Tough days

When they tell you you’re not good at something, it’s time to prove you’re not good, but the best.

Breakdown of my Tweets: ILLUSTRATED

Click to enlarge

Something for you all to look at while i type up an actual BLOG ENTRY FOR YOU ALL TO READ. I already loaded it on twitter (i actually kind of created it FOR twitter) which some of you might have seen already, or might not have.

The purpose of it is to pretty much SHOW followers, what I tweet about. I noticed that after tweeting that im going to Comic Con, the number of.....comic book reader (aka, my beloved Geeks) followers....increased. But the thing is that i actually DON'T tweet about geek stuff all that much and i can imagine the surprise they get when all they see on their TL is ARSENAL, VODKA, ARSENAL, STARBUCKS, ARSENAL. Vice versa, lately i'm sure all my footy Arsenal followers have noticed the INCREASE in GEEK-related tweets (mainly because Comic Con is FAST approaching) and all know that i am in fact a closet geek that loves Big Bang Theory, Marvel, Pokemon and Harry Potter. To avoid the confusion and miscommunication, I thought creating an illustration would let them know, right off the bat that i am more of an futbol tweeter more than anything else. It's just been a bit............slow and dry lately because its off-season. When August hits- sorry kids. Its back!

That said, i REALLY have to give some crazy creds to my non-geek, non-futbol, FRIENDS that follow me on Twitter. You guys have to ENDURE my excessive number of tweet updates and not only that- stuff that you don't understand. I love you guys OH-THAT-MUCH-MORE and thank you tremendously for sticking by me STILL.

Okay without further adieu, im not going waste my precious time typing any more for this entry. Going to work on the MEGA HUGE (sorta) one thats been "Saved" for the entire week.

Hope u like it though!

Laziness

I was inspired to type up a "lazy" blog post too because of A blogged about it earlier.

This whole weekend has been completely fail in terms of productivity. I had a shit load of quote work to do, design concepts to come up with and an interview to prep for but didn't get around to ANY of it until today when i woke up feeling like i was paralyzed from the waist down (due to cramps). I still worked through it though because I WANT THIS JOB. ROAR. 

That said though, of course i CONTINUED to procrastinate by editing wonderful photobooth pics that A and i took yesterday during what should have been a productive design session for the both of us instead of just ranting about it and then going to the bar because we're both SO futbol deprived.

I digress.

I really should do some work.

Wish me good luck tmr kiddies!!! If you're part of that support i might be able to include u in the discounts i get if i get the job!!!!!

The waiting game ends. Life goes on

As of today the waiting game officially ends. For the past week and a half ive been waiting for VG to get back to me on whether they made a hiring decision. Well they finally did and unfortunately for me I was not chosen for the position. : (

So how do i feel? Hmm. Crushed. But not as devastating as i thought it would be (l'll share why in a bit). And extremely disappointed. I'm not disappointed with myself (on contrary, i am actually quite proud of myself for fighting it til the end) but more of the general outcome. I mean i spent, SO much time and effort on two presentations- it just really sucks that at the end of it all it didn't really pay off with the most ideal scenario. I have to say though (as vain as i might sound), i thought my presentation was pretty kick-ass so for them to hire someone else, that person is seriously someone i do not ever want to compete with....EVERRRRRRR.

But hey, life goes on right. I created one of my best portfolio pieces and i am confident i can land a job using this as a sample of what i am capable of. Something im pretty sure i would NOT have done in my spare time. I also didn't think I was capable of pulling such ambitious deadlines either. I totally won myself a point in this round against myself.

That said though.

I actually have ANOTHER interview lined up for this coming Monday and shockingly- its even bigger than VG. How i manage it, no idea. But much thanks to J for hooking me up with the link. I think it was because i got the notification BEFORE i got the rejection, it didn't hurt THAT MUCH. I'm prettttty sure that if i had nothing lined up, no prospects i would be out drinking my sorrows away. Lets pray even HARDER for this to be the one?

Gutted- but still in the game biatches. Bring it.

Dream Work Area

Look at all those toysssss and books!!!!!!

Most importantly, shiet look at that monitor!!! 

And tablet. 

And vintage red telephone.
Probably comics hidden in that massive bookshelf.

la sighs. I'm still waiting on VG to call me back. I'm getting more and more antsy every single time my blueberry email notification alerts comes on. Hopefully by the time i see A and the boys tomorrow, i will have good news for them.

On a brighter note- Watching Les Bleus tmr play and then X-Men: First class afterwards. Tres tres epic day!!!!

i jogged in on a teen couple making out. #awkward.

Greetings all. I finally have a moment to update on in what seems like FOREVER.

From where I last left off- i was in the middle of a mental breakdown (for what must have been the 5th one that week) and was freaking the hell out about there being an interview portion to Round 2 that I did not know about nor anticipated. I survived, the challenge portion that is and was ACTUALLY able to e-mail it on the requested original due date as oppose to the extension date I asked for. I actually loaded a recording of what I did for you guys to see.

Pretty much its a Sponsorship deck. Content was provided for me and I was asked to create a powerpoint presentation for it and to create infographics to illustrate the statistics (which you will see in the middle) in a visually appeasing and innovative way. I had all the creative freedom i want. All illustrations are by me as well as the banners, graphics, that mock-up website (with the video playing), and everything else. If you do happen to watch it, please please comment/pm me on twitter/bbm/fb or wherever to let me know what you think!!! I spent A LOT of time on it!!

Oh btw if i haven't mentioned it already- its for a Powerpoint Specialist/Designer position. Hence the slideshow lol.

Hopefully the people like it. I thought i did pretty well given the time I was allowed to work on this.The interview portion also went pretty well. Well, at the time i felt like it was great. After many reflections and talking to people about it i'm not so sure anymore. This is what i get for being over-confident, i become too comfortable too soon and show them what a big weirdo i am.

It doesn't help either, when one of the guys asked me which team i supported for the Champions League final game. FYI: I hate both teams (ManU and Barca). I hope my answer didn't affect what they think of me.

Anyways, so that's that. The "final decision" will be made this week and they'll contact me regardless of what kind of news it is. I REALLY don't know whether l'll be hired (lll probably cry for days and not admit to it if i dont get it) but at the very least i can say i REALLY gave it my all right? I somehow made it through hundreds of resume that were sent via Monster, fought my way through a round of about 20 candidates with a slow-ass laptop to create my first deck and then finally down to this round- two other candidates including myself and three days of sweat and effort. I think i deserve a LITTLE credit no? And its another piece to be added to my portfolio. But do wish me good luck people. I REALLY WANT THIS JOB/NEED THIS JOB.

Currently right now though, im working on some freelance side stuff again. I consider it my "commute" money. Its one of those jobs where the client has the worst taste in the world and if you present anything "decent" to them they'll hate but vice versa, if you present something shittey to them they would LOVE. You'd think creating shittey looking stuff is easy- ITS NOT.

&& im also behind on my tumblr posts. I dont even want to BOTHER going through about 10 days worth of posts. the thought is quite frightening. 

Would love to continue to blog more but im a lil behind of schedule today and just returned from jog which killed about an hour of my time.

Tis' all. I'll try to update more.

NEWS FLASH

BWHAHAHA

No wonder they want this presentation by Wednesday.

Its because they want us to come in for round two INTERVIEWS on THURSDAY.

BWHAHAHAHHA. I think ive OFFICIALLY GONE INSANE.

MENTALLY EXHAUSTED

FUCK YOU INFOGRAPHS

After this i do NOT want to do one for a VERY EFFING LONG TIME.

So i was able to get an extension (for that presentation thing im creating) to Thursday Morning, instead of the original Wednesday due date, and my request for Thursday Noon. Its about a 3 hour difference but I guess its better than nothing. I hope the request doesnt hurt my chances.

It also just means im probably not going to sleep Wednesday night.

Maybe i just wasnt meant for this job. I was sitting here for literally an hour and i wasnt able to come up with ANY concept for this piece i am illustrating. I have such a HUGE creative mental block right now it hurts. Fuck. Frustration level is at all time high right now.

Tis all.

Back to fucking illustrating..........or attempt to.

holey moley

Earlier in the evening at Starbucks. This was the speed my downloads were going at.

What the hell?!?!?! omg mind you that the "normal" speed is about 190KB/sec (ON A GOOD DAY!)
The net was clearly on steroids today.

Anyhoo. So long weekend has dawn on us. A long weekend that i SHOULD be enjoying but suddenly at 5:30pm today a bomb was dropped on me thus i abid farewell to my highly anticipated many-hours-of-trolling-tumblr-for-Arsenal-Charity-Ball-pictures long weekend. Oh and of course S&N's engagement ceremony and the last Arsenal game of the Season - all of which i am highly anticipating

But now, to get into details of "the bomb" now.

I haven't really told anyone yet but yes, i did make the shortlist for that interview that i spent what seemed like endless nights and days working on the prep and presentation for it. Round 2 officially began today when one of the guys that interviewed me, sent an e-mail outlining the "challenge" of this round. In short- the e-mail included a folder with content and image assets and I am asked to create a presentation by the coming Wednesday. There's really no restrictions, I am at creative freedom. Basically be innovative, be wild and be hardcore. 

When I first read this i felt my brain turn into mush. For the past week i've pretty much been just working exclusively on my "Sample" portfolio site (because i felt the need to have something up, rather then being mad ghettos and sending PDFs of my work) and trying to get it up by today.

BTW.
IT IS UP. FIND THE LINK YOURSELF......IT SHOULD BE PRETTY EASY FOR THOSE THAT SPENDS THEIR TIME LOOKING THROUGH MY STUFF. Let me know your thoughts if you DO see it. Feedback is much appreciated!!!!!!!!!

I spent SO much time redo-ing it and lost some sleep over it. It was extremely mentally draining and i thought after completing it this afternoon, i'd REALLY have some time to recover. Na Uh. No can do with Round 2 deadline in 4 days and I lose almost 2 days because of prior plans. I simply did not think i have the mental capacity to do anything spectacular and hardcore. I squeeeezed that creative sponge dry. I felt like I was out of tricks.

Lets also not forget about all the freelance opportunities that has suddenly popped up and i have to figure THAT out next week. 

That said though, after freaking out and crying internally for about 20 minutes- i was STILL able to send out another job application to a really awesome advertising and design boutique for an available position (TY cousin for showing me their website) and started drawing up a mental game plan for this Round 2 on the bus ride home.

Mental Note: Must watch what im drinking/eating this weekend. Potentially no gym until NEXT Thursday. :((((

But yes. Here we go. Round 2. *DING DING*

FUKKKEN BRING IT BIATCHES. I was made for this.

Let the games begin..................

new old layout

Its a new layout of an old layout ive used in the past because i was too lazy to figure out the coding for anything new and spectacular.

But i DID jazz it up (sorta- if you remembered what this looked like when it was all pink and happy looking) and i think the jazzing up looks prettty nice if i would say so myself (because im a bit egotistic like that).

Ok im REALLY going to sleep now before i decide to start a new blog post or work on a design project.

oh and a small fffound-

What a sassy lil troll lolol

Ok im very serious now. SIGNING OUT~

T.im B.urton is a Genius

Photos of the exhibit that i was not suppose to take (security would seriously run up on your ass and demand you to delete the picture on the spot in front of em. Good thing my stealth level is at Ninja High). I hope i don't get into trouble for this. Hence why i put the periods in between the name so Google can't pick it up. Heh clever aren't i.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE FOR MUCH BETTER VIEWS

I played with the coloring of some of the pictures. 
I took maybe a couple more pics but l'll load those on facebook

Concept Model for one of his short animations

Concept sketch for Edward Scissorhands.
I don't know how long i stood in front of this illustration but i am in love. i want this.

Concept Model made for "The Stain Boy"
Don't care what anyone says- this was probably my 2nd most favorite short on his list of amazing work. There was actually a whole house (think dollhouse with christmas lights) and this was what was INSIDE the model house when you look through the window. Its so creeepishly cute.

After my almost 2 hours tour of this exhibit (it was said that the tour should take about an average of 45 minutes to complete, so you can imagine how long i lingered at each section)
I am truly inspired by this mastermind. T.im B.urton is bloooody brilliant

A rant

Today was one of those days where i discovered how important it was to have an actual "role" in a company. More specifically for my situation- to have a "design" role/title of your own in a company/corporation, in order to:

a. prevent someone from stealing your designs and claiming it as their own.
b. have your ideas heard
c. (relates to A) to cut that bitch to the death that took your design and butchered it up

My current employment relies on pretty much every ounce of organization skills i possess and how disgustingly detail-oriented i can be. The more meticulous i am, the happier my manager is. Aside from that, it calls for zero creativeness. That said one of the tasks was to design the event brochure.....in Microsoft Publisher. For those who don't know what it is- its like a layout/document making program for non-design folks who doesn't care to learn for actual long document/layout making programs like Adobe InDesign and Quark. Simply put it- Publisher is extremely limited in its "functions" comparatively to the other design programs I normally use thus, I can ONLY make something look so "nice" given my limitations. I did my best, i presented what i felt was a brand new look and feel to what is a relatively "boring" and dull brochure yet, compiled with the corporate guidelines.

Next thing you know after about 10 revisions, my work gets shipped off to the Strategic and Communications department for "approval", andddd i pretty much am unable to touch my own work anymore.

Why?

Because, the "designer" in the cmm department did a much more creative job because they laid it out in Quark.

But i wasn't allowed to use Quark? I didn't even have access to it on my computer?

The corporate "designer" added a few other real snazzy elements to the design.

Well, those snazzy elements happen to just be small arrows that flew everywhere, CLUTTERED the page - but ripped my existing layout. Changed the font - but essentially stealing and kept all the elements that III came up with to improve the brochure. But still claimed it as their own.

The kerning was off, the white space was unbalance, i suspect they have zero idea what margins are, it was amateur-looking, and a shit load of other design-related issues that i dont remember but i do remember circling and underlining it as it was reviewed during our weekly committee meeting. Whats even more funny is the fact that the bankers who are part of this committee that i am on, were able to point out PRINT-RELATED issues with the layout.............and they're freaking business men! That's how OBVIOUS the mistakes were. But its okay because they loved the arrows. Oh they fucking loveeeeeeeeeeeeed the brilliant arrows.

As a result of all these "changes" (aka font change and an explosion of arrows), this communications "designer" will be in charge of completing the brochure and i am not allowed to touch it anymore. Even though its been under my charge since November.

You can freaking bet my attitude was NOT chirpy during the entire meeting after i was told this and im sure my face was sour as fuck.

All because, i am NOT the designer and simply just a minion. A minion who's very good at making lists.

FML.

You get walked on and your work is unappreciated and not credited to you. And this is why boys and girls - i need a fucking full-time graphics job.

Quiet, quiet weekend

I decided to forego, what was suppose to be a pretty packed weekend for portfolio website building. And of course, V-Day baking. ugh. i am tres lame. lol (Yes, i have decided to bake again).

I'm pretty determined to complete my much delayed portfolio site due to the fact that i really think i am losing out on a lot of graphics-related job because i don't have a decent website to showcase. i know i have the experience, i supppppose i have the style too but no website. Fakkkkers. I'm at a point now where i am pretty sick of not being employed full-time and money is becoming an issue again. (And of course, i want a new spring/summer wardrobe!!).

So here i am, and here i will be for the next 2 nights - working, working, baking, working.

Next week is going to be pretty fabulous though. Valentines Day ^^;;, Arsenal vs Barcelona Game @ Scallywags (2nd week in a row!!!!!!!!), Em's DimSum Birthday Brunch, KARYN'S RETURN (!!!!!!!!), Family Day. Fabulous indeed!

oh and a fffound (somewhat design-related) before i continue to do work.

Photoshop-ed Katy Perry

Her skin was "smoothed" to become silky smooth. Her boobs pushed up. Took off her sock in the ‘enhanced’ one (i guess give her less clothes?). Her stomach. Her fingers. Her moles are removed from her neck. Lines removed from her underarm.

Interesting yes? Sad face. Even Katy Perry has to be photoshopped.
Which pretty much means........ALL OTHER CELEBRITIES ARE TOO (incld. Megan Fox <- this one is for u lx if u read this. SHES A FRAUD. ACCEPT IT. Bahaha)

fffound

i wish my room looked like this.

LOOK AT THAT MASSIVE (what...6 color?) PROOFER ON THE ARMCHAIR. 

THAT'S LIKE 5 BILLS!!!!! Let's not even start on the macbook, the imac and another printer on top of that.
Jealous much?

so true

Yo its a tough market.

Color of the Year

I like this color a lot : )

New Spontaneous Layout

I suddenly felt like changing up the layout. It could possibly be because my mood and attitude towards certain things have changed drastically during the past 2 weeks. I havnt been blogging much because i HAVE in fact been out and about a lot but at the same time i feel myself going through some transitions and was not motivated to really disclose or share how i've been feeling.

Anyways, i like it! lol

New look, new attitude.

fffound

 Changes of the Bat symbol.

I thought this was pretty sick. I didn't even notice that there was a change.

Courtesy of my friends tumblr: LINK (He has pretty awesome posts that i love going through. creeper mode.)

Project 30 Days: Day 28, 29 & 30

Day 28 - A Picture of Yourself

 Dorky.

 Day 29- A picture of your outfit

Day 30- A picture of you and your best friend. best girlfriends

i changed it up. because i dont haveeeeeeeeee a "best" best friend. My girls all play a huge part in my life. every day. <3

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Project 30 Day Intro: Read

That's the month folks!
Hope it was "interesting" to some!! I apologize for the slowness but things just got sooo busy at the end of the month. I think l'll do this again once i own myself a nice SLR.....or maybe even a new camera in general. I feel so handicapped without a camera : ((

That said though i am starting up a new "project" sorta for the month of October....which i will be blogging about in a bit after i do some chores and go maintain my yeti-eyebrows.

Will be back.

Project 30 Day: Day 25, 26 & 27

Day 25 - A Picture that you edited

 

Original Picture

 

Edited Picture for Lil's Birthday card last year

Day 26 - A Picture that makes you angry

To this day, this still gets my blood boiling. During World Cup 2010, when Pedro (guy with the ball) the ball hog did not pass to my hunk (that was open aka #9) and instead fucked himself in the ass and lost the ball during the Spain vs. Germany game. I still ridicule and criticize Pedro during every game he plays because of this. Asshole.

Day 27 - A Picture of you more than 10 years ago


HAHAH god what a fat nerd. I totally understand now why none of my crushes digged me 10 years ago pwahhah looking at that makes ME laugh let alone guys. I can't believe my mom would let me out of the house looking like that. This was me in grade 9. If i looked like that right now in grade 9 i think i would be the target of all bullies and mean girls & probably be on the verge of suicide. Kids are so mean nowadays.

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Project 30 Day Intro: Read