So I did the math and after taxes, on average I bring in enough money to maintain my savings. I'll be able to save at least 1200 monthly if I live alone. However if I get roommates That'll go up to almost 1600-1800 depending on the situation.

It's important to me to keep saving no matter what. I don't have insurance so I'd like to build a nest egg in the event that anything happens. Or just to hold on to for trips, emergencies or anything of the sort.  Plus with my commute increasing, gas, a gym membership and bus passes will become new introductions to my monthly income.  Also I think having roommates could be fun. I have two friends that have offered but they aren't moving until June so I'd have to stay another month at the old place and pay 875, something I'd like to avoid. Creatively... having my own place would probably be a better idea. I'd have full range to use the space for anything I wanted.

But again, it sounds a little better to just be around other people. Especially during the summer. Although that could back fire in part because I'd be interested in going out with people all the time instead of staying in and working... I don't want to waste this time by letting the shine of the city and the pretty girls throw me off my game.   I am after all trying to build an empire.  So living alone while slightly less financially awesome might be better in the long run and keep me out of trouble.

After all that I still don't know what I want.

There would have been a point in my life where I wouldn't of waited this long to share this kind of news. In fact there was a point where this journal would have chronicled every milestone leading up to this decision but obviously things have changed a bit. I don't even think half the people that followed me back then maintain their accounts.  I sure as heck don't. At any rate I guess I should mention that after 2 years, I'm getting a separation from my wife.  As of right now we're not divorcing for financial reasons and leaving a slim possibility open. The goal is to better our selves, decide if we even want to married, see if we're not happier without each other and a host of other things.  She's moving out today and has signed a year lease at a place in the suburbs.

MEANWHILE- I've chosen to move back to the city. The suburbs have bothered me ever since I've gotten here. I go to the city every weekend to escape and now I guess I'm heading back "home". This whole thing is scary and weird. I don't even have an apartment yet and my lease is up this weekend. Ha. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do.  I'm looking online and trying to decide If I want to save more money and get roommates or have total freedom and just live alone...which could be awesome or terrible depending on the apartment.

Right now I need to get focused. I have a lot to accomplish during this short 4 day week.

-Choose a neighborhood.

-Calculate my commute time, which will increase from 15-20 minutes to an hour plus during the afternoon.

-Decide on living alone or with roommates. (one gives me total freedom, the other saves money)

-Figure out what I need to buy upon moving in.  (I gave her the bed for instance)

-Figure out what things I need to buy period. (oil change, new microphone, nerf gun..etc)

-Not date anyone...which is hard for me because I'm almost always in some kind of a relationship, so being alone for real is going to be hard but likely the best thing for me.

In typical fashion I made a video about this: 

So right now.. two jobs I've been gunning for are in limbo. I had 2 second round interviews last week and now I'm just waiting. I'm slowly sending out thank you letters to people I've met with but i feel like there's something more I could be doing. Especially considering I'm a designer.

I've had a few good brain storms but the dinger hear is they require money and this month I'm admittedly a little short on that. What's an effective but cheap way to blow away a potential employer.

A little background...one job is for a university and the other is for an awesome design firm.

Meanwhile:

My latest video... I've recently decided to utilize creative staffing agencies as a means to lock down a position in a advertizing and marketing agency.  I thought I could walk into the front door, but upon further inspection  I'll need to come in from the side. Apparently agencies despite advertising on their site are more apt to work with you if you come from an agency that they pay to find you.

It's really scary because this means I'm walking away from a full time job...aka guaranteed money aka the best way to pay my bills to take a chance on contract and contract to hire positions. I'm freaking out because it's basically like a 3- 6 month job interview where they might not even hire me because it's cheaper to promote from within or hire someone outside.... I just don't know if this is smart. But  I do know I need a way out.

I'll be hitting my 5 month youtube anniversary next month.

I'll also be turning 27 on the 30th after that same month.

I've considered quitting youtube twice since I started making videos regularly... mostly because I'm a giant baby and when videos don't preform as expected I take it deeply personally. Part of that is because I look at my videos as another former of art and because I'm a vlogger, that art is usually personal in nature.

You see I figured out a few months ago that EVERYONE is doing EVERYTHING. Nothing I do will be truly original... so instead of talking about the news, creating 5 minute TV shows and other things I don't care about I decided to get personal...I decided to put the "me" (you) in youtube...and it worked out awesomely. I quickly gained more subscribers and my videos generated discussion... However I learned my new audience only wants certain things from me and not necessarily the same things I want to give consistently.

I've also noticed that 500 subs does not equal 500 views... (I'm at 530 BTW)...Roughly half of my 500 or so viewers actually watch my videos...and even less than that comment or rate, which is typical. It used to bother me until realized that even people with 1 million subs will average 600,000 views sometimes so I must be doing pretty good... BUT THEN I compare myself to people like Deshawn Raw that just started this year, got a viral video video is already at 30,000 subscribers... whats hard is I witnessed it all happen right before my eyes. I was one of his original subscribers so I remember when dude only had 2,000 and it's crazy because I was trying just as hard as he was and he blew past me with one awesome video.( Read more... )

Still looking for a job type thing... Had one interview and now I'm playing the waiting game...which sucks. I'm hoping to be able to leave my current job (with a new job in hand by October)...Nothing would be more awkward than to leave, shortly after my 3 year anniversary party... Kinda like saying, Hey guys thanks for the cake but I hate this place.. Byyyyyee....And to be clear I don't hate this place, I just feel like I need a younger culture and if not that, more money and if not that insurance.

In my free time I've been working on youtube videos and made this lil gem:



It's a Lil Wayne Parody disguised as a tribute to the Nintendo Power Glove. :-) Thoughts?

After (3 years in October) at my current job, I've decided to move on. In part and mostly because after all that time I'm STILL just a contractor. Meaning, I get paid well but I don't get benefits of any kind. They have hired other people since I've been here, so when they tell me it's a budgetary thing I know it's fluff.

I started looking last week and I've already gotten 3 interviews. Which is awesome because so far I've only applied to 10 jobs and most them were long shots that I decided to try for, for the heck of it. I've been formally rejected by one place and the 3rd one is going to happen on Thursday. I'm a great interviewer but it's been a while so I'm some what nervous...

BTW it feels good to have gotten quick responses, this is quite the opposite of my experience job seeking 3 years ago but it makes sense with my experience having grown so much over the years.

Back to being nervous. Yeah I'm freaked out. Mostly because I'm going to have to reassemble my portfolio for this and maybe even create some mock ups...and frankly I haven't done much exciting work lately. Most of my stuff these days has either been websites or spec work.

---Oh and my mom is dong AWESOME. Prayer really is powerful when combined with support, medicine and determination.

My mom made a small amount of progress by reacting when you say her name...she's still not conscience and is still on two kinds of life support.  But the reactions say something...  I needed to stop thinking so I made some vlogs:

But then I started thinking again and so my sister and I decided to start systematically taking my moms things back from the dude she was living with. He lied and said he didn't have her wallet... but we knew he did because he was buying things off the credit card and taking out large amounts of cash..so we called and had the account frozen. Also I used the keys my mom gave me to walk into the house and get her wallet... I'm pretty sure it was legal because I have the keys. 

Next we had his cell phone cut off and reported my moms phone stolen (which he was using)..but before all that he refused to give us my mothers car keys, despite the fact that he doesn't have a license and the car is being insured by my father and is in my  moms name. I freaked out and came within an inch of punching him in my face...but he was holding a catheter in his hand. My plan was to wait until he drives it and call the police... but instead I left a voice mail telling him to stay away from my mother and my family.  I didn't threaten him but I was pretty clear on my intention.

 Dear Live Journal, 

My mom is dying.  She's not breathing on her own and she's not conscience.  This is as about as real and scary as it gets. 

For the people that have been reading this for the past 10 years, you know my mom and I always had a very loving but rocky relationship. I love my mom a lot but she also makes poor decisions and then she got sick and it just became a rockslide of crap from that point forward. 

I wish I knew what to say because right now everything is so "touch and go" I'm not even sure if I would know what to ask for outside of prayer.

In fact I've been praying to God and part of me is scared to pray for God's will be done because in a way feels like I'm asking for her to die. I went to the hospital to see about her and it was really hard seeing her hooked up to a machine not breathing on her own and yeah... it's just a lot to get my mind wrapped around.
Oh and to make matters worse..this guy my mom was staying with is holding her car randsom even though he doesn't have a license and has been doing drugs in the car.  We went to go get the keys and he refused. Then we called the police and wasted our time.  SO we went home and just decided not to think about it... but then I woke up and left him an angry non-threatening voice mail haha...

i need to make a repetitive song that people will quote as a saying... that way I actualize my dual dreams of creating my own popular slang word  and coming out with a single that becomes popular enough that I can pay off my loans with it.  Drake stole I'm on one (not really) so I need to come up with something else... How about... "WE DROPPING POODLES IN THIS B*****"  Except B**** is BOX and censored for no reason.


This weekend I hit up the Taste of Chicago, a annual food festival where people go to get shot...and then eat some food:

MY...MY..MY.. i'M SO HUNGRY. I need to stop leaving my lunch at home.  I do this almost everyday.

I need to hop back on my health kick too. I'm starting to get skinny as I lose my muscles. It's not  a good look.

Last night I made a fun little video... CHECK IT OWT.

Thank you guys for the pick me up... I'm feeling better. However I feel like I've lost my muse.  I've had 3 good ideas recently but I've failed in execution.  I decided to  do a video response week where all my videos are video responses...it's been fun but I feel like no one cares. :-/

In real life news I've discovered that success in my marriage is 90% mindset.. like If I want to be a good husband I need to think positively.

In geek news Transformers 3 drops this weekend and I must see it! ...even if the second one was the worst movie I've ever seen next to spider-man 3.


Here's 2 of my vid responses... Thoughts are appreciated:

I don't have it.

It might be a case of the Monday's... then again it could be the fact that I've had 10 hours of sleep in the last 2 days.

I was planning to do all these things and I can't get my mind wrapped around any of them..

On 6/24/11 9:04 AM, "########" <#####@ussco.com> wrote:

Laura/Mark,
I  would just like to let you know how invaluable Chris Sanders has been to the  Town Hall.  He is extremely helpful and open to doing anything, even last  minute requests, responding to everything with a calm and excellent attitude.   When you see our new healthy hero character which will be unveiled  today, Chris actually drew and created it.  He has been a great pleasure  to work with!
Just wanted to let you know, and  thanks!
#####
 
###### l Manager, Associate Relations  l  (847) 627-2209 l ######@ussco.com

RESPONSE:

From:########
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 9:10 AM
To: ####### IMPORTANT PEOPLE
Cc: #####
Subject: Re: Contract Employee

This means a lot, Chris is one of our very best people ... Thanks for letting us know

M



Someone I work with sent this to bosses boss and his boss.... I'm currently a contract employee, which means I don't get benefits and I'm technically an employee of the payroll company... The response up top is from my bosses boss....If what he says is true.. HIRE ME!  I'm seriously looking to leave and not because I don't enjoy working here... it's because they aren't open to locking me in. People here quit all the time in part because they're contractors..but also in part because they don't feel valued. I but my butt in any job I'm given. I'm not being cocky... I'm just being real.  I deserve better.

Here's the Hero Design I drew up:

After ignoring every review I decided to try to play Duke Nukem Forever and judge for myself... I got stuck in a vent VERY early in the game and quit. Everything i saw during that 20 minutes was just bad. Then something happened. God decided to spare me and we had a power outage.

I took that as sign and decided to take the game back to Redbox but there was a wicked storm brewing. I gave up on that idea and then went to try to install Final Cut Pro on my mac. I had some juice left on my battery and I needed SOMETHING to do. Welp..after the download I found that it didn't work with my cameras( my flip cam or my expensive pro camera)....

WTF!? Why was this day so terrible? I slept it off and researched buying Final Cut X and turns out it also doesn't support my expensive camera. GREAT. The only thing that made things better is me deciding to say eff it and getting Final Cut Pro from a friend and buying a copy of Quicktime Pro to get the files to work with my flip cam.

I made a vlog about all of this but you don't even need to watch it unless you want to see some uprooted trees.

Not much else the day. I took the day off from work and tried to make a cream based pasta and I screwed it up... It was mushy and NASTY. That's the last time I TRY to cook and play video games simultaneously.

Tried home made ginger ale... OMG. So good but stronger than a motha. The store bought ish does not compare. 

I went to McDonalds and got the first two POKEMON toys..  they are only a freaking dollar each. :-D 

Everything I did this weekend is in this video...





But as far as thoughts.. I'm really frustrated with work. I just don't know... Bah. I'm taking off tomorrow to shoot a video. I think that sums it up.

Just found out ANOTHER girl that I had a crush on and thought wouldn't give me the time of day had a crush on me in HS. The prior girl was friend in college and she told me that she had a crush on me but thought i didn't like her.. WTF? And now this one says she told people we'd get married... WTF?! Mannnnnn

Ha. I'm happy now and wouldn't trade Danielle for the world...but it's sad how much myself doubt stopped me from doing. I wonder how much of my life I missed because I thought I wasn't good enough.

I want to go back in time and kick my low self esteem in the nuts.....

After a much needed confidence boost due to the peeps over at youtube and my decision to stop posting content 3-4 times a week I feel invigorated. I feel free and I feel like a lot of pressure has been lifted.

 Thing is if my new "polished" videos don't do well I'm going to be CRAZY depressed because that means even my best efforts weren't good enough.  I've also decided to break the trend of asking for subs and likes on my videos as a means to TEST the water and see if my content can become stronger than my youtube whoring.



In REAL LIFE NEWS: I've learned that I've been taking my wife for granted and I've decided to stop that ish RIGHT NOW.  She didn't yell at me or tell me that.. I was just thinking it to myself..so I just started going out of my way to show her that I love her by... TELLING HER.  I know that sounds extra regular but you'd be shocked at how effective it can be.

This weekend, my cousin Stacy is coming down and I want to sneak him into a bar/club in Chicago but apparently that's identity theft now and if the bouncer wants to be a jerk he could totally give my cousin a felony.  I'd rather not risk that... but part of me doesn't think it's going to come to that if we go to the right spot and if the bouncer is short enough hahaha. 


Here's Todays video vlogging annoucing my retirement from youtube whoring :

It's very frustrating watching other people do something better than you and knowing the only reason they are doing better is simply because they are better.

ALL my life I've always been GOOD at  a lot of things... Never GREAT. I've tried narrowing my focus, I've tried reading books but something always breaks in my brain.  I'm not sure how to break this stride.... It's been happening most of my life. Currently I'm working on this Youtube thing and I'm totally hating on the people that blow up off of one video and meanwhile I'm pushing 3-4 videos a week...and while I am growing  (I've gone from 3 subs to 230 in 2 months)... there's people who have been doing this MAYBE one month m ore than me that are already on their 2,000 sub or getting featured on big blogs and sites... some of which I''ve been ignored by.

And it makes me want to quit, but then I'm reminded... it's only been 2 months.. even if it feels longer.  I'm retooling my shows and considering killing the weekly format of shows in exchange for weekly vlogs and 1-2 shows a month...that way I can put more polish and time on them and make sure they aren't crap....also I'll get a chunk of my life back.

Here's today's Pokemon Gangsta Nerd Video...

Here's episode one of live journal time machine... I'm still trying to work out the kinks but it's something:


I'm going to make an intro when I have some time, and definitely better title cards... I think It can find an audience with a bit more polish.

 I'm going to try to get back into the swing of regular journaling... Starting now:

So I've had a lot of anxiety lately about my job and what I want to do in life. I've decided I don't entirely enjoy being a graphic designer but I love film production and editing.  My current job has allowed me to head down that route BUT I'm still (after 2 and a half years) not a full time employee. The head of our department had a meeting with me sand said they value me and my talents and to give him some time to get me a full time status. 

We had that meeting 3 months ago and my work load has only grown more and more since then.  I've hit my boiling point and I've decided that I'm looking for a new job...BUT I'm only looking for "dream jobs"... I'm also mostly looking out of state.  I love IL but the midwest, it's weather, high taxes and traffic can take a hike.  I'm think silicon valley in California but for now thats just a thought.  I'd like a job in video production or consulting.... I'm also considering LA because work as a camera man would be pretty awesome too. 

On the side note: I'm also thinking of starting a company doing videos for weddings. I feel like I could really clean up considering all the money people pay for their weddings.... I've had this idea for a while, I just need to execute it. I think I have a friend that will let me video her wedding for free just so I have something to put on the website. 

I'm excited for the new live journal themed video I produced... but for now here's my weekend recap:

I hate reading my old entries because it reminds how down hill my live journal has gone. I had a dedicated following of roughly 10 people when i started. I was guaranteed at least 3 comments per video. These people were my friends and now they're either all gone with abandoned or deleted journals.  I admit that I'm not much better considering how rarely I post and read other peoples journals but I'd love a reason to become active again.

With that said, In August my journal will have been active for 10 years this year. That means I started this thing when I was 16. I've grown and changed a lot... and I never know how much so until I read that first set of entries from 2002. My second entry had a joke about Jesus Christ wrestling in a kiddie pool of pudding against dinosaurs or something.

On my youtube channel I've decided to do a series where I read  those old entries and then discuss in retrospect... Hopefully someone can learn from my evolution and laugh at how stupid I was at 16.

http://www.youtube.com/user/csandreas <--Check out the channel and subscribe so you don't miss the project when it starts next week.

Here's my latest video: ( VIDEO )

I keep neglecting this journal.. In part because no one is here nay more. I lurk my friends page but 90% of my old friends are gone. I miss HS when I could post something and come home to at least 14 replies from people that cared... Now it's usually no one.

Bah.. anyway life has been crazy. I decided to go full force with my you tube channel. I make comment every single week and I'm trying to get friends involved because it's not that much fun doing it all by yourself.  I enjoy film making though so we'll see what happens.. I'm trying to avoid getting burnt out, like usual. I usually try something like this..then I quit when my results aren't what I expected...as if everything I do needs to happen automatically.  I feel discouraged right now because I'm making videos but recently my subscriptions have halted at about 210 and I'm not sure how to rise them above that.  I know there's a way... trying not to cop out like i did with my other nerd projects.

First the Nerd Blog, then the Nerd Album and now the nerd video channel.

I told myself part of the reason I've failed is because I didn't give my 110% into any of the projects... which is true but I've recently discovered that a big part of it is also based on what I said before. I don't allow a project to grow or florish if the results aren't instant. Some people that "make it" put in YEARS of hard work. I've only spent 3 months on my projects at most..minus the blog.. that was maybe a good 8 months and upon inspection I found it ahd started to slowly pay off but the full time nature of my job made it hard to maintain and I've since lost all momentum I was building. I keep saying I'll start over and tie it together with my videos but managing both while working my regular jobs feels impossible.

Bah.. In other news... I'm still figuring out my work life. I'm still not hired at my job, even though I'll have been here 3 years in October. I've decided to start looking for a new job... I told my bosses boss and he told me he'd try to get me in full time but it's been months since we had that conversation and I've decdied to take my 4 years of experience plus my new skills I've developed and see If I can't find someone to pay me what I want for them.  Hopefully somewhere not in the midwest... I looking at LA or a part of California but still Chicago in an attempt not to totally uproot my life suddenly.

 

This is the second "episode" of my pokemon comedy stand up comedy series. If you like it feel free to friend or subscribe to me on youtube to get the updates sent right to your account. Ha. Thanks to everyone from last week that showed love!

Ha, yup thats me... I'm going to try to do a new show every month... or every two weeks. Ha. I have other shows too, lol.

I'm just writing this here because it's on my mind.

Over the course of the last two years I've tried my hand at 3 forms of artistic expression as a means to  make profit and then pay off my student debt.  I either got burnt out on or crash and burned with each attempt. 

First I tried to maintain an ad supported nerd media blog. Things were going fine and i seemed to have a steady fan base of about 100-200 people, which I guess could have grown over time but i grew impatient with lack of help from my fellow bloggers and lack of any amount of developing funds. To date I've only made 10 dollars on the blog and that frustrated me because i put a lot of work in it.

Next, I decided i would create a nerd-flavored album of self produced rap songs.  My single is doing okay by internet standards(4,000 hits in one month and steadily growing)...but it's not the savage beast I expected. The album it's self has only done moderate, with only 150 people downloading the album and 60 people having hard copies from me giving them out a PAX EAST. My goal was to produce free music and then except donations, under the assumption that the internet community would like, support and help me.  To date I've only received 24 dollars in donations and 20 of those dollars came from my best friends wife.

Lastly I made a music video and tried to start a youtube channel like Phil Defranco, but I'm getting poor numbers, little to no comments and a very weak subscriber base...despite lot's of people saying how awesome my videos are or how dope my songs are or having podcasts and blogs pick them up. It's a very defeating feeling and has me wondering what it is that I suck at. I know I'm creative, I know I have a small amount of talent  but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing wrong. 

To answer myself I think it's two things... I suck at marketing myself and I focused WAY too heavily on the pursuit of financial gain.  If I'm going to do any of this my goal can't be to pay off my loans.  My goal should be to do it because it's fun or because I enjoy it.  Maybe then I'll enjoy it more and it'll never feel like a task. 

I've decided to start from square one with my channel and use it as a medium to produce all my creative endeavors. I'll write original songs, I'll make parody music videos, I'll just talk to people, I'll freestyle rap and not worry entirely if anyone comments or not. - I'll stop asking people to comment on videos because aside from my one energetic fan... no one else is, except for on the one video where I didn't ask anyone to.  So maybe i should focus on my content and if people want to participate they will...

I dunno. I wish there was a secret formula for doing this right. It seems to be all about who you know because I look at the most subscribed dude on youtube and I KNOW it's not about the talent. He knows something about pushing himself/his product that I keep missing out on. Hmph...

Things went well with my bosses boss. Basically they're going to hire me but it's gonna take "some time".  He said give him 3 weeks to move some things along.

I other news... I found my gameboy and I'm super excited to be getting B/W this sunday... I'm hoping my GameStop does a midnight release.


In even more news... My album is doing awesome. :-D  .. I think it's mostly my fellow Pokemon nerds downloading it but thats more than I could of hoped for!  :-D

Music Video:

So... I have a meeting with my bosses boss in exactly 8 minutes.

I think I'm either getting fired today or officially hired.  (I've been a contractor for 2 1/2 years)

As every minute ticks, I'm getting more and more nervous.

I told them I had another job offer and I wanted to discuss the issue before I decide to stay or leave... Oh boy 5 minutes to go.. i better leave.

So... The album is finally up and out.

Payback here at LJ mastered it and then I went back and added a few touches to fix up any problems I heard in some of the songs.  I'm really excited to see how it performs. 90% of it is based on my marketing campaign, which mostly involves asking my friends in different fan based communities to feature the album/ music video. 

I refuse to be that guy that joins forums just to push his initiative.. Luckily I've remained a fixture on a number of sites and communities so I won't need to do that :-) Ha. Wow I feel really nerdy saying that. ha.

Anyway here's the link to the album:  www.christopherdelbert.com/music

I'm working on a video for Decepticons sometime in March.

In other news... I CAN'T FIND MY DS!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH... Of course this would happen the same freakin week Pokemon B/W is set to come out. If I don't find it before Saturday, I WILL BUY A NEW ONE... AT ANY COST! LOL

Looks like this album thing is really happening.

I booked a show in Boston at a gaming convention called PAX.. 50,000 PEOPLE.  Not that they'll all be there but the potential is amazing. I'm only going to burn 200 albums and to cover the rest I'll be giving out cards with my website address on them. I've been on the PAX message board to see what kind of fanfare there might be and I have to say I'm very excited....

There's a pokemon themed bar crawl and scavenger hunt the night before the convention and my CD is basically one of the items to get... Not officially but most of the people participating were saying they'd come get one. I'M pumped for this convention for one other reason... my friend Adam, who I haven't seen since Freshmen year of college is going and we're sharing a HOSTEL along with his brother.  This should be really really awesome.  Between stuff with the album and  Adam, this might be one of the best weekend s of my life.

 Now the fun part will be waiting for the album to get back from mastering and then jumping back into my production role making my nerdy t-shirts and stuff for the next convention.


OH and I've been playing JUST DANCE 2, for my cardio and OMG.. I can't stop.. bests ong/dance buy far is called RASPUTIN by Boney M.

I guess I should create a link for my music site on my main page of my portfolio.  BAH!

I'm 90% that the snow storm is going to be on! 

I think i'm going to shoot more music videos for my album... weeeeeeee...

Dude I'm so dizzy.... and yet I've still got so much work to do.

 Turns out there may be a MASSIVE snow storm here in Chicago so I may get to skip work on Wednesday...I only live 10 minutes away, so I may go in anyway just to do it.  At worst it'll take me  MAYBE an hour.  i DO THAT IN MY sleep!

Dude, I've been on LJ for almost 10 years.  Ha. I think I was a perv when I was in High school considering all those groups I joined. I prolly should clean that up.  *shrug* one day...  Ah.. so I'm at work and I'm supposed to go to a meeting for my other part time job but I really am not in the mood.

I've had a persistent headache for the last 2 months. I hope I'm not dying. I'd go to the doctor but I only have major medical.

Oh and BUMMER. I thought Pokemon B& W came out this week on the 6th and turns out it's coming out in March! Which is good because i can stop wigging out about the album masters..  PHEW.

Welp it's been 4 months and the album is complete. The website is also up... www.christopherdelbert.com/music   

Basically, I'm just waiting for the tracks to come back from being mastered.  My plan is to release the album the same week that Pokemon Black & White comes out, which is this week... but now all I can do is play the waiting game.

My game plan is to give away physical CD's of the album at ACEN (Anime Central).. which is the largest anime convention in Illinois. -ACEN is in May, so I've got lot's of time. Honestly I'd like to give them away period. I think I'm also going to get 2,000 business cards made with the website on them and hope people go online to download the free album and maybe donate in the process.

At the same time I will be working the circuit online, networking with other Pokemon fans and trying to get them to feature the video/site...meanwhile I'll be talking with the peeps at a video game blog I visit to feature me in a story, this should really get me the bulk of publicity needed. 

I dunno...It's all very scary. I'm afraid my months of hard work will all be for naught, and with the release.. timing is everything... With the game coming out this week is very important I drop this week. Ha. It's freaking me out just waiting.

Naruto theme music always puts me in a good mood.  It really further motivates me to learn Japanese!

I have to credit my love of anime for my slight obsession with Japan. I'm willing to bet all kinds of money that when I do finally go I'm going to be let  down and it won't be as awesome as I think it is... I've read stories that it's incredibly racist towards foreigners. Like there are a lot of people that hate anyone non-Japanese, but I'm sure the same can be said for some Americans in relation to non natively born American's.

Time will tell I guess. My plan is to visit in 2 years. I figure I'll be able to save up enough to cover the trip and make up for the 2 weeks of loss wages over a 2 year period.

--My life has been going at top speed, 90% my own fault. I still work my 9 to 5, I still also work my freelance jobs, and I'm still taking classes to learn the latest in web design skills. Curently I'm supposed to be taking Javascript and ajax programming classes but i couldn't find the time, so I'm just downloading the class notes and will find time later to finish the course. 

On top of that I'm also working on my album and my get out of debt side project.... and in March i will continue my hiatused Zombtee project and finish the website for that.. just in time to try to make my money back by selling wears  at the big anime convention ACEN.  I will be producing 200 t-shirts, 100 buttons and give away free copies of my album with every purchase, along with some cards for people to pass teh word along.

I guess I should finally explain this album thing:

Sooo.. I'm making an 11 or 12 track nerd album.  I'm going to put up a website and offer the album for free. I will ask for 2 things, donations and for people to spread the word. I will be doing a big online marketing push and i already have on huge nerd blog in line to push the album and music video.  The entire goal is to pay off my and my wife's loans... any excess money will be given to charaties and possibly used to allow me to purchase better equiptment and produce a higher quality album in the future... but that'd only happen if I get enough money to pay off both loans, which is a long shot...  I still need to work out the details honestly.

I did all the research and If the money is all gifted. I won't be on the hook for it tax wise..and I will make sure each and every dollar I get goes to sallie mae....because truthfully I don't want to be rich and my life would be much better if I wasn't paying over 800 a month to salliemae. That money would allow me to do things like save up for a house or  do investments. I'm all about hard work and earning my keep, so this isn't a get rich quick scheme, it's a get out of debt scheme.  lol.

Album almost done... ha  I'm definitely not a producer. I'm not sure how I'm going to get these songs loud on normal speakers. they sound fine with ear buds and even car speakers, but my mac speakers they sound so weak... ughhh lol

I've been recording an LP on the side in my "free" time. I'm pretty much 5 tracks in. It's rap but it's rap you can play around your mom.

The name of the game is having fun and along the way reaching out and touching a few souls. Hands up !

You know what would make me love my job? .. Two things really. Both of them start with an F. 


FRIENDS & FUN.

I realize that it's work and at most jobs those two things shouldn't have anything to do with working but honestly, I believe they are two huge factors in retaining employee's. 

When I worked at Career Builder, I HATED HATED HATED HATED HATED HATED the work.  I dreaded waking up everyday. I hated having to sit through strategy meetings and I hated calling people everyday chasing money.  But the things I did love were my teammates and co-workers.  My team was full of awesome people that made sarcastic remarks all day and laughed about how much we hated our jobs. We worked next to another group which was pretty much the same.  On weekends, some of us would go out and hit up the bars.  Company events were also the BEST, stupidly they were on Thursday and company funded, that meant open bar and that mean everyone getting trashed and then coming into work the next day like zombies. I usually didn't drink but it was fun non-the-less. One year I won the company talent competition by rapping (of course). I instantly became crazy popular at work and I loved every second.  However reality always set back in when it came to the actual work but I was motivated to stay because while i hated my actual job, I loved the company.  Ultimately I left when the design department kept dangling a job over my head. I was trying to quit sales but stay at the company... anyway things didn't work out and I got a much higher paying position where I am now... However I found immediately that this job was no where near as fun..

Unlike CraeerBuilder  almost everyone here is old.  No one really laughs or has real conversations or hangs out outside of work.  It's really boring. My actual job is also boring but I can stand it.  It's pretty lax 70% of the time and I'm getting lot's of opportunities and experience. It's a place I could see myself staying for the facts that my job is very secure, it's a niche, I'm age appropriate to move into better jobs as people retire, I'm very good at it and I'm avalued.. however it's not challenging, It feels like a dead end job, i HAVE NO FRIENDS HERE and I literally have zero fun. I come, I work, I leave. I have no passion and it's just not the way I envisioned my career.

By now I expected to be at a really fun place where I was conceptualizing and solving problems, I'd have my fun work friends and I'd love coming to work everyday.  Not the case.  Ugh. I'm currently passively looking at other places but I'm being very picky.. I will only take a place that will pay me over 10,000 what I'm making now, and one thats populated with fun friendly, young people.

Can't believe I thought I died. Ha.

Trying to get my ducks in a row. I have like 12 projects in my head and having the hardest time getting them out. I scrapped my original website design in favor of a stronger one. But I need to stop stalling.

Also  I want a new job.

I'm still alive. I still lurk I've just been lazy.

I have a friend that works for facebook.  I decided to look at their website and they have a job that I would be perfect for. I just don't want to move to California. I'm going to apply anyway though for the heck of it. 

I like my job but I think facebook might be a step up. I say that though because I'm a 20 something. I wonder how seriously anyway above that really takes that. Like looking back on my resume 20 years from now would an employer care that I worked for facebook? -Maybe.

Like I said, it's worth a shot. If it works I'd be so depressed though knowing all my friends are so far away and my 70 year old father and little sister aren't as accessible. My mom I could care less about seeing but I know it would suck to not be able to drive an hour or less and see other people. But what's more imporatnt? Career advancement or my social life?

I mean really my best friend doesn't care. He's talking about moving too after he gets into dental school....hmmm.. I'm just not sure.

600 CALORIES.... of cranberry juice.  My wee wee no longer tingles. I can't tell about the pee thing because I've been constantly peeing out all this extra fluid I'm taking in.  I wonder how in the world I got a freaking urinary tract infection.

........


 I don't even know if drinking this much is healthy.

This might be TMI.... but OMG.. I've had to pee for what feels like almost every 20 minutes.. And to top it off the tip itches.  It's very annoying.  Ugh.  I know it's not an STD.... So WTF dude.

My  Graphic Design Business has been doing quite well. I'm hoping to expand.  Part of that was developing a more professional but playful corporate identity as a freelancer.  I started this design a year ago but put it on hiatus so I could learn CSS. Now that my abilities are a bit more solid and I have the money to host the site, I'm relaunching www.christopherdelbert.com

I'm not officially launching it until Wednesday because I'm having my old college roommate help me fix up my writing on the portfolio page.  I'm a designer and as you guys already know, my writing is not the best.  I plan on using this site to get not only freelance jobs but eventually a new job at a firm if I am not hired with a raise, (I'm a contractor right now) by next year.

If you guys would like to give it a look over, reading it as if you stumbled upon on it or as buisness professionals, I'd appreciate your input. I know about the typo on the About Section, so don't worry about that.