I’m moving into an apartment in Quincy, in a complex that my parents’ friends own. They’re giving me a great deal on a 3br or 2br apartment. I’ll probably be looking for some roommates after I get there. I fly out next Sunday (3/7) and arrive Monday morning, and I’m sending my car – along with all my tv, clothes, and whatever else I can fit in my tC – on Friday so that it’ll arrive by the time I get to Boston.

I’m gonna miss the friends and colleagues I’ve met here in soCal, and I hope I can come visit often… it’s definitely going to be a tough transition, but I’m still so excited to be coming back to Boston. I really feel like Massachusetts has always been my home – I grew up there, and I miss it every day. Everyone keeps asking me why I’d possibly want to move from sunny California to the frozen tundra that is New England, but I guess I just can’t stay away for too long.

Now I really hope I can get over this cold so I can work hard for my last week and a half at GoldenComm and wont have to take any days off…

And Urban Watch & Co, the project I’ve been most proud of has finally launched. There’s still a few problems I need to address on the site though, so for now we’ll call it a soft-launch. This site will be really nice if you are looking for a great Christmas gift for a loved one; it’s located at www.urbanwatchco.com. I really owe a lot to Stela for helping me launch this damned thing… we really work well as a team, I think. I did all the frontend development and graphics, and she did all the backend development. This is the site that I really unloaded my entire arsenal of skills on… I learned a lot of javascript, and I also learned a lot about aspdotnetstorefront and xml packages. This is the second site that I’ve done from start to finish with Golden State… sadly my first site is still waiting to launch. I did manage to launch another website, Kaikea Entertainment, a couple months ago – it was the last site that I started and the first that I launched. Hopefully I can get Cornzapoppin and StockNod out in the next two weeks, and then I can start from a flesh slate. I already have some great clients lined up for 2009, some of which are:

• Johnny Was, a really big fashion design brand.
• Blue Fang Games, a company that makes video games for PC.
• Jamie Fontz, an all-american model.

And now for some non-work related stuff:

I watched Twilight tonight… I’m curious to see if the books are any better, so I bought the first two volumes. Quite honestly, I didn’t really enjoy the movie that much although the story had lots of potential. The dialogue was almost unbearable to sit through… they completely overdid the awkwardness and stuttering between words, in my opinion. I understand that both the main characters are awkward, especially with each other, and that each conversation is supposed to be really intense, but I wish they could get through one sentence without sounding like they forgot that there’s an entire range of emotions that don’t include angst and discomfort. For heaven’s sake, they didn’t even sound as if they really liked each other. So I’m going to start reading the books and see If I like it any better than the movie.

Which brings me to my next topic… I’ve been trying to make more time for my own hobbies lately, especially after my recent break up with Rick. I’m in need of some serious “me” time; I mean, I haven’t been single in almost three years. This means more reading, more anime, and more designing at my own leisure. Let’s see how long this lasts.

And all his work is coding, so I don’t know how much time that leaves me to do any graphics, so it’s just going to be boring and stressful as hell, because I freaking hate coding.

Granted, I do understand why he quit, and this is probably going to help me get my raise in the long-run. I just don’t need this stress right now. </end rant>

In any case, I’m back on the horse now. I didn’t expect to be, but I hung out with a friend/ex-coworker of mine last night… we had some drinks and well, one thing led to another. We went to see Role Models, which is a really funny movie, and then to a bar. We wound up at a Courtyard Marriott around 2:30 AM, and then got breakfast at IHOP around 6:30 AM. I got home around 8:00 this morning. I don’t know where we go from here, but I’m going to see him again later today.

On the work front, I have been really busy lately. I’m always busy, but things are really starting to get down to the wire. Last Thursday I stayed at work until 11:30 because some lady came that night and wanted a bunch of work done by the next morning. It was freaking brutal. And all my other projects seem to be launching at the same time, so it’s a lot of work. I’m gonna be glad once I push those sites out though; then I can start from a clean slate. I’m starting to get into javascript these days. I always knew it, but I just never used it a lot because my focus was really just graphics and html/css. But lately, I’ve just been tired of waiting for the developers to do things for me when I can do it faster with javascript… or to be more accurate: jQuery.

Anyway, I need to get up and run some errands – one being that I have to go pick up my belongings from Rick’s place today. Fun. Then I think I’ll go get a manicure.

Work is good, I’m on salary now, and my benefits kick in September 1st, so I’m pretty stoked about that. I’ve been getting a lot of projects lately – actually, i’m super busy at the moment.

It’s 9:00 AM right now and I should already be out the door but I’m still in bed, half dressed, and feeling too lazy to get up and take a shower. I’ll probably get in the office around 11:00, but it’s all good. I usually stay pretty late anyway. This company is wicked cool about hours, so that’s a huge relief. I’ve never been an early bird. I think the only time I ever come in on time or early is when I’m at Rick’s. He usually gets up at 7:30 so that means I pretty much have to get up too. Since he’s five minutes from my office, I get in around 8:30, which is pretty early compared to everyone else.

Anyway, I thought I’d leave you guys with some eyecandy – these are some of the designs I’ve been working on lately:

I had a real shitty day. My preliminary three month probation is over at my job, meaning I had my evaluation today. I was supposed to get a raise. I deserve a raise. I need a raise. Why didn’t get it, again? Because other people can’t do their jobs fast enough and my projects are taking too long to launch. Whether it’s stuck in development, data import, or if it’s just been managed poorly by the higher-ups, 90% of my projects are stalling. Meaning I haven’t earned my boss much profit because he hasn’t been able to bill anyone yet. Meaning I haven’t “earned” my raise – monetarily, that is. In terms of hard work, dedication to the job, and overall competence… I really think – no, I know I’ve exceeded everyones expectations.

Sigh. Bright side? I’ve been hired permanently and I get health insurance, finally. I also get put on salary and there are some other cool benefits too. I guess after getting such good feedback from my manager and peers, I started to just assume I would get that raise. When I didn’t get it, it was just a huge shock and disappointment to me.

In other news, Rick and I have been doing better the past two weeks. We had some rough patches the week before I went to Houston and the week after, but things are starting to mellow out and we’ve been spending a lot more time together.

I have been working at Golden State Communications for a couple weeks now, as a Designer and Project Manager and my impression of this Orange County web firm has been pretty great so far. The atmosphere is wicked laid back and the people are really nice, and they all have great senses of humor. We have some interesting clients, and I keep pretty busy during the week. We have this ping-pong table in the office and most of us spend a lot of time playing against each other. I personally suck at this game – but I get better as the days go by. One day I’ll finally destroy everyone at ping-pong!

Edit:// See photos from the Cornzapoppin Photoshoot!

My sister, Quynh, is back from Albania. She was in the Peace Corps and was there for two years, but now she’s back with my brother’s family in Texas. Apparently my other sister Marlene is there too, visiting. I wasn’t invited because I’m awesome. Actually, I’m going there in July for a huge family reunion, and then again for a much longer time to meet Brandon’s family, so my siblings know I can’t spare anymore vacation time for an impromptu visit to welcome Quynh back to civilization. She will be staying with me in June, anyway. She says she wants to visit me at work to make sure I’m actually working and not just goofin’ off. Heh.

As for the dailies – Honestly I’ve just been working all week. Since I’m making a steady income again, of course I’ve been shopping a lot during the weekend. I bought a really cute wallet from DSW, and some shirts from ANGL. And I got off my parent’s phone plan since they refuse to activate the internet. I need to receive emails on my phone for work and stuff, so I switched to Helio, and I got the Mysto phone, which is really slick. It should be arriving tomorrow. I’m keeping my old number so everyone should still be able to reach me. I’ve also seen a bunch of movies lately – Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Iron Man, What Happens in Vegas, and Chronicles of Narnia II. All of them were great flicks – this seems to be the season for the silver screen, because there have been some really cool movies out the past few weeks.

Seriously. I understand that people will always have questions about everything, but yknow… I don’t understand why they need to waste everyones time with questions that they could answer themselves if they just listened to what people were saying from the beginning. Especially if the information they’re looking for is in any kind of reading material that’s already been provided to them. Just fucking read it. How hard is that?

I hate it when they get the wrong idea about things because they can’t deduce simple concepts and then when you have been repeatedly trying to correct them they start getting bitchy and curt with you. Just shut the fuck up. Maybe if you had been here, you wouldn’t look so dumb.

I REALLY hate it when the same people tell you not to be so concerned with what they say and ask even though what they’re saying and asking is a stupid waste of time. Yeah I’m concerned. I’m concerned you’re on something.

I really really really hate it when people have been hired to take point on a certain task and they start coming to me with questions that they’re supposed to be a specialist in. Seriously. I asked my superior to find someone who is an expert in this area since it’s not my field and not my job to be responsible for it, and instead of being competant enough to fulfill our requests, I end up doing all the work for them. You advertised to us that you were a specialist in this area. If you can’t figure this shit out, then what the fuck are we paying you for?

End rant.

I’m going to post a video tomorrow about what my boyfriend put me through on Thursday night. It was seriously horrific.

In other news, I’ve made my deadline for this news site. Well, I will meet my deadline. I’m not done yet, but I will be tomorrow morning. I’ve been working pretty much 24/7.. I’ve barely gotten any sleep. But at least I’m getting paid for all my work soon.

The client is pretty nice, and seems like he just accepts whatever he gets since he’s not a technical person and doesn’t know any better – which is a good thing for me because there’s a lot less going back and forth and having to revise things that don’t need to be revised. I especially like the last part of the email he sent us after reviewing the first comprehensive I designed for his site.

“Please tell Christine, I am very impressed and pleased, especially the very first draft. Good work. I cannot wait to meet that talented young lady”

I’m already going to be losing one day because I’m spending new years eve in Pasadena with my boyfriend at his company’s banquet. I’ll probably spend new year’s day working though, so that sucks. My parents are coming back that day too.

I got a new hair cut! But I don’t like it that much. It looks good in pictures but in person it makes my head look too round because the stylist cut too much up top and on the sides, so i kind of have an Elvira thing going on. Also, she made the color like four shades darker than I wanted it to be. I’m going to ask my boyfriend’s sister to help me lighten it next week. Here are some pictures:

Now before we get into this, let me just say that I just found out her dog died last night. She had two dogs, a small pomeranian named Wolfgang that would play with my shih tzu everytime I brought him over, and a really really big dalmation named Sebastian. Well everytime I brought Koko over, she’d have to put Sebastian outside because she said that he’s bitten smaller dogs before and didn’t trust him to play nice with Koko. Well Sebastian died last night and he spent his last day on Earth locked outside of the house. Well, she left the bedroom door open, which leads to her backyard so he would walk in and out. But still, I feel really horrible. He died of a stroke at 3AM.

So, back on subject here… we talked yesterday about my salary and benefits. Basically I would just be working for her on commission until the company builds a strong clientèle and she can afford to pay me fulltime. But all of her clients would goto me, and as far as I can tell she has been keeping herself pretty busy. So I would definitely still be getting a strong income coming my way until I sign on as a fulltime designer. And I would be working with other designers under me.

She is going to set her business plan to include $1000 a week for me. That’s $25 an hour, which is $50k a year. That doesnt include the %75 commission I would still get after a project closes, which would be like my project bonus (If I’d done the majority of the work).

I am really excited about this. I haven’t been working fulltime since I quit my job at myGenopedia, and have been dying for a steady income. I miss depending on a paycheck every two weeks.

Now, my other new venture (since it is plural in the entry title) is that I’m finally thinking of moving out. I’ve been looking into some really nice live/work lofts in Orange County. If you don’t know what a live/work loft is, it’s when half of the loft is like an office area, where I could meet clients and whatnot, and then the other half is my living area. Usually upstairs would be my living area.

Here are some pictures of the lofts I’m looking at, both in the Santiago Street Lofts in Santa Ana.

Edit://
I figured out the perfect solution. Pam is looking for a place to meet clients and whatnot. Since I’m looking for live/work lofts, maybe we can find one together and split the rent. Then she and her business partner could meet clients downstairs in the commercial area as long as they called me first. I’m pretty sure they’d be working primarily from home. This could work!

Well I added a new poll, so be sure to take it!