Entry 1

I found this 8-inch lizard in the backyard as I was mowing the lawn. As I was pushing it away with my broom, it was wrestling and biting the broom whiskers at the same time. I think it felt threatened because his tail suddenly just popped right off into the air! Some lizards do this so that predators go after the tail instead of the lizard itself. The tail was spazzing out all over the place for 20 minutes. Kinda cool but gross at the same time! I saw this on TV, but I never thought I would see this in real life! Another thing we saw recently was a female turkey walking around our backyard. Found out on the news that the bay area has a problem with wild turkeys wandering around. I even saw one holding up traffic in Berkeley!

Entry 2

I haven't purchased a new backpack ever since middle school, so I finally bought a big, white backpack on Amazon for $50. It's $10 more than my old Jansport backpack, which is kind of falling apart. I bought a white backpack to customize with my artwork. I might even spray paint some of my older tennis shoes white and draw over them, too. This is all related to job hunting and networking by the way. I take my backpack everywhere I go, so I figured why not turn it into a networking tool? It would be a great icebreaker, showcase my artwork, and connect me with prospective employers. Or, maybe I can just make new friends or fellow artists who'll check out my website. Anyways, I'm having fun drawing my favorite characters all over the backpack like Boba Fett, Deadpool, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, etc. At the Workforce Investment Board, the employees are always telling me what a great networker I am! They said they've seen or heard about me everywhere! I'm always trying to help others and make long-lasting relationships with everyone I meet.

Entry 3

My old printer has been experiencing hiccups, so I decided it was time to replace it. I bought a massive WF-4630 Epson printer today at Staples, so I can print my artwork to take to the GDC convention. I've also been working on my job hunting documents for the past couple of days, and completely remodeled my resume from the ground up. It used to be a 2-page resume which didn't focus on my computer skills that much. I'm now ready to take 50 copies of my resume, references, business cards, and letters of recommendation to the GDC convention for the next 3 days. Hope I get some job offers. I also need to update my websites, too. It was kind of ironic, but I learned a bunch of new things about myself while I was writing up my new resume. I just needed to sit down and carefully think about my skills from the past to the present.

Entry 4

Did you know you can sometimes get those awesome store displays for free if you just ask nicely? I got this high quality batman poster for free from the video game cardboard display at Toys"R"Us. It was falling off on the display, so I told an employee. After he thanked me for pointing it out, I asked if I could have the poster. I was excited to hear him say, "Sure, go ahead!" This batman door poster is made out of a hard but flexible plastic. There was also a marvel comics lego poster, so maybe I'll try to get that next time for my little nephews.

Entry 5

I decided I needed to sharpen my creative skills again, so I decided to try something different. Marvel's Deadpool character is the hottest thing right now, so I made my first custom deadpool action figures. They took several days to complete and look great! I was surprised to find it really fun! Some people actually do this as a full-time job on all types of characters, brands, and toys. People even customize Funko Pop vinyl figures and Hot Wheels cars. Authentic deadpool figures are so expensive, so I'm glad I made my own. There are probably about 10 different valuable deadpool figures ever made, while there are over 50 common wolverine action figures.

I tried to make mine as unique as possible to stand apart from the tons of other custom deadpool figures. Deadpool has a regular muscle build, but I always wanted to see him really buffed up. The deadpools have more than four layers of paint and u can see their before and after shots in my art portfolio. For the small details and deadpool logos, I used either a very fine brush, paint markers, or sharpies. The belts and are made from braided elastic, which give the figure a more realistic look. I already have a very long wishlist of custom action figures I want to make.

Entry 6

I find pretty good toys in my local thrift stores, but I recently discovered something even better: the Goodwill Outlet. There was one in Vegas, but it was too far from my house. The outlet is different from the regular goodwill stores because you pay by the pound, and all the products are set out in plastic tubs in a warehouse. When you check out, you roll your shopping cart onto this big scale and they weigh your stuff. However, they take cash only. The prices are really good because you get about 90% off everything! That's way cheaper than the regular Goodwill or Savers thrift stores. Toys that cost several bucks before only ring up at a couple cents. I saw a lot of moms buying clothing for their kids, and sharing their thrift store experiences with each other.

Entry 7

Every week, I e-mail 15 of my job club friends to let them know what we discussed in the job clubs they missed. Here's a sample of that e-mail. If you couldn't make it, I'm just emailing everybody again updates on what happened at this week's Careerlink and Workforce Investment Board Job Clubs. At Wednesday night's Careerlink, we didn't have a speaker or a group leader, so we just ran our own discussion group. It was about 10 of us, so it was a good size group where we were able to cover a lot of topics, like how to message recruiters on LinkedIn so that you stand out. We didn't get any new members, but overall it was very productive meeting. The recruiters present at the meeting were Rebecca and Rosemarie.

At Friday morning's WIB Job Club, it seemed like we had a pretty full house. The long table was full while the tiny back table was empty. Seems like this was the most people I've ever seen at the WIB Job Club, with about 8 new people. The group was led by Edwil, and we had two people talk about their new jobs. Joseph Dimailig talked about Genentech, and Jeff Hanson told us about a facilities maintenance company. Joe told me he's been looking 6 months for work, and he got his new job through the Alkar staffing agency. I think Jeff got his new job by being found on a job site like Indeed.com. Well, if you couldn't make it to either job club, I hope these weekly updates will help you out because there's always interesting stuff happening at each meetup. If you guys are thinking of volunteering and networking at the same time, I would check out www.volunteermatch.org to find volunteer opportunities in your area. If you know about any other volunteering websites, send it to me, and I'll include it in my weekly e-mail.

Entry 8.  E-mail to my job club friends.

Hi everyone, if you couldn't make it to the Yolo WIB Job Fair today, then here's what happened. I've been to many job fairs, but this is the first one that actually had free food! I guess I'll be checking out more WIB Job Fairs in the future haha. More on that later...Just like every fair, there was a long line out the door, and they let about 5 people into the facility every now and then. The main room was jam-packed because the Platt company was distributing these tiny platypus dolls. Sadly, I couldn't grab one because they went too fast! The other employers set up their booths in 3 different hallways. Then, they had two different rooms with about 5 more companies in each one. UC Davis was in one of these rooms and had a long line, of course. Overall, it was a pretty good job fair, but it got congested and hot inside. The best part of this fair was the resume review room, where they had 15 people to review and tweak your resume one-on-one. This is much better than the hirevents fairs that usually have only 3 resume reviewers and a really long waiting line.

So, anyways, back to the free food...While we waited outside, they offered us free water bottles. Then, they directed us to wait in the grass where there was more shade. As we got closer to the building, we waited under several tents they set up, which was a relief. The employers got submarine sandwiches and chips. All the job seekers were offered free donuts: chocolate, plain, or sprinkled. I think I counted about 4 big boxes with 30 donuts in each one! Channel 10 was interviewing job seekers, too. It was so hot, but people still showed up in long-sleeve shirts! I gathered a lot of information from several companies and staffing agencies today. I grew up in Vegas, so I didn't mind the heat.

Entry 9.  E-mail to my job club friends.

Hello everyone, if you couldn't make it to the job clubs this week, here's what happened. Careerlink will meet next week, but it's NOT meeting on June 17th and the 24th because they will have the Kid's Adventure Camp going on. At Careerlink, there was about 3 new people, including a lady from Oakland. The night's presentation was "Job Search Strategies Part 2" by Betty Hart. Betty is moving back to the East coast at the end of the month because her husband found a job, so the last time we'll see her is next week. It was a pretty good meeting with returning members keeping us posted on their progress.

   This morning's Workforce Investment Board was led by Edwil and a few recent job interviews were discussed, including a front desk job at a car dealership for Leslie Boles. Colleen Porter had a few library job leads she talked about, too. Eric Garner talked about how he took some certification classes to help him find more work. Another thing we talked about is there will be a Yolo WIB Job Fair on June 19th from 11am to 2pm in Woodland. I attached the flyer in JPG format. I'll definitely be going because I heard the previous Workforce Investment Board Job Fair was pretty good. At the end of the meeting, Edwil handed out copies of everyone's contact information. I have to repair my car air conditioner, but at least I can wind down my windows for some breeze. The weather is always awesome in the Bay Area.