first (real) photo shoot EVER!

so my travel has been confirmed. I am going to LA for my first shoot ever. well technically my first photo shoot was a piece of notecard in a studio. But i will forget it like how i forgot the person to whom i lost my virginity.

It started almost a month ago when I had my review with Marcia. She said i need to work on my concepts more and also slow down so i could pay more attention to details. She thinks my ideas are pretty confining. And she told me that we are a big agency and we have a ton of money. So I need not worry about budget or anything. Just focus on the idea. If it's good, the agency will do whatever it takes to make it real. I think she sees through me and she nailed it. And I brought to her attention that I do not have a writer so things sometimes can be quite tough. So the next day she gave me an assignment with a team (Jason and Michael). At first I was very intimidated cos they are a senior team and I am a newbie of 6 months. And I have seen ads that they have done. Anyway it turns out they are fun to work with and I didn't feel pressured at all. Anyway we sold our idea and then we went ahead to choose a photographer. And yea we are going to LA. Well at first it was doubtful because they usually send only one AD to the shoot. So they needed to figure out where to get money to cover my trip. Anyway Marcia figured everything out and I am on my way to LA!

Book

I was recommended this book A Stranger in the Strange Land about a month ago. I realized it is a sci-fi book which is certainly something new to my very limited literary collection. I have my doubts. I was afraid that it would be too matter-of-fact, too many machines, guns and scientific facts and lack the complexity of humanity. Upon reading a few pages...after a few more pages, I realized that the book is indeed what I thought it would be like. But I could not stop reading. In fact on numerous occasions I had to tell myself to stop reading so that I would not be pissed at my not getting enough sleep at night and being sleepy over my work desk. The book actually speaks my language. I feel like the messages conveyed in the book are straight forward that I can actually visualize what's going on in my head. I feel like for the first time, what i read and what's in my head are actually on the same page. We are finally on the same wave-lengths and channel. So unless the characters turned Dakota Fanning or Jackie Chan on me or that the movie version (not played by the aforementioned characters or alike) is coming out next month, it is certainly a book that I will enjoy reading till the end.

sweet dream

i had a dream last night. i was walking on the street somewhere (prolly NYC) and came across two street vendors selling very beautifically decorated cupcakes. The street vendors were like the ones selling hotdogs on the streets of NY which made the cupcakes look even better. I bought one from each vendor. I remember the first one is pink and the second one is baby blue.

When i went to NY for new years, Phill took me to this world-renowned cupcake shop. Maybe that's how i got the idea.

weird dream

i had a dream last night in which i was actually asleep on the same bed in the same room. in my dream, i woke up and found the window wide opened. i looked around and found that my powerbook is gone along with my keys, cellphone, pooh bear and some of my clothes. My LV wallet was intact for some strange reason. i realized someone had broke into my room and stolen everything. i started panicking. then an evil thought came to mind "yes! now i have an excuse to get a macbook pro with iSight!" then for some reason, i forced myself to wake up and i looked around and realized it was just a dream.

Nomad

I have been running in between buildings three times today already. I go from one to another and then back wherever and whenever there is an assignment. Sorta feel like a nomad. I like it because of the change of scenery and it keeps me awake, especially after lunch. I hate it cos my ID still won't work on the side door. I have to go around the building. I have a feeling that one of these days i am going to slip and fall into the bush.

on track

work has been very busy lately. running between buildings all the time. wish my ID card would work on the side door. I am really hating this weather. hate the snow. I just don't like waking up cold in the morning. hate cold feet!

I have been thinking about Marble a lot lately...donno why...please just don't die! I have a consultation on taking out my wisdom tooth/teeth on Thursday. Keo is having his taken out this week too. But he said they dont knock you out in Hong Kong. He said this guy Jason has been calling to ask him out and he has been putting it off because he is poor. i said he is an idiot because it is the universal rule that whoever is doing the asking out takes care of the bill.

Derek had his interview at Goldman. It didn't go so well. But the goodnews is...he has had an interview and if that was the worse experience, it's only going to get better.

O and thanks Richard for the LV wallet...now i remember who you are.

Calling Richard

"Hi Richard....how the heck did you remember my birthday? Wow i was soooo surprised!!!!!! it is soooo pretty. well i just wanna say thanks. i m on my way to work now. i will call you back. thanks again. bye!"

i still have no idea who Richard is.

LV wallet

i got a gift in the mail today...from Hong Kong...for my birthday...a $300 wallet from Louis Vuitton...sent by Richard Lee. anyhow i thought it was from my friend Shirley who works for LV Hong Kong. and that Richard Lee is her secretary. I called her and the first thing she said was "honey I am sorry, i haven't mailed your gift yet!" I read the note in the box again. signed by Richard Lee. absolutely no idea!

anyway i do have his number on my cell phone for some mysterious reason. and he has my number too cos he wrote my number down on the packing slip. so i dialed his number and tried to see if i could recognize his voice. nope! so i hung up. lol. i even tried to google earth his address. no recollection at all.

my question is why didn't he call me on my birthday just to say a simple happy birthday. but rather he went through all the effort to send me a LV wallet... i cannot help but to perceive it as a materialistic and impersonal but nevertheless generous gesture.

but i m going to call again tonight and say thanks and find out who he is.

weird dream

i have been having a lot of weird dreams lately. last night i had one in which my sister decided to keep locusts as pets. i was furious. i kept yelling at her until her eyes got real teary. so i gave in and told her it's ok as long as she keeps them in her room and that they wouldn't go near me. she had a giant locust on her hand when we had that conversation. GROSS! she even tried to hand it to me to show me that it is not harmful. i backed off and told her to stay the fxxk away. then out of nowhere, i saw a locust jumped like 300 feet. i freaked.

anyway a few days later (in my dream), she started breeding those suckers. and she said she sorta borrowed my bedroom and that locust eggs were everywhere in my room. so i bought a bottle of bug spray called "Barclay" (which is a bank in real life) to kill all of them. then my dream sorta turned into a microscopic view of locust eggs shrinking and dying. then my alarm clock went off.