Generous Bush, always thinking of others

What can I say, almost three months of non-working has made me very weak. I've got no energy or stamina to last an 8-hr day. Either that, or I'm just sick.

Anyway, this week has been busy for me. I started working as a cafe seller at a nearby Borders. It's a lot like working for Starbucks, only less busy and the hours are less crazy. But yeah, less money, less benefits, no perks. Well, except that as part of the training process, I've been tasting pastries and drinks. So... caffeine, my old friend and enemy, we meet again. So why did I take a pay cut and less benefits to work at a Seattle's Best rather than a Starbucks? (Especially since SBC is owned by Starbucks) Well, it's a long story, and even I'm not sure of the reasons, but I think the main one was because one of my roommates already works there, so I know of the store politics and dynamics already, everybody else in this household works for Borders (for this week, anyway, before Whateley ships off to his new and improved job elsewhere), and basically, this cafe is very calm and not-busy, which is the opposite of Starbucks, and I knew I wouldn't be tired out after a shift like I was at Starbucks. And right now, my sanity and strength is more important than a few extra bucks an hour. Why? Read on.

So yeah, I got meself an internship at Zoic Studios, the place that does the effects for Battlestar Galactica (along with Serenity and Firefly). So far I've only been there one day, and it's been exhausting. I think it was partly because I didn't get much sleep the night before, but also because it took me an hour and a half to get there in the first place. Stupid big rig stalled on the freeway!

Anyway, being an intern basically means being a grunt, a go-fer, a runner. (Carousel... carousel...) And all that driving made my lower back ache like crazy. I think I will have to get one of those lower back car pillows.

So ask me in five months if this internship experience was a good one. I have hopes, so hopefully the answer will be yes.

I spent St. Patrick's Day looking at various wedding dresses with Bleusky. Boy, it was exhausting. Perhaps we should have a traditional Betazed ceremony where everyone's naked.

Then later that night, me and Whateley and our roommates proceeded to get trashed on our own version of the Borg Sphere. Yeah, with 5 shots of liquor per drink, it just sneaks up on you. I conked out soon after.

I woke up this morning feeling fine, but as soon as I started moving around, riding in a car, and drinking water, I felt like crap. Yep, I was hungover. Bad. Remind me never to drink like that again. I had dinner, what was the deal? The food should've been a nice buffer like it was in Vegas. Anyway, Whateley was good to me all day and took care of our laundry while I slept and drank lots of water. Then his stepmom proceeded to bombard me with lots of details about our wedding. Damn. Well, I suppose somebody's gotta think of those things. Hmm... is it still too late to elope?

Anyway, I definitely got the job at Borders (at the cafe) so I'll be making a bit of money now. If anything, it'll mean that we can still get books at a discount even after Whateley leaves, and after we're married, I won't even have to "buy the books then give it to him," he can just use my discount himself. (Although, my desire is that by the time we get married, I won't have to work for Borders any more.)

So this coming week will be the first in a long time where I've actually got to be places almost every day. I'll post my schedule when everything settles. It looks like Wednesdays will be Whateley and my "day together" so that means that if you want to hang out with the both of us, that will be the day to do it.

One last note: the next time I'm in Vegas, which will actually be our wedding day, I will make sure to take a ziploc of Metamucil with me. Let that be a warning to y'all. With all the buffets, unless you're planning on having a salad at every meal (which I always think is a waste of money unless they have a really varied and high-quality selection of veggies and salad fixin's... which Vegas buffets aren't known for) then having a glass of Metamucil at the end of the night will be important. Well, at least for someone like me. I think my large intestine is super efficient at absorbing water and packing 'em in tight.

Heh heh. I love being gross.

I just used Photoshop to create the gif below. Just look for the animation menu. It was a bit complicated, actually, cuz I was trying to make it easier on myself, and I basically did some importing a folder as an animation and then rearranging and deleting layers, and then turned the layers into frames. And then I had to figure out where I can upload an animated gif and link to it cuz Blogger won't let you upload animated gifs. It took awhile, but tinypic.com worked wonders!

Anyway, on the news front. Good new all around!

1. I am "this close" to getting a job at Borders, which will help pay the bills for the time being.

2. I got an internship at that visual effects company! I start next week, and I'll go more into details as soon as I can. I'm pretty sure I can talk about it now, but I don't want to jinx it, so I will wait until I've at least been there one day. It's unpaid, hence the job above, but if I play my cards right, this internship can turn into a real job afterwards. Yay!

3. Whateley got a new (and better) job!

4. Wedding plans are good! Things are progressing at a good rate!

Regarding #4, yeah, we were definitely procrastinating. We should've done all this months ago, but we finally buckled down and took a scouting trip to Vegas these past three days. Here's what we found out: chapels in Vegas are cheesy. And many are scuzzy. And they are in crappy neighborhoods. And they are small.

After looking at a couple of old Strip hotel chapels, we decided to check out the Luxor for the heck of it. Well... the chapel there is bee-yoo-tee-ful! Not a hint of cheese anywhere! And it's encased in really thick walls that keep out the casino sounds, so you forget that it's in a casino! And the color schemes are gorgeous. So... even though it'll make our budget a little higher than we want (we were hoping to go as cheap as possible without getting cheesy because we want to save up for a house for the long term and TiVO for the short term and Whateley will need a new car in the medium term) but... well, if you compare the Luxor to the independent chapels (or even the old Vegas hotel chapels) they just blew them out of the water! In short, the others blew! You can't help but see how cheesy and scuzzy they were!

Anyway, so we got a game plan, we got a date (which I will not reveal at the moment because I want to make sure we can book the chapel at that date), and it's just matter of calling and setting things up. So, wish us luck!

Because I have no life, I created this animated gif of the national flu report:

Okay, say what you will, but the best $13 I spent was on a flu shot last October.

How else can you explain that in our household, Whateley and our two roommates got sick (not at the same time, but as soon as one ended the other began) and I alone did not get sick? It's not like we're the cleanest people in the world, and because of my eczema I touch my face a lot (I shouldn't, I know, but when it itches, I do it unconsciously), and yet, I alone did not get sick. I even kissed Whateley while he was sick, and I did not get sick. I tell you, IT'S THE FLU!

But the others were convinced it wasn't the flu because they weren't getting any nausea. Well, I found this excerpt on weather.com (emphasis is mine):

What are Symptoms of the Flu?

Influenza, also known as the flu, is a contagious disease that is caused by the influenza virus. It attacks the respiratory tract in humans (nose, throat, and lungs). The flu is different from a cold. Influenza usually comes on suddenly and may include these symptoms:

• Fever
• Headache
• Tiredness (can be extreme)
• Dry cough
• Sore throat
• Nasal congestion
• Body aches

These symptoms are usually referred to as "flu-like symptoms."

What about "Stomach Flu"?

Many people use the term "stomach flu" to describe illnesses with nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. These symptoms can be caused by many different viruses, bacteria, or even parasites. While vomiting, diarrhea, and being nauseous or "sick to your stomach" can sometimes be related to the flu – particularly in children – these problems are rarely the main symptoms of influenza. The flu is a respiratory disease and not a stomach or intestinal disease.

In fact, I remember from the food handling class that there is no such thing as the "24-hr flu." Those are actually cases of food poisoning. BTW, food poisoning = not much fun.

So, here's my message to you, if you get a flu shot, you will never regret it.

I'm a bit tired, but I'm glad of it because it means that the regimen of sleeping and waking earlier is working.

I have some interesting stuff to blog about regarding the free clinic system, but I'm so tired, I can't go into it now. So, I will blog about that later. But I'm posting a non-entry just to post and say that I'm not dead.

I'm MIA for a week and no one care? Dang. No love. (I'm just kidding!)

This week has been hectic, for once. Well, comparably hectic. I was helping Whateley out with his resume, updated mine, and then went to a "schmooze-session" at a studio in Culver City on Tuesday. I had no shame, I basically went around begging for an internship. Well, I schmoozed so it didn't look like I was begging, but I did. And I think it's working, though no definite news 'til next week.

Thursday, of course, was spent beating traffic, then homework, then class, where the teacher liked my animation, so I think I might actually have a bit of talent in this area.

I heard back from another studio I applied to, and since I'm not all joyous, you can guess I didn't get a job. I panicked and e-mailed my teacher to see if there were hidden meanings to the e-mail, and he just said it's standard. It seems his studio won't be hiring trackers 'til the summer, though this one might have openings next month if or when they fire all the people who's contracts are up. All I can say is, one guy got hired after two hours of experience with Maya Live. Two frickin' hours, while I took a 16-week class. But then, I found out, it's all because he had contacts.

So back to the schmooze-fest. I really don't like networking (though the food was good!) because it makes me nervous, I don't know what to do (although, I didn't seem to have much trouble on Tuesday, which might mean I'm better at it than I think, or else it's not as hard as you think). But the industry I so desperately want to get in to requires networking... a lot. A whole lot. I'm looking at job listings on the internet, and they all want 2-5 years of production experience, and I'm thinking, they're not going to find a lot of people that way! Well, they'll find a lot of people, but not ones with the qualifications they want. Cuz that's one thing about the industry, if you have 2-5 years experience, then you're not going to look online for a job, you're going to use your contacts. Anyway, maybe that's what I gotta do, apply to those online postings and imply, hey, you ain't gonna get much better, so maybe you oughtta give me a chance.

Okay, I'm gonna be late for Superlefty's birthday day, so... sorry Lefty!