Let the Crazy Days Begin!

The first week is coming to a close. It’s been hectic, to say the least.

Monday I woke up at 8:30 a.m. after having a hard time falling asleep the night before. It was 2:30 a.m. before my eyelids finally obeyed me and let me sleep. I dragged myself into the shower, knowing that not getting enough sleep definitely wasn’t the best start to my week.

I managed to finish my laundry, pack my clothes, hug my dad goodbye and leave my house by 10:00 a.m., so I could fill my car with gas and grab a chai latte to keep me awake before work. I spent the day running around keeping my fitting room clean, helping customers, and toward the end of the day in the middle of a switcheroo that landed me in misses by myself while the line piled up over and over again. The person who had been scheduled had called in, so both me and my coworker in juniors had been placed in misses until they could find someone to fill in. By the time 7:00 rolled around, I felt pretty beat. Still, I had to throw my stuff in my car and head out onto Highway 12 to drive into Napa Valley.

When I make this drive, I’m usually constantly listening to music/singing at the top of my lungs, so the first part of the journey went quickly. Then around Suisun City, Josh called me and I found a new way to talk on the phone hands-free (by sticking my iPhone in the sunvisor so the speaker is sticking out). I even managed to stop on my way into Napa and take a photo of the gorgeous sunset that I was ranting about halfway there.

Pretty, right? I was so sad when driving along Highway 12 that there is really no place to stop to take pictures until Napa. Actually…I am sad about this all the time.

I finally arrived in Angwin around 9:00, and stopped at the college market to take down apartment listings on my phone, then drove up to Josh’s house. He was waiting for me when I got there as usual to help me take my bags in. This time, included was my gigantic camera bag that came with my Rebel. It exponentially increases my need for help when leaving or going to his house.

I had been expecting to take photos the next morning, but hadn’t yet received confirmation of this. Josh and I played some Diablo III for awhile until I needed to get ready for bed so I could work at Meadowood in the morning.

It’s been over a month that I’ve been working at Meadowood now, and I love it. I spend my five hours each day researching places to feature in the Journal, figuring out what’s going on around Meadowood itself, and lately, working on some redesign ideas for the Journal. I’m really enjoying being able to manage a publication, even with its limited creative possibility. Plus, everyone I’ve come across is incredibly friendly, and the atmosphere doesn’t feel stressful. In researching for the Journal, too, I discover more things that would be fun to do and places to visit. I’m definitely wanting to visit both Bouchon Bakery in Yountville and Oakville Grocery for picnic supplies. And of course there’s Dean and Deluca and their fabulous peach smoothies that I am planning on indulging on quite often once I’m all moved up there.

When I was done for the day, I called Dexter Estate Landscapes (my new job) to find out when I was taking photos for them. We settled on Wednesday morning and evening, and I realized I’d be going to bed pretty early. I emailed a landlord on a potential apartment and went upstairs with my iPad to get ready to sleep. It’s amazing sometimes how sleep hits you like a freight train at times. One minute, I was wide awake, reading WordPress and LiveJournal, and the next minute my eyelids were made of iron and I was attempting to put my iPad up away from the bed without dropping it on my face.

The next morning, I woke up at 5:45 a.m. and showered, got dressed, gathered up clothes to change into for Meadowood, and loaded my camera equipment into my car to drive to Yountville. I was photographing the “before” pictures for a landscaping job there. I arrived at the road the site was located on, but became extremely confused by the road numbers. Admittedly, I am known for my lack of a sense of direction, but I have gotten better and know how street numbers work. I had taken Silverado Trail to get to Yountville Crossroad, and the street numbers were going down as I drove instead of going up as I expected them to be. Frustrated, I called to find out if I had the address wrong. Finally, I found the place, and much to my dismay, had figured out that I had transposed the last two numbers of the address, which was part of the reason why I hadn’t found it.

Lindsay, who will be training me for my new job in the next few weeks, met me at the job site to give me more instructions on what shots they wanted. After taking a walk around the property with her, I felt more comfortable with what they wanted and took the liberty to walk another circuit around the site and take lots of photos. It felt good to pick up my camera again, and I was mostly pleased with the results. I was a bit miffed to find that the entire driver’s side carpet of my car was coated with dust, as were my shoes and the bottom of my jeans.

I then drove to Calistoga, where I took photos at a new winery named Aubert. The morning light was starting to fade, so I finished up my photos and drove back to St. Helena to meet Lindsay at the office.

She made a phone call to arrange my shoot for that evening, and I left to work at Meadowood. I parked in my usual spot above the Court House, and proceeded to change my pants in my backseat. As roomy as the front seat of my Beetle is, the back seat is not. I’m sure anyone who had happened to walk by would have been confused by the splay of arms and legs visible through the windows. After having pulled a muscle in my back and getting my into my work clothes successfully, I gathered up my bag, phone, and keys and walked down to the office.

The rest of my crazy week is to come! Stay tuned for Let the Crazy Days Begin, part 2.

A New Leaf

It’s May 21, 2012, and I’m about to embark on what is possibly going to be two of the craziest weeks that I’ve had in a long time.

In short, the next two weeks I will:

• end my seven month stint at JCPenney (my last day is Saturday, and I work every day there except Tuesday and Wednesday)
• head to Napa Valley to work at Meadowood Tuesday and Wednesday
• do garden photographs for my new job (yay!) in the early morning and sunset hours
• look for an apartment in Angwin
• view the senior thesis exhibition at PUC since I input for one of them
• begin moving my whole life to Angwin, CA.

I don’t think it’s really hit me yet that it’s real. That I’m actually moving out of my parents’ house, that I’m actually going to be on my own, the very thing I’ve been pining over for months. As far as my budget shows, I won’t be scrounging to save my last dollars for my next paycheck, dipping out my savings because I have no money, or wondering how I’m going to pay for my next trip up to Napa Valley. I’m done with that. I’m moving there. I’m turning over a new leaf.

It’s exciting for me, yet it’s sad. Basically my entire family is here in Stockton. I’m only two hours away, but it’s still a drive and even when I was in college, every time I came home I felt like I was missing parts of my younger cousins’ lives because they grow so fast, I was missing family time. Even quitting at JCPenney: even though I will definitely not miss the work itself or the infuriating aspects of the job, I will miss the people I’ve worked with for the past seven months. There’s people that I feel if I had more time with them we could be great friends, and there just hasn’t been enough. There’s people that I bashed heads with at first and couldn’t stand, but then learned a mutual respect for and will miss a lot. My mom reminded me it is hard to move on.

I’ll update more as these two weeks move along. I hope that they’ll give me some more perspective on how life will be now. I’m excited, determined, and prepared to seize the day. There’s so much I want to do, see, live, write, and photograph that there isn’t time for it all, but I know being in Napa Valley will be an excellent start.

Motivation. Determination. Drive.

There’s probably something you should know about me when it comes to motivation.

It’s kind of random.

I have an incredible amount of determination when I really want something done. There’s pretty much no stopping me in that case. Examples include random amounts of heavy-lifting in my room, working my butt off in college to buy my Civic, and getting a good grade in my freshman psychology class. (Those were intense quiz times with my psych book).

When I don’t want to do something, it’s a bit different.

This applies less when it comes to a work environment, because I do have an excellent work ethic that I’m proud of, and I try to do a good job even if I hate every minute of it, and I follow the rules, etc. But when it comes to my personal life or goals, I am trying to figure out how to tap into that bull-headed, stubborn determination that I have but can’t always seem to find.

I need that determination when I’m trying to pursue that photography business, or that best-selling novel, or that fabulous dream job I keep getting rejected for. I need it to get up at a time that gives me more of a regular sleep schedule. I need it to put simple things in my life back to normalcy. I need it to breeze through the stack of books on my desk.

Honestly, I need it every day. I’m trying to tap into that drive and floor it, and little by little, I am finding it. In the meantime, I’ll continue reading about motivation. Reading tends to do the trick.

In case anyone is interested, one of the bloggers I follow has a great blog about “tough motivation” that I have been reading and I think has helped at least a little. Check it out! http://toughmotivation.wordpress.com/

A Review of “Cat’s Eye” by Margaret Atwood

I finished reading Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood yesterday while on my way home from San Francisco on the BART. I’ve been reading it for a couple of weeks, and even halfway through it had been debating blogging about it because it was so good.

Here I am.

First of all, I was enthralled with how poetic the prose is in the story. It honestly made me start waxing poetic in my head just from reading it, except in a less smooth and subtle way than Atwood does.

Secondly, the book says so much about women and how we relate to each other. It is so honest that it can bring back memories much like how Elaine had to have triggers for her to remember things that happened in the past. I began remembering things that “best friends” had done in the past in immaturity and imitation, and how this kind of treatment leaves you bitter and thick-skinned, which makes it more likely you’ll turn around and do it to someone else. I was amazed at how well I could relate to Elaine and her experiences, how she felt and reacted to her situations, and what she thought about returning to her hometown. I also immensely understood her feelings toward Cordelia, how she loved her but at the same time held malice and hate in her heart for her as well.

There is also some commentary on feminism and what it means to be a woman, and how it changed throughout her life. I related to her comments on feminists who thought men were evil, and that being a married woman was somehow bad, referring to nuclear families as “nukes”, or that shaving was conformative and made you not a woman.

Elaine says “…these meetings make me nervous, and I don’t understand why. I don’t say much, I am awkward and uncertain, because whatever I do say might be the wrong thing. I have not suffered enough, I haven’t paid my dues, I have no right to speak. I feel as if I’m standing outside a closed door while decisions are being made, disapproving judgments are being pronounced, inside, about me. At the same time I want to please. Sisterhood is a difficult concept for me…Brotherhood is not.”

I understand this well, especially when she says about how she never can tell whether another woman likes her or not, but when she was with boys or men she could tell how they felt about her.

It’s hard for me to articulate exactly why this book is so good without spoiling the story, but I think it is a must-read for anyone. Women can find why we treat each other the way we do, and it’s an eye-opener…something that we can all change in ourselves. I think men would find it insightful to why women treat other women the way they do, and even why they treat men the way they do. I think I can effectively add this book to my list of top favorites, and tell everyone that they should read it if they have the chance. I might add more to this review as I think more about the book, but it’s definitely something going on my “want to re-read” because it is simply excellent.

Sometimes “Lightning” Does Strike Twice.

In the usual sense, the sayings “lightning doesn’t strike twice” or “opportunity only comes knocking once” are true. In this case, I am very excited that these statements did not turn out to be true.

Sometime in August or September, my friend Katelynn ended her job at Meadowood Napa Valley as the journal coordinator. She offered to put my name in for the position, as they would be needing someone to fill it as soon as possible. It was a great part-time position to consider, but without another job to live there on, I told her it was okay and she ended up recommending someone else for the job.

It’s been about eight months since that happened, and the person she recommended had to leave the position because of school and other work commitments. My college advisor sent me an email notifying me of the position’s availability, and told me it’d be a great opportunity to get my foot in the door.

I considered this, and decided it was worth a shot. Anything to get me in the door in the Valley is worth it.

I emailed the public relations manager at Meadowood asking about the position, and sent her my resume as well as short cover email. She quickly responded to me and set up a phone interview. Before I knew it, I had an interview scheduled that week since I’d be up there visiting Josh already.

I had another interview for a more full-time position in the Valley as well that week, and as I slowly drove into Meadowood for my interview, I felt nervous, but confident because of the recommendation I knew that my advisor had given me. I drove up to the communication building, remembering with a laugh taking Katelynn to work and dealing with the steep hills in my Honda Civic, when my Beetle takes them a little better than it did. I found a parking spot that overlooked the building that was just big enough for my Beetle to fit in, then walked down.

Jenn, the public relations manager; and Jenna, the marketing coordinator; greeted me at the door to their office. They led me into the conference room in the Court House. Like everything at Meadowood, the room was gorgeous. As my interview began, I began to realize that I wanted the job quite a lot. It utilized my writing skills, working with a daily publication, and I was pretty sure I was going to immensely enjoy working with Jenn and Jenna. After my interview, I made sure to send a thank you email along with a couple of writing samples to showcase my InDesign know-how. I simply hoped for the best.

This past Tuesday, I received a call in the morning from Jenn, asking me to call her back. My phone had somehow ended up on the floor during the night, and I didn’t receive her voicemail until 11:00 a.m. I hurried to call her back.

I was delighted to hear her offer me the job of Journal Coordinator.

Although I am still waiting to hear from the other job in Napa Valley, I am very excited to have this job. Currently I will be halfway in two places, which I know will be somewhat hard, but I know I’m going to enjoy myself, and my income is going to double. I feel like this is a great step in the right direction, and I am really excited about getting started.

Sometimes “lightning” does strike twice.

A Guide to Twitter: It’s Not Just About What You Ate Today.

I’ve had Twitter for about four or five years, but hadn’t really discovered its use until about a year ago. It started when I began my internship at Nimbus Arts and discovered they didn’t have a Twitter. I immediately set on creating one, grabbing their logo to use as their avatar photo, and following businesses and people that I felt were influential in the Napa Valley.

It was through this that I began to learn how to use my own Twitter page to my advantage, and how it can be effective in learning about job opportunities, marketing yourself and the work you do. It has been effective in garnering more readers for my blog, showing my photography, and simply to be able to have discussions with others that I might not have had the opportunity to otherwise.

So here’s a simple guide to Twitter to show you that no, it is not just about what you ate today. It is a tool that when used well, can guide you along your own road to success.

1. If you’re using Twitter to market the work you do, make sure your handle is recognizable.

My Twitter handle is @sowensphoto. I originally used it to show off my photos by linking it to my Tumblr page, which I have been using as a portfolio for a number of years. I was surprised at the amount of photographers and photography businesses that followed me when I began following them and marketing my photos. However, that mostly started after I made a clear name for my Twitter, that it was for me as a photographer.

2. Know the lingo.

There’s a lot of lingo on Twitter that may look like gibberish at first glance, but once you learn it, it’s pretty easy to follow.

RT: This means that you retweeted from someone else. For instance, if I was retweeting something from one of my favorite blogs, I’d write “RT @thejackieblog” and then copy/paste or directly retweet from her page what it was that I found insightful or hilarious. Usually Twitter and other pages that you retweet from will do this for you, but it’s always good to know.

Hashtags: That’s these: #. Use these to mention subjects or trending topics on Twitter. Say for instance, if you’ve been following the Trayvon Martin case, and tweet something that’s your opinion on it, you’d write “Killers should be arrested and held until they can have a fair trial. #TrayvonMartin”. It gets your tweet out in a universal manner and it is more likely that others will see it. Personally, I use my Twitter to voice my opinion quite a bit, but that’s another story.

Trending Topics: You can usually find these on the left sidebar on your homepage on Twitter. If you want to comment on something that’s in the news and put it out there, those hashtags are there for your reference, or you can make your own.

Mentions: This is when another user uses your @username to mention you or write a public tweet to you. Mentions are usually exciting for me, to be honest. Seeing @sowensphoto on someone else’s page makes me feel as if my voice is being heard, and having a discussion or conversation with someone is one of my favorite things about Twitter.

3. Remember that Twitter is social, so give and you will receive, and if you receive, you should give.

I use Twitter as one of my main sources for reading material, so I do a lot of retweeting and mentioning of big news sources and my favorite blogs. This is the best way for your Twitter and thoughts to be noticed, but remember that it is a conversation, and not a one-sided show about you. It’s a social medium, so follow the golden rule. If someone follows you, thank them. If someone sends you a direct message, make sure to respond.

4. Have fun!

I believe the reason that Twitter is popular is somewhat the same reason that Facebook is popular. It’s fun. Everyone craves interaction, conversation, and discussion. Everyone wants to feel like their voice is being heard. Enjoy yourself!

Do you have a Twitter account? What do you like most about it? Did you used to think it was just about “what you ate today?” Let me know in the comments!

What Napa Valley Is To Me

I've been passing this sign for almost a year and finally stopped and took a photo of it.
(c) Samantha Owens

What do you think of when you hear the words “Napa Valley?”

I can remember when I first rode up to Pacific Union College to find out more about my classes and major in communication. I had no idea how much I would fall in love with the area I was going to school in. I had no idea how lucky I was.

It wasn’t until my junior year that I really felt that I began exploring the culture and people that were around me. I went to a variety of restaurants with delicious food, I visited the Castello di Amarosa with my friend AJ, I walked the street of Calistoga admiring the cutesy shops, and tasted olive oil and dressings at the olive oil company in St. Helena during Cheers! St. Helena. Not to mention during my senior year I photographed for Cheers!, worked for Nimbus Arts and volunteered at their annual Nimbash, as well as got a taste for the wine culture of the area and met a lot of friendly people.

As soon as I graduated, I knew I wanted to stay. I didn’t want to leave this place behind. I didn’t want to leave the days working at Nimbus, sitting at the paint-stained art tables with the sunshine streaming in the windows, photo editing and doing work at the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company, attending Cheers!, or even visiting the tiny library that has a lovely expanse of vineyards behind it that is perfect for photos. I especially didn’t want to leave the place that had been my inspiration for the past four years and go back to my hometown. In the end, of course, I had to.

This is the vineyard behind the library.

Now, I am trying my hardest to be able to move back. Currently I’m waiting to hear from a couple of jobs there, and if they pan out I will be able to move back permanently. I’m already there every time I have a couple of days off in a row, and stay at Josh’s. Even just taking walks around Angwin, the tiny town that PUC is housed in, is an inspiration with the beautiful vineyards and trees surrounding it and the cutesy cottage-like older houses that are often for rent, just waiting for me to have the opportunity to move in. Every time I get off of Highway 80 and drive straight into the valley, I feel as if my entire being feels whole and inspired.

Castello di Amarosa in Calistoga. (c)Samantha Owens

I left last week and as I was driving I felt that itch to have my camera in hand again. I haven’t felt that in months. That’s when I knew that I have to try my hardest to get there again. Life is short, I’m young, and I have places I want to go and live and work. Why not start now, with my favorite place on earth?

Fair Isn’t Fair…

My feet hurt and probably swelled up and turned pink the moment I slipped them out of my tennis shoes tonight. I just got home at 3:17 a.m. after working a middle of the night shift at work, getting the store ready for our April set. I did this last month, and the month before that as well.

As I was driving home, I couldn’t help but think about the types of things that always cross my mind when this time of the month comes around again. I start thinking about how I’m working random hours, can barely get on a normal sleep schedule before it’s disrupted again, am getting paid just enough that I can pay my car payment, put away money for my  insurance, and fill up my car with gas (sometimes). Currently, I don’t even have the income to pay for my student loans, my parents are taking care of it, which I’m very grateful for. I can’t help but wonder though, what am I doing here?

I can’t help but feel cheated by the American Dream we all have grown up with. The “you can be anything you want to be in America.” We preach independence, count on being able to exercise it, and have such an individualistic society that living at home with your parents for a certain amount of time starts to grate on you and your own sense of self and accomplishment. I’m working the type of job I would have worked in high school (in fact, most people I work with seem to think I’m a senior in high school, but that’s another story), yet I’m college-educated and have enough of the skills required to perform well at a job that’s actually going to use what I have to offer. I’m trying my hardest to find avenues to either land me jobs or freelance opportunities, but I feel like I keep hitting dead ends or delays. I’m angry that our economy and country is so messed up that companies are using tactics like requiring your Facebook password in order for you to be hired and disregarding tons of applicants simply because of the number of applications. The political climate and legislation and idiotic squabbling going on over the economy, budget, and where this country is going is not helping anyone, other than the super-rich that are sitting comfortably while everyone else suffers from pay cuts, insurance worries, debt, or unemployment. I’d like to know where the America I knew just ten years ago went, or at least rest assured that I’ve been wearing rose-colored glasses all these years, and that I’m going to have to find my avenue to success and stability in a very unconventional way.

 

Ideas Come From the Strangest Places.

I wasn’t expecting to finish my first novel too soon.

I wasn’t exactly expecting to get another idea for one so soon, either.

I was sleeping blissfully one night a few weeks ago when I had a vivid, timeline-driven, action-packed dream. Usually, I don’t remember my dreams unless I’ve had a headache and am medicated with Tylenol P.M., but this one I remembered.

In the morning when I woke up and tried to keep all the pieces together, it suddenly struck me that it would be a fantastic novel idea. Within minutes, it turned from the shadowy fragments of a dream into a chock full of ideas to flesh out the novel. Tonight, I finally began writing down my characterization, timeframe, and some place details in my Moleskine while riding to Five Guys for dinner.

First of all, it was a dream, and it will soon turn into something plausible and tangible. And secondly, I haven’t even finished my first novel yet!

No worries, I’m taking advantage anyway.

Next time you have a dream, weird thought, or sudden lightbulb–no matter how strange it sounds–write it, direct it, make it a reality. I’m glad I’m doing so with mine. There’s no telling how it’s going to end up, but I’ve got high hopes for its completion and future success.

Experience is Worth It, No Matter What Kind it Is.

By the summer before my senior year in college, I was panicking. Each student in my department was expected to complete one internship for credit before graduation. I had been searching and writing cover letters to send out during spring break, continued looking through spring quarter, and was beginning to despair to find even just a job for over the summer. At this point I still didn’t have my license, so the chances of finding an internship I could actually even transport myself to seemed slim.

Fall quarter began, and my advisor forwarded me a few emails from people in Napa Valley looking for interns. I spent a day at Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company studying and perfecting cover letters to send. To my surprise and joy, I received a reply from Nimbus Arts by the next day. We set up an interview time. Excited and nervous, I went to buy a pair of slacks to wear (all of mine inevitably shrink to high-water status after the first wash, it seems) and prepared myself for the interview.

I drove to Nimbus Arts that day and met Jamie, the director, for the first time. We talked about my duties and about my background, and I became their media and public relations intern.

At first, I was doing a lot of work with updating the Facebook page, connecting to the business that does their email newsletters, and creating a Twitter page for them. I also began working on writing material for Nimbash, their annual fundraising event that drives the work that happens most of the year. I began attending their events to photograph the people and the art and even got a couple of pictures published in the St. Helena Star.

My internship turned out very different from what I expected it to be. Nimbus Arts had never had an intern before, considering they were just recently becoming an independent nonprofit. Jamie, Anne, and Mary, the office manager, are also constantly fielding phone calls, emails, working with and teaching classes, as well as taking care of their families and other responsibilities they had. Often, it was hard to know what I should do, especially when I was no longer in charge of handling the email newsletter, because having me as a middleman really didn’t make sense, except for the odd time I would catch a mistake in the copy. For awhile I got discouraged, because my internship was very dependent on what work I was given but also it was up to me to record when I worked and how many hours I got. Finally, as the year began dwindling to a close, I decided to start actually going in to Nimbus every Tuesday and Thursday and work until I had class in order to fulfill my 90-hour requirement.

Nimbash was coming up quickly and there was plenty of work to be done. I quickly became swept up in the flow of work that came with planning an event of this magnitude. I ended up working on a lot of different things, and although it wasn’t necessarily my “job description”, I felt I got more of the valuable experience that I needed in simply working with a business than the kind of stuff I was already learning in college. I picked up lunch for the weekly planning meetings and sat in on them, I fielded phone calls so that the other staff could get some work done, I called businesses to ask them if they would be willing to donate their time or product for the different exhibits we would have at Nimbash, I typed up artist biographies, became the contact on campus for artists to submit to, and answered questions on the Twitter page about the event. Although I had enjoyed the first half of my internship, I enjoyed the second half even more. I felt like I got to know the Nimbus staff well, and each of them were kind, caring, and wonderful people to work with. I felt that I learned a lot and gained valuable experience and contacts that no one can dispute.

When I graduated from college, I made sure to give them an invitation to the ceremony. Although they couldn’t attend, when I went to return some flyers and paperwork and get my intern evaluation, they gave me a gift card for Dean and Deluca, which is one of my favorite places in the Valley because of their peach medley smoothies and the variety of fresh foods they have available. I ended up purchasing a cookbook with it to give me ideas for when I moved out and got my own apartment. They also each gave me support in finding a place to rent and helping me look for jobs.

To this day I appreciate everything that the staff at Nimbus Arts has done for me. They had even offered that if I could find a job in the Valley again, that they would have a project for me to work on for the art center. I am extremely glad that I interned there and understand fully why it was a requirement for my degree.