Brandy's Sneaky Marriage Secret - haaaaaa... I hate Brandy.

So-so day today - one of our big clients died last night and another big client got his job back after begging and begging (and for that job, I'd beg too)... Oh, and the Daily Variety is reporting that Will Ferrell is in talks to star in a movie another client wrote... even if the movie script sucked (which I hope it doesn't, because our clients are better than that!), Will can make it funny and make it huge.

Grand entrance for Shaq in Miami - they're having so much fun in Miami I'm jealous. It just feels like the party ended and its starting somewhere else but you're not invited :(. Are we supposed to be excited we got Mr. Flopper?? There are rumors Karl Malone is going to Miami too... geez, I remember 1 year ago when I hated Karl Malone and now I actually like the guy. Maybe these Lakers can change my opinion like that because I'm not looking forward to this season at all. I might have to jump ship. I talked to my friend Maria for the first time in years (we used to go to Laker games together with binoculars trained on Derek Fisher and Rick Fox and 'the cute guy in the brown suit in the front row') yesterday and she told me she jumped ship already. "Where ever Derek goes, I go. Sorry, I gotta support my man."

You gotta love a work environment where someone asks a partner about his new baby (born last week, Adriana (the girl I work together with in our little teams - she's the bookkeeper, I'm her assistant) won the "Bacon Bowl" - a little pool we had going around the office on when the baby would be born. The partner's last name is Bacon, hence, Bacon Bowl... we had fun suggesting baby names to him) and he replies that last night the baby ate at 11, woke up for feeding time at 3 and woke up again at 6 and "those are my feeding hours anyway so I didn't mind". When he said that, a couple people started cracking up (with our dirty minds) and he finally realizes what he said and he was mad that he didn't think of that in the first place. "I'm usually the first one to think of that!!" How many bosses (another partner, not Bacon) would be cool with his assistant sending out an e-mail to everyone in the office (to let us know when he won't be in to sign checks) and ending the e-mail with a WHOO-HOO!.

I think I've been spending way too much time with people at work because I had a dream I was making out with one of my co-workers. We spend all day at work together in the same office and every Thursday, we go to the beach to play volleyball (they started doing that at our office - we can leave at 5:30 and carpool to the beach to get in a couple games.) He's an awesome guy, great volleyball player, etc... I'm just not sure of his preferences... It was weird for me on Friday because I kept getting embarassed thinking about my dream.

Oh my gosh, how addicting is the Amazing Race?? So addicting I had a dream last night about Dante and I being on that show! That is the first time I watched it (because of Allison from Big Brother) and I am hooked. I don't have any favorites though because Allison was eliminated already (hated her but felt sorry for Donnie) but Brandon might be taking over Justin Guarini's role as Sideshow Bob (especially now that Justin cut his hair). I've also been watching Big Brother - rooting for Drew - he's the major eye candy and they're usually my favorites.

Wow, so much to cover but also, so much work to do... I leave you with this rumor - again, it's just another rumor and I refuse to believe it until JT is waking up next to me. Heehee.

I'm alive, I'm alive!  Sorry, I've been just wayyyyyyyyy too busy to post lately.  The Blogger "create posts" page even looks different now.  I worked on a post last week but I never got a chance to finish it so I'll do that later. 
 
The property company that owns my apartment building is repiping the place this week so I don't know when I'll be able to set my computer up at home... by Thursday at the latest but I hope they finish sooner.  I love my TiVo but I need my computer access at home too.  I'll probably be bored and go to Target 4 times this week instead of my usual 2... :)
 
Can't believe Shaq is gone and all we got is 3 mediocre players... I woulda wanted a superstar in return for Shaq - a Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, et.al or a young up and comer stud or BARON DAVIS, but naw, we get Lamar Odom (I don't care how "good" he is, he's tainted by the Clippers uniform), Brian Grant (was he the one who couldn't guard Shaq in the playoffs?  oh wait, that was everyone.) and Caron Butler (WHO??).  The appeal is gone.  Derek Fisher is leaving too and I doubt Rick Fox will be back. I'll still be a Lakers fan, but I'll start watching more Miami and New Orleans (love me some Baron) games now.
 
Which freakin girlie men are offended by Arnold Schwarzenegger's comment??  Get a sense of humor, ladies.
 
Post more when I get a chance - I gotta get ready to leave for class...

FOXSports.com - Coach K in 'serious discussions' with Lakers - finally, one good thing I've heard about the Lakers this off-season.

Did you guys hear that tabloid rumor about Rick Fox cheating on Vanessa Williams and Vanessa is filing for divorce?? Dammit, Rick, you were my last hope in "real" men! Although the tabloids have been right a lot lately (Britney and her boy, J.Lo getting married, etc), some rumors still turn out to be false (Justin and Cameron breaking up), so lets hope its not true.

I haven't been blogging lately because I have nothing to complain about... And you guys don't want to hear about how wonderful my job is, etc. This is a complete 180 from a month ago when I hated my job like I've never hated anything before. I'm trying to figure out if I like my new job so much because I went in with a positive attitude or if my company is just that awesome. When people are trying to sell you on a job, they'll tell you anything but it's not until you're in that you realize what the company is like. On one of the interviews with one of the partners, he told me that this company is different from most companies because it's run like a family operation. That partner is the son of the main partner and another main partner is a family friend. We're starting this new thing next week where we can leave a little early on Thursdays and meet up at the beach for volleyball. Last week one of the partners had a party at his house and he sent out an e-mail inviting all of us.

I was talking to the receptionist earlier today and we were talking about how nice the partners were, how pleasant the work environment was. People don't walk around with scowls on their faces - what a concept! I feel lucky just to even work at this place. The turnover rate at this co. in the last 2 years is 1 person... (Daniel and I figured I was #18 to leave at my old job in 2.5 years).

I bought a thank you card to send to my head hunter but I can't find it! I guess the best thank you I can give her is to tell all of you, if you're looking for a new job (accounting), e-mail your resume to Linda Laufer, Interface Financial Recruiters, linda@interfacerecruiters.com. She'll meet you once at a place convenient for you and then she'll call you up whenever there is something available for you, she'll give you interview tips and what those companies like to hear (she knows most of the companies she sends you to well). She is amazing - I just sat back and she gave me more interviews than I could ever imagine and with good companies too! She negotiated for me too - I'm such a pushover I need someone to fight for me. I've learned from experience, if a company is willing to pay a referral fee to a head hunter, they're not going to be cheap on everything. I remember talking to my friend Debbie (she lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvves her job too) a year ago and Debbie told me that if I'm looking for a new accounting job, go through a head hunter. I ran into Maria's sister at the mall the other day (I haven't talked to Maria in a year!) and she told me Maria quit Deloitte and she's working at DirecTV now and she's so much happier. I think we all just need a change of environment. I know Dante is happy with his fairly new job and my roomie's gf is happy with her new job at Sony. Join the club! Get a new job! :)

I'm still alive... been soooooooo busy!

I've had 2 CPA review classes a week the last 2 weeks and it's exhausting!! Tomorrow Jennifer and I are taking this interior design class with the Learning Annex. I can't go shopping because I don't get home until 10pm most nights. Last night my roommate and I went to Costco because that was the only time I was going to be home after work this week.

Bare with me while I complain about how crappy my last job was and how much better this new job is. I promise I'll try to make this the only time I complain!

I don't blog at work because I have a million checks to cut and the first round of bills is always the hardest because you have to figure out which ones are personal charges and which ones are business expenses. Credit cards are hell too because you have to code all the charges and these clients have 3-4 pages of charges per credit card! These clients are big big big time clients, people you guys have actually heard of :). Like I was telling Dante last week, our broke-est client right now is richer than Stan's richest clients. I've already deposited two huge residual checks - $107,000 and $238,000. I was telling my mom yesterday about one of our firm's clients - he made $40 mil last year (just off fresh work, not including residuals) and she didn't believe anyone can make that much! This is the difference between my old job and my new job... Stan was trying to convince his main client (a TV actress, series regular on a drama) to get a Hyundai as her new car to drive around in. She gave her Benz SUV to her daughter because she needed a car to drive. First of all, a working actress in a Hyundai?? That's freakin embarassing! At this new job, they just told a client to extend his lease on his 2001 Porsche for another 6 months... so he can get the 2005 ones when they come out! I was wondering why his wife was driving the 2004 Porsche and he was just in a 2001 one until they explained it to me. Usually its the wife that drives the older car while the big shot husband shows off in his better car.

I love my new job - the company treats us all so well... so good that I felt like I was a neglected kid who finally found a loving family who adopted me. I'm so appreciative of every little morsel I get! It's the little things that make a difference. At my old job, they had the cheap Bic pens, they wouldn't buy us Post-its or white-out so if you wanted that, you'd have to bring it in yourself. At this new job, the supply closet is stocked with Liquid Expresso pens, tons of Post-its in every size and 2 different kinds of white-out (the liquid ones and the correction tape ones. I used to call my old firm a "Third World firm" on AIM with Steph but now I realize how right I was. At this new job, everyone (down to the receptionist) has business cards, at my old job, I was a business manager who the clients contacted whenever they needed something, but I didn't have any business cards.

I used to message everyone to "kill me now, take me out of my misery" at work... now when people complain to me, I can't say anything. :) Dante tells me I love that job because it's new, it won't last long, but my first week, these co-workers took me out to lunch and this girl was telling me, "there's not much to complain about here, I just complain because that's what I do." The work environment is just so much more positive at this firm - people are actually friendly and they have lives!! Whoo, families to go home to, etc. At my old job, people were at the office allllllll the time, til 8-9pm because they have no lives. Stan was in the office Monday through Sunday.

Stan has been calling me up lately asking me if I could go in to work "AS A COURTESY"... am I right in assuming "AS A COURTESY" means, no pay?? Even if he paid me for the hours I went in, I wouldn't because money doesn't mean THAT much to me to have to put up with all the dumb crazy shit I left. I have been so busy lately, why would I waste time going in for free? I have classes, studying, and friends! The main thing that got me off my ass to find a new job was because I got pissed off when Stan had a talk with me a couple months ago - I basically got the feeling during that "talk" that Stan didn't want me to get my CPA, etc. and who wants to work for an unsupportive asshole? I'm sorry Stan, I should put this low paying, high stress job priority over studying for my future. Let me work my ass off so I can make the little little amount I got paid from you guys for the rest of my life. Yeah. Stan used to give me shit all the time about leaving early to go to my CPA review class... at this new job, they tell me, just leave whenever you need to, just make it up later. They take in consideration when you come in early, when you leave late - just put in your 8 hours. There were so many times in my 2.5 years I went in at 7:30/8am because Dante had to use my car - they would still give me shit if I tried to leave a little before 6pm.

So anyway, I got a new cell phone (Verizon!) and I'll be cancelling my old one next month, so I won't have to deal with the dumbass calling me and leaving me 5 minute messages of just crap. If I haven't given you the new number, let me know. I tried to email everyone to let them know but I might have missed some people.

ARGH, if Dante would get off the damn computer at a decent hour, I can write about how much I loooooooooooooooove my new job. As it is, I'm so tired right now I gotta go to bed. I actually care about being on time to work, about looking nice, etc now.

It's been a long week - new job, class Monday and Wednesday and I have my stupid ex-boss calling me every day asking if I can go into work "AS A COURTESY" (Translation: NO Pay) Yeah, right. "As a courtesy", please stop calling me - I don't freakin work for you anymore!

kiss my bitter ass - I just spent the last hour reading this site - it's sorta like punk'd - you sorta see what celebs are like in real life... Jennifer Lopez, Brandy and Julia Roberts show up here a couple times for being 'difficult' and not tipping well (if they tip at all).

First day tomorrow! I'm excited and nervous but I know I'll be so much happier.

WHOOOOOHOOOOOO!! Last day... will post later cause I have a bunch of shit to do.

Writing memos for all the stuff I do for all my clients because, BIG SHOCKER, they didn't hire anyone yet. Also doing time sheets - hate these things! Hate them so much I'm thinking I should have taken that production company job instead. Jay had the right idea - all clients are on 5% income... I heard that Steven Spielberg's business manager is on 5% with him and it came out to a couple million a year and the business manager asked him if he wanted to have a different arrangement instead (have a limit to what the business manager gets per month/year) but Spielberg said it was cool.

Counting down to my last day of my 2.5 year sentence... and these two weeks have been the longest of my life. I just want to get out of here and everything that bugged me before about this job is still here, some things are even worse than before.

"Tell Me About Yourself": The Toughest Question in the Interview - Career Advice Article - this article was on MSN today - yeah, it woulda helped if I saw it a month ago! I've been answering that question wrong this whole time. I don't think my new place asked me this question or she might have just found something else she really liked about me because my standard answer to this question was so off base.

RIP

This just put a damper on my good couple weeks. :( I want to go to the public viewing just to pay my respects but none of my Republican friends are in town. I remembered when Nixon died. I was in high school and a couple friends stood in line all night to go to Nixon's viewing in Yorba Linda but my mom wouldn't let me go because I had school the next day. You guys will never believe how sheltered I used to be.

Reagan was larger than life - when I think about the 80s, the first thing that comes to mind is Reagan's image. In high school, some teacher had us do a brief paragraph on who we thought was the greatest president ever. Half the people said Ronald Reagan (keep in mind we were in Villa Park, one of the most conservative cities in Orange County). What I loved about him was his optimism, his humor and his conviction in his beliefs. Everything is so negative these days, its sad. He is part of the reason we remember the 80s so nostalgically, the era of optimism. I was too young to understand everything he did when he was in office but as the years progressed, I gained more respect for the man. He was an econ major too! The only thing that makes me feel better is that it's the end of "the long goodbye" and he is in a better place now.

After watching last week's Punk'd, I hate Brandy more and I lost a lot of respect for Mekhi Phifer.

Brandy and her brother were pulled over by a cop and she tried to use the "You know who we are! You're black!" "We're good kids, you see us on TV every week" and the "Nice cops would just let us go" shit. I think she also said "I have millions of dollars" at one point. Yeah, you have millions of dollars, so why don't you get insurance for that BMW 745i?

They had someone break Mekhi Phifer's window on his car and then they pretended to look up his info and he had a thousand dollar ticket that he supposedly didn't pay. They were going to take him in for that. He was acting like a jerk to the cops and then this girl who worked in the store he was at asked him - do you need a loan? He says, "I'm rich baby. I don't need loans." The only redeeming thing about him is when he was insisting to the cop he paid the ticket. "I gave autographs to all the ladies behind the window!"

I can't reiterate enough - when they punk'd Justin Timberlake (he owed the IRS $900,000, they seized his house, his cars and even his dogs!), he was nice to them, tried to figure out what was going on, etc. He probably had $900,000 in his back pocket but he never brought that up. I didn't like Justin Timberlake then, but after that episode of Punk'd, I started loving him.

2 WEEKS IS 2 WEEKS, DAMMIT!

F-it, I'm trying to be nice and suggest I can work part time on nights, weekends if he needs me to but he still wants a week or two more. There is no way I'm gonna jeopardize that job for this crappy place.

More on the resignation - I was sitting in my office on Friday doing work and trying to come up with the resignation letter, trying to get the nerve to tell Stan I quit. Then, Stan leaves early so I just left the resignation letter on his chair, with a handwritten note on top saying, "sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you this in person, etc". I always put stuff he needs to see/sign on his chair because every where else in his office is like the Bermuda Triangle.

He calls me up on Saturday when I was on my way to Orange County and he's telling me he was expecting it, that work wasn't getting done, that 2 weeks isn't enough time for him to get someone in... basically telling me I was a bad employee in the first place and that pissed me off. If "work wasn't getting done" its because I spend all day looking for his freakin files that he loses in his office!! That just made me more happy I was out of here.

If I'm such a bad employee, then don't ask me to stay a couple weeks longer. Who the hell hires someone if they say I can't start for a month because I'm giving my current company a month's notice. If I were the person doing the hiring, I'd say, "NEXT! No job for you!" in the Soup Nazi voice.

I started actively looking for a job when he had a talk with me about not putting my CPAs priority over sitting here in the office keeping people company when they were trying to figure out how to do something (which is what I basically did if I stayed after 6pm during tax season). It just sounded like he didn't want me to get my CPA, to advance in my career and don't we all love working for bosses like that?? Mona was so supportive of me when I worked for her. She wanted me to go to law school, etc. She was always inviting me to events (she was president of an asian bar association one year) so I could meet judges, make connections. Her friends have a lot of influence politically... bad thing was, she was a die-hard Democrat :). Compare that to Stan - he spends his time writing letters to newspapers, etc complaining about UCLA coaches... it's not like he has any influence because he doesn't even contribute to the school!! If you're donating millions to the school, they might listen to you. If you donate a little bit, they'll take your input in one ear and out the other, but if you don't even donate anything... WTF.

First of all, thank you eraine for sending me the Justified DVD! (she used to have a blog!) I've been in a good mood lately because I've been able to watch Mr. JT whenever I want.

Also, Jenny gave me a cute Mrs. Timberlake shirt for my birthday last week. Sooooo cute and the writing is pink! I love pink. My mom took me shopping last weekend (we were at the mall from open to close on Sunday!) and I bought this really cute Tommy Hilfiger underwear in the same pink/green as my journal layout. Tommy underwear is the best - it doesn't sag like the Victoria's Secret ones do so you don't get panty lines.

Elisha Cuthbert to Marry - if you can't have the man, I guess his best friend is good enough :). Congrats to her though.

I'm still sore from my workout Tuesday night - it's worse today than it was yesterday. I guess I went overboard trying to regain my muscles.

So I gave Stan my 2 week notice last Friday and he tells me 2 weeks isnt enough time. "Some people give a month's notice." Yeah freakin right. The only person I know who gave a month notice leaving here is that girl Felita and she was leaving to move back to Hong Kong so it wasn't like she had another job to go to. Daniel gave a week and a half notice and Bhanu gave them a week notice. I told him 2 weeks notice is standard and I stood firm on that. My head hunter Linda told me to tell him, they wanted me to start right away but they understood I had to give 2 weeks notice. Stan said some shit to guilt me into staying longer but whatevers, he's had me as an underpaid employee for 2.5 years longer than he should have. I've been here 2.5 years and you just don't pay college grads, esp. UCLA grads, what they paid me. When I started here as an assistant, I didn't care as much about the salary because I was living at home and driving a car my parents bought for me. Three months after I started, I moved out and took over the lease on my sister's Audi and I've struggled ever since. I've been pissed because they promoted me to business manager (handling accounts on my own) after I was here for 6 months and they waited a year after that before they gave me a raise. I think our assistant was making the same or a little more than me for a while there. At this new job, I have way less responsibility and they're paying me way more starting salary. One of the other head hunters I went to before I got this job called me up yesterday to see if I was still looking. I told him I got a new job and he said that the company I'm going to is a good firm, they'll take good care of me. He has no reason to lie/exaggerate to me. I understand that Linda (my head hunter) and Liz (the lady who hired me) would exaggerate to get me to take the job (Linda - so she could get her commission) but a head hunter that has nothing to do with this transaction telling me that this is a good company, means a lot. Linda asked me if my current company wanted her to find them a new employee and I told her the company is too cheap to pay a finder's fee and I wouldn't want any of her people stuck in a dead end job like this. It'll be hard for her to sell the company to anyone looking for a job.

After 2 months of interviewing and getting nowhere, right after I get this offer from the business management firm, the other place I interviewed at right before I got the final ok, calls me up to give me an offer. The business management firm is offering me a little less than I wanted but it is still more than I'm making now. The 2nd place - a production company with innovative technology, etc - is offering me $10k more than I make now and more than I was looking for. I didn't like the place as much though because I miss the whole downtown feel and the production company's offices are like any of the offices in Hollywood - looks like a warehouse. The accounting department is only 5 people and I know I'll get sick of them quick. The overall company is doing great though - they're pioneering the digital age when it comes to movie distribution but since some theaters are just being built and companies just don't want to switch to digital (from film) equipment until they have to, they haven't exploded yet. The company started 2 years ago, they had 60 people... now they have 120 and by the end of next year they want to be at 200 people. It's expanding and its exciting to think about but I think I need the business environment right now. I didn't even think I did that great at the interview because he was talking the whole time. I'm going to do the stupid thing and choose the better work environment over the money. Kick me next year if I regret it. :)

Went to the gym!! It's sad... every time I go to the gym, it's documented on this journal :)... yeah, I don't go very often.

I have so much more to write but my arms are tired right now. What a day, what a day.

Stupid "10 Days of Madonna" on MTV Hits... Are the 10 days up yet?? I haven't been able to wake up and watch music videos for the past week and it's throwing me off track. The Comcast channel change a couple months ago still have me off track and I haven't been able to memorize the new channels yet, except for MTV (58). I can't even tell you what #s the other channels are on. Steph and I had all the old channels memorized but I haven't had a chance to get the new numbers straight.

Free Resignation Letters Samples - IQUIT.ORG - check out the last couple ones...

Don't use any of those though - The best place for resignation letters is I-resign.com. Daniel and I are going to have the exact same letter, except I was a little nicer in mine and I added: "I have learned a lot in the past 2 1/2 years." and "I will also work next weekend if you want me to, to organize
the desk and do some memos."

Way to ruin someone's 3 day weekend, huh?

I GOT IT! Now I can get excited. And now I have to figure out how to give my 2 weeks notice. Stan is gonna be pissed and he's going to take it personally. I'm going to give the 2 weeks notice tomorrow and I don't know what to say but I'm sure Stan is going to piss me off at some point during the day and that'll make it easier on me.

Enjoying my day off... checked out a couple apartments and went to Target. I was good though - I didn't buy anything. The interview this morning was cool but the business management co is my first choice and while I liked the company and what they do and how they're expanding, my heart wasn't in it. I only know business management accounting and thats different from regular staff accounting stuff.

MSNBC - Kobe gets good news on eve of court appearance - she might have lied to detectives?? hmmmmmmm...

I literally screamed when I was watching the 24 finale Tuesday night. Usually when I watch TV by myself, I'm low-key. I've had tears in my eyes when I watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and the OC Finale, but that's the extent of it. When Jack grabbed the axe in the finale, I just couldn't watch and when I heard the axe come down, I screamed.

I think I messed up my scalp this weekend. I washed my hair Sunday morning before I went home to Orange County and my mom was going to the hair salon so she took me along with her. She hated the "highlights" in my hair (I write highlights with the " " because I did them myself and I didn't know what I was doing - I've given up trying to use the L'Oreal Colour Experte because I've done it twice and messed up twice) so she wanted me to get them done in a salon. You're not supposed to wash your hair before you color it because your natural oil is supposed to protect your scalp. I don't think my four hour oil buildup was enough to protect my scalp cause it was hurting like hell. Now its flaking like crazy. I had dry scalp before, but it was never as bad as this!

Oh yeah - Soul Plane sucked... Dante bought the bootleg 2 days ago and we haven't finished watching it because Dante fell asleep and as soon as he did, I turned back to my TiVoed soaps. The movie is so stereotypical but I don't know why I expected anything else. The movie is supposed to be funny! I love Tom Arnold but this movie was just dumb. I don't even know if the movie has a plot! Waste of $10.