You guys are like the cool distant cousins I once grew up with, haven't seen in ages since I was a kid, and have always wanted to emulate. I've always been around but haven't found it in me to check in, so if you have the time-- shoot me an update in the comments on how you've been and what sort of butt you've been kicking.
For me, I've come a really, really long way in the last few years. In the last 6 months especially. I'm sure you've come a long way too. I'm actually proud of myself for the first time in a long time, not for any specific achievement, but for a general feeling of upward trajectory-- a sense of confidence in the deficiencies I've identified in myself, and in the ways I'd like to heal and develop them.
I walked away from a long, content, and unfulfilling relationship. I learned a lot, and I'm grateful for it. I left after finally learning my lesson about the importance of upholding my values and the lines you draw that define your self-respect, self-esteem, and integrity. I was able to do that because I built a beautiful, tough, and authentic group of friends up in Fairbanks, Alaska the last year and a half. They have supported me and supported each other through a consistent round-robin of ups and downs. Having friends like these as a resource is something I've never known, and it might just be the most valuable thing in my world right now.
I've done well so far in my career, I have the trust and respect of my subordinates and the confidence of my superiors. Most importantly I'm able to show up to work, make shit happen, un-fuck my peers so they can make shit happen too, and give my people a sense of purpose as part of a team along with ambitions to motivate them into their future. Turns out you don't need role models if you have counterparts that make you want to be and do the best you can.
Alaska is a wild place. I mean that in every sense of the word. It has no care for human preference, opinion, or comfort. It's simply not our land. It's the land of the grizzly bear, the mama moose and endless wilderness that you are invited to see, but not touch. In the winter, at -40F degrees, I've been out in the mountains and seen the northern lights dancing with the force and the grace that'll make you question everything you ever thought was possible in the universe. I want to make sure my kids are able to experience all of this as a general vaccine for cynicism.
I'm deploying to Kuwait on Friday, where I'll generally be working until this time next year, and then I'll return to Alaska. Nothing beats an all-expenses paid trip from the coldest place on earth to the hottest.
Thanks for reading the highlights of my last few. Your turn!
'sup Pabs. I got sick enough with COVID that the studios told me I couldn't work, and in not working my job, a couple friends who substituted for me kept their houses, so I retired. It took like two years but my pulse-ox is back up to 99. Still not as healthy as I was by a long shot, but there are lots of dead people and I'm not one of them. I taught myself casting. Then I taught myself cloisonne, well enough to know I hate bending those little silver wires. Then I got an opportunity to buy a $70k cnc machine in broke-ass condition for like $10k and have been spending the year turning it into a $200k CNC machine. I cut out my parents, but not before discovering the FBI still has my grandma's phone tapped. The in-laws are getting inflexible, cranky and awful in their dotage. It's taken eight weeks but we're going to counseling with them next week. Counselor is concerned that the mother-in-law thinks an hour session will solve every problem, so my wife promised her that if they bail, we'll stick around. On the plus side, my wife and I are supportive and loving enough that we absolutely don't need counseling. On the minus side, I'm learning just how little responsibility my in-laws feel they have for the happiness of the people around them. Healthcare sucks now. We're realizing that our demographic at work is about 95% Karens.
It’s been an interesting few years. Went abroad to do filmmaking on a plastic recycling open source project. When I came back home, I found the local chapter and was swiftly made president of the forming non-profit. Also joined the board of our local burner org. So it was a lot of learning about governance, managing volunteer projects etc… And then I got hired as the second ever employee of a makerspace my friends started. I never really considered getting a real full time job, but with COVID I was getting stir crazy sitting at home and all projects were on hold. It has been tough - working with a good friend as my boss definitely fucked up our relationship. Especially when some tangential feelings got involved during his long term relationship breakup. A shitshow. But in the 1.5 years I worked there I definitely made the place better. Made major moves in optimizing systems, did a bunch of IT migrations, set up a ton of new workshops, increased our media visibility by a ton. Also learned I stay in situations that are shit for my mental health for loyalty. I picked up some new skills and confidence building art projects with friends. Did a giant hamster wheel, a flame poofer, a 360 seesaw and a bunch of fixing around the country house and the 500$ trailer we converted into our room. Did some basic welding classes and want to learn sewing and basic electronics soon. I’ve been in a skill-acquiring mood lately. Just passed the cap on 10 years with my partner. We’ve been through a shit ton and an ever changing relationship. But it may have run it’s course, had some really rough talks yesterday. We’re insanely different people than when we met… And somehow we had managed not to grow appart all these years until recently. I’m incredibly lucky with the friends I have. I can rely on them, confide myself, have fun and explore. I feel real friendship is vastly undervalued in our society. Even looking at my high school friends, everyone else looks so lonely. While I’m feeling like the luckiest person in the world with epic caring thoughtful interesting friends. Sitting in a bar in SF airport right now, on my my to Reno to help out a friends camp at burning man. I can tell it will be a rough year already. I’m going with a heavy heart, hoping to be able to disconnect and avoid my problems for the next 2 weeks, enjoy good moments with friends and see cool art. Then it’s back home for a month at my job before the end of my contract, possibly a separation that will tear my world appart and then… who knows? But my dream trip to India is seeming unlikely since I’m probably not gonna go alone. There is still good chances for a 3 week hiking in Nepal and Taiwan round the island bike trip :)
Pablo! Alaska is a place high up on my list of places to go visit...any chance you have any pictures of the Northern Lights which you were able to experience? Good luck in Kuwait! Sounds like you have found your community up there, with a healthy dose of self-reflection. Crazy to see this update from you and hope you pop back in for the next round of life highlights. Here's what's up with me: - I've totally immersed myself in mountains, from glacier travel, to alpine rock climbing, to more technical sport and traditional crag climbing, to backcountry skiing, to rescue systems for both myself and others. I instruct basic mountaineering/alpine climbing classes on a volunteer basis, and have an interest in joining Mountain Search and Rescue in the next year or two to continue to give back and further my knowledge and skills. I don't think this will ever be a career, but it's a passion. That said, I do miss music quite a bit and am getting excited for a few concerts over the upcoming fall and winter. I've fallen away from playing guitar too much and want to get back on that boat. - Similar to you on the relationship except it was my partner who walked away, but it has turned out to be the best decision either of us could have made and probably happened 6 months later than it should have. Currently working on packing things up to move a good half hour west of where I'm at now, over to Seattle (please don't read my comment history talking about how I would never move to Seattle). Thinking about taking a month off next year to travel to someplace like Chamonix, Patagonia, or maybe Vietnam(?). - Wondering, as always, where my career will go. At age 30 I have now managed a Quality Assurance team of 5, an Operations team of 5 supervisors and 115 employees, and currently work in R&D managing a team of 4 data analysts and engineers to work towards advanced analytics capabilities to stay ahead of the competition. Always wondering what the long term could, and should, look like and have been thinking a lot around the lines of "just because I can, doesn't mean I should" in career and personal life.
Glad to hear you're still alive and kicking, pabs! I don't know how far back you'd wanna hear, but in the past years I got out of college and into my first job where I'm now working on all sorts of sustainable mobility consultancy projects. My schtick is crystallizing into "how can we use data analytics to make better mobility systems". Did a bunch of work around EVs and moving more into shared mobility recently. Together with one other colleague, I created the model to predict the Dutch fastcharging network demand for the next decade that will be the foundation of a lot of plans in the next year's. I found the love of my life. She moved in February 2020. We weathered that storm well and have just bought our first home, which we've been moving into for just a few days ago. It's fan-tas-tic. I'm writing this from my phone while on holiday with her wonderful family in the south of France. This year I also got a bout of long COVID in early March, which is now 90% gone but not 100%.
veen, what an awesome bunch of news man. First of all, what you've achieved at work sounds nuts, I'm guessing folks are going to be relying on your model for years to come, and the model living in your house is someone you can rely on for a long, long time. I'll be sure to ping you for advice while I make progress with my own new and exciting relationship.
pabs!!! I'm so glad you did this call out/check in. In the last five years: - Moved from one house to another... not a mansion, but a massive upgrade from the eternal project that was my last place - I've changed jobs three times and changed careers once - Two kids have launched, moved out, started their thing - Experienced the injustice of the justice system in the US through one of my kids (and being as privileged as I will admit that I am, I only got to see an ounce of how bad it is for so many others) - bought some crypto at the wrong time, sold some crypto at an ok time and mused about what could have been - traveled more than I deserve (Mexico, the Philippines, Cicely, Norway, UK) - wasted too much time scrolling memes And I guess there was the whole pandemic thing... I feel like I'm the only person I know who hasn't caught the bug... but I probably did and was strangely fortunate enough to be asymptomatic. I feel fortunate to have had a pretty safe, solid home environment to weather the storm. Typing this out is making me grateful, but also realizing in 5 years, a bunch of stuff has changed, but also - not enough of the things that I would have like to have done. Thanks again for this prompt. It's got me thinking about what's next. And thanks to everyone else who has posted... it feels really nice to feel connected (at least a bit).
Hey Cuz, I have been traveling a lot this summer; Turks And Caicos, Ireland and N. Michigan. Travel has become an important part of our family life. Trying to spend time with the kids as much as possible. They're getting big. All three of my kids are in the same school now, which is wild. We commercialized a patent of ours that helps re-grow hair. It's exciting. Been following crypto closely. Excited for the upcoming ETH POS merge. In my personal life I have been playing some tennis and golf with buddies and with my wife, which is great. We are about to raise a round of financing for my company, which will be very time consuming. I wish I was more inspired to make music. It's been a slog lately. I want to make sure my kids are able to experience all of this as a general vaccine for cynicism.
I was recently up North Michigan with ecib and mk and we were told there was a chance the Northern Lights would be visible. Alas, they were not. I've never experienced them. I will.