Monthly Archives: July 2005

My adopted cousin Anton dubbed the weekend that – “Jilly Goes to Camp Tillie”, after making the connexion sometime early Saturday morning, while he, my guy roomate Andrew, and I, were hiking up Unal Peak in Kern Valley. We were staying at the Tillie Creek campgrounds, and that’s my old nickname from Texas.

I chuckled. Upon getting home, I would have actually dubbed the weekend “Jillian, 2, River, 0”, because despite taunting it a couple times, the Kern River did NOT succeed in drowning me.
if there’s water, i will fall into it

A six-page public service announcement for bloggers

(full link:
http://thenonist.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/a_nonist_public_service_pamphlet/)

In the first night of the kickball season, us Pregnant Cheerleaders whupped the Westside Whackers, 2 – 0, beating the predicted spread, in which we were supposed to lose by 3. Then we all went to the bar.

Did I mention how much I love this game?

i miss vancouver

Tonight, I went to a Conversations at the Hammer with Oliver Stone and David Corn. Yes, that’s Oliver Stone as in JFK, Platoon, and even Alexander. And David Corn, commentator for the left on the occasional TV show, and investigative reporter for The Nation.

This was not a debate. This was just a conversation, because they were both on the same side of the issue. Which, was, of course, The War In Iraq.

Let me just add that I absolutely love living in a city which has events like this. Being able to sit in on a conversation between two of America’s best known liberal thinkers is amazing. And it was in a beautiful space, the open air atrium of the Hammer Museum at UCLA. There must have been a thousand people there, listening intently, on a soft summer night in Westwood.

I took notes, on my Blackberry, because I’m a huge nerd. But some of you might be interested, because they had a lot to say on media and public perception, on reporting and news and the War In Iraq. Here’s the notes I took, typos and all:

conversations, in note form

I didn’t get to everything I planned to tonight. I’ve been mopey for a week or so, and lower in energy. It feels a bit like my brain has been set back on its old frequencies, and I’m no longer able to summon up the feeling of inner peace and well being I usually can. This, in turn, exhausts me. I can feel negativity getting the better of me, and can hear the overly dramatic, self-pitying statements coming out in my voice, and am not happy about it. Yet I can’t seem to summon up the absolutely tranquil, idyllic state of mind I had a couple weeks ago. I hate it, because I finally felt like I’d turned some major corners on what Taoists call the Way, and it bothers me to feel my brain sliding back into its old configurations. It’s hard to describe, but it mostly feels like information and emotion isn’t being filtered quite the same way, isn’t producing the same reactions as it did two weeks ago.

Perhaps I’m just out of alignment because I had to quit my job today, which was stressful at best. I was shaking when I walked into my boss’ office to explain the situation. But he agreed with all my points, and I’m leaving on good terms. Which, in the long run, means a lot to me. I will miss that team of people, and I will want to be able to see them at mixers and events in the future without any negativity.

I also accepted and faxed back the offer letter to my new job, so that’s it. I’m signed, sealed, and after August 15th, I’ll be delivered.

Wow. I’m really scared about this. I’m terrified that I made the wrong decision, that I’ll hate the new job, and will have given up my much beloved place in the Binoculars for it. I’m frightened that I won’t ever find a job I like better than I did the Agency. I don’t think I’ve ever been this worried about a life change, not since I graduated UBC and had to face the real world. What if I don’t do well? What if I hate the clients? What if it isn’t what I thought? I’m terrified right now – but all I can do is wait and find out.

Unrelated to subject line, but One Million Reasons Dot Org is online:
http://www.onemillionreasons.org/

It’s a CODEPINK initiative to get 1,000,000 people to give reasons against the war.

The subject line of this entry actually refers to Microsoft’s Virtual Earth product, which is in the news this morning for showing outdated satellite photos of Apple HQ and the WTC. I gave it a basic geography test of my own, and it failed that, as well. Way to go Microsoft! Nice work launching a product that shouldn’t be out there, just because Google beat you to it!

My test for Americans’ geography skills is simply a matter of name dropping my hometown of Victoria, British Columbia.

SMART – “Victoria, on Vancouver Island? Just north of Seattle?”
SLIGHTLY WITH IT – “Victoria Island’s in BC, right?”
CLUELESS – “Where’s that? Is that part of Vancouver?”
TYPICAL – “How far is that from Toronto?”

I applied the same standard to MSN Virtual Earth today, and found out that it should be called Virtual America. There is no photo data for BC. At all. It simply dead-ends at the 49th parallel. I input my parents’ address, and it returned the same street in North Carolina. Google Maps at least has a blurry image of Oak Bay available, and has much more detailed images of Vancouver.

So therefore, I deem Virtual Earth to be a complete misnomer, and they officially fail my “Are You Too America-a-Centric” test.

In an unrelated topic, I made gazpacho yesterday. “It’s tomato soup, served ice cold!” No, seriously, I took a recipe from a Martha Stewart magazine (the sales rep from MarthaStewart.com was in last week) and modified it to a less expensive version:

recipe to follow

In the last nine years since I joined the adult workforce, I’ve had Homer Simpson-esque list of jobs. Chambermaid (1996), computer salesgirl (1997), HTML freelance (1997), HTML author (1998), Internet Marketing Manager (1999), webhosting tech support (2000), temp admin assistant (2000), vo-tech college instructor (2001), closed captioner / transcriptionist (2001), tourguide / deckhand / bartender (2002). And finally, online media planner, 2003. And the same job, again, 2004. This is the first time I’ve ever worked in a straight line, using actual past jobs to move forward on a path to some semblance of a career.

And, based on that idea, I’ve made up my mind to accept the offer from iMedia tomorrow. Which means that, as soon as I do, I’m going to hand in a resignation letter to the key people at Tribal. I’d like to thank the many people have helped me come to this decision – many of you have listened to me, or offered advice, or helped me analyze the situation, and I appreciate it to no end.

I keep replaying a part of my job interview in my mind, when the woman in charge of the L.A. office told me what she was going to do if I took the job. “Your career is here,” she said, holding her hand just above the table, “but you have good experience and a great personality. Tribal’s a great shop, but they can’t help you move forward. I think, if you come to work here, I can take you here.” And she moved her hand up six inches, to indicate that she was going to make the investment in me.

I’ve also met with the other three guys that I’d be working with. One was a West Coast VP, the other two were on the level of my current boss. I’d be junior again, low girl on the totem pole – but I’d still be higher up in the overall Media Planner Food Chain than I am right now.
some boring career talk

http://www.losanjealous.com/2005/07/23/of-clown-crotches-and-towers/