Foot-break

i have finally given tips on how to foot-break.
thanks to Afu and Daniel.

Basically, i need to practise my balance on one leg.
And after i’m able to balance without falling (get someone to slightly push you around while standing with one leg) and once i get the green light, you have to try balancing while the board is moving.
So what you need to do is move your board slightly with a tiny push and balance yourself while it’s moving with your one leg.
After mastering that, use your heel to grace the pavement.
Never use your toes to hit the concrete first, always heels. Or else, you’ll trip.
Also never completely step down like a hammer, you’d definitely fall front. If you do, remember to land with your hands first (this also means you better make sure you have your gloves on) and then knees. Don’t be like me on my second attempt to downhill or you’ll scrape your chin like i did.
Afterwards you can try to go slightly faster - baby steps of course.

So yeah, this is a tip from me to you noobs.
i must admit i find this embarrassing not to know how to foot-break. i tried before i never seem to understood how it works. but now i do :)

Hope this helps for ya :D

10 rules for your Résumé

Job search advice that worked in the past isn’t always advice you should follow today. In fact, some of it can actually hurt your chances of getting interviews and job offers.

[See Best Jobs of 2012.]

Here are 10 job search rules that you should go ahead and break:

1. Limit your resume to one page. You might have heard the one-page resume rule, but times have changed and two-page resumes are common now. If you only have a few years of experience, you should still stick to one page, but two are fine for everyone else.

2. Write in formal language. The most compelling resumes are written in real language, without jargon or stiffness. Write your resume in normal language, like the way you would describe your achievements to a friend. Don’t suck the life out of it with stuffy corporate-speak.

[Related: Best Degrees for In-Demand Careers]

3. Include an objective. Hiring managers don’t really care about your objective; they care about what you can do for them. Resume objectives never help, and they can actually hurt if they aren’t tailored enough to the position or, even worse, if they have nothing to do with the position. Most objectives, though, simply waste space. Instead, include highlights or a skills summary.

4. Lead with your education. While your college career center might have convinced you that your degree is your best-selling point, employers care more about what you’ve achieved in the work world. Most resumes should list your education beneath your work experience, because the latter will be more relevant to employers.

5. Include “references available upon request” on the bottom of your resume. Like the one-page rule, this is a convention from another time. Employers these days assume that you’ll provide references when asked, so you don’t need to say it explicitly.

[In Pictures: 10 Ways Your Email Could Kill Your Job Chances.]

6. After you submit your resume, wait a few days and then call to schedule an interview. Job-seekers don’t get to decide on scheduling an interview; employers do, and it’s overly pushy to pretend otherwise. Employers would spend all day fielding calls if the hundreds of applicants who apply for any given position were to call to follow up. It might be hard to accept, but once you apply, the ball is in the employer’s court.

7. Arrive early for interviews. It’s smart to give yourself a buffer against being late, but don’t walk into the company’s reception area early. Most interviewers are annoyed when candidates show up more than five or 10 minutes early, since they may feel obligated to interrupt what they’re doing and greet the person, or feel guilty leaving a candidate sitting in their reception area for too long. Instead, if you’re early, kill that time in a nearby coffee shop, or even in your car if you need to.

8. When an interviewer asks about your weaknesses, answer with a positive framed as a weakness. It’s disingenuous to claim that your biggest weakness is perfectionism or that you work too hard. And those weaknesses have become such interview clichés that your interviewer will assume you’re avoiding a real answer to the question. Instead, talk about an area you’ve truly struggled with and what you’ve done to overcome it.

9. Don’t name a salary number first. Job-seekers used to be advised to avoid naming a salary figure first when the topic comes up in order to avoid accidentally under-selling themselves. But these days it’s often impossible to avoid doing so. Since employers increasingly use online application processes that require candidates to input a desired salary before they can proceed, job-seekers need to be ready to talk money—which means being prepared with a salary range based on research about what comparable positions pay in your particular geographic area.

[See 3 Vital Tools for a Salary Search.]

10. Ask for the job. While this kind of hard-sell tactic might have worked in the past, these days employers don’t want to feel they’re being sold. Hard-sell tactics put your interviewer on the spot and can come across as desperate. Interviewers like to think they’re hiring the best person for the job, not the most aggressive. Instead, what works better is to treat the interview as a collaborative process where you’re both concerned with finding the right fit.

7 insights to make you a great designer by SHEENA MCKINNON

There are no instant geniuses

The majority of speakers have been working away at their chosen profession for over 10 years. A well known name, identity or practice is most unlikely to happen over night. But it’s not about festering away in a safe little corner until you’ve done your time then looking for accolades either. It’s more about constantly striving for excellence in your practice, and always looking to innovate. In fact, you’ll be so absorbed in the journey and discovery you’re generating though your creative process, that when a recognition of your creative genius happens, it will probably take you quite by surprise – especially as you will most likely be claiming that you’re not doing much special, just your job. Wayne Thompson developed his skills over 12yrs in an ad agency before starting the Australian Type Foundry.

Work hard

Long hours are usually required to make something from nothing. Put something in to get something out, and the rewards will be much fuller. Nothing to be afraid of. Build a good support system, people who understand what you are striving for, and collaborate see below. – Amazing things can happen if you put in the hard work “Ricki Wallen” (by Michael Mabry).

Collaborate

Share the workload, share the ideas. Two heads are better than one. Many of the speakers highlighted the power of collaboration as one of their key messages. As a solo creative, you can achieve a lot, but as a collaborative team the possibilities and achievements will be extraordinary. More contacts, larger networks, deeper financial pool, stronger support when times are tough, and a bigger party when the successfully completed job is signed off. GhostPatrol ~ ”Share, inspire and be inspired by others”.

You don’t have to sit still

It is perfectly acceptable to move around different fields of design as your career progresses. Many of the speakers at this year’s AGIdeas considered themselves as ‘multidiciplinary’, working in more than one accepted creative field. Of course time is relative, and many of the speakers have been practicing for over 10 years in the arena of design, so when they mention all the twists and turns in their career, they are talking in terms of years, not weeks or months.

The key idea is that you don’t have to feel locked into one particular discipline of design, keep learning and follow new paths that interest you. Perhaps you have studied Graphic Design, and you like it, but recently discovered that moving graphics and the introduction of a timeline in your creations really gets you going so you make a jump to animation.

Learn more about what interests you, and follow what excites you. Skills and ideas you uncover in one discipline of design, will more than likely improve and inspire your work in other creative fields. Ghostpatrol was halfway thorough an IT degree, when he began creating street art. Annabel Dundas (TILT) and Jacques Reymond followed their interests around the world for years as they developed and refined their skills and professional practice.

Research

Research is more than a request made by your lecturers in order to collect credits towards your formal qualification. It is an on-going part of your design practice, reflecting your interests, thought processes and informing you with past ideas, solutions, influences and learnings, forming the backbone for future projects and possibilities. Collect ‘finds’ to use and inspire later. Collect photos. Travel. Choose a different way home.

Stopping your research is a sure way to put the brakes on the progression of your design career. So don’t sit back and take the pay check – stimulate your brain and keep your creative genius alive! For many speakers, their research directly informed specific projects, like visual notes on the required look and feel needed to communicate the project idea successfully to the audience. Spanish multi-disciplinary designer Javier Mariscal used countless photos, film footage and culture emersion to inform colour pallette and authenticity in the base illustrations in his Havana film project. He studied the culture and mannerisims, emersing himself into the Havanan life to ensure an authentic and recognisable Havanan environment is communicated throughout the animation.

Not just the computer

Good design goes beyond the computer. Technical wizardry is definitely a valuable asset, and digital workflows are the backbone of any visual output these days, but traditional media skills can make a difference. Experiment, trial and error. Make mistakes, and at the same time new discoveries. “Don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to draw, learn hands-on manual art techniques, then digitise it, and your work will stand out with it’s own flavour and originality.” ~ RESN (NZ). Michael Mabry goes out of his way to make technology look invisible. i.e to look done by hand. Michel Bouvet sketches by hand, then uses illustrator to finish, but prefers to work with paper rather than digital.

Believe in yourself

Believe in your work. Believe in what you do. Do it because it’s your passion, and not only will you most likely enjoy yourself, but you will have the energy to continue when times are tough, and your passion and originality will lead the way.

Robyn Beeche: “Don’t worry if the commercial world doesn’t like what you are producing, if it is timeless, continue”.

Jacques Reymond – Passion was/ is his life journey, leading all round the world. Michael Mabry – “It’s never to late to be what you might have been”.

Amanda Henderson – “design philosophy = be who you are, not held by design style”.

Joseph Campbell – “Follow your bliss”.

Dean Gaylor (Mance Design) – “you do your best work when you are most passionate about it”.

So there you have it, the top seven insights distilled from AGideas 2010. That should keep us all going until the excitement of next year’s conference.

How to win a girl over the Justin Bieber way:

1. Roll on a pool table.

2. Crawl down a concrete slide thing after her.

3. Get a strike in a bowling game.

4. Call her baby 500 times.

5. Have a dance-off in a bowling alley.

6. Constantly open and close your jacket.

congratulations.