I Won the Wicked Lottery!

Lok and I went to see Wicked today at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. The performance was awesome! I have been wanting to see it for a while now and was going to buy tickets through an online discount site until I found out about the Wicked Lottery.

So if you haven't heard about it, basically before any show, you can go there 2 1/2 hrs. before the show to enter your name in the Wicked Lottery. Then wait for 30 minutes for them to call out the names of the lucky winners. There will be 26 seats available, and each lucky person can buy up to two tickets with cash only for $25/ticket. I thought that this meant that they would pick 26 people, so remember that it's 26 SEATS not people and all of them would be for the front row A seats. I some how thought that it was going to be for the center front area only, but no.

My strategy was to go for the earlier show on Sunday thinking that maybe most people would prefer to sleep in or something. Well, it didn't work and my name wasn't called. After I got home to tell Lok, he suggested that we should give it another try for the night show and this time he would come along to increase our chances. Well, they ended up calling Lok's name and we were so excited. It feels great to win plus I have never sat in Row A for a musical before. (Wicked seating chart)

So here are the pros/cons of winning the Wicked lottery and sitting in the front seat depending on your preferences:
- cheaper tickets
- can't pick your seats
- really close to all the performers & music
- can see some of the back stage crew members and the sides of the stage
- during group performances, when performers move too close to the front of the stage, they'll block the view of the back of the stage


Pantages Theater, Hollywood
View from after the show.

To Drive or Not to Drive?

It used to cost me about $30 to fill up my gas tank, now it's a little bit over $50. My commute to work right now is about 36.6 miles/day and I usually need to fill up the tank about once a week. That's about $200/month and $2,400/year not including driving to anywhere else, but work.

One of my co-worker start taking the Metro to work, so I thought that I should as least calculate how much I could possibly be saving if I were to do the same. Yesterday at the gas station, it cost me $4.69/gal. My commute is about 96% highway and my car gas mileage is 22/28. I'm just going to use 26 mpg, since it's mainly highway. So 36.6 miles/26 mpg = 1.40gal/day. So the total cost for gas/day for me is $4.69*1.4 gal = ~$6.56/day not counting car wear and tear. It takes me about 20-30 minutes each way to get to/from work depending on the traffic.

The Metro day pass is $5/day. I calculated my route and I would need to be at the nearest bus stop about 2 hrs before work.

So money wise, I would save ~ $1.56/day. Time wise, the 1 1/2 hours time difference per way is definitely not worth it for me. So to drive or not to drive? I'd definitely drive for now.

If I could save $5+/day then I will probably consider taking the Metro. That would mean that gas would need to be at least $7+/gal.

How much are you spending per day for gas and how much would gas needs to be for you to take public transportation?


LA River
View from Amtrak window, while heading South.

A Busy Day at the Design Department

Work today was definitely hectic. It was one of those days where there were project after project that was due throughout the day. First was this 4 pager publication by 1:30 PM, which I found out around noon that it was actually due at 1 PM. Just designing it isn't enough. This 1 PM deadline means that it needs to have already gone through the Editorial department for copy edits then back to Design for final correction then back to Editorial to make sure all the corrections are correct then back to Design to be exported into PDFs for the client.

Second, media kit mock-ups that need to be designed and printed by 5 PM. Luckily, we have people who will come pick them up to overnight them to our clients by tomorrow morning. My boss created the first design and I had to design the second one. Around 4 PM, I found out that there are actually two separate clients that will need to get the mock-ups. One hour may sound like plenty of time, but each mock-up has three print outs that need to be cut and glued. And some how the printer just started to print slower and slower. Sometimes the printer will make weird sound while printing. The whole time I was thinking "It better not run out of paper or ink." Along with this, it didn't help that there were millions of flies that came out of no where. They were extremely annoying and gross. Some were so weak that they could barely fly or maybe it was because the AC was on, I'm not sure. I thought that flies don't like AC. My head felt like the smoke in the picture below. I got headaches because I was hungry, but the thought of eating with the flies while working, just didn't seem appetizing.

Not everyday is like this of course. By the end of the day after all the projects were done, I actually felt good that I finished. Not as best as I hoped for, but it's definitely better than not making deadlines at all.


LA Fire
View from Franklin Ave. and Bronson Ave.

Steel and Taking Risks

What would our world look like today without steel? How high would the tallest monument be? A couple of days ago, my co-workers and I visited one of our client in the steel industry. It was pretty awesome seeing how things run and the type of machines they use to create their products. We went to two facilities where the workers were mainly men. The only woman there was the receptionist, who I think has to be pretty gutsy to be there all by herself.

From one of the owner of the steel company, I learned that there are two methods to selling steel. First is called Broker, where the sales associates will try to sell what they don't have then get the product later after the sale. Second is called Inventory, which is when they only sell what they already have in stock. It's hard to predict which product will be popular or not, so from a financialist's point of view, Broker would be the best way to go, but it's definitely more risky.

Are you a risk taker? It's interesting to hear what people say when I ask them about what things they would like to do/accomplish before they leave this place. Many people often will think of outdoor activities and places to travel to. Only a few will mention academic success, character improvement, and ways to help others. Why is that?


Doesn't it look like it could be something from Transformers?

Short Film Extras

Over the weekend, Lok and I were extras for a short film called Hector. It's not done yet, but the film teaser is quite awesome knowing that Gary (Lok's co-worker) is doing all the CG himself. This is another reason why you should live in LA if you love movies and the process of making them. Where ever you may hang out, you're bound to see some type of filming crews and trailers, film studios, musicians, and TV stars. You will make friends with PAs, sound engineers, and young directors, who can share and sometimes show you what it's really like to be behind the scene. They may inspire you to work harder toward the art that you want to perfect or make you want to get away from all of this "Hollywood" stuff even more. Still, it's an experience that's completely unique to Los Angeles.


Eastern Columbia Building

Go Thunder Warriors!

My work hosted a Summer Bash yesterday at a private Lake for all employees and their families. We were all broken up into the A-Team and the Thunder Warriors. Some how, most of my co-workers got chosen for the A-Team, while a few and almost all the guests for the Thunder Warriors. The week before the event, fliers started appearing in the office with headlines like, "The A-Team, Born to Win" eventually, "Win" was crossed out and replaced by "Lose." The "Go Thunder Warriors!" flier with a picture of some of the team members was later transformed into faces of clowns instead. The A-Team did a lot of talking about winning, but in the end, the Thunder Warriors won.

Here are the games + results:
Kayaking: A-Team
Canoe Tipping: Thunder Warriors
Hula Hooping: Thunder Warriors
Horseshoe Pitching: Thunder Warriors


Canoe Tipping
What you are seeing here is the Thunder Warriors Team cutting the A-Team before winning.

An Ingredient for the Perfect Couple

Maybe there is no such thing, but it's an interesting idea. This weekend, Jennie aka Nie Nie and Lok told me about this theory that I have never heard of before. Well, I'm not saying that it's the main ingredient to create a perfect couple, but it's definitely sounds like it helps....or maybe we were just thinking too much.

So they said that in a relationship, say between Jane and Jack. It would work best if one of them is the oldest sibling, while the other is the youngest. So lets say if Jane comes from a family where she's the oldest sibling in her family, then her perfect Jack would be from a family where he's the youngest. Get it? So why does this sound like a good idea? Well, I would think that most oldest sibling would tend to be more giving, while the youngest would be more of a taker. But a good relationship will have to be both giving and taking of course. I'm not sure what the middle child or a single child person would do. Sorry.


Agedashi Tofu

Wake-Up Call

If it hurts to imagine your life without someone, then make time for them. Set your priority straight and treat those who you love the most instead of strangers, the best as you can. I swear that it's hard to do, but they're worth it.


The Americana at Brand (see)