randomness 3 Comments

Nose to the Grindstone

Since faxing my Independent Contractor Agreement back to the company for which I will (hopefully) be doing some new media contracting, I’ve decided that I need to devote a two-hour block each evening specifically to design projects. This is because 1.) I need to get back into the swing of working on a given project without distractions, and 2.) I need to get some of my own projects done before I start accepting freelance projects.

So, my Friday evening and my Monday evening were much the same: make dinner, check e-mail while dinner is cooking, eat dinner while reading a book, finish that chapter. Then come downstairs and finish my e-mailing and blogreading and general crap. Between 7 and 8pm, start designing. Don’t stop until at least two hours have passed, or until I reach a good stopping point (usually after two and a half hours).

These past couple of days, I’ve been working on making more comps for the LSM site redesign. I finally decided that five will have to be enough for a start, and I emailed the Executive and Assistant Directors with the URL to start a discussion of the designs. I think they’ll be duly impressed. My current favorites are #3 and #5, I think.

Next step: learning MySQL and figuring out a database structure to make News and Schedule tables. I’ll do that during tomorrow’s design time. I’m done for tonight.

photos

The Lomo Is Fixed

The Lomo appears to be working at specifications once more. The post-op test roll came out A-OK, if a touch boring.

In other photo news, the Holga has arrived and is now loaded with film. I’ll burn through this first roll quickly and post the results when I get them processed.

the ongoing saga of my job 2 Comments

So, How Did It Go?

In a word, great!

My contact appears to be in his mid to late 30’s, energetic, excited—one of those people just *made* for recruitment, although he’s a designer, too. He’s also the one-man New Media team of the company in question, wrangling the undiscovered new media talent of Toledo (like myself, apparently) to do some contract work.

It’s just what I need: a chance to prove myself, to get some “real world” design experience, and to make a little extra cash on the side. Oh, yeah, and to give me a confidence and ego boost, which I always desperately need. At the same time, though, this doesn’t require me to quit my current job in favor of some unknown, and it won’t dump oodles of work on me all the time. The projects will be spaced out amongst the various contractors, and we’ll all have the resources of the company at our disposal (although to what extent I can utilize that offer, I’m not precisely sure).

I’m geeked. I’m stoked. I’m glad to be out of that suit.

OMFG, yay for using my degree and my talent.

[An aside: someone I’m downloading from on WinMX just asked me what I do for a living. I could honestly answer him that I’m a graphic / web / new media designer with a day job at a bank. !!!]

the ongoing saga of my job 3 Comments

Freelance Work

It occurs to me that I haven’t had particularly good luck in the past with securing paid freelance gigs. I’ve only had one real paying freelance job, which was so undercharged it may as well have been pro bono, and I had one potential client gasp in horror at my price and hire me on as part-time office help instead.

Hopefully my upcoming client meeting goes more smoothly…
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ruminations

In A Funky Mood

I’m in one of those weird quiet moods. Kind of melancholy, I guess. Kind of lonely, maybe, and kind of bored. I can feel my face setting into a perpetual scowl for some reason. I feel like I’m missing something, or like I’ve thought of something I regret, though I can’t think of what it would be.

There’s no good reason for me to be all blah tonight. I have an appointment set up to meet with a certain gentleman about a potential extra-curricular design gig, so tally up one for the Go Me column. But I ate too much sugar today, and I’m sure it affected my blood sugar levels all day; I felt so tired, and still do. It’s messing with my energy level in a bad way.

If I could just make myself get UP and DO something, I know I’d feel better. Not reading a book, mind you—something like putting my clothes away, or maybe watering my poor thirsty houseplants, or going through a box of stored crap, or even just doing some jumping jacks or something. The trick is managing to get myself started.

I hate it when I get all like this. Meh.