Archive for the ‘school’ Category

sometimes it’s an honor just being nominated.

August 14th, 2010, posted in girl valet, nerdery, school, screw you cosmic muffin, semantics, work

It was an honor just being nominated.
I turned down Not!GradSchool today. It sucked, but when I explained what I was going to do instead, they were actually pretty cool about the fact that yes, I will need to take a couple of prep courses & to sit & determine the best way to do that there, which is nice. So next week when they have the fall schedule done, I’ll go in & figure out which course I should take this quarter, and go from there. :shrug: Such is life – or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Moments of technological commentary:

  1. Talking to someone about being a valet & saying, “I pretty much get paid to play automotive Tetris – OH MY GOD, I never even thought of it, but there’s probably an iPhone app for Tetris!” :fist of triumph!:
    Oh yeah. My valet time just got way awesomer.
  2. Every time I get a set of keys that doesn’t have a clicker, I’m always like, “Daaaaamit, now I have to actually look for the car…” oh technology, how did anyone valet before you?

Yeah, I could play here.
Went over to Blankspaces on Tuesday & tried it out for a couple hours. It’s not bad – just basically office space. It’s more the gesture of going somewhere specifically to work instead of trying to do things at home & thinking, “I could work after my nap” or “Polgara did leave the Supernatural s. 1 DVDs… I could put them in & work at the same time!” (Is work done? yes. Is a productive amount of work done? eh… not so much, no.)

I have a free week to try out that begins on Saturday, so I’m going to remand my puppy to the care of her playmates next door (and, you know their human that pays the bills) and basically spend the time that I would normally be valeting for Dolls or Prem!Co working on trying to churn out the backlog of work that I have.

AHAVA Hero Products 728x90

This is what Chuck feels like, isn’t it? Or, it would be if Chuck were a real guy.
So I haven’t gotten a check from EDD since oh… May. They keep effin’ up my claims. The good news is that by the time I get caught up to now on the forms, I won’t need to continue filing for checks, but having the last, oh, two months’ worth of checks would greatly help me do things like… get caught up on my rent. With that in mind, I went down to the office on Crenshaw to achieve an actual conversation with an actual California state employee. (I know, Cali residents! It’s rare & exciting – I feel like I should have a button that says, “I’m an EDD Slayer, ask me how!”)

In the course of talking to the gentleman on the phone (you don’t see people in actual person, you just get to use the direct line to call them) and when he found out that I’m a web designer, he began talking to me about how he had someone making a website for him, but before they’d do anything, he had to get “the PayPals” in order to send the deposit, and while he didn’t mind, he was a 58 year old guy who’d been through two wars & just didn’t understand this whole technology thing.

This resulted in me explaining PayPal & how it works to him, and why it is that they need to make small deposits into his bank account in order to verify that it actually exists. In return, he did… something to make sure my first check was expedited to me, set it up so I’ll get all the back claims at once instead of having to wait a week inbetween, & strongly urged me to go to the CA state jobs website since according to him, “We could use some nice smart girls like you working for us around here.” I dutifully allowed him to instruct me as to where the site is, & took down the url for a friend who could probably use it, but let’s be honest — I just wouldn’t work well as a full time state employee. ;)

In the meantime, the first check showed up yesterday, along with the back claim forms — I kinda can’t wait to get that money in if for no other reason than that my landlord’s gonna be ridiculously happy when I’m suddenly caught up on rent!
(I’ve been in my building for nine years as of January ’11. Since most of us work in creative industries, a couple of us are actually a month or so behind, but in this economy it’s actually easier for my landlord to just let us skate along until we get caught up & keep the solid residents than to try to find new renters. and considering that West Hollywood has rent control, thank god for that.)

—————–

Overall, I feel like I’m making progress, but in the way that you’ve just organized a single bookshelf and still have the entirety of the Louvre to catalog before you’re allowed to take a break to pee. More to do, more to do, and I would just love it if I could put everything on pause & take a nap.

Goodwill Too is going Green!

Music: The Scientist – Coldplay The

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G’bye, Not!GradSchool… hullo Europe!

July 27th, 2010, posted in Painting, school, travel, work

The plan, she is a-changin’.
Disclaimer: No, actually I have not read Eat, Pray, Love. No, you’re not the first to ask that question, thanks.

I had a long chat with Sylvie last week, & amongst other things, I talked to her about Not!Grad School. Based on my conversations & the feedback I’ve gotten from them, I’m pretty sure that sometime around August 1st, I’ll get notification that I can start on October 9th with this year’s class.

The question then being – do I really want to?

Here’s the thing – it’s all day, from 9am – 4pm (3:30 if I make arrangements with the professors to make up the studio time so I can get to the boathouse if I end up coaching juniors this fall) Now, being able to sit & spend three years doing the course of art that I wanted to do sounds dandy, but I have some very harsh realities to deal with:

  1. I have to pay the tuition myself because the school isn’t accredited yet, so there’s no federal funding
  2. I have to fund the rest of my life at the same time that I’m in school for the same amount of time as a full time job.
  3. Eventually, I really do need to get SOME sleep. (No, I actually do mean that)

I was explaining this to Sylvie, and she suddenly stopped said, “God, why are you Americans are so dumb?!”
(Note: Sylvie is French. Occasionally, she’s not just French, she’s very French.)

To which I ventured, “um…I don’t know?”

We then proceeded to have a conversation where she explained to my horribly pedestrian Yankee way of thinking that not everything is in the United States, and perhaps instead of spending three years running myself into the ground for a degree from a school no one’s ever heard of where I won’t enjoy a bit of of because I’ll always be chasing to fill the economic hole of my tuition & life, perhaps it might be better to look at a more concentrated program in Europe for next summer so that I can actually, you know – pay attention to what I’m doing while learning, as well as actually get some time away from my life for a while – kind of a reset button.

:insert heavens opening & beam of light shining down as chorus of angels hit perfect note:

The funny thing about this is that just the week before, my sister & I had been having a conversation about the fact that, other than her honeymoon, we pretty much have never been on vacation. We just didn’t do it as kids – other than family committments, or parent-mandated “educational trips” when we were kids (which were all within driving distance & ruled more by my mother’s neurosis than anything else, so yeah, those were wicked fun) — we just… didn’t. When we were kids, we couldn’t afford it, & when we were old enough, we were sent off to get jobs, after which we all had to pay for our own school, and I guess since we never were in the habit of doing it from when we were kids, neither of us have ever incorporated it into our lives as adults.

So the idea of taking the next year and setting things up so that I can save up, put my affairs in order, and head off for a month or three to kind of explore the world & do something just for me & for the sake of having the experience of it instead of just continuing to try to pay the rent – I can’t tell you how lovely that is to me. It’s going to mean a LOT of prep, and a real push on my part to work & get things in order financially – thankfully, my car will be paid off in June of ’11 (if I can’t manage to get ahead & take care of it a little before) so my expenses will actually go down right before I leave. Since this is LA, there’s almost always someone looking for a short-term sublets and due to the fact that I presently have the best neighbors ever, I know I’ll have people to look in on the place & make sure that nothing gets blown up. (Yay 1049 Improv Troupe!)

In the meantime, I’ll wait to see whether or not I get into Not!Grad School, & then work with them to take at least two classes over the course of the year – probably basic anatomy & also Quick post studios since those would be the basis of any figure drawing study that I would take. I’d also have to finally get my arse in gear & start going to Dr. Sketchy’s when my work schedule allows for it so that I can get lots of practice for pretty cheap.

In order to actually make the cash to be able to do all this, I’m going to have to suck it up & put at least one day aside just for tutorials to bring myself up to date on more backend programming and SEO. More & more clients seem to be asking for things that involve Drupal development, WordPress dev, & SEO work, so it’s time that I hammered down on the things that will actually bring in cash, most likely with a side of HTML5, CSS3, & javascript refresher course. Lynda.com, we’ll be spending a lot of time together.

Wego Pte Ltd

Of course, I can’t do this alone, so there’s only one thing to do:

Gathering the troops to invade Europe – it’s what Americans do!
Art aside, there’s another awesome aspect to going to Italy or France for the summer – the rowing.

That in mind, I sent Kate a text that just said, “Wanna row in Europe next summer?”

Yeah.. she’s pretty much down. So once we get things in line & I know where I’m going, we’ll take a look at where there is to row around there and have at it, baby — the Euros have way more options than we do in SoCal, and even if I’m just in Europe on a schedule where I can GO to Henley… well honey, it’s Henley the year before the Olympics are in London. That situation’s going to be awesome. Plus since I know a Bronzer or two in merry ol’ Land o’ Eng, we may be able to swing free accomodations for that portion of the adventure, which would be right up there like the guys say during soccer games on Univision – Scoooooooore!

I’ve also tapped Sachiel & Closet B to see if they want to come play, even if only for a week or two – after all, if you’re going to have to get a place to crash for two people in Italy or France, you might as well use it as a halfway house for all your friends, right? Right. Totally.

In the meantime, the upshot of this is that my sorry arse needs to make with the hustle. As Sachiel pointed out to me, “Billable hours equals Europe!”

Music: Dawn – Pride & Prejudice Dawn

Mighty Leaf Tea - Best Tea Ever

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Then we watch and wait and do nothing but sigh and hope everything is gonna turn out right…

March 17th, 2010, posted in LA Livin', money, school, work

Here goes nothin’.
Filled out the initial application online for Not!Quite!GradSchool today. The school that I’m looking at is an atelier program, which means they’re not yet accredited as a Masters’ program — for most professions, this doesn’t mean much, but for art, it’s totally a legit accreditation.

I took a class there last May, & when I first showed up the initial email I sent was basically answered with, “When would you like to start?” so I’m hoping that the application & (gods bless) acceptance process goes quickly… after which I just have to figure out how to pay my tuition – no pressure, no pressure. ;)

Today’s step was just filling in the app – on Saturday, I’ll probably go up & drop off my samples & application deposit. And we’ll see. :fingerscrossed:

In the vein, happened across this photographer, whose pictures I think are going in the files as reference points for future paintings. This one especially caught my eye:

Run, doll run!
Got home from the boathouse today, took a shower, was about to settle into work, & my phone rings – it’s MadamG, & we’ve got a Doll-mergency.

There’s a restaurant in North Hollywood that the Dolls have a contract with, and today when D showed up for her shift, they told that hey! Fifty extra cars were going to show up.

When you’re the only valet doing lunch shifts at a bistro whose parking lot has ten spots, your only gut reaction is… whuuut?? So D called in to the Dollhouse on the 911, and when MadamG looked around, I happened to be home. Not totally in my plans for the day, but I knew I was available & it’s part of the gig, so I sighed, put on my black pants & white button down shirt, asked the universe to make this outing damn profitable and headed up the 101.

Turns out that what was going on was a retirement lunch for a public attorney, so here we are, totally overloaded on space, parking sh*t on the sidewalk and the guests? They’re all cops! Thankfully, the LAPD guys were good about it, & most of them put their cop permits in the window, which basically gave us license to park… wherever. We ended up parking across Vineyard, which meant a quarter mile sprint wearing a white button down shirt & black pants in 90 degree weather in the Valley between noon & 3, when the sun is strongest.
Add in the fact that dashing across Vineland makes any dropoff or retrieval an impromptu game of Frogger, and everything becomes awesome in the way where it’s completely & totally not.

But, come 3pm when everyone had cleared out, D & I totaled up the cash & lo & behold, not only did we make enough to pay our hourlies in cash, but we also cleared some decent tips. After I stopped to acquire some food for myself, I still put another bit in the account for tuition. Almost up to the first month in the bank, so yeah…workin’ on it. First year’s tuition – almost $1k down, $11k to go, and if I get accepted the start date is July 5th. But hey – no pressure, no pressure.

So close to freedom I can almost smell fresh air.
So my client over at Ins!Co. contacted me at the end of last week & wants me to come into the office one day a week to just… talk. To discuss options, maybe do some on-site work, etc. They don’t need a full time designer (which is good ’cause I don’t want to be one for anyone right now) but we’re kind of at the point where things would move faster for both their “official” work & the side project that they have me helping with. Between the two, it should hopefully be a steady 5-10 hours a week, which would help a lot in terms of creating an economic net for me. Right now, my goal is that if I could get about 20 hours a week of work at the rate that I want to be paid, I’ll be fully off unemployment and the project work which pays more in sporadic lump sums. That way, I can live off the steady stuff, & put the project work to building savings & paying tuition.

After the Doll-mergency, I did a call with my one entertainment-related client, NPO!Client. We’d discussed them possibly bringing me on retainer as sort of a web project manager basis — I’d still work from home, but have a contracted 10 hours a week for them that I’d be paid a fixed amount for. Not being a fool, I did the math on the proposal so that it would be about 3/4 of what I need to be completely off the dole – while it would have been the easy out to go for the whole amount, I also am aware of the stupidity of risking the gods’ wrath, so I bid slightly under to keep myself from becoming too dependent upon any one client.

When I didn’t hear anything on it, I kind of let the idea go & moved on, looking for other business. But then I heard from NPO!Client! on Friday that she wanted to do a phone call, & we managed to sync schedules today.

The end result? They like me, but since they haven’t put anyone on retainer before, NPO!Client!‘s bosses want me to work on an hourly/project basis for about 6 weeks at an hourly slightly below what I bid, and then if things work, they’ll put me on contract. If that happens, I’ll be free & clear from EDD, which would be… lovely. Like, honestly nice. And between the two, I’d have enough to live on and be able to put everything else towards my tuition and savings. I keep funneling the cash tips from valeting towards those two things, and I’m slowly building back up — in terms of savings, I’m almost back up to the $1k base that I like to keep & had before I got laid off, which will have been a year ago on the 20th. Once I hit that, I get to continue working on my tuition and trying to put three months’ worth of bills in the bank before I start in on savings again.

And it feels like it’s so much, but I need to just keep reminding myself to move through things one step at a time, and I’ll get there. I’m starting to get there, I’m starting to pull myself out of the hole. I just need to remember not to fuck things up.

Guthy Renker Corporation

Funny ’cause they’re true
Someone went through all the Simpsons chalkboards over the years & picked out 29 of the best. To see the rest, check this out. Personally, anybody that has heard me before 9am or when I’m just generally in a mood will understand why I’m favoring this one:

Music: Everything’ll Be Alright – Joshua RadinJoshua Radin - We Were Here - Everything'll Be Alright (Will's Lullaby)

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