Messy

The only applicant that my manager wanted to interview turned out to be a no-show. She accepted another job on Friday. My manager didn't call anyone else. He and the boss decided to post an ad in a Chinese newspaper. I must be that hard to replace haha.

My place is more and more a mess now. My bedroom still has the AC box by the door, which is as big as a med-size fridge. Then there's my desk, full of and scattered with bills and who-knows-what. The kitchen table is useless now, I have so much junk and random crap on it there's no room for anything else. Maybe I will find time to clean this weekend.

Or I will just keep finding lame excuses to put it off.

Not feeling well but the AC is awesome

I haven't been feeling well since Friday. Still I went to the gym this morning. It helped me relax. I decided to use my McDonald's coupon to get their Southern Chicken Sandwich for free. I think the last time I ate there was with CH on our trip to Portland. That was like, 5 - 6 years ago. The place didn't get very busy 'til I sat down with my food. The sandwich was very simple, a fried chicken patty with 3 pieces of pickle between buns, that was it. The flavor was mild, I thought it was fine. I did pay for my 42 oz. drink. I filled it with Hi-C and diet lemonade. Tangy, just what I needed. Of course I refilled it again when I left :) My body still wasn't 100%, so I went home, showered, and took a nap.

Dave and Jose came over around 5 to redo the AC installation. They were so nice to me. Besides the stuff to put it all together, they also bought a brand new shade for my deck. Jose and I hung it and the effect was immediate. It blocked the sun directly went into my bedroom and helped cool down a bit. In the meantime Dave was working very hard to replace all my outlets inside from 2 prong to 3 prong. He even cut himself doing it :( There were a lot of areas like under my bed and behind the shelf that I didn't clean regularly and they looked super disgusting after we moved my furniture around, so I quickly vacuumed them after Dave finished updating the outlets. Finally Dave used this clay thing he got from the hardware store to fill in the gap between the installation boards and window frame. It worked nicely. He then realigned the AC and the hose to make the whole thing tighter and neater. Jose again provided useful and helpful input from the side. I'm truly lucky to have them in my life!

The fit for the AC looked better now and worked very well. Dave even readjusted it and tried to maximize the performance. There was still a few things left to do, but right now it's great.

Three of us then went to Jim's Famous Burger for dinner. The burger was OK, but the onion rings were a letdown. The batter was too thick and too hard. We were disappointed.

I am feeling a little better now. I hope tomorrow I'll be back to full self.

Drive

This morning my AC got delivered on time at 8:30! I was very happy, but I could not go back to sleep. I stayed up and watched Dan In Real Life on DVD. It was a sweet and cute romantic comedy. Juliette Binoche was beautiful, funny and sexy. I had never seen her in an American indie or romantic comedy before, it was refreshing to see her in a different light. The soundtrack worked with the movie very well too, quiet and moving. The chemistry between the actors was strong and they stayed connected. I really liked it.

Dave and Jose came over just when I was finishing the movie. We were going to drive down to Eric's surprise party, thrown by Mike. It was a good drive. We stopped in Anaheim to visit Grace. Her restaurant, Nice Food, was so busy! We ate a lot of food there, of course. Cold noodle, leek cake, orange chicken, smoke chicken w/ 1000 year old egg, meatball with turnip, snow greens with soybean, eggplant with green bell pepper, and beansprouts with leek. They were all good and we were stuffed. Dave and Jose somehow found room for boba drinks, so we got two different flavors to go. I skipped on the drinks because I was way full.

The drive down to SD was easy. We arrived before Eric got home and everyone was waiting for him. Of course, he walked up the stairs before we were prepared. So we were the ones got surprised. He was happy to see us and drank plenty. I chatted with Steve more whom I hadn't seen in a long time. It was nice to meet new people too. We left before 5 and stopped in Anaheim again so we could refuel and go to Home Depot for some stuff needed for my AC installation.

We came back around 7:30 and Dave helped me unpack and install the AC in the bedroom. It worked well and seemed a lot more fancy than I thought. The project was not done yet, so Dave would have to come back to finish the job. For now, it was good enough.

We had dinner at Tasty Noodle. We ordered mapo tofu, string beans, bittermellon, and leek buns. I know, more Chinese food! The waitress was attentive, but she forgot our green onion cake. It was fine, we ate too much already. Dave and Jose left around 10. This definitely has been a driving-all-over and pretty productive day.

Shaking it

Weekend is here again. I felt a little sad at work today cleaning up my office. It would be the last Friday I spent there. 4 more days, then I am gone. I will miss the people I work with, the drive, the closeness of a small company, but I won't miss the pay :)

I called mom and told her about the new job. She was very excited. She even went and clicked through their site to check out the company herself. Very rarely mom would take time to study a company online, she was genuinely impressed, and happy for me. It made me feel good to hear her being so proud.

TV tonight has been pathetic. The only good show I saw was a rerun of America's Best Dance Crew on MTV. Most of the teams rocked the stage. The energy and showmanship were electrifying. I could watch that show again and again. Yea I admit I'm addicted to reality TV, good ones only!

Resume time

I got to review the resumes we received for my position today. Some of them were great, and of course were immediately tossed aside... Overqualified = Expensive. Experienced = Costly. That was about 60% of the applicants. The rest was spotty at best. More than 1/3 of those either sent in poorly formatted resumes or had no experience or skills we required at all. Why didn't it occur to them to check how their resumes looked before they sent them out? Unaligned sentences, colliding headings and highlights, distracting logos and unnecessary graphics, what were they thinking?! A few didn't even type a word, just sent a blank email with their resume attachment. One sent his resume in InDesign format, like, are you kidding me? You couldn't bother to at least export it to PDF? That couldn't leave that good an impression to the hiring people, could it? There just weren't that many that fit what we were looking for.

The right candidate should have little to some graphics experience, like 1 to 2 years. My manager really liked the ones that just graduated from college.

Recent graduates = Cheap! 20 somethings = Yep you guessed it, Cheap!

I managed to pull 6 people out of the bunch. Some seemed more suitable than others, on the paper now anyways. My manager will call and get a couple of them in for interview next week. Good luck to him.

I told my manager that he won't find another person like me. His response? "Thank God!"

But he laughed. He knew I was right. Hopefully I will help him land someone pretty close before I go. I was overwhelmed at first too, in time, he or she will catch up.

He or she just needs to be cheap, and very willing. Ha!

Back and Forth

Work was messy this morning. One minute it was this, and just when it was about to get done, my manager wanted to re-do the whole thing. So I changed it to what he wanted, only to be told he wanted the original version. It was back and forth then back again. I am glad I'll be out of here very soon.

Wait, wasn't I just feeling sad about leaving? I suppose we all contradict ourselves sometimes.

I found my new favorite show

I am watching I Survived A Japanese Game Show now. I am so excited! I love the colorful pop-out graphics. I love the loud mama san yelling at the contestants in their house. I love the crazy sarcastic host cracking jokes at their expense before and during the challenges. I love the excited audience with their random musical instruments and silly MAJIDE hand pose. I love how the contestants getting laughed at everywhere in Japan and enjoying it! I love the behind the scenes production stuff with that bossy and slightly bitchy assistant. I love the hilarious mochi treadmill and fly jump onto the windshield games. I am in love with that round bug outfit on the two dueling ladies! Yes, everything can be wilder and crazier, but for a premiere episode, I love it all! I am laughing so hard I'm sweating.

I don't know why no one thought of putting this on network TV before. I am predicting the show to be a huge hit on ABC, like DWTS a few years ago. We all heard of or know how fun Japanese game shows are, but we never have seen it produced and aired on American TV until tonight! This is so awesome.

Overqualified

The ad I helped my manager write was a hit. We received many excellent candidates' resumes. So excellent, and so experienced that my company just can't afford. They are "overqualified" - You can say that again! One way to fix that problem is to tell people how much the pay is going to be, but my manger didn't want to put salary range in the ad. So I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.

My boss came into work today. I was a little nervous about seeing him. He's never hostile towards me in person, so I don't know why I felt especially anxious. Probably it's because I felt he was unhappy that I was leaving. That might be the case, but he never made me feel uncomfortable in any way. He actually asked me if I would be able to help him after I left. He specifically asked me about my computer set-up at home, and whether I might have time during the week or the weekend to do some work for him. I kind of said yes, I did tell him that my computer doesn't have the necessary software to do most of the stuff. Anyway, it was nice to feel needed. He and my manager ended up joking about my new job, harmlessly of course, it completely erased that weird tension I had. Suddenly I felt like I really appreciated the time I worked here. Was I silly or what?

I sincerely thanked him when he was leaving, so did he. It was a simple thank you, for the years that I spent here, all the lows and ups and everything in-between. I didn't get a teary eye or anything, I just felt that bittersweet joy and gratitude deep down, and I wanted to express that I was truly thankful to him before I left here for good. My boss replied, "Thank you for everything... And good luck in your new job." How nice of him, right? It certainly was a touching moment for me. This is a good break-up.

AC Drama

I got an email ad from Costco today and of course I went to check out what they had. There was this portable AC that was on sale, a good $150 off plus free shipping, I was so tempted! I looked at their other ones and decided that this one was my top choice. I called Dave and told him about it. Just as we were discussing this portable AC versus regular window types, this on-sale AC became unavailable on the site! I refreshed the page a couple more times, nope, it was gone! I could not believe it!

There was another more expensive one on the Costco website, with more power - 12,000 BTU, and had a seemingly better-fit installation kit. We talked some more, and I felt like I should wait so I just closed the page. Half an hour later Dave called again and he found that Bestbuy got this same 12,000 BTU AC at their City of Industry location. I was kind of surprised. Because I saw it earlier on Bestbuy's site too, but I typed in Dave's zip code instead of mine (I don't know why I did that, I guess I was hoping to go to the store near him since he drives a VW wagon, lol) - And there was none available at the stores near his house.

Anyway, Dave said I should buy it and test it out. He also advised that I call before going there. I agreed, then I placed the order. I got two emails from Bestbuy, one confirming my order, the other verifying the AC was ready to be picked up. It was pretty fast too, like within 10 minutes I received both emails. So I took off and was excited about finally having a working AC in my bedroom.

No, of course I didn't listen to Dave completely. I didn't call them to make sure they had it in stock. Major mistake! That was a really good advice, by the way. Because when I got there to pick it up, I was told that every portable AC in the store was sold out! I said that was impossible, I received the emails telling me I could pick one up now! Of course it was a computer error, or someone didn't do his / her job. I ended up cancelling the order there and was given a customer number to call, or to vent.

I called Dave in the parking lot and told him what happened. I should've listened. He said I need to go back in the store and demand a rain check at this price, in case they decide to raise the price later. I told him I was going to call the customer line first, and if that didn't go well, I would do that.

To make the long story short, the Bestbuy customer service agent was extremely professional and courteous. He cancelled this order for sure, then gave me a 10% discount plus free delivery on the same AC. I was very pleased with that outcome and thanked him. I also gave him a 10 on the survey. The customer service experience with him was that good.

I kind of wondered if I had just made that phone call after placing my order, instead of driving there, and figured everything out over the phone. Would I still get the same result?

I had dinner with PK and Yu at Hwa Ro Korean BBQ & Tofu tonight. It was a pretty good deal, for all you can eat Korean BBQ, it's $17.99 per person. We first ordered their entire selection of meat, I know, we were so meat-hungry hahaha. For the second round we ordered three different types, then for the last round, two. Honestly I couldn't tell what meat corresponding to which number on the menu. Yu cooked for us and he was fast and fierce. We had a real good time there, a great place to revisit definitely.

I came home thinking I sure spent a lot of money this weekend. The AC, dining out with friends, CD shopping, etc. I haven't done this kind of buying without thinking in a long long time. I think I was feeling good about my new job and wanted to celebrate. Sigh. Wait 'til I receive the credit card statement! Hahaha.

Trips

This morning I went to Hsi Lai Temple to express my gratitude. I know it sounds weird. Basically I wanted to thank the higher spiritual guidance that helped me find my path. I don't know how else I can explain it better. It is something I want to do.

I have to say, it was strange that I saw so many non-Asians there this morning. Families, couples, young teens, all seemed pretty familiar or at least comfortable with the Buddhist themes, figures, and surrounding. I supposed I was the only one that found non-Asians visiting a temple odd. No one was paying any special attention to them.

I came back home to check my emails and eat lunch. Dave messaged me online and said that his AC was on. I finished writing my emails and left. It was disgustingly hot in LA today. I was happy to sit in a cool room. Jose had a wedding to go to and after he left, I almost felt into a nap there. Dave suggested that we should look for an AC. We went to Home Depot in Hollywood and I was surprised how big that place was. There was a separate upper-level parking lot behind the store. There were elevators too! Wow. We looked at all the ACs they had and there was a huge crowd checking out and buying them. I guess it's not just me thinking this heatwave is pretty ridiculous. We didn't get anything yet, Dave said I should check out the ones in Costco, then decide.

After taking very good AC notes, we went to Amoeba for some music shopping. It had been a while for me to buy any CDs. I almost thought there wasn't a good reason to buy again. I was wrong. I found two and was kind of happy I did. They were both used too, so quite awesome for my wallet :)

The first disc, Hotel Costes Vol. 10 - I just listened to it in the car. Mellow and relaxed, not terribly stylish. I was surprised that so far all the tracks on the CD were in English. I had heard a couple of the previous collections in this series and this one definitely is a step sideway. After reading some of the negative reviews on Amazon, I understand now why I found it used! The other disc I got, Return to the Playboy Mansion, is also supposedly a groovy collection of mellow, sexy songs. This disc seems to get much better reviews on Amazon, I still haven't listen to the tracks yet. I will update my thoughts on them later.

Dave got a ton of stuff, of course. He was very happy. We then went to a small Thai restaurant for dinner. He didn't eat much because he was saving room for Scoops. When we got there, several flavors were already sold out. We sampled some and had a hard time making our decisions. Finally Dave picked pistachio with orange blossom, Guinness tiramisu, mint Jim Beam - altogether 3 scoops!!! Wow. I only picked two flavors, lemon lychee and duche de leche. Yea I just liked how those two names put together :) The best flavors of the night: pistachio with orange blossom and lemon lychee. Yum!

It was a good day out with Dave. Even though the weather was insanely hot outside, we had a fun time shopping and making each other laugh. I was productive too. I printed out all the hiring papers at Dave's place and read them over a couple of times. I haven't signed any of them. I will get to doing that later.

After I got home I started, and finished writing the job ad for my position. I didn't know it cost a lot to post a job ad online. It could be anywhere from $280 to $390, who knew?! Knowing my company, the price at Craigslist, a mere $25 is a genuine bargain. We'll see what my manager says.

I got it!

I finally received the job offer!!! I'm so happy! I also gave my manager my 2-week notice and I will start working at the new company on 7-7 :)

I had dinner with Nicole tonight at Madarin Noodle Deli. We ordered fish leek dumpling, small combination cold plate, noodle with pork sauce (zha jian mien) and stir fried thin rice noodle Taiwanese style. The food was light and flavorful. I didn't order the beef noodle soup, which seemed like a popular item on the menu. It was just too hot to eat noodle soup today.

The last time I saw Nicole was 3 years ago. Even though we hadn't seen each other all this time we had no problems finding stuff to talk and laugh about. She also got a job offer this week and we were kind of celebrating our good news together.

The temperature has really gone up this week in LA. My apartment is pretty much like an oven now. I will need to get myself a portable AC soon.

I'm in a really good mood right now :)

Bleh

I did not get to talk with that manager last night after all. She did call this morning and left me another message. I called her back and did the same. I hope she calls today after 5 PM, then we can sort the whole thing out. It would be great if they met my terms, but if they could not, I would have to let the offer go.

Work today was slow. Very glad I made dinner plans with Judy - something to look forward to. I heard on the radio that the temperature outside had reached 116° this afternoon - NO WAY! That couldn't be true, could it? It is getting hotter and hotter in LA each day. Thank goodness I am at work most of the day. AC in my office works, I can't say the same for the one I have at home. We'll see. I will most likely buy a new one this summer, the question is when.

Low Offer

The company called me yesterday when I left the office. She made me an offer over the phone and asked me if I would accept it. Well, the offer was low, and I wasn't ready to accept it. She said their budget was only for this much and she would need to speak with the executives if I wanted more. She asked what number I was expecting. I gave her a mid to high range on the scale, then said, with a chuckle, that I knew they wouldn't give me the higher number, but the salary she just gave me, I would really have to think about it. She said if they offered me this middle number instead, would I accept the offer? I paused, and said yes. She said she would let me know.

I called Dave and discussed the whole conversation. He said I did well. I was waiting for an email response from her today at work, but I received nothing. Instead, I got another two phone calls, one from her and one from the manager that I had an interview with. I called the lady back, she wasn't available. I called her again around 4 PM and she put me on hold for a few, then said that manager was leaving and would have to call me back later.

OK. I didn't understand why I would be speaking with the manager now - I am guessing that they are not going to raise the number, and are hoping to have the manager to talk me down. So the big question for me now is, if that's the case, that the number they offered me yesterday, is their actual and final offer, do I take it?

Or do I decline, say thanks, and move on?

I'm leaning towards the latter response. After all, they did call my company after I specifically marked "NO" on the "May we contact your current employer" box. That showed very poor respect and consideration. I also wrote how much I was looking for on the job application, and also on my resume. Therefore it's not like they didn't know what number I was asking, and now to seemingly low-ball me on the salary, what are they trying to tell me?

This is like car shopping. I walked out on one car I really liked because the dealer refused to give in just $500, then she kept emailing me afterwards, and lowered more than what I was asking for initially. Tough luck.

I am willing to walk out on this offer as well if they can't budge even one bit.

Slow day

It's a slow day at work today. I don't have much to do. I think I'm counting on that job offer somewhat, so I didn't even do any job search. I'm probably just lazy. Tonight I will browse online jobs and apply some. Who knows if that company will come through or not?

Eric got the present I sent - The Post Office is so fast sometimes. I mailed it out on Saturday and he already got it yesterday! I suppose being in the same state helps. He is going to wait 'til his birthday to open it. How very me, hahaha!

Grumpy + Irritable

I am very irritable at work today. My manager asked me to work on our boss's daughter's invitation cards. It was mostly fixing someone else's mistakes, and let me just say that I was one super grumpy employee. The task was not difficult or tedious. I just didn't want to do it. I looked at myself and wondered why I reacted so poorly. I had such distaste for doing the job if I were my boss I would fire myself.

I think the reason why I behaved so negatively was that I felt like these weren't my mistakes and I was basically asked to do a thankless job. The person whom my boss hired outside couldn't do the work, so I, as the default back up, had to correct the left-over mess. And I had to do it with my manager looking over my shoulder too. It all felt just a little insulting. Whatever. I redid the files numerous times, because not only I had to satisfy my manager, also I had to pass my boss and that other designer's standards. Now everyone's happy. Except this grumpy employee.

I can't wait to leave this company.

Cheap

I am so cheap. I went to CVS today to get a pack of gum. None of the ones I liked was on sale. I looked at their tags and was hoping to find a yellow or red discount label, nope, every single one on the shelf was regular price. I thought about it and walked out without buying one. I didn't want to pay full retail $1.19 for it.

I drove to Rite Aid and went to their candy aisle right away. They had a few kinds that were marked down, but all of those were sold out. I kept looking and hoped to find one pack somewhere that was overlooked by earlier shoppers. Nope, I couldn't find one. I started to debate with myself internally again. Should I just give in and buy regular priced gum, or should drive to another store? This is so pathetic! I'm so cheap!!! I decided to look at the check-out counters and see if there were any more of the discounted types. I checked carefully and was disappointed again. Every on-sale brands and flavors had been sold out. I thought to myself, "This is ridiculous, just go back to the candy aisle and grab one. You're wasting too much time. Time is money, blah blah."

I walked back to the candies section, and found there was this big paper case hanging by the end of the aisle. I saw inside the case there were many different gums. One of the flavors was Dentyne Fire, and on the gum itself it had a little sign says "Buy 1 Get 1 Free!" - OH MY GAWD! The one that I was holding was supposed to have another pack attached to it, so I needed to find another pair in that case. Lucky me! I found just one in there just like that. I was so excited! I went to the cashier and was so proud. When he scanned the pack and the price read ".29 cents" - my brain was cheering and celebrating with fireworks. Hello?! 29 cents for 2 packs of gum, regular price would have cost me $1.19 x 2 = $2.39! What an amazing find! Hahahaha!

Yes I know I should've bought more. I went to another Rite Aid after lunch with Dave, Jose, Angelo and Regina, and that one did not have the same deal. I did buy two 3-packs for $3.00 there. That was an average on-sale price for gum and I was perfectly fine with that purchase. I will probably go back to the first Rite Aid and see if I can still find that cheap 2 packs for 29 cents - It pays (sometimes) to shop around :)

Cameron's Birthday

I just got back from Dave's. It was a great day. I went to the Post Office to mail out Eric's present. It took less than 5 minutes. I wanted to go to the Apple store in old town to get Jose a Thank You gift. There were a lot of available parking, but the ones that were monitored by the credit card meters cost at least $1 to park. Yeah right! I found another street with plenty of metered parking and that only cost me 60 cents in change. Take that Pasadena!

I went to Dave's around 1:30 and we left together for Cameron's birthday party at Barnsdall Park. Dave brought several exotic cheeses, a lot of fruits, different wines, bottled water and two of his coolers. Cameron has lots of friends. We put our blanket on the grass, along with the other two that others brought, and started to take out the food. Everyone had a good time eating and talking while Cameron began to set up Capture the Flag in the open area. I didn't know the game and wasn't going to participate. Then I changed my mind. It was more fun than I thought. Playing in a team makes people to interact too. I got to know more of Cameron's friends and run around like a kid.

We left the park around 6:30 and came back to Dave's to relax. We were talking about having Chinese food, but no one wanted to get in the car and drive after partying and playing all afternoon under the sun. So Dave said he would just make us pasta for dinner. That sounded simple and delicious. Besides pasta Dave also made cream spinach. That was a yummy dish. I finished the whole thing too. After we ate, Jose seemed like he was passing out - I was getting sleepy too. I told him we all would be sleeping very well tonight.

Weekend activities

I am going to have a productive weekend. Tomorrow I'm sending out a letter to Dad, with pictures Jen took on my GC party. I'm also mailing out a package to Eric, whose birthday is coming up next week. Then I will meet up with Dave and Jose and head out to Cameron's birthday party at 2.

On Sunday Nicole is coming over to have lunch. She's in the mood for noodles so we will, or I will, find a good place for us. She also wants boba, so there's that afterwards.

Secret's out!

I was chatting with PK this morning on Google. Jen's window popped out suddenly and I said hi. She told me she received a phone call from the company I interviewed with yesterday. I was so surprised. I continued to talk with her and began to tell PK about it. PK didn't respond right away, and then he told me the lady actually just called him too. Wow. So I guessed they had begun to call my references and seemed like they were serious about hiring me.

A few minutes later my manager came to my office and asked me if I had talked to this company recently. I was shocked! I specified on the application not to call my employer. Since my manager already found out, I had to come clean. I told him that I was job searching and this was one of the companies I talked to. I didn't give him the exact details, and I definitely didn't tell him that I lied yesterday to go to the interview. I felt extremely embarrassed. My manager was very nice though, he offered some suggestions and inquired about their pay range. I decided to tell him most of what I learned. I really felt like I betrayed him, I know it's silly, but I did.

Later today I told Dave that my secret had been exposed. He was not happy that they called my company and talked with my manager. He was right. I felt like they didn't respect me enough. I still don't know how I feel about this. If my manager was a jerk, he could've replaced me within one week! And what if the new job didn't work out in my favor? I would've lost my job now and become unemployed.

Dave said he will call them and tell them just how uncool this was. I am glad Dave didn't answer his phone when they called him today, now he knows what they did, he can let them have it first thing in the morning. Dave sometimes is like a powerful punch packed with fire and justice - I love it when he says it like it is and fights for me :)

The Interview

I did it! I am exhausted now, but what an exciting day it was. The company that wanted to interview me finally called today and asked if I could go meet with them this afternoon. I was surprised and told them that I would need to go home to change first. It didn't seem like they knew I still worked full time. We settled on the interview time at 2:30 and I made an excuse to leave work early. I was nervous, also very excited. 

I came home and rushed to get my interview outfit on. They looked fine. I was going to show Dave and Jose and seek their opinion, I couldn't now. I ate half of my lunch, visited the bathroom, and off I went. I didn't have time to stop by the ATM for cash (parking in downtown requires cash) so my neighbor lent me $6 and wished me good luck. I felt so blessed. It didn't take long to drive to downtown, no freeway traffic at this time, but because I parked a few blocks away, I had to walk fast in my dressy outfit. 

I made it 10 min before the interview time. There was another lady also coming to see the same person in the company. I immediately thought that she might be my competition. I had to fill out a 6 page job application and sign another page for background check. It felt redundant, but since the other lady got to be interviewed first, I had nothing else to focus on but to completing the forms. When I finally was in the big conference room for my interview, I was lively and engaging. I felt strong and confident. The hiring lady seemed to like me. We then moved to her office to use her computer. Soon she brought in another employee who was working on some of the stuff I would be doing if I was hired. So I was talking and trying to impress them both, as they were pretty much interviewing me at the same time.

After the second lady left, I was invited to meet with the COO of the company. I was feeling nervous again. Fortunately he was more talkative than inquisitive. Still I sat in his office facing him, paying attention, nodding, smiling, and laughing gently when I needed to. He and the hiring lady I talked earlier to were discussing having another person to call into the office so remotely he could interview me as well. I felt nervous and uneasy, but I knew I could do this. So they finally got the 4th person on the phone, who was one of the heads in the company, and he asked me several point-blank questions that sounded simple but I knew I better answer them wisely and energetically (well that's the type of attitude every job applicant needs to have anyway) . The truth is I tried to think fast and impress much, and there were definitely times I don't think I answered them all that well. The COO seemed to like me so he actually was complimenting and almost flattering yours truly to the teleconferencing person on the phone, which helped a lot.

After the remote head person said he would be very glad to agree with whatever decision the COO would be making, he hung up and the first hiring lady came into the office again. So I spent another good 10 - 15 min speaking to both of them. The COO in the end said he assumed I would pass the background check, and I should hear from them mid next week. I shook his hand and the hiring lady's hand, turned in my job application and left.

The walk back to my car was exhilarating. I was hungry, dying to pee, but so happy. I had a good feeling about the company and the people there. 11 weeks ago I received the notification that my Green Card was approved. Exactly 11 weeks later I finally got my first real interview. I feel very gratified and thankful that slowly my life is taking shape, and moving forward. I'm hopeful that from now on things will get better and the steps that I have made prior to today will help me accomplish more goals and overcome more challenges. 

I'm exhausted, but happy.

Shirt

After I went home last night I found my old white shirt and navy color dressy pants. These were my interview clothes from years ago. I know - I have worked for the same company for close to 7 years now, and here we wear jeans and t-shirts with sneakers everyday. I really don't have a reason to buy new and dressier outfits. Now this in-person interview was about to happen (I hope) I wanted to air out and freshen up my one-and-only interview ensemble before the big day. As I laid them on my bed I felt the shirt's color seemed a bit off to me. It's been so long since I wore it, it looked like it had turned slightly yellow. I don't know if any dry cleaner can restore or bleach the shirt back to its original whiteness - I probably will need to go buy myself a new shirt.

I had a ton of stuff to do at work today. I didn't get to look or apply for a job. And I still haven't received the phone call regarding the interview yet. Maybe later tonight or tomorrow.

The Callback

After waiting and checking my cellphone all day at work, I finally received the callback from the company I interviewed for this past Saturday. She told me I was the first person she called and wanted to know if I would be available for an in-person interview this week. Of course I said YES. She told me she would have to check on her end first, making sure both the president and the communications director could meet with me later this week. This sounded very serious and totally awesome!

Pride Night

Last night I went out to West Hollywood again. It was pure madness. People in groups were everywhere. Big and small, cute and ugly, men and women, they were all out in full force. The bar we went into was packed to the max. It was impossible to stand somewhere without getting pushed or asked to move. Yes I knew the area was going to be busy because Gay Pride began this weekend. I just didn't anticipate this level of explosiveness! It felt joyous to witness the insanity, at the same time, exhausting to be in the middle of it. I realized I made the wrong decision to come. I couldn't handle it. I called PK and asked him to come rescue me. He was very sweet and kind to say yes. So I walked from the busiest clubs on Santa Monica to the corner of Melrose and Orlando, hoping to save PK from driving into the chaos that is West Hollywood. My feet were sore after walking a mile or two in a pair of flip-flops, but I didn't mind. I had to escape.

After I hopped into his car I started to tell PK what happened. I oddly found myself feeling excited about the whole thing. When I was recounting the details of the evening I was lively and very animated. I supposed even though I didn't enjoy the actual party, I liked the idea behind it. And now I know what it's like, I won't go near it again.

She made it!

The phone interview just finished. She finally made it!

She asked some good questions and of course threw me a couple of surprises. I wasn't expecting she asking what my 3 strengths when it comes to designs and marketing. I said first I'm honest. Yea I did! I said I create work that are truthful and based on facts. I supposed I was thinking more in terms of advertisement and campaigning. The second strength I said was that I make my work distinctive. I create something, I go back and re-edit and revise it, so the work stand out from others. Yea, now looking back, doesn't everyone do that? What was I thinking?! The last thing I said was that I communicate, and open to new and creative inputs and feedback from others. No I don't think it's a strong answer to her question either. I was trying to make my personality strengths my design strengths. My response was not as precise or as straightforward as it could be. I don't have an excuse. I was trying to think and also impress her. It was not easy!

I might have an in-person interview next week. Let's hope that one goes well too!

No call - What the...

So all that anticipation added up to... nothing. The interviewer never called. I had envisioned 3 to 4 scenarios and this was one of them. If she had called, it would probably go like:

1. She liked me. I answered almost everything right on target. We laughed. It was beautiful. I would start next month.

2. She didn't feel me. I tried really hard to win her over. We hung up and immediately I went back online to look at job listings.

3. The interview went so so. I didn't feel like this was the right place. I didn't care if I got it. I opened my fridge, enjoyed myself a grapefruit, or a scoop of sorbet, and surfed the TV wave 'til it's time for bed.

Then there's 4. The no phone call situation... which could mean 2 things:

1. She totally forgot. The reason? Probably related to that juicy gossip item I didn't get to hear completely on Wednesday. Damn you cell phone reception!!!

2. They found somebody else.

Either way, I didn't get to talk about myself and how wonderful I am. It's fine. I already applied another job while waiting for her. Life goes on.

Feeling weak

I'm not feeling 100% today. My stomach was acting up all day and when I was at the gym there were a few times I felt so weak I had to concentrate to finish each exercise. Maybe it's low blood sugar or I just ate something wrong. I am better now at home, doing nothing.

I received my auto insurance statement this week: $988 for the whole year. I think it's pretty reasonable and am tempted to just pay it. Then the practical (or frugal) side of me says I need to check other insurance companies' rates. Maybe I will just look at a couple of them. Insurance shopping is kind of a hassle, especially if you are doing it over the phone. It can take forever... OK I'm exaggerating. For the last two years I would shop around and still come back to Wawanesa. Anyway - Only if I have time this weekend.

Another interview

I finally got another phone call this morning for a opening position. It was a job that I applied for a month ago. It took them two weeks to get back to me via email. Then another two weeks to call me directly. I had a feeling they already talked to other applicants who decided they didn't want the job. I wasn't really their first choice. Whatever. I was more than glad to take a shot at it.

The phone screener was a polite and cordial lady. She asked me what time I could come in for an interview. I told her either tomorrow or Friday would work. She suggested Friday 2:30 PM, which I was ok with, then she said she would call me back to confirm soon. Strangely I didn't hear from her until 5:30 PM. She informed me that she had to cancel the said interview, and instead schedule a phone interview with me on Friday evening. She did provide a reason over the phone, in an off-the-record kind of way. Unfortunately my reception wasn't that great, or she had lowered her voice so much, I couldn't hear or understand the exact reason why. It felt like she was sharing some office gossip - She even told me not to tell the interviewer. I just nervously laughed like I understood.

She thanked me for being understanding. I thanked her for letting me know. I felt like she trusted me. That was nice. Even though I had no idea what she told me.

Expectations

I had a "friendly dinner" with someone adorable tonight. I didn't want to call it a "date" because it implied romance and expectations. Expectations... I don't like them. Hardly anyone lives up to my expectations. And I KNOW for certain I rarely meet others' expectations of me. Sigh. Is this what people called "low self-esteem" or having a pessimistic personality?

Obviously I prefer to think that I'm extremely practical. It's better to hold no or low expectations of people, so I don't get disappointed. Sigh. That strategy never works! Because it is impossible not to form certain expectations of someone, especially if he's new to your life. I want that attractive all-in-one package personalized just for me. Then the more you peel away the layers, the less attractive the package becomes. So where was I? Oh - Yes, getting to know someone new can be exciting as well, if we both surpass each others expectations. Arrgh! Did I mention I really really don't like expectations?

So... How was the food? Well, it was slightly below my expectations.

Did my "friendly dinner" someone succeed or surpass my expectations? Yes! For now anyways!

Totally adorable. Fun. Interested in what I had to say. Great smile. Good kisser. Mmm.

Man... I guess this was a date after all.

Another sleepless night

I've begun to notice a pattern - I don't sleep well on Sundays. Last night I was mostly awake laying in bed. I could hear my iMac making the tiniest sounds. I was also aware of the birds and insects chirping enthusiastically outside my apartment. I knew my blanket got very very warm and I was feeling super thirsty. No, it was not at all restful.

I got up around 5:30 this morning. I didn't really want to, but it was useless to stay in bed when my eyes were wide open. Work was fortunately uneventful, and I became quite sleepy after lunch. I submitted another job application after recovering from my food coma, and now I'm waiting to go home. Just another Monday.

Bloody Bored

I didn't get to do much this weekend. I had a Subway sandwich for dinner last night. I suspected that their bread could be getting smaller. That was the only time that I walked out of the apartment.

Today I woke up before 10 and went to the gym around 10:30. Afterwards I went to Ralph's for some groceries and came back. I applied another job online and watched a very bloody movie Apocalypto on TV. It was not very good. Too much exposition to every transition and every ritual, it went on and on and on. I was expecting an action movie, but it was like a History channel special with lots and lots of blood and terrifyingly bad teeth. The movie did pick up the pace towards the end. It was like nothing happened for a long long time except how the villains mistreated the hero and his tribe, then when it was getting to be over, all the actions started to come onto the screen. I kept asking myself why didn't Mel Gibson just cut 20 - 30 min out and make the whole film tighter and better.

My neighbor made more BBQ this afternoon so I had that for dinner after a good nap. I didn't go out 'til 8 PM tonight to get some produce for the week. I sure got plenty of rest and TV this weekend.