Trustno1's Journals

Wanna make a box? - 'cause you asked for it!

Hi Guys, I am so pleased that you liked this little crooked box and that some of you even want to make them! So here are the instructions:

You will need a carton of milk, juice or something along those lines that is really clean so and dry it won’t be smelling up your house after a few days.

The measurements of the cartons used for this particular box are 7 cm x 20 cm which is the average measurments of cartons of milk here in Mexico. Also make sure that the carton has straight edges and is not the kind with the roundy ones (this don’t work well for this box)

Scissors (really pointy scissors – the kid kind don’t do a very good job)
Ruler
Pencil
Masquin tape
Glue stick
Double sided tape

And don’t throw anything away until the end (I learned this the hard way)

1. Measure 7 cm (from bottom up) on each side of the carton and draw a straight line all around

2. Measure another 7 cm from this line up again and draw a straight line through all of them also

3. In each of the lines you drew, put a mark in the middle (this means you should be marking at 3.5 cm)

4. From this mark draw a straight line to the left corner of its bottom line and a straight line to the right corner. (This should leave you with a triangle – do this on every side and on both 7 cm segments of your box.

For the triangles on the bottom you will need to go over the angles with a scissor in order to scar it (use a ruler and do it carefully so the scissor doesn’t go it’s own sweet way and end up scarring in unwanted places o____O ) this will ease the process of folding

5.Cut the excess at the Top and put aside – just be sure to cut a really straight line and not to leave any fuzzy

6.Now we are going to separate the 7 cm segments from each other: cut from the tip of one of your triangles straight to one of its corners and when you hit the middle straight line cut all around the straight line (DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM)

7.Place the part you just cut out as if it was one flat piece of paper and this must leave you with 8 triangles – cut them carefully so they are all individual pieces and put them aside for a moment

8.Now go back to the box you are left with and carefully try to bring in the corners of the box while bringing out the tips of the triangle (do this one at a time)

MAKING THE LID

9.Now go back and get your triangles and with the glue stick paste two together making sure that the part that faces out is the white one and not the one with all the wordings and such – this will leave you with four triangles Let dry

10.Now grab your masking tape and stick some (about half of its width to one of the corners of the triangle

11.Grab another of the triangles and place it parallel on top of the side with the tape and stick the tape to it

12.Do the same to all the sides and this should give you a pyramid. Make sure to put tape on both sides so it’s stays in place. Now put two or three pieces across on each side also

13.Now you have your box and you can decorate it with any paper you want!

I promise I will write the paper beading (criss-crossing) and putting it on the box soon.

If I haven't tracked you down in more than ten years - it's a hint - Why did I ever get on Facebook

I have said here more than once that my hometown is Tijuana, Mexico. The TJ community is in reality small - at least mine. It's hard to meet someone really new 'cause everyone either went to some school toghether, were neighbors, are related or something.

When I lived in TJ I ran into people all the time: market, concert, somewhere. This doesn't mean I said Hello all the time because, and I'm being totally honest, not everyone I have ever known is someone I like or where nice to me (or just nice in general). In High School (Prepa) I was mostly considered a wierdo by my class-mates as often commented by one of them - who by the way orchestrated a fake diploma ceremony on our graduation dinner where I received the best dressed award (O___O) . . . . yup that was my actual face when I got up to receive it.

So anyway, to my point: last year I opened up a Facebook acount in order to stay in touch with some local friends that when to Spain for a year and another friend that is still here in Mexico City but that I don't get to see very often... (the truth is I rarely comment with either of them) so one day I open my FB and I find someone has sent me a greeting or whatever it's called... IT'S THIS F-CREATURE!!!! saying "longtime no see - how are you?" - - - - I obviously didn't answer, no way, what for. I deleted the message and horrified try to go on, this was some months ago; this week I open my account again and guess who sent me an invite!?!?!? W T F ???????

MORAL OF THE STORY:

We've been out of school for like 20 years and I've been out of TJ for 10. We know people in common, don't you think that if I'd wanted to find you I would've done so???????

If I haven't tracked you down in more than ten years - take the hint!!!

Why did I ever get on Facebook?

July 4th, one year without answering to the manâ�¦ take this job and shove it!

A little belated but here it goes:

On the fourth it was one year that I was "let go" from the company I worked at and still remain forever grateful. It wasn't the worst job I'd ever had - that's not it at all - and it wasn't the best job ever - pretty building, pretty people but still a job just like any other: no better, no worse. What this job was was a mirror of all the jobs before it and the road I had paved for myself: a stress filled, neurotic avenue that only left space for working, the minimal household chores and sleeping.

This wasn't what I had pictured when I started my studies. When I was in school I always pictured my job as being useful in the transition from being a newbie to being fully integrated into the work space, that's why I liked training, and the part about dissecting and trying to explain step by step how stuff works is the kind of thing I really love to do. But time and time again I was confronted by reality, companies don't care too much for training, it takes time out what is considered "production" and they'd rather have people working and trying to learn at the same time (even though this makes a lot of people leave soon and just making the recruiting thing an unending mess not to mention you are always giving the same basic training course over and over again); and then there are the productivity and government compliance reports, everybody wants to look good but nobody really cares about them being real.

And behavior in the workplace is not much better, aside from the backstabbing the leadership always leaves much to be desired, it's like bosses think that by telling you that your job is at stake if you don't keep the numbers up (even though you don't have the power to make that happen) you'll be stimulated to "do much better" and for what just so they can go to their meetings and show what a great job THEY are doing.

I seriously felt like I was inside a pool (btw can't swim) standing on my tip-toe's with water up to my neck and my bosses looking at me and just saying "I think it needs more water, yeah more water we can still put more water in there". Every time it just felt like the more work I did the more work that would be thrown my way and I couldn't say no 'cause that would just be unprofessional and nobody in their right mind would ever do that.

It's like I realized all the commonalities that there are in every workplace and I didn't like it. I just started to realize how completely invested I was on working and how much of my self-worth had to do with how work was going. Fortunately this time I was smart enough to see the common thread: corporate life ain't for me and when I assumed this and admitted I wanted out I was given an out that has let me be job free - stress free for a whole year!

I haven't done anything world changing in this year but I have been able to just relax and sort of "retrain my brain" to realize that not every single thing is my responsibility and that being no.1 at everything is not what makes me a worthy human.

This year I've been reading, writing my journal, cooking, exercising, a couple of crafts and generally focusing on me - someone I hadn't put much attention on in a while.

All inanimate aparatus^ hate me (I am without internet for one thing)

Hi guys,

Well just to let you know that the electrical gods in general hate me at the moment and for one of their trickeries we (kitten76 & me) are at the moment internetless.

It all started on sunday when we happily set up a new wireless internet, everything was fine. Monday when I tried to connect my lap would no anything but turn on and display menus, it was a long long day and with it being soooo slow it was until tuesday that I figured out that the antivirus the new product had was what made it so awfully slow. Thankfully I hadn^t cancelled the other service so we still have that but I can^t set up the old antivirus and the on-line service is a sham, so I will have to call to see if they can help me.

Then yesterday we had no electricity for the whole day (this has been happening a lot lately and I am sure it is politically motivated, but that^s a whole other blog), and today when I tried to use my phone to answer a call I discovered that it^s not working, so now I have to figure out what the heck is going on with that.

Last week was hard but this week has been ridiculus, and it seems that as soon as I fix something another thing explodes so I am trying to take it slow and not spazzz on it to much.

Hopefully this will be solved soon and will be able to catch up with you guys in no time, but just in case you don^t see me around in these days.... well now you know why.

Later

Lil antzy

Well, I'm of to have lunch with my ex-coworker, I have not been near the place since I got laid off. I am also going to pick up my "yes she worked for us a while" letter and going into that building is kinda getting me antzy... makes no sense but still, I'm kinda nervous.

Wish me peace

What I learned this... month!

Wow, I didnâ�™t write a single one of these through all August, and the truth is I thought I didnâ�™t have much to say since Iâ�™m not working and not much is going on interpersonally, but as Iâ�™m writing this I realize that there is stuff going on internally.

About a week ago my father came to the city for a conference and I swear the minute he told me he was coming, even though he wasnâ�™t going to stay with us and most of his time was booked, I got nervous. My relationship with my dad (as I guess most relationships are) is not easy. I was raised to be independent and self-assured but still they were very strict and still after 10 years of living in another city (and thus out of their house) when we are together the father-daughter roles take over and if you add to that the oversensitivity that Iâ�™ve had die to my insecurityâ�¦ well itâ�™s a miracle my head didnâ�™t explode, and also the fact that the last time he came wasnâ�™t so pretty.

I can tell you now that the days leading up to it I was somewhat anxiousâ�¦

Then the day came, he called on his way to the hotel and I left to meet him (sis joined in later), we ended up spending a good time just me and himâ�¦ talking, looking at books, etc. Iâ�™m not gonna say that magically things changed but now I can really see how Iâ�™ve changed. When he asked what I was currently doing and how active I was on issuesâ�¦ that at any other time wouldâ�™ve set me off to say something that wouldâ�™ve made this visit end up bad.

So, I guess what Iâ�™m saying is that even when you think change or lessons arenâ�™t happeningâ�¦ they are.

What I learned this week, july 13 2008

This week I learned that sticking to a plan and leaving old habits isn't so easy.

Last week I stopped working for my employer and eventhough I had thought this out and am completely aware that what I want is to do something new and "non-corporate" this week I found myself applying for exactly the same type of job. I went on the internet and found jobs I know I can do and (4 realz) automatically I clicked on send, it was until one of them called asking to interview me that I truly realized what I was doing... setting myself up again.

NOTE: I have managed not to do that yesterday and today and instead, little by little, research on places, programs, etc that I do wish to work at. I know it's going to take time, but most of all (as always) to stop going back to my old habits. =)

What I learned this week, july 6

Coincidenceâ�¦ I think not, All plans a go, I LOVED JUNE AND HOW IT SET UP JULY!!!

Ahh life, dreams, plans

Ainâ�™t it funny how all these funny little pieces that make up your life sometimes seem to make no sense and how, just like a puzzle, they seem to magically fit together and make one magical marvelous picture?

For a while Iâ�™ve been thinking (and writing) about how Iâ�™m so over corporate life and how I just want to get back to what (I believe) really mattersâ�¦ giving back.

The plan was to start researching about places I could volunteer and also what I need to shift my career toward this, so I started the research got some names of institutions near my house

On a parallel note, me and a friend had been planning to visit some friends that moved to Monterrey but for one reason or another weâ�™d been moving the date, but finally we set itâ�¦ july 4 to 6^th

The week started and progressed normally and then came Friday, my boss asked me to meet him at the corporate building (our departmentâ�™s office was set up in a building near by). So I went, and it happened, got firedâ�¦ just like I hoped. I got a good severance pay and got to splurge a little with my friends.

Yes Iâ�™m a little nervous that the money will run-out before I get settled in, but no matter, nothing is guaranteed and Iâ�™m starting to look in at part-time jobs so as to not run out.

But most of all I just have to get started on my plan, no more excuses, now it all really up to me!!!

Itâ�™s my proclamation of independence =)

What I learned this week, jun 29

What I learned this week, 29 jun 08

The circles are closing

So this week was fun starting since last Saturday, when my sis and I went to the Harold Lloyd film festival (silent movies, but Iâ�™ll go into that in a different journal) and on Sunday I went to see my teenage crushes with my cousin (kitten was never into themâ�¦ her loss) so this just left my heart and mind feeling good. Itâ�™s like my head cleared up and I can finally get to what needs to be done, take care of my pending commitments so when the time to move on from this job comes I wonâ�™t have any regrets.

It doesnâ�™t matter what everyone says when I leave, just what I think and how I feel when this chapter closes, and most of all, what I learn from it.

I know now that I need a bigger change than just the company, and everything is pointing toward a career change, so thatâ�™s really exciting.

My therapist recommended I start investigating what I will need (like a certification or something) so Iâ�™m prepared when it happens.

This is exciting and scary â�˜cause I really feel like Iâ�™m going back to my roots, my genuine self.

We all have to make this trip and find out who we really are, some change completely and find their true selves, others we change and in that change find a balance between the old and the new.

Itâ�™s a scary often painful trip, but the truth is if you make it with conviction and try to stay openâ�¦ itâ�™s worth it.

What I learned this week, jun 22

What I learned this week, 22 jun 08

Lifeâ�™s not all that serious

This weekend was silly fun, and I loved the feeling, but most of all I realized how much I miss this feeling of letting go and just laughing outloud.

Eventhough Iâ�™ve known Iâ�™m not happy and been trying to make changes in my life for a while now, somehow I hadnâ�™t realized how tightly wound I really was and most of all how withdrawn Iâ�™d gotten. The truth is Iâ�™ve never been a social butterfly and Iâ�™m tottaly aware and comfortable with that fact but still, in my own little world Iâ�™d have fun, recentlyâ�¦ not so much.

I meanâ�¦ I know Iâ�™m on the verge of closing a circle, I have a ritual to do so I can close the door to my past lovelife and be able to look for something new and healthy and I have a decision to make labor wise, â�˜cause I donâ�™t want to keep working and feeling like Iâ�™m not contributing to this earth so in a way Iâ�™m doing my own little ritual for that.

Iâ�™ve also been thinking bout leaving this city, Iâ�™m really growing tired of the grind and how backwards people are here (Iâ�™m missing the hippie California lifestyle). But with this I still have some hope.

What I have to do is find my nitche, mostly a job where I am around people with whom I share similar values and points of view â�˜cause I really think this is what eventually gets to me and why I always leave, so I guess going after the financial security isnâ�™t what I need and itâ�™s more about the emotial security and feeling like I am understood and that I belong.

I miss being a hippie