Yes, I know it's WEDNESDAY and usually weekend recaps occur on Monday, but you know ... its my blog. Ha.
FRIDAY: Went to the Ducks/Dallas Stars game with Jenny where we not only had awesome seats, but I witnessed my first hat-trick! WOOHOO Go Lubo!
Score: 4-3 OT
SATURDAY: Went to Long Beach for my cousin's 21st birthday. Good times :)
SUNDAY: Went to RA Sushi in Tustin with Jenny to watch the Ducks/Vancouver Canucks game. Unfortunately, we lost. But we did sample some interesting dishes, especially the cinnamon tempura ice cream, which we scarfed down just in time for third period to start.
Score: 3-0
Our seats: Section 217 Row Q
Ducks celebrate Lubo's hat-trick and game-winning OT goal
"I know I’ve got many other roles on this team besides scoring goals. If this team was counting on me scoring goals, we wouldn't have gone very far. That being said, I would have liked to have more than this first one tonght. The bottom line is it’s about wins this time of the year. It’s not about how many goals or assists I get. It’s about winning hockey games, getting into the playoffs and see how far it takes you."
Guess who's moving into the new Orange County office tomorrow?!
Me! Duh...
I'm escatic about this opportunity. First I'm interning for one of the biggest agencies in the world, but now I'm going to be the FIRST intern at their brand-new office!
Eeeek!
Can we say perfect timing?!
Okay. I'll try to limit the "?!," but I can't help myself.
I already completed my first full week there and I'm starting to get a hang of everything.
I'm determined to make this into a permanent position, or at least, take advantage of the opportunity of interning for the agency.
Either way, there is no way I would've believed someone if they told me in college I would someday work for this agency.
No. Freaking. Way.
I'm a believer now.
But before I can go into the office, I'll be working from home for a couple hours.
Despite being home for the first couple of hours of my workday, I still feel obligated to wake up a tad bit early to get a headstart on my daily tasks.
Last night I went to my friend Christina's 21st birthday shindig. We went to BJ's for dinner and then headed down to Hurricane's in HB.
Quote of the night: "That was awkward."
The AE kids reunited! Karen, me, Pam and Christina
Representin' (and they won!)
This is her default photo on Facebook, so I felt obligated to add this. Haha. Oh, and I asked her if she wanted to dance in the middle of these random guys dancing. ;)
I feel like I haven't experienced a moment of relaxation all weekend.
Everything is go, go, go!!!
Oh, boy.
The one time I felt a slight bit of relaxation was when the Anaheim Ducks game was on tv yesterday afternoon.
Even then, I was still on the move; I ended up washing my bedsheets and comforter, cooked rice in the rice cooker for my parents, took a shower during intermission, and cooked (more like burnt) my green onion pancake (my mom buys it for me from the asian supermarket), all while debating whether I had enough time to drop off my dry cleaning before I head to American Eagle for my closing shift.
I'm waiting for a chance to just lay down (or even just sit down) and read a book or even just watch my dvds (I'm still in the middle of watching The Sopranos: Season Two, Episode Two).
Nevertheless, any sane person would suggest I relax when I get home from work, but no.
I ended up meeting Engaged Friend at BJ's in Laguna Hills for drinks and girl talk. Which leads me to my question:
Lately, I've been lending my ear to a couple people in regards to their relationships.
Don't get me wrong; I'm NOT complaining, but after hearing some of their concerns ...
"She gets jealous when I talk to other girls.."
"He always blames for me for the littlest thing."
Kind of makes a girl not want to establish a romantic relationship with any guy.
Aside from that, all of their concerns sum of one thing: the sudden shift in control.
It seems one party wants the upper hand in the relationship which makes the other party resent him (or her).
I'm trying to grasp the idea that that can actually happen. I always thought there was some sort of equality in a relationship, but apparently that doesn't exist. One person is always going to want to take control in the relationship whether the other person likes it or not.
But if you don't like it if I talk to this person, how come I'm not allowed to say you can't do the same thing?
No one wants to admit they're wrong.
Excuses, schexcuses.
So, does that mean instead of admitting that we're wrong, we're just going to let ourselves sit around and accept it just because we don't want to get into another meaningless "why the heck are we fighting?" argument.
Guess so.
Relationships are like the old-school game of telephone. At one end is the real message and as it gets passed along, eventually the original message comes out distorted to the last person.
Thus ...
Miscommunication.
Fighting.
Break-ups.
Etc.
So, you tell me ... why do we bother falling in love in the first place?
This week has worn me out, but has given me a preview of what's to come in the upcoming months.
Yesterday was my first day at the agency. I must admit, it was everything I expected if not more. I did the basic check off list:
Orientation with office manager
Fill out paperwork
Tour the building
Meet the executives
Learn how to use the software
Intern lunch with the executives
etc ...
I don't want to give too many details about future projects at the agency due to confidentiality mumbojumbo, but I'll be vague and describe basic things most internships involve.
I think the coolest thing about the agency is that I have my own card that I can swipe. I feel legit.
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My second day (today) wasn't so bad. Arrived there earlier than I expected. On Fridays, I would arrive at Formula around 7:15-ish, yet at this agency I arrived at 7:45. Instead of staying in my car, I decided to go inside and check my personal e-mail before the actual workday started. And once 8:30 arrived, I went straight to work. My only assignment was to research opinion leaders. And it literally took a whole day to research. Thus, me being tired and ready to knock out (its 9:30pm which is considered early for me).
I'm looking forward to starting a full week here and meeting the other intern! It'll be nice to find person to confide in and tag team on assignments. I tried looking for her name on LinkedIn, but I wasn't sure if it was there or not. Stalker much? Nah, just research ;)
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One thing I want to mention is the timing of everything. On Wednesday, the mobile applications company allowed me to be an independent contractor for them and telecommute working up to five hours each week. That's a plus. And last night, I received a LinkedIn connection invite from someone who works at an ad agency in Orange County. In his message, he said that his agency was looking for a community manager to work on social media projects for some of their well-known clients. Oh, and its sports-related.
And of course, I replied back to him. Come on ... you know me. Any opportunity presented to me deserves some sort of response (unless I don't remember applying and/or I don't understand your message via voicemail).
Chatted with him during lunch today and honestly told him that I just started at the agency and I won't be available until May unless he's willing to work with me as a freelancer or even possible just part-time. But part-time would depend on the days and times. Overall, I would say he liked me, mainly because I mentioned baseball and I just "went straight to the top of (his) list."
I'm amused.
This weekend, I'll be sending him some writing samples and hopefully he'll e-mail me next week. If not, he said to just e-mail him for an update. I checked out the agency's website and it's very appealing. Even Engaged Friend wanted to know if they were looking to hire a graphic designer. Lol.
So, I finally told the mobile applications company today.
Told them that I won't be coming into the office anymore because I was offered a full-time position with the agency.
Asked if it was possible to telecommute and continue working on some of the projects.
The hiring manager said she would discuss this with the founder.
I must say, I'm a little relieved.
Maybe because it's been on my shoulders for a bit and I felt there wasn't a good (appropriate) time to discuss this new situation.
But I knew eventually it had to happen since I was going to start working at the agency sometime soon.
Here's to halfway closing one door.
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On another note, I was checking my RSS feeds when I came across a post on Zen Habits.
Written by Corey Allan of Simple Marriage, his post called, "Relationships are easy," was very straight to the point and reminded me of my engaged friend.
Whether you're married, engaged, in a relationship, or even, single, this is a post I'm sure most people can relate to.
I consider this the best part of the post:
How many times has something about your spouse’s behavior driven you crazy? Or how many heated discussions have come from your differences in beliefs?
The best way to combat this is found in this phrase: Rather than trying to adjust the wind, adjust your sails.
Focus on what you can control – and this begins and ends with you!
Simplify things in life so you can savor more of the goodness. This same idea can be applied to relationships.
Those days actually represent next year's calendar, but who really cares?
Ever had a week where it started off slowly, but by the time you finally looked up it was already the weekend?
That was last week.
Here are the highlights of last week:
Monday - Woke up to find an e-mail response from the global agency internship position I applied for last week. Then received not only a voicemail, but also an e-mail from the mobile applications company saying they would like to hire me for a contract job. My mind was spinning. Ended the day with a phone interview and a scheduled in-person interview for Wednesday with the global agency. And, I called the other company and told them I would come in and work for them for a bit.
Tuesday - Went to my morning shift at American Eagle, then drove to the mobile applications company in Laguna Hills for my first day. Spoke to the hiring/office manager and signed my contract. Immediately started working on the project. Ended the day with a lot of ideas and some excitement.
Wednesday - Went to my interview in LA at the global agency where I met with four (count that FOUR) executives. Could've been five, but he was out of the office that morning. It was quite interesting. Let's just say it's definitely a different atmosphere from what I'm used to in my previous internships. Ended the day finding out they decided to forgo the writing test and offer me the position. Can we say BOOYAH!?
Yes, that was my reaction.
Needless to say, I was very excited and, at the same time, worried about the contract job.
Thursday - Woke up feeling a bit nauseous, but decided to go to the contract job to continue working on projects. Ended the day at American Eagle.
Friday - Contract job again and then American Eagle. Was planning on asking the contract job if it was all right to telecommute for the project. Unfortunately, I forgot.
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So, my week was full of work, work, work!!! What can I say I like working A LOT. I'm hoping the contract job will continue because I like the projects I'm working on, and if for some reason it doesn't work out? Well, it doesn't work out. Just wasn't in the cards then.
I'm hoping the agency internship will lead into something spectacular and PERMANENT.
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BTW, engaged friend is putting the wedding planning on hold. Too much on her plate right now.
I took a chance and ended up going to the other company near my house to check out what was in store for me if I ended up working on the four-week project they hired me for.
And I must admit: I had a good time.
I can't tell you all the details, but it involved documents, a meeting and a lot of research on the computer.