Testing. Is the mic still on?

Years later and I've finally made a surprising comeback to blogging. I'm not sure if this will be a routine thing. A lot has happened since my last post but I'm just glad the blog is still here. Usually inactive blogs and sites are prone to deletion, and seeing this blog thrives after oh-so-many years warms my heart. This blog is still a trove of my memories, stories, experiences kept for over ten years.

I have created many blogs in an attempt to recreate or rebrand my blog with a more mature tone, but they've fallen apart and I can't seem to maintain them, nor do I have the drive to. I always keep coming back to this. So maybe this is a sign that I should really come back to this blog.

I'm not sure what else could be shared here. Definitely look out for more thoughts than stories, I think. I'll probably post some travel pictures too. I haven't really traveled much far since the pandemic hit and now it has ceased, I just landed a new job. So I'm not sure if traveling far will be somewhere in my radar.

Keep a lookout on more posts here!

The Norm of Being Blunt

One time, I was doing groceries in LA like every other weekend. I was going to get a can of pesto sauce on the other end of the aisle. Not feeling like dragging the cart all way to the other end, I left it on one side while walking all the way down for the pesto. It was then I heard a lady shouting. "Whose cart is this? Miss, is this yours?" I nodded. The lady threw me a firm gaze and told me not to leave it unattended as it was dangerous. I had a spitting thought of “So what? That's my cart. You've nothing to do with it.” but instead, i was flustered and begrudgingly walked to my cart, not to leave it ever again.

That case was one out of many things I encountered while living in US for years. Simply put, Americans are so blunt! In a good way. But this then-timid Indonesian student was so shocked when someone walked by to compliment her shoes or jacket. Or the other day I was having my loads of items scanned at the register at Target, and the cashier went “Oooh are you having a party tonight? By the way I love this noodle brand. Great choice!” Should this happen in Indonesia, you'd be suspecting the cashier might be developing a chronic nosy symptom. Should the scenario unfold here, we'd take it skeptically and be like “So, why do you want to know? You think you're getting invited? You're way inside my personal space so fuck off.”

The Pink Sky Above Venice, LA

Source: Viviana Rishe through www.unsplash.com

Published on The Lit Up in 2018

There are many places Avery wishes she’d rather be now, things she could do — doing touch-up while waiting for the traffic in I-10 to move, at home, binge-watching Netflix for a whole day, or at her interview — everything under the convenience of an air conditioner.

Finding herself wandering aimlessly in the wide strip of walkway stretching along the Venice beach isn’t one, especially after what happened.

She clenches her eyes tight. Tina Sanchez’s sing-song voice is still vivid in her head. In fact, it’s been playing for hours.

“I’m afraid we have to reschedule.”

The I-10 was congested worse than usual and the phone call wasn’t what she expected, especially when she was headed to the interview Sanchez had set up for her.

Why Passengers is essentially WALL-E (Passengers Review + SPOILER ALERT!!)

Image belongs to Variety

**PASSENGERS SPOILERS ALERT!!!!
If you haven't seen the movie, it's probably not a good idea to keep on reading.**

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gosh I'm so bad at this. I realize I've been so bad at answering texts. I think my New Year resolution should be about being more tech responsive. I apologize for that. So sorry! Anyway, I really wish this month is November, or be made into a NaNoWrimo's month, because I've been actively writing the sequel to Translucent since the end of last year (*gasp* 2016 is last year?!).

On another news, and the main topic of this blog post, I just watched Passengers today. I thought it didn't live up to the bad reviews and turned out to be better than expected. It wasn't amazing but it's still quite impressive and stunning to watch.

My NEW Portfolio is up!

I'll just let this post be a shameless plug. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was working on my new graphic design portfolio. Now I'm happy to say that it's FINALLY done!

Check it out here: www.carissatrianty.com.

It features some NDA-free collaborative projects at my full-time work and some pitch projects as freelance gigs. Also, find out some exciting personal work and a brand new re-done school project! (I redid my Type 5 project, how savage is that).

Going home

Six years have passed and I reached the finish line. The finish line is temporary, as a whole new start is about to begin. I first arrived in San Francisco on August 2010, with a six luggages and both of my parents eager to take me to the orientation day. Coming straight from a country nestled close to the equator, United States seemed very big and cold, with all the spacious roads, the unfriendly, bone-prickling breeze, restaurants and stores standing on its own building instead of cramped next to each other. I wore a ton layers of coat. Now it’s November 2016, I walked out in the Bay Area wrapped in a cardigan and I felt fine.

Many asked me why I decided to go back. First off, the visa issue seemed quite obvious and inarguable. The work visa system barred me from staying longer in the States. As much as I wanted to stay in US where opportunity, wage, and lifestyle couldn’t have been better, I couldn’t stay if it weren’t for work. That ruled out the possibility of going back to school. Also, I had personal matters at home too.

.

The last twenty-four hours had been difficult for me to savor. Although I’m not a US citizen, I am as shocked and devastated as everyone else.

United States was my home for six years, where I felt more accepted more than I am in my hometown. The United States I know embraced cultural diversity, where people pour into the street and mingle regardless of their skin colors, sexual orientation, backgrounds, and faiths. The United States I know is a nation undivided.

Official author website is up!

So this is happening you guys...

I have an author website!!!

Aside from my design portfolio.

You can easily access it by clicking the image above or go to carissatrianty.weebly.com

This past month, after my work permit was expired, I spent most of my time getting back to writing and collected my guts to move forward with my long-time novel draft, Translucent. Although of course, I still do some designing on the side. After months of working full-time as a designer and learning a lot from my agency, I decided to set designing a little aside just so I could focus on my other passion (without abandoning my main one, which is designing, of course).

A long time ago, in a galaxy, far far away...

http://media.aintitcool.com/

Ten years ago, my thirteen-year-old self couldn't be more hyped to see Revenge of the Sith. The euphoria lasted for two-three years that I decided to binge watch all the saga, join the fanbases, make friends with fellow Star Wars fans along the way, join RPG and forums, and weirdly enough...write Fanfictions.

In the wake of The Force Awakens, which opens today, I decided to give you guys a revelation:
My Star Wars Fanfiction website.

First Book Signing Event

Zodiac Wikia

For the first time ever, I attended a book signing event!!

How cool is that?

Vromans, the bookstore where the event took place, is located just a few blocks from where I live and it often hosts so many book signing events. That I just discovered lately. As an aspiring writer and avid reader, I'm psyched, of course! Lately, I've been circling some potential Young Adult books for me to read to kill time after The Girl on the Train before finding Zodiac by Romina Russell.

Finding Comfort in a Stranger's Arm - Before We Go Review and Analysis [SPOILER]

A few months ago, I bumped into this indie movie named Before We Go starring Alice Eve and Chris Evans (even directed by him). I never thought I'd like it so much.
It follows a young woman, Brooke, who misses the last train back to Boston and ends up getting stuck in New York City at night. She crosses path with an aspiring musician, Nick agrees to help her return to Boston at all costs. Together they navigate their way through the city that never sleeps and build a chemistry along the way, where they discover about each other's stories and what brings them to the city before the sun rises.

Life at Art School vs Regular University.

“What do you mean you don't have exams?”

That is the typical question I'd get from my friends who go to regular universities. Some of my friends who are unfamiliar with art school might perceive my experience in art school as an otherworldly one. Art schools offer a distinct setting and college life in contrast of that offered by regular universities.

However, the differences are what make an art school experience special, fun, and challenging at the same time. Let's take a look at what art schools typically offer as opposed to other colleges.

A Very Sunny Halloween

Writer's Note: This is a continuation of Halloween at Disneyland.

Jess and I woke up late a day after Disneyland. It's Halloween! But do we have a special plan? Maybe not a specific Halloween-themed plan. We'll figure it out later.

Our original plan to start the day was to have brunch at Central Park Cafe, but we woke up slightly late. So instead of brunch, we would just have lunch. Jess mentioned she wanted to eat at Tatsu. We were initially going to Tatsu Ramen the next day but we switched it to tomorrow. That day was supposed to be a little more relaxing than the day before, since we spent too much time (more than a day) at Disneyland.

Halloween at Disneyland Part 4: Out standing indeed

Note: Due to my phone battery dying at this point during my Disneyland trip, the rest of the story will just be pure text. You'll see one picture at the end though.

* * *

Previously: The whole park turned into a mass chorus of children singing to the powerful ballad. Children are addicted to this song. There's been stories that parents are getting tired of it. So when I heard a mom next to me groan and mumble “Here we go.” I wouldn't be surprised. Jess and I sang along with the other 5-10 year-old Frozen addicts. No need to be embarrassed. Disneyland is the only place we can let go of our inner child.

The firework ended at around 10. We had a couple more minutes before we could use the pass to Indiana Jones. We arrived at Adventureland earlier than we thought despite the people traffic and we still had roughly fifteen minutes before the fastpass for Indy was valid. Jungle Cruise is right next to Indy ride and it only had five to ten minutes wait. So might as well.

My previous Jungle Cruise experiences were always such a bore, but this one was exceptionally different. The skipper, Kim (she's so good I even remember her name) had a good sense of humor, more like sarcastic. She's so good at puns and dry jokes. But really, that's what makes her interesting. She spoke in a lazy tone while delivering the jokes, making you want to go “Ha-ha.” slowly. “Who woke up feeling like I have to go to Jungle Cruise today?” she said. Some people raised their hands. “Yeah me too.” Another one, the ultimate one that she threw right at the end of the ride. “You guys are outstanding. Yeah you'll be out standing on the dock.” Gold!

Halloween at Disneyland Part 3: Let it Go

Previously: We strolled a bit more as the sun was starting to go down. We had spent over eight hours in the parks. We had about seven more hours to spend before we wrapped up (aka the parks were closed). At about six-ish, we went to Astro Blasters as scheduled in our fastpasses. Fastpass schedule varies depending on the availability. We got a late hour for Indy because of how popular the ride was. But at least we still got them.
Astro Blasters was classics. Despite it being slow moving, somehow I found it mildly intense because I was always determined to get a high score. Last time I went here with my dad, I defeated his scores. Now I defeated Jess. I honestly didn't know how it worked. Aiming at the targets is hard, so I just randomly shot all over the place. As I did, my score was just getting higher and higher. So I wasn't sure how it happened.

Getting out of the Blasters, Jess and I went back to Fantasyland. But en route, we spotted The Avengers meet and greet with Thor and Captain America. The wait was forty minutes, which wasn't quite bad. When else would you meet the Avengers? Jess and I kept gushing about the resemblance of the Thor guy with Chris Hemsworth, and how I'd totally wish he really was Chris Hemsworth. The guy who played Thor at Disneyland actually nailed the accent but he looked less rogue-ish than Hemsworth. At least he tried.

Ka-ching: When the (first) salary gets too overwhelming

I remember the first time I got my first paycheck during my internship. I got paid weekly and surprisingly, in contrast of my wasteful, extravagant life in LA, I spent a lot less in Florida. My fellow intern whom I shared a housing with, somehow encouraged me to cook at home on weekdays, and even on weekends instead of dining out. As a result, with the paycheck kept on coming, I came to the my most properous state in my life. Even after spending some on leisure like going to Orlando attractions, the amount kept on escalating it reached to a point I became overwhelmed. “What to do with all this money I earned?”

I was younger (slightly from now) and more immature. It all reached to a peak somehow. Last Thanksgiving, I went Black Friday shopping with my intern friends in Orlando. Wallets loaded. Bills were ready to fly out of them. I texted my mom and dad “I will do some massive shopping tonight. Get ready.” They were okay with it since my spending would mostly come out of my own earning.

Why I Chose to Intern at a Non-Graphic Design Studio

Writer's Note: To protect any names or brands, I will not use the actual names or display pictures that directly show the brand of the company or anything related to it.


September last year, I faced the toughest decision in my entire university period. Three offers came to me all at once. Each of these offers promises a great opportunity for me that would contribute to my future design career. One thing for sure at that point: I would skip Fall semester to do either one of these offers, which was truly a blessing after continuously taking classes at school.

Two of the promising offers were for internship, something I really needed to fill out some blank space in my resume. On early June, I attended an on-campus recruitment event, where I got to sit down and talk with potential employers. Out of four interviews, I scored two of them.

Lift-Off: The Essay

Writer's note: This essay was written as a part of Spring 2015 Type and Authorship class at Art Center College of Design.


At first, there were just hums.

Then the sound escalated. It came off like a purr, followed by a low thundering sound that echoed in the space. Nobody had spoken a word when the sound started. There were just silence filling the air, lenses held up in frozen hands, overlooking the cape. Billion eyes were searching as the thundering sound was continuing to fill the space with its glorious echo. Moments of anticipation had started early that Thursday morning and it continued even after the countdown started. Hearts pounded as the number got smaller.

Halloween at Disneyland Part 2: The Princesses Encounter

Previously: After Radiator Springs Racers, Jess and I went to the Paradise Pier. We dropped by at Boudin Bakery Tour and got a fresh loaf of bread. Then we ended up getting lunch at Garden Grill with a glass of fresh Strawberry margarita from Rita Margarita in a sunny day. Our lunch couldn't be more perfect, and so was the weather. Jess ended up finishing the margarita.

At around 12.30 pm, after we finished our lunch, we headed to the Hyperion Theatre to catch Aladdin Musical Spectacular. It marked my second time watching it. The first time happened six years ago with my mom and I loved it. The genie is and will always be the real star of the show, pulling jokes and pop culture references that we all know, from Patriots football to Taylor Swift.
His jokes never get old and it is even sad to learn that the show would have less than a hundred more before it ended for good on December. Next year, the theatre would host a Frozen Musical to replace Aladdin. I reached the point where Frozen has become increasingly overrated that it has to replace a beloved classic show such as Aladdin. Anyway...

Quote of the Day

"You try. You fail. You try. You fail. But the only true failure is when you stop trying."

- Madame Leota from The Haunted Mansion (2003)
That moment when a floating head encased in a glass ball is wiser than you.