Family, Friends, Random Thoughts

A career fair

My dad had heard of a career fair in the area and had been bugging me to attend. The fair was free and open to the public, so I thought, “Why not? What did I have to lose?”

Being a career fair beginner, I asked Carmela to join me as she had been to several career fairs. We printed out a few resume copies to hand out to potential employers. We also dressed a bit more professionally, which always makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t know what it is about dressing professionally that dampens my confidence. I think I don’t feel like me and sometimes it projects my nervousness.

Carmela & I chatted with several recruiters, but most of the companies there are hiring sales people or customer service representatives. The U.S. Secret Service was there, too, but I don’t qualify for most of their positions as I lack a government security clearance.

The fair was a bust, but we weren’t surprised. Recruiters don’t tend to recruit designers at fairs because they recruit in bulk, so it makes sense to only look for generic jobs, like sales and customer service personnel. Rather than let it get us down, we went to the mall nearby and hung out there for quite a bit. Retail therapy is a good stress reliever, right?

Standard
Family, Random Thoughts

Mannequin heads at the dentist’s office

I was my mom’s chauffeur in the morning, meaning I was to take her to the dentist’s office then take her to run some errands.

Mannequin head on a truck

Imagine my surprise when THAT parked behind me! The man’s truck had two mannequin heads: one on each side. The other head might’ve had a blonde wig, but I don’t quite remember. I was too creeped out to focus. Naturally, I had to take a picture as discreetly as I could, to show it to everyone later. Lol. Priorities

I imagine this guy’s home being littered with headless mannequin bodies that he stole from department stores. Or, perhaps he bought them. Can people just go to a store to buy mannequins? I don’t know how it works.

Maybe his house is full of mannequins he uses for decorations? Like, a leg lamp. Or, a torso for a night table. He could get really creative!

After that weirdness, the rest of my morning was thankfully creep-free. Just another sunny day running errands…

Standard
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?

Standard
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!

Standard
Art, Blog, Family, Friends

A fusion of color

As per Stress reliever and Let’s get crafty…, I’ve been feeling crafty lately; plus, it’s starting to get cold again, so I decided to whip up a scarf. A classmate of mine gave me a HUGE bag full of yarn as a thank you when I helped her with her class website, so I went digging through that stash to make these projects. I’ve crocheted 4 scarfs so far.

Luna Lovegood Scarf

A pale plum-colored scarf modeled after Luna Lovegood's scarf.

This scarf is for my friend. It’s modeled from Luna Lovegood’s scarf from the Harry Potter movies. You can get the free pattern here. Continue reading

Standard