WHOA WHOA WHOA. I was going through my drafts (because I can’t seem to post them nor delete them), and I found this lovely gem. It was written around this time last year.

Hello, hello, all. Sorry for not being on top of things. I’ve been getting bogged down with school and problemi personali. Nevertheless, I’m back, and hopefully on a roll for a good while.

Things that happened that I should’ve told ya’ll about:

• I hate League of Legends. Most useless game. Ever.
• I didn’t get the Hallmark lettering internship (There were alcoholic tendencies that ensued because of it. Well, maybe we won’t go into that, but still, it happened.)
• I went to New York to visit with a good fwiend of mine Allison Connell and her place of work Athletics
• I went to a lu’au at Creighton’s Campus and watched my sister perform the Tahitian and ate amazing fooods
• Get a Job Boot Camp
• Portfolio 1-on-1

Yeah. My life has been full of things that I should have shared, but didn’t. Shall we start by going down the list?

To conclude this novel of a post: I hate League of Legends. League of Legends is the new WOW, and that’s saying something. The games last for hours and it takes time away from more important people and things. Blah. 

I didn’t get that internship from Hallmark. That’s ok though. There will be more opportunities for me sometime (hopefully) soon.

I went to New York to visit the awesome designer Allison Connell. She did these and works at Atheltics. She was awesome enough to let me stay at her kick-ass apartment in Brooklyn, and she took me to new place for dindin every night. We ate Venezuelan food, had southern comfort food (which included an apple pie with cheese), a whiskey bar, a Bavarian bar, and an awesome (and extremely cheap) fried dumpling place in Chinatown. The day I was in Chinatown, I at lunch and dinner all for $7.50. Awesome, possum. 

While in New Yahk, I went to MoMa and spent way too much money in their gift shop. And by the time I left it was starting to get dark, so I didn’t get the chance to hop across the street and check out there extended Design Store. Bummer. Anyway, I went to a huge Forever 21 at Union Square and bought a couple of shirts. One for my interview (Allison told me not to get too dressed up or they’d make fun of me) and another for my seester’s lu’au. The day after that I went to Chinatown to go on a quest to find a book for my mom. Turns out (after using really rusty and broken Cantonese and a bit of Mandarin) they discontinued the series in the ’90s. I couldn’t get the book for her, but I did grab some lunch for $4. I had duck and rice, and I took a picture and sent it to my sisters to rub it in their faces. Yes.

(A little bit of Claude at the MoMa)

(Hey! It’s Yen and me! They had this poster at the shop where I asked for my mom’s book series.)

(Yum. Sent this to the sisters. They were jealous.)

(Duck, rice, and tea all for $4!)

I flew in and out of Omaha because it was cheaper than flying out of Des Moines’ “international” airport. The day I flew back into Omaha, my sister was part of Creighton’s Annual Lu’au. There was awesome food and entertainment, and I got to meet a good number of my sister’s friends. It was nice to finally put names with faces. I also got to meet my sister’s boyfriend for real (and when I say “for real,” I mean “not via Skype).

Picture

Picture

Picture

On Saturday I went to Get a Job Bootcamp held by the AIGA Iowa Chapter. It was pretty informational. The opening presentation was a lecture by Robert Foss from Nationwide. He had a couple of insightful things to say even though it was all really corporate-based. After that was a networking lunch. We had catered ‘zza, salad, and a really good cookie. After the networking lunch, there was a portfolio review.

The first table I went to was the round table. I didn’t get very much review because it was a round table after all, but I did get to swap portfolios with a kid named Nick. We looked at each others’ portfolios and talked about things that we liked in each. I saw that he had some hand-drawn type, and asked if he had designed it. No, he didn’t (coolness points lost). But he had heard of Jon Contino’s CXXVI, and gained some of his coolness points back. 

The next couple of tables I went to were academics. At numero dos, my portfolio was reviewed by a professor from DMACC. For those of you who aren’t familiar with DMACC, it’s Des Moines Area Community College. They have a two year Associate’s Degree in Graphic Design. Anyways, he was pretty enthused about my portfolio. At number three, another professor review my portfolio. She was from a small private university in Sioux Falls. She was had nice things to say too. Table number four was a grad student from Iowa State. We had methods last summer together. She (finally) gave me critiques which was good. After that was done, I (kinda) stalked Brian Sauer because I recognized him from the last Boot Camp I went to. I asked him if he’d be willing to review my portfolio and he had a lot of good things. I also think I won some brownie points because I knew that he used thermography on his b’ness cards (but really, you should know what it is). Conclusion about Get a Job Boot Camp: my head inflated. It’s ok though, this coming weekend at Portfolio 1-on-1’s will seriously deflate it. 

Am I really ready to show my portfolio to the big dogs? Well, it’s gotta happen whether I like it or not. If all goes well, I’ll have a bunch of contacts. If all doesn’t go well, I’ll pick myself up and make my stuff better. Either way, VEISHEA is next week. Let the alcoholic coping/celebrating will commence.