Family, Random Thoughts

A job in higher education

I’ve been looking for a job since I’m tired of doing freelance. Plus, I miss working in an actual work environment with coworkers to chat with.

I’d like to work in a local college/university. I like that environment and I’d love to be able to take classes for free or at a discount, since I’ve always wanted to eventually get a Master’s degree. There’s just something about the possibility of continuously learning that I love. I’m a perpetual student, always learning new things. Plus, most schools pride themselves on staying current, so I’d always have access to state-of-the-art equipment. Also, they get deep discounts on some software. In college, I got Windows XP Pro for $15, Windows 7 Pro 64-bit for $25, and Microsoft Office for $5!

When I saw a job listing for a designer at my brother’s uni, I promptly applied. My odds are probably slim because there tends to be a lot of competition with these things. (It’s a good opportunity!) Imagine my surprise (and delight!) when I recently got an email saying that my resume has been accepted and is getting reviewed. I’m glad my resume at least made it through that first step.

I don’t have any delusions about getting the job because the competition is probably fierce, but I thought I’d put it out into the universe that I would love to have that job. Maybe you guys can help me by collectively wishing me luck, or something, sending some positive energy out there I don’t know if that really works, but it doesn’t hurt to try, right?

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Family, Food

Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti

After Jan canceled on our lunch (she came down with a fever), my sister and I did some baking. She’s been on a cooking & baking mood lately and marked off a whole bunch of recipes she wanted to try in the recipe book.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Original Chocolate Almond Biscotti recipe

The Chocolate Almond Biscotti recipe both caught our eyes because the picture was beautiful and the directions were very easy. But, since I’m not fond of almonds, we changed it to chopped pistachios and vanilla extract, as opposed to chopped almonds and almond extract.

I went about peeling over a ½ cup of pistachios by hand. It wasn’t fun, but it went by fast as we chatted away. Originally, I was going to emulate the TV chefs and chop them by hand, but then I realized how much of an amateur I was compared to them. Plus, there was the big possibility of making a mistake and cutting myself… So, electric chopper it is!

She wanted to be in charge of doing everything herself, so I was just there as my sister’s helper. I ended up helping cut up the biscotti and melting the chocolate that went on top of them.

Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti
(Click the thumbnails for a bigger size.)
It turned up much better than we had expected, especially with the substitutions we made. Overall, we were very happy with the result. When Jan and I rescheduled our lunch, I brought her a bag of biscotti to try. She loved them!

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Art, Friends, Random Thoughts

Inadvertent heartthrob

I was cleaning out the unused pictures in my Photobucket account and came upon these:

Acqua test 01 Acqua test 02 Acqua test 03 Acqua test 04 Acqua test 05
(Click for a bigger size.)

Those pictures were were from my test sheet in photography class. The object of the assignment was to choose a product—in my case, Acqua di Gio, as suggested by my model because I had no idea what to do!

Anyway, the above model, Mark, came to me by accident. My original model, Ken, flaked on me claiming he had forgotten that we had scheduled the photo room. Years later, I found out that he had told people that “some random Asian girl came up to me asking me to pose for her!” Jerk! :evil: We went to the same high school and college! Not only that, but he volunteered for it, upon hearing me discuss the project with my friends. He’s quite the classy guy :roll:

When Mark heard that Ken flaked on me, he volunteered to be my new model. I’m so glad he did! Though the photo shoot was early in the morning, we had such a great time and it became a collaborative process. (The crotch shot was his idea!) And, I didn’t realize how photogenic he would be! Continue reading

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