International Woman of Mystery

divanoir — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 18:22:37 GMT

I posted the files for my freelance client this morning, so now I'm just waiting for feedback and potentially more work. I'm using today to work at the library on preparing another job application based on the HR query I received Friday night. I plan on submitting that tomorrow. I'm also going to work on a few illustrator tutorials so I can revisit some t-shirt ideas I had. There's a sketchbook somewhere in my apartment with some old ideas that I'd like find. Drawing time was so craptastic last week, that I'm reluctant to continue. Still, I'll give it another try this week. Ugh. I really need another anatomy class.

The central library in Brooklyn is having another book drive, so it's time to take another look at my bookshelves to see if there's anything I can donate.

I watched an ep of Mystery Files this morning on Netflix about Pope Joan, a woman who disguised herself as a monk and was elected pope. There's a debate among medieval scholars about whether or not she actually existed. The next documentary I watch will probably be about a Michelin star sushi chef who lives in Tokyo.

divanoir — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 15:23:39 GMT

I received more work from my current freelance client, which I finished on Friday. That means I have at least one more invoice to submit! I also got a call from a new recruiter about a potential freelance project, but we mutually agreed to follow-up after Labor Day weekend, since I have this project plus some photoshop work to complete for the magazines.

I finished PENNY DREADFUL last night and according to Wikipedia, it was renewed for a second season.

divanoir — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 00:57:06 GMT

I'm still waiting to hear back from the recruiter about a contract-to-perm job interview. The emergency on-site visit for the InDesign job didn't pan out, but I did get more work from the client I worked for last week. I've marked my calendar busy until Thursday for TR, so no new tasks will pop up before then.

I finished the Graduation eps of Buffy this morning during breakfast/email time. Yesterday, I watched the finale of True Blood, which left me kind of meh. At least they didn't kill off Lafayette. I'm still kinda pissed about Tara and Alcide. ::shakes fist:: If I don't watch tonight's SPN repeat, I'll check out the remaining eps of PENNY DREADFUL.

divanoir — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 02:18:28 GMT

I submitted the last group of deliverables for my freelance project for the small startup company Saturday morning along with the second invoice. I'm scheduled get feedback on Tuesday and he'll decide if he needs more help. ::fingers crossed:: Nothing happening on the TR front, as the only task I had scheduled for the upcoming week was canceled. People not giving enough details in their task description is a real problem. At least with the old system, you could ask questions before submitting a bid. Now, you can't talk to people until after they've hired you and THEN you find out they left out important details. *facepalm*

I've been doing a bit of work on my art director inbox, and that will continue tomorrow as well. I'm still searching for new artists via the web. I have a few leads I can follow up on. I spent some time googling for more stuff to draw, and I found a few possibilities. I'll probably work out of the library tomorrow, since I don't have anything scheduled.

I started watching HAPPY VALLEY this afternoon, a police procedural set in Yorkshire. I noticed that there are Inspector Lynley books available at the library, but the waiting list is long, so I think it's going to be a while before I get a chance to read it. I'm on the fence about the Iris Johansen mystery I'm reading.

divanoir — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:43:06 GMT

I've been crazy busy this week with my freelance project, but I spent part of today following up on a couple of job leads and my art director inbox. I have a couple of hours left of the freelance project that I plan to wrap up tomorrow morning. I also need to spend part of this weekend outlining a ux design idea for the potential interview. The company is based in CT, but because I'd be a contract worker, I could work remotely. I sent off the mobile UI animation I did in After Effects, so we'll see if I get the interview.

I watched part of last night's VAMPIRE DIARIES ep, and realized I have no clue what's going on. I then switched back to re-watching Buffy eps on Netflix. I'm currently in the Mayor's arc. I'm a few issues behind on the Buffy and Angel comics, but I should check the library to see if they have the most recent anthology.

I'm curious to see the new Doctor Who premiere tomorrow night. I think there's some sort of special about the tour on tonight.

divanoir — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 23:54:06 GMT

I had a surprise emergency tech support call via TR on Sunday evening to an apartment overlooking the Hudson river. She was annoyed that I looked over the troubleshooting section of the manual for her printer when the first three things I tried didn't work. Normally I do research before I make the housecall, but I only had an hour between the call and getting to her place because I was taking over for the other dude on TR who bailed on her. I got it to work, though, so I guess that's why I got the good review. I also got the notice that I got paid so the money should be in my bank account by Thurs.

Day 1 of the freelance project went ok, I think. I'll know more when I get feedback on today's work tomorrow morning. It's probably going to go through Thursday, as I guessed. I might get Friday too, but we'll see.

I have yet to watch ep1 of OUTLANDER, which I think is still available for free online. I spent my birthday alternating between first Buffy Xbox game and watching it on Netflix while doing small stuff around the apartment. I took the whole day off from doing anything work related, so that was pretty exciting. I have Buffy: Chaos Bleeds for the Xbox somewhere in the media cabinet, so I'll try to find it sometime this week. I'm still behind on ARROW s2 and THE ORIGINALS so I may to watch a few eps this week.

I'm on the fence about THE LEFTOVERS, but I'm 2 eps behind, so maybe something has happened. I'm only behind on this week's ep of TRUE BLOOD, but based on the live feed comments from twitter last night, I don't think things have improved.

I also need to check my lj feed for vividcon recs.

divanoir — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 18:48:14 GMT

This past week was a bit weird. Like most people, I've been watching my social media feeds explode with the police shit show happening in Ferguson. I watched it start with all the other black folk I follow on facebook and twitter then all the white people I follow on twitter and tumblr. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. That was super weird. I wonder what it will mean long term for the conversation about race relations in America? What will happen the next time a black person dies in police custody? I'm wondering if there are more than a few police departments across the country being put on notice because of it. Here's an article about stop and frisk here in new york.

My actual birthday was on Friday, but I got a birthday surprise from a bunch of friends on Thursday night, which included Castiel cupcakes from counteragent. Technically, the ban on buying me gifts is still in place, since I'm still building up my freelance work, but I got a couple of gifts from friends anyway. I'm enjoying my new sketchpad, art books and digital comic book subscription immensely. I also got a call from my nieces in TN and I believe I'm also getting some new refrigerator art in the mail from them soon. I had a nice conversation with my sister as well, but that's nothing new since I get along with both my siblings quite well. They are awesome and the only reason I bring myself to deal with other parts of my family during the holidays. The real surprise was the nice conversation I had with my mother. My guess is its because she is too busy being annoyed with my brother-in-law. I feel bad for him, but its nice to have a break from being the one on the receiving end of her crazy. I guess I will tag in at some point to take the heat off them.

I have a freelance project coming up that represents from repeat business from a client. I'm hoping the trend continues. I'll find out more on Monday, but I'm hoping the assignment will go for the full week.

divanoir — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 00:31:01 GMT

The tech support house call went ok and I wrapped up a small delivery job this morning. I decided to stay in Manhattan in case any other jobs came up, and spent the day working out of a starbucks and the b&n in usq. I also spent some time checking out the art and design section of the bookstore and found a few titles I plant to search for at the library. I had a brief glimmer of a freelance job for next week, but the company decided they didn't need help after all. :P Unless something comes up, I'll spend Friday at the library working on a couple of design and programming tutorials.

I saw a few cookbooks in the bargain books section of the store, but managed to resist. I see that b&n allows you to save books to pinterest, which is handy. Wagamama and The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook were the ones that caught my eye.

divanoir — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 02:49:56 GMT

I may have a phone interview coming up with an company based in Jersey City. I spent today at the library doing a bit of research in preparation. I also spent some time working on some art director tasks.

Still rejoicing in having such a powerful laptop. I got so used to staring at the beach ball for extended periods whenever I did something in photoshop, it's a little shocking to have things done so quickly. I look forward to checking out how the new macbook performs when I start to explore Adobe Premiere! Working in After Effects is also pretty snappy. I only needed to do the first three beginner tutorials in order to complete the mobile UI animation tutorial I found. I posted the result to my work twitter. Still working on something of my own design that I can animate for my portfolio.

I went to a friend's house on Wednesday to get some help with my dev environment issues, which resulted in a lot of errors I only sort of vaguely understand. :P

Still stalling out on my anatomy drawing work. I'll try attacking that again this weekend.

divanoir — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 21:13:50 GMT

TaskRabbit switched over to their new interface this past week, which from a customer standpoint, makes sense, but is potentially annoying to people like me who use it for freelance work. I won't know for sure until I upgrade my phone because the new app only runs on iOS7 and you can no longer use the web site to bid for jobs. I don't know if Android phones have the same issue. For now, I'm only annoyed. Thank goodness I didn't spend crazy money on my new laptop. I was thinking that I could go with the 4S, which I could maybe get for free, but I'm only going to have this same issue come up again when iOS8 is released in the fall. So the plan is to upgrade to a phone that can run iOS8 that doesn't cost too much money. It feels like a recursive issue, as the only luck I've had getting freelance recently is using TR. I need to spend money in order to make back the money I'll spend getting a new phone.

I have a couple of job ads I want to submit resumes for. I did have two queries from recruiters last week, but nothing came out of that. My linkedin page has been steadily getting hits, so maybe I'll get another query from there. I plan to visit the phone store on Monday, so hopefully the faster I get re-verified for TR, the faster I can get more freelance work.

I'm still making my way through the AE tutorials. I'll hopefully finish another one this afternoon. I am anxious to get to that mobile UI animation tutorial I found. I'll probably try to spend a few days at the library this week with my laptop. I also need to start a new drawing. Anatomy continues to kick my butt.

I sent out a bunch of artist queries this week, and I got a few replies. I still have a bit of a wait to find out if I'll receive any signed contracts this week. I did finally sign one artist to the new magazine assignment I got in May. I think I only need one more artist to close out 2014 on the other magazine, which will give me a bit of breathing room to focus on the new one. It's proving a bit more challenging to source art for the new one, since they have a specific look they're going for.

job search, beta testers?

divanoir — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 20:08:06 GMT

All the bids I've submitted so far for potential freelance have been rejected, but I did get a new query from one of my recruiters for a contract job, so maybe I'll luck out there. I have been super productive, though. I did a bunch of work in photoshop and illustrator while I was at the library on Tuesday, after I had spent the morning re-installing the first set of the unix-based apps in terminal for my ruby dev environment. At least I thought I had, because when I checked the ruby version, it's still said 1.8.7. I think I screwed up rbenv, so I will spend part of this evening checking out stackoverflow for answers.

I spent this morning/afternoon working on my first After Effects tutorial. I found an animation tutorial specifically meant to model UI animations on mobile, but I need to finish the beginner course before I can tackle it. Then comes designing something original I can add to my portfolio. Anyone want to test my first animation rendered from After Effects? If yes, PM me the email address I can send it to. It's a 6MB .mp4 file.

divanoir — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 16:17:52 GMT

Day 5 of not crashing while in Photoshop, yay! Still working on getting all the applications I want installed, but I have the most important ones done. I've also spent the last few weeks changing/updating/adding passwords to LastPass. My capacity for unique and difficult password retention has come and gone so this plug-in is such a relief.

Thursday's freelance has been closed and paid, and I bid on another job so I'm waiting to see if I get selected. I won't be sending more resumes out until Sunday, since I figure there won't be as many new ads on a holiday weekend.

I'm spending today doing some art director work, and I'm thinking about going to see an art exhibit at the old Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn on Sunday if I get enough done. I'm stalled on my torso drawing, and I'm thinking about going on to the next in the series.

divanoir — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 22:38:25 GMT

Google is accepting applications for vouchers, for codeschool.com, from women and minorities who want to learn how to code. Check it out if you're interested.

I am psyched to find out what happens on the next episode of TRUE BLOOD, even though the prospect of Alcide's abs can't make up for last week's shenanigans. On the other hand, I have suspicions on whether or not they're pulling a fast one. Time will tell. I've seen the first ep of the new show THE LAST SHIP, which is about the search for a cure to a global pandemic that's killed off a significant part of the population. I'm interested enough to check out a few more eps before I make a decision. I think there's at least one other episode about a virus coming this summer called THE STRAIN, but I don't know when it's due to start.

Stephen King tweeted that he'll be a figure in the background in the season premiere of UNDER THE DOME. I didn't read the book, so I have no clue what happens. I thought the first season was ok, so I plan to keep up. I still haven't gotten around to finding a source for the most reason season of VIKINGS, so I should probably do that soon.

I'm still waiting to find out if I get the one day freelance job I bid on for Monday. I'm wondering how much longer this person can wait to make up their mind. :P Otherwise it's been a quiet day. I'm also hoping to hear about the application I submitted on Friday sometime this week. It's an agency job, but they specialize in law firms, so I might have a chance given the work I did for my old company. I've already finished the resume update, so I'm all set to start sending out new job applications with the new crop of job ads that will be posted tomorrow.

divanoir — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 13:13:34 GMT

I've had a busy week, despite the fact that I haven't had a reply regarding interview #3. The freelance job I got this week was supposed to be for only three days, but I'm getting paid for at least two additional days because the client realized they underestimated the time required to complete all the content changes they wanted. I went in to their office on Friday and I'm going back in again on Monday!

I'm spending part of this weekend checking out another markup language in the hope that they'll hire me again if they need more work done when this project is finished. I also need to get in some more work on my art director todo list, since I hadn't planned on working with the new client yesterday.

I followed up on four new job leads this week, but I think I'm pretty much out of the running for one of them, since it was another company with a crazy wish list of skills. If only I were a polymath, I'd never lack for work. :P

divanoir — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:21:18 GMT

Tomorrow, I should find out if I passed interview 3 from the recruiter. Since I ended up not needing this weekend for interview prep, I did a bit of art director work, used a discount ticket to see Godzilla, and tried a new ruby tutorial book. I opted out of the today's ruby study group, because I'm still trying to get a handle on the environment. So many things to google. :P

Monday, I'll try to get more art director work done, since I'll be busy with a freelance job at a startup from Tuesday-Thursday. I'm assuming it's a one-time thing, but maybe they'll add me to their list of freelancers they can call on for similar work.

movie meme!

divanoir — Mon, 19 May 2014 00:39:26 GMT

I saw this on counteragent's lj and thought I'd do a quick list.

That Crucial Movie meme...Everyone should post their ten most CRUCIAL CRUCIAL CRUCIAL-ASS movies, like the movies that explain everything about yourselves in your current incarnations (not necessarily your ten favorite movies but the ten movies that you, as a person existing currently, feel would help people get to know you) (they can change later on obviously).

1) Blazing Saddles
2) In the Heat of the Night
3) Uptown Saturday Night
4) Young Frankenstein
5) To Sir With Love
6) Sixteen Candles
7) A League of Their Own
8) Strictly Ballroom
9) Prometheus
10) Aliens

divanoir — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 16:44:34 GMT

I thought I had a job for a split second on Tuesday, but it turned out it was just miscommunication between three recruiters at one of the agencies I signed up with. A similar communication issue happened on Tuesday at another agency I use. Maybe the latter will be able to book an interview for me, so we'll see. I've also been answering direct ads, but no replies yet. Today will be spent seeing if there are any new job ads I'm qualified for and checking out some artist portfolios. The approval for potential artists I sent for review may mean I get additional art director work, which will mean a little extra money. The search for supplemental work needs to continue, though.

I finished the rails for zombies tutorial on codeschool, but I think I want to do the code challenges again, so that the information will stick. I also got to play the first level of the Rails 4 update tutorial, which might come in handy at some point.

All the drawing I've been doing this week has just been repetition of partial facial anatomy, so nothing worth looking at really. Proportion is still kicking my butt. I think I should re-visit the exercises from the human anatomy drawing course I took last year. Luckily, I saved all the handouts.

divanoir — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 01:59:46 GMT

I finished bioshock 2 the other evening, and I've been replaying through the levels of Portal 2 when I take my work breaks. There's a battle with the computer that I didn't make it past, so I'm going back and replaying all the levels in preparation to try again. Also, I have some ideas for some Portal fan art, but I'm wondering if I'll be able to execute. i've been doing a bit of image research to find references. According to a recent tutorial I read, I should incorporate doing studies of individual elements in preparation for the final composition. So, i'll work on a few sketches to get in some practice.

I just got another query from a recruiter, which I will answer tomorrow morning. I sent out a bunch of emails to artists who submitted portfolios for review. I have two potential people who might be a good fit, so I'll probably work on a few comps before I submit them for review. I'll be working on the Rails for Zombies tutorial (level 3) tomorrow on codeschool.com.

a non-spoilery Captain America poll

divanoir — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 23:58:42 GMT

View Poll: #1965055

divanoir — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:00:54 GMT

I got a call late yesterday afternoon that one of my recruiters scheduled me for an interview on Friday! It's for a long-term freelance job. I spent a few hours at the library today working on my sales pitch while waiting to get the name and address of the company. I'm done, so I may even have time to draw this evening. I did another of Glen Keane's production sketches last night, which I feel kinda meh about. Still, I've made some progress with the anatomy of the skull.

While looking for this article featuring deleted scenes from CATCHING FIRE, I saw a link to an article about a potential direction of THE WALKING DEAD spinoff.

Links from my internet feeds:

A gallery of Michele Carragher's embroidery work for Game of Thrones.

A Walking Dead infographic.

Mapping racial groups across the US with census data.

divanoir — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 01:40:06 GMT

I got drawing time in early today. I also have a couple of others I've worked on this week. I've also been googling for an explanation of STDIN that makes sense to me, and until I do, I'm stuck on exercise 13 of the ruby book a technical writer published online. I also started artist research this morning for a cover for the magazine. I've seen one or two possibilities, but I probably won't submit any comps until the end of the week.

In media-related news, from my facebook feed, a link to Kevin Bacon re-creating a dance scene from Footloose to celebrate the 30th Anniversary. I've been googling for model sheets from the buffy comic again, with no luck, but I did see this animated short from the canceled Buffy, the animated series, for which Eric Wight did the concept art. Spotify is streaming Cherlene's country album for free accounts.

I had one new query on Friday, and I'm still waiting to hear back from the recruiters about the other applications I submitted this week. I also put in a bid on a small project, and stayed home in case I got selected, but I didn't hear anything there either. I'm thinking I should put in a little time at the library for interview prep, just in case any of those queries pan out. I may wait until Monday and spend Sunday working on my ruby issues.

divanoir — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 00:03:19 GMT

Both machines were being uncooperative today, so I spent most of the day working on a new drawing and answering recruiter emails via the ipad. Here's the drawing I did last night. I already finished the brief APIs with Ruby tutorial on codecademy, so the only outstanding issue I have is setting up the db I want to work with on the mac. Hopefully, there won't be any fatal crashes.

I got my rejection from the free programming bootcamp, but I'm still waiting to find out if the other bootcamp, where I had a skype interview, will accept my application. Even if they do, I'd have to come up with a huge amount of cash up front to attend. As a contingency, I'm applying to a couple of others tomorrow. I believe a couple of those don't ask for money until you find a job.

I watched Madonna's latest concert film MDNA, and I thought the mash up with Express Yourself and Born this Way was great. I wonder if netflix has any of her concert films available for streaming? I'll check that out later this evening. I'm all set for the new ep of SUPERNATURAL. In related news, I see the producers are sponsoring a design contest for official merch. It's been weeks since I looked at my idea sketchbook....

I just remembered that because I was having dinner at a friend's house last week, I haven't watched the most recent episode of HANNIBAL. Maybe I'll get to it tonight AFTER I have dinner.

I'm waiting to find out if I get interviews for jobs from two different recruiters, so it's quiet around here. I'm hoping to finish the mobile UI photoshop tutorial I started earlier today sometime tomorrow.

divanoir — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:16:29 GMT

My frustration with individual facial features continues, but looking at it again I have to admit I like the way the nose and mouth came out.

In my twitter feed is the depressing news a female developer who worked for GitHub left due to the harassment.

I'm really enjoying the new COSMOS. If you haven't had a chance to watch it already, the eps are available online for free. New eps of THE GOOD WIFE have started up, but I feel undecided about the current storyline. I believe there is only one episode of ALMOST HUMAN from a few weeks ago, that I haven't had a chance to watch, so I'll probably try to do that tonight. I went to see the new Veronica Mars movie, and I really enjoyed it. Even more so because it was in a theater full of fans. Still reeling from last night's developments on THE WALKING DEAD and I can hardly believe there are only 2 eps left before the season is over. That goes double for the series finale of PSYCH which is 2 or 3 eps away.

Still trying to figure out my db error issues on the mac. Today I'm working on a codecademy tutorial about APIs with ruby. I plan on doing another drawing later this evening, but I've also seen a couple of photoshop tutorials that look interesting. I'm thinking today might be quiet on the recruiter front because of St. Patrick's Day. I haven't had any email other than the automated search results I receive daily from job search engines.

divanoir — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 03:05:21 GMT

My interview with the bootcamp went ok, but their financial aid package, if I qualify wouldn't cover enough of their tuition to make this an attractive option. Here's hoping I can get into The Hacker School, which is free. I googled for a list of bootcamps here in NY, and I believe that's the only free one, but I'll review the list again. I think a couple of the others don't ask for money until you're hired by one of the companies that scout for talent among their students.

I spent the morning with one of my peeps working on setting up a development environment on my mac to work with my first repo. I'm still working my way through the instructions. My comfort level with the command line is coming back slowly but surely. I've been googling for the unix commands I don't know for the syntax meant to get various apps to run at startup. There's a mysql setup command that I will dissect tomorrow. Hopefully, once I finish all the instructions from the wiki, I'll be able to repeat the process on the PC so that both machines are setup to work.

My plan is to finish setting up the mac tomorrow and continue with the online ruby book/tutorial I found in addition to downloading/exploring repo files.

I thought the game of thrones rap album CATCH THE THRONE wasn't real, until a friend of mine posted the soundcloud link to my fb feed. Now I can't stop listening to Dominik Omega's ARYA'S PRAYER. I like the other other songs too, but that one is my particular favorite. 10/10 highly recommended. I'm hoping people start vidding to them once the new season starts, because that would be AWESOME!

I had a few queries from recruiters pop into my email inbox while I was at my friend's place. It's unusual, since Monday has always been a slow day where I'm dying for one of my recruiters to send me something I can apply for. I sent back replies, so we'll see if any of them can get me an interview.

No drawing time tonight, and I'm more than a little frustrated with how it went last night. Ugh. Why can't I draw exactly what I see???

divanoir — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 18:30:58 GMT

I spent Saturday setting up dev environments on both mac and pc. I believe things went without a hitch on the mac because I only used the rails installer, but all I've done is ask it what version of rails is running post-install. Things were not so easy on the pc, as I installed ruby over a month ago, and didn't install rails until yesterday. OMG the agita! I managed to google my way out of it, though. I do have one last error to resolve, but it gave me the correct response when asked for the rails version on the command line, and I got the web server to start, so I'm counting that as a win. Now that I've gotten the laundry done, the rest of my day is going to be spent with a rails web app tutorial I found for beginners. I'm treating this as prep for tomorrow morning's interview with the programming bootcamp I applied to.

Gillian Anderson's new show CRISIS is due to start soon, I think. I'm wondering if this means she won't be on HANNIBAL as much? We'll see. I haven't checked netflix to see if there are new eps available of the (BBC? ITV?) show where she's a DCI. I'm still way behind on THE ORIGINALS, but maybe I'll have a chance to watch a few eps in between work. The new SUPERNATURAL spinoff is now called SUPERNATURAL: BLOODLINES and has added another cast member. Season 4 of ARCHER is now available on netflix, so I'm sure I'll be doing a marathon shortly.

I have conflicting feelings about the result of last night's drawing time. I see incremental improvement in terms of rendering the skull and the lines that represent muscles under the skin, but I still struggle with accuracy in reproducing individual facial features. Even stranger is that I'm more accurate in drawing profile or 3/4 view of the face, but a full view of a face means goodbye to my ability to see or reproduce pseudo symmetrical elements. What the hell, brain???? I'll try again tonight after I'm done with my programming tutorials.