Lately, I'm into circuitry
I've been unemployed for... a very long time now. At first it was amazing, suddenly having all this time on my hands, but a few months later it started to get to me. It's important to stay positive and productive though, hard as it may be at times, and take advantage of the ample free time knowing that I'll one day pine for it. Since getting "completed" from Nintendo, and before and after my contract at Microsoft, I:
- Tried a few new recipes (favorites: chickpea spinach pea walnut cranberry medley, Ethiopian cabbage dish, peanut butter banana coconut milk smoothie), acquired an ice cream maker for free and made several flavors of coconut milk ice cream, and adjusted some of my favorite recipes to make them low-carb.
- Walked to a couple of parks and the river by my house (I should do this more often.)
- Extensively weeded through my belongings.
- Visited family and friends in Houston a couple of times.
-
Fiction:
L'étranger / Camus, Albert
The Bell Jar / Plath, Sylvia.
The Metamorphosis / Kafka, Franz
Hugo Pratt, un gentilhomme de fortune tome 1 / Cossi, Paulo
Rosemary's Baby / Levin, Ira
Dr. Slump (Ultimate Edition) [Spanish] / Toriyama, Akira
Non-Fiction:
Bossypants / Fey, Tina
Sit, Ubu, Sit / Goldberg, Gary David
Queen Bees & Wannabes / Wiseman, Rosalind
The 4-Hour Work Week / Ferriss, Timothy
The 4-Hour Body / Ferriss, Timothy
Odd Girl Out / Simmons, Rachel
Loving What Is / Katie, Byron
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? / Kaling, Mindy
The Magic of Thinking Big / Schwartz, David
Think and Grow Rich / Hill, Napoleon
2 mini-books in Portuguese given to me by Gelsana (what?! Granted two of these were long comics, and two were mini-books, but I normally read about two books a year. In bold are my favorites from the list.)
- Visited Claudio and friends in Spain, met up with a few former students of mine.
- Took an intensive French class in the Caribbean, lived with a host family, tried surfing, visited a rum distillery, got tan.
- Wrote a Modern Family spec that I'm pretty happy with, even if it didn't get me into any fellowship programs.
- Volunteered at SIFF, saw a movie in Catalan with Hunter with the free movie vouchers I got for my time.
- Learned how to drive, got my license, subsequently forgot everything I learned but that's ok hah at least now I can rent a car (drivers beware!)
- Took a few karate classes.
- Went zorbing with German!
- Met up with Claudio in Italy, visited the hometown of my favorite band VERDENA, saw an Italian Asia Argento movie on the big screen, got another ticket from Italian cops wtf, visited a cat sanctuary, Leonardo Da Vinci museum, and a crime and torture museum. (Technically this was in the middle of my MS contract, but at the time I thought it had ended and bought this ticket, missing out on 4 days of work, grr.)
- Visited Jennelle in Ecuador, got altitude sickness, went horseback riding through a forest, saw sloths in a depressingly small enclosure, recovered my tan.
- Moved to LA for a brief period of time, met up with two amazing friends I hadn't seen since high school.
- Performed a few solid stand-up sets in Seattle and LA.
- Met up with Claudio in Lisbon, worked remotely for a few days during the trip, ate a lot of delicious soup, helped Claudio play the PSX game "Overblood" in French.
- Went snowshoeing with a friend twice my age with twice my stamina.
- Met up with Claudio in Chicago, saw a mostly crappy Second City improv show, met up with family I hadn't seen in 10 years.
- Took a train to St. Louis, saw the arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion, went to the symphony with Claudio even if it was nerdy video game music.
I've also been making an effort to conserve my foreign languages and learn a new one, which really only takes about an hour a day, if I'm good about it.
And while this may sound like a lot, traveling aside, I think I could do all of this with a full-time job and definitely with a part-time job. It's all a matter of good time management, something I hope to practice when I start working again.
- Tried a few new recipes (favorites: chickpea spinach pea walnut cranberry medley, Ethiopian cabbage dish, peanut butter banana coconut milk smoothie), acquired an ice cream maker for free and made several flavors of coconut milk ice cream, and adjusted some of my favorite recipes to make them low-carb.
- Walked to a couple of parks and the river by my house (I should do this more often.)
- Extensively weeded through my belongings.
- Visited family and friends in Houston a couple of times.
-
Fiction:
L'étranger / Camus, Albert
The Bell Jar / Plath, Sylvia.
The Metamorphosis / Kafka, Franz
Hugo Pratt, un gentilhomme de fortune tome 1 / Cossi, Paulo
Rosemary's Baby / Levin, Ira
Dr. Slump (Ultimate Edition) [Spanish] / Toriyama, Akira
Non-Fiction:
Bossypants / Fey, Tina
Sit, Ubu, Sit / Goldberg, Gary David
Queen Bees & Wannabes / Wiseman, Rosalind
The 4-Hour Work Week / Ferriss, Timothy
The 4-Hour Body / Ferriss, Timothy
Odd Girl Out / Simmons, Rachel
Loving What Is / Katie, Byron
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? / Kaling, Mindy
The Magic of Thinking Big / Schwartz, David
Think and Grow Rich / Hill, Napoleon
2 mini-books in Portuguese given to me by Gelsana (what?! Granted two of these were long comics, and two were mini-books, but I normally read about two books a year. In bold are my favorites from the list.)
- Visited Claudio and friends in Spain, met up with a few former students of mine.
- Took an intensive French class in the Caribbean, lived with a host family, tried surfing, visited a rum distillery, got tan.
- Wrote a Modern Family spec that I'm pretty happy with, even if it didn't get me into any fellowship programs.
- Volunteered at SIFF, saw a movie in Catalan with Hunter with the free movie vouchers I got for my time.
- Learned how to drive, got my license, subsequently forgot everything I learned but that's ok hah at least now I can rent a car (drivers beware!)
- Took a few karate classes.
- Went zorbing with German!
- Met up with Claudio in Italy, visited the hometown of my favorite band VERDENA, saw an Italian Asia Argento movie on the big screen, got another ticket from Italian cops wtf, visited a cat sanctuary, Leonardo Da Vinci museum, and a crime and torture museum. (Technically this was in the middle of my MS contract, but at the time I thought it had ended and bought this ticket, missing out on 4 days of work, grr.)
- Visited Jennelle in Ecuador, got altitude sickness, went horseback riding through a forest, saw sloths in a depressingly small enclosure, recovered my tan.
- Moved to LA for a brief period of time, met up with two amazing friends I hadn't seen since high school.
- Performed a few solid stand-up sets in Seattle and LA.
- Met up with Claudio in Lisbon, worked remotely for a few days during the trip, ate a lot of delicious soup, helped Claudio play the PSX game "Overblood" in French.
- Went snowshoeing with a friend twice my age with twice my stamina.
- Met up with Claudio in Chicago, saw a mostly crappy Second City improv show, met up with family I hadn't seen in 10 years.
- Took a train to St. Louis, saw the arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion, went to the symphony with Claudio even if it was nerdy video game music.
I've also been making an effort to conserve my foreign languages and learn a new one, which really only takes about an hour a day, if I'm good about it.
And while this may sound like a lot, traveling aside, I think I could do all of this with a full-time job and definitely with a part-time job. It's all a matter of good time management, something I hope to practice when I start working again.