Opportunities

Yesterday, my boyfriend got some exciting information. A recruiter for a staffing agency told him about a software QA position for a company in El Segundo. It's a full time contract position and pays a lot more than where he is currently (and even what I'm making), plus he's been wanting to find something else for awhile. If he does manage to get this position, it almost seems that a move out to LA is a good idea. Even if my contract position ends after 2 months, it may be easier to find other web related jobs in Los Angeles or even Long Beach. I know moving is a pain, but commuting is too and an easier commute is always better. We'll see how things turn out, but I'm hoping he gets it since he works hard and is too smart not to get something like this.

Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco

For the past 2 years, I've registered for a free expo pass for Web 2.0 Expo in SF and haven't been able to go because of work. Ironic because I do work on websites, but not quite for companies that are very Web 2.0 (which may be a goal). Every year, I add myself to the attendee directory since it's nice to have professional contacts in some form even if I can't meet at the event.

Anyways, not being able to go because of work is better than going because I don't have work. Meeting professional contacts in person is a great way to get work, but I guess it can wait until I can actually plan to attend. Having an income is important, not to mention gaining more experience. Maybe I'll attend Web 3.0 Expo... it's possibly I'll get there before then, though that may only be possible if I am living in San Francisco!

San Francisco Popfest 2011

This event has been happening every year since 2009, which is a good sign for indie pop music. I am more interested in the bands this year than last and I will hopefully attend 3 out of the 5 shows. I'm thinking Thursday, Saturday, and the free show in Dolores Park. Those afternoon shows are always fun even if you can't here the bands as well. The pass for all the shows is only $60, but I got one it in 2009 and was exhausted!  I think just going to a few of the shows will make it more fun and relaxing for me. I'm a little curious about the Friday night show, but I would be fine with just the 3 that seem most interesting to me.

Full Schedule 

Wednesday, May 25 
The Rickshaw Stop 
   - Fujiya & Miyagi  
   - Blackbird Blackbird
   - plus support TBA 
  
Thursday, May 26  
Café du Nord 
   - Dominant Legs
   - Aberdeen
   - The Motifs  
   - Sweater Girls
  
Friday, May 27 
The Rickshaw Stop
   - The Undertones
   - Allo Darlin’
   - The Mantles
   - The Smittens 

Saturday, May 29 
The Rickshaw Stop  
Slumberland Records Then & Now Showcase:

   - 14 Iced Bears 
   - Phil Wilson (of The June Brides)  
   - Neverever
   - The Art Museums
   - Devon Williams
   - Brilliant Colors
   - Terry Malts
   - Sea Lions
   - Kids on a Crime Spree 
   - English Singles
  
Sunday, May 30 
Acoustic afternoon picnic show at Dolores park 
   - Surprise Lineup!
  
Sunday, May 30 
Hemlock Tavern 
   - Eternal Summers
   - The Beets
   - Catwalk 
   - Seapony   

Vacation

I had the day off today, but I feel like I have been on vacation for the past 2 weeks. Not because I haven't been working, but because my mom has been out of town. If you ever met my mom, you might understand why. Even talking on the phone with her can be so frustrating. I know I'm past the age where I should be living at my mom's house, but while she was living in Irvine - I was the only one living here. It's a pretty big house for one person (and a cat), so it wasn't as fun as it sounds.

Having lots of space is nice though it clearly is a bit lonely. I do like my alone time as much as any introvert, but having someone to share my space with isn't that bad. I've had a few roommates during college and it can be fun. I even enjoyed sharing a 3 bedroom apartment with 5 other females. I guess it really depends on how close you are with the people you live with. At the time, I did feel close to them but I didn't really keep in touch with them much after college. Most of them went on to professional and graduate schools and I was still figuring out what to do with my life.

I have a better idea of what I want to do now, but there's always a lot of uncertainty about anything. I don't mind working, I just wish I could get more done in my off time. Today was nice because I had time to relax and clean up a bit. I still have much more to do, but I am feeling better about how things are around the house and I will try to get more done during the rest of the weekend. I would like to get more things listed on my online stores since I still have tons of stuff.

I am still considering a move to San Francisco for a few reason:

1) many web design/development jobs there
2) related tech conferences
3) more local video game companies (if my boyfriend wants to get testing jobs there)
4) much more interesting night life
5) better public transportation
6) my dad and brother are still living there and my sister and her family are also not too far away.

The main things against the decision to move are:

1) colder weather than Southern California
2) not good to move my cat or leave her with my mom
3) too much stuff at home that I need to sell
4) it's more expensive to live there
5) my options of places to live in SF are not that great
6) I don't really like moving

I actually think visiting San Francisco is more fun than actually living there. I consider Southern California more my home since I've lived here most of my life. Both me and my boyfriend have friends and family here, so it does make more sense to stay here. There are good jobs here, I just need to find them. My mom's house is really nice, and I can deal with my mom better if I just talk to her. She's more understanding when I explain certain things to her and I kind of feel moving is like running away. That's what my brother wanted to do in dealing with my dad, but I think I can handle my mom if I try.

Baby showers, birthdays, and another work week!

It's been an unusually busy weekend for me, I saw a lot of friends from college, met a lot of my boyfriend's family members, and even bought some things for me and my boyfriend at Bath & Body Works and JC Penney. I wasn't able to attend the Fujiya & Miyagi show at the Echo, partly due to exhaustion and also due to not wanting to go to LA in the rain. On Saturday, I went to the Bath & Body Works special event to vote on the next fragrance and get a few nice things for myself. After that, we went to JCPenney since I had a $10 off $10 coupon. I figured that my boyfriend needed clothes more than I did, so we looked at some clearance jeans and graphic tees. Lots of good deals there, but my boyfriend didn't like the worn look of a lot of the jeans. We ended up getting some dark blue ones with the look of a little wear and a gray Mario T-shirt.

Soon after, my boyfriend dropped me off at my friend's house so we could go to the baby shower of a mutual friend of ours from college. She was out shopping for greeting cards when I got there, so I just sat and watched her husband play a new motorcycle game he'd gotten for his iPad and iPhone. He's getting an actual motorcycle some time this week and his birthday is also this week too. My friend wasn't happy about his new interest in motorcycles, but he definitely is. The baby shower was at our friend's parent's house in Torrance and it was not a bad drive from La Mirada. I haven't been to a lot of baby showers, but it was mostly sitting, talking, and eating. There were some games going on outside, but it was a little cold that day.

After we left, my friend's husband drove us all to Santa Monica Place so he could look at some boots. It was fine with me since I could check out what had changed at the Tokidoki store. It did look pretty different from the last time since I'd gone during the holidays, and they had a lot more new bags. The new clothes was not as interesting to me, though they had some cute kids and baby clothes. The designs actually do work better for smaller people because they are cute as it is. There wasn't much I really wanted there, but my friend seemed to like the liquid eyeliner. We left the store and went down to Kenneth Cole to meet up with her husband. He ended up getting a lot more than just boots, but he can afford it being an engineer. We may have gone to more stores, but my friend needed to practice for choir since she was singing the next morning.

Today is my sister's birthday and her daughter's 4th birthday was just 4 days ago. I celebrated my boyfriend's dad's birthday with him and a lot of my boyfriend's family members. For the birthday celebration, we met at his dad's church Calvary Chapel of East Anaheim. It's close to a movie theater that I once knew as Cinemapolis and also where a comic book shop that me and my brother used to go to. We had lunch at Marie Callendar's across the street, which was pretty tasty and it was cool to have a whole room for the family. After a delicious meal and some interesting conversation, me and my boyfriend went to his dad's place to pick up some things and help his dad with some computer and cell phone issues. It's always nice visiting with his dad and we definitely surprised him by showing up with the rest of the family at his church.

This is my 2nd week on the contract position I'm doing, the first one was mostly smooth with only minor hiccups in figuring out which track to take at LA Union Station. I think I understand how it works now, so I hope I don't end up on the wrong train again. Downtown LA is a nice area to work and it's better not to have a car here due to parking and traffic. I would consider finding something more long-term here if there were some good opportunities. I don't enjoy driving and buying gas enough to work in Orange County, but we'll see if anything opens up there. For the most part, the web design jobs in OC are mostly in the southern and central parts. At least that's how it seems to me, but I'm not sure how true that is.

New job starts tomorrow!

After a week of waiting, I got word on Friday that my new contract position starts tomorrow!  I've been sleeping a lot last week, so I hope waking up around 6:30 to 7 AM won't be too hard. I have been wrestling a lot with the new Wordpress blog and somehow managed to get it working today. I moved it to the main server rather than directory and it seems to be working fine. My boyfriend helped me fix the database access to the backend and it's working. There are some SQL database issues I'm not sure about, but I hope to fix those soon.

Most people know about the massive earthquake in Japan, which combined with Tsunamis has leveled cities and started nuclear meltdowns. It's scary how little we can do against the forces of nature and it's so sad how much death and destruction was caused by the earthquake and it's many aftershocks. Even though we are used to them in So Cal, nothing as big as an 8.9 quake has happened here. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco was estimated at 7.9 magnitude, and it pretty much destroyed the city. Considering there are over 1000 dead and hundreds more missing in Japan, the damage is immense.

It is really sad about the earthquake, I really hope Japan can recover from the huge amount of loss due to this unexpected disaster. It's hard to know what we can do to help other than just donate money, I guess that's all most people can do for now.

Grey skies starting to clear up?

After several unsuccessful job interviews and some not so new family issues, I was seriously considering moving up to San Francisco to find work while also helping my brother and dad with apartment stuff. I have been tutoring some students in HTML and PhotoShop, and I did a few hours of temp work with a non profit - so I have been keeping busy outside of the usual selling on ebay and Amazon.

Today, I finally managed to get some good news about a 2 month contract position. It starts on Monday and it is in LA, but I am close to a Metrolink Station and the company is close to a Metro line. They need someone right away, so I guess there wasn't a need to interview me since the company I will be contracting for has worked with them before. For once, I am familiar with the company even though I never really expected to work for them.

I was already kind of excited about my new blog, which just has my old music reviews on right now and a church friend had recently contacted me about doing some work on his web store. I also signed up for Dinner with 12 Strangers through the UCLA Alumni Association, since I thought it might be nice to re-connect with some other local Bruins. So I guess I was doing things even when the job search wasn't going so well, still it's a relief to have work doing web design and such.