As of yesterday night, I am officially done with university! We already bought tickets to Asia, leaving in February. I have more than a month to get my shit together but I actually have a significant amount of work to do. I want to finish (more like, start) making myself a personal website/resumé. I would also like to start a travel blog/vlog but I need a name to get started and I've been stuck on that :( I know in the grand scheme of things the name is not really what counts but i don't want to be stuck with something I don't like..
"Forward Unto Dawn". It's a line from a poem I never wrote because I suck at rhyming. The most I got for it is "The Traveller Frog", from what I believe to be a Russian fairy tale (Лягушка-путешественница). "The Hermes Matters", from TNG's suggestion. "I'd Rather Not Stay, Thank You". "When's the Next Train Coming?". "From Russia with Love" (you see what I'm doing there?). "Beth Mobile" (while we're at it). "Lizing Around" (see something else I did there?). "Treading Lightly". "Travel: East". "Blue Jacket Hopping" (or whatever it is you wear). I'm having fun coming up with these. Let me know if you'd like me to continue.I would also like to start a travel blog/vlog but I need a name to get started and I've been stuck on that :(
It's time to move on,
Forward unto dawn.
Hermes was the Greek God of travel. You could play on that... ? Elizabroad? Nah... I'm no good at this. Regardless of what you name it, I look forward to reading it. Congrats on being done! What a HUGE accomplishment.
For some reason that just sounds like a person with bad breath. Wanderbreath is what it brings to mind. Nobody wants wander breath. -I've had it. It's gross.
Anagrams are always fun: Varlet Hat Belize Hat Belize Varlet... and my favorite: Gravel in La Zit
I don't know where to start. Lots of random thoughts going on in my head. First: my dad is bugging me about staying too much in my room, having no friends or a SO. Again. This happens from time to time, I just ignore it. He just got retired and is still in the "what do I do now" phase. People are told they should work first then they can do whatever they want. You get so caught up wsith that, it becomes your life and once it's over, you are left with a huge nothingness of "what now?". I felt like that a couple years ago, when I got out of college. What now? I got to the end of the mandatory educational path. My colleagues were like "oh, I'm going to get into a laser research program", "I'm going to get a master's degree in quantum mechanics" (I graduated in physics BTW) and so on. What about me? I said "I'm going to start a band". And have been pursuing that ever since. The more I think about getting a job, or "a real job", the less I feel inclined to do so. Sure, money's an issue, and I've been teaching EFL for some time. My heart was never there, I couldn't serve two masters at the same time. Music is my main thing. Despite all the hurdles involved, I don't feel like giving up and conforming to what people want from me. To do that would be denying who I am. Then I started a few businesses with not much success, a lot of resistance and some risks to my security. I tried reaching out to the entrepreneurs in my area, but as I wrote before, since I got no social media profiles or Whatsapp, I don't exist here. In the end, after scouring the whole city, I found a local coworking space, met a guy who wanted to start an EFL school, he wanted me to work for him, I said no. Then I said "hey, since I'm spending so much energy on this, why don't I focus on my music career?" What hurts the most is when I hear "you're wasting your potential, you're so intelligent, why don't you become an engineer or a doctor or a/an (insert high-paying job here)?". Now, second point: I'm feeling cut off from civilization. Not lonely. It feels like all the interesting things are happening away from me. We don't have many events here, I try to keep up with what's happening around here, but it's not much. All the cool things happen 200km from here. My goal is to move away from here, though money is the problem. This is one of the reasons I signed up in Hubski. I feel I can type about it here. And yes, I want to be read/heard. I want to have a voice and I want people to receive my message. I feel I don't have much of a voice where I am. Thankfully, there's the internet. I started a music review blog yesterday with the texts I had saved in my PC (took me 30 mins to come up with a name, thanks to my cat). I'm writing there as if no one was reading. It's my space. I don't plan on monetizing it or anything, just a space to share my texts at my own pace. That's pretty much it.
God. The number of times I see this. Why is "wasting your potential" synonymous with wasting money? Being where you don't want to be is wasting your potential. It's wasting your life. I don't really have any advice that the more experienced folks here couldn't give, but I wish you all the best in creating yourself. :)"you're wasting your potential, you're so intelligent, why don't you become an engineer or a doctor or a/an (insert high-paying job here)?"
Welcome, AshleyR. This stuck out to me. It sounds like you know that to fully pursue music, you need to be elsewhere. Consider figuring out what cash you need for about 4 months elsewhere, earning that much teaching EFL or whatever, and going. Worst case scenario, you come back in 4 months. Knowing that you were doing that job for your music might make it easier.My goal is to move away from here, though money is the problem.
The next time I write one of these I will be a free man. I have completed my last early-morning commute from home to hell. We have carpet, we have furniture on that carpet, we have christmas cards out, we have a vision for the future. The birth center is coming along nicely; not only has my wife effectively aligned with the dominant power structures in the community, she came in on top. Sight-unseen, she's had a dozen people looking for work, five practitioners looking for space in her clinic and no less than three midwives attempting to buy their way into an equity position. The equity seekers can fuck off, of course. I gave up too much of my life for the bitches to buy their way in when it's cheap. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The motel staff called me when I rolled in and asked me if I wanted breakfast (they were about to scrub the buffet). Then BitchBoss walked in and walked out. I said "she doesn't like me very much." Lady who runs the motel said "she was having a horrible day yesterday. We went out and got her something." I said "I'll bet she's having a horrible day. She tried to do a $5m show for $1.5m and failed and it's time to pay the piper." I take solace in the fact that I will never again share a callsheet with these fuckers. I am successful enough at what I do that working three months out of the year provides for a family of three. I worked six this year. In 2016, the book will be finished and sold. In 2016, I will learn programming. In 2016, I will mix post on at least one movie. In 2016, the money from the birth center will come the other way. 2016 is two weeks away.
FTFY. B'ham '94-'96, Seattle '96-2007. Back when I was learning programming, it was Turbo Pascal (WWU) and Fortran (UW). I hear it's gotten a lot more pleasant. It's like this: there's an app for iOS that doesn't exist for Android. It was f'n handy for iOS and now I'm on Android. And since it's basically an elaborate excel spreadsheet combined with a timer, I think I'm going to attempt to write it for Android. Especially as I expect to spend the next 365 days engaged in mortal combat with a certain unnamed shady-ass production company that is going to miscalculate my wages in every possible way.moved back to Seattle?
Especially as I expect to spend the next 365 days engaged in mortal combat with a certain unnamed shady-ass production company that is going to miscalculate my wages in every possible way.
Two more weeks! That's a wonderful anaphora. What kind of programming?
Anyone lose a cell phone? I found one on the sidewalk last night. I was walking home from the metro station and saw a charming scene. First, a man talking on his phone passed me going the other way. A little later, a woman in front of me stopped and picked up a small black object that looked like a wallet. I continued walking past her as she examined it, then she turned back and ran after the first guy. I continued on, glancing over my shoulder at the good deed in progress. She caught up to the guy, then stopped him and they had a little dialog. The return didn’t appear to be working out. She looked my way and I turned and continued on, not wanting to project a misleading interest in the object. I walked on a bit, then looked back in time to see the woman leave the wallet on the sidewalk about where she found it, then she walked off. Now I was invested in the scene and couldn't leave. I went back and picked up the wallet and found it was a cell phone case with an old iPhone inside. I checked it out, making awkward eye contact with other people passing by. (I remembered when a friend picked up a non-trivial banknote from the ground, asked the nearest passer-by if they dropped it, and the passer-by said “yeah” and took it after a brief but telling beat.) The phone was locked with a passcode, and a pocket held a number of identical business cards of “Jessie L___”, a store manager at Harris Teeter in Warrenton, a distant town. I knew there was something I should do, but couldn’t figure out what it was. I texted the phone number on the card but the cell phone didn’t react. I called the number and got a recorded greeting from Harris Teeter. I googled the name and got a promising Facebook result, but the page was a bunch of other Jessies. Some more hits from those scammy sites that promise all Jessie’s details once you pay up. I tried 1234 for the passcode. Then I tried the Emergency Call feature, using my own number. As I dialed, I wondered why it would help me to get the caller ID of the lost phone, and decided that maybe the area code would help me decide if the owner might be local and likely to return soon. It was cold out and I still had 20 minutes to walk. I was outside a closed dry cleaners and a few doors down from a restaurant. The emergency call didn’t work. I tried some recent birth years for the passcode until the phone locked up. I went home. A while later, the phone showed a notification of a small purchase at Big Lots paid by Google Wallet. So I learned that people still use Google Wallet. Finally, around 9 p.m., an incoming call from ”Wife” sounded the Bruno Mars ringtone. “Hello,” I answered, not sure what else to say. “Who are you?” Wife asked. She was with Jessie, at home in Woodbridge, another distant town. She relayed dialog between me and Jessie for a while, then finally put him on the line. He decided to come retrieve the phone. We met outside a nearby coffee shop half an hour later, and the world became a little more orderly. Now I just have to figure out how to get “Just the Way You Are” out of my head.
I enjoyed reading it and I'm glad for Jesse's sake that you are the one that took up the "case." Was he a pleasant guy? Thankful?
I was reluctant to take up the case, thinking I might even make it worse if the owner came back after I left with it. But I convinced myself that taking charge would be better than the next most likely outcome, either someone stepping on the phone or taking it but not having time or inclination to help it find its way home. Jessie was cool but Wife was waiting in the car so I didn't keep him long. I think he said "Appreciate it" three times in the ten seconds our paths crossed.
That's all well and good, but did you tell him about Hubski?
I have an interview today. This is literally the first time since I've started job hunting that someone has taken enough interest in me to ask me to come in to interview. I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm ready. I hope it goes well and this place might be the kind of place I want to work at. I'll report back this afternoon with how it went. Wish me luck.
Good luck. Remember, nobody ever left an interview saying, "wow, that candidate was just way too positive and passionate about what they do." Go get what's yours!
I think the interview went about 50/50. I very much liked the company and the culture they described. I knew going in, because I researched them, that this company has been around for a long time (almost 100 years!) and has a long history of quality under their belt. When my interviewer explained to me that they're also family oriented and compensate based on knowledge and experience and encourage their employees to grow as individuals, I really started getting a good feeling about wanting to work there. I am a bit hesitant about the type of work involved as it is a complete departure from what I know and am familiar with. While I think it'd be something I'd be good at, I don't know if it would be something I'd enjoy. So when I found out that all employees go through a probationary period and can choose to back out at any time without losing face, I thought that was a huge plus. From what I got out of everything, I think I only fumbled once. When the interviewer asked if I had any questions, I asked whether or not they support and encourage inter department cross training. I'm afraid I gave off the impression that I would be a wishy washy worker. Though I'm hoping that's just my insecurity and that's not really the case. Even if I don't get an offer, I feel good about this. It's been months, but after months of hard work on getting my resume fixed, learning to write cover letters, and figuring out which job postings on Craigslist/Monster/Ineed are junk, I think I'm making good progress. Metaphorically speaking, I caught a fish today guys. Sure, it might be a catfish when I'm looking for a trout, but I caught a fish. That's enough to put a smile on my face.
More progress on the hotel. I am trying to finish a paper, and am finding every reason to address something else. Janet Yellen is going to settle a friendly wager between kleinbl00 in just under an hour, and I might write her a cross letter if she doesn't come through for me. I just finished Dan Carlin's Blueprint for Armageddon podcast on WWI yesterday. For the past couple of weeks, scenes of muddy trenches have filled my head. I was listening to his podcast on WWI during the day, and reading Churchill's account of WWII at night, which was confusing at times. No matter your opinion on Churchill, the guy lived a singular life. Last night our kitchen sink got plugged for the second time in two days. Then the garbage disposal started to leak, then a pipe in our basement sprung a leak. That was my night. Drain King kicks ass:
I am unspeakably eager to award you a shirt because my portfolio is so heavily balanced towards treasuries that essentially anything that upsets the stock and bond markets earns me money. Also, the dividend income alone is making me something like 1% per month. Besides, I owe you. In the past 4 months I've made like 40% on bitcoin and my investments have been higher than "dabbling" by an uncomfortable amount.
What was the bet? Also, I was under the impression that Bitcoin is a terrible currency to invest in.
A goth t-shirt of the loser's choosing, depending on whether the Fed would raise rates prior to 2016. I took the "no" position because the Fed strikes me as an overly-cautious supplicant of Wall St, but it was a (symbolic) hedge. Mk and I largely concur on markets and investment. Bitcoin reflects a paradigm shift in finance and economics. As such, it's a speculative play well outside the comfort zone of conventional investment. I have exposed myself to enough opinion and expert testimony that I find the case for BTC compelling; however, hostile movements against it at the legislative level could change things. Bitcoin is like gold in that there isn't enough of it to go around but unlike gold in that it has virtually unlimited utility. That alone makes it interesting to watch. It also gyrates magnificently and suspiciously. My retirement fund isn't in BTC, but I have earnest money there.
I have both, but no other cryptocurrency. I think it likely that ethereum and bitcoin will develop interchangeability in the not-so-distant future, actually. There has been talk of it. Both applications have a lot going for them. However, it there is a bitcoin sidechain called Rootstock that is under development, which is basically the ethereum virtual machine. If ethereum dapps can run on a network secured by bitcoin, it might take some wind out of ETH's sails. Still ethereum is supposed to move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in the summer, which might significantly affect its value. At any rate, I expect that one way or another, BTC will be able to be used in turing complete blockchain application in the next couple of years.
The price has been rocky, but it doesn't appear to be going away.
I am a few month into my second attempt at a Phd and I am liking it. I had to do a few adjustments in my life. The biggest being the restoration of my cannabinoid system. At past jobs, it was okay if I was at a 40-70% of my cognitive ability. Not here. I am surrounded by very smart people and suddenly I am the one who is lagging behind, and weed doesn't help that. I got to a point where I feel the few spliffs from the weekend all the way till tuesday evening, it is crazy. It is also the first time I realize that there are people that are 10x more suitable for science than I am. Brighter, more knowledge, better memories and smarter. It sucks to admit that, but it is the truth. So I have two options. Either throw my hands in the air and lag behind or learn as much as possible from those people around me because it is so fucking inspiring. You can guess which option I chose ;) With decisions like those also come the consequences. You often hear the saying "with 8 hours a day you cannot make science" and I understand it now. It does not necessarily mean that I have to work for 14 hours a day (which sometimes happens, though), it is more about the attitude. If you are serious and passionate what you do, your brain is constantly occupied with it. My weeks are chopped into work days, where I generally work for 10/11 hours in the lab, come home, have dinner and then do another hour or two of data analysis, paper reading or anything else for work. And weekends, where I meet up with friends or go out. For now I have "flow" when it comes to research even though my weeks don't feel so fluid as they used to. I wonder how long I will keep it up. I am looking forward to the christmas break, family, some time alone and to the new year with all the ups and downs that it brings... btw, if we would ever meet in a real pub, I wouldn't talk less. Ah, and, hello Hubski, I missed you guys! :)
That's from Whiteface. I also went to Esther that day. Monday I did Santanoni, Couchsachraga and Panther. This was the best picture, though. That's looking over most of the High Peaks. The summit forecast was for clear skies. When I set off it was overcast. Halfway up I understood the discrepancy. Clear skies at 4800' doesn't mean clear skies at 1800'.
I'm beginning to think I spent five years and a boatload of money getting an engineering degree that I don't even really want to use. Looking at my finances, rent arrangement, and all that I'm a very good spot for being 6 months into post-college work, enough that I could afford to make some sort of a switch be it job or industry in another 6 months even if that means taking a substantial pay cut. I really just want to work on the administrative side of things for a non-profit cultural based organization, preferable one that values social equity. Could be a cultural space, art/music gallery, etc etc or working for a university even. It seems a lot more personally fulfilling to me and I'm going to start volunteering at a couple of places which kleinbl00 and rinx might already know once January rolls around. One of them has recommended I apply to an internship opening that they have, which is related to fundraising / event management / organizational development which are things that I've developed a passion and competency in over the past few years. However, it would require 10-15 hours a week in the evenings after work-work or on weekends, which would be on top of my 45 hour a week job...and having a relationship and social life...I would love to apply at least even if seems like a whole extra thing to try and make work. It would be a great way to get a foot in the door and see if, yes, this is a transition I actually want to make looking forward, and would help pad my resume should I go in that direction. I already have two resumes, one for engineering and industry, and the other for more humanities based jobs. The latter is a lot more interesting to me. It's a tough decision to make but my mind is not at all in one direction and I don't think it will be any time soon. At least I'm going home for a little over a week for the holidays, that will be nice.
Fuck the humanities resume. People love engineers. We're the sort who solve problems, independent of the specific challenge. Look, for example, at the statistics on medical school admissions. Engineers have among the highest rate of acceptance of any background. Problem solving is a valuable skill, and one that is transferable. I take a slight issue with thenewgreen's assertion. I use my engineering skills almost daily; it was the industry I didn't care for. If you want a change, make a change. I took a $30,000 pay cut to leave my engineering job, and now I make twice what I did as an entry level engineer. It was worth the gamble, but maybe that was dumb luck. I don't know. High risk, high reward. One thing I've learned, however, is that people respect boldness. It takes confidence in yourself to take a leap of faith, and hedging and sticking your toe in will only undermine your confidence in yourself.
I'm beginning to think I spent five years and a boatload of money getting an engineering degree that I don't even really want to use.
b_b did the same thing. You're in good company.
Stop thinking small. You got an engineering degree because the problems appealed to you and you found yourself in a position where the problems are suddenly trivial. That does not mean that there are no non-trivial problems. Engineering is science applied through math. We have the science to save the world yet people still die by the millions of cholera and shit. Look at the NGO space. There's plenty that can be done to save the world and lots of it is being done by philanthropic labs in Seattle, paid for with Gates, Allen & MacCaw money. You have an engineering degree. The code forbids you from interning anymore. You walk the fuck up to places and say "I have an engineering degree and am willing to slum it because I believe in what you're doing. Pay me as much as you can afford so that neither of us feels insulted."
Why do you want to work for a nonprofit in particular? You can do good without making it your 9 - 5 job. In fact, for many people, you can do more good making a boatload elsewhere then using that money to effect change. So in terms of positives for the world, you can do good regardless of where you work. Given that, what will make you happiest spending your time? Why does the nonprofit industry appeal to you? I think lots of people think they will find meaningful work and that will take away the drudgery of a job being a job. In my experience, nonprofits are the opposite. It's more paperwork, bureaucracy, and oversight, and so many BS hoops to jump through just to make a small change. I'm not saying there aren't great nonprofits to work for, I just would be careful you aren't romanticizing them. If your only goal is to do good, you can do that anyway. If your goal is a job with more meaning, that makes sense, but I wouldn't say you can't find an engineering job that does that too. To me, the work your doing (engineering vs administration) is a separate issue from the goals of the company. You can do engineering at a nonprofit, and you can do administration at a for profit.
Having worked at a nonprofit that recently sold its tech arm to a corporation, some anecdata: * The workload is indeed much lighter as a corporate employee. I have rarely had to work more than 8 hours in a day, and have not yet had to work all night on anything. They pay reliably; I have not had to delay getting a paycheck or been asked to skip one because money was tight. Indeed, they really want me to let them buy me books and pay for me to take classes. * There was much less bullshit as a non-profit. As a non-profit, so long as the tasks that needed to be done got done, no one cared if you wanted to start work at midnight and sleep through business hours, and "no" was an acceptable answer to invitations to meetings; "fuck that" was an acceptable response to bad ideas, no matter whose bad ideas they were. No one was required to humiliate themselves with mandatory team-building ritual things. While it was rare to have nothing to do, I never felt obliged to pretend to be busy when I wasn't. No one gave the impression they got some kind of sexual thrill out of being able to declare things "mandatory." Very little was mandatory, other than the work. There was no paperwork other than opening and closing tickets. I would have preferred to keep the heavier workload and occasionally unreliable pay and avoided the other stuff.
My favorite thing in the world? Seeing a straight-A student who spends her summers teaching music and computer science in Syria getting rejected from UPenn, while the deadbeat popular kid I smoke weed with all day gets accepted with a ride cause there's a hall with his last name on it.
#nepotism get used to it. I will say that eventually, talent and ability WILL matter more in life. The more specific your skill sets become the more indispensable you will become. Nepotism never fully disappears, but it becomes way less prevelant imo.
I finished my first semester of college last night! It's been really stressful, as I'm sure most people here would know, but I'm ecstatic! I really can't believe that I actually completed a semester of schooling practically on my own. I know it's a pretty small achievement, but it's what's really been huge for me, especially after struggling through some pretty severe depression earlier this semester. Now that I'm done having my every waking hour devoted to school, it can be devoted to Hubski!
STARWARS IS TOMORROW!!!!! I'm a little pumped. Got my tickets, my lightsaber and Friday off work. What's not to be excited about? Holiday shopping sucks. I have no idea what to get anybody, and my gift-wrapping skill is nonexistent if the object isn't a nice even rectangle.
Buy everyone nice even rectangles? No but seriously. Sometimes it can help holiday shopping to go with a theme for everyone. Perhaps each person gets a gift card to a store they like and their favourite candy? Or even if you gift books you think they will like (this is my favourite, then I get to look at books all day). Depending on your budget and creativity skill, you can make your gifts. I got a bunch of mason jars on sale, along with some ribbon, bells, and cheap candy canes, and made homemade hot chocolate mix. Throw in some marshmallows and voila. Or if you have any kind of crafting hobby (painting? baking? sculpting?) you can play off of that.
My squat is now a mature wombat! Really enjoying my simple lifting workout, and I love that badass feeling I get when I pick up heavy things. In general doing pretty good. Planning the trip home. Renting a crazy mansion in Maine with my friends for New years, trying to coordinate everything can be a bit stressful but its going to be awesome once we're there. Boyfriend leaves for home today so tonight's plans are cookies on the couch, fallout, and binge watching the returned.
I had my holiday work party last night and in our Secret Santa, someone gave me a ten dollar Amazon Gift card and an Amazon charger. I brought a date to the party and it went pretty well. I'm also getting a holiday bonus on Friday from work but they didn't say how much it was going to be. It's nice though because we didn't get a holiday bonus the last two years I was working at my job.
It's finals time. I haven't been talking to most of my friends - just the ones I am closest to, my inner circle. I find it to be a reoccurring trend whenever a break from school comes around; I stop wasting time with people I don't really know too well. I like it much better this way. Is there such thing as a socially anti-social person? sips candy cane martini