$$$ well spent?

as some of you may already know, i just recently rented out an apartment with my friend marielle. we got our keys yesterday right after paying rent which was a steal for what we have. at the same time, i was pondering over how much money both my parents and i have been spending on the upcoming school year. rent, tuition, books, furniture, the works. everything nowadays seems to be becoming more and more expensive and in this economic turmoil, we're looking at bad times. first off, schools have started this program called furlough fridays where basically 2 fridays out of the month staff and faculty take the day off taking a 10 percent price cut off their paychecks. if you can't already tell, tuition rose and having staff and faculty taking the day off puts a hinder on us as students. this economy is going to shit and its really innerving knowing that the worse may happen come 2012. not only that, but work is also cutting hours since disneyland isn't really making bank during the school year. i find it ok this way because i will be busy at school regardless, but at the same time i will still be depending on my parents for support. i am one of the lucky ones who are blessed with parents that are willing to help out. i do have to say although i can be stubborn with them at times, i love them and know how much they are really helping me. hopefully the economy starts looking up because with the amount of money we've already spent in the past week and a half, i could have already gotten a few new cameras by now. hope everything is well with you guys. till later!

peace out!

new opportunities for the new year.

this weekend i will be off on retreat for ASI/B.E.A.T.for those of you who don't know what that is, its the Bronco Events and Activities Team on campus. it is a student run organization that holds all of the large events on campus. i was lucky enough to be given the position of indoor rec chair. basically i am in charge of large scale events that happen inside different areas of school such as midnight madness/nite owl, the event that happens the first day of every finals week. i'm pretty stoked to be a part of the team, although i do have some concerns, but hopefully the anxiety about that will subside. as for now, i'm looking forward to meeting all of the new people that's also on the team. currently i only know two people on B.E.A.T. but hopefully by the end of the week, i will meet everyone else. i'm also quite excited to see others who are part of ASI for next year who i haven't seen since the start of summer. i'm hoping this weekend will be worth the time i take off work for it.

also, from my previous post, i talked about how i met mike moody, the father of shaun moody, the oneill marketing manager. i just sent out my resume and cover letter off thanks to the help of my friends brian and marielle for helping me out. now i just have to wait for a response. before i even sent off my resume, i was contemplating what IF i did get the internship? i would have to quit my current job and then commute from chino all the way to irvine for it. this is IF i get it.

regarding the apartment. it's official! i'm moving in next week. i just need to finalize some last minute paperwork and i'm in. my roommate marielle and i are so stoked about rooming together. we're already thinking about interior designs. i already expect my room to be full out colorful like my current room and rooms in the past. it's going to be decked out in all shades of neon. haha.

another opportunity that i currently am working on is my photography. i put in an order for business cards and they've been printed and mailed out, so now i'm just waiting on that to come into the mail. i'm also looking into building my portfolio. i want to print out 8 x 10s of all of my best work and put it into my own personal file in order to bring to interviews and show to clients etc. it's really exciting how things are coming into play right now.

hopefully everyone is having one awesome summer. sadly my summer is starting to come to a close. by september 13th i will no longer be available for the summer since its welcome week training and then school starts on the 24th. new opportunities, new year, same ol' stephanie.

language: the barrier between two people.

working at a location that is accustomed to having many foreign visitors, i have had to talk to and assist many foreigners. i have come to realize that no matter which part of the world you are in, language will always be a barrier amongst people especially if they're not from where you are. while working line today, i was approached by so many people who either had accents or could not speak the language at all. it was frustrating to have to repeat myself 3 or 4 times in order to have a smidge of being understood. i then took the time to realize that i too, would have a difficult time speaking to a person in another country too, so i took it upon myself to become more patient with everyone, mainly because i was at work. i attempted to explain to them to stay in the area to wait for their name to be called at least 3 times. i then had to resort to using hand gestures, anything to get my point across i suppose.
i have been blessed to understand and speak 3 languages. not many people are able to do so, so i take the time to try and comprehend what they're saying and try to the best of my ability to specify what is needed to them. i think these are the times when the quote "take a walk in their shoes" come into play.
having come from a family that has members that still cannot speak english well, i understand that its hard to converse. i also find it hard to converse with people who don't understand what you write either. for example, i talked to this guy from romania and he still had a hard time understanding what i was writing. i tried my best to tell him what i meant and it worked out, but sometimes that may not be the case. as for now, i guess i'm just going to suck it up and converse with them as best as i can.

yesterday's in the past, but good things hopefully are coming in the future.

yesterday i had quite a day of fun surprises, "shocking events" and good times. it all started out with my sister and i opening up shop for my dad while he entertained and hosted his friend and his daughters who were visiting from florida. a customer had came in to the store and ordered, we had gotten his order and he had asked us where tom, my dad was. we had told him that he's not coming in until later and that we had opened the store up that day. my sister then proceeded to tell him that we were tom's daughters, because he had a confused look on his face [probably because my dad rarely ever not shows up in the mornings] when told this, the customer was surprised. he then asks what high school we go to. fml. haha, this was the first of three times that i had been mistaken as a high schooler in the past 2 days. when i told him i was a fourth year in college, he was shocked and amazed saying wow! you're so young. that was then when he asked me what i was studying and what i would like to do out of college. i told him i wanted to go into marketing within the action sports apparel brand companies. lo and behold his son was a marketing major that currently works at o'neill traveling the world and surfing all the big waves there are. that was when he told me that he'll look into asking his son to look around and see if there is a need for any interns and he'll see what he can do for me. which is amazing!! i then gave him my cell number and now am hoping for a call sometime. [dad's connections works out #1]

then as i was on my way to work i get a missed call from someone named keiko. i listen to her voice mail and she turned out to be another one of my dad's acquaintances who works for mary kay who knows a famous hollywood photographer and invited me to go to newport beach on september 12th to meet him. omg!! a chance to meet a famous hollywood photographer? heck yes! i called her up and she gave me all the details. i'm super excited. its a casting call for models, but i'll be meeting the photographer who gets to choose them all. maybe i'll learn some new tips and tricks from him? [dad's connection works out #2]

then it was off to work. that night i did not let anything get me down, i was in such a great mood. i have really come to love working my job. i love my coworkers. we were laughing so hard, mainly about me and the way i host, but it was hilarious nonetheless. i now found out that i ask the party "would you like to follow me?" and my coworkers were asking why i give them the choice. also when i call out their names i make it sound as though i'm working at in and out. we were laughing so hard at the front desk till we cried. then at the end of the night, i got to know kyle, one of the runners a bit better. i havent really talked to him much since he's a runner and i've only hosted with him once. turns out he's 21, even though he looks like he's younger and working to become an actor. at first i didn't really know him too much, but now that ive sort of talked to him he seems pretty cool even though others don't seem to think so. it was nice meeting and talking to new people. i really enjoy that aspect. lately i've been meeting more and more people from work that aren't just the hostess and servers. there is one however who i'm still hoping to talk to at some point in time. haha, but other than that its been pretty cool.

yeah yesterday was a good day. too bad, the only downfall was being mistakened as a high schooler, but fun times nonetheless :]

distinguish this...

yesterday's events brought up an issue that i've had to face [and possibly you have had to as well] for quite some time now. of course, our parents don't want us to grow up too quickly, but they also want us to grow up. what in the world do they want us to do when they don't treat us by our age?? i'm almost 21 and i STILL have to ask them if i can go out and strike deals with them in order to do so. what do they really expect from us when this happens? it frustrates me that my parents want me to mature, but at the same time they don't respect me by considerably treating me as though i'm 12.

it basically all started out with not having to go to work yesterday and then being invited to disneyland with some friends and then dinner afterwards. plans were set and done, until i got a phone call saying "i don't want you to go out today" etc. i then had to compromise [which is understandable] by saying i'll do this, this and this if you let me go. n response, my mom said ok. i understand that i'm still dependent on them for things and that because they are my parents they are allowed to do this, but i wished i didn't have to be treated like a kid for me to go out and do something.

this all sounds quite selfish of me, but if you knew my parents you might understand. my parents own businesses and one of them is a golden spoon. for this, i am their go-to girl when they need someone to close up shop. of course i have tried my best to stay as far as possible from this line of business, but it always seems to pull me back somehow. i of course, go and close the store for them, but it seems as though they love to ask me to do this when i have plans of some kind. all throughout high school i worked for them on and off and word of advice, don't work for your parents. neopotism can be the lead cause of arguments in a business and family atmosphere, i know from firsthand experience. i never really had a life in high school, i wewnt to school during the week and worked weekends for them during the weekends. it was pretty much my life, it did however give me the firsthand experience i needed for managerial jobs though which i am thankful for. they don't understand that i left the business to find other jobs because i couldn't take it from them anymore. working with them and then having to go home and deal with them gets to be a hinder when you're a growing teenager. they know [or at least should] know by now that i wouldn't do anything against their wishes. i mean i'm not the perfect child, but i know when not to cross boundaries. i don't drink, i don't smoke, i don't do drugs. i'm the epitomy of a straight edger. i just wished that they understood and knew that i am all of these things because of them. they are the reason why i don't do things that most people my age go out and do. i've had a heart to heart with my mom about this, but i seriously doubt she understood any of the words coming out of my mouth at the time. well, goes to show the "in one ear, out the other" saying huh?

so that was just my little rant. hopefully when i move into my apt, they'll see that i am old enough to not have to always be there...they've had to deal with it for the past 3 years in college, now they should see that i don't need them at my side ALL the time.

sometimes...

i just don't understand people nowadays. take the place where i work for example, it's a restaurant that seems to have too much drama within it. i thought taking a job in a restaurant would take away from all the cattiness and drama that F21 had, but i suppose not. tonight was just not the best night for things. i felt bad for all of my co-hosts tonight. we were basically in a rush of large parties. my poor desk host, after having not run desk in over 3 months got yelled at for double seating a server. then there's us seaters who basically get shit talked on all the time. i haven't even worked there a month yet and its already burning me out. one server, who i'm not going to name really gets on my nerves, but i'm just glad i'm not the only one who thinks he's a dbag. honestly, when are we going to managed better? it was a rough night as you can tell, but there are no excuses for bad management. good night everyone, hopefully it'll be better the next time around.

my first ever...

real paying gig as a photographer. [the first don't really count, although i did get a gift card, free lunch and ice cream...haha//oh yeah and i got paid a couple months later for one...that was cool to get the check in the mail] this one though is for a lady that saw some of my shots on my facebook page i guess she liked my style because she contacted me looking into planning a shoot with me. i confirmed it yesterday for next week and cannot wait to meet her. she owns a salon and she said that if this photoshoot works out, she may contact me later about a shoot at her salon [hope this goes well]

my next photoshoot is with my friend sharon, who's a coordinator at the api center on campus. we're looking into going to the lab in costa mesa for the shoot. i'm so excited for this one because of the concept she concieved in her head. i loved the idea the moment she told me. it's going to be great. i'll post pictures up soon once i take them on saturday.

i don't know what it is. photography has just become a part of me. the best part about photography has to be when i take the shot and then view them after on the screen of my laptop. from the intricate details to the lighting in the photo, everything about it gives me this sort of thrill. its quite nice, just me, the camera, the model and the background. cannot wait for all of these photoshoots to pan out. as for photos, i'll leave you with some of my photos taken from my sis and i's trip to downtown long beach yesterday.

good day everyone! :]