Tag Archives: Portfolio

Granted Aspiration

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The Gods must have been pleased or something: yesterday, right after I posted about my frustration with Barclays all the pieces seemed to come together all of a sudden. All problems got solved one after the other and best of all, even the Barclays problem was finally solved. I thought it wasn’t real… yesterday wasn’t real, I must have been dreaming *pinch me!*

I’ve sent out an email Sunday evening, the first job application I sent to NL, which I found online. Closing date was ‘before May 4′: Monday morning basically. I was late and probably too late if you’d calculate in office hours but I didn’t want to let this opportunity pass so I explained why I was that late and sent it off 22.45 UK time (15 minutes before midnight NL time).

Tuesday I received a request for a digital portfolio. I worked all night and stayed up till 07.00 Wednesday morning, slept for four hours and got up again to finish a new designed, improved and updated-with-all-the-recent-stuff-I’ve-been-doing digital portfolio. I sent it off in the afternoon 14.00 NL time. That evening I had an appointment with a client to discuss new projects.

Yesterday morning I received a call from the company in Amsterdam about an interview. They explained the procedure and asked if I happened to be in NL within the next few weeks. I wasn’t but I wouldn’t mind booking a flight if I had to. Later that day they called again after meeting up to discuss this. They really wanted to see me so I booked flights ten minutes later…

Right after I received the long-awaited phone call from the local business banking manager who was extremely apologetic telling me that what happened should never have happened. They’ll reimburse all charges and she’d personally make sure the account is closed. A little voice in my head tells me that she must have been afraid to get it in the neck from her boss *hehe*.

Like I said in my other posts something is going on in the Universe… everything seems to go so amazingly smooth lately and it all turns out so incredibly positive and inspirational for me that it scares the hell out of me. Why? Coz it’s going too smooth *LOL* And this Capricorn doesn’t trust smooth transitions…which doesn’t necessarily mean that she can’t get used to it ;)

Flights are booked, days are planned and a place to stay is arranged so while I’ll be going to have an interview I’ll also be treating myself to a mini vacation while I can. I so deserve it.

Have a great weekend!

I’m Fried…

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I’ve disappeared from the surface and didn’t respond to any emails due to a deadline that I had before 20.00 today. I’ve been in my insane work-all-thru-the-night-mode again since yesterday and didn’t get much sleep at all, about three hours this morning when I went to bed at about 06.00. I’ve been working non-stop for days, my brain is fried at the moment so I can’t think much but I will try to explain why I have been up all night and invisible last week.

While the economy is getting worse things are getting more uncertain for a lot of people, including myself. I’m still living in a place due to circumstances with the ex where I don’t want to be, although we’re friends: I want to move on… And fact is that I’m getting more and more work in, but it’s not enough to be able to move out and pay all possible expenses. London is number two on the World list of most expensive cities to live after Moscow and I feel it, trust me!

Last week, I accidentally found a most appealing opportunity to change the situation for the best. Yes I need stability in my life, especially with all the chaos going on around me I need a center point of calmness and certainty. That said, I knew I had to leave an impression so the creativity started to flow all week last week. But it felt wrong somehow and although I asked some if they liked my ideas and my creation [which they did] it still didn’t feel right to me…

So last night I realised at the last moment that I shouldn’t do what I’d planned to do. Indecisiveness is what it boils down to, I just couldn’t make up my mind and the pressure was there big time. I couldn’t afford to take unnecessary risks, I mean it looks really nice but it didn’t feel right for the occasion. By the time I actually trusted my gut feeling it was already midnight and I needed a change in strategy so in the end simplicity won over complex beautiful design.

I’d planned to send it off yesterday but that was before I changed my mind. I had less than six hours to adjust a letter, CV, add extra pages to my portfolios and export it all to an acceptable pdf format which was the tough bit. I need a good book about making pdfs: no it’s not at all simple to produce a high-in-quality but low-in-bit-size pdf, there are just way too many options and way too many unsatisfying results. Or am I too much of a perfectionist?

At the moment I don’t really care, I had my panic attack right after I sent my email with attachment. The ‘what ifs’ started to bug me big time and I can’t remember how long ago it was where I felt this insecure about things but I guarantee it was at least 15 years ago. Insecure… only because I really really want this position. It means a way out for me, a way to fly and spread my wings. A way to start afresh again and face exciting new challenges.

To my surprise I got an email in, an hour after I had sent mine. It said that they had received several hundred of applications and that they would get back to me at the beginning of next week. They’d done an initial check of applications as they came in which mine had passed and they’d be actively considering mine. I’m happy I listened to my gut feeling, tonight I can finally relax after a hectic week! Below a few details of my design that I didn’t use in the end.

I’m sure I will one day on a different project, these are drawings that I did using Illustrator but they weren’t meant to be, not today…

Details of my illustrations