An update... a llllooonnng update
So this blog will be quite long. This is a fact, because I have written it before. Last night I sat down and put a good fuckin' hour into catching my few readers up to whats been going on over the recent months. At the end of this hour I tried to insert a picture and whoosh! My blog was gone. I didn't know about the recover button, so I just turned of my computer in an angry fluster and went to bed.
I usually don't have the time to to blog, or when I do I just feel like nobody really wants to read about my boring little life in Fresno. But I feel like when I blog it gives me a chance to get things out of my head in a creative medium. I don't consider myself a great writer, but I know my wife enjoys reading what I write and maybe a few other people on Vox that might stumble across my page. My wife is an excellent writer and I really enjoy reading her blog, so I figured my blog must be worth it at some level.
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The passed months have been quite a journey for my little life. In December I finally...FINALLY finished school! I graduated from CSU Fresno with a BA in Art & Design, graphic design option. When I graduated I continued working at the deli, but always had my eyes open for a full-time graphic design gig. With the economy how it is, I knew I would be making sandwiches for awhile; trying to survive on what little money I was making. I focused my efforts on applying for every possible job that I could see myself doing full-time. Most of the jobs I applied for weren't even in the field of design. I just needed full-time work and wasn't afraid to look everywhere. A couple weeks passed and I heard nothing.
After these post-graduation weeks I began to feel like nothing would ever change. I started feeling a little depressed, but knew something would have to come up. Finally I got a call from a lady at a local newspaper. She had seen some of my work from a class project that she happened to have hosted. We had to design an invitation package for an upcoming awards Luncheon. My design was chosen by her and she told me that she also had a part-time position open that she wanted me to come in to interview for. I swooped up that interview right away and got myself ready to present a portfolio for the first time.
I got my portfolio ready and printed a bunch of resumes and business cards. i got some new clothes and dressed to impress. I went down to the interview on the scheduled day and everything was going well. I walked up to the receptionist, told her that I had an interview with this lady. She looked at me a little funny and replied with, "She has been out sick all week with pnemonia, no one called you?" So I had to go all the way back home a wait for her to call me and reschedule. A week or so went by and I finally heard back. I went in for the interview and everything went well. She was very impressed, but unfortunately one of the people who was also supposed to interview me was out sick. She told me that I would have to schedule a second interview with him when he got back. So I did this. Another few weeks passed and I went in for my second interview. This interview happened to be with a former classmate and it went quite well. He pretty much told me that I had the job, but he was going to have to go through some more loops before they actually hired someone. I waited... and waited... and waited. About a month passed and I heard nothing.
I got my portfolio ready and printed a bunch of resumes and business cards. i got some new clothes and dressed to impress. I went down to the interview on the scheduled day and everything was going well. I walked up to the receptionist, told her that I had an interview with this lady. She looked at me a little funny and replied with, "She has been out sick all week with pnemonia, no one called you?" So I had to go all the way back home a wait for her to call me and reschedule. A week or so went by and I finally heard back. I went in for the interview and everything went well. She was very impressed, but unfortunately one of the people who was also supposed to interview me was out sick. She told me that I would have to schedule a second interview with him when he got back. So I did this. Another few weeks passed and I went in for my second interview. This interview happened to be with a former classmate and it went quite well. He pretty much told me that I had the job, but he was going to have to go through some more loops before they actually hired someone. I waited... and waited... and waited. About a month passed and I heard nothing.
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I figured all hope was lost when I hadn't heard back until one of my friends told me about a local church that had its own creative department. They were looking for a full-time graphic designer. The pay was decent and I couldn't pass up the opportunity for another interview. I emailed the person that posted this job listing and sent her a link to my website. She replied within a few days and told me that she really enjoyed my work and wanted me to come in for an interview. When I showed up for the interview I was dressed to impress. Three very friendly people greeted me and made me feel right at home. I proceeded to show them my portfolio and tell them about my creative process and a little about each of my portoflio pieces. I could tell by the looks and comments I was getting that they liked me. I left the interview feeling very happy about my chances of getting hired. They told me I would hear back within three weeks because they still had a few interviews lined up.
While I was slaving away at the deli counter the next day I got a call from one of the ladies I had interviewed with. She left a message asking me to call her back when I had a chance because she had a few questions for me. I immediately stepped outside and gave her a call. She told me that they were very impressed with me and that I made all the other interviews they did before me seem amateur. She said that she needed me on there creative team and wanted to offer me the job at the pay rate I had asked for. I accepted and started working a few weeks later.
Things have been awesome since I started working for the church. I get to design a lot of different materials for all the different ministries within the church. One day I might be designing a wedding counseling binder and the next an annual car show poster. It has been quite satisfying so far. I get to sit in front of dual 22" widescreen monitors and a very powerful PC. It was kinda hard to get used to working on PC again because I use a Mac at home and we used them at school also. But I adjusted and now I am quite fast on either platform, which I believe is a good skill to have in my industry. My boss is awesome and everyone in the office is very friendly and welcoming. We do a lot of our printing in-house which is giving me some good experience with file preperation for printing. I still hadn't heard back from the nwespaper either, lol. so unprofessional.
While I was slaving away at the deli counter the next day I got a call from one of the ladies I had interviewed with. She left a message asking me to call her back when I had a chance because she had a few questions for me. I immediately stepped outside and gave her a call. She told me that they were very impressed with me and that I made all the other interviews they did before me seem amateur. She said that she needed me on there creative team and wanted to offer me the job at the pay rate I had asked for. I accepted and started working a few weeks later.
Things have been awesome since I started working for the church. I get to design a lot of different materials for all the different ministries within the church. One day I might be designing a wedding counseling binder and the next an annual car show poster. It has been quite satisfying so far. I get to sit in front of dual 22" widescreen monitors and a very powerful PC. It was kinda hard to get used to working on PC again because I use a Mac at home and we used them at school also. But I adjusted and now I am quite fast on either platform, which I believe is a good skill to have in my industry. My boss is awesome and everyone in the office is very friendly and welcoming. We do a lot of our printing in-house which is giving me some good experience with file preperation for printing. I still hadn't heard back from the nwespaper either, lol. so unprofessional.
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On a competely different note, I entered one of my wine label designs in a local design and marketing competition. This competition is called the Addys. It is actually a National competition, but starts at the local level all over the nation. In Fresno there were lots of design and marketing agencies that entered pieces, but this was my last chance to enter some of my student work. All the work for this show had to be created in 2008, so I entered my Haka wine label design from one of my last classes at Fresno State. It cost $20 to enter and I figured it would be a good experience. A few weeks later I heard that I was a finalist for my category. So i got an invitation to attend the awards dinner and see if i won my category.
The dinner was last night and it was awesome. There were four live painters doing large paintings for everyone to watch. They had music and performance poetry. The whole night was focused on creativity. The theme for the year was kind of a half-assed anit-design thing. All the table cloths were white butcher paper and the plates and cups were white cardboard paper also. In the middle of each table was a bucket of creative utencils, such as crayons, pencils, scissors, glue and paper. We were all instructed to decorate our tables and cups and plates. They were going to take photos of them all at the end of the night and eventually post them on this website. It just so happens that I won my category and got a very nice plaque that I can hang on my wall. Since I won, I automatically get to move onto the State portion of the competition and if I do well there I could go on to the National portion. I dont know how far I will go, but I am definitely excited to find out how I do!
So now you are caught up on my life and I will definitely be blogging more often because I'm bound to get bored at work and need some way to pass the time. I will try not to be intimidated by blogging like I have in the passed and I hope everyone who gets this far in this long and sexy blog enjoyed reading about my little life here in Fresno.
The dinner was last night and it was awesome. There were four live painters doing large paintings for everyone to watch. They had music and performance poetry. The whole night was focused on creativity. The theme for the year was kind of a half-assed anit-design thing. All the table cloths were white butcher paper and the plates and cups were white cardboard paper also. In the middle of each table was a bucket of creative utencils, such as crayons, pencils, scissors, glue and paper. We were all instructed to decorate our tables and cups and plates. They were going to take photos of them all at the end of the night and eventually post them on this website. It just so happens that I won my category and got a very nice plaque that I can hang on my wall. Since I won, I automatically get to move onto the State portion of the competition and if I do well there I could go on to the National portion. I dont know how far I will go, but I am definitely excited to find out how I do!
So now you are caught up on my life and I will definitely be blogging more often because I'm bound to get bored at work and need some way to pass the time. I will try not to be intimidated by blogging like I have in the passed and I hope everyone who gets this far in this long and sexy blog enjoyed reading about my little life here in Fresno.
Comments
I'm happy you got a job with something you actually enjoy and get paid well to do! Dual 22" monitors make me drool buckets.
Congrats Chris!