an overdue public update
Well, it occurs to me that I haven't had an entry that wasn't friends-locked for a while. It's kind of a pain to figure out where I left off, so hopefully this makes sense. And yes, it's really long (as usual).
Anyway, I started at a new job. It's kinda blah so far, because there's a lot of material for me to read, and since I'm only there 10 hours a week, it's taking a while. It's a much younger startup, so a lot of things are still kinda disorganized. Still not sure if I made the right decision or not.
School is going fairly well. I still have a solid A in Econ 101 (when you leave an exam knowing that you have a decent shot at getting a 100, I figure that's a pretty good sign) and my overall grade in Sociology is over 100 (but this is a lower-division course which Erika tried to talk me out of taking because it would bore me -- I really only show up to class cuz there's a cute redhead there). I got a 95 on my second Anthro paper, mostly cuz I didn't spend nearly as much time on it as the first one now that I know I'm taking it Credit/No Credit. I still haven't started any of the exercises for the portfolio, as they're not due until the end of the year, but I'm hardly worried about failing.
The other classes are more shakier. POLS 130 is graded 50/50 midterm/final, counting the higher of two midterms. I got a high B on the first one and am contemplating whether or not to skip the second one and devote more time to the other classes. I have a solid middle-of-the-road B in Econ 158. I just never have a clear idea what he wants or expects from any of the assignments, and I also haven't been devoting as much time to the class as I probably should be. I think I also have a solid B in JOUR 142, but the assignments are heavily weighted to the later ones, so what I've done so far probably doesn't matter that much. I'm pretty worried about this week's assignment, which is spot news. Not sure what the heck I'm going to shoot for it. Erika suggested wandering around downtown San Jose tonight because there's generally always something crazy that happens.
I've only applied to one summer internship so far, so I'm really slacking there. One of the stumbling blocks is that I need to completely re-write my resume from its engineering chronological jobs orientation and more towards a skills resume, which will be tricky and take a lot of time and effort and willpower that I just don't have right now. Of course, if I don't find anything, I'll just transition to full-time software engineering for the summer while taking a few summer classes, which won't be the end of the world (the money will help). But an internship would really boost my grad school odds.
I'm becoming much more comfortable at the Spartan Daily. I had another cover shot that I was a bit happier with. It wasn't even an assignment. I had a trip to Sacramento for my Poli Sci class and mentioned it to my editor and he thought it was a good story. He even tried to get them to assign a reporter to write a story, but the one writer who was also going was too busy to handle it. I pitched it only a day before the trip, which was a mistake, but I'm glad I at least pitched it. Most photographers don't generate stories or assignments for themselves, but just wait to be given assignments. Although to be sure, the credit for this really should go to Erika, who suggested that I pitch it in the first place. I've also gotten much better at forcing myself to follow through and shoot things that I know would be good candidates for possible features (photojournalism speak for cute slice-of-life pictures intended to waste space on a slow news day).
As for the mood swings, I'd went through the assessment at the SJSU's counseling services place (I know I mentioned that earlier, but it was friends locked) and placed on the waiting list. I just got a call back where they left a message, but it sounds like the wait's going to be longer than expected. So I guess they may want to refer me elsewhere. But that's okay, cuz this week has been amazingly even keel. I didn't feel depressed at all, and my highs weren't extreme. And all despite the fact that it was a rather eventful week with its fair share of drama. I do have a few theories on what might have changed, but I'm afraid I'll have to friends-lock the post elaborating on that.
In other news the stupid DSL has been down for the last two weeks. I've been hesitant to call Earthlink Tech Support because it'd been a pain the last few times we called. We know what the issue probably is. At our condo complex, somebody disconnected our DSL line several months ago, probably because the wiring to the box is pretty bad and there are a limited number of good lines. The Earthlink tech was able to get us marginal service using a split pair method, but it tends to go down when the temperature changes drastically. The condo HOA told us that they won't get to upgrading the wiring for that box for another few years, and that it's prioritized that low because there's already one set of good wires for every unit. Apparently our unit had two good lines because our DSL was on a dedicated local loop or something. So I think what we just need to do is get Earthlink to set it up to do the DSL on our voice line (we've already bought microfilters). We've just been procrastinating because we know it'll take hours on the phone to communicate this to them. Ugh. But we ought to do this soon while Erika is still unemployed.
Plus I'm suffering from Flickr withdrawal. Tons of photos waiting to be uploaded, including the Sacramento trip. I also finally did a sports assignment for the first time today, shooting the women's golf team at the Stanford golf course. I think I did surprisingly well for my first time, especially since my editor was stressing more about following golf etiquette in not disturbing play (e.g. not taking shots during the backswing) rather than getting a good shot. I've always been pretty good at being as inobtrusive as possible, so I wasn't too worried about that, and I think I have a few pretty good shots to boot.
Anyway, I guess that's plenty of news for now. Oh, and if you're wondering why I friends-lock so many entries, it's cuz I haven't yet decided how comfortable I am about revealing the details of my life that are a bit... polyamory in nature. Yeah, chew on that for a while for any of you who had no idea (although had you bothered to look at my MySpace profile, that would've given it away). The Spartan Daily photogs have been surprisingly fine with it so far (I revealed it to them because they all saw me hook up with an editor at a party, and I figured the truth was far better than having them thinking I was cheating on Erika). So I'm a little more comfortable revealing this (to at least the people who care about my life enough to have read all of this). But I think the juicy details will remain friends-locked for now. Sorry!
Anyway, I started at a new job. It's kinda blah so far, because there's a lot of material for me to read, and since I'm only there 10 hours a week, it's taking a while. It's a much younger startup, so a lot of things are still kinda disorganized. Still not sure if I made the right decision or not.
School is going fairly well. I still have a solid A in Econ 101 (when you leave an exam knowing that you have a decent shot at getting a 100, I figure that's a pretty good sign) and my overall grade in Sociology is over 100 (but this is a lower-division course which Erika tried to talk me out of taking because it would bore me -- I really only show up to class cuz there's a cute redhead there). I got a 95 on my second Anthro paper, mostly cuz I didn't spend nearly as much time on it as the first one now that I know I'm taking it Credit/No Credit. I still haven't started any of the exercises for the portfolio, as they're not due until the end of the year, but I'm hardly worried about failing.
The other classes are more shakier. POLS 130 is graded 50/50 midterm/final, counting the higher of two midterms. I got a high B on the first one and am contemplating whether or not to skip the second one and devote more time to the other classes. I have a solid middle-of-the-road B in Econ 158. I just never have a clear idea what he wants or expects from any of the assignments, and I also haven't been devoting as much time to the class as I probably should be. I think I also have a solid B in JOUR 142, but the assignments are heavily weighted to the later ones, so what I've done so far probably doesn't matter that much. I'm pretty worried about this week's assignment, which is spot news. Not sure what the heck I'm going to shoot for it. Erika suggested wandering around downtown San Jose tonight because there's generally always something crazy that happens.
I've only applied to one summer internship so far, so I'm really slacking there. One of the stumbling blocks is that I need to completely re-write my resume from its engineering chronological jobs orientation and more towards a skills resume, which will be tricky and take a lot of time and effort and willpower that I just don't have right now. Of course, if I don't find anything, I'll just transition to full-time software engineering for the summer while taking a few summer classes, which won't be the end of the world (the money will help). But an internship would really boost my grad school odds.
I'm becoming much more comfortable at the Spartan Daily. I had another cover shot that I was a bit happier with. It wasn't even an assignment. I had a trip to Sacramento for my Poli Sci class and mentioned it to my editor and he thought it was a good story. He even tried to get them to assign a reporter to write a story, but the one writer who was also going was too busy to handle it. I pitched it only a day before the trip, which was a mistake, but I'm glad I at least pitched it. Most photographers don't generate stories or assignments for themselves, but just wait to be given assignments. Although to be sure, the credit for this really should go to Erika, who suggested that I pitch it in the first place. I've also gotten much better at forcing myself to follow through and shoot things that I know would be good candidates for possible features (photojournalism speak for cute slice-of-life pictures intended to waste space on a slow news day).
As for the mood swings, I'd went through the assessment at the SJSU's counseling services place (I know I mentioned that earlier, but it was friends locked) and placed on the waiting list. I just got a call back where they left a message, but it sounds like the wait's going to be longer than expected. So I guess they may want to refer me elsewhere. But that's okay, cuz this week has been amazingly even keel. I didn't feel depressed at all, and my highs weren't extreme. And all despite the fact that it was a rather eventful week with its fair share of drama. I do have a few theories on what might have changed, but I'm afraid I'll have to friends-lock the post elaborating on that.
In other news the stupid DSL has been down for the last two weeks. I've been hesitant to call Earthlink Tech Support because it'd been a pain the last few times we called. We know what the issue probably is. At our condo complex, somebody disconnected our DSL line several months ago, probably because the wiring to the box is pretty bad and there are a limited number of good lines. The Earthlink tech was able to get us marginal service using a split pair method, but it tends to go down when the temperature changes drastically. The condo HOA told us that they won't get to upgrading the wiring for that box for another few years, and that it's prioritized that low because there's already one set of good wires for every unit. Apparently our unit had two good lines because our DSL was on a dedicated local loop or something. So I think what we just need to do is get Earthlink to set it up to do the DSL on our voice line (we've already bought microfilters). We've just been procrastinating because we know it'll take hours on the phone to communicate this to them. Ugh. But we ought to do this soon while Erika is still unemployed.
Plus I'm suffering from Flickr withdrawal. Tons of photos waiting to be uploaded, including the Sacramento trip. I also finally did a sports assignment for the first time today, shooting the women's golf team at the Stanford golf course. I think I did surprisingly well for my first time, especially since my editor was stressing more about following golf etiquette in not disturbing play (e.g. not taking shots during the backswing) rather than getting a good shot. I've always been pretty good at being as inobtrusive as possible, so I wasn't too worried about that, and I think I have a few pretty good shots to boot.
Anyway, I guess that's plenty of news for now. Oh, and if you're wondering why I friends-lock so many entries, it's cuz I haven't yet decided how comfortable I am about revealing the details of my life that are a bit... polyamory in nature. Yeah, chew on that for a while for any of you who had no idea (although had you bothered to look at my MySpace profile, that would've given it away). The Spartan Daily photogs have been surprisingly fine with it so far (I revealed it to them because they all saw me hook up with an editor at a party, and I figured the truth was far better than having them thinking I was cheating on Erika). So I'm a little more comfortable revealing this (to at least the people who care about my life enough to have read all of this). But I think the juicy details will remain friends-locked for now. Sorry!