Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Job Update and Summer Plans

So, the past couple days I was having a crisis/panic attack about summer.

I had my job interview with Build-A-Bear, and was a total and complete nervous wreck during the whole thing. I didn't know if I had the job at the end, and found out that I wouldn't know for at least another week and a half, which totally chewed me up inside. I'm probably going to call this weekend to find out...

So with this uncertainty about Build-A-Bear, I was just like, crap, if I don't get a job, this summer will definitely suck, plus my parents were all over me about "Apply anywhere and everywhere! Have some initiative! Blah blah blah!" and it's hard enough with my social phobia to apply to one job, the thought of having to figure out other places, getting applications, turning them in, interviewing, all that, was just a bit of an overload. So on top of that stuff, being stuck at home was already starting to drive me nuts, I just didn't know what to do with myself. I started thinking about Flagstaff and how much I could get accomplished over the summer if I had stayed there - two art classes, Peter Piper, plus I would get to see Cory, who I miss terribly, plus hang out and have fun without my mother or little brother hounding me about stuff.

Well, I had an interview with Toys R Us today, and I appear to have gotten that job so hard that the lady barely asked me any questions. She was like "I need summer people." So it was like I got hired before I got there :P It was a fun interview, full of Legos and talking to the other interviewees, one of whom I really got talkin to, oddly enough, while we were sitting in the break room, watching Curious George while we waited for our one-on-one interview. The job sounds like loads of fun, the people seem nice, and it'll keep me out of the house, so I guess I'm staying down here. If Build-A-Bear wants me, I'll see if I can have BOTH jobs (how cool would that be??). Or maybe I'll apply still to In-N-Out and get that $10 salary they boast about.

But now I've been trying to think up other things to get accomplished down here so I don't feel like I'm wasting my time (Being a perfectionist type A personality really sucks). So, here begins my To-Do List

~ Make money! :) Well, this will happen now.
~ Take an art class at either the The Drawing Studio or Parks & Rec, for fun, for once.
~ Go to open studio at The Drawing Studio
~ Volunteer some at The Drawing Studio's teen program
~ Get CPR certified!! :)
~ Hang out TONS with Jessica and Sarah and peoples!
~ Work out at the JCC twice a week (my family are members of the Jewish Community Center. How weird is that? :P Mom gets a discount cuz she works at the Jewish nursing home in town)
~ Spend time outside with Donald knocking some items off that other list of little kid things I wanna do.
~ Visit Cory at some point :)
~ Do loads of artwork, including finishing this crazy ink drawing I've been working on, and an oil painting of Donald
~ Figure out my plan for grad school (as in, what classes do I need to take when, how soon can I graduate, etc)
~ Eat lots and lots of SUSHI!!! :D
~ Learn to cook some
~ Read some books, including some on financial stuff that I'd like to borrow from Sean....

I have a feeling I'm missin something... ah well :)

Monday, May 05, 2008

School's (almost) out for Summer! :P Or, how I went to Vegas

This is quite a long-overdue post.

First off -- I AM SO EFFING DONE WITH THAT EFFING PRINTMAKING CLASS!!!

The last inked project wasn't all that frustrating (except for when the block/paper kept moving a quarter of an inch in one direction or another, screwing up margins and causing smears, but I kinda sorta fixed that, or at least made it consistent....), and it turned out really good. That particular evening was enjoyable as well, because right as I finished with printing, Chris, Jasmin and I had sushi, and simultaneously, Cory, Mel and Meaghan showed up with ice cream from 31 cent scoop night! Later, I had thai food with a ton of people from Cory's work. That was... interesting :P The next afternoon I spent working on my embossment print, which I did in an effing HOUR! :D Amaaaazingg! So that was pretty awesome.

And then I decided I needed to take a vacation.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!

Chris needed to hit Vegas to take her old roommate's tv back to her old roommate's house, but didn't want to go alone. So I decided to take up her offer and go with her. Ooooh man, it was so fun! (And Meaghan was right -- Phoenix is oddly reminiscent of Vegas, just without the casinos and prostitutes) We tried Julie's house first, but no one was home, so we left a note and drove around the strip awhile. Then we got a call and headed back to Julie's, dropped the tv off, and hit the strip for real before heading home. We ate at an expensive Chinese place in the Mandalay Bay hotel (where we parked for free, hells yes). My food was hella spicy and it took me much strength to finish as much as I could, but their pork dumplings were exquisite, and I had some of Chris's coconut ice cream and that fixed the burning. Then we walked down the strip, hit the New York-New York hotel, where I just HAD to ride the roller coaster (OH MAN! SO MUCH FUN!! :D I'm working my way slowly up the roller coaster thrill chain. I want to go to Six Flags soooo badly now). We then walked a looong way to the Bellagio, and saw probably THE most amazing thing I've ever seenthe Bellagio light show. It blew my mind. I swear to God (but cannot find online proof, and sadly, if it's not on wikipedia, it doesn't exist) that the finale of the show had jets of water which shot up faster than the speed of sound, because I saw the fountains already at maximum height (of 250 feet, according to internet) before I heard the shot it caused. After that, we ran into some shops (there's a BUILD-A-BEAR on the strip! :P) and I oggled at the strippers in some of the bars we passed (I fully admit it - they were hot.) It took us forever to get back to the car, and FOREVER to get out of Las Vegas - Chris and I were both horribly tired and cranky by the time we left Mandalay Bay, and we kept going in circles and taking wrong turns and not looking at the map and taking more wrong turns and in the end I kinda had a bit of a meltdown because I knew I had work, and the idea of getting back to Flag at 4:30am was a little too much for me, especially because I really wanted to drive and give poor Chris a break. But despite that meltdown, it was totally the most awesome trip ever. My first interstate roadtrip with people unrelated to me! (And not part of school group, like when I went to Europe).

Tomorrow is my last day at Peter Piper before summer break. I hadn't been enjoying it recently, probably just because I've been so stressed overall, but except for another meltdown I had yesterday when I neglected to get appetizers taken care of when one of our printers went down (soooo many customers got their appetizers a good 15 minutes after their pizzas, and one woman had waited over 40 minutes for an appetizer that takes 3 minutes to cook - but which I screwed up 3 times making. That's when the meltdown happened). Today was just hella fun. I did make table pretty much the whole time, which is a bit different for me, and I did pretty well at it. I only needed help when a couple birthday orders tied me up.

My room worries me, of course. I'm going to work very hard packing it up as soon as possible. I already have a bunch of boxes going, clothes separated into either my plastic dresser (winter stuff), my laundry basket (going home) or a plastic bag (Goodwill), piles of stuff either going home with me or going into my storage locker, etc. I'm leaving Friday, staying as late as possible so it's all gone and cleaned.

Erm, very little else to report. Oh, I suppose I can mention that Cory is amazing, and I'm glad he got his VC251 assignment done. I love him and will miss him, and everyone, very much during the summer. I'll also especially miss Chris for the rest of my life, since she's not coming back next year.

Hope everyone has a watermelon-blasted summer!!! See you all in the fall!