Tag: work

Aug 05 2008

Sketch 31

I started my new job on Monday.  So far its good, but I’m of course still just settling in.  Mainly its a big relief just to have something.  I’m looking foward to Friday’s paycheck from the two day temp assignment last week.

On Saturday, one of my friends invited me along to a wedding of one of her high school friends.  The wedding was pretty normal (well except for parts being in Korean) until the reception.  When the wedding party arrived, each couple was introduced along with music, which they danced their way into the hall to.  When no one was left except for the bride and groom, the video on the right is what happened.  It definitely made for a more interesting wedding reception.  Other highlights included the infomercial made by the groom selling “Jane’s Top Musical Hits,” including him (and friends) lip syncing along to songs from High School Musical, Dream Girls, Hairspray and maybe one or two others, I can’t remember.  The wedding was great fun, but I was sure exhausted by the time I got home a little after midnight.

Sunday I ventured up to Thousand Oaks to hang out with my friend who lives up there.  I took the Red and Orange lines to Woodland Hills to meet him part way.  With the trips on Saturday and Sunday, I’ve now ridden all but a small section of the Green and Gold lines in the Metro “Rail” system (the Orange line is a dedicated bus line).  My friend bbq’d some ribs and we watched Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.  The movie was funny, though not as funny as the first Harold & Kumar movie. It was a pretty laid back afternoon.

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Jul 31 2008

New Job!

I got offered and accepted a temp-to-hire position as an Executive Assistant at Herbalife.  The job is in Century City (not far from where I go to church) and pays pretty well.

I’m pretty stoked.

Yay for regular employment.

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Jul 30 2008

oh happy day!

Temp gig this afternoon and tomorrow.

Not much but every little bit helps

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Jul 16 2008

Sketch 28

Despite not really having any money, I’ve had a decent enough week.

Tuesday through Thursday of last week, I had a short-term temp assignment at the corporate offices of the Metro YMCA.  It was a nice little break from the joblessness, and its especially nice to have some money coming in this week.

Saturday, I went for a short hike in Topanga State Park.  On the way back out of the park, I even hiked barefoot for awhile.  It was nice.  When I got home, I took the bus downtown to catch the evenings show at Grand Performances series at the California Plaza.  The artist was Rachid Taha a French-Algerian artist, most famous in the US for a Arabic version of The Clash’s Rock the Casbah.  There was a small dance area, packed to the brim, with many French and Arabic speakers around.  I had a blast dancing.

Sunday, I went on a hike with Progressive Christians Uniting in the San Gabriel Mountains.  We went up to a spot on the San Gabriel River, that is quite popular with the latino population of the San Gabriel Valley cities.  The sections alongside the road are a bit overused.  We hiked aways down a trail towards the wilderness area, and were eventually able to find some space without other people.  We even took a little dip in the river, which was really nice on a warm and relatively humid day.

I’m officially helping out with the 10:15 service at church now.  I’m still not that sure how I feel about church in general, but I do like this service…and its nice to be helping make it happen.  I’m in charge of making sure things are set-up before the service this coming Sunday.

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Jul 08 2008

Sketch 27

Well its been a week of worrying about money again.  However, I did start a short 2-3 day temp assignment today.  Its nice at least having some money flowing in.

Besides job searching, I’ve watched a few movies, been to the beach a few times, and went to a pool party at a house in the valley that a friend is house sitting at (who’s owner has won an oscar).

Pretty low key week.

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Jul 03 2008

Sketch 26

The end of my friends visit was punctuated by a little freaking out about my lack of job and money in my bank accounts.  I placed a call into the Diocesan’s insurance administrator to check the status of my unemployment benefits application, and was told that they only cut checks once a month and that is around the 15th of the month.  So it would mean that I wouldn’t get a check until mid-July.  Thankfully on Thursday (the 26th), a check arrived with my first payment (which was backdated to include everything from my last day of work (May 15th).  That took a big weight off my shoulders for sure.

I signed up at a temp agency downtown.  They have mentioned a few opportunities, but I haven’t been sent out on anything yet.  The person there did give me some resume tips…so I’ve made some updates and plan on bringing them in Monday after the long holiday weekend.

I saw the movie Wanted, on Friday.  It is directed by the same director as the Russian films Nightwatch and Daywatch.  It was pretty enjoyable, lots of action, a cool car chase, and fun with trains.  Its not going to win any major awards or anything…but it was fun and worth the $14 (gotta love weekend movie pricing in LA).  The car chase almost overtook my previous favorite car chase in a movie (Ronin Car Chase), but its more special effect created, while the Ronin chase was just driving. (Wanted Car Chase Part 1, Part 2)

Other than that, it was a pretty slow week.  Still trying to be frugal with the funds, trying to read, trying to spend time at the beach avoiding the heat.  I got to do the prayers of the people at church on Sunday.  That was cool, my first involvement in a church service since finishing at Canterbury.  I’m really liking the new 10:15 service.  Its keeping me at Beverly Hills right now.  I might be getting more involved with this service in the near future.

…and wow, the year is half over.

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Jun 12 2008

Sketch 23

I don’t have much to talk about this week, which is why I’m late posting my weekly update.

I’m still looking for a new job.  I got laid-off at the coffee shop, because we just weren’t busy enough.  It will be a long tough summer I imagine for Rich.  I hope he survives because it is the best cup of coffee near USC.

I’ve been sending off resumes every day, still haven’t had much of anything biting though.  I’m starting to get a little concerned.

My little sister, who lives in NYC and works as nanny, is going to Dubai with the family she works for on Sunday.  They are staying at the Burj Al Arab for three nights. Rooms there start at $1,500 a night.  It is a whole different world my sister lives in.

I got some sad news from my youngest sister yesterday.  Her dog, Hallie, needs a head x-ray to check for a brain tumor.  Hallie got blood work done yesterday, and has the appointment for the x-ray next Wednesday.  Apparently her eyes have been rolling back in her head when she’s been walking and she’s slowed down in general a lot in the last few weeks.  I hope it isn’t as bad as it sounds it might be.  Hallie is such a wonderful dog, so loving.  If it is serious, it will be a big loss for both my sister and parents.  Here is a picture of her from a few years ago:

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May 28 2008

Sketch 21

Things are going pretty well these days.  I’m really happy with my job at the coffee shop.  I’m really happy with my new apartment and roommate.  Mainly, I’m just pretty happy at the moment.

Last Friday I saw the new Indiana Jones movie.  I won’t say much about the movie, but its Indy and cheesy…but fun.  I met up with a bunch of people I didn’t know to see the movie.  My connection was the friend of one of my old middle/high school friends.  We met at a restaurant called the Hungry Cat, which is right around the corner from the Arclight.  I only had a cocktail, which was good, but also $12.  Welcome to Hollywood.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day.  I did some reading, watched a movie at home, and pretty much nothing else.  Sunday was more of the same, except for church and buying groceries.  I’ve been going to this new service at church.  It’s cool, its an alternative eucharist, that looks nothing like the service from the prayer book.  I like the service itself, and the people leading it, but…I think I realized whats been missing for me at Beverly Hills.  I just don’t feel connected to the church community.  I’m sure some of that is my own fault (and how busy I was during the school year), but still its just not working for me at the moment.  I’m thinking that I’m going to check out Pasadena sometime soon.  Since I already have some friends going there, maybe I’ll be able to connect easier.

Monday was a pretty full day.  I walked over to Sunset and Vine to have a late brunch with a friend.  It took about a half hour, a doable walk, but probably better as a bike ride.  We went to The Waffle, a newish upscale diner.  I wasn’t really that impressed.  The staff/management wasn’t prepared for a busy day (it was Memorial Day), so they were all a little frazzled.  The waffles weren’t that exciting and the portions were pretty small for being over $10.  If they had been in the $5-7 range, it would have been ok.  After, brunch I went to the beach for a little bit to read.  I didn’t end up staying terribly long, because it was pretty windy and the tempature started dropping after 5pm.  Later on, a friend came over to see the new apartment.  We hung out and watched movies and drank wine.  It was nice and relaxing.

Yesterday I was pretty excited to be able to work.  I know…crazy…I was excited to work.  While I was at work, my roommate texted and let me know she was having some folks over for dinner and asked if I wanted to join.  So our first dinner party happened pretty impromtu like.  It was great.  Good food, good conversations, good time (and yes more wine).  One of the guys who stopped by was a professional hula hooper.  Now that is a niche job.

Did I mention that I’m happy?

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May 21 2008

Sketch 20

It’s been a busy week.  Thursday was my last official day at Canterbury USC (Granted I pretty much hadn’t worked since the end of April other than a few days).  I also moved to my new apartment on Thursday.  I can’t say enough how excited I am about the new place.  I really like my new roommate.  The place is much quieter than my old place.  Anyway, I’ve mostly unpacked and organized the room.  The only thing really to do is unpack the books.  I’m considering painting the room, but I haven’t gotten around to going to look at colors.

Work at the coffee shop is going well.  It’s can be kind of slow, but its summer (at least temp wise), and the later hours are still new.  All in all, I like it a bunch.  I’m still looking for a second job.  At the moment still being a little picky, because I can at least through the end of May.  I think I’d prefer to get a job at a beer bar, or even a grocery store that sold good beer.

Sunday, partially in order to escape the heat for awhile, I went and saw Iron Man at the Cinerama Dome.  It was my first time seeing a movie in the Dome.  The screen is huge, but slightly curved, so text on the sides of the screen can look out of place.  But you adjust pretty quickly (at least I did).  I thought the movie was fun.  Definitely one of the top movies made from comic books.  It kind of amazed me that the guy who made Swingers could do such a good job on an action film.  Though maybe that shouldn’t have surprised me.

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May 13 2008

Sketch 19

I’ve been slowly packing up my room this week.  It’s always a little jarring to put all your stuff in boxes to prepare for a move.  I’ve been trying to go through stuff and get rid of some of the excess, however the past couple days have just been putting things in boxes.  I’ll try to cull more stuff as I’m unpacking.  This morning I took apart my bed.  I’ll just sleep on the mattress on the floor the next couple days.  Yes, the packing is wrapping up.

Last night was my first night on my own at the coffee shop.  It was pretty slow, but also the first day of the extended hours of the shop.  So I was able to do a bit of reading and get all the closing work done pretty quickly.  I’m looking forward to things getting busier though.

I cooked my last dinner for Canterbury on Sunday.  I made a burrito bar (because the Lutheran Pastor had requested Mexican food) and had purchased a chocolate cake from Costco.  I am going to miss cooking Sunday dinners as it was the one area of my job that I did well (at least as a whole).

Tis a short sketch this week, back to packing. 🙂

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