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06 08 : Thu

>> Done with my Senior Project
Clement | 10:55 AM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
I've been working on my senior project last week, and I turned it in on Monday. My senior project is equivalent to the senior thesis of other liberal art majors, so it's a big deal and we had two quarters to work on it. My project was on social identities and the stereostypes associated with them. Perhaps I'll upload it to my portfolio for people to download sometime in the future. I still have one more class next Tuesday, but that class is not that hard at all, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm pretty much done with college.
However, as I was about to relax, another thing came up. It seems like I might not be working at Veoh after all. I got a call from Melissa this morning, saying that the company can only hold my offer until July, but at the rate INS is processing work authorization applications, it's highly unlikely they'll process mine by July. I guess I'll have to start looking at other companies. That sucks. I really like Veoh and the offer they gave me too. :(

06 01 : Thu

>> More Worrying...
Clement | 03:10 AM PST | BE Y4U | guestbook
So, I sent out my application for work authorization to the INS two weeks ago, on the 16th to be exact. I sent it with certified mail so I got this trackin number that supposes to tell me where the mail is, but I've been checking it on USPS and it kept returning invalid tracking number. This usually means they haven't scanned my mail yet, but the Homeland Security California Processing Center that I sent my application to is supposed to be in Laguna Niguel, CA and it's definitely NOT that far from San Diego. So I've been worrying that my application might have been lost in the mail, which has never happened to me before. Besides, I was supposed to get a receipt within two weeks with information to access the status of my application online, and it has been two weeks now and I still haven't gotten it yet. So I was really really worried. I finally checked my mail status again, and this time it said my mail was delivered at 1:23 pm on May 24, 2006 in LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA 92607. I just can't believe it took more than a week to get there... Well, at least I can stop worrying myself now. But at the rate things are going, it seems that I probably won't be able to start working until late August, especially if it really takes INS 90 days to process work authorization applications like they say on the website... I'm just crossing my fingers hoping that mine will get processed ASAP.

05 10 : Wed

>> Official Job Offer from Veoh
Clement | 04:45 PM PST | BE Y5U | guestbook
After a whole week of waiting to hear back from Veoh, I was getting worried again, so I called Melissa on Monday checking back on the update of my offer. To my delight, she told me the official offer package has been mailed last Friday, so I should be getting it very soon.
I missed the delivery yesterday but I knew the package is coming today 'cause UPS left a note. I got the offer letter today, literally a couple hours ago. I read over the letter and all the agreements, signed them and will be sure to send them off first thing tomorrow morning. They actually give me an offer that is more than I asked for, which being as inexperienced as I'm I don't know if that is always the case.
I'm so relieved from these past 3 weeks of job-searching stress. Honestly though, I think it went quite smoothly. I was just way too worried on my part. I'm just so happy these are all settled. The next thing I need to do is to get my driver license, get a car, wait for my pending OPT work authorization to get through, then I'll be all set to go.

05 01 : Mon

>> Unofficial Job Offer
Clement | 08:38 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
I called Melissa back and told her about the unlikelihood of me working right away. I let her know that my OPT work authorization is in progress and the soonest I can get it is in late July, which means I probably won't be able to work until then. To my surprise, she said Veoh would still like to offer me the position and wait until I can start, and that once she got some numbers straighten out with her boss, the company will extend me the official offer. I was sooo thrilled to hear that. I was so stressed out and frustrated all weekend about not being able to accept the job.

04 28 : Fri

>> Did I Get the Job?
Clement | 04:29 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
The interview was great this morning. Well, only the main web designer Wendy and another programmer interviewed me. I've only met and talked to the CEO Dmitry Shapiro briefly. He was too busy he didn't have the time to interview me. All he said was if I would like to work here and if everything is fine with Wendy, he's fine with it. I just got a really good vibe from them.
So, I think a few hours after I left the interview, Melissa called me and extended me an unofficial offer over the phone. The problem is the company would like me to start ASAP as an intern while I'm finishing up my last quarter and switch me to a full-time position once I graduate. However, I'm under my F-1 status, and my OPT work authorization is still in progress, and basically I just can't get any paid position off-campus. I told her I would look into academic internship possibility and get back to her. But honestly it's not looking too well. They basically have given me a job offer already but due to my lack of work authorization at the moment I just can't take it. It's so frustrating, and I'm so stressed out I don't even know where to begin.

04 24 : Mon

>> Second Interview with Veoh
Clement | 10:21 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
I got a call from Melissa from Veoh today. She said the company would like to invite me back for a second interview, and there are a few more people who would like to interview me, including their main web designer Wendy, and possibly their Chief Scientist Dr. Ted Dunning and their CEO Dmitry Shapiro. That totally freaked me out. But I guess it's a good sign? I schedule the second interview on this Friday morning. Let's hope it all goes well.

04 19 : Wed

>> My First Real Job Interview
Clement | 06:52 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
So, I had my first ever real interview for a full-time position this morning at Veoh. Dan gave me a ride there and Chris drove me back. I think it went pretty well. The company is located in Mira Mesa, several streets away from where I used to live last year. It's pretty good location wise. One of their engineers, Mary first interviewed me, going through my portfolio and asked me a few questions. Then the Product Manager, Joseph, who was also the one who recruited me at the Job Fair on campus, interviewed me. He asked me to critique the company's current website, which was something I wasn't expecting for the interview. But I think it went well. At last, Melissa, I assumed to be the HR person of the company, interviewed me and gave me a small scope of where the company is at. Honestly, I think the whole interview went pretty well, except for the last question that I asked Melissa. Basically I mentioned about my current F-1 student visa status and my OPT work authorization, and hinted at the possibility of getting a sponsorship for a work visa from the company. Her response was the company hasn't hired anyone in such circumstance before, and for a startup company, it could be a challenge but if I was the perfect candidate they want, it wouldn't be a problem for the company. That was the only part that I was a bit uncomfortable with during the entire interview. I should be hearing back from them sometime midweek next week, so we'll see how it goes.

04 13 : Thu

>> Things to Look Forward to
Clement | 08:26 PM PST | BE Y4U | guestbook
Last night I finally got the flyer design for this year's Day of Silence done, and I'm totally loving it myself. I started out with no idea or whatsoever how I was going to do it, but it just happened, and I really like the end result. Everyone likes it too. They said it's way better than last year; more energized. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Today was a great day! I went to a job fair on campus yesterday and gave out a few resumes, and I got an email today from Veoh for an interview next week. I'm totally excited and nervous. My first REAL job interview. I guess it's a good start, getting an interview a day after I started looking for a job, right?
Then Brandon called me this morning. Yes, the Brandon I met two weekends ago at GameBoi. We had been talking almost every night last week, but since past weekend we kind of stopped. So I was so surprised that he called me out of the blue today. He told me that he's actually coming down to San Diego with a few friends this weekend. I'm soooo thrilled I can't wait 'til the weekend. I'm glad I decided not to go to the DLP Western Regional Conference this weekend at the last minute. I would've totally missed him if I were to go.
Today just made my week so much better. At least now I've something to look forward to. A weekend with Brandon, a job interview next Wednesday, and yes, new contacts and glasses are coming in next week too. I feel like my life is coming together. At least at this moment it feels like it.

03 01 : Wed

>> This is Life, I Guess
Clement | 01:33 AM PST | BE Y4U | guestbook
I've been so busy these weeks. Just got done with Spring Rush a week ago. At work, the Resource Center has finally moved, but we're not quite settled in yet. There are still lots to be done before we can officially open for business. I don't know why, I'm constantly putting myself under pressure and making myself worry about things. I was stressing out over money a while back, and now I got it resolved, I'm stressing out over school and looking for a job after graduation. There are so much needed to be done, and sometimes I just feel really lost. Like I just wish that life could be simplier. Not having a special someone who I can lean on and fall back on every once a while just makes things that much worse. This is life, I guess.

02 07 : Tue

>> Wearing Myself Thin
Clement | 11:50 PM PST | BE Y3U | guestbook
I've 2 midterm papers for Sociology of Sexuality and a 20-page draft for my Upper-division Practicum Writing course due this Thursday, and yet I constantly find myself doing anything else but them. Yesterday afternoon I managed to spent more than 3 hours approving 1500+ pending members on Open-Mind, getting it back to a manageable state. In case you haven't noticed yet, I also updated my picture on the left. The picture is now randomly generated everytime the page is loaded. I just can't get enough of myself I guess. :) Then I stayed up really late working on a T-shirt design for this year's Kiss-In, but it is an emergency 'cause they need to turn in the design by Wednesday in order to have the shirts made before Valentine's Day.
Today at work, I finally got a blog set-up for the newsletter. Seriously, I hate ASP so much I wish the guy who invented ASP was never born. The blog uses Access for its database and there was this connection error that took me forever to figure out. Well, at least I got it to work, so now I just need to make a layout for it and it should be good to go. After work, I pretty much spent the rest of the day catching up with sleep. Then tonight we had our first rush event of this semester. We had a great turn out and what not. But I think I'm wearing myself thin.

01 31 : Tue

>> Extra Hours
Clement | 10:02 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
I'm so glad I got more hours at work. I'll be working about 16 hours a week instead of 10 for a while until they hire a new Assistant Director. I actually need those hours to complete the amount of work I've considering how much is on my plate right now, not to mention I need the extra cash too. But then schoolwork is also a bit overwhelming lately. Spring rush is coming up too. And I'm also tired and stressed out over money. I hope my parents send me the check I asked for soon. It's just not easy having to worry about other stuff while handling school, work, and the fraternity at the same time.

01 26 : Thu

>> Pleasant Yet Tiring.
Clement | 09:23 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
This past week was somewhat pleasant despite a little tiring. Work at the Resource Center is once again exciting again. We're in the process of implementing a new mailing list system that will allow the Resource Center to send out HTML-formatted newsletters and automatically archive all newsletters. Thanks God that's going to save a lot of my time 'cause I'm manually archiving every single newsletter that's going out every week. Once the new system is in effect, I'm going to be able to spend the time archiving the newsletters in something else that's more artistically productive. We had a special meeting regarding the content and layout of the new newsletter this last Monday. We're planning on launching the new newsletter as we move to the new space. There is still a lot to be done, so I'm actually a bit overwhelmed, but I'm still excited to be working on something new.
In terms of schoolwork, I'm still procrastinating and doing all the assignments at the last minute as always, but holding up nonetheless. For my senior project, I've created a blog for documentation purpose and as a part of the class requirement. So please feel free to stop by, comment along the way and take part in the creative process. Ideas and suggestions are highly welcomed for I'm not that creative when it comes to school projects.

11 10 : Thu

>> 22nd Birthday
Clement | 03:11 AM PST | BE Y5U | guestbook
So, Friday night my friends threw me my first surprise birthday party. I was kind of suspecting something was going on, since Kiet and Shawn aren't the greatest secret keepers, and they were the ones planning the party. But I was still surprised nonetheless since my 22nd birthday was actually on Saturday, and the party was on Friday night. So, Shawn took me out to dinner Friday night saying it was for my birthday, while Kiet was home getting everything ready. It was an Apple themed party and everyone contributed too. Alwyn bought the customized birthday cake; Mike bought Apple juice and pie; Daniel bought drinks; Phil cooked the food; Chris provided all the Apple posters and decorations; Frank bought the balloons; Jen and Shawn Ta drove all the way down from L.A., etc. Another thing that I was surprised about was the amount of people at the party. I didn't realize how many people I actually know. I'm truly grateful how much effort, money, and energy they put into the party. I had a blast that night. We played Truth or Dare, and there were some great moments to be remembered.
This coming weekend I'll be going up to Oakland for a national LGBT conference put on by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. I'm leaving with Will and Peper on Thursday night and we won't be back until probably late Sunday night. The Resource Center paid for the registration and hotel, so technically I'm going as a staff representing the LGBT Resource Center. To be honest, I'm not too looking forward to it. My co-workers are nice and great to work with, but I don't know about spending a whole weekend with them. Besides, I'll be missing out on the pledge carwash this Sunday, and now I need to put off finishing my new layout until later. Oh well, I guess it will be another experience for me.

08 11 : Thu

>> The Sound of Unsettling
Clement | 11:47 PM PST | BE Y2U | guestbook
Today at work I finally finished transferring all the pages from PHP into HTML and ASP for the Resource Center's website. I originally coded all the pages in PHP, but the I.T. department for the Resource Center said they only support ASP, so Debbi asked me to re-code all the pages. It took me a while but it's finally done. I've also re-coded the Q-Camp Registration mailform in ASP, and it's up and running again. Sometimes I'm kind of tired of all these website stuff that I do. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. It's just that sometimes it's frustrating how many limitations there are. I enjoyed those small projects they gave me every once a while like designing posters and brochures so much more.
Anyway, Kiet and I went to turn in our applications and paperworks for the apartment. It seems like it's pretty sure that we'll get the place. Now we just need Robbie to turn in his paperworks and seal the deal.
As the day of us moving in together getting closer and closer, I start to doubt my decision. I thought I could handle my feeling for Kiet; I thought I could control it and just hangout with him as a friend, but I'm not so sure anymore. The more I hangout with him, the more I find myself liking him, especially these past few days. Sometimes it's just so hard, hanging out with someone who I like so much but know that I can't have. I think Kiet might even know about my feeling for him too, and that unsettles me a lot. I don't want him to feel uncomfortable around me. I want to talk to him about it, but I don't know if it's just me being too sensitive, and if that's the case, I wouldn't want to bring it up. I don't know, but I think my trip to Boston for a week is a great time for me to just get away from him for a while and reorganize my thoughts and feelings.

08 09 : Tue

>> Never Gone
Clement | 11:25 PM PST | BE Y2U | guestbook
Sorry I haven't updated for more than a month. There were so many things happened this past month. With the new job at LGBT Resource Center on campus, going to Denver for the National Convention for the fraternity, organizing and signing up our chapter at the San Diego Pride parade, and all those apartment moving and drama... All these things in life just kept me busy from the web. Especially now my job is basically making the website and all the publicity graphics for the Resoure Center, I just don't want to look at the computer screen anymore once I'm home. But I just can't bring myself to abandon my site like this. I've always come back everytime, and this time is no different. However, I've no interest in recapping everything that happened in this past month. Let's just start all over again, right here and right now, and hopefully this time I'll find the commitment to continue the journal.

04 04 : Mon

>> Working at Cafe Ventanas
Clement | 03:02 AM PST | BE Y16U | guestbook
What a busy weekend. Didn't get any schoolwork done. Friday afternoon worked at the sushi station. It wasn't a difficult job. Let's just say that this Hispanic lady I was working with just wasn't too friendly, and we'll leave it at that. Worked Saturday night in the dish room. It requires a lot more physical work and it was quite busy too since I got the dinner shift with closing. However, I enjoyed it a lot more since all the people working that shift were students, and it was just not as stressful in my opinion. Even though I've only worked 4 hours for each day, but it just took up my whole day for some reasons, like I couldn't get anything else done. Luckily it is still the first week of school. Schoolwork isn't as hectic yet, but I'm sure if I let it pile up, it will soon enough, and I'm not going to put myself into a stressful situation again this quarter.
Since I didn't get off work until 9pm on Saturday night, and we had a carwash for our fundraiser for the fraternity at 10am on Sunday morning, I stayed over at Andy and Kiet's dorm on campus Saturday night. We stayed up and made posters for the carwash and ended up not going to bed until around 3am. We were late to the carwash due to daylight saving time and we forgot to set our clock forward. Anyway, the carwash went well and we raised more than $550. However, in order to raise enough money to cover all our fees, we will still need to plan another fundraiser sometime soon. We'll see how it goes.

16 entries on this page