39. Visit 24 hour K-Mart between 1am and 4am, just ’cause
19. Get up early enough to watch the sun rise over the lake
What a long morning it’s been!
The staff at Kmart were quite baffled.
Kmart and Sunrise
January 20th, 2010The staff at Kmart were quite baffled.
Taco
January 18th, 201070. Eat a taco
I’ll admit, I was running out of ideas when I thought of this. Nevertheless… my photographic evidence:
Dinner!
In other news, my hair looks good right now, because my sister received a GHD hair straightener in the mail that she ordered from the internet. We tried it out.
Block of Chocolate
January 17th, 201052. Buy a block of chocolate and eat it over the space of a week
Om nom nom
This one was a toughie.
I love chocolate so much, normally any chocolate in the house is gone within 4 hours or so. But, one week ago I bought a 200g block of Cocoa Belgian chocolate, and am now in between typing, eating the final two squares.
My Worst Client
January 15th, 2010It’s been a strange year, and a lot has happened. I’ve had many clients, some of which disappeared off the face of the Earth before I could get any money off them for the design mockups I sent them. But those ones paled in comparison to one client I (nearly) had early on.
Back then, the business was fresh and exciting. I didn’t know I was in over my head at that stage. I received a phone call from a startup company that wished me to create a website for them. It would be a website based on placing working holidaymakers from Australia in jobs in London.
Sounded fine, I thought. I went and saw them and discussed it. They were pretty nice people. They said they would pay me a little to start off ($250 I think it was) and that I would make a percentage of the profits. 
They complimented the Illawarra Directory, and said that they wanted their website to look similar to that. I was pleased, and went home feeling good about the project. So good that I made a design that day, because they wanted something for the next day – I did consider that somewhat demanding of them, considering I had other clients to work on as well, but I brushed it off and did it anyway. It was a good design. I was proud of it.
The next day they called me and asked me to come around again. They were close by, only in Shellharbour Village, so I obliged.
This time I wasn’t alone. There was another graphic designer there. She was really friendly, and I can only hope that she cut her own ties with this ridiculous company like I did.
Here’s where things began to go downhill.
They didn’t like my design. Apparently, they had decided that they wanted a “grungey” design instead of the sleek design I had given them, modelled off the Illawarra Directory. Okay, I thought, that’s fine. No dramas. I’ll use that design in some other way.
One of the ladies decided that she wanted Photoshop. She actually had me take her laptop home and install Photoshop onto it, and return it to her. Once I got back, the woman decided I needed to stick around for a while and help her use Photoshop. She’d never touched it before, but she wanted to participate in the website design for some bizarre reason.
Finally, I made an excuse that I was meeting another client that afternoon and had to leave.
The next business day, I received another phone call from the Photoshop n00b. She needed me to tell her how to do something. I think it was something to do with erasing a background from a photo. I did my best to explain to her how I achieved that, and then continued to work on another client once the phone call ended. The phone started to ring again. I answered, and the idiot had some other question that I answered, and hung up.
Then, she called again. I pressed “busy” on my phone. Then I switched off my phone.
When the day had ended I turned it back on, and I had two voicemail messages from her.
One of them was something along the lines of “Hi Natalie, I really need your help with Photoshop. I thought it would be easy to do things, but I’m having so much trouble. Can you call me ASAP?”
Yeah, she thought Photoshop was easy. Never mind that I learnt to use it through both trial and error and through my DIGITAL MEDIA CERTIFICATE IV course.
I sent her an email.
Hi,
I’m really sorry that I had to stop taking calls, but I’m really busy with three different websites and I work much better without distractions. I’d like to help you but honestly, I’m a terrible teacher and I’m only a web designer. I know how to do things, but it’s due to a lot of practice, classes and trial and error.If I had limitless time, and didn’t have to earn a living, I would happily teach it to you, but as it stands right now I just can’t afford to. If you want a website, I’ll make you a website, no problem. But I didn’t agree to be a Photoshop mentor as well. I’m sorry, but it’s just too much to handle.To help you out, here are some online tutorials for Photoshop that will easily do a better job than I could:
I’m really sorry that I had to stop taking calls, but I’m really busy with three different websites and I work much better without distractions. I’d like to help you but honestly, I’m a terrible teacher and I’m only a web designer. I know how to do things, but it’s due to a lot of practice, classes and trial and error.If I had limitless time, and didn’t have to earn a living, I would happily teach it to you, but as it stands right now I just can’t afford to. If you want a website, I’ll make you a website, no problem. But I didn’t agree to be a Photoshop mentor as well. I’m sorry, but it’s just too much to handle.To help you out, here are some online tutorials for Photoshop that will easily do a better job than I could:
- http://www.we-r-here.com/ps/tutorials/index.htm
- http://www.pegaweb.com/tutorials/beginners-guide-adobe-photoshop/
- http://www.photoshopcstutorial.com/beginner-photoshop-tutorials/index.php
- http://draykenobi.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/photoshop-tutorial-cutting-out-images/
- http://www.tip-kit.com/tips/view/34
- http://best-photoshop-tutorials.blogspot.com/2008/09/3d-photo-effect.html
- http://psd.tutsplus.com/interface-tutorials/how-to-create-a-grunge-web-design-in-photoshop/
- http://designinn-sg.blogspot.com/2009/01/realistic-duct-tape.html
Regards,
Natalie
As you can see, I really thought it out. I even went to the trouble of seeking out tutorials for her.
Her response? (Red text is my comments)
I’m very sorry you have misunderstood our aim with requesting some help with Photoshop. We wanted to provide you with our ideas so that you could successfully design the website quickly to bring in the sales, which we would all proffer[sic] from.
We respect that you are busy with your other clients’ projects but our aim is to facilitate a team approach as we will be working partners for some time, and quite frankly we may need to teach one another skills from time to time to optimize the business. (What? Not for $250 upfront and a measly 2% profits, thank you bitch – you’re lucky I even gave you the time of day) I think it is best if we detract our partnership at this point as we are looking for someone who has the time for this project. (You mean someone who actually doesn’t object to being part of your little sweatshop operation?)
Thank you for the time that you have given so far and we both wish you well in your future business.
Best Regards
I simply replied “Good luck finding someone.”
They’d need it. Anyone that would do that for them would have to be someone completely unemployed and desperate for work.
I hope those girls’ business fails miserably. They don’t deserve anybody’s money if they think that’s a good way to treat well-meaning but naive people.
Tiramisu and Boost Juice
January 14th, 2010Hey look! Two wins in one day!
72. Make tiramisu
44. Drink a large Boost Juice
At Boost today, I bought a large (well, they call the size “original” but that doesn’t mean anything) green tea and mango super juice. It took me a good half an hour to finish off.
Tonight, I made a very ugly but VERY delicious tiramisu.
It’s like that Picnic ad. “Deliciously… ugly.”
Real Estate Agents
January 13th, 2010There’s this real estate agency in Gerringong, perhaps you’ve heard of it – you’d remember if you had.
It’s a bit famous on the internet, for being on lists with funny business names. It’s a shame they hardly do rentals, because it would have been nice to tell people I paid my rent to Dick Payne.
Instead, Allyson and I were forced to settle for something marginally less funny.
They didn’t phail us, so we are happy with them.
Moving to Mangerton
January 12th, 2010
Fairy Meadow?
Mangerton is such an ugly word. With other suburbs in Wollongong having names such as Fairy Meadow and Figtree, Mangerton is a pretty unappealing name for a place to live. But, really it’s a lovely area.
Which is just as well, since we’re moving there on the 12th of February.
Yes, we were offered the Mangerton house. And the Figtree place, too. But, they wanted us in there too soon. We were pleased as punch today, after two harrowing inspections that turned out to be a waste of time, to be called by the real estate agent and told our application was accepted.
We are going to have a dishwasher. Is that not incredible?
It is to me… I detest washing the dishes, at least during summer where I am drenched with sweat by the end.
On the date we sign the lease, I will be able to tick off #69 on my 101 things list.
Best of all, we’re going to have more space… and a dining room. And we get to take a month to pack up rather than a week.
Moving Once Again
January 11th, 2010
It seems like yesterday that Allyson and I moved out of home and into our little villa for $250/week rent. But lo and behold, last week we were served a notice to vacate by the 17th of February.
See, we signed a 6 month lease, which runs out on that date. The owner, who had just bought the home, used her First Home Buyer’s Grant, which has a catch: you must live in the home for 6 months in the first year of ownership, or else you lose the grant. Hence why we’re getting kicked out.
We are going to miss that place.
But it’s not all bad news. This time, we are going to move away from Warilla, to somewhere closer to Wollongong, so that if either of us get a job in Sydney it will take significantly less time to commute.
Looks like 2010 is going to be a year full of change. Just like last year was. And the year before. And… the year before that. Yes.
Anyway, we’ve spent the past 5 days or so going crazy with looking at places and submitting applications. The earliest response we’re going to get is this afternoon. If it’s good news that would be awesome. For that place, in Figtree, right near Westfield, would be a really good place to live.
We can also expect a response on Wednesday for a place in Mangerton. It is an average location, but the house itself is FAB. I’m talking dishwasher, lots of space, split level and quiet as. If we were to be offered both, we’d take Mangerton, even though it’s 2 bedroom and the other one is 3 bedroom. However, should we be offered Figtree but not Mangerton, we’d still be very pleased.
Those are our two top ones. There is another terrific one in Unanderra, but there were too many people at the inspection – it wouldn’t be likely we’d be offered it.
The units we looked at were all very so-so. There was one in Wollongong that had absolutely amazing ocean views and was only $260/week… but the apartment was filthy and not very big, and the doors were all unpainted and ugly. Also there wasn’t any storage space.
We have a bit of time, but obviously we don’t want the 17th to creep up on us, as time likes to do when I’m in a hurry.
2 Litres
January 9th, 201031. Drink 2 litres of water in one day
Well, I did it today. By gum, it was damn easy. Today was hot. Really, really hot. So hot I had to keep fanning myself at work, and it was air conditioned in there. I went through one and a half 1.5 litre bottles of water in the space of six hours.
Well, one down. Only 100 to go.
101 Things in 1001 Days
January 8th, 2010Yeah, I’m a sucker for these things.
Also on Skippy’s blog was a reference to 101 things in 1001 days, a long-term goals project focusing on doing a set list of things in the ensuing 1001 days precisely. For me, the end date is going to be Friday, 5 October 2012 (calculated using this tool). That’s shortly before the Mayan apocalypse, right?
Anyway, I have finished my list and here it is! I’ll be 
ticking them off as I go.
- Get a full-time job that I don’t hate
- Read the Hitchhiker’s Guide series
- Make one new local offline friend
- Quit Woolworths (in conjunction with #1)
- If I can’t buy a house yet, at least save up $10,000+
- Get down to 85kg or lighter, and keep it that way
- Get the matching tattoos my sister and I have been planning since we were in England
- Actually edit a NaNoWriMo novel
- Try to get novel published
- Hold the “plank” exercise for 60 seconds or more
- Go to the gym twice in one day
- Go to the gym every day from Monday-Saturday (it’s closed Sundays) for at least one week
- See a psychiatrist about my anxiety
- Have my gonadectomy
- Release the first issue of Ather & Earth
- Visit New Zealand
- Go on a road trip
- Go to the beach and go in the water (you’d think this would be an easy one, considering I live right by a beach… but I just never go)
- Get up early enough to watch the sun rise over the lake
- Pay off my Barter Card balance and close my account
- Learn to use a Javascript library
- Own a smart phone, preferably a Google one
- Visit the Blue Mountains
- Find out if I’m allergic to any food
- Have a shift at Woolworths where I do not want to scream in frustration
- Go one day without coffee
- Go two days without using a computer or video game of any kind
- Go one month where I work on Ather & Earth every single day.
- Go a month without buying anything made of chocolate or chocolate flavoured or containing chocolate
- Settle into a smooth weekly routine
- Drink 2 litres of water in one day
- Earn over $40k in one year
- Radically change my hair
- Spend a night out without having a panic attack
- Cook a gourmet meal on my own
- Connect my computer to my TV to become a Media Centre
- Buy better wheels for my rollerskates
- Quit playing Bejeweled
- Visit 24 hour K-Mart between 1am and 4am, just ’cause
- Visit Jamberoo Action Park
- Buy a DSLR camera
- Move to a bigger house
- Be complimented on my home by a visitor
- Drink a large Boost Juice
- Catch and eat a fish
- Get a perfect score on Rhythm Kung Fu (Advanced) in Wii Fit Plus
- Refrain from eating anything sugary on Christmas Day
- Buy that Beatles collection on the USB flash drive in the green apple
- Make delicious cocktails at home
- Roast green coffee beans in a popcorn maker
- Watch all Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes
- Buy a block of chocolate and eat it over the space of a week rather than all at once
- Win something. Anything.
- Finish at least the first draft of at least two novels
- Get my car’s headlights fixed
- Build a new shoe rack
- Learn how to use the washer-dryer properly
- Go one month without seeing an insect or arachnid in the house
- Go on a waterslide
- Get a kitten
- Meet three people in person that I met online
- Clean up my Gmail and keep up with all the emails instead of just looking at them all, sighing, and closing the tab
- Visit Uluru
- Get revenge on someone
- Bake fresh bread
- Go to bed at 9:30pm
- Spend a full day exclusively in bed except for using the bathroom
- Make a really horribly designed website for fun
- Live in the Greater Wollongong area
- Eat a taco
- Brew stout beer
- Make tiramisu
- Find a cake wreck and submit it to Cake Wrecks
- Make steak and stout pot pies
- Consider myself a responsible adult
- See Melbourne when it’s sunny
- Finish Final Fantasy V
- Feel financially secure
- Skate backwards for three laps at the skating rink
- Make scouse
- Make Irish soda bread
- Make soda bread ice cream
- Go to Bowral
- Borrow a book from the local library
- Make real buttermilk pancakes topped with sliced strawberries and pure maple syrup
- See the New Years fireworks in Sydney Harbour
- Have a picnic on the grass
- Wander the Haywards Bay home display village
- Take my parents out to dinner
- Learn how to take care of my car properly
- Make a sand sculpture
- Visit Caringbah Shopping Village for the first time since 2007
- Eat at Outback Steakhouse
- Buy a deck of Uno cards
- Visit the Southern Gateway Centre
- Walk on the Sea Cliff Bridge
- Stay awake for 35 hours straight, and see if I start hallucinating
- Get some new bedroom décor
- Make an animated short
- Eat at the Nan Tien Temple
- Go hang-gliding
