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| This past weekend we partied it up in the city. Friday, dancing at Ruby Skye with a group of people. Saturday, pride celebrations in the Castro. Lots of people out on the streets. We even enjoyed a brief Thriller dance party out on the streets of San Francisco. Good times. But the bathroom situation was terrible; I got stuck in a bad bathroom situation that I'd rather not elaborate on. There were lots of boys making out, and boys checking out my boyfriend. One of them even shouted "He's cute!" and gave me a nod of approval after peeking at John. For some reason, everyone was expecting more naked people celebrating on the streets. The only naked people I saw were anorexic, slouchy, ghostly pale girls. One girl had such a spiky spine, she looked more dinosaur than girl. I kid you not.
On Sunday, we went back into the city (even though every muscle in our bodies ached) for the pride parade and the festivities. Good times. And of course, the food and drinks were overpriced, and we kept losing our friends in the crowd. Highlights of the day include the cute pug that shat like a horse (everyone stepped in his poop) and the fisting demostration in Leather Alley. It was horrifying, but impressive.
I really hope that some good apartment listings start to come up. A while ago, John and I made a trip to San Francisco to check out some places. Individual listings pretty much get taken immediately, so going with a company that owns multiple buildings is a better choice. We saw some studios in Lower Nob Hill ($1095 and up) and Downtown ($1050 and up), all newly remodeled and everything. The Downtown units were really lovely (even had views of the skyline!!), but they were right in the Tenderloin aka the seediest part of Downtown SF. Mergh.
Pittsburgh housing has really spoiled me. For 3 years (1 year with Cathy, 2 years with Kelly), I lived in Fairfax apartments right in Oakland, less than a 10 minute walk from campus. Under $1000 for a huge 1 bedroom, laundry, management office, maintenance people, fancy lobby, even a gym. And Fairfax was on the expensive side because of the location. Over here, you can expect to pay $1200 for a basic studio. Ploob.
Anyway, so the conclusion of the whole housing story... John and I will be getting a 2 bedroom apartment in Berkeley. We're really excited about this. If we had separate places, we would both be paying about $1200 for smallish apartments; 2 bedroom apartments can go for under $2000. 90% of the time, both of us will be in one apartment, and the other would be empty. We would also spend quite a bit of time and money riding back and forth on the BART (or in his case driving) to visit each other. Splitting basic household items and groceries is always preferred. And even if I lived right in the city, I would have to ride the BART to some extent to get to work anyway. So 2 bedroom right next to the Downtown Berkeley BART it is. Oh, and John decided that since my commute will be 30 to 40 minutes, he'll do that many minutes of household chores each day... and if you think about it, there will probably only be 30 to 40 minutes of chores... which means he's volunteering to do ALL the housework. Tee hee hee. I like this arrangement.
There's some company here with a bunch of really new buildings in a good location, but it turns out all the cheaper units are already taken. Poopie. So now we're scouting Craigslist. And by scouting, I mean.. John wrote a script that automatically checks Craigslist for us every few minutes, and when it finds something that fits our specifications, ta-da!!, we get an email. Fatty is putting his computer science-ness to good use!
I have some good job related news. Except I want to wait until it is all fully figured out before celebrating. | | |
| Since my last update...
End of the
semester, school stuff...
1/ The Phipps Color &
Communication project turned out really well. To be honest, I was
really surprised it all worked out... especially since our group had
been behind the entire time. I was very happy about the parts of the
project I contributed: character silhouettes, color palettes, some
layout, some typography.
2 / I am really freaking happy with
my Typography project. (nytimesmag.mov) I think it ended up being
over 25 hours of production in AfterEffects. Not including the
research, planning, and design process. Ever since going to a lecture
that Dan Boyarski gave a couple years ago, I've always wanted to give
motion typography a shot. Fun and painful at the same time. It was also
really great having Dan as a professor.
3/ It ended up being a
lot of fun researching plastic and paper bags for my Design &
Social Change paper. Amazingly enough, it's actually better to use a
plastic bag instead of a paper bag. And I ended up making reusable bags
from plastic bags! (bags.jpg) It spent a while testing different
stitches, widths, and tensions on the sewing machine (I even broke a
needle in the process). Each bag is made from 6 plastic bags and
contains pockets to hold your cellphone and keys. I was really happy
with how this turned out.
4/ It was really exciting to see my
reusable bag poster at multiple Giant Eagle grocery stores. (poster.jpg) Yay.
5/ The fifth year
show went really well. I really enjoyed the pecha-kucha rotating
lecture format; it kept me awake. Each speaker had just over 7 minutes
to speak, so it was a very fast paced, focused lecture series. The food
at the show was delicious, and the open bar was amazing. I even got to
take leftovers from the bar home! Patrick and I made a good graphic
team. All our promotional printed materials turned out really well. Our
entry graphics were also pretty cool.
I
graduated...
1/ Both my dad and John came for my
graduation. John coming to Pittsburgh for graduation was kind of a last
minute thing, and I'm really glad he managed to make it. The weather
was unusually cold and rainy at the time; poor daddy caught a cold and
was sniffling the entire time he was here. We visited Phipps, South
Side Works, and the Waterfront together. The family event for the fifth
year show was a lot of fun too. There was even more food! And all the
Asian parents bonded.
2/ Graduation was quite fun. We started
out with a breakfast in the School of Architecture, then Commencement (Al Gore & Randy Pausch came to speak),
then Architecture ceremony where I received a diploma that was larger
than my upper body, and finally a champagne reception at the Frick Arts
Building. In my graduation script, I wrote that my future plans
involved changing the world with design, starting in San Francisco.
That was the most entertaining part of my whole script. I was a little
disappointed that Laura didn't read that part. Boo.
Saying goodbye to
people...
1/ To be quite honest, I didn't really say
many goodbyes. Apart from one or two people here and there, everyone
just kind of took off. It's pretty easy to keep in touch or reconnect
with people nowadays, so there's no worries. Plus, it's already quite
clear who I will be keeping in touch with anyways. The people I plan on
keeping in touch with have already exchanged emails, postcards, and
facebook messages with me at this point... so I'm not too worried about losing contact with everyone.
2/ By graduation, I was
pretty much just ready to leave. It seemed like a lot of people were
kind of getting on my nerves. I feel kind of guilty about it just
because it's going to be so long before I see a lot of people again,
but still... I really cannot stand unnecessary bitchiness. I also can't
stand it when people don't know how to say no.
Gargh.
Weirdness...
1/
During all the graduation and family events, it was really freaking
weird that Josh's parents, especially his mom kept wanting to talk to
me. It's like.. geez, last time your son spoke to me, he told me to eff
myself and die... and of course I responded by telling him to go do the
same... and now mommy dearest wants to tell me how much she likes my
design work and wants to know about my future pursuits. I feel bad that
such sincere, nice people ended up with a douche bag excuse of a
son.
2/ Also, it's weird when your ex's very bland girlfriend
stares at you. A lot. And with her mouth hanging open.
!!!
Goodbye Pittsburgh... moving &
packing!
1/ I spent 5 years in Pittsburgh. 5 or 6 years is pretty much the longest I've ever spent in any one place. So it was definitely the right time to leave. Pittsburgh was also the smallest city I have ever lived in. Time for something bigger.
2/ Selling all the furniture on Craig's
list wasn't too bad. The worst part was when the girl buying my huge
Ikea shelf ended up being the tiniest Asian girl in the world (yes, she
was smaller than me), and I got stuck helping her boyfriend move the
shelf. Also, it was weird when the guy who picked up my drafting board
for free sent me an email later asking me out to dinner. He claimed he
wanted to thank me for the free drafting board. Right...
heh.
3/ Mailing everything was the biggest pain in the ass.
John said that USPS ParcelPost would be the cheapest option. The CMU
mail center had never heard of it. I tried to schedule a pick up with
post offices, but it turns out I can't do a ParcelPost pick up because
I'm an individual mailing stuff, not an office. I mailed one package,
and MailSmart on Craig St kept telling me that FedEx ground was the
cheapest option for mailing... I was slightly skeptical (although it
really depends on the size and weight of the package). I kept
questioning them about ParcelPost, and the 2 guys working there said
they had that option too. I scheduled a pick up with MailSmart, and
they got all my boxes and mailed them off for me. The next day I went
in and spoke with the girl who works there... and finally I find out
that they kept saying FedEx ground was the cheapest option because they
don't offer ParcelPost!!!!!!! They had never even heard of
ParcelPost!!! Turns out they kept thinking that I was talking about
Priority Mail. WTF. Why the hell didn't they just tell me they didn't
have ParcelPost in the first place! GAHHHH!!!!! So I mailed 3 tubes, 18
boxes, 2 suitcases, and 1 large portfolio through FedEx Ground, and
probably paid about $1000 for all of it. (Zach mailed 2 more boxes for
me through regular USPS and I had 3 media mail boxes through USPS.) I
could have saved a few hundred bucks with ParcelPost if these stupid
people had just told me they didn't offer that option. Although I have
absolutely no idea how I would have gotten any of my stuff to a post
office if I had known... that's a whole different story. It also
doesn't help that I spent a lot of $$$ printing my portfolio at FedEx
Kinkos the following week and that one of the tubes I mailed seems to
be stuck somewhere at the Sacramento facility.
God.
Portfolio & job
stuff...
1/ So apart from my portfolio costing a
fortune, it turned out really well. I organized my projects into 4
different categories: space, print, screen, wearables. Created over 30
project cards that can be mixed and matched depending on who I'm
interviewing with. I also made cover cards, a resume card, and a
personal statement card. Then I made a chipboard box folder to hold
about 20 or so cards. It makes a really nice package. I
win.
2/ Interviewed at 2 places last week. The Vega Project, a
small studio, the kind of design work I want to do, willing to teach,
pretty much perfect for starting out. They were perfectly okay with the
fact that I hadn't had a formal design training and were more than
happy to teach me that stuff on the job. It was also hilarious that
they shared their suite space with architecture firms. There was a lot
of "Haha! She left you architects to become a designer! Told you design
is more fun!" I was pretty psyched that they offered me the position
right there. Later they said they needed to formally interview the
other applicants before making a decision and that I was the front
runner. They said they would contact me if anything changes. I haven't
heard from them yet, so does that mean things haven't changed? Yet? The
other place, Gallagher & Associates, said they wanted to meet me
because they thought I had potential for the future. They usually don't
hire people right out of school. It was good speaking with them
though.. I got a better idea of what exhibit design is about. They also
referred me to other places to look into. Yesterday, I spent forever on
Coroflot and Core77 looking up more design places and asking if they
were looking. And now this is the part where I wait for them to get
back to me. Mergh. My visa allows me to start work on July 12; I hope I
have something by then.
Staying with
Fatty...
It's been
really nice staying with John. I like to call it trial-live-together.
Most of the time, we've just been staying at home working on our
separate things. Fatty wasn't able to do anything for the first week or
so... downtime after his vasectomy. That was an interesting experience,
by the way. We work, we cook, we clean, we watch TV (mainly Desperate
Housewives at the moment). I love it, and I love this boy. Things are
finally becoming easier and drama free for
us.
Family
vacation...
My family came to visit last week. They
stayed in downtown SF, so it was really easy for me to hop on the BART
and head into the city. It was a fun time, and it was really nice that
they finally got to meet John. I think everything went very well. While
my family was here, we wandered around downtown, Chinatown, Fisherman's
Wharf, went on a city tour, and took a trip to Napa Valley. John and I
accidentally overslept on the day of the Napa trip. We had to throw on
clothes and drive into the city to catch the tour bus. We almost didn't
make it in time. We were also the stinkiest, dirtiest people on the bus
since we didn't get to shower that morning.
Yucccckkkkk.
The end. | | |
| Typography project = I love how 6+ hours of clicking away in
AfterEffects translates to 10 seconds of animation. And that's just
making the animation. I'm not even at the tweaking
and refining part yet. Oh boy. I am so excited.
Gargh.
Color & Communcation project = OMFG,
driving me crazy. I like the project, and it has some potential. My
group, however, OMFG... gargh gargh gargh!
19 days
to graduation. 32 days to San Francisco. | | |
| I wasn't feeling well when I woke up this morning, so I stayed in bed all day. Headaches and nausea finally disappeared this evening. A lazy day was nice too. And then I thought about all the stuff that needs to happen in the next month or so.
April 28 - Final draft of 5th year show postcards due.
May 1 - Product life cycle paper and made object due.
May 3 - Animation for Kish's thesis project due.
May 7 - Celebrate Phipps! project due.
May 6 or 8 - NY Times Magazine Project due.
May 12 - Stewart L Brown Scholarship due. Or as we like to call it.. That Brown Thing.
May 14 - Open System: 5th year graduation show!
May 15 - Dad will be in Pittsburgh.
May 17 - Open System: family and friends event.
May 18 - Commencement.
May 30 - Off to San Francisco.
Hmm. Somewhere in between all of that I should send out a few more cover letters (I sent out 4 earlier this week and revamped my online portfolio), finish the bookbinding class project, revamp the evolve website, finish my physical portfolio, possibly work on a digital fabrication website, and pack and clean my apartment. OMFG. I may not be in architecture studio, but I have other projects and extra curricular activities. Contrary to popular belief, I do not sit around on my ass all day.
I'm in need of writing a long ranty entry about all sorts of things that annoy me. Meh. That calls for a Protected entry sometime soon.
John was just here for Spring Carnival. What a fun time. He makes me feel all warm and squishy. | | |
| 1) Spring Break in Berkeley/San Francisco was amazing. John and I had an incredible time as always. We lazed around, watched a lot of TV, cooked a lot of yummy things, made hand puppets (haha yes!), celebrated happy UTI day (our one year anniversary for the day we met) at a fancy restaurant, hung out at bars, threw a potluck dinner party, and went on a picnic! It was also a very productive visit. I finished making my physical portfolio in time to to speak with a few designers. I got some great feedback and advice on how to get into the graphic design field in SF. It's really intimidating, but I'm really psyched.
2) 3 days after I got back from break, John came to Pittsburgh! This was his first visit since he moved out to Berkeley so he was really excited to be back. It sucked that I had to go to classes, but it worked out pretty well. We'd both sit down and get work done at the same time. The first thing we did when he got here was buy $200 worth of groceries. Hah! I'm still working on those. Hung out with my friends and his friends. Went out to bars, clubs, and restaurants. Made John go see Armor for Sleep with me. Saw the new Spring Flower show at Phipps Conservatory - beautiful! Visited Whole Foods just to see my poster there. We also threw our second Wine and Cheese party at Fairfax. John was the only contestant in the manly man contest (aka Everclear drinking) contest and passed out shortly afterwards. (He woke up the next day still wasted.) [Double Spring Break Photos]
3) At the Wine and Cheese party, we also celebrated Angela's 23rd. Ken and McKinney came over to bake a cake... it ended up being much more complicated than expected. They made a bit of a mess and hogged the kitchen. Also, when I think Angela, I think chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and raspberries. The boys selected a pineapple upside down cake. My response was "good god, I hope she can eat pineapples." Umm yes. Nobody's jacket caught on fire this year... candles can be so tricky. Also, I have discovered a wonderful recipe in my Costco cookbook. 1 lb of seedless grapes + 3/4 cup extra dry white wine + 1/4 cup superfine sugar, blended and frozen = absolutely delicious. I also discovered that Jared really loves cucumbers... as in he ate an entire tupperware of sliced cucumbers in about an hour. [Wine & Cheese Photos]
4) I was really excited about seeing my Earth Day recycling poster at Whole Foods. What's even more exciting is my Giant Eagle reusable bag poster. It's the one with all people and the dog. It ended up being selected as 1 of the 16 posters that will be featured in their stores all over the east coast. Yay. Also, our Frame show last week turned out really well. I am amazed that I managed to finish seven 18x24 posters in a few hours while I was hungover. We went clubbing the previous night and I slept like baby... thanks to the booze. The next morning was horrible. But yes, our Frame show - media, filter, content - came together really nicely! We made graphics about politics, and when viewed under different color filters, different layers of information is revealed in the photos. The 3d glasses added a nice touch. [must upload photos soon]
5) I finally told my parents I am going to move to SF. Daddy hasn't responded because he's swamped with work. Apparently he is so swamped that he hasn't booked his flight and hotel for my graduation yet. Heh. Mommy has responded quite well. She also responded well when I told her about John. She somehow still thinks he is in New York. No idea why. She also mentioned the possibility of meeting him when they drop my sister off for college in the Fall. Ooh ooh, and I recently got my official approval from Homeland Security to stay in the US until July 11, 2009 for work! Wooooo! Now all I need is a job. Mergh.
6) John and I are a real couple now. Well, real as in beyond announcing it is official. Reason 1. When he was in Pittsburgh, and we were cleaning for the Wine and Cheese party, we had our first official non-drama disagreement about something silly. He was being overly obsessive about cleaning (and usually I love it when someone wants to clean my apartment for me), but he got to the point where he was throwing my tupperware containers into my cabinets just to get them out of the way and asked me to disassemble my shoerack to stick it in the closet to make more space. That's retarded. Plus, he was douchy about it. I suppose it's the kind of thing real couples have little tiffs over. 2. I recently discovered celery in my fridge (from my $200 grocery trip). I looked in my fridge for my bottle of ranch, in the exact place I remember putting it last... and alas, it was not there. It turns out I was remembering where the ranch was placed in John's fridge. I never owned a bottle of ranch in the first place. John declared that this is the official merging out our homes. I also get confused in a similar way in the bathroom... 3. Fatty wants to get me a dimond someday. I'm the first girl he evers wants to buy a diamond for. Awww. A cat shaped diamond cast in tacky red plastic ring that is the size of my nose... we saw this at Claire's recently.. minus the cat ears on the diamond. Hehehehe.
7) I went in to speak with my Letterpress and Bookbinding professor recently. He's an odd but wonderful man. He hasn't seen me in about a year. Last time he saw me, he said I looked more mature. This time he said... "you look more mature, taller, and wider... it always happens right before you graduate..." Wider. Humpf! | | |
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