happy new year!

Okay, so it's not New Year's yet, but I just wanted to say it anyway.

It's been a while.

I'm sorry I haven't been updating. I've been working a lot and doing other things on the side, and also, there's been a boy at work who's been a constant distraction.

How could I explain our relationship? It's like a Jim-Pam thing from "The Office" in its earlier seasons, but it started out like a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan thing from "You've Got Mail." I mean, we HATED each other in the beginning, can you believe it? He would prank me, and I would be so mean and rude to him, it was almost too funny to be real, if that makes any sense. And then, I started getting slightly interested in this mean, yet funny, boy. Because he really is a funny guy, aside from the pranking, and he's good at his job, and we actually like the same things.

So, after work, there's a party at this bar, and he asks me if I'm going, and I say yes. I go, and when he shows up, he comes with his girlfriend who is this skinny girl and pretty, and I'm kind of disappointed because all this time, this pranking/rude commenting almost felt like a form of flirting, but all this time he had a girlfriend. So I shut the whole thing down, there are plenty of guys are there who are just as interesting.

And then when this other PA quit, they MOVED HIM TO THE DESK IN FRONT OF ME. Unbelievable. Torture. I thought I was going to hate going to work for the rest of my days. And we had to work closely together and do projects together that involved us being in each other's company for long periods of time not to mention that our desks freaking face each other.

Soon enough, I start crushing on him again, this boy with a girlfriend. And it's hopeless for me, but I can't help it. We make each other laugh, and we work well together, and it's just nice to have this sort of relationship with a co-worker. We don't hang out outside of work, that would be weird. But we work well together in the office, and I'm starting to be okay with that, and at the same time, I want my crushing on him to go away, but it can't.

Then, the night of the holiday party at work and a week before his birthday, his girlfriend dumps him. I told this to a friend of mine, and she said, "It's all coming together for you!" I'm happy, I mean, the guy is single now, but I don't want to be his rebound, and, God, I can't really tell if he likes me anyway. I mean, I feel like he does, but...Guys like him don't really go for girls like me.

Like if this were a movie, it would never happen. Even if it's one of those indie films where it might happen, it wouldn't between the two of us. I mean, he is that guy in high school that was super popular and smart and funny and everyone liked him. He's that guy. And the cosmic chances of him and I getting together are nil.

Anyway, he took it pretty hard that night at the holiday party. I left early since my drive from the studio is so far, but the next morning, he came in, hungover as hell and asked me where I was after the party. I told him about my long drive and he said, "That's understandable...I just wish you were there."

Those last 6 words just sealed the deal. And he said it with this sadness leftover from his break-up, it killed me.

So, I'm biding my time and just letting this lead to, well, wherever, and I'm not going to rush anything with this guy because, God, wouldn't that ruin things. We have a nice thing going on right now. We work so well together, we're freaking Mulder and Scully. But if anything happens, you'll know...

hello again.

So, it's been a while since I've written, and I apologize.

The weeks have passed in a blur. The job is better now.

I'm learning a lot, and I'd like to think I'd settled in, but I feel there is still so much to learn at the studio. How can I explain what I do without the technical jargon? Remember making dioramas for school? Like for a book you've read? You take a scene, and you display it in a shoebox with a background and tiny props and tiny people. I guess what I do, is that I make a diorama on the computer.

For each shot, I grab a background, the props, the characters, and I put them all on the screen. And I do that for each shot in the episode. It's a lot of shots.

I also do something like script supervising. For each shot, I put what lines were said and what sounds were heard for that shot.

I also get lunches and dinners for director, editors, producers, and animators.

I also fill the vending machine with tasty snacks.

I'm happy to be working, in other words, I'm happy that I'm making money. Not a lot of it, but it's better than minimum wage, I get to wear casual clothes to the office, and the people are pretty nice and funny.

And just Friday night, one of the studio execs invited me out to dinner with some other co-workers, which was an extremely nice gesture. She said we could order whatever we want and even have a drink. She paid with the company card. That was cool.

So that's life, pretty much. Not extremely exciting, but I'm working/making money, so I'll take it.

hm.

I don't know how I feel about this job.

I know, complete 180 degree turn from my last post. But I'm 2 days into it, and...I don't know. Before I started the job, I was PA on a commercial shoot. I had more fun on those two days shooting the commercial than I had at my new full-time job. Of course I guess it's all the paperwork and new protocol that I have to learn, but honestly, I don't think I'm cut out working for an actual company. I'm really into the freelance, work the hours you want lifestyle. It's risky, but I love it.

I shouldn't judge just by those two days, but let's just say that I'm glad that it'll be over in February. Maybe I'll feel different in February, but we'll see, we'll definitely see. I don't want to get too into it on this blog because I'm afraid who might read it. Unfortunately, nothing is ever really private on the interweb, so lots of censoring or cryptic messages might be rampant here.

The plan for AFTER February--that's the good stuff.

Kuya and Kat just came back from their trip to Machu Picchu, and I definitely want to go there before that area is completely desecrated by commercialism. So, I'm going to start saving my money now for that and for the next months in which I might be unemployed. The thing with my new job is that I'm moving to be closer to it. Right now, I leave an hour and a half before I have to really be there because of traffic. I also get home late.

My rent is pretty good ($500/month) for a room in a house, and it's only 15 minutes to work. It'll be worth the trouble. Plus it's by the beach, so that's cool. I don't care for the area too much, not that it's a bad area, but it's very homogenized if you know what I mean. But I'll look at it as an interesting case study.

Rent is my big expense. That's fine. I'm going to try and see if it's feasible to put 30% of what I earn into my savings (designated for unemployment time) and another 30% into another savings account (designated for travel). The rest will be used for food and other things. Going to have to cut down on buying the extraneous (books, dvds, clothes).

Okay, okay, okay. We'll see what happens. This is going to be interesting.

TAKE THAT RECESSION!

I have a job!!!

After the stint at my internship, I had some trouble trying to find work. I saw a lot of receptionist positions at production companies, but I'm done being the Pam Beesley of an office with more Dwights than Jim Halperts.

The animation studio that my friend works at ended up calling me up for an interview on Thursday. They had a production assistant's position for one of their animated shows that I applied for 3 weeks ago. I went in for my interview Friday (yesterday).

Their unassuming studio sits in a commercial business park across from some windows manufacturing company. They don't even have a sign for their company. I was early and waited for the production manager. Let's call her Sarah.

Sarah came and showed me around the building. Walked by the edit bays (where they edit the show) and onto "the floor" basically where all the animators and artists are. We talked in her office for 20 minutes. She explained the position. I'd basically be helping the animators and doing other production work. She asked me about my goals were and what I wanted to do in the future. I told her I wanted to be a script supervisor. That got her pretty excited since there might be work I could do in that direction for their company.

After the interview, she gave me the job right then!

We toured the studio. I met so many people in a short amount of time so hopefully I'll get everyone's names within the week I start! The studio is an amazing creative space. Lots of toys and games around, lol. They also have a motion capture studio.

I start on Thursday next week since I'm also working on a commercial on Tuesday and Wednesday. Unfortunately my contract with the animation studio is until February since my position is only temporary. But if they get more feature film or gaming work, they might be able to keep me on. I'm just glad to have a stable job and income for a while. YAY!

update: the end of summer

Hello all! Sorry it's been so long...lots have happened lately.

So I finished my internship finally finally, but it was a worthwhile experience. Since they're such a small company, they can't really hire me on, but the lady who mentored me said that she'll gladly recommend me. I'm glad to have someone in the industry vouch for me.

The animation job didn't work out even though my friend said that I was a shoe-in. Oh well. C'est la vie. Maybe there's something out there for me. I've already started looking, but no luck just yet.

Mom said I'm gaining weight. When your Mom offers to pay for a membership to 24 hr fitness for you, that's probably a big sign. With all the recent family gatherings based all around food, it's a wonder that I haven't gained more.

Ugh, I'm 23, done with school, and I thought things would've been figured out by now. It feels a little to early to call myself a failure, but I feel like I'm getting there.

Also, I CAN'T hang around with people who have money to spend. It depresses me so.

life goes on

Thanks all for your prayers. Unfortunately, my best friend's brother did not make it, but we are all consoled that he is no longer suffering in this world. The family is doing well, and I've been spending time with them along with my family (my cousins were in town), hence the lack of posts.

As for the Wal-Mart shoot...one of the head PAs told the other interns that I was the best PA they've had all week! How wonderful. He said that he liked my hustle. I truly gave it my all on that shoot so that I could leave an indelible impression, and it worked. Anyway, I try to give my all on any shoot no matter what. He really didn't have to say all those nice things, it's not like they needed an assessment of all the interns, so the fact that he volunteered those compliments amazes me. I feel like my name is out there and with good connotations. The last thing anyone needs in this business is for people not to recommend you or have anything nice to say about you.

My internship is winding down, but good news...I've just sent out my resume to an animation studio that is looking for production assistants. A friend works there, and she recommended me (see what recommendations can do for you!?). If I get it, the work is full-time, but only until February. I'm okay with that. Gives me time to think about what I want to do in the future (other than travel some more) and put away some money. It's kind of exciting to live this way. I'd like to live closer to the studio if possible, but let's see what happens.

Hm.

I was going to write about my wonderful PA experience on the Wal-Mart shoot, but I'm really not in that space right now.

My best friend from grade school has an older brother who is in the hospital right now. He's not doing very well.

If you can keep him in your thoughts and prayers or just do whatever it is you do to send good, positive vibes out into the world, send them this way.