Update for 9/14/2023

Operation Look, Fat

Having canceled my McDonald's and Chipotle accounts, I think I'm gaining some momentum. Momentum gained is simply just doing what I said I would do. I have planned out meals for the rest of the week, and I will try a new vegetarian recipe next week (Fattoush). I will go to the supermarket today and buy ingredients for the rest of the week. This weekend will have fast food. My goal is to solidify the meals I will make this week by Sunday, and go to the grocery store either late on Sunday or early on Monday.

Operation Quadrant 2

I woke up at 7 AM today and started working around 8:50 AM. I have met my goal of starting work at 8 AM and putting at least an hour of work in. This is a good start, now I just have to keep it up. I'm thinking about my next phase, which might involve looking for other work opportunities and/or efforts in learning/studying. I think I really need to investigate the FAES opportunities. More on this in the next section.

Moving Forward

The Branch Director has been warning the branch lately that there will be "severe budget cuts" the next fiscal year. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly this means for me, since it feels a little like OEEB is trying to phase me out. I guess this is understandable. The pandemic essentially displaced me. Anxiety and fear returned me to California after a pretty crazy time in Rockville, Maryland. I often think about what my life would have been if COVID had never happened--if I had been brave enough to stay put.

Despite all these feelings, I still feel I made the right choice. And furthermore, it's a little pointless to think about parallel universes like this. I have to make sure I can survive in this one. I want to construct a plan, almost like a checklist. Maybe this can be a method of tracking my progress. I did have a cool idea incorporating this once: "The Ladder of Discipline". It kind of fell off. This is a modification of it.

Honestly, even if Sonja tells me she'd keep me on for another year, I feel like I have to go. As much as I love my working situation now, I wouldn't want to be stuck, especially since I don't really have an FTE position. It sucks, but I'll get over it. I do want to find work that is meaningful to me again. While this work is certainly meaningful, to me and the world, I just don't think I'm moving forward. Maybe in another update, I can talk about what I am looking for job-wise.

Finding a New Job

• Find out if Sonja and the Branch will be able to keep you on another year or not.
• If yes, you should focus on consolidating your position by 
• making yourself much more essential
• enrolling in FAES and really taking advantage of Coursera
• entrenching yourself in the branch by going to talks/asking questions
• start putting out feelers anyways (more on that next)
• If no, you should focus on putting out feelers
• AMGEN
• California Health Services (Ray Troche)
• JGod's New Company
• UCLA
• LinkedIn
• Najm and Sons

Once you figure out what's happening, I can start planning some SMART goals around these. For now, I think I should make a strong effort to get to Quadrant 2 so that I can use the learning tools more often. Maybe signing up for an FAES course will push me into high gear.