no longer your concern.

And tossing it on the floor? Hello? What store out there wants you to do that? Where is there a store that says, "Please throw your trash away anywhere, we'll eventually get to it"? I don't even leave empty soda and popcorn containers at movie theaters because I know that it would only create more work for the poor theater slaves, and it would take me very little effort to hold on to it and toss it in the trash cans on my way out!

I mean, we were busy today, what with the ice cream social and all, but I finally got a chance to sweep at 3:30 in the afternoon, and there were a dozen straw wrappers on the floor in front of the Frappuccino counter. Now, one or two, I can understand... you accidentally dropped it, you missed the trash can, you forgot as you were dealing with screaming kids, etc... but a dozen!!! At what point did they think, oh, I don't know what to do with this wrapper, well looks like there are some on the floor, I guess that's where I gotta put them. It irks me to no end, when all they have to do is turn around and there's a trash can right there, or even one just a few steps away. It's trash. Trash goes in trash cans. How hard can that be?!? *sigh. Sooooo annoying!

A quick entry to answer some questions and explain a few things:

I got an iPod shuffle as a present about a month ago. The problem is, the only time I really get to listen to it is in the car, and I think that's illegal. I don't want to listen to it in ten minute increments while I walk to and from my car, and during my breaks... well, it's hard enough just cramming in some food. I can't really listen to it during class cuz I'll miss the lectures, and besides, I like talking to other students while working on stuff. And if I'm at my computer, then it makes sense to listen to music on the computer instead.

I guess since I don't go to the gym, I don't commute via public transportation, and I don't have a lot of activities that require me to walk around by myself, there aren't many ready opportunities to listen to my shuffle. In fact, I have yet to go through an entire playlist.

Anyway, on a different note, if you guys have noticed the glaring ad at the top of this page, that's a Google AdSense ad. It's always been there, but it hasn't been visible much. Anyway, I get paid by the click, so if you see something interesting (or not) if you can give it a click or two, that'd be nice.

And finally, my bee-yoo-tee-ful car has... [GASP!] 3500 miles on it. I'm taking her in for her first oil change. Aww... my baby's growing up. I hope she'll be okay on my trip to Vegas next month. Poor baby....

Oh, and has anybody besides Whateley seen Batman Begins and want to comment on it? I realize that you have to be a Batman fan to love the movie the way I do, but I'm just wondering about the range of emotions about that movie out there.

Christopher Nolan on KCRW's "The Treatment"

I like to listen to this podcast, and this one is Christopher Nolan talking about Batman Begins.

Whateley and I established that Batman appeals to different people for different reasons, and he doesn't appeal to everybody for those reasons. Anyway, Batman's appeal for me, we established, is that he is a strong male character, very smart, and always two steps ahead of his enemies. Perhaps my innermost desire to be rescued by him?

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved.

You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please.

Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as something you can get or discard anytime. You're feeling self centered.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Interesting... and eerily truthful....

Batman Begins... awesome.

Go see it. Right now. Yeah, right now. Go on, get up out of your chair, grab your guy/gal, go to the nearest movie theater, and plunk down some cash for tickets for this movie.

Right now.

If you're even the smallest Batman fan, you will enjoy it immensely.

Funny enough, I haven't been listening to podcasts on my shuffle, but more on my computer. Well, what can I say, I've been lazy about transferring it to my shuffle. Heck, I dumped out my clean, folded laundry on my bed to put away... and it's still there... and it's from two weeks ago.... Doh!

If you're new to this blog, then you might get shocked by what I will discuss next, but hey, I've got no shame. Anyway, I thought I was going to get my period recently, but other than a little mucus, the well is dry. Funny, too, cuz one day there I felt achy all over like I do during Aunt Flo's visit. It's definitely sucky, my odd cycle. I realize that I've been menstruating for fifteen years, and so far, the only thing regular about it is its irregularity. I got my first pap smear last year (when I got a doctor of my own and didn't just go to the same one as my parents -- old Korean doctors -- he doesn't even do prostate exams on my dad, which is scary considering his age and risk factors), but even then, my gyno exam wasn't a full one (according to WebMD, at least). And when I mentioned my irregular cycle, she gave me a referral for an ultrasound... which I would've ended up paying 30% for.

Anyway, it's time I should go see a real gynocologist, get a real exam, and perhaps even figure out if there's anything weird with me right then and there. That, and perhaps they wouldn't charge me a lab bill for a pap smear.

I'm not too worried cuz my mom had a similar problem at my age, but then it went away after she got married. I was thinking, what, somehow that marriage certificate forced her uterus to behave? But then I realized, my mom was pregnant with my sister not too long after she got married. Of course, she was already married by the time she's my current age. So... I don't know. Just gotta sit tight and wait for my ovarian dams to burst forth.

Good nighty folks.

BMB, midnight show, tomorrow night! Can't wait!

My teacher liked my painting, but it was "on the verge" of being very good because the orange I used was a bit hotter than what was given in the color sample. Erg, so fig.

It's been awhile since I've painted, and I forgot how much I enjoy it. I think I'll try to do more of it in the future, though I'm not sure how. But I've still got that watercolor block with about 10 sheets left. Gotta use it. Perhaps everyone I know will end up getting a Jeanna original for a Christmas present. And yes, that is a threat.

I've been making up for lost sleep, so my sleeping pattern hasn't normalized yet. I'm guessing it never will. My room's a mess, but oh, tonight, tonight, I played City of Heroes! How I've missed you! Meanwhile, my drawing of the Falcon Duo is still to come!

Okay, gotta sleep.

Oh, and check out Whateley's blog. Why? Beats me. He just keeps wanting to advertise his blog on my blog.

Up at 3 am, just finishing up my watercolor painting for Color Theory. Last class of the semester in less than six hours!

I had an interesting "argument" with one of my housemates today. He was complaining because he didn't think it was necessary to use watercolors to learn color theory. I was arguing that it's not necessary, but it's so much easier to learn color theory with watercolor than Photoshop, which was what he wanted to use. I mean, perhaps, but then you'd end up spending the first month just figuring out how to use the dang program, and then it'll take you much longer to do each assignment because you have to deal with the cumbersome aspect of digital painting. I mean, if you need your orange to be redder, you add a drop of red paint. But in Photoshop, you have to use a slider which has too huge of a range, not to mention it's harder to choose a warm red versus a cool red, etc, and then there are all those layers....

People tend to forget that the computer is a tool, the same as ink and paint. Too many people think that learning to use a program will make them artists, and it's funny because every single (and I mean EVERY SINGLE) career day thing I went to said that the most important thing that studios look for (because it's something that can't be trained or taught by a studio, at least not in a few weeks) is the artistic eye. And I was saying that you don't need to use watercolors to learn color theory, but don't think you can use Photoshop effectively without knowing color theory. And it's just far easier, for the teacher and the student, to learn color theory with paint than with software. I mean, this guy was totally against taking the 2D character animation class cuz he thought he would get much more out of the 3D character animation class to come (which is an elective, so it wouldn't have been an option anyway). But having taken it, he sees how much his 3D animation has improved by taking the 2D character animation class. That class is a b*tch. More work than you can shake a stick at. But oh boy, you come out of it with a great piece of animation and a lot of skillz. So I'm surprised he hasn't caught on that all this stuff on the computer didn't just come out of nowhere. It came out of a tradition that dates back to the caveman days. Well, at least the Renaissance, if not earlier.

I think what he likes the best is the "undo" command, actually. And yes, it's saved my butt a few times. But no amount of undo is going to teach you why your work sucks and what you can do to fix it. I say that 90% of learning art is making mistakes and fixing it (or starting over). It's funny, I've been watercolor painting since elementary school, but it wasn't until now that I really learned what to do. Cuz until now, it has always just been about filling in the colors. But now I can use colors to tell a story, evoke a mood, focus your eye on the most important things.... My housemate thinks that just cuz I've painted before that's why my paintings look great. But I tell you, the only advantage I have over him in terms of experience is that I learned to let the paint dry in between layers. That and not to be afraid of glazing, though I didn't really learn how to glaze until this color theory class.

Anyway, I guess I shouldn't complain. Cuz the more people refuse to study traditional art techniques, the more their art will suck and less competition for jobs for me.

Meanwhile, I should study more acting if I'm to become a good animator. After all, it's just a puppet until I bring it to life. I just wish there was an Acting for Animators class over here. The acting class over the summer gave me a good start, but it was designed for beginning theater actors, and it's not quite the same.

Sorry, I really got too deep into being an art geek here. Umm... go Starbucks?

More wacked out sleeping patterns abound!

Meanwhile, I tweaked with the comments layout a bit, and who knew that putting in blockquotes would italicize everything? Tell me if it's annoying, and I'll try to figure out how to get rid of it. I changed it cuz it was driving me nuts how the comments and the info about the people all just kinda ran into each other.

I will upload pictures of Bob (the CG character that we all modeled and animated and are now texturing... though I didn't model this version since my model just sucked). Since he's such a simple character, his texture will take on a more painterly quality a la The Incredibles, as opposed to Shrek.

But that's all for another time.

Please leave comments and make me feel loved! Well... y'know what I mean....

One more note, you'd think that with having to listen to Antigone Rising every day at work for a month that I would be sick of them. Huh. Anyway, if anybody's heard their latest album From the Ground Up, tell me what you think. If you want a copy (purely for evaluations sake, of course, since if you like the CD you will buy it... and make Starbucks richer), then give me notice. Otherwise... I was able to listen to it over and over all night, then some at work, and amazingly, I haven't gotten sick of it yet. Well, perhaps I will in a coupla months.

Alright, this whole comments thing is driving me nuts! Maybe I'm just petting my own ego here, but you, my faithful readers, haven't been able to post comments for weeks!

I've been fiddling with the code, but I don't think I can turn comments on for old posts (and I think the code's a bit funky for new ones, too) so if you will, please, if you have had any comments for my previous posts, please post them for this entry. Meanwhile... BLOGGER!!! Why hast thou screwed with me so?

Anyway, been busy with school, work, general malaise, but I'm alive... barely, and I will post more as the time avails itself (or more like, when I feel like procrastinating). Hope this works!

Today was just not a good day to get any work done. So I caught up on some TV and played a little CoH.

I've decided to give up on The O.C. next season. Now, of all the teen soap operas out there, I think it's the best cuz it's got a certain tongue-in-cheekiness as well as Adam Brody (though even he goes a little overboard sometimes). I gave up on One Tree Hill a long time ago, cuz not only did I not have the time, but the stories were getting absolutely unbelievably inane.

Anyway, I'm giving up on The O.C. because it is scheduled on the same night as Alias, so Alias wins out. Just as well. I should be paring down my TV-watching, though I see watching cartoons as "research." Seriously, I swear!

I say this because over the weekend, Tivo erased last week's episode of The O.C., and I still had enough shows to catch up on.

I accidentally tuned in to MTV's My Life (Translated), and it was a fascinating show, mainly because how the host's life so mirrored my own, and yet it doesn't. But it's true, there is no show out there for bicultural kids, and it's wacky and weird to everyone else, yet makes perfect sense to millions out there. Sigh. I wonder if I ever have to move to a foreign country where I don't know the language and work really hard and sacrifice to pin all my hopes on my kids... well, I wonder if I could ever handle that. Hmm....

The part that really hit me was the part where her mom said that she had no life, that her life was to live for her kids. It really reminded me of my mom. I think now that we are all out of college (well, at least we all have college degrees) and out of the house, she's gotten better at focusing on herself and my dad, but I know that she still worries, far too much, because her life had been 100% for the kids while we were growing up, and it's still about 70% for us (though dwindling due to middle-age mellowness), and that can be just hellish on the kids. Sigh. I mean, I wouldn't be where I am if my parents hadn't pushed me as hard as they did. But on the other hand, I might not be so... like my mom, if they hadn't pushed me like they did. Sigh.

You feel old when it takes you two days to recover from a midnight showing of Revenge of the Sith.

So what did I think of the movie? Well, I argued with Whateley for what seemed like hours on how he thought the movie was awesome and I thought the movie was just plain... okay. Good but not great. Well, it had some great moments, but overall... well, I wasn't disappointed cuz I came in with low expectations, but the bad acting and directing and writing just got me a little down. But the story is good. Now, how is that possible, you say? Well, the overall story, the 6-part arc, if you will, is a fascinating tale of the hero's journey, and the complexity of the story sets up this amazing universe where nothing is like us, yet it's so believable that it could exist long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

But... with dialogue like "Yipee!" coming out of young Anakin's mouth as he was about to leave the only family he knew... well, that's bad writing.

Watching Project Greenlight this season, it just showed the importance of test screenings. I mean, it might have resulted in too many leaks to the public, maybe even a camcorder bootleg, but still, then they could've gotten better feedback than Lucas' yesmen.

Anyway, I will proceed to give my thoughts on it, so if you haven't seen it, then stop reading now.













The Good:
Well, it's the story we've been waiting for. How did Anakin become bad? We saw a hint of it in AofC when he killed all those Sand People in revenge for his mother (by the say, so Padme's willing to marry the guy who massacred a tribe of Sand People, but she's shocked when he massacred the Jedi Temple?), and this story just continued that by magnifying the path he was going. Palpatine was actually an excellent manipulator, and you can see how he did corrupt Anakin. His fight scene with Mace was reflective of the fight scene at the end of RotJ. I even liked Padme's outfits, though she changes clothes more often than Cher at her concerts. That outfit at the end, where she runs after Anakin... it's so 70's it's cool.

Ewan MacGregor did an excellent job acting with a bad script, and you can see his love for Anakin and his hurt when Anakin goes bad. A true Jedi to the core, the emotions he shows are subtle, breaking out the full force only at the end, to show a gradual building. My acting teacher would have been proud.

And the best part of all? One word: YODA. Man, he is so damn cool. And so cute! Thinking on it, though, he was so powerful, yet not powerful enough to defeat Palpatine, he could've acted better, shown more of the struggle. Cuz you barely see him break a sweat. Maybe if he had some bruises or cuts....


The Bad:
I actually liked the fight sequences, although there were too many. I mean, he probably could've cut down the fight sequences by about ten or twenty minutes and added that much more in character development. Like I said, there were a lot lacking in the character development department. He put so much thought into the creatures, the worlds, even the friggin' technology, that it seemed like he neglected the most basic necessity of a movie, which is a character's motivation. I mean, if you look at the character arc of every person over the entire trilogy, there is a definite arc, a change, a slope. But over the course of just the one movie, it's so shallow, that it's virtually flat. Like looking at a portion of a circle and seeing a flat line.

I argued that Anakin's turn was a little abrupt. Whateley argued that it was obvious. Eh.



The Ugly:

Hayden Christenson's acting. Period.

My sleep pattern's wack. Erg. But what else is new?

I admit, I waste a lot of time. I'm always complaining of not having time to do homework, sleep, do chores, etc, but in reality, it's one of those, well, I-could-make-the-time-if-I-worked-at-it kind of deals. Like today, after bowing out of work early, I rushed home to eat a hurried meal, do some more agonizing frustrations on the animation scene for the club advisor, grabbed my stuff and went to class, where I worked on revising my storyboard but didn't get a chance to show it to the teacher (who also is the advisor). But I showed him my roach run, got some feedback, and basically, this scene will HAUNT ME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. Argh!

So after I came home, I basically crashed (I only got an hour of sleep the night before), and woke up in time to pick up Dave from class and eat dinner. But then, I could've done work, but it was just disheartening to do so, so instead I caught up on reading blogs, read some articles, even watched last week's Enterprise. But now, I gotta go to bed cuz I have to work at 10:30 tomorrow morning. It's gonna be a full day, cuz it's a long shift and there's a Siggraph meeting afterwards that I want to go to. I haven't been in a long time, and I paid for that membership, dagnabit!

I guess I should post pictures of Falcon Girl's new outfits. Her classic costume has remained the same, but I changed her "spy suit" into a workout ensemble, and updated her formal dress into something classier (read: not slutty). Like I said, I'll post pictures later, but my graphics card sucks, so the quality won't be so nice. I suppose I can always get Whateley to take screenshots for me. :)

I don't know when I can work on a drawing for the Falcon Duo, but I'll get to it one of these days. If anything, it will give me a chance to practice painting with Photoshop. Though it would be nicer with a Wacom tablet. I've been eye-ing the Intuos 6x8 (though 9x12 would be even better). Sigh. The things I would get if I had money.

That tanker character. And yes, that's a panda on her shoulder. I tweaked her physique to make her look tougher but also with bigger boobs. She is loosely based on Starfire of "Teen Titans" though more the cartoon version than the comic book. 

Y'know what, Whateley, I will admit it. I am a massage-chair whore.

To better explain, there's a Brookstone nearby where I work, and after my shift, I like to go there and sit in the massage chair. Cuz frankly, I've had a hard day and I need the massage. Better than me asking the various people in my life, including Whateley.

I've been so busy with too much work, not enough sleep, and tons of animations I gotta do. But what do I do instead? The latest issue of City of Heroes goes live and I log on for hours to tweak the costumes of my various heroes. Argh. It was like, as someone stated, a "comic book convention" at the tailors. I will post the pics, but the qualities of them are so-so.

Okay, off to shower then school.

Too many hours at work. Sigh, but I can use the money....

In regard to my family finances, perhaps God is finally answering our prayers.

I had dinner with the family tonight. Dinner with my aunt's last Sunday. Both times I was asked when I will graduate. Last I checked, I already did. But no, I know what they mean.

Boy am I getting sick of the question, "So when will you be done with school?"

Maybe that's why I like City of Heroes so much. I don't have to worry about getting a real job in a virtual world. I just have to fight the bad guys.

You Are 29 Years Old

29 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

I was surfing the web and came upon this picture of Michelle Kwan. You'd think that they'd pick a better angle than one that makes her look like Cotton Hill. (Bonus points to anyone who knows the reference.) 

So taxes are done and I'm getting a nice refund. I filed for the second year in a row with H&R Block online e-file because it's a free service they have for people that make less than a certain amount. Actually, I think they waived that income restriction and instead will let everyone e-file for free as long as they get to "suggest" upgrading your service (for only $49.95!) every five minutes.

I'm so poor, it's annoying. I signed up for the stock investment plan at work, but I found out it's a post-tax deduction, so I don't get a savings on taxes. Anyway, the plan basically takes 10% of my paycheck into a fund, and at the end of the quarter or whenever it was, they buy as many Starbucks stock as possible with that fund, at 15% off the lowest of the opening or closing prices. All I can say is that had I started a year ago when I could, that stock would have doubled in price by now. Sigh.

Anyway, that means my paycheck is really small, and so that refund doesn't mean "extra money" but more like "keep-paying-the-rent money." Whateley talks about going to Vegas this summer like last summer, and as much as I would like to, I don't think I can currently afford to.

Spring Break has been pretty good so far. By coincidence, Whateley was over in Santa Monica for three days to train (only two blocks from my store!), so we were actually able to hang out during the week. It was cool. A lot of beer. And wine. And cider.

Speaking of wine, I watched "Sideways." Good movie. Makes you want to get into wine. I guess there's more complexity to it than I think. It made me think of the coffee tastings that we did as part of Starbucks training. Well, all I can say about that is, "Umm... it tastes like coffee?"

Another movie I watched recently was "Sin City." It was brutal, but because of the style of the movie, it wasn't gory. I was a bit ewww about Jessica Alba and Bruce Willis, but it's part of the story, so it's not so bad. And Elijah Wood! I... I don't think I can look at his baby blues and think of innocent little Frodo anymore.... I don't care if it's against protocol, I'm going to tell him he was great (and freaky!) the next time I see him... I hope there's a next time.

Anyway, to end this essay, I'm going to work on my bit for the Animation Club. I think we're going to use our funds to get T-shirts since we're nowhere near completing our movie before the year's up. I'd debating on taking a drawing class this summer. Eight all-day Friday classes... but worth it? Four animal drawing, four costumed figure drawing. I guess it wouldn't be too bad. As long as there's no homework.

I haven't been posting my schedules lately, but due to an opener quitting, I'm scheduled to open all next week (except for Thursday and Sunday), and I'm working thirty-two hours. Yipes. Well, it'll make up for the lack of hours I was getting earlier, but it just means that I will have to work on stuff more now.

Okay, off to the computer!

I went ice-skating for the second time in two weeks. It was fun, and I didn't fall this time! Yes Whateley, you don't have to hear me whine any more.

They offer figure skating classes, and I am tempted to sign up (during the summer, of course, when I'm less busy). I saw some kids (and adults!) that were doing some spins and jumps, and... well, it just looked cool. I wanna do that! I love watching figure skating at the Olympics, so I'm a little wistful.

The main bad thing about that, though, is that ice is not a natural occurence here, so basically, you can only ice skate at a rink. So it just seems sucky to have to pay the entrance fee for everytime you want to participate in your hobby. And that's what it would be, essentially. Boy though, to be able to do a jump... that would be mega-cool. Though right now, I'd settle for being able to go backwards.

============================================

On a different note, I've been thinking more and more about grad school lately. UCLA has a pretty good program (and they don't charge an arm and a leg for it... just a few fingers and maybe an ear) and I might have a chance to actually getting in. But the thought of more school, and incurring school loans, isn't so appealing right now. But getting an animation gig straight out of school is hard, especially out of SMC, so any help would be nice. I mean, right now, my options are to get an entry-level job at a visual effects company and prove my skillz to the higher-ups after a coupla years, or go to grad school, come out with a killer reel, and perhaps start off as a low-level animator at a visual effects company.

Anybody wanna offer an opinion?

To Bleusky: I visited you in 2000, because the plane was empty on Jan 1, 2000, though it was packed ten days later. Ahhh... good ol' Y2K fears.

One week 'til Spring Break! Erg.

anim.usc.edu

Okay, it's a grad program, and why do their animations suck?

I applied for a passport today. It expired five years ago, but my Dad said that they were going to raise rates come April 1st. The lady at the post office said that the rates were raised in early March. But in six to ten weeks, I can skip out of the country whenever I want. Hah!

I watched "13 Going on 30" and it's a cute movie. I tried forever to access the deleted scenes and other features and the realized that it's probably a bootleg copy and therefore didn't have it, though it did have the commentaries and the making-of video.

Sigh. I feel a little lethargic.

Celebrity serving for today: Sarah Jessica Parker.

She came in before, and I recognized her voice, but she was wearing huge sunglasses. The thing was, it was six in the morning, so it was a little conspicuous. Eh. And celebrities have to wait in line just like everyone else.

Alright, off to do homework. Or eat. Or watch TV while I do either.

Cannot get the momentum started....

More later.

So in our projects class today, my teacher told us that unfortunately, due to the busy schedules of the actual artistic directors, in a place like EA where they don't focus on animation or visual effects as their main thing, the hiring process has a "filter" of non-artistic HR managers who have no idea what their company does... artistically, I mean. So what they are looking for is eye candy, which my teacher then said just proved the point that in order to get any notice in this industry, you need both eye candy AND the montage of skills. So... unfortunately, that means that I will have to wait until the end of this year to have the eye candy portion. Sigh.

As for that whole "work visa" thing, I don't know if companies ever do conduct "fake interviews" but the school Internship Coordinator did tell me that there was a really talented guy from Sweden who was all set to work for Sony Imageworks but couldn't cuz he had to go back to Sweden since he was no longer a student. Supposedly, it's too much work to go through the trouble of "pretending to look" for an American since they can just as easily hire an American for those low-totem-pole positions.

Anyway, things have been hard, life has been difficult, and honestly, sometimes I feel like throwing in the towel. More than anything, I would love to just crawl into bed and sleep forever. Sigh. Even the happiest things in my life are tainted by sadness. I don't really want to explain, except that if any of you are spiritually inclined, please pray for me, for my relationships with friends and family, my school and career goals, and for the state of my very soul and its desire to seek out God.


On a side note, my beautiful car has already 670+ miles on it.... Oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

Yes, Whateley, EA does suck.

So what happened? Well, it turns out that EA doesn't really take animation interns. They rarely hire animators straight out of school. In fact, they are only looking for interns in modelling, texturing, environmental art, and lighting.

BUT... did they tell us that? Nooooooooooooooo.

Instead, I stayed up all night to make a stupid DVD of my reel that they wouldn't even look at because it wasn't rendered! The guy told me to use non-generic models, texture them, light them, and basically come up with a finished production piece... to showcase my freakin' animation skills. Because, of course, my modelling and texturing abilities determine how well I can animate.

So it sucks that about half the people interviewing were either animators or concept artists (another position that they rarely hire recent grads for), so we all ended up wasting our efforts for this interview! I mean, sure they gave us feedback, but pretty much, the unspoken suggestion was that we instead become modellers or texture artists, and if you can animate too... well, that's just hunky-dory and maybe they'll have a project for you years later... if they haven't fired you by that point.

My biggest beef with them (besides the f-ed up way they evaluate the reels) is that the least they could do was be honest with us. I'd much rather hear, "Well, we rarely hire animation interns unless you're a genius" rather than, "Well, please submit your animation reels and by the way, we don't really have animation interns, but we don't want to discourage you."

Full production pieces.... I swear. EA's got the rep (that most game companies have anyway) that they just work you to death and spit you out, so I didn't really want to work for them anyway. But I really wanted to have the learning opportunity, or at least the professional experience on my resume, and it looks like I won't be able to really try for it until I finish my final project in December.

So yes, EA sucks.

So according to some people at church, the price we ended up paying for the car was... well, reasonable. So perhaps we didn't get ripped off... more like just missed an opportunity for a deal. Oh well.

Interview for an interview with EA tomorrow! I better visit all the doctors I need to just in case I have to put in a leave of absence at work. Just signed up for the Stock Investment Plan. Dude, if I had signed up the first chance I coulda last year, those stocks would be worth double now. Dang.

So Tivo cut out the last five seconds of the Episode III trailer from "The O.C." so I'm trying to download it right now. Well, more like I'm trying to download a bit torrent of what someone who Tivo'ed then digitized it. But the d/l is taking forever.

As for my car, overall, what's done is done and for the most part I'm very happy with it. And yes, it's like the most stolen car in America. And it's the most stolen color in America. Which most likely just means that it's the most popular car with the most popular color. Unique.

Okay, off for more animation.

Awww... comments! (sheds a tear of joy)

Of course, it was so nice of you to talk about my various bodily emissions. Huzzah.

So for the serious question, the reason why I think my parents got ripped off on my car is that they paid about list price for it, which is what the dealers used to begin their bargaining. So if they had negotiated, then they most likely coulda gotten it for $500 to $2000 cheaper. Well, that's what my brother says, anyway.

[o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o]

I slept all day, I've been procrastinating the rest, and I have to be at work in 5 hours and I haven't done any more animations. Argh!

Before I go on, I want to give a special shout-out to Bleusky cuz it's her birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday! (Hey, she's the only one that comments regularly, so if you did, too, I would give a shout-out to you, too!)

So how am I today? In a word? Cruddy. I've been battling a fever, cough, headache, and runny nose the past two days. Fortunately, I didn't have to work today. But I had to use up 8 hours of vacation time today just to make sure I got enough hours to keep my benefits.

As I'm writing this, I'm scanning a huge stack of animation drawings so I can put it in my reel. I'm on drawing #171. It's a little under half way. Of course, I still have to tweak 'em a little in Photoshop. Ugh. But this is all for the best. There's an internship opportunity at EA at stake here. (EA being Electronic Arts)

Last Thursday night, I went to an event thrown by Alias at The House of Moves. Now, what do you think this was? A couple that was sitting at our table thought that it meant it was some sort of party thrown by the people of the TV show "Alias." (She was wondering where Jennifer Gardner was.) So they were obviously lost when the presentation was for how Alias' Maya 3D program can be used in video game development. The House of Moves wasn't a club (though it would be a cool name for one) but a motion-capture studio. Anyway, it was a good event, didn't win anything, but there was an open bar and free In-N-Out hamburgers. Suffice it to say, I took full advantage of the open bar. This schmoozing stuff is hard work. ;)

So before I go on, my classes this semester will be:

3D Texturing, Lighting & Rendering
Color Theory
3D Animation Project 1

I dropped the Digital 2D Animation Production class because the class was... frustrating. The only people that could animate was me and this other girl who dropped it after the first week. It was too hodge-podge of a class. I mean, if you want to learn Flash, or storyboarding, then you should take those classes. Basically, I would've had to come up with a project for this class, and with my final project starting this semester, as well as the Animation Club, I figured it was just unneccesary headache that would not help me in the long run. But I did learn that the multi-feed scanner would not help me in this case, so therefore I will have to individually scan each drawing... as I'm doing now. (I'm on #191 right now, as I type.)

I'm feeling cruddy again, I think it's time I got drugged up.