The Jazz Train is Back in Town! w00t! w00t!

So yeah, I started my Fall semester at El Camino. Yay!

I am taking full course-load that includes Pre-Algebra (which is lame, but I have a hard time when it comes to reg. Algebra, so I figured taking a step back would help. I hope it works. 0_0), German, Film/Video Production and Clothing Construction. (I also added a couple PE classes, so I'd be able to work out...which I miss doing.)

So far, I've had a good first week.^_^ The only thing that bugs me are my Math and Clothing Construction classes because I am advanced in both, and I can't stand waiting until we get to the more challenging stuff. Like, in CC, for example, the first thing we make is a needle book...which is HAND SEWN and hate hand sewing. >_< THEN we make kiddie PJ pants, which is lame, 'cause I already know how to do that too. :-/ *sigh*

BUT, NE-WAYZ...

The COOL thing about CC class is that it's practically MANDATORY for me to go to JoAnns. YAY! X-D Next Tuesday, we have a mandatory class field trip there, so the teacher can help us (and by us, I mean the n00bie, inexperienced sewers >_>) get supplies. I, being the good student that I am, went earlier today and got some supplies. (I already owned a vast majority of what was on the list, so I didn't need to get much.) All I need are fabric markers (the kind for marking patterns), proper sewing shears, and some other odds and ends that I can get at the $1 store. SPEAKING OF SEWING SCISSORS, I just ordered some Ginghers from JoAnn.com. ^_^ I remember Mom had a really nice pair that I kept sneaking and using when I was in middle school...and I'm sure she blames the dullness of the blades on me. 0_0 (Although, if she hasn't gotten them resharpened by now, it's no longer fault. Just saying, Mom.)

I will go back tomorrow to get a couple more things on my supply list, as I have a coupon that I could not use today. ("Savings effective 9/05/2009 >_<)

ALSO! My new job as a Laser Tag Party Host is treating me very well. It's a lot of fun and I meet a lot of nice people and families. What's even cooler is that I'm allowed to play my music during the laser tag games (which awesome, since the music they had before mine was LAME and not good, laser fighting music at all. >_>) AND the synthetic hair in my braids is UV reactive, so they glow UBER BRIGHT under the strobes and black lights. (It was not intentional, but is still cool and the customers get a kick out of it. :-D)

Adrian has moved in with Ryan. It bugged me at first, 'cause I got attached to him being here, but at the same time, he needed to make a change in his life. I hope that Ryan can (physically 8-|) push him into doing more with his life than working minimum wage to support his WoW habit.

In the mean time, I am working (somewhat) toward saving for my own place. My friend just landed a new job, so we're gonna save up to move into a little studio together...at some point in the future, anyway. I JUST finished getting all of my books for school, so I can OFFICIALLY start saving money.

Sooooo.... That's all for now. I gotta go to bed, 'cause I have a class tomorrow morning (which is WHACK, 'cause it's Friday, but whatever).

I promise to update more now that I'm actually DOING something nowadays. 0_0

Later!!!




PS: ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS SOME JOANN GIFT CARDS, BUT SENT TO ME B4 THE END OF OCTOBER, SO I CAN TAE ADVANTAGE OF THE HALLOWEEN SALE BECAUSE THEY SERIOUSLY HAVE SOME AWESOME FABRICS THIS FALL! OMG, THEY'RE SO AWESOME! I GOTTA POST PICS OF THE MUMMY FABRIC I BOUGHT!!! X-D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Jazzy

I'm a Big Kid Now!

Got my web site up and (finally) sent business card designs off to the printer last night. This is the back. I didn't post the front because it has my phone number and I wanted to be safe on the off chance some non-family troll is stalking our blog.

Am working on a web site that, sadly, I will not put in my portfolio unless something changes drastically. I presented the clients with a design that was, IMO, a vast improvement over what they had, which was pretty bad. They liked some things about the new design but they pretty much want me to start over and create a design that looks like someone did it in 1995. Sad. But they will pay for it. And I charge extra for ugly.

Have a couple of other irons in the fire for paying gigs so hopefully I'll have a steady - if somewhat small - source of income for the next few months.

What's new with Amanda you ask???

So it's been awhile since I've posted and I figured I'd give you guys (girls, whatever...) some pictures to take a gander at...

Shortly after I got back to Atlanta, I started working for a crappy (possibly shady) company, where I spent all day driving around, burning expensive gas. Along the way I saw some interesting things, like this mountain of glass:

This was at a glass recycling plant that I marketed to, and I was amazed at how high this mountain of bottles was.

A few weeks later, I was driving and noticed three stray puppies with their ribs poking out, scavenging for food. I felt so sad when I saw them, I knew they would get hit by a car if they didn't die of starvation first. When I called animal control, they told me they didn't know when they could get out to the area to pick them up, and the puppies might be gone by the time they sent someone. They asked me if there was any way I could bring them in my car, and I replied "I am actually working right now, and I'm wearing slacks and heels and I don't think I'd even be able to get them in my car." So what did I do? Pulled over and went after the puppies. They barked at me from a distance, too nervous to come close. I couldn't think of a way to lure them into my backseat, until I remembered that I had a small bag of potato chips in my console from when I had gotten Subway a few weeks earlier. Sure enough, with some coaxing and the help of salt & vinegar chips, I was able to corral all three pups in my back seat. Then the journey began...

I didn't realize that Douglas County animal control was in East Alabama, or I might have thought better of my undertaking. Apparently, one out of three dogs experience car sickness after eating salt and vinegar potato chips. That is exactly what I found out, when halfway there one of the cute little buggers yacked on my back seat. It was okay, they managed to clean up their mess by the time we arrived... which leads to the best part of the story...
When we got there, I went inside and told the workers who I was, and two ladies came outside to get the dogs. Guess they figured that since I was such a helpful person, bringing the pups there and all, that I wouldn't mind helping get them inside. Lady #1 pulled out puppy #1 and handed it to Lady #2, and she took the pup inside. Then Lady #1 pulled out puppy #2, who apparently had managed to drink his weight in fluids right before I rescued them. He tinkled a few drops on my car seat as she was passing him off to me, and then let a few more drops go on my leg. I walked the rest of the way holding him out three feet in front of me- I was supposed to be working after all, and my nice slacks were being used as a puppy pad. When I got to the door, I had to hold the dog like a football in one arm so I could open the door with my free hand, and that is when he decided to finish answering nature's call. The dog peed all over my leg. Guess no good deed goes unpunished, right? I heard through some neighbors a few weeks ago that the dogs were still in the pound, but were no longer starving. I hope they have each found a loving forever-home, even the one who peed on me...

So you can see I spent the time at my job well. Which is good, because I hated the place and no longer work there. Now I have been unemployed for almost 5 weeks... I was scared when I didn't find work after the 2nd week, the 3rd really made me nervous, and the 4th week just plain sucked. Now I have decided that God may not want me in the staffing business. So back to school I go. Only this time, I am not stopping until some guy wearing a floor-length black dress with a silly hat gives me a degree so I can make the big bucks. If I work hard and do well, I can even transfer to GA Tech and get my master's in 5 years. So there it is, I have detailed the beginning stages of my get-rich-slow scheme. Not as exciting as getting rich quick, but I don't think that was in the cards for me anyways...

Quick update!

Hello, Family!

Just to keep everyone "In the Know"...

I finally got a second job! I work at a candy store now as well as a pizza place (but, GOD how I hate working at the pizza place!).

I'm also saving money to get an appartment with my friend (but, that probably won't happen because as I type this, she's on MySpace instead of looking for a job...sigh).

AND, for the past couple of days I've been chatting with Justin! (Yay!) He says he wants to save money so he can visit family, go to LA, and other stuff.

But he really wants to see family.

I hope he can save his money and make it out to visit Georgia or Tennesee this Christmas.

OMG! I ALMOST FORGOT TO SAY that I've been taking Jazz Dance class and it's going pretty well. I learned a whole dance to a Madonna song and got to help my group coreograph part of the dance. It's really fun (though a bit frustrating sometimes... One of the girls in my group is a idea-nazi.) and I've discovered that I'm actually NOT horrible at dancing.

I just can't do turns very well. I need to work on my balance. 0_o

Yay! Responsibility!

Sooooooooooooooo.............

I started school again, of course. Job Corps gave me an extension, so I can stay and finish getting my AA.

I'm taking 2 art classes (Digital Imaging and 3D rendering), French, Algebra, and Flamenco... Yeah! I'm taking Flamenco!

I need 3 Phys. Ed. units for my AA, so I decided to take dance classes. It;s sad to admit, but whenever I go dancing I'm drunk, so I don't know if I'm a good dancer or not... Also, I've always wanted to learn to dance. When I'm done with Flamenco, I'm gonna take Social Dance (which is swing, latin, and ballroom), and Bellydancing.

Also, I GOT A JOB! w00t!!!

I'm going to be a cashier at Cafe Pucciani. It's a Pizzaria at the Universal Citywalk. It pays $8 an hr. but they give you chances to advance. Another cool part about working there is that you get your fav. Universal movie on your badge under your name. I picked ARMY OF DARKNESS. The chic who hired me (her name is Sandra and she's awesome) has TO WONG FOO on her badge.

I can't wait to start work!

Christmas Fun

My department held our annual White Elephant gift exchange today. It was a blast, as usual. A few of the more interesting gifts that circulated were an autographed picture along with a certificate of authenticity of one of the employees(this is the third year it showed up, and no doubt we'll see it again!), a huge bar of two toned soap that said "front" on the white side and "a**" on the brown side, and a very tacky denim moo moo. My big haul for the event? Three packs of toilet paper! I think my coworkers are a bit warped, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Cirque-Ness Pictures!

Since Mandy's been wanting to see some, here they are...

(They're from Corteo's last day in LA! I'll post some Orange County ones soon.)


The Cirque du Soleil Grand Chapiteu (aka, the Tent):


Eduard aka Edgy the Juggler:



Me & Uzeyer the Ladder Acrobat:




My friends/co-workers Monserrat, Amber, and I with Taras the White Clown:

Just when you thought I died and went...uh...Somewhere

Sooooo….

What’s been up with Jazz?

I want to say, “nothing much,” but that wouldn’t be true. It seems like “nothing much” to me just because what I do, I do every day, so….yeah.

Well, I became a Corteo Follower and still work at Cirque du Soleil. I’ve been carpooling with my friends and co-workers CJ, Monserrat, Dijanna (I think that’s how her name is spelled), and Fatirah.

I don’t really know what else to say about that, other than I LOVE my job and I’m happy I didn’t have to quit after Los Angeles.
One of the coolest things about being a Follower is that I’ve gotten more chances to talk to the performers. A few of them are really cool. I even bought this guy named Hideto (he’s a performer in Corteo) a bottle of Sailor Jerrys Rum to share with Sergai (a juggler). (I got really buzzed at a BBQ Corteo had and kept bragging about how awesome it was, so I got him one.)

Corteo’s next stop is in San Diego and I really want to follow the tour there. I’m going to help Fatirah, Amber, and Monserrat find a place to rent in San Diego, so that I can go there on weekends and work. It will only be for a little more than a month…2 at the most. Once Corteo is out of San Diego, I will no longer be a Follower and will be forced to find a real job. *sigh* However…

Cirque du Soleil’s KooZa will be in LA in 2009. Since I loved working at Coreto so much, I’m going to save my money, so that when KooZa comes to LA, I’ll be able to follow the tour for a few cities.

N-E-wayz… Enough about my job! My classes at LACC are going good. I’m struggling in French Language, but that’s it. The worst I could do in that class is get a D. I would rather NOT have a D, but hey, some things just don’t come easy the first time. I’m going to re-take it in the spring. If I can manage a B in French next year, then I’ll feel better about taking German Language (since I’m sure it’s a lot more difficult).

My art classes are great. One of them can be boring at times, but only because she makes us do retarded exercises before we do our main projects. I can’t wait ‘til I’m finished… I’ll be sure to post a bunch of them for my loverly friends to see! (Besides, they’re way better than the Parrot and Gay Potato that I posted awhile back.)

PS: November hasn’t been a great month for shows… All the good ones that DID happen, I had to miss because of work…and I got sick at some point, which was very lame.

Jazz the Paparazzi Hunter!!!

Work, work, work….

I’ve had nothing to do but school and work the past couple of weeks.

I didn’t get a good nights sleep ‘til last night…

I wouldn’t even consider it “good”… More like, “better” than normal. Oh, well.

I wouldn’t put up with it if I didn’t really like my job.

I’ve seen Cirque du Soleil, like, more than 5 times now… It’s SO FRIGGIN’ AWESOME!!! I think it’s driving me a little crazy though…

Part of my job is making sure people don’t take pictures during the show and because a lot of the other ushers don’t pay attention, I kind of made it my personal duty to see that it doesn’t happen. I didn’t mean to… I just hate the fact that a lot of the people try to be slick about taking pictures when they’re not supposed to, but they’re SO DAMN OBVIOUS. I can see someone taking pictures from waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy across the tent (and the tent is pretty damn huge) and for some reason, no one else seems to ever notice! Therefore, I made it my job.

Unfortunately, though, so has everyone else… I don’t think the other ushers even really pay attention because they know I’m watching out for the cameras. (Which pisses me off because they’re being LAZY BASTARDS!) I can’t help it though! It kills me to let people get away with it when they know they’re not supposed to be taking pictures!!! And then when you say, “HEY! No Photography!” they act like they had no idea and that they’re completely innocent! DOUCHE BAGS!!!

**The irony is that I usually do the same thing (at concert venues that don’t allow cameras)… It’s like I’ve turned against my own kind.**

N-E-wayz…

I think it’s driving me crazy because I keep having dreams about people in the audience taking pictures in the Cirque tent, and in my dream I always freak out.

I just had one last night, where I wrenched a camera out of some guys hand and started beating him with it because he wouldn’t stop taking pictures when I told him to.

See…

I’m going crazy.

The Real Secrets of Success

"P" is for "Pffffft"

I didn't get the customer service position I applied for - but neither did anyone else either. I was told Monday that they decided to put the job opening on hold. Hey, that's their prerogative but I just wish they decided before my two interviews because I loathe job interviews. Even ones within my company are just as in depth and grueling as any other place I've experienced. The upside is that I am still in an awesome place, which is why I hesitated for so long before attempting to venture elsewhere. Ideally I would never change bosses or coworkers - we'd just all move together to a new department every year or two just to keep things interesting. Or I'd hit the lottery so I wouldn't have to roll out of bed until one of the kids got hungry. I could always come back and visit when I missed them. On second thought, I'll skip the lottery idea. I spent two dollars on tickets this year and got two dollars of fun out of it. Anything else would not be fun 'cause it'd just be more be money down the drain.