Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Back to Work!

While I was eating lunch today, I got a message from the Project Manager for the contract job I had started last month. I will be going back there tomorrow and hopefully a few more weeks until the project is done. I had a Skype interview yesterday with a good placement agency and someone else contacted me about another position this morning, but nothing beats actual solid work.

This is a bit of a relief because my mom and brother have been annoying me about my Metrolink monthly pass (which I already got a 20% off discount for) and basically a day of working there pays for the whole pass and even my lunch while I'm there. I have been contacted by other recruiters and such, but most of them would require a move up north. I wouldn't mind moving to SF or something, but for now, I just want to gain more experience.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Retail Therapy


I've been doing better lately in my job search, people are actually scheduling interviews and interested in getting me work. Even so, I get a little down about things. The thing about buying stuff when you're not happy is not a healthy thing, but it really does make you happy for a little bit. My boyfriend hardly ever wants to take me shopping, so I end up buying stuff online and the thing about that is - you have to buy at least $50 worth of stuff to get free shipping or you have to pay a lot to ship a few things...

I like maximizing my spending potential and usually always end up spending at least $50 worth of stuff: Old Navy (30% off sale on everything except dresses), Forever 21 (super cute biker boots on sale for $22.99), Sephora (new Tokidoki Beach Makeup bags and Devil Girl Makeup palette for $28.99)... Then there was some other places I just buy from because of my boyfriend: ThinkGeek, Valve Store (Portal shirts are 10-35% off), Best Buy (the new Tron 5 disc set on Blu Ray was on sale for $50, now back up to $70).

I ordered some of the Relief Run shirts by Tokidoki for me and my boyfriend also, but aat $25 a shirt - it's a little cheaper than most of their shirts and it benefits Red Cross's relief efforts in Japan. The Giant Peach was having a 20% off sale on already reduced prices, so I got a couple Tokidoki x Marvel shirts for me and my boyfriend. The retail therapy only works if you are expecting more money - and I do have another check coming in soon for the other 2 weeks I worked.


I do need to be more careful about my bills and spending, even if I have a few interviews lined up. I have plenty of stuff I can list on my ebay store, I just need to get around to doing it. The Post Office now has padded flat rate envelopes, which I think is the best thing they've come up with yet. I have so many heavy Body Shop and Bath & Body Works items that fit perfectly in those envelopes, so I'll probably sell more of that stuff soon.

One more thing, I somehow have 26 subscribers to this blog. No one I really know, which I find a bit interesting. I'm not really writing for my friends to find out about my life - though I wouldn't mind if they did read this blog. I'm not sure who reads this blog or why they read it, but it's nice to know there are people out there who are interested in my life even if they don't know me. I have email and Facebook for friends, Twitter for interests, LinkedIn for business, and this blog for random internet folk.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Journal writing is good for you

This time off from work has given me some more time to write in my journal, which I enjoy since it's a place where I can write anything without censoring myself. Blogs are good for that, but there's always a chance of someone you know reading something you don't want them to if it's online.  I don't usually write anything bad about any specific person, but being able to vent privately is nice if you are particularly annoyed at someone - which is bound to happen.

I had a relaxing weekend, mostly stayed home while my boyfriend was at work. On Sunday, I had a tutoring session to introduce a 10 year old to PhotoShop. It's nice that her parents are encouraging her to learn at such a young age, I kind of wish my parents cared enough to do that for me. I did have piano lessons for awhile and painting classes before that, but I never considered doing either of those things professionally. Technology has gotten to the point where kids are learning things earlier, which is a good thing since there is so much you can do with computers.

I applied to some interesting jobs today and found some for my boyfriend to apply to also. One job was writing about music, which I hadn't thought of trying to get paid for in awhile. I later on noticed that there's a specific genre that they want the applicants to like and I realized I would probably not be right for it. Oh well, there are lots of web design and development jobs that would be a better fit. I'm not as into new music as I used to be and I really have no idea what's popular or not right now. I am slightly enclosed in a bubble of seeking only information that interests me or my boyfriend, which means I'm a bit out of it...

Sunday, April 03, 2011

A week off or time to find a new job?

My contract work is taking a week off since there hasn't been much for me to do lately. They said they would bring us back for more testing of the website later, but who knows if they really will. Since I have been getting lots of notifications about other jobs, I figured it may be a good time to look for more work either freelance or permanent. I noticed LA has more telecommuting work for web design (at least on Craig's List), so I decided to apply to some of those jobs as well as local jobs. Working from home is sort of a dream of mine, and if I can actually do it now - why not? Taking the train to LA is interesting, but working in my pajamas would be awesome.

Friday, April 01, 2011

Bloom Circle

I placed an order for some skin care products through this new website called BloomCircle since they give you $40 after your first purchase of $40 or more. My skins been breaking out a bit more than usual, I think it may have been stress related as it started during my frantic job search. I'm slightly stressed by taking Metrolink every day, but it's more when I go home because I tend to get on the wrong train more than I'd like. Fortunately, I've started being able to correct the mistake faster than before - meaning I do end up on the right train as soon as I realize I'm on the wrong one.

Today's been pretty relaxed here, I did an online training that I was probably supposed to do as soon as I got here. Other than that, I did a simple file conversion. I changed my Blippy username, since I figured out that I could so update your links if you happen to have them. I am wondering about this contract thing, it seems more likely to lead to more work here - so I'm not sure if I should be responding to recruiters... I usually do so out of politeness, but there are some that I actually might want to apply to. I wouldn't want to leave this position early which is why I'm hesitant about responding to certain emails.

The weekend is almost here and it feels like summer already is... I've put away some warmer clothes and now I'm thinking about losing weight. Not necessarily for bathing suits, more because I don't want to sell clothes because they don't fit me. I don't want to buy larger clothes if I don't have to and I also don't want to get rid of cute clothes that would fit me if I were thinner. I do enjoy eating and dressing up, but there's danger in liking either one too much. I have lots of clothes I don't wear, but I'd rather sell them because of that rather than because it doesn't fit me.