ziasudra: (Default)
Got three weeks' worth of laundry washed and dried, and it's not even 10 a.m. yet! Ah, my day is done ;)

A little update on my lottery apartment: I went to see it, and it's beautiful! A real one bedroom -- not like the ones they advertise on Craigslist. All new appliances, temperature adjustment thingy in each apartment, spacious living room/kitchen area, closets, laundry on-site, live-in super... all those nifty things. I'm still not going to consider the place "mine" until I have the signed lease in my hand. I'd hate to be disappointed if for whatever reason the deal can't close as planned.

This means I'll need to look for a subletter to take my place starting May 1 or so. Maybe I'll stagger the move just like I did when moving out of 6K. I still feel like I've just moved and don't really fancy hauling everything from one place to another again. Having a month-long moving period makes it look less daunting to me somehow.



I've been feeling sick all week. Caught some sort of a stomach bug Monday and couldn't keep in anything I ate... except oatmeal. My body seemed to have declared oatmeal its bff over the past few days. Slept a lot and paid a lot of visits to the bathroom. I finally felt better yesterday and began to eat normal food again. Even managed to try some of the meatloaf that [livejournal.com profile] sunnydlita made!



Every once in a while, I'd surf random articles on Yahoo HotJobs or similar sites, just for fun. Lately I've been reading some articles on how to have a good interview. I suppose I was trying to do my "homework" now that our organization is trying to hire development staff and I get to interview potential candidates. Boss Lady still does 90% of the interviewing, but I don't want to sit next to her feeling like a third wheel intruding on a two-person dialogue.

There are always lighthearted articles on what to do/not to do at interviews. I'm always amused by the anecdotes that HR experts share in these articles about disastrous interviews, and would think something along the lines of: "Nah... who except for a few special cases would sabotage their own interviews like that?"

I think you can all see where this is going. I now have a Very Odd Interview Experience story of my own to share, featuring one potential part-time job applicant who committed a hefty sum of job interview faux pas and in the end still believed they were perfect for the job. It was a painfully awkward interview, trying to get the applicant to give anything other than a one-word answer, to share their experience, to give a reason other than "I need the money" for why they want to work at the organization. I know when Boss Lady and I look for new hires, we try to find someone who would be a good fit personality-wise as much as skill-wise. The person's tendency to overuse large, intelligent-sounding words (when small words would more than suffice) aside, I just... didn't get a good vibe about their self-portrayal as someone whose only goal in life seems to be to collect trophies and go for what is conventionally accepted as "good" without giving thought to whether that particular something matches their ultimate goal in life.

Anyway. I'm still processing the experience ("odd" was the first word that came to mind as soon as it was over), but my gut reaction from the interview was similar to Boss Lady's, so I don't think I was being overly critical. More than anything, really, I'm just amused. In a headdesky-for-the-job-applicant way.
ziasudra: (Default)
Breakfast:
- Rice crepes
- Stir-fried vermicelli noodles
- Curry fish eggs
- Radish and beef (or more accurately, "cow parts")
- Tea egg (which I didn't eat any because omg so full)
- Coffee

Lunch:
- Ten-dish lunch, family style
- Moon cake (I chose the smallest piece I could find, which was still quite sizable)
- Tea

Afternoon "Snack":
- Red bean soup (didn't eat... decline was successful!)
- Cheesecake

Food to take home:
- Chicken in garlic sauce baked rice, leftover
- Stir-fried vermicelli noodles
- Tea eggs (I guess I'll end up eating some after all...)


I really think I should update my resume to include "eat excessively throughout the day" as one of my job descriptions ;p


ETA: Success! I've given the tea eggs for co-worker J to take home :D
ziasudra: (Default)
1.
I had this huge craving for steak, raw fish, and deep-fried food today. Steaks are expensive, so I compromised and had a burger with calamari for lunch, then later walked to the local Japanese convenience store to pick up brown rice sushi and bubble tea. *checks calendar* Yup, it's that time of the month again.

2.
Yesterday I was walking around the markets in Union Square, and randomly ran into my roommate M from college and her now-husband A! I think the last time I saw them was at my other college roommate's wedding a year ago. I followed them to dinner and met up with new friends and some other people I also knew from college. Nostalgia, that.

3.
Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I believe this is available for free online viewing until midnight today, so go watch it if you haven't yet! And it's Joss Whedon! :D

4.
The Dark Knight. Saw it, loved it, would see it again on DVD though probably not in a theater unless it's IMAX. Christian Bale is a very, very good Bruce Wayne (and Batman too, but I like his Bruce Wayne persona better). All the hype about Heath Ledger's performance is true -- his Joker was one-of-a-kind. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart are love. And Gary Oldman for the win! He totally brought the comicverse version of Commissioner Gordon to life; I can't imagine another actor playing the role as well as he.

5.
My computer's been sick since last, last Thursday. At one point I couldn't even do a simple Google search in IE or Firefox. Thank goodness I still have an ancient version of Netscape installed on my computer. But even with that, I've had trouble getting online most days since last week. :(

6.
Next week and the week after are New York City's Restaurant Week. I've already made a dinner booking with the l00bs at a fancy Japanese restaurant. Lots of good places to check out, especially those otherwise unaffordable places that normally have $90 prix fixe menus or averages over $75 per meal per person.

7.
I'm finally getting my own business cards, yay. For the past year and a half, I've been taking Boss Lady's cards and writing my own name and email in the white space. So the client got two lovely contacts for the price of one! Now I'll have my own stack of placeholders bookmarks cards that I'll never use up, not if Boss Lady who's worked at the organization for sixteen years still has hundreds of hers.

8.
I've been trying to leave birthday greetings in people's LJs but have been slacking recently. So happy belated and early birthdays to all you second-half-of-July babies: [livejournal.com profile] thescarletwoman, [livejournal.com profile] lampblack, [livejournal.com profile] tanechigai, [livejournal.com profile] sra_black, and [livejournal.com profile] dove95!!!


ETA: #9: "If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal."
ziasudra: (Default)
It's been one long MONTH of coordinating with Very Important Organization to get their Very Important Representative to come over for a pre-site visit (actual site visit to take place over three days in mid-May). VIR is currently meeting with our CFO, picking his brain on all the finance-y matters. I'm taking this chance to heave a (temporary) sigh of relief before getting back in gear to prep the entire organization's Directors and Senior Managers to meet with VIR.

As I've re-discovered, the timeless schmoozing tactic that always works — food.

♦ Breakfast for VIR and CFO. Check.
♦ Lunch for VIR, CFO, Managing Director and staff. Check. (Let's hope the food actually arrives...)
♦ Dinner for VIR, Executive Director and Board of Directors. Almost-Check. (Reservation at restaurant done)

If VIR likes the food, then things will go well. *g*

*goes back to chicken-without-head running around*
ziasudra: (Default)
Well, winter's finally arrived, it seems. It's been steadily snowing/ice-raining here for pretty much the entire day.

Mom was supposed to fly in, but like hundreds of others, her flight was cancelled. So now I have a weekend of completely no plans. I could go to work tomorrow -- we're organizing a senior citizen function at a local school, featuring Cantonese opera, magic shows, and raffles. But I didn't leave the office until 7 today and feel like I've already spent too much time at work. Weekend's my time to de-tox, so to speak.

While I'm on the topic of work... behold! The Small Business Event of d00m (TM) is over! This was an event that I stepped into work one day and found out I was the coordinator responsible for inviting guest speakers and information table participants. I still don't know how I got roped into taking on certain projects at work.

Well, we got good press, and the Congresswoman's office is happy. For those of you who can read Chinese (or just like to look at pictures), here are links to three articles about the event -- we managed to get a full color page of stuff written about us! Linkity -->

1: http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-ny-news.php?nt_seq_id=1674238
2: http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-ny-news.php?nt_seq_id=1674239
3: http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-ny-news.php?nt_seq_id=1674240
ziasudra: (Default)

To everyone who celebrates it, Happy Lunar New Year!



Whee, I have a five-day weekend! And the office closed early yesterday too. That's longer than my 4.5-day Thanksgiving break! I'm not completely off the hook from work duties, though. Mandatory New Year's parade participation on Saturday and Sunday, and the fact that I'm constantly in touch with the State and other non-Lunar New Year observing government/non-profit/for-profit agencies means I'll still be thinking about work stuff throughout the weekend. But at least I get to not set my alarm clock for a few days :)

I've officially been working at my current job for one year. I only started full-time in September, so I'm not eligible for any vacations yet. But my co-workers have known and seen me around for a year, and it's weird to think that when I first took the job, it was originally a sort of self-demotion to downgrade my work commitment from the full-time Internet job to my then part-time responsibilities.y

Looking back, I believe I made the right decision to turn down the initial offer of starting right off as a full-time employee. I had wanted to work less hours, so trading full-time with full-time would have been disastrous, and I very much doubt I'd still be working where I am now had I forced myself to take the offer. Starting as part-time gave me the opportunity to learn the ropes without being fully committed; it also meant less expectation pinned on me, so all my first blunders were overlooked quite graciously.

Strange journey, this past year. I like unpredictability and working a different schedule every week; I'd choose a job I love with low pay over a so-so job with high pay, hands down. Sometimes I look back at where I was and where I am now, and genuinely wonder how the heck did I end up in such a normal, white-collar office job.


And since it's Chinese New Year, I bring you the sage wisdom of The Fortune Cookie:

My Fortune Cookie told me:
Confucius say, it is time to lift a stone only to drop on your own feet.
Get a cookie from Miss Fortune
ziasudra: (Default)
lol, check out The Oracle of Starbucks. Behold, the Oracle is 100% accurate! *g*

ExpandMy results behind the cut )

On a more serious (and sadder) note, I finally sat down today to write my "I'm leaving soon" letter to my Store Manager. The store's going to have an all-out renovation in October, and I've been in communication with a couple of the managers to see if I can reduce my schedule to weekends-only (or even just one day a week) until the renovation. We'll see.

Hi and Bye

Aug. 2nd, 2007 10:30 pm
ziasudra: (Default)
So as of earlier this week, I officially have a "real" job when September comes. No details have been discussed yet, but since I'll already have worked there for half a year, I don't suppose I need a re-orientation of my job duties. At some point, I'll need to figure out logistics stuff, and fringe benefits stuff, like whether I want to aim to collect enough hours at Starbucks so I can get my eligible stock options for the quarter.

But I won't worry about any of these for now, because I'm leaving for Prophecy tomorrow! *g* Bright and early in the morning, just like if I were scheduled to open. I hope the conference will be fun. If anything, I'll get to explore a new city and hang out with both new and old friends.

See you all when I come back!
ziasudra: (Default)
Now that most people on my flist seem to have finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, may I point you (don't click if you don't want spoilers!) back to my prediction post? By my count, I'm about 18 (or ~18.5-19.5, if you count the maybes...) out of 22 correct! *gloats*

So. Life. My boss at Other Job wonders if I'm interested in staying on after September. If so, she will not be looking for a replacemnt. Hmm. I take it as a good sign that they like me there enough to offer me something full time. And my friend who got me the job in the first place is coming back (from her three-month Asia tour...! *is jealous*) in September as well. So far, there's not much reason not to let inertia take over and keep working there ^_^

Which means Starbucks is going to have to go bye-bye soon — I can't take another season of full-time job + part-time job. *is sad*
ziasudra: (Default)
Happy International Women's Day!

And happy belated birthdays to [livejournal.com profile] goodnightlady and [livejournal.com profile] vlamidala. Banners are coming soon...

Well, I made my six-month mark at Starbucks and had my first review, which was overwhelmingly positive and I'm so happy about it!!! My pay raise also went into effect, and more money = yay. Then again, I'm keeping my various deductions at 50% so I'm really going to get at most a few extra meals in Chinatown per month, and Chinatown food is cheap. ($1 for 3 lbs of vegetable, anyone?)

Starbucks = &hearts
ziasudra: (Happy Bug)
Went to work today and found out that our production coordinator is moving onto bigger and better things... he's taking a job with the New York Times.

This leaves the position of Internet Production Coordinator up for grabs in the department. And guess who was asked to become the next coordinator???

Yup, that's right. As of next Friday, I'll no longer be a mere Internet Production Assistant. Me, coordinate!

^_______^
ziasudra: (Default)
My boss at my Internet job got tickets to the U.S. Open yesterday, and his seat was so good, HE GOT ON TV! One of his friends Tevo'd him. He was literally sitting in the first row at Federer's end of the court, just slightly diagonally above the speed sign that displayed how fast each serve was.

He said Federer played spectacularly, and I believe him. Blake supposedly played really well too, but Federer was being the superhuman that he was and kept hitting back all the impossible shots.

Being the lowly peon that I am, I only got to play around with things like the Torque Driver and the Mega Blaster. Images only, of course.

At least I got to meet Serena Williams when she visited the store.
ziasudra: (Default)
I was eating lunch at the Paragon cafeteria and came to the conclusion that there aren't too many Asian people working in the company. In fact, the only Asians that work there regularly (that I know of) are all in my department -- Internet production -- there are three of us. This makes me pause and wonder: Asian = geeky computer/Web-type jobs. How stereotypical is that?

And at my Starbucks, apparently I'm the first Asian barista they've had in a long time, if not ever. One of the managers were saying how there are so many Asians in the area (especially when school is in session), but no Asian has worked there.

So on the one hand, I'm reinforcing the stereotype by being in the computer/techie area of a sports company; on the other hand, I'm breaking ground by being the only Asian among 15 to 20 workers in a service industry job. I like being able to experience both.
ziasudra: (Default)
I start working at Starbucks next Monday!!!

Starbucks has got to have one of the most elaborate interviewing processes for hiring hourly workers. I met with five different managers in total -- two for screening, two for first interview, one for second interview. It's a wonder that none of them flagged me as non-Starbucks material
;p

This means I'll have to sit down and write a HUGE chunk of my thesis over the weekend, before my double-job schedule starts. Once the thesis out of the way, having two jobs shouldn't be too hard -- I still find myself amazed at how there's nothing to do when I get home except for my thesis: no reading, no papers, no presentations. Working life is so stress-free compared to grad school, which is more like a 24-hour job.

News:
♦ From AP: Security Council OKs Mideast peace deal
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Friday that calls for an end to the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and authorizes 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon as Israel withdraws.

♦ INQ7: Text of UN Security Council Resolution 1701


Will the Resolution work? I highly doubt it'll ever work 100%, but as Condoleezza Rice said, it's a start. And Resolution 1701 provides a framework for the international community to have something to work toward (and for Israel and Lebanon to have something to adhere to, theoretically), which is better than nothing. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed (but not holding my breath).

Job Report

Aug. 9th, 2006 11:26 pm
ziasudra: (Default)
I've officially been in my new Internet Production Assistant job for a week -- w00t for lasting five full days! A drastic decrease in personal time aside, this is a really cool job. I'm learning all sorts of things about New Balance sneakers and North Face jackets and body suits (and how expensive they are!). I'm using a lot of PhotoShop and some InDesign, constantly uploading stuff via FTP, and has constant Internet access while I'm on the job. Good deal, that.

I'm one of those people who can sit and perform the same task over and over for hours on end. When I was temping at TWICE, my supervisor was amazed that I could just sit and copy edit manuscripts for eight hours straight. So far I've been given the task of going through product lists for image resizing and uploading, probably because no one else in the office could sit and do that for the entire day.

I do intersperse my day with obsessively checking e-mail and skimming through my flist, though there's no time to comment or reply (and then I'd forget once I get home). So everyone, feel free to spam my inbox with e-mails during business hours EST!

Does this mean I now have a clear idea of what The Purpose of My Life™ is? Not at all. But I find it extremely comforting that even the famous theologian Thomas Merton didn't seem to have any idea of his life's paths either. Quote ganked from [livejournal.com profile] logospilgrim in her most recent post:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.           ~ Thomas Merton
ziasudra: (Default)
I got a job!!! I'm now officially the Internet Production Assistant for Paragon Sports. I start August 1 ^_^

My duties are simple: I proofread and upload product descriptions onto Paragon's database, which updates to the Web site through a third-party company (so I won't be using much HTML coding). I'll get to play around with product images in Photoshop, but nothing too complicated. I know it doesn't sound like the most interesting of jobs, but I'm excited *g*

No extraneous sports equipment shopping spree for me though. Paragon is a high-end store and even if I get first dibs on sales products, I still won't be able to afford most of the items.

AND I might get a 10-6 working schedule. Yes, that extra hour of sleep in the morning means a lot to me.

*squees*



♦ I had my eye exam today. It's been... three? four? years since I last had my vision checked, and as expected, everything got worse (but not too much). Now I just need to wait until I have money to buy new glasses.

♦ Dropped off birthday presents for both my cousins today. Our family has a lot of summer birthdays!

♦ Passed by a Chinatown fruit stall and couldn't resist but buy half a pound of logan fruit for the cheap price of $7/lb (compared to $10/lb in the more tourist-y area of Chinatown). Roommate doesn't like them as much as lychees, so I get to consume them all, lol.

♦ Finally sent in my loan consolidation forms. Hopefully I'll get everything in on time and still be able to get the four-month payment extension I applied for.

♦ Meeting up with [livejournal.com profile] alafairnadia and [livejournal.com profile] elanor (and whoever else can come) tonight. Stop by the 35th & 7th Starbucks by 6:30 p.m. if you want to join up and do something!

♦ A heartwarming news, for a change: Homeless Man Rewarded $4,000 for Honesty: "A homeless man who returned $21,000 worth of saving bonds he found in a trash bin is finding out how much honesty can pay off."
ziasudra: (Default)
So apparently I got the freelancing job with Kaplan. *squees* I didn't hear back from the person who assigned me the proofreading test, but I got an e-mail from some other Kaplan person asking if I'm available to work on a 2 1/2 month project. Unfortunately, I had to turn it down because I won't be in NYC all of those weeks. But I suppose that was an indication that I'm now on some list of freelance proofreaders that Kaplan has hired. I just hope I didn't get striked off the list because I turned down my very first assignment offer. *wibbles*

I think I'm capping my paper at 26 pages, maybe 27 if I get a sudden bout of inspiration to theorize on something random. Or if one of my interviewees gives me a good long quote to copy and paste into the paper. But right now I'm pretty much out of steam. How is it that I can write tens of thousands of words for my LJ posts and stories and e-mails, but can't muster up the strength to pass 7,000 words for a seminar paper?

And so much for education supposedly broadening my awareness of the world. I feel like I've been trapped in a bubble, my sole purpose churning out words onto a doc file. So... what's been going on with the rest of the world? All I know is that Sony is considering to lower the price of the PS2 from $149.99 to $129.99 due to the PS3 delay. Pretty lame news knowledge for a J-schooler, innit?

Hope you're all doing well
:)

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