Monkey-removal back surgery... OR... Claudio made me bleed
For awhile, I thought I wouldn't be motivated enough to make another LJ entry. Sadly, and to the i-told-you-so responses of friends, I got bored and signed up for a MySpace page. Grrrr was the emotion that I had at first, but it quickly faded when I found out how many people I knew were on this thing. I had received some weird impressions of it in college, as primarily a way of hipster kids to show off their knowledge of obscure bands and rant about emo topics until many rivers were filled over. Coming from a small town, it's a good way to keep in contact with friends that have fired off in a spread shot to the many corners of Cali and around the U.S. There were people that I was WAY surprised had a myspace page, and am convinced that I will only continue to find more as memories of their first and last names surface. Gotta get with the times, I guess. This is the new way to connect, and I don't want to be the only dinosaur still using a telegraph and signal flags.
Well summa-ma-bitch...guess who's employed?!!! It's me, it's me! Seriously, I'm so relieved now that I don't have something as crucial as landing a job to worry about. I kept telling my friends how much of monkey off my back this was, and there was such as feeling of relief in the last few days that I almost felt too comfortable with it. I thought I should've been way more excited when I got the call from Impax labs, giving me the tentative offer. A part of me thought back to the small black stone in my house, laying quietly on top of the bookcase in our living room (see "Juju stones" entry). Was this hawaiian rock going to screw up my chances of officially getting this job? No way, with my rationale being that it was sealed in a ziplock bag and out of my sight. Still, I send out my first mass text message, sharing with everyone I could think of (and who had Verizon...free mobile to mobile, son) my excitement. So, after the background check goes through, and I pass the drug test, all I have to do is give a final signature and I'll be an Analytical Chemist in the QC department of Impax Laboratories in Hayward. Those suckers, I actually convinced them that I was a chemist! The fact that I landed this job on my first on-site interview gave me a "awww, well that wasn't so scary at all" feeling. Usually the first interview was almost a practice one, and would offer insight into areas that needed to be strengthened for future interviews. Even with that said, I found many areas that I could have improved on. It was funny, during my interview I couldn't help but laugh to myself and think-- "Wow, this is the SMARTEST I've sounded in almost 4 months". Talking about things like HPLC, reverse phase column characteristics, and the three stages of light scattering detection snapped me out of this vacation mode that I'd been on since I left UCSC. On the speech end, I did a lot better than I expected. I usually do better in-person, but I'd been putting so much pressure on myself that I forgot how much of calm person I am. Well, I start this new job on January 3rd. The next task to take care of is where I'll be living for the next few months, before I can afford to rent my own room somewhere in San Francisco. Most likely, I'll be crashing at my godfather Carl's house in San Jose, or with my godmother's parents in Hayward. Anything that saves me the 4-hour round-trip commute from Gonzales would save me, in sanity and gas money. I figure that I'll need to save at least $4,000 to feel secure enough to put down a deposit for a room. The first month is always the most expensive, and I'm going to need a new bed/dresser/lamp/clothes. A gift certificate to Ikea will definetely be on this year's Xmas list...
Yet another awesome weekend in the City.....wrote a song about it. wanna hear it? okay den, herrrre it go. Alex and I swam through a legion of emo kids friday night at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, to catch Not-so-silent-night '05. Bird Monster, Autolux, Coheed, Hot Hot Heat, Death Cab, and White Stripes were on the bill, and each playing mini-sets over the 5 hour gig. I hadn't spent this much time standing up getting smashed against sweaty bodies since day 2 at Coachella, and I almost forgot how awesome it was. Being the dork ass that I am, I always imagine the first couple rows of people in front of the stage to act like a lipid bilayer, with people constantly moving and getting shifted in and out and backwards and forwards. Autolux was the shittiest band there, mostly because they had an attitude like they didn't even want to be there. Hothotheat had the most energetic set, Death Cab brought a very welcome calm over the crowd, and the White Stripes closed out very nicely. But of course, Coheed rocked the hardest. Although they were the third band to go on, I was looking forward to them for a long time. Since I wasn't able to go to the Warfield concert in october, this was my only chance to see them this year. But let's rewind for a second...Right as me and Alex got to the venue, we made a mad dash for the bathroom. As we got out, alex ran into Claudio Sanchez and the other guitarist leaving a radio interview. I quickly grabbed a free poster, witheld the urge to hump his leg, and calmly walked over to him to get his Herbie Hancock. I almost didn't recognize him without his awesome Hispano-fro, because it was stuffed under a beanie hat and he was wearing thick glasses. He's just about as tall as me, and sounds just like I thought he would. After introuducing myself as Dre, he said "Oh yeah, like Dr.Dre?" Yeah, I get this ALL the time. "Yup, he's my twin brother." "Oh sorry, I don't mean to be dick or anything." Hahaha, I said it was aight, and went into shake his hand and say thanks. At the time, it was the same hand his pen was in, but I wasn't paying attention...I was too busy thinking about touching the hand that played "God Send Conspirator". As our hands locked down, I got stabbed by the pen tip pretty good. It wasn't until I looked down that I saw dots of blood coming up from my middle finger. Now there's a small black ink spot tattooed in my right middle finger from that deadly handshake-- and I shall take it to the grave.
The next night was the official CGI Xmas party at the Hyatt in SF. I was Alex's date, and we quickly made use of their open bar and awesome dessert table to get sloshed and stuffed. Maybe not totally sloshed, but enough to get us good and loose to take off to a nearby club. I've never gone clubbing in such formal clothing, but it was a nice change. I got to meet some more of alex's co-workers, like this guy that supposedly looks exactly like me. Hmm, maybe if I lost 70 pounds and was half chinese. It was the standard CGI crew: Alex, Yuki, Beckbeck, Zach, Eric getting toasty and tearing up the dance floor. It's always a laugh with those kids. It'll be tight to meet some cool heads at my job, then maybe combine the two like the rings in Captain Planet. Haha, we'll see.
Alright...awesome update (claps hands). I'm out like I stole something, lates.
Well summa-ma-bitch...guess who's employed?!!! It's me, it's me! Seriously, I'm so relieved now that I don't have something as crucial as landing a job to worry about. I kept telling my friends how much of monkey off my back this was, and there was such as feeling of relief in the last few days that I almost felt too comfortable with it. I thought I should've been way more excited when I got the call from Impax labs, giving me the tentative offer. A part of me thought back to the small black stone in my house, laying quietly on top of the bookcase in our living room (see "Juju stones" entry). Was this hawaiian rock going to screw up my chances of officially getting this job? No way, with my rationale being that it was sealed in a ziplock bag and out of my sight. Still, I send out my first mass text message, sharing with everyone I could think of (and who had Verizon...free mobile to mobile, son) my excitement. So, after the background check goes through, and I pass the drug test, all I have to do is give a final signature and I'll be an Analytical Chemist in the QC department of Impax Laboratories in Hayward. Those suckers, I actually convinced them that I was a chemist! The fact that I landed this job on my first on-site interview gave me a "awww, well that wasn't so scary at all" feeling. Usually the first interview was almost a practice one, and would offer insight into areas that needed to be strengthened for future interviews. Even with that said, I found many areas that I could have improved on. It was funny, during my interview I couldn't help but laugh to myself and think-- "Wow, this is the SMARTEST I've sounded in almost 4 months". Talking about things like HPLC, reverse phase column characteristics, and the three stages of light scattering detection snapped me out of this vacation mode that I'd been on since I left UCSC. On the speech end, I did a lot better than I expected. I usually do better in-person, but I'd been putting so much pressure on myself that I forgot how much of calm person I am. Well, I start this new job on January 3rd. The next task to take care of is where I'll be living for the next few months, before I can afford to rent my own room somewhere in San Francisco. Most likely, I'll be crashing at my godfather Carl's house in San Jose, or with my godmother's parents in Hayward. Anything that saves me the 4-hour round-trip commute from Gonzales would save me, in sanity and gas money. I figure that I'll need to save at least $4,000 to feel secure enough to put down a deposit for a room. The first month is always the most expensive, and I'm going to need a new bed/dresser/lamp/clothes. A gift certificate to Ikea will definetely be on this year's Xmas list...
Yet another awesome weekend in the City.....wrote a song about it. wanna hear it? okay den, herrrre it go. Alex and I swam through a legion of emo kids friday night at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, to catch Not-so-silent-night '05. Bird Monster, Autolux, Coheed, Hot Hot Heat, Death Cab, and White Stripes were on the bill, and each playing mini-sets over the 5 hour gig. I hadn't spent this much time standing up getting smashed against sweaty bodies since day 2 at Coachella, and I almost forgot how awesome it was. Being the dork ass that I am, I always imagine the first couple rows of people in front of the stage to act like a lipid bilayer, with people constantly moving and getting shifted in and out and backwards and forwards. Autolux was the shittiest band there, mostly because they had an attitude like they didn't even want to be there. Hothotheat had the most energetic set, Death Cab brought a very welcome calm over the crowd, and the White Stripes closed out very nicely. But of course, Coheed rocked the hardest. Although they were the third band to go on, I was looking forward to them for a long time. Since I wasn't able to go to the Warfield concert in october, this was my only chance to see them this year. But let's rewind for a second...Right as me and Alex got to the venue, we made a mad dash for the bathroom. As we got out, alex ran into Claudio Sanchez and the other guitarist leaving a radio interview. I quickly grabbed a free poster, witheld the urge to hump his leg, and calmly walked over to him to get his Herbie Hancock. I almost didn't recognize him without his awesome Hispano-fro, because it was stuffed under a beanie hat and he was wearing thick glasses. He's just about as tall as me, and sounds just like I thought he would. After introuducing myself as Dre, he said "Oh yeah, like Dr.Dre?" Yeah, I get this ALL the time. "Yup, he's my twin brother." "Oh sorry, I don't mean to be dick or anything." Hahaha, I said it was aight, and went into shake his hand and say thanks. At the time, it was the same hand his pen was in, but I wasn't paying attention...I was too busy thinking about touching the hand that played "God Send Conspirator". As our hands locked down, I got stabbed by the pen tip pretty good. It wasn't until I looked down that I saw dots of blood coming up from my middle finger. Now there's a small black ink spot tattooed in my right middle finger from that deadly handshake-- and I shall take it to the grave.
The next night was the official CGI Xmas party at the Hyatt in SF. I was Alex's date, and we quickly made use of their open bar and awesome dessert table to get sloshed and stuffed. Maybe not totally sloshed, but enough to get us good and loose to take off to a nearby club. I've never gone clubbing in such formal clothing, but it was a nice change. I got to meet some more of alex's co-workers, like this guy that supposedly looks exactly like me. Hmm, maybe if I lost 70 pounds and was half chinese. It was the standard CGI crew: Alex, Yuki, Beckbeck, Zach, Eric getting toasty and tearing up the dance floor. It's always a laugh with those kids. It'll be tight to meet some cool heads at my job, then maybe combine the two like the rings in Captain Planet. Haha, we'll see.
Alright...awesome update (claps hands). I'm out like I stole something, lates.