// Um, guess who has a paid job again?//

YEAH, ME. I’m not short on cash or anything, but I’ve definitely felt guilty this year. I’m never at my place, wasting - oh - $460/month! A very expensive back-up plan.

So I was looking through part-time job listings on the Career Center during my daily internship search and saw that the Cinema Studies program was hiring for a student assistant. The duties were varied and a mix of web and office work, but I was intrigued. I went into the interview a little hesitant of my busy schedule and with no expectations and came out wanting it BADLY. The office coordinator was funny and easygoing, and the position sounded more challenging and crazy than expected. The program is growing (for those not at UO, the major just started last year), and they needed people who could go with the flow.

That was Friday. It’s Monday. Got the call 15 minutes ago. They actually ended up hiring another girl, who also worked at Ethos, because there was so much talent. Scoped her out on FB, and she likes Harry Potter. Done.

I’m so excited! Money! A job! New references! Web! Social media! Blogging! Getting paid to do what I love for a University program is mind-boggling.

// My 1st Infographic: Twitter Data Vis//

Here it is! The assignment was to track a week of our personal media consumption and compare it to a national average. So for the past few days, I’ve noted down what people in two Tweetdeck lists talked about from 6-10PM. Some heavy tweeters definitely made my data imbalanced, but eh, what are you gonna do?

Honestly, the data didn’t mean much to me. It was when I started designing that I got really into the assignment. I had this idea where I used variations of the Twitter bird to represent how many tweets fell into a category. I found one playing basketball! But I was too lazy to continue using the icons for the second page, so it looked disconnected, and my GTF called me out on it. 

It’s not perfect since like I said I’m not a designer, but I’m very pleased with it. It was much more fun to put together than my magazine layout and spreads. I just liked playing around with the placement of text and graphics. (You’d be surprised at how much Twitter art exists out there.) Hmmmm, maybe I’ll brave learning design after all…

Click through for the rest:

Read More

// It’s Funny That…//

…I go a few days without Tumblr to force myself to finish my website, which I’ve been obsessing over for the past three weeks. (After making a Wordpress and Tumblr, I’m actually pretty happy with Weebly, although I wish the themes looked cooler. It’s my first attempt at collecting all of my work in one place, so don’t expect this to be the final product.)

…And during this period, I miss my wedding blogs like crazy. Isn’t that unusual? I’m still boggled that I like weddings now when I used to be pretty opposed to an obsession with them. I have nothing against weddings, but whatever I saw on Tumblr was usually unoriginal. Not anymore. So one lazy night, I zoom through them in a few hours, and my eyes positively want to die.

The next night, I decide to research/prepare for my upcoming summer internship interview with Sparkloft Media. I’m dying to get it. Social media and located in Portland? It’s perfect. I just get such a good vibe from them. Sure, I’ve looked at other agencies and opportunities, but right now, Sparkloft is my number one desire, and I just have to hope and hope. I came across a number of travel and tourism blogs and was surprised to find their content incredibly interesting. I’ve honestly never looked much into destination marketing, but it actually does fit into my long-term goal of creating experiences for people. Anyway, I should stop talking because I don’t want to jinx my chances, but I’ll keep you guys updated on the outcome! Please cross your fingers for me?

So tonight, we had our monthly Moxie meeting, and I left feeling motivated, as usual. The wedding industry offers an endless amount of topics to talk about. I can’t wait until we work out all the kinks and can fully launch the website. If you’re interested, some of my blog entries are already up, and I’d greatly appreciate comments and feedbacks on any of the posts, really :) (Becky has also been blogging, yay.)

My hiatus is pretty much over because I’ve realized that I need some design and variety in my Tumblr life again. Posting is still going to be sporadic just because schoolwork is cramping my style, but I’d love to return to you guys.

// Job Searching Should Be More Casual//

I started making this out of boredom after internship searching and became obsessed with it. Took me a few hours last night and an entire afternoon (those damn social media icons!). Yeah, it’s kinda hard to read. I only picked this difficult font for fun, but I still thought it’d translate better into PNG form. What are you going to do? I still think it looks pretty good for not knowing how to make stuff in GIMP…or any program, really. Like how I typed out |s and hypens to make lines? :P Do people think I could actually send this to job recruiters? The content is still pretty legit.

I was tired of writing in a formal tone, so I decided to do a more casual accompanying type graphic. (More |s!) Ah, I love Pupcat. It makes me so happy.

// A Compilation of Love/Hate Letters to Starbucks’ Holiday Cups//

Hey, Tumblr world! I’m starting a new project. Yesterday, I was inspired by Starbucks’ holiday cups to ask why people either love or hate them.

Is it just a feeling, or do you associate a particular memory with them?

Do they make you excited for the holidays, or do you despise them?

Why? I want to hear it. Submit your opinion or story here. (If you’d rather e-mail me, message me at ng.cmaine@gmail.com.) Make it a snappy one-liner, or tell me a paragraph-long tale - whatever works for you! You can even film a video, if you want. Just remember to include your name, age, and occupation :)

I’m closing shop on November 24th, so get ‘em in, and invite your friends to submit! RSVP to the Facebook event, where you can post on the wall or FB message me instead. I’d really appreciate your help in satisfying my curiosity, everyone. Thanks!

(Source: Flickr / rios-enriquez)