Wednesday, August 28, 2002
Thursday, August 22, 2002
By the way, I found out that the possible job opening in Australia is not gonna happen, at least in that hemisphere. They're full down there.
So they sent it along to their US branch to see if they had an opening there. I was happy about that, until I found out that it's in Houston, Texas. Texas. Dubya country.
That's like the only place on Earth that I *don't* want to go. I think I'd rather be in the Gaza strip right now. Ugh. (shudder) Well, maybe the Lone Star office will be full up, too, and they'll ship me off to Britain (!!). Hey, not that I don't appreciate that Michael's dad is going the extra mile for me when we only talked for like an hour. It's so nice of him.
Maybe I can convince them to recycle paper...
So they sent it along to their US branch to see if they had an opening there. I was happy about that, until I found out that it's in Houston, Texas. Texas. Dubya country.
That's like the only place on Earth that I *don't* want to go. I think I'd rather be in the Gaza strip right now. Ugh. (shudder) Well, maybe the Lone Star office will be full up, too, and they'll ship me off to Britain (!!). Hey, not that I don't appreciate that Michael's dad is going the extra mile for me when we only talked for like an hour. It's so nice of him.
Maybe I can convince them to recycle paper...
Yeah, that was a good post to leave on there for a week.
So I just dropped my Art History class (hours, of course, after I bought the book for it online. :P) because it looks incredibly boring. And I replaced it with Green Visions/Gray Infrastructure. It's an interdisciplinary course about the environment interacting with business and academia (I think). Includes team project work and research.
So it's 12 units instead of 6, which means I'm taking the maximum 54 units. Blagh. Plus, I just figured out if I want to get Honors, I have to get a 3.83 this semester (HA!), which means I have to get 'A's in this course, both studios (HA! HA!), and at least one other course, either business of design or american environmental history. I can get a B in the other course.
Gahhh. No honors for me, unless I suddenly morph into a time-managing overachiever. Which is a possibility, since all of my friends are leaving. I'll be like Willy was the first 2 years... nothing to do but work. Yeah. (snort)
So I just dropped my Art History class (hours, of course, after I bought the book for it online. :P) because it looks incredibly boring. And I replaced it with Green Visions/Gray Infrastructure. It's an interdisciplinary course about the environment interacting with business and academia (I think). Includes team project work and research.
So it's 12 units instead of 6, which means I'm taking the maximum 54 units. Blagh. Plus, I just figured out if I want to get Honors, I have to get a 3.83 this semester (HA!), which means I have to get 'A's in this course, both studios (HA! HA!), and at least one other course, either business of design or american environmental history. I can get a B in the other course.
Gahhh. No honors for me, unless I suddenly morph into a time-managing overachiever. Which is a possibility, since all of my friends are leaving. I'll be like Willy was the first 2 years... nothing to do but work. Yeah. (snort)
Sunday, August 11, 2002
Ah, the rush that comes from sending off your resume. Part exhileration, part pure terror. Cross your fingers, there's a slim chance I may be moving to Australia.
In other news, I was sitting at a computer in the Baker cluster when I either got the feeling that someone was watching me or saw something mildly terrifying out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw a face framed in one of the glass bricks in the wall 3 feet away from me. My first shot of fear dissipated when I realized that it was a very tiny, pudgy little face, staring at me curiously. Kids can be scary sometimes.
In other news, I was sitting at a computer in the Baker cluster when I either got the feeling that someone was watching me or saw something mildly terrifying out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw a face framed in one of the glass bricks in the wall 3 feet away from me. My first shot of fear dissipated when I realized that it was a very tiny, pudgy little face, staring at me curiously. Kids can be scary sometimes.
Friday, August 09, 2002
Sorry to post again so quickly, but I'm making an effort to make my blog more readable, now that people are actually reading it.
So... how am I feeling right now? It's strange. On one hand, I'm glad I'm doing so well. I feel very responsible and independent. I'm working full-time, getting things accomplished, doing my job (mostly). I'm even the self-elected bill-payer for my household. Spreadsheeted them and everything.
On the other hand, I feel like I'm being set afloat and I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing. Which, of course, is how everyone secretly feels most of the time. That realization a few years ago both frightened and comforted me. If everyone is as clueless as I am, who am I trusting with things like the military, and driving.... but if no one else knows what they're doing, it's okay if I don't either.
That's why that thing with the 9 miners was so uplifting, I think. The fact that against all odds, 9 guys managed to survive down there was miraculous, sure, but in my opinion the fact that so many different groups of people managed to work together and actually achieve something successfully, for the most part, was the most amazing thing. I've worked with similar groups, and the fact that they did something, anything, without bickering, second guessing, holding back too long or miscommunicating just boggles the mind. It's either luck or divine intervention.
But I digress. Along with feeling confidently responsible, and youthfully insecure, I also feel like I'm behind the rest of my age group. I can see where I've progressed a great deal since high school, but there are still a number of things, either experience or personality defects that really haven't changed at all. Things that you would expect to have changed between the ages of 14 and 21. For example: relationships, particularly of the romantic nature. Still not a one, nothing even close (I'm not counting the stupid thing with the loser on the train, that was just boredom).
How much is it going to affect me when I get out there in the big bad world? For the most part I figured it would only affect my personal life, but now, too late, I see it might make a difference in my professional life as well. For instance, I was talking with Bronwen about various things when I happened to bump into her during lunch. We were talking about the whole ultra-liberal save the world movement happening in the design school and elsewhere, and she mentioned that a group had recently contacted her looking for a female designer to help develop birth control options for women in third-world countries.
Alarms went off in my head. She had just described my ideal job, the job I had made up a few years ago as the hypothetical be-all end-all of dream jobs. (Think of where a well-designed product could make the most difference. Think of female empowerment, not to mention AIDS and other STDs, reducing the global population and therefore the strain on a country's education, food supply, economy, etc.) And here I am, five months or so from graduation with my job, MY job, blowing raspberries at me from afar. The thing is, though, even if I *had* graduated in May, I would still have absolutely no experience with prophylactics of any kind. I don't know the mindset of someone frantically reaching for birth control. I mean, I can guess. I took sex ed, I have friends, I can use common sense, I know the basics, but ... would it hinder me? Would I even feel comfortable working on a project like that? How do you user test??
So I'm in a weird state of feeling confident, scared, and ignorant, all at the same time, and about to be pushed out of the womb of education and parental dependence. I suppose every change is like this, but I just feel particularly ill-prepared for this one, as opposed to most people. Especially considering that I don't feel like I have time to hang around, clean up loose ends and figure out my path like, um, most people around me. There's this urgent need in me to get the hell out there before I lose my momentum, spend all of my mom's money or end up in a less-than-ideal job in a place I don't want to live, and be stuck there forever.
Yeah, so that's how I'm feeling now.
I think I'm going to crank up my music, sing off key and dance horrifically. Catch you later.
So... how am I feeling right now? It's strange. On one hand, I'm glad I'm doing so well. I feel very responsible and independent. I'm working full-time, getting things accomplished, doing my job (mostly). I'm even the self-elected bill-payer for my household. Spreadsheeted them and everything.
On the other hand, I feel like I'm being set afloat and I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing. Which, of course, is how everyone secretly feels most of the time. That realization a few years ago both frightened and comforted me. If everyone is as clueless as I am, who am I trusting with things like the military, and driving.... but if no one else knows what they're doing, it's okay if I don't either.
That's why that thing with the 9 miners was so uplifting, I think. The fact that against all odds, 9 guys managed to survive down there was miraculous, sure, but in my opinion the fact that so many different groups of people managed to work together and actually achieve something successfully, for the most part, was the most amazing thing. I've worked with similar groups, and the fact that they did something, anything, without bickering, second guessing, holding back too long or miscommunicating just boggles the mind. It's either luck or divine intervention.
But I digress. Along with feeling confidently responsible, and youthfully insecure, I also feel like I'm behind the rest of my age group. I can see where I've progressed a great deal since high school, but there are still a number of things, either experience or personality defects that really haven't changed at all. Things that you would expect to have changed between the ages of 14 and 21. For example: relationships, particularly of the romantic nature. Still not a one, nothing even close (I'm not counting the stupid thing with the loser on the train, that was just boredom).
How much is it going to affect me when I get out there in the big bad world? For the most part I figured it would only affect my personal life, but now, too late, I see it might make a difference in my professional life as well. For instance, I was talking with Bronwen about various things when I happened to bump into her during lunch. We were talking about the whole ultra-liberal save the world movement happening in the design school and elsewhere, and she mentioned that a group had recently contacted her looking for a female designer to help develop birth control options for women in third-world countries.
Alarms went off in my head. She had just described my ideal job, the job I had made up a few years ago as the hypothetical be-all end-all of dream jobs. (Think of where a well-designed product could make the most difference. Think of female empowerment, not to mention AIDS and other STDs, reducing the global population and therefore the strain on a country's education, food supply, economy, etc.) And here I am, five months or so from graduation with my job, MY job, blowing raspberries at me from afar. The thing is, though, even if I *had* graduated in May, I would still have absolutely no experience with prophylactics of any kind. I don't know the mindset of someone frantically reaching for birth control. I mean, I can guess. I took sex ed, I have friends, I can use common sense, I know the basics, but ... would it hinder me? Would I even feel comfortable working on a project like that? How do you user test??
So I'm in a weird state of feeling confident, scared, and ignorant, all at the same time, and about to be pushed out of the womb of education and parental dependence. I suppose every change is like this, but I just feel particularly ill-prepared for this one, as opposed to most people. Especially considering that I don't feel like I have time to hang around, clean up loose ends and figure out my path like, um, most people around me. There's this urgent need in me to get the hell out there before I lose my momentum, spend all of my mom's money or end up in a less-than-ideal job in a place I don't want to live, and be stuck there forever.
Yeah, so that's how I'm feeling now.
I think I'm going to crank up my music, sing off key and dance horrifically. Catch you later.
I left campus earlier than usual today, at 5 pm. They're updating software on most of the clusters so I got kicked out with no where else to go, which I figured was a good excuse to just go the hell home and enjoy a gorgeous day. Unfortunately, that meant skipping yoga, but I wasn't in the mood anyway.
I went home and kept working on Jenny's scarf, which unfortunately I screwed up at the start by second-guessing myself. I made it too wide and it looks like an old-woman's scarf now, instead of the young with-it fashion scarf that I had originally intended it to be. Well, I'm still learning. I'm working faster, if not better. ;)
I had the uncontrollable and rare urge to be creative in some fashion today. I think it's because of all the 'designing' I've done recently. I'm teaching myself Illustrator, finally. It has so much cool stuff, and everything looks so clean and pretty on it. I always hate software that I don't know how to use because it scares me. That is, until I see what it can do. That's why I've never learned to hate Director, although I barely know how to do anything with it, because it is one of the absolute coolest programs. Ditto with 3dsMax.
I'm such a geek.
I went home and kept working on Jenny's scarf, which unfortunately I screwed up at the start by second-guessing myself. I made it too wide and it looks like an old-woman's scarf now, instead of the young with-it fashion scarf that I had originally intended it to be. Well, I'm still learning. I'm working faster, if not better. ;)
I had the uncontrollable and rare urge to be creative in some fashion today. I think it's because of all the 'designing' I've done recently. I'm teaching myself Illustrator, finally. It has so much cool stuff, and everything looks so clean and pretty on it. I always hate software that I don't know how to use because it scares me. That is, until I see what it can do. That's why I've never learned to hate Director, although I barely know how to do anything with it, because it is one of the absolute coolest programs. Ditto with 3dsMax.
I'm such a geek.
Friday, August 02, 2002
I just made white chocolate peanut butter rice krispie squares. Yes, you read that right. I should come up with another name for them, like 'Crunchy Joy' or 'Peanut Ecstasy' or something like that. And.... AND... they're vegan. Yep.
It's actually an old recipe that we used to make for Christmas years and years ago, but we stopped at one point. I don't know why. They're the best thing on this earth, I shit you not. I just happened to find vegan white chocolate at Murray Avenue Kosher up in Squirrel Hill. That's gonna suck when I move to a place with a smaller Jewish contingent. Kosher grocery stores are the bomb for non-dairy stuff. The chips I found were called Oppenheimer, imported from Israel.
The recipe goes as follows: 2 pounds white chocolate chips or shaved almond bark
1/4 to 1/2 cup of peanut butter (creamy is best, chunky works too)
4 cups crispy rice cereal (beware, I believe Rice Krispies are not vegan, get the cheap imitation)
1 cup peanuts
Combine cereal and nuts in a large bowl. In a double boiler on very very low heat, melt together white chocolate and peanut butter. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal, stir thoroughly. Spread 1/4" thick onto wax paper (at least 18" long). Let sit or refrigerate until solid, cut into squares with butcher knife. Makes way too much for one person. Note: rubber spatulas and metal mixing bowls are good tools for the job.
It was much easier than I remember, probably because it's currently 82 degrees in our dining room. It's usually hotter in the kitchen, so the chips actually started melting because I put hot water (not boiling, mind you, just hot out of the tap) in the pot and put the metal bowl filled with chocolate on top. I used so little flame it made popping noises. Worked perfectly. It's messy, but the best stuff in the world to clean up. Yummmmm.
Party tomorrow, gotta clean. Gotta go to sleep, too. It's funny to see my last posting - 'Your Song' came on the radio today and I went into a happy fuzzy dreamland of Ewan-ness. Then I got a haircut from a very strange man, who in addition to trimming and shampooing also does ouija readings and phrenology. He may also be slightly psychic. Craig Street, can't remember his name but he's in a shop over History's bead basement thing. $14.
Anyhoo. G'night...
It's actually an old recipe that we used to make for Christmas years and years ago, but we stopped at one point. I don't know why. They're the best thing on this earth, I shit you not. I just happened to find vegan white chocolate at Murray Avenue Kosher up in Squirrel Hill. That's gonna suck when I move to a place with a smaller Jewish contingent. Kosher grocery stores are the bomb for non-dairy stuff. The chips I found were called Oppenheimer, imported from Israel.
The recipe goes as follows: 2 pounds white chocolate chips or shaved almond bark
1/4 to 1/2 cup of peanut butter (creamy is best, chunky works too)
4 cups crispy rice cereal (beware, I believe Rice Krispies are not vegan, get the cheap imitation)
1 cup peanuts
Combine cereal and nuts in a large bowl. In a double boiler on very very low heat, melt together white chocolate and peanut butter. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal, stir thoroughly. Spread 1/4" thick onto wax paper (at least 18" long). Let sit or refrigerate until solid, cut into squares with butcher knife. Makes way too much for one person. Note: rubber spatulas and metal mixing bowls are good tools for the job.
It was much easier than I remember, probably because it's currently 82 degrees in our dining room. It's usually hotter in the kitchen, so the chips actually started melting because I put hot water (not boiling, mind you, just hot out of the tap) in the pot and put the metal bowl filled with chocolate on top. I used so little flame it made popping noises. Worked perfectly. It's messy, but the best stuff in the world to clean up. Yummmmm.
Party tomorrow, gotta clean. Gotta go to sleep, too. It's funny to see my last posting - 'Your Song' came on the radio today and I went into a happy fuzzy dreamland of Ewan-ness. Then I got a haircut from a very strange man, who in addition to trimming and shampooing also does ouija readings and phrenology. He may also be slightly psychic. Craig Street, can't remember his name but he's in a shop over History's bead basement thing. $14.
Anyhoo. G'night...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)