I N T H E N I G H T K I T C H E N 10.28.2000
A few loose ends: No, I did not get layed off -- thank you very much -- none of the designers did. The rest of our "department" (Interactive) lost six people. The Big Fish lost a lot more than that nationwide. It came as a shock to everyone. The company has grown very rapidly in the last year and they lost one of their big clients recently. Everyone understand but no one likes it. I'm worried about my job. I've barely been billable and I'm still the new kid. If they layoff again, I don't know that the designers won't get touched. I had a talk with my Creative Director about that. He's worried, too, but he doesn't think that there will be more layoffs for awhile and hopefully not ever. He wanted me to not feel like I was already a goner and that that was in no way true. So far, though, the small amount of work that I have done has been solid. Which brings up another loose end -- the Big Idea. I thought it went over well but it was way more than I guess they were expecting. The Senior Art Director didn't give me all the information about the piece. I'm not sure if that was strategy or oversight or... what exactly but it made it not quite on target as I had hoped. However, the idea was still inspired and we brainstormed it a little bit and shifted it into something that I really like; something I can get behind and feel proud of. So, it's all good. Oh, and they did call up the illustrator guy that I recommended. However, I think the stinkin' project is on hold -- the story of my life. 10.24.2000
I was so very inspired by the pixel stylings over at Flip Flop Flyin' that I did one of my house. Is it not the cutest?  10.23.2000
Layoffs. Ugh. 10.22.2000
Slept like the dead last night. I don't think I moved a muscle until 9 this morning. T. and I dropped into bed at 1:30 a.m. after a long drive back from Eugene. Homecoming game. UO verses the Arizona Wildcats. We beat them but it wasn't a very exciting game. The most excitement came in the last four minutes when it looked like the 'Cats might score, pulling ahead of us and leaving us with no time to recover. They didn't do it, though and we won the game. We drove down to Eugene, leaving at noon, with our friends Barry & Samara. T. was roommates with Barry in college when he and I started dating. They're both really nice people and a sweet couple. We parked in the stadium lot with the other tailgaters and played Spades and drank beer and chatted. It was all very low-key which I really liked. We had really great seats and while it was pretty cold it didn't rain so it was all good. I like going to games once in awhile. It's fun to root for one side over another. It's also more fun when you understand the game better. God forbid I become an actual football fan. (Um... I don't think that's really going to happen.) The crowd seemed in remarkably good spirits and I was impressed that the whole stadium clapped when an injured opposing-team player was able to walk off the field with only a little help. I accidentally smuggled in an open beer in my jacket. I then forgot about it until a smiling older guy with a painted face stopped to tell me, laughing, that my jacket was leaking. I reached into my jacket and the bottle tumbled out onto the cement, totally empty. I laughed hard and the guy behind me tapped me on the shoulder to tell me, "Good effort! Good effort!" + + + I've jumped on the Cafe Press bandwagon. Mostly because I thought my toaster would look cute on a mug. I tried to do the same "sketched" look but I didn't think it came across too well so I popped it into Illustrator and made it vector. There's a penny markup on each as I hate it when places make things $xx.99 in a pathetic attempt to make you think you're getting a bargain. I haven't received mine yet so I can't vouch for anything but I've heard the mugs are good quality. http://www.cafepress.com/nightkitchen/ 
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