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.

BRMC @ The Book & Stage in Las Vegas

Why is Reality TV generally horrible?

I've been thinking about crappy reality television shows that I still remember despite not really watching or enjoying them. Shows like The Swan, Beauty and the Geek, Temptation Island... the list goes on and on. I guess The Hills is more of a scripted reality show, but it's no better than any of the rest. I guess MTV really is partly to blame for introducing The Real World and Road Rules, plus numerous other silly dating shows.  I do admit to watching a few episodes of the first season of The Real World, but I can only say it was due to being young and bored. Perhaps that is why people watch reality television?

Boredom in general was always my reason to watch TV, but I prefer to escape reality than have a fake version of it presented to me on television. Now, I don't even bother with watching TV at all. I'm sure I'm missing out on the latest adventures of The Office and The Simpsons, but I have a feeling I'll get to see them if I really do feel the need to. I'm a few seasons behind on finishing Lost, and really far behind on most other shows I once watched. The only channel I really enjoy watching is HGTV or maybe the Food Network.  Maybe I'm weird to no longer enjoy mindless entertainment, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

Just a couple more days until my Vegas trip and my car has been prepared with various new parts and services. My boyfriend is more interested in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 than the shows or gambling, so he got a cable that will work with older TV's since the hotel we're staying at may have them. I'm wondering how it will work if he's just playing his new game all day while we're there. Most likely we'll just leave for food, and I'll leave for the concerts. It's not such a bad thing since we'll both be doing what we like. I don't want to force him to stand through a long concert or walk through a smoky casino.

BRMC at the Cosmopolitan

It hasn't been that long since I saw BRMC live, but it's nice that they're playing 3 free shows in Las Vegas at the Book & Stage in the Cosmopolitan on the nights of February 15th and 16th.  BRMC's song "Spread Your Love" is used in one of the ads for the hotel, and I first noticed it last October when I was watching TV in San Francisco. I really don't watch TV anymore and I don't miss it, but that's another story.  Here's the full 60 second ad on YouTube:



I love the cute fluffy kittens and puppies, but I digress... Since the shows are in the middle of the week, hotel prices are more reasonable than on weekends and I found a very close and cheap hotel to stay at. Gas is a big expense, but necessary for long road trips. Being unemployed or even only working part time has its advantages, since I wouldn't be able to do this if I (or my boyfriend) had a full time job. Not having a lot of money is tough, but I've been getting by so far.  I should probably list some more stuff on ebay and make the most of my store, and I should also clean up and organize my room... I will be doing both more soon.

I recently was contacted by a Facebook friend about building a site, which will require me to apply some of my limited database knowledge in a real world context.  I hope I can manage it! I've also been getting painting lessons from a friend, along with her mom. So far, I feel more comfortable with drawing - but painting is much more involved than drawing. I am still in need of a few supplies before finishing my painting, which is a peacock that was originally made by a Chinese master chef who used postage stamps to create beautiful and elaborate mosaics. I will post pictures soon of that.

Year of the Rabbit

I got back from SF at around 1:30 AM last night. The drive back was much easier than the drive up, and the trip was pretty good overall. It was nice to see some friends and family, and the job market seems so much better there too. Competition for those jobs is probably tougher, but I think it may be easier to find a good job there. I guess I can't really focus on moving until I do find a job there, though my brother's nice apartment near Market St. is basically empty most of the time. Such a waste... I should probably just move up there so someone can use it more. In the rush of packing, we didn't notice that we'd left our iPad in my brother's car. It's not a big deal since my brother will be visiting next month.

The Chapter of Your Life Entitled San Francisco

I'm headed back to San Francisco with my boyfriend for a few days starting on Thursday night. It will be nice to be back since I haven't seen my dad and brother since the beginning of December. I have a bunch of stuff to bring him and my dad. I even have some things for my sister and my niece, who have birthdays coming up in March. I hope to see my sister and her family since it has been awhile. Some friends from Sacramento may also be there for Interpol at the Warfield. My boyfriend likes SF a lot, so it's a good place to celebrate his birthday. We will be able to use our MacWorld Expo passes for the exhibition hall at Moscone Center. Should be fun since I've never been to MacWorld before.

In preparation for the trip, I am returning some clothes and beauty products to Sephora, Victoria's Secret, and Body Shop. I will probably resume listing stuff on ebay after I come back, since it makes more sense to list stuff when I am home to ship it all out. I'm mostly just relaxing at home while also trying to clean up and get more organized. I still have tons of yarn and clothes to sell, so I've got a lot to do in preparation to selling. I've recently discovered a really cool review website called Blippy.com, it links to a lot of online accounts to allow you to review purchases. I like the interface design and customizability of the site, not to mention that there seems to be a lot of cool people using it.

Here's my account: http://blippy.com/liane_chan

In case you're wondering, the title of this post refers to a nice song by the Lucksmiths - one of those cool Australian indie pop bands that many people have never heard of. I guess they based the songs on an actual book, but I've never read it so I can't say what the book is about.

Limbo

On Thursday afternoon, I did have a phone interview with a hiring manager at that company I've wanted to work for since I first got into using computers and I did feel that it went well. I'm sure they had many other highly qualified candidates, so the company can be selective about who they go with. Since it isn't local and I may not hear back for up to 2 weeks on the next step, I'm kind of in a weird state of thinking of whether or not to apply to jobs in this area or maybe just deciding that it would be better for my career to move to either San Francisco or Silicon Valley. 

My dad and brother are in San Francisco, but are somewhat fickle in how actually supportive they are of my life and choices. My sister is in Silicon Valley, but she has a small house with husband and 2 kids. I could possibly stay with her for a short time, but I would eventually have to get my own place and I would hope my boyfriend would be able to move with me. I know the easiest thing to do is to just stay here, find any sort of web design job, and just gain more experience. It's a hard thing to want to do when I know all the high tech companies that are leading the way are not far away.

Another thing I've considered is focusing more on getting freelance work and selling more on my ebay store. That would be a nice way to pay the bills while I am deciding my next step. I don't really enjoy moving, but maybe I could use a fresh start in a new place that I am familiar with. I've stayed with my sister in Santa Clara and I've lived in San Francisco, so I do know that both areas are pretty nice.  I know more people in San Francisco and there is more to do there, but the tech industry is more in Silicon Valley. There's plenty of good jobs in both places, so it could go either way right now.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - I Am Not Willing

Today has been a slightly better day, but maybe also slightly worse. I got a message and email yesterday from a recruiter at a large computer company in Cupertino about a position I applied for several weeks ago. I was a bit in awe to find out that they actually wanted to speak to me, since I've put in many job applications there for positions I was and was not qualified for and this is the first time I'd heard anything from them. I was excited to get the messages and responded within minutes, leaving messages and an email back to the recruiter. I am still waiting to hear back from him, and trying to figure out how likely my chances of actually getting a job there might be.

To get my mind off the anticipation of a possible interview with a company I passed up Google for (long story, possibly not worth mentioning), I decided to focus my attention on a new article for Examiner.com - Eye on Kawaii: Cute, colorful fashion inspired by Japan. The new article is a listing of events, brands, and stores in the LA and Orange County area. It would be much longer if I went into detail about each thing I mentioned, I could have probably just written an in depth article on the events alone. Most of them were past already, which is why I chose to do a listing.  I could really go on and on about Tokidoki alone, which I believe is what I originally wrote about to get chosen as a Fashion Examiner. Maybe I'll post that article next.

For those of you reading my blog because of BRMC, here's something you might like. It's a HOWL era b-side called "I Am Not Willing." I wonder how it slipped by all these years without me even hearing the name?

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - I Am Not Willing

Tagi: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Am Not Willing