Hello patient readers! I have been embroiled in mediocre and
uninteresting dramas that have amounted to my not wanting to write. Oh well,
now I’m writing. Don't worry, there are also a lot of photos.
* * *
Career
In the past few months I have been engrossed in a couple
different endeavors. I worked with Sparkles on doing a
personal/professional breakthrough. That experience really cleared up a lot of
foggy haze for me and since that experience I have been working very dedicatedly
on getting a full time job. Keeping my eyes, ears and heart open, I keep
finding more and more opportunities with networking.
I’ve been making a lot of progress in the past year in
answering the question “What do I wanna do when I grow up?” In examining what I have liked and disliked
about my previous jobs, I have run into rather more personal questions than I
was expecting. A common thread has been the theme of value. Am I valued in my
position? Do I add value to the organization I work for? Is my value as a
member of a capitalist society dependent on my ability to make money?
(Corollary: how do I grapple with my privilege of not needing to work fit in with the framework of existing in a world
revolved around money?) And on and on down many rabbit holes.
My answer to everything in the past six months has been
about connection. I have tried to approach new problems with considerably more
attention to who was involved instead of just getting tasks done. I have paid
more attention to networking. I have asked more.
I have had a lot of amazing success with networking since
January. Right now my answer for what I want to do professionally is “something
where my technical knowledge is appreciated and also helps people.” So far the
two areas I have focused on are policy-facing geologist jobs and utilities
jobs. I have had a lot of success with a couple Engineering Geologist jobs
including one on-site interview for the water regulatory board with the Golden
State. The State agency passed on my application, but the experience was overall positive. I have done a bunch of
good networking with the local utility agency where I could work on cool local
groundwater projects.
The Golden State is doing a lot of really interesting policy
work with groundwater sustainability and regulation in a new agricultural
industry: cannabis. My networking efforts have been fruitful towards getting me
a place at the table for these growth areas. My career goals are still centered
around getting my Professional Geologist license so I hope that I can find a
contracting firm or government agency that allows me to meet my goal while also
introducing me to the broader picture of what it means to be a geologist.
A quick aside that since I will likely be hired as a field
grunt for the first couple of years with a consulting agency I am going to
start weight lifting so that I can regularly lift 50 lbs in the field without
injury. I will start my training with a personal trainer so I get my form
correct. This will effect my free time but I will work on maintaining
relationships regardless.
In the meantime I have had a lot of fun temping at various
companies throughout the area. My favorite temp job was one day where I got
to run a leather upholstery show room. I was so in love with the job there was
a ten-minute window where I almost thought about giving up science and going
into high fashion. But then I looked at the agenda of the person I was
substituting for and was like “yeah…no.”
Temping has helped me meet medium-term financial goals,
which has helped me feel confident about money. I think that’s a pretty
powerful thing, and I appreciate the opportunity while it’s lasted.
Etsy
I have an Etsy store! Have made a lot of sales,
would love more! I am currently working on a banner that says “Subtle like a
landmine” and I have a whole array of sexuality pride pieces that I’ve
designed from commission.
Social
It’s been really interesting to be more intentional with my
time and energy with my PeopleKeeper experiment. I find that when I
fall behind it’s OK because I can just catch up when I have time/emotional
space. My biggest challenge is understanding that I don’t need to always be
nice, I don’t need to be everyone’s
friends. This has been relevant recently in very uncomfortable ways due to
other people’s shitty behavior. When I began this experiment, I did not know
what my attrition would be on those 150 people and that’s good to know for next
year.
I published a piece on LinkedIn a while back and it
got really good responses. TLoTH folks got back to me that they were already establishing
a mentorship paradigm similar to what I wrote about. That made me happy.
Travel and nature
I have been traveling. So. Much. I’ll just let the photos
speak for themselves. (Some full albums may be privacy protected because that’s
the way I roll. Let me know if you need assistance.)
More pictures of lots of water and granite.
Recent visit to the Big Scrapple.
Arts
Partner Penguin and I decided that we are finally in a
financial position to have an arts budget. BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! He did not realize
how seriously and quickly I would take him up on this offer. Everything that
follows is in no particular order, just the order I remember it in.
In the past six months I’ve gotten a lot of out of our local
live arts scene:
The indomitable Gaelynn Lea (SERIOUSLY GO SEE HER IF YOU
EVER CAN. You will cry and curse my name. I won’t even be mad.)
Robin Galante and Eric Pederson
Our future (read: July) holds for us a production of
Hamilton. Just sayin’ to make you mad jelly.
I’ll admit that I’ve also been spending a decent amount of
time “worshipping” the goddess Media as well. There is so much excellent art
being made this year, I am happy to devour it. Links go to articles with potential spoilers. Click at your own risk:
Get Out-This is not for the faint of heart, but really necessary as a critique of race in America.
Season 3 of Kimmy Schmidt
Parks and Recreation. The entire show. Except season one. No shame.
To prevent my brain from rotting completely, I have
complimented my voracious visual media consumption with complimentary written
media:
And apropos to nothing, I bought high-waisted sailor pants.
Ok, I’ve saturated your brains enough with some of the stuff
going on in my life. Please check out a piece of media I’ve suggested. I’ll
sign off with a song that someone suggested when I asked what their favorite
song was. I almost had the opportunity to see this artist in The Big
Scrapple but the show was sold out.
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