horse, indian, and cowboy

Tried to get Carmen & Josh into Spaced. We watched the first episode. Wasn't quite sure how much they were into it. The first episode isn't the best. The performance art one is my absolute favorite. Ah, oh well. Before that we watched A Town Called Panic, which is a very odd French stop motion animation film. Funny and very creative, just quite odd.

I made dinner! I made a vegetable curry. Potatos and yams and tomatos and other good stuff. It was quite tasty too. Took me forever to cut up all the ingredients, but I'm also a really slow cutter of things. I also took lots of breaks. It cooked up quite fast, and easily! Yum yum yum.

In the afternoon, I walked down to Irving for some shopping. Got some more facial cleanser, because I was running out and I am pretty satisfied with the brand (Cetaphil). Got my apples and bananas and curry ingredients. Also got some pastries from Sheng Kee. And lunch was a hot dog. Yum yum yum. I also got some tea, Earl Gray. To replace that which I finished off. I love me some strong black tea. Looked up more jobs. Most I'm not quite enthusiastic about, but ya never know what will and won't kindle your spirit.

So jobs, curry, groceries, movie. It was all quite nice. Now the weekend is here! I have a project I need to get started on tomorrow...

so much biking, my bum will be so sore

It is past midnight so....Happy Towel Day to all the hoopy froods out there! (May 25th is Towel Day).

Went to Taco Night at Erics, with Carmen and Josh. Met Addy and Alex and Aaron and Cory and...a whole bunch of people. The tacos were delicious. I drank a bit, and chatted about all sorts of things. It was a bike ride there and back, but it feels good to be on a bike. I'm out of shape, but not totally bad at it. Again, it is just that last hill that I can't quite make it up. Josh was saying it was cold, but I didn't think so. Probably because my blood was pumping. Anyway, the shindig was fun. Met some nice people. Everyone I've met thus far has been friendly. Good sign for a place.

Earlier in the day, I got a Vietnamese sandwich for lunch. That was good. I've been here a week, but it feels much longer. Maybe because the social life here is more active? Ah. Yeah. I applied to a few more jobs, and followed up on this internship (they got back to me! Dad knows who "they" is, I don't want to say it here for fear of jinxing or counting my eggs before they hatched). So I did the job things. Also watched an art video feed of Scott C. making a painting. That was cool.

A pretty good day. Work stuff in the afternoon, shindig in the evening.

Tomorrow I'm going to make potato curry for dinner. Hopefully I don't screw it up and poison Carmen & Josh.

zzzing

I suddenly feel very tired. Did I not drink enough tea? Did I not sleep enough?

Today I applied to some internships and some jobs. Yay. My not art resume doesn't look too shabby.

Still not sure if I'll drive down tomorrow or...hmmm.

Yeah, my mind is wandering around right now. Did some drawing as well.

Ate a sammich, ate a bagel and shmear. Josh and Carmen went out for dinner, and Carmen is at a show and I showed Josh how to play mancala on a makeshift board.

Really not sure if I want to actually find work in San Francisco. The city is so big and daunting. It makes me feel nervous. I just can't get relaxed here, and I don't enjoy that. I do need to pop down to Santa Cruz again. Give that place another feel.

kick it trill trill

Oh man, suddenly getting very tired. I did some biking, and that...ooh. I'm out of shape.

So my trial on CS5 expired, and Josh and Carmen have CS4, so while you can go forward with files, you can't go back. So I spent the afternoon rewriting my resume in CS4. Goody. It looks about the same, though I can't remember the type sizes I used. Tomorrow I shall make a "regular person job" resume, and start applying to not graphic design places. Though there are a few jobs in my "to apply to" list that are artsy. It seems like in the Santa Cruz/Monterey area there is a lot of seasonal jobs coming up, so if I can get one of those, I can get the money rolling in and then I can make connections and try to get an art job before summer ends. Ya know? I think that is my main plan of attack.

So tomorrow: make a not so art focused resume and apply to jobs. Also plan a Carmel course of action (there is a desk job that you have to apply for in person, and it seems like they are doing mass hirings, so it seems a good chance, plus it is just nice to get out of the house.)

Carmen wasn't feeling well. Something didn't agree with her. She just now discovered that saltines are good for an upset stomach. That and ginger ale.

I had a sandwich and snacked on this and that.

In the evening, it was Erin's birthday, so we biked over to her place. Biked into Golden Gate Park and down through the "panhandle" which is some sort of bike short cut thingy...thing. It was a good ride. Not too bad. Met lots of new people, and some people (well, Adam, Vanessa, Stephen) are becoming familiar faces. Had some soupy vegetables. Talked movies with Adam. Played some Wii. I pointed out to Erin that her roommate drinks the same whiskey that Ron Swanson does (Lagavulin).

The bike home was tougher. The last hill. I just can't do it!

I have things to do tomorrow. Need to make some real progress. REAL BIG AWESOME PROGRESS. I've been in San Francisco a week now, just about.

rapscallions

Watching Star Trek with C & J as the day winds down.

I looked up more jobs. Thought about how there are lots of summer hirings going on, probably, right now in certain places. Got some bananas and apples from the market. Looked up non art jobs. I need to make a non art resume, so that I can apply for a broader range of jobs. Get some sort of work. Still not sure where I want to be, be it San Francisco or Santa Cruz.

I had a yummy sandwich for lunch, and we had quesedillas for dinner. We went to Social Brewery after dinner and had tasty brews with this guy Tim, who is visiting from Seattle. I think he is doing some work for Pop Cap in San Francisco, or something. I'm not quite sure of the specifics. He was a mile a minute talker. The brewskies were good.

Tomorrow I'll...I'm not sure. I think I'll get into InDesign and work on my resume, and maybe day after tomorrow I'll go down to Santa Cruz and party crash some screen printing studios, and talk to them about work and things. I need plans.

To Redwood City and Back

Sundays are good days!

Carmen was busy with her music, Josh was busy with something...else. After tea and toast and snacks, I walked around the area a bit. Looked at the cool houses. Went up the hill, went up steps. I wish I could locate my rechargeable batteries for my camera, so that I could actually take some photos. I'm getting out and seeing things, but not taking any pictures. The fancy camera spoiled me. That one takes such nice pictures, and so easily! Ah, oh well.

I saw at 16th & Lomita and drew this pepto pink house. This cute guy on a bicycle totally checked me out. I cheered on this other guy who was huffing it up the hill on his bike. I know how that feels.

When I got back to the house, I put some color on the little drawing. I sort of like it...but it could be better. Need to draw more. Always need to draw more.

At 5ish, I drove to Redwood City. I needed to get my coats, but also Nate and I had plans to watch Game of Thrones together, because that is what we do. You gotta watch the show with people who know what is going on, and what is important. He had a burrito waiting for me. What a brother! We drank good beer, looked at the eclipse, and watched telly. Well, we watched Community and Game of Thrones and the last half of Wet Hot American Summer. Us Spencer Kids, we love our telly. Game of Thrones was awesome, as always. The next episode is set to be AWESOME. Ships and fighting and all that cool stuff.

My car is driving fine, which makes me happy.

Back in San Francisco, we watched Sherlock, because Carmen & Josh haven't seen it yet. Oh I've watched that first episode SO many times. Perfect way to end the evening...though I think I'm going to stay up and watch Mad Men. Having my own room has its downside...I don't have as early a bed time as when I shared a studio with Nate. HMmm.

I'm with the band

Wheee! Spent all day in the recording studio with Odd Owl. I was filming them while they recorded. Eight hours, but it didn't feel like that long, all things said.

In the morning, I burned my first bagel, and cut myself cutting my second. Still, it was tasty stuff when smeared with creme cheese. Also had a cuppa tea.

At 1pm, I got the call and put the camera and tripod in my car, and off I went to Daly City! It was trafficy, but not too complex. Didn't even miss an exit. The recording studio was pretty nifty. Lots of equipment and cables and things I kept well away from, lest I mess something up. I got my tripod set up, and filmed bits and pieces of Carmen, Stephen, and Adam (Phil was working and wouldn't be in to record till later) and when they got into the full practices, I got shots of them going through the whole song separately, and from different angles when available. Hope I got enough for them to use, for whatever purpose.

There was an hour break, and Carmen, Adam and I got sushi. I got a tempura plate. Num nums. Phil arrived then, and he got some sushi as well. We chatted about Doctor Who and then it was back to work! Lots of set up, and Stephen and Adam took down the drum kit and other things. At the end of the day, it was just Phil putting his guitar track in.

I think the new track sounds awesome. Can't wait for them to complete it.

I had to park a few blocks over, but it's all good. I now have a key to the house! Yay!

Now we are watching Star Trek, and I'm snacking.

the sky is pretty at night

Had a nice long walk with C & J after dinner, which was tasty Pad Thai. Went into Golden Gate Park a bit. Found a quesadilla maker. They found one, in a box. And took it home. Hahaa.

Looked for more joby jobs. Want to visit Santa Cruz again. Somewhere more mellow. Carmen and I drove downtown and went to Trader Joe's for shopping. I got some Trillfood. It was so...crowded. Lots of people and big buildings and foreign roads. Ahhh. Overwhelming! Good to see a bit more of the city, though I haven't really explored.

I had toast and tea for breakfast. And we got some tasty buns from a Chinese Bakery. Num nums! And the pad thai was excellent. I've agreed to make dinner once a week, so I need to look up a recipe. A recipe I am capable of making. MMmhmm!

Phil dropped by for a bit after practice with Carmen (well he came back with Carmen) but he was on his way pretty quick.

I need to take some serious initiative. Get my feet moving. Get out there. Get my name on people's lips.

But I also really want to find work somewhere...more mellow. I'm a pretty slow paced person, I feel. Big cities are just so...big!

red shirts & risotto

My trial version of InDesign expired, so that makes it quite tricky to update my resume. Buuut, I saved all the various resumes that I wrote up, so I have a bunch of .pdf versions of different configurations. Like, ones for graphic design and production and screen print and all that jazz. Sucks but not totally awful. Applied for a few more jobs.

Carmen made shortbread, and combined with their jam? Ohhh boy. Good stuff. Totally getting spoiled with good cooking. I hope to learn a few tricks and things. I want to be a better cook.

For lunch, we went down and got some Vietnamese sandwiches. Nummy goodness, and quite affordable. Later on I finished up my pulled pork sandwich leftovers. Sandwich is for sure the type of food that I like the most.

I kept on the down low in my room for a bit while Carmen was giving some vocal lessons, then it was risotto time! Damn good cooking. Very hearty. After dinner, we watched some Star Trek. The original series. Ohhh the first episode did not age well. Quite, err, sexist...and strange. The next one was good, though still a bit odd. Amazing the difference 45 years can make.

Tomorrow? More jobs. Also will look more into those agencies. That is how Josh said he got a job...through a hiring type firm place. I do feel more motivated here, but that could just be the momentum from the move.

trill in SF

I am in San Francisco! Yay! And the job hunt continues with a fervor. It is also nice to have more people around, Josh & Carmen will be here far more than Nathan. And Carmen works from home, so I'll be able to pick her brain about things.

Nate when off to work and I bid him farewell at that time. I played some Skyrim, and then got to packing things up. I left a good amount behind. Well, not a good amount, but enough to not overwhelm my guest status. Clothes, art supplies, etc. Every move, I can take less with me. That is, until I find a job and an apartment. Then I have to start getting things again. But that is...well hopefully not too far away.

I left Redwood City at 6:20ish. Car drove just fine on the freeway. There was a bit of traffic, but I wasn't too held up. An hour between here and there.

I arrived and then we drove down to the Tenderloin District to eat at Farmer Brown; a southern food place. I had pulled pork and a pint. There was also gumbo and jambalaya and catfish. Though that is what they ate. It was an excellent meal. Back at the house, there was street parking for me. Yay! Josh helped me bring my stuff in, and it didn't seem like that much stuff. It all tucked away quite neatly. It helped that there was a chest of drawers and space under the bed to tuck things away.

Nathan just texted me saying it was lonely at the apartment. Awww.

vampires, zombies, nords, Oh my!

I made tacos! Delicious tacos! I should have bought eggs, so that I could make a scramble, but I feel they might go to waste because Nathan isn't around to cook that often.

I got my car back today! Dad did some sweet talk and got the cost of repairs down. The shop probably thought they could pull a fast one because I'm a gentle lady, but they weren't prepared for my papa! The car runs super better. A lot more was wrong with it than just the loss of power. Now it doesn't rattle and rev when it is idling at stop lights and such. Sounds very much less like it is having a fit, in fact it doesn't seem like it is having one at all. Go car!

Listening to The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (part two in this vampire book trilogy) and Skyrimed it up. Probably my last night playing Skyrim. Waaah, sad. Well, I might play it a bit tomorrow before I head out to San Francisco.

Did some shopping. Nate is unable to play his precious Diablo III. He will eventually. He is playing the Day Z Arma II mod in the meantime.

I'm a good listener

Nate is bringing home the Jack in the Box. Yaaay. Fast food!

I should introduce exercise into my regimen...one of these days. I'll probably eat healthier with Josh & Carmen, but the good kind of healthy. Not the cardboard kind of healthy.

I had a sandwich for lunch. Good old sandwiches, they'll never let me down.

I listened to Douglas Adams do an audiobook of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, while I worked on job things. That was quite good.

Played some Skyrim. Have to beat them game before I leave! (Just kidding, there is no beating Skyrim).

It will be nice to be in a colder climate. I'm not quite ready for the heat. That being said, I do sort of want to visit Santa Cruz again. Want to get more of an idea of the place, because it seems like a "Trillian" sort of city.

Sunday, blissful Sunday

Had a sleep in. Had hummus and chips and lots of cups of tea. That was swell. Played Skyrim. Nathan was off mountain biking all day long. They went down to Santa Cruz, I think. I took it pretty easy this Sunday. Called mom. Drank more tea. Drew a bit. Nate came home, so in the evening, we sat out on the porch and ate pizza. I had Pida in my lap, because Pida is a sweet doggy. Not as sweet as Holly, of course.

In the evening, we watched Game of Thrones, and it was awesome.

I think I did more today, but I really didn't. Need to pack a couple things up for when I relocate to San Francisco. And make a list of screenprinting studios to ambush check out.

A list is what I need to make.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to a lovely mummy!

saturrday

Nathan is watching In Bruges on his monitor. Ahhh I love this movie.

I spent the evening drawing. Working on the Quentyn Martell drawing, and a little something something for mother's day. Nathan brought home a burrito after mountain biking. I watched Alien, he played this Zombie mod on a game. It was a good afternoon and evening.

Morning and early afternoon sucked. Took the car in to the shop, bright and early. Didn't seem like I really needed to make an appointment, but it was for the best I think. Better to have it, and have them ready for me. One of the car helpers said "Hey Washington" to me, so I dug that. But yeah, turned in my car and got a shuttle back. Had some orange juice, toast, and other breakfast. Nate went biking. I got the call about how much the repairs will cost, and I emailed Dad the amount. Lots of back and forth and now my car is getting fixed, and I'll get it back on Tuesday or so. Hopefully we'll get another 50k miles out of it without any other major improvements, ya know. Hopefully by the time it kicks the can, I'll be all employed and making bucks and things. That is a good thing to hope for.

So car bummer for the first half of the day, movie fun time and drawing and burrito in the second half. It balances out?

car-no-go

Well, I wanted to write up how awesome the Odd Owl show was. But I didn't get there. I was just getting onto the freeway, when my engine decided it was not having the idea of going faster than 45mph. The brake light came on, though I didn't know why. So I pulled off the immediate next exit, called Carmen to say I wasn't coming, and returned home. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I have a car appointment. Going to get it checked out and all that jazz. 9am. Wheee. Prius man, when the warning light goes on you really have no leeway. You have to get that engine checked. Immediately.

Ahh.

Didn't get up to much else the rest of the day. Car stuff. Had some pasta.

Weekend is here. Let's see how this car stuff resolves itself. Booo.

Poor Quentyn

Just what I spent the night working on. About four hours. A piece of fan art of Quentyn Martell, from the end of A Dance with Dragons. Want to finish it tomorrow afternoon, before I head off to the Odd Owl show. The text isn't going to stick with the piece, it is just a placeholder...of sorts. Anyway. Yay! Drawing! I need to get a move on with my ideas and concepts. Keep making art.

I didn't play that much Skyrim today...because I got stuck in a really tough dungeon and now need Nathan to fight my way out of it. Speaking of Nate, it is Midnight and he isn't home yet. But I also think that on Thursday, he and coworkers go out for dinner or something.

Made another food errand. Nate needed his Ovaltine. Hahah. The check engine light came promptly on. I'm going to clear the codes after a drive into San Francisco, and see if the problems compound. Agghh. I did NOT want car troubles this soon. I know it is pushing 200k miles, but COME ON!

Anyway. Did more job stuff that feels fruitless, but gotta keep at it.

a common Wednesday

I'm totally kicking butt at Skyrim.

On Sunday I will relocate to San Francisco and do the job hunt from there.

So no more Skyrim for Trill, come Sunday.

Did another check on my car, and only one of the codes came up. Just need to keep a watchful eye on it.

Washed some dishes. Looked for jobs. Mmmhmm.

Listened to the radio comedy Elven Quest. It was silly. Needed a break from all the American Gods and The Unbelievable Truth I've been listening to.

Here is a drawing.

Introducing Nate to Lily Allen, because I explained that her song Alfie is about her brother Alfie Allen, who plays Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones. Yup. Nathan played my character on Skyrim tonight, and it is tough watching someone else play your character because they don't do it how you would do it. Yup.

Another day for slim job pickings. Boo. Need to start looking up screen printing studios to cold call and stuff. Mmmn.

Did the code checked on my car. Dad, I emailed you the codes, check them out and give me advice. Yup yup?

When I went outside, I just started sweating immediately. 81 degrees is 14 too many for me.

Later on in the day, I went shopping. Bananas, apples, bagel shmear, chocolate milk. Yumm!

Sort of a lack luster day. Hard to get enthusiasm for the job quest. But get it I must.

Ah, I also leveled up a bit in Skyrim. That will be a good thing about being at Carmen & Josh's. No Skyrim. That is a distracting game, and when I don't continually die horribly it only makes me want to play it more, because it means I'm getting the hang of it and getting better and all that jazz. Yeah.

mediocre monday, though I did kick butt in Skyrim

Jobs are slim pickings. Need to start the cold calling and awesome elbow my way in somewhere. Just been applying to people who say they want resumes. Well they SAY that, but they never get back to me, even the jobs for which I qualify.

Anyway. When I first opened my eyes this morning, I got a beam of sunlight right in my retinas. Gahhh. What a way to wake up.

Looked at meager jobs. Listened to The Unbelievable Truth. Ate a sandwich. Played Skyrim. Contemplated my life a bit. Swept a bit.

Drew a bit in the evening, but the image is a Tumblr inside joke that makes no sense outside of context, so I won't be posting it here.

Nate and I played this tandem car explosion shooter game thing. Can't remember the name of it, but it was quite fun.

Need to do some shopping tomorrow. OH and that diagnostic thing. Need to do that. I have all day yet still I don't get to doing certain things.