In place of Chinese New Year songs banging from the radio and television, this was a consoling substitute from the toddlers’ section of the library.
4 little penguins bouncing on the bed,
one fell off and bumped his head.
Mummy found a doctor, the doctor said:
“No more penguins bouncing on the bed!”
3 little penguins… (continued)
10 fat sausages frying in the pan.
One went ‘Pop!’ and the other went ‘BANG!’ *clap*
8 fat sausages… (continued)
Â
Was thinking about Chinese New Year last week.
Turns out, I’ll spending my 1st Chinese New Year away from my family since the 1970’s. Wasn’t born yet.
But I’ve felt more blessed by God than I’ve ever been.
Restaurant will still be open so it will be another 1st Chinese New Year working day. Probably a good time to wear the ‘Chinese suit’ I wore last year and surprise the customers, maybe even to church on that morning.
Â
Taking a break from writing about my sad story of job searching and share what kept me busy last week.
Recently completed an assignment to use a famous name in a magazine advertisement for a documentary and communicate the personality or contribution using just typography (letters) without any illustrations or photographs.
Click…
Bob Geldof organized Live8 concerts all around the world to call on leaders at the G8 Summit 2005 in Gleneagles to ‘Make Poverty History’ in Africa. I attempted to express the concepts of boldness and determination during the process of organizing the events. The heavy Haettenschweiler typeface was meant to communicate these concepts as it had thick strokes and higher vertical proportion. The close tracking and black-white contrast of his name helped add impact to his boldness and message of rich and poor divide. The close tracking also helped reduce the gap between ‘G’ and ‘8’ to maintain the link established by the same grey tone to represent his influence on the G8 Nations Summit.
Grade: 100 points
Hi Alex,
Great! i get the 8 now. this is bold and very strong with a very nice composition. Well done.
Congratulations on completing the course. perhaps i see you in my graphic design class?
Good luck with all you do in design
All the best
Laura
Although I had completed the course, the instructor was impressed enough with my other piece (didn’t quite like this one, not as strong as the 1st) that she asked for it to be submitted so it can be graded.
Click…
Ellen MacArthur made fastest solo sail around the world. I attempted to express her character and her successful feat. The heavy typeface of Century Gothic for ‘Ellen’ was used to represent the vastness of the blue sea she faced in her journey. The sectioning of ‘Ellen’ allowed space to include an element from among many challenges, waves. Apart from having the unique ‘A’ shaped like a sail, the Santa Fe typeface had the same optimistic feel that kept her going throughout her journey. Colored in the same orange as the B&Q Trimaran, I attempted to contrast it with the blue of a greater area to create an isolated (i.e. solo) look. Her official record is 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes 33 seconds. I didn’t have this note during my composition. Sorry.
Grade: 100 points
Hi Alex,
This poster looks great, you really did a good job. Now you have two very strong portfolio pieces
Laura
Ah… so happy!
Received a letter this morning.
Didn’t get the job. No one else did.
The position had ‘fallen away’ due to a restructuring of the department.
‘Fallen away’ right at the end of the candidate selection process that lasted over two and a half months.
(To read how I came to this point, click here.)
Trying not to be disappointed. I now going to give equal importance to my job search as well as the completion of my graphic design studies. That is what’s keeping me ’sane’ as it has more frequent short-term satisfaction from superficially ‘good’ grades of my courseworks.
Plus, God knows what’s best for me. This was a good experience and hopefully a good preparation for something better that He has in store.
Praise God.
Couple of weeks means 2 weeks. Only learned that last week. And the wait continues…
Haven’t been applying for any jobs on e-mail this year. Was so confident of landing this KeyMed role until this letter came. But that hasn’t stopped God from throwing another opportunity at me. Received a call from a recruitment agency about a Component Engineering role at Ford’s Dagenham Diesel Centre. Turns out that after attending my first cell group meeting here, I found out that there’s an influential figure attending the same Sunday service. Cell group leader said that he will introduce me to him. Yahoo!
Hmm…
Must learn to rely more on God. And His contacts.
It was a very strange interview, never had one like it.
It started easy enough when John Burgess and I watched a company introduction video made not too long ago. After that, Roger Gray, General Manager of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance joined us. He asked how I spent my Christmas and the small talk just took over most part of the interview. My graphic design course assignments soon led to learning French and HanYu PinYin.
“We’ve run out of things to ask you.”
During the first interview, we had a good session understanding my background, experience, and my visa status. No longer questioning wasn’t a real surprise but did they prepare less than I did? I watched 2 movies on TV last night and had less than 5 hours of sleep so I was quite undisciplined.
It was quite late before serious discussions started. John went through the duties and responsibilities once again and asked if this is what I had expected of the role. My answer could be simplified to just “Yes, I comfortable with it.” I now regret of not explaining how I would fit this role with the character and qualities that I thought I had. I now realized that a few more of my other statements were very selfish, “It’s all about me.” Totally forgot about being in their shoes, and evaluating how I should cater for their needs. Sigh…
Bombshell dropped: I wasn’t the only one they were considering, there were 2 others. I had gone into this interview with over-confidence that I was going to be offered the role on the spot. I was already telling everyone to expect the good news, although at the back of mind I knew something like this was a real possibility. Again, I regret not driving points from my first interview and reminding them of it again. Sigh…
All this while, I thought my salary expectation was quite reasonable. Once again, I thought wrong. I was something I could justify but I’m not sure what John, Roger, Roger’s boss and 2 other directors think.
I could really see it slipping out of my ‘butter’ fingers now.
On my 30-minute walk back to the train station and the rest of the journey home, I realized I didn’t leave a solid 2nd impression as I did during the first interview. I sensed that this was another reminder that I need to be dependent upon God’s grace all the time, not just when I need Him. Similar to the feeling I had back in November, when I did even worse for my interview at Filtronic. But my confidence in the Lord then is still the same as it is now; that the Lord has my best interest in mind, even if I don’t land this role at the end of next week. I am already grateful for what He has provided for me so far. Never thought I would get this far without Him.
_____________________________________________
"Okay, so here’s the plan. Listen carefully.
"No job there. No friends there. Spending first week in a hostel in London.
"After that, ‘question mark(?), question mark(?), question mark(?).’
"Got it?"
Most actually replied: "???"
Most were told that I’m off to ‘conquer the world’. A selected few were told it was a step of faith.
Even before this interview, I realised not how far I have come.
Not the UK visa application approval in July.
Not the 3600 miles I flew in October.
Not the uncertainties of adapting to a new culture, looking for accommodation and securing employment simultaneously after my first week here.
Not the temporary work with food and boarding at a chinese take-away restaurant with a distant relative.
Not the 2 telephone calls from recruitment agencies in one week in November, when I had only one contact in the previous 4 months of my job search.
Not the 3 interviews in 4 weeks since the end of last month.
Not the invitation to a 2nd interview above next year.
I realised not how far I have come, but how far God has carried me. When there should be 2 sets of footprints, the one set left behind in our trail of uncertainty and disappointment was not mine, but His. This has been a great journey of perseverance and dependence upon His grace, sustained by the prayers of family, friends, and cellgroups.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Awesome is the Lord most high.