2024 was the year of leaving education. Now that I've written that sentence, I'd like to go back and do the past years.
2023 - the year of moving back home for the last time (hopefully?)
2022 - the year of the master's degree
2021 - the gap year of electrical work and Christmas decorations in Florida
2020 - the year of leaving Japan (and COVID)
2019 - the year of parents visiting Japan
2018 - the best year in Japan, working in Narakawa
2017 - the year of finishing programming and moving to Japan
2016 - the year of the first apartment (in the US)
2015 - the year of variety (Russia, UNCG classes, Food Lion, Wendy's, NC State, RCC, ACC)
2014 - the year in Russia
2013 - the year of job search frustration
2012 - the year in Vietnam
2011 - the year of the CELTA
2010 - the year of graduation and moving to France
2009 - the year of trajectory horror (multiple failures and reconsidering my goals)
2008 - the year of England and literary exhileration
2007 - the year of college reality
2006 - the year of high school graduation and the ideal college experience
2005 - the year of tech support and programming
2004 - the year of having high school friends
2003 - the year... that the band started? I don't quite remember, and nothing else comes to mind.
2002 - the year of mission trips and Greek and Lord of the Rings figures
2001 - the year of the Washington DC visit
Trying to go earlier would require some research and discussion to give appropriate names to the years. As it is, I'm sure that I forgot something more important. Regardless, that was fun, and I think it will be good for future reference.
I have worked at my current job for nearly 4 months now. I believe that I do understand it more, but compared to two months ago, I am enjoying it less. I've found that for the most part, there isn't much comprehension necessary to get the job done. About 90% of our work is pulling wire or making a path for the wire. It gets monotonous. Still, I think I would be okay with it if my coworkers were less inclined to take every opportunity to avoid working. The job also does not seem to contribute much to career advancement. I'm still listening to sermons during my commute, but it's frustratingly difficult at times to understand the words through the heavy rattling of the van I drive. Furthermore, the 50+ minutes of driving through heavy traffic is getting on my nerves, especially when it gets even longer on the way home from the Raleigh area. I'm planning to actively look for a new job starting next week.
An interesting thing happened two weeks ago--an HR person contacted me. Normally I ignore contacts through a job searching site, but she was looking to hire someone to translate/interpret Japanese in a manufacturing environment. I talked with her on the phone and then I had an interview with the hiring manager which included a brief test of my Japanese skills. He felt that I did well enough to be a good candidate for the translator/interpreter position, but I felt that a job which relied on me talking most of the time in a high-pressure environment would be a nightmare. They had a more technical role available, but he said I didn't have the experience for that. Overall it was a positive, though slightly disappointing event.
Otherwise, not much has happened since the last post. My routines are mostly the same, and I still have not joined a church. Also, I mentioned gaining 5 pounds in my August post--I've decided that that was mostly muscle, given that it has since disappeared and nothing has obviously changed except that I have not exercised. I have thought a lot about things mentioned in my last post, particularly related to the transience of life. I have not acted on my thoughts, though. I hope that by my next post, something will have changed in that regard.
As the new year is approaching, I have to consider my goals. I would say that they have barely changed since last year, except my fitness goal would be more modest while I'm in my current job--once or twice a week. I'm not inclined to retry journaling on a regular basis, nor do I have any DIY projects that I would like to do. There is one thing I think I have improved this year--I haven't spent as much time on webfiction. My current pattern of reading maybe an hour of that type of fiction per week is acceptable. I intend to reduce my video game time to spend more time reading worthwhile books, though.
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