It’s been over a month since I moved into the city and started work, and I’m having a pretty great time so far. It’s always so exciting to start a “new phase” in life. Time itself seems to slow as you experience new things every day. In the past month, I’ve had the chance to explore parts of SF, hang out with my new roommates (who are all awesome, by the way), travel to LA several times, visit Berkeley more than several times, go to happy hour with co-workers, the list goes on.
Glen’s Updates from SF
The past two weeks I had my car up here to help move the last of my stuff from home and from storage at a friend’s apartment in East Bay. I also used the opportunity to go on a Costco run (bought a membership!) and basically take care of the big purchases for the apartment. Having a car was nice but was a huge headache at the same time. I’d be stuck in traffic for two hours just to get to the entrance of the Bay Bridge, and parking consisted of circling the city streets, sometimes for half an hour or more. So it was actually a relief to be leaving my car with my parents in SoCal for good – my bike can get to most places decently fast, plus it’s a great way to exercise.
Speaking of exercise, I finally did it. After a month of lethargy, I bought a gym membership with my roommate. We ended up choosing the Chinatown YMCA, because it had a nice swimming pool and full-court basketball court (basically all that I need), plus the usual gym equipment in a brand-spankin’ new facility. Plus it’s a 10 minute walk from the apartment so I’d have no excuse not to exercise! Tonight I went swimming for the first time since May, and it felt good, really good. It’s crazy how the movements come to me so naturally now that I’ve been lap swimming for 8 years or so. Although I’m exhausted, it’s a good kind of exhaustion and I’m looking forward to being a bit more active in the coming weeks.
Work has been pretty great. It started off nice and chill because my supervisor wanted to transition me smoothly into the role, and I feel like work is starting to pick up. The cool thing about working for a big company is the resources – I’m been attending several trainings and classes every week with my EDP new hires, and we’ve been learning lots and also have a fun time hanging out during lunch and after work. But on the other hand, working for a big company means structure and bureaucracy, and I got a vivid look at that yesterday when I basically spent the entire day in meetings. It was pretty draining and hard to fit in time in between to actually do my work. Hopefully I’ll find good methods to work around this in the future.
Still, my work-life balance has been really awesome because I’m working no more than 40 hours per week (36 when I had summer Fridays). It’s as much a gift as it is a curse because now I feel guilty if I’m not using my free time to its fullest potential, which I don’t many days – I’m just so tired after sitting at work the whole day. I’ll bike back home and take a long nap, then add in some more sitting in front of a computer. So now I’m making a more conscious effort to use my free time more wisely. I’m planning to start a regiment of swimming, biking, and bouldering in the afternoons to get over the mental exhaustion from work, and I’m planning to take an online media class and maybe work on some projects on the side.
Ambition & Enjoying Life
Lately I’ve been thinking about post-college life, specifically the balance between ambition and enjoying life. I’m definitely very conflicted when it comes to this topic, because I worked hard my entire life to achieve goals towards a good life, but realized partway through (especially during college) that there’s much more to life than achieving things – be it career success, wealth, promotions, personal validation, etc. At the same time, like a lot of recent college grads, I’m restless to prove myself, my abilities, knowledge, and potential.
I know for certain that ambition and enjoying life are not mutually exclusive, but at the same time I know that satisfying both requires compromise and sacrifice. I’m just at a point where I’m uncertain how to balance both desires, and I hope with time I’ll get a better feel for what I need to do. I think it’s important to keep reminding myself that life is a marathon, not a sprint!
On Death & the Frailty of Life
I just came back from a funeral of a dear family friend over the weekend, so the topic of life & death has been on my mind lately. I think I’ve received news of more passings of loved ones this year than throughout most of college and high school combined. And a thought hit me: I will experience more in the coming years. As much as I don’t like to think about it, it’s a fact of life. It makes me sad to think about it, but on the flip side death is what makes life so special.
I was talking to my roommate yesterday and he mentioned how science is helping people live longer. It made me think of the excellent novel Tuck Everlasting that I read as a child, which was about a family that lived forever and kept on experiencing the same cycles of life & death from the world around them. Things were constantly repeating and ceased to be special. Death reminds us of our own mortality, and to cherish our relationships and to live each day to its fullest.
What Next?
Wow, that was some heady stuff. I’m gonna switch gears again and close with what’s coming up in the horizon. Rumor has it that I’ll be flying a plane sometime in the next couple of months. I’m going to continue to learn as much as I can at work and enjoy each day as it comes. I’m so thankful to be living in the city – I feel like there are so many things to do, see, experience, and I’ll continue to look for fun events and places to visit. My room is almost fully furnished (finally). I’m just waiting for a few more key pieces of furniture and decorations before it’s complete. Oh, and more music festivals on the horizon, I’m really looking forward to those – can’t wait! As Calvin told Hobbes in their last strip: “It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…Let’s go exploring!” Let’s go exploring indeed.
The City at www.RandomTidbitsofThought.com.
