22 posts tagged “edmonton”

I'm making an update out of sense of duty, really. I fear I've lost all desire to make lengthy in-depth posts as I used to. I swear, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Plurk (which is awesome BTW) have completely robbed me of any attention span. Any post more than 140 characters is a chore for me. God, even Facebook is growing tired for me lately. As always, I hesitate to give up on my blogs entirely because of the friends I've made through them. And although I don't write nearly as often as I used to.. or comment for that matter... I read everyone else's entries every day. I imagine it'll only be a matter of time before it's time to throw in the towel and delete at least one of my journals. I don't need three or four blogs out there -- all with the same sporadic entries. ANYWAY! Life has been going really well. Work is excellent. I sent two jobs I'm really proud of to the printers and am excited to get them back. I've already accumulated a few portfolio pieces from this job that nicely fill in the gaps of my previous somewhat limited collection of work. I'm also getting a lot of valuable experience with client relations, pre-press, production, invoicing, etc. I'm trying to get a grasp of the important stuff for when I work for myself, (which WILL happen one day, gosh darnit) My bosses have been quite receptive to suggestions I've made in the last little while too. In fact, based on a few comments I had about their current website, I've been put in charge of completely re-designing their web presence. It's a big job but I'm loving it. I presented them with roughs today and they seemed quite happy overall. Tara in particular is extremely excited and asked if we could launch a new site next week. No. No we can't... but it feels good that she's that pleased. Other than work, not much has been happening. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. My bosses, bless 'em, are giving us an extra day and a half off so it'll be a very nice break. I've been trying to get some personal stuff done (illustration, as always and also re-designing my own website) so hopefully I'll have some opportunity this weekend. I'm feeling extra creative lately and just can't seem to find enough time. There. I made an update. :) Go Jared. Ta!

Today is Drawing Day 08 and I originally had some good stuff planned but didn't get around to it. I still wanted to post something though so I figured I would post some progress stuff.

I haven't had much time to work on this lately, but here is some progress on my character, "Cashew" - part of my dress-up series. I'm going for a teal/brown/tan color scheme for this one and I think it'll look pretty cool when I finish it - which hopefully won't be too far away. And here is an EXTREMELY rough sketch of one of the other characters. I didn't even finish sketching it out because I realize that I usually ignore my sketches when I start painting anyway so it's a waste of time. I still have the rabbit one to paint after I finish Cashew, plus I have a girl with goldfish sketched out and ready to go. After that comes snake, frog, sugar glider, turtle, etc.... or whatever else inspires me in the meantime. DRAW! _______________________________ Moving on. Last night I went to a party at Tara's(boss) place and had a great time. There was a much larger group of people than the last get-together and it was kind of a potluck thing. Mike and I made caesar salad with homemade dressing, croutons, etc. It was so garlic-y that the collective breath of the party could peel paint I'm sure. I also made pina coladas which went over well. Originally the party was planned as a hot dog eating contest between my co-workers but as more and more people got invited, (or invited themselves) they crumbled under pressure for fear of appearing piggish. Bernie did eat four though.. so that's something. ;) My appreciation for my job continues to grow and I feel quite fortunate. The woman I'm replacing was at the party for a while and I told her she's not allowed to return in January. Tara spoke up and said I shouldn't just assume I'd be leaving when Gillian returns but I guess we'll see. A lot can happen before then. As soon as the summer is over and my seasonal depression kicks back in, I'll likely be anxious to move away again anyway. I actually had a lot of stuff I wanted to write about but I was hung-over this morning and I'm feeling lazy now. Slowly but surely this blog is being abandoned. I'm pretty impressed I still write at all after eight years. Ta!

I've mentioned our office pooch a few times before but have never shown him. I figured it's time.

It'll be a sad day when Enzo has to go to some blind kid. Selfish.

As usual, not much of importance has been happening for me. I still find myself longing for some sort of adventure or discovery, but I figure I'm the type of person who will always be searching for something else so I'm coming to terms with it... I guess. ;)  I'm just bored. I want to learn new things and I'm horribly impatient. There are a few things that I've wanted now for quite some time and none of them seem to be getting any more attainable. Anyone who actually reads this journal should know by now that the top of my 'to-do' list is to get to Asia. (Tokyo preferably but Bangkok more realistically and likely) At this point, even I'm sick of hearing me talk about it so I really just need to get there in order to get it out of my system, I think. However, maybe upon arriving there I'll be even more infatuated and only return to Canada with a stronger desire to get back to Asia. I guess we'll see... eventually.

Another item on that list of things I'm impatiently waiting for is to get my dog. Unfortunately our new apartment, though ripe with perks, also comes with the drawback of not allowing pets. The other building in the complex does, however, so there's always the chance we'll move into that one sometime in the future. The idea of moving yet again just so we can get a dog seems pretty silly though. Who knows. Mike and I are both pretty serious about it and I think we'd get a puppy tomorrow if we could. I really miss having that companionship. I've always had a dog since I was two years old, so it's been strange not having one for so long.

Work has been going more or less good. I've gotten into one of my design-funks where I lose all confidence in my work and can't seem to produce anything. Fortunately, I've spent the last two weeks doing realistic renderings of things so I'm at least in my comfort zone. I find that even though I still lack a lot of finesse as an illustrator, I feel much more comfortable with it than design. At some point in life I can see myself focusing on it entirely, though it'll be a long time coming I'm sure.

I also have a hard time reading people at work and tend to worry about how I'm perceived. I really like everyone there and think two of my co-workers in particular are hysterically funny but in typical Jared fashion, can't seem to open up to them. I can't figure out whether they intend to lengthen my contract when the woman I'm covering for is back from maternity leave but if I'm being realistic, I really don't think they will. For one, they don't really have the room for me in the office so they'd have to make special arrangements just to bring me on. Plus, I'm not sure if they'd really need an additional person. Things are pretty hectic at work right now, and I know the bosses are working crazy overtime but I get the impression it's not very common for them to be that swamped. And plus, I haven't really done anything impressive enough for them to think I'd be valuable enough to keep in spite of any complications that may come along with it. That's not me being negative, just honest. I think I'm fairly decent at what I do but I can identify my shortcomings and know that there are several areas of design that I struggle with. I think it's fairly lucky that they just happen to have a few illustration jobs coming through the office at the moment.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that at this point, I assume I'll be looking for another job in July if only because they simply don't need another full-time employee. I won't worry about it until then though. I'm making this seem much more dramatic than it actually is. :)

Speaking of work, my whole office and Mike went for dinner and drinks last night. I had an extremely good night. My bosses are ridiculously funny and light hearted. They crack inappropriate jokes, poke fun at some of their more eccentric clients (and there are so many) and are just all-around fun people. I find that I'm a lot more open when I'm not in the office setting so at least they get to see a little more of my personality when we all go on outings - whether that's a good thing or not remains to be seen. ;) Not to mention, they're crazy generous. They paid for everyone's cabs but also paid for seven people's dinner, (steaks with blue-cheese and chocolate sauce :) ) drinks, desserts, etc. Plus, they bought me and my two other co-workers awesome new jackets from Veer. (picture below) Of course, they also bring treats into the office ALL the time, take us out for lunches, buy as coffee, and so on. I think I got very lucky with my first job - which makes it a little crappy that I likely won't be staying around after the summer. <:)

Anyway, I'm ranting. Here's my new design-themed jacket which is geeky as hell but awesome all the same. Oh, and I finally got my beanie from Scott last week and have been wearing it entirely too often considering the unusually warm weather around here. :) I love it.

Ta ta.

Since I have a few extra minutes this morning, I figured I should make a quick update since I'd meant to write one earlier in the week. As usual, however, I just never got around to it. Poor neglected blog. I need to buy you an ice-cream.

Last Wednesday was my birthday. Ew. 23 is just an ugly age to me.. and I'm not even sure I can make sense of that. Like, 22 and 24 seem like fine ages, but 23 does not. Maybe I just have a thing for even numbers or something. It's strange that certain ages have particular attributes assigned to them. Like, 13 - you're a teenager, then there's sweet 16, at 19 you can drink (Canada), etc etc etc. Nothing is exciting about 23. *sigh* I guess I have a full year to get used to it.

As usual, nothing has really been happening for me. I find that while I still like my job, the novelty has worn off and I'm officially at the point where the weekends don't come quickly enough. Last week in particular was hellish. I spent many days near tears from pure frustration with what I was working on. Thankfully, I'm off the project now and this week looks to be fairly monotonous. I'm doing illustrations all week for two different clients. One set is purely vector and has been in my docket for a month already at work. It looks like the illustration job that will never die simply because there are SO MANY things they need. The other job is a series of realistic paintings of 2-story houses for a construction company in the city. It sounds boring, and kinda is, but it's extremely challenging as well. I'm ashamed to say that I've never drawn anything in 2 point perspective before and wasted an hour or two just trying to figure out how to draw the damn thing. I'll post a picture of the process eventually.

What else. Oh, our furniture from IKEA arrived last week and everything was great except they sent three black-brown chairs and one pine. So last Saturday I had to make the trip out there to get it replaced. The guy at the Customer Service counter was amusingly homosexual and made me laugh. When I explained the problem, he said in the entirely stereotypical lisp "Really? Oh SNAP!"  I don't even know what that means. But he was adorable so I'll let it be.

I think that's all. My life, though never very exciting, has definitely fallen into the adult routine. Wake up, work, gym, home, tv, sleep.

And, I still want to go to Asia.

Ta!

This weekend is proving to be quite the expensive one. I'm making good on my promise to make our new apartment a comfortable, inviting home rather than just another transitional, temporary place. My wallet is begging for mercy. :) It doesn't help that Thursday (Friday for Mike and I) was Valentine's Day. I took Mike out for dinner at a charming New Orleans-style restaurant. I spent about what I expected to for dinner, drinks, appetizers, and dessert, but I still have guilt over forking over so much money for food I could have made at home if I would just put the time in. In fact, I've made jambalaya several times at home so it's a tad pointless to go out and order it somewhere else. ;) Whatever. Mike got to have his oysters. Gross.

For my Valentines gift, Mike bought me a new pair of running shoes and insoles. He was going to buy me a Nintendo DS - something I've been considering buying myself for months now - but in a rare moment of maturity and responsibility, I vetoed the decision in favor or shoes instead. Seriously, the fact that I've gone 22 years without proper insoles for my hob-goblin feet and can still walk is a modern miracle. Actually, I like my feet, but my arches are ridiculously high. I have the feet a sexy stilleto dreams of. Unfortunately I've always been too cheap to buy myself the proper shoes, or better yet, get orthotics so I've been know to have serious foot cramps on occasion. So while Mike's gift might not seem overly romantic for the occasion, it's actually very sweet. :) It still feels really weird to walk with my entire foot supported though. I've been walking on the outside of my feet for my entire life...

And those insoles came in handy yesterday for walking through IKEA for hours. With my new determination to love my surroundings, frugality has been abandoned. I spent nearly 700 dollars in a few short hours... heh. Fortunately, when shopping at IKEA, $700 goes a long way and our apartment will basically be fully furnished once the delivery arrives next week. Our loot from yesterday includes:

• a coffee table and two matching end tables
• a bookcase cabinet with doors
• four kitchen chairs
• four thick cushions
• one large area rug
• two hand-blown frosted glass lamps with beautiful pattern (LOVE THEM)
• one orb lamp (funky as can be)
• three CD storage boxes
• one giant glass vase with 6' willow branches
• one magnetic backsplash for the kitchen with three magnetic spice containers. (So fun)
• various necessities such as screws, hooks, etc.

So I think we did alright for the amount of money we spent. So far we've spent less than a grand on our place and we're already loving it. Our next big purchases are going to be a bedframe with hidden shelves in the headboard, (we already have it picked out and love it) a new duvet and sheet set since our current duvet just got ruined a few days ago, and possibly a new computer table on wheels designed for laptop use while in bed. After that, we'll be done and will have only spent a modest amount. I'm still on the lookout for frames for the prints I've picked out and we're still debating whether we're going to paint the bedroom or not. I finally have Mike on board for the gorgeous blue-gray I have in mind. I've never been the materialistic type and I consider myself to be anything but snotty when it comes to having 'things' but I've got to admit that actually putting effort into my surroundings has had a huge impact on my happiness. I'm starting to feel like the old me again. :)

And now, I have to go spend even more money because I split yet another pair of jeans yesterday. That's five pairs of pants in the last year that I've ripped the crotch out of. I cannot explain it because it really makes no sense. If I was splitting the ass out than I'd assume that my butt was just too big and it was time to give up the chocolate (NEVER!) but it's just the crotch. Maybe I should stop buying cheap pants.

Oh, and I'm very thankful that today is a holiday in Alberta. I've never heard of Family Day, but I'll gladly celebrate it.

Love yah. ;)

Hello journal,

As usual, I've gone a significant amount of time between entries. I've actually had several entires planned in the last few days but can never seem to get around to it. My afternoons always seem so condensed after work, gym, making dinner, and finally sitting down to relax. We're skipping the gym tonight (and eating take-out just to make sure we've properly sabotaged ourselves) so I have a little more time tonight.

Things are going pretty well with me lately. I've been at my job for over a month now and am really starting to come into my own. I've learned to just trust my instincts and 99.5% of the time, I've gotten really positive feedback from my boss and the client. I just designed some packaging labels for an organic tea-shoppe and the client was SUPER impressed and excited so that felt great. I really enjoyed the job because I finally had an excuse to create some really intricate damask patterns in Illustrator. I've started to collect different patterns I've used in past projects so that I have a go-to pattern/texture library on my computer and it's geeky as hell but this excites me greatly. :)

Other jobs I'm working on are a series of illustrations for Well Maintenance, the identity for the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, a book for Northern Affairs and a brochure I really like. The job was for the agriculture industry so it allowed me to incorporated a lot of textures and weathering - which I love.

So that's that. Oh, I finally got my business cards for work. I'm all grown up now. :) Now I just have to find excuses to start handing them out.

We've been in the new apartment for a few weeks now and I'm surprised at just how much difference its made in my overall happiness. My entire quality of life has changed. I live five blocks away from work, six blocks from my new gym, and a block from a grocery store, several restaurants, a Starbucks, etc etc. I'm in walking distance from everything I need which is such a welcome change from the hell we were going through with transit when living at the last place. The weather here has been absolutely ridiculous lately, getting as low as -45C and of course, one day the bus was a full forty minutes late. I literally thought I was going to die.

The new place has actually inspired us to FINALLY decorate. Mike and I have already bought a few new things and are planning a trip to IKEA this weekend to finish it off. Once I find some affordable frames, I'm going to order some prints and hang art for the first time in my life. I've never truly felt settled in a place I've lived so have been reluctant to do much. I'm determined to make this place as comfortable as possible. I'm already in love with the color scheme we're working with. I'm way too excited over our new toothbrush holder. ;)

Okay, I'm rambling so I'll wrap this up. I just found out that my aunt has a brain tumor. :S I don't want to think much about it but figure I should mention it. I think everything is going to fine though. Hope so.

And I'm also learning how to knit. Expect many wonky scarfs for gifts for years to come.  

I'm really tired and my eyes are aching pretty badly. I think I need to get an eye-test stat. I've always had perfect vision but lately I notice I'm squinting a lot more when I'm working and I'm getting headaches pretty much constantly. I've been popping Advil like it's going out of style and I can only blame it so much on the fluorescent lights at work.

So, speaking of work, I've been there for two weeks now. Things are pretty good. I work with two guys and two girls. I like them all but naturally I get along better with the chicks. ;) The guys are into curling and rock-climbing and other butch things that don't suit me. Everyone is very nice, however, and charming, funny, and talented as well. It's a tad intimidating at times... but then again, I could work with a bunch of retarded chimps and I'd still be self-deprecating. I look forward to getting to the point where I'm comfortable and confident at work and no longer second-guess every decision I make.

The work I've done so far is actually pretty rewarding. I have a lot of creative freedom and have done three projects entirely on my own which is something I didn't expect as they stressed the 'working in groups' aspect of the job in both of my interviews. Currently I'm doing a brochure for Albertan farmers and a guide to Rights and Responsibilities in the Albertan workplace - both of which are government jobs that should look good in the portfolio along with the Parks Canada stuff. I've gotta say, the Alberta identity system is absolutely ridiculous! It's like 45 pages of contradictory rules for incorporating three colored swooshes into government documents. Every time I thought I had it figured out, there was another page stating several other things that were allowed even though the previous page had (I thought) prohibited it.

So all and all, the job is going well. I have a deadline for Monday afternoon that I'm not going to make so I'm going to have to put in some overtime this weekend. It's coming at a bad time too since this is the last weekend we have at the current place. We move next Friday and haven't started to pack yet. *sigh* Guess I won't be getting much rest before Monday.

And now on a somewhat depressing note:
I've been desperately searching for something beautiful in my life lately. Now doesn't that make me sound like the biggest EMO loser ever? I can't really describe what I mean other than to say that nothing has really thrilled or inspired me in a while and I'm craving it. Back in Halifax, there were a lot of things in my life that genuinely made me happy on a daily basis. I liked my apartment, my studio, the city itself... I liked seeing the familiar faces at school and on the street. I had my favorite spots and my routines. All of that stuff contributed to my contentment and I was able to find beauty in a lot of different things. The harbour, the Public Gardens, the walk to the Grocery Store, the market, etc etc etc. I felt like I was always experiencing new things despite living a boring lifestyle. I'm just not articulate enough to get across what I'm trying to say I guess...

I'm going to make an effort when we get to the new place. I want to start collecting those things that make me happy so that at least my home will be a place I feel content in. I've already started picking out prints I want to hang and I've really thought about the colors and textures I love. I have never actually decorated a place before and really hope that this will be an opportunity to start. It's weird that the small bedroom I had in my crappy Halifax apartment felt a lot more comfortable than the whole townhouse I'm in now. I miss having that feeling that I really lived somewhere, you know?

So that's a rambling summary of my life right now. 

After a much longer than planned break from the workforce, I'm back to the grind. I signed my contract this morning with Plumbheavy. I had my first interview with them back in November and was told that they probably wouldn't have room for an addition to the team until January. Instead of making any serious effort to secure another job, I waited it out and now I start next week.

I actually got really lucky. I only applied at two firms in Edmonton. One was a very small studio and I wasn't really expecting them to need another designer. I LOVE their work though, so figured it was worth a shot. They were incredibly sweet and complimentary but "just didn't have the budget for another designer," which is cool. I might apply there again if I'm in Edmonton a few years from now. Plumbheavy was the second place I applied to and I got the interview right away. I had found their site while living back in Halifax and thought the principle designers seemed really cool and the work was along the lines of what I wanted to do. I'm happy it worked out in the end.

The studio is really nice too. Well-lit and spacious with lots of inspirational work on the walls and very random stuff on shelves. I spotted a Napoleon Dynamite action figure on my boss' desk sitting beside his jewel encrusted tiara. :) Hopefully that's a good indication of their personalities. During my first interview, I didn't get a great impression from anyone and was a little worried about not getting along with them. Today, however, everyone was really awesome so I'm hoping that first meeting was just an off day in the studio.

So hooray. I'll be back to regular pay-cheques by the end of the month. I'm totally going on a shopping spree for at least one or two items. I was just going to settle for a Nintendo DS Lite and possibly a Wii, but my iBook computer is really starting to die on me so I'm thinking it's time to get an iMac decked out with RAM. :) *drool* We'll see. I'd also love a Cintiq tablet but I think that'll have to wait for a while. I'm getting ahead of myself and still have that Asia trip to plan.

xo

2008 is almost here and its time to make resolutions. My number one is to never fly again. I swear I have the worst luck of anyone I've ever met with my frigging flights. I'm currently stuck in Toronto for an extra four hours because my flight from Halifax was late by an hour and I missed my connection by ten minutes.

I don't think I've ever had a trip go smoothly. I'm either missing connections, running from terminal to terminal, having my things stolen, experiencing excruciating pain from a sinus infection, or just stuck with drunk people singing country songs. Mike and I were planning a romantic evening but I anticipate I'll be so exhausted upon arriving to Edmonton, I won't be in the mood for much.

Oooh. Eye candy. Apparently Mr. Hottie McSexy-pants from my last flight is on my next one as well... fine, things aren't all bad. ;)

My last night in Nova Scotia was enjoyable at least. I spent the majority of the day with Steve. Both of us were pretty tired so we did a whole lotta nothing all day - which is exactly what I wanted. I also got to officially meet his boys and was overwhelmed with cuteness. I think I'm their new buddy. :D Little L wanted me to read him a story when he went to bed and gave me a kiss goodnight. Heart. Melts.

It was also nice to get a first hand experience of just how much work raising kids can be. Golly. I think I'd be a good father and I plan to be one day, but I'm not in any rush. I think I'm still at a point in my life where I'm too selfish to devote my life to a baby. I'd find it difficult to give up some of the comforts one loses when raising a child. Eventually though. Hopefully I can at least get my dog soon. I'm going batty without something cute to love. (other than Mike)

I was hoping writing in here would take up more time... so now I have to find other means of entertainment for the next few hours. If only Mr. McSexy-pants wasn't sitting so far away.