Pida is a sweet doggie

Applied for some more postings, though the pickings were slim. Still no word back from anybody. Ah, oh well.

Played some Skyrim. Ate a sandwich. Ate a banana and an apple. Drank tea.

Refreshed and looked for more jobs. It's a boring yet essential cycle. I wonder how fruitful things will be, if and when I stay with Carmen & Josh. There is more potential there, because San Francisco is a town town, where as Redwood City is just sort of...a place between other places.

Anyway. Nate came home early. We watched Breaking Bad and Community and looked after the dogs Pida and Mehki, because Chad is up in Washington for the weekend.

Here are some cute pictures:

HULK SMASH!!

I got my ticket for Danny Boyle's Frankenstein. It will be a screening on June 6th, and June 7th. I MAY break down and get a ticket for the 7th as well. I will not be missing this, either way. In the show, the lead actors would change roles. So I would like to see it with both actors (Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch) as both Frankenstein and the Monster. AHhhh!! I was hyperventilating a little bit when my purchase went through.

Anyway. Applied to some more jobs.

Ran some errands. Drove all the way down into Palo Alto trying to find a place to get fuel injector cleaner. I mean, I probably could have stopped at a bunch of places but I kept missing them and El Camino Real is a bitch of a road to go back the other way on. Anyway. Put that stuff in my tank, and got some gas, and then did some shopping at Safeway. Mmm food.

Had a bit of a headache.

Played some Skyrim. That made my headache go away. Also ate some fruit. Yay fruit.

Nate came home at 10:30, we chilled a bit, and then at 11:15 we went to the theater and got tickets for the 12:06 showing of The Avengers. Hurray! Summer movie season has started!

Movie did not disappoint. Action, characters, humor, all that fun stuff. It is 3am though, so I can't give it a full write up. Still. It was much fun. Hulk was really, really good.

Anyway. Goodnight!

just say YES to illustrators

Did y'all like the Odd Owl drawing?

After my oatmeal breakfast, I got back on the job hunting front. One job specifically listed "no illustrators". I applied anyway, but jeeze! Way to be all like "no" to talented people. Whatever.

But yeah, job hunting. Fun stuff. Applying and applying and hoping someone will through you a bone and get you in for an interview.

Nathan brought home Jack in the Box for dinner. His treat! What a nice brother. We watched Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. Fun film.

Didn't run errands. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll run errands.

just worked on that piece. that is it. yes.

Was planning on job searching, but finishing the drawing for Odd Owl took all day. So much repetitive detail, and so much effort to keep from getting sloppy. Still, I am pretty damn pleased with it. Haven't drawn a house in a long while. I had Oz playing in the background and I drew drew drew! Then I finished it up, drove down to Kinkos and they scanned them for me. And it was a good scan too. Didn't need a whole lot of tweaking.

Need to make a grocery run tomorrow. And put gas in the car. Time to make an errand list! Oh, and look and apply for jobs. Need to start that cycle again.

Been here almost a month now. Blimey!

Old Victorian Shirt Design for Odd Owl

11" x 17"

Micron Pen.

at the 'mat

Check that out! About four-five hours worth of work? Lining things always takes longer than I think it does, but that just means that I find it to be a fun activity. Watched Game of Thrones, The Borgias, Star Trek, and listened to some Unbelievable Truth while working on it. I mean...I don't really WATCH watch them, just noise while I work. This is what I like. What I like so much. Just working, having it go relatively well, and having something cool on in the background. Good life.

In the afternoon, I drove down to the laundromat to do my laundry. First I stopped by Safeway because I needed cash for the quarter machine. The car sounds the same and drives the same, it just has those darn warning lights. Boo on those.

Anyway, laundry at the laundromat was an experience (I say experience because this is my first time at a laundromat, every place I've lived in has had laundry on site, either in my parent's house's laundry room, or within the complex I live in). The nice owner helped me get my cash in the machine (it was having issues, even though my fiver was really flat). I talked to Madeline on the phone during the wash cycle, and read City of Thieves during the drying cycle. I made the mistake of putting all my laundry into one dryer, which took a while, when I should have broken it up into two dryers. Ah, oh well. This lady used disinfectant wipes on all the surfaces before she put her clothes down. I thought that was a bit overly hypochondriac. The laundromat looked positively spotless. I folded my laundry, and drove back.

I whipped out the pencils and pens and got to work. They want this design pretty soon. Who am I to deny Odd Owl? Oh right, they are paying clients. They have the moneys, I do the work. And it is good work.

Laundry & Art. Pretty good Monday.

houses inside apartments

Natey went bike riding, and I worked on my art stuffs. Lots of drawing. Lots of trying to figure out how to invent a house that straddles looking realistic but also playful. It is a tricky game. Also it is tough bouncing between references and choosing what to edit in and out. In some the roof looks a certain way, and others the porch looks different. Fun to amalgamate it all. I'm super excited for this piece though. I hope to finish it tomorrow. Lots of inking ahead of me. This is what I live for. Yeaaah. Fun stuff.

When he got back from his day's fun, Nate ordered some pizza. So we ate pizza, drank soda, and watched Breaking Bad. Damn good way to spend the evening. We also watched Game of Thrones, which was AMAZING! Best episode yet.

Didn't do much with my day, besides art and watch stuff. Ah. Another week starts. More job applying. Hopefully that corporate event prop place calls me in for some temp work. That would be cool. That job sounds pretty cool, and I think I'd enjoy doing that kind of thing. The art that I like to do, I can do. I just want to earn money next to other creative people. But if a design/printing studio wanted me? That would also be cool.

Just please, someone hire me! I'm really cool. I swear.

ahhh Saturday

Nathan ended up not going mountain biking, so we spent the day hanging out. Got some delicious burritos from a special little place. Quite tasty, and just the right amount of spicy. We also got some beers at BevMo, and they had Ninkasi Sleigh'r, which is pretty much my favorite beer ever, and it is seasonal to the winter time, so yaaay! So we sat outside, ate burritos, and relaxed. Chatted with Chad and Oleg for a while too. Well they chatted, I listened. I don't have much to add to the programmer conversation.

Nate played games. I watched stuff. It was a pretty chill day. We just watched some Breaking Bad and Adventure Time. I was up late last night finishing a sketch. Going to hit the hay early. When Nate goes to bed, I go to bed. He is getting up for some Sunday mountain biking.

I didn't run the errands that I planned to do, but they are not totally urgent...so long as I don't mind not having the time on my wrist.

Odd Owl Shirt Design

Sketch for a future shirt design for Odd Owl.

Will be hand drawn for extra detail, but I dig this version too.

lazy friday

Can't speak all that highly about today's productivity. I joined LinkedIn, which is good. Got that set up and a going. Can't hurt, ya know? No more responses concerning jobs I've applied for, and there were not any ones worth applying for on my usual sites. Boo.

Played some Skyrim.

Refreshed pages, but found no new jobs. Gah! Come on!

Tomorrows plans include sending a thank you note to the people who interviewed me, and getting a watch battery. I need to do laundry as well.

Talked to Mom and Dad briefly.

Ate pasta. Snacked. Have some drawing to do, so I think I'll work on that. Nathan's back now. Yaaay drawing.

meet & greet

I'm all caught up on dishes! Whoo! Though I broke a small plate. It slid right out of my hand and clattered into the sink and broke. Ah. Oh well.

I played a bit of Skyrim. Doing some roaming and killing of bandits and leveling up and all that fun stuff. I think I'm getting a hang of it.

I also applied for a few more jobs. Yay! My cover letters keep getting better.

At 6:30, I headed to Palo Alto for a meet and greet with Nate's company. Carmen was there as well, as a sound engineer looking to rub elbows. She talked to the CEO, which was neat. I didn't talk to him, but that is okay. I had a couple beers and chatted up Justin, Dean, Other Nate, and other people from the art department. Got advice on portfolios, websites, and those things. It was fun! I high fived Marco. Did lots of chatting.

My car is rattling more, and the check engine and warning lights came on majorly. Tomorrow I'll check all the levels and oils and things, and see if I can figure out whats up. It can't go kapoot now! I need it! For driving!

open house interview

Ahhh had my first interview today. It was an open house type thing for Theme Party Productions. They need carpenters and scene painters, and scene painting seems well varied and pretty cool to do. Yup yup. There were only a couple other artists there, Chico, Jenny, and Carla (?), so it was good that there wasn't a major amount of competition. We got a sum up of the company, and I tried to remember as many things as possible to bring up when I met with Jill, the owner, in the one on one. While waiting to talk to her, I chatted with the other applicants and looked at portfolios. I had some thoughts after leaving the interview about what I should have said, but isn't that always the case? She liked my portfolio, though I don't have the most amount of this type of work. Still, maybe I'll get a chance? That would be cool. I think I would really enjoy being a scene painter. Would be a lot of variance and stuff, and I like when things get changed up. So here is hoping! Good first experience. I need to list out different ways I can make myself be the one people want to hire. Practice practice practice!

Earlier in the day, I went to Safeway and did some food shopping, and I went to CVS to look for watch batteries. I did not find any watch batteries, but I found a squeegee for the glass shower. Hurrah!

I also amassed a list of more jobs to apply for. These ones will need massively specific cover letters and resumes, so that will be my tomorrow. Just gotta keep applying. And hoping.

Also tomorrow there is a Machine Zone open house, so that will be a good chance for networking and talking and advice getting. And maybe I'll stop by the Swatch store in Stanford and get a proper watch battery. Hmmm.

portfoliooo'd

Still no responses from potential employers. Ah. Just have to be patient. They probably got oodles of applicants, and have to sort through them to get to awesome me.

There is a job open house thing tomorrow, so today I went down to Kinkos and got a decent print out of my portfolio on nice cardstock, some copies of my resume on blue paper, and a holder thingy to put my portfolio into. Booyah! Now I have a portfolio to show people, and I can slip in new things as needed. And it flips through really easily, on account of the cardstock. Professional Trill!

The available jobs were quite lacking today. Boo.

Almost all caught up on the dishes.

Tonight put a controller in my hand and had me play Dead Space 2. I got about ten minutes in and was all "NOPE, TOO SCARY!!" The lighting and interface is super cool, but it is scary as all get out. So yeaaah.

Excited for the job open house. They'll have no choice but to talk to me. Ha ha!

But if potential employers are reading my blog right now, rest assured I am quite professional and a good worker. You'd do well to hire me.

back to the hunt

I posted about my Sunday in San Francisco. The post is right below this one. Yup yup.

Today I did two dish dryers full of dishes, but still have more to go. I don't know how Nathan used up so many plates! Free rent comes with certain responsibilities. Nate is hovering and said "We had a barbecue!". Ah. Mystery solved. Still, he could have let the dogs lick the plates as a form of pre-wash.

I looked at the jobs on Craigslist and applied to a few more. Still no responses from other jobs. Come on guys! I need to at least get to the interview stage with a few people.

I joined Twitter, though I don't think I'll tweet much. But now I can tweet at people.

Took it easy. Tomorrow, more jobs! Yeaaah!

Also Nate brought home Jack in the Box for dinner. Go Nathan! Yum yum. I didn't eat all the burger, saved some for tomorrow. I also finished up my bacon and eggs. So I should do some grocery shopping.

Sunday in San Francisco

Got up at 8am. Being around Carmen and Josh makes me want to get up early and be productive. Carmen also said I could stay with them for a bit while looking for work. Which is awesome. Hopefully I'll start getting some interviews and I won't have to take them up on their offer.

Carmen made oatmeal for breakfast and put fancy healthy things in it, and it was DELICIOUS! Thick and hearty and wonderful. Best oatmeal ever.

Their was a picnic planned at Fort Cronkhite, so Carmen made lovely little sandwiches. I made the cucumber, dill, and creme cheese ones. Because I love cucumbers. At 11, Odd Owl's drummer Adam and his lovely wife Vanessa showed up for picnic time. They were both friendly, awesome people all through the day. Actually most of the people that I met today were cool. Such a friendly community, and so full of hugs! Anyway, we all piled into Adam's car and drove North to Fort Cronkhite. While yesterday was hot, today was foggy but generally not that bad. I had my light track jacket, and that was enough.

At a picnic table, we gnoshed on sandwiches of all sorts, cookies, chips, and other good treats. We talked thesis, among other things, and I can't quite believe that it has been a year since I defended my work. A year! I've been graduated almost a year! Whaaat!?

Anyway, after stuffing ourselves, we took a nice walk along the bluffy hills. There was poison oak, but I don't think any of us got it. I certainly am not itchy today (I was wearing pants). There were lots of clusters of people, educational looking clusters.

The walk took us to some bunkers, where a couple asked us to take their photo together, which was special because the guy had just proposed! Ahhh! How sweet. Congrats to them.

From the bunkers, we went to the lighthouse on the point. I like a landscape that is immersed in fog. Something lovely about the hint of shapes of things. Sun is nice, fog is nice, different weather is just nice.

After descending from the lighthouse and bluffs, the five of us put our feet up at this little house on the hill. A nice breather. Then we drove to the Mammal Center, which was just a place to rehabilitate seals and the public was allowed to watch from a safe distance. The elephant seals were loud.

I start a fair number of paragraphs with "after", I should come up with better transitions.

The day out done, Adam and Vanessa returned us to Carmen & Josh's house, and we parted ways. The rest of the sandwiches and sushi were consumed while we watched a couple Enterprise episodes.

I drove Carmen to the open mic night that she was assisting with. We got parking right outside the venue too! No sooner was I in the door at the Fish Bowl than Eric handed me chalk and asked me to do the sign for the night. I obliged, because chalk signs are fun and Eric was enthusiastic about what I whipped out. It was a fun night, and everyone was very nice. Jesse on the ukulele was lovely, Christopher played the guitar, this guy did an acoustic cover of Jump Around. Jesse and Melody did a duet. Everyone was lovely and friendly and easy to talk to, and because I know Carmen and because people know Odd Owl, for once my reputation precedes me! It is awesome.

I dropped Carmen off, hugged her goodbye, and returned to Redwood City. No traffic late at night. Tis good. Nate and I watched the new Game of Thrones episode, and it was inteeeense. And tired from a day of hiking, which followed a day of biking and hiking, I went to bed. Nice.

I'll real blog tomorrow, okay?

Ahhh man, it is like 1am and it is time to go to bed and it was a long day. Too long to sum up right now. I'll do a proper write up tomorrow. During breakfast. Promise!

oh darn these hills!

Wheee! My San Francisco minibreak hath arrived! Whoo!

Had a wee little breakfast, toodled around on the internet (still no info about jobs), and then at 12:30 I hopped in the car, plugged Carmen & Josh's address into the GPS and off I went! And I promptly got on the freeway headed south instead of north. Durrr! But I managed to turn myself around and boom, off I went!

It was a beautiful, brilliant, sunny, warm, lovely day. Wonderful! Was wearing short pants and Dad's Cambridge tank and feeling quite happy with everything. Got all the right turns coming into the city. Traffic was dense on 19th, but not intolerable, and soon enough I was at their lovely cute house. It was squeezed right in, and it has wood shingles and it is darling. They have much art, and everything is designed and wonderful. One of the top houses I've visited, it must be said.

We had pina coladas and lounged in their little back yard area (they have a back yard! Fancy that). I applied some sunscreen, because we'd be outdoors and I think my skin is just about tan enough. Sure it can take a little more sun, but if I didn't apply it today, I would have been properly burnt for sure.

Up the hill we went to this mini park that overlooked Sunset and Inner Sunset. I drew a little bit. Down the hill we went to 9th and got some gelato. Yum. I had the creme brule flavor. So good. From there, we walked back to the house and rested a bit. Then it was biking time! Josh moved the seat on a mountain bike as far down as it would go, but it was still a smidge too high (I have short legs). But I managed. Zoom! Down the hill, down through Golden Gate Park, and down to the beach! Yaaay!

The water was cold, but the type of cold that I am used to. If I had a swim suit, I would have swum in it. But I didn't, so I didn't. I waded a bit, and that was nice. We three sat in the sand and absorbed warmth. Josh and Carmen mentioned that it was the nicest day in a long while. Is it all downhill from here, San Francisco weather wise? Hmmm.

The ride back was killer. All up hill, and me massively out of shape. Back in the day (aka a year ago) I could have done it without stopping, but I definitley ended up needing a breather after the park. Wheeew! My bike was also a bit heavier with fat tires, but that isn't the best excuse.

I drank several glasses of water upon my return. Boy howdy I did.

Dinner was sushi, which I helped roll! Salmon sushi. Eel sushi. Delicious sushi. Yum nums.

My bum hurts from the bike riding, and my thighs are pretty spent as well. Blimey!

I showed Carmen Adventure Time. I couldn't quite gauge her reaction, but she did seem to dig it a bit? I think?

We played a couple rounds of Dominion, and I came up last both rounds. Nate and I should play Dominion. I think he has his own box of it, somewhere. Get our skills up and then take them on! Yeah!

After that, we watched an episode of Enterprise, chatted, and then it was beddy bye time. Tomorrow will be more fun! Yay!

putting the fus in fus ro dah

Today I played Skyrim. Oh first I got up and had breakfast and sad toodles to Nathan. I applied for some more jobs (still haven't heard back from any jobs!). The process is becoming easier, I'd just like to get to the interview stage with someone. Come oooon!

It was a very warm day. I stayed inside, which despite not having many windows still got really warm. The fan is going now, circulating the air and whatnot. It is supposed to get into the high 80's tomorrow, but I'll be in San Francisco for the day and night, so who knows what the weather will be (well, the internet says high 70s).

So I continued with my job hunt and played some Skyrim. Good day.

Nathan came home at 11pm, after working very hard! He says that these are the more easy going days, and soon he will be staying till 2am. That is what he gets for following his dreams.

oh this job is perfect, HIRE ME!

“‎I noticed in your job posting that this is a job that wears many hats, and thankfully I am someone who is enthusiastic about millinery.”


Today I went with a more humorous approach to cover letters, well, I was humorous with ONE cover letter. Ha. Anyhoo, applied to four more jobs. Haven't heard back from the remaining four UI jobs. So either that is really good because they are looking over my application, or I didn't meet the minimum to warrant a response? Ahh oh well. One of the jobs needed some overhauling of my resume and a sweet cover letter, so that took time. Editing resumes in InDesign is so easy. So glad I switched out of Word for my editing.


But yeah, applied for some jobs and got better at cover letters, and didn't panic or freak out! That is what I call an improvement. 


Had a sandwich, and some toast, and tea, and then pasta and sauce for dinner. Nate came home early (9pmish) so we watched some Breaking Bad and went grocery shopping. Yup.


Hopefully I'll learn some positive things back tomorrow from jobs, and anyhoo, I'll just keep applying. Yup yup!

follow your feet

I texted Nathan to send me sandwich shop suggestions in Monterey, and he obliged with three different suggestions. I went with London Bridge Pub. Interesting these little decisions that get made, who knows how they'll effect the rest of our lives? Not saying anything major went down at the Pub, just that we don't know what is major until later. Maybe I should have picked a different sandwich place? Though I did quite enjoy my fish & chips, and my couple pints of Guiness. The bartender, Matt, was cute and chatty. This old dude Gary was interesting as well. I filled a couple pages in my sketchbook with drawings. It is nice to just...relax. Today was all about relaxing, but more importantly going somewhere new and relaxing there. And going to a BEACH and relaxing.

After breakfast, and replying to the rejection emails with a nice "thank you for considering me", I planned out a rough itinerary for the day. Found an address to plug into the GPS for Santa Cruz (the Lighthouse Field State Park). From there I would go to Monterey, and if I had time: Carmel. I ate some more breakfast, which I guess could be, by 1pm, considered lunch. Theeen I headed out.

It was a beautiful day for a drive. Warm, sunny, and just lovely. The roads were winding, but the Prius handled them with gusto. Santa Cruz is farther from Redwood City than I initially thought. Still, a reasonable distance for a day trip.

Parked at Lighthouse Field State Park, in Santa Cruz. I clambered down to the beach and wiggled my toes in the sand and water, the popped a squat on a rock and got to drawing. There were some young surfers, and some old ones, and they were all quite wonderful! I drew the beach, and I doodled the surfers wiping out, and I drew the surfers paddling, and I drew more of the beach, and all was wonderful. I walked back up the bank, and wandered down the beach a bit. Sat on a small cliff top and drew the surfers from another point of view. Then I found my way down to the beach, and walked in the surf down a ways. There were lots of cute doggies frolicking. I caught some sun, but don't feel burnt. It was a hot day, but not melting.

I texted Nate for sandwich place recommendations in Monterery, and once I got some suggestions, I put one into the GPS and off I went! Hit some traffic getting out of Santa Cruz, but it opened up. I paid for parking on Fishermen's Wharf in Monterey, and went to the pub on the waterfront. I sat at the bar, with my back to the water, and ordered some fish & chips. I thought about going outside, but I struck up some conversations, and it was nice to talk to people, so I stayed where I was. Talked Monterey and the area and art and sketching and all sorts of things. Twas nice!

I left when the sun was mostly down, and enjoyed the remnants of the orange sky from a view on the beach. Standing in the surf is such a nice experience. I really quite enjoy the atmosphere of Monterey and Santa Cruz. I think I'll look for jobs in that area, moreso than the Bay Area. I like it a bit quiet, I reckon.

It was a nice drive back, if a bit lengthy. Nathan and I watched some Adventure Time and ate Choco Taco. Totally addicted to those ice cream treats. Num nums.

I liked getting out. This weekend, I'll be going to San Francisco and hanging with Carmen and Josh. Fun!