Motivation…

…or the lack thereof.

I have none.

I have so many ideas in my head of things that I want to accomplish. These are not overall life affirming things that I want to accomplish, but simple things that I want to do, like things that I want to cook or experiment with, things that I want to write, or little things that pertains to other hobbies that I have.

Nothing earth shattering like picking up and moving to Chicago or moving home or going on some far off land for vacation by myself again.

No, nothing like that

Simple easy things.

No motivation to do it.

Exercise.

No motivation.

I keep telling myself that I should exercise more when I get home. Do some yoga like I did last year or lift some weights when I’m watching to to help pass the time.

I can multitask, but no. Nothing.

I just lay on the futon either watching the show or browsing the internet on my iPad.

Maybe I need to remove myself from the internet or set rules for myself that I can’t jump online from this time to that time.

I don’t know.

Maybe I can alternate lifting and yoga during the week right when I get home from walking Pickles and then I’ll start cooking whatever it is that I’ll be cooking for dinner.

No fucking clue.

I have these ideas in my head and they make sense. These are all good things that I should do and are very easily achievable, but I don’t. I don’t start.

I sit.

No motivation.

I need someone to kick me in the ass and get me going.

Do it.

Hahhaha..Fucking Nike.

Just do it.

Just do it, all right.

* * *

Work.

I’m motivated to do work on the weekend.

Work.

I’m motivated to do overtime.

I don’t know why. I know that I really don’t have to, but I do it anyway.

That to me is more important.

Maybe it’s because they pay me for it, but I know it’s because it’s my fucking damn job.

I’m behind quite a few things that pertain to my job and tasks. Many of them can be handled in the office but I’m pulled in so many different directions that I really can’t focus on anything.

I have to sit down in a quiet environment so I can put my full focus on it and surprisingly this whole Social Bridge and SharePoint migration is a part of it.

Also, I need to watch a few videos on how to use powerapps and the videos on how to use smartsheets.

So behind of learning.

So behind.

Work.

There are many things to do and I’m glad that Carloz is there to help and do more of the advance things that I just don’t have the talent nor the knowledge on how to do.

One day, I’ll catch up on things and I’ll be able to just relax and do nothing on the weekend, but at the moment, I’m not even close.

* * *

Let’s talk about something fun.

Let’s talk about my special weekend.

I’ve booked my trip and now I need to start planning.

I hope the weather holds up, but it’s not going to stop me.

Like most of my trips, it involves nature and getting away.

This year, Bay Area and Muir Woods State Park.

I’m excited to see the beautiful and majestic Red Woods. I don’t know how much hiking there is there, but there are surrounding areas that have some trails.

Of course, like normal, I’ll plan an exhaustive day the first day and relax the second day.

Plus, I planned a Napa/Wine Tasting trip too.

Hopefully I don’t get out of hand and get fucked up, but I want to relax, sip some wine, eat some cheese and have a good time.

I’m excited about the food and need to do some research on the restaurants that are around the area.

It’s fast approaching and I have limited time!

I usually not a planner, but I do like to have a rough idea of what I’m going to do so I don’t waste any time figuring out what to do while I’m there.

I think it’ll be fun.

Nature and food.

Two of my favorite things.

Let’s hope this year goes smoother than last year. If anything does come up, like a fucking lost dog, I have to man up and not, NOT, get involved and let it be.

Someone nicer will take care of it.

I don’t want another guilty conscience.

I want a better year.

I want to make better decisions.

Oh man, I think my another year older, another year wiser entry for this year will be interesting.

Fucking year of bad decisions.

38.

Fuck you.

* * *

Fuck it, let’s start researching.

I still need to figure out where to go for a quick weekend trip with Pickles sometime this month.

Over.

Out.

The sanity of normalcy.

Back.

Relaxed.

Things are winding down at work, well at least the stress of everything form the launch and development of everything.

Everything winds down and now, it is just life.

We have things to do and to finish up, but it’s not that building pressure of making sure everything runs smoothly.

Sure, there were hiccups and what not and sure there are always people who will never like change and what not, but it is what it is.

Things finished and I can breathe again.

I can finally find a balance and some sense of the routine that I had before.

Sure, I want things to change and to adapt to certain things, but there are things that I want back.

I’ve picked up a few new habits and added it to my routine, some good and some bad.

I don’t read anymore. That’s a lie.

Let me rephrase, I haven’t been reading as I normally would. I still read, but it’s not the reading that I use to do. Not my novels or books.

No, it’s more internet searching, news and memes.

I’ll go to bed an hour earlier than I normally would and just lie there looking at these memes and reading through the day’s news. Usually I would spend this time reading a book or at least finishing the shows that I’m watching.

Maybe I have no interest in some of the shows that I watch or follow. That’s one thing that stuck from the past year or so of working and stressing.

The memes thing was new too. Ever since I found imgur somewhere and during my Italy trip, it had become a daily staple of things that I would go through. It’s mindless.

Maybe that’s what I need in my life now, mindless things.

But, there’s a new normal and I’m adjusting, but the hallelujah of all things is that I don’t feel as stressed as I did in the past couple of months, or earlier this year.

I can finally breathe.

* * *

The other day I ran into a coworker of mine to catch up. She asked me about my trip to Yosemite and told me the pictures I took looked amazing.

The conversation then dovetailed to her glad to see that I’m posting cooking pictures and vacation/hiking pictures again on my feed.

She was glad that things are back to normal because there were quite a few posts that were me stressing and stress eating.

She specifically mentioned the one where I noted that I almost lost my shit in the office.

She thought that it was her questions that prompted me to lose my shit, but it wasn’t. I don’t even remember specifically what her issue was, but it had to do with SharePoint and creating links to her vendor.

I know many people reached out to me during that time, worried about me and I genuinely feel humbled that people would do that.

My coworkers, friends, and family cared enough about me to reach out and ask about how I’m doing.

I know I talk a lot of shit about not having friends or being antisocial, which I do and am, but I do have a good community of people that I interact with.

It’s nice, to know that people genuinely care about you and your wellbeing.

It makes things a little bit better.

Things are getting there.

Normalcy.

* * *

Normalcy.

It’s quiet today.

The weather in SoCal has been a little erratic as of late. There was a cold spell and now it’s raining.

I think the rain is gone for another week and then it’ll kick back up again. I’ll take all that I can get. I miss weather.

It was falling hard yesterday. It was nice.

Like any other weekend since the end of last year, I’m out here taking a reprieve from working from home and jotting down my thoughts and clearing my mind.

Working on the weekends has been a new routine too. Soon, it’ll be over and things will become a new normal.

Life is a cycle of new normals.

Adapt. Change. Adapt.

Cycles.

Chopped chopped. No more.

Hair.

It’s finally gone. I chopped it all off Wednesday night and shipped it out to Children With Hairloss the next day.

No more.

Hair.

The journey is over.

Now is time to attempt to be an adult? That’s the plan, anyway.

Adulting.

What fun.

* * *

Hair.

It has so much power.

In movies, it’s usually a symbol of a woman’s femininity and a result of a societal construction of man’s power over a woman.

The long hair makes them more desirable to a man, and that’s the whole point of a woman’s worth. A man’s property.

It’s a common theme in many movies where a woman would cut her hair and then kill herself to escape the man and society’s power over them and to finally have some control over their lives and be free.

I have a similar relationship with hair, especially when I was younger.

It was a control thing.

There will be times when things were getting out of control or when things didn’t go my way, I would get angry and shave my hair off.

Control.

Many exert their control in different ways. Some get tattoos and piercings. Others cut themselves.

I shave my head and a few years ago, I decided to grow it out as a form of control.

* * *

I didn’t realize how much of a control freak I was until I went to therapy. My therapist brought that to my attention and it blew my mind.

It’s true. I like control.

I like control over my life. I like to make my own decisions and don’t like it when forced to do things.

I get easily frustrated when things don’t go my way or when things get out of my control.

In the past few days, I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly prompted this…this need to do something at that time. I wanted to figure out what prompted that rut that I was in and it didn’t really come to me until yesterday or even a little earlier today.

I noted before that around 2011 or maybe about 2012 that things felt a little weird and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I got very sensitive and then the mid-life crisis started to happen. I felt like I was in a rut.

I couldn’t figure out what prompted it.

I’m sure there were little things here and there, like pressures from family to settle down and get married along with societal pressures of whatever it means to be an adult, especially someone who was in their early thirties and what comes with that…marriage, relationships, children, etc.

It all revolves that. That pressure. Societal pressure. Family pressure.

That was a part of it.

I now think there was something deeper, something a little simpler.

2011 was my 10-year anniversary of moving down to Los Angeles to live. I’m sure there were things about figuring out what I have done in those past 10 years and pressure I was putting on myself. The usual bullshit.

The rut and midlife crisis didn’t really hit me until the end of 2012 and early 2013, when I would go months and months without getting a haircut.

Why? It would have been my dad’s 10-year anniversary of passing away.

I didn’t realize that until yesterday morning, in the shower.

10 years.

I didn’t realize it at that time. I was aware of his anniversary, but I wasn’t aware of how it was affecting me.

10 years.

Pressure.

10 years.

Wanted to do good by my family and my mom and ultimately my dad. I want to get married and have children. The usual fanfare of what being an adult means and the girl that I’ve been crushing on didn’t feel the same about me.

Disappointment upon disappointment.

10 years.

There was just a lot of shit at that time.

My mid-life crisis.

The MLC.

That prompted me to do so many things.

I was living and was genuinely happy. I went on my road trips and my vacations, but ultimately, there were too much pressure.

5th uncle wanted me to get married, have children.

Uncle Sat telling me that mom would cry whenever anyone mentions if either my brother or I were married and have children.

Pressure.

There was a lot.

I want to make my mom happy. I love her.

Just pressure.

Mid-life Crisis.

10 years.

I wanted to make my dad proud and he passed away.

I’m all kinds of fucked up in the head. Still am. Just a little.

I’m aware and I know my faults and my psychosis.

It helps to be so aware.

* * *

2013.

10 years.

That was when I decided to grow my hair out and donate it.

My hair was getting long and I didn’t know what to do. I had no motivation to do anything.

MLC. Rut.

During that time, they started production for The Fault In Our Stars movie and Shailene Woodley donated her hair to Children With Hairloss.

I thought that was such a great thing to do. I never grew my hair out before.

I hate long hair.

I wanted to feel that I was in control. I’ll grow my hair out to see if I can do it.

There was a length that I was aiming for, 10 inches.

Let’s see if I can make it.

That was the inspiration.

The rest was history.

My hair grew and I went with the flow of trying to figure out what to do with it.

My funny and funky hairstyles, pigtails, buns, and what not were all new.

Ultimately, that experiment did help me grow. I’ve became more comfortable in my skin and grew even more comfortable with myself.

Confidence and yes, all of it was to help deal with my father’s passing.

All of it was done to deal with is 10 year anniversary.

It makes sense now.

* * *

That was five years ago.

I’ve since donated my hair three times.

The first time, I fell a little bit short of my 10 inches, but I did grow enough to donate my hair.

The second and this last time, I did meet my 10 inches goal. Not all strands were 10 inches, but many were and I was okay with that.

Will I do it again?

I tell myself no.

I’m approaching 40 in a little over a year.

I know there’s nothing special about turning 40, but isn’t that old enough to stop fucking around and just try to be an adult?

I know I talk about how I don’t feel like an adult, especially compared to what I felt adulting meant when I look at my parents.

I’m 40 and I still feel like a fucking kid.

I don’t know what I’m going to do or how to act when I start adulting, but maybe long hair and pig tails ain’t the way to go.

We shall see.

I may realize that all of this thinking about being an adult is just shit talk and do whatever I do anyway. Or maybe I’ll have another mid-life crisis and feel that my life is going off the rails and need another control trip.

I don’t know.

I have no idea.

As of now, there’s no plan to grow my hair out.

I love the short hair.

I love my buzz cut.

It’s so freeing.

I didn’t hate my long hair. I grew to love it. It was so freeing in another way, especially how I wore my hair.

I didn’t give a fuck what other people thought about how I wore my hair.

Pig tails. Multiple buns and whatnot.

Did. Not. Give. A. Fuck.

None.

Zero Fucks.

So freeing.

I wore it with confidence.

It seemed that many were fans of it and I’m sure many weren’t and I couldn’t care less.

I was doing whatever I needed to make it seem like it was less of a chore and more of a fun thing so I can do a good deed.

* * *

Hair.

Gone.

It was a long, fascinating, and wild journey with my hair these last five years.

It was free and also a good growing and teaching time for me.

I’ve learned a lot about myself and I learned to be more giving and generous.

It was a growing experience to be better person, which I strive to be every day.

I’m not perfect.

That’s unreachable and definitely unreasonable.

I know my flaws.

I’m okay with them, as long as I know about them, so I can slowly chip away at it and strive to be better.

Hair.

It’s made me a better person without me even knowing it.

It was just a weird thing I decided to do on a whim and it changed me so much and in so many ways.

Hair.

Even though it is gone, I’ll never forget the lessons that it taught me.

Embrace yourself. Be better. Be courageous. Be confident.

Ultimately, somethings just aren’t about you.

Went Zening in the Mountains

Happy Chinese New Year!

It’s the Year of the Dog and we are fully in it now.

Sheeps and Dogs don’t mix, so it might not be a good year for me, but we shall see. I do have to say, I’m much calmer and less stressed than I was previously.

Maybe it is because of the launch and that people are using SharePoint. Of course, there are problems and issues, but that’s any software and server.

But, here I am, back at it, the grind, settling into the quiet routine I setup for myself.

Here I am.

Happy Chinese New Year!

* * *

I drove up to Fresno for the first to visit family. It was hectic and crazy with everyone back home for Chinese New Year’s.

I met my two new little cousins, Santino and Amira. I think that’s what their names are, but they are cute little babies.

Unfortunately, baby Amira was sick and she’s so tiny.

Thankfully, they both didn’t cry when I held them.

I still got it….for the most part.

Family is good. Everyone seems happy and well.

Gifu looks happy, especially with his grandson. Didn’t see him interact much with his granddaughter though. So traditional.

Sister was fine, albeit stressed and a little angry at the lateness of everyone and everything.

Family. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

It’s family. I love my family.

It seems like I’ll be making another trip up to Fresno in June. Loretta’s Chinese wedding banquet. It’ll be small like how Maggie’s was. I think I’ll take an extra day while I’m out there to fully explore and hike King’s Canyon. I didn’t get to hike it last time and I think I’ll just spend the day to do it.

I’ll get a hotel out there or something. I haven’t figured it out yet, but let’s do it.

Overall, my time with the Vongs was great and I look forward to seeing everyone again in June.

I didn’t spend the night with them. They were rushing off to get their yearly family portrait after dinner and I never intended to stay.

I got a hotel in Oakhurst, out near Yosemite that night. It was just way too much for me and for some reason, I couldn’t handle all of the excitement and people.

I was over it and was glad when I left.

* * *

Happy Chinese New Year!

Yosemite.

My meditation.

My Zen.

Nature.

To my mental health.

I had two full days in the park and I needed them.

I planned my first day to be the most strenuous and my second to be the easiest since I planned to meet Steve for dinner that night.

Day one.

Yosemite Falls.

I’ve done this hike before. It was my fourth time and the last time I hiked it, was back in ’08 with my brother. 10 years ago.

Man, 10 years. I was a different person back then, younger and in much better shape.

The weather was perfect for it. Not too hot and not too cold. It was cold in the morning when I got to the park, but as the sun rose, it got better, and as I started hiking, my body temperature rose.

The hike wasn’t too difficult. I’ve done worse, especially in Banff and definitely at the Rockies, but I was dying.

I was tired. I was drained. Also, for the first time in my many years of hiking, I cramped up like a little bitch and thought I couldn’t get up there.

I finally realized that my 38th year of life was a year of bad decisions. I still have a month and some change left. I’m not making any decisions until after my birthday.

My body wasn’t tired, but it was my legs. The cramping became an issue and there was a point where the cramps were so bad that I couldn’t bend my legs. There was a moment when I feared that I might not be able to get down the mountain.

On the way up, I met this much younger white guy (30) who saw me struggling and said that my camera was anchoring me down. In a way, he got a point. I packed it up in my backpack. I wasn’t going to be taking any pictures on the rest of the way up.

But man, he was about 8-9 years younger than I am, much better shape most likely, and he didn’t understand why I was struggling.

I was cramping.

I was severely dehydrated.

Why?

Bad decisions.

Thursday night, I went to happy hour to get a few beers and then I went to dinner and had beer.

I didn’t drink much water that night after I got home and on Friday, I didn’t drink much water in Fresno or my drive. Well, at least I didn’t drink as much as I normally would.

I was dehydrated.

On the hike, I went up fast and strong like I normally would, but my body was dehydrated and that killed me.

Bad decisions.

What ended up happening, I had to rest almost at the top and just hydrate and ate my jerky and my trail mix. I needed to get salt back into my body. I needed electrolytes.

After that small rest, I was good to go. The cramps went away and I was set.

Fuck that guy.

Most of all, fuck me for being stupid.

Never again.

I hope.

I make stupid decisions.

With everything that happened, it took me about 3 hours to reach the top. I’m trying to remember how long it took me last time. I think it was about 3 hours also.

It made me think, if I was in better shape, meaning not dehydrated, would I have made it up in 2.5 hours. Possibly.

Looking at the Yosemite guide board, the hike was rated at 6-8 hours round trip for 7.2 miles. I did it in 4.5 or close to 5 hours. Not bad.

I relaxed while I was up at the top. I found the viewpoint and chilled, then I went to the river and had a nap at the river’s edge. I think that whole hike, including the rest at the top, took me about 6 hours or so.

Not bad at all.

I went hiking to find my Zen. It did help me meditate in a way, especially a hike like that. I didn’t think much about work and I tried not to think about much of anything else. That helped. For the most part, my thoughts about getting up was just enjoying the view and watching my steps until the whole cramping happened.

On the way down, the same thing, my thoughts and focus was more on watching my step and not wanting to roll my ankles.

Focus on the now.

Practicing mindfulness.

Being mindful of my steps.

Zen.

Relaxing.

Until the fucking douchey hipster bros that were hiking down.

There were about six or seven of then hiking down at a slow casual speed loudly talking about beer and wanting to try bud light.

I normally wouldn’t mind much of it if they weren’t so fucking slow and don’t understand the hiking etiquette. There were times when they were walking two-abreast.

Fuck them.

The proper etiquette would be being aware that they are slow and stop, step aside, and let faster hikers pass them. Nope. None of that.

They owned the trail. We’re on their trail and on their fucking time.

Fuck them.

I got tired and angry and I just hiked through them.

Fuck them.

They ruined my Zen a little bit, but after I left them behind, I was in a better mood.

Getting down the falls took me about an hour and a half. Not a bad pace.

Not bad at all.

After the falls, I went to the lower falls and just wandered aimlessly for a bit to figure out the parking situation for the next day and then I drove back to Oakhurst.

It was a nice day, douchey bros and cramping aside. It was a nice day of hiking, peace, not thinking about work, or much of anything.

It was a good day.

I took a shower at the hotel and then went out to dinner and had a few beers. I know, I know, no more alcohol, but I was on vacation.

I ordered too much food, but I was starving and on vacation.

It was a good day.

Day two.

It started a little later than the first day, but no different. The long drive in was no different than the day before.

I got into the park, parked, and was on my way.

I decided to do the Yosemite Valley Loop. I’ve done most of it many times before. It was my slow day, my stroll day. I didn’t want to get all sweaty, stinky, and tired because I know I was going to do some socializing that night.

The day was much quieter and less crowded the day before. I think many people left because there were threats of rain and snow throughout the day, plus it was fucking cold.

It was about 10 degrees colder than the day before.

I strolled and strolled. For most of the day, I was alone. I wasn’t around anyone on the trails. I would cross paths with a few people, but for the most part, I was alone.

It was nice.

The most crowded part of my day, besides getting lunch at the General Store and Cafe was at Mirror Lake.

Mirror Lake was one of the more popular easier hikes, because it was flat.

I finished the loop, which I started a few times, but never finished. It was a nice hike. I enjoyed it.

I met up with Steve around 3:30 or 4 and spent the rest of the day with him and met his girlfriend. We had dinner, chatted, caught up and it was great.

It’s great to see that he’s doing well and that he loves where he is.

I would love it too.

Yosemite is a great place and in a way, I think I could see myself living out there, secluded from people too.

Maybe. One day.

It was nice.

When I left Steve’s, the weather started to roll in and was snowing. I took the long way back to Oakhurst, avoiding the higher elevation of Rte. 41 and took Rte 140 instead.

It was long, but if I could avoid snow in the mountains, at night, for my little civic; yeah, I’m going to do it.

Bright and early Monday, I drove home.

It was a great getaway.

A much-needed getaway.

I need to think about where to go or what to do for March. It’ll be a trip with Pickles and maybe a long drive out somewhere would be nice.

Then I need to commit to what I planned for my birthday.

I’ll do some research soon, but I can’t wait.

Small trips.

Traveling.

Zen.

Do it.

* * *

Happy Chinese New Year!

It’s ALIVE!!!

It’s fucking alive.

It’s back up after nearly 10 days of being down.

Contacted GoDaddy and it seems that the database was down because they had to migrate it from an old server to a new server. They never emailed me about the maintenance and there goes my site.

It took them days to migrate the database over and once they did, there was nothing in the database. They had to find it and restored it from their many backups.

Even then, the site wasn’t up. Called their Tech Support multiple times to get it up and they weren’t able to help.

The database was good, but it’s wasn’t seeing my site. All of my settings were correct, but yep, no go.

Turns out that if I needed to get it up, I’ll have to pay them about $80/mo to get it up, guaranteed. That’s $80 on something that they fucked up, to get this up and running.

So, I opted to do some google and I FUCKING FIXED IT MY FUCKING DAMN SELF.

The host address that they provided for my database was incorrect, so I put in the fucking IP address of the server the database.

Badabing! I’m back!

Yeah, after everything, I think my sight would be fine here but I think I really do want to move it over to WordPress.com. See what happens.

Let’s see what happens.

It’ll be a few months or so before I will because I want to get the work thing taken care of first, but yeah, fucking ass, let’s do this.

Year of change, right?

Let’s change shit up.

* * *

Sick.

I’ve been sick since forever and don’t even remember the last time I felt healthy.

I still have that lingering cough and the stress from work doesn’t help.

The great thing though is I’m on the mend. I’m hacking up green stuff. Great. Awesome.

I think after this, I’ll be in good shape.

I need rest. Sleep.

Sleep and sleep and sleep.

I’m looking forward to my little trip. To my little vacation. I’m looking forward to that. That’s keeping me going.

YOSEMITE.

Back to nature. Back to the woods. Back to the glorious beauty that is Yosemite.

It’s been a while since I’ve gone hiking. Sure, I did some in Italy, but the last time was July 4th weekend. The Rockies.

It’s good to be back in nature again.

One more week to go.

I’ll survive.

* * *

Launch.

Dash.

We’re launching.

Monday.

It’s not perfect, but for a 1.0, I think we are in good shape.

There are a few bugs or things that aren’t working properly, but I’m okay with it. I need a little more guidance on how to do certain things or a better understanding of how some of our Vendor’s tools work.

They documented some processes, but when I tried them, they didn’t work. It seems like I did everything properly, but nope, doesn’t work.

I need to know why.

Most everyone had been working long and hard on this project and in a way, I’m happy to see it go live. It’s going into the wild and then we’ll know what’s actually wrong with it or what works or what people like.

It’s one of my big stressors and once it’s there, I won’t have to worry much about it anymore. It’ll be off my radar for a while as I go back to focusing on SharePoint and Social Bridge migration.

Things are going well on that front as I am steering the HRM team towards using document libraries vs. subsites to manage many of their initiatives.

It’s cleaner.

Just cleaner in terms of management and navigation.

The next thing would be getting a more cohesive experience in terms of navigation and look and feel across the agency.

SharePoint.

I’ll be living and breathing it for years to come, if I do end up staying here.

The future.

So unclear.

The future.

So unknown.

But it comes.

It marches steadily on and on.

* * *

I sit.

All I do is sit.

Life passes me by. Life zooms by.

It’s such a fleeting thing.

Life.

It goes.

I sit and I watch.

I don’t participate in everything that life has to offer.

I do enough to guarantee me existence, but no more.

I don’t seek out people and build a relationship with them. I don’t see out activities that many find interesting and lively.

I don’t.

I’m passive.

I’m passive until it is time for me to act and do, then I spring forward with all the life that I have.

I act on my own volition and on my own emotions, whatever and whenever that may be.

I admit that many of the things that I do don’t make sense to others or even to me at times, but it’s how I live. I act and live based on many things.

My logic. My experience. My sense of security. My emotions.

Sometimes many of these things conflict with each other and anxiety is the result.

That’s life and we just have to go with it.

Find different ways to relax and deal with everything that comes your way.

Find ways to survive.

Life.

It’s a beast.

But there’s a lot of beauty to it.

It’s a magical thing, to be alive, to live, to experience.

* * *

Life.

Magic.

It’s magic.

There’s something special about the simplicity of connecting with someone and get to know them.

There’s no pretense to it. Just a genuine curiosity of how that person thinks and understanding of what makes them tick.

There’s something special about that.

It’s nice to share a simple and subtle flirtation, even if you know that it’s not going to go anywhere. Just to hope that it might, makes my heart goes pitter-patter.

The knowing looks shared between us, each understanding the game that we are playing.

Flirting.

It’s fun.

It’s dangerous.

It’s lively.

It’s these little moments that make life exciting in a sea of mundane.

Life.

It’s ALIVE!

I’m ALIVE.

Error establishing a database connection

My site is down.

It had been down since sometime yesterday (2-2-18). So, as I type this, there’s no way to publish this.

I called GoDaddy last night and they said that the server that this was on was corrupted and it was moving to a new one.

When I logged into my account, my hosting is Pending Account Changes. I don’t know what that means. I also saw that there were services that I did not order. So I deleted them.

I don’t know if I got hacked or not, but I think I should change my password.

I think it is time for me to move this site and not host it through GoDaddy. Might be time to just migrate it over to WordPress and have them host it. It’s not too bad.

The look and feel will definitely change as I’ll have to use their basic default themes, but I think I’m quite okay with that. We shall see. I think I get to keep my vanity url too.

I’ll look into it.

We shall see.

* * *

Tired.

I think I am sick again.

I know I am sick again.

Throat is hurting and I’m going deaf and my eyes can’t focus fast enough anymore. Blah. I’m getting old.

I need to rest, but I am going to do some work today for the HRM team, moving their SB sites over and doing backups when I can.

I think I’ll take a break tomorrow for Super Bowl Sunday. I plan on cooking.

Speaking of which, I think I need to do some research as to what are good veggies to tempura.

I need to get back to cooking. I need to get back to relaxing.

Work is killing me.

Things are getting better. Things aren’t getting so crunch time, but things aren’t perfect.

SharePoint is still new at the agency. I think it’s a good tool as long as people understand how to use it and that’ll just take time and learning and process and workflow.

The thing is, I’m not patient.

Not at all.

* * *

Enough.

Enough about work.

I will be taking some time off soon. Just one day to extend an already extended weekend.

I’ll be going to Yosemite over Chinese New Year’s weekend. New Years day is on Friday and it just works out well.

I’ll spend time with Great Uncle on Thursday and then head out to Fresno on Friday and then to Yosemite Friday night.

It’s been too long since I’ve seen family and I think it’ll be good.

I just want to get away from a computer and be in nature for a few days to recharge. I need to get healthy so this sickness doesn’t ruin that little vacation.

I’m going to hike to my heart’s content. I’m going to take in the fresh mountain air and the beautiful scenery.

I going to just fucking Zen out.

I’ll meet up with Steve and his girlfriend too.

A break.

A vacation.

I deserve it.

* * *

Before my site crashed, I’ve been going through my old entries and I think I got to 2007. Four years into it and a good 10 years ago.

Lots have changed.

My writing changed. The pose and lyricism that I once possessed seem so out of reach now. I struggle to put words into sentences. I struggle to write something that doesn’t sound so standard and declarative.

I feel that my writing now is more, this happened and then that happened.

I lost my poetry.

I lost my creativity.

I lost my flow.

That deeply troubles me.

I want it back, but I don’t know how to get it back.

What do I need to do? Write more?

I’ve been writing.

What to do?

I need that rush, that joy of creative writing. I need to feel it in my blood.

I miss it.

Alas, my brain, fried. I can’t’ think. I can do not much than experience blah.

My brain blahed out and that’s where I stand.

Getting things done

That’s the plan.

That’s the game.

To get things done.

I go in, get shit done and try not to lose my shit.

That’s the game plan.

Get shit done.

The thing is that there’s just a lot of shit. Like a lot of shit.

But, someone has to do it and I’m the one.

* * *

Depression.

This is a different type of depression. It’s not the old friend of mine that I grew up with.

It’s different.

The usual symptoms are there. There’s the lack of interesting in doing things that I love to do. There’s the lack of motivation to do anything when I get home.

No interest in any of the shows I’m watching.

I find it so hard to focus on anything after work.

Depression.

It’s back, but it’s taking another form.

It’s very unfamiliar.

This isn’t my old friend. It’s a stranger.

Depression.

It’s not the cloudy gray mist that haunted me for most of my informative years. It’s not the toxic comfort company that I’ve grown accustomed to.

It’s different.

Depression.

This one is hard to describe.

I know it’s not related to anything that is happening in my personal life.

I’m not depressed about my circumstance or how I’m living my life. My single-ness isn’t the cause for this.

Life is status quo. I’m living my life how I want to live and sure, there is that small desire to change and I’m open to it.

There’s always that anxiety there, that fear of change, especially personal change, getting out of one’s routine and comfort zone. That’s expected and that’s something I am willing to accept and tackle as the time comes.

This is different.

This depression is work related.

It’s stress.

I haven’t dealt with this type of depression before. It’s new. It’s different.

Work made me depressed.

* * *

All that I can manage to do when I get home is to eat and think about work. When I’m not thinking about work and trying to figure out the solutions to the problems that are coming up or about the tools and workflow and process, all I want to do is to surf the interwebs.

I surf the web to deal with my stress.

I understand it now as I am going through it.

It’s mindless.

It’s numbing.

I find comfort in the memes and the internet articles and news. They are small quick snippets where I don’t have to think. Just mindless consumption.

I can’t even read any more. It takes too much concentration to read the words, digest the meaning, and understand the subtext and the context of everything.

That’s too much for my mind to handle.

Depression.

I wonder if I would like my old friend back other than this new stranger that I’ve found.

Would that be better? At least I would be able to read, right? Or is this it? This is the new evolution of it, with the new technology and new distractions that I have available.

This is it.

Depression.

Hello darkness, my old friend.

I need a win. We need a win.

* * *

Depression.

I think the thing that trips me out about this new stranger is the lack of focus and severe lack of motivation to do anything but eat and numb my mind.

I have zero interest in the shows I’m watching or the book I’m reading or even listening to. I can’t focus.

My attention span maxes out in short short bursts.

In a way, it’s fascinating, and in a way, it’s frustrating all at the same time.

Fascinating.

It’s not the dire doom and gloom that I’m familiar with.

I feel fine. I feel great, like I’m living life.

There’s not that suffocating cloud of darkness that was so familiar. There’s not that sense of finality and drowning.

No. There’s none of that.

It’s a new feeling. It’s a feeling that I can’t process and that’s the thing that trips me out.

It’s fucking me up.

I’m Zen in many aspects of my life…but there’s this this-ness that trips me up.

I know it’s not going to last forever.

I know that it’ll end and things will get back to normal.

Again, no doom and gloom.

There’s still that optimism in me.

I guess in a way, I know what’s causing this. I know that once things settle down, I’ll be back to normal and this stranger will be gone.

Work.

Depression.

Fascinating.

* * *

How can I balance out the way that I’m feeling? How can I Zen out more?

I know there’s meditation. I know that I need to start working out more. I know I need to get back to yoga, but what else?

What can I do during the day to help?

I need to step away from my desk, my computer, the office, and hide. I need time to myself, to clear my brain, where I’m not thinking about anything work related.

I need an outlet.

Should I go write?

I should just doodle, free write, a free journal of sorts.

Scrap booking!

I don’t know, but I know I need a stress reliever. Something that is inconsequential and that I really don’t give a fuck about.

I need something that is a distraction away from my distractions from my distractions at work.

Let’s doodle. Let’s write. Let’s make lists. Let’s get back to thinking about something creative.

LET’S JUST DO SOMETHING ELSE.

Do it.

* * *

I need a break.

I need a short weekend to get away from things.

I want a short trip with Pickles somewhere. I don’t know what, but I know I need it.

This had been percolating in the back of my brain for a while now. I didn’t really get a break over Christmas, so I think I need a short vacation.

Nothing long.

Just two or three days where I’m out in nature or just not doing work.

Work balance.

Life balance.

I have it better than most.

I have it great, actually.

I know I’m stressed and I have a lot of pressure, but I’m in the same boat with so many other people.

At least I don’t have to be in the office until midnight.

At least I get paid for the extra hours that I’m working.

At least when I get home, I don’t have to really do more work.

Things aren’t really that bad. I just blow things up.

That’s my MO. That’s how I roll.

My problems are my mountains compared to many.

This stranger is a stranger. It’s not my old friend.

The stranger will be gone once everything gets done and stabilized.

So, let’s get shit done.

Get it done.

* * *

Losing my shit

Work.

It seems that all I do now is work. I come out here to type my little entries and they are about work.

Work this.

Work that.

Stress this.

Stress that.

I haven’t been so stressed at the agency in a long time.

We’re launching this new set of tools and process and I don’t want it to fail. No one wants it to fail, but there are growing pains as with all new systems.

People are unwilling to accept change, some people are unclear of how the tools work, and some people are just fucking stupid.

People.

I think that’s the source of the majority of my stress.

Fucking people.

* * *

Thursday was probably one of the roughest days in a long while.

I’m behind on my work and it more work keeps coming.

Then all I hear are complaints and complaints and frustration.

One person called out the too as shit because they can’t access files or use the tool while on our client’s shitty wifi. Everyone knows that our client’s guest wifi is shitty.

EVERYONE knows this. We provide these users mifis specifically for this reason, but he felt that was unreasonable and therefore dismisses the tool right out.

Strike 1.

Then my BFF had some questions about the new tool sets and was confused about the whole setup and the logistics of it. This is a legit concern and I agree that it can get confusing.

I sat down with her, drew a diagram and tried to help her understand the tool and how things are setup.

I can see that she’s confused and frustrated and that doesn’t help my anxiety and frustration either.

A part of me feels that I didn’t do a good job in training in dispelling in the information that they needed to get these users up to speed. A part of me was frustrated with Microsoft with how they setup their tools and how lacking some of their stuff is and another part of me was just tired of everything.

Strike 2.

I honestly wasn’t that mad or offended or even frustrated by this. I really don’t blame them. Again, her concern was legit and should be a concern to my team and me. It just shows that people need more training. Better training. Clear training.

For the rest of the day I was stressed, frustrated and definitely there were times when I just wanted to run, hide, and cry. My emotions and the pressure from the stress was too much, but eventually I relaxed and calmed down.

The thing that finally broke me happened while I was disconnected from everything.

There was a happy hour that afternoon and I decided to go because I needed a drink because of everything. Of course, my phone dies at happy hour, so I missed everything.

Getting in the car after everything there were a barrage of emails and conversations going back and forth about a disconcerting email that went out to many higher up and dozens and dozens of people throwing our tool under the bus.

There weren’t many specific details to the email but that this user was having problems sharing a PowerPoint presentation and called out the tool as the culprit.

The link that he sent worked fine, without any problems.

He never reached out to me or my team for any help and went ahead and just shat on the tool.

I was pissed. Fucking livid.

Strike 3.

That almost broke me. It was a culmination of everything.

EVERYTHING.

After dinner, my boss sent me a few emails giving us more insight into the issue.

Going over the emails, it was all user error. Fucking user error.

This fucking guy fucked up and instead of taking responsibility for it, he blamed the tool.

He sent out three emails in total. There are two hyperlinks to SharePoint files in both.

The excel file worked fine. The PowerPoint link was a link to an empty PowerPoint presentation.

The second email, he claimed to have sent the proper link, but the fucker sent a bad link in the hyperlink. He forgot to delete everything before he pasted the shareable link in the hyperlink. So, whenever users click on the link, it fails because it doesn’t know what that link is.

The third email was the one that I received initially, with just the link pasted in the email and it works.

ALL FUCKING USER ERROR.

It broke me.

During dinner, I was stress eating. I normally don’t go out to eat during the week, but I came home late, didn’t want to cook, and I was just looking to drown my sorrows and frustration in food.

Stress eating has been my drug of choice as of late.

I posted an IG post that was so true. That day was the first time in my almost decade tenure at the agency where I almost lost my shit around people. It was the first time that I wanted to fucking give up, break down, and cry.

This shit is breaking me.

After everything, and figuring out it was user error, I was over it. It wasn’t the tool, but the users.

* * *

I was in better spirits the next day.

Emails were coming in and the things that I had to do kept piling up but early in the morning, we had a conversation with the fucker and his boss.

My boss and I went down to discuss the situation.

There was a lot of push back and just confusion about everything.

Yes. Microsoft Teams can be confusing on how it was built with the dual SharePoint thing. The Teams SharePoint is a restricted SharePoint site, hence the difficulties in sharing out documents from time to time.

But, the situation from the night before wasn’t the tools fault. It was user error.

While showing them the tool, explaining to them about the Teams SharePoint and everything, I tried so hard to keep my cool. Apparently, I was shaking the whole time.

Either way, the thing that came out of it was that I’ll ramp up a proper SharePoint site and connect it to their Team. We have a training next week to go through everything.

Everyone was to blame in this situation. The tone of the email that was sent out. The fucker – not contacting IT when he had problems.

IT, us, me not doing proper training or not clarifying any issues.

We are all at fault.

Later in the afternoon, I had another discussion with my BFF with the tool and everything and it was a better conversation. I wasn’t so stressed and we all came to conclusion that we, the agency as a whole, shouldn’t be forced into one single process.

We all have to understand that different teams and groups work differently and shouldn’t need to adopt a workflow and process that really doesn’t apply to them.

IT can provide these teams tools and some standards and it’s a matter of figuring out how to implement these tools into their workflow.

That’s ultimately the big hurdle with my BFF’s team.

* * *

Change is here and many are against it.

That’s the gist of it.

It’ll be an ongoing battle and I honestly don’t want this to fail. I’ve poured so much of myself into this. It’s killing me.

I told my boss I’ll most likely have a mental breakdown in six months. I definitely believe that is true if things don’t go smoother.

There are many successes but it seems like there are so many other battles left.

Will it end?

If so, when?

* * *

Quiet

I’m a phoney.

I was called one at least.

It all goes back to me being anti-social.

The Iranian still doesn’t see it that way, but who cares.

I find it funny and fascinating.

Many people actually see it that way.

I don’t like to go out. To me, that’s socializing. I don’t like parties, I don’t like clubs, I don’t like crowds, and I don’t like loud places.

I don’t mind getting a quiet dinner with a small group or with someone, but anything really outside of that…not much.

It is what it is.

* * *

Creativity.

I miss it. I miss those juices running through my body. I miss those thoughts and those sparks that make me giddy with joy as I get an idea of how to do something or write something.

I miss it.

I’m trying to get back into it. I’m trying to work my way, stretch that muscle again.

It’s going to be tough, but I want to do it.

I know that I want to write a Hallmark Christmas type movie, but I just don’t know what it’ll be.

I’m working on research, watching all the movies that I can when I have the time, but I’m so busy with work that it’s a little difficult.

I’ve seen a handful, but I need to watch more.

I need to think of a story, figure out what I want to say.

Then, the creativity can go, but my brain is so fried from work, it’s difficult.

Sigh.

First world problems.

I’m whining because I am too busy to think of anything creative to do.

Sigh.

* * *

Motivation.

I have no motivation to do anything.

None.

I don’t know if it is the stress from work that kills my drive to do anything or if I’m falling back into that old friend again.

There are times when I feel that my friend is here, that familiar gray of ickiness, but then there are times when I don’t think it is.

If it is, it’s a new type of friend, something that I haven’t dealt with or something I don’t remember.

It’s not the depression from high school or even college.

It’s something else.

Is it the rut again, the feelings that I felt during my MLC?

I don’t know. It’s familiar and at the same time, not.

I don’t know what it is.

The Internet Is DOWN!

There’s no wifi today at Volcano.

I can’t connect and I can’t figure out why. It didn’t error out saying the password is incorrect.

I don’t know. Hopefully they’ll fix it, if not, whatever.

I’m tired.

So tired.

Taking a break this weekend and not working even though I’m sure I can do some work, but I won’t. The whole SM office is in kind of a lock down this weekend since there’s a planned maintenance that requires the power to be shut down.

I won’t have access to the network and such to do any SharePoint work.

I’m sure I still can do some work at home, but nah.

I need a fucking break.

I need to rest. I don’t want to do anything.

Not a damn thing. Not even chores, but they must be done.

Tired.

Tired.

* * *

iOS 11.2.1

It’s killing my phone.

The battery drains and drains and I’ll need to charge it multiple times through the day.

If I leave it unplug through the night, I’ll wake up with around 20% battery. Sometimes more, but sometimes less. Not good.

I tried to roll back to 11.2, but it won’t let me restore the phone from the backup. It’ll let me restore from iCloud, but then it’ll automatically install 11.2.1, which I don’t fucking want.

Sigh.

Apple, you had a fucking rough 2017. Fucking fix your shit. Stop pushing out updates that fuck up phones.

iOS 11 is a fucking piece of shit. Sure, there are good things, but fuck man, just junk software. I’ve had problems with it since I installed it.

I thought with 11.2, it would fix everything and it did, but then 11.2.1 came out and fucked everything up again, much worse than the other releases.

Sigh.

Conspiracy theorists believe that they have been throttling performance for years and it came out that they do throttle performance on peak performance when the batter is not optimal.

Yeah, they fucked up. They’re still going to throttle your shit, but they apologized, so it’s okay, right?

Sigh.

Apple. Their quality seems to be going downhill the past few years.

Sigh.

* * *

Apathy.

Just not caring.

I think that’ll be my approach on this whole SharePoint migration. I need to stay out of it and not care when things don’t make sense.

It’s killing me. Stressed.

So stressed.

People.

They’re bringing me down.

* * *

Progress.

Dash.

It’ll be finished and launched soon. Fuckin ‘a. It’s been a long project, but I’m fucking glad that portion of it is over.

Project Management.

In a way, I love it, taking on a project and seeing it come to fruition, and finishing it, but at the same time, it is so stressful when things aren’t going well or taking too long and I don’t have control in getting the people to get their shit together and work and get things turned in on time.

I don’t have a knack for it, to push, to threaten. People will work the way they work and sometimes they are overextended and projects delay and delay.

Stress.

I don’t like it much.

I don’t need it.

Stress.

Blah.

Over it.

* * *

They finished my floors for the apartment.

It looks all right. I don’t mind it. It makes cleaning a lot easier when Pickles has an accident or get pissy, pun intended, which he already did. Cleaning was a breeze, wipe it up and go.

There’s no need to sprinkle baking soda over the mess and then wash the carpet. Mop and go.

Easy peasy.

There’s no smell to deal with as with the carpet, which just soaks up the aroma from the room.

I like it.

It’s an adjustment for sure, me deciding if I should wear slippers or go bare feet.

I’ve been wearing slippers since the floors were dirty. I swept it today and it felt better and when I get home I’ll mop the floor and we’ll go from there.

The pets aren’t a fan. Pickles slips around and his claws go clickity-clack all around. I don’t even see Relish walking around at all. She hides during the day and will come out from her spot once in a blue moon.

It’s an adjustment for everyone and I think it’ll be good in the long run.

It’s a change and change takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight.

It’s different and sometimes different is what you’ve been striving for because old and same is just that, old and same.

Change it up. Switch it up.

* * *