What Am I Doing? (Feb 2009)

What am I doing? Not blogging here, obviously. Not a single blog since my last update. As I’m writing this, I am in the middle of a semi-deadline to get my client’s site up and ready to go because they’re going to a convention in a few days and passing out business cards that I designed, and leading them to the site that I also designed. (I just realized how I don’t like saying that I designed these things because it really was more of a collaboration, and I just happened to be the one who knows how to use the tools the most.)

It’s been almost three months since I’ve learned about this project and met these awesome people that are my client. And mostly it’s been an exciting and a great learning experience for me. I sort of wish I will always have clients like these in the future. And every day, I become more comfortable and have a better idea with what I want to do, at least for the next few years. I enjoy waking up every day, looking forward to do something that I love.

Post-Peet’s

Since my last monthly update, I had left my job at Peet’s. It was probably a good time to have done so, both in the short term and long term. Because soon after my last shift, I put this freelance project into full gear and started working on it almost every day, putting in more hours than at Peet’s. As I had said before, some things took longer than I expected. Had I kept working both “jobs,” I’d still be sketching the layout for the site or, perhaps more likely, I would have been fired by my client!

I probably went through a week or two of old job withdrawal. I liked my job at Peet’s; I really enjoyed working with the people and seeing the regulars. It was a real bittersweet moment to have left that job. Only a few days ago did I notice how I don’t really remember how it feels to steam milk or pull shots. Ever since I left Peet’s, I had devoted my life into this freelance project; I literally couldn’t imagine working at the bar. I still love the people, no doubt, and I wish I could see them more often (if I could get over the awkwardness of going back to my old workplace).

The Future (Always Thinking About the Future)

As I’ve learned to enjoy my new “job,” my mind became more free to think about the possibilities of where I could go. It’s probably okay to say it here since my family doesn’t read this, but I’ve been thinking about moving south. And by “south,” the range spans from the South Bay, near the San Jose area, to SoCal, around L.A. and San Diego. I want to do it mainly for independence, and also for the weather. But what’s as important, if not more, is my career. If there’s a job that’s fit for me all the way in the East Coast, I wouldn’t mind giving that a try. My family’s probably not so keen of that idea, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world for them.

A “Historic Moment”

I’ve been so engulfed by this project that I haven’t really had the time to digest the fact that we’ve just witnessed what so many people apparently without a thesaurus have described as a “historic moment” in the country. It still hasn’t fully hit me yet, just as it hadn’t hit me eight years ago with the previous administration change. There are moments, though, where I realize that this man is our president.
Right now though, it seems that none of that matters. It must be a sobering feeling for him and everyone that the world and its problems don’t stop for this “historic moment.” (Maybe for a day, but that day has passed.) It’s time to get to work, employed or unemployed.

Flush.

I Don’t Know Anything

Recently, I saw the documentary Crawford on Hulu, and one of the older folks interviewed mentioned how young people think they know everything but they don’t. While I agree with him, I wanted to ask what old people now know but didn’t before. Every time an older person informs me of my ignorance, he/she never really elaborates. What don’t I know? Do you care to give me your advice about life?

What don’t I know? This is sort of like the last question posed at the second 2008 presidential debate a few days ago. The moderator asked the candidates a “zen-like” Internet-submitted question: “What don’t you know, and how will you learn it?” What the candidates said was not important, since neither of them really answered the question, nor did they attempt to give a zen-like response. But how are we expected to realize what we don’t know when we don’t know what we don’t know? It’s sort of like when a teenager or a young adult looks for his/her first job, but is frustrated when it seems like every job requires work experience, which can only be acquired through having had a job.

In any case, I’ve concluded that “I don’t know anything,” although that is a very generalized statement, so I’ll make a slight exception: I know a little more than the people younger than I. I am privileged that, simply because I’ve been on Earth longer than they, just like older people have than I.

Okay, so I don’t know much. But I do know some. I have an idea of what I want, at least for the moment. I partly know who I really am and how I really am. I have a general idea of how people are; there is a spectrum of personalities and attitudes and perspectives that I’ve collected from the people I’ve met and observed in my life. I haven’t met every kind of person in the world, so I don’t know how accurate my spectrum is in relation to the big picture.

But at the same time, neither do old people. They can’t possibly know everything there is to know, and they’ll probably admit that. They would say that at such an old age, they’re still learning. So I guess that’s the point: live and learn. I may not know everything, nor do I know a lot, but I am always learning, and I’m eager to learn. Sometimes I might not like what I’ve learned, but I still learned what I don’t like to learn.

Flush.

The Job Search Campaign

Does anyone else feel that looking for a job is a lot like being in a presidential campaign (not that I’ve been in a presidential campaign)? I mean, technically, they both have the same goal: to get the job. But they’re really different in terms of the number of employers you’re dealing with (the entire nation, or at least the voters).

However, one thing that I’ve noticed in looking for a regular job is that you have to sort of provide a platform from which you derive your answers at the job interview: what you believe in, what you think one should do in certain situations, etc.

While I’m talking about job interviews, I also want to make the connection that campaign speeches are like job interviews, except that you have a lot more interviews in a presidential campaign. And you need to know what words to use, and more importantly, what words to never mention.

Finally, but not final, calling people for references is like asking for endorsements. While you don’t need too much convincing when asking for references, it’s basically the same idea. You want, or actually you need people backing you up and saying that you can do the job.

Needless to say, being in the career that I plan to live my life on, I’m currently in a state of constantly thinking about job search. And with this year being an election year, I couldn’t help but take a few strategies from the candidates and personalize them for my job search. So we’ll see how that goes.

Flush.