End product
The thing I have been working really hard on for the last two weeks finally went live last night. It's a promotion for Taco Bell's value menu. I can't speak for the value or taste of Taco Bell's value menu, but I do think that this promotion is really fun, and I had a lot of fun working on it. Since the value menu is all about stuff you can buy for under a dollar, i.e. for mere coins, Taco Bell is making coin heads rap. And the cool thing is that you can upload pictures of yourself and your friends into the coin heads and make them rap too. Check out the video I made starring myself, Niki, Kean and Justin.
My main job was to make the mouths move and to make sure that the sound is sync'ed with the rappers. I am really proud of it.
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.: posted by Vera 
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Feeling so blessed
Today is the one year anniversary of me driving for Green Cab. Today is also the one year anniversary of me getting my lip ring, my favorite piercing so far. And it's the one weekaversary of Jason's babygirl!
That baby is blessed because she has two of the best parents I can imagine who are in perhaps the healthiest relationship I have ever seen.
I feel very blessed today as well. I have been working so hard these past two weeks, making lots of much needed money, having almost no time for anything other than working and sleeping. Then yesterday I had to drive a cab and I didn't really feel like it. I would have rather had the day off or kept working on the Flash project. But once I was sitting in the taxi line at the Hyatt Regency, staring at the trees and buildings in front of me, listening to the This Is Gothic CD Philo had given me for my birthday, feeling myself relax, I was suddenly really glad to not be in front of a computer and instead able to sit there and let my mind wander wherever it wanted to go. And later, as I was driving around the sunny city, I remembered why I was a cab driver: I get to push the world around all day long.
Then I went in for an interview at Adobe, which I thought went very well, and right afterwards I got a call from the company I have been freelancing for. They needed my help with some bug fixes. So I turned the cab in early, drove to the office and got to do what I wanted after all: troubleshoot and puzzle-solve. It was a nice and varied day.
And today, today I have the day off because the project is pretty much done, and Kean came over last night for the first time this week, and we had some wine and stayed up really late being hot, and today all I did was lie around for hours and buy vegetables for a few minutes.
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.: posted by Vera
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People who I was sad didn't make it to my birthday party even though I invited them
Kelly
Jonako
Alex
Diane
Monica
Brendan
Niki
Liz
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.: posted by Vera
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The full costume
Lookit those monster sleeves! And horns! What's cool is that Sarah let me keep the collar. It is MINE! I have been wanting a large, extrusive, unwieldy collar for a while.
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.: posted by Vera
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Some moments
I have been so busy with work and Emerging Illusions that I haven't even had time to write about my birthday and the camping the weekend before.
These were my favorite moments from the camping weekend:
- The time that Kean was dancing and shaking his butt and Bret was standing behind him and making the sounds of a whip.
- The time, right after the first shot of tequila, when Kean and Adrienne's aunt Sarah were dancing and singing along to the same song. I don't remember what the song was; I didn't know it but they sure did.
- The time by the river when I broke the colorful silence by saying to Kean that I felt like an extension of his arm.
Also, I had a cute conversation with a woman in her 50's. She walked up to me, tilted my head towards the light so as to get a better look at my face. She did a triangular motion with her eyes on my face and said:
"Oh! Good for you!"
"Thanks! You mean the piercings?"
"Yeah. Is that what they're called?"
I touched my lip ring. "These? Yeah, they're piercings."
"Oh, I thought you said princess."
"No, piercings."
"Are they okay?"
"Yeah. I like them a lot."
"Oh, good."
I loved how open and straight-forward she was. I felt like she was saying exactly what she was thinking. I'm assuming this was because she was drunk. I appreciated it.
Then there was my birthday. People came. Some brought presents. Kean made us delicious fruity cocktails. Then we went to Death Guild, where Neon Jason wore pink just for me, and Tyler gave me a handmade bag. Then we went home.
The next day was my first day at this new job I have. I was very tired that day.
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.: posted by Vera
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Creature
Nightshade put up his pictures from the fashion show I was in last Thursday. What you can't see very well in the pictures is that in our set, we played on the stage in pairs. Each pair consisted of a creature that was more human-like and one that was more animal-like. I was paired up with Nico, and I got to play the animal part. We circled around each other, both predator-like and afraid. He was afraid that I was going to eat him, and I was afraid that he was going to put me in a cage. I love being an animal!
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.: posted by Vera
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And suddenly I am swamped with work
I don't know how I have been paying rent all this time. For the last five months I have been driving a cab two days a week, done an average of one counseling session a week, and otherwise spent my time frolicking. I had been looking for freelance Flash or translation work, but almost nothing had worked out since Thanksgiving.
I had started worrying about money about two months ago, but last week I had started REALLY worrying. And like a birthday present from the universe, a new freelance Flash gig was secured on my actual birthday, and I started yesterday. I will be there this week and possibly longer. It's at yet another ad agency. People at ad agencies seem to move around a lot, and by now I know people at all major ad agencies in San Francisco. And sometimes, when they need help with Flash, they think of me and call me. I love how this works because that way I get to work with people I already know and trust and they me. Working at ad agencies is not the most rewarding but it pays money, and I like money, especially when I'm broke.
At this week's job I get to play with ActionScript 3.0. I had used it back in 2005 at Macromedia when we were first developing it, but I had never used it in the real world. But now I am relearning it, and I am glad because it will make it easier and less daunting to get more of this kind of work in the future.
And now that I'm finally working again, the company I had last freelanced for and which had let me go in November, finally contacted me today and wants me to come back.
But that is not all. A good friend from Adobe/Macromedia is trying to bring me in for a project as well. We have been talking about this for several weeks, but now it is finally starting to sound like a real possibility.
Oh, what to choose? The new company that I started coding for yesterday? The company from before where I can hang out with Bret and Alex? The mother whose ship I jumped over two years ago?
It's nice to have options again.
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.: posted by Vera
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Aww, feeling special
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.: posted by Vera
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Fame, you irresistible temptress
I think this is as close as I have ever been to being on the cover of a magazine. I can't say that I don't like it.
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.: posted by Vera
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Another
I love this one too because it has Justin in it.
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.: posted by Vera
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