This song has been in my head for the past few days as I’ve been thinking about a range of things. Just thought that I’d share it.
The Classified Section.
WANTED: A Change in Perspective
For the past few weeks, I’ve been in a seriously introspective mood. Questioning myself, my decisions, and a few other things. For the past few years, my goals have been simple: Finish and graduate from school. Move out of Ma Dukes’ house and get my own place (with cable and air conditioning). Find a job to support myself.
Now that I’ve reached those goals, what’s next?
I can say without a shadow of doubt in my head that I don’t want to push paper for the next 40-50 years. So, the next logical step would be to create another set of goals to attain and surpass, and then start working on that.
But here’s the thing. I don’t know what I want to do now.
Of course, I have lifelong goals which include going to (and staying consistent with) the gym, attain a respectable portfolio and of course to start a family (in the DISTANT future lol). But as far as career-wise?
Yeah. That’s where I’m not so sure.
I’m starting to realize that, although Civil Engineers make GREAT money, it’s not really where my passion lies. I love to design roads and all, but it’s not something I could see myself doing for the length of my career. I’ve been getting excellent feedback from my Photography but I’m nervous about pursuing that (although I LOVE to do it).
So how would I go about trying to figure out what I want to do with my life? A change in scenery, perhaps? Finding a new hobby or two? Hanging out with new people? I’m really at a loss for ideas.
Random Thought of the Moment: “I’m on a search for clarity.”
The Song of the Moment: “Never A Day in Vain” by Georgia Anne Muldrow
More Musings. Still Varied and Still Random.
*EDIT: I’ve been working on the formatting for this, but it always reverts back to having everything jumbled together. Sorry about that*
The few weeks since my last blog post have been nothing short of a whirlwind for me. Here’s what’s been going on since July 5th.
1. I signed the lease on my first apartment!! Move in day was August 2nd and since the only thing I have is a bedroom set, the entire moving process took no more than a couple of hours. I’m excited to move towards the next chapter of my life and more importantly? I’m happy to be in a place with air conditioning!
2. My car (which I recently nicknamed Old Faithful) started going haywire about 3 weeks ago. First there were acceleration problems, followed by my car’s desire to shake and vibrate like a backup dancer in an Uncle Luke video caused me to put it in the shop. They came back and said that outside of needing some EXPENSIVE (to the tune of several thousand dollars worth) suspension work, I needed to get my transmission looked at by ANOTHER place. I took a half day off work and went to get everything checked out and heard some not so great news. At the end of the day, I was confronted with two options. Put several thousand dollars worth of work into my car (which may or may not extend it’s life AND cost more than the car is worth) or.. get another one.
Various Random and Not So Random Musings.
So. I’m back (at least for now). Here’s what’s been going on since my last blog post in January. Hopefully this’ll kick-start my desire to write full posts again. We’ll see.
1. I’ve wanted to return to blogging for months but every time I open up WordPress.com, I lose the spark (or get distracted).
2. I graduated from Undergrad on May 21st. Was blessed enough to land a Full-time (albeit contracted) position a week after graduation and I started on June 6th. However, I am in DIRE need of a vacation. A week or two off on a beach (preferably in Puerto Rico) with my iPod and a lot of Puerto Rican food is what I need. I’ll have to save for it though. I’m just glad that the hustle, bustle and stress of the Engineering program is OVER.
2a. Since my position is a 13 month contract, I’ve applied for other jobs and have passed them to friends who’ve graduated and haven’t found anything yet. I love the position I have so far and there’s a strong chance for the contract to be renewed (as they have someone there who’s been on contract FOR YEARS), but I’m still keeping my eyes open for a permanent position.
3. The apartment search is underway. Since I’ve applied to positions as far away as Arlington, VA and have looked at jobs as far away as Frederick, MD, I’ve opened up my apartment search to the entire DC-Baltimore Metro Area. I have 4 complexes here in the Baltimore area and about 4 in the DC area that are on my list to tour. Haven’t made any moves yet as I’m still waiting on word from the jobs I’ve applied for, but I’ll call to check for vacancies before the end of the month. I anticipate leaving home sometime this fall.
4. I took the month of April off from the Gym to focus on school and to finish up all of the projects I had to do. That one month hiatus turned into an almost three-month hiatus. I signed up for 3 summer classes at the gym which started last week. In addition, I signed up for Kickboxing via a Groupon and liked it, so I’m sticking with it. Hopefully I’ll keep it up this time.
5.I have my paperwork for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam in October. I need to fill it out and send it in (along with the astronomical fee) for processing. The deadline is August 30th. I considered signing up for a prep course one of my former professors offer but I definitely don’t have $600 lying around to pay for it. I have to order prep books from Amazon, but come hell or high water I’ll be in there for that 8-hour exam in October! Continue reading
Heavy Rotation XXII
January’s almost over and the iPod headphones are still blaring with good music. Here’s what I’ve been listening to as of late. I’m always on the hunt for music, new and old to check out so if you know of something, drop it in the comment section.
“Rolling in the Deep” by Adele
“Far Away” by Marsha Ambrosius
“Make it Rain” by Travis Porter
2010: A Year in Music
For me, 2010 was a good year in music. I discovered a few new artists, listened to the radio way less and enjoyed the majority of what I’ve heard. Since I’m a cool guy and all, I figured that I’d share (via my Last.fm page) the 10 artists I’ve listened to the most in 2010, as well as the 10 songs I listened to the most in 2010.
Employment Ads.
5 months until Graduation.
Finding full-time employment is the next logical step, right?
Outside of browsing a few newspaper articles and networking with some contacts I’ve come across this past year in reference to employment, I have yet to start looking. I know I definitely need to though.
At my internship, I spoke with the Area Engineer (the boss that oversees all Engineering projects for this region of our company) a few months ago and he said that the company was on a hiring freeze due to the economy. That’s to be expected as I’ve already been laid off from one job this past year.
I’ve been an intern with this company since Summer 2009, and although I’d love to stay where I am, I know that that may not be an option. Luckily for me, since this is an international company and I worked for them overseas this past summer, I may have a leg up when it comes time to apply for entry-level positions. One of the contacts I made in Germany ended up accepting a position within the company at division headquarters, so I’ll be following up with that as well.
My coworkers seem to think that I’ll be kept on and just transferred over to a full-time position since I’ve been with the company for so long (it is only a lateral move), but I’m keeping all of my options open and looking for work anyways.
I have faith in myself that all will workout for the best, I just want to cover all of my bases.
Wish me luck!
You never know what will happen.
