Reluctant Designer

Updates in bullet points

Remember when I said I couldn't know what keywords you input on Google to reach my blog? I lied. I know exactly what you're looking for. That said...

If you've stumbled upon my blog in search of the following:

• Geass girls hentai
• La Corda d'Oro sheetmusic
• The meaning of "Kallen Stadtfeld" (if any)
• Tsukimori's possible death in a later episode (??)
• EveryonexHino doujinshi
• Anything about Kallen Stadtfeld (as there are many inquiries)

I'm sorry to say that you won't find it here. Why? For a lot of the things mentioned, I'm a fangirl through and through (but who doesn't mind the occasional nice het, ie. GONZO's RxJ). I wish I could "sticky" this at the top of the page to save you the time.

Now for some random music recs!

• Koop - amusing guest female voice that reminds me of Black Forrest(sp?) cake. Audiophile, suited for working. Can't find albums anywhere.
• Mocca - happy, lighthearted, cute, high, all-around lalaland material. They're local but I can't find their albums anywhere! x_x
• Coralie Clément - as said before, pillow talk with melody. And she's French! Can't find album.
• Mandalay - nice female vocal if a tad emo, good for a yoga session. Can't seem to find album.
• Bebel Gilberto - smooth Brazilian jazz (if I'm not mistaken ^^). Of course, albums are nowhere.

Current contributions to my two fandoms

• Yami's payment for the femme!Lulu fic in the form of one fanart of White Heart's first encounter. If you're reading this, Yami, I'm still working on it! You?
• A few pencil sketches to correspond with Sapphira Angel's drabbles - yes, the SuzaEuphie as well. Not on request; just because I want to. They will be in the Fanart album.
• honey, I'm still thinking long and hard about campaigning LFFL aka. La Femme Fatale Lulu ^^. Tar and feathers ahoy.
• Scanning NATTSU's SYNCHRONI CITY doujinshi. Will probably put it up on the comm in the beginning of next month. And maybe... the second SuzaLulu story in that Lulu-uke-fest. Ah, but the thread is friends-locked so join, join! ^__^

Needless to say, I really need to slow down. Like the Code GEASS and Ghost Hunt fandoms are currently doing. One more thing, I had to do this at work because I couldn't get Sapphire's manip out of my head:

-B

Payday's every Friday + Should I redo this logo, senpai?

I never am sure where to start if I haven't blogged in a while...

Well, for one, I am dreading the mere two hours I have until my ideal bedtime as we speak, er, type. I've only tasted the industry for 17 hours and already I'm missing my free time. Yes, I've plunged myself headlong into the energy drain that is the workforce - as a lowly unpaid intern, but an active employee nevertheless. As I've retold what I'm about to tell a number of times, you can say I've dishonoured my vow to "only tell it once".

Now, as per usual, the Arcs in le bold.

Arc 1: Er, my CV says I want to be treated like a trainee

If I weren't sitting across an HR Director in the middle of an interview and were to be truthful, when asked what did I know about Dentsu, I would've said never heard about them in my life before a very capable friend of mine lent me their and Saatchi&Saatchi's contacts. I only had to choose between the two, and the reason I opted for the former was simple and shallow: I'm a Japanophile. I had no idea what to expect, but now I sort of do. It just so happened (as it sometimes does in life) that the company my father works for is a Dentsu client, and so, having this advantage and more at hand, I had my CV relayed over to one of the company's big shots who then handed it personally to Dentsu's Senior Advisor. I'm not proud of my means of getting in front of a prospective employer, but... anything to reach a starting point! The entry process was easy as a pie; that is, after my interviewers had had their confusion sorted out ("No? You're actually applying as an intern [and not get paid and no contract?]? That's easy!").

So I got here after one interview coupled with a tiny mishap on my then-prospective employers' part. Not too shabby, my very capable friend said. I say, go and do the same trick on Landor Australia; only then is my feat worthy to be knighted Sir Totally Unshabby Er... sorry, you're a girl? Then, Dame Totally Unshabby. As I'm typing this down, I'm looking out the window and straight at Hotel Mulia, possibly on eye level with its 25th floor (oh, I don't know!) since it looks like we're on a slightly higher terrain. It's 4PM and my suspicion that they only need me here to browse my fave LJs and forums and tune in to my own iTunes has strengthened. I shouldn't complain, mind, because the other day was hectic for three hours and I begun to wish for some fangirldom-filled alone time.

Arc 2: There are only ad people in the room

Yes, I'm a career woman now. Feel free to laugh as long as you keep it down because presently there's only a handful of people on the floor and they. are. quiet. Save for the forever-active background mp3s playing out of someone's iTunes at a mouse's standard of loudness. I get one work a day that goes for about 3 hours max. (yes, like the other day) and the rest of it to myself. I'm here from 8.15AM to 5PM for 5 days a week. To date, I've done 11 variations of logotype for Garuda Airlines's roadshow and one variation of graphic applications for its vehicles. Of course, whether any of my ideas get to the implementation stage is a different thing altogether. After all, my designated Art Director is simply sharing his workload with me. I'm content with just having extra pieces to put in my portfolio.

My impression of Dentsu's creative department in bullet points:

• Everyone is friendly to you. Most anyway. The ones who don't care don't bug. There's at least one who's really outgoing with you and everyone.


• You won't find an opportunity to watch anime because the position of your cubicle is such that your back is facing the entrance. Plus, no matter in which cubicle, passers-by will always be able to see your computer screen.


• People will ask why you're still seated by the computer come lunchtime. The basement cafeteria has no windows and provides no smoke-free zone. You will wonder why no one spends their free hour watching anime on their laptops instead.


• In times of little rush and a lot of free time, people will socialise with one another, whether it be sharing finger food, gathering round someone's computer screen to look at photos or pestering a birthday person for food (this happening the exact day before my birthday).


• You can come and leave anytime you wish, except you're a lowly intern without a contract, and a bad rapport with your employers means getting axed with no prior notice.


• The person you click with will most likely be your fellow interns - you'll all be around the same age and carry yourselves with similar airs. That is, more or less equally clueless-seeming. And worrying your silly heads about whether you've gotten involved with the wrong company.


• Colour printing costs nothing at all!! The downside is, it won't be on glossy paper.

-B

Today, I relaid 35 bucketfuls of water

...for my dad to clean our apartment balcony. It isn't much of a balcony either, being only 3m x 6m (rough approximation given its strange shape). Dad had quite a job brushing and then rinsing the tiles, and we only had two buckets to work with. Every second dip and wringing of the sponge spoiled an entire bucket, exacting an almost-consecutive bucket relay. Besides the fact that I hadn't sat down properly since the time I got home and then through the two-hour cleaning (the least of my worries - honest!), giving up drinkable water in exchange for a balcony that'll keep its clean for up to two weeks max made for a somewhat unsettling thought. These days, when your water and energy bills are starting to tell you to go easy on said resources, and when it's become (probably) common knowledge that an average shower is enough to power a month's worth of TV, it's hard to keep unsettling thoughts out of your mind while trying to fetch your nth bucketful.

At first, the sooty sediment agreed to tag along with the water upon being tipped over, and when the water swirled down the drain it decided it would stick to the bottom of the bucket as if saying hell no it's going down with the water (some people are like sooty sediments, too). I refilled the bucket despite the bit of soot and would ocassionally run my hands under the running tap.

Mmm... nice...

One day, in the future, I would look back upon today and say, "Son, did you know that when I was a student I used to rinse an entire balcony with clean water?" to which he'd rightly say "You crazy, crazy woman."

-B

Maiden post!

Uhum.

Until two hours ago I'd been firm on my ground that weblogs were some creepy means of trumpeting to the world all manners of your scary, unimportant, everyday businesses.  Two hours ago, though, I found out that starting a blog *right here, right now* was free so why not? (side note: in case you didn't get to know me my number one fear is, of course, money or more accurately, loss of it so I can say I'm proud to have EATEN my PHOBIA just because it cost $200 and was already paid for... wait, what's $200AUD in Francs, I mean Euros?) Besides, who the hell reads this anyway? I've decided to bog it down with lamentations of my design-happy days.

Now.

Another thing to note, if you wonder why my blog looks so pitiful when I'm a graphic designer, I'm going to say "anything to do with websites isn't my area." Of course, once I get this upcoming Flash-happy, Dreamweaver-happy project going and learn some HTMLs, this'll turn into a whole nother beauty. Granted, only if the free blogging option offers that... option. Second thing, I'll write in Bahasa when I feel the entry's content needs that particular writing fashion. You know, the crazy + spaztic variety which is part and parcel of Indo conversations, heh heh.

The night is no longer young; it's a cranky old lady and it's telling me to go sleep -_-. Will post again very, very soon.

-B