Mmmm.... Marvel!

Went out to eat Korean... actually, I'm not sure what the name of the place was since it was in Korean (as in the English named was spelled phonetically), and I wasn't really paying attention. It was pretty good... It was on Kingsway near Knight. That's pretty vague and not helpful considering how many Korean/Asian restaurants are in that area. Heh!

I checked the time like 10 minutes ago and I only just realized that DST just ended and it wasn't as late as I thought it was. I've been playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance on PS2 so I'm up late. Good game! Except it's not as flashy on the PS2. I can't wait til the XBox360 version is out. It's a pretty fun smash-and-bash co-op game. i miss the good ol co-op days on the NES/SNES. They need to make more games like this and bring the fun back into playing with people.

Maybe this shift in time can help me with my disrupted sleeping habits.

Laughter is good for the soul

Gotta thank people for sending me hilarious videos. A good laugh is always healthy for cleansing the soul. I think watching this has given me a way to clear my worries a little bit.


Take a watch if you have 10 minutes to spare
Note: Start at 1:30, the first part of the video is not that interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmtgnEXjvvI

Wowww

So I pretty much lost my voice today...
Yeah, it's getting better now though...

I'm very excited/apprehensive/nervous/any expletive here. I gave Cam, my friend who's working at AKQA as a designer, my resume/cover letter probably last night...so... uh Tuesday night.

He submitted it in this morning (yes, I know, I'm posting this at odd hours), as in... Wednesday morning. I already got a reply back from the recruiter later in the evening. I know you can get better chances or at least better responses if its a referral from someone within the company, but I think this exceeds any expectations I had. I'm in dialogue right now, so *cross fingers* you know... Hope I get this!

If this falls through, I'll probably be heading back to Manila this week to go with my family for a trip to Japan AND Korea. Sounds stupid doesn't it? It's a win-win for me! But I'd rather get the job. I can go to Japan and Korea next year instead. Hahaha :")

[Edit: I'm an idiot, I forgot to click publish and left this as a draft. Hooray me!]

Infuriating

I'm sick, the throat has now gone into coughing mode.

To top that off, the phone keeps ringing b/c some company has some problem with my parents' account and they've called everyday for the past week, and 7-10 times just today. Grrr!
I also got into a spat talking with someone over MSN. He got presumptuous/pretentious and instigated as if he knew what I was thinking. It was regarding something in my field, and I would probably know more about it than he did, and he said... "do you know anything about it?" before I got a chance to answer, he said "no, I didn't think so". You know what, you don't talk to people like that. God. I hate the fil-chi mentality and that was definitely part of that attitude.
If I ever talk like that to anyone, I would gladly let them punch me in the face. I don't go around assuming I know what/who you are, or judge you by what you do unless you act like an extreme jackass like this example.

My blood pressure was through the roof... I had to go for a walk and cool down. I think I may have punched a wall or two.

I'm not someone who gets angry or infuriated often. I'm someone who's mellow and relaxed even if the house is on fire, so this is really going through me like an adrenaline rush. *smashes keyboard*

May people who be the instigators of non-worthwhile anguish suffer a long, torturous life.

Ruby? RO(a)R!!!!

I'm currently learning some Ruby, and packed with a platform/framework called Rails, and package that all up into a subset environment called Ruby on Rails, or RoR for short. It took a while trying to get it all set up. Actually, I think I might still be setting it up. There are so many server, database, environment related installations I needed to do that when I got them all installed, I was pretty much wondering if I wasn't done yet.

I have started to try out some code, so there's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Nothing fancy, but I'm happy I'm over the initial hill. It looks like a pretty interesting language/framework to use from what I've gathered. It's a bit like PHP/ASP how it is able to serve up pages dynamically, yet, it's a lot different with how the pages/files are laid out. You program from a different perspective. You can't use PHP/ASP like this...well, not how RoR sets it up anyway. The approach is totally different too. RoR pages are data-driven applications. They're more suited for interaction with data and information from a database.


I also had a DEFINITE feeling of deja vu. It is solidified in my mind that I have seen into the future in past dreams. What cements it in my mind this time, is that it wasn't what I saw, it's what I felt, where I was, and what I was thinking specifically. People say that deja vu is a trick of the mind where one of your eyes sees first, compared to your other eye, or some nonsense like that. I had this inkling of thought I'm not sure.... a year ago maybe? I'm sure it was within the past 2 years, no longer than that.
I had a certain feeling of self-judgement and that I was in the vicinity of the fridge. What brought me the actual feeling was a particular word popped into my mind "soul-searching". It's not really one of those words you use often, so it rang a clear bell in my head of a feeling of "again", "return", or simply "deja vu".

Do you think deja vu is a trick of the mind? I sure don't. I see my future, although what small view it may be.

Nauseous

Ungh... yeah... went to go see The Prestige the other night. It was better than The Illusionist. It was a little more messed up, but it also made the movie more exciting. Someone has poop in their pants... so... it kinda stunk during the whole movie. Sigh

Went to go DOTA it up with some friends yesterday. I think it'll be some weekly thing with nothing to do on the weekends. How can I be more Azn now eh? I play DOTA! If you don't know what that is... just ask any gamer. Well, that's not exactly true. Ask any Asian gamer. Yeah.

I've been feeling pretty nauseous the past 2 days. My throat is pretty dry/scratchy too. I'm not sure if it's my throat, or maybe it's my toncils. I can speak fine... and my throat doesn't really feel dry, but...agitated? it scratches my throat if I swallow.
Chicken Soup. Check. Pumpkin Soup... close enough. Check
So... 2 helpings of soup for breaky/lunch.
Add a honey/milk oatmilk mix for an after-dinner concoction to help my throat...
...what do we get? Not much success, it's still hurtin. I need some suggestions.

I'm switching gears for my job hunt. I don't think I'm going to hit any luck any time soon for a designer position, so maybe I can go for a web application/web dev programmer position. Spent some time making notes on the syntax for PHP today, I'm going to go have to make some for C++/Java since I haven't touched those languages in a while.
Mmm... I'm going to add another chapter of notes for my Mandarin books.
我會中文一點點！

My parents left earlier today, so now the feeling of being not only alone, but confusion is really building in my mind. I really shouldn't have gone back to Manila in the summer. I lost track of what the heck I was doing those 2 months. I've been looking through more possibilities of design schools I could attend in the states... Arizona State University, Carnegie Mellon, Illinois Institute of Technology. I really think how many problems I'd have to go through trying to apply as an international student and those fees would be pretty heavy.

The sad thing is, I'd probably going in there for another undergrad degree. Sigh... I really wish I knew all this beforehand when I was coming out of high school. It seems like I've already been railroaded before anything has started. Design is what I want to do, not computer science. It just feels like everything I've done in the past 5 years at UBC just a complete waste of time and effort.

When the truth hits you, it really feels like a sledgehammer in your back when you're down.
It resonates even more when you don't have anything to do...

Re/De - jected

I got a response back from Google. So... yeah, in short, I got a "no". Why does it seem like the more they try to make it sound non-offensive that you feel worse? *shrug*

Oh well, like someone told me... If this door has closed, then another window has opened. So now I have to go out and buy a hoodie, some sneakers, and some tools to prep myself and step up to Breaking and Entering into other jobs/companies.

I really wanted to get hired at Google, I think I'd fit well there. I'll try applying again later. I've been thinking though about how I'm applying for UI design positions. The problem is, I'm not going in with an Interactive Arts/Design degree, compared with probably everyone else who are applying for those positions. I'm a dark horse from the get go, and I'm an in-betweener. This leaves me in a pretty bad situation. I'm not fluent enough in my programming anymore to be able to qualify for a programming position and I'm not aptly educated for a design job.

I munched on that for a while and thought about applying to SFU Surrey for the SIAT program in January. Exactly like last year, I thought of this too late and screwed myself since the deadline just passed and I wouldn't be able to get into the program until next September, since they don't offer Summer term. I talked to Cam and he was talking about Stanford's unique d.school or Institute of Design. That would KICKASS. Yet... it's not actually a stand-alone program. And... I checked Stanford's FAQ. They won't allow students who've graduated from an undergrad program somewhere else take an undergrad program at Stanford. That absolutely SUCKS. But I could go into a graduate program there.... but I have no idea how this dschool functions and I'm assuming it's only a certain offering of courses as opposed to a full design program. Plus the hassle of having to do SATs and all that, I'm not sure it's a good option.

But... looking for a design school may be a good option for me now. I'm not well-versed in design schools. So I'm actually in a bad position to try that. I'm looking for one that offers a full bachelor's degree, or something that's a little more complete in terms of education, not just some 6-month certificate program that does nothing to enrich the mind.

If I had gotten this response sooner, i'd probably be headed back to Manila tomorrow with my parents. I could go with them to Shanghai! Gah.... and I was talking to my sis earlier. She said we could go to Singapore in November too. Hmm.... I could go back myself... but I'm probably not in a stable mindset to be making decisions right now. Just gotta take it slow. Slow.

I need calmness.

Odds, ends, and oddities.

I have tried to apply myself to start the week with a productive outset. I'm currently going through my cabinets and tossing non-essential, I wouldn't say garbage, but let's just say, non-purposeful objects, and some other junk. Haha.

Highlights of my journey into the past:

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Pencil Sharpeners -> Casey Jones and Leonardo? Bye bye

-Lots of pencil sharpeners

-Stamps -> I didn't realize I collected these before, but there wasn't a lot

-Holiday Cards -> There's a Valentine's Day card marked from "O-zone". I honestly don't know who that is, or ever will know. I wasn't aware we were using handles in elementary school. It wasn't cool back then... and it's still kinda odd to refer yourself as your online handle in real life. Oh, there was some 10+? year candy stuck in there too... It's pretty rock solid now though... sticking onto the envelope

-a neon-green/neon-pink Cathay Pacific fanny pack

-really old drawing books -> I made pretty odd drawings, most had to do with flying ships, bombs, and explosions!

-Dragonball Z cards

-a COMPLETE listing of saturday morning cartoons, their times, and channels from about 13 years ago

-a "Where in Space is Carmen San Diego?" pc game -> they're so old that they are on 3.5" floppies

finally on blogger~!

I've been meaning to start a blogger account considering its more versatile as a web-journal platform. Besides, it can work as a stand-alone site and allows for rss feeds. Its quite confounding that I didn't set this up earlier.

I've been quite tense this week because I applied for a UI Design position recently at Google. I got a questionnaire regarding details of why I applied for that specific position. I sent back the questionnaire about 10 days ago and still patiently waiting for a response, which is taking longer than I expected. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but what the hey- Patience is a virtue, right?

On another note, I'm so excited about that new show on NBC, Heroes! It is such a non-Marvel approach to heroes with a very character-driven storytelling. There's only been 3 episodes but I already can't wait to see the rest of the season. I'm happy that they've already been guaranteed the full season so there won't be any disappointment regarding cancelled shows because of sad ratings. I'd hate to see another good show that falls through because of network decisions like that. *cough* Firefly *cough*