We Build Then We Break

Okay so today I got to do a publications build at work, putting together Teacher Packets. It reminded me of the Microsoft Conferences I did with MCA where we did “Bag Builds” for all the conference attendees. A Bag Build is a thing we do for Event Force where they have these extremely long tables set out and all laid out are the individual contents of the final product (Conference Bags) and you go around the table taking one of each, collating the items and then stuffing them in the bags. Then someone zips up all the bags, and someone else counts them all. So it was like that, except on a smaller scale. But all I could think of was the Event Force Bag Builds. So I set everything up and took some photos so you could see. 

Well, i didn’t set up all these materials, but the picture of the table with the separate stacks is what I did set up.  Don’t mean to false advertise. 😉

Also in this post, I went a little crazy with POLADROID…which…if you have a MAC, I definitely recommend you go download it! It’s such a freshtacular app!

Here’s my Poladroid madness:

Life Keeps Passing Me By

Just a quick post about my week in review 😀

Every morning I take the bus to work and I love it because I’m absolutely in LOVE with the water and the way the mountains are off in the distance. So every morning I get to see both the Cascades and Olympic Mountains along with Lake Union and the Waterfront! 😀 Here’s some photos from the ride to work:

Usually because of the way the bus system works, I get to downtown Seattle pretty early in the morning so I go to Borders Bookstore (which…I don’t really like…I much prefer Barnes and Noble, but B&N is not as close to my bus stop as Borders). This past Thursday, I found this GIANT Corduroy book:

I work at a publishing company and we use a lot of local art for the publications. I take ‘doodle breaks’ here and there to draw up some new stuff to include in the publications. Here is one of my doodles that made one of the Journals:

This past week, one of my house mates bought me a giant cupcake! She said it reminded her of me because when I first moved here I used to always bake cupcakes for everyone in the house to enjoy. 😀 I love my sweet house mates!

And since I work in Lower Queen Anne, I’m real close to Seattle Center where the Space Needle is…and I LOVE the Space Needle! 😀 I’ve been 3 times and would be content to go every weekend. I love seeing the city from above! Here’s some shots of the Space Needle I took this past week:

And Friday when I was heading home from work, I was walking to the bus stop and the Ballet, which is at Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is, was all lit up pretty!

Well, that’s been my week in review, of sorts. 😀 Sorry for the lame quality photos… I’ll be getting a new digital camera soon!
That’s all for now!

The Boob Fairy

http://www.youtube.com/v/2Ctz5T7AHpc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1

My co-worker Leah introduced this song to me and I die laughing every time I hear it!  Granted, I’m not lacking in this area, but it’s just genuinely funny!!  It’s a song by a chick named Dierdre Flint.

Here are the lyrics:

When I was in my teenage years, I did just what I should
I listened to my mother and I was kind and sweet and good
And my friends and I did rituals and I prayed with all my might
That this would be the evening that she’d stop along her flight
Well, that was several years ago and that chick’s long overdue
And it’s time I came to terms with something plainly clear to you.

The boob fairy never came for me
No, the boob fairy never came for me

Okay, I’m perky and I’m cute and I’ve got a great personality
But the boob fairy never came for me

Well, we were the third house on a country drive, I thought
Maybe she just got lost, so I hung my bra on the mailbox
Til the neighbors took it off
And all my friends got visits and expanded through the years
And left me wailing to the gods buying training bras at Sears
Still I harbor hopes, she’ll come for me, I know she will
I’d get ’em done myself if she’d agree to split the bill
The boob fairy never came for me
No the boob fairy never came for me

Look, I wasn’t wanting melons, just a cute curvaceous B
But the boob fairy never came for me.

This isn’t a song about boobs. Not really. 

The boobs are just a set of metaphors to symbolize everyone’s 

fear of human inadequacy. 

Hey! We’ve all felt the pain of being dissed by one fairy or another,

 so during the next refrain I want you to join in with your 

own fairy that never paid a call. Maybe it’s the height fairy or the butt nymph. 

Men, maybe it’s the pectoral or hair fairy or maybe 

some other fairy you just want to mumble about. 

Look, nobody’s going to ask you to enunciate. 

And sisters, I don’t want you feeling alienated 

because you happen to be full-figured. 

Just change the line to the boob fairy wouldn’t let me be or 

the boob fairy became obsessed with me. 

Okay, here comes the refrain. 

Everybody join in.
The boob fairy never came for me
No the boob fairy never came for me
Though the hip fairy came two times
and the thigh fairy came three
The boob fairy never came for me.

Meet Me At My Window

As I promised, here are some more pictures of my office! 😀 The girl in the pics is the girl who I’m replacing. It’s sad that she’s leaving cause she’s so amazing! I love hanging out and talking with her. 😀 She’s moving to Cali at the end of the month and let me tell you…I got some BIG shoes to fill! In any event, she was pretty proud of the work I did today, which is very promising. I’m super excited about learning InDesign and I think I’m getting the hang of it very well!

a further away shot of the office building (the tan church building on the left)

the temp station I’m at for now…with InDesign open 😀

random shots around the office. the desk that leah’s sitting at will be mine when she leaves. 😦

A fun added bonus…this place is full of secret passageways 😀 okay, not secret really…but I do feel like a secret spy when I go through them 😀

Hope you enjoyed the pics! Day 2 rocked!

First Day On A Brand New Planet

Today was my first day at the new jobby job!! It’s such a great job! I really like it…already… 😀 I get to learn InDesign, which I’ve been wanting to learn for a long time now. Here are some pictures of where I work. I’ll take more tomorrow! 😀

On the walk home, looking back at the office building…which is really a church that they bought out and use as an office/counseling venue.

On the way home, the view from the office:

So the place I work for is a small local publication company that focuses on counseling. They also have some offices on site where clients will come for counseling sessions. And I absolutely love the job…but I gotta admit, I feel the pressure in working in an environment where there are counselors around. Because I know that they can tell things based on mannerisms and facial expressions and all sorts of other things, so every time I would meet someone new, I’d be thinking, “oh no. can they tell i’m nervous that i’m going to forget their name??” Now I know it’s silly…but that’s seriously the things that go on in my head. hahahahaha. But the people are all very nice and way cool. I love just observing and listening to them! 😀

The girl they hired before me only lasted a week, because she felt she wanted to pursue more active graphic design…but I’m content to do layout and editing stuff..it’s so relaxing! 😀 But I can’t help but think when I pass these people, “Do they think I’m gonna bail too? Cause I’m not.”

But my boss really likes my work and she’s so fun to be around! I can’t wait to see what new things I get to learn!

PS: another song for you to check out…I was listening to this today on the bus ride home…on repeat…love love love James Morrisson’s voice..and I couldn’t help but laugh cause the song is called PLEASE DON’T STOP THE RAIN…but when you live in Seattle, it’s just a funny concept.

Brand New World

I HAVE GREAT NEWS!!! 😀 I GOT THE JOB!! I’m going to be doing layout editing as a publications assistant at Rational Island Publishing! I’m so thankful and grateful to everyone who has been praying with me and for me that the right job would open up! It totally did! I’ll be getting paid well, doing what I love! This is a giant answer to prayer and I’m so glad I get to share this great news with you guys!

And to add a cherry on top, I’ll also be doing some part time video editing for them, which will only increase my skills and challenge me to embrace more and more creativity! A lot of people have been asking how far it is from where I work, so I figure I’d include a map of sorts so you can see:

The place I’m working at is located in the lower area of the Queen Anne neighborhood and the bus runs straight from my area to the job area…so I only have to take ONE bus!! My neighborhood (Northgate) is the “A” and the job site is “B.” And the office I’ll be working in has two huge windows where I can see the waterfront and Seattle Center! I start this Thursday and I’m SO excited!

If I Could Make A Living

So I woke up early this morning to eat breakfast, iron my clothes, etcetera etcetera because I got a callback yesterday from the Residence Inn Marriott Hotel down by south Lake Union area! It’s for the Front Desk Clerk position and it pays $10.25 an hour with some awesome benefits! The interview went really well and I was really pleased with the positivity that came from the interviewer when it was all done. I should find out by Thursday if I got the job or not…so…that’s tomorrow. 😀 Then, after I got done with the interview, I walked across the street to the Marina and took a walk on the pier for some quiet time and just to stand amazed at how awesome God was for providing a sliver of hope in such a seemingly hopeless time.

Since I quit my last job, I’ve gotten told left and right that I’m probably not going to find a job and that I should be worried that I won’t get a job and I get the “Good Luck” that comes with apprehension in the tone and the eyes that look sorry for me. But I’ve come to the conclusion…that if God has helped me every step along the way with this big move and with so many other things in my life…I highly doubt He’s gonna bail on me right now. I know that our economy is spiraling down and that unlike the SNL Bjork skit, we can’t pay for things with clouds. But I’m hopeful and I’m secure in the fact that as long as I’m doing EVERY SINGLE THING I can on my end, God’s gonna come through on His end. Yeah, I know…it takes a lot of faith and a lot of trust…and believe me…I’m gripping onto those tightly! 😀

As I was walking down the pier, I got another call from a lady that works for a small publication called the PRESENT TIMES, which focuses on “co-counseling” and fighting racism. The job opening is for a layout and production assistant, so I will be making corrections to edited articles and working with InDesign to process their publications. This job pays $11-13 an hour but doesn’t have as many benefits. But working in journalism and publications is a love of mine. I should know by the end of the week if I got the job.

Obviously there are so many things I need to look up and research before jumping into either job, but in the meantime, I’m still putting in applications at various local places and through craigslist. 😀 And I’m still believing and hoping and praying for the right door to open and for the guts to walk through it 😀

Here’s some pictures I took while walking around today! :

Shut Up And Drive

I got a call today from the Residence Inn down at Lake Union today in response to a job request I sent in earlier this morning and I have an interview tomorrow morning for the Front Desk Clerk position! It sounds very exciting! Although, if I get the job, I will have to get a Washington State Driver’s License so I can drive the hotel vans to and fro. 😀 Don’t get me wrong, it’s super exciting, but I do have a kind of fear about retaking a driver’s test. I barely passed the Texas Drivers test. I mean, I passed the driving part with flying colors…but the computerized test was a bomb. Mainly because they asked me some of the silliest questions. There was a question about how much I should be fined for being in possession of marijuana…which i don’t and will never smoke…how am I supposed to remember that?? And then another was how much a person should be fined if they run someone over, killing them due to drunk driving… which, I don’t drink, so I’m not sure. I chose the highest fine…and unfortunately it’s too much…cause it was a lesser fine. I couldn’t comprehend that. And then a couple others were about various fines for possession of cocaine and other drugs…and I’m like…uh…I don’t know. So I barely passed. All the other questions I got right. So depending on how the interview goes tomorrow, I might be stopping by the DPS to pick up a driver’s manual for Washington State and I’m thinking about seriously highlighting all the drug paraphernalia fines.

Ungodly Hour

Well, I’m here in the break room at the Washington State Convention Center, having finished up working yet another Event Force. I was so honored to have been asked to jump on board with Master’s Commission of Austin to work this conference. I got good money for easy jobs…which is very hard to come by. I’ve learned so many things this past week. It’s been a quite enjoyable experience and though I’m sad to see the MCAustin team leave, I’m excited that I will get to see them again in 5 more months when they graduate! 😀 I’ve made new friends and many new acquaintances here, as well as connecting with some familiar faces. The only big complaint I had is that the coffee they served throughout the convention and in the break room was TULLY’S coffee…not Starbucks. 😦 boo. But it was fun being a room monitor and getting to brighten peoples’ days. But now it’s all over…and I’m heading back to the hotel once I get to say goodbye to some of the MC team. They have really worked so hard and it’s been fun hanging with them around downtown Seattle and at the Executive Lounge in my hotel. In other news, I am still looking for a full time job. I have gotten back a few emails from different companies that I’ve sent resumes to saying that they are processing applications…so I’ll have to wait to see how that pans out. In the meantime, I will be going tomorrow afternoon to various places around home where I can apply… like at the Northgate Mall or at Barnes and Noble or something. 😀 I guess I will check back in with you guys more tomorrow. I would go into more detail, but I am under rule of the company that hired us out to keep confidentiality about things here. But who knows what adventure awaits me tomorrow. 😀

I did get to start reading a good new book that P.Dan let me borrow. It’s called THE HIDDEN POWER OF ELECTRONIC CULTURE by Shane Hipps (and no, they don’t lie … hahahahahaha!!)

Me and Bastian

For anyone who ever grew up in the 80’s, you’ve probably heard of the movie, THE NEVERENDING STORY. Now, growing up, I LOVED that movie! Such a classic. But I must admit, I also own Part 2! hahahahahhahahaha! So there’s this one part in the beginning of part 2, where Bastian (Jonathan Brandis) has to jump off the high dive. And as much as he wants to make the team, his fear of the high dive is so overwhelming.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Today, I had a “Bastian” moment. I’ve been working at my job for the past 4 months, and slowly and steadily, I’ve found myself more and more unfulfilled. My boss gets frustrated with me and has even snapped on me once. And then I found out recently that she was saying really harsh things about me to a bunch of people behind my back. She doesn’t trust me to do my job, and I am a major frustration to her. And the fact that I hold certain religious viewpoints even though we work in an “ecumenical” environment was an issue to her. I had seen the slow deterioration of my sense of self-worth while I was in that job environment. And a few weeks ago, I realized that I needed to get out. I felt this urge in my heart saying it was time to move on. So after talking to some important mentors in my life, I finally resolved to put in my two weeks notice. So today I had my letter of resignation all typed up and printed, and the day before, I had spent so much time going over in my head what I would say. And all day today I had cold feet! I almost DIDN’T do it. But the more I thought about not doing it, the more miserable and sad I felt. So I finally worked up the courage, thanks to a few friends and embraced the fear. So, two weeks from now, I will no longer we working for the Washington Association of Churches. In the meantime, I am applying for various Junior Graphic Design positions at a few design firms here in Seattle. And on the 13th/14th/or 15th, I will be flying down to Austin for the Sexton/Castagnola wedding and to see the birth of my 2nd niece. And I’ll get to hang out with some awesome people! Like Kelley Rowe, Elaine, P.Diz and Kel, the MC staff, the Flying Marshmallows and tons of other friends! After that, I’ll be back here in Seattle, working an Event Force to make some extra moolah. 😀 And hopefully by then I will have a job set up. 😀 No matter what, I don’t regret leaving The WAC and I’m ready for the next step! 😀