Year In Review 2010

It’s that time of year again: for a year in review, 2010 style.

I feel like I say this every year: “I can’t believe its the new year.” But this year I especially feel it. I never got used to writing the year 2010 whenever I wrote a check. And now I have to write 2011? Balls.

I typically write my reviews while looking back at my google calendar since I am a maniac and write everything down, but since I am currently sitting by the fire in my family’s new cabin in Mammoth with slow/limited internet, I shall review 2010 from memory.

I already addressed this in a previous post, but my new year’s resolution for 2010 was to essentially, “Update my life.” One aspect of this goal was to keep up with technology and not end up like my mother who just learned how to text and still has a hard time putting a DVD in. I got a smart phone in February (how did I ever function without it?) and I got rid of my PC in June and replaced him with a Mac (changed my life). I also subscribed to two newsletters that updates me on current technology and whatnot. I want to continue being informed so I don’t end up left behind.

Another aspect was to play catch up on pop culture. One of my goals was to watch a new movie a week. I made a list a couple of weeks ago that had 44 movies. I wanted to post the list, but I lost it and I can’t remember them all now. #fail. Maybe I’ll reach 52 in 2011. Close, but no cigar!

Work
I was promoted to Special Sections Editor in February. I never thought I would enjoy my job as much as I do. I feel blessed to be working so close to home in a community that I’ve learned to thoroughly enjoy -- quirks and all. My job is overwhelmingly rewarding and I hope my time at The Signal will take me to bigger and better things one day. But for now, given some uncontrollable circumstances, I’m grateful to work where I work.

And of course, who doesn’t like to be recognized for his/her hard work? One of the highlights of 2010 was being recognized as one of Santa Clarita Valley’s Forty Under 40.

School
I wrote a blog about this as well, but 2010 was the year I declared another major: Graphic Design. I’ve only completed one semester so far, but I enjoy it immensely and look forward to learning more. I don’t plan on making a career out of it, but I really think it will make me a better candidate for future jobs in the print world. I also happen to enjoy the shit out of designing. Just another creative outlet for a creative person.

Camping
I went on all the same camping trips I went on last year, mostly with the same people. Bad Bear, Hot Dogs and Whiskey, and Mono were all a success. Can’t wait to do them again next year.

One thing I didn’t do a lot in 2010 was hike. I didn’t take one overnight hiking trip. Sad panda. I hiked a bit around Santa Clarita, but those are now so familiar that they aren’t a big deal to me. My goal for 2011 is to hike more, which I will have to anyway in order to train for the John Muir Trail that I plan on taking on in August.

Running
I never enjoyed running. I still don’t, really.... but I love the thought of running. While I’m running, all I think about is when I get to stop... but once I stop, I feel accomplished and I look forward to conquering my next run. I ran four 5k’s in 2010. My goal for 2011 is to run a 10K and then eventually a half marathon. If I’m still in Santa Clarita, then I plan to run the half marathon in November.

My brother also bet me $500 that I wouldn’t finish a trialthon in a given amount of time. So I’ll be training for that in 2011.

Friendships/Relationships
I’ve learned a lot about myself in 2010. I’ll spare the details, but I faced a lot of hard truths this year, particularly the last couple of months. As hard as it is to realize one’s own faults, I’m excited to learn from my mistakes and improve current friendships/relationships and create better, more fulfilling ones in the future.

I lost a few friends in 2010, but it is for the best and I don’t regret anything. Life is too short to be fake with people you don’t need/want in your life, so I did something I have never done before: cut em out. I believe everyone I have encountered in my life serve some sort of purpose. Once that purpose is fulfilled, it’s time to let go.

I am blessed to be surrounded by so many people who are loving, caring, genuine and real, and it is with these people I will continue to converse and associate myself with. I run in a lot of different circles, but each one is special to me and I don’t ever plan on losing any of them. Despite me lacking a “best friend,” I have plenty of people who always catch me when I fall, and for that I am ever grateful. You know who you are.

Room
In December, my older brother moved out, freeing up the room I had when I went to high school. After 2.5 years of living out of a make-shift room in the living room and sleeping on the couch, I finally have a personal space again. I know 2011 is already going to be spectacular year cause I now have a place to escape to. I am excessively excited to have my own room again.

Car
I got a new, used car. Jupiter Optimus Maximus (my convertible) has been falling apart for the last 2 years, and I finally have had enough... and I think my parents felt really bad for me and my car woes. So come January 3, I will be driving another, newer SAAB. At first I wanted to buy a Subaru Forester, but after much thought, I’ve decided to not invest in a vehicle just yet. The new car is beautiful, and I look forward to not looking like as shlup anymore in my ride.

Other highlights
-Sandwich Trains
-Being introduced to Langer’s and Intelligentsia
-Coachella
-Two John Butler Trio concerts!
-Trivia Nights
-Chicago Trip with my family
-Recording my music
-Bay to Breakers in May
-Wearing my pink tutu in Mammoth
-Experiencing June Mountain for the first time

Overall, 2010 was a good year. But I know 2011 will be better.

Here’s to the future, which I know is going to be great!

I have the best friends

My friend sent this to me through facebook, and I absolutely love it.

Last project for type

My last project in type had me design a deck of cards. We only had to actually design 24, but it had to be consistent enough that the rest of the class could imagine what the rest of the cards would look like.

We had to pick a topic to represent as well. I picked beer.

I had some gracious help with this project. It wouldn't have turned out this good without it.

Good Fucking Design website.

Go to this website. It gives really, REALLY fucking good design tips.

Here are some of my favorites:

Don't worry. They have a censored version too. See?

a new personal focus

“I don’t need you. I am very self-sufficient.” 

This has been my mantra for a long time. It's my defense against the feeling that others might not need or want me around.

Rather than be honest about my need to receive attention and love (because I never wanted to be portrayed as a needy, whiny, and naggy woman), I built a wall that said, “If you don’t want me, fine. I don’t need you anyway. I can be by myself.” 

I recently made an observation in the realm friendships: I don't have a "best friend." A "go-to person."

I am blessed and grateful to have great friends and lots of them.The greatest friends any girl could ask for, actually. But I don't know any one person inside and out, and no one really knows me, inside and out.

I'm usually tagging along with a "fantastic duo," and I play that "third-wheel friend." And I don't really mind this. I think the term "best friend" is a loaded one, full of expectations. But really, that's just me justifying keeping my walls up and keeping everyone out of my castle.

I discovered living behind this glass wall can be unfulfilling. You can see the others out there, yet you somehow remain separated from them. They also see you, but find it difficult to connect with you. 

I also have a fear of being "thought a fool." I always try to use reason and logic in making my decisions and thus avoid highly emotional situations since I know they typically lead to irrational and emotional decisions. I think this has hindered me more than it helped. 

Having said all of this, my new personal focus is to retrain myself and allow myself to be more open with my emotions, feelings and desires. That it's safe to give and receive love, it's okay to ask for what I want, and most importantly, it's healthy to show my feelings without knowing what the response will be.

I don't mean any harm

It's the story of my life. I often hurt people or offend people without knowing it. I don't mean to do it. I'm either too wrapped up in my own self to realize what I just said, or I think what I said is truly too insignificant to have it mean anything.

I like to think of myself of a person who can recognize when she fuck ups. And I like to think that I am also a person who has no problem apologizing.

Given that I feel I'm in the wrong.

I don't like hurting people and I definitely don't do it on purpose.

The only person I would really like to really inflict some pain on is Sarah Palin.

Fucking moose-killing wench.

Ali in the Jungle Official Video

This song is so uplifting. Give it a listen, and love it.

Back to the basics

I have neglected my music for far too long and I am ashamed of it.

I used to play everyday. Even if it was just one song.

I haven't played for so long I lost the calluses on my fingers. NOT GOOD.

So I have been picking up my guitars more. Today, for example, I came home on my lunch break from work and played a few songs.

I also have been listening to a lot of new music, courtesy of a friend I've known since I was 5 years old.

Currently obsessed with a band called Crash Kings. Highly recommended. Love their sound, and I think I'm going to cover a song or two of theirs.

I'm also thinking about throwing a little "debut" event at my house sometime in early 2011 to showcase the songs I have so far.

We'll see though. I have stage fright.

Here's my favorite Crash Kings songs.



Happens to be my year of birth too... so the song is extra sexy.

Love!

Type Project 4

Create your own business card using type.

Font: DIN.

I had certain rules to follow. Vote for your favorite!

Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise

In honor of tonight's movie release.

How twitter enriched my life

I've always been a skeptic at heart. I'm never one to jump on the bandwagon, and in fact, I usually resist until someone (or something) convinces me otherwise.

This was the case with twitter.

After livejournal, friendster, myspace, facebook, linkedin, and some other networking websites I had joined, I had enough. I didn't want another user name. I didn't want another password. I didn't want another addiction.

No, I will not get a twitter account.

Then I accompanied Nathan to a "tweet-up" where local twitter users met one another at a local restaurant and hung out.

Everyone busted out name tags and wrote their twitter names on them. I didn't have a twitter so my name tag lacked the @ sign. I felt left out and out of place. I was on my break from work (I was a copy editor at the time) so I had to leave early, but I left with the deep desire to get to know these people. The energy these people were exuding was addicting, and I wanted to infiltrate the group and be around that energy. Within the hour I sat with these strangers, I was determined to make them my friends.

So I got myself a Twitter account.

A year has passed since I've signed up and the people I have met through twitter have enriched my life to such an unimaginable degree. I thought moving back home was going to suck the soul outta me and I would hate my life. Instead, I have found a core group of people who have added such flavor to SCV that I have a hard time imagining leaving it now.

Without the friends I've made through twitter, I wouldn't have ...

... become a coffee snob.
... started my side business.
... known where to start when it comes to buying/leasing cars.
... become a food truck junkie.
... experienced a Sandwich Train.
... seen free concerts and theatre plays.
... become interested in biking.
... joined the Apple cult.
... gained so much random knowledge through Trivia nights.
... taste tested a variety of goodies from local businesses.
... received all the free shit I got through Yelp.

There is so much more; these are just the ones that come to mind at the moment.

The best part? I get to create more memories with these people in the near future. Sandwich train part two is this weekend. We have a hockey night planned in December. We're even considering a Thanksgiving Pot Luck because... well... because we're family.

I guess I owe twitter a thank you card for introducing me to some of the most loving, caring, genuine, and interesting people I've ever met.

Thanks, twitter. I owe ya.

Typography Project 3

My third typography project had us turn an text/internet acronym into a symbol.

I was assigned omg, which, as you all know, stands for OMG.

I chose Futura as my font and began brainstorming some ideas.

This wasn't exactly what my professor was looking for. We wanted the letters to blend into one another as if they were on top of each other. The assignment really called for the creation of a symbol. A symbol that would fit among the typeface.

Back to the drawing board I went. After a few more drawings and brainstorming, this was the outcome.

Chicago

I've been to Chicago before.

I think I was 15 or 16 the first time I saw the city, and I my supervisors organized a city scavenger hunt so I didn't really pay attention to the actual city.

The second time I visited Chicago I was visiting a friend who lived in the suburbs. Needless to say that my impression of Chicago was shoulder shrugs.

Until now.

I have never seen such a clean and pretty city before. The air was crisp, clean and blue; the streets weren't littered with trash or homeless people; the buildings sparkled under the October sky as if they were just cleaned -- that or the building were built yesterday. Both my mother and I were in amazement at how pretty the city was, especially compared to other big cities: New York looks dark and gray, and the streets are dirty and infested with rats; Los Angeles is overrun with bums who piss publicly right on the sidewalks, not to mention the smog; and parts of San Fransisco are also infested with bums who do drugs in the open and shit on the streets (in the ugly ugly parts).

I went to Chicago with my family for a wedding. I was one of the bridesmaids so we only got to spend one full day in the city, but we got a lot accomplished.

We walked around and managed to do the following things:

Eat breakfast at a place called Cosi
Wander though Millenium Park to see The Bean
Walk though the shopping district and buy me some Steve Madden boots (score!)
Find the Chicago Tribune building (potential future employer -- holla!)
Charge our phones at a Verizon Wireless store
Check out the view at top the John Hancock tower and take the best family-photo-minus-one ever (will scan it soon)
Go to Portobello's for a Chicago hot dog and beer
Check out Soldier Field
Eat at Goat Borger, a sports bar  filled with Chicago hockey fans (we were near the hockey rink)

The next few days were filled with wedding stuff. I met up with a friend from UCI near Northwestern on Sunday, and my older bro and I ventured through university town to go find Intelligentsia.

The trip was fantastic, filled with such Polish debauchery I wish I can remember it all to tell.

Let me put it this way: My dad blacked out the first night we were there and woke up drunk; my mom woke up with the alcohol shakes for the first time ever; my baby bro missed his flight Sunday morning; older bro jumped off a wall and woke up with a swollen ankle; and I drank so much wine that I didn't even need to put lipstick on anymore.

My mom, my older bro and I flew back to LAX together for the first time in years. The last time I flew with my big brother was in 1998 when we flew to Ohio together, and the last time I was on a flight with my mom was in 1989 when we spent six months in Poland. I was 4 years old.

The Bean

Up in Hancock's tower.

A museum I didn't get to visit.

At Soldier Field facing the city.

Best fucking photo evar

Naturally, we kept the party going on the flight home, ordering as many drinks as we could in the 3 hours we had up in the air.

We like to party.

Jack and Coke was the special on this particular flight. Sold!

I wouldn't mind living in Chicago for a while. I don't think I could live there for too long though because of this: There are no mountains. I seriously couldn't get over it. It was so weird to look out at any direction and see the tops of trees and sky.

The closest snow resort is in Wisconsin, and apparently the mountains in Wisconsin are like glorified California hills.

No thanks.

Typography Project 2

This project was hell in a pancake.

Each student was assigned a font to study. We had to learn the given font inside and out. Each curve. Each point. Everything.

Then we had to hand draw portions of 9 characters; portions that make the assigned font unique.

I was assigned Caslon Pro, which happens to be my professors all-time favorite font, evar.

I've never been good with drawing but I enjoy doing it. I absolutley hated this project though because we had to use caligraphy pens, and they are just a pain in the ass.

Every stroke had to be immaculate. If a drop of ink splashed on the canvas, you had to start over. I only started over once, but I probably should have done a third one. I ended up getting a B on the project, even though I thought I did a fantastic job (compared to my first one!)

 

Looking to get my own .com

I'm looking into purchasing my own domain. Unfortunately, the following are already taken.

ola.com

aleks.com

olenka.com

I want my domain to be short and sweet.

aleksandra.com is available for sale for $2,000+ dollars. No thanks. I'd rather eat my eyeball out with a spoon.

aleksgajewski.com and aleksandragajewski.com is taken, but that kinda defeats the purpose of having a short url.

leksifer.com is available though, so I will probably get that.

I don't want to get sillyshenanigans.com cause I am a Gemini and I don't want to be married to it. I like change.

Thoughts?

Graphic design project two: Fight Global Warming

My second project for my graphic design I class required us to create "Fight Global Warming" postcards as if we were hired by the company Ad Council. We had to create a campaign look and keep it consistent throughout all the cards.

In addition, we had to take the photos ourselves (or get stock photos) and create a logo only including only type. This project exposed students to Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

The idea was that these cards would be sent out at different times, so viewers had to recognize it when it came in the mail.

I was shocked as to see how many people did not follow instructions. I am not THAT much older than these students, so I really don't understand how they fail to read the assignment and follow directions.

In fact,  I actually lost the sheet of paper with all the instructions and was performing everything from what I remember discussing in class.

Several students didn't  keep their postcards consistent. In fact, I think there were only 3 students who did. Everyone else made each card have its own look.

Idiots.

In addition to incompetency, most of my classmates lack creativity. Most everyone did something you would typically see when you hear the words "Fight Global Warming:" flowers or trees (to promote planting and nature), recyclyables, smoke stacks, traffic, melting snow, worlds/globes, more nature shots, etc.

I was the last one to get critiqued in class and at first, people looked at it with confused eyes. Then suddenly, it clicked.

I was the class favorite (toot! toot!) The professor had nothing but good things to say about my work, and I had several classmates approach me after class and tell me mine was their favorite.

Here is my campaign. Feel free to let me know what you think.